Come on, Mr. Stephens. Don't qualify Mr. Trump's presidency as being the worst Republican presidency.
A group of presidential historians and academics recently ranked all of the presidents and Donald Trump was dead last. Period.
Just come out and say it: Donald Trump is the worst president in the history of the United States.
You will feel much better when you admit the obvious.
see: https://sps.boisestate.edu/politicalscience/files/2018/02/Greatness.pdf
1
"The administration is blowing up the foundations of global economic order with the same mindless glee as a child popping bubble wrap."
Truly this statement summarizes this administration for its callous cruelty, inane idiocy and unrepentant unpleasantness.
148
One small error: that would be a picogram of self-respect for Kudlow. That would be enough.
19
Donald Trump is the worst president of any political party that the US has ever had.
148
Bad economic policy is only one adumbration of the 1930s. And then there was fascism.
80
Trump is worse than all the worse past Presidents put together. And there are a lot of them making gigantic, world changing mistakes. George W.bush,, Andrew Jackson, Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford ( for doing nothing except pardon that crooked Nixon )Lyndon Johnson ( his Vietnam War overshadowed all his civil accomplishments ) and the older ones with their owning slaves and supporting slavery. But Trump is in a class by himself. Except for the slaves ( forgetting his lackeys ) he is committing everyone of those blunders x 10.
That is in the first two years of his Presidency! And he is committing them deliberately with vengeance and anger remorseless and cruel. His thoughtlessness, ignorance, stupidity and lies are incomparable.
Bret Stephens, you cannot get away with, " silly me ". 'America in Retreat' represented the mind-set of Republicans of that time - anti-Obama. Period. This rogue Republican Party has emerged from that Republican Party, supporting the Tea Party and now the extremist Trumpeteers. The Republicans in their quest to destroy Obama's legacy have destroyed themselves. They have become so cowardly and afraid of this tyrant that they are dead silent over his serious transgressions and lies. Although having majorities in Congress, they are unwilling to join Democrats to bring this unscrupulous, lying, dangerous wrecking ball to a stop and eject him from the Office which he has sullied and sold. What is your next book? 'Regressed America'?
94
Let us all hope, that future presidents we'll use you as an example of not what to do. I just hope there is something left for them to work with after you've destroyed everything. That'll be one hell of a legacy, right Mr. Trump?
28
It's hard to compare disasters of one era with calamities of another, but given the absolutely pointless destruction of life and America's stature in the GW Bush era, how is he not the winner? Actually, if Trump can be neutered later in 2018, might Bush keep the title...?
7
Bret, how about starting with Reagan, whose trickle-down economy kept the U.S. in a virtual recession through the 80's?! And the. How about George W. Bush?! His Great Recession, another tax break for the rich which ended up costing Middle and Working Class Americans plenty!
Republicans have no clue about the economy. I foresee a huge recession when the Trump Tariffs take hold! Good luck, Republicans, you own it!
57
Don't forget, the antidote awaiting this administration's protectionist pathway, bound to eclipse it, by flinging open trade and the old saying, "tear down that wall" (Reagan quote) applied to removing that Mexican wall, at some point in the not too distant future.
Real change in this country will accelerate with an influx of immigrants with an economic ax to grind, such as China, North Korea, and sundry southeast Asian countries. The key will be to have presidents of Asian and Hispanic decent to upgrade immigration policies, trade, and educational agendas, with world trade in mind going forward.
5
Bret, Trump is in the running to be the worst President, ever, regardless of party affiliation. I can think of few politicians that come close. McCarthy, perhaps, and not a President at that. Tammany Hall was the epitome of corruption at a time which seems almost naive compared to our world. But Trump has brought a level of cynicism to government which will resonate for decades, and I worry about our children, and their kids.
35
This phase of DT 1.0 is what looks like the beginnings of National Socialism to me. Trump is picking winners and losers single-handedly, government regulation and trade police by his whim. Every day all eyes must be glued to the benevolent-or-not-so-benevolent, top-down leader.
31
Not to defend the incurably spineless Democratic Party of recent decades, which aided and abetted in the election of Trump, but if he is merely the worst "Republican president" ever, which Democratic president could be possibly be thought of as even worse?
Apart from that, and the historically utterly untenable supposition that Hoover was worse than GW Bush, a decent if not particularly original, column.
9
Trump supporters, at least those that can read and have a rudimentary understanding of international relations, would do well to read this article in depth.
TRUMP HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE IS DOING: no plan, no rational basis, and a history fraught with caveats that he blindly ignores. He only cares about "winning", but it's all about HIM, not US.
Thank you Bret, you are spot on.
Trump is doing his damndest to ruin this country before his death (or imprisonment). He is now, in his latest ignorant folly, buying votes with taxpayer money - subsidizing energy sectors that need to evolve. We have no infrastructure plan (other than that narcissistic fake monument to Mexican hatred) yet have already overspent by $1.4 trillion our debt limit.
Trump will try to buy or con anything he can for the midterms and beyond, with no regard for even his "base" before our economy implodes once again, but this time due to HIM. No escape, but he has his fake Time Magazine cover.
The economic policies of the previous administration are still propelling the Market upward, but not for long. A trade war looms, our allies will seek alliance elsewhere (and for good reason - Trump cannot be trusted in any theatre), probable nuclear confrontation in both the Middle East and Asia are on the table and Trump waddles our to play golf with OUR MONEY.
You got what you asked for, now I hope you are ALL wealthy enough to have villas in Switzerland!
55
Trump fancies himself a great negotiator. He only wants to make what he considers to be great deals. To get his way, he often resorts to threats, bluffs and brinkmanship in the hopes that the other side will cave. Sometimes it works (e.g., when he pulled out of the North Korean summit only to reschedule it shortly thereafter following North Korea's attitude adjustment). Sometimes it doesn't.
His imposition of these tariffs is merely a negotiating strategy.
I don't know if Canada, Mexico and Europe will ultimately
agree to his demands. However, at this point, it does not look good.
I also don't think he needed to risk a trade wars with our allies and biggest trading partners.
8
Hoover may be the most maligned Republican President--he was hardly the worst. During WWI Hoover gained a reputation as a competent administrator, expert technocrat, and compassionate humanitarian. He was elected President of the U.S. at the height of a speculative bubble. Few understood how to deal with the depression that followed. Hoover stayed with economic orthodoxy; a position initially also embraced by FDR.
Hoover might be considered an Anti-Trump. His internationalist tendencies were tolerated by his party, because of his pro-business views. Trumps isolationist tendencies are tolerated, because he, also, is pro business.
Hoover reluctantly supported Smoot-Hawley. It was one of the few proposed policies, which, barring retribution, could have stimulated the domestic economy. Given universally worsening economic conditions, the U.S. was hardly the only country faced with rising nationalism, and con-commitment implementation of beggar thy neighbor policies, In addition to raising tariff;, currency devaluations, subsidies, and bilateral barter arrangements were part of the game. Smoot--Hawley hardly deserves the sole burden for the collapse of international trade. The collapse of international trade hardly deserves full blame for the depth and duration of the Great Depression
I believe Paul Krugman, Nobel winner for work in International Trade and Finance, believe the the Trump tariffs, while stupid, are relatively small potatoes.
8
If the North Korean dictator is "Rocket Man", Our Commerce
Secretary is "Tariff Man". Trump is his spokesman.
Don't know what Larry Kudlow is doing these days, but he has been so wrong in the past that I suggest he read Samuelson's
basic book on economics to try to understand his "specialty".
11
And this is all without even mentioning issues that Mr. Stephens either doesn't care about or doesn't believe in: climate change, wealth and income inequality, and renewable energy. Worst president ever, Republican or Democrat. And don't even mention integrity or fitness for office.
33
Bear in mind that Trump has a few more years during which he can wreak even more havoc than even the most fertile of minds could imagine.
17
Had the US not enacted the Smoot-Hawley tariff, it would have been worse off as other nations would not have stopped themselves from enacting tariffs.
1
Gosh, that was fun.
Now can we do the Democratic Presidents?
Buchanan? Obama?
5
Gee....how about the Great Recession compliments of G.W. Bush?! Which President Obama had to dig us out of?!
If it were not for the policies of the Obama administration, Donald wouldn't have such a strong economy!
54
Mr. Stevens, with all due respect, your “silly me” excuse that you wrote an entire book that, in retrospect, was directed at the WRONG PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION comes across as cavalier and egotistical.
Silly people like me read these pieces and draw false conclusions, vote for the wrong candidates and then become very angry when people like you, who should know better, get things so badly and completely wrong.
An apology would be more appropriate than a flippant excuse but we all know republicans do not apologize. Right?
37
Gosh, Al, buddy, you nailed it.
14
So why bash the friends, it seems to me that his choices have more to do with his perception that their leaders see right through his facade and haven't been able to adequately conceal their feelings.
Remember that this is a man for whom no slight can ever go unpunished.
7
As Stephens points out, Herbert Hoover floundered in dealing with the onset of the Depression. Signing Smoot-Hawley was one of the most brainless moves he made, almost as brainless as the isolationist opposition to Wilson's negotiations at the Paris Conference in 1919. Republican rejection of internationalism was just as poisonous then as it is now.
However, it needs to be pointed out that the brainless, moronic Trump and the educated, intellectual Hoover should not be spoken of in the same breath. Hoover's stewardship of the American Relief Association in the closing days of WWI and in the immediate aftermath of war kept millions of desperate Europeans from starvation and disease. In that regard, he is a heroic figure in the narrative of international cooperation, anticipating the efforts at restoration and rescue that would be made by the US after the end of WWII in Europe.
Trump, I'd bet the farm, never helped a little old lady cross the street or dropped a dime into a UNICEF canister.
We're now dealing with a wholly different order of narcissistic selfishness and indifference to social ills, domestic or international.
Trump, I
44
“What was it that Sarah Palin once said...?” I can’t put my finger on it, Brett, but this piece of rhetoric caught my attention for its absurdity. Surely you don’t think we, your readers, have Palin’s utterances, like MLK’s or Oscar Wilde’s, committed to memory. Assuredly, we do not. So you guided us back into our collective memory banks, pointing out that Palin didn’t say this important thing two or more times, but just once. ONCE! How helpful to know that and to be oriented toward the great collection of Palin sayings, some of which were said multiple times, but this one just once. Yeah, okay, Brett, ready when you are! Lay it down! What did Sarah Palin say ONCE? Ahhh, yes, it comes back to me now.
6
OMG such hysteria. Was it not this publication that ran a column by a "Nobel prize winner" that Trump would immediately sink the economy? Trump has been a hugely successful contrarian and most of us conservatives have had to re-examine our doctrinaire ideas and so should Stephens and so should that Nobel winner.
8
I am sure that Grant and Harding are breathing sighs of relief. And give honourable mention to McKinley.
4
Bret, you seem to have completely forgotten that George W. Bush was a Republican president?
16
Trump's haircut is not a mullet. It's an insult to mullet sporting men everywhere to say so.
16
someone said recently that he was "moonlighting as president." I think he got it right. So, in order to be the worst, you have to act as president, which, of course, he does not.
I think it's a three way tie: Nixon, Bush and Trump. Code Red America!!!!
16
So coincidental to see the photo Bret used this morning in his article: the BACK of Trump's head. It was just yesterday that we saw a long good look at it during the coverage as the Koreans were leaving. How is it the no-one has commented before how much the back of his head and tonsure look EXACTLY like the narrow side of a bowling ball bag????? Some supreme cosmic message being broadcast here.
3
The soul of the 31st president can rest easy. He is no longer the worst president ever. We had Obama!
3
While history has shown us we must wait at least 30-40 yrs. to see just how good, bad or indifferent a president was, we can make an exception with this guy, at least in description.
No matter how much damage or by accident any good he will have done as viewed 30-40 yrs. from now we can safely say he was a bigot, rabble rouser, pathological lair, philanderer, admitted sexual predator, de facto Russian spy, ego maniac demagogue.
23
That's right, Brett, the worse president in history is your guy.
21
Now can we impeach him?
21
All those who voted Trumpy deserve all that's coming their way.
They haven't a clue. They're blinded by Racism.
They refuse to see the economic gravy train we've been riding on for the past eight years, due to the diligent work of a real president, Barack Hussein Obama.
That's right, White America. As Barack explained it to US: the ship of state is the largest vessel afloat, larger than any aircraft carrier, cargo ship, ocean liner a-going. It takes a lot to turn it around.
How long did it take George Dubya' to steer it toward the rocky shores? Two terms. After Bill Clinton handed him and the nation a surplus, yeah, a surplus, it took Dubya' eight years, two premeditated wars (put on the US credit card), to steer US into a financial crisis second only to the Great Depression.
These catastrophic calamities were placed on the shoulders of President Obama. Never-ending wars, a failing economy, Barack became Dubya's garbage man, having the horrible task of cleaning up the awful mess left by an out-to-lunch Chief Executive.
Did Barack complain? Whine? Blame others? You're darn right he didn't. Barack rolled up his sleeves and got down to work. He managed to turn around the US ship of state, and he passed Obamacare to boot.
Barack planned a hand off to Hillary, who, even more accomplished than Barack going in, would have improved upon Barack's work.
Instead, it was handed to a complete crackpot. See how long before we plunge back into the abyss.
DD
Manhattan
49
That Trump is an idiot is one thing, but that he can’t be check by Congress is what is really scary.
35
Bret, may I suggest a working title for your next book? "Capital Cowards of the Capitol: The Sniveling of the Republican Soul".
Trump could have been reined in during his first 100 days in office. He could have been denied the presidency even before that. But, no, the Republican party, desperate to place its rump in the chair behind the Oval Office desk, acquiesced to the polls and worked to put Trump's voluminous posterior in that seat. Having accomplished that, they now gamely follow the old high school prom rule: Dance with the one what brung ya. Cowardice is contagious. The only member of either house who has had the stones to stand up to Trump at all will very likely not live out this month. Perhaps if a few more of his fellow office holders had also spent 5 years at the Hanoi Hilton, things would be different.
Hoover, Iowa's only son to inhabit the White House, was feckless. Trump is reckless, as he demonstrates on a daily basis with the wreckage he leaves in his wake. But his debris field is only enhanced by this cowardly Republican Congress.
21
Doubtless this president is using claims of national security for his own political ends. But to dismiss it totally on that basis is an extreme the other way- a head-in-the-sand approach. Until a few years ago, we thought a Depression a thing of the past. A new, better controlled economy....outdated regulations....a new market world.
Now we seem to think that war is passe’, at least as far as our discreet North American continent is concerned. Global supply chains for metals, unnecessary coal, nuclear power plants....friends on both borders ( at least when they need protection) ....internet companies unwilling to help military concerns about early detection, prevention of cyber spies, attacks. But hey- it’s a new, peaceful world. And there’s big money in the global status quo.
De ja vous ( spelling is not my strong suit) all over again. This president is right about very few things, and even those he tends to screw up- but we, Europe, Mexico, Canada need to remember- real wars can still happen. A Europe hostage to Russian oil/gas supplies, how silent they were on Russian activities in Ukraine. But are they moving towards energy independence? Could that be called...national security?
How many air strikes would it take to wipe out those big, concentrated wind energy farms we are building? One? Two? Uh, and then what?
2
The only false note in this piece is the assumptoin that Trump's tarriff and other trade actions flow from some political/economic philosophy, however misguided. There is another explanation that is far more consistent with someone who is extremely consistent on one point--it is all about Trump. How could he resist using the essentially unfettered power to create huge dislocations in international trade, while having his lawyer sell access to inside information on how fortunes can be made by those--including his family-- who have advance knowledge of what is going to happen next?
23
I never noticed that before but Stephens is absolutely right. Trump is totally rocking a mullet. Short in the front, party in the back. The suits and ties only contribute to the never ending 80s vibe. There's a sense of unaging fashion wrapped around an aging body. Dare I say an aging mind as well. However, Trump's political points clearly predate the Egregious Eighties by a wide margin. His inspiration obviously stems from an earlier time.
Herbert Hoover? Maybe. I can see the similarity. One thing is certain though: Trump is the first to be last on the list of presidents. History will ultimately judge but right now we can safely assume the number 45 is only going to sink in the rankings as time goes on. There's no way the US economy can keep humming along with these sorts of policy decisions. The economy is basically growing despite Trump, not because of him. David Byrne could probably do a better job and look better while doing it too. Just saying.
4
A thing to consider why Trump's approval is going up:
He manages to elicit positive emotions in his supporters, despite the chaos and incompetence he spreads.
By contrast, the Democrats come over merely whiny and self-destructive. They have no leader, scratch that, anyone, who seems to be able to captivate the public with a positive, forward-looking and hopeful message.
Instead, all the liberal snobs are doing is insult what turns out to be the majority of the population, i.e. anyone who does not 100% toe their line. Those who don't and beg to differ on one point or another are summarily labelled racists and bigots.
In light of this, it is no wonder that the Democrats will fail, once again, to secure a legislative majority in the fall.
The insulted and disillusioned moderates will just stay home.
The rest will be history.
Again.
9
"Among such sublimities it is wisest to suspend comparison."
1
“These GUYS in Washington don’t understand how real supply lines work,”
Obvious Trump supporter trying to deflect the blame.
1
To paraphrase Michele Wolf, traditional media have profited immensely from this 'character' they helped create. Today they profit by narrating his piece-by-piece dismantling of our republic, which will persist until there is nothing left.
No one bothers to ask what our president* is reading this summer.
11
Two different unrelated Kennedys' admired President Hoover: Bobby Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, David M. Kennedy (Freedom from Fear: the American People in Depression and War 1929-1945.
2
No doubt Trump will transcend the way Bush 2 transcended
Reagan or Bush1 as the worst president in American history.
For now Bush 2 is king, for the gratuitous war in Iraq killing thousands of innocents FOR NO REASON. Creating economic ruin also secures his place in history.
That was indeed worse than Reagan/Bush1 who purposely bankrupted the country because they despised paying taxes.
Trump, believe it or not campers, WILL prevail.
2
Have you checked Friday's jobs numbers? Looks like meeting with Kim might actually take place. Just two examples of a president who is doing a good job.
6
One of the Commenters wrote that another four years of Trump seems likely. I hope, with all my heart, that America is above such a costly mistake. Everything Trump touches rots and somehow, America has to be made aware of this.
14
Methinks it is revealing that Mr. Stephens qualifies his selection as the worst Republican president. Why this limitation? Oh, yes, he is one. It would simply be too much for this Nixon, Bush, Trump supporting writer to acknowledge what is clear to anyone with eyes - that Donald J Trump is the WORST president ever - regardless of party.
21
You admit you were wrong (an administration too early). So why should we believe you are right about this one? American workers were being thrown under the bus to preserve an economic order that was enriching our "allies" as well as our principal competitor: CHINA. As for Mexico? It is a major conduit for drugs and illegal immigrants. Trump is already signaling that he will soon confront this failing nation. As for the gratuitous insults against a sitting president, the NYT has done its fair share to normalize this contempt.
3
This time Brett hit the nail on the head. Trump is an EIBF (Evil, Ignorant, Bloviating, Fool) but even worse is that he is willfully so. America deserves (but not the rest of the world) what it's going to get because we've put him in office and failed to repudiate and kick out of office his enablers in the Republican party
3
I am at a loss to understand why Mr. Stephens limits his view of Mr. Trump to only the Republican subset of the total President universe.
3
Isn’t economic terrorism a high crime?? If this current Congress will not act to do what it pledged when they took their oath to protect the Country and the Constitution, we must vote them out. Impeachment and or state prosecution are our legal remedies
1
Let us hope our allies are smart enough (I'm sure they are) to retaliate with tarrifs that hurt Trump's base so we can be rid of him in, yikes 963 days!
How about a front page count down meter.
3
Cheering for foreign nations to do something that hurts Americans in order to spite Trump. Gee I wonder why the left-wing has no support in this country
2
I would have put Calvin Coolidge and Warren G Harding ahead of Herbert C Hoover on the list of worst Republican President. Also what about putting Ronald Reagan and George W Bush ahead of Hoover on that list?
2
Oh no, Gail Collins on book leave?!?! So we have to settle for Stephens wondering if most Americans have noticed the flagrantly destructive trade policies of Trump, at the same time we’re outraged by his tweets against the Justice Dept and FBI and Russia investigation, his snatching of children from parents, his evident dismissal of Puerto Rico (remember Puerto Rico?), his ongoing narcissism and bigotry, misogynism and ethical malfeasance, the corruption and gnorance of his cabinet — all the stuff more immediately noticeable and as bad or worse. Yes, we’ve noticed his trade war is incomprehensible except as a strategy to fulfill his mission of Making America Worse.
10
Despite whatever legitimate trepidation one may feel about this presidency or this president, it is simply too early to make this kind of pronouncement.
3
Trump is the most despicable president ... by far. He hasn't yet managed to do the damage that GWB did.
Buchanan may still be the worst of all time, but that all depends on the view that had he could have prevented the Civil War ... and I doubt that.
6
"The darker echos of the 1930s
1
I believe Mr. Trump is the worst president ever because I think he is the only one who is trying purposely to destroy the United States.
9
Hoover was hardly the worst President ever. Take you pick out of the post-Civil War Presidents until TR. Calling Nixon the worst comes from hard-core Nixon haters. He was hardly the worst. Watergate coverup dumped him in that category. But the guy was no light-weight.
4
Donald Trump is totally unqualified to be president, but that is only half the problem. Our constitutional system is not working because our founding fathers never contemplated that an incompetent president would be so enabled by a compliant congress. So, it is not just Trump, America’s pending collapse belongs solely to Mitch McConnell, Pail Ryan and their spineless Republican collegues.
The Republican Party must die that this nation might live.
15
And yet I'm sure Bret Stephens fully supports an unelected poliburo of economist of one particular stripe, that being the Keynesians, to centrally manage all aspects of the financial aspects of our economy. The economy is infinitely more complex than macro-economic formulas. Its pseudo-science. The formulas don't hold forevermore like in say thermodynamics. Macro-economics depends on human actions. And those actions and reactions change over time, locations, and cultures.
1
Thank you for finally remembering that the Republican party is the party of economic disaster. It's not just Smoot-Hawley and isolationism. It's Voodoo Economics and huge budget deficits. It is a commitment to profound social inequality, a commitment stemming from an indifference to (or perhaps an ignorance of) the social and economic repercussions of the Industrial Revolution. It is tax cuts in the middle of two major wars.
21
Watched Bret Stephens on Real Time last night and it is refreshing to know that Real Republicans are still capable of rational thought. In Pogo's immortal words, Stephens has "met the enemy and he is us."
3
This whole debate is maddening. We have isolationist liberals and Trumpists making essentially the same arguments. Trade is a good thing, folks. Free trade liberal domestic policies (universal healthcare, subsidized public education, retirement benefits), sensible regulation (esp of banks)...this combination is the best way forward. We can combat poverty and raise the standard of living for working class citizens without destroying potential export markets with trade wars. The problem of inequality will not magically be solved by creating unnecessary conflicts with our allies. And worse still is the other ominous threat: countries who trade with each other have a huge incentive to peacefully resolve their differences. Trade wars risk deteriorating into something far worse.
11
Ahem, let's not forget that great GOP politician--Richard Nixon. Trump may best him as the worst Republican president of all time. Once we get a gander at all the criminality and corruption oozing out of this administration (as of now it's still mostly hidden from view) Trump will very likely supersede Nixon.
In terms of trade policy Trump is already way worse than Hoover since he's doing all of this unprovoked and for no other reason than to poke the eye of respectable expert opinion. Trump thinks he has "the best brain of all time" so he clearly knows that what he does, unilaterally, is simply going to end up all lollipops and rainbows in the sky for American consumers and the US economy. And this despite his functional illiteracy, his vehement resistance to any type of education, and a temperament that makes a 6-year-old look like a fount of wisdom and moderation.
But this is what American voters wanted. So they will get it. It'll be an economic slaughter when business activity inevitably slows down and the 36% of the US economy that voted for this horrendous man feels the full measure of his trade policies.
I work in the industrial sector. I buy steel and iron products that require a lot of value-added labor and machine tool work prior to being sold to my customers and for the past two months my business has been noticeably slower.
I fear daily that we are having a repeat of the foolhardy economic decisions that led to the Great Depression. It CAN happen again - as Mr. Stephens correctly alludes to in this article.
Unfortunately at this point, it is up to the republicans in Congress to stop this clownish buffoon that is now the POTUS. At this point I worry that even if we elect a Democratically-controlled branch of Congress in November to put the brakes on this man and his "advisers" that it will be too late to reverse course from the precipice of the unknown that we are headed for. And as trump is proving daily, he can even make unilateral decisions that none of us can stop.
The right likes to think that they are pro-business and smarter than the rest of us. Well, it is way past time for them to put up or shut up about being so business savvy - and for them to rein in this ignorant man-child. Looking at you, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and all the sycophants who are part of this ignorant administration.
Pray that we do not have a new Civil War as a result of a Great Depression II. I know that I do.
9
It is really no surprise that the thing that might finally convince conservatives like Mr. Stephens and his ilk in Congress to turn on Trump is not his blatant racism, misogyny, dragging the office of the presidency through the mud, treatment of immigrants, ripping up of international alliances, collusion with our biggest enemies, destruction of the environment, unprecedented government deficits as far as the eye can see, hiring thieves to run government agencies, etc etc etc... but tariffs that will hurt the profits of US corporations that are already at record highs.
So, THAT’s what going to make Trump the worst president, Mr. Stephens? Climb out from under your rock.
7
I can name three Republican presidents worse than Hoover: Nixon, for being a criminal, Reagan, for being corrupt, mendacious and ignorant, and G W Bush, under whose watch 9/11 happened, who set a new precedent by installing a political operative permanently in the White House and who handcuffed the NLRB and the EPA to enrich his cronies.
Trump didn’t happen in a vacuum. He has elements of all the others’ worst traits. This is the way the Republican party has been going for decades. It’s not an accident and I suspect Stephens knows that and is just fine with it.
8
If we had a Mount Shame to go along with Mount Rushmore, Trump would already be added. Not only is Trump the worst president in history he was the worst candidate and with some of the looney, fringe candidates we've had that says a lot.
2
Sorry, but Hoover, who was an international humanitarian, was long ago surpassed as the worst president since Andrew Johnson by George W. Bush, aka Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. It is testimony to the continued blind loyalty of even “moderate” Republicans that this obvious fact is never conceded. Trump is only even worse than Bush II.
2
Hoover's historical reputation implicates him for presiding over the onset of the Great Depression and, as Bret Stephens points out, for responding in the typical conservative, do-nothing fashion. His 'response,' alone, deserves condemnation.
However, lost in history is Hoover's humanitarian role as the major organizer of food shipments to a starving Europe immediately after the close of WW I. Hoover's efforts to get American food to a desperate continent stood in stark contrast to the genocidal actions of England which continued the naval food blockage of Germany (with Wilson's shameful connivance) for many months after hostilities ceased. Hoover pleaded with leaders of both countries to lift the blockade but with no success, such was the ill-will in London and Washington.
Finally, after tens of thousands of needless civilian deaths, the Allies reluctantly lifted the food blockade. The damage had been done.
Many historians have written that the Great War eventually ruined the reputations of virtually every war-time leader, including that of our own president, Woodrow Wilson. Ironically, history has also noted that, truly, the only figure to come out of the war with an enhanced image was Herbert Hoover.
6
THANK YOU for a clear eyed didactic view into the reality of our country's economic policy.
Hoover in some ways gets a bad rap. His reluctance to give direct relief to citizens which FDR did was certainly a huge failure. Still hoover's efforts during WW1 largely led to Belgium not starving. And he got High marks as secretary of commerce. He certainly behaved in a proper manner unlike Trump.
4
Republicans worse than Hoover: Andrew Johnson. Rutherford Hayes. Warren Harding. GW Bush. And every current GOP member of the House and Senate enabling Trump.
2
Of course Kudlow should resign -- so should Kelly who will otherwise confirm his role as the Pied Piper for all those kids ripped from their mothers at the border.
A note about Hoover. He deserves a huge share of blame for the Great Depression but in earlier years he was a magnificent humanitarian, leading our post World War I relief efforts in Europe. There is no redeeming value to Trump's scatterbrained, debased rule. I would like to see him help bring peace to the Korean peninsula, but it is just as likely he will botch the opportunity, out of vanity or ignorance.
Americans will pay dearly, in treasure and, perhaps, blood for our mistake in electing Trump President.
10
Herbert Hoover failed because he was an ideologue and couldn't see beyond the box. Much like you lot. FDR saved your bacon and you've spent the last 80 plus years in incessant warfare against the New Deal, the first 50 largely underground, the last 30 openly. Trump is a symptom of the excesses of that warfare. As FDR was a symptom of laissez faire capitalism and turned out saving the 'capitalism'. But you boys continued to crave the 'laissez faire' and so we are where we are.
8
Bret,
Dems elected Bill Clinton to power - who despite his personal failings, led the US to 8 years of prosperity.
In return GOP tried to impeach Bill Clinton and then elected GW Bush, who led us into 2 wars, several man made and natural disasters AND the Great Recession!
Then Dems elected Obama - who rescued the economy, winded down the wars and reformed Healthcare. The GOP responded by calling him incompetent, a tyrant, a communist, a Muslim and many other stuff. And you wrote that book!
Then the GOP elected Trump! Trump!! And here we are. Need I say more?
9
You have two misconceptions in your column today. Let’s start with the easy one. Larry Kudlow has no self-respect. Like Jeff Sessions, the idea of having a national political appointment is more important than self-respect. Even when Trump destroys all shreds of their integrity as they enable his lying and egotism.
Secondly, you’re attempting to analyze his trade policy as though it is based on economic reality. That has nothing to do with it. It’s merely Trump showing that he holds the power to punish other governments that aren’t America. He understands trade policy at the same level he understood health care. Don’t bother me with the facts if they restrain my ability to destroy Obamacare, to pardon political allies, to build a wall, to find wiretaps, to imagine spies, to deny affairs, to save coal mines, to reject global warming... Trump may not be our smartest President, but he knows that all of this is done as a show of his personal power—abetted, unfortunately, by his supine appointees and the vast majority of the Republican Party.
6
Bret Stephens you should do some more research. Richard Nixon was the worst ever. If you had been eligible for the draft and the war in Vietnam, you would know what I am talking about.
Also, Nixon's "Southern Strategy" was a really ugly episode in American political history. Same can be said for Nixon dividing the country with rhetoric designed to demonize anyone who opposed his positions. And so much more.
Also, after President Hover left office, he continued to work on behalf of United States interests in a significant way.
So this is the greatest, best, most powerful, free, nation in the world...EVER! Land of the free, home of the brave!
If the above is all true, why are we 17th in the world as far as having an educated populace? 24th in the world in science education. 24th in the world in reading...there is something to be said for consistency. 38th in mathematics. When people from other countries ask how Trump got elected, one only needs to point to these statistics for a good place to start to find the answer. Who elected this dullard and what does it say about those who continue to defend his actions, policies and train wreck of a presidency. We are being conned. The problem is there aren't enough average, below average and way below average Americans who are smart enough to see through the con. The economy is humming! For who? Just wait and see what happens to the greatest economy in the world after this disaster runs it's course. People get ready.
20
You dishonor Hoover who was an engineer, had served the country before becoming president and served it for many years afterward with great honor. I am not a Republican but I am an American and Hoover did his best. His biggest asset in 1928 was not being Catholic. Would Smith have been better, who knows? Would it have mattered, probably not. Can You mention Blog Dr and Trump in the same breath, NO.
1
Mr. Stephens, right you are! I would add that Mr. Trump and sycophants are the enemies of peace. Under his government, the stability of the world has been broken.
2
Please don't understate Reagan's role in the GOP's continuing divisive, greed-driven melodrama.
13
By your argument, Mr. Stephens, President Clinton and President Obama were the two best Republican presidents.
On another note, Mr. Trump's positions were not merely "extreme", with the possibility that his "sober-minded advisers" would bring him to reason. His positions and those of Mr. Pence, are just malevolent. The only thing that currently stands between us and all-out disaster is that bunch's utter incompetence - an incompetence born of their willful ignorance, their dishonesty, their delusion and their logical incoherence. hopefully, we can count on that until their time in office is up. Meanwhile, prepare to feel a lot of pain.
2
Plenty of Republicans besides Hoover to choose from for last place: Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush . . .
3
It's about time some journalist noted that the inflation in oil prices is a direct result of Trump, and is the ONLY way he can make up for the tax benefits to the most wealthy in last year's tax bill. When will the press hold him to account for real number mismanagement rather than random shots of twitter sneers!?
I have a problem with your comparing Hoover with Trump. Hoover was a first rate engineer and a true humanitarian. Trump is not first rate at anything other than lying and being self obsessed. As for compassion, you might ask the people of Puerto Rico about that.
8
Since there is near universal agreement that Trumps trade policies are ill conceived if not juvenile, sensible people must ask if something else is going on besides regressive policy making.
Trump is quick to use national security as an excuse for inexplicably stupid trade policies but if the objective is to promulgate real chaos and conflict then his actions are logical and timely.
8
Trump is a wrecker. He’s wrecked his businesses, his marriages, and those caught up in his orbit. Now he is taking a wrecking ball to America’s role on the world stage and ultimately whatever economic stability this country has.
7
Actually Herbert Hoover has never been the worst Republican president. That honor has always belonged to the incredibly corrupt Warren G Harding Administration. It's true, however, the Trump is now the worst president of any party. US democracy will be lucky to survive the banana republic Trump Administration.
6
If anyone in this administration had a gram of self-respect they wouldn't be in this administration.
Self promotion, self enrichment, that is the motivation.
13
Why wont he do anything about the H1B visas which he promised? 2017 saw an even higher rise than 2016. 350,000 jobs were given to imported H1B, plus their spouses, to take over what Americans have been doing. After 2 years they rotate them out.
Herbert Hoover had a distinguished career as a humanitarian before and after his time as president.
The current Republican president had a dodgy career as a grifter and "celebrity" admired by the empty-headed before his time in the White House, and I doubt that he will improve much after he vacates the premises in favor of his successor.
2
Because most Americans' understanding of American history is so poor, columnists like Mr. Stephens can get away with making such claims. To argue President Trump is the worst Republican president ever is premature since his historic presidency is not yet over. Let his presidency come to an end, hopefully in 2024, and then assess him in terms of the entire pantheon of Republic and Democratic presidents. I support the President. I support Trump. He has triumphed; he will continue to triumph! Thank you.
2
Just don't forget it was Donald Trump who said: "I love the poorly educated."
His presidency is hardly a triumph.
9
SB, my understanding of American history is quite satisfactory to conclude that no president in our history has been as ignorant, crude, incompetent, and self-dealing as Mr. Trump.
As to whether he will be worse than Harding or GWB -- time will tell.
5
@N.Smith,
Thank you. Are you implying that I am poorly educated? Well I am not, and since I know nothing about your education, I assume you are. That's only fair.
Trump and the Republicans are sowing the seeds for the next Great Recession. First came the 2017 tax cut which provides pushes trillions of dollars into corporations, the top 10%, and stockholders, doing nothing substantial to improve the fortunes of the 90% of taxpayers who can sustain this economic expansion. Now comes the trade war, which at the least unsettles the business environment but could tip the balance in many industries from expansion to contraction. That's a heck of a one-two punch to the gut.
5
Warren Harding?
2
Mr. Stephens seems eager to pronounce a final judgment on President Trump after only 17 months into his first term. Let's forget things like appointment of an excellent Supreme Court justice, defeating ISIS, gearing up the economy to its best level in decades, passing a tax cut, making the U. S. #1 in oil production, breaking the 70-year stalemate with North Korea, restoring a fractured relationship with Israel and overseeing a big boost in the stock market and personal wealth. Social Security recipients also received a 2.2% cost-of-living increase the first year under Trump, more than double Mr. Obama's eight year average of 1% annually.If that's not "winning", I'm not sure what is.
It would be nice if there were honest context but here we are providing misleading information. Specious is the word. I hope you aren’t purposely peddling dishonest representations of complex outcomes.
2
Read a book.
I took note of the last sentence.
"If Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he’d resign."
If Larry Kudlow had any self-respect, or any integrity for that matter, he would never have taken the job in the first place. Everybody knows what happens to all Trump minions, sooner or later.
17
Bush Jr was a hundred times worse than Trump. We are still living in Bush world- war under false pretenses, loss of our civil liberties, economic ruin from bankers.
2
The writer of this nonsense thinks it's bad that the Trump administration won't cave in to Canada ?
2
George Bush Jr was the worst Republican ever. He brought us Cheney, Rumsfeld, Halliburton, neverending war, ISIS, Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, torture, and the crash of 2008. How soon you forget.
18
This presidency is a lot like rinsing your mouth out with a sugary soda every night before going to bed. It's been almost a year and a half now. Wonder what we're going to find when we go to the dentist and open our mouths. Rot.
10
Until Trump, George W. Bush was by far the worst President.
Ole R. Holsti, George V Allen Professor of Political Science, emeritus, Duke Univesrsity
9
Herbert Hoover still remains the worst Republican ever.
1
No need for the qualifier "Republican" in ...worst Republican president ever...
7
And the sad truth is you could write a comparable "sky is falling" article about any other week of this presidency.
3
Is this disruption of 80 years of western policy something that Putin et.al. would want to happen?
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
5
The worst president every is Nixon because he tried to destroy our democracy and created a model of nastiness and racial politics that the Repubilcan Party still follows. Hoover made a mistake, that's all.
4
Smoot-Hawley was the catalyst that drove European economies into the decline that fostered the rise of fascist leaders in Germany, Italy etc. Hmmmmm.....what came next?
3
Ahhhh yes, Brett. But for Obama.....you really can’t shake bringing Obama into your arguments can you?
Ok, so how’s this but for Obama, the unemployment rate would be above 5% not below 3.9%. How’s that for you?
4
What? Poor old Herb, bad as he may have been, was worse than Tricky Dick or George II?
3
Hoover had "Hooverville's".
Does that mean that today's homeless camps should be called "Trumpvilles"?
How about "Donnietowns"?
"MAGAtons"?
You did well tonight, Bret.
Good to see you get a laugh.
3
My, that's bitter, Bret!
Trump is fulfilling his campaign promises to the multitudes he convinced to blame their economic plight and spiritual blight on foreign trade, immigration, uppity blacks and women, and liberal education.
3
Just curious: Why do you insist on saying that Trump is the worst Republican president ever rather than the worst president ever? This snide insinuation that that the Democrats are always worse is another symptom of the whataboutism that plagues you and your right wing colleagues. Face the facts: Obama did a very good job and your criticism of him in the past is now rendered pathetic by your support of Trump and his congressional allies. You might not have liked all of Obama's policies but in honesty, patriotism, decency, knowledge, seriousness, and concern for Americans at home and our obligations abroad he towers above the cretin who is now president. Until you on the right wing can face the fact that we--those not in the 99% or white supremacist hate groups--were better off under Obama our political discourse will remain stalled. Get real and snap out of it for the good of the country.
9
HE makes Hoover look like a Nobel Prize winning economist. Imagine Trump as president, during 2008, without Obama to clean up the mess. A Depression from Hell. This "businessman" has spent a lifetime scheming and scamming. THAT is his business plan. A reality TV Presidential Apprentice, with NO connection to actual reality. And the rubes eat it up, like he's the home team, and they want to go to the Super Bowl. Sorry, but the tickets are reserved for the Rich. However, Ivanka branded merchandise is always available. Made in China, but they need those jobs.
Right ?
8
Although I am a Democrat, objective fact was that Herbert Hoover was one of the most accomplished men of his era. His mistake was being 1) in office at the wrong time; 2) having a childlike myopic view how our economic system works. Wait till the panic buttons on Wall Street are pushed near simultaneously and see how that paper wealth vanishes overnight. Without the hundreds of billions for the 2008 bailout, we would be there now. I'm not sure where the government will come up with the money next time.
4
In Hoover's defense:
* Keynes' economics were questionable in the early 1930s. HST said that if you line up all the economists, they all point in different directions.
* He was a Republican: a staunch defender and believer in small government. He was confronted by a economic tsunami. A respected solution back then was to just ride it out. The Wheel of Fortune will spin round in time.
* Very modest and shy, he was indeed always the smartest guy in the room, which, of course, doesn't make you infallible.
* He and his administration supposedly had many government rescue programs all lined up, which FDR used to varying degrees.
* FDR's programs did not end the Great Depression; WWII did, which, if you will, was a huge government hiring and industrial expansion effort.
* He looked a little like Bob Hope. (Okay, I'm scraping bottom here.)
2
Even liberal economist Paul Krugman keeps this in perspective: "But didn’t the Smoot-Hawley tariff cause the Great Depression? No. There’s no evidence at all that it did. Yes, trade fell a lot between 1929 and 1933, but that was almost entirely a consequence of the Depression, not a cause. " As to Trump's tariff's, "We’re not talking the end of the world or even a major depression here. Just a big short-term mess and a longer-term drag on economic growth.'
1
I have reservation about opinion of someone who takes Sarah Palin's quotes as reference!
7
Bret, Bret, Bret, Bret. While Trump has no doubt completely destroyed the GOP, you rank Dubya higher than Hoover?!? His neocon aggressions got us into so much international trouble that we’re still reeling from them; these ideas — the ones you made a career of championing publicly — were relegated to the dustbin of history a decade ago. It is fortunate for you that the NYT is under pressure to express opinions from both sides of the aisle.
1
The worst president ever, from either party. Horrible.
4
Obama may want to finally go on that long awaited apology tour.
What would you like him to apologize for? Making everyone laugh at Old Bone Spurs the White House correspondents' dinner? For not recognizing the artful means Trump avoided the draft and made millions on reality TV? Maybe Obama should apologize for not hiring Celebrity Apprentice winners? Or maybe Obama should apologize for not spending time in some gated community like Mar-a-go-go? Or maybe you think Obama should apologize for being a citizen of the U.S., birther evidence and all?
Hey, it's Shark Week on cable, time to order up some company!
5
C'mon Bret. Man up. The worst Republican president? You can eliminate "Republican." Then you've got it right.
5
Not only worst Republican ever, but also a candidate for one of the worst humans ever. I'm sure he's deelighted that he will go down in history, and I mean DOWN.
6
Getting complicated things--like the global economy and American's preferred position in the world-- right in a short piece is just plain hard. This time around you do a decent job, I think, but would offer three additional thoughts.
First, about the book you wrote too soon: Some of what you lamented as Obama's "retreat" from world leader was a natural and sane reaction to both the kind of world "leadership" represented by the Iraq debacle and by the emergence of significant economic rivals like China and the European Economic Union. Wishing things are otherwise does not make them so, even at book length.
Hoover and the tariff lobby he heeded, as you say under immense pressure, did screw up, but that was before the Depression and all it taught us about how global economies work. For that era, ignorance is some excuse. For ours, none at all.
The only reasonable explanation for Trump's actions other than the short term political benefit you mention he might hope to gain in some parts of the country is his severely damaged psyche. He's a bully, pure and very--in the sense of ignorance--simple. He thinks he can cow anyone with threats. It's his modus operandi. He's been doing it for years both on and off tv and when he can't do it himself he and has hired lawyers to do it for him. For Trump tariff imposition is both a handy club and a new toy.
What more could a simple-minded bully with the mind of a toddler want?
This will not end well.
15
And your complicity with the G?P TP over the past years that laid the groundwork for this even more insane insanity?
1
Sad to see Herbert Hoover in the same bucket as Donald Trump.
4
Democrats, even well-meaning, thoughtful Democrats, cannot make the case here. When will congressional Republicans -- who call themselves conservatives and used that word to challenge, and even impute motives of anti-Americanism to their opponents -- wake up to the voices of the most respected conservative voices who are now literally shouting alarms? Trump is not only no conservative, not only someone whose credibility is non-existent as a result of his war with the truth. He's hell-bent on a path that is destroying America's reservoir of good-will with out friends, emboldening our enemies, rejecting the notion that we are still a nation of immigrants, and encouraging fear-fueled bigotry. Which of these outcomes reflect "conservative values"?
Donald Trump might think "l'état, c'est moi" (well, no, but the English equivalent). If congressional Republicans let him get away with it, Louix XIV will look like a piker.
The most honored public servants in our history are those who stood on principal when it counted. It counts now.
3
This photo of the back of his head is pretty good. You can see how complicated his combovers are. But I wish a still from the video of him boarding our plane could be the stock photo shot from his back that is always used. Creepy, really, really creepy....and truthful.
3
Bret Stephens says he wrote his nasty book about Obama too soon and that he should have saved it for the truly awful presidency of Trump. This illustrates how Republicans are so quick to denounce Democratic presidents and Democratic policies as a knee jerk reaction having nothing to do with their merits. You shot your wad demeaning Obama. Now who would listen to you about Trump, Mr. Stephens? How could you not have recognized the decency and competence of President Obama? Just think what might have been accomplished for our country and the world if not for the hatred and obstructionism of Republicans such as yourself against President Obama!
19
What the heck is wrong with this guy?
Someone should sit him down, and explain life in America post 9/11, and what GWB did to destroy this nation.
One thing about conservatives, they pick lousy leaders.
8
Trump is starting to resemble Liberace.
4
Do any of the readers debating which Republican was the worst President ever notice that the list to choose from is comprised of only Republicans? Harding, Hoover, Nixon, Bush II, Trump, and as far as I'm concerned, Reagan, all are in a death struggle for worst President ever. If they didn't usher in a recession, or blow up the national debt, or work to undermine the Constitution, they were busy sucking up to the one percent and undermining the economic lives of everyone else, or stoking the fires of race, religion, class and culture for partisan advantage. Enough with the Republicans. They are toxic for the USA. Vote Democratic in November. Your job, your family, and your freedom are at stake
7
God! How I wish all that weren't true.
2
The singularly awful Democrat was Buchanan. Whether or not one thinks he could have prevented the Civil War (I doubt it) he stands out as the most racist president and strongest supporter of slavery in American history.
Of course it is the GOP who took over the old "Southern Democrats" ... so today he must count as an "honorary Republican" ... as Lincoln today surely constitutes an honorary Democrat.
When was the last time you heard any Republican proudly call themselves "the party of Lincoln?"
2
The person in Trumpworld most impressed by the social, economic, and political implications of the 1930s was Fred not Donald. Fred was the ORIGINAL racist, xenophobe, misogynist, and Nazi-sympathizer in that family, and who was apparently no one's idea of a good parent. The implication is that yes, our entire contemporary national nightmare is just "unresolved daddy issues" writ very large and very publicly.
7
When many a Democrat and a Republican agree you can see the shadow of the hand that rules them both. Many an economist has estimated that the impact on GDP will be minimal. Stock prices however will take a hit, and America's oligarch's, that is to say the 0.01 percent, will bear the brunt of this. However for the average person the real travesty of Republican Party rule will be the dismantling of the safety net, the hollowing out of the working class, and the on-going and continuing transfer of our commonwealth to the one percent, all thanks to the tax and regulatory changes imposed by the Republican party. And before you think I am calling for an embrace of Democratic party rule, let us not forget that significant deregulation of business interests and low marginal tax rates for the wealthy have been embraced by many Democrats, especially the Democratic Leadership Council. We need another, new American revolution, not business as usual.
2
Mr. Stephens, you say, "Protectionism anywhere is invariably bad for local consumers and the global economy, but American protectionism is infinitely worse. It’s a betrayal of the liberal-international order we founded nearly eight decades ago; an invitation to anti-Americanism; a rebuff to our friends; and sometimes (Boston Tea Party, anyone?) a prelude to war."
It is crystal clear that The Con Don and his U.S. brethren inside and outside OUR governments are working only for the International Mafia Top 1% Global Financial Elite Robber Baron/Radical Religion Good Old Boys cabal.
Strong man Sisi, of Egypt, was just "reelected". An article in today's Reuters says, "The 63-year-old former intelligence chief and defence minister... led the overthrow of Egypt’s first freely-elected president..." It also says he killed off or jailed his competitors. The voter turnout was only 41%.
OUR United States now has Bolton and Mad Dog Mattis in charge of OUR military. Israel has war-monger Netanyahu. Russia has Putin. Turkey has Erdogan. The Philippines have Duerte. Supposed "strong" men with "intelligence" backgrounds are being elected around the world with the help of war monger in chief Steve Bannon.
OUR world is in great peril. Only WE THE PEOPLE can/will stop these insatiably greedy war-mongers from starting WW3 and destroying every social good since WW2. They, collectively, make Hitler and Hoover look like infants.
4
Illuminating writing, Bret. Trump is actually taking us into fascism; it looks to be an experiment that his Trumpkins want to explore. This country has flirted with fascism in the past, and now Trump is executing it, as well as directing his Republican congress to legislate it. This makes Trump the worst president.
Other posters here have issues with Nixon and W because of specific actions; Nixon did end the Vietnam War. W didn't cause the crash, but did relive the Vietnam War in Iraq.
But Trump has most probably irreparably split this nation into a confrontation between the uneducated and the educated. This is a gap that can't be bridged to a recalcitrant, angry segment of the population; there is no dumbing down our capabilities to meet the Fox News market on its infertile soil.
If we fail to advance our education and global vision, then we are forced to look to Trump's tariffs to protect the Trump supporter and his or her ineptitude when compared to the rest of the world; China, and others, will surpass us.
Trump has, by far, become the worst president by putting himself above God and country, and stimulating his supporters who reinforce his churlish nature. Trump is a demagog who, along with his supporters, can destroy our democracy.
2
Trump is more likely a symptom than the cause of our current national malaise.
On the one hand we have American Conservatives preaching personal responsibility and accountability. In their minds anyone who falls through the cracks did so because of their own lack of planning, lack of grit or lack of moral fiber.
On the other hand we have American Liberals. They believe in meritocracy. They believe that those that don't make it lack native intelligence, attitude or skills they need to make it in the "new" economy.
They spend political capital focussing on the needs of increasingly small slivers of the electorate while alienating large portions of the middle.
Stuck in between are the people who feel threatened. For them globalization has only brought headache - they've watched their jobs diminish and their communities get hollowed out and they are getting blamed for their own demise by both political parties.
They are ripe fruit for a conman like Trump. He offers them scapegoats and a thumb in the eye of all those smartypants telling them that their problems are all their own fault.
And in a way he is right - people care about their jobs and communities above all else- and both major political parties have let them down.
1
Trump is the worst President ever, We won't know how bad for years. Who knows how much more damage this selfish, greedy ego maniac who doesn't give a darn about America or Americans, except for how he can use us and his office to profit himself. But George W Bush, US attacked, never ending war entered into on a lie, the on going chaos in the middle east as a result and the world wide recession/depression caused by his reckless tax cuts and deregulation of banks is the worst "conventional " President.
3
Doug, no we already know, today. Our knowledge will be enhanced as time goes on.
Hoover wasn't bad for a Republican, he just adhered to Republican dogma - doomed to failure - that the answer to any financial crisis is a balanced budget and hands off the economy. In my life, every Republican President since Ike has been worse.
A kid named Don was in my middle school class. He was gumpy, sort of stupid, and really unpleasant. On a twist of a contemporary homily, he performed random acts of ugly, just to get attention.
Because he was sort of stupid, and somewhat poor, we never thought he'd amount to much. I suppose he didn't.
But Donald Trump is what he would have become if he had been rich.
2
These seemingly nonsensical economic moves do indeed have a purpose - to demonstrate to the world that Trump can do economic harm to any nation at will. It is the prelude to blackmail - invest in Trump or suffer the consequences.
6
Had enough?
Vote out the GOP in November.
Vote out Trump in 2020 (if he makes it that long).
2
Walking through a nightmare is not restful: "Do most Americans notice?" Ego psychology tells us that we must adapt, accommodate to the environment. But the Trump landscape is the realm of the id, not the ego and certainly not the superego.
There is the Resistance: cable news, the NYT, WAPO, even the Journal. But how many Americans can tell you which swing states are critical for retaking the House in November?
What I see is normalization. The worst president? Warren Harding, Hoover, Nixon? Not Nixon. He was a statesman. And now, so is Trump. I think it was De Gaulle who said, "That which is temporary has a way of becoming permanent."
1
The GOP politicians thought they could benefit off Trump . They knew he was partially unhinged and intellectually incapable of assuming the role of Commander In Chief . They thought they could get tax and regulations relief and conservative appointments to the Supreme Court . They thought they could control his worse impulses by the appointment of capable people to his administration . What they did not recognized was that this man is not aware of his own limitations and that that to feed his megalomania is not enough to be President . He wants to be the best President ever . He wants to change the World . In his mind History started anew with his inauguration . The GOP did get tax relief , regulation relief and conservative appointments to the Supreme Court . What they did not know ( but should have known ) is that they will also get tariffs and trade wars . They are also getting conflicts with our close allies . To make it even more ridiculous , they are also getting an approximation tour our traditional adversaries like Russia . They may even get a capitulation to North Korea .
3
Trump is trying to remake America in his own personal image. With every action, we inch closer to becoming a contemptibly small-minded and sorry nation, blustering for the bragging rights on things that don’t matter, completely bereft of friends.
6
Chancellor Trump is even worse than Rutherford B. Hayes.
2
Warren Harding?
1
Bret, don't be so quick to judge. Even a blind pig can stumble upon an acorn and this guy's just gotten started. I'm more afraid that a lot of people may die before this nightmare is over.
3
Michael--A lot of people have already died. Ask the poor people of Yemen. Ask all the innocent people who have been killed by bigots, white supremacists, cops, and women who couldn't get a legal abortion, since he was inaugurated.
1
Trump is the worst REPUBLICAN president ever? Give me a break! OK, if not that, then tell me about all the myriad Democrat (or Whig, or...) presidents who were soooo much worse.
Your qualification belies your underlying partisan bias, Mr. Stephens. Just say it: Trump is an unqualified #1 on a list of 45. Starting from the bottom.
3
I don't go as far back as Hoover, but far enough to have experienced many Presidents of all flavors. Even the worst, in my experience, never even came close to Trump. I hope his destruction can be reversed and overcome. He and his administration are the antithesis of virtually everything I, and most Americans, believe in. This must never be allowed to happen again.
7
In other words, we've gone backwards. We are now upside down. It will take decades to fix, I fear, but I help register voters and stay up-to-date with my local Indivisible group. Stay informed, voters! Jeff Flake was (somewhat) right (I hope) - we've hit bottom, although this bottom could last for a long time.
I'm just going to say it...I miss President Obama. And when I say President, boy, do I mean it! You didn't have to agree with everything he did, but he was a president - careful, thoughtful, kind, dedicated, intelligent. All the things the base now calls "elite"! Whew! Are you "elite", Mr. Stephens?
5
Brett is right to say if Larry Kudlow had any self respect he would resign but that's what Trump does to his people, eliminate their self respect.
4
And I thought the list of people in the Trump administration who advocate stupid trade policy couldn't get any longer. Welcome to the team, Pence.
Trump is alienating everyone except....wait for it....Russia!!!
I believe that his horrible cabinet choices , his decimation of agencies and his attacks on the Justice Department have been at the prompting of his longtime money-laundering compadres in Moscow (and now owners of Trump-labeled properties around the world.)
I am terrified for our nation.
5
Either I am stupid or smart.
I think Trump buys his " trading cards " with threats.
Then cashes them in as a compromise ....for wins.
Seems to be working.
OK..let me know people.
Am I stupid or smart ( I won't hold it against you )
2
I am a sole proprietor of a very small business, I sell a custom ergonomic products over the internet in the US and the EU, without EU sales I don't see a future. My customers are thinking, caring people and even if they are not charged more due to a specific tariff on my product, this action will completely toxify everything USA (MAGA). I also collaborate with inventors in France and in England, how can we developed new products if we do not know what sort of access are going to have to a given market? We have been forced into the gig economy model, and now they are blowing it up.
Please Vote the straight Democratic ticket on 6th. Many of us will simply will not make it to 2020 if you don't.
16
The short effects of the irresponsible Republican tax cut are delaying the reckoning that will result from Trump's insane economic and geo political meddling.
1
Bret Stephens claims that, "Hoover...is no longer the worst Republican president ever."
He never was the country's worst president. Another Republican, Andrew Johnson, was. Johnson refused to give real freedoms to freed Blacks, refused to give them land from their previous oppressors, and reinstitute to good standing all of the traitors from the Confederacy and Confederate Army.
And certainly George W. Bush, who utilized torture, and gave legal justifications for it, who left office as the first two-term president in history to leave office with the Dow lower than when he took office (Hoover was a one-termer), who presided over the worst housing and financial collapse since the Great Depression, and who lied us into a disastrous war in the Middle East, was far worse than Hoover.
Yes, this Republican president, Donald Trump, is a national disgrace, and the worst president since Andrew Johnson. In fact, all of the worst presidents in American history are Republicans.
Perhaps that can be the subject of Stephens' next column.
3
Depression, the result of this economic lunacy. What would you expect from trump, intelligence???
1
I actually agree with Bret Stephens. Pigs will soon fly.
2
This Republican is disgusted by Trump's amateurism and loutish behavior. This is a banana republic Presidency and low point for America. Will we learn from it?
2
In Today's Reality Show Apprentice Presidency, Season 2:
A familiar mix of grandstanding and financial grifting:
--Ahead of summit, Trump ignores human rights issues in NK.
--U.S. officials say nuclear tunnels not likely destroyed in NK as those explosions were far too small.
--Overnight, U.S. military general fans flames against China being a peer competitor with modernized military, saying US will compete as necessary. Bigger nuclear button talk?
--However, Trump's adviser daughter's business now has 34 trademarks in China, bringing questions as to ties there, and her fantastically self-enriching role in "advising" her father in the white house.
--Not just his daughter: Trump himself has 100 trademarks in China, clearly profiting from his presidency.
--As for Trump Corporation, from which Trump never divested, China already agreed to put $500 million into an Indonesian theme park involving several Trump-brand properties.
--Ethics and Emoluments Clause ignored: Wake up GOP.
5
Nonsense.
King Henry VIII of the House of Tudor and Charles "Lucky" Luciano of the Commission are much better exemplars of Donald Trump's business interests and values.
Trump's primary socioeconomic trade policy profitable motivations are hidden from the American people in his personal and family income tax returns and business records. But Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin knows what Trump is hiding and why.
3
In 2014 the Library of Congress released letters Harding wrote to his longtime mistress, Carrie Fulton Phillips. The correspondence revealed that he and the Republican National Committee paid her $5,000 per month to stay silent about their affair while he was president.
That $5000 then is worth $71,249.71.
Stormy Daniels is a piker -- Carrie Phillips is the only person known to successfully blackmail the RNC, with a lifetime earning of about 3 M$ in today's money ... and it would have been more had not Harding died in office.
3
Bret, I find it amusing that the one reference you cite for criticism of Obama's foreign policy decisions is from Sarah Palin. I find it even more amusing that the classification of article is "1 minute read." Is that the best you can do?
How about rather than publishing this opinion piece in the NY Times, you and other Republicans go out and try to persuade the base of your party about Trump's folly rather than in this "safe space."
2
You have to do something to provide decent jobs for Americans, period. End of story. That’s the role of government. Full stop.
Our government is protecting CEOs and big corporations.
If you don’t fix that we are toast, look at history. Do it any way you want, but that’s what gave us the Tea Party. They are too stupid to fix anything, but that’s the soil they grew in.
We have to make things to trade with others.
Donald Trump imposing these trade tariffs will result in:
a) increased national security
b) a long overdue re-evaluation of the benefits of Smoot-Hawley
c) an increase in respect for Steve Mnuchin and Larry Kudlow
d) the strengthening of strategic alliances with our allies
e) the granting of fewer trademarks for Ivanka
e) making America great again
f) none of the above
If you were unable to identify the correct answer “f” you have sadly failed “second grade” and may now spend your summer vacation at Mar a Lago.
3
To paraphrase Ross Perot, that sucking sound you hear is the US's prosperity circling the drain.
Or maybe it is his advisers (and Congress) approaching Trump.
2
What is Trump's motivation for trade wars? He knows his own party is very much against stopping free trade. So it's not his party. I doubt Fox News is touting the benefits of a trade war. So where is all this coming from? Does Trump have our best interests in mind or may our worse interests? It;s is not that he is stupid, which is how most characterize his actions: he's just stupid. In fact it is much more sinister that you can imagine. He wants nothing more than chaos and economic hardship for our citizens.
Trump is a traitor.
4
I was a Bernie bro, but we parted company on international trade. There's room for liberals to participate in international trade, too.
We ARE most certain to collapse economically under Trump. It's not just a question of "when this up cycle ends" as Stephens asserts. The tax heist guarantees it. The federal government WILL impale within two years at max from lack of revenue.
The shallowness of Stephens never ceases to amaze. And comparing Trump to Obama and citing Sarah Palin just demonstrates he still has nothing of value to say.
5
Mr. Stephens is not the first to pick up Hoover's aura emanating from the White House: https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-hoover-temptation-1520551832 (8 Mar 2018).
I wonder what would it take for congressional Republicans to begin to stand up (not just write a letter of complaint) to our self-centered, combat-loving president? Would a solid set of indictments from Mueller do it? Would an escalating trade war with our longstanding allies make a dent? Will continued embraces of authoritarian leaders and denigration of democratic ones push them? Are they capable of containing the man?
Will the president alter course if the House changes hands?
At this moment it does not appear these ostensible Republicans care. Per John Boehner, they may not exist (except when they are leaving office). The president appears to have one consistent White House playmate: Stephen Miller.
3
Bret was right in 2014. The vacuum with more horsepower than Hoover is Obama.
1
I thought the worst Republican president was George W Bush. But in any case, the GOPers have the worst 5: Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Dubya and now Trump. Congatulations. I hope all of the GOP representatives are voted out of office on Nov 6.
10
Interesting comparison. Eighteen months into the Hoover administration the country was in midst of the worst economic catastrophe in history, one that started on his watch and was the the product of two Republican predecessors who had established an economic order lauded even to this day by folks like Bret Stephens (at least when he worked for the Wall Street Journal). Eighteen months into the Trump administration the US economy is undergoing a remarkable transformation, enjoying economic growth that the all-knowing pundits declared impossible just two years ago. Unemployment is at historic lows, and minority employment is at an all-time high.
By the economic numbers, the first eighteen months of this Republican administration is probably the best of any Republican president except Eisenhower. And if Bret Stephens's beef is with our treatment of our "allies," well tough, they are allies in name only, especially those in Europe. We have stuck our chin out and depleted our treasury defending them against a nasty neighbor they have more than sufficient resources to defend themselves against on their own. And instead of gratitude, they have taken it as their birthright to demand we continue to do so, so they can more easily finance their welfare states.
If Trump is now demanding that Europeans finally pay the freight, where do I sign up?
2
I love the idea that Larry Kudlow has a gram of self respect. Wherever would Bret get such a ludicrous idea? Doesn't he watch television?
Kudlow was a supply sider before the term was even invented.
6
Will we be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again once this nightmare ends?
3
Economy booming. Trump securing world peace. Who knew?
2
There are more countries in the world than the US and North Korea, and more conflicts. But for the navel-gazing Americans who voted this dolt into office and have no knowledge of the world beyond their shores, I suppose that comprises “the world.”
1
I’m nitpicking here (sort of), but I believe Canada is retaliating with $16.6 billion. And I have to say a great many of us—our family included—are looking at reducing (hard to eliminate) our purchases of American products. Meanwhile, North Korea struts in the Oval Office and it’s big smiles all around. We WILL remember.
9
Castigating Trump for his "economic policy" (hah!) is on par with complaining that Dr. Frankenstein did poor cosmetic surgery.
3
"Did most Americans even notice" Mike Pence "demanding a five-year sunset clause for a renegotiated NAFTA?"
You have go ask??
3
"Bad new on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step."
4
Bret,
I hope you recognize your culpability in the tRump reign, in disparaging all things Obama.
He wasn't perfect, but he was someone to look up to, who behaved with truth and decency.
tRump is a super-con, hard to believe he's been allowed to destroy our country. I hope all you conservatives suffer the most with guilt.
10
“Dornbusch’s law” : “Crises take longer to arrive than you can possibly imagine, but when they do come, they happen faster than you can possibly imagine.”
Larry Kudlow is not an economist. His CV is replete with advocating for policies that were wrong then (Laffer Curve!) and are wrong now. An association with Jim Cramer as a stock tout is not going to reassure anyone when he has to explain the whys and wherefores of the wrench that has been thrown in the gears.
7
Why limit yourself to Republicans. Trump is the worst American since the establishment of our great nation.
He's not merely retreating from world responsibilities - he is destroying them outright just as our adversaries and greatest foes want him to and rewarding him to.
Imagine EVERYTHING American World War II servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to our strongest allies going to waste - for nothing, just because toddler-trump is governing by the seat of his soiled diapers and bloated gut. The greatest generation trashed. Shouldn't we be recycling our greatest generations instead?
Many claim that Kim's stature only goes up by meeting our POTUS. I beg to differ when it is trump he is meeting. It is a meeting of equals. Actually, how embarrassing meeting trump! It's not as if trump is debasing himself by meeting Kim - or vice versa. Perhaps it is Kim who is debasing himself meeting with trump. Or are they true equals? Does anyone doubt trump would not do the vile things Kim is getting away with if he could? Obama and previous POTUSs would certainly not debase themselves to trump's level meeting and praising depraved authoritarian mass-killers.
Bottom-line on tariffs, trump wants countries and industries to grovel at trump's small feet and pay him a "fee" for undoing tariffs - this is the "deal" trump wants. Honestly, trump cares for NO ONE but himself.
With a friend like trump, who needs a Putin, Kim, Assad, Netanyahu, Erdogan, Duterte, ...?
10
Your assessment of Obama's policies was always pigheaded and wrong minded and often no more than partisan blather. It always seemed as though you just didn't like the guy for some reason. Isolationist, really? But now that you have seen for yourself what a truly abhorrent presidency really looks like and how much self immolation can actually be achieved in such a short period of time, you should now consider apologizing for how your hollow and off base criticism of a truly great president, to some degree fed the malaise which made Trump's election possible.
7
Okay sir, acceptable column. But when are you going to take responsibility for conservatism’s failure over the last 40 years for it is republicans and their wars and grifting who have led the US down the rabbit hole.
15
The only disagreement I have with this column is that Trump is the worst President ever, period, not worst Republican President.
8
Strutting like a male peacock, Trump comes across as a man settling some scores. I cannot imagine Richard Nixon wantonly imposing such tariffs on allies. If our madman in the Oval Office speaks for a significant number of Americans, then our failure to educate is beginning to display the consequences of ignorance. Where are the ambitious Democrats, the ones with the so-called fresh voices? This is an opening for intelligent opposition.
5
Nothing but disaster will bring this ugly regime down. The deplorables will never stop supporting and defending the indefensible acts of a corrupt president and GOP until America is brought to it's knees, financially, socially and morally. I can understand why those who personally profit from these misbegotten actions are happy, but I am at a loss to understand how those who will suffer most continue to embrace trump.
7
It is easy to tear things down but much harder and more expensive to build them back up again... Mr. Trump is a human wrecking ball and the smoking disaster he is leaving will continue to haunt long after he is gone. He is the original "Ugly American" and an embarrassment to those of us who care about the importance of American ideals in the world.
His brazen use of the office of President to enrich himself and his family cheapens the office he holds and his embrace of Putin and other autocrates, before and after the election, at the expense of our traditional allies is ominous.
9
First off Bret, caught you on Bill Maher last night! Great panel! Please come back many times!
Regarding your article, it should make all of us realize that The United States is just that: United! We’re made up of every possible ethnic mixture of race, religion and politics. That’s what made us Great Again until Trump and his cronies created The Swamp, NOT DRAINED IT!!!!
I know that I’m asking a lot of you Bret, but you and your close friends can do much to take us out of the swamp and then drain it. I’m talking about you as one of those Republicans who doesn’t support Trump or his cronies to get all of your true republican friends to vote Democratic for this upcoming election only. That’s the only way to save the Republican Party that you used to trust and believe in. We need everyone to vote and rid ourselves of this madness!
6
Your analysis is correct; your incorrect analogy is Herbert Hoover. He was a well educated but unimaginative engineer type. There are several other candidates for worst president---Harding, Coolidge, Jackson, Andrew Johnson, just to list a few. The correct comparison you should have chosen would have been J. Edgar Hoover who distorted, lied, was a racist, and manipulated everything and everyone to his self-serving desires.
3
That should be "... If Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a Graham of self-respect..."
2
Donald, you being compared to Herbert Hoover should make you feel so proud. I seriously doubt, however, if you even know who Herbert Hoover was. Rest assured, you are worse than he was, and that's saying a lot.
4
Germany in the 1930's. The United States now. Study what happened then. Heed the warnings. It can happen here. Wake up.
7
You mention that if Larry Kudlow had an ounce of self-respect he'd resign. If he had an ounce he wouldn't be working for Trump.
The whole lot of them are criminals. No more smoke-filled, secret meeting rooms for these crooks. Republicans are letting them steal in broad daylight.
5
I dunno. Hoover? Nixon? W? Trump? Find the French for “an embarrassment of embarrassments.”
3
I don't know how much of Hoover's trade policy was rooted in a violent, crude, malignant xenophobic joy, but the sentiment was sweeping the globe back then, and until October 1929, the economy was humming away. Donald Trump isn't bright enough to exploit the current wave of global xenophobia for anything but personal gain. In that sense, intelligence may turn out be overrated as a leadership quality. For the moment, it's better to be led by a stupid miser than by a brilliant butcher. Let us hope the economy continues to hum.
2
Hoover was a competent logistician, at least.
3
The premise of this piece has been built into the line of Republican presidents in the last century or so: with the sole exception of Ike and even including Saint Ronald, each was worse than the one who came before. If there's any redemption for trump, it could be that future GOP presidents have nowhere to go but up. But then, that assumes a GOP that also gets better. That will never happen until the party goes back to the drawing board after a crushing defeat - which could be a while, given the Dems' failure to articulate a convincing message.
2
I think that one long term consequence of this will be that countries will diversify and start looking elsewhere for trading partners so they won't be so dependent on any one country.
For example, no matter what Mexico does in the short term to deal with this, they would certainly be wise to look south, not north, when contemplating their future.
2
What you don’t seem curious about is WHY they are doing this. I certainly don’t understand why, except the obvious throwing meat at a clueless base who think maga will save their lives. This being another example of putting a wall around the country, to further insulate it. As if that were good.
But I suspect there is money underneath this. Who is gaining from these tariffs? What deals has Trump and his people made to enrich themselves in the short term? Everything is about enrichment for him. That’s where we need to look. He’s heading us towards an epic financial meltdown and no one in government seems to care. (Just because it’s rosy now, it won’t last. Is anyone aware of this?!) Least of all him. I can’t believe his poll numbers are rising. I am terrified to think about how far this all can and will go if he remains unchecked.
1
Whatever one thinks about Obama's policies there was always the feeling that he had considered them carefully. Trump just reacts nanosecond by nanosecond with no understanding of the past and no thought for the future.
5
The ill conceived and impulsive policies of the Trump administration with its mindless deregulation of financial rules and its simple minded tariffs on our allies will weaken our economy and reduce our leadership role.
It ironically will harm our economy since Trump applies these tariffs arbitrarily without Congressional oversight on the basis of a national security exemption.
How is he permitted to do this?
His tariffs will damage our national security and our economic interests. Is their no Congressional checks on his authoritarian policy making?
I feel that Trump has no knowledge and expertise and is unqualified to make any important economic and trade policies. He is at best an ethno-nationalist demagogue and not a serious student of economics
with an administration of experts to formulate coherent trade policies. I fear that when the boom ends our economy will be at a great risk for a major recession or worse. I blame the pusillanimous Republican Party and their angry voters for this impending disaster!
3
It's probably not a good bet to think that most Americans haven't noticed what Donald Trump and his isolationist-based trade tariffs are doing, and will do to this country. Because anybody with a knowledge of history and half a brain knows what the ultimate effects would mean to our economy.
After all, booming job-market doesn't necessarily mean that we are immune to another recession, just like starting an international trade war doesn't necessarily translate into "national security" and more jobs.
Besides that, it's never a good idea to alienate your closest neighbors and allies, but Donald Trump has done both.
And this is something that could potentailly turn Trump not only into America's worst president; but also like Hoover, into a one-term one.
3
So, save your money and get ready for inflation, a weakening economy, job losses, stock market dives and stagnant home sales. And who will Trump blame-surely, somehow it will be the fault of President Obama, Hillary and Bill, and any nation he does not like.
3
When one uses Sarah Palin to bolster one's point of view, I am befuddled. She knows nothing of foreign policy. Her candidacy for vice president was an omen for the election of Donald Trump. She and Trump represent the bankrupcy of the conservative movement. Both are incompetent. Neither offers real solutions to the problems confronting America. The Republicans will use the immigration issue this fall as their major platform. They have used cultural issues to divide the public and have made a mockery of the separation of church and state.
2
It's funny how a graduate of Wharton (though I'd like to see his transcripts) never got the lesson of Economics 101. There's something more insidious here, however. Why no tariff on Russia? They are steel producers and their ability to flood markets with cheap steel would send any steel consuming corporation running for Russian steel rather than more expensive American made steel. Trump in building his own tremendously ugly structures did not use American steel. He used Chinese steel. He still has his clothes made in 8 different countries because the labor is cheaper there. Is the base of the republican party this oblivious or has this become a rhetorical question?
3
I still believe that Donald Trump's degree was bought by his father.
Nobody who writes like Mr. Trump does, nobody who has an anathema to reading as Mr. Trump does, and nobody who is averse to critical thinking and intellectual curiosity as Mr. Trump is would ever earn a degree from Wharton on merit.
2
Cheer up: Stephens didn't even mention the likely consequences, twenty years down the road, of trashing TPP and undercutting our allies in Asia as China expands.
I'm thinking of getting a "Greater Eastern Co-Prosperity Sphere," t-shirt, myself.
1
Now it's clear why Donald Trump had multiple bankruptcies. Despite the hype, as a negotiator he's a hopeless failure. He deceived enough Americans to land us in these precarious circumstances. This country is about to suffer the consequences.
Maybe his supporters will see the reality of his poor performance, when they don't have health care and when they must pay more at the grocery store. Or perhaps, they will extend loyalty to his insanity, regardless that he shows no loyalty towards them. There is no question that we have been conned.
6
Bret and his friends at WSJ finally have their strong leader. Obama appears as a mea culpa but deserves a full column as America's most conservative president since Reagan.
4
"W.W.E." At last someone said it. What this presidency is really all about: World Wrestling Entertainment, a show with the same lack of regard for reality as long as the show is good.
3
Protectionism. The boogeyman of mainstream economics. We have largely been subverted by the propaganda of corporate ideology into seeing everything in a Manichean perspective over the past several decades. Historical memory has been shredded to accomodate contemporary political thinking, guided by institutions with the financial power to shape self serving policies. Who will remind us that the United States' economic power was shaped by protectionism- up until the point when we were able to begin dominating the rest of the world. At that point we declared protectionism to be harmful and railed against any other country attempting to insure the health of their own economies. These days, dumping enormous amounts of goods on other countries to undercut and destroy their internal economies is a standard political weapon used to "make the economy scream", to use Nixon's phrase. If you don't conform to America's desires to exploit your national resources, we'll destroy you. If you try to protect yourself, we'll overthrow your government and install someone who will allow us to do as we please with you.
You see? It's all black and white. Do what we tell you or you will suffer horribly. Remember, we're the good guys.
We deserve to take everything you have because we're America. We are morally better than anyone else. It's God's will.
2
So Bret has finally had the scales fall from his eyes and realized that Trump is a disaster. Ross Douthat continues to waver. Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin and syndicated conservative columnist Mona Charen have also joined the never-Trump movement. George Will is long gone. These are serious conservatives who regularly excoriated President Obama.
The crazy Trump trade policy simply can't be supported or justified by anyone with half a brain, Democrat or Republican or Independent, conservative or liberal or middle-of-the-road. It is crazy, crazy policy from any angle.
But of course, the MAGA-heads never read these columnists. In fact they probably emulate their President, and don't even read newspapers. But in this case they should take notice. Because this nutty policy is going to destroy our economy, and by extension the welfare of even Trump voters. Farmers are already up in arms, manufacturers are already bracing for 25% price hikes.
This is why the body of conservative thought leaders supporting Trump is shrinking rapidly. They are actually smart. They can actually run the numbers. By November the only ones left will be on Fox News, Breitbart and Alex Jones. This is the crazy corner.
So, welcome to the sanity club, Bret. Please continue to write sensible columns that defend our economy and our democracy, and don't look back.
4
“The crazy Trump trade policy simply can't be supported or justified by anyone with half a brain”
Hmm. And it is the Democrats that can’t support it.
Seems right.
1
How long before a fake-news story surfaces reporting on how Family Tree Assistance Programs, organizations known for masking the true identity of descendants of all types and varieties of individuals who are an embarrassment to their family and friends, have descendants of Herbert Hoover leaving these family tree programs in droves due to the election of Donald Trump.
Still can't admit that Obama managed this country relatively well for almost a decade, can you? Think about how things were in 2008, and then again in 2016. I'd say he did a pretty good job, despite outright and blatant Republican obstruction for its own sake. And so perhaps, instead of associating Obama with Hoover, and suggesting that Obama's foreign policy is only a step removed from Trump, you should be honest with yourself and own up to the fact that you helped create this mess with your mindless drumming against all things Obama.
3
US citizenry will only notice when Trump's policies directly affect them in the pocketbook. Trust me, they'll wake up then.
1
Trump's policies seem so dangerous and unwise that the long economic expansion might tip abruptly into a violent collapse - not just here but globally.
So here we go again: gaudy galas in gilded towers to long-term residency in genuine, made-in-America Hoovervilles - walled off of course.
The man has always had a knack for real estate.
1
If only the 30's sounds we hear were merely about economics....
3
Trump picked his Cabinet and advisors very carefully and in doing so made certain that none he appointed would weaken and demonstrate any self respect whatsoever, much less an intelligent grasp of the issues. DeVos, Pruitt and Pence along with Kudlow come instantly to mind. Self respect and integrity have long been brazenly absent, too, especially where McConnell, Ryan, Nunes and the GOP in general are concerned. It is up to the citizenry of the U.S. in November 2018 to put a stop to what is rapidly turning into an oligarchy, at once self-serving and egocentric, proudly xenophobic and within our own borders insensitive to the issues challenging its constituents.
5
Makes no sense.
Unless Donald is taking orders from Vlad.
Then it makes perfect sense.
Vote in November. Save America.
8
Perhaps Mr. Stephens can take some comfort from the fact that Donald J Trump and his third person is not just the worst Republican president since Hoover, he is the worst American president, period. Let's not let Democratic presidents off that hook either; he beats them, too.
Further, he isn't just the worst on trade. I've tried, but I can't think of a single category in which he excels. Some will argue that the economy is an example of his expertise, but in my view, not only was the tax bill excessive, top heavy and deficit inducing, but completely unnecessary at a time when the trajectory was already up and "humming". Then there's the reality that it wasn't his bill in the first place, but Paul Ryan's childhood ambition come to fruition and one that if not amended will turn the whole country into a Kansas debacle theme park.
3
You might want to add Ronald Reagan’s ghost to that, with some consideration to Paul Ryan for their devotion to trickle down economics. Neither precipitated the crises that Hoover did with his awful economic policy, but they persisted to forge ahead with their ideology based on fantasy. And then there is Trump...no ideology, no dogma, no knowledge. Just whatever scores ratings points at any specific moment without the intelligence or desire to anticipate the consequences.
Hindsight: Obama was handed the Great Recession and turned it around with 92 months of job growth. He had the wisdom to anticipate the rise of Pacific Asia and negotiated TPP. He strong armed Putin to remove (most of) Syria’s chem weapons. He stopped Iran’s run to the bomb. He joined our allies on the Paris accord. He did not “withdraw” but tried to unwind some of the neo-con excesses while engaging in more serious and far reaching initiatives. Wait till hindsight gets hold of what trump* has done with what he was handed off by Obama. Too bad it will be too late. Oh yes...and no thanks for the spin of WSJ and Fox for encouraging this disaster.
1
What concerns me is that it all looks very much Trump rattled his presidential saber at China and it became obvious they weren’t going to lie down. In fact there was a real danger China was going to fight back, really, really hard. So like any bully he searched for softer targets. Besides he has no love for our allies. I just hope they hit back as hard as they can, then he’ll back off.
3
I am angry with Trump and his minions as they do damage in every area of American culture, life, and the economy. I am even angrier at the media and the Republican Party and Bernie Sanders and his minions who allowed their desire to defeat Hillary Clinton to overcome their common sense and good judgment. For all intents and purposes a private email server, the Benghazi investigation and Russian interference in our election system have given us Donald Trump--who is on his merry way to destroying America. I agree whole-heartedly with Stephens column, but I sure wish he had expressed some of those sentiments two years ago when it might have mattered. Now, it's just OMG--look what we've done to ourselves. This is buyers' remorse to the nth degree--and there will be no refunds--only tariffs...
6
The language I would like to use describing Trump's economic policies would never be published. He inherited a good economy from Obama, and, in spite of Trump's boneheaded and shortsighted moves (unnecessary tax cut, tariffs) we are still doing okay. That doesn't mean that this will continue forever. What's that saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Herr Trump is doing all kinds of fixing, and the payment for his errors may well come due before Trump is forced out of office.
1
But the CEOs loved being showered with government largesse through the Trump tax cut scam. They certainly weren't worried about its effect on the jobs of ordinary workers. From what I have read, the tariffs are a bad idea for many reasons and will hurt all of us, but I still can't help feeling a bit of schadenfreude at the distress of business leaders. We have to take the whole president, not just the parts we like.
1
Trump's "neo-conomists" will do to international economic stability what W's "neo- cons" did to international political stability.
Republican pundits love to use false equivalency. And doing so with Obama,Trump and Hoover gives Stephens a neat way cast blame and to avoid culpability for being dead wrong in his first critique of Obama. Opinion writers like Stephens and their ideological driven view of reality have given us people like Trump and the political environment in which he thrives. Stephens and his ilk must own up to the mess they have created in this country by enabling the Trumps of this world. Stephens was not early he was dead wrong - and lately glibly criticizing Trump is too little too late.
6
20 billion dollars worth of commodities is what Mexico buys from U.S agriculture producers. If the current front runner is elected in Mexico, it is almost a certainty they will seek trade relations with South American countries to purchase their beef, corn, and other commodities. Ironically, the pain from Trump's tariffs will fall directly on the farmers who overwhelmingly voted for him.
Be careful what you wish for.
2
Yeah, well if the liberal bipartisan consensus towards the support of free trade and lack of concern over the resulting income inequality had been doing such a great job we wouldn’t be in this mess. Honestly, our allies need to be annoyed. The free ride they’ve received from the status quo has come to an end. Better if it had been accomplished through some sort of negotiation, but really would that have worked? You think surplus countries would give that up that status easily? No leader would do that and be able to keep their job.
BTW the unemployment rate is 3.8%. I kind of recall it was a little different in the 1930’s. The view that Smoot Hawkey caused the Depression has been pretty much dismissed, although the idea refuses to die among the dwindling class of apologists for the failed neoliberal ideology.
1
Is it a given that free trade across borders gives us inequality? It’s a popular refrain but it assumes that protectionist policies would somehow result in higher incomes for working class Americans. We have unemployment below 4% now, before any tariffs have taken effect. Inequality is not likely resolved by putting up obstacles to trade. It’s a political problem. We can’t reduce inequality this way. It’s not going to make CEOs suddenly more generous to their rank and file workers. Plus for real prosperity to be sustainable we’re going to need export markets for American goods. How can we expect that to happen if we’re in a trade war with those countries who would be our most likely export markets?
1
Get a clue. When Reagan nixed Metric conversion in the last holdout nation on the planet, manufacturers wrote the US off.
1
Yeah bud because the future is making steel. Who is gonna lay off the robots once they start taking these jobs? Who is gonna lay them off when they start taking higher level more knowledge based jobs?
We - as usual - are fighting the last war.
1
With America withdrawing from the global marketplace won't the rest of the world come together to fill the void? Does that leave US global influence to shrink back to pre WWI levels? New Trump slogan. Make America Weak Again.
1
The Great Depression began in 1929 with the collapse of the financial market, not in 1930 when the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill was enacted.
The cause of the Great Depression was the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury cut the money supply by one-third. Cut the money supply by one-third today and we can be assured that global trade for the U.S. will drop by 2/3 as it did in the 1930s.
The core problem with Trump's trade policy is that it is focused on tariffs and not the unbalanced way that taxes are treated in global commerce. All other nations use a Value Added Tax that can be rebated to producers on exports. The U.S. uses a direct corporate tax that cannot be rebated to producers who export.
Thus when automakers in Germany send a $50K car to the U.S., the 19 percent Germany VAT is rebated to the manufacturer -- allowing them to sell a $40,000 auto in the U.S.
When Cadillac sends a $50K auto to Germany, the $19 percent VAT is added at the port, making the U.S.car cost $60,000.
The problem exists with the trade rules at the World Trade Organization which allow indirect taxes (VAT) to be rebated on exports but disallows the rebate of direct taxes (US corporate).
Solve this problem and the markets will straighten out most of the rest of the imbalances in trade that the U.S. has.
To learn more, go to the Internet and look for how VAT and corporate taxes are treated under WTO trade rules. Too bad that Trump's economists do not understand this.
3
Smoot-Hawley did not cause the Great Depression, but it is is universally accepted that it made things worse and deferred the recovery. I believe that is the author's point.
Since the federal government does what nobody else does, cutting its spending directly chops economic product.
I'm sure the 1%ers are already setting cash aside for their fire sale shopping spree.
4
In part this is trump as mob boss, imposing sanctions to create a situation in which everything has to go through trump, must have his blessing.
4
Mr. Stephens writes "In 2014 I published a book called “America in Retreat,” ... Silly me. I wrote the book one administration too soon."
The NTSA investigates an accident through a two stage process: First, find what went wrong. Second, find out why it went wrong, so that similar accidents can be prevented in the future.
Mr. Stephens is to be commended for taking the first step of this process: He admits that his book "America in Retreat" was a mistake. Indeed, he thinks that an entire book's worth of reasoning can be dismissed with a single sentence.
All of us should encourage Mr. Stephens to go on to the second step: Why did he make such a grotesque mistake? What error made him think that Obama was putting America into retreat?
Was he trying to placate wealthy donors? We he captivated by conservative groupthink? Was he engaging in a ritualistic and simplistic chanting of "Four legs (Republican) good. Two legs (Democrat) bad"?
It is good that Mr. Stephens admits his errors. But to prevent future errors, he should delve into WHY he committed those errors.
8
Mr. Trump torpedoed the Iran deal and gas prices went up. Now he’s starting a a trade war so much for the few extra bucks the Working class got from the tax bill.
2
Hoover was a paragon of rectitude, though. Trump's morals and ethics are worse than those found in the previous nadir of the Republican Party, Harding.
2
This struck me as telling; "It’s a betrayal of the liberal-international order we founded nearly eight decades ago; an invitation to anti-Americanism; a rebuff to our friends; and sometimes (Boston Tea Party, anyone?) a prelude to war."
Betrayal is Trumps middle name. If he was a gamer, it would be his avatars name. "The Betrayer." And he would play the game as such, betraying others to make personal gains.
There are no sensible advisors in the WH. (Where's the sense in serving this megalomaniac?) There are only sycophants and dedicated Destructionists. Not Deconstruct, but destruction. To deconstruct infers a process, and plan to take things apart, safely. But Trump was always clear he was all about destruction...blatant, wanton destruction. leaving it to others to clean up the mess. Which is how he thought the ACA thing would go down. He'd undermine it, and the GOP would replace it with the better plan he thought they had on a shelf. Oops!
Friends? Who are Trumps real friends? I don't mean the "fixers", and bag-men and errand men, but bona fide friends. Melania? His kids? If so...well...they seem to be under contract with him. And as wives go...she's clearly not the "make her mate a better man" type.
Powerful men are often isolated, but other then the sociopathic, most show desire not to be so. A longing to connect. But Trump shows no such humanity.
He's desperate to prove his outdated, outmoded, and inappropriate "policy" ideas will work under any circumstance.
2
Well Mr Stephens, history will show the robber barons destruction of America. Trump is the "heroic" Black Beard of our time profitting at our expense. Back to the "good old days"? No, back to the "dark ages".
4
Perhaps the book was just incorrect, after all this is not the 30's. The world and the US have changed, we don't have the ability to do all that we did in the past and the rest of the world can do a lot more. US citizens first!!!
1
So you’re ready to pay 25% more for your cars? Ready to see Nissan US leave Franklin and Smyrna?
2
Yet magically, you expect the world to bow down before us and hand us more loot.
Remarkable theory.
1
In the summer of 2016 I attended a minor league ball game in Rhode Island. Seating in front of me were a father with his two sons out for a mid-summer game. In the father's hand was a baseball. He turned to his sons and showed them where it was printed "Made in China" . Then in a quivering voice he said "When Trump is our president all these baseballs will be made in the United States of America" I could see that he literally had tears in his eyes. As far as I know baseballs are still made in china. I rather doubt that this fellow actually wanted his sons to work in factories sewing baseballs. But it gave me a sense of the overriding sense of nostalgia that motivated Trump voters. For them a world where the national pastime wasn't made in the USA was a world out of balance. Trump gives them that fantasy and I doubt if all the economists in the world will disabuse them of it.
13
This overly simplistic free trade nonsense is the kind of absurdity that led to Trump's being elected in the first place.
Free trade with the third world -- in point of fact, lopsided arrangements that intentionally put American workers at a disadvantage (see the Times's stunning article on this) -- has been a disaster for the American worker, and for workers in Japan and the countries of Europe as well.
We have exported our industry to low-wage countries with toxic brown air, and with it the good-paying union jobs that lifted America's blue collar workers into the middle class for the first time in history.
Certainly, trade wars have dangers and costs, and one can argue that Trump should not have targeted our first world allies, even though their trade tactics are unfair.
But to argue that free trade with the third world has been the blessing that economists promised is to repeat the mistake that led to the election of Trump in the first place.
1
Trump inherited a robust economy from the hard work of Obama. His tax cuts to corporations and the rich have turbo charged the economy even more, giving Republicans the calling card they need in the coming election. What they don't want to talk about until AFTER the 2018 elections is the inevitable slashing of the safety net - medicare, social security etc., which they will lie and call "entitlement reform". With much less money coming into the government, they will argue, we simply cannot afford these programs as they presently exist. This, of course, was the one of the main reasons for the tax cuts, and is why Paul Ryan wants to leave town before his real plan is exposed, when the do do hits the fan.
27
Only now have you discovered that President Obama's approach to international relations wasn't a disaster Mr. Stephens? I suspect it's because when you talk about global responsibilities, you were really talking about global domination.
Obama's recognition that other countries have their own priorities and need for respect was a recognition that the US can't do everything by itself, nor do we have to lead on every issue so long as we are all heading in the same direction.
Trump's trade war is just an extension of his business model. He doesn't regard our allies as partners; he's treating them like the employees and contractors he's stiffed for decades.
Trump has a zero-sum world view that drives his obsession with being seen to win. He can't win unless someone else loses. He has no friends - just people who are useful to him and/or flatter him.
Give Herbert Hoover this much credit - his intentions were good. Trump is what he always was: a predator in a party that embraces predators - as long as they are successful. Trump may have a solid political base at home, but abroad he's widely seen as a disaster - except in the Kremlin.
This will not end well.
27
I was at the National Portrait Gallery in DC a few months on the day they unveiled President and Mrs. Obama's portraits. I walked the hall of presidents and read the bios beside each painting. Some of the bios were complimentary, some not so much, but they were all honest assessments of each man's efforts. All the paintings themselves were obviously painted by very talented artists. As I stood there I thought to myself who on earth is going to capture the essence of our current Commander-in-Chief? And will future generations even want this disaster hanging next to the likenesses of Jefferson, Washington, and FDR? When the time comes to add Trump's portrait to the collection I hope they chose another floor of the museum. Hang his picture between the Lucien Freuds and the Salvador Dalis because this presidency has been ugly, bloated, and surreal.
39
Lucien Freud would be a good choice—or the painter of the portrait of Dorian Gray....
3
What a challenge for the portraitist--how to capture the greed, arrogance, divisiveness and cluelessness of our first authoritarian president. If he or she can't, it will not be an honest portrait.
2
Stephens doesn't mention the very real possibility that the trade war could be only a temporary negotiating tactic. American market power is so great that ultimately our trade adversaries may have to give in, if only partially. Whatever concessions Trump may win in this scenario are a lot better than what we had under previous presidents.
1
In the first place, the notion that this guy's doing anything thoughtfully is morbidly funny.
But for those who like their ideas fantastically oversimplified, here's a question: do people who've been bullied generally help the bully when he's gotten hisself into deep trouble?
2
"do people who've been bullied generally help the bully when he's gotten hisself into deep trouble?"
Robert,
Yes they do when they're in more trouble themselves. Political pressures run both ways.
Considering the increase in poverty, homelessness, and millions of people trying to stay afloat, by working multiple low, paying jobs, the United States so called "recovery" has not reached them. So, even though the Great Recession ended, it affects are still being felt.
The GOP and Bill Clinton set to seeds to start it. By the time Clinton left office, we were heading into a recession. Bush, under his watch, with the GOP, put it in motion. 9/11 created a double dip recession, but the repeal of Glass-Steagall could not prevent the Great Recession. Obama and the GOP, butted heads during it. And, Trump is in the process of taking what recovery there was, and scuttling it. The latest, allowing "too big to fail" and risky investments, which lead to the Great Recession to be allowed again. Then, throw in tariffs, trade wars, and just plain ignorance.
Yes, up until Trump, Hoover was considered the worse president since 1900. Trump has already surpassed him. Him, and his party, are about to create a depression, which may make the 1930s pale in comparison.
9
Perhaps Mr. Stephens didn't notice that "President Obama’s imprudent retreat from America’s global responsibilities" is a direct result of the disasters inflicted on us (and the world) by the previous administration in Iraq and Afghanistan, which sapped our strength and our will for international adventures. A republican administration, I note.
29
If ANY of Trump’s advisors had a grain of self-respect, they’d ALL resign. He doesn’t listen to any of them unless they agree with hm - what’s the point of having advisors if their advice is never taken? What’s the point of being an advisor if your job is merely to echo a no-nothing?
We’re in trouble and most of it is because the elected Republicans in Washington refuse to do their job. I heard John Behner say the Republican Party is gone. I guess he’s correct.
16
Thank you, Mr.Stephens, for channeling Gail Collins to give us a memorable image which captures Trump's economic policy: "The administration is blowing up the foundation of global economic order with the same mindless glee as a child popping bubble wrap." One sentence says it all.
8
This is all so bizarre you do have to wonder whether he's taking orders from Putin. Okay that was a joke. However, the incoherence of it all is considerable and in the long run is going to be a serious own goal. Rest assured those hacks Kudlow and our esteemed Treasury Secretary (who is supposed to be the conductor of US economic policy) won't be resigning any time soon. The tariff effect is going to be uneven as is illustrated by the situation referred to in this piece and in another story in the NYT about a fuel cell producer but if Canada, Mexico, the EU and China follow through with their targeted retaliatory actions it's going to get much more serious.
7
" If Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he’d resign."
True, except reports out of the White House have Mr. Kudlow too busy offering sartorial advice to male White House staffers. One such tip from Mr. Kudlow was that the staffers should not wear brown shoes with blue suits. Who has time to advise the president on the economy when making sure everyone looks good in a suit is of the prime importance?
However, as we all know, Mr. Kudlow wasn't brought on for his economic knowledge, limited as it is. Mr. Kudlow, like a number of Trump appointees, was hired because he looked good on TV.
17
Welcome to the land of electoral consequences America.
22
Trump won. Hillary lost. Get over this folks. Life is too short to harbor such hate in your hearts. You folks have never given him a chance.
I’m not tired of winning and neither is Trump!
3
Trump won the election but that’s it. Everything since except a tax break that 80% of the benefits the wealthiest 10% has been a bust.
15
I guess that depends on how you define winning.
4
It's amazing to me that the only people who can't get over the election are Trump voters. Probably because they know they made a huge mistake.
2
What Bret left unsaid was, with Europe weakened from the internal political turmoil in Spain, Italy and Germany, that Trump is likely to succeed in forcing trade concessions. The German economy is slumping and Merkel can ill afford retaliatory tariffs on German cars.
1
Interesting thesis if you think lifelong New York Democrat Trump is actually a “Republican”, beyond conveniences’ sake, begging the question how he ceased to self-identity as “Democrat” and redefined himself “Republican”. A revelation on the Road to Damascus, perhaps? Or, maybe he found it lying in the gutter or pulled it from a flaming dumpster. “If the shoe fits ... ”.
That shoe obviously carried him very far. How much money do you think his elegant Republican toga has made him every month in his first term both in above-board “emoluments” and under-the-table payoffs surreptitiously banked overseas?
$100-million? Tax-free, of course. Numerous provisions quietly slipped into the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act under everyone’s noses at the last minute achieved that miracle for him; if anything, he will earn off the Treasury.
Is it unfair to write that President Trump attacks the FBI and Department of Justice prosecutors the same way that President Capone would have attacked both had he replaced Herbert Hoover in 1933 instead of FDR; and for the same reasons? The greatest threat Trump faces isn’t Mueller or Rosenstein but the impartial Rule of Law itself. It and it alone can bring him to justice.
And while Trump tries to destroy American Justice itself stalwart law-&-order congressional Republicans quietly watch from the cheap seats, hands politely folded. Perhaps their inaction says more about them, and how bogus “Republicanism” now truly is, than anything else.
19
Kudlow, like the multitudes in Trump’s administration he has corrupted, do not have an iota of self-respect. Depressing stuff...
10
Worst ever? How about Nixon, who pioneered the racist appeal that Trump perfected? Or Reagan, who built on that same appeal with his welfare Cadillac? Not to mention that failed aspirant, Mr. Conservative, Barry Goldwater, who inspired the migration of white supremacists to the Republican Party.
3
Hoover stopped being the worst Republican president the minute George W. Bush was sworn in. Now Dubya can rest easy, as he has just been removed from the pedestal for the worst.
26
The Worst Republican President Ever? How soon we forget!!! Trump is miles behind George W. Bush. Here are three things Trump can't begin to match: (1) Failing to protect America from bin Laden and 9/11. (2) Launching the Iraq War, at a cost of trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives, to punish Iraq for 9/11 and for Iraq's production of WMDs; (3) The Great Recession. Trump may be more despicable, but in terms of national impact, Bush outdoes Trump without even a second thought.
8
There you go again, Mr. Stephens.
Just because the Cavs are 11 points up in the second quarter, you think they'll win the whole game.
Well, think again. There is a reason a basketball game has four quarters, but you prefer to start your blather after barely fifteen minutes have elapsed. I guess you had to get your dig in while you can and "worse than Hoover" seemed like such a good rhetorical phrase, too good to waste.
Let me put it this way: Mexico, Canada and the EU will be hurt way more from a tariff war than us. What does that tell you? Do you think they are stupid?
It would be preferable if you waited till the game is over, instead of rushing in like ... well, you know what.
1
Wow, you know a die-hard free-trader is ticked off when he cites Sarah Palin as a a source of wisdom on foreign policy. Well, trade policy and capitalism will always be debated, but there will always be certainty over this: the worst Republican pres. of all time invaded Iraq on false pretenses, and caused the death of ten of thousands of men, women and children. I infer that you approve of this. Ridiculous and despicable.
2
Bret Stephens really should read the paper he writes for a bit more carefully. Here are a couple of headlines that appeared in today's paper:
Trump Says North Korea Summit Meeting Is Back On
And here's my favorite:
We Ran Out Of Words To Describe How Good The Jobs Numbers Are
I was as dubious as the next cynical Times reader about the idea of Donald Trump residing in the White House. However when the Times is forced to cry "UNCLE" I have to laugh. The mainstream media is being forced into a rare retreat. All the editorial and OP ED Trump bashing columns isn't going to change the fact that the world didn't come to an end in 2016. It's time for Bret Stephens to climb out of the bubble wrap and realize that the America of Herbert Hoover isn't coming back.
2
I don't believe a word Trump says because in the next hour he may say the opposite, and the graph of the job numbers shows the improvement is just an extension of the increase starting under Obama, and due to Obama's policies to save the economy after Bush II tanked it. Trump only cares about something if it benefits himself, that's all there is to know about Trump.
3
"If Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he’d resign."
If the House of Representatives had a gram of self-respect they would impeach Trump.
19
The only way his supporters will wake up is if they are in even worse economic circumstances than they were before he became President. With a nice recession and foreign tariffs on products produced in their states, the Republicans in the Senate might even get on board with impeachment. I'll take a recession to rid the country of him.
9
Amen. I would say God help us, if I thought he would, but it is America alone. Trump is the Manchurian candidate, for real.
19
Two things Brett -
1) Stop finding a way to disparage a liberal / democrat ( Obama ) when you wish to criticize the man in the WH - we dont need another MoDo to read. Besides you know full well that what you " saw as Obama's imprudent retreat from America’s global responsibilities" was as much a result of W's and Cheney's imprudent moves in the middle east ( Iraq comes to mind) and the country's lack of will to engage - Obama may have seemed to timid at times ( Syria! ) but he certainly was affected by our involvement in Iraq
and
2) Kudlow have self respect and resign . Bwwwwaaaahaaaaa!
Ever watch CNBC before he held that role with trump?
There are no " ...sober-minded advisers would surely (to) bring him to reason" because they are all sycophants and or intellectually dishonest.
We are heading for disaster and we all know it and can do nothing but watch.
The Repubs may not be driving the trump bus - but they make sure the motor is humming and the wheels are turning.
25
Herbert Hoover was the last Republican of a 12-year reign. While he was indeed incompetent, Harding and Coolidge were not far behind. Harding has often been called the laziest president in history another title that can be taken off his shoulders and put on Trump's.
So your last book was wrong you still got paid and now you want to be paid for this one. Economist and meteorologist. What a great gig.
4
Well, as the old saying goes Bret Stephens, be careful what you wish for. In the 8 years preceding the current administration, so many Americans (lamented) yearned for an incompetent, affirmative action president, who, among other things, was going to destroy America--and for no other reason than you wanted to be right about your indignation. Hmmm . . . now look, it's like your prayers have been answered.
7
Herbert Hoover was unquestionably a bad president and Donald is unquestionably worse, but Bush was spectacularly lousy (just not as spectacularly lousy as Trump) and, if not for Bush II and Trump, Reagan, Nixon, and Harding certainly would have been reasonable contenders for worst president. In fact, there hasn't been a good Republican president since Teddy Roosevelt. (Eisenhower, Ford, and Bush I were nowhere near disastrous, but you could reasonably call them good.)
9
Hoover the worst Republican President? You’ve forgotten Nixon and Reagan and W. There’s stiff competition for that title.
5
When I was a student, I learned the Great Depression was caused by a financial bubble and was nurtured by tariffs raised that were supposed to bring the jobs back.
The motto: every country for itself...
Then, the spiral: unemployment, anger, vote for populist/fascist regimes. To end with war.
Have a look at the first page of this NYT issue: nukes in the Korean peninsula, China deploying missiles in South China Sea..
Did the NYT have these subjects on the 1st page only 10 years ago?
A bit frightening, no?
I just hope Trump is not writing another page of History which will tragically repeat itself.
The least I can say: he did not attend economics courses. Or he missed the lessons.
8
I'm just so embarrassed at how horribly and stupidly our administration is behaving. As a veteran of the auto industry, I know that the typical auto transits the border 30 times before it is finished. How on earth is there some productive benefit in tracking that to impose tariffs. How in the world can we think that kicking our largest trading partner - Canada - and longtime besty in the gut is a good idea...how many wars have they fought alongside of us? This is just insane and will take my retirement plan into the tank. And that's just Canada. How are farmers going to pull in their crops this year without labor from Mexico? What happens to the soybean farmers in Iowa who can't sell there product to their largest customer - China? This is just stupid! And more than likely to end up like the trade wars of the 30s which were nigh onto disaster.
18
What was it late night talk show host David Letterman said about Trump? If I recall Letterman said in an interview, "Trump isn't capable of managing a Dairy Queen." Truth in every word.
10
The Trump Administration is a nightmare and not only in trade. Its climate and energy policies are also upsetting the present world order that has evolved over the last 80 years since Bretton Woods.
In this globalized world with its many conflicts and the limited success of the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) the time has come for the G7 next week and in a last instance for every globally oriented citizen to take a hard look at this socially very imperfect and unjust global governance system.
Personally I believe we have to start building a new global governance system based upon the looming climate catastrophe and the unjust, unsustainable and, therefore, unstable international monetary system. In Verhagen 2012 "The Tierra Solution: Resolving the climate crisis through monetary transformation" I have presented the conceptual, institutional, ethical and strategic dimensions of a carbon- based international monetary system with its standard of a specific tonnage of CO2e per person. (www.timun.net)
One of world’s keenest observers on climate and energy stated the following about this proposed Tierra system: “The further into the global warming area we go, the more physics and politics narrows our possible paths of action. Here’s a very cogent and well-argued account of one of the remaining possibilities.” Bill McKibben, May 17, 2011
3
Republican presidents and their economic advisors have a dismal record when it comes to managing the American economy.Mr.Hoover is not the only president to preside over an economic disaster.George Bush inherited a decent Clinton economy and in eight years we were in desperate financial straits.Obama with some wise economic advisors put in place policies to rescue the monetary system.Congress wisely instituted some checks on banks.These checks are now being removed by Congress and Mr.Trump is engaging in a Trade War which will completely torpedo economic stability.Mr.Trump's tirade against unfair trade is not policy, it is ideological idiocy!
9
Were "Republican" anything more than a label of convenience for Trump, I'd be inclined to agree. As things stand, however, I think I'd have to vote for Mitch McConnell as worst Republican ever.
8
What do you expect from Trump who has a superficial knowledge of most topics that he gleams from TV via Fox News. His cabinet is full of poorly qualified individuals and he doesn't seem to follow the advise he is given based on his mercurial actions. The one thing we have come to expect of him is the unexpected and that is not a reassuring quality in a leader. I like many can't wait for 2020 to be here soon enough. I just hope most of America has come to their senses by then and votes to replace this clown with a true leader.
10
Seriously? You rate Hoover beneath Warren G. Harding? I was twelve when Hoover pegged out, and at that time Harding was, so to say, the XX century gold standard for bad presidents of either party.
2
Surely this is how Trump and his cronies will reap more profits from their Kleptocracy. Destroying institutions and then privatizing them for profit, destroying businesses then buying them wholesale for profit.
Wake Up America! They care only about themselves..
Vote, and never stop voting
7
It is not just Trump. It is the GOP that is betraying the country for empty moth eaten conservative policies. Have you honestly questioned whether betrayal has stepped over the line into outright overturn of rule of law and the Constitution and beyond? Not hindering Trump and the 1% is complicit. Puttin and China getting better treatment than citizens needs to be named: treason.
9
Bust 2 was the worst president ever until Trump was elected by the Electoral College
3
"If Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he’d resign."
You mean he'd be hawking jewelry on QVC, where he always belonged, instead of step and fetching for Trump. Fortunately, he has neither self-respect nor any qualifications in economics, which makes him predestined for the Trump administration.
But leave it to this White House to finally come up with a product that needs protection on genuine rather than specious national security grounds: toys!
https://silverberg-on-meltdown-economics.blogspot.com/2018/06/trump-trad...
3
This is what a fascist does. And every day that goes by gets this country closer to Fascism. We can't just lay it all at Trump's feet.
The Republican Congress bears just as much blame. The first thing they did was blindly vote for Cabinet members whose collective goal is to tear down rules and regulations that negate sensible controls over Commerce, Public Education, Climate Control, Housing, Banking, Diplomacy, Agriculture, our Justice system and Social Safety nets.
Secondly they are sitting on their hands while Trump destroys our once firm healthy relationships with our allies.
And worse, the House is trying to intervene in the Mueller's
investigation. All because they wanted Tax Reform, more than fairness and equality, so their donors would keep the money flowing into their pockets.
They have conveniently forgotten that they were voted in to protect our country, not to destroy it. They have forgotten their obligation to be the Checks and Balance on the Executive Branch.
At what point do they suffer the consequences of their lack of commitment to the Common Good? I am hoping that come November they will get their comeuppance.
And I equally hoping that Trump is kicked out of his.
10
"If Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he’d resign."
If Bret Stephens, a former member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, had a nano-gram of self-respect, he would resign his position with the Times and spend the rest of his life atoning for his role with the WSJ. Quietly. Privately.
1
Agree with every word. Thank you.
Hoover was far from the worst president, anyway. The right person at the wrong time. Trump . . . We'll see.
Again and as always, Trump's destructive impulses elicit not a peep of effective protest from the Republican Congress, an aquarium's worth of spineless jellyfish who are deep in the tank with, yes, the worst president *ever*. The election this November will be the most critical one since 1932's which put FDR in the White House. If the GOP retains control of both chambers, Trump's malfeasance will get unimaginably worse. If the Democrats can take at least the House, there will finally be a brake applied to the runaway wrecking crew that is the Trump Administration. Nothing less than the healthy functioning of our government is at stake. Vote! Vote! Vote!
8
Is Robert Mueller checking out whether Vladimir Putin ordered Trump to impose these reactionary import tariffs? And shouldn't Congress have the right to approve or disapprove tariffs that could seriously harm the U.S. and world economy?
4
I remember when George W Bush tried this. I was a buyer at a Fortune 500 company where I purchased stainless steel storage tanks for our products. Budgeting, and purchasing, became a nightmare because you could only get a company to give you a price if you placed an order that day. Each day there were wide swings in the price of stainless steel. This is what Trump's tariffs will bring to the economy. I know if from experience.
13
Let's hope that destroying our economy also destroys his re-election chances, and that the Democrats have a good replacement ready.
16
"Silly me" Stephens writes.
Indeed. There you were Wall Street Journal Editorial board, writing pieces claiming that Barack Obama was destroying the United States because you thought he was not pursuing foreign wars forcefully enough or God knows what. And you very likely still don't understand or accept how that attitude contributed to the country electing Donald Trump.
Voters across the country were being fed a steady stream of nonsense when Obama was President, about how he was on "an apology tour" of the world, bowing down to foreign leaders and weakening America. Is it any wonder that many of them decided that electing a strong man was the solution?
Let's be clear, we're talking about the Wall Street Journal, historically a serious, adult newspaper, but especially after it was purchased by Rupert Murdoch, its editorial and opinion side became a FOX News-type swamp of extremism, just with better writing and fewer short-skirted anchors. This is emblematic of the rot that had infected the Republican Party, already deeply sick by then.
It's worth noting that here you still quote Sarah Palin, saying that the criticism she leveled at Obama is even more deserved by Donald Trump. A better question would be who in their right mind would ever consider anything Sarah Palin said to be worth taking seriously? This is not a minor point, it's an illustration of how Trumpism had begun a decade ago, when she was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States.
77
Very well said Jeo.
I would also add that American corporations have been in bed with China for 20 years. Walmart in particular was way out in front of that. Now they have instituted a meaningless buy American program. No apologizing or admission of guilt from them as part of the campaign.
Now all of America is suffering from that corporate greed and short-sightedness. .
2
I wholeheartedly agree with you except for one point. Trumpism really has its roots in Newt Gingrich and his phony Contract for America. Another carnival barker posing as a serious “intellectual.” We can only hope that this debacle ushers in another 40 years of liberal leadership. The Republican Party is morally bankrupt and does not deserve any place in our country’s future.
1
"Make America a Mess Again" or "Make America a Laughingstock" should be the Trump and Pence slogan.
You put this Administrations' incompetence under a microscope, Mr. Stephens. Unfortunately this Administration does not believe in science. No one in this Administration knows what a microscope is... What a mess we are making of our democracy, and our elected Congress is complicit. Vote for change is our only solution. Hope Trump follows Hoover as a one term President!
11
Donald Trump is a republican politician. What's all the fuss?
I’m pretty sure that Herbert Hoover’s spirit has been resting easy ever since the George W. Bush administration.
And now, the spirit of George W. Bush can rest easy.
12
Ludlow doesn't have a gram of common economic sense let alone self respect. He is a die hard ideologically driven believer in so called supply side economics when anyone with a shred of intelligence would know that it is a fallacy at best. If you ever watched him for more than 10 minutes when he was a regular on CNBC, you would have realized he is incapable of a discussion which requires a give and take of ideas. He simply pounds away at his own myopic view of the economic world. Don't bother him with the facts. A perfect fit for Mr. Trump!
9
Can’t believe the last sentence. No one anywhere near this President has a gram of self respect.
10
Herbert Hoover! He wasn't our most interventionist President but he did indulge in adventurism in Latin America, which so far Trump has not. And he surpassed Trump's self healing heel spurs (that he couldn't remember which foot or both they were on) in avoiding being on the front lines. During the Boxer Rebellion, Smedley Butler issued rifles to all men in the besieged embassy compound and ordered them to defend the walls. When he visited the ladies' redoubt in the basement he noticed what appeared to be an exceptionally ugly hag in dress and sunbonnet. It was Herbert Hoover, whom Butler kicked upstairs and placed defending the wall.
It's worth noting that most of what Stephens in his 2014 book blamed on Obama was created by the Republican Party, and not just (or even primarily) the Tea Party. In situations where Obama requested Congressional authorization for the use of force, the GOP leadership not merely refused, it threatened him against any action. And the economic isolationism was primarily Republican too. Admittedly Obama should have been much more forceful as a leader, but Stephens had no business blaming him for Republican sins.
13
Another decent column by someone that I don't generally agree with. The American political right has allowed a loon at the wheel and he is trying to blow up the entire highway. The international order would do well to not retaliate but let the next two years run out. States are working on fixing the issues surrounding the electoral college so that we cannot have another novice in office.
5
Let's not forget the deluded people who voted for Trump. Don't they share the blame for this nightmare, along with non-voters and third party voters?
6
Even if the midterms bring a "blue wave," how much more damage will Trump do between now and November? People keep expressing incredulity that the only potential rescue the country has against his madness, the Congress, to our horror sits by silently. We need to call the Congress out - we need to quit "understanding" their tough position regarding their donors and voters. We need to call their behavior what it is: not just "spineless," but a treasonous dereliction of duty, a gross failure to honor their oath of office. They need to hear the citizens of this country call them traitors. They need to imagine their own grandchildren's future if they do not take the steps available to them NOW, not in November, to put the brakes on a looming destruction of democracy.
7
219 days to January 7 when Democrats will take their seats and be able to put some brakes on these horrible politicies and the poisonous legislation from this swamp (though I insult swamps, this is a deep deep sewer).
1
I would argue the title is not accurate , as Trump is not a Republican President, but the third-party candidate that never was. Third party candidates can not win, so he is an interloper by design.
The fact both sides take issue with him is a new dynamic for most voters that came of voting age in the last 30 years. That he continues to push his agenda with relative success is mind-boggling.
Perhaps it’s time for the media to scarifice
their increased ratings and profits and stop promoting Trump incessantly. For him, any press truly is good press, especially with Twitter as his bully pulpit.
Perhaps it’s time to elevate the discussion out of Trump’s gutter, because the continued attempts to engage at his level only leads to finding oneself face down in the mud.
I suggest a media blackout on Trump, he will have no fodder for Twitter, and within 30 days he will sound like a screeching bird to his base.
The media created this monster, now they have to put it to rest. But can they sacrifice their profits for the good of the country?
I doubt it.
3
This is absolutely right. Donald Trump is only president because the media gave him unfettered attention because he was, and continues to be, good for ratings and therefore profits. Ever since Trump came down the escalator at Trump Tower, we have been watching a train wreck. Unfortunately, we are all on the train.
1
I believe it is true that the US paid a lot to help develop the new world order after WWII, but that was the price of global prosperity which, in turn, benefited the US enormously. It was money very well spent. It represented inspired vision on the part of US politicians and the continuation of the liberal global order presents the best opportunity for long range peace and prosperity for Americans and the balance of the globe. This is why knowledgeable people around the globe are in such despair about the totality of Trump's actions. If Trump's abject ignorance of this fact is allowed to continue, American's will reap what he has sown - global depression and renewed runaway warfare as each country's politicians try to protect themselves, their oligarchs and their citizens. Buckle your seatbelts.
7
"Trump, the President", reality TV. First, blame the media. Media enabled the 1930's tragedy. The Times gives Trump too much positive spin, for decades, not months. Questioning a sitting President's birth should have given legitimate news a hint about the potential of this man. Present day labor camps for "illegals"? Legitimate media continues to support Trump fictions as if resigned to "alternative facts". Social media enables propaganda news to seem legitimate, bending the truth. Great labor statistics? No one is really hiring for jobs good enough to buy houses, cars, or allow couples to have children. Are all those open "careers" on the "internet jobs sites" real, or posted to increase hits on Google? Will these new tariffs make our 401K's tank? The Republican Party has been hurting plain folks for years by playing a long, media enabled con. Mitch McConnell uses the media, lurking in the shadows. Trump is his "go to" guy. Blame McConnell or Ryan when the economy tanks or our allies turn their backs. Tax cuts, deregulating banks, Gorsuch, women's loss of reproductive rights, the "wall" and other terrible ideas are McConnell's, too. Democrats act like powerless victims in an abusive relationship. States like New York and California fail to pass easy legislation like transit improvement. National Democratic leadership is beyond geriatric. Dems please imagine what you might have done in the 1930's with present knowledge, and just do that before we repeat history.
If Trump wrecks NAFTA because Canada and Mexico won’t bend to his will - as appears increasingly likely - don’t be too surprised if both Canada and Mexico shift the focus of their attentions to China.
Trump is quickly destroying 50 years of gradual progress towards economic integration in North America. If he succeeds, the geopolitics of the region will, equally quickly, become unrecognizable. Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, once said Canada’s relationship with the US was like “sleeping with an elephant”. That captures the risk of getting too close and the risk of being rolled onto. If you survive being rolled onto once, you’re gong to make it a policy to keep your distance thereafter.
Trump “wins”. North America loses.
4
As a seventy year old Canadian, all I can say is ‘Wow’. With friends like republicans, who needs enemies. I’ve said it early in this presidency, that Canada should refuse to aid any American effort in war. Now, I’m saying even more, I’m boycotting anything American that I use, and encouraging all those I know, to do the same.
6
Where were the free traders during the election. Trump tariffs, Bernie bad trade deals, Hillary received blame for Nafta and TPC.
As much as I detest Trump, let's place blame where it is due: his voters. I don't mean just his die-hard supporters but everyone who voted for him. They cast their votes, knowing his history and what he's capable of. The only good thing that will come out of this nightmare is that these voters will be hurt the most by his actions.
7
How is it that the President can impose tariffs unilaterally, anyway? I know there is a "national security" argument, but is there no further smell-test or laugh-test on this preposterous loophole?
1
Trump’s core of white male and female voters love his bravado and support his values of nationalism and white supremacy.
He is trying to maintain Republican majorities in congress. These actions will help that cause.
2
I have always felt one should follow the advice of a 4 times Bankruptee! I wish Mitt Romney and his friends would grab Trump and shave off his mullet like they did to a classmate years ago.
4
Yes, Bret Stephens "silly" you -- not seeing in 2014 that it wasn't Obama who coddled our enemies and rejected our friends, but President Trump today, who has shown us with his catastrophic foreign policy and economic decisions, that America is on the cusp of Hoover's great depression redux.
Will Trump's removing the US from the Paris Climate Accords, from NATO, from T.P.P. from Nafta, while granting Communist China, the P.R.C., deals to ensure his daughter's line of brands in China bring on a great world-wide depression?
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, passed by Herbert Hoover (until now the worst Republican president in our history) helped plunge America and the world into the greatest economic depression in history. Has president Trump just upped the cost of Smoot-Hawley, and will we have to wait until a Democratic president cuts the tariffs as Franklin Delano Roosevelt did in 1934? The past is prologue. We await the win of Republicans in the Mid-Terms this year, and hope the malign G.O.P. tide will turn in 2020.
3
This country needs a more expedient way to fire an unhinged president when our gerrymandered lopsided Congress has failed to protect us from becoming a banana republic. I am unimpressed with economic indicators. Most American families do not own stock. People who have long looked for s job and have been abandoned by employers due to age or health are no longer part of the unemployment statistics. So economic indicators are a fairytale. Can many Americans afford homes ? No! Can many American afford retirement ? No. We are not talking about a small segment of society. We are talking about large numbers of families hanging on by their fingernails. Our current skewed dishonest method of representation has abandoned us and left us at the mercy of the Mad Hatter. Bret is right about the insanity.
2
Tariffs never work? Someone forgot to tell the Chinese
And look! Somehow they used tariffs to build the biggest economy in the world
I’ll bet the Chinese are really sad they didn’t have a stable of mainstream American economists explaining how bad tariffs are.
With all due respect to Herbert Hoover, George W. Bush is the one who should feel relieved. What we are witnessing is a repeat of the Bush perfect economic storm that left us with The Great Recession. First, there's a "massive" tax cut that has no real benefit to the economy except looting out treasury to the tune of $1.5 trillion in additional national debt. Second, there's a relaxation of financial regulation by Congress with the loosening the Dodd-Frank law and also the Federal Reserve's abandoning the Volcker rule. Third, and finally, there's a war; this time it's a global trade war although a real war in the Middle East with Iran should not be ruled out. Donald Trump is no student of history with all its annoying "facts," but you'd think he'd remember his own experience in Atlantic City where he turned the $1.2 billion Trump Taj Mahal casino into a massive bankruptcy and then casually walked away leaving his creditors holding the bag which last year sold for just four (yes that's 4!) cents on the dollar. Let's hope the taxpayers (that's all of us) don't forget, and when that moment arrives this time say, "You're not to big to fail; and you're not too big to jail."
5
How ironic and laughable that in a booming economy with 3.8% overall unemployment and record low black unemployment, liberals would bring up Herbert Hoover who is associated with the Great Depression.
1
Things looked pretty good on the surface in the summer of 1929 too.
5
Hmm....that’s precisely the point Phil: there’s NO reason for these tariffs.
5
Not at all. The Trump depression will dwarf all that has gone before. (There were bubbles before each of the bad ones of history: see 2007-8, 1987-88, etc.) There is nobody in the wings to clean up after this one, as greed increases profiteering, climate change/global warming proceeds apace, terrorism uses Trump as a recruiting poster, and income inequality goes through the roof.
Humanists need not apply.
3
Bret, you have conservative economics to blame. The United States has basically followed conservative economic policies for the last 30 plus years, no matter whether the president was Republican or Democrat. These policies allowed the winners from free trade to amass huge forturnes, while a swath of workers and communities in manufacturing states bore the brunt of the costs, with nobody doing much of anything to help them out. So here we are, ironically, with a Republican president who doesn't know what he is doing implementing the worst possible policies to fix it. There is a better way out, but your team won't go for it because it is "socialism" and it also requires getting a handle on health care costs, comprehensive immigration reform, fixing entitlements, a roll back of tax cuts for the rich, and putting a leash on rising military expenditures. In other words, it requires hard work and real policy making, not demogoguery. It requires telling the donors to go you-know-what, which neither side wants to do in our money-drenched campaign system. It requires telling the people the TRUTH. The TRUTH... does your party even know what it is?
7
If Larry Kudlow understood the first thing about international trade, he would have respectfully declined Trump's offer.
1
"the economy is humming" represents Hoover more similarly than anything else here. The economy MIGHT BE humming for conglomerates. while a reported 43% of citizens cannot afford basic amenities as the price of doing the business of minding your own business means laptops, 2 cars (of a status worthy) and contracts for cable and telephone cripple workers who will fall behind in the workplace if they can't keep up with the latest installment of Shark Week or Disney World family vacation coupled with the obligatory friends and wives get-a-way to Vegas, both trips with crushing budget results.
The game is set up by those who replaced the robber barons and rail barons of yore, those darlings who kept the lid on U.S. cities for another Hoover, J.Edgar have risen to the top of the heap siphoning the saps and suckers for every dime by attaching as many billable hours for bells and whistles nobody needs but have been shamed into thinking they do, and pay and pay and pay until the mortgages and loans accrued interest dissolve the family. Hooverville in the magic kingdom of Trump.
Not enough has been written about the film The Florida Project.
Trump unapologetically reveres power. That he appears quite willing to abandon an ideological ally he perceives as weak to curry favor with an ideologically antithetical power should surprise no one.
Mr. Stephens, you know as well as I that we traded all of our dignity, sanity and global position for a bad package of tax reforms and the hope of an anti-abortion Justice.
George W. Bush, who managed to initiate a perma-war or two and oversaw the collapse of the global economy,is cheerfully painting away in Texas, firm in his knowledge that he didn't get the title of "Worst Since Hoover."
Trump is delivering on his promises, which most sane Republicans thought to be all bombast, but turned out to be bombast he would pursue to the death. So we blessing pollution, following dire trade policies, inciting trouble with allies while bear-baiting Iran and North Korea. What could possibly go wrong?
And from our right wing media - always ready to blame Obama for every penny at the pump, every single job lost - we are hearing crickets. Democrat's policy has evil results; evil results from our own Bombast In Chief? Crickets. Listen for the crickets.
6
Trump the worst Republican President ever?
The question should be what would it look like having the best President ever period and if even that is enough to solve our problems. From what I have read concerning the ideal trajectory of not only the U.S. but the world at its best, the projected and hypothetical result of best laid human plans, is that we are essentially running on hope and little else.
Here is best laid plans by our best thinkers: Continue with globalization, intertwining of peoples, and fundamental problems such as racial, religious, cultural difference will decline, that nationalism will be avoided, that people will settle into greater prosperity and egalitarianism, democratic socialism, and that the human population will at least stabilize and hopefully even decline, and that a tremendous release of human talent will occur and violence will decline and we will live in much greater harmony with our planet, that our disastrous effect on the environment will decline and perhaps even reverse itself.
Our best laid plans seem to hinge on faith in human freedom, that people will leap up to rejecting all the negatives such as racism, religion, cultural chauvinism, violence, having too many children, too little responsibility for our planet and will choose to act and think at the human best. Essentially we seem to believe free people and some sort of restraint and intelligence will set in, reason will triumph over worst impulses. Evidence for that please...
2
One of the numerous problems with tariffs arbitrarily imposed and then removed solely at the whim of one person is that it creates a massive incentive for both companies and countries around the world to bribe that person by secretly enriching his family’s businesses in exchange for exemptions from the tariffs.
Lucky for America and the world, President Trump would never do anything unethical like that.
2
At some point down the road, Trump (or whomever is selected to clean up the mess) will need the assistance of a country like Canada or France or Germany. And their response will be "We will get back to you on that". And they will relish watching Trump squirm. And there will be no doubt in any one's mind why they are holding back. And finally they will want to know what's in it for them? Hopefully, the new guy won't be Pence. You know, Trump in a minister's costume. Or is it a wolf in sheep's clothing? Is there really any difference?
6
I recognize that Bret let Hoover off the hook. But to be even fairer, in 1929-39, it was not entirely clear what to do, and so even FDR, after conditions appeared to get a little better, he tried to reduce expenses, and that meant government programs - and so the economy quickly worsened. Again, this column was not really about Hoover, but Hoover was a truly decent man who had real accomplishments. He was president during the worst of times, but there is no comparison between Hoover - a man worthy of much praise for his accomplishments and Trump who will surely go down in history as our worst president ever.
1
If Trump left office today, he, most certainly, would not be considered our worst president, or even our worst Republican president.
He has started no wars. By contrast, Dubya, 18 months into his presidency, was busily sowing seeds of war based entirely on lies. Unemployment is at an 18-year low, and black unemployment is at an all-time record low (and please spare the Obama should get the credit, because Obama isn't president, and the economy was stagnating during the final years of his presidency). Wages are starting to climb. The stock market is up by double digits; by contrast, the market barely moved during Obama's final years--you can look it up. Tax cuts came and the sky didn't fall.
Trump is a horrible person with no sense of decorum, sure, and he may well end up our worst president by the time he's done. But predicting the future is dicey business. Just ask Paul Krugman, who infamously predicted on election night that markets would crash and never recover. The markets instantly did the exact opposite.
Don't be a Krugman, Mr. Stephens. You're the last best hope of this NYT op-ed section. Don't ruin it by falling into the same Trump traps as your colleagues have done.
2
From my understanding of history and Herbert Hoover, he decided to do nothing or try nothing when the country was on the verge of the great depression. Roosevelt campaigned on the basic principle that we have to do something and just maybe the answer can come from government. The problem with Trump is he should be more like Hoover and do nothing and keep is big mouth shut. The economy is on a roll thanks to Obama's actions after the W. Bush administration put it in the toilet. When no major adjustments are needed Trump decides on a trade war - as well as a number of other social changes appealing to his endearing supporters. It is correct to state you have to work hard to get below Hoover in terms of competency and Trump has exceeded in taking the presidency to the lowest depths in modern history.
2
Trump's loves conflict. He is hoping that our former allies (yes, he has already succeeded in deliberately turning friends into enemies) and China retaliate with their own tariffs so that he can then double down again (or quadruple down ... or outright ban many imports). His goal is to dominate and humiliate everybody and every country. Economic consequences are of no interest to him (other than as they affect his real-estate holdings). As long as his angry mob continues to salute him, nothing else matters. This is all prelude to the coming massive military conflict that his ego demands and tells him he will win ... as he has been winning all his life. Does he resemble anybody we know from history?
2
Trump’s rhetorical apogies, hyperboles, and over-the-top proclamations were made for situations such as this. He should rise to the occasion, and gleefully proclaim that he is “the worst Republican president since Hoover...the WORST.”
Paradoxically, it would not be an exaggeration, and Hoover would gleefully roll over in his grave at receiving such a presidential pardon.
1
Stephens is admitting what most of us know knew anyway: the hyperbolic criticism of Barack Obama was largely the reflexive response on the right to a Democrat being in the White House (a budding tradition initiated by Newt Gingrich in 1994). If nothing else, Trump may teach Americans to hold their critical fire until there really is something to shoot at.
2
One of the best opinion columnists in some time. Part of our problem is our education system that seems to ignore the teaching of history and, yes, that old "chestnut" about ignoring it and repeating it.
From the ill advised Smoot-Hawley tariffs, which did noting except greatly exacerbate the Great Depression, to the GOP isolationism of the 1930's and anti-Semitism, evidenced by Charles Lindbergh for the former and Father Coughlin for the latter, we seem to be, sadly, in a repeat pattern.
Further, history tells us that all "empires" eventually collapse for a number of reasons. This applies equally to "good" empires, such as the British, and "bad", such as the Roman.
Until the roughly one-third of the American population is able to look past the end of their noses will be get back to even keel. Trump, Tea Party and the so-called Freedom Caucus are a troika that will, in time, ensure the end of the "American Empire" which, in the main, has brought so much good to the world.
7
Indeed, the US may have paid a disproportionate price to maintain the world order over many decades, but this also ensured the US a leadership seat at just about every table across the world of foreign relations. Of course, this is economic leadership through long term alliances, economic engagement, and diplomacy none of which is how the Trump administration understands its work.
4
I really think it's time for our erstwhile allies to put sanctions on all Trump's and his families' businesses.
He only understands bludgeons, and he only cares about his own benefit.
Selfishness is the new charisma. Time for some chickens to come home to roost.
23
Digusted that Stephens had to take a cheap shot at Obama for acknowledging that the world exists outside of the US and that violence abroad makes enemies, not to mention the neverending waste of lives, time and treasure which has provided a recruiting poster for terrorists to thrive and grow.
7
I have been very critical of Trump. Perhaps this has been unfair. Perhaps the real reason he is failing as a viable leader in our country is that all he has known is the wheeling-dealing real estate world. A world that is based on short term and one-off deals. You see a project. You get the money. You frame the deal so you get a big piece of the pie. Then the deal goes bankrupt, but you are out of it and still have your money. Unfortunately, those who voted for Trump live a long way away from the NY real estate empires. Unfortunately for the rest of us, what expertise Trump may have displayed (we can't naysay him based on the bankruptcies as HE still got hit gold toilet) does not work in government. He ran for president because he wanted to "win" the title. He didn't run, nor was he prepared, to actually govern a country where decisions and actions have rippling effects that will last for years. But even if we give him a pass for not having the experience or expertise to be president, as a human, he is not worthy of any praise. He - along with the swamp creatures he brings with him - represents the underbelly of humanity, and the sooner he is removed from a position of power, the sooner we can start to rebuild our democracy and value system that in a mere 18 months he has shredded.
19
The United States has just passed a pseudo-budget what will generate a deficit of $1.2 trillion. This is on top of the present debt load of about $18 trillion accumulated debt. When the depression happens, and Trump is ensuring that it will, there will be very little ability to undertake programs that will alleviate the misery for the people most affected. The coming depression will be truly awful for the poorest of Americans. There will be no CCC and other like programs this time.
The last depression began with agriculture and it is already beginning in that sector again.
My point is that the US is extremely vulnerable, even more so with the current obvious lack of talent in the White House.
13
Consumers will wind up paying for Trump's tariff follies in the form of increased prices. Nothing more will be accomplished.
6
In the light (or darkness) of Trump's recent tariffs on imported steel, let us at least remember Herbert Hoover's massive contribution to metallurgy, publishing the translation (still the preferred one today) of Agricola's book 'De Re Metallica', 1556, one of the most important works ever on the mining, smelting and refining of metals.
2
I think that I am correct in saying that trump is the first president who conducts important economic/foreign policy on the basis of spite. Anything which President Obama supported trump will undo or castigate. Dinesh D'Souza wrote a lot of vile things about President Obama and his mother so naturally that makes him worthy of a Presidential pardon. A decent person would be ashamed to have written some of the stuff that D'Souza wrote and profited from.
We can argue and disagree about the policies of Herbert Hoover but from the little that I have read about him, I think that he was a decent, well-intentioned man.
The reason that I don't like or support trump is that he is an obvious con man who encourages hate and bigotry for political purposes. It is also true that he knows or cares little about government policy. What he says is often not true or his ideas are thirty years out of date. We do have problems in trade and other countries have taken advantage in some areas -- but trump has no clue as to how to address those problems.
If you go back through trump's career, I think you will find that everyone who supports trump ends up being diminished, or cast aside, or becomes a laughing stock. No one builds a good reputation serving trump. The same will happen to his supporters (the left behind). He will pander to them for political purposes but, other than a few judicial appointments, he will not help them. He doesn't know how.
19
In July of 17 we saw a deal made with the Chinese company Foxconn to build a US factory. Has that building started? Wouldn’t tariffs on metals make it less feasible for that company to build in the US?
2
Yes, it has started, Land has been acquired for the most part, smaller holdout landowners around the periphery will probably get theirs taken by eminent domain. Environmental regulations have been waived by Walker and the DNR, as have been the Lake Michigan water withdrawal restrictions. They are beginning construction as of this week.
1
If the Chinese bribe Trump or his daughter enough, an exception will be made. They did it already, so they can do it again. Glaring hint to the Europeans, Canadians and Mexicans: if you want the tariffs to be lifted or not be enacted, check in with the Chinese about the size of the bribe. This is not corruption of course, but just the "Art of the Deal".
2
"So what motivates the president to pick these fights?" Television mind set. Trump believes the Presidency is just the ultimate reality TV show. You need to keep the suspense for the audience (one day North Korea is friend, next day its the enemy). He also knows that whether it's a commercial war or a true war (coming next season, stay tuned!), the American electorate tends to support their Presidents at first (in a second stage they change their mind after seeing the chaos, but that's too late, re-election has already taken place). Will people suffer? Of course, principally the ones who voted for Trump (working class who will lose jobs, military who will die abroad), but as long as they continue supporting Trump, why should he change strategy?
8
Friendship between nations are based on common values. Values and moral principles means nothing to Donal Trump. In fact, our current president has consistent shown admiration for autocrats while spurring democracies. It must also be clear today that Donald Trump is no genus and his administration has no long term vision. However, anyone who has studied any history knows that autocrats do not share power. Ultimately, this cycle of economic expansion must end and fiction will rise. By degrading international institutions and humiliating ally nations that preserved the last American century, we will have no friends to back us up when the time gets tough. Did anyone notice that Donal Trump has no real friends personally?
4
Since I teach American history for a living, my take on Hoover was that he was a man in over his head when the Depression hit. We know he certainly had intelligence and administration skills when he was Secretary of Commerce, but certainly, his attempts to improve economic conditions were failures due to many factors, including his own bad decision making (Case in point: Smoot-Hawley Tariff). But there is no doubt to me that Hoover was an apple, while the current president is completely different in personality, character, and circumstances around him. A great deal could be learned from Hoover's failures, but there's the problem. I'm not convinced the current president has any desire to learn from past mistakes. I haven't seen any proof yet.
17
When you have no competent policy apparatus you can't produce well constricted and vetted policy. You can break things, however. Tearing down institutions like the American government and it's standing in the world can be done quickly and with little thoughtful planning. That's all this administration is capable of.
30
Trump simply wants to illustrate that every "deal" can be renegotiated. This has been his MO for decades. It's how he burned bridges with every bank in the US. Step one, borrow money. Step two, when the bill comes due, say "guess what? I'm not paying; either accept 50 cents on the dollar, or I'm declaring bankruptcy and you can sue to get your money". By 1990, no US bank would ever loan him a dime again. But obviously, there were other sources in other parts of the world who were ready to step into the breach. Trump has no respect for any deal terms, including those he originally negotiated. He huffs and puffs and walks out of the room, until his "adversary" gives in. The great negotiator.
24
Americans will notice and they will care, when it hits their wallet. There was an article this morning showing the states that will lose the most by the Canadian tariff. The pain is fairly well spread between among states. And it will spread - maybe its Ohio getting hurt the most now, but what states supply Ohio? The ripple effect will hit everybody.
20
“Did most Americans notice?” Mr. Stephens asks. Of course not, because most Americans, like the President they elected, are short-sighted and self-involved. Hardly anyone takes a long view these days and it’s the reason our economy and our government are as fragile and subject to whim as they are. Why bother investing in policies that will bear fruit in 3, 5, 10 years? Investors are only concerned with what happens in the next three months. “I don’t care about Mexico”, the President (and likely most of his supporters) says, blissfully oblivious to the fact that we share this world with other people and what happens to one group, especially a neighbor and trade partner, will necessarily have some sort of impact on us. As long as we continue to let the most myopic and self-absorbed among us call the shots, we’ll continue to get the presidents we deserve.
23
Your point is valid. And sobering. He is the outcome of the narcissistic and self serving culture we have become. The cost of wealth is inevitable self interest and decadence. The civilization will have to pay a high price of there is hope of recovery. History shows this is not usually the case.
2
Except for Trump, Hoover is the only modern president who never held an elected office before becoming president. Hoover did, however, serve in the executive branch and had far more experience governing than Trump or, of course, Obama, who set the experience bar so low that even Trump could clear it, had before entering the oval office.
My take is that the establishment wasn't ready to see America run like a real estate development business or a reality TV show. And that's really all Trump knows how to do.
I find it entertaining.
4
I'm confident it was merely an omission and not the effect of partisanship that resulted in the misinformation you have cited regarding Obama. The fact is he served three terms in the Illinois state senate and one term as a U.S. Senator. I'm sure there is no need to go into the disparity between the educational achievements of Trump and Obama. If that is the low bar you refer to, it is one our current president could never hope to clear.
19
President Obama was not an isolationist. He led the world. Witness: TPP, the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal, international cooperation on locking down loose nuclear material, cooperation with the Russians to destroy most of Assad's chemical weapons in Syria, stopping the Ebola crisis in West Africa, chairing the U.N. Security Council and working toward nuclear nonproliferation.
What he wisely would not do was commit more US military forces in the Middle East, except for limited engagements, working with local partners on the ground to stop Daesh.
Trump is taking the US out of many of these deals while the world keeps them without US.
42
We know what caused the Great Depression and what FDR did to get us out of it. Some have said that WW II really ended it.
We know what caused the crash in 2007 and what Obama did to prevent another great depression..
Removing Dodd--Frank and other regulations and imposing unnecessary tariffs will only add to this future disaster. Will Trump then start a war with Iran?
37
The 2016 election wasn't just affected by 'Rust Belt' voters, it was affected by 'Rust Belt' non-voters. They were the problem, they are the solution.
17
Republicans have given us a court system that will restrict human rights to the benefit of corporations, and a congress and President that together gave trillions to the very wealthy, and are now wreaking havoc on basic environmental protections, social services, and public education for the rest of us. The economy is booming, but the average American worker is making no wage or benefit gains. All of the wealth is flowing to the top. Republican leadership see all of this a positive change for America; more pollution, worse healthcare, worse schools, working harder for less pay.....and looming in our future, a trade war that is going to inflate the price of everything. We need to vote for any candidate who is not a Republican or Republican supporter. Our lives depend on that in November.
28
Apparently you should have replaced Janet Yellen.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/19/news/economy/inflation-economy-mystery/i...
A tougher line on trade with China is long overdue. This is the first time in our history where we have financed the rise of a state likely to become an enemy. The Chinese don’t waste a lot of time arguing with the Americans. They delay and obfuscate. Then they send their American traders who want cheap supplies no matter the cost to American interests to argue their brief. But the tariffs on Canada are inane. We have an overall trade surplus with Canada. Trump is going to succeed in driving our allies into the open arms of China and they will all gang up on us in international fora. The consequences to the US are likely to be horrific.
9
I think there are some historians that might point out that America (corporate, private or otherwise) helped finance the rise of pre-WWII Germany. That worked out well in the end, from a big picture economic point of view. Not so well for those that perished.
That notwithstanding, allowing China into the WTO was the trigger, not a few tariffs that haven’t even really occurred of any significant scale. I believe a Democrat was President when that happened. Clinton I recall... So in that point, I agree. We financed the rise of China. Whether it’s to our ultimate detriment, only time will tell.
However, maybe the joke is on them since we sold them two trillion in petrodollar treasuries. Maybe that was the price of entry. Sure, they could dump them on the open market, but that would kill their investment and their primary trading partner. Sorry, but the EU and third world economies can’t replace the US consumer demand. Cut the US off from China and their house of cards collapses.
Sleep well, this is a tiff among business partners magnified by a press and establishment hell bent on removing Trump.
He is playing it the way the Chinese understand and respect. They aren’t burdened by Western sensibilities regarding fair play, rights of the individual, or established law (Western).
Just look to the South China Sea for proof of concept.
I also recommend your children learn Mandarin in the event it all goes horribly wrong and the UN becomes the UC.
Oh, come on now. Hoover can't hold a candle to W. It's true that the Great Depression was worse than the Great Recession, so W is only no. 2 domestically, but there is (so far!) nothing in American history to compare with the disaster of the Iraq war, so by presiding over the biggest foreign policy debacle in history by far, I think W clearly owns the title. The Trump disaster is a work in progress, so we'll have to wait and see.
16
In WaPo today, George Will writes a glowing tribute to the presidency of Gerald Ford. So now Hoover and, of course W Bush, are looked at favorably in comparison to Trump. Who’s next ? Andrew Johnson and Warren G Harding. How low we have sunk. The good news is that there’s only one direction we can head after the current disaster.
19
How low indeed? We can only hope low enough to begin the rise. Thank you.
1
"If Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he’d resign." And...
If Republicans in Congress had a picogram of self-respect between them, they'd all resign. But...
There is no self-respect in the Republican Party, especially its leadership. One or two squeal every now and then when Trump's behavior and words jeopardize their place at the public trough, otherwise they let him degrade the presidency, alienate our allies, and destroy trust in law, order and justice, while they slurp and oink contentedly.
The Fake President is playing the presidency as a casino game of roulette. Every week, every day, every hour, Trump's impatience to garner more attention, leads him to doing something, anything so long as it will be contrary to protocol, truth, President Obama, reality, sanity.
So never forget, Trump may be the worst Republican ever, the worst American ever, but he is the product and soul of the worst political party ever, the Republican Cabal.
72
>
Hurts me to say it but DJT is right BUT 50 yrs too late. Economic protection was a major part of this country's eco-plan long after Hoover; it is the pseudo-free-trade that is relatively new, moreover, there are still non-Trumpian tariffs today
Unfortunately, the toothpaste is out of the tube; Tariffs aren't a reversible reaction, which is why it's a lost cause
First we don't really have free trade as Smith or Ricardo envisioned it. Smith's vision of free trade saw certain country's trading products with each other that which they produced best. E.g., Whirlpool building and selling washers and sending them throughout the world; NOT shipping the factory to Mexico for cheap labor & then shipping the product back to the U.S.
Today's "Free Trade" is not trading products but LABOR!
"At the present time, the system of protection is conservative, whereas the system of free trade is destructive: it dissolves old nationalities and pushes extreme antagonism between bourgeoisie and proletariat. In a word, the system of commercial freedom hastens the social revolution.”
Marx
"Political economy arose as a natural consequence of the extension of trade, and with its appearance elementary unscientific Schacher [haggling] was replaced by a developed system of authorized fraud, a complete science of enrichment.
F. Engels
6
Yes indeed. President Grifter is adept, along with his mini-me VP, at destroying relations not only with other countries but also within our borders. The statement, "“These guys in Washington don’t understand how real supply lines work,” he says. “You can’t crack the economy on the end of a whip like that when you are dealing with real jobs and real people and real products coming across borders." says it all. Nothing more needs to be said.
That tax "reform" the Trump supporters keep cackling about will evaporate quickly as the price of goods in the marketplace escalate to cover the cost of the tariffs. We already have rising fuel prices that will soon decrease the discretionary spending that keeps manufacturing operating. And those fuel prices will also diminish any tax savings the grifter promised.
Back to the question if anyone in Washington understands supply chain management. The answer is, not at present. Not with Trump cronies in charge of the store.
4
Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer with an interest in efficiency, and he had the humanitarian impulses of a liberal. As Secretary of Commerce under Harding, he was the best of a bad lot of cabinet members.
Ironically, as a Quaker, Hoover opposed war, but after the Great War he did for Europe what George Marshall did after World War II.
As president, there were two factors which were Herbert Hoover’s undoing, and they are eerily similar to Donald Trump’s flawed background. Hoover, like Trump, was an inexperienced politician, and he also had the belief that the private sector usually can solve problems better than the Federal government.
Herbert Hoover was a failure because allowed himself to be sold on tariffs by fellow Republicans, resulting in Smoot-Hawley. Perhaps he was tolerant of protectionism
because of his anti-war Quaker religion.
The similarities between Hoover and Trump end with the tariffs and the protectionism. Herbert Hoover was a smarter person than Donald Trump, and Hoover was a much more decent human being.
As a Democrat, I am glad that Hoover is ranked higher by historians and economists than Donald Trump. Hoover was a man of good intentions, whose flawed plans were executed poorly.
Trump is a man of bad intentions. He is a bundle of childish nastiness, personal avarice and ignorance. As such, Trump is more dangerous.
14
I disagree, in my view GW Bush is the worst Republican President, or rather was until Trump seized power.
“If Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he’d resign.” Change ‘self-respect’ to ‘intelligence’ and I would agree; the man clearly has zero self esteem.
3
Trump's psychosis is enabled by the Republican Party. If Americans care about our nation we will stop electing all Republicans and allow our country to right itself by immediately removing Trump from office due to his lack of psychological fitness. We can do this within the next twelve months and help forestall the ongoing economic, political, and social disaster he is creating for our nation.
Hopefully when Trump is removed he will be indicted along with his enablers. Our country deserves justice for the crimes Trump has committed prior to and during his term in office and justice will include seeing Trump perp walked out of the White House and driven to prison where he belongs.
3
"...he could not then know that “Smoot-Hawley”/
would become a byword for economic folly."
The jolly honor of being named the Worst Republican President Ever should be the result of a painstaking and thorough multi-step analytical process. Two steps should suffice. First, something awful must happen. Second, this awfulness should be the consequence of something stupid done by the president. A disastrous unforced error should count for more than a bad response to an existing crisis.
Pursuant to this demanding analytical standard, neither Hoover nor Trump yet deserve the honor. Hoover was the clueless officer of the day on duty when the Great Depression hit. His responses were dull and unimaginative, but the economic collapse itself was not in any unique way his fault.
Trump, as we remind ourselves daily, has a seemingly unlimited potential for creating disaster. But, amazingly, the much anticipated disaster hasn't arrived. More patience will be required. Despite our breathless expectations, Trump's fate is yet to be determined. He could still end up like Harding, loutish and inept but without his critical signature failure.
Currently, George W Bush remains firmly in the lead. His ginned up and wholly unnecessary invasion of Iraq remains the seminal geopolitical disaster of this era, one that has not fully run its awful course. So far Trump has nothing remotely comparable to offer. Let's show some respect. It's way too soon to push Bushie off the mountain top.
3
Can we imagine who might say that we have the best president,republican or democrat, in history. Yes, Vladimir Putin might say this. And for him it would be true. Whatever Trump does it benefits the Russians, or so they think. Trump is destroying America, and not bit by bit. But entirely whole. Whether it is by trade, by the environment, by education, by harming the poor or by taking health care from it's citizens Mr. Trump is destroying our country. And republicans are aiding and abetting him.
At the moment I'm sitting on a very high speed train in France, going to Paris from Bordeaux. We don't have trains like this.We are already behind the wealthier nations. Trump will take us further down the road to impoverishment. He is doing it.
8
I think we can safely assume the Larry Kudlow does not have a gram of self-respect. While he is feckless in and off himself, it seems clear that economic policy is now being set by John Bolton, who loves conflict in which others suffer.
There is a fight to be had in front of the American people as people like Boehner, Brennan, even Ryan for a brief moment of self respect, are saying that Trump's policy announcements are destructive. It is not at all clear to whom Trump is appealing as his recent orders will actually damage opportunity for what we thought was his core constituency.
As we know Trump hollowed out his business from actual construction to branding because of massive failures. Then he turned to passing Russian money through pointless golf courses to clean it up. He seems to want to do the same with the economy--destroy real work and trade in favor of branding, yelling, and impulsive orders.
3
Trump has managed over the years to maintain an aura of titanic success even as almost every business venture he undertook on his own failed (e.g., Atlantic City, Trump Air, Trump Steaks, Trump U., Trump Vodka, his football team, etc.). His business model has been to make a lot of noise and lie about his "success." When the businesses went belly up, investors, creditors, and consumers were left holding the bag while Trump himself skipped along to the next scheme. His presidency will follow the same pattern. He will bellow and belch fire and keep things spinning wildly until everything collapses, at which point he'll blame someone/thing else and walk away. The likelihood of his ever being held to account for past, present, or future malfeasance is vanishingly slim and becoming slimmer every day.
15
I'm sick of hearing about Trump ruining our global relationships, and I imagine most people will jump at the opportunity to get rid of him on the next election if they have any common sense left.
1
Trump is doing what his "sober-minded" advisor, V. Putin, tells him to do. This is blackmail by a master manipulator; Trump has to obey if he doesn't want Putin to reveal tapes, financials, and other incriminating info. Putin has a desperately panicked accomplice as Russia works to destroy Western alliances and economies.
5
Hoover already had been bested for the title of "Worst President Ever" by George W. Bush. But W's record has now been completely demolished -- by a wide margin that increases with every passing day -- by the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
3
Trump doesn't understand trade. But he thinks he understands leverage. If he thinks he has leverage over you, he'll pound you to get what he wants.
The problem is, his simplistic view of the world and his lack of intellectual interest in the facts and politics underlying the issues, often render his leverage calculations horribly wrong. Examples:
He quit the Paris climate accord, thinking that it will be redone to suit his political desires. Over 200 countries have signed and most have ratified this treaty. This did nothing but anger our allies.
He pulled out of the TPP, thinking the Asian nations would somehow recast the deal to suit him. They didn't and it drew them closer to China. Now he is trying to find his way back into the deal.
He pounded and insulted the North Korean leader to get him to give up his nukes in a "deal" to be made by Trump. When Trump's victory summit fell apart, he had to scramble to get the meeting back on track. Now Trump looks desperate to do a deal or else he looks like he has been played by "Little Rocket Man".
He thinks Canada, Mexico and the EU need the US more on trade than we need them. Hence the tariffs and NAFTA threats. All of this will hurt the US economy when they impose reciprocal tariffs.
He thinks Iran cannot withstand more economic sanctions. Hence, the treaty is over. But if the EU and other nations do not follow (very likely), this will be yet another blunder.
The self-proclaimed World's Greatest Negotiator? Yeah, right.
19
This is tiring. I’ll stick with EU and Iran, as I really need to eat dinner. Below is a link with US/EU trade since 1997. You will note the 600% increase in the deficit the EU enjoys. (That means they export more to us then we export to them).
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c0003.
That’s real leverage.
The EU exported €11 billion to Iran I’m 2017, and €435 billion to the US. That’s a measly 2.5% of their trade with us.
Again, we have the leverage.
The reason they are screaming is because we do. Otherwise it WOULDN’T MAKE the news.
Stop your fretting. They do need us. If they didn’t, they would truly ignore us. There is a reason we rule their headlines and make the cover of their magazines. They have much to be concerned about. Take a look at their bond market, they are in trouble, and they know it.
Too bad we didn't have this discussion during the 2016 election when Trump and Bernie were ranting 24-7 that trade deals are the root of all evil.
8
Trump is a madman. His antics could be sort of funny when he was a private citizen but no more.
He now wields the extraordinary powers of the most powerful office on earth. The danger is he likes to use those powers for the sake of using them, not for the benefit of the people he serves. Of course, in his sick little mind, he is nobody's servant, he is THE leader.
Wether he was ever funny is a legitimate question. If he ever was, he certainly is no more. He craves the attention he gets when he does outrageous things. That's scary. He thinks the greatest Presidents have been war Presidents. That's even scarier.
He's already done so much damage all around him, it's impossible for anyone to ignore. It will only get worse as time goes by. Now is the time to stop him. But that would take courage and patriotism. I'm not optimistic.
7
Imposition of tariffs is a signal. It's sad and somewhat pathetic that the author doesn't understand the signal, it that's to be expected with any establishment writer.
It is sad indeed to contemplate a new "Trumpville" may emerge to remind us that Hoover wasn't that bad. Where or where will they find room in overpopulated D.C. with all those monuments and galleries.
I guess that's what happens when an incompetent fool with no clear understanding of trade and tariffs and the repercussions of mishandling them is at the reins.
I pray for our country every day now. I will add security and economy to that mantra.
Trump reminds me of the Billy Mumy character in that old Twilight Zone episode where the child destroys his world at will and those around him creepy silently around him in fear.
That it's come to this is so very sad.
Great column though Mr. Stephens. Keep on letting us share in your point of view.
8
Donald's administration is a bit like Luna Park. Crazy mirrors, big dippers, ghost trains and all the other spills and thrills.
But, and this is the point or nub, if you don't survive them, you're fired!
We can play the fools and wonder why anyone who cares about this country and its alliances would deliberately seek to smash those relationships. Or we can observe the obvious fact that the beneficiary of these actions is also the country that engineered the election of the first president who had NEVER held public office. No other interest would wish these actions on this country: Not the Koch Brothers, not the steel industry, not the aluminum industry, not the coal industry, not the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, not any business in this country would wish to throw a wrench into the smoothly operating machinery of international trade. But a corrupt, dead-end country like Russia would certainly wish us the worst of everything. And anyone who doesn't think Vladimir Putin is controlling Trump is deliberately and unconvincingly naive.
5
You seem to have forgotten George W. Bush, who wrecked the economy with a massive tax cut while initiating two disastrous wars.
5
While I too disagree with some of Trump's inconsistent trade policies, the melodrama of this piece drowns out almost all salient points that Bret is attempting to make.
Tone. It. Down. Please.
1
"Tone it down?" Who in this world needs that advice more than anyone? Who? Is his name Donald Trump?
Appears to be chaos yet no sanctions for Deripaska's Rusal while Canada gets hit 'for nat'l security'.
He loves strongmen but harder to understand is GOP Congress' free pass as his wrecking ball hits civil society.
Trump is not fulfilling his oath to uphold the constitution; GOP Congress is abetting the dismantling.
This isn't protectionism or any theory, it's Trump's gut which is like Joker in Dark Knight Rises, paranoid and nihilistic but w self-dealing spin.
Where'd real GOP go & why?
14
Hoover may be the worst Republican President on trade matters until Trump, but George W. Bush, who started a war of aggression based on phony intelligence and who authorized the war crime of torture -- and whose policies were more successful at getting Americans killed than those of Osama bin-Laden -- is far and away the worst Republican President of all time, though Trump is doing his utmost to give Bush 43 a run for the money.
Larry Kudlow won’t resign in protest of Trump’s Toddler Tariffs because Kudlow isn’t an economist; he’s a TV personality. Just like the boss. Tearing apart the country is the highest rated show they’ve ever put on. They’re certainly not going to stop now.
10
The title for worst president still rests comfortably in the hands of George W. Bush. Trump still pales in comparison.
In one respect, Trump is worse than Hoover. In another, he's worse than GW Bush. It used to be hard to choose the worst Republican president. Now it's a cinch.
8
It is the dawning of the age of nefarious, age of nefarious. Disharmony, misunderstanding, antipathy abounding. No more common dreams and visions, just intractable divisions. Human degradation and complete deregulation. The Age of Aquarius was a blip of the radar. The age of nefarious may be with is from some time.
If Donald Trump knows anything, he knows that if people aren't any longer frightened and angey he is done. He'll stir that pot till someone can't stop him.
7
"He'll stir that pot till someone can't stop him." Absolutely spot on, B&N!
Scary how quickly he's brought us to the verge of disaster. Kind of like the way he treated the tenants in newly acquired rent-controlled buildings in NYC. He'd refuse to turn on the heat or fix broken plumbing, just a strange, insistent sort of torture until he got his way.
1
Kudlow resign. Are you kidding? Wonder how much money he and his cronies along with Trump clan made on stock market today with Trump's early forecasting of the jobs data. A clear case of insider trading even worse than his attacks on Amazon. What if Obama did anything like it there would be immediate investigations. Much worse the Hillary's e-mails. But with Trump nobody even cares. Your columns still regard him as someone who really wants to be president or run the country. He is only concerned about two things making as much money as possible for himself, family, and rich friends and playing golf. When Mueller finally ends it all, Trump will walk away laughing as the joke is on us.
21
History will, I predict, call this chapter in our history, Trump's Folly.
5
The worst Republican president, the worst president in terms of what he did, is still George W. Bush. Bush launched the unending wars in the Middle East that have killed well over a million persons, displaced many millions, wrecked untold lives, and destroyed city after city. The flow of refugees that is upending European politics is a direct result of this. By permitting torture, Bush trashed America's moral standing that took two centuries to establish. He was an awful president. Nevertheless, in terms of individual qualities, Donald Trump is a more frightening type with the potential to be the worst of all time if he is not held in check. More important than the free market reasons Stephens goes on about is that Trump cares nothing about the Constitution and is intent on destroying the rule of law. Without that, there is nothing. The Republican Congress, pretending to be conservatives but really radical wreckers, has backed Trump all the way. You have to wonder which side these people would have been on in 1933 in Germany?
8
If someone can explain to me why closing American
Industries and moving the factories overseas and leaving
unemployed Americans behind is good for America -
please do.
1
These events happened because businessmen and corporations were following the golden rule of capitalism and that is the profit motive rules out all other considerations. Also, corporations have to only consider "shareholder value."
Most, if not all, of these deciders were Republican voting "businessmen." So what do you do? You vote for Trump, a billionaire who stocks his cabinet with other billionaire Republicans.
29
John, you're correct — in a vacuum. Yet all countries are interdependent. What will now happen if our allies in Europe start taxing American products? And start focusing more on commerce with other countries? The US will lose. If I were Europe I would not let the humiliation stand unanswered.
1
I ask, and who of Republican presidents would be considered a “good” President? And please, don’t say Abe! Republicans have lost the right to claim his legacy, with the hatred and divisiveness they spew. Maybe Prince Charming (RR) who started this whole mess by inflaming a culture war that hoodwinked so many working class Americans into believing that the Republican Party would help them? Why does anyone join or support Republican Party with this legacy of failure? Many of the comments are arguing who was the worst president and all the contenders are Republicans!
31
A few observations:
1, Larry Kudlow was shamelessly auditioning on TV for a job in the Trump administration from about November 7th, 2016. He won't resign.
2. Hoover was a serious man, and a man of considerable professional accomplishment. That Trump is a worse president is incontestable, but being a good president might be harder than we think.
3. Trump has imposed tariffs for the same reason that Bill Clinton carried on with Monica Lewinsky: "Because I could", he said. Power tends to corrupt, as Lord Acton observed, and we've only had a preview of what it does to those already corrupted.
4. Pundits who trashed Obama can be forgiven for neglecting to think about how they were preparing the ground for someone like Trump. They thought they'd get a nice, comfortable, right-wing, wink-and-nod panderer like Ted Cruze, and instead they helped to bring us Bizarro.
9
I am certain that Mr Hoover was replaced as worst republican president ever by George W. Bush whose crimes were so egregious that it is hard to believe they have passed from even the so short term memory of America.
8
"Worst Republican"? The false implication is that there was a worse President, but he wasn't a Republican.
The author made a huge mistake by not interviewing Stanford University folks where Hoover was president. Indeed Stanford has an independent GOP Think Tank (which must pay rent and is no longout er a part of the University, thank God) Hoover Institution and the president's house is called the "Hoover House."
There are maybe, maybe 25 people who support Trump at Stanford now. Indeed, back when "W" was president and tried to come on campus, there was such a blockade, that he eventually went to George Shultz's house OFF campus.
There is v little about the #1 favorite University which is intellectually reknown which favors one iota of Trump. Nor are there any stupid people, even at Hoover Center, who support him.
So tell me this, dear readers, if such an intellectual university as Stanford is so appalled at Trump as it is, why are there still such stupid American who still support our dangerous president?
Mr. Trump has never heard of "Smoot Hawley" his total lack of knowledge of history and economics is becoming more and more evident every day.
2
Worst republican president? Why the qualifier? Of the four top candidates, three are republicans and the fourth one a Whig. Surely you aren’t suggesting President Fillmore was worse? He didn’t start two catastrophic wars, fail to prevent the most egregious attack on US soil in 60 years, preside over the destruction of a major US City and lead the economy into the worst depression in 90 years. Hard to imagine anyone topping Bush, frankly
1
As "American Emperor" comes around the first bend into the back stretch, who can divine how damaging his decisions will become? Even a positive November outcome for Dems, however important, will be an imperfect brake.
As a moment of trivial relief, consideration should be given to the best final placement of this president's formal portrait.
I see the real issue being leverage, that the time to push for fair trade is when we are in good shape. Whether it is Canada or the EU, they cannot afford a real trade war and the time to force more favorable and fair trade deals is now. I expect by the end of the month (July 1st fiscal year) many of these will be resolved with the US gaining often small advantages but in some instances large, substantive changes. It may be the biggest sea-change for American trade since the 1950's.
While it is wise to counsel against a full trade war, the alternative for the past 25 years is to do nothing that might rock the boat, that sacrificing certain American industries and their workers was part of a grand bargain. That was fine for Wall Street but many American Main Streets have paid the price. Trump, for all his zig zagging on trade, deserves credit for trying to right some structural wrongs.
If Trump took a more sophisticated approach to trade, he would deserve some credit for taking action on trade imbalances. His mode is more of tantrums and trade deal breaking, not negotiating better deals. The concept of making America the leader in growth industries through government supported research, improving education, particularly for the under served seems to be lost here. Not that some good might come of this but given Trump's track record in a business that his father guided him in, I don't think this will end well.
3
"If Trump's economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he'd resign."
If Mr. Kudlow had a gram of self-respect that would be one gram more than the craven, supine Republicans in Congress who sit by silently while Mr. Trump makes his best efforts to debase the Executive branch of the U.S. government.
31
Blaming foreigners for one’s problems is far, far easier and politically expedient than addressing the fundamental reality facing American workers. That is, with the economy performing at near record pace, few if any workers are benefiting in any real meaningful way while all the while wealth is further concentrated among the so-called 1%.
Tariffs of any type on Canada, the EU and anyone else will only serve to accelerate the growing scourge of inequality that is ripping at the fabric of American society.
I wonder how much more ‘winning’ American workers can take.
43
Sometime in 1931, a very poor woman from DC was overlooked by the Secret Service, got into the White House and directly begged Herbert Hoover for help. He gave her money out of his wallet and followed up after she left to make sure her whole family and she were okay. His political advisers wanted to make sure that his generosity made it into the news. He told them if any one of them talked about it, he'd fire them since charity is best when it's done because it's the right thing to do, not to get publicity for the benefactor.
That's a manifestation of good character NEVER shown by Trump in his entire life.
The story is included in most of the bios of Hoover, but did not become publicly known until the 1960's.
37
This is unfair to Hoover in ways that misunderstand Trump too.
Hoover was an establishment guy. After he was President, he led the Republican opposition to FDR and the New Deal, and even WW2. What followed him was Taft, who was just more Hoover.
Hoover was unusually smart, by all accounts.
Hoover was known for public service, and very effective too. He led relief efforts in Eastern Europe after WW1, and was credited with saving millions of lives. That was how he gained the fame to become President.
Hoover's downfall, and ours, was his sincere belief in a fixed idea of how the economy worked, that was too narrow. In fairness, he came before much of our current economic thinking had ever been done, which studied him and the failure of his ideas.
Nobody would ever say any of those things about Trump.
Hoover did not dislike trade. It did die off in the Great Depression that shut down the world economy, but that was not his desire nor intent.
His tariffs were traditional thinking, the old Federalism of Hamilton. He thought corporate trade could pay taxes, enough to pay for the federal government. Again, not Trump.
Today, Americans do want trade. They may want "agreements" but they don't want those agreements.
They don't want it rigged the way it has been, to favor the interests of a narrow minority at the expense of the American worker and existing American business. They don't want the TPP, written in secret by and for insiders who profit from stripping out our economy.
16
Herbert Hoover was a decent man, helped Europe recover after WWII, his problem was Andrew Mellon secretary of the treasury. who convinced hoover the people would become dependent on government handouts if he tried to help the economy. Nixon was paranoid, got into office by convincing his voters that Helen Gahegen Douglas was a communist. Even so he brought China into the world order, got the EPA passed, he was despite his personal faults a patriot. Coolidge was not corrupt but Several senators were, it was his secretary of the interior that was behind the Teapot Dome scandal.
Grant was as honest a man that ever was president, but again, he trusted the wrong people, and did not want to believe they had, the Credit Mobilier was done by several corrupt politician, but Grant had nothing to do with it personally.
But W listened to Cheney, Wolfowitz, Netanyahu, Boltton, Rumsfeld, who ignored the report of the AEIE inspectors, discounted the reconnaissance of the NRO reports, hid NSA and CIA annalisists reports, so he could invade and occupy Iraq, resulting in the deaths of several thousand American servicemen, women, and contractors.
Now we have Danald 1, the Mad President and his GOP enablers working to turn the country over to the plutocrats, a traitor worse than Benadict Arnold.
66
Herbert Hoover wasn’t the worst Republican ever. That was Richard Nixon.
Hoover didn’t create the Great Depression: that catastrophic event had its causal origins in historical policies that had been building to a complex boil for decades before him, and simply erupted on his watch; and it happened at just about the time the Hoover administration had figured out where the light switches and bathrooms were in the White House. The means he used to quell the destruction were tried and true by the standards of the time – they just didn’t work. His character was blemish-free and he also was active in advising other politicians usefully during his long life (he died in 1964, at the age of 90); and the advice was highly valued, as he may have been one of our most intelligent and otherwise accomplished presidents.
Richard Nixon, while he was the last president who embodied the moderate Republican views and policies that I hold, nevertheless by his failures of character and judgment in Watergate destroyed the party for years, allowing an extremist conservative element to take it over to wage war against an already-extremist liberal Democratic Party, a bipolar pyrrhic confrontation that has dreadfully hobbled our politics for decades. He was the most impactful Republican president since the original Republican, Abe Lincoln, and I would argue that he indisputably anchors the cellar, not Hoover by a long shot.
But Bret’s column, of course, isn’t really about Hoover but about Trump.
9
I’m not as cutting in my criticism of Bret’s views on Trump here, in the Times, where he flogs the majoritarian view, as I was when I commented in the WSJ where he wrote for years; but I insist on pointing out how lacking in balance these tirades are.
Trump’s imposition of steel and aluminum duties on trading partners, some of them allies, is of a piece with his method of brinkmanship on everything, in order to achieve desired effects during the limited tenure of a presidency. He’s after bigger fish than steel and aluminum. He and his people believe that for years trading partners have exploited a willingness on our part to sacrifice the economic interests of our workers to other, geopolitical goals; and allies are almost as willing as adversaries to exploit a money advantage when it’s offered. Trump decided early on that this would stop and that bilateral trade agreements, with EVERYONE, would be made palpably fairer to American workers.
His method of doing that is to employ what leverage we have to renegotiate those trade agreements GENERALLY to be fairer to us. Steel and aluminum merely represent the spear-point of that approach. But in order for a threat of leverage to remain credible, it must occasionally be used; and that’s what we’re seeing here. Kim Jong-un understands this now, as soon the Iranian Imams will.
I’m confident that a general willingness by our trading partners to dicker over what is fair to ALL parties will see these tariffs at least moderated.
1
Richard -- "for years trading partners have exploited a willingness on our part to sacrifice the economic interests of our workers to other, geopolitical goals"
Guys like Truman, Eisenhower, and Marshall were pretty sharp. They did that when the US was half the world's industrial economy, when those allies were in ruins, and when the US interest that predominated was keeping the world functioning as part of our system.
The basic assumptions have changed. Yet the policy goes on and on. The policy made good sense when we did it. Things have changed.
We need not denigrate the policy choice, just the refusal to continue to exercise judgment as the world changes around us.
2
What remains incredible is that Richard Luettgen actually BELIEVES, against all evidence to the contrary, in trump's negotiating skills.
trump pulled off a couple of impressive business deals back in his 30s, including trump towers. But those days are long behind him.
Mr. Luettgen places his unwavering faith in trump's negotiating chops based on that touchdown pass he caught once back in High School. He imbues the same strategic brilliance into his analysis of trump's every move.
"Leverage?" trump has already sacrificed that in spades by folding like a lawn chair. Repeatedly. China and Un have his number.
trump a master "negotiator?" Ask anyone who is actually effective in negotiations, business or otherwise. trump couldn't even negotiate a significant raise on 'the Apprentice.'
The glory days of a couple of wins are long gone for this pumpkin.
But Richard still clings to the hope of that coming touchdown pass as an article of faith in Old Glory.
14
"Those tariffs on China might still be on.. but that would only compound the damage. Protectionism anywhere is invariably bad for local consumers and the global economy, but American protectionism is infinitely worse. It's a betrayal of the liberal-international order we founded nearly eight years ago.."
Tariffs on Chinese imports would be "bad for local consumers"only in the sense that it would preclude local consumers from benefitting at the cost of those of our Internationals friends who are toiling for slave wages, often in hazardous condition, including children.
There's nothing "liberal" about consumers
profiting at the expense of others' working under inhumane condition.
I recommend that the author tour the shuttered factory towns in the United States, and interview all the Americans who were well paid union workers, with full benefits and pensions, who are now unemployed, or working , at minimum wage, often part-time, with no benefits.
Those who believe that manufacturing jobs will return to the United States, in the absence of tariffs to level the playing field, are deluding themselves
I would consider myself to be a liberal, who hardly endorses isolationism, or Donald Trump, whom I believe to be a dangerous and reckless individual who is unfit to be President.
In fact, tariffs on Chinese imports is probably the one issue where Trump and I are on the same page.
2
Americans can be so arrogant. What gives you the right to dictate wages in foreign countries? There are millions of people around the world willing to work for less because they do not have the wealth and prosperity of Americans. Americans in their arrogance just want to keep them down . Rather than fighting it enjoy the benefits of free trade. Over time wages around the world would rise as their economies develop, just as ours did. We have become a nation of whiners. At least we had the excuse of a depression in the last trade war.
1
1. Full-time jobs up 2.4 million in 2017 as compared to the 1.6 million that Obama added in 2016, a 50% increase (excludes part time ).
2. Manufacturing employment up 207,000 in 2017 under Trump as compared to down 9,000 in 2016 under Obama.
3. Total job openings increased 20% from 5.4 million under Obama’s term to 6.6 million.
4. Annual hours of work increased 4.9 billion hours in 2017, up 83% from Obama’s 2016 increase of 2.7 billion.
5. Economic growth was 2.3% in 2017, up 53% from Obama’s 1.5% in 2016.
6. Stock market is $32.3 trillion, up $7 trillion.
8. Employment of Blacks and Hispanics is at an all-time record and at higher wages than in 2016
9. Consumer confidence highest in 15 years.
10. Unemployment is 3.6%, lowest since 2000.
11. Real disposable personal income increased at a 3.4% annual rate in the first quarter of 2018, as compared to Obama’s 1.4% in 2016.
12. 2017 new home sales were 614,000 up 10% from 2016.
13. Total wealth is $99 trillion, up $7.1 trillion since Trump's election.
14. Business investment, the source of most wage gains, increased 8.9% under Trump in 2017 as compared to a negative 3.7% under Obama in 2016.
15. Federal revenues grew $387 billion dollars, 11% in 2017 as compared to Obama’s 0% in 2016.
16. April of 2018, largest monthly budget surplus in history: $218 billion, a 20% increase over 2017 and a 100% increase over that of April 2016 under Obama.
Maybe Trump has a method to his madness. Hoover didn't.
4
Everything would have rolled just as well under Clinton. Trump has done nothing predictable, stable, consistent, advisable or wise. We survive despite him.
41
What did Trump do that had an impact in 2017?
4
@Huppenthal-
You know little or nothing about physics evidently.
An observation about enormous ocean-going ships like supercarriers or supertankers: how long it takes to change their course or speed. The helmsman turns the wheel. The rudder turns. The ship’s screws accelerate or decelerate. But nothing happens for many minutes because sheer mass and angular momentum overwhelm new vectors. The vessel stays on the same course and speed for as long as half-an-hour, and change only happens incrementally.
It’s no different with the American economy. Its underlying structure, parameters and growth rates were set during President Bush’s and Obama’s terms. Trump and his economic team haven’t been around long enough to matter. Rest assured, their policies will start working their magic soon enough. Most will take effect in early 2020, and they will undo most of what Obama and Ben Bernanke accomplished between 2009-2013 despite Republican obstructionism. That's what Republicans still want to do, it seems: undo Obama’s legacy.
The damage Trump and other “fiscal conservatives” are doing to our economy will be only too apparent in five years. But as those storms break over us first you will denounce it as “fake news”, deny that it’s happening, then deny responsibility and finally blame it on long-gone Obama or even “Hillary” — still the most convenient scapegoats and receptacles for your scorn and contempt despite how thoroughly it flies in the face of logic, decency and reality.
2
"For every opinion there are extremely inconvenient facts, no less for mine than for yours." The problem with your argument, Mr. Stephens, is that you are assuming that the sanctions, detrimental as they may be, will be fixed and permanent. But that's not the case. Trump, just as he placed those sanctions on the fly, may reverse them the same way. To him, it's a negotiation tactic. Now, the wisdom and effectiveness (or lack of) of that tactic is what your next article should be about.
1
Trump is creating chaos in the financial markets. Companies do not know from day to day how to plan . Only an idiot would think these are smart negotiating tactics. If you are negotiating then do it man to man and not in the newspapers and twitter.
2
Perhaps it's a bit unfair to put Hoover and Trump in the same box. Hoover inherited an economy ready to explode while Trump was gifted with one ready to roar.
Hoover was pushed by his party to embrace tariffs but Trump is trashing our economy on his own, embracing a trade war with our allies that will actually negatively affect many of his own supporters.
He has no idea how supply chains work or that most of our exports are not from manufacturing steel or aluminum but products made from both that is often imported. He doesn't understand that a stable global order directly affects our national security.
Trump is great at making complete nonsense sound reasonable and making all those "real Americans" who support him feel that he is on their side as he is stabbing them in the back.
He is a one-man wrecking crew and there will not be much of value left to piece back together when he exits the presidency and the damage will be global.
67
In education, culture, business and in terms of his humanitarian impulses - and ability to act on the latter - Hoover was far more accomplished than Trump can ever be. Meanwhile, North Korea's spy chief spent two hours in the Oval Office today. When is Trump going to open the letter the North Korean official brought him?
9
When we are looking backwards from the devastation that now awaits us, and wonder “what happened?” the answer will be “oh. right. We elected Donald Trump President of the United States.”
32
Mr. Stephens, Donald Trump is a Republican, he's your guy and he's no good. Next time nominate someone like Gerald Ford.
18
@dlb-
Republicans wouldn’t nominate Ford then, or now. He was appointed by a Republican-led Congress to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew, Nixon’s vice president,forced to resign for corruption. Upon President Nixon’s subsequent resignation Ford became president.
He has the odd distinction of being the only president who wasn’t elected as set forth in the Constitution.
2
Bret, have you forgotten that Warren Harding was a Republican? Herbert Hoover was an intelligent and humane man, who did a lot for recovery in Europe post Great War. He made a very big economic blunder, to be sure. But Harding's administration is usually taken to be worse, and deservedly so. As President he was, by the most charitable account, disengaged and distracted by his mistress while members of his administration sold government favors for bags full of cash. The most famous of the scandals, Teapot Dome, didn't break until after his death from a sudden heart attack. In terms of incompetence and corruption, Trump's Presidency is closer to Harding's than it is to Hoover's.
24
Trump hasn't killed, maimed, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people fighting pointless wars, so he still hasn't eclipsed Bush II in the pantheon of awful Republicans.
8
Indeed, the appalling Donald Trump is making matters worse on trade with most of our allies.
But the real drama will start when on July 1st Mexico elects an anti-American leftist (really, are there any other?) by the name of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador partially to poke Uncle Sam and DJT right in the eye. Think Venezuela with a drug war right on our porous border. Oh, the fun we will have...
8
We have ignored that festering problem while we meddled on the other side of the world. It is likely to blow up in our faces even worse than did the other side of the world.
4
But the Republican Party is Trumpism now. The Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus, all these are tributaries of the man who saw the opening and took it, Trump. The rhetoric, the posturing, the anti-free-trade idiocy, the relishing of disdain for our traditional allies, the pumping up of apocalypse-minded far right Christian nationalists: thanks Republicans!
And the DC establishment, with its anachronistic fear of the American Left, and its perverse tradition that Democrats are a party to contained, not praised, leave the future of our political discourse in deep hazard for decades to come.
So I think the ball is in the court of Republicans and conservatives. Thanks to indulging political conmen from Rush to Trump, you have now fully built and brought to full quite the Frankenstein.
What is your side going to do, Mr. Stephens? This is your mess, and it is quite a mess.
39
I have to agree with you again Bret. But didn't you set up the swing to Trump with your anti-Obama hectoring and support for the so-called conservatives that Trump knocked over like bowling pins. At least now a consensus is developing. Even Democrats like me are saying McCain wasn't so bad, Romney wasn't so bad, - if - if -if- Can anyone or anything stop Trump before he goes down that awful road. It is like watching some arrogant guy drive while drunk
But now we are left with the conundrum. the Republicans adults have left the building, The White House is where the wild things are.
26
Half of American families are without the means to come up with five hundred dollars on thirty days notice. Just a guess, but presumably half and more of this subset of our population voted for Trump. The death spiral down from very little to still less has begun. 'Buddy, can you spare a dime?'
27
If anyone who works for Trump has a gram of self respect, I'll eat my hat.
24
Perhaps this will unite many Rs and Ds to pass legislation to tie his hands on trade deals....or better yet, impeach him before he ruins the world economy. One man, and particularly this man should not control the outcome of the American economy. Time to throw him overboard.
20
If Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he wouldn't have taken the job in the first place, Bret
8
In 1958, Chairman Mao, on seeing sparrows eating grain that could have fed people, ordered that all such birds be hunted and killed to protect the harvest. The resulting empty skies caused the invasion of locusts in numbers that would not have existed except that their natural predators had been eliminated. Mao caused a major environmental and human disaster by decreeing sparrows as vermin deserving of extinction. His call to action resulted in the deaths of between 15 million (official) up to 78 million (estimated) people from starvation. Are Donald Trump's tariff decrees and chest thumping going to achieve in America economically what killing sparrow did in China?
29
Fairly certain steel and aluminum tariffs won’t cause 10s of millions to die of starvation or any other cause. It’s not a big enough market to really move the needle.
It’s a short term negotiating tactic. Get a grip.
Think on this- there are those that argue that Mao’s cultural revolution was a success as it set the stage for China to become an economic growth story beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. #MCGA would be Mao’s Twitter hashtag. Therefore, if your stated fear is manifested by Trump, then #MAGA is the right philosophy.
Please stop these nonsensical comparisons. They will not solve the problem at hand.
I have owed Bret Stephens an apology since he first started with The New York Times. Admittedly, I was one of many who took umbrage with the decision to bring on a conservative voice with whom I have vociferously disagreed on a number of topics. Yet, when it comes to painting an accurate picture of the president, a picture wholly formed from Mr. Stephens conservative lens, I must give Mr. Stephens due credit. While many conservatives have lost their way, having been sent in a wildly different direction after hopping on the Trump train, Mr. Stephens has stayed the conservative course. He has used his platform at The Times to speak truth to power, guided by his own vision of what conservatism should mean in 2018. Bravo, Mr. Stephens - you have officially won me over. Plus, you occasionally share columns with Gail Collins, so bonus points there too!
5
Yes, we do know how it ends, with the Democrats cleaning up yet another economic mess created by Republicans and getting the blame for being the grownups. What Stephens didn’t mention is the rollback of the Volcker Rule. Now we’re right back where we were before the Great Recession, with the big banks poised to make risky investments with the retirement funds of every middle class American. Does Trump’s base care or understand that they’ll be bailing out their rich masters? Nope. They’re just gleeful that their avatar Trump is blowing something up that liberals think is important. You can blame forty years of trickle-up neoliberal policies that have destroyed hope amongst the working class of ever attaining the American Dream and spawned a nihilism and cynicism that is contributing to the destruction of our democracy. Trump is a symptom of a GOP that has gone mad.
20
Since Bret mentions comparing presidents, we have a real contest of ''worst evers'' with idler James Buchanan the old leader versus racist progressive Woodrow Wilson and the cool-and-pretty-but-results-free BarackObama.
Trump is one of our economic stars, alongside Harding and Reagan with Kennedy close behind. If you want a growing economy and more jobs, you simply have to cut taxes. Even George W. Bush had a small economic boom thanks to his pretty small tax cut until the House went progressive.
2
Republicans must stop calling the GOP the party of Lincoln. That ended decades ago. The decision of the SCOTUS in Brown V Board of Ed started the GOP pivot to bigotry. The Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts speeded up that change. Dixiecrats, who had opposed the GOP because of Lincoln's decisions on slavery, found the new GOP to be a cozy home. At the same time, the Democratic Party changed, and dropped its Dixiecrat legacy. Now, all across the western world, political parties are challenged by rampant populism and xenophobia. The GOP has been drowned in that wave. The Dem Party must rediscover the history of political opposition. The GOP is the party of greed and lies and is backed by the biggest lying machine in history. The Dem Party must coalesce around the need to fight the greed and lies of the GOP. Meanwhile, as Stephens points out, Trump pursues gimmicks, not policies. Unfortunately, we may have witnessed a gross interference in the market. Free market? How much did the Trump portfolio grow this morning following his tweet on jobs?
17
"I inherited a mess," Trump whined, upon taking office. Of course, that was a lie. Trump was taking a cheap shot at President Obama and giving himself a cover story for the catastrophes sure to follow his time in power.
The messes Trump in which Trump finds himself are his own making. Our collective memory just has to be longer than Donald's own one.
12
"Self respect".
Sorry Bret, those are words that officially cannot be used in the same sentence about Trump minions who are basically just weathering the storm and hoping to hold positions of influence and power regardless of who they work for.
16
Trump and renewable energy actually very alike…
Output very erratic – average output somewhat disappointing vs expectations…
Both borrowed bigly to roll the dice – too often coming up snake-eyes…
But - a significant share of the electorate persists in thinking they’re the elixir that’s going to fix what ails us…
From what we breathe to how we think…
And – on an atypically bright and windy day, the past is momentarily left behind and the future forever looks boundless…
Even in contention, the similarities jump out at us…
President Trump intimates climate science is a fake – climate scientists intimate Trump is a fake president…
Let’s ask the crowd again - but not too soon…
….
Actuals on European renewables…
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-11-14/germany-is-burning-to...
In both contexts, the simple answer would be to just go nuclear – but that makes even their own side nervous…
2
Bret Stephens in dead wrong about one item in this piece. Donald Trump is destined to be the worst president for America's first two hundred years AND the next two hundred years.
19
In his game of national and international chess, Trump moves his pieces about indiscriminately, making up the rules as he goes. He moves a piece, and moves another one before his playing partner can have his turn. He stops the game well before it's over and then after his playing partner has left the room, Trump wants starts a new game and blames his previous competitor for stopping the last game. He tires of chess and wants to play cards but maybe dice would be better. "We'll have to see how it goes," says he. Phooey. Let's play golf.
2
He may be Hoover's ghost but we know for certain he's Putin's puppet.
Nearly every action Trump has instigated as POTUS is an answer to the question: What would Putin do?
Break up the Western Alliance that has held Russia in check since WW2. Isolate America from its traditional military and diplomatic allies. Drive Mexico to the far left, followed by other Latin American countries ignored by the US and courted by China and Russia. Personally alienate the entire African continent as China makes deep inroads in trade and relations. A "national security" trade war against our closest allies that threatens the economic and political viability of the EU, probably Putin's biggest objective after isolating the US. Wrecked US financial credibility as the global financial clearinghouse for all banks in the world just as China has finished building its own global clearing system denominated in the Yuan. Crippled US intelligence and cooperation with allied foreign agencies. Undermined federal law enforcement with self-serving political attacks. Has normalized irrationality, bombast, vulgarity, racism, pettiness, and belligerence, not just here but around the world.
By comparison Russia and China look like reasonable and sincere adults, good folks to have on your side if you get on Trump's wrong side.
For tens of millions around the world for whom democracy, justice and freedom meant America, Trump has snuffed all promise the future held for them.
63
Keep providing your analysis. This is one of the most insightful and coherent summaries I've seen. Add in the divisions that Trump has cultivated among American voters, wealth transfer to the ultra rich and corporations, promotion of the gun lobby, removal of protective regulations, and active demonization of minorities and others.
7
Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge were surely worse than Hoover but advance to mediocre status when compared with Trump.
8
Is bashing Obama's administration some kind of Republican street cred. It seems that every column Stephens writes begins with an reflexive Obama put down. The generalized rejection of all things Obama is what got us in the trouble we find the country in today with this petulant Greek demigod who likes making humans dance to his tune.
If the Republicans had shown an ounce of respect for Obama, working with him to bring to fruition the kind of policies he constantly proposed. There were many half completed plans like healthcare, Iran deal and infrastructure spending left unfulfilled because Reps would not cooperate on legislation and actively worked to undermine the president's credibility.
Trump would still be a second rate TV actor with a compulsion for press attention, if the Republicans had only thought of country before politics.
56
Brett, I wonder whether you can understand how frustrating it is for a progressive to hear a conservative like you unleash these correct criticisms of Trump. It's aggravating because Trump is in many ways the apotheosis of Republican ideology and strategy over the past several decades. For example, the piece you mentioned you wrote about Obama's supposed retreat...that was an incredibly irresponsible act of partisanship. You wrote that, you own it, and saying "Silly me" trivializes how harmful such writing has been to our politics and, in turn, our national well-being. You are obviously not a Trump supporter, but I think it's still fair to blame people like you for setting the groundwork for Trump's arrival on the stage. What I'd like to see from you is a much more serious and self-reflective mea culpa.
70
Trump isn't interested in trade deals. He couldn't explain one if you offered him a billion dollars. Luckily for our allies, you can buy Trump for a lot less than a billion.
Macron just needs to invite Trump to another parade, tell him it's from all his friends in the EU. Trump loves a parade.
Canada might want to.try a Chinese style "investment" in a Trump property. It worked for ZTE and the military considers them a threat to national security. Canada can probably get a good neighbor discount.
Mexico will have to work harder. Trump is just not a fan and he only responds to two colors: White and Green. Mexico can't compete with the E.U. and Canada on whiteness, so they'll have to cough up just a bit more green:
Bribe is an ugly word, so call it a loan and funnel it through Kushner. Everyone else does.
54
love it.
1
Gravity defied by a light-weight president, floating adrift like a weather vane, capriciously defying the laws of nature, which seeks order and stability. As they say, with false and devious friends, who needs enemies? Trump is as arrogant as they come, and knows so little that he is under the illusion he knows more than 'the generals' (his words). The financial markets, international trade, and friendly alliances, all demand some stability, and certainty, and trust, even decency...of which this ugly American in-chief has none. How is it even possible that the entire republican party is complicit in this suicidal, vengeful and resentful move, a clear dereliction of duty of the legislative branch of government, especially at a time of crisis, brought about by a childish temper tantrum in the Oval Office?
7
Stephens: "... I spoke with Gary Stein, C.E.O. of Houston-based Triple-S Steel, ..."
AFAICT, Stein's company is a steel reseller.
Stephens quoting Stein: "There’s a lot of special stuff that comes from only one mill, and now suddenly you can’t get it or it’s going to cost you 25 percent more."
Stephens should have asked for more details about that "special stuff". Presumably, the companies that make "stuff" are not US companies. Why couldn't US companies make the same "stuff"?
Now the economic problem with tariffs is apparent: US manufacturers of "stuff" can charge higher prices than they would if they had to compete against imported "stuff" without tariffs.
Those higher prices amount to taxes on Stein's customers that benefit the US companies making "stuff".
3
The difference is that Hoover was a good man with bad ideas, while Trump is not and has no idea.
40
We will have no allies. Isn’t that the plan?
17
Hoover wasn't even the worst of the three in the 1920s. Harding was a corrupt horror show. Coolidge had 1/2 of a good year, then his son got killed and he suffered and nervous breakdown.
7
Dear Bret,
The comparison to Hoover just ain't fair to Hoover. And Trump is a Republican when it suits him. I wonder sometimes why the party decided to let him run in the first place. But we're stuck with him until at least January 2021.
The maddening thing in all this is that the President should not be making decisions on tariffs. As it is a means of generating revenue, tariffs should be decided by Congress. Someone ought to stand up and tell Trump that his actions are unconstitutional.
5
Tariffs will hurt American manufacturing, because US businesses can't change their suppliers overnight, esp. not for specialist steel and auto parts. That's 21st century trading economics 101. Just think about ZTE. It would go belly up without American semiconductors. Likewise, American automakers can't do without European or Japanese-made components.
Reshoring these supply lines would take years, not least because we are talking about highly specialized companies, which can not be built up over night. So, in the end manufacturing costs and consumer prices will rise, and smaller US companies will go out of business. MAGA!
18
There is some limited utility for tariffs, but they must be applied wit a great deal of intelligence, and with much thought given to what their effect will be not just on the industry or sector a president seeks to protect, but to the economy as a whole. The Trump administration had neither the requisite intelligence nor the willingness to undertake the kind of thorough economic analysis of the impact of tariffs that is necessary if the tariffs are to be effective and not counterproductive.
As a general rule, tariffs are better used against manufacturers of consumer end-products. Trump's tariffs are on raw materials, and that is sheer madness, because it will take time for domestic producers of those raw materials to develop the capacity to meet the increased demand for these materials. This means the costs of those raw materials will rise, as will every end product that makes use of them.
3
Although I didn't live back then, I think today reminds me more of the roaring 20's, esp. the late 20's than the 30's. And again I personally didn't experience Hoover, but I did George Bush. And he was by far the worst in my lifetime. But Trump has got him beat by a long shot. And he just got started.
22
Economists understand that free trade maximizes the creation of wealth for the most people, while protectionism creates economic inefficiency and waste. Of course not everyone wins from free trade because it drives jobs to the countries where workers can most efficiently perform them. But the countries whose people lose jobs are supposed to compensate their citizens by offering educational opportunities that result in better jobs than the ones lost.
Unfortunately this process is complicated and hard to communicate. It also requires citizens who aspire to self improvement. If you only aspire to do the same mining or manufacturing job your parents did, then you will be a loser as the economy globalizes. Finally, it requires leaders who understand this process and articulate this vision, urging citizens to improve themselves through higher education to maximize their individual economic potential.
Republicans were historically the champions of free trade. But when Obama favored TPP, Republicans abandoned it. Now we have a president encourages citizens to cling to the past and to blame others for their own lack of forward motion. The tragedy of politics in our country (and around the globe) is the failure of leaders to articulate the path forward and to inspire citizens to follow.
20
"Republicans were historically the champions of free trade."
What is "free" about any of our trade deals?
Hoover and Trump have very little in common. Hoover made one big mistake: allowing stocks to be bought on 10% margin.
Trump is different. He is expert at getting daily name recognition. This is powerful as many people vote will vote for a name they know. Trump essentially bought Congress with his tax "reform" . Impeachment is out of the question with control of Congress by Democrats highly unlikely. Should Trump reach a peaceful accord with North Korea and then maybe Syria, his reelection is assured.
Yet he might be blindsided by say a European bank failure, Chinese over expansion, a military adventure, putting boots on the ground in Iran, or another Wall Street crash.
4
Bret, I'm pretty sure most Americans would consider George W. Bush, who failed to prevent 9/11, got us into two wars, one of them of choice, was the first to cut taxes in a time of war, which for the first two years was kept off-budget, doubled the national debt after we'd finally started paying it down under Clinton, botched the response to Katrina while thousands died, began a program of mass surveillance, allowed torture and indefinite detention without due process, utterly destabilized the Middle East and bookended his administration with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, to be a worse president that Herbert Hoover - who merely ushered in that Great Depression.
144
Hoover was a remarkable man who achieved more in his lifetime than several of our Presidents combined. How sad, and misguided, that his astonishing accomplishments can be brushed aside to "assign" him this rank as a President.
8
Excuse me, but why would you put Larry Kudlow's name in the same sentence as self-respect? He is just one more medicine show performer who assumes that the piffle he peddled on cable TV would somehow be effective when it comes to actual policy-making. Trump on "The Apprentice" playing a a decisive executive. Kudlow on TV playing an economist. There is a pattern here. People keep seeing an emperor's new clothes and an ...economist's grasp of global trade when both are illusions.
33
There are a fair number of those, I'll cop to the plea, who never thought that Herbert Hoover was a bad, or even badly misguided, guy. Hev was the vicftim of, first off, circumstances, and secondly, ideological blinkering.
We all would like to believe in 'our' answers which, vaguely, comport with our moral biases. Mr. Stephens, no more, nor less, than I exhibits this tendency with fair regularity. Economics, largely through the vanity of its publicly extolled expositors, yearns to be regarded as an 'exact science'. Howlingly, it is not. But the impression left in the public mind is that there are 'right' and 'wrong' as regards matters of public economic policy.
The fundamental, unspoken, undecided, and likely irresolvable questions are moral: who deserves what in recompense for his/her labor or mere existence. No table of accrued or anticpated values will ever answer that for us.
13
Richard,
Amidst all of the finger pointing and "whataboutisms" in these comments, it is refreshing to read a thoughtful reminder of our very human limitations--and those of the dismal "science" of economics.
As to moral justifications for compensation, I don't think that any of us are knowledgeable enough to make very many such judgments. The free market, over time, tends to sort out such things.
Obama understood America's power resided in her moral authority, not in her potential to push other nations around at will. And knowing this he had great success in getting other sovereign nations to support his agenda, whether that was ridding Iraq of its nuclear weapons, negotiating the TPP, sanctioning Russia for its territorial overreach, and effectively handling emerging crises such as the outbreak of Ebola and any number of natural catastrophes. And wherever Obama travelled in the world, with but few exceptions, he was always warmly greeted and listened to with appropriate respect for his intelligence and his mission and his people. How long before another American president is greeted in such a manner?
289
If only President Obama could be persuaded to run again after we clean the House, the Senate...and so on.
18
What nuclear weapons in Iraq?
3
That was a dumb mistake!
With the Know-Nothing-In-Chief leading his faithful Know-Nothings over the spiteful cliffs of Dumb and Dumber, there's never been a better time to enjoy American stupidity.
Trump has put more tariffs on US allies than he has on China.
"Europe, Canada & Mexico aren't China. You don’t treat allies the same way you treat opponents. Blanket protectionism is a big part of why we had a Great Depression. 'Make America Great Again' shouldn’t mean 'Make America 1929 Again.' " tweeted Sen. Ben Sasse (Rep-Nebraska).
Trump's 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% tariff on aluminum punishes our allies and barely impacts China.
"We don't buy steel and aluminum from China. We buy it from our allies," said economist Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for Int'l Economics.
Total American steel and aluminum imports last year:
Canada: $12.4 Billion
European Union: $7.7 Billion
Mexico: $2.9 B
China: $2.9 B
Japan: $2 B
Way to sock it to our friends, Donald.
In retaliation, Canada announced it will impose up to $12.8 billion in tariffs on American steel, aluminum, whiskey, orange juice and other products. "This is the strongest trade action Canada has taken in the post-war era," said Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland.
The EU is looking at $3.3 billion in retaliatory tariffs on American products like jeans, bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and Mexico said it will place tariffs on everything from steel to meats, fruits and cheeses.
The Art of Idiotic Trade Wars.
643
They should all slap a 50% tariff on luxury hotel fees and golf course fees.
116
Spot on, Socrates. What's more, we seem to be incurious about a vast swing in foreign trading markets.
For example, why is virtually every major one down or, at best, up no more than 1 or 2% - except the market in Russia, which is currently up more than 20%?
Why is only the Russian trading market up like gangbusters? It's because these latest tariffs stymie everyone but them.
The Grand Old Payoff is happening right before our eyes, to help douse the personal debt of the Mis-Director in Chief.
Stop the Stealing. Vote this November.
34
I disagree with Bret Stephens.
Hoover has nothing to worry about because Trump will prove to be worse than Nixon (Watergate), Harding (Teapot Dome) and US Grant (Credit Mobilier) COMBINED.
The economic damage that Trump is about to wreak is small potatoes compared the the Constitutional damage that he is causing daily. We can recover from evconomic damage. We may never recover from damage to our form of government, if it is severe enough. He is doing his very best to make a significant part of our population think that the rule of law is whatever the people in power can get away with. As history teaches, economic uncertainty (or severe depression) just makes it that much easier for authoritarians to claim the reins of power, especially if they promise that they can "fix the problems." Where have we heard that before? Hmm ...
144
For total corruption and the worst secrecy fetish since the Middle Ages, we have to hand it to Barack Obama, who was reported to have spent seven figures keeping his aademic history locked away while he was preparing to run for the White House, and spent over thirty million dollars trying to keep secret things that he did with our money while he was president. CBS reported this.
Plus, there are still agreements he made with other countries that have never seen the light of day.
Please document your claims. The link to that CBS report should be easy to produce.
Hoover the worst Republican President? Are you kidding, Bret? What about Ulysses S. Grant, who ran THE most corrupt admin till now? Or Warren G. Harding, under whom Teapot Dome boiled over? Richard Nixon, who undermined our electoral system?
Or what about George W. Bush, who blew up a healthy economy, used 9/11 to roll out the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and got us into the totally unnecessary Iraq War?
Hoover SHOULD have been a good President but he was inaugurated just 6 months before the Crash and had no clue how to counter it.
But Trump will go down as the very worst and most corrupt President EVER, and if he succeeds in making himself Dictator, he will have destroyed the Republic. And he may well start WWIII. Had we a RESPONSIBLE Congress, Trump would already be facing impeachment, and likely ouster.
No such luck.
362
Yes, please don't forget W: Unpayable debt, unwinnable war, helping the rich instead of the poor.
45
And remember--this is only a list of bad Republican Presidents, because that's all Bret Stephens is discussing.
7
We in Canada can only hope that Trump stays home next week...and we have a G6.
39
“If Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he’d resign.”
Anyone who works for Trump left whatever self-respect they had far behind once they entered the White House’s front door.
98
But to the average working Joe working two jobs and those who lean red, things couldn't look better. The news cycle is dominated by Mueller and Where's Melania. The Dems need to talk about pocketbook issues and talk about them with easy to understand facts about healthcare, abortion, and the environment. The dems didn't win the midterms and 2020 yet. And something tells me it will be really close.
16
As long as President Hoover's ghost is resting easier, can we possibly re-animate his body? I think we can agree that having a zombified Herbert staggering around the White House in search of brains (oh, the futility) would make for better reality TV than what we've been watching, and do less damage to our standing as a nation.
13
Perhaps the moribund leadership in the congressional Republican delegation will finally revive and intervene before this train-wreck of an administration sends the world economy into the ditch.
Sadly, I'm not at all certain they will summon the courage to do so...
12
Mr. Hoover has not been last since 2003.
36
This is simply a bizarre and simply incorrect column. First, it's bizarre in attacking Hoover. If anything, there's evidence that Hoover's problem was in being too pro-labor:
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/pandering-to-labor-caused-great-91447
As for the tariffs, Wikipedia says:
"Most economists hold the opinion that the tariff act did not greatly worsen the great depression"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Act
Third, it's far too early to tell what what Trump's real strategy is in imposing these tariffs. It still seems lost likely that they are bargaining ploys.
4
Citing the work of a single (conservative) economist and a passage from a Wikipedia article hardly amounts to conclusive evidence.
10
"I don’t care about Mexico honestly, I really don’t care about Mexico," blathers President Trump noxiously about the nation's second best friend. The thing is, he doesn't care about America either. If he did, he'd respect its institutions.
323
Ted Cruz, DiNesh D'souza, well educated- Woodrow Wilson had a P.H.D., was a professor and head of Princeton before becoming president. He was progressive on some things, but was from a slave owning family (born 1856) and re-segregated the Federal government, adored the KKK in The Birth of a Nation.
My point-racism, cruelty, belief in irrational paranoid enemies, ignoring science, statistics, ignoring factual evidence, believing looney religious superstitions is not only found in poorly educated, uninformed people. How so many support a man as egregious in so many ways that defy what we teach our kids is, and also have supported the far right modern "Republicans" (the word no longer means what it used to) is a painful revelation about almost 50% of US voters.
A person who is able to critically analyze information is impervious to being conned. Paranoid fantasists do not live in the same mental world of facts, reason, and evidence as those who have discernment faculties about this world. Corruption and totalitarians only get power from gullible voters. Once voted in,those without empathy and conscience will tear asunder any impediments to their graft and destruction of democratic legal safeguards against malignant politicians.
We have a diseased malignant far right cabal running the country, with a truly awful and ignorant man as head of state.'Trump was a pariah in NYC. Now he's a pariah around the globe. "they call the wind Pariah!"
30
It just kills you, doesn't it, Mr. Stephens, that Barack Obama was quite the president that Donald Trump isn't? Trump isn't fit to wait a table for Obama. The Republicans have their capitalist in the Oval Office and "the economy is humming." What could possibly go wrong?
Mr. Obama, with no help from (a Republican-heavy) Congress, took unemployment from a high of 10.5% to 4%. Of course, Donald Trump is taking credit for today's 3.8%. Any fool can tell you that it's that lumbering Obama train that's grinding slowly to a stop. When your president is through with tariffs and NAFTA and the TPP, we'll have no allies overseas but plenty of enemies. What unemployment will be is anyone's guess; double-digits?
And Trump will blame it all on Obama. You might too.
375
Please describe exactly what Mr Obama did to get credit for the roaring economy. Bush et al set the recovery wheels in motion after the September crash (including TARP). And I seem to recall the nation electing a Republican Congress in 2010 with a mandate to stop Mr Obama’s plans. All Obama and the Dems did was push through a pork-laden stimulus and then proceeded to throw sand in the economic gears resulting in a near eight-year capital strike.
You're not being fair to Bret Stephens. He's been a much harsher critic of Trump than he has of Obama.
7
You are seriously saying that GWB, whose administration and policies ultimately led this country into the 2008 financial collapse, is actually the architect of the many years of prosperity under Obama? Dream on.
95
I heard a right winger the other day say that Trump could destroy the Republican party and the Republic but he still loves the way the guy is so obnoxious.
They can rename their party the Know Nothings.
162
Good point; many of us thought GW Bush was at the bottom of the all-time presidential list, and he was probably elated to be moved up a notch by Trump. Didn't think of Hoover, though. Maybe W can come out of hiding and start writing op-eds. Not himself, of course; he'll hire someone who can write sentences and spell words, based on Dick Cheney's instructions.
11
If Kudlow had a gram of self respect do you think he would have taken the job in the first place?
24
On all fronts, from his foreign policy, to his environmental policy, to his economic policy he is an incompetent,ignorant, and turning out to be quite an evil man. Arrogance coupled with incompetence is a deadly mix but added to this toxic mess is his enrichment of himself, his family, and friends as well as his treasonous acts with foreign governments. Herbert Hoover has nothing on the evil, ignorant man now in office. I am thankful that, meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mueller keeps grinding away. Tick tock, tick tock....Boom
51
Donald Trump bears no resemblance to Herbert Hoover or his ghost. Hoover, whatever his shortcomings, entered office with a constructive vision for America's future. He rejected the notion that a modern industrial economy could function efficiently through pure reliance on the market.
He believed that businessmen could reduce the instability of the business cycle through voluntary cooperation under the sponsorship of the federal government. While he deplored FDR's welfare policies as a threat to individual freedom, Hoover spurned the idea that an industrial economy could cope with the Depression through laissez faire policies. Only near the end of his term, when the inadequacy of his own approach destroyed his popularity, did Hoover advocate policies he had earlier rejected: higher taxes and lower government spending, along with a retention of the gold standard.
Trump, by contrast, lacks any coherent vision for the future of this country. Like any nihilist, he destroys without purpose, guided only by a vast economic ignorance and an impatience with institutions which constrain his impulses. So, the fact that his trade policy seems untethered to any sensible strategy should surprise no one.
Some people who studied Trump's supporters said they wanted someone to go to Washington and blow things up. In this one respect, at least, Trump has not cheated his followers. But no one should compare this pyromaniac to Herbert Hoover, on trade or anything else.
14
Hoover didn't start unnecessary wars in the Middle East that continue even now and have resulted in untold numbers of lives lost. Neither has Trump.
Dubya remains, by far, the worst president, and not just Republican, in our history. He also presided over the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
13
Two scary words: Mike Pence. 2020 could get ugly in November. Pence as President would make us look back at the Trump administration as an entertaining side show.
25
Larry Kudlow's self-respect, or lack thereof, matters not. He's not a bona-fide economist. He know not whereof he speaks. He's just a showman like his boss.
23
I take umbrage at using Herbert Hoover in the title. Mr. Hoover, despite his presidency, was a humanitarian whose efforts saved many in Europe around the time of WW1.
https://www.cornellcollege.edu/history/courses/stewart/his260-3-2006/01%...
I do not recall the present occupant of the White House showing any such energy or success in relieving the suffering of others.
40
If the proclamations made were the result of one deranged king's lack of meds the madness would be explicable, but it is the silence of the lambs behind him who are as much or more to blame than him.
The bribe of a couple trillion to the boys on both sides of the aisle may have something to do with their reticence to even note the obvious.
No one, no single person, can survive on the minimum wage doled out by corporations and lesser employers. It isn't Mr Kudlow who is alone in lack of self respect, it is every last person who occupies an elected or apponted seat in this dysfunctional administration.
As many as stand for reelection should be shown the door in November, but something about our less than informed citizenry tells me it will be business as usual and this column will be dusted off and refiled in 2020.
9
That man currently in the White House is rehabilitating several Republican past presidents including the second Bush, Nixon, and Hoover. Which one of those created the most lasting damage to the world? Not hard to pick given the Iraqi debacle.
12
Scary that Reagan now appears rational to me.
1
Hoover was an intelligent man and a capable administrator. I suggest Mr Stephens read up before opining or falling prey to broad generalizations. the current occupant of the White House is an abomination, not comparable to any human being, alive or dead.
38
President Trump's decisions and actions display not just his incompetence but also his vindictive nature which, at the scale he has access to, has the potential for massive repercussions across the nation. His Washington Post/Bezos/Amazon attack is a prime example of his disregard for the impact of his decisions on thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people. A back-door attack on the WP through Amazon for their less-than-flattering reporting on him, is using a sledgehammer to drive a tack into a cork-board. And now we have his whack-job approach to import tariffs on America's neighbors, closest friends and allies in order to appease his minority voter base. Perhaps he missed the class on Newtonian physics "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" - and he sure didn't take to heart Newton's observation: " I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people."
21
I never thought I'd pen a comment in defense of Herbert Hoover, but he never was the worst Republican president ever, not even close, even pre-Trump. How soon we forget Richard Nixon and Warren Harding.
I never knew Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes or Franklin Pierce but, yes, in my lifetime nobody tops Trump on the refuse heap. Not even close.
76
You forgot dubya, the president who was so bad he vanished from memory during the term of his successor. Remember how the problems he failed to deal with miraculously came into existence as he took office and were therefore his fault.
8
It is hard for me to be impressed by the lamentations of Stephens and his colleagues Douthat and Brooks. They and the rest of the GOP rode the tiger created by the Southern Strategy, Morning in America, Willie Horton, Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Tea Party and all the other provocations and lies. The activities of the GOP made Trump or someone like him inevitable. Now the hypocrites among the GOP commentariat are shocked, simply shocked at what has happened - and are trying to dodge their responsibility for it. But the tiger has thrown them off and it may devour them.
78
As the 1930s song went, "Happy days are here again...." Frankly, I think it will take a combination of the Mueller report and economic catastrophe to dislodge Trump. I believe the excesses and misguided policies of the Trump era have passed a critical point -- as at some point in the 1920s -- and the crash will come. The only thing that's unclear is the exact timing. Buckle your seat belts....
14
The mistakes Hoover made were lessons learned and avoided by subsequent administrations right through Obama’s but Trump just refuses to respect all of that hard earned knowledge, he thinks that he knows better.
13
Remember when Trump claimed unemployment was 42%? Well he meant if you took all of the people out of the labor force, added them to people working part time for economic reasons.
Do you know what you get when to do the same calculations today?
41.53%.
Sound suspiciously like 42% to me. Why is he celebrating!
12
Very nice column, Bret. Rational, fact-based, well-reasoned, level-headed, historically-grounded and eminently sane.
Are you SURE that you're a conservative, Bret? Or perhaps it's just that you've been chatting with your esteemed colleague Professor Krugman recently - who could have written essentially this same column without any cognitive dissonance on his part.
Either way, you're skating on very thin ice with today's GOP. Most of them already probably won't return your phone calls anymore.
21
When Trump sinks below Harding and Buchanan, America will be truly lost. He's unfortunately trending in that sorry direction.
14
Given today's unemployment report that pointed to an increase in "Household Unemployment Survey" looking out for our labor force would seem to be critical.
Pundits always forget flyover country. The great intellectual and commercial hubs of both coasts overlook how the vast amount of citizens live. Trump works for those often overlooked folks.
Most think that Iraq and Afghanistan were huge mistakes and that the lack of healthcare and education are the direct result of corporate lobbying.
1
Trump works for himself and only himself. If you believe otherwise, you're not paying attention
32
Outstanding column, Mr. Stephens. Thank you. If only your fellow conservatives, as well as the Republican members of Congress, would speak out with such force and clarity. The shadows of the 1930s are indeed growing darker.
23
Mr. Stephens, you might wish to check an essay 'North America: The Giant in Retreat' by Hamish McRae, which this reader of your writings and his received in June of 1994. It sounds to this inexperienced ear during this time of questioning, we are going 'Insular' and it would help if you could branch out the meaning of this.
President Obama has a vision of the World, a vision of the future based on prosperity, and what I remember quite well is when first addressing our nation, he brought to our attention the reality of two inherited wars and a global recession. He added that in order to pull through this dark passage in history, a peace-corps mission would be needed in our country where we brought our best to each and every one. Moderate in tone, he could easily have caused a national panic.
'The Spread-It-Around' Policy has never been popular with Americans; we are at heart strong capitalists who wish to make a profit; as for Herbert Hoover, it is only now that a discovery has been made of a person who worked for the above. She had joined the Public Sector when we met 1000 summers ago.
'Obama is our Last Hope' from an Irish friend who does not remember this, but this American does only too well. When reminding her earlier, there was a lot of shouting from MD. It has turned out to be a national emergency situation with Trump at the helm of our ship, and let's keep quiet.
What does America want for the Future? Start asking and let's find out.
6
Yes, but when all is said and done, people will remember Trump and one of his critics. And when have the economists been right?
5
Economist are right quite often, Sergio. Much more often than egomaniacal idiots.
4
Don't worry, the impact of these policies will hit just about as the new Democratic President is sworn in - then the criticism will mount that the recovery is not fast enough.
562
Dont forget that then deficits will matter again!
103
Sigh...you'd think we'd stop repeating the same old thing? But...nope. One could hope that after the dumpster fire in the Whitehouse is purged that it would usher in campaign finance reforms, repeal of Citizens United, requirements that force anyone seeking office to publicly publish the last 10 years of tax returns, dissolve private business into a real blind trust, submit to a real physical by real 3rd party doctor and actually be qualified for security clearance before running. But that wish list is doubtful with all the trump planted judicial stooges. I hope the people that don't vote in midterms and stayed home in 2016 really let that sink in.
78
Indeed.
"Republican tax cuts will hurt Americans. And Democrats will pay the price
Bruce Bartlett"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/20/republican-tax-cut...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/01/donald-trump-incom...
35
Trump is playing the long game. He knows he is out in 2020, and has to crash the economy before then to pick up those cheap real estate deals with all of the money has has lined up from ‘investors’.
156
Nicely (or nastily, but well) put.
7
I made a comment in an article about the Volcker rule the other day:
Let the reckless gambling begin. The next crash will occur sometime between the midterm and the next presidential elections ( window: Nov 2018 to Nov 2020).
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/business/volcker-rule-banks-federal-r...
8
"I am not a crook" Nixon has been the reigning worst Republican president. We will soon see if "There is no collusion" Trump beats him to the bottom.
89
All founded or enacted during the Nixon Administration: The EPA, the Clean Air and Water Acts, the earned income tax credit, Equal Employment Opportunity Act,the Endangered Species Act, Title IX and OSHA. He opened relations with China after decades of hostility and signed SALT 1 with the USSR. He was a deeply flawed man and destroyed his own presidency but he had his accomplishments. Trump's not fit to tie Nixon's shoes.
633
Nixon prolonged a war for over 6 years with the full knowledge it was futile, at the cost of tens of thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Vietnamese, all to keep up the political pretense that Vietnam would not be lost on his watch. Trump hasn't equalled Nixon's war toll--yet.
23
It may be premature to place a date on this, and in any event, Trump has been the all-time winner in beating half of us into a pulp, while the other half is sleeping.
21
WE are a rich nation and we like to buy stuff. The fact that we have trade deficits means corporate America and its multi multi million dollar CEOs have failed miserably in figuring out ways to bring the business home so that capital works in THIS country.
Please, not the tired old argument about the cost of employees. Corporate earnings have been off the chain for years.
Even the head of the steel workers union, Leo Gerard, is against the steel tariffs on Canada and Mexico (but supports the one on China.)
But Trump will continue to rig the game. He just ordered the Energy Department to stop letting coal and nuclear power plants close.
The first act of the next new president should be to demand a constitutional convention to fix all the flaws in the nation's blueprint of government that Trump has exposed and exploited.
307
"The first act of the next new president should be to demand a constitutional convention to fix all the flaws in the nation's blueprint of government that Trump has exposed and exploited."
That's ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with "the nation's blueprint of government".
Congress can do anything it wants with tariffs, if there are enough votes to override a presidential veto.
10
Nothing wrong with the nation's blueprint of government? How about the fact that a state with only a million people gets two senators, while one with almost 40 million also gets two. That's profoundly undemocratic. There might have been justification for it in the 1790's before modern transportation and communication, but now it's an abomination. And the founders made the horrible error of leaving control of all voting in the hand of the states, which gave us gerrymandering. Worse they set up a system which a possible criminal investigation of a president could be under the control of the president. That's not just an error, that's moronic.
5
phil: "... a state with only a million people gets two senators, while one with almost 40 million also gets two. That's profoundly undemocratic."
That's why there is also a House of Representatives. Together, the House and the Senate are called "Congress".
If there really are Americans who don't know that, America has more profound problems than any alleged problems with the US Constitution.
Check your library for books on Congress.
13
So let me see if I understand..
China steals our technology and then applies it with its robust industrial policy. China also protects its domestic markets with 25% input tariffs.
So Trump lashes out against our allies in the EU, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and South Korea.
How can I make sense of this?
839
Russia blackmails Trump; China bribes him; he admires autocrats, and he thinks that a small trade deficit is the hallmark of a healthy economy. It's corrupt madness, but it is an explanation.
231
One could say, ‘follow the money’.
119
Blackmail? No, Trump is a more than willing partner with Russia and Putin. He has run a currency cleaning service for decades and would like to stay in that business.
The US isn't blowing up the global economic order. It's cutting itself out of it. Since what made America Great since WWII was its role in the global economy, present policy doesn't look too sound in the long term.
329
And yet the stock market went up 300 points today. I understand why someone with three jobs doesn't have time to suss out what is going on in international trade but shouldn't the genius' who use predictive algorithms to make real stock trades see the destructive nature of this administration. I was under the impression that secure and sober judgement were the qualities most treasured by financial people, and yet, Trump jumps in and out of deals, treaties and agreements as if America was his latest Casino and we know he's already bankrupted three of those.
189
Markets went up because wages didn't go up sufficiently enough to trigger four Fed interest rate hikes for 2018.
146
There is no such thing as a "predictive algorithm" in a chaotic system (that is mathematical chaos such as found in non-linear dynamic systems, not the 'generic' definition of chaos as in anything and everything trump touches).
12
Stephens says:
" The administration is blowing up the foundations of global economic order "
to which we say: " What is His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness not blowing up " ?
None of this is 'disruption', since disruption has a plan to replace what is being taken apart - this is chaos, plain and simple; the manifestation of an unorganized, incurious Jabberwock's personality deficits.
And we're only 1/3 of the way into the 48-month term of destruction.
829
Trump knows that there is money to be made in chaos. That's all he cares about....He, and his friends and family are making a fortune on this chaos he is creating. You can bet on that!
60
[[And we're only 1/3 of the way into the 48-month term of destruction.]]
(Mid-term) elections have consequences. Organize, register, vote.
30
"If Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow had a gram of self-respect he’d resign."
True. In fact it can be put in the form of a template:
"If Trump’s __________ ________ had a gram of self-respect he’d/she'd resign."
32
Years ago, eminent American historian Barbara Tuchman wrote a book, "The March of Folly." It had (as I recall) three main sections:
(1) The Renaissance popes whose greed and venality helped bring on the Protestant Reformation.
(2) British intransigence that helped bring on the American Revolution.
(3) Saddest of all! "America betrays herself in Vietnam."
My wife (this is me, her husband, writing)--my wife was a senior scientist in a large corporation. And she would come home at night. ..
. .. with new tales of corporate malfeasance at high levels. This or that INEXPLICABLE decision made by this or that CEO. This or that MAD VENTURE into Lord knows what.
I would sit listening as we ate supper together. When (at last) she would fall silent, I would murmur:
"THE MARCH OF FOLLY."
What else to call it?
Mr. Stephens, I am waiting for disaster to come upon us. What'll it be? A recession? A major trade war? Even (which God forbid) a worldwide DEPRESSION?
A global meltdown--such as we all experienced in 2008?
Should ANY of these dreadful things happen, Mr. Stephens. . . . .
. . WE'LL SIT UP AND TAKE NOTICE.
And maybe--at long last--turn the rascals out?
Especially--the rascal in chief?
Here's hoping, Mr. Stephens.
Here's hoping.
759
Mr. Fitzwater,
Your reference to Barbara Tuckman's book March of Folly is a perfect example of what we can expect to take place in the coming months and years. Ms. Tuckman won a Pulitzer Prize for that book and it certainly educated me and I believe anyone else who may have read it.
I think it's safe to say Donald Trump won't read the book and probably wouldn't understand it, but it should be required reading for Republicans in congress. Especially those that support Donald Trump.
If I can recall Ms. Tuckman used the terms "woodenheadedness" and "cognitive dissonance" to explain the calamities of the events she examines in her book. This is now what we have with Trump in the Oval Office and complicit Republicans in Congress.
Another book to examine that's appropriate in this toxic political landscape is Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism" which should be required reading for every single person that votes in this country.
This entire presidency is folly and based on fear and the good old "us against them" mentality that caused so much misery in the world for so long. Republicans are willing participants in this insanity. I've never been so afraid for my country.
In any event it's nice to know other people are familiar with Barbara Tuckman's work and have an elevated awareness of what's taking place here and now in America. The only unresolved problem is what to do about it when 40% of the nation have joined the cult of the crazy. Keep posting.
126
"And maybe--at long last--turn the rascals out?"
Well, we know for certain that they will be completely unequal to the task of repairing their damage - after all they only know how to demolish. But one thing that we can be pretty sure of, they will find scapegoats to blame for it all and the Deplorables will believe them. I seriously wonder if this won't be enough to keep them in power.
65
The fourth, separate section of Barbara Tuchman's THE MARCH OF FOLLY was about the Trojan Horse.
24
I would rank Warren Harding, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush and maybe even Calvin Coolidge as worse Republican presidents than Herbert Hoover. But, I take your point. Trump has displaced everyone else in the GOP Hall of Shame.
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Hoover's tragic flaw was a blind faith in business. Business brought on the Great Depression, for the same reasons business brought on the Great Recession in our time. Hoover seemed unable to fathom that America's high finance is a greed-driven phenomenon, an amoral insider's game. He naively believed that the implacable greed of American high finance would provide the impetus to heal its colossal 1929 belly-flop. Unlike Trump, however, he had a heart.
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What seems to be generally ignored is that Hoover ran large federal deficits when the depression began. Public works projects were started, all kinds of spending.
Roosevelt ran on an anti-deficit platform, accusing Hoover of profligacy. It didn't take long to rebadge Hoover's programs with a few tweaks into the New Deal.
Hoover had managed the post WW1 relief programs to avoid communist revolutions throughout Europe. The Hoover Institution was intended to keep the information he gathered accessible to America.
It's unfortunate that as President he faced a Congress even more extreme than our current one. Even the Democrats wanted to cut spending and deficits.
Yes, Hoover is not the worst and, if he was, it would not be because of tariffs but for doing nothing while the country burned for 4 years. He just had the unfortunate circumstance of being the last guy fronting a morally bankrupt vision of government that could best be described as Survival of the Fittest: Sorry, We Can't Help You.
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If economists are against tariffs then I am all for it. People in glass towers judging the peasants are exactly why Trump won. The Countries complaining the loudest have the most to lose in trade war. No wonder China, EU and Canada are complaining the loudest.
Maybe EU can pay for their own defense, China can invest in own R&D instead of stealing and Canadians can pay fair price for medicine invented in America. Once recession hits these countries, they will stop their condescending speech on refugees, international courts, free healthcare and see their numbers don’t add up.
Anyone willing to bet against America is sure to lose. Warren Buffet said it so.
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The glass-tower economists who support the "free market" are libertarians who think austerity is just dandy. The Chicago U School of Econ produced "eminent" economists--one of their inglorious episodes was the involvement of the Boys from Chicago in planning, supporting, and defending the horrors inflicted by Pinochet on Chile. By all means, oppose such economists. But do know that opposition for its own sake makes contrarians just as malleable as those who agree with the economic theorists.
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When Warren Buffett said that it was a mistake to bet against America, he meant the America back in the days when it really was great. With Trump those days are over now.I can’t imagine that he would be in favor of betting on a country where the prime mover of the stock market is the presidents whims, as it has been for the last several days.
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American influence and dominance has been in decline for decades. Trump is just hastening the end. The USA might have held sway for a hundred years or but this is but a hiccup in history. The world got on well enough for a couple of thousand years before that and will do so again. Trump supporters should not make the mistake of believing that the USA is indispensable to the rest of the world. It is not.
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