Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said on Thursday that Donald Trump needs to read up on American economic history if he wants to avoid a second Great Depression in the United States.
In a tweet, the senator said, “Whoever keeps watch on [Donald Trump] at WH have the economist there especially Navarro read WSJ oped by Henninger.”
Whoever keeps watch on @realDonaldTrump at WH have the economist there especially Navarro read WSJ oped by Henninger This is what I’ve been preaching to the President for two yrs./President wld benefit fr reading it / IN TURN USA BENEFITS
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) January 2, 2020
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The piece cited by Grassley notes that the economy seemed unstoppable in the Roaring ’20s shortly before it collapsed, leading to the Great Depression.
One reason, according to the WSJ op-ed, was that the president at the time – Republican Herbert Hoover – pummeled the economy with tariffs, as much as Trump has spent his presidency doing.
“In 1930, under Republican President Herbert Hoover, a Republican Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley tariff on imports, which walloped a world economy already in decline. Mr. Trump is the greatest lover of tariffs since Hoover, Smoot or Hawley.”
The piece also notes that Congress cut taxes three times in the 1920s, before the economic collapse, which is something Trump and Republican lawmakers did in 2017.
In other words, Trump may want to be careful taking credit for a new Roaring ’20s, particularly as his policies mirror some of those enacted just before the Great Depression.
Not even Republican lawmakers respect Trump
Aside from the economic agenda Sen. Grassley was trying to push in Twitter post, it’s important to note just how little respect he appeared to have for the president.
In the tweet, the Iowa senator essentially spoke of Trump as though he was a toddler being babysat by those around him instead of a president who has the intellect and depth of knowledge to enact sound policy.
The fact that we have a president who needs to be watched over, as Grassley noted, is a reality that should trouble all Americans as we enter another decade.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
