TRUST THE EXPERTS

• The economy is what matters most to voters this election, hands down. Being strong on the economy has always been former President Donald Trump’s big sales pitch — he’s an experienced businessman (who ran numerous companies into the ground). But data shows that Trump was not decisively better on the economy than President Joe Biden, and Americans are starting to feel more optimistic about the economy heading into November. While voters still favor Trump’s handling of the economy over Vice President Kamala Harris, his advantage is dramatically slipping, according to a Washington Post analysis of several polls.

• “For Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers — not those who actually build them, not those who wire them, not those who mop the floors. I have a very different vision,” Harris said in an economic speech in Pennsylvania hours ago. “We have an extraordinary opportunity to make our middle class the engine of America’s prosperity, to build a stronger economy where everyone everywhere has a chance to pursue their dreams and aspirations.” If she wins in November, the veep says she’ll push for middle-class tax cuts and tax hikes on wealthy people and corporations, while Trump has pitched corporate tax cuts for companies that make products in the United States.

• Earlier this afternoon, Trump spent much of a North Carolina rally promising to use tariffs to boost American manufacturing and saying that Harris will be soft on China. One of Trump’s recent fixations has been promising to slap 200 percent tariffs on Mexican-made John Deere tractors, an idea that economists and business leaders including billionaire Mark Cuban have said would “destroy” the company. Even hardline Republicans aren’t on board with Trump’s grand vision. “I’m not a fan of tariffs. They raise the prices for American consumers,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters.

• I don’t pretend to understand how the economy works, what high tariffs will do to a company, or why my oat milk feels weirdly expensive some weeks. Instead, I listen to nerdy-types who know this stuff inside and out — like the more than 400 economists who are endorsing Harris: “The choice in this election is clear: between failed trickle-down economic policies that benefit the few and economic policies that provide opportunity for all. It is a choice between inequity, economic injustice, and uncertainty with Donald Trump or prosperity, opportunity, and stability with Kamala Harris.” Most of the endorsers are left-leaning, but it’s not the first time accomplished economists have warned about a Trump return.

• No, Harris is not a “communist,” no matter how often Trump and billionaire conspiracist Elon Musk call her one. You’ll also often hear the convicted felon claim that the economy is weak, but inflation is easing and the unemployment rate is at 4.2 percent, which is considered healthy. No matter how he tries to spin it, the numbers point to a strengthening economy, a good sign for the working class — especially if Harris is able to implement the policies she’s proposing.

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