Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. With Trump’s reelection the majority of Americans believes we will be better off with Donald Trump back in the White House rather than Kamala Harris. This morning, the morning after the election the stock market is surging so that’s good right? 62% of Americans own stocks, which means they have skin in the game. Some have a lot more in it than others. The top 1% own 50% of stocks. The bottom 50% of US adults only own 1% of stocks. All this means is that 62% of Americans are feeling good about the economy right now, and some significantly more than others.
The best thing Trump did for his enduring legacy was his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act while in office last time. In 2017 70% of Americans took the standard deduction. In 2020 that number jumped to 90%. 90% of Americans have to feel like they got a better deal from Trump on taxes than they ever had before because their deduction went up dramatically. With the standard deduction going up, citizens felt a lot better about their finances. That’s what Americans remembered when they went to the polls.
When COVID caused economic calamity around the world, not to mention the social repercussions, inflation sky rocketed everywhere. Americans shouldn’t pin that on the Biden administration, but they did. America has now got inflation under control. Too bad the genie doesn’t go back in the bottle because the damage was done to Americans. All we see is how prices are now, and Americans put the blame on Biden/Harris even though our economy is currently the envy of the world according to The Economist.
I can understand why Americans voted for Trump. In the immortal words of Bill Clinton’s political advisor James Carville, “It’s the economy stupid.”. There’s more to it than that though. Trump perfectly executed a divide and conquer strategy. Take a moment to click on the link and ask yourself if the theory resonates in this situation.
Where will Americans be in four more years? Will we be better off? Will the planet be healthier and will the global political climate be safer? Will individuals and the press enjoy more freedoms? Who will be our next president elect, JD Vance? Will Trump appoint two more conservative supreme court justices? Is Project 2025 really going to happen? Nobody has a crystal ball and can tell you the answers to those questions but almost everyone has an opinion.
My major in college was political science and I have a master degree in business administration. All that means is I should know a little bit about what is happening. What I can tell you is that the country has taken a hard turn to the right. The Republican party is only growing and more middle class Americans are embracing the conservative ideologies of Republicans in large part because of their perceived economic gains. Because nothing exists in a vacuum it’s not just economics either. In this election Americans rejected the liberal and progressive values in the Democratic party. Trump effectively painted Democrats as ‘radical left lunatics’ in his divide and conquer strategy.
Right now, I’m hoping for the best for all Americans. But in the words of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, it’s time to, “Hope for the best and plan for the worst.”