Trump Doesn’t Care If He Wrecks the Global Economy | What started with tariffs has escalated with the Iran war. He’s playing a giant game of chicken, and everyone will lose.

>On Monday, President Trump gathered more than 100 small-business leaders in the East Wing of the White House to take a victory lap. His return to the White House had resulted in “record business,” he said. The tax and regulatory cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the legislative centerpiece of his second term, were already a huge success. The economy was “roaring.” Everything was going phenomenally, unbelievably, historically well.

>It didn’t take long for Trump’s own allies to start sniping to the media. Within a few hours, Politico reported that some of the president’s advisers were rolling their eyes at his comments. Touting the economy was simply not going to cut it as a message to win the midterms, they said. “Everybody is pretty realistic about the fact that holding the House is going to be extremely difficult,” said one person granted anonymity. “Every day the war goes on, every day gas prices hover around five bucks, it makes it less and less likely, and it’s already very unlikely.”

Scorch the Earth before he goes.