Donald Trump works behind the counter during a campaign event at McDonald's restaurant on October 20, 2024

WASHINGTON — Billionaire Donald Trump styles himself a populist champion of the working class, but that message doesn’t seem to be translating into his economic policy proposals just yet.

The president’s allies in the Make America Great Movement have long suggested Trump, who won both his elections with the backing of working-class voters, would transform the Republican Party from the party most closely aligned with big business to one dedicated to helping the little guy.

But the “big, beautiful bill” percolating on Capitol Hill — the centerpiece of the president’s economic agenda — shows Trump tossing aside their advice and mostly sticking with the Republican establishment.

Republicans are preparing a $5 trillion package of tax cuts, with favourable provisions for the wealthy, likely to be paired with deep cuts to Medicaid and food benefits relied on by vulnerable Americans. MAGA allies have pushed for the package to become more populist, insisting on a need to hike taxes on the wealthy and protect health care programs.

But Trump has seemingly shot down both those dreams in recent days.

On Wednesday, Trump dismissed the idea of raising taxes on millionaires. “I think it would be very disruptive because a lot of the millionaires would leave the country,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “You lose a lot of money if you do that.”

And in an interview with Time Magazine, Trump dismissed the idea that the Republican Party’s budget plans would result in Medicaid cuts. “They’re going to look at waste, fraud, and abuse,” Trump insisted. He added: “Nobody minds that.”

As Republican lawmakers have demonstrated for the past few months, all manner of Medicaid cuts — from an across-the-board reduction of federal spending on the program to specific “work requirements” cutting benefits for the unemployed — can be categorised as waste, fraud and abuse.

The one area where Trump has dabbled in economic populism so far is his chaotic embrace of widespread tariffs, which he insists will eventually lead to a revitalisation of American manufacturing. So far, however, the tariffs appear more likely to hike prices for millions of American consumers, drain retirement accounts and threaten the lives of countless small businesses, while large corporations like Apple request and receive

© HuffPost