Former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance appear on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. | Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesVictoria Guida is an economics reporter covering the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the forces driving economic policy. Her column, CAPITAL LETTER, demystifies the policies, people and institutions that shape the financial system and the broader economy.
Now, the center of gravity has shifted, and Republicans in Congress will feel the pull if Trump wins in November. “If the argument here is we have to cut Social Security, then what you’re effectively saying is we just have to privatize what is currently a public problem of who pays for the older generation,” he added. “And I don’t know why people think you solve many problems by taking a bunch of elderly people and saying, ‘You’re on your own.’”
It’s hard to paint a full picture yet of what the Vance pick might mean for Trump 2.0, but it’s an early indication that the sort of Wall Street types who held key positions in the former president’s first term — think former Goldman Sachs COO Gary Cohn — might have less influence this go-around. But it’s still a common theme among Republicans that government needs to get out of businesses’ way. The Trump-Vance approach doesn’t abandon that message, but it does muddy it.“If and when he gets guided to support policies with which I disagree ... I look forward to engaging with Vance, whether he’s a senator or whether he’s a vice president, to make sure that we are reminding the country that free-market capitalism is America First,” Rep.