V24, N36 Tuesday, June 18, 2019 Gauging Trump’s reelectability As the President launches his reelection campaign today, warning signs abound ... but ... By BRIAN A. HOWEY IOWA CITY – A year from now, President Trump will be in a critical sequence for his reelection campaign. He will be preparing for the Republican Na- tional Convention in Charlotte, N.C., a once reliably red state that now looks to be in play. He will make a final decision whether to keep Vice Presi- dent Mike Pence on the ticket, something he’s said he will do going back to the day after the mid-term elections last November and appeared to reaffirm just last week. And he will continue to dominate the news in an extraorinarily unprecedented way. The Mueller investigation is mostly behind him, Speaker Nancy Pelosi appears to want to squelch them, though the special counsel will likely be called to testify preferring that Trump’s future be decided by voters at the before House committees for a verbal rendition of the 448- ballot box in November 2020. page report he filed last April. There are calls for Trump’s impeachment from about 40 Democrats, though House Continued on page 3 It’s the economy, stupid By CRAIG DUNN KOKOMO – We’ve finally found something that Republicans and Democrats agree on when it comes to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election: “It’s our version of the economy, stupid!” “We’ve probably had excellent In 2010 during a “60 Minutes” interview, President Obama presidents who were gay. We just famously speculated on employ- ment and the economy, “What is didn’t know which ones. I mean, a danger is that we stay stuck in statistically, it’s almost certain.” a new normal where unemploy- ment rates stay high. People who - Mayor Pete Buttigieg to have jobs see their incomes go up. Axios. Gallup reported that Businesses make big profits, but they’ve learned to do more with 4.5% identified as LGBT. less. And so they don’t hire. And, as a consequence, we keep on seeing growth that is just too slow Page 2 Howey Politics Indiana WWWHowey Media, LLC n 405 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 300 Indianapolis, IN 46204 www.howeypolitics.com to bring back the eight million jobs all full-time workers or pay a fine, that were lost. That is a danger. So, which could be as high as $3,000 per that’s something that I’ve spent a lot employee. This added to the cost of Brian A. Howey, Publisher of time thinking about.” labor, which again had the effect of Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington The view of the Obama slowing growth. Since Obama defined Cam Carter, copy editor Administration did not change when a full-time employee as anyone work- Joel Weyrauch, copy editor in 2014, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew ing at least 30 hours per week, em- told the Economic Club of New York ployers hired more part-time workers. Mary Lou Howey, Editor City that the U.S. GDP growth rate, This drove down household income Jack Howey, editor emeritus adjusted for inflation, is now projected and slowed economic growth. to run a little above 2% a year. Ap- Obama made the 2001 Bush parently, seventy years of GDP growth tax cuts permanent for all Americans, Subscriptions averaging more than 3% was going except for the top income earners. For HPI, HPI Daily Wire $599 to be relegated to history by the “new them, taxes increased by 10%. This HPI Weekly, $350 normal” of 2% growth. reduced the amount of investment Ray Volpe, Account Manager Consider this: From 2009 to capital flowing into our economy, 317.602.3620 2014, real median income fell over- which slowed economic growth and all. Why? President Barack Obama’s tended to reduce household income. email: [email protected] regulations and taxes sat like a wet In order to address the prob- blanket over our economy. lems perceived as predatory lending, Contact HPI Most of his policies were Obama convinced Congress to pass aimed at addressing perceived so- the Dodd-Frank Act. The problem was [email protected] cial injustices rather than stimulating that Dodd-Frank reduced all lending, Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 economic growth. He believed that it which slowed economic growth and Washington: 202.256.5822 was an injustice that every American resulted in countless small community Business Office: 317.602.3620 did not have health insurance and that banks having to close their doors. This corporate CEOs made hundreds of further reduced income and growth. times more income than the average Do you still have any ques- © 2019, Howey Politics worker. It was also an injustice that tions as to why Obama was the only Indiana. All rights reserved. banks and big business took advan- president in history to never see Photocopying, Internet forward- tage of consumers. economic growth above 3%? The ing, faxing or reproducing in Obama convinced Congress economy averaged just over 2% for any form, whole or part, is a to pass Obamacare in 2010, which his entire two terms. resulted in health insurance being ex- Then along came Trump violation of federal law without tended to an additional six percent of and a Republican controlled Congress. permission from the publisher. the population. But Obamacare came For those who like to decry the failed with new taxes - 21 of them - and leadership of President Trump and his these helped suppress middle-class “do-nothing” Congress, let’s see what income, slowing economic growth. has happened in just the short 28 The “Affordable Care Act” months since the President took his aka Obamacare, also forced employ- oath of office. ers to provide health insurance to In short, President Trump Page 3 has ignited the United States economy on fire. Confound- Free tuition, paid-off student loans, racial reparations, ing his critics in the media, the Democrat Party and in free healthcare for all, basic living-wage cash giveaways, the fuzzy minds of the Never-Trumpers, the economy has $15 minimum wage, astronomical new taxes, benefits for grown over 3% per year, achieved the lowest unemploy- people who don’t like to work, lower-cost housing and mil- ment in nearly 50 years and posted a 27% stock market lions of new high-paying jobs in the Green New Deal. gain in the process. The newly created jobs have crossed Democrats have settled on a strategy of making all employment sectors and the biggest winners, American up their own version of our economy and telling the gull- workers, have seen real growth in personal incomes. ible that “It’s our version of the economy, stupid!” Prosperity has touched everyone. Black unem- On the other hand, Republican Donald Trump will ployment is at its lowest level in history. Hispanic unem- be forced to run for re-election using traditional economic ployment is at its lowest level in history. The unemploy- statistics. Let’s see what the Ronald Reagan “misery index” ment rate among women is at the lowest level since 1953. would give him. Unemployment is at record low? Check. Black, Hispanic and women’s income is up and rising. Interest rates at historical lows? Check. Inflation at or These economic statistics are historical and politi- below 2%? Check. cally powerful. They are also terribly distressing to Trump- Mark my words, before this Presidential election haters everywhere. You know who you are! is over, Democrats will blame Donald Trump for poor drive- What’s a political party devoid of ideas supposed thru service at Wendy’s. In a sad and twisted way, they to do when a Presidential election rolls around in the will be right. midst of such economic success? Make up stuff and give And that’s a good thing. v away free stuff. The 22-candidate Democratic clown car is engaged in a race to the bottom with a trunk-load of lies Dunn is the former Howard County Republican and misinformation. The luggage rack on top is stacked chairman. high with costly freebies to appeal to the clueless masses: pushing up prices for everyone else. A surge of migrants Trump Reelect, from page 1 from Central America has swamped the border. The United So where do Trump’s reelection chances stand States could be dragged into a war with Iran at any mo- at this point as he officially kicks off his campaign at 8 ment, and talks with North Korea have stalled. Internal p.m. tonight in Orlando with Pence and First Lady Mela- Trump polling shows the president trailing in key battle- nia Trump with him on stage where he will reinforce his ground states, with numbers so bad Trump fired some of “promises made, promises kept” slogan? his campaign’s pollsters. He’s losing to almost every single Politico Playbook frames the Trump propsects like Democratic candidate. Impeachment looms on the horizon, this: and should that happen, some Republicans could begin THE PRO- TRUMP WORLD: “As the president and his allies see it, a second term should be his for the tak- ing. After all, the economy is solid -- inflation is low and growth is chugging along, despite some warning signs. The United States has not entered any new wars on Trump’s watch, and America is even speaking to old adversaries. His base is with him, and tonight’s rally in Florida will draw abandoning him to save themselves. tens of thousands of people in a critical part of a crucial AND YET, here’s the thing about Donald Trump, 2020 state. Despite withering pressure from investigations Politico Playbook writes, “After he shocked the world in on the Hill, at DOJ and in New York, Republicans are not 2016, nobody dares predict which of the above narratives abandoning the president.