Suffice to say that Donald Trump doesn’t fit into any political box you’re familiar with. In the February issue of my premium strategy report, Intelligence Report, I wrote to you about Dan Mitchell’s forecast that he’d be suffering whiplash throughout the Trump administration. I agreed with Dan’s assessment that Trump would give philosophical purists whiplash by doling out some of what they want while at the same time pushing policies anathema to their thinking. Back then Dan wrote:
For the next four years, I suspect I’m going to suffer a lot of whiplash as I yank myself back and forth, acting as both a critic and supporter of Donald Trump’s policy.
This happened a lot during the campaign, as Trump would say very good things one day and then say very bad things the next day. And now that he’s President-Elect Trump, that pattern is continuing. Consider his approach to American businesses. In the space of just a few minutes, he manages to be a Reaganesque tax cutter and an Obamaesque cronyist. […] I guess the only way to make sense of Trump’s policy is that it’s a random collection of carrots and sticks. The carrots are policies to encourage companies to create jobs in America, and Trump is proposing both good carrots such as a much lower corporate tax rate and bad carrots such as special Solyndra-style handouts (except, instead of loot for green energy, firms get loot for maintaining production in America).
After President Trump’s speech last night, Dan has lined up a number of neck-snapping positives and negatives. Dan has an exhaustive list of pros and cons here, but I’ll show you his lists of the three best and three worst things Trump said below.
The Best:
- Lower corporate tax rate – Trump didn’t specifically reference the 15-percent rate he mentioned in the campaign, but he aggressively argued for a big drop in America’s punitive corporate tax rate.
- Obamacare repeal – The president effectively outlined how Obamacare is a disaster for taxpayers, for consumers, for the economy, and for the healthcare system.
- Food and Drug Administration – Trump correctly criticized the bureaucrats at the FDA for stifling medical progress. I think it’s safe to assume that bureaucracy will be better behaved for the next four years. Maybe we’ll even get rid of the milk police.
The Worst:
- Protectionism – The president seems determined to harm American consumers and undermine America’s economy. Let’s hope these policies don’t lead to a global trade war like in the 1930s.
- Childcare Entitlement – Federal subsidies have resulted in higher costs and inefficiency in health care and higher education. Trump now wants to cause the same problems in childcare. This won’t end well.
- Paid Parental Leave – When even columnists for the New York Times confess that this type of policy backfires on women by making them less attractive to employers, it’s bizarre that it would be endorsed by a Republican president.
Read more from Dan at International Liberty.
Watch the speech here:
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