The most interesting piece of economic policy from the Trump White House is not a tariff, nor is it an AI export restriction. It’s a brokerage account for babies. Under the new Trump Accounts program, eligible American children born between 2025 and 2028 will receive $1,000 from the Treasury, to be invested in a broad index of American companies. Parents, employers, and other benefactors can contribute up to $5,000 more annually. Before these children can walk or speak, they will own their slice of corporate America.
At first glance, this seems uncharacteristically left wing – as if a fever dream from Andrew Yang’s presidential platform had escaped and somehow convinced the Trump administration of its merits. But the policy reveals something entirely different about the post-2016 right. Trumpism is not merely Reaganism with poor table manners. It represents a break away from the Republican belief that the government’s role in the economy is to step aside and let prosperity take care of itself.
Trumpism is not merely Reaganism with poor table manners
The Reaganite catechism was simple: lower taxes and lighter regulation would encourage investment and raise living standards through growth. The state’s role was to create the conditions for business to thrive, indirectly benefiting the ordinary American through steady employment, cheaper goods, and rising asset values. “Trickle-down economics” was always a hostile caricature of Reagan’s ideas. The argument was never that the rich should dine while the working man waits for the crumbs; it was that growing the nation’s total wealth was more valuable than a focus on redistributing it.
