I was pretty young when the odious talking point became popular and not entirely dialed-in politically. I remember thinking it was silly, but I don’t think I understood the racism (and race-baiting) Reagan invoked in that portrait. And I definitely didn’t understand how effective it would be, even all these years later.
That argument and the many others that have been similarly contrived play right into many Americans’ preconceptions about where their hard-earned tax dollars are going. Turns out it’s fairly easy to get white folks riled up about cutting benefits when you tell them that those benefits are being abused by lazy, irresponsible women who have a baby every couple of years to increase their monthly check, sponging off benevolent taxpayers so they can drive fancy cars and buy steak and lobster with their food stamps.
In 1976, Reagan said of the welfare queen, “She has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veterans’ benefits on four nonexisting deceased husbands...And she's collecting Social Security on her cards. She's got Medicaid, getting food stamps and she is collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax‐free cash income alone is over $150,000.”
It turns out that the woman about whom Reagan was speaking was Linda Taylor, whose fascinating story was told by Josh Levin in a New York Times article and in his 2019 biography, The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award. Turns out that Reagan and the others who used her story to paint a deceitful portrait of poor black women as swindlers were not only wrong about the women in general, but they were wrong about Linda Taylor, too. (It’s a great read!)
But let’s get back to the woman at the heart of my story. I don’t know her well, but her husband and my wife are life-long friends, more like siblings than pals. He recently expressed concern about his wife’s financial misconduct—he seems to believe it’s going to catch up with her at some point. In telling my wife this story, he knew she would tell me. It’s always been our policy: if there’s something you don’t want me to tell my wife, don’t tell me. So now I know, and I am sharing her story as a way to quell my anger. I guess now we’ll both have secrets.
I’d like to start by telling you that this queen is in no way lazy. She owns and runs two successful small businesses. She owns three houses (two of them on her own and one with her husband), and she rents out the two she doesn’t live in to her family members at well below the going rate. So far, she sounds great, doesn’t she? Industrious! Generous!
Our queen loves to travel, taking several annual trips abroad along with shorter getaways most months. When you run two businesses, you need to be able to take a break! And she takes a lot of them.
She also loves cars and the fancier the better. In the five or so years I’ve known her she has owned multiple Mercedes sedans and SUVs, an Escalade (Cadillac!), and a Corvette. At present, she can be seen driving a late-model Bentley. I don’t know the model, but...Bentley.
You’re wondering, “What’s the problem, G? She’s successful, so who cares how she spends her money?”
Well, one thing she doesn’t like to spend her money on is taxes. Her husband confided that she claims just $13,000 in annual income. Why $13K? Well, besides her disdain for taxes, she also cares little for the cost of insurance, so the poverty-level income she reports enables her to get free health coverage for herself and her three sons (from a previous marriage). As a small business owner, she also plans to take advantage of the $10,000 grants offered by the SBA that need not be repaid.
This woman, unlike Linda Taylor, lives a fairly lavish life. Big house with pool and tennis court, luxury cars, vacation homes. She eats all her meals out in spite of having a kitchen in which six people could safely prepare food simultaneously.
Sure, it’s maddening, but you may be thinking that it’s really not my story to tell and you’d be right. Coming from me, it’s just hearsay, little more than gossip. But the story symbolizes so much of my mostly suppressed frustration in the past few years with people, particularly public figures, who lie, bully, cheat, and even break the law without remorse and without any fear of consequences.
Like so much of the news over the past few years, when this story hit me it enraged me, and then, as always, I had to tamp down those feelings so I could function. Sometimes after reading about a particularly cruel tweet (or piece of legislation or court ruling), I I find that it helps to donate to humanitarian organizations or politicians doing the right thing. But right now, I’m telling this story because it feels like the only thing I can do.
When I first met the queen about five years ago, I had no strong feelings about her. We had little in common, but I found no reason to dislike her. Then she started posting pictures of herself at Trump rallies, and when he won the election she was ecstatic about it, smug and vocal. And I found my reason.
I knew from my wife that she and her husband were conservative, but queenie never said anything that gave me the impression she was interested in politics. I’d simply assumed they were anti-tax republicans because of their wealth.
But her reaction to Trump’s election told a different story. It occurred to me that it couldn’t have been about her personal income tax (when she doesn’t pay any). In fact, she could risk the loss of some of those benefits she and her sons enjoy if Trump were able to pass everything on his wish list. Instead, I’ve come to believe that she loves Trump because of who he is. In his flagrant cheating, lying, selfishness, and his vulgar displays of wealth—not to mention his tax scams—she sees herself.
And also she has bad hair.
