Wall Street’s Bargain with Trump

Edward Luce: “The Financial Times had only nice things to say about Benito Mussolini in a June 1933 supplement entitled ‘The Renaissance of Italy: Fascism’s gift of order and progress’. Trains were running on time, investment was humming and friction between capital and labor was a thing of the past.”

Wrote the FT’s special correspondent: “The country has been remodeled, rather than remade, under the vigorous architecture of its illustrious prime minister, Signor Mussolini.”

“The 1930s ought to have buried the idea that business is a bulwark against autocracy. Today’s America offers a reminder. After Donald Trump’s attempted putsch on January 6 2021, U.S. business leaders lined up to condemn the storming of Capitol Hill. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan, issued a statement calling for a peaceful transition of power. ‘This is not who we are as a people or a country,’ he said. In Davos last week, Dimon had changed his tune. Trump did many good things when he was in office, Dimon said. Business was ready for either Joe Biden or Trump: ‘My company will survive and thrive in both.'”