Trump wouldn’t 'mind a tax increase' on millionaires — but won’t because 'people lose elections for less'

On Tuesday, April 22, Time Magazine conducted an hour-long interview with President Donald Trump, who is now more than three months into his chaotic second presidency.

Time covered a lot of ground during the interview, from immigration to foreign policy to tariffs. Another issue discussed was taxes.

Many liberals and progressives are saying that if Trump wants to pay down the United States' federal deficit without cutting Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, the only logical thing to do is raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires. But Trump explained his reasons for opposing that during the Time interview.

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ABC News' Jonathan Karl highlighted that part of the interview in an April 25 post on X, formerly Twitter.

When Time asked Trump if he would "consider raising taxes on millionaires," the president responded, "Well, I'll tell ya, I certainly don't mind having a tax increase, and the only reason I wouldn't support it is because I saw Bush where they said, where he said, 'Read my lips' and he lost an election."

Trump was referring to the late President George H.W. Bush. During the 1988 presidential election, Bush famously declared, "Read my lips: no new taxes." That messaging, combined with the infamous Willie Horton ad, worked: Bush defeated the Democratic nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, by 8 percent in the popular vote and picked up 426 electoral votes."

Bush, however, raised taxes — despite his campaign promise. In 1992, with the U.S. in a recession, Bush was voted out of office and lost to the centrist Democratic nominee: former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

Trump, during the Time interview, said of Bush, "He would have lost it anyway, but he lost an election. He got beat up pretty good. I would be honored to pay more, but I don't want to be in a position where we lose an election because I was generous, but me, as a rich person, would not mind paying. And you know, we're talking about very little. We're talking about one point. It doesn't make that much difference, and yet, I could just see somebody trying to bring that up as a subject, and, you know, say, 'Oh, he raised taxes.'"

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Trump continued, "Well, I wouldn't be, really, you know, in the true sense, I wouldn't. I'd be raising them on wealthy to take care of middle class. And that's — I love that. I actually love the concept, but I don't want it to be used against me politically, because I've seen people lose elections for less, especially with the fake news."

A New Jersey-based Democrat and X user named Deirdre, in response to the quotes that Karl highlighted, posted, "Why is he worried about losing an election? He’s had his two terms. He’s done."

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Read a transcript of Time's full interview with President Donald Trump at this link.