Former President Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic this week while driving a golf cart, ranting about President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump referred to Biden as a “pile of c—” and declared Harris, who could replace Biden if concerns over his health lead him to drop out, as “so f—ing bad.”
Trump does not appear embarrassed by his behavior. On the contrary, he is now using footage from that video in a campaign ad, according to The Daily Beast. Trump posted a still shot from the video on Truth Social, where he did not focus on his derogatory comments about the Democratic ticket for the 2024 election. Instead, he wrote in all capitals, “END TAX ON TIPS,” referencing a moment in the video where he unrolled two notes and handed them off-camera, presumably to his caddy.
“She’s so bad. She’s so pathetic,” Trump adds in the video, continuing, “She’s so f—ing bad.”
In response, the Biden campaign told The Daily Beast, “What is bad is taking away women’s rights, what is bad is losing an election and encouraging a violent mob to attack the Capitol, what is bad is assaulting women, what is bad is not paying your taxes, what is bad is rooting for our economy to fail.”
Trump first announced his idea to eliminate income taxes on tips during a rally earlier this year in Las Vegas, a city where unionized service workers have significant electoral power in the key battleground state of Nevada. Since then, his supporters have promoted it as a key policy issue, with some GOP lawmakers posting images of restaurant receipts with messages like “Trump 2024” and “no tax on tips.”
However, a Culinary Union official in Nevada has criticized this proposal as unserious. Many low-income service workers do not pay income tax because their earnings are so low that various exemptions and credits offset their tax liability. Consequently, this policy could primarily benefit wealthier service staff, costing an estimated $250 billion over 10 years.
Trump has also suggested eliminating federal income tax altogether and replacing it with tariffs on imported goods, an idea that experts warn would devastate the federal budget and exacerbate inflation.