by the “hidden enemy” of COVID-19, which
he and his advisers initially downplayed in
February and March and later suggested was
impossible to foresee. His message to voters
is that his leadership will make the economy
even stronger.
“Our Economy will BOOM, perhaps like never
before!!!” Trump declared Wednesday on Twitter.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who has
been leading the stimulus efforts, has said there
will be “a very big bounce back,” though he
noted that the gains could be uneven.
“Certain parts of the economy you’re going
to see come back immediately,” Mnuchin said
Tuesday on the Fox Business Network. “Certain
things are going to take a little bit longer.”
One of the arguments for a quick recovery
came from the Harvard University economist
Larry Summers, who served as a top economic
adviser to President Barack Obama during the
Great Recession, suggesting on Twitter that the
U.S. economy would behave much as a beach
town on Cape Cod, which closes in the winter
and reopens around Memorial Day for a burst of
summer activity.
Adding to the challenge is that political leaders
cannot simply command an economic recovery
to occur. The timing depends on the shared
actions of millions of consumers and employers,
said Paul Winfree, a former Trump White House
official who is now director of economic policy
at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
“I don’t think we’re going to get out of this
because of political leadership,” Winfree said in
an email. “This isn’t WWII. Rather, things won’t