PROJECT SYNDICATE: Rudderless America

And we are live! Instincts, sycophancy,spectacle—but no film editor—and the illusion of governance at the court of the chaos-monkey king…

And we are live! Instincts, sycophancy,spectacle—but no film editor—and the illusion of governance at the court of the chaos-monkey king…

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Rudderless America

Apr 15, 2025
J. Bradford DeLong

It should be obvious by now that the second Trump administration has no policies, nor even any policymaking processes. All that matters are the "instincts" of one ignorant man, and the eagerness of those around him to put their own interests ahead of the fate of the country.

BERKELEY – Eight years after US President Donald Trump abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership and unilaterally disarmed the United States in the trade war that he would soon launch against China, his second-term Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, wants to renegotiate the TPP and use it to form a united front against the Chinese.

As Bloomberg’s Chris Anstey explains, Bessent has a “grand encirclement” plan, and if this “sounds familiar, that’s because… [t]he Obama administration’s big trade idea was using the Trans-Pacific Partnership to assemble a coalition of Pacific Rim nations that would increasingly be tied to the US, and not drift into China’s orbit.”

The problem is that resurrecting Obama’s strategy is probably no longer possible. The TPP now exists as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, none of whose members will regard Trump as a credible or trustworthy negotiating partner. Bessent wants to work with “Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and India,” but while these countries will play nice, none would be so foolish as to concede anything meaningful to Trump. Mexico and Canada went down that path during his first term, when they agreed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, and now they find themselves among the first countries Trump targeted for renewed bullying.

Moreover, Bessent is obviously either deluded or lying when he suggests that he is reflecting the administration’s view. No one has a mandate to speak for Trump, whose decision-making changes minute to minute on the basis of “instincts” and whatever happens to be showing on his TV. Trump may instinctively agree to a policy proposal by Bessent, but if the next person he sees tells him no, Bessent may be left to explain why he cannot deliver what he promised. Such is life at the court of the mad king.

Former US Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence H. Summers sees it differently:

The sole preoccupation that I would have if I were in the government would be with what the president was saying. … The president is entitled to have advisors who believe in his policies…. Individuals are entitled to follow their conscience…

But, Larry, this is “sanewashing.” There are no policies to believe in. How can Trump be entitled to have advisors who believe in something that is nonexistent?

Policies embody clear goals, not to mention staff work, modeling, and analysis of various scenarios that may arise in their pursuit. What we have here is one ignorant man, surrounded by sycophants, wandering around spouting bullshit as the cameras roll.

This is business as usual for Trump, who is just playing the role he filled on the set of The Apprentice. The difference is that The Apprentice had highly capable producers and editors who could render all the messy raw footage into a compelling, clean final product. The current White House has only a live feed.

The contrast between Trump and Ronald Reagan is instructive here. Reagan had a cogent governing philosophy. It reflected his enormous confidence in the American people – in their industriousness and generosity and goodwill – as well as his suspicion of the policies, programs, and bureaucracies that the Democratic Party had built up since 1933. Reagan (a former actor) also had enormous confidence in himself – in his ability to memorize and perform his lines, and to play the part of president.

But while Reagan had a philosophy and knew he was the star, he did not think that he was the boss. He trusted the network of professionals who were there to make him an effective leader. When his confidence was justified – when he had high-quality professionals in their proper places on the White House staff – the results were quite good. When his confidence was not so justified – when Colonel Oliver North was allowed to make a mess of Middle East policy vis-à-vis Iran – scandal ensued.

The Trump White House has no film editors, only spin doctors. Trump will say something, and some adviser will rush to declare, “See! This was always the plan!” But these courtiers are not on the same page themselves. Sometimes, economic adviser Peter Navarro seems to have the upper hand; sometimes, Elon Musk does; and sometimes one detects the influence of Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Stephen Miran of the Council of Economic Advisers, or Kevin Hassett of the National Economic Council.

But these factions agree on very little.

And Trump ultimately trusts none of them anyway.

What should be done?

If the Republican Party had not turned sycophancy into a governing principle, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune would give Trump an ultimatum: Appoint qualified regents to oversee foreign and domestic policy and confine yourself to giving speeches that they write. Otherwise, a few of our members will align with the Democrats, and you will have to deal with a Congress led by Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Chuck Schumer. These are the only options, because we have no confidence in your “policy process.”

If they were serious, Trump would knuckle under. He has already stopped casually insulting Canada now that its new prime minister, Mark Carney, has stared him down. My own vote for domestic-policy regent would go to Bessent, not because I think he would do well in the job, but because he might do less harm than anyone else who is actually willing to work for such a man. But none of this is going to happen. And that is why America and the world are in serious trouble.

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