When Will MAGA Voters Realize That the Objects of Trump’s Retribution Include Them?
Trump's supporters are loving his revenge tour, but they may not be so enthusiastic when his tariffs worsen inflation and he comes for their benefits.
To open his second presidency, Donald Trump has taunted and tortured political adversaries and destroyed parts of the government he leads. MAGA voters love it.
No surprise there. Those angry Americans view Trump’s declared enemies – the “deep state,” “woke” college professors, the media, transgender people, Blacks, immigrants – as their enemies, too. Savoring “liberal tears” may be all the MAGA rank-and-file need.
But if they instead want Trump to improve their lives in more tangible ways, they’ll likely end up disappointed. There’s no sign yet that their messiah aims to bring them anything significant at all.
Trump has widened the long-running upstairs/downstairs split within the Republican Party. Working and middle-class whites aggrieved by culture wars provide the votes; the wealthy and business executives bring the cash.
And these two wings receive sharply different benefits when Republicans win. The upstairs crowd gets cash back. For those downstairs, it’s the visceral satisfaction that comes from the fulfillment of Trump’s vow that “I am your retribution.”
Nonstop Revenge. What About Fighting High Costs?
So far, Trump 2.0 has brought nonstop retribution. In various ways, they’ve “owned the libs” every day.
The new administration has delivered on the promise of Russ Vought, Trump’s extremist budget director, to inflict “trauma” on the federal workforce. With its shambolic “ready, fire, aim” operating style, Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has executed mass firings however illegal or flimsy the pretext.
Immigration officials have delivered camera-ready scenes of immigrants, allegedly here illegally (at least some were in the US legally), being snatched off streets and, in some cases, flown to a brutal Salvadoran prison. Never mind the injustice that denial of due process has produced; the blunt application of government force to those Trump labels the bad guys gives MAGA thrills.
“If there’s some innocent gardeners in there?” Trump ally Steve Bannon sneered recently. “Hey, tough break for a swell guy.”
The assault on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs gratifies Republicans who complain that white men have become the real victims of present-day discrimination. The decimation of USAID cheers Trump fans who have been misled into believing that foreign aid programs waste vast amounts of their tax dollars.
In reality, the DOGE chainsaw so far has not lightened the load for MAGA taxpayers. Musk’s efforts to document “fraud” have come up empty; instead, he has highlighted congressionally approved spending he doesn’t like. Some attempted cuts proved so reckless and counterproductive that DOGE had to reverse them.
Benefiting the Rich
At the same time, Trump has delivered real results for the well-to-do wing of his coalition – including himself.
By ransacking the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, he shields corporate predators from consequences for scamming ordinary Americans. By cutting staff at the IRS, he has made it easier for the wealthy to cheat on their taxes. Both harm the financial interests of the MAGA rank-and-file.
By discarding agency regulators and seizing greater control of the executive branch, Trump enhances his ability to protect business allies. By sacking inspectors general, he reduces scrutiny on his own attempts to extract benefits for government favors. Guided as always by transactions rather than law or principle, Trump has already squeezed universities, major law firms, and television networks in broad daylight.
Trump isn’t even trying to reduce inflation. Indeed, his billionaire treasury secretary admonished Americans that cheap consumer goods are “not the essence of the American Dream.”
His agriculture secretary has suggested coping with egg prices by raising backyard chickens. Trump’s impending tariffs on foreign imports will raise prices further.
Cuts That May Anger His MAGA Base
The president’s economic agenda in Congress underscores the upstairs/downstairs split.
The largest spending cuts under consideration would likely see roughly $880 billion cut from Medicaid, which pays for nursing home care and health insurance for low-income families. In a recent KFF poll, 42% of Trump voters called Medicaid important to their families.
Those cuts would help finance a massive Trump tax-cut package skewed to benefit the wealthy. “Republicans are still in search of ways to add tangible benefits for President Donald Trump’s working-class supporters,” a Semafor analysis concluded last week.
The rich man/poor man balancing act may yet lead Trump into political danger. It lies in Social Security, the biggest government program and also one of the most popular government programs in history.
MAGA and non-MAGA voters alike want to protect its benefits, which protect tens of millions of elderly Americans from impoverishment. That’s why Trump has always pledged to protect them.
But wealthy Republicans loathe Social Security. They don’t need the benefits, and they fear the costs will drive their tax burden ever higher. And they haven’t given up hope of cutting it back.
DOGE has already edged in that direction by degrading customer service for beneficiaries through cuts in agency staff and the expected closure of some offices. More ominously, Musk, the richest person on Earth, claims to have identified large amounts of fraudulent benefits.
That implausible claim appears to stem from a misunderstanding of beneficiary records by Musk’s minions. But Trump and others in the administration have amplified it anyway.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, also a billionaire, noted last week that his mother-in-law would shrug off missing a benefit check. The loudest complaints over interruptions of service, Lutnick added, would come from “fraudsters.”
If the White House walks the dangerous path of cutting benefits, we’ll find out. That might be the point at which MAGA voters conclude the objects of Trump’s retribution include them.
John Harwood is the former chief Washington correspondent for CNBC and White House correspondent for CNN. He has interviewed every president from George H.W. Bush to Joe Biden. Sign up for ‘The Stakes with John Harwood’ to get all of his columns in your inbox.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Zeteo.
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While portraying immigrants and working-class people as burdens on society, it is actually the super-rich and corporations, with their incessant demands, that burden society. They are perverting the purpose of democratic government to line their own pockets, full stop.
Trump supporters are racist, Zionist dumbf**KS!!!