U.S. President Donald Trump looks at Gobble one of two turkeys to be ceremonially pardoned for Thanksgiving in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 25, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump aggressively campaigned on the economy — repeatedly blaming the Biden Administration for inflation — and it worked. Trump's focus on economic angst was enough to get him past the finish line, with a narrow victory of roughly 1.5 percent over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the popular vote.
Ten months into Trump's second presidency, however, anger over the economy remains. And many polls are showing Trump with low approval ratings.
In a biting New York Times op-ed published on Thanksgiving 2025, liberal journalist Molly Jong-Fast argues that one group of Americans has a lot to be thankful for under the Trump Administration: billionaires.
Jong-Fast, a frequent guest on MS Now (formerly MSNBC), notes that Thanksgiving brings "a sense that we need to take a moment to acknowledge what we have, and be reminded to help others less fortunate than ourselves."
"Trumpsgiving is not about that," Jong-Fast laments. "The spirit of this season is always Trumpstaking. For himself, his family and the various oligarchs in his circle, alternately grateful for his patronage and fearful that he might turn on them. In just under a year since Mr. Trump returned to power, this has been the lesson again and again. We're living in the age of what I call reverse philanthropy: instead of giving, you get. See: his free 747."
Jong-Fast continues, "And in setting this example, Mr. Trump is making our country's rich people worse, by emboldening them to embrace his transactional style of governing."
Trump, she observes, practices "reverse philanthropy" — meaning that "he wants you to give to him — or else."
"Remember the dozens of people and corporations who gave over a million dollars each to his inauguration?," Jong-Fast writes. "Mr. Trump then went to five crypto firms and eight tech companies, including some that helped fund the inauguration, for help building his ballroom. Which will itself be a place to gather fellow oligarchs and others who seek Mr. Trump's favor…. Philanthropy was always, on some level, a way for people with too much to feel better about that fact, or maybe about how they came to have all that loot in the first place. They need to be reminded of that. And of what they should be grateful for: this country, and its hardworking nonbillionaires trying to survive."
The liberal journalist adds, "Maybe it's time to bring the guilt — not the gilt — back."
Molly Jong-Fast's full New York Times op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).