A couple of weeks before Election Day 2024, The New York Times’ editorial board published a memorable piece with a straightforward headline: “American Business Cannot Afford to Risk Another Trump Presidency.”
The editors all but pleaded with private-sector leaders to recognize the looming dangers of a possible second term for Donald Trump. “Voting on narrow policy concerns would reflect a catastrophically nearsighted view of the interests of American business,” they wrote, adding that business owners should be “afraid of the consequences if he prevails.”
Eight months later, the warnings appear prescient. The Times reported this week:
President Trump is sending conflicting messages about his immigration crackdown, promising a reprieve for certain industries that rely on immigrant labor while doubling down on his promise to arrest and deport anyone who is living in the United States illegally. The situation has left business owners unclear on exactly what the Trump policy is….
The Washington Post had a related report noting that the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy organization that represents Fortune 500 companies on Capitol Hill, has raised concerns that the White House’s erratic approach to anti-immigration raids and deportations have adversely affected farms, hotels and restaurants, as well as the meatpacking, construction, manufacturing, retail, elder care and dairy industries.
Unfortunately for the American private sector, this isn’t the only evidence of the larger problem. While Trump destabilizes businesses by targeting immigrant workers, he makes matters worse through a similarly erratic policy on trade tariffs, which he’s changed literally several dozen times in recent months.
It’s against this backdrop that the Republican president has launched an aggressive campaign to undermine public confidence in the Federal Reserve; told businesses to accept lower profit margins; targeted the nation’s system of higher education, which employers rely on; and even made it more difficult to rely on the integrity of government data, which businesses also depend on for decision-making.
All the while, instead of addressing the concerns of business leaders, he’s publicly mocked them.
Some might see this and think, “Well, I guess this is contemporary conservative populism. Of course Trump isn’t pro-business.” But therein lies the rub: While the White House isn’t offering the private sector what it needs to thrive, the president and his team are simultaneously trying to make life harder on working-class Americans, redistributing wealth away from them and targeting their health care benefits.
It’s rare to find a prominent political leader who is neither a champion of business nor a champion of workers, but Trump has managed to pull it off.
