When you see the Anglo-American media pumping out the identical line in unison on some subject, you can well imagine the source. In the past two weeks, headlines in the media from the New York Times, to London’s The Independent, Bloomberg, Politico, etc., all suddenly came up with the same metaphor: “Donald Trump Is the Liz Truss of Economic Policy,” as The Independent put it. Search for “Liz Truss” and “Donald Trump” and you can’t miss the pattern.
For those who may not remember, Liz Truss lasted as United Kingdom Prime Minister for a total of 49 days in 2022. She adopted a financial policy which the City of London did not like; that led to a near-meltdown of the pound sterling and the British bond markets; she backed down but was out on her arse anyway. Under a parliamentary system, when “the markets”—that is, the financiers who rig them—say a leader is to be ousted, they are ousted. So the joke went around that a head of lettuce is longer lasting than Liz Truss.
The United States has a presidential system, in which the citizens have the power to shape policy, should they make use of it. Chief political editor of The Independent John Rentoul acknowledged (grudgingly) that President Trump “will find that he cannot beat the markets,” and concluded hopefully, “He will not be forced from office within days of announcing a disastrous economic policy, as Truss was, but he will bend to reality as surely as she did.”
