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Last month when speaking to the New York Economic Club, Donald Trump gave a nonsensical speech purportedly to lay out his economic policies. Of course, like all his other speeches, it left audience members saying, “What?”
Consider this. He started to talk about the tax reform bill that he signed into law while he was president. But then he veered way off into never-never land. “And actually, when you add all those numbers, you get close to 50 [percent tax cut]. But much, much higher. Nobody’s ever seen a new earner all the way down to 21 percent, which everybody said was impossible to do. And I don’t know if I’ve ever realized this, but you end up being able to do that.”
Compare that garbledness to Vice President Kamala Harris's economic plan that has won her the endorsement of over 400 leading economic thinkers, including Nobel Prize winners. Trump’s proposals have been widely criticized for their short-sightedness and harmful long-term effects.
And contrary to Trump’s fictitious belief that his proposals would make inflation “vanish completely,” his plans would actually make it worse. Yet current polling shows Harris lags behind Trump as far as who would be better for the economy, when in fact her plans are far superior, particularly for small businesses, middle-class families, and future entrepreneurs.
Billionaire entrepreneur and staunch queer ally Mark Cuban has been hitting the campaign trail for Harris, saying she has the overwhelming advantage on the economy compared to Trump. He began by introducing her in our hometown of PIttsburgh when she unveiled her economic agenda in front of the city’s economic club.
Afterwards, on MSNBC, Cuban talked about why he was endorsing Harris.
“I’ve known [Trump] for 25 years, and, you know, I’ve had various interactions with him, got to talk to him, but we weren’t best friends," Cuban said. "In 2015, when he came down the escalator, in 2016 early on, I was, like, ‘OK, this guy is not a traditional politician,’ but I also presumed that he would start to learn and really take an interest in the job and what it takes to run the country and learn the issues and the details. And I got to the point where I realized he had no interest in learning. He had no interest in details. He had no interest in really finding out what it takes to be successful with any policy. And it was kind of crazy.”
Why in the world do voters think Trump is better for the economy? Harris “has only been campaigning on her economic vision for a little over 100 days, compared to Trump’s nearly nine years of public visibility,” he told me. “Yet she is quickly closing the gap because of her commitment to real solutions for American businesses, particularly small enterprises.”
Cuban stressed that Harris’s policies provide essential support to small businesses, the backbone of the U.S. economy, recognizing that empowering these companies helps the entire economy grow. “She is focused on reducing bureaucratic red tape and keeping taxes stable or lower for the overwhelming majority of small businesses, which make up 90 percent of American companies,” he pointed out. “For entrepreneurs, her approach means fewer obstacles to success, more opportunities to innovate, and a more sustainable economic environment.”
In contrast, Trump’s economic vision, as Cuban succinctly puts it, is riddled with dangerous ideas like blanket tariffs, which are nothing more than taxes on consumers in disguise. “Trump’s across-the-board tariffs are a ‘Grinch’ move, designed to hurt the very middle-class families and businesses he claims to support,” Cuban creatively stated.
“Consider that his tariffs on imports mean higher prices for everyday goods, from holiday gifts to basic necessities. If the retail store down the street where you buy clothes or candles has to pay 60 percent more for imported goods, those costs get passed directly on to the consumer. Suddenly, the family buying Christmas gifts can’t afford as much, and the store selling those items struggles to keep its doors open. He truly is the Grinch that wants to steal Christmas.”
“What’s more, you have more than 90 percent of American companies that are small, with owners making less than $400,000 a year," he continued. "The vice president has said that anyone making less than that 400k will see their tax rates stay the same or go down.”
Cuban understands that one of the starkest differences between Harris and Trump is their approach to supporting small businesses. While Trump has spent years boasting about his tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations, he has done little to support small business owners and entrepreneurs — the very people who fuel innovation and job creation in America.
According to everything I’ve read and heard, Trump’s tax policies primarily benefit the top 1 percent. Harris, on the other hand, has pledged to maintain or even lower taxes for small business owners, and she has introduced incentives and programs aimed at helping startu-ps succeed. I did a read-through of her plan, “‘A New Way Forward for the Middle Class,” and it’s clear she understands that for new businesses to thrive, the government must reduce friction — whether through simplified paperwork, streamlined regulations, or targeted tax breaks.
On a more obvious level, one of the biggest advantages Harris holds over Trump, Cuban said, is her integrity. Trump’s record, in contrast to Harris’s, is riddled with broken promises — lies (surprise!) and erratic policies that often serve his personal interests rather than the country’s. “She is honest, ethical, open-minded, and compassionate. Someone you can trust,” Cuban said of Harris.
