Joe Biden has spent months pitching class warfare against the rich and in particular, against billionaires, incessantly demanding that they “pay their fair share” in taxes. This, despite the fact that the top 1 percent pay 40 percent of all the taxes and the top 10 percent pay about 71 percent of all the taxes.
After preaching that division and making it harder on Americans to afford their Thanksgiving meal (not to mention most other expenses), Biden then trundled off to stay at private equity billionaire David Rubenstein’s compound for his Thanksgiving celebration on Nantucket. He doubtless doesn’t care about the hypocrisy of that at all. So is Biden going to ask Rubenstein, the co-founder of the Carlyle Group, if he’s paid his “fair share” as he parties in his home? Or do billionaires that let Biden stay in their homes get a pass? Rubenstein wouldn’t be there, he’s overseas reportedly. But it doesn’t sound like Rubenstein would be a big fan of the move to hit billionaires in the Build Back Better bill.
Rubenstein, 72, is vocal on political matters — including taxes — and has previously slammed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax.
“If you tax the upper income, there aren’t enough of those people to really make a wealth distribution effect that’s going to be significant,” Rubenstein told CNBC in 2019.
Rubenstein also has been a supporter of the carried-interest loophole, a tax break that treats private equity profits like capital gains rather than income. The loophole is seen as a giveaway to financiers since it allows them to pay a lower tax rate on their profits.
Of course, when asked about why he was hanging out at a billionaire’s place after bashing billionaires, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “This is a time to put politics aside, spend time with your loved ones, and talk about what you’re grateful for.” Of course. Rules for thee but not for me, hits yet again. He wants everyone to hate on billionaires, just not those who let him stay at their compounds.
But as happens everywhere that Biden goes, he was met with disapproval even in tony Nantucket in a deep blue state like Massachusetts.
At a stop at a Coast Guard station today, a man on his porch flipped Biden and his motorcade the finger, according to White House pool reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs.
Biden has also been met with anger in other deep-blue states. He was met with a lot of fury in New Jersey in September, shortly after the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, where folks yelled at him for leaving people behind, telling him they would leave him behind in response. Then, in Connecticut in October, Biden was heckled when he stopped at a childcare development center and when he stopped at the University of Connecticut. He was called a “traitor” and met with “f**k Joe Biden” chants.
Nantucket Man was speaking for a lot of Americans. His view represents where Biden sits with American approval in general at this point. His approval rating is still solidly entrenched in the basement going into Thanksgiving with the Real Clear Politics job approval average at 41.6.
So Biden can try to spin his hypocrisy and deflect from his harsh inflation, but he can’t avoid the judgment of the American people.