In September of 2016, while on the campaign trail, Trump said Yellen was “obviously political” as he accused her of keeping interest rates low enough so that she could boost the stock market in order to make Obama look good.
“As soon as [rates] go up, your stock market is going to go way down, most likely,” Trump said. “Or possibly.”
Those are pretty serious charges, but Trump had a much different tune on Wednesday when he told the Journal in the same interview that he is considering keeping Janet Yellen on to chair the Federal Reserve’s board of governors.
“I like her. I respect her,” Trump said, “It’s very early.”
This is just another campaign promise going down the toilet.
3. Export-Import Bank
The Export-Import Bank is the credit agency of the United States that helps subsidize some U.S. exports. Trump threw his support behind EXIM on Wednesday during the Journal interview, but he was against it while running for president.
“It turns out that, first of all, lots of small companies are really helped, the vendor companies,” Trump said. “Instinctively, you would say, ‘Isn’t that a ridiculous thing,’ but actually, it’s a very good thing. And it actually makes money, it could make a lot of money.”
House Conservatives tried to kill EXIM in 2014, so Trump’s flip-flop on this issue is likely to anger many in the conservative base who argue the bank enables crony capitalism.
4. NATO
Downplaying NATO in its entirety was arguably one of Trump’s top campaign talking points. He even threatened to remove the United States from the organization.
Trump held a joint press conference on Wednesday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, where he said that NATO is “no longer obsolete.”
Trump often argued that most countries in NATO do not pay their fair share and they do very little in the fight against terrorism, which is still a fair point today.
My statement on NATO being obsolete and disproportionately too expensive (and unfair) for the U.S. are now, finally, receiving plaudits!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2016
“I said it was obsolete. It is no longer obsolete,” Trump added.
He has progressively come around to supporting NATO after it increased efforts to allow more U.S. and European intelligence sharing on terrorism.
Trump, however, has remained firm on NATO allies “meeting their financial obligations and pay what they owe.” Trump said he told Stoltenberg that allies need to put “2 percent of their gross domestic products into defense by 2024.”
Trump’s flip-flopping on policies that got him elected will not sit well with the base down the road. One would have a legitimate argument to say that Trump doesn’t have any core values that he believes in, but rather he just said things in order to get elected.
The president does have three years left to accomplish his goals, but flipping on four issues in one day will make anyone look pathetic.
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul