Trump 2.0 Is About Punishing the Vulnerable and Enriching the Mega Wealthy
Donald Trump led a virulently anti-immigrant campaign for president, fixated on the idea of “migrant crime” and the notion that foreigners are “taking your jobs.” The president-elect and his incoming administration remain committed to deporting undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers — but Trump has already made clear he won’t stop big employers from replacing Americans with temporary immigrant workers.
The president-elect recently sided with ultra-wealthy supporters Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy over MAGA fans online regarding the question of whether Big Tech firms need foreign workers. Musk and Ramaswamy, like Trump, have frequently demonized undocumented immigrants; Musk ran pro-Trump ads decrying a “HISTORIC BORDER INVASION” and “illegal immigrants getting handouts.” Now, Musk says the H-1B visa program for high-skilled workers is how companies make America “strong,” and has demanded that “racists” be purged from the Republican Party.
Trump, the left, and the right have long criticized the H-1B visa program for allowing massive, highly profitable companies to rely on cheaper foreign labor. Trump previously called H-1B visas “very bad” and “unfair for our workers,” and sought to crack down on the visa program during his first term. He’s quickly changed his tune: “I’ve always liked the visas,” Trump said recently, asserting: “I have many H-1B visas on my properties.” On Tuesday, he argued, “I didn’t change my mind. I always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country.” He added, “We need smart people coming into our country.”
This dramatic reversal makes exactly clear what Trump’s second term will and won’t be about. Trump and his allies intend to punish the vulnerable and enrich the mega-wealthy — particularly his friends and himself. This policy project will have two tiers: an empty hand or a fist for people in need, and a generous hand-up for voracious billionaires and executives — even if it means irking some of his stridently anti-immigrant supporters.
In some cases, this policy approach will look like an explicit trade: directly robbing the poor to give to the rich. There has been indication already, during the lead-up period to Trump 2.0, that his administration intends to gut America’s meager social safety net — and make it even harder for the poorest Americans to access Medicaid health insurance coverage and food stamps — in order to fund another round of tax cuts for America’s wealthiest individuals and big corporations.
Despite Trump and Republicans’ ongoing insistence that they stand for the working man and woman, the president-elect and his close advisers have long weighed dramatic spending cuts that would affect vital services and programs that poor and working-class Americans rely on to survive. And with a second term on the horizon, much of the MAGAland upper crust and the Republican elite are hoping to finish the job they started in Trump’s first go around.
“There is a large amount of waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid,” says a Trump adviser who’s discussed these matters recently with him. “President Trump will be having a look at that.”
Trump has pledged to impose tariffs of anywhere between 10 and 20 percent on all imported goods — a policy that would certainly cause companies to raise prices for consumers, at a time when many Americans are already struggling to pay for basic household expenses. Yet, corporate America isn’t sweating a second Trump era, and that’s not just because so many industry titans, billionaires, and mega-millionaires are ardent Republicans, gave lavishly to get him elected, or have shoveled big money into the Trump coffers and inauguration fund.
During this presidential transition, Trump has already spoken privately — including with some high-powered business leaders — about major companies securing exclusions from Trump’s potentially sweeping tariffs regime, two people with knowledge of the matter say. In one recent instance, the president-elect joked to an industry leader that what corporate giants need to do as they scramble for tariff exemptions is get a meeting with Trump and “ask me nicely,” one of the sources says.
Disturbingly, Trump’s supposed joke here sounds similar to his demands to state governors during his first term that they ask him “nicely” if they needed emergency assistance or life-or-death disaster relief from the federal government — or else he might just deny them aid.
Some corporate entities and business interests are committing to non-conventional routes for staying in Trump’s good graces and getting what they want out of his administration’s coming crackdowns and standoffs. According to one Republican source with direct knowledge of the matter, a major industry lobbying group they work with has already actively explored booking a number of upcoming events at Trump-brand properties, in a blatant attempt to put money in Trump and his family business empire’s pocket.
“There’s no Trump Hotel [in Washington, D.C.] anymore, but there are plenty of other options in different, convenient states,” this person adds.
In the new Trump era, corporations and the ultra-wealthy will get what they want, so long as they pay for it. The most vulnerable people in this country, though, stand to lose what little they have.
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