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COMMENTARY
Economists condemn Donald Trump and urge voters to oust him from the White House with their ballots
by Anh Lê
This presidential election of 2020 is regarded as the most consequential election in American history.
Over 1,000 American economists signed an Open Letter to the American people condemning Donald Trump and his administration for their "reckless" and "dangerous" behaviors and wrecking of the United States, and urged American voters to oust Trump from the White House when they send in their ballots and go to the polls.
The Open Letter was started in late October, and now has 1,084 signatories, including 7 Nobel Laureates and other renowned economists throughout the U.S.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, a similar Open Letter signed by over 790 economists condemned Donald Trump for "his deep ignorance of economics and an inability to listen to credible experts."
In the Open Letter today, the economists state, "Donald Trump is a dangerous, destructive choice for the country. He misinforms the electorate, degrades trust in public institutions with conspiracy theories, and promotes willful delusion over engagement with reality. If elected, he poses a unique danger to the functioning of democratic and economic institutions, and to the prosperity of the country."
The economists condemn Trump for his "chaotic and ineffective approach to negotiations" which have "damaged relations with trade partners, interrupted supply chains, degraded international norms, and harmed American farmers."
The economists also condemn Trump for:
• His "managerial incompetence."
• Failure to "achieve his campaign's core economic promises."
• "His administration's public health response to COVID-19...described by medical scientists as having turned 'a crisis into a tragedy' and as having underperformed relative to other democracies."
• His "consistently undermin(ing) the independence and credibUility of our major health agencies, including the FDA, the CDC, and the National Institutes of Health."
• His having "fostered a culture of unabashed corruption by pressuring for countries to undermine his political opponents."
• His refusal to release his tax returns, "making it difficult to determine the extent to which his financial interests conflict with the country's."
• "In just 1 term in office, Donald Trump has rendered the U.S. unrecognizable, and has faced no consequences for doing so."
• "He has carried out a sustained assault on democratic institutions, put his family members in charge of critical government functions during a pandemic, called for his political opponents to be thrown in prison, normalized corruption, and weakened the economic recovery with selfish and reckless behavior."
The economists call on the American people:
"We strongly recommend that the electorate do what no one else can: reclaim your democracy by voting to remove Donald Trump from office."
The signatories to the Open Letter include Nobel Laureates Paul Milgrom (2020), Oliver Hart (2016), and Alvin Roth (2012).
Other renowned economists include Henry Aaron (Brookings Institution), Joelle Abramowitz (University of Michigan), Ron Cheung (Oberlin College), Lawrence Katz (Harvard), Stephen Morris (MIT), Andres Rodriguez-Clare (University of California, Berkeley), Gopi Shah Goda (Stanford), and Bradley Shapiro (University of Chicago).
As of Election Day, November 3, in the United States 232,447 Americans have died from COVID-19 and there have been 9,371,389 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The numbers of deaths and infections from COVID-19 in the United States keep climbing.
The United States has 4% of the world's population, but 20% of the deaths from COVID-19.
Anh Lê is an independent journalist.
Copyright @ Anh Lê, November 3, 2020