1 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Thoughts on trump’s economy?
Trump has been much warmer and communicative to small biz owners too. That is a glaring hole in the Dem's approach - being a successful small biz owner making six figures means you'll be absolutely leveled with taxes and the regulation is, at times, overburdensome. VP Harris started to make gains on the small biz messaging later in her campaign, but too little too late, and grouping all of us in with peopl who are millionaires and billionaires many times over sealed it.
Comment by ResidentBison4688 at 10/03/2025 at 22:12 UTC
3 upvotes, 2 direct replies
In general, I would agree that before 1/20/2025, yes, he was able to market himself in a much warmer way. Now that DOGE/Musk have set their sights on revoking federal grants and programs, like SBA loans, it rings hollow. Which, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m assuming that’s what you were inferring here. It’s also unfortunate because my partner and I really wanted to open our own business, but we wouldn’t be able to do it without an SBA loan and federal grants, and with the current climate with this administration, we both feel it’s not worth the financial risk anymore. I could see where a lot of small business owners would’ve bought into Trump’s language pre 2025, especially after the struggles of COVID and inflation.
Since we’re talking about messaging, I also would add that the Dems messaging of “the economy is great and anybody saying otherwise is wrong!” was also a bad communication error. The economy was bad for average Americans who don’t trade stocks. Many felt it was too expensive (it is) and then to have a party claim what they’re seeing and experiencing wasn’t true is very frustrating, and quite frankly, out of touch. I know for my in-laws, that was a big sticking point for them. They do have a lot of expenses that are unavoidable and due to inflation, and it’s scary looking at those costs while trying to retire. They were using the stock market to temp check the economy, without recognizing that housing costs, food costs, energy costs, etc. for average Americans were astronomically high too, and repeatedly saying “but the stock market!” rang pretty hollow for everybody else. Obviously, there’s a lot of nuanced reasons why Dems chose that messaging, but I think it’s another big error that really rubbed people the wrong way.
It is what it is, and now we’re here and have to figure out how to survive through it the best we can.