Trump is still haunted by Hoover's failures
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Photos: Library of Congress, Getty Images
President Trump said twice in two days last week that he doesn't want to be associated with Herbert Hoover, who served during the early years of the Great Depression.
- "I have one primary wish as president, in terms of people: I never want to be the late, great Herbert Hoover," he told Marc Caputo on "The Axios Show."
- Earlier, at his press conference at the G-7 in France, Trump said: "I've studied presidents — some good, some bad, some great. ... And the one president I did not want to be was the late, great Herbert Hoover."
Why it matters: Trump often says out loud what he's really thinking, when most politicians would stifle such musings.
Between the lines: Trump has spent years fearing that a single crash could swallow his presidency, the way the Depression swallowed Hoover's.
- Trump floated it as early as 2018, when he privately asked aides whether he could fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell — warning that Powell's rate hikes would "turn me into Hoover."
- Flashback: The split-screen illustration at the top of this story is a rerun from a story Mike Allen wrote in 2018, "Trump fears being turned into Hoover."
- In January 2024, Trump predicted an economic crash under President Biden and said he hoped it would land before the election "because I don't want to be Herbert Hoover."
The parallels run deeper than rhetoric: Hoover — the 31st president, from 1929-1933 — and Trump were both elected as wealthy businessmen promising executive competence.
- Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, now remembered as a protectionist blunder that worsened the Depression.
- Trump made tariffs the core of his economic project, betting that the policy most associated with Hoover's failure could fuel a great American comeback.
The irony: Trump is haunted by Hoover because he already carries a Hoover-like footnote.
- Thanks to COVID, Trump left office with nearly 3 million fewer jobs than he inherited — the first president since Hoover to post a net loss.
- During the 2024 campaign, Biden needled him as "Donald 'Herbert Hoover' Trump."
📱 Go deeper: Watch Marc Caputo's interview with President Trump.
