It is Trump's economy.

"I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way.

Paul Anka, "My Way," sung by Frank Sinatra, 1969

"You break it, you bought it."
          The Pottery Barn Rule

Donald Trump is center stage in American life. For better or worse -- credit or blame -- it is Trump's economy.

And remember: "It's the economy, stupid."

President Trump took political responsibility for the economy on "Liberation Day," April 2. Prior to then, Trump could get away with blaming everything on President Biden in a reprise of his strategy when he took office in 2017. Trump defined the economy he inherited from Obama as "carnage." In fact, the economy was on a persistent uptrend: Inflation low. Unemployment low and declining. Gross domestic product rising. Trump claimed credit for a supposed turnaround in the economy. That was dishonest, but smart. It worked until Covid hit. 

Trump once again defines his starting point as misery, but now it's a harder sell. Trump is the man of action, the guy in charge of everything. They are Trump's tariffs and trade wars. He's doing it his way.

Trump is selling the idea that working people should feel prosperous. He said gasoline is $2.00/gallon. It isn't. He said grocery prices are down. They aren't. Car prices are up. Rents are up. Restaurant prices are up. The zeitgeist vibe is that "things are expensive." 

Consumer confidence has fallen since Trump has been in office. It rebounded briefly when he appeared to reverse himself on tariffs, then fell again when he reimposed tariffs.

For partisans, consumer confidence switches along with the president's party. The red and blue lines are predictable, but notice independent voters. They switched from tracking with Republicans to tracking with Democrats.

This is a very good sign for Democrats. It is the Pottery Barn rule. You break it, it's yours. 

Trump made a choice with his brand and political coalition. He switched sides. He sold out for money, billions of dollars, not the chicken feed that Hunter Biden collected. In 2016 Trump said he was draining the swamp of crony capitalists. Now he is one.

I don't think the country was ready for the Bernie Sanders message in 2015. Medicare-for-all is more plausible now than it was then. The ACA was a step toward universal health care, now that we have seen a patchwork system and that it fails to control costs. Sanders also said that the economy was rigged to help billionaires, not working people. That seemed extreme to too many people in 2016. Now it seems reasonable and descriptive. Trump demonstrates what crony capitalism looks like. The rich get richer. The poor cannot afford their daily lives. The economy-rigging is right out in the open.

2028

It takes a messenger to sell a message. A new, updated version of Sanders may emerge from the Democratic bench. Trump has platted out the lane for that person. One need not scare people by calling the lane "socialism." Trump has already linked government and the means of production -- socialism -- far beyond anything Democrats propose. A Democrat can reform the economy with a populist appeal by calling it what it is, a rejection of corrupt crony capitalism.

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