When it comes to the Donald’s simulacrum of an economic program, we are reminded of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Like Lewis Carroll’s character, Trump seems to do his best thinking tweeting about a half hour before breakfast; and when it comes to economics, more often than not it consists of impossible things:
“Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
We don’t know precisely which six impossible things he believes at any given time. But on most days they include the belief that deficits don’t matter, tariffs aren’t inflationary, negative real interest rates aren’t harmful, tax cuts pay for themselves, trade deficits reflect dumb deals and stock bubbles measure the success of Trump-O-Nomics.
We mention these six in particular because with each passing day it becomes more obvious that the already beleaguered economy Trump inherited is going to be taken down for the count by the combination of these horribly misbegotten notions.