Seattle Times prints aggressively weak argument against Trump

You’d think The Seattle Times’ business and economics columnist would grasp, well, business and economics. But like many in Seattle media, Donald Trump broke Jon Talton. And Talton isn’t afraid to humiliate himself in print just to remind us how much he despises the former president.

In the dramatically titled, “A Trump victory would at least shatter the Seattle economy,” Talton claims the former president threatens the “superstar city” status of Seattle. What he doesn’t bother to explain is how Seattle even qualifies as a “superstar” these days, especially considering he conveniently skips the actual economic data. And if he had included it, he’d be arguing against his own narrative.

Wondering how Talton builds his case? Spoiler alert: he doesn’t. Lacking in facts and completely devoid of any serious analysis, his entire argument boils down to this — Seattle’s economy would supposedly tank under Trump because, well, Talton hates Trump. The column was so laughably weak and absurd, it caught the attention of Fox Business and earned some well-deserved ridicule, courtesy of yours truly.

Trying to make sense of Jon Talton’s bizarre claims about Trump and Seattle

The Seattle Times columnist spends shockingly little ink on discussing Seattle in an article about why Trump would hurt Seattle.

Talton begins his column complaining that Trump “forced” Boeing, which isn’t based in Seattle, into a fixed-price contract that converted two 747s into Air Force One planes. He noted that Boeing “lauded the deal” publicly on then-Twitter. How does this help Talton’s argument? It doesn’t. He merely said they were bullied.

Then, Talton claimed Trump threatened Amazon, which is headquartered in Seattle. But he didn’t explain the threat, merely linking to a previous column where he wrote about a Trump tweet about a report that “the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon.” He said that Amazon shouldn’t benefit from discounted rates. This isn’t a threat, of course. It’s a policy position.

Finally, Talton complained that Trump labeled Seattle an “anarchist jurisdiction” because of the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, which was, in fact, anarchist.

This is the entirety of his argument that Trump is specifically bad for Seattle, before complaining about the former president’s proposed tariffs. That the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris administration maintained most of the tariffs, like a Harris presidency would likely continue them, didn’t earn but a brief and supportive message.

Seattle, a supposedly “superstar city” according to Seattle Times columnist

Talton defends Seattle’s honor by calling it a “superstar city” despite its “shortcomings in 2020.” He just forgets to make a case, and pivots to shining a spotlight on the Port of Seattle and the City of Redmond.

His Seattle Times argument is relegated to noting the metropolitan area is home to Amazon and Microsoft, along with unnamed “numerous other corporate headquarters,” and has “one of the most vibrant and diverse economies in the United States,” though he doesn’t provide any data.

Next, he offers a remarkably lazy, bad faith and disingenuous attempt to credit Biden for a strong Seattle economy, while also acknowledging, “Presidents have only limited control over the economy.”

“Still, after a serious inflation scare, the economy under Biden is remarkably successful, despite Trump’s claims. Inflation has cooled to a normal level,” he wrote.

Seattle and Washington economies thrived under Trump, not so much under Biden. Don’t expect Seattle Times to be honest

Though Trump is bad for Talton’s mental health, he was a boon to Seattle. The city actually thrived under his presidency but barely stayed afloat under Biden/Harris.

Until COVID-19, the Seattle metro unemployment rate saw record lows, hitting 2.7%. Post-COVID-19, under Biden/Harris, the city continues to struggle with a 4.7 unemployment rate. In fact, after post-COVID-19 recovery (based on reopening the economy, not any specific policy), the unemployment rate has been seeing a steady incline.

Statewide, we’re at 4.8% unemployment, which is higher than the national average. Still, Talton said economists consider this “full employment” (defined as an unemployment number under 5%, which we’re almost at).

Under Trump, we hit a low of 3.6% unemployment rate after seeing decreases in nearly every month Trump was in office. Under Biden/Harris, we briefly hit a low of 3.4% before a steady increase through the latest data.

Diverse economy?

One particular reason why Seattle’s economy has struggled is because we’re not a “diverse” economy as Talton suggested. We’re an Amazon- and tech-centric economy.

Though Talton forgot, it was an uber-progressive and socialist Seattle City Council that introduced a head tax against Amazon before ultimately passing a payroll tax. It pushed thousands of Amazon jobs from Seattle to Bellevue. Concurrently, post-COVID-19 tech boom, demand softened and Amazon, along with other local tech firms, saw layoffs and cut spending. This happened under Biden/Harris, not Trump.

Meanwhile, as Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies and laws took effect, small businesses suffered. It’s already expensive doing business in Seattle. Adding expenses to fix storefronts destroyed by stolen cars driven through them and having to relocate because of violent crimes doesn’t help the economy prosper.

More from Jason Rantz: Baristas hold coffee shop hostage, business man warned not to share economic reality

Tariffs and inflation and cost of living, oh my!

Talton argued that Trump’s tariffs would hurt the economy locally, though they didn’t when Trump was in the White House. This time, however, he said they will because … Trump is bad.

He actually argues that tariffs, not COVID-19, was the reason the state’s merchandise trade exports declined. And, of course, he doesn’t mention COVID-19 at all.

Though Talton argued “inflation has cooled,” he doesn’t mention that it skyrocketed to record highs under Biden/Harris, while staying low under Trump. The cost of living, including food, gas, and housing, were all cheaper under the former president, which explains why he doesn’t cite the data.

Trump is bad because … Trump. Or something?

It’s fair to debate the impact of tariffs, no matter who’s in the White House. And Talton is obviously entitled to disagree with Trump ideologically. But his article is weaker than The Seattle Times’ subscriber count.

Talton’s column relies more on fiction than fact, which explains why he couldn’t support his argument with any meaningful data. Instead, he had to wander outside of Seattle to Redmond, Everett and the rest of Washington in a desperate attempt to make his case. And he even failed at that.

I get it: Talton doesn’t like Trump (or at least feels the need to pretend not to if he wants to keep his job at The Seattle Times). But why let that hatred — whether genuine or for show — drive him to embarrass himself so thoroughly in such a poorly thought-out column? Who benefits from this?

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