2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumTrump ran on the most explicit right-wing economic platform we've seen in a long time.
How people are taking his win as some kind of validation of the political appeal of left-wing economics is mindboggling.
He proposed larger tax cuts for the wealthy than Paul Ryan. And he actually wants to raise taxes on the middle and working classes. And he wasn't shy about it. He made the trickle-down argument as clearly as anyone has in decades: we need to cut taxes on the rich so that the rich can afford to hire more people.
Aside from massive regressive tax cuts, he also wanted to "bigly" cut regulations. That means allowing corporations to dump more toxic waste into the water supply, and to abuse their employees more. He's virulently anti-union. He's a proud climate denier. Not only does he not support a minimum wage increase, he actually came out and said that American workers are paid too much.
Then he wins, and people are claiming the moral of the story is that the voters were telling us they want more socialism. What? Because he was against TPP? Because he talked about "jobs"? Every politician who has ever run for president from either party has promised more jobs.
It's the height of absurdity. He's a billionaire, who tells American workers they are overpaid, and thinks we need to give more money to rich people. And he made no attempt to hide that.
The only thing more absurd would be to take Trump's win as a message that what voters really care about is having a president who respects women and minorities.
stone space
(6,498 posts)DanTex
(20,709 posts)lunasun
(21,646 posts)stone space
(6,498 posts)He'd have to talk about shooting somebody on 5th Avenue or the potential assassination of another candidate to be heard above all that.
Economic message?
Yeah, right!