by Lawrence Kudlow
“America is open for business, and we are competitive once again.”
—Donald Trump at Davos, 2018
When Donald Trump asked me to serve as the chairman of his National Economic Council in March 2018, it was truly the honor of a lifetime. I joked with the president that I had worked for Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s on his economic revolution, and my mission in life is to serve the president roughly every 35 years.
I don’t agree with President Trump on every issue—and he knows that—but on the big picture of unleashing a new era of broad-based prosperity for America, we are in 100 percent agreement. Trump says we can get to 3, 4, or even 5 percent growth through tax reduction, deregulation, American energy production, and fairer trade deals, and he is exactly right. We are devoting nearly every working hour at the White House to achieving a sustained higher growth path that will create higher take-home pay for all Americans. And by the way, I can tell you after a few months on the job, this man is indefatigable. Donald Trump doesn’t stop. He barely sleeps. It’s almost impossible to keep up with him. He is truly obsessed with restoring American greatness.
Now, step back a minute. When Donald Trump first announced his run for the presidency three years ago, I, like Arthur and Steve and most people, was filled with skepticism. I wondered whether this was a publicity stunt, not a real bid to sit in the Oval Office. On some of his calls for trade tariffs, I was openly critical.
But when Arthur Laffer, Steve Moore, and I sat down with this billionaire businessman turned politician in Trump Tower in the spring of 2016, the three of us saw Trump in a whole new light. Here was a pro-growth, pro-business candidate who understood the vast underperformance of the U.S. economy and, even more importantly, the potential for dramatically faster growth. He wanted tax cuts. He wanted to deregulate, he wanted to get the government out of the way.
Most of all, we loved his Reaganesque optimism. It was infectious.
What a contrast with the left—which was full of negativity. We can’t grow faster than 2 percent. We can’t get wages up. We have to live with secular stagnation. We can’t rebuild our coal industry. Climate change is going to bring the end of civilization. The inner cities cannot be hopeful and prosperous places again. And, of course, Trump can’t possibly win. Well, he proved them all wrong! And he’s still doing that.
Arthur, Steve, and I spent much of the next six months on the campaign trail perfecting and then selling the Trump tax plan. Then when he was elected, we worked with the White House and Congress on the strategy to get it passed and signed into law. Arthur was the intellectual godfather of this amazing tax plan. Steve and I worked together doing the blocking and tackling to help the president get this over the goal line. It was a rocky road for sure. You will learn in this book, however, that Trump was an easy sell. He has an amazingly instinctive appreciation of which policy dials in Washington need to be twisted in another direction so that the economy can flourish. He always told us that the tax plan had to help the middle class—and that was always the mission. Our goal was to pass a tax cut that would help American businesses expand and invest and thereby hire more workers and boost their wages and salaries. It had been 17 years since the middle class had seen a rise in their incomes, and it was about time they got a raise.
I agree wholeheartedly with Arthur and Steve that the tax plan—along with other Trump initiatives—has supercharged the economy. As we used to tell Trump: it worked for Reagan, it worked for JFK, it will work for you. The tax plan, mixed with other pro-growth policies, has worked better and faster than we ever expected. As Trump has often said of the current American economic expansion: “The world is witnessing the resurgence of a strong and prosperous America. There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest, and to grow in the United States.”
He’s right. And what a salesman.
Trump’s policies, in just one and a half years, have begun to restructure the American economy. We’ve moved from “secular stagnation” (i.e., high taxes, massive regulation, huge government spending, and a disdain for business and investors) to a new private-sector incentive system that rewards success.
By slashing individual and corporate tax rates, providing 100 percent immediate expensing for plants and technology, and making it easy for big companies that fled our high-tax system to bring the money back home, he has ended the war against business and investment.
And it has happened faster than anyone imagined possible.
More than 250 American companies have announced gigantic investment projects, paid sizable bonuses to their workforces, increased 401(k) contributions, and raised corporate minimum wages and other benefits. As of May 2018, the stock market gains had increased Americans’ net wealth by an astounding $7 trillion. This is the only realistic chance of bailing out excessive government-union pensions and benefits—even though these very unions totally opposed Trump’s corporate tax reform.
Ankle-biting Democrats say, “Rising business profits will go to shareholder buybacks.” It isn’t bad for the 100 million Americans who own stock in companies like Apple and FedEx. Meanwhile, new money is circulating throughout the economy to start new companies and reoxygenate the system.
Walmart—which had bitterly fought attempts to raise the federal minimum wage—raised its internal minimum wage for virtually all its wage earners, gave bonuses of up to $1,000, expanded maternity and parental leave, and committed $5,000 to every employee who adopts a child. Costco quickly followed suit with its own policy.
And don’t forget the president’s argument about the importance of regulatory reduction. “Regulation is stealth taxation,” Trump has often said. “We are freeing our businesses and workers so they can thrive and flourish as never before.” Hold that thought, Mr. President. Oh, and don’t forget that the Trump tax bill ended the Obamacare individual mandate and opened the door to energy drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Even on trade and globalization, Trump has told his international counterparts: “As president of the United States, I will always put America first, just like the leaders of other countries should put their countries first also. But America first does not mean America alone.”
This book offers the first real, day-by-day tale of how Trumponomics came to be—how it all happened. What a journey. I know that because I worked right alongside Steve and Arthur every step of the way in 2016 and 2017. It was a mighty struggle, and we each have the lashes on our backs for joining with Trump to help him make America great again. We were for Trump before it was cool.
They are my brothers; and we are still brothers in arms. I pridefully and eagerly took the job working for Donald Trump because, as we all agree, there is still so much to do to make America great again. This book shows how.