Steve Bannon has a warning for Donald Trump: raise taxes on millionaires or face economic disaster.
During a discussion on “The Majority Report,” Sam Seder and the team broke down recent reporting that Trump’s inner circle is seriously considering tax hikes on Americans earning over $1 million a year.
According to The Washington Post, the proposal is getting internal attention, even though it has been mostly rejected by Republicans in Congress.
“The Math Doesn’t Work” Without Tax Hikes
Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist, stated during his War Room podcast: “The day of reckoning is here, folks.” He also warned, “Unless you raise the taxes at the upper bracket, the math doesn’t work.”
In his NewsNation interview with Chris Cuomo, Bannon elaborated further: “The math doesn’t work and let’s shoot less… what we’re talking about is massive losses. Trump’s plan is to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, the workplace plus, and a massive additional tax cut: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security. The math only works out if you actually increase taxes on the wealthy.”
Bannon’s argument is that without a tax hike on the wealthy, it will be impossible to deal with America’s growing deficit and debt.
He even took a shot at Elon Musk’s past economic promises, saying, “Elon said a lot of stuff that none of which turned out to be accurate.”
Republican Pushback
Still, most Republicans are pushing back hard. Longtime party figures like Newt Gingrich, Steve Moore, and Larry Kudlow have vocally opposed any proposals to raise taxes.
Speaker Mike Johnson and senators like Ted Cruz and Dave McCormick are also opposed.
Seder and his team pointed out that this resistance isn’t surprising.
“There is no populist movement on the right,” Seder said.
“The Republican Party is completely captured by billionaires and industry,” added The Majority Report co-host Emma Vigeland.
Economic Populism or Empty Promises?
Bannon, despite his controversial history and extreme views, seems to recognize that without offering some economic benefits to regular Americans, far-right movements struggle to gain traction.
He’s pushing Trump to adopt a fig leaf of economic populism, much like fascist movements in the past tried to offer social programs to win public support.
But the reality is, as the show emphasized, the Republican Party has no intention of raising taxes on the wealthy.
Seder reminded listeners that Trump’s signature achievement in his first term was a massive tax cut favoring the rich.
And Trump’s latest plans center around cutting programs like Medicaid while delivering “one big beautiful” tax cut package for the wealthy.
“If you for a moment believe that Donald Trump is a populist, maybe something dramatically changed in the last five minutes,” Seder said, sarcastically.
The Language Battle: Oligarchy vs. Kings
The hosts also criticized Democrats like Rep. Elissa Slotkin for trying to steer the party away from using the word “oligarchy” to describe America’s economic system.
They argued that terms like “oligarchy” resonate strongly with voters and better explain the country’s political and economic problems.
“Language is a tool,” one of the co-hosts said.
In short, Bannon sees the economic writing on the wall but knows the Republican Party is too tied to wealthy donors to fix it.
The so-called “day of reckoning” might be here, but it’s unclear if anyone in Trump’s orbit is willing, or able, to do anything about it.
IMAGE CREDIT: “Steve Bannon” by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Image adjusted for layout.