one of the biggest mysteries about the long con of donald trump's presidential campaign is how he has convinced millions of middle-class white americans that he truly gives a shit about them. how can it be, i<u+2019>ve often wondered, that a billionaire who lives in a pink-marble triplex high above fifth avenue, one who flies around in his own aging boeing 757 and who owns a weekend home in palm beach and property in new jersey horse country, can somehow become the hero of the people left in the wake of the new digital economy? these voters, indeed, have every right to wonder what happened to their american dream. they have every right to be worried about their livelihood and their future. they have every right to be equally terrified and aggrieved about the slow growth of the real economy, and how it has made the life that we have come to expect for generations all but unattainable.









trump, of course, has never quite evidenced sympathy for the common man. according to a recent bombshell report in the washington post, in fact, we now know that trump<u+2019>s own foundation reportedly spent $20,000 to purchase a six-foot portrait of trump himself. perhaps trump<u+2019>s appeal to the rust belt results, in part, from the fact that he is a former television star, who showed up in our living rooms every week in a fictitious corporate boardroom. sara flynn, a 55-year-old mother of four sons in hebron, kentucky, recently explained to reporters from the new york times that she has liked trump ever since she watched him on the apprentice. she said that she believes trump when he says he can <u+201c>make america great again.<u+201d> she seemed wistful. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s a bygone era, that<u+2019>s when america was great,<u+201d> she said of the old days. <u+201c>it hasn<u+2019>t been like that for me.<u+201d>









i suspect part of the reason that flynn and others like her feel an affinity for trump is because of the promises he makes in his speeches, like the one he gave on thursday to the economic club of new york, at the waldorf astoria hotel, which is now owned by a chinese insurance company. the speech was likely written by one of the reagan-era economic disciples who whisper in trump<u+2019>s ears these days. maybe it was larry kudlow, the ex<u+2013>bear stearns economist and cnbc veteran (he was on the dais over trump<u+2019>s right shoulder)? or maybe it was stephen moore, formerly a columnist at the wall street journal, who is now a visiting fellow at the conservative heritage foundation? trump<u+2019>s words certainly sounded a bit like reagan<u+2019>s. fresh from his two-hour photo-op in flint, michigan, the day before, he told the invitation-only crowd in new york, <u+201c>it used to be cars were made in flint, and you couldn<u+2019>t drink the water in mexico. now, the cars are made in mexico and you can<u+2019>t drink the water in flint.<u+201d>









it<u+2019>s a good line, and trump presumably knew it. he had, in fact, also used it in flint the day before. like some of what trump says, it is funny. but like much of what he says, it isn't true. we make millions of cars, and car parts, in america. a recent study by the center for automotive research, in fact, revealed that the auto industry accounts for about 3 percent, or nearly $75 billion, of all foreign direct investment in the united states.









but trump<u+2019>s brand depends upon fever dreams more than realities. trump laid the promises on thick at the waldorf. <u+201c>we are going to turn this around,<u+201d> he continued. <u+201c>my economic plan rejects the cynicism that says our labor force will keep declining, that our jobs will keep leaving, and that our economy can never grow as it did once before. we reject the pessimism that says our standard of living can no longer rise, and that all that<u+2019>s left to do is divide up and redistribute our shrinking resources. everything that is broken today can be fixed, and every failure can be turned into a great success.<u+201d>









trump subsequently promised to create 25 million new jobs<u+2014>more jobs than certain credible economists believe that there will be workers to fill. he promised to cut taxes. he promised to cut regulations. he promised to repatriate the trillions of dollars in corporate profit<u+2014>he estimated the figure at $5 trillion<u+2014>and to make child-care costs tax deductible. he promised to rip up the trade agreements that he despises, nafta and the t.p.p. he promised that the economy, which has been stuck at around 2 percent annual economic growth for the last 10 years or so, would start growing at 3.5 percent per year, and maybe 4 percent per year if everything goes as he predicts it will. should that happen, trump suggested, our $600 billion annual deficit would decrease.









he also promised to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from the current 35 percent. <u+201c>an explosion of new business and new jobs will be created,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>it will be amazing to watch.<u+201d> he then engaged in a little voodoo economics. <u+201c>we are proposing a $4.4 trillion tax cut that will score as $2.6 trillion under a dynamic growth model, which is how taxes should be scored,<u+201d> he said. (if larry kudlow is around, could he please translate that sentence into a language one of trump<u+2019>s supporters, or even mere journalists, might understand?) trump then promised to put coal miners and steel workers back to work, despite the fact that so many of the companies that operate in the coal sector face existential struggles; and those that operate in the steel sector are a shadow of their former selves.
is this trump<u+2019>s biggest financial con yet?
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