Donald Trump took a victory lap in Indianapolis yesterday afternoon, where he and Vice President elect Mike Pence officially announced a deal to keep 800 Carrier jobs in Indiana.
That's 200 fewer jobs than the 1,000 jobs that Trump initially said the deal would save, but that's kind of besides the point.
This was just an opportunity for Trump to do what he does best: self-promotion - something he definitely needed to do in this case, because the deal isn't all that great.
The media is celebrating it as a win for Trump, but it's actually a win for Carrier.
In exchange for not sending those 800 jobs to Mexico, United Technologies, the company that owns Carrier, will get around $7 million in tax credits from Mike Pence's state of Indiana.
It will also still send around 1,300 jobs south of the border, all while pretending it cares about American workers.
This is basically the opposite of what Trump promised on the campaign trail.
Back in April, he said that if were elected president, he would hit Carrier with "a damn tax" and keep all the jobs in Indiana.
"They ought to do this fast. Let them tell them you're gonna pay a damn tax when you leave this country and you think you're going to sell product because we're all so stupid... And believe me, if I were in office right now, Carrier would not be leaving Indiana, that I can tell you. That I can tell you."
But now instead of saving all the jobs, Trump let most of them go to Mexico, and instead of hitting United Technologies and Carrier with a tax or tariff, he gave them millions in what another era would probably call a bribe.
It doesn't take a genius to realize that the self-proclaimed deal-maker-in-chief got fleeced.
Either that - or he never intended to make a deal to help workers in the first place - and this was all just part of a scam to help big business.
-Thom
(What do you think? Tell us
here.)
