The Trump administration consistently refuses to let even a slight hint of opposition color their worldview, and Americans are suffering as the import taxes that stance allows pile up. This weekend on NBC’s Meet the Press, top Trump adviser Larry Kudlow was all rambling smiles while addressing questioning about troubling indicators from the American business world, where operating costs continue to spike because of those taxes. He sees absolutely no reason to be concerned, apparently, repeating lines seemed written specifically for pro-Trump soundbite appeal more than he even acknowledged the existence of actual issues. Where is the carefully crafted policy? Are they really running this whole thing on the basis of their rich white guy feelings?
He told host Chuck Todd, addressing continuing grim forecasts:
Well I’ll tell you what, I sure don’t see a recession. We had some blockbuster retail sales and consumer numbers towards the back end of last week, really blockbuster numbers. And in fact, despite a lot of worries about the volatile stock market, most economists on Wall Street towards the end of the week had been marking up their forecasts… [Consumers are] actually saving also while they’re spending; that’s an ideal situation… We’re doing pretty darn well, in my judgment. Let’s not be afraid of optimism. Let’s not be afraid of optimism!’
WATCH: Larry Kudlow talks to Chuck Todd about fears over weakness in the economy. #MTP #IfItsSunday
Kudlow: “I sure don’t see a recession” pic.twitter.com/MgJdKMdXmS
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 18, 2019
Is that all he’s got? Seriously? One recently released study suggested that American businesses had lost a full $3.4 billion just in June of this year that they would have otherwise had thanks to the Trump team’s harsh import taxes. Some consumer prices have already gone up by significant margins, and should the plans the Trump team is batting around to slap import taxes on every last good from China actually be implemented, more consumer prices will undoubtedly go up, considering precedent. And the best a top Trump economic adviser has got is to belligerently proclaim “let’s not be afraid of optimism!” on national television like a drunk robber baron.
Meanwhile, the economy keeps struggling along under the Trump administration’s policy mess. Just the other day, the stock market experienced the highest drop in value so far this year as volatility associated with their tariff plans continued to wreak havoc.
They suspended some plans to impose tariffs on every last Chinese good in the face of the incoming Christmas shopping season, which relies on goods imported from China that American businesses would have to pay more to bring into the U.S. These aren’t signs of a nicely ordered economic policy going particularly well.
President Donald Trump personally has consistently lied about these issues, claiming over and over and over again that really, most of the costs of the import taxes against Chinese goods were borne by China. Although the other day, he tentatively admitted that consumer prices spiking because of the tariffs was at least a possibility, he’s in the past gone so far that he’s touted revenue from the tariffs as if it’s some kind of spoils of war drawn from foreign pockets, when in reality, it came from Americans.
Featured Image via screenshot
