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Trump has been incredibly lucky. But his luck -- and ours -- might be running out.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/23/trump-has-been-incredibly-lucky-his-luck-ours-might-be-running-out/
By Brian Klaas
Global Opinions contributor
July 23, 2019 at 1:04 p.m. EDT
In the eyes of President Trump’s devout followers, he is a secret genius who has a method to his madness. They claim he’s playing “three-dimensional chess,” setting up moves that his opponents can’t see because they’re distracted by his strategic racism or his outlandish tweets.
They’re wrong. Trump is simply the luckiest president in modern U.S. history.
Take the economy, for example, which is currently in the longest economic expansion in American history. The economy has grown for 121 consecutive months. But Trump inherited that growth, and 91 of those months (75 percent of the streak) came under Barack Obama’s presidency. If Trump is reelected, it will be because of the continuation of that inherited growth — a continuation that is being fueled by unsustainable deficit spending more on par with the spending levels needed during a financial crisis.
But the area where Trump’s luck is most obvious — and more potentially consequential — is in foreign policy. He has been the author of several potentially destabilizing crises, written primarily with unhinged, bellicose tweets. Trump threatened “fire and fury” against North Korea in a game of Twitter chicken with a nuclear-armed rogue state. He launched a trade war with China that threatens to destabilize the global economy. And he has alienated allies while cozying up to despots and dictators.
But every other recent president has faced major crises early in their term that were not of their own making. Global politics is a perpetual motion machine for potentially catastrophic risk. Every recent president has learned that lesson almost immediately upon moving into the White House.
</snip>
By Brian Klaas
Global Opinions contributor
July 23, 2019 at 1:04 p.m. EDT
In the eyes of President Trump’s devout followers, he is a secret genius who has a method to his madness. They claim he’s playing “three-dimensional chess,” setting up moves that his opponents can’t see because they’re distracted by his strategic racism or his outlandish tweets.
They’re wrong. Trump is simply the luckiest president in modern U.S. history.
Take the economy, for example, which is currently in the longest economic expansion in American history. The economy has grown for 121 consecutive months. But Trump inherited that growth, and 91 of those months (75 percent of the streak) came under Barack Obama’s presidency. If Trump is reelected, it will be because of the continuation of that inherited growth — a continuation that is being fueled by unsustainable deficit spending more on par with the spending levels needed during a financial crisis.
But the area where Trump’s luck is most obvious — and more potentially consequential — is in foreign policy. He has been the author of several potentially destabilizing crises, written primarily with unhinged, bellicose tweets. Trump threatened “fire and fury” against North Korea in a game of Twitter chicken with a nuclear-armed rogue state. He launched a trade war with China that threatens to destabilize the global economy. And he has alienated allies while cozying up to despots and dictators.
But every other recent president has faced major crises early in their term that were not of their own making. Global politics is a perpetual motion machine for potentially catastrophic risk. Every recent president has learned that lesson almost immediately upon moving into the White House.
</snip>
Yikes...
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
