Tag Archive: recession

Don’t forget the Trump Recession

Donald Trump’s economy

While the whole country was talking about the presidential debate yesterday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, released its “third revised” estimate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) demonstrating that the U.S. had a record-setting 31.4 percent economic contraction in the second quarter of 2020. This follows a five percent GDP decrease in the first quarter of 2020. In short, under any reasonable definition, we’re in the midst of the Trump Recession.

Moreover, the Trump Recession, including many retail bankruptcies and closures, was caused, or at least made worse and longer, by the lack of an effective national COVID response by Donald Trump and his Republican apologists. As has been well-documented, Trump and Republican politicians downplayed the Coronavirus pandemic, did not help provide enough crucial supplies and equipment, ordered businesses and public venues to be closed too late (if at all), and pressured states and local governments to reopen too early. This was not just one of the worst decisions in history in terms of public health, morality and government, but also one of the worst economic and political blunders in history. Failing to take COVID seriously in order to “boost the economy” did the opposite.

The Great Republican Distraction is underway

Americans continue to die of COVID while Republicans distract

Anyone who tunes into the news or follows political discussions in the media today might think that the overarching issue in America is something to do with protests, riots, “thugs” and “law and order.” If so, then give credit to Donald Trump and leading Republicans for trying to create one of the greatest distractions in U.S. history, in order to avoid a historic election defeat just two months from now. If Trump has one skill, it is media manipulation and distraction. He knows that, rather than the mainstream American news media doing their jobs and investigating and reporting on the biggest stories which, in their professional editorial judgment, affect most people’s lives, Republicans can get the media to chase distracting Culture War shiny objects that then become the focus of most discussions, to the Republicans’ advantage.

Reactions to Coronavirus follow political narratives

New York National Guard responds to Coronavirus

Someone I know was down to three rolls of toilet paper last week, so he went to the store on Friday to get more, and surprise, couldn’t find any. It never occurred to him over the last few weeks to stock up. Guess which news channel he watches for Coronavirus information? Right wing Fox News viewers and Donald Trump fans (big overlap there) seemed especially caught off guard late last week, as the facts on the ground regarding Coronavirus (a/k/a COVID-19) finally destroyed their narratives.

Heretofore, Fox News, Trump and his administration officials were severely downplaying the seriousness of the virus. Trump infamously called Coronavirus, or Democratic criticism of his handling of the crisis, “a new hoax” as late as February 28. This is after Trump had been briefed about the virus back in January, had stated in an interview on January 22 that “we have it totally under control,”and spent the next two months apparently just wishing the problem would go away, because he feared the virus would hurt the stock market and his approval rating. Trump even enlisted Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in January to say that the spread of Coronavirus in China will “help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America.” Since then, the number of Coronavirus cases and deaths in the U.S. keeps rising, the stock market has plummeted many percentage points, and we’re getting the first glimpses at a U.S. economic slowdown that could turn into a full-fledged recession. But what could have been Trump’s moment to shine, by taking swift and effective action, devolved into typical conservative Republican laissez-faire failure of government, and even conspiracy theories. As a result, Americans are less safe, and so is Donald Trump’s presidency.

The best way to protest is to vote smart

Anti-Trump protest, January 2017

Anti-Trump protest, January 2017

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

–George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905

Massive protests are planned in Washington, D.C. and around the country against tomorrow’s inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Most of the people who will be protesting are on the political left. How many of these people voted against or publicly attacked Hillary Clinton when she was the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee? How many of them didn’t vote at all? If they did those things, they helped elect Trump. Protesting now is certainly in the American tradition, but voting smarter in the first place would have greatly reduced the number of things against which to protest, or even eliminated the need to protest at all.