In today’s edition of FAFO (F*ck Around and Find Out) we have GOP Business Leaders learning the hard way that Trump’s massive immigrant deportation plans will actually be really bad for business. When you get rid of that cheap labor that are willing to work ungodly hours for crazy low wages with virtually no employee protection, you are in trouble. Americans expect at least minimum wage, breaks, maybe some insurance. Those ungrateful immigrants will settle for $4.00 an hour and stand in the sun for 16 hours a day picking strawberries. Not us ‘mericans!
As Greg Sargent from the New Republic points out “Republicans or GOP-adjacent industries have already begun to admit out loud that some of his most important policy promises could prove disastrous in their parts of the country.”
Oopsie!
They won’t say it out loud. but they are definitely thinking it. Instead, they dance around it. For example, in Georgia they are worried about losing that sweet President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act money, which provided HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars into green energy technologies. Trump has vowed to repeal that money. Georgia state Rep Beth Camp is worried about losing those jobs – and that money.
I mean, Trump LITERALLY said this was what he was going to do, guys. One of his central campaign promises was to get rid of the “green energy scam” and bring back manufacturing. His Swiss cheese brain doesn’t understand that the IRA money actually brought a job BOOM, creating opportunities for people without college degrees in highly desirable fields. But, you know, he said it was BAD and MAGA believed him,
If the IRA is repealed, factories may be left empty. Jobs will disappear. Companies will not be able to employ people anymore. Unemployment will go up. And reliance on safety net programs, like food stamps and welfare, will go UP. You know, the very programs the GOP wants to cut.
Deporting tens of millions of undocumented immigrants will cause a similar ripple effect of misery – for both companies and consumers. Agriculture (farming, dairy and meatpacking) and construction will be hit particularly hard, as those are some of the most grueling and low paying types of work that disproportionally rely on immigrant workers.
How will the Trump administration handle this? The promised mass deportations on day 1. Will they follow through? If so, who will build new houses and pick fruit? Americans?
Are you ready to pay $9.99 for a package of strawberries? How about 50% more for that home renovation or lawn maintenance?