“Trump’s economic populism is as real as his awful spray tan.”
After President-elect Donald Trump seemingly walked back his pledge to address the rising price of groceries, critics of the soon-to-be 47th president say his economic agenda spells doom for Black, brown and low-income households that are already suffering from inflation, the rising cost of living and a widening racial wealth gap.
After Trump was asked by TIME magazine (which recently named him “Person of the Year”) whether or not his presidency would be a failure if unable to bring down grocery prices as promised, the former and incoming president said, “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up.” He added, “You know, it’s very hard.”
Trump’s recent remark is a stark contrast to what he said on the campaign trail when he declared that if voters cast their ballot for him, incomes and net worths would “soar” and “skyrocket,” and energy costs and grocery prices would “come tumbling down.”
As a candidate, Donald Trump ran almost exclusively on two issues: the economy (which consistently polled as voters’ top issue) and immigration. Now, the incoming president is singing a different tune, which doesn’t surprise political experts.
“Like most billionaires, Donald Trump only cares about acquiring wealth and power. Lowering costs and increasing economic security for working households was never his reason for pursuing the presidency,” Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century, told theGrio.
Rather than focusing on key kitchen table concerns like the price of groceries and inflation, Trump has indicated his focus will be on issuing tariffs on imported goods from key trading partners, which economic experts warn will only drive up costs for the American consumer.
During his first sit-down interview with Kristen Welker, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump said he couldn’t “guarantee” that Americans wouldn’t pay more for goods and described tariffs as “beautiful,” adding, “It’s going to make us rich.”
Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross told theGrio Trump’s stance on tariffs is “disturbing,” particularly because it indicates he “doesn’t understand how tariffs work.”
“This is, for him, a primary economic driver, when everyone knows that imposing tariffs specifically on our largest trading partners — whether you’re talking about China, Mexico or Canada — is going to result in an economic downturn,” said Cross. “At the end of the day, that raises the cost of goods and services for the general American public.”
Cross warned, “This is a guy who is barreling into an economic recession with some of the ideas that he has.”
Black, brown and low-income households stand to suffer the most in the event that prices continue to rise amid Trump’s plans to enact tariffs.
“Black households are going to unfortunately bear the brunt of his bad economic policies, and that’s because Black households are the ones that have the least amount of family wealth,” acknowledged Cross.
Weathersby of American Bridge 21st Century said Trump’s proposed policies of “extending his tax scam for billionaires like himself and waging massive tariffs against our trade partners will only benefit those at the very top while raising costs for middle-class families.” He added, “Trump’s economic populism is as real as his awful spray tan.”
Trump has vowed to extend his 2017 tax cuts, which data shows overwhelmingly benefited wealthy Americans and corporations — not everyday American taxpayers.
Jamarr Brown, executive director at Color of Change PAC, told theGrio that the social justice organization will be launching an “economic justice” campaign aimed at the Trump tax cuts, which will expire in 2025.
“There’s going to be a fight about tax justice from our perspective, where people actually have equity in the tax cuts, but also that we are beginning to reform the system,” said Brown, “to make it fairer and to make more opportunities to access wealth and to build and access wealth in the country.”
Cross said Black Americans, who overwhelmingly voted against Trump in the 2024 election and “did all the organizing” in support of his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris, are acutely aware that Trump’s economic agenda would harm them and their communities. Unlike Trump, Vice President Harris laid out a comprehensive economic plan that included banning grocery price gouging.
“Our Black census project found that the economy and cost of living are the top concerns for Black people. Our organizing work alongside our partners in key states drove both candidates to address this issue in their platforms,” Alexsis Rodgers, political director at Black to the Future Action Fund. “Now, Donald Trump wants to moonwalk back on his promises because he never had any plans to begin with. We will continue to organize our communities so that Black people will have everything they need to thrive.”
Cross said there’s a “certain level of hurt” for Black Americans because “many of them knew that they would be the ones most affected when oligarchs … [and] the ultra-rich takeover.” The Democratic strategist pointed to the outsized number of millionaires and billionaires Trump has appointed or nominated to his administration.
“There has not been a single time in history where the millionaire and billionaire class has given a damn about the cost of gas, the cost of groceries for your average American,” she told theGrio. “What they do is create tax loopholes for other millionaires and billionaires in ways in which their corporations can continue to make money and expand off the backs of poor people.”
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