At Incendiary NYC Rally, Trump Floats Another Tax Break

Amid Allies' Insults and Crude Attacks, Trump Floats Another Tax Break

Former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden MAGA rally Sunday touched off a firestorm of controversy and condemnation because of a series of crude, racist and misogynistic remarks by some of the speakers.

The event was supposed to be an attention-grabbing opportunity for the Republican nominee to deliver an appealing closing message to voters — a message that included a host of superlative-laden Trumpian promises, including a pledge to usher in “the four greatest years in the history of our country,” and repeated attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I’m here today with a message of hope for all Americans,” Trump said. “With your vote in this election, I will end inflation, I will stop the invasion of criminals coming into our country and we will bring back the American dream.”

But Trump’s remarks — and a couple of fiscal plans announced during the rally — were largely overshadowed by the insults and attacks lobbed by many of the speakers who took the stage before him. A friend of Trump’s called Harris “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” Another speaker warned that Harris “and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.” Former Trump White House aide Stephen Miller declared that “America is for Americans and Americans only.” And comic Tony Hinchcliffe sparked perhaps the strongest backlash by calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” among other insults aimed at Latinos, Jews and Black people.

That line quickly drew fierce criticism, including from some Republican officials. Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny responded by publicly throwing his support behind Harris, sharing a video of her to his 45 million Instagram followers. And the Harris campaign quickly released an ad Monday highlighting the “garbage” line and Trump’s response to Hurricane Maria.

The Trump campaign issued a statement distancing the candidate from the comic. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement. But the damage could be costly; there are nearly 500,000 Puerto Ricans living in Pennsylvania.

President Joe Biden on Monday called the Trump rally “simply embarrassing” and said it reinforces why this election is so important.

Trump floats a new tax break: As they have for much of Trump’s campaign, Sunday’s insults and attacks drew attention away from policy matters. Trump did, however, offer a new economic proposal to his list of proposed tax breaks, which includes an end to taxation of tips, Social Security benefits and overtime pay.

“I’m announcing a new policy today that I will support a tax credit for family caregivers who take care of a parent or a loved one,” Trump said. “It’s about time that they were recognized, right? They add so much to our country and are never spoken of, ever, ever, ever, but they’re going to be spoken of now.”

That proposal may be a response of sorts to Harris’s recently announced plan to have Medicare cover in-home care for seniors. Harris had pitched that plan to help the so-called “sandwich generation” of adults caring for both parents and children.

Musk says he could cut $2 trillion in spending: Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk, who Trump has said would lead a government efficiency commission if he’s elected to a second term, suggested at the rally that he could find ways to massively slash federal spending.

The federal government spent nearly $6.8 trillion in fiscal year 2024, but Musk predicted Sunday that he could cut that by at least $2 trillion going forward. “Your money is being wasted and the department of government efficiency is going to fix that,” Musk said.

Bloomberg’s Steven T. Dennis calls that “a lofty goal that would require a level of austerity unprecedented since the winding down of World War II.” Dennis notes that cuts that large would exceed federal spending on government agencies, including defense, and “would likely require making significant cuts to popular entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ benefits.”

Such a drastic reshaping of the federal budget would likely be difficult or impossible to get through Congress, though Trump has proposed using impoundment authority to block spending approved by Congress, an approach that would challenge a 1974 law limiting presidential power to withhold appropriated funds.

The bottom line: Trump’s New York event, a detour from campaigning in battleground states, was intended to draw national attention, and it certainly did that. But it’s not at all clear that the headlines coming out of the rally will help his campaign as he tries to boost turnout and convince any remaining persuadable voters to cast their ballots for him.

Numbers of the Day: $7.75 Trillion and $3.95 Trillion

In an updated analysis released Monday, the deficit hawks at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget provided new estimates for the fiscal cost of the major proposals offered by Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. The group’s mid-rage estimate for the cost of Harris’s plans is now $3.95 trillion over 10 years, while the estimate for Trump’s plans is $7.75 trillion. The previous estimates were $3.5 trillion and $7.5 trillion respectively.

Those estimates come with an acknowledgement of how difficult it is to project the costs of programs that are poorly defined in some cases.

“Our estimates come with a wide range of uncertainty, reflecting both different interpretations and estimates of the policies. Under our low- and high-cost estimates, we estimate Vice President Harris’s plan could increase debt by between $300 billion and $8.30 trillion through 2035, while President Trump’s plan could increase debt by between $1.65 and $15.55 trillion,” the analysts wrote.

Voters Still Unsure About Biden’s Climate and Manufacturing Initiatives: Poll

The Biden-Harris administration has pushed through some of the largest federal programs directed at infrastructure, climate and manufacturing in U.S. history, but most Americans remain uncertain about those legislative efforts, according to a new Politico-Morning Consult poll released Monday.

The poll found that a majority of respondents had read or heard “not much” or “not at all” about American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats don’t appear to have done a good job in selling their programs as awareness of the programs changed very little over the last six months.

The results of the poll could be bad news for Vice President Kamala Harris as she seeks to convince voters that the administration she served was productive and beneficial.

“The findings underscore the challenge Biden and Harris have faced in connecting their administration’s landmark climate, infrastructure, technology and pandemic-response initiatives with the broader public,” Politico’s Zack Colman wrote. “Democrats have praised the laws for spurring hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in planned battery factories, auto plants and energy investments across the country. Yet Harris and Trump each tied at 47 percent in the number of voters who thought one candidate would do better at creating jobs.”

Still, it looks like Harris has gained some credibility on some key issues related to the administration’s efforts. Although poll respondents said they trust Donald Trump more to maintain U.S. competitiveness with China, they gave Harris a slight edge on investing in energy projects and a much bigger lead when it comes to addressing climate change.

Fiscal News Roundup

• Harris Highlights Costs of Living, Abortion Rights and Border Security as 3 Immediate Priorities – Associated Press
• Trump’s Latest Promised Tax Break Is for Family Caregivers – CNN
• Trump Says He Supports Tax Credit for Caregivers – Wall Street Journal
• Hulk Hogan, Dr. Phil, Elon Musk Speak at Donald Trump’s Insult-Filled Rally at Madison Square Garden – Hollywood Reporter
• Fallout Spreads From Racist Rhetoric at Trump’s MSG Rally – Politico
• Democrats Escalate Attacks on Trump After Comedian Calls Puerto Rico ‘Floating Island of Garbage’ – Associated Press
• Price Tags for Trump, Harris Agendas Climb in New Analysis – The Hill
• 6 Months Later, Many Voters Unsure What to Make of Biden’s Billions – Politico
• American Wealth Will Grow Either Way Under Harris or Trump, Survey Shows – Bloomberg
• Scotiabank Economist Says Trump Would Bring ‘Ruinous’ Policy – Bloomberg
• US Treasury Trims Borrowing Estimate to $546 Billion for Quarter – Bloomberg
• Kamala Harris Played Hardball With Banks. It Delivered Billions for Homeowners – Washington Post
• A New York Medical Group Fills Politicians’ Coffers. This House Republican Is Helping to Promote Them – Politico
• 4 Charts Show How Early Voting Is Going in the US – CNN
• Meet the Megadonors Pumping Over $2.5 Billion Into the Election – Washington Post

Views and Analysis

• Fact Check: Debunking 16 False Claims Trump Made at Madison Square Garden – Daniel Dale, CNN
• Musk Wants $2 Trillion Cut From US Budget. It’d Be Difficult – Steven T. Dennis, Bloomberg
• Trump at the Garden: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism – Shane Goldmacher, Maggie Haberman and Michael Gold, New York Times
• Harris Wants Medicare to Cover Home Care While Trump Will Roll Back Obamacare – Merrill Goozner, Washington Monthly
• Broadcast News Mostly Ignored Kamala Harris’ Proposal Expanding Medicare to Cover In-Home Health Care for 15 Million Seniors – Zachary Pleat, Media Matters
• Kamala Harris’s Corporate Tax Hike Would Hurt Innovation, American Workers – Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), The Hill
• The Biden-Harris Economic Record Is Much Better Than Critics Claim – Steven Kamin and Benedict Clements, The Hill
• The Porterhouse at Weis Points to Inflation’s Demise – Matthew A. Winkler, Bloomberg
• Take Trump Seriously and Literally – Paul Glastris, Washington Monthly
• See How the Inflation Reduction Act Is Affecting Your Community – Niko Kommenda, Shannon Osaka and John Muyskens, Washington Post