Summers: Trump's populist project is a Juan Perón approach destined to fail
Larry Summers · The Great Tariff Debate with David Sacks, Larry Summers, and Ezra Klein · Apr 11, 2025 · at 1:26:40
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers compares Donald Trump's administration and ideology to Perónism, predicting long-term historical failure despite initial popularity.
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“I do believe that it is fundamentally not new under the sun, just new in America. That it is the Juan Perón approach, which is very familiar to students of Latin American history in particular, and that the general experience of that approach is that its leaders, particularly when they have galvanizing personalities, can be very popular for a substantial period of time. But that they are very rarely remembered well by historians of their countries, and so my best judgment is that this project is Going to end in disastrous failure, despite having put its finger on some important concerns and issues.”
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