Donald Trump’s economic policies echo Sam Brownback’s failed experiment in Kansas | Opinion
Sam Brownback wanted to be president once. That didn’t work out so well.
So he became the governor of Kansas instead. And let’s be honest here: That didn’t really work out great either.
He cut taxes, Sunflower State schools struggled with growing class sizes as funding declined, angry voters rebelled and Brownback ended up leaving the state before his term ended, off to serve as an “ambassador-at-large” for religious freedom during the first Trump administration. These days, he serves mostly as a cautionary tale.
Now, though, we’re getting a look at what a Brownback presidency might have looked like.
As the president hits 100 days in office today, “Donald Trump Is Following the Sam Brownback Playbook” was the headline Monday at Washington Monthly. It appeared atop a story about a president so in thrall to his pet economic theories that he is making life more difficult for the people who voted for him.
Trump, wrote Nate Weisberg, is “pushing through radical policies that threaten to undermine both the economy and vital government services.” The backlash, Weisberg said, could put Democrats back in power.
If you’re a Kansan, that should sound familiar.
‘Republican, but not crazy’
Like Trump, Brownback was a culture warrior. The Kansan, who led the state from 2011 to 2018, was just less flamboyant about it.
The governor wore his anti-abortion beliefs on his sleeve. He got ahead of the Trumpian immigration backlash by taking a stand against resettling Syrian refugees in the state. He even signed a law banning the use of Muslim sharia law in Kansas courts. (It wasn’t actually being used in Kansas courts.)
Kansans mostly went along with all of this.
What changed, Weisberg noted at Washington Monthly, is that Brownback launched his much ballyhooed “experiment” to slash the state’s taxes, “insisting that a burst of economic growth would follow to pay for it all.”
The problem? “That growth, and fresh tax revenue, never came.”
Oh, right.
We all remember what happened next. Schools, starved of funding, started ending classes early and sending kids home. Parents suddenly found themselves hustling to get child care while their kids missed out on learning opportunities.
The backlash was swift. Kansans voted in moderate legislators — Democrats and centrist Republicans — and Brownback’s tax cuts were reversed. The governor left office early for other opportunities.
And, not coincidentally, Democrat Laura Kelly won the next two gubernatorial elections of this supposedly deep-red state.
“Kansas is Republican,” an anonymous Kansas Republican told Weisberg, “but it’s not crazy.”
The lesson Trump didn’t heed
The parallels with Trump should be obvious. Americans overlooked Trump’s many sins and quirks in November, at least in part because they were angry about the price of eggs. They wanted a more stable economy than what they experienced with Joe Biden in the post-pandemic era.
Instead they’re getting … this.
Trump’s tariff-driven trade wars have sent the stock markets (and probably your retirement savings) on a roller coaster ride. The international backlash to his tariffs threaten a number of industries, including the farming and aircraft manufacturing sectors that power Kansas’ economy.
That’s just the beginning. Foreign shipments to U.S. ports are drying up because of the president’s policies. The CEOs of Walmart and Target have reportedly told Trump that consumers are likely to see empty shelves in coming weeks.
The legacy of Brownback — the lesson that Trump has apparently failed to heed — is that you can get away with a lot of bad ideas in government as long as you don’t make the lives of voters materially worse.
Put it this way: Are you better off than you were 100 days ago? Do you expect to be better off 100 days from now?
Most Americans don’t think so. Polls show voters give him terrible marks overall, including on the economy.
There are differences, of course. “Brownback didn’t have the cult following Trump does,” Weisberg pointed out. And nobody worried about Sam Brownback fomenting violence if things didn’t go his way.
“Brownback’s story offers Republicans a warning,” Weisberg wrote. Kansans weren’t crazy: They sent Brownback on his way. The question now is what will happen to Trump if he keeps running the Brownback playbook.
This story was originally published April 29, 2025 at 5:09 AM.