05/21/2026
Let’s dispense with the fiction that the Republican Party is good at running the economy 👇
"As for the current economic mess—it’s virtually all Trump’s doing, in three major ways. First, there are the tax cuts in his one big ugly bill, which have not stimulated the economy in the way Republicans say tax cuts always do. That bill cut rich people’s taxes in several different ways—marginal income tax rate, estate tax, pass-through tax, and more.
Second, it’s the tariffs. It was obvious at the time other countries would retaliate against Trump’s tariffs, which is precisely what they did. The Federal Reserve estimated last fall that tariffs had raised consumer prices overall by 3.1 percent. It’s surely been worse since then, and now, the government is starting to return $166 billion in tariff revenue to importers after the Supreme Court ruled against the tariffs.
Third, of course, is the war in Iran, which has shot gas prices up near $5 a gallon in most places. The price of a barrel of oil today is around $105. What if it hits $150, which seems to many experts not just possible but inevitable if the war continues? That means a gallon of gas in the $6.50 range. And Trump said last week he didn’t care.
So here we go again: For the third straight time, a Democratic president handed a Republican president an economy that was at the least pretty good, and at most (Bill Clinton) really humming along very nicely. And, for the third straight time, the Republican has made things worse. Which also means that Democratic presidents have to clean up messes left by their GOP predecessors."
Read more here: https://bit.ly/4f0i36y
