Does MAGA Understand Income Disparity

By at least one calculation I found, approximately 35% of Donald Trump supporters have incomes below $50,000. This means one-third of MAGA comes from lower or lower-middle-income brackets. The largest share of Trump supporters are middle-class and make between $50,000 and $100,000. Collectively, about 60% of Donald Trump voters in the general election earn less than $100,000. Many are blue-collar workers and most are hourly wage earners. Understandably, members in this middle to lower income class group have lower education levels reflecting the national education averages.

All this means is that, Donald Trump owes his presidency to the support of average Americans, most of whom are not millionaires. Without their support, Donald Trump would be just another billionaire playboy and self-promoting businessman.

We are fast approaching the July 4, 2026, 250th birthday of our nation. This date also marks another milestone of equal significance, even if it is an infamous one. Yes, July 4th marks the one-year anniversary of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed into law by President Donald Trump on our nation’s birthday in 2025. This legislation represents the foundation of his second-term agenda. With this one bill he elevated his wealthy friends with significant individual and estate tax provisions and paid for it by cutting services to the folks who got him elected. He doesn’t need them anymore. Like any good conman, many don’t even realize they have been screwed, again.

With major cuts to healthcare and social services, he was able to pay for huge permanent tax benefits for the rich. He also paid for these cuts by plunging the nation deeper into debt to the point that the debt total now exceeds the Gross Domestic Product. The GDP is 102% of annual GDP.

In the words of Tennessee Ernie Ford singing Sixteen Tons, you are now:

Another day older and deeper in debt

Saint Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

For those unfamiliar with the term “company store,” it was the only place miners could buy essentials, and it was owned by their employer. These workers lived in isolated mining towns and the company store created a cycle of debt bondage. Workers were not paid in U.S. currency but with script that was good only at the “company store.” With low wages and high living costs, miners were forced to borrow against future wages to survive and ended up in perpetual debt.

America is seeing the latest incarnation of the company store in the machinations of the Trump government, part of which was brought about through the OBBBA. That Act expanded macroeconomic debt by shifting the financial burdens from individuals (read wealthy individuals) to future generations (read poor and middle income). While fundamentally different forms of economic coercion and leverage, the OBBBA still accomplishes the same goal of expanding the income disparity gap.

When tax structures shift away from the wealthy and toward the middle class, the burden of paying off the national debt is primarily absorbed by middle- and working-class wage earners through a combination of increased broad-based taxes, higher consumer prices, and the economic fallout of reduced government services.

In simple terms that don’t require an understanding of macroeconomics, if you derive your income through wages and not from capital gains and investment assets, you are being fleeced by the Trump administration. You are paying for his ballroom, his Trump Arch, his personal ICE Army, his no-bid contracts, his bitcoins, his real estate deals, his corporate and personal favors, and all manner of wasteful spending, whenever you fill your tank, buy groceries, or pay for goods that cost more due to his tariffs. Your children will be paying off his largesse long after he is but a memory in history books.

This is Trump’s second and final term in office, and he is feathering his own nest. To quote his wife’s jacket, "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?" To quote the president directly, “I love inflation.” He later tried to clarify this by saying that he was glad it wasn’t higher than it was. He should be reminded, when you are in a hole, stop digging.

I leave you with the beloved Popeye the Sailor cartoon character, J. Wellington Wimpy, whose famous line was, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”