The latest news is that Trump's ramping up pressure on Congress. He had a call with speaker Mike Johnson, asking him to raise taxes on the highest earners in that upcoming tax package. We have the details of the white House proposal. They're asking for a 39.6% tax rate on individuals making $2.5 million or more. [00:00:19] Of course, current rate 37%. The proposal from the white House would also include a carve out for small business owners, who count the income from their business on their personal taxes. So that right there is the sort of news that's going around that I have to imagine. [00:00:36] Donald Trump and the Republican Party paid for this idea based on basically nothing but hearsay that, oh my God, Donald Trump is going to raise taxes on the wealthy. Maybe he is a populist, maybe he is a man of the people. And I am. [00:00:51] If you couldn't tell he's being sarcastic, there I am begging the media, do not just run with this story when it runs directly counter to everything about Donald Trump and indeed the Republican Party that we've ever known for literally decades, the idea that they're going to do this, or at least if you're going to talk about it, [00:01:10] talk about how utterly weak sauce it is. First of all, they're not going to do this. But even if they did, it's a couple percentage points more for people who make more than $2.5 million. So the literal richest people in the country will pay this much more, [00:01:26] except they're not going to. It's not going to happen. They're not actually going to do it. They're just doing this to get a good news cycle. And if I were them, I would want a good news cycle. As I prepare to hand $4.5 trillion to the wealthiest people that have ever lived, that ever walked the face of the earth. [00:01:42] But no. All it takes is, Let's see. According to reports, Trump met with Mike Johnson and he instructed congressional Republicans to raise taxes on the wealthiest earners as part of his big, beautiful bill. Oh, well, I mean, if there's reports, then maybe he'll really do it. Maybe we should go easy on him. [00:01:58] Bear in mind they're working right now to extend his massive tax cuts, not only for wealthy individuals, but for corporations. The drastic slashing of taxes on those with the most that we've been suffering under in terms of our government's ability to fund itself for literally years at this point. [00:02:14] And if you take a look at this, let's put up our next graphic. The effect of what Trump has done to taxes, the effect on the national debt. A thing that Republicans occasionally claim to care about. Generally, when Democrats are in charge right now, we are looking at something like 5 to $12 trillion added to the national debt. [00:02:35] So that Trump can pay off those who bought him in the last election. That is the story on taxes. Okay. Now, I know there's people who are reporting on his supposedly wanting to raise taxes on the wealthy, and they have much bigger studios than us. They have much bigger staffs than us. They probably were nicer suits than us. [00:02:50] But this is the story that he is taking your money. He's taking that money, trillions of it, and he's handing it to millionaires and billionaires. He is lying to you. He is conning you, as he always does, with this fig leaf of populism that, [00:03:05] even if it were going to go into effect, would be a drop in the bucket of the money that he has showered the wealthy with. But you're not going to get that drop. And it bothers me so much that responsible journalists like we saw in that video are pretending that this is something real. I mean, it is clickbaity. [00:03:21] It is a big headline, but it is straight up propaganda. It's exactly what John is saying. It is just to get the populist notion back out there, because the Bernie AOC tour the clear way in which there is favoritism toward the wealthy, the oligarchy message [00:03:37] is getting out there. And now there might be economic hardship associated with the tariffs. I mean, it's easy to lose the plot that he wants his crowd to remember, and that is that he's a populist president working for them. And so he gets this propaganda out there. And as John says, and to be fair, it's clickbaity it's a big headline that [00:03:56] that he would be sweating Mike Johnson and leaning on him to try to get a tax increase on the wealthiest individuals. Wow. That's good copy. It's also total BS. So again, this is all just a piece of propaganda. And sadly they do it so well. I mean, Trump is a great propagandist. [00:04:11] What he's running into now is the headwinds of reality that are getting in the way of that propaganda. - But this is nothing more than that. - Yeah. No, the the whole thing is ridiculous. And it's about to get even more insulting. But that said, I can sometimes be a little bit too hard on the media so you can report on him wanting to raise taxes if you occasionally like, [00:04:30] sarcastically wink while doing it, or if you like, polish an imaginary test tube or something while you're describing his plan to raise taxes taxes on the wealthy, you could do that, okay, but don't do it with a straight face. That's insulting to your audience. But anyway, Donald Trump has made it even harder for people to buy that this is a thing he's [00:04:47] actually going to do because he decided to post this on Truth Social because he knows they're not going to do the tax. Okay, but why are they not going to do the tax? It's not that he doesn't actually want the wealthy to be taxed. Even this marginal increase, it's actually us. We're the reason Mark and you possibly watching this he said [00:05:06] this the problem with even a tiny tax increase for the rich, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the radical left Democrat lunatics would go around screaming, read my lips! [00:05:21] The fabled capital Q quote by George Bush the elder that is said to have cost him the election. No, Ross Perot cost him the election. In any event, Republicans should probably not do it. But I'm okay if they do. Okay, so first of all, he's telling the Republicans to not do it. [00:05:38] But but but when they don't, it's us because we'll attack him. Which yes, I will. But the idea that of all of the things at any given day that I could criticize Trump for, I would criticize him for a marginal increase to the top tax bracket. [00:05:55] Has he watched the show? I don't know if he has. I know Marjorie Greene has. Marjorie, you know the answer to that question. That's not that's not the reason. Okay. It's not us. It's the donors. Damn it. I thought that he was going to say because the Democrats and the libs would take credit for it, that for having pressured me into it. [00:06:12] And that's the reason I don't want to do it. It was interesting. He took the right turn there about the election and no new taxes promised, etc. This all the key that you take from that is that was the out loud wink about raising taxes at all, right. [00:06:28] He was basically saying, hey guys, I was, you know, that was just a piece of, you know, of copy. Don't worry about it. Yeah, that's what I took from that. But the rest of it is just, Trumpian absurdity. Yeah. Hundred percent. Especially when he has been talking against it. Both in. True social posts like that, but also, in video as well. [00:06:46] - Take a look. - I think it would be very, disruptive. Because a lot of the millionaires would leave the country. You know, in the old days, they left states. They'd go from one state to the other. Now, with transportation so quick and so easy, they leave countries. You lose a lot of money if you do that. [00:07:02] That would in other countries that have done it have lost a lot of people. They lose their wealthy people. That would be bad because the wealthy people pay the tax. Okay. He's saying don't do a millionaire tax because they're they're such they're so focused on their money with no connection or attachment to America. [00:07:18] That's how he's pitching them, that if you raise their taxes even a bit, they will flee the country. That's what he said. And the media is like, I think he might do it. I think he I think, you know, forget all that stuff you've ever known about him. For the last 150 years he's been alive? No. Now, at this late date, he wants to raise taxes on the wealthy. [00:07:35] God damn, the media is so irresponsible about stuff like this. - You cannot take this seriously. - No you can't. And again, it's 2.5. It's 2.5%. And also, if you're making 2.5 million or 2.6%, if you're making $2.5 [00:07:52] million a year, income tax is not the way to hit your actual wealth. You're not paying that tax rate on your investments like rich people are not taking it all in paychecks. That's not how they get it anyway. So again, even if they did this tax, it is utterly dishonest to its core [00:08:10] and it's not actually going to happen. Yeah. That's by the way that's really key. What John just said. The corporate tax and income tax, these are important distinctions. Because income tax really not paid at all by the Uber wealthy corporate taxes. You can watch those numbers carefully. But but again this is just to seize the moment [00:08:25] and to try to maintain its populist image. Yeah. Let alone capital gains taxes, which is what the vast majority of their wealth is actually. It's way lower than that anyway. And they're not talking about raising this. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.