President Trump waffled on raising taxes on the wealthiest of Americans Friday, saying he would prefer not to take a hard stance in order to avoid potential political backlash.
In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump pointed to former President George H. W. Bush being relentlessly ridiculed during his failed 1992 reelection campaign after he raised taxes after previously saying he wouldn’t.
“The problem with even a ‘TINY’ tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, ‘Read my lips,’ the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election,” Trump wrote.
He went on to say that “Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!”
His comments come one day after several news outlets reported that Trump has asked House Speaker Mike Johnson to include a tax hike on people making more than $2.5 million per year.
Such increases would reverse Republican leaders’ past opposition to such tax increases, which Johnson last month reminded his party is “traditionally” against.
