Kevin A. Hassett - The Drift: Stopping Americas Slide to Socialism

The Drift

Stopping Americas Slide to Socialism

Kevin A. Hassett

Former Chairman of The Presidents Council of Economic Advisers

Copyright 2021 by Kevin A. Hassett

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Cover design by John Caruso

To Kristie Stokes Hassett

Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

• Drift: [S]omething driven, propelled, or urged along or drawn together in a clump

Hassetts Dictionary:

• The Drift: The tendency of a capitalist society that has long prospered with free speech and free markets to produce intellectuals, politicians, institutions and media that propel said society toward socialism and totalitarianism.

M ost Americans are still gobsmacked by the tumultuous and surreal four years of the Trump administration. What did we just go through? Its a question on everyones mind, but answers are hard to come by.

Assessing any presidency is difficult, but giving an account of the Trump presidency has been complicated by the desire of most of the American media to destroy the man. On just about every issue, the media have done everything in their power to make Donald Trump look bad. The most egregious examples, such as the Russia hoax or their coverage of the coronaviruss originating in a Wuhan laboratory, involved downright fabricationsseveral steps beyond the liberal bias Americans have come to expect from the mainstream press.

Americans have known that the press look for negative stories, but this time was different. Anything that might hurt Trumpno matter how poorly sourced or salaciouswas considered fair play, while worthy areas of inquiry that might help him politically were set out of bounds, such as the question of what Hunter Biden was up to in China or Ukraine. When it comes to anything related to Donald Trump, neutral observers can no longer trust most sources about most topics.

During the Trump presidency, that mentality fanned out beyond President Trump himself. Now, the press are completely in the tank for the Democrats in a way that few could have predicted a decade or so ago. Journalists inflect coverage of most events with their political biases. They consider it a moral obligation to contort public opinion to the benefit of their favorite politicians.

But why do some politicians become the chosen ones? And why do others get cancelled, removed from polite society, and de-platformed? How does Donald Trump fit into the arc of history that has brought us to this crazy time?

This book answers those questions. And the first part of the story requires an honest and factual look at the presidency of Donald Trump. A fair-minded student of history believes not just what she reads in the press, but also the historical accounts of those who were close to a president. The idea that Donald Trump was not treated fairly requires knowledge of what an honest account might have looked like if the man were truly visible to the outside world.

Some presidents are builders, some are managers, and some are wartime leaders. And a few, like Donald Trump, are disruptors and transformers who redefine their times. The main thesis of this book is that Donald Trump was not a crazy outlier but a logical response to the forces that had taken over this country when he came into office. Trump disrupted and transformed a country that was drifting inexorably towards socialism, which anyone who believes in the idea of America should despise. Fighting against that Drift requires understanding Donald Trump and the forces he was fighting against. Crowds at Trump rallies exhibited a euphoria analogous to early Beatles concerts, and they did so not so much because they loved the man, but because they loved a man who was willing to fight to preserve the country they love.

From my time as one of the presidents closest advisers, I have a unique perspective on both the man and the mass of agendas arrayed against him. Across the four years of the Trump presidency, I had a close working relationship with this presidential agent of change. I watched him forcefully challenge Washingtons mire of special interests and corrupt politics which was first labelled the swamp by Ronald Reagan. I saw first-hand how discerning Donald Trump was in private discussions while publicly he projected a personal style of audacity that forced a degree of balance on a relentlessly biased media and hostile status quo. I helped him devise and enact economic policies that left no doubt that free market policies work, yielding jobs and better incomes for the American people, especially those at the bottom.

For more than two of those years, I served the president as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). I helped President Trump shape trade policies that put American workers before foreign interests. I worked with him and his top advisors to craft tax cuts that resulted in long-overdue wage increases for Americans.

After our success in passing tax cuts that revived the economy, I was brought into the Oval Office to offer guidance in other policy arenas. During the COVID crisis, I was brought back as senior advisor to the president to help devise the economic response to the pandemic recession. (I like to joke that I am the only person who has ever been both an Adviser and an advisor to the president.)

The president had me on speed dial because he understood that hard data and economics define what is possible in public policywhether reversing weak economic growth, putting together a peace proposal for the Middle East based on rising living standards, or countering the bitter pain of pandemic shutdowns.

It wasnt clear thenbut as the Biden years begin, it is clear to many of us nowthat Donald Trump, for all his flaws, represented what might have been the last stand of the America we know against a strong current toward socialism and woke tyranny. By 2019, millennials were telling pollsters they would vote for a socialist candidate. Once-moderate Democrats and even a fair number of ostensibly conservative Republicans are caught in the socialist Drift. They advocate a degree of government regulation of business that would spell the end of this countrys heritage of free markets and personal liberty.

But Trumps battle need not be the last stand. Understanding the stakes of this fight should lead everyone, Democrat and Republican alike, to stand up and renew the battle before it is too late. We have too much to lose to remain divided by petty feuds. The Drift towards socialism is real. Donald Trump saw that and fought against it. We need to do the same or risk losing the things we hold dear.