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'He doesn't say that!' CNN host cackles as conservative tries to defend Trump's promise
Audie Cornish and Terry Schilling/CNN
The $5,000 Promise Is Patronage Dressed as Populism
A Price Tag in Search of a Policy
Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 payment to American voters is not presented here as part of a coherent economic program. It is a campaign promise with an estimated $1.3 trillion cost, issued while Republicans are again invoking a national debt approaching $40 trillion. The contradiction is not incidental. It exposes how quickly the party’s fiscal doctrine disappears when spending can serve Trump’s electoral interests.
Power Makes the Promise
The central actor is not an…
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