Lagging economic indicators are all starting to flash green.
“The year of the tariff,” proclaimed Jamison Greer for Financial Times this week. “American trade policy is geared towards re-industrialisation — and it’s working.”
Breaking America’s industrial backbone took decades, noted Greer — restoring it won’t happen overnight. But it is happening. And the first signs are starting to show.
“The U.S. economy grows by 4.3% in third quarter, much more than expected, delayed report shows,” reported Jeff Cox and Fred Imbert for CNBC on December 23, 2025.
Declaring it “THE TRUMP RULE,” President Donald Trump had this to say about the great news:
“The Financial News today was great — GDP up 4.2% as opposed to the predicted 2.5% (and this, despite the downward pressure of the recent Democrat Shutdown!)”
“But in the Modern Market, when you have good news, the Market stays even, or goes down, because Wall Street’s ‘heads’ are wired differently than they used to be” Trump mused. “In the old days, when there was good news, the Market went up. Nowadays, when there is good news, the Market goes down, because everybody thinks that Interest Rates will be immediately lifted to take care of ‘potential’ Inflation. That means that, essentially, we can never have a Great Market again, those Markets from the time when our Nation was building up, and becoming great.”
“Strong Markets, even phenomenal Markets, don’t cause Inflation, stupidity does!” Trump quipped. “I want my new Fed Chairman to lower Interest Rates if the Market is doing well, not destroy the Market for no reason whatsoever. I want to have a Market the likes of which we haven’t had in many decades, a Market that goes up on good news, and down on bad news, the way it should be, and the way it was.”
“Inflation will take care of itself and, if it doesn’t, we can always raise Rates at the appropriate time — But the appropriate time is not to kill Rallies, which could lift our Nation by 10, 15, and even 20 GDP points in a year — and maybe even more than that!” noted President Trump. “A Nation can never be Economically GREAT if ‘eggheads’ are allowed to do everything within their power to destroy the upward slope.”
“We are going to be encouraging the Good Market to get better, rather than make it impossible for it to do so,” Trump promised. “We are going to see numbers that are far more natural, and far better, than they have ever been before. We are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! The United States should be rewarded for SUCCESS, not brought down by it. Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!”
Delivering on economic promises of prosperity is a good campaign strategy for the 2026 midterm election.
But will it work fast enough?
“The Midterm Rule May Not Apply in 2026,” predicted the TIPP Insights editorial board hopefully, reflecting: “The Economy Is the GOP’s Silent Advantage.”
Hopefully, at least for the GOP, it’s true.
Because conservative infighting, real and imagined, is being ballyhooed by mainstream media outlets far and wide. These media outlets have been predicting the political demise — and sometimes the outright demise — of Donald Trump since at least 2017 and probably before.
It is a case of hope against hope, and which hope will prove the stronger by the time midterm election day rolls around.
Republicans hope the strength of the Trump economy will trump any other concerns swing and independent voters may have come election day. If President Trump can deliver real, tangible, economic results over the next year, Republicans may have a chance at keeping the House.
Democrats hope that Republican infighting will continue, the Trump economy will not improve, and Trump will overreach often enough to turn independent and swing voters against him in 2026. And hopefully, beyond.
If Democrats can damage Trump’s popularity enough, Vice President J.D. Vance won’t have a good record to run on in 2028.
If the Trump economy takes off, however…VP Vance will be tough to beat in 2028. And Republicans may do the impossible in 2026.
(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)