It should be clear to anyone paying even scant attention to the recent negative turn of the American economy that President Donald Trump’s economic policy ideas fly in the face of decades of historical lessons about human needs, interests and government responsibilities. The foundational logic on which it is based is dangerously inverted: Poor people have too much money and rich people have too little. The result is that Trump wants to advance the interests of those who are already winning at the expense of those who are struggling to make ends meet. He does not care about the economic reality in which most of his citizens live.
Poor people have too much money, which is why Trump and congressional Republicans are planning to slash $700 billion from Medicaid, which will trigger further cuts to Medicare, $267 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), $300 billion from federal student loan programs, in addition to other social safety net programs. These programs, while imperfect, have for decades kept millions of people out of poverty and provided important access to health care that provides fundamental help to people in need. They have provided the boots with which so many people have begun to climb the ladder to the middle class. In a bit of delusional irony, many people who see themselves as “middle class” are financially poor, not substantially better off than the ones they look down upon as they support the Republicans who are purposefully targeting them. These moves effectively create a declaration of war on the poor. The irony, of course, is that many of the people who are in this circumstance also voted for Trump. In other words, they voted against their own self-interest.
Rich people have too little money, which is why Trump and congressional Republicans are working overtime to lower taxes to ensure that the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can add to their fleet of private planes and yachts.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Trump-GOP plan “provides enormous tax cuts for the wealthy while doing little for low- and moderate-income families. In 2027, those families would get little, while the average family making over $1 million would get cuts worth about $90,000.” Meanwhile, the bottom 20% is projected to see a tax cut of about $90. You read that right. The wealthiest families get the equivalent of a small home, while the poorest 20% get a nice dinner at T.G.I. Friday’s (appetizers and drinks only).
Trump’s inverted economic logic will lead to substantially greater economic inequality. Poor and near-poor Americans have been seeing greater space between their reality and their ambition. Conversely, the wealthiest among us are seeing clear skies.
The result is a disgraceful and unprecedented wealth transfer from poor and middle-income Americans to the top 1% of the wealth spectrum. The reverse Robin Hood policy is a stiff arm to most Americans. This kind of policymaking only exacerbates the wealth inequality that tears at the fabric of American society. It won’t change until Americans rise and punish at the ballot box those who have declared war upon them.
Fauntroy is an associate professor of policy and government at George Mason University. He teaches courses on the presidency and race in American politics. He is currently working on a book on voter suppression, which will be published in 2026.
Source: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper
