There are few things I love more than when conventional wisdom is turned on its head. So it goes with Donald Trump and lasting effects of his Presidency.
In an article in Foreign Policy, we see the results of Trumps Trade Policy. What is interesting is that Biden largely left this in place. Why?
Free Trade requires playing by the rules
#1 Reason: Free Trade only works when everyone plays by the rules. Trump was the first person to realize that we could not operate this way because, China broke and undermined every single rule. Again, say what you will but he really was the only one not only to call attention to this, but to take action.
“Beijing’s long-term plan was to enrich and empower itself by systemically breaking nearly every promise, adopting mercantilist practices that include largely closed markets, subsidies to state-owned enterprises, industrial espionage, investment controls, currency manipulation, and relentless intellectual property theft.”
Realization much too late
And all of those people in the 1990s started to realize only too late that these trade policies did not help most Americans, but a few. Keep in mind, those policies were part of conventional wisdom for both parties. This was what the DC consensus believed in and it was support by Democrats and Republicans.
“Now, there is a greater realization that the benefits of globalization accrued disproportionately to the professional classes, the higher skilled, the ones who had the mobility and access to capital”. A question I have asked people since 2010 of those who hate the President is this: Are you telling me that they did not do one good thing? Not one? Nothing?
This would not have happened without Trump
I answer with a quote: “As a result of these profound changes—and the inability of both political parties to see them until too late, leading to Hillary Clinton’s stunning presidential election loss in 2016—“it seems quite likely that Biden would have embarked on a different trajectory in trade regardless of what preceded him,”
The failure of elites to recognize and do something about issues such as trade created a vacuum waiting to be filled. It was filled by Donald Trump, and he was right on this issue, whether you like it or not.
-What other issues might he have been right about that the DC consensus failed to recognize?
Get past your disgust to see clearly
Hatred for the man blinds you to the unmet needs he filled. Continued blindness results in a failure to objectively look at why he had the support and why he rose to power.
Only when you realize that Trump was not all about ism and ist and insurrection will you be able to triangulate his issues and incorporate them into a winning coalition for your party, and America.
NOTE: I am not telling you to vote for him or that he is a good man. The message is that, detestable though he may be, he was right on some issues and those were not limited to isms. By attempting to discount this because of your hate, you fail to properly address the needs of the American people. When we do this, we cede ground to anyone who comes along.
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