How Donald Trump is Channeling Machiavelli
This past weekend, Donald Trump and JD Vance accused their Democratic opponents of plotting to kill Trump, implicitly threatening to prosecute them should they win. As shocking as it sounds, it was unremarkable since personal threats are a common and menacing feature of their campaign. Since Trump announced his bid for a second term, he has threatened to investigate and… Continue reading
How Harris Can Seal the Deal with Undecided Voters in…
Kamala Harris has figured out that Donald Trump’s screeds and threats have become background noise—and that responding with vision and policies is more effective than with anger. It worked remarkably well in last week’s debate, but she still has to close the deal with swing state voters who remain undecided or persuadable. To do that, she should exploit Trump’s liabilities…Continue reading
Kamala Harris Still Has Time for a Big New Idea…
In typical campaigns, presidential hopefuls and their staffs spend a year or so researching, debating, testing, and messaging new policy ideas. I know because I’ve helped develop economic policy for five Democratic presidential candidates. It can make a real difference if the campaign correctly identifies an issue that moves voters who otherwise might stay home or even support the other…Continue reading
Harris Has the Facts to Refute Trump’s Lies About the…
With Kamala Harris’ fast-approaching nomination, her campaign has an opening to call out Donald Trump’s lies about his economic record and reset the economic narrative based on facts. Trump regularly claims that “we had the greatest economy in history” under his leadership. In late June, Trump declared that he had left Biden an economy that “was so good, all he…Continue reading
Trump’s Plan to Tax-by-Tariffs Would Enrich the Wealthy and Cripple…
Based on Donald Trump’s pledge last week to replace the personal income tax with trade tariffs, there can be no question about the depths of his economic ignorance. Consider the plan’s effects: It would cripple U.S. trade, growth, and employment while triggering the worst inflation since 1980. Tariffs that could replace income tax revenues will have to be very broad…Continue reading
After the Trump Verdict: This Week’s Polls Mean Little to…
No one knows if Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions will move many Americans when they vote in five months. Nevertheless, the early surveys probably cheered Joe Biden’s White House: A Reuters/Ipsos post-verdict poll showed the president now leading Trump by 2 points (41 to 39), compared to the pre-verdict RealClearPolitics average with Trump ahead by 2 points (42 to 40).…Continue reading
Trump’s Plans for Unauthorized Immigrants are Brutal—and Would Bring On…
Donald Trump’s fierce enmity towards immigrants is a central theme of his campaign, as it was in 2016. This time, though, he is offering detailed plans that, if carried out, would inflict misery on a mass level and major costs for taxpayers and the economy. Trump’s plans include once again barring entry from selected Muslim-majority countries and, despite the waning…Continue reading
The Last of the Baby Boomers Are Turning 65, And…
Between now and 2030, nearly 30 million Americans born between 1959 and 1964 will turn 65, the tail end of the Baby Boom generation. As the largest cohort on record to reach retirement age, they are often called the “peak boomers.” In a new study supported by the Alliance for Lifetime Income, my co-author Luke Stuttgen and I found that…Continue reading
Based on Incomes, Americans Are a Lot Better Off Under…
In their only 1980 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan posed a famous question that sealed Jimmy Carter's political fate: "Are you better now than you were four years ago?" Bill Clinton similarly denied George H. W. Bush a second term in 1992 by running a campaign based on James Carville's famous expression, "It's the economy, stupid." Donald Trump faces a real…Continue reading