In the months after the 2024 presidential election — and understanding what happened with Latino voters and why they shifted to Donald Trump — I called a Democratic operative in Webb County, right in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
She told told me that when asking why one voter would back the once and future president, put simply, the voter told them in Spanish, “I voted for Trump because he’s going to give me money.”
Famously, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump signed an economic rescue package that included a $1,200 check. Moreover, Trump sent letters telling people he was the person responsible for it.
For many working-class families, the stimulus checks were a lifeline and Trump’s approval rating slightly ticked up after sending out the checks, even as he would proceed to make careless mistakes that caused unnecessary deaths in the midst of the pandemic.
That conversation came to mind when on Friday, Trump suddenly floated the idea of sending out “a little rebate” to Americans.
“We’re thinking about a little rebate, but the big thing we want to do is pay down debt, but we’re thinking about a rebate,” he told a reporter before boarding Marine One on his way to a five-day trip to Scotland.
“We’re thinking about a rebate because we have so much money coming in from tariffs, that a little rebate for people of a certain income level might be very nice.”
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s comments come when voters are souring on the president. On Friday, as he departed, he vehemently denied that he visited the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s island. During that same gaggle, he said that he could pardon Epstein’s convicted accomplice and occasional girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
Fewer than 30 percent of independents approve of him, according to a new Gallup poll and he has an overall approval rating of 37 percent. His approval among men, a central part of his 2024 victory, now sits below 50 percent.
And no matter how much he tries to deflect, blame the Democrats for “the Jeffrey Epstein SCAM,” he has been unable to escape the stench of it. Trump has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s wrongdoing and crimes, whihc came to light after he had a falling out with the financier and ended their friendship.
This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson had to dismiss the chamber a day early for the summer recess to prevent enough MAGA Republicans from teaming up with the Democrats to sign a discharge petition to force a vote to release the Epstein files.
Even some of Trump’s most devoted supporters like Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Nancy Mace of South Carolina joined with Democrats in a subcommittee to subpoena the Department of Justice to hand over documents related to Epstein.
In the Senate, Democrats smell blood in the water, as Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Ruben Gallego of Arizona attempted to force the release of files related to Epstein. Both men obviously see themselves as potential Oval Office occupants and see this as an opportunity to gain points with the base and the American public.
Manosphere podcasters like Theo Von and Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant with Akaash Singh who played a key role with non-college educated sports-loving dudes breaking for Trump are turning on him.
But this will likely not happen for a number of reasons. For one, the stimulus checks in 2020 came during a once-in-a-century pandemic that required people to stay home and therefore lose their jobs. The checks made sure people had enough to meet their basic needs while keeping demand steady enough.
Pumping money into the economy now when unemployment is relatively low — and Trump frequently touts how “hot” the country is right now — would do nothing but overheat the economy, drive up demand and cause inflation to spike, the very formula that killed killed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ White House runs and allowed Trump to return to Washington.
This is to say nothing of his desite for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which could drive up inflation and his “reciprocal tariffs.”
None of that matters though, Trump is trying to rekindle the same tricks that helped him in the past. It’s the same rationale for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s saying that Barack Obama staged a “coup” and his rage against Joe Biden’s autopen. Trump is in a position of his own creation and trying to dig himself out with the old tricks.
But this time it might not work. Even now, some people might take his stimulus checks and then still not like him. After all, that happened in 2020.
