On Nov. 5, 2024, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, defeating Joe Biden and returning to the White House. When registered voters were asked about their top issues prior to the election, the most important areas of policy were far from unsurprising given the disaster that was the Biden administration. While a majority of voters listed health care, Supreme Court appointments, foreign policy, violent crime, immigration, gun policy and abortion as “very important” issues that would motivate their final decision, there was a standout issue listed by 81% of all voters (split across 68% of Harris supporters and a whopping 93% of Trump supporters): the economy.

The fundamental reason more than 77 million voters decided to support Trump was the collective hope that Trump would save the American economy.

Of course, it’s not difficult to understand why, given the economic calamity that was Bidenomics. Whether it was inflation, government spending, or a sense of stagnation across so many industries and areas of life, the American people made it clear that they were ready for a change.

When we combine Trump’s campaign promises to cut spending, reduce regulation and “drill, baby, drill” with the fact that Americans had already experienced four years under Trump’s economy during his first term, which was — if we ignore the global and voluntary economic collapse caused by COVID-19 policies — memorably strong, the choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden 0.5, Kamala Harris, seemed obvious.

And all Donald Trump had to do to unleash American economic might was to deliver on his promises: reduce the out-of-control spending of the Biden era, grease the wheels of free trade and innovation by cutting red tape, and returning to sanity when it comes to energy production.

But for some unfathomable reason, Trump is risking his own legacy by pushing through an entirely unnecessary and counterproductive strategy that hinges on tariffs, sparking a tariff trade war with multiple countries — including our ally, Canada — and causing stock markets to plummet.

Of course, as Charlie Cooke explained for National Review, Congress could step in and put an end to this tariff madness “in a matter of hours.” But not only is this unlikely to happen given Trump’s iron-grip on the razor-thin Republican majority in Congress, but also, is this the solution we want?

After all, if we want Donald Trump to succeed as president — as any patriotic American should — then we want his success to come as a result of his lawful and ideologically sound policies, not as a result of Congress having to step in and prevent him from dragging us into a global trade war, which would itself spark a street fight between the MAGA wing of the Republican Party and everyone else.

No, what we need is for Donald Trump to find a way to pull us back from the brink of yet another round of voluntary economic mutilation and focus on the principles that have dragged more people out of poverty than any other political ideology in human history: free trade capitalism.

But will this happen? Given Trump’s propensity for refusing to back down, I’m not holding my breath, just like I’m not checking my 401(k) anytime soon.

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