Donald Trump apparently wants to Make America Great Again by competing with developing countries for bragging rights over the lowest wages—humanity be damned. Trump rolled out what appears to be a wage suppression plan during his opening remarks at Tuesday night's GOP debate, then hit the theme again Wednesday morning on Morning Joe:
We have to become competitive with the world. Our taxes are too high, our wages are too high. Everything is too high. We have to compete with other countries... We have got to do something to compete with the rest of the world. Our country is not competitive anymore.
Let's think about this for a second—here's a politician running for president and telling voters that his plan to Make America Great Again hinges on making us "competitive" with some of the lowest-paid workers in the world. Yes, that's what he’s suggesting. Though he did not explicitly say that he would lower the federal minimum wage, what Trump did say is that he’s solidly against raising the minimum wage—$7.25/hour—by a single cent. Trump even acknowledged that it's a "tough position politically," but...
People have to go out, they have to work really hard, and they have to get into that upper stratum."
Just guessing all those people still making $7.25/hour will be shocked to learn that they aren't working “really hard.” On the other hand, perhaps they'll be super inspired to find out that working just a little bit harder could push them into the "upper stratum."