Trump Very Clearly States That He Wants To Make Housing Even Less Affordable
If this clip is not in every Democrat's campaign video ...
Bad news for Millennials who thought they might someday own their own home — President Trump just announced his exciting new plan to make sure that this never, ever happens. Rather than jumping on the “affordability” train like he pretended he was going to do for a minute, he’s going to make sure that housing prices keep going up so that those who have homes now can keep their wealth (unless, you know, they plan on moving somewhere else at any point).
This should not be particularly surprising to any of us, especially seeing as how Trump has long bragged about how very proud he is of ensuring that no one is building any affordable housing near people who are currently well-off and therefore should not have to be around such riff-raff. Not to mention the fact that he was personally sued for housing discrimination, by the Nixon administration, due to his refusal to rent to Black people.
“Existing housing, people that own their homes, we’re gonna keep them wealthy,” he said in a room full of people and also cameras. “We’re gonna keep those prices up. We’re not gonna destroy the value of their homes so that somebody that didn’t work very hard can buy a home.”
Oh? People haven’t worked hard enough? Really? Because 52 percent of Millennials and Gen Zers have a full-time job and at least one “side-hustle.” They call it “polyworking” now, because apparently we just need to keep making up cutesy terms and writing trend pieces to make up for the fact that nearly half of US workers make below a living wage.
“We're going to get interest rates down, but I want to protect the people that for the first time in their lives feel good about themselves,” he added. “That they're wealthy people.”
Yes, because what’s really important is the self-esteem of rich people, whose only reason to feel good about themselves is the current price of their house.
“I want them to understand that, you know, there's so much talk about ‘oh we're going to drive housing prices down,’” he continued. “I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes and they can be assured that’s what’s going to happen.”
The median home price in the United States right now is $415,000, up from $271,100 just five years ago. I think the prices have gone up enough, no?
$415,000, even with an extremely low interest rate, is going to be far out of reach for most people. According to a mortgage calculator, with a 30-year fixed loan, a very low 5 percent interest rate and an $83,000 down payment, the monthly payments on that would be around $1800 a month before taxes, HOA fees, utilities, and home insurance. That is not something the average American can afford.
This is not, by the way, the first time he’s floated this idea. He also brought it up at the World Economic forum in Davos.
And, once again, the big priority was the self-esteem of people who bought houses back when houses were affordable.
“Every time you make it more and more and more affordable for somebody to buy a house cheaply, you're actually hurting the value of those houses, obviously, because the one thing works in tandem with the other and I don't want to do anything that's gonna hurt the value of people that own a house, who for the first time in their lives are walking around the streets of whatever city they're in, very proud that their house is worth $500, $600, $700,000 dollars.”
Except that nowhere near enough people will be able to afford to pay them “$500, $600, $700,000” for that home (especially all the McMansions no one actually wants), so if they want to get that much, they sell to private equity firms, who will then rent them to the people who couldn’t afford to buy them. So, sure, we’ll all be renting forever and ever until we die, but at least some people’s self-esteem will remain high.
And when it comes down to it, is this not the entire ethos of the Republican Party? They didn’t want same-sex marriage to happen because it would make their marriages feel “less special.” DEI had to be eliminated to preserve the self-esteem (and financial/institutional power) of white men. They stopped teaching kids about slavery and Jim Crow in schools so white kids wouldn’t feel ashamed. Everyone needs to say “Merry Christmas” to everyone, because saying “Happy Holidays” and acknowledging that other religious and non-religious traditions exist makes some Christians feel like they’re not the most important people in the world. They just want everyone to work together to preserve the precious self-esteem resources (and wealth) of those who have traditionally held the most power.
Mind you, these are the same people who go absolutely ballistic every time an overweight woman feels good about herself and dares to be famous, and who have been raging over children getting little trophies as souvenirs of their time in Little League for the last three decades, because godforbid they might feel good about having played even if they didn’t win the most times? They’re very strict about this DEI stuff.
I want to see this video played on repeat. I want it in every single Democratic campaign ad from now until November 2028. I want it to haunt him for the rest of his presidency. People need to know that their president thinks that if they cannot afford a $415,000 home, they are not working hard enough to deserve one. They need to know that he cares more about preserving the wealth for the already-wealthy than he does for the three-quarters of Americans who say they cannot afford anything beyond their basic living expenses. They need to know that he cares more about preserving the self-esteem of these people than ensuring that regular, middle class people have stable, affordable places to live and raise their families.
Trump is very clear about his priorities. They should be, too.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
House prices on my block have skyrocketed in the 22 years I've lived here, so my plan is, rather than selling to some millionaire, to give it to my kids, who can move their friends in, have parties, host band practice, and drag down property values all down the street.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 “𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹” 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟴.