Dimon, Peltz, Schwarzman, Griffin, and others like them are drifting back to Trump for only one reason: They want to keep the tax cuts that Trump gave them in 2017, which are all due to expire in December 2025.
Biden’s plan is to let the tax cuts expire. At any rate, that’s what he’s been saying lately. In fact, Biden intends to keep the tax cuts for people earning less than $400,000, which will increase the budget deficit by $1.5 to $2.5 trillion over 10 years. Trump intends to keep the tax cuts for everybody, which will increase the budget deficit by $4 trillion over the same period. If the donor class were really concerned about inflation, it would oppose Trump’s plan on the grounds that a $4 trillion deficit increase is much more inflationary than a $2.5 trillion deficit increase. But they’re silent on this point. Biden would likely seek to reduce the cost of keeping some of Trump’s tax cuts by imposing new taxes on inherited wealth, by increasing the Medicare tax on high incomes, and by taxing carried interest. But don’t expect these gentlemen to thank Biden for such budget-mindedness.
Not even Trump appears to buy the specious reasons that respectable plutocrats give for supporting his candidacy. In The Washington Post on Tuesday, Josh Dawsey reported that Trump said the quiet part out loud at a recent meeting at the Pierre Hotel while shaking down this crowd for $25 million contributions to his super PACs. Trump bluntly told them that if Biden is elected their taxes will go up in 2026. (Actually, make that two quiet parts, since it’s against the law for Trump to solicit on behalf of his super PACs.) “He’s not going to renew them,” Trump said of the 2017 tax cuts, “which means your taxes are going to go up by four times.” Actually, they’ll go up by less than that, but let’s don’t quibble. Trump was forcing his audience to acknowledge that they will support him in 2024 not because they think a second Trump term will be good for the republic—most know it won’t be—but because he will make them richer.
