Summary:
Gary Cohn, one of Trump's top economic advisers, had made the decision to resign from the administration amidst the metal tariff policy controversy being promulgated by Trump. Cohn along with other advisers have been steering Trump away from enacting tariffs from the beginning of the administration. Cohn and other economists are understandably frustrated with Trump went through with the tariffs despite bipartisan consensus that they are a poor idea.
Cohn was also a head strategist on the tax cut plan as well as the proposed infrastructure update Trump called for in his State of the Union address. Cohn has been called a "steadying hand" and "a voice of reason and sanity" as a part of the Trump administration. Many fear that what is already an administration that lacks depth and opposition voices will fall further behind with Cohn's absence.
Questions:
Although Cohn obviously has free will to leave his job at any time, consider his role as a civil servant. Do you believe he is justified in leaving the administration instead of sticking it out despite disagreements?
Is it at all worrying to you the sheer number of overturning positions this administration has seen?
How can the Trump administration fairly represent the economic views of the opposite party now with Cohn, a Democrat, gone?
New York Times Article
Washington Post Article
8 comments:
I think that the Trump administration doesn't care about working with the economic goals of the opposite party, so losing a Democrat as an economic advisor does absolutely nothing in the ways of losing an opposing viewpoint. With or without Cohn, the administration will do as they please, and not make an attempt to bridge any gap between the two parties. This isn't new, of course, so it's not the end of the world. As for him resigning, I would think he is experiencing the same as other members of the Trump administration who are resigning. I'm sure he simply doesn't want to be part of such an inefficient and poor administration, and knows working there is more a waste of his time than anything. The number of resignations is definitely not good for the country, but it may show how people are bailing ship because they know the person steering the ship isn't a skillful captain, so to speak. Regardless, I don't think this spells anything good for the administration going forward, and instead is part of the slow decent of the administration.
I don't think the Trump administration is worried about fairly representing the economic views of anybody as of now, so I'm not exactly concerned that Gary Cohn will change much in the general economic proposals that Trump makes in the first place. I think that since Gary Cohn actually works under Trump and isn't exactly like a direct spokesperson or a public servant of the people, he is justified in leaving if he is frustrated with Trump; his resignation isn't exactly the same as a president resigning, for example.
I agree with you Jason; I'm not even sure who Trump is a spokesperson for anymore. These tariffs have had their fair share of critics from the conservative and libertarian economic spheres, so it's not like he's a spokesperson for the Republican party or conservatives either. The only groups that have strongly supported these tariffs are fringe steelworkers unions, which I suppose Trump did promise to support on the campaign, but why anger even your own base?
I feel like it's justified for Cohn to leave in this situation. It's obviously frustrating trying to work with someone who seems to ignore most advice, especially if it's so bipartisan (like in this case). For someone who is supposedly trying to promote unity, President Trump is working towards that goal in the wrong way. There wouldn't be so many advisers leaving during a presidency unless there was something seriously off.
In defense of Mr. Cohn, why commit your time to a job where you're input is not being taken into serious consideration and being implemented into the end result? He's one of Trump's top economic advisers. That means that you listen to him because he actually knows what he's doing. Trump disregarding his insight on his planned trade tariffs is not a smart move, especially when Cohn is an expert on it and he's paid to do just that. This is especially worrying because Cohn was one of Trump's advisors during the rolling out of his tax plan. Also, it is worrying that Trump doesn't have a lot of diversity in economic opinions with his advisors, which can prove detrimental to his tax plan as well as a lot of budgeting decisions that congress and his administration must handle.
We all know that Trump is a stubborn person that will not change his decision if he is set on it. He is also a businessman and therefore would most likely choose something if it benefits him. Cohn probably knew that controlling Trump would be extremely hard, but being unable to do anything would result in large amounts of frustration. Cohn has the right to quit, and I think what he did was a good idea. If he stayed, the fallout of Trump's decisions would probably fall on Cohn and would hurt his reputation tremendously. Furthermore, working on a job that has no effect or any power would result in the person quitting as the job is worthless.
I definitely think that it will be tough for the White House to have any depth in their economic policies, especially with Cohen gone. However, I don't think that there would have been any depth, even with him there. Trump is very set in what he wants to do, and I can see him steamrolling any ideas he does not agree with, such as those Cohen holds. I can certainly see why Cohen left-- he felt he could not be any help, and his ideas were not heard. I don't think it's good that he left, because he offered some sanity to the current administration, but his voice was not heard nor his opinions taken into account, so I see why he left. I would have too, if I were in his position.
It is worrying to see how easily people leave the administration. Previous presidents have openly disagree with cabinet members (Truman with Henry Wallace over Soviet relationships or the use of the atomic bomb, Kennedy with his war advisers especially over the Cuban Missile Crisis) but the amount of people quitting is unprecedented. In addition, it's a little inaccurate to say that Cohn is a Democrat. While he's a registered Democrat, he has donated a lot of money to Republicans. Trump too was registered as a Democrat at one point, so registration doesn't necessarily mean party loyalty. Anyways, clearly working with Trump is (*shock*) very frustrating as he doesn't seem to listen to much advice.
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