“One Big Beautiful Bill” did not resonate. Trump opts for “Wait Till 2026”.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Team Trump Hones New Message

Reality has set in. Trump’s policies have not and will not succeed in 2025. So, it’s 'Wait Till Next Year.'

The Wall Street Journal reports Trump’s Team Hones Message on Economy: Just Wait Until 2026:

President Trump’s advisers are counseling him to refine his economic message with a pitch to voters aimed at easing their anxiety about weak jobs growth and stubborn inflation.

Their new mantra: Just wait until next year.

In private conversations with the president, Trump’s advisers, rather than dwell on shaky economic data, have painted a rosy outlook, insisting that data will begin to improve in the first quarter of 2026, according to people familiar with the matter, including senior administration officials.

After a report showing only 22,000 new jobs in August, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Trump he believes the employment numbers will start to tick up once policies from his “Big Beautiful” tax-and-spending law are fully implemented heading into next year, according to a person close to Bessent.

Earlier, at a closed-door gathering in the Oval Office, other advisers told Trump it was up to him how to publicly address the weak jobs data and he could just breeze past the information by pointing to the future, according to a senior administration official. They assured him the economic indicators will show improvements as 2025 comes to a close, the official said.  [Mish: Because if they did not say that, they would be fired.]

Trump himself has changed his tune. Though the economy was instrumental in his successful re-election campaign, he now seems to prefer to focus on immigration, crime and settling scores with his perceived enemies.

During a recent event about autism, the president waved off questions from reporters about the economy. “I’d rather not talk about some nonsense on the economy. I will say this: The economy is unbelievable,” Trump said at the time. [Mish: Ah yes, the unbelievable economy. ADP is wrong, the BLS is wrong, the polls are wrong, and anyone who disagree is wrong. It’s truly unbelievable].

Trump’s early economic actions have been among the most disruptive for the economy in generations. He has imposed far-reaching tariffs on almost all imports with more to come, brought immigration to a virtual halt while scaling up deportations, and strong-armed companies into making deals with his administration.

The president initially predicted these steps would usher in a golden age. That hasn’t happened yet, even though Trump continues to boast about a strong economy. Some economic indicators are positive. Gross domestic product rose at a 3.8% annualized pace in the second quarter and is on course to grow at a similar rate for the third quarter that ended this past week.

Public opinion of Trump’s leadership on the economy has turned more negative in recent months. Just 37% of adults polled in September approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, according to an AP-NORC survey, while 62% disapproved. In a recent New York Times survey, 45% of voters said Trump had made the economy worse since taking office, while 32% said he had made it better. [Mish: The polls are wrong.]

A prolonged government shutdown could further sour voters on Republicans, particularly if healthcare subsidies aren’t extended, further increasing costs for many Americans.  [Mish: This is why I expect Republicans to cave by the end of the month.]

Trump’s pollster Tony Fabrizio and longtime Trump political adviser Chris LaCivita told attendees they had briefed the president on their internal surveys showing how the “One Big Beautiful Bill” moniker wasn’t appealing to voters. Trump’s signature legislation might need a rebrand, they said, according to a person at the event. Instead, Republicans should start referring to the law as a tax cut for working families. Republicans have since embraced that framing. [Mish: Thus, we have the ever-popular “Wait Till Next Year.”]

For administration officials, changing course isn’t an option. In his first term, Trump grew frustrated with aides who would try to curb his instincts. Trump’s first-term National Economic Council director, Gary Cohn, for instance, removed trade-related letters and memos from Trump’s desk before the president could sign off on them, administration officials said at the time. [Mish: Indeed! This year it’s disagree and get fired. Trump is never wrong. And the next paragraph is the perfect example.]

Outsider advisers also pick their spots. Art Laffer, an economist who supports free trade and who advised President Ronald Reagan, doesn’t criticize Trump’s ideas in their meetings.

Laffer says he has discussed with Trump how the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act raised import tariffs on thousands of goods, leading to retaliation and a deeper depression, to make his case for why tariffs could come back to harm the U.S. economy—all without directly saying the president shouldn’t enact them. “One of the things you have to do as an employee is you have to back the president’s decisions,” Laffer said. [Mish: Yes, sir! Only yes-men allowed.]

“The risk is that at some point a refusal to consider the full range of valid economic indicators in making policy will lead the administration into colossal blunder,” said Russell Riley, the co-chair of the presidential oral history program at the University of Virginia. [Mish: That is not a risk, it’s a given. Trump is clueless about the economy and tariffs.]

For now, though, much of the feedback Trump has received is positive. [Doh! That is the silliest comment in the article. No one can tell Trump anything else or they will get fired.]

Laffer Understands the Setup

Laffer, a free trade advocate understands he cannot say anything bad about tariffs, or Trump will personally attack him.

Everyone in the administration understands the setup.

But “Wait Till 2026” is a fundamental mistake. When 2026 is bad, the message will have to change.

The beauty of a more Cub-esque “Wait Till Next Year” is that the slogan never has to change.

Related Posts

February 11, 2025: Trump’s Steel Tariffs Now Will Work as Good as the First Time:

Q: How’s that? A: Very poorly.

March 13, 2025: The Amazing “Success” of Trump’s 2018 Aluminum Tariffs in One Picture:

I hope you can take a bit of headline sarcasm because the true story follows.

September 6, 2025: Trump’s Aluminum Tariffs Seriously Backfire Already:

Tariffs did not and will not bring production back to the US.

October 2, 2025: Trump Seeks a $10 to $14 Billion Farmer Bailout:

Tariffs backfired on US agricultural exports.

October 4, 2025: About 100,000 Government Workers Are Off the Payrolls as of October 1:

Trump is shrinking government payrolls. And another big cut is coming.

October 1, 2025: ADP Private Jobs Decline by 32,000 in September, Huge Negative Revisions:

ADP revised August from +54,000 to -3,000 making 2 straight months of declines.

Realistically, this is the expected result from inane tariffs. Close to half of all imports are items used in manufacturing, not end consumer items.

Small businesses and end consumers are getting killed by Trump’s tariffs.

But that is OK.

Q: Why?
A: Wait Till Next Year, Silly.

More By This Author: