Steve Laffey, seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, told Newsmax on Thursday his goal is to restore the middle class and unite the country by focusing on education, ending trade with Communist China, and fixing the Federal Reserve.
“[We need] to get people out of these public schools, get everybody in the country a voucher,” Laffey told “American Agenda.” “I know the president can't do it personally, but be a cheerleader for that. We must stop trading with Communist China … and the Federal Reserve has to be changed completely by legislation. No more dual mandate, simply keep inflation at zero. It's inflation that is the biggest contributor to destroying the middle class.
“These are things that have to happen and those will be things I will do by legislation.”
Laffey, a former investment banker who was the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, for one term, said in order to get people to believe in free enterprise again instead of relying on government handouts, you need a leader who will speak to the public to get them to rally behind the issue, much like John F. Kennedy did when he launched the effort to put a man on the moon in the early 1960s.
“You go and give speeches about it and make everybody realize one glaring statistic: When the debt-to-GDP [ratio] got above 90% anywhere in the world, the growth rate will go down,” Laffey said. “People know when they have too much debt, they can't think straight. They know that the federal government has too much debt, so we will have to put in a Swiss debt rate that they did 20 years ago in Switzerland. We'll have to do with such that each year, we will be bringing that debt-to-GDP [ratio] down and balancing the budget over a business cycle by legislation.”
Laffey said he doesn’t expect to be at the first GOP primary debate Aug. 23 in Milwaukee. He criticized the qualification rules set by the Republican National Committee, which include reaching at least 1% in multiple eligible polls, gathering at least 40,000 donors, and signing a pledge committing to supporting the GOP nominee.
“When I started the campaign, I based some hopes on being part of the debates if it was much like 2011 or 2015, but because of the constraints the Republican National Committee put in, which are artificial constraints that I simply won't abide by,” Laffey said. “I am not going to have a blind loyalty or lie about it the way Chris Christie is lying about right now. He's not supporting Donald Trump if he becomes the nominee, yet he's going to sign the pledge.”
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.