'A ruinous mission': Trump will 'own' the impending recession

27 August

U.S. President Donald Trump attends the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 15, 2025. REUTERS Nathan Howard

New Republic writer Alex Shephard says Trump sold the idea of a “Kamala economic crash, a 1929-style depression” in the lead up to his win last November, but what America is facing is a crash of Trump’s own devising.

“The economy is in significantly worse shape than it was a year ago, thanks in large part to actions Trump himself has taken,” said Shephard, and “the public recognizes this, as polls show a clear majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of the economy and blame him for rising prices.”

Media attention on Trump’s faltering economy is getting buried beneath Iran airstrikes, the militarization of U.S. cities and the gutting of federal government, but Trump appears to be trying to herald a new recession with his bad decisions.

“His ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs have destroyed relationships with key trading partners, cost thousands of jobs across the country, and caused prices to soar (with much worse to come),” said Shephard, and “Trump’s ongoing war with the Federal Reserve also makes a recession more likely.”

The value of the dollar has been steadily falling since inauguration, said Shephard, and the lower interest rates that Trump is demanding “could juice inflation” that has already been ticking upward.

Shephard said Trump’s a growing interest in taking a government cut of large corporations like Intel, Nvidia, Nippon-U.S. Steel also shows the president wants full control of the U.S. economy.

“That’s reckless no matter who the president is. But it’s a ruinous mission for a president who obviously has no idea what he’s doing,” Shephard wrote.

“It’s hard to overstate just how dire the situation is,” he added. “The economy that Trump inherited was the envy of the developed world. For all of its problems — such as lingering high prices and longstanding inequality — Biden and his advisors navigated post-pandemic inflation better than almost anyone, thanks to the administration’s industrial policy and several key pieces of legislation aimed at boosting infrastructure spending. In just a few months, Trump has wrecked that progress. And he has done so for no compelling reason whatsoever — simply because he has always … taken pleasure in destroying his predecessor’s accomplishments.”

“If there is a recession in the next three years — something that grows increasingly likely with each passing week — Trump will own all of it,” Shephard said.

Read the full New Republic report at this link.

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