donald trump stormed to the gop nomination without the help of a formal economic team and only a smattering of position papers. since then he has assembled an eccentric band of advisers to shape policy<u+2014> many of whom openly disagree with several of his key economic prescriptions. economist larry kudlow, who started his career at the new york federal reserve before working in the reagan white house, hasn<u+2019>t been shy in highlighting these differences, as he did after mr. trump torched the political independence of the federal reserve in a speech last month in new york. <u+201c>he knows i<u+2019>m not happy with him on that issue,<u+201d> mr. kudlow said in an interview<u+00a0>after the speech. <u+201c>that discussion is in front of us.<u+201d> this week, after the campaign was buffeted by controversies including a 2005 video in which mr. trump made lewd comments about women, mr. kudlow was even blunter. <u+201c>if he continues to drop into these rabbit holes, i will write in mike pence ,<u+201d> he said on cnbc, where he also is a commentator, referring to the indiana governor who is mr. trump<u+2019>s running mate. advisers describe mr. trump<u+2019>s economic shop as a decentralized, free-wheeling operation that communicates mostly by email and speaks<u+00a0>infrequently<u+00a0>with the candidate himself. instead of fleshing out positions live they relay memos to stephen miller, the campaign<u+2019>s policy director, or steven mnuchin, an investment banker who is the campaign<u+2019>s finance chairman. and the team,<u+00a0>to the pride of some, is unusually lean on advisers with any white house or government experience. <u+201c>we don<u+2019>t have any of the people who screwed up over the last 15 years,<u+201d> said peter navarro, a trump adviser and economist at the university of california, irvine, who made a failed bid for congress as a democrat in 1996. mr. trump<u+2019>s advisers fall roughly into two camps<u+2014>a fissure that could last within the party itself well past 2016, no matter who wins in november. the first, which includes mr. navarro, blames global trade agreements and increased immigration for subpar u.s. economic growth. the other, which includes mr. kudlow, says cutting taxes and regulation, particularly in the energy industry, will boost growth, avoiding the need for more trade protectionism. advisers concede there is a tug-of-war between the supply-siders and the protectionists, but mr. kudlow said he saw similar disagreements in the white house as a budget official for president ronald reagan. and mr. navarro, whose trade skepticism closely reflects mr. trump<u+2019>s public views, said the campaign is <u+201c>very much united<u+201d> on trade. when mr. navarro ran for congress two decades ago, hillary clinton, then the first lady, campaigned at one of his san diego rallies. <u+201c>pure serendipity<u+2014>sweet manna from heaven,<u+201d> he wrote in a book recounting the campaign. he sought to oust the republican incumbent by making the race a referendum on then-gop house speaker newt gingrich. last month, mr. navarro flew with messrs. trump and gingrich to a rally in fort myers, fla. he now says he was <u+201c>seduced<u+201d> by the clintons and <u+201c>over time, that seduction has turned into betrayal and ultimately disbelief.<u+201d> other top advisers include david malpass, a reagan administration official, who as chief economist of bear stearns in 2007 dismissed concerns that the housing sector would take the economy into a recession , let alone cause the financial crisis that brought down his bank. when he first met mr. trump before a rally in an airplane hangar at dallas<u+2019> love field last year, conservative economist stephen moore pushed back against mr. trump<u+2019>s invitation to join the campaign. <u+201c>i can<u+2019>t work for you because i<u+2019>m free trade, and i know you<u+2019>re more of a<u+00a0>protectionist,<u+201d> mr. moore recalled saying. mr. trump said they could <u+201c>agree to disagree on that issue,<u+201d> mr. moore said. advisers say mr. trump<u+2019>s decision to hire people he doesn<u+2019>t fully agree with shows maturity.<u+00a0><u+201c>hillary is more like the red army, with everyone marching in lockstep,<u+201d> said mr. kudlow. one of mr. moore<u+2019>s tallest tasks has been to convince skeptical conservatives that mr. trump won<u+2019>t sell them out .<u+00a0><u+201c>there are warts here. no questions about it,<u+201d> he told a group of conservatives at a july meeting before the republican convention in cleveland. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re going to be frustrated with some of the things he<u+2019>s going to do.<u+201d> mr. kudlow got involved with the campaign after mr. trump, on the defensive in a republican debate on cnbc over the cost of his first tax-cut plan last year, invoked mr. kudlow<u+2019>s earlier support of it on the same network. mr. kudlow immediately set out to push mr. trump into scaling down the cost of the proposal, pegged by outside groups at more than $9 trillion over a decade. <u+201c>not even kudlow can sell that<u+2014>it<u+2019>s too much! too much,<u+201d> he recalled telling mr. trump. the revamped plan has a price tag of about half that. to demonstrate a beefed-up operation after the july convention, the campaign named business leaders to an advisory council, but some have since distanced themselves from the trump camp. <u+201c>i have nothing to say about the campaign, and i don<u+2019>t spend any time on it,<u+201d> said one of the advisers, steven roth, chairman and chief executive of real-estate giant vornado realty trust , at an industry conference last month. several advisers to past gop campaigns said mr. trump has been rebuffed by other veteran policy hands because they didn<u+2019>t think he would listen to them or make policy a priority. one sign of lingering doubts: every four years, hundreds of conservative academic and business economists sign a letter in support of the gop nominee. this year<u+2019>s quadrennial letter doesn<u+2019>t support or mention mr. trump, but instead professes opposition to mrs. clinton<u+2019>s policies . <u+201c> mitt romney wanted a policy-oriented campaign because he<u+2019>s a fairly wonky guy,<u+201d> said avik roy, an adviser on the 2012 romney campaign who also worked during the current election cycle with the campaigns of former texas gov. rick perry and florida sen. marco rubio. <u+201c>then you have donald trump, who<u+2019>s on the other extreme<u+2014>not that interested in policy.<u+201d> mr. navarro disputed the charge. the campaign has provided <u+201c>the most detailed plans of a presidential candidate in however many years, maybe ever,<u+201d> he said. write to nick timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com
some of donald trump<u+2019>s economic team diverge from candidate  - wsj
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