Click here for Paul Krugman's Substack post for January 19, "Big Business Should End Its Faustian Bargain With Trump," subtitled "He’s out of control – and if you don’t hang together to counter him, you’ll hang separately."
Krugman thinks leaders of the biggest corporations have convinced themselves that Trump would institute reasonable economic policies -- including huge tax cuts and cuts to regulations, allowing them greater latitude to pollute the environment and cheat consumers -- and Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary, would keep Trump under control.
That hasn't turned out to be the case. He's implementing disastrous economic policies -- like tariffs -- and Krugman says Bessent has abased himself and now grovels before Trump, defending his every ridiculous position. Krugman says Bessent must "humiliate himself in public on a regular basis. He no longer acts like a respectable Wall Street insider; now he behaves like a capo helping his mob boss run a protection racket."
Take a lesson from watching Scott Bessent – appease Trump and he will demand that you debase yourself even further. It’s been astonishing how quickly corporate greed has been replaced by corporate fear: Businesses who hoped to profit from Trump now toe the line because they’re afraid of being punished.
He says the image of Trump as TACO -- Trump Always Chickens Out -- while a catchy slogan, has not turned out to be true: tariffs, deportations, escalation of force in Minneapolis.
Since the tariff-setting authority Trump is claiming only applies in a national emergency, Bessent was asked what national emergency justifies imposing tariffs in an attempt to seize Greenland. His answer: “The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency.”
He says:
Campaign contributions won’t be enough: they must pour money into Trump’s ballroom, and/or his family’s pocket, and/or his crazy adventures in places like Venezuela or Gaza. Refraining from criticism of Trump’s policies won’t be enough. Instead they must become sycophants, enthusiastically supporting Trump’s policies — especially if those policies are deeply stupid. If they don’t go along the punishment will be personal as well as financial.
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