Claims that former President Donald Trump poses a threat to American democracy are undermined by the legacy of his first term, historian Niall Ferguson said on Friday.
“I think the whole argument that Donald Trump is going to end democracy and establish some kind of American fascism is disproven because of the way he handled his first term. Remember, all of these things were said in 2016, and Trump “President is going to be a tyrant,” Ferguson told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the Ambrosetti Forum, an annual economic conference in Italy.
“In my opinion, the greatest weakness in Trump’s case has always been his actions on January 6, 2021, and his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which I thought was the end of his political career. I was completely wrong, He’s back,” Ferguson continued.
On January 6, 2021, there were dramatic scenes of rioting, vandalism, and looting at the U.S. Capitol, initially in protest of Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
A special committee report released in 2022 found that Trump repeatedly tried to “delegitimize the election process,” made false claims about the legitimacy of the results and “derelict his duty” by refusing to disperse the mob.
“I think the key thing to make here is that the system was successful in containing Trump’s impulses in 2020, 2021, and I think if he becomes the first person since Grover Cleveland to have two non- Back-to-back presidents,” Ferguson said, referring to another former U.S. president.
Still, average American voters now view Democratic claims that Trump threatens democracy as less compelling than they once did — especially because They have already lived through the Trump presidency.
Trump continues to face federal criminal cases related to election interference. He has been involved in a number of wider scandals, including being found guilty of sexual abuse in a civil case, being found guilty in a hush-money payment case to porn star Stormy Daniels, and being charged in a civil case. Ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars.
Ferguson told CNBC on Friday that Trump’s opponent, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, will struggle with the fact that she served as Joe Biden’s vice president.
He believes this is because while the U.S. economy continues to grow strongly, many voters are dissatisfied with rising inflation and inflation rates. legal and illegal immigrationrchange recent years.
Regarding the economic consequences of the upcoming vote, Ferguson said the big difference between Trump and Harris is their policy proposals on taxes and regulations.
Harris this week proposed a 28% long-term capital gains tax on households making $1 million or more annually, lower than the 39.6% rate Biden proposed in his policy. Fiscal Year 2025 Budget. Currently, the top tax rate on long-term capital gains or assets owned for more than a year is 20%; Trump proposed cutting it to 15%.
Ferguson went on to say that whoever wins the November election will face huge “fiscal problems,” describing the size of the U.S. deficit as an “unsustainable situation.”
“Trump is not going to solve this problem by raising direct taxes. I think Harris is going to solve this problem by raising taxes. Trump’s argument is, I can solve this problem by raising growth rates. In a sense He had an argument, Ferguson said: “Because the economy under Trump is doing well, growing and not having inflation. “
— CNBC’s Rebecca Picciotto contributed to this article.
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