In what was described as a rare moment of honesty, President Donald Trump reportedly told his wealthy friends dining at Mar-a-Lago Friday night that “you all just got a lot richer.”
The comments — first reported by CBS News on Sunday — came just hours after Trump signed the $1.5 trillion Republican tax bill into law.
According to two of Trump’s friends who described the Friday-night event to CBS, the president “directed those comments to friends dining nearby at the exclusive club.” Given that the Mar-a-Lago initiation cost is $200,000 and annual dues are $14,000, it’s safe to assume that those “friends” are “some of the most affluent members of society.”
As Common Dreams has reported, Trump has been increasingly open about the central objectives of the GOP tax bill since it passed both houses of Congress. On Friday, Trump bragged that “corporations are literally going wild” about the legislation, comments that came a few days after Trump described the bill’s corporate rate cut as “probably the most important factor.”
Polls have consistently found that Americans did not buy the GOP’s attempt to present their tax bill as a boon for the middle class. A CBS News poll published earlier this month found that 76 percent of Americans believe the Republican tax bill will benefit large corporations, while only 31 percent said they believe it will help the middle class.
Independent analyses have shown this view of the bill to be correct. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, 80 percent of the bill’s benefits will go to the top one percent by 2027, while millions of middle class Americans will see their taxes rise.
On social media, critics of the president noted that — at least in private — “Trump is finally telling the truth about his tax bill.”
At least Trump is finally telling the truth about his tax bill. https://t.co/pEwx0DvRiq
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 24, 2017
This is an example of Trump telling the truth. https://t.co/Q3Fo7KVSEj
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) December 24, 2017
Trump said his tax bill was terrible for his rich friends. Now he’s bragging about giving them a big tax cut. https://t.co/z9wPtPyBFk
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) December 24, 2017
“I have some very wealthy friends — not so happy with me” – Trump to voters at a Missouri rally
“You all just got a lot richer” – Trump to wealthy friends at Mar-a-Lago
This GOP tax bill was a scam to hoodwink average folks, hook up the wealthiest Americans. This proves it.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) December 24, 2017
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 500 new monthly donors in the next 10 days.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy