Donald Trump charmed an overflowing Las Vegas Mexican restaurant Friday in a campaign stop promoting his popular “no tax on tips” policy.
The affable President was in his element before the intimate crowd, speaking just moments after receiving the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and after last night’s conclusion of a muted Democratic National Convention.
Trump called his promise to eliminate taxes on tops “the biggest promise, I think, that the restaurant workers have had in a long time,” while ridiculing Vice President Kamala Harris, who adopted the policy after Trump publicized it.
“And in our case, we mean it,” he said. “Somebody that I know just copied it,” adding “I don’t think anybody’s buying it.”
Trump promised the millions of American workers who receive tips – many inside the restaurant – that he will “let you keep 100% of your income and not be harassed.”
He praised working Americans for supporting him in past elections and promised to go even further for them after winning in 2024.
“The United States is home to an estimated 5.5 million workers whose livelihoods depend on tip income, and they’re working with their hands and their talent, and they’re skilled,” he said.
Trump added:
…nearly two thirds of the workers [receiving tips] are women. An estimated 700,000 single mothers nationwide rely on tip income to support their children. These are some of the best and hardest working people in America. And when I’m President, you are the ones I will be fighting for, and I’ll be fighting for you very hard every single day.
He blasted Harris for insincerity after copying his policy, telling the crowd “in fact, Kamala cast the tie breaking vote to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to go after your tip income.”
Trump blistered Harris for many of the policies she has pushed while in office that have crippled the middle class, getting emphatic nods from the crowd when asking if the higher energy costs have impacted them. He harangued her for her role in the border crisis as well.
But he continued to hammer Harris for her record on taxes hurting American workers.
“Kamala supports the bill to eliminate the federal tip credit, which enforcement comes to impose large service charges on diners, meaning customers will not leave tips at all,” Trump said.
Nicole Williams, a local bartender and member of the culinary union, addressed the crowd from the microphone as well.
“This is the honor of my life to be up here with my favorite president, and his no tax on tips policy is going to help my family,” she said. “It’s going to bring immediate relief to my pocketbook and my seven kids, and all of you here who have children and families to take care of, this is going to be a great thing for all of us. So let’s get out and vote for President Trump.”
Trump praised the restaurant owner, Javier Barajas, who Trump noted “began in the restaurant business as a dishwasher, works his way up to being a chef. Now, he owns an entire family of Mexican restaurants in Las Vegas.”
Barajas addressed the crowd as well, saying, “I came when Ronald Reagan was the president. And you know what, I really need those times.”
Turning to Trump, Barajas implored, “I need you to please make America great again.”
President Joe Biden stopped by another of Barajas’s restaurants in July to tout his support in the Latino community. Trump took the opportunity to ridicule Biden.
“And you know, Joe walked in, it’s like, it’s like, not the most – it wasn’t too exciting when he walked in,” Trump told the crowd, to laughter. “Literally, he didn’t know where the hell it was. ‘What kind of a restaurant is this? Italian? Is this? Is this a French restaurant?'”
Trump blasted the Biden-Harris administration, calling Biden “the worst president in the history of the United States. Jimmy Carter is very happy because he’s considered to be a brilliant president.”
Trump ridiculed the administration for squandering the economy of the Trump administration.
“It was the strongest economy anybody had ever seen. Under Kamala, it has been one disaster after another,” he said, continuing to single out Harris.
“After Kamala cast the tie breaking votes on the bills that caused the worst inflation in decades, the Harris price hikes have caused the typical Nevada family… $32,000 more [per year] under this horrible regime of people that don’t know what the hell they’re doing. Now Kamala is promising communist price controls on food.”
Trump ended by warning of the economic catastrophe that would come with another term of Harris in office.
“Her plan will cause catastrophic inflation, shortages of rationing, the restaurant industry will be obliterated,” he cautioned. “And I say, welcome to 1929.”
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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