Robert Reich Says Trump Could Cause A Recession Before The 2020

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Robert Reich explained that the combination of Trump’s trade war and tariffs, along with a slowing economy could lead to a recession before the 2020 election.

Reich said on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, “As you just said, 75,000 new jobs is really bad. You need 125,000 to keep up with the increase in the labor force. Relative to where we have been in this recovery that starts in 2009, it’s a very bad jobs report. There is a slowdown, no question about that. If you add on to the slow down, all of the direct and ancillary damage that comes from these tariffs. Tariffs against China, retaliation from China, tariffs that are threatened against Mexico, you could easily find the American economy before the election.”

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Robert Reich explained that the combination of Trump’s trade war and tariffs along with a slowing economy could lead to a recession before the 2020 election. https://t.co/XzTWrMzgzU pic.twitter.com/CoiqO5Ik7h

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) June 8, 2019

The impact of any one of these steps as a singular event might not be enough to knock the economy into recession alone, although a 25% tariff on Mexican imports could challenge that belief, but it a recession by a thousand bad decisions. The tariffs, the tax cuts for the wealthy, the refusal to invest in American infrastructure are all decisions that are going to harm the state of the economy.

A Republican president inherited a good economy and viewed it as a piggy bank to raid. Not since Eisenhower has a Republican president shepherded a period of economic growth that did not lead to a recession. Reagan’s trickle down led to the election of Bill Clinton. George W. Bush’s trickle down and feeding of bubbles caused the Great Recession, and Trump policies are even worse and could lead to dire economic consequences.

Given the trajectory that this economy is currently on, it will be surprising if the nation is not in a recession when voters go to the polls in 2020. Not since Hoover has the nation had a president who is so ill-prepared for a recession.

Robert Reich is correct. The economy is losing steam and Trump’s tariffs on Mexico could push it over the brink.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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