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Donald Trump probably isn’t the first presidential challenger to hope for an economic downturn before an election, but the Republican is the first to share such a sentiment out loud.
In an on-air interview this week, the likely GOP nominee not only predicted an economic “crash,” he added, “I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months, because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover.”
In other words, Trump would like to see widespread public suffering — sooner rather than later — in ways that wouldn’t cause him any political inconvenience.
On the campaign trail, Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t call out his rival by name, but he told reporters that he “does not want to see the economy crash.” The Florida Republican added, “I don’t want the economy to crash because people’s livelihoods depend on their 401(k)s. People’s jobs — if the economy crashes, people get thrown out of work, businesses would go under. I don’t want to see that happening. I want people to do well.”
This, of course, is the painfully obvious answer. Those hoping to lead the United States shouldn’t go around saying they want to see the people of the United States suffer. This isn’t exactly rocket science.
But DeSantis wasn’t alone. At the White House, for example, spokesperson Andrew Bates told The New York Times, “A commander in chief’s duty is to always put the American people first, never to hope that hard-working families suffer economic pain for their own political benefit.”
It’s the sort of quote that shouldn’t even be necessary — and wouldn’t be except the leading Republican candidate accidentally said on camera what he was actually thinking.
But it was Julie Chavez Rodriguez, President Joe Biden’s campaign manager, who appeared even less interested in mincing words.
“Donald Trump should just say he doesn’t give a damn about people, because that’s exactly what he’s telling the American people when he says he hopes the economy crashes. In his relentless pursuit of power and retribution, Donald Trump is rooting for a reality where millions of Americans lose their jobs and live with the crushing anxiety of figuring out how to afford basic needs.”
She added, “The bottom line: President Biden wakes up every day working and rooting for the American people. Donald Trump spends every day worried about himself.”
To date, I haven’t seen any prominent public voices, in either party, make any effort to defend the former president’s rhetoric.