Thursday, December 12, 2024

What did Donald Trump do today?

He walked back his central campaign promise.

Trump was named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" today. Presidents of the United States almost always "win" this recognition in the year they are elected, although it's not meant as an honor, only a recognition of the influence that powerful politicians often have. (Others who have gotten the designation include Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Vladimir Putin, and Deng Xiaoping.) 

Trump, however, takes it seriously enough to jealously attack teenage girls when they win, and to lie about having opted out of consideration in at least one of the years he "lost." He even made fake Time covers featuring his picture to display at Mar-a-Lago when he was not famous enough to warrant it on his own merits.

Time conducts interviews as part of the process, and included a 2,300-word fact check to correct some of Trump's more obvious lies or confabulations on topics ranging from immigration to autism to transgender people to the economy. In particular, it caught Trump lying about inflation, saying it was three times higher than it actually is.

This is significant because Trump ran on a platform of reducing inflation, which spiked briefly as a result of COVID relief policies Trump himself signed. He falsely claimed on the campaign trail that the current rate (about 2.7%, very low by historical standards) was sky-high, and that he alone could fix it. 

But in the same interview, Trump decided to walk back those promises:
If the prices of groceries don't come down, will your presidency be a failure?

I don't think so. Look, they got them up. I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard.
Trump never actually explained how he would bring the "inflation" down from its already low level now. The only major economic policy he has announced is his plan to impose enormous 25% tariffs on the United States' three largest trading partners. This would absolutely drive prices up, since consumers pay those taxes. When asked earlier this week if he could guarantee that tariffs wouldn't cause this effect, Trump responded, "I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow." 

Why does this matter?

  • It's bad if presidents don't even pretend to care about their campaign promises once they've been elected.