"Art of the Deal—LOL"
We’re in the middle of yet another Trump-manufactured economic disaster. And the enablers are no where to be found!
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
That famous phrase from James Carville back in ’92 has echoed through every election cycle since, like a drumbeat politicians ignore at their peril. It’s simple. It’s direct. And most of all; it’s true. Because when all the noise dies down, when the culture wars fade into the background and the headlines shift to the next outrage, Americans vote with their wallets. They vote with their retirement in mind. They vote with fear for their financial futures. And right now, that fear is well-earned.
We’re in the middle of yet another Trump-manufactured economic disaster. This time, it’s a trade war with China that makes even less sense than the last one; and trust me, that’s saying something. Despite his exemptions for Apple and computer parts (how convenient), Trump’s escalating tariff war is already hammering American consumers and small businesses. We’ve seen this movie before, and spoiler alert: it doesn’t end well. Not for our economy. Not for global markets. And certainly not for the people Trump claims to represent. The silent majority he convinced he was one of them.
Let’s get something straight; no president is ever fully fluent in economics. In some cases, not at all. That’s why they surround themselves with experts. The buck may stop with the president, but the judgment, the insight, the strategy comes from the people advising him.
So where are they?
Where is Howard Lutnick, his Secretary of Commerce, the person tasked with navigating international trade and protecting U.S. industry? Where is Kelly Loeffler, his Administrator of the Small Business Administration, who should be front and center protecting the mom-and-pop stores already buckling under the pressure of price hikes and supply chain disruptions?
Where is his Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, as American farmers; again, find themselves being used as pawns in Trump’s ego-driven chess match with Beijing?
Where is Scott Bessent, his Treasury Secretary? The one with the data, the models, and the responsibility to steady the markets? The answer: nowhere. And I don’t mean they’re out of town; I mean they’re out to lunch. Checked out. MIA. And maybe worse, complicit.
And let’s not forget Kevin Hassett, the Director of the National Economic Council; his supposed top economic adviser. The one who should be delivering tough truths in the Oval Office, not parading around on cable news talking about how “the markets will adjust.” This isn’t a seminar. It’s the real world. These tariffs are hurting people; actual, hard-working Americans. But Trump’s team? They’re parroting the same recycled talking points: “Trust Trump, he knows what he’s doing.”
Really?
Because it sure doesn’t look like it. The exemptions for iPhones and computers don’t just show preferential treatment; they expose the hollow core of his economic policy. There is no strategy here. There’s no plan. Just reactionary bluster, aimed at headlines, not solutions.
And what about Elon Musk? You’d think the world’s most outspoken billionaire; whose largest manufacturing hub sits in Shanghai, might have something to say. Something loud. Something public. But nothing. Silence. Because even Musk knows the risk of crossing Trump: it’s political exile and economic retaliation. So instead of standing up, he stands down; calculating that protecting his own empire is more important than speaking the truth about this one.
And here’s the deeper problem. Democrats are right to attack Trump on tariffs, on inflation, on the erratic and amateurish handling of our economic future. But that’s not enough. Not if we’re serious about breaking the MAGA spell. Because you don’t just change minds with statistics and outrage. You change minds by understanding why they believed him in the first place.
Trump tapped into fear. Yes, fear. Fear of decline. Fear of being forgotten. Fear that the system has left them behind; and will never come back. And one of the biggest fears? Financial ruin. The fear that you’ll outlive your retirement. That your savings will dry up. That your kids will have to shoulder the burden of your final years.
This fear is real. It crosses party lines. It’s not about the economy in theory; it’s about the economy in practice. In bank accounts. In social security. In grocery aisles. In credit card bills and 401(k) statements.
That’s where the fight needs to happen. Not just in D.C., or on CNN or MSNBC; but in church basements, at union halls, in small-town diners and suburban strip malls. We need to go into those communities; not to lecture, not to shame, but to explain. Explain calmly. Plainly. Repeatedly. That Trump’s economic policies are not designed to lift them up. They’re designed to protect the few at the expense of the many. And those many are the ones bearing the brunt of his economic theater.
If we don’t connect with people on the ground; if we don’t meet them where they are, we’ll lose again. Not just elections. But the broader battle for truth. For trust. For credibility. For the soul of this country.
Because it’s still the economy, stupid. And, we’d be even stupider to ignore it.
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Exactly right. We need more people all the time having conversations about the real life impact right now on our personal financial security. It’s abundantly clear who in leadership has never lived paycheck to paycheck and can’t relate to — and/or don’t care — what every day people are going through. It’s easy for the “true believers” to dismiss the market fluctuations. Faux News and others have already given them their orders on what to think and what to say in response to it. In talking to my family in the great American Heartland, they have relayed 3 separate conversations with unconnected people that were all the same. They include a MAGA middle income businessman in one state and a 90 year old couple in another state who are in terrible health and who have 3 generations living with them and they are all in perilous economic circumstances. “Don’t worry. It will all come back. He knows what he’s doing,” they say about the stock market. BUT. They can and will see prices increase on products they buy from big box stores and grocery stores. They will start to hear about job losses. They will start to know people who lose their jobs. The elderly man gets his care from the VA and he has complex medical needs. He can barely walk. They are on social security. Those benefits that they earned will start to shrink and disappear. Appointments for care will be harder to get. They barely use the internet. And now Elon and our ‘government’ expects them to get on his personal, for-profit business X for official government information about social security (a clear violation of ethics and standards). Things will start to get personal, and I would think that that will be harder to dismiss. As frustrated as I am by their willful ignorance, coldness and uncaring toward their fellow citizen, and cult like devotion to Trump the man, I will welcome and support them any day they wake up and realize Trump doesn’t care about them, and never has.
They seem to forget, and any expert can state this, is that “economy” is STILL about The People. He can play games at the top, but the dynamics of the economy is still driven by people and their buying and investment actions. Trickle down NEVER worked. It’ll all dry up at the top and crumble down.