In today's Politico "Morning Money," analysts from across Washington gave their takes on the economic speech delivered by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump yesterday. Among other things, Trump called for a freeze on all financial regulation, the renegotiation of major trade deals, and the implementation of a child care deduction in the tax code. Thorn Run's Jason Rosenstock asked a more broad question that was published in the edition, connecting Trump's policy speech with his recent drop in the polls.
"[I]sn’t the bigger question related to this plan (or anything that he puts out) that if he indeed goes down to a defeat of Goldwater-Ian [margins], is everything that he has put out tainted by his touch (fruit of the poisonous tree theory)?" posed Rosenstock. "Which if so, should give conservatives some concerns about the conservative pieces of the Frankenstein plan he has put out."
A larger excerpt of the article is below.
THE ODDEST PART … Was Trump basically making the case for TPP while maintaining his strong opposition: “China engages in illegal export subsidies, prohibited currency manipulation, and rampant theft of intellectual property … They also have no real environmental or labor protections, further undercutting American workers.”
The United States has no significant trade deal with China. The Obama administration has largely pitched TPP, which would mostly reduce tariffs on U.S. exports, as setting rules of the road on intellectual property, environmental and labor standards for a dozen nations that represent nearly 40 percent of global gross domestic product. If enacted, supporters say, China will eventually have no choice but to join and adhere to these rules. More here: http://politi.co/2b47BfT
THEN OF COURSE … there was Trump ripping the 4.9 percent unemployment rate (which he said was 5 percent) as a “hoax.” Not so of course. And he cited a labor force whose size is in long-term decline and a high unemployment rate for African American youth never mentioning the fact that many of the people covered in this stat are, you know, in school.
HPS’ Tony Fratto emails: “Trump's band of followers are a-ok with all of his batty conspiracy theories — birthers, vaccers, truthers, the riggers, the gold bugs, the whole merry lot. To everyone else he just comes off as weird. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is straight as an arrow, an incredibly talented and nonpartisan group of statisticians and economists. Their data are rigorous and measure every category of the potential labor force. The BLS staff are literally the very best in the world at what they do — truly world class. Trump isn't fit to charge their laptop batteries let alone question their work.”
Clinton campaign spox Brian Fallon emails on the regulatory pause: “This idea is a gimmick designed to be read off a teleprompter. If implemented, it would be dangerous and put at risk the health, safety, and livelihoods of all Americans.”
Thornrun Partners’ Jason Rosenstock emails: “[I]sn't the bigger question related to this plan (or anything that he puts out) that if he indeed goes down to a defeat of Goldwater-Ian (or Mondale-Ian depending on your partisan stripes) is everything that he has put out tainted by his touch (fruit of the poisonous tree theory)? Which, if so, should give conservatives some concerns about the conservative pieces of the Frankenstein plan he has put out.”