An ex-official from Donald Trump’s administration asserted that Trump was one of the ‘biggest spenders ‘ in history and accused him of contributing to the current inflation in the U.S. Former Homeland Security staffer Miles Taylor, who earlier claimed his home was broken into immediately after he wrote a critical anonymous op-ed against the president, commented on Trump’s expenditures on MSNBC’s The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle .
Taylor was asked on the program about his thoughts on Trump and the Republican Party’s trend of distorting history. According to Raw Story, he spoke extensively about the Capitol incident on January 6, and added that “there was a lot of revisionist history about what happened under Trump.” As the conversation went on he also delved into the ‘extraordinary levels of federal spending’ that Trump indulged in.
“As a conservative, it was something that was immensely frustrating to me during the Trump administration, is he promised a smaller government but instead was one of the biggest spenders, if not the biggest spender in American history,” Taylor said on the show. “A lot of what we’ve dealt with in terms of inflation started during the Trump years.”
Joe Biden made a similar comment recently on how the current inflation rates arise out of Trump’s former policies and proceeded to mock his economic sense. “We’re better situated than we were when we took office where we— inflation was skyrocketing,” Biden said recently, as per The New York Times . “And we have a plan to deal with it, whereas the opposition— my opposition talks about two things. They just want to cut taxes for the wealthy and raise taxes on other people.”
Additionally, Business Insider reported that the U.S. economy may face an ‘inflationary threat’ if Trump is elected president in 2024, according to Macquarie analysts. “The improving prospect that Donald Trump will regain the presidency in the US— the result of his strong performance in the Republican primary elections and the descension of his rivals from the nomination race— may be construed as an inflationary event,” strategists led by Thierry Wizman, wrote.
Trump took office when the economy was already strong & did nothing to boost it. He just rode the coattails of a 10-yr-long economic recovery, then tanked it & inflation surged. Biden inherited that mess & saved us from a recession. Numbers don’t lie, but the Republicans do.
— Denise Wheeler 🌊💙 (@denisedwheeler) April 11, 2024
The former president’s trade strategy, or ‘Trumponomics’, is a major contributing factor to that danger. Duties on Chinese goods increased from 3% to 12% under Trump’s rule. Furthermore, he has spoken of quintupling that amounts to a 60% import tax on all Chinese imports. Macquarie anticipates that those moves will lead to increased domestic consumer costs. China is a major supplier of items to the U.S. that include furniture, toys, clothing, and even iPhones.
Inflation is lower today than it was last year. That wouldn’t be true if we had enacted Trump’s 10% blanket tariff last year–it would have remained at its 2023 level. Americans are rightly frustrated with prices, but we have a candidate who wants to *raise* them. pic.twitter.com/tUgnI3MlmW
— Brendan Duke (@Brendan_Duke) April 10, 2024
According to Wizman, Trump may wean the U.S. off of Chinese imports of vital or strategic products. This hidden danger is important since the Fed, which is expected to lower interest rates this year, makes moves in anticipation of such inflationary forces. “This too could give pause to FOMC members as they realize that if real policy rates are to stay structurally high as a result, it may not make sense to take a step toward easing just yet,” Wizman said.