Trump Is Giving Your Money to His Corporate Backers

He made you pay for illegal tariffs. Now he's refunding the corporations and stiffing you. Democrats should scream it from the rooftops.

A few weeks ago, the Trump Administration made an announcement that, in a different era, would have been the dominant story in American politics. Instead, like so much else in the Trump era, it was quickly washed away by subsequent outrages and controversy, and almost no one noticed.

And it just happens to be an issue that could be a major advantage for the Democrats this Fall.

If they decide to jump on it and make it an issue.

Here’s the issue that every Democrat should scream from the rooftops about.

Trump is Giving Your Money to His Corporate Backers

As I know you remember, Trump ran on lowering prices. He didn’t just promise to stem inflation or do his level best to fight to lower prices. Trump explicitly guaranteed that his election would immediately lead to lower prices at the grocery store and gas pump.

Instead of doing any of that, Trump levied a series of tariffs that raised prices on almost everyone and everything. As I know you also remember, the tariffs are paid by the company importing the foreign product into the United States, and those companies pass those costs along to the consumer, because companies like to make as much money as possible.

This was not a small burden on American families already struggling with a tough economy. The Yale Budget Lab estimates that the tariffs cost the average American family $1,100 annually.

Trump’s tariffs were stupid economically, but they were also unconstitutional. Because Congress would never vote to raise costs on the American people, Trump used legal authorities so dubious that even this Supreme Court felt compelled to strike them down.

So, American families spent $1,100 of their hard-earned money on illegal tariffs that never should have been enacted.

Now, the Trump Administration has $166 billion in illegal tariff money paid by corporations but funded by American consumers.

And how is Trump trying to make things right?

By giving refunds to corporations and nothing to the consumer. Apple has received more than $2 billion in tariff refunds. Amazon, $600 million. Walmart could receive as much as $10 billion.

Why This is a Great Issue for Dems

I have rarely seen such a great issue served on a silver platter this close to an election.

Trump making Americans pay higher prices for groceries and goods and then giving the money back to corporations who donate to his campaigns and put money in his pocket is a perfect metaphor for how Republicans approach the economy and why the American people feel like the system is rigged against them.

It’s all of Trump’s biggest vulnerabilities wrapped up in one issue.

• Voters hate the tariffs: The tariffs are already incredibly unpopular. They are the prima facie piece of evidence that Trump broke the central promise of his campaign. In a Pew poll from earlier this year, roughly six in ten voters disapproved of the tariffs.

  

• Voters believe tariffs raised prices: A Harris poll found that 72% of Americans think Trump’s tariffs raised their prices. In other words, they don’t buy Trump’s patently absurd claim that foreigners foot the bill.

  

• Voters think Trump is too friendly to corporations: Voters are pissed at corporations for raising prices, and they think Trump is too friendly to corporations and the wealthy. It’s another example of the broken promises to fight for working people.

• Trump is on the wrong side of public opinion: Unsurprisingly, voters think the tariff refunds should go to consumers. In a Data for Progress poll conducted for the Groundwork Collaborative, 78% of voters thought that consumers should get at least a portion of the refunds. Only 8% think all of the money should go to the corporations, and even that number seems stunningly high. Maybe this poll oversampled c-suite executives.

  

Trump put in place illegal tariffs that cost American families $1,100, and when those tariffs were struck down, he gave the money to corporations instead of consumers. It’s hard to find a more pitch-perfect example of how Trump has made life worse for Americans.

Democrats are constantly searching for issues that can drive the conversation, highlight our strengths, and unify our fractious party. We should do everything in our power to make sure every American knows that Trump raised prices and then gave the relief to the corporations instead of American families.

Sometimes politics isn’t that complicated.