Former White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci, is rarely lost for words. But ask him to set out the positives to date of the second Trump presidential term and you get close to a short answer. He manages the grand total of just two such examples of Trump policy wins.
“There is going to be crypto-friendly, pro-crypto regulation. I see that as very positive. I think they’ve done a good job on the border.” And that is about it.
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On the other side of the ledger, there is no shortage of ammunition. The first 100 days of Trump 2.0 include some dire economic numbers.
Specifically, the equity market has plummeted. US based stocks have notably underperformed the rest of the world. Little wonder that international investors have swerved US assets.
Then there is the mega bond decline not to mention the sharp fall in the dollar.
On diplomacy, Trump has started fights with traditional US allies. And lost little opportunity to ramp up his economic battle with China.
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By GlobalDataScaramucci is now in full flow when he gives his assessment of policy fails of Trump’s first 100 days.
‘This doesn’t help the US’ – Scaramucci
“The global trade war, the irrationality and the unpredictability of Trump’s behaviour in foreign policy, the rejection of our Western European allies, the fight with China, the fight with Canada, the fight with Panama, the verbal assault thus far on Greenland. I mean, these are things that are not helping the US. This doesn’t help the US.”
‘MAGA – kind of waking up’: Kinzinger
Former US representative Adam Kinzinger is a little more optimistic and certainly more upbeat than he was when assessing Trump’s first 30 days.
“I think that MAGA is kind of waking up. Not completely yet – we’re still in the first 100 days. Even if you get 150 days, humans are not willing to admit they were wrong in that short of time. And they may never admit they were wrong. Even if they start to know it inside, they’ll find a reason [not to admit it]. I don’t expect there to be a great, come-to-Jesus moment for them, but there will be a disappointment.
“And the thing about Donald Trump is when you see him as a god-like figure and all of a sudden you see he’s human and he’s fallible, that’s when you collapse. That’s the danger of being a cult leader or a godlike figure; you have to be perfect. Because the second you’re not perfect, you’re showing your fallibility. So that’s where he’s exposed.
“In terms of any green shoots out there, I’m seeing a few. If you’d have talked to me 20 days ago, I’d have been much more pessimistic. Even though I’m still seeing real danger out there, I see somebody like Scott Bessett who’s pulled Trump back on the tariffs a little bit, which means he has some version of influence, so that’s good.”
Tariff strategy: ‘Hang up the phone’ – Scaramucci
Scaramucci is unswerving in his assertion that foreign leaders must not allow themselves to be bullied. On tariffs he offers this advice.
“Hang up the phone. I would take a look at President Xi and Prime Minister Carney’s approach to Donald Trump. If you’re trying to negotiate with him, he’s going to roll you, and he’s going to try to demean you. He’s a very spiteful guy. I would not engage with the guy, and the less engagement that you have with him, the higher the likelihood that he’s going to have to come back to you to cut a deal with you.
I’ll tell you something, Carney: he wouldn’t call Trump. They finally called Carney, said, “I’m not accepting the call unless in the postcommunicate I’m referred to as Prime Minister Carney and my country is referred to as Canada.”
“So, he can’t use the words governor and he can’t say 51st state in the postcommunicate after the call. Carney said that if you and your staff are not willing to agree to that with me, I will not accept the call. And of course, they adhere to it. Trump did say Prime Minister Carney, and he did use Canada and refer to Canada as if it were a sovereign state. So, I think that is the best approach to handling him. Kissing Donald Trump’s ass is the wrong approach.”
‘America is fed up’ – Kinzinger
Kinzinger argues that the public is doing a better job than Congress in registering disapproval of the administration.
“I’m seeing a lot of Americans hitting the streets, and that is really important in this country. It’s not just a rally in New York. What you’re seeing right now are Americans hitting the streets in every city and small town in the country. We have millions out there, and it’s only been a hundred or some days. And so, what that says to me is America’s fed up. They’re standing up. And that is actually the most powerful thing to defend our democracy.
‘Congress-the biggest disappointment’
And of course, the last guardrail that exists at this moment is the Supreme Court, which appears to be holding.
“The biggest disappointment in the United States of America is Congress. Congress is Article One of the Constitution, which means it’s the most important. The job of the President really is national defence and to execute the laws of Congress. What we’ve done, temporarily at least, is we’ve created an Emperor. And I think America is going to see that the emperor has no clothes.”
To mark Trump’s first 100 days back in office, investment platform Saxo engaged with two of the sharpest observers of the US political scene. And Saxo enabled GlobalData to sound out Trump’s former Communications Director, Scaramucci and the ex-US Republican Representative, Kinzinger, on the prospects for the second term.
Saxo Bank has created an election hub, link here, for exclusive content surrounding the US election and aftermath
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