The Biggest Midterm Election Story

If we were President Trump — a stretch to be sure — the person we would put at the head of our midterm campaign would be Lawrence Kudlow. In his columns and broadcasts Mr. Kudlow has been illuminating the economic boom that Mr. Trump has ignited. He has been making the connection between the boom and Republican prospects in the election less than two months away. Witness today’s job numbers. He exudes energy and optimism.We gained a glimpse of this in his columns on the latest meeting of the Group of 20 leading nations, where Mr. Kudlow appeared on stage with Mr. Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent. The meeting was at Ashville, North Carolina. Mr. Kudlow had no interest in, as he put it the next day in the first of two columns, pursuing “the minutiae of retiring off-the-run Treasury bonds, or other debt management arcana.”The big picture, Mr. Kudlow told Mr. Bessent and the Group of Twenty, is “the economic boom, the manufacturing boom, the construction boom, the rising animal spirits in the American economy.” He told them that the “most important event right now in the American economy” is that “we are in an economic boom.” Mr. Kudlow spoke of a growth surge, “the likes of which we have not seen probably for decades.” That column was published in the Sun on September 2. Mr. Kudlow issued a follow-up column on September 3, doubling down on the point that “the most powerful news story, however unreported, is the emergence of an economic boom that is now cutting across every sector of the landscape.” Mr. Bessent took the point, to be sure, and proceeded to get into how the president’s policies have led to the boom we’re seeing.“The president,” Mr. Bessent said, “tasked this administration with cutting the regulatory burden, and that’s part of what we’re talking about here today.” Mr. Kudlow spoke of “drill, baby, drill, where we are now producing almost 14 million barrels of oil per day, which is an extraordinary number. Plus, record natural gas and liquefied natural gas exports around the world, where Trumpian policies have made America the energy capital of the globe.”They talked about tax policy, too, which Mr. Kudlow reckons the press just doesn’t want to cover. “Yet perhaps the single most underrated yet powerful policy, is the permanent restoration of 100 percent bonus depreciation to deduct the full cost of qualifying investments, immediately in year one. Anything, machinery, equipment, restaurants, tech startups; small businesses can deduct even more up front than ever before.”Mr. Kudlow also spoke of the “AI boom and the data center construction boom, which like the factories of old, is creating massive new job opportunities in manufacturing for working folks, like carpenters, welders, electricians, and plumbers. And counter to the doomsday crowd, these data centers generate their own electricity, their own water systems, they pay more in taxes, and they allow localities to even cut property taxes along the way.”Mr. Kudlow, in his column, spoke of “tax-free tips, tax-free overtime, and roughly $300 billion in individual refunds during the latest tax season.” He marked“the productivity of nonfinancial companies, which is now running at 3.1 percent annually over the past two years, an unheard of accomplishment. Nothing like it since the 1990s.” He marked indexes on, respectively, the manufacturing and service industries rising eight months and 15 months in a row.Both of Mr. Kudlow’s two columns on his interview with Mr. Bessent stand out for us for their clarity and focus. And for their urgency. Two months ahead of Election Day, polls suggest Republicans could have a tough time keeping the House of Representatives, while the GOP majority in the Senate looks somewhat more secure but by no means certain. All the more important to get the Kudlow optimism to the top of the debate.

The Biggest Midterm Election Story

The Biggest Midterm Election Story

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