The election of President Donald Trump shocked the world. And as unlikely as it seemed prior November 8th, the post-Election Day “how did this happen” analysis, with 20/20 hindsight, now seems obvious. Trump tapped a nerve, a frustration that had been brewing beneath the surface in America for some time.
To make matters worse, this feeling hasn’t yet abated. In fact, it may be sticking around for a long while, says visionary thinker and best-selling author John Mauldin. “I don’t think Trump is the culmination of this shift,” Mauldin says in the video excerpt from a recent interview with Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough. “I think he is the harbinger. He is just the beginning.”
In the video excerpt above, from a longer Real Conversations interview, Mauldin explains how trends heavily impacting rural America, like the opioid epidemic, are a “symptom” of the devastating side effects of automation. “This massive opioid crisis, along with suicide and death from alcohol, is among 45 to 54 year old whites who have basically given up hope. They have lost their jobs and just trying to numb their pain.”
The frustration is palpable, Mauldin says, and the political party elites are “clueless.” “Politicians can’t even fix the problems we have let alone the problems we’re going to have that are frustrating these people,” he says.
Click here to watch the entire interview with Mauldin in which he tackles everything from the Fed’s extraordinary monetary experiments to the “pension crisis tipping point” to how driverless cars might severely impact the U.S. jobs market.
