Court appointments are a reason to want Trump to win as long as he continues to subcontract them to the Federalist Society which, I think, is still a conservative/libertarian group, and he probably will. At least until one of his past appointments take a position he really dislikes.
I expect Harris, like Biden, to impose tariffs against C…
Court appointments are a reason to want Trump to win as long as he continues to subcontract them to the Federalist Society which, I think, is still a conservative/libertarian group, and he probably will. At least until one of his past appointments take a position he really dislikes.
I expect Harris, like Biden, to impose tariffs against China, but I don't see the same element of tariffs as "protecting American workers" that I see on the other side.
Vance is a bit of a puzzle. It's hard to believe that he doesn't understand the relevant economics —Thiel certainly does, and I gather he listens to Thiel. He could still argue for protecting American auto workers at the cost of American farm workers, which is what an auto tariff does, but that doesn't sound like what he thinks he is doing. Either he really does believe in absolute advantage and a vaguely mercantilist view of trade or he pretends to.
I want the left to lose on gender and climate and the like, but I am not sure that Trump winning will change that. It might if he does a sufficiently competent job of reforming the bureaucracy, the Project 2025 plan, but he probably won't. I discussed a little of that a couple of posts back.
One of the things that struck me reading the Project 25 book was that many of its authors think he did a good job. My impression, based largely on media reports hostile to him, was that he didn't succeed in doing much of anything, good or bad, other than appointing conservative judges.
Ideally I would find an extended debate between a Trump supporter and a critic and use the information from that, checked where possible, to form my own opinion. Going over what he did for myself, starting with a blank slate, would be a lot of work.
I’d say his tax reform was mildly successful compared to the alternative, but otherwise he didn’t do much domestically.
On foreign policy I would rate Trump quite highly, and Biden disastrously. For about five minutes I gave Biden credit for Afghanistan, but his own party would probably repudiate that decision today.
Honestly with republicans I mostly see them as just “not fucking up”. If you elect them and they do nothing at least they aren’t making things worse.
It’s kind of like COVID. Is “don’t close schools” some unique and amazing policy position? It didn’t take a genius, but somehow only republicans could manage it. When the next covid comes up I want the party that defaults to “do nothing”.
Court appointments are a reason to want Trump to win as long as he continues to subcontract them to the Federalist Society which, I think, is still a conservative/libertarian group, and he probably will. At least until one of his past appointments take a position he really dislikes.
I expect Harris, like Biden, to impose tariffs against China, but I don't see the same element of tariffs as "protecting American workers" that I see on the other side.
Vance is a bit of a puzzle. It's hard to believe that he doesn't understand the relevant economics —Thiel certainly does, and I gather he listens to Thiel. He could still argue for protecting American auto workers at the cost of American farm workers, which is what an auto tariff does, but that doesn't sound like what he thinks he is doing. Either he really does believe in absolute advantage and a vaguely mercantilist view of trade or he pretends to.
I want the left to lose on gender and climate and the like, but I am not sure that Trump winning will change that. It might if he does a sufficiently competent job of reforming the bureaucracy, the Project 2025 plan, but he probably won't. I discussed a little of that a couple of posts back.
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/preference-falsification-collapse
Have you written anywhere about the 4 years of Trump administration ? Wonder how you judge those.
I haven't.
One of the things that struck me reading the Project 25 book was that many of its authors think he did a good job. My impression, based largely on media reports hostile to him, was that he didn't succeed in doing much of anything, good or bad, other than appointing conservative judges.
Ideally I would find an extended debate between a Trump supporter and a critic and use the information from that, checked where possible, to form my own opinion. Going over what he did for myself, starting with a blank slate, would be a lot of work.
I’d say his tax reform was mildly successful compared to the alternative, but otherwise he didn’t do much domestically.
On foreign policy I would rate Trump quite highly, and Biden disastrously. For about five minutes I gave Biden credit for Afghanistan, but his own party would probably repudiate that decision today.
Honestly with republicans I mostly see them as just “not fucking up”. If you elect them and they do nothing at least they aren’t making things worse.
It’s kind of like COVID. Is “don’t close schools” some unique and amazing policy position? It didn’t take a genius, but somehow only republicans could manage it. When the next covid comes up I want the party that defaults to “do nothing”.