Trump’s “Shovel Ready” Infrastructure Plan Has a Hefty Price Tag

Please, somebody remind me in what way Donald Trump is supposed to be “conservative.”

Seriously, when you scratch past all the orange spray tan and MAGA-speak, all you’re left with is another irresponsible, big spending government hack, living off of a checkbook that belongs to the American taxpayers.

Yes, I know there are some MAGA faithful who will hear this and have 100 fresh memes, ready to go, in order to explain to us why President Trump siding with the Democrats to add another $2 trillion to our national debt is super-conservative.

Remember when President Barack Obama announced his infrastructure plan, calling it “shovel ready” jobs?

Remember how the right balked at the prospect of propping up employment numbers with government boondoggles riding the infrastructure tip?

I’m waiting for those same voices to speak out about what Trump is planning for us.

While meeting with smiling Democrats today, the president went so far as to trash an infrastructure plan already put in place by his own administration.

Trump, meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), made clear that he was never supportive of the proposal calling for public-private partnerships because “you get sued,” according to a senior Democratic source who attended the private meeting in the White House’s Cabinet Room.

“That was a Gary [Cohn] bill. That bill was so stupid,” Trump told the Democratic leaders, according to the source.

Cohn is the former economic adviser to the president. He walked away in 2018, because he disagreed with the president’s daft notion that tariffs are actually a good thing, when it comes to the free market.

Tariffs. Another NOT conservative thing.

So here’s the skinny on the Cohn-backed infrastructure plan:

It would call for $200 billion in federal spending that would be used to leverage an additional $800 billion in private investment over the next decade or so.

Trump was apparently having flashbacks of his personal business dealings, as he declared that the public working with the federal government on these projects would lead to lawsuits.

“[Trump] said definitively he doesn’t like private-public partnerships, and he did not at all support the plan that was put forward last year,” recalled House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who was among the group of Hill Democrats who met with Trump.

“He said he never supported it,” DeFazio added. “It was a product of a think tank guy, DJ Gribbin, and he said, ‘That was Gary’s thing. I never supported that.'”

Gribbin, an infrastructure policy adviser, also left the White House last year.

As it is, Democrats are absolutely thrilled with the idea of complete government control of the monies that pay for these infrastructure plans, and they want to raise taxes to do it.

Because of course they do.

Today’s agreement between President Trump, Schumer and Pelosi is being hailed as a “bipartisan victory.”

That would be true if there was enough difference between Trump and a Democrat to pass light.

There really isn’t.

Now try this one on for size:

Democrats now hope that Trump’s rejection of public-private partnerships means he’ll move a step closer to their position.

“I would like to do something. It may not be typically Republican,” Trump told the Democrats, according to the senior Democratic source.

More specifically, he wants to spend us into oblivion.

If you were outraged when Obama did this, but you’re perfectly fine with Trump proposing the very same thing, you are a hypocrite.