Under pressure — “enormous pressure,” in his own words — from left, center and far right, Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, says in an interview published Friday that he’s not going anywhere. At least for now.
His reason for staying put as director of the National Economic Council turns out to have less to do with his reported ambition to head the Federal Reserve one day than with religion and race, at least according to one outtake from his wide-ranging conversation with the Financial Times:
‘As a Jewish American, I will not allow neo-Nazis ranting “Jews will not replace us” to cause this Jew to leave his job.’
Cohn also reveals in the FT interview that the planned “big six” revamp of the U.S. tax code aims at this stage, along with cutting corporate taxes and offering a tax break to companies repatriating overseas cash, to keep in place personal tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions and retirement savings. He also confirms in the interview that a border-adjusted tax no longer figures in the tax-overhaul scheme, which is now expected to be piloted by congressional Republicans rather than the White House.