Friday, March 29, 2024

Will the Media Now Cover Trump’s Pro-Gold Standard Comments?

In an interview with GQ last year, Donald Trump made comments that appeared to indicate a preference for shifting American monetary policy to the gold standard.

Bringing back the gold standard would be very hard to do, but boy would it be wonderful. We’d have a standard on which to base our money.

Trump’s apparent support for the gold standard has been largely ignored by the national media, but someone finally did their homework this week.

Politico‘s Shane Goldmacher tweeted the news last night:

And then NPR’s “Morning Edition” chimed in:

Here’s a little noticed economic idea of Donald Trump. The Republican presidential candidate likes gold. He’s used a lot of it in decorating his real estate properties like Trump tower. His financial statement says he owns up to $200,000 in gold. And Trump recently told the website TheScene.com that he would like to return US currency to the gold standard.

Trump said he wants to see the United States do something it hasn’t done since the Great Depression — tie the value of the dollar to the price of gold.

Returning to the gold standard is an idea that’s popular with a small segment of voters, many of them Republicans. Texas Senator Ted Cruz was a proponent. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said the idea should be studied.

Reporting for “Morning Edition,” Jim Zarroli said that Trump’s commitment to gold is still in question:

Trump’s campaign did not return calls for comment, so it’s not clear how serious he is about returning to the gold standard. He has talked about the idea once or twice before, but never at great length. Still, the idea remains popular with some of his voters, and Trump says it’s an idea he likes.

It’s excellent that NPR covered this. Great reporting. But can we dig a little deeper? Come on, Washington press corps! Ask a tough question! This is a good story.

Does Trump support the gold standard?

Does he support competing currencies like Bitcoin or Bitgold?

What would he do differently at the Federal Reserve?

Voters deserve to know if Trump is still committed to fixing America’s broken monetary policy. The GQ interview is certainly a start, but boy, would it be wonderful if we could hear a little more detail.

Jon Schweppe is the Communications Director for American Principles Project. Follow him on Twitter @JonSchweppe.

More From The Pulse