Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Consistently inconsistent

Posted

Remember all the bluster from Trump that China was a currency manipulator, and they were “raping our country?” He pledged to be tough on China to bring back good paying manufacturing jobs to America. Well, you can forget about all that… Just a few months into his presidency, Trump is selling out on that for help with North Korea. 

On one hand, this is great news. My biggest worry about Trump was how wrong-headed his China rhetoric was. I am fully ready to give him credit for changing his position in the right direction. But surely, we should still blame him for believing ridiculous things in the first place, right? Is it too much to ask for our President to give some thought to key issues before they are President? And given how quickly he’s changed his mind, we also must question how quickly he’ll change it the next time. That’s not good for stability. It’s one thing to keep our enemies off balance, but Trump is keeping the entire world off balance. 

It’s not just China. It took him less than 100 days to completely change his mind on Russia, NATO, bombing Syria, and more… If Republicans wanted this, they could have nominated Jeb Bush. In fact, if you consider all the personal enrichment Trump is doing while in office, he’s essentially Hillary Clinton. 

Which of course brings me to another flip-flop… Doesn’t anybody care that Trump repeatedly belched “lock her up” over and over during the campaign, but the day after the election he doesn’t give a hoot? I understand that politicians break promises sometimes. George HW Bush raised taxes, and Obama droned the heck out of the Middle East and stole a Republican idea for Obamacare (rather than trying for universal health care). But Trump is taking it to a completely different level. I don’t understand why his supporters aren’t outraged. 

However, from the standpoint of the markets, this is great news. Trump is shunning Russia and working with NATO and China. Despite his bloviations, he also hasn’t done anything to disrupt global trade. Those were huge risks to the global economy. Thankfully, it looks like we might escape that trap. 

Brad Blackburn, CFP®, is the owner of Blackburn Financial, Registered Investment Advisor. Blackburn Financial is located at 121 Cottage Ave, Cashmere. He can be reached at 509-782-2600 or email him at brad@blackburnfinancial.net

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