Trump Is No Reagan When It Comes to Union-Busting
The economy today is very different. Opposing labor won’t be popular.
Teachers have flexed their power this year.
Photographer: Scott Heins/Bloomberg
When Donald Trump won the presidency, some people like the Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio rushed to compare the coming Trump administration with Ronald Reagan's in the 1980s. It seems more likely that Trump will turn out to be the mirror image of Reagan.
Reagan's legacy was burnished early his first term by standing up to the striking air traffic controllers' union in August 1981. After the strike, as inflation began to fall and the economy and Wall Street boomed, Reagan was lionized for being tough on labor and great for business. Trump may soon face a confrontation with labor and business, but because of economic circumstances it could leave him tarnished rather than canonized.