Donald Trump just got profoundly ugly news
Donald Trump spent the election promising he would magically bring consumer prices down. But since taking office all he’s done is engage in stupid trade wars that have made a mess of things. Trump’s approval rating has been dropping sharply, making clear that Americans – even some who voted for him – are already concluding that he’s a disaster. Now things have taken a turn for the worse.
The latest Consumer Confidence Index was just released, and it’s profoundly ugly. It’s the single biggest drop in nearly four years. It means Americans truly have given up on the economy. Given the timing, Americans clearly blame Trump for the debacle. This means we can expect Trump’s approval rating to drop even further in the coming days and weeks. After all, bad economic news tends to compound upon itself. The more people hear that the economy is tanking, the more they believe it’s true, and the more they pull back from spending and investment, which makes the economy worse.
So now, just one month in, Donald Trump is already in a bind. Any President of the United States derives most of his political leverage from his approval rating, which is in turn largely derived from Americans’ perception of the economy. It’s now official that Americans think Trump is ruining the economy. This is going to make everything he tries to do twice as hard to pull off. And it means we’re going to win a higher percentage of battles against him going forward.
