Trump talks big, but he always backs down. He calls it the art of the deal, but billionaire’s bible the Wall Street Journal, this week a paper owned by his frenemy Rupert Murdoch no less, calls the president’s latest climbdown, “The Great Tariff Rollback.”
The Journal‘s finger-pointing headline also addressed an additional about-face: Despite his floating, and then maybe unfloating, proposals to the contrary in recent days, when the House tax-writing committee released its draft of legislation for Trump’s “one, big, beautiful bill”—extending trillions in tax cuts while shrinking government spending on health programs (and other vital initiatives)—it included a raise in the national debt limit by 4 trillion dollars rather than a raise in taxes on the rich.
The bill also reneges on other promises Trump had made regarding an end to taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits.
The newspaper noted that conservative groups like Americans for Prosperity and the Heritage Foundation “fiercely fought any increase in taxes on the wealthy.” Conservative stalwarts like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Vice President Pence, through his special interest group, Advancing American Freedom, also joined the fight on behalf of the one thing that has defined Republicans for the last fifty years: money. Big money.
Trump had proposed raising taxes on people who earn more than $2.5 million while cheerily acknowledging that, “It’s really a redistribution.” A Republican talking approvingly about the “redistribution” of wealth is a shock to the system. It’s such a loaded term, in fact, that when Democrats have used it in the past, Republicans labeled them radical socialists.
It would be groundbreaking if Trump were serious—a Nixon-to-China moment in terms of coming out of left (or should that be far right?) field. But it now appears he was just spitballing, or seeking another distraction from the broader economic disruption cause by his on-again, off-again tariffs—like his recent call to turn Alcatraz back into a prison.
That’s too bad, because there is a good case to be made that it’s time for the GOP to adjust its fiscal policies. Now that the party has expanded its base to working men and women without college degrees, and will need to rely on their continuing support, keeping taxes low for the country club set shouldn’t be top priority. But it was only after his chief of staff Susie Wiles pointed out to him that tariffs are hurting “his people” that Trump changed course on China.
Republicans in red states represent high numbers of Trump voters on Medicaid, the government health plan for poorer Americans, yet to finance its tax cuts, the party cites $900 billion in reduced spending, most of which comes from cuts to the program.
House Republicans will have a hard time explaining to their constituents how these “reforms” designed to produce savings aren’t really cutbacks. For example, requiring Medicaid recipients to re-qualify every six months instead of a year might seem like a minor adjustment, but is calculated to turn people away.
Democrats often run against Republicans on this exact issue, claiming they pay for tax cuts for the rich by cutting programs for the poor. Making the wealthy pay more would blunt that argument. “It’s good politics,” Trump said when ruminating about redistribution. He’s right about that. He’s also right that Republicans won’t take the plunge because they remember former President George H.W. Bush breaking his promise of no new taxes and losing the 1992 election.
That’s a real missed opportunity—and one that should warrant a redeal.
The post Opinion: The Transformational Moment Trump Missed With His Wealth Tax Wiffle appeared first on The Daily Beast.
