Larry Kudlow: We must restore American greatness ASAP

High-energy Trump vs. no-energy Biden — that’s the subject of the riff. High-energy vs. no-energy: President Joe Biden goes to a G-7 meeting in Italy and gets lost in a crowd of about seven people. 

The prime minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, had to go and get him as he was wandering off into nowhere. It’s not a good look for American power. 

By the way, Prime Minister Meloni is already a superstar on the European stage with her conservative policies that are shaking up Italy and the rest of Europe. 

Meanwhile, Donald Trump goes to Washington for the first time in three-and-a-half years and blows up the liberal media with his high-energy, positive, pro-growth, tax-cutting message. As he promised during the primaries last winter, Mr. Trump is unifying the Republican Party. 

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There was arch-critic Mitch McConnell shaking hands and fist-bumping with the Republican presidential standard-bearer. There was Mr. Trump praising and endorsing former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is a moderate Republican running for the U.S. Senate, and he could very well win in an ultra-blue state. 

I’ll bet you Sen. Hogan would vote for Trump policies at least 70% of the time — and that’s pretty good, and he could help elect a GOP Senate majority, and that’s very good. Trumpian politics have become unifying, which was a big part of his message, and Trump is a growth guy. He told all the bigshot CEOs at the business roundtable that he was a tax-cutter. 

As the moderator, I asked him directly, and he said he would keep the 21% corporate tax rate. Then he started ruminating that 20% was a nice, round number, or you could go to 18% or even the 15% rate that he originally favored in the 2016 campaign. 

Importantly, he is signaling that he is a tax-cutter, not a tax-raiser. He is a pro-growth, prosperity and opportunity president, not a redistrubutionist. No-energy Joe Biden wants a $5 trillion tax hike, which would give high energy to big government socialism, but high-energy Trump is aiming for a significant tax cut that will give no energy to the government and high energy to private investment and free-market capitalism. 

Trump told the CEOs he would stop over-regulation and unlock significant permitting reform for some inflation-curbing « drill, baby, drill » and all manner of construction projects. 

Now that’s high-energy. Joe Biden’s DEI and ESG mandates have kept business pinned down. That’s a low-energy economy. Mr. Trump emphasized that he wants America to be a magnet for the best and the brightest all around the world, provided they have proper vetting and legal visas. 

Yes, he’s going to close the border and deport criminals, but he also told the business CEOs that he’s OK with high-skilled technology immigrants, provided they’re legal, and if young people already living in America, presuming they are vetted, graduate from college, they should be allowed to stay here and contribute to the economy, rather than being shipped back home someplace. 

Trump has long believed this, but it would require a change in the immigration laws. These are all high-energy, advanced thinking, innovative proposals. It’s what business wants to hear. It’s what business needs to perform and produce. 

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It would be a win for working folks who have suffered falling real wages for three-and-a-half years under Biden, and how about tax-free tips for service industry working folks? Trump mentioned that again, and that innovative idea was a shot ripping across Joe Biden’s bow. 

The Biden Democrats are low-energy, hidebound, bureaucratic, anti-business, sit-on-your hands people who are trying to somehow manage American decline. We can’t have that. That’s a Trump message. We’ve got to unleash the animal spirits of prosperity and opportunity and restore American greatness as soon as possible. 

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the June 14, 2024, edition of « Kudlow. »