Donald Trump Is Promising To Give Voters Free Stuff

Donald Trump is vowing to enact policies if he is elected president in November that would benefit voters’ pocketbooks, while offering few details as to how he plans to pay for them — a series of campaign promises that fly in the face of longstanding Republican Party orthodoxy about fiscal prudence and small government.

Last week, Trump announced that the government would pay for the costs of fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization, which can run to tens of thousands of dollars per cycle, if he becomes president again. He has also proposed eliminating taxes on workers’ tips and on Social Security benefits, which nonpartisan scorekeepers say would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit. His campaign has not said how he intends to pay for these ideas.

Coupled with his plans to extend key parts of his 2017 tax cut bill and cut corporate taxes even more, Trump’s policy blueprint would add nearly $6 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, according to a Penn Wharton Budget Model in a separate interview on CNN.

With less than three months to go until the November election, both campaigns are more focused on the here and now: winning votes and motivating people to go to the polls. That’s why the candidates are eschewing the details in favor of an agenda they say will help cost-conscious voters save money, especially at a time when high prices remain top-of-mind.

“Election promises can be more or less explicit. The more explicit they are, the more it looks like the candidate is trying to buy votes,” warned Todd Belt, a professor at George Washington University and director of its political management program.

“‘Lowering the capital gains tax rate’ or ‘lowering the corporate tax rate’ are less explicit promises that don’t need to be explained to the constituency they benefit. But the constituency certainly knows, and these promises fly below the radar,” he continued.

Whether a campaign idea counts as a “gift” depends on how easily voters can see who benefits from it, Belt added. “Promises aren’t new, but how they are discussed varies.”

Trump and Harris will get an opportunity to discuss their campaign proposals during their first presidential debate, to be hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia on Tuesday.