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Trump Accountability Watch: Donald Trump Drives Up Prices, You’re Left to Pay the Tab

This week, President Donald Trump imposed and then reversed himself on 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, in his latest move which would drive up consumers’ costs on everything from groceries to cell phones to clothing. 

While Trump falsely claims Americans “have to” live with his needless price hikes and that it will be a “short term interruption” – the truth is that tariffs are a tax on working families and are expected to raise Americans’ costs by $1,200 per year on average. That may only be a drop in the bucket for Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their billionaire funders, but it’s yet another pain point for Americans being squeezed by rising prices from eggs to gas in Trump’s economy. 

While regular Americans pay the price for Trump’s reckless trade war, his focus has remained squarely on how to make himself and his friends richer by cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans, paid for by everyone else. Trump is also preparing to gut at least half of the Internal Revenue Service’s workforce, making it easier for billionaires to cheat their way out of paying their fair share by hamstringing the agency’s basic ability to collect taxes. 

Their plan to pay for these drastic cuts? Putting a bullseye on Medicare and Medicaid and skyrocketing Americans’ health care costs. 

While Trump and Congressional Republicans deliver for their billionaire backers—chaos, corruption, and conflicts of interest in Trump’s cabinet are piling up: 
  • Senate Republicans confirm Linda McMahon in the same week Trump marches toward abolishing the Education Department she’s set to oversee: In Senate Republicans’ latest example of serving as a rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s deeply flawed and unqualified nominees, this week they unanimously confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon. McMahon, the billionaire wrestling entertainment tycoon with “minimal education experience,” has made clear she shares the President’s Project 2025 vision to “return education to the states” and is “ready to enact” it. That comes as Trump is reportedly preparing to sign an executive order as soon as this week to make good on his promise to abolish the Education Department – risking quality public school education for millions of students. 
  • Trump’s remade Consumer Watchdog agency backs away from helping consumers facing fraud: This week, acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director and Project 2025 author Russ Vought abruptly dropped the agency’s lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Early Warning Services—the operator of Zelle—despite ongoing concerns the companies failed to appropriately investigate complaints of, or compensate victims for, fraud. It’s the latest example of the Consumer Watchdog agency established to protect consumers from financial scams being derelict in its duty to stand up for regular Americans in the face of financial giants after the agency was remade by Donald Trump. Last week, Trump’s CFPB dismissed at least four enforcement cases, including one against Capital One, which was accused of “bilking customers out of more than $2 billion in interest” on savings accounts.”
  • Trump plans to axe 80,000 VA employees, threatening services for veterans: This week, a new report, based on internal memos, showed Donald Trump and Elon Musk are planning to cut 80,000 employees from the VA, the Department responsible for administering health care and services for veterans. These proposed cuts would impact tens of thousands of VA jobs tasked with implementing the bipartisan PACT Act, which helps provide critical health care to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits – and are likely to gut jobs from veterans who have bravely served, with a quarter of VA employees being veterans. 
ACCOUNTABLE.US IN THE NEWS:
  • The Guardian: ‘They worship death’: Trump’s ‘border czar’ reveals extremist views in interview: “Like every senior administration appointee to date, Homan is an unstinting supporter of Trump, and a full-throated 2020 election denialist. This, and his espousal of anti-immigrant rhetoric, have led to controversy but also to associations with far-right extremists and sprawling business relationships that some say present conflicts of interest. […] Accountable.US says that while Homan has said that he will take a ‘leave of absence’ from Border911, he has also appeared to claim that the non-profit will continue to act as ‘data-mining site’ that will provide ‘real up-to-date data on anything related to the border’, including ‘apprehensions’, ‘ICE arrests’ and other information. […] Accountable.US fears the worst. Its executive director, Tony Carrk, said in a statement: “Homan appears to be using division, fear, and chaos in a way to pad his friends’ pockets. Why should anyone believe Homan won’t steer lucrative government contracts to members of his ‘non-profit’ board?”
  • ABC11: Inflation, tariff thoughts on top of mind for Triangle shoppers: “On Tuesday night, as the nation watched the first joint address to Congress from President Donald Trump’s second term, many Americans have lingering questions about the nation’s economic health amid high inflation levels and reaction to recent tariffs that have ushered in new volatility in the stock market. […] ABC11 also reached out to corporate watchdog group Accountable.US, which published a recent report alleging many large retailers have used surging inflation as an excuse to raise prices while raking in more in profits. They said several retailers have already said recent tariffs will lead to price increases soon, adding they have concerns about what that means for American consumers.”
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