Donald Trump, a populist for the rich.

• Author: Hightower, Jim
• Position: VOX POPULIST

An old saying holds that falsehoods come in three escalating levels: "Lies, damn lies, and statistics." Now, however, we've been given an even-higher level of intentional deception: Policy speeches by Donald Trump.

Take his highly publicized address outlining specific economic policies he would push to benefit hard-hit working families. It's an almost-hilarious compilation of Trumpian fabrications, including his bold, statesmanlike discourse on the rank unfairness of the estate tax.

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"No family will have to pay the death tax," he solemnly pledged, adopting the rightwing pejorative for a tax assessed on certain properties of the dearly departed. Next came his slick prevarication: "American workers have paid taxes their whole lives, and they should not be taxed again at death."

Workers? The tax exempts the first $5.4 million of any deceased person's estate, meaning 99.8 percent of Americans pay absolutely nothing. Trump is trying to deceive real workers into thinking he's standing for them, when in fact it's his own wealth he's protecting.

What a maverick! What a shakeem-up outsider! What an anti-establishment fighter for working stiffs!

Oh, and don't forget this: What a phony!

Sure, The Donald sounds like a populist on the stump, bellowing that the system has been jerry-rigged by and for the corporate and political elites, which is killing the middle class. Well, he's right about that, but what's he going to do? Don't worry, he says smugly, I'll fix it, I'll make the system honest again. Trust me!

Groucho Marx said, "There's one way to find out if a man is honest: Ask him. If he says, 'Yes,' you know he is a crook." Or, in the case of this phony populist, just look at the specific policies he laid out as his fixes for our economy, trumpeting the package as his blueprint for the "economic renewal" of America's working class.

Trump's idea of "working class" turns out to be millionaires and billionaires, because that's who would get the bulk of benefits from his agenda. He would reward the very corporate chieftains he denounces in his blustery speeches for knocking down middle-income families and grabbing all of the new wealth our economy is creating.

Trump's proposed tax cuts, for...