Trump: Worse for Economy Than Harris?

Brad Polumbo looks at the only sane reason to consider Trump and finds him lacking.

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At the Washington Examiner, Brad Polumbo warns that voters who think Trump will return us to the relative prosperity of pre-pandemic times are badly mistaken.

In fact, Trump may compare unfavorably to Kamala Harris overall:

Trump is running on a platform that's utterly detached from traditional fiscal conservatism. The Wharton School of Business estimates that Trump's overall agenda would add $4.1 trillion to $5.8 trillion to the national debt over 10 years, several trillion more than Vice President Kamala Harris's plans would. [link and emphasis in original]

This may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn't. Recall that Trump has already surpassed another Democrat, Joe Biden, similarly, outspending him by trillions on pandemic handouts.

That's the big picture. If anything, the day-to-day picture is scarier, and the striking thing about this piece is that Polumbo builds up to the above by citing agenda items that include a couple that any dunce with a halfway rudimentary grasp of supply and demand could see are bad ideas.

Take tariffs, Trump's favorite brand of snake oil:

... Trump has proposed taking his somewhat narrow trade restrictions, mainly targeting China, and blowing them up into an all-out trade war with the entire world. He has proposed a 10% or even 20% flat tariff, aka tax, on all imported goods, even from allies and neighbors. Not only would this surely prompt retaliation, but it would also cost Americans thousands of dollars in increased costs every year via higher consumer prices, something most families can't afford after years of inflation under President Joe Biden.

Polumbo similarly demolishes Trump's proposed credit interest rate cap, comparing it to Illinois's failed blue-state policy along the way for good measure.

At this juncture, the only possible reason I can see for casting a vote for Trump would be that he might have a better energy policy overall than Harris. But would that matter in the face of policies that could (and arguably have in the past) cause an economic depression -- and the nutcases he'll surround himself with (instead of relatively sane traditional Republicans) -- this time around? RFK Jr. aside, Vice President Vance is Exhibit A in that department.

Anyone who hasn't paid much attention to politics over the past couple of years is in for a rude awakening as soon as he gets past the orange skin and bad haircut of the Republican nominee. This is not your father's Republican nominee nor is this even the Donald Trump of 2016: This is someone who, unable to understand why Democrat policies cause such daily pain, will unwittingly double down on essentially the same thing, while setting the table for theocratic, nationalist nuts to take over when he's done.

I have called this contest one between the Party of the Dark Ages and the Party of Blackouts. One of those outcomes is easier to come back from than the other.

-- CAV