The Rot at the Top
Democratic candidates should be talking about ONLY two
things in these last five weeks before the midterms, and show how they’re
connected: higher prices and Trump-Republican corruption.
Consider:
1. The Trump-Republican war on Iran has been a
huge windfall for Big Tech supplying the military — such as Palantir, a core
artificial intelligence and data-integration partner for the U.S. Department of
Defense, founded by Trump and JD Vance buddy Peter Thiel. But it’s costing
Americans dearly.
At the same time, investment companies backed by Donald
Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have accumulated at least $3.2
billion to $6.3 billion in direct Pentagon contracts, current funding, and
future contract options since January 2025.
But Trump’s Iran war is causing Americans to spend some
$1.50 a gallon more on gas (gas was $2.98
per gallon before the war; it’s now $4.42
to $4.47 per gallon). Since the war began, Americans have spent $65
billion more on gas.
The price of diesel fuel has soared to an average of $7.00 a gallon — and because trucks that transport everything to retail stores now pay so much more to get it there, this price increase is also being passed on to consumers.
2. Trump has given out tariff waivers and carve-outs to
industries and companies making kickbacks to him, while the tariffs have jacked
up prices overall.
For example, when polyethylene terephthalate, the
thermoplastic used to make plastic bottles, got a tariff exemption, it was a
win for Reyes Holdings, a Coca-Cola bottler that ranks among the largest
privately held companies in the U.S. and is owned by a pair of brothers who
have donated
millions of dollars to Republican causes.
Just after Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, dumped
$1 million into Trump’s inauguration, Apple got tariff exemptions for its
products.
After Elon Musk sank a quarter of a billion dollars into
Trump’s 2024 campaign, Tesla got a tariff
exemption for electronics.
And so on.
But the worldwide tariffs that made these corrupt exemptions
possible have increased annual household costs by an estimated $1,100,
according to The
Budget Lab at Yale.
3. Trump’s support for artificial intelligence is another form of corruption that’s pushing up prices.
The AI industry’s war chest for the 2026 midterms is
projected to exceed
$200 million, with almost all of it going to Republican candidates and
Trump’s own super PAC.
But AI is already harming average Americans by increasing
borrowing costs. Together with the costs of Trump’s war in Iran, Big Tech’s
huge borrowing — over $500 billion so far this year — is crowding out other
borrowers, thereby contributing to sky-high interest rates on mortgages, auto
loans, and credit-card overdrafts.
4. Trump’s tariffs and support for AI are increasing the
costs of housing.
Housing affordability is among voters’
top concerns this election cycle, yet:
— The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is now 7.33
percent — higher than at any point since late 2023 — due in part to Trump’s war
and his encouragement of AI borrowing.
— The prices of lumber and building materials have soared
because of Trump’s tariffs. The National
Association of Home Builders estimates that tariffs on lumber and building
materials have added $10,900 to the cost of constructing a new U.S.
single-family home.
— The price of copper, a key material for electrical wiring
in residential and commercial construction, has
soared 40 percent in the past year due to Trump’s tariffs and data center
demands — adding even more costs to building a typical home, which requires
hundreds of pounds of copper.
5. Trump’s tax cuts for America’s wealthiest corporations
and individuals have come at the expense of healthcare and health insurance for
average Americans.
To pay for the tax
cuts for America’s wealthiest families and corporations — including their
largest donors — congressional Republicans slashed Medicaid and failed to
renew healthcare tax credits, forcing millions of Americans to spend more for
coverage or forgo it altogether.
Trump and congressional Republicans passed the biggest
Medicaid cut in history, which will result in 10 million people becoming uninsured
and make healthcare providers that serve low-income populations vulnerable
to private equity takeovers.
Millions of Americans will spend an average of $2,136
in annual Affordable Care Act (ACA) premiums this year — 58 percent more than
last year (in some states they’re paying up to 220 percent more). Nearly 5
million Americans will
lose healthcare coverage this year because congressional Republicans failed
to renew the Premium Tax Credit. Additionally, at
least 115 hospitals and clinics across 32 states have closed or reduced
services as a result of the Republican healthcare cuts.
The corruption runs even deeper. When Trump rolled out
TrumpRx earlier this year, he claimed Americans would get access to more
affordable prescription drugs. But the platform fails
to disclose information about less expensive generic alternatives and in
some instances charges consumers more for products that are available for less
elsewhere.
As the Groundwork Collaborative has
shown, the biggest winners from TrumpRx are the Trump family and Big
Pharma. Donald Trump Jr. is on the board of drug platform BlinkRx, which
benefits from the regime’s promotion of direct-to-patient medicine sales.
BlinkRx donated $50,000 to the Trump inaugural committee. When patients use
TrumpRx instead of insurance, they have to cover the drug cost themselves —
saving money for insurance companies as they continue to rake in premiums.
And despite Trump exempting
17 of the largest pharmaceutical companies from his threatened pharmaceutical
tariffs, these firms have continued to raise
prices on nearly 900 different drugs. At least three of these firms — Gilead,
Merck, and Pfizer — each donated
$1 million to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee, alongside the Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America, which lobbies on behalf of Big Pharma.
***
These connections between the higher prices Americans are paying and the
corruption of the Trump regime and its Republican enablers need to be widely
understood. The richest Americans and biggest corporations have made out like
bandits — and average working Americans are paying dearly for what the bandits
have stolen.
Less than five weeks until the November 3 midterm elections,
Democrats must show Americans not only that they’re paying more for just about
everything, but that the reason they’re paying more is the rot at the heart of
Trump-Republican deal.
