President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted the recent passage of the GOP’s tax bill, portraying it as a Christmas gift to American families. And yet, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida mere hours after signing it into law, he reportedly boasted about the bill’s massive breaks for the upper and corporate classes, telling some of his wealthy friends that they “just got a lot richer,” according to CBS News.
Progressives and Democrats, suffice to say, are none too pleased. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, for one, came out swinging following the CBS News report, which quoted two friends of Trump’s who were in attendance. Specifically, Sanders tweeted Sunday that Trump was “finally telling the truth” about the tax bill.
At least Trump is finally telling the truth about his tax bill. https://t.co/pEwx0DvRiq
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 24, 2017
Sanders went into more depth in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, arguing that the plan revealed its true purpose by making its middle-class tax cuts temporary, while the corporate ones are permanent.
“It is a very good thing,” Sanders said, when Tapper noted the middle class tax cuts that would be coming next year. “And that’s why we should have made the tax breaks for the middle class permanent. But what the Republicans did is made the tax breaks for corporations permanent, the tax breaks for the middle class temporary.”
“And according to the Tax Policy Center… at the end of 10 years, 83 percent of the benefits go to the top 1 percent, 60 percent of the benefits go to the top one-tenth of 1 percent,” Sanders continued. “Meanwhile, at the the end of 10 years, well over 80 million Americans will be paying more in taxes.”
.@jaketapper: “Next year, 91% of middle income Americans will receive a tax cut. Isn’t that a good thing?”@BernieSanders: “Yeah, it is a very good thing. And that’s why we should’ve made the tax cuts for the middle class permanent” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/ei8xTHGo1E
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 24, 2017
It’s not surprising that Sanders was so quick to respond to this story, given the position he currently occupies within the progressive left. He currently boasts some of the highest numbers for personal popularity among elected officials in the country, and matters of economic justice and equality are right in his wheelhouse. Such issues made up the foundation of his 2016 presidential campaign, in which he lost the Democratic primary to former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Sanders also told Tapper that it would be appropriate for Trump to resign from office in light of the multiple allegations of sexually predatory behavior against him. Trump has denied the allegations, attacking his accusers as “horrible liars.”
Trump, for his part, made it clear shortly after the election that he viewed cutting taxes on the rich as a priority. During the presidential transition, he ditched the press for a dinner at the upscale 21 Club in Manhattan, and he reportedly told one of the guests, “We’ll get your taxes down, don’t worry.” As an ostensible billionaire, he himself also stands to save millions of dollars now that the tax bill is the law.