Catherine Rampell

And normal American voters generally don't have the bandwidth to do a lot of in-depth research about, for example, what happens when you impose a tariff, right? Some of these things that he talked about were not super intuitive. Some of them were in terms of what effects they would have. Some of them were just outright lies, like the IVF thing.

But things like, oh, he's going to bring down prices and he's going to make China pay for the tariffs or whatever, right? I think the fact that the falsity of all of that didn't penetrate regular Americans is not entirely their fault. I think the media didn't do a great job in covering things. Probably the marginal voter who made the difference here, at least, is somewhat disengaged from politics.

But things like, oh, he's going to bring down prices and he's going to make China pay for the tariffs or whatever, right? I think the fact that the falsity of all of that didn't penetrate regular Americans is not entirely their fault. I think the media didn't do a great job in covering things. Probably the marginal voter who made the difference here, at least, is somewhat disengaged from politics.

But things like, oh, he's going to bring down prices and he's going to make China pay for the tariffs or whatever, right? I think the fact that the falsity of all of that didn't penetrate regular Americans is not entirely their fault. I think the media didn't do a great job in covering things. Probably the marginal voter who made the difference here, at least, is somewhat disengaged from politics.

So for those people, it's easy for people to spike the football. But for those voters who thought they were getting one thing and are now enduring a bait and switch, you know, I don't entirely blame them. But for the people on Wall Street. They are paid to get this right.

So for those people, it's easy for people to spike the football. But for those voters who thought they were getting one thing and are now enduring a bait and switch, you know, I don't entirely blame them. But for the people on Wall Street. They are paid to get this right.

So for those people, it's easy for people to spike the football. But for those voters who thought they were getting one thing and are now enduring a bait and switch, you know, I don't entirely blame them. But for the people on Wall Street. They are paid to get this right.

They are paid to make accurate predictions, to read all of the white papers such as they are to figure out what Trump's proposals would be or at least the range of what they could be and then the range of outcomes. They're paid to know how tariffs work, things like that. And for them...

They are paid to make accurate predictions, to read all of the white papers such as they are to figure out what Trump's proposals would be or at least the range of what they could be and then the range of outcomes. They're paid to know how tariffs work, things like that. And for them...

They are paid to make accurate predictions, to read all of the white papers such as they are to figure out what Trump's proposals would be or at least the range of what they could be and then the range of outcomes. They're paid to know how tariffs work, things like that. And for them...

I have much less sympathy because besides the fact that like they clearly got the economics wrong, I think they also made some other Faustian bargains like, oh, well, we're going to get tax cuts in there for even if he does all of the other stuff. Forget the tariffs, like forget the destructive economic stuff.

I have much less sympathy because besides the fact that like they clearly got the economics wrong, I think they also made some other Faustian bargains like, oh, well, we're going to get tax cuts in there for even if he does all of the other stuff. Forget the tariffs, like forget the destructive economic stuff.

I have much less sympathy because besides the fact that like they clearly got the economics wrong, I think they also made some other Faustian bargains like, oh, well, we're going to get tax cuts in there for even if he does all of the other stuff. Forget the tariffs, like forget the destructive economic stuff.

if he acts on all of these openly stated plans to weaponize government against his enemies, to curb civil rights, et cetera, that's a trade I'm willing to make. So like on multiple levels, the support from a lot of, not everyone on Wall Street, but the support of people on Wall Street and various other executives in corporate America, I am much less sympathetic to.

if he acts on all of these openly stated plans to weaponize government against his enemies, to curb civil rights, et cetera, that's a trade I'm willing to make. So like on multiple levels, the support from a lot of, not everyone on Wall Street, but the support of people on Wall Street and various other executives in corporate America, I am much less sympathetic to.

if he acts on all of these openly stated plans to weaponize government against his enemies, to curb civil rights, et cetera, that's a trade I'm willing to make. So like on multiple levels, the support from a lot of, not everyone on Wall Street, but the support of people on Wall Street and various other executives in corporate America, I am much less sympathetic to.

The problem is they're not the only victims.

The problem is they're not the only victims.

The problem is they're not the only victims.

Even poor Elon Musk, as I've been saying, he invested $200 million into Donald Trump's campaign so that he and Trump could run government together. And it turns out, unfortunately, they suck at running government. And now he's like $130 billion poorer, right? Because Tesla stock has gone down.