The Trump administration continues to prove perpetually detached from the concerns of everyday Americans. Some of the Democratic presidential primary candidates took this on during the first debates in that race, which unfolded this past week. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday this weekend, Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow responded to the criticism by embarrassingly shoring up the administration’s commitment to the interests of the upper class. President Donald Trump’s previously claimed commitments to advancing the interests of the “forgotten” people of the United States have gone right out the window.
Discussing the critical Democratic candidates, Kudlow insisted to host Chris Wallace:
‘I don’t understand what planet they’re describing. The United States economy is booming. It’s running at roughly three percent average since President Trump took office two and a half years ago. On this business about bad distribution — the blue collar workers, the non-supervisory workers have done the best!.. Their growth in incomes and wages is exceeding the growth of their supervisors. The unemployment rate is low. We just had the best June stock market at the Dow Jones in over 80 years — that’s going to fill up the 401Ks of middle class folks everywhere.’
Watch:
.@larry_kudlow talks 2020 Democrats and their comments about the economy during the debates last week #FNS pic.twitter.com/H0MNFYg6bp
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) June 30, 2019
What about the people who don’t have 401Ks? What about the people who have no stake in the stock market whatsoever and are instead having to work outlandishly long hours and maybe even more than one job just to make it to the next paycheck? Those people are employed, sure — but that’s not the only relevant marker here. Vermont Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is exactly correct when he notes that the three richest people in the United States have more wealth between them than the entire bottom fifty percent of the country.
That’s why Democratic presidential candidates have — despite disagreement — come in across the board with plans to improve access to and thereby reduce the cost of healthcare, defend the rights of employee unions to negotiate for their members’ betterment, launch harsh responses to those responsible for the opioid crisis in the United States (hint: it’s not immigrants) and more.
Some have pledged to directly take on the massive tax break Trump signed for corporations too — California Senator Kamala Harris said she would repeal that legislation on her first day in office that allowed for corporate taxes to fall to their lowest level in decades with little to no helpful effects for lower income Americans.
In the meantime, Trump can be expected to continue looking out for the interests of his rich buddies. In one high-profile case among many, he appointed a campaign donor to a federal judgeship and in that position, they were eventually able to turn back a House Democratic challenge to Trump’s plans to use billions in already appropriated government money for a southern border wall. Even still, Trump himself got turned back in recent days when California-based U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam issued a permanent injunction blocking Trump from using $2.5 billion of the military money he was after.
Featured Image via screenshot
