Trump Economic Plan: Repeal Seat Belts and Air Bags?

by Deacon Blues

The best part about the rollout of Donald Trump’s economic plan yesterday was the total destruction of any further narrative that Trump is fighting for the working people of this country. There was nothing in his proposals, whether they be the estate tax repeal, the top individual rate reduction/pass-through bait-and-switch, the corporate tax reduction, or even the child care proposal that actually helps the working or middle class in this country. Damn near everything Trump proposed yesterday came from the same supply-side gospel of special interest and failure we’ve seen from the GOP since the days of Reagan. And even the conservatives thought Trump hurt himself yesterday.

And his trade proposals would never be enacted without a trade war, and that’s assuming his new corporate overlords would allow him to do any of those things once he gets in office.

But the one item that might be the most fun to exploit was his call to reduce regulations in the auto industry in an effort to increase jobs. Citing the work of a Koch Brothers-funded “institute” housed at the discredited George Mason University, Trump wants to roll back auto regulations because they allegedly are job killers. The only regulations Trump and Koch could be targeting are those tied to auto safety and emissions. So is Trump really calling for the repeal of seat belt, airbag, and clean air regulations? The reporters following the campaign need to pin him and his Koch-owned running mate Mike Pence down on this.

Update: Another day, another set of bad polls for Trump. This time, a Monmouth University poll of likely voters had Trump down by 13 points nationally. And the latest NBC News weekly tracking poll of registered voters has him down by ten also.

Adding to this, polling analyst Stuart Rothenberg today wrote Trump's obituary in the Washington Post:

Three months from now, with the 2016 presidential election in the rearview mirror, we will look back and agree that the presidential election was over on Aug. 9th.

Of course, it is politically incorrect to say that the die is cast.

Journalistic neutrality allegedly forces us to say that the race isn’t over until November, and most media organizations prefer to hype the presidential contest to generate viewers and readers rather than explain why a photo finish is unlikely.

But a dispassionate examination of the data, combined with a coldblooded look at the candidates, the campaigns and presidential elections, produces only one possible conclusion: Hillary Clinton will defeat Donald Trump in November, and the margin isn’t likely to be as close as Barack Obama’s victory over Mitt Romney.

We've said around these parts similar things: the media only wants a horse race to cover, and has a vested interest in avoiding the truth about this campaign. So expect to read more and more about Trump as a still-credible candidate running against a corrupt and fatally-flawed Hillary, who is one step away from indictment or selling the country to terrorists. That's their narrative, and they'll be sticking with it.