LARRY KUDLOW: Trump linked economic growth with the value of work

Nobody puts out the economic growth message better than Donald Trump. Nobody. Last night in his interview with Sean Hannity, he was asked about the Biden accusation that if elected, he would be a "dictator." 

Without batting an eye, Mr. Trump comes back and says, "OK, on day one I will dictate that we close the border, and then we will launch ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ and unleash America's great oil and gas resources, which will power the economy forward." He calls it "liquid gold." Who else would think of that catchy phrase? 

"We're going to close the border. On day one, the border gets closed and day one-and-a-half we drill. You know, we drill, baby, drill, drill, drill, drill. And probably on day two, we'll get rid of this ridiculous electric car mandate." 

Terrific stuff! Then he goes on to say, "We gave you the big tax cuts, so everybody had incentive and everybody was happy and everybody was working." This is music to my ears. In fact, what Mr. Trump did was link economic growth with the value of work equals happiness. That is exactly right. 

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When you look at today's polls, over and over, you see how unhappy Americans are and how fearful of the future they are. There's no confidence, but President Trump did it once to promote growth, peace, security and confidence in the future. Having done it once, he is saying he can do it again, even better than the first time. 

There is no other candidate in either political party who has the gift and the substance of clearly and bluntly communicating a growth and confidence message. That is why he has such a big lead in the polls, both in the primary and in the general election. 

Actually, Trump is lengthening his lead over Biden, according to most polls. Interesting point here, in 2016, he rarely polled ahead of Hillary Clinton, but of course he won anyway. In 2020, he was never ahead in the polls against Biden.  

So, what's happening here a year ahead of the election is very interesting and don't forget, he's polling well ahead of Biden in the swing states and most particularly in many of the industrial swing states. 

Now of course, polls are not votes, but they are a snapshot of what folks are thinking and Mr. Trump's polls are something of a phenomenon and Democrats are in denial about this phenomenon, but they ought to take it seriously.

Biden's messaging on Bidenomics has been a complete failure and now the Democrats have erased the word "Bidenomics" because prices are still too high, real wages are still falling, the economy looks shaky, people are sick of socialist green new deal mandates like electric vehicles being jammed down their throats. 

This is a point Trump made several times in the "Hannity" interview. Americans like choices, not mandates, but the socialist central-planners in the Biden administration are trying to tell people how to think, where to live, what to buy, etc.  

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Lastly, Mr. Trump continues to emphasize "peace through strength." He is correctly concerned that the American decline abroad, which has spawned wars in Ukraine and Israel, following the cut-and-run catastrophe in Afghanistan could conceivably lead to a nuclear war. 

I can personally attest to the fact that during his first term, Trump frequently mentioned his concerns about the potential for nuclear war, but he knows that the way to stop the axis of evil dictators in Moscow, Tehran, Beijing and Pyongyang is to be tough, not appeasing. That's one more reason Trump is ahead in the polls. 

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the December 6, 2023, edition of "Kudlow."