On Thursday, Donald Trump outlined his economic plan in an address to the Economic Club of New York. The Republican presidential nominee opened his remarks by talking about polls and razzing his hosts for their faulty teleprompter. “Luckily I brought some notes,” he said, holding a stack of paper aloft.
Stating that his economic plan will reject “cynicism” and “pessimism” and, presumably, embrace winning, Trump told his audience, “everything that is broken today can be fixed, and every failure can be turned into a truly great success.” He added, “just look at the way I just melded into the teleprompter that just went off. Who else could have pulled that off, okay? Who else?”
In his usual hyperbolic language, Trump imagined a world under his shiny new plan. “Jobs can stop leaving our country, and start pouring in,” he said. “Failing schools can become flourishing schools. Crumbling roads and bridges can become gleaming new infrastructure. Inner cities can experience a flood of new jobs and investment. And rising crime can give way to safe and prosperous communities.” The Republican presidential nominee went on to call his plan “the most pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-family plan put forth perhaps in the history of our country.”
According to Trump, Hillary Clinton “rejects this optimism,” instead favoring a system full of taxes, regulations, government spending. “Not one single idea she has will create one net American job, or create one new dollar of American wealth for our workers,” he said. “The only thing she can ever offer is a welfare check. Our plan will produce paychecks, and they’re going to be great paychecks.”
Calling Obama’s stimulus plan the “weakest so-called recovery since the Great Depression,” Trump promised a “complete overhaul of our tax, regulatory, energy and trade policies.” He then launched into his plan to cut taxes, slash away business regulations (because, he claims, regulations don’t work), and impose new regulations on international trade (because, apparently, regulations will work there). “You can visit our website. Just look at the math, it works,” he said.
