President Donald Trump’s plan to bring in America’s “Golden Age” is working, but he has to ignore doubters and stay the course.
Tuesday in Michigan, the prez crowed: “The Trump economic boom has officially begun.”
Indeed: GDP is roaring back to life after a slump in early 2025, growing by more than 4% the last three quarters; the Atlanta Fed just raised its estimate of growth in the last quarter of 2025 to a booming 5.3% annual rate.
Inflation is holding steady, gas prices have tanked, the stock market just hit an all-time high and wage growth (in a huge improvement over the Biden years) is outpacing inflation.
And those are just the short-term wins; the real gains ushered in by lower taxes, reduced red tape, a bolstered energy sector and more will play out in the long run.
But as the president takes a well-deserved victory lap, he also seems concerned by polls showing voter dissatisfaction with the economy.
At the very least, he’s started tossing out bad ideas.
In the last couple of weeks, he directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy up $200 billion in mortgage bonds, he said AI companies will need to “pay their own way” for the electricity their data centers suck up (mirroring Gov. Kathy Hochul’s poll-tested promise in New York), pushed to bar large companies from buying single-family homes (a ban likely to drive up costs) and called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%, which will make it harder for low-income Americans to get credit.
The headline-nabbing proposals might soothe skittish voters being wooed by Democrats’ “affordability” message, but the sight of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Elizabeth Warren jumping to co-sign these policies is proof enough that they’re growth-killing duds.
The problems facing Americans are real: The prices of many basic goods remain high and the job market sluggish.
But Trump’s economic approach has to be measured in miles, not inches.
Voters have yet to see the full benefits of the tax cuts and red-tape cutting in the One Big Beautiful Bill, which will boost business and entrepreneurship on top of leaving more money in Americans’ pockets.
On energy, in particular, Team Trump’s work has opened up opportunities for reliable new sources that Democrats’ green agenda stifled; energy costs should keep getting cheaper for consumers and businesses, for kitchen-table relief and rapid job creation.
The president has already logged massive wins, but the full payoffs will take time to play out: Four years of Joe Biden’s economic poison don’t wash out instantly.
Some compromises may well make sense, such as some temporary, limited and/or reimagined extension of Obamacare subsidies.
Yet most crucially, as Henry Olsen advised last week in The Post, Trump needs to set out for the voters what is in the works now to bring relief and prosperity soon.
And he should make it clear he believes in his own methods; jumping on Democrat-lite giveaways and business-bashing suggests otherwise.
Trump is delivering for Americans, and the only thing that could stand in the way of future success is bailing on his vision now.
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