Amidst all the huzzahing and high fives over Donald Trump single-handedly (well, with the help of his best bud, the still-current Governor) saving a thousand-odd jobs at the Carrier factories in Indiana, was this little tidbit that I'd forgotten:
Trump railed against companies leaving the country during the campaign, Carrier in particular. But he railed as well against trying to keep them here through tax incentives and loan guarantees and all that jazz. He called such political maneuverings stupid, the sign of inept politicians wasting the taxpayer's money. His plan was clear: retaliatory tariffs against companies that dared move out of the country.. Regarding Courier, he warned repeatedly that they would have to pay 35% more in taxes / import costs on a/c units they tried to import from Mexico.
And what was the big hard-nosed, arm-twisting deal cut to force Carrier to stay?
Um … tax incentives. Still-Governor Mike Pence wrote a check for $7M, if Courier promised to keep 1,000 jobs in the state and spend $16M in capital investments. Yes, it's the same sort of stuff that Trump was calling stupid and weak a month ago.
And what about the air conditioners made by the other 1,100 or so jobs that are still being shifted down into Mexico? Apparently they won't get any sort of tariffs levied when they are imported to the US.
And, yes, this is exactly the sort of truth-checking, consistency-obsessive, missing-the-point-of-deeper-truth-man stuff that will be utterly unconvincing to Trump's supporters who focus just on "He said he'd saved the jobs and HE SAVED THE JOBS!" stuff. This sort of hypocritical (and stupid) about-face will cost him no future votes or reduce his Victory Tour crowds.
But it's still important to point out. And Maddow does so very well.
Trump trades stick for carrots for jobs stunt
Rachel Maddow reports on Donald Trump’s publicity event at a Carrier manufacturing plant in Indiana after he used tax benefits and not the tax penalties he threatened on the campaign trail to convince the company to keep some jobs in the U.S. that had…
