In response to a question on child care on Thursday, former President Donald Trump gave a roundabout, incoherent answer, providing no specific insights into how he would lessen the burden for parents should he win the presidential election this year.
Trump’s response delved into a number of unrelated issues, including placing tariffs on other countries, deficit spending, addressing government waste, and more — though, on those topics, too, Trump gave general platitudes rather than expressing coherent thoughts.
The question was asked during Trump’s speech to the Economic Club of New York. Reshma Saujani, founder of a nonprofit organization called Girls Who Code, asked the Republican candidate for president whether he could “commit to prioritizing legislation to make child care affordable,” and if there was a “specific piece of legislation” he would advance.
Trump claimed he was “sitting down” with Marco Rubio on the issue, and said that his daughter Ivanka Trump was also “impactful” on it. But he then delved into what was essentially a non-answer, suggesting that tariffs on foreign countries would somehow pay for child care costs.
“It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that — because look, child care is child care, it’s — couldn’t, you know, it’s something, you have to have it, in this country you have to have it,” Trump said.
He went on in his indecipherable answer, stating:
When you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to — but they’ll get used to it very quickly — and it’s not gonna stop them from doing business with us, but they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including child care, that it’s going to take care.
Trump went on, saying that he would supposedly have “no deficits” in his next administration, despite running large deficits during each of his previous four years in office. He also appeared to briefly recognize that he was getting off-topic, but soon went on yet another tangent.
“I have to stay with child care,” Trump said. “I want to stay with child care, but those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I’m talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just — that I just told you about.”
Trump then appeared to be dismissive of child care costs, before going into a short isolationist tirade:
As much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s relatively speaking not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in. We’re gonna make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we’ll worry about the rest of the world. Let’s help other people, but we’re going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It’s about ‘Make America Great Again.’
Several critics condemned Trump’s comments, questioning if he was fit to lead in the Oval Office.
“Calling Trump’s remarks at the NY Economics Club incoherent gibberish is not a biased attack. It is a completely rational observation,” said MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on X. “He did not speak in coherent or complete sentences. And when he did, proposals like tariffs…do not make sense.”
“Is Trump capable of presenting, or even understanding, substantive policy ideas? His apparent mental state says he is not, and media coverage seems to gloss over discussions about his condition,” noted The New Republic’s Hafiz Rashid.
“Child care affordability is a hugely important issue for millions of American parents in every state and Trump’s answer here doesn’t even come close to articulating a policy,” NBC News Senior Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake said.
Child care prices are indeed astronomical for many families across the country. In 11 states, a two-parent, two-child household pays on average twice as much for child care costs than they do for rent. According to data collected by the Department of Labor, the annual costs for child care range from $5,357 dollars for school-age home-based care to $17,171 for infant, center-based care — meaning that some families are paying more for child care than they would be to send their kid to a four-year in-state public university.
Trump’s unintelligible answer was coupled with an equally frustrating answer from his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who was asked a similar question on child care on Thursday.
In an interview with far right podcast host Charlie Kirk, Vance was asked what can be done to lower the cost of day care. The vice presidential nominee avoided the specifics of that question, and instead ranted about how parents should take a different route: asking older family members to shoulder the burden.
“Maybe grandma or grandpa wants to help out a little bit more. Or maybe there’s an aunt or uncle that wants to help out a little bit more,” Vance said.
For parents without family members like that available, Vance said that more people needed to be trained to be child care workers, but said that standards to become providers were a burden. “Don’t force every early child care specialist to go and get a six-year college degree,” he said.
Despite Vance’s claims, many states have little to no training standards needed in order for someone to become a child care worker. Additionally, saying that grandparents or older aunts and uncles should help with child care discounts the fact that many older Americans are themselves struggling with economic hardships, with many delaying retirement to ensure they can afford payments on their homes, groceries and other expenses.
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