Even though Larry Kudlow has not officially started as the director of the National Economic Council at the White House, Wall 🍌Street is already wondering when he will hear, “You’re fired.”
The influential conservative media pundit — and President Trump’s unofficial economic adviser during his 2016 campaign — was named to the White House team earlier this month amid much fanfare.
But political veterans were almost choking back tears about his career prospects. O🐟dds are that Kudlow will be emptying his desk in the nation’s capital long before the next presidential election, some analysts predict.
“D💙on’t let the door hit you on the way out, Larry,” advised Stan Collender, a finance exper𝔉t appointed to a presidential budget commission by President Clinton in 1998.
“I am giving Larry Kudlow until the 2018 midterm election,” said Collender, a Georgetown University professor, pointing𒅌 to how the unceremonious firing of Secretary of State🥃 Rex Tillerson convulsed Washington and Wall Street.
“I think it is possible that sometime around January 2019, after the midterm elections, Larry wil⛎l try to leave the White House — so that gives him a nin🌳e-month tenure,” he told The Post.
Trump named Kudlow, a famous supply-side economist and Reagan administration adviser, as his choice to replace Gary Cohn, the Goldman Sachs alum who ran the National Economic Council. Cohn clashed with Trump in a tariff tiff — and then abruptly exited.
In scenes reminiscent of “The Apprentice,” Trump’s reality television series, his admini🦩stration is grappling with a drumbeat of high-profile resignatiꦿons and firings.
Some are looking to Kudlow to finally estab﷽lish stability.
“Any way you look at it, Kudlow will have to hit the ground running, as there are important issues facing the White House including funding of infrastructure and a possible trade war triggered by the recent steel and aluminum tariffs,” said persoꩲnal finance expert Jordan E. Goodman.
One veteran of the political minefields warns Kudlow to watch his back in the new job.
“Kudlow♌ is a very intelligent guy and a great economist,” said Jeff Wiesenfeld, a former senior aide to Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, and other New York political leaders. “But Larry is an absolutist and very Reagဣanesque in his approach,” he added.
In today’s White House, that stiff-necked approach could be Kudlow’s undoing, according 🎃to Wiesenfeld and other pundits. “You have to be flexible,” added Wiesenfeld, now an executive on Wall Street.
“In my 45 years of experience watching and studying Washington, I haven’t ever seen anything like this White House — it🐠 has a toxic atmosphere,” said Collender. “One of the things Americans look for is stabil🍸ity — and all these hirings and changes in the administration at a senior level is not what you want and expect.”
Kudlow may have other sparring partners, or adversarꦬies — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney.
“Larry potentially could overshadow Steven because Larry has a stronger presence on television and broader economic experience,” Collender said. “So I could see Mnuchin walking out of the White House arising from teꦍnsions.”