Donald Trump's Empty Promises Are Catching Up to Him

[babylonsister]

Politics
Donald Trump’s Empty Promises Are Catching Up to Him
The president vowed to bring down prices on “day one”—something everyone would like to see. What happened with that?
By Molly Jong-Fast
March 10, 2025

snip//

But instead of bringing prices down on day one, or even month one, Trump is doing the exact opposite.He’s enacted a trade war and let Elon Musk take a chainsaw to the federal government, both of which have caused market uncertainty. Suddenly, the man who said he was going to make everything cheaper on day one can’t even rule out a recession on his watch, and has instead mused about a “period of transition.”

Trump has it in his head that the United States was somehow richer before income taxes, which is fueling his tariff obsession. A few days after being sworn in, he told reporters in the Oval Office: “We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That’s when we were a tariff country. And then they went to an income tax concept.” It makes sense that Trump, a real estate baron, would be nostalgic for the Gilded Age—after all, it was a time in American life marked by high concentration of wealth, vast income inequality, and widespread political corruption.

But the problem is that while Trump loves tariffs, no one else does. His back-and-forth on implementing them has spooked the markets, because the only thing the markets like less than tariffs is uncertainty.

Even after a week of poor market reactions to Trump’s will-he-won’t-he on tariff threats, he has continued to seesaw on the topic. On Sunday, during a friendly interview, Trump told Fox News that “the tariffs could go up as time goes by,” dismissed calls for more “predictability,” and refused to rule out a recession. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick further rationalized the volatility, telling NBC’s Meet the Press, “Will there be distortions? Of course. Foreign goods may get a little more expensive, but American goods are going to get cheaper.” Meanwhile, all markets want is stability, and this was probably not what they wanted to hear: US stocks saw a steep sell-off Monday morning.

It seems pretty clear that Trump is simply not laser-focused on the only promise anyone could legitimately view as his mandate: making things cheaper.

more...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/donald-trumps-empty-promises

[Blues Heron]

1. Its a deadly farce that needs to end yesterday. Pukes need to step up and toss this cretin overboard.

You cant have a felon making important decisions - they have already demonstrated utter contempt for the country and the rule of law. Figure it out pukes, you can do this! Woke up pukes!

[surfered]

2. He'll just lie about it and the cult will believe him. How many Republicans does it take to change a light bulb?

None, Trump just says he did and they sit in the dark and applaude.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. It's like the mushroom theory of managing bases and voters

Keep them in the dark and flood the zone with shit.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Actually, ... tariffs make domestic goods more expensive too, plus it's a regressive tax on the poor & middle

Tariffs make foreign goods more expensive. That means some demand shifts to domestic products. Domestic manufacturers in the short to medium term can react in two ways or a blend.

A) If they have capacity, they increase production while maintaining prices, lowering their unit cost, increasing profit.

B) They could also raise prices to make more profit per item.

They are not going to lower prices in reponse to tariffs. Naturally, there is no guarantee of increased profits since overall demand may decrease as consumers and businesses curb buying somewhat. It may become large enough to be noticed, hence a reduction in growth or even a contraction (recession).

Tariffs are a regressive tax. Poor people and middle class people spend a higher proportion of their income on goods than do the well-off. The latter buy goods but beyond that they buy real estate and financial instruments and artwork. Those aren't taxed by tariffs.

[cilla4progress]

22. I would assume, also, that with our integrated global economy, many "domestic" goods need

foreign parts and/or labor! So costs for them also affected.

[True Blue American]

5. Trump is not capable

Of normal actions. People need to quit thinking he is. He has entered the restricted world of dementia. One track mind and is clearly now losing that.
He is also now suffering small strokes that affect his legs and arms. Having trouble moving his legs normally and his arm was affected in his first term. Now that right leg is worse. But his brain is worse and Musk and his billionaire friends are taking full advantage.

[dchill]

6. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seems like a perfect idiot.

[Orrex]

7. And, as always, his KKKultists will only worship him all the more fervently for it.

[Sneederbunk]

8. He fumbled the Biden Economy hand off. Not smart.

Trump Slump indeed.

[Sky Jewels]

11. Intentionally fumbled.

[IronLionZion]

9. Twice impeached, convicted felon, insurrectionist, COVID denier, lied?

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. If only people had known he's a proven con man from his first term.

[Josiesdad]

10. "We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913"

If memory serves, this period was about the same time that Trump's paternal grandfather opened up a whore house in the pacific northwest.. perhaps he will re-open that family business. It would seem to be a good fit for him.

[jgmiller]

12. Trump (and others) have always had this simplistic view of history

They look back to the time after WW2 when the US economy was roaring and they want to recreate that. Then they look at what was going on back then and figure if they can make it all like that (segregation, not much immigration, etc) then it will all just magically happen. They don't comprehend that you can't turn back the clock. Layer on top of that no income tax and tariffs of the early 20th century and you add in even more stuff they want to do including isolationism.

They are so desperate to recreate this they have decided to do everything at once, layoff 100's of thousands of government employees, raise tarrifs, cut taxes, deport potentially millions of people, isolate the US.

While all of those things are problematic by themself if you do all of them at once you create a perfect receipe for economic collapse.

[Wiz Imp]

13. The thing is, the rapid growth after WWII was greatly aided

by a top marginal tax rate of 90%. Funny how you don't hear any Republicans pushing for that aspect of that period to return.

[Wiz Imp]

14. "We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913."

The truth:

But White said those years were marked by erratic economic growth, and those upturns were mostly fueled by millions of immigrants joining the U.S. workforce. Indeed, the number of U.S. residents jumped from 38.5 million-plus in 1870 to more than 106 million by 1920.

Another factor was the seizing of land from Native Americans during U.S. expansion west. That meant exploiting natural resources along the way — including gold, silver, timber, grazing and farmland, as well as coal, copper and oil, especially after the discovery of the Spindletop geyser in Texas in 1901.

Average wages rose, but so did inequality, with almost no social safety net. Working conditions were often so abhorrent, meanwhile, that the labor movement began gaining strength, as did progressive politicians clamoring for breaking up monopolies.

“This is the height of antimonopoly, political turmoil, the rise of labor in the United States,” said White, author of “The Republic for Which it Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896.” “And the reason was, people did not regard this as a particularly healthy economy.” In fact, despite the growth, standards of living fell, including life expectancy and key health indicators, White said.

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002&pid=20125307

[Klarkashton]

15. If foreign goods get more expensive why would US goods get cheaper? What bullshit.

[krkaufman]

25. Right !?!?

And that's our Commerce Secretary. Just zero credibility, but also zero concern that lying this egregiously will have any blowback.

[Wiz Imp]

16. More Truth about 1870-1913...

https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20250208177/trump-says-america-was-at-its-richest-in-the-late-1800s-here-are-the-facts

Troy Senik, the author of a biography of Grover Cleveland, who was U.S. president in the 1880s and 1890s, echoed Meissner's view. It's "just flatly incorrect" to say we were at our richest from 1870 to 1913, Senik said in an email. He pointed to the chart shown above, which indicates that U.S. GDP per capita - when adjusted for inflation - is around six times higher today than it was back then.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/trump-loves-gilded-age-tariffs-great-time-rich-119626998

Robert W. Merry, author of “President McKinley: Architect of the American Century,” said McKinley was the leading voice on tariffs at a time when they dominated policy discussions because they were the federal government's chief source of revenue, given that no income tax existed.

But Trump differs with McKinley in using tariffs as a “bludgeon to get other countries to do our bidding on efforts that have nothing to do with revenue, or economic matters or trade." The president has done that with Canada and Mexico, using tariff threats to try to force those countries to take harder lines against drug smuggling and illegal immigration. "Nobody would have even considered such a thing in McKinley’s day,” Merry said.

As chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, McKinley championed the Tariff Act of 1890, which set the then-highest import tax in U.S. history, raising taxes to 49.5% on 1,500-plus items — everything from glass to tin plates to cayenne pepper. The results were quickly poor for the economy and for Republicans. “It led to an increase in prices, a kind of inflation, even before the bill took effect,” Merry said. “The argument was, it was carte blanche for retailers and industrialists who basically jacked up their prices unnecessarily.”

Americans dealt Republicans landslide congressional defeats during the 1890 midterms, voting scores of incumbents out of office — including McKinley. The tariff fallout also helped Grover Cleveland win the White House for Democrats in 1892, after he lost his reelection the previous cycle.

[krkaufman]

26. "per capita"

I suspect that it's not the "per capita" figure that motivates him or Leon, or the other oligarch wannabes behind them.

[Wiz Imp]

28. Of course not

Trump thinks this was the greatest period because it was the period with the greatest wealth inequality in our history. He's determined to make the present day wealth inequality even worse. He's already got a huge head start on that...

[not fooled]

30. I smell a 666koch666 rat whispering in red don's ear

Because putin's puppet has no knowledge of history or interest therein, i suspect 666koch666 acolytes from the heriturd fuckdation have been whispering in his ear, to convince him that there's a way to eliminate the income tax and that going back to robber-baron America is a great idea.

[louis-t]

17. But keeping the hope alive for maga that at the end

prices will come down. And they believe it. But nobody else does.

[DBoon]

29. They have been waiting for the end times for 2,000 years

They have no problem waiting for other non-existent events

[dsc]

18. I am not an economist but I do actually teach an economics class

and I can't figure out the theory under which US products would become cheaper under a system of high tariffs. If your competition increases prices that gives you license to do so as well. If wages go up, prices go up, and they are saying one of the reasons for tariffs is to increase manufacturing wages. Am I missing some economic theory here?

[Imperialism Inc.]

35. I suspect it's a little bit of slight of hand so to speak.

American made goods will be cheaper [than the import taxed goods] they claim. Not that the prices will go down. Thoguh he left it ambiguous and the MAGA faithful will hear whatever they want to hear.

What I wonder is, who is supposed to do the new jobs it will supposedly create? Unemployment is very low so it's not like there are slews of people waiting for jobs. Which is what you were getting at with the higher wages thing. But if everyone leaves their job for a better one then a bunch of jobs just won't be filled any more.

[Evolve Dammit]

19. Doesn't matter. He ain't going anywhere

[maxsolomon]

27. Yeah, Molly is whistlin' Dixie.

His promises could catch up to him and lap him every month and there'd be no appreciable change. His cult doesn't care, and he has no more use for them anyway.

46 months to go.

22 until Dems take back the House.

[Evolve Dammit]

32. Just hope we are still a republic at that point.....

[thebigidea]

20. I'm sure it'll impact his base like his last round of failed promises: not one fucking iota

Nepo-baby Jong-Fast has been wrong about just about everything else for years, so I don't think anything is "catching up" with him.

[cilla4progress]

21. He's in over his head

duuuuhhhh

[Ping Tung]

23. He's already talking of expanding the empire. His predecessor with the silly mustache called it 'lebensraum'.

Greenland, Panama, Mexico, Canada, Gaza, etc.

[krkaufman]

24. "but American goods are going to get cheaper"

And this is from the friggin' Commerce Secretary. There's just no accountability ... nor any concern for potential accountability.

[edhopper]

31. I have yet to see a real difference in the polls

those who voted for him still support him. It breaks about the same approve-disprove.

I don't know what it will take for him to be unpopular enough for the GOP to act against him.

[Evolve Dammit]

33. battle lines are drawn. There will be little adjustment IMHO

[JHB]

34. "..at our richest from 1870 to 1913," huh? That's Conservative Movement radical boilerplate right there.

The right-wing ideologues at the Heritage Foundation have been working his ear, Their entire movement glorifies the Gilded Age and they want nothing better than to erase the 20th century and send us back to a 19th century government.

[dutch777]

36. Best we can do is: Note his lies LOUDLY; boycott the economy best we can and stage a general strike/week of protest

No easy path here with a narcissistic psychopath with a coterie of equally unhinged, anti social psychopaths. I pray Dems can find a clear, CONCISE, on point series of messages. I was heartened by Leader Jeffries, et. al. news conference yesterday. I keep looking at Schumer's and the DMC websites and try to not get disheartened.

[Lasher]

37. How could this hurt him?

He broke most of his campaign promises during his first term.

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/?ruling=true

[kimbutgar]

38. I hope it catches up to him asap because he is such a cancer in our country.

And he doesn’t give a shit 💩 about us Americans only his rich wealthy donors who brought the presidency for him . And the syncopates he put in his administration to destroy our country to profit off it by privatizing the functions.

[Dem4life1970]

39. Pure fantasy...

...the man is delusional, and his house of cards is crumbling down around him. I know that James Carville was using Trump's own weapon against him (dominating the news cycle) when he said, "I think the Trump Administration will collapse in 30 days" but I think he may have been prophetic without realizing it. The implosion continues....and it is delicious to watch.

[SunImp]

40. Don't make any campaign promises you can't keep

People will be rightfully upset about those except for sycophant clowns.