Trump could care less about Cheesecake Factory workers

His promise to stop taxing restaurant tips is pure pandering. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an enforced co-habitation of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Trump has [billionaires]( galore. - Climate migrants [need help]( before. - Macron wants to [settle the score](. - AI will change the way [we war](. Ice Cold Crab Dip Did former President Donald Trump really pull out a Cheesecake Factory menu at his [Las Vegas rally]( over the weekend? This [tweet]( would lead you to believe so. And to be fair, of all the bizarre things Trump has said and done, complaining about the price of crab dip actually seems pretty tame. But the whole thing was just satire, dreamt up by a dude who has bylines in The New Yorker, The Onion and Comedy Central: What wasn’t satire was Trump’s [promise]( to the service industry workers in the crowd, some of whom probably do get their paychecks from Cheesecake Factory, considering the chain has [three locations]( in Sin City. “When I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on people making tips,” Trump said. “Those people that have jobs in restaurants, whatever the job may be — a tipping job — we’re not going after for taxes anymore. Those will be ended. And I announce that for the first time ... the first time anyone’s brought it up, I think it’s never been brought up before.” Trump knows going after taxes works. After all, it’s how he managed to [bag all those billionaires](, from Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman to Oracle’s Larry Ellison. “The wealthy and Big Business got what they wanted from Trump,” Robert Burgess [writes](: “lower taxes and less red tape that came after an executive order that required two regulations be cut for every new one added.” But did [The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017]( (which expires in 2025) do anything to help the economy? The evidence is dubious, despite ultra-wealthy individuals trying to [spin the facts]( about Trump’s track record. “Justifying support for Trump by citing excessive government spending under Biden is tenuous at best,” Robert argues. Source: Bloomberg Just as those who think Trump is going to “save the economy” are fooling themselves, anyone who thinks Trump is the solution to all our immigration woes is in for a rude awakening if he gets elected. Around 11 million unauthorized immigrants were in America in 2022, and many more have entered since. Trump’s solution — to simply deport them all in a military-style program that harkens back to President Dwight Eisenhower — “would maximize chaos and cruelty while doing little to address the underlying problem,” Bloomberg’s editorial board [writes](. Mark Gongloff — who says the migrant crisis is also [a climate one]( — is in agreement: “Simply adding higher walls and more [razor wire]( can’t be the only answer,” he writes. Perhaps the biggest irony here is that a substantial portion of the audience Trump targeted at his rally this weekend — service industry workers — are migrants themselves. According to the [Pew Research Center](, 23% of all food job workers and 20% of all leisure and hospitality workers are immigrants. Trump doesn’t care whether their Cheesecake Factory tips are tax-free! He just wants to win. Bonus GOP Reading: - Remember [the MAGA man running for governor]( in North Carolina? He’s cleaned up his public act, but behind closed doors he still spews the same hateful rhetoric. — Mary Ellen Klas - This [new voter ID bill]( is so restrictive, Republicans could disenfranchise untold numbers of otherwise eligible Americans this November. — Patricia Lopez Le Pen and [Snap]( Speaking of winning: In Europe, the far-right did a number on the incumbent parties of President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz this weekend during the EU elections. “The result reduced the leaders of the bloc’s biggest nations, Germany and France, to lame ducks,” Max Hastings [writes](. “Though the center-right will continue to dominate parliament, the surge in support for the extreme right evokes memories of the ugliest moments of the 20th century.” Max says the rationale for the right-wing surge is not unlike the MAGA craze we see in the US: Voters are fed up with inflation, the urban-rural divide and mass migration. But in France, that tension has reached a tipping point. After Le Pen’s roster of Rassemblement National candidates roiled the competition, Macron announced snap elections that will take place in two rounds at the end of the month. “If it goes badly for him, Macron could serve the last three years of his presidency in enforced ‘co-habitation’ (as the French put it) with a legislature dominated by Le Pen,” John Authers [warns](. Lionel Laurent says the bid is “a hell of a gamble.” Le Pen is Macron’s nemesis. And Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s [political protégé](, is a 28-year-old with a smile made for selfies and 1.5 million [followers]( on TikTok. Neither of them are going down without a fight. By calling these elections, Macron is “rolling the dice on his government, his credibility and his legacy,” Lionel argues. And right now, it’s looking like a bad bet: “The strong showing for Le Pen’s party in European elections indicates support far beyond the anti-Semitic xenophobic incarnation of her Holocaust-denying father’s original vehicle or the anti-globalist populism of her 2017 presidential bid,” he writes. Read [the whole thing](. Telltale AI Charts AI will change many things. Social [media](. Apple [events](. Beauty [pageants](. Global conflict, even: “That AI will change warfare is undeniable,” Hal Brands [writes](. “But there’s nothing fundamentally novel here. The story of warfare through the ages is one in which innovation regularly makes combat faster and more intense.” AI will merely speed up that process. But unlike the advent of nuclear weapons, which allowed “relative pipsqueaks like North Korea to offset the military and economic advantages a superpower and its allies possess,” Hal says “AI will be a rich man’s game.” India, for instance, stands to lose its outsourcing dominance because of the technology. “Each year, 5 million Indians churn out billions of lines of code for global banks, manufacturers and retailers,” Andy Mukherjee [explains](. With generative AI, those jobs may well go extinct. Beyond replacing administrative tasks, artificial intelligence stands to revolutionize manufacturing and logistics. “This marriage of AI and robots will require special rules to keep them constrained by humans, especially as these mobile machines move beyond the confines of a factory and become more prevalent in the service economy,” [writes]( Thomas Black. Already, tons of robots roam [Amazon]( and [Walmart]( warehouses. In time, they’ll grow more advanced. If you’re starting to panic about the future of mankind, take small comfort in the fact that Thomas says “the unmatched dexterity of human hands will keep people useful at least through this century.” We’ve got plenty of time yet to toil on the factory floor! Further Reading The Indiana Fever doesn’t need to hire a player to protect Caitlin Clark during games. That’s [absurd advice](. — Adam Minter For the first time in a long time, [homes for sale are piling up](. Just not where the buyers are. — Conor Sen Crime rates may be falling in the UK, but the Tories’ [track record on criminal justice]( leaves much to be desired. — Adrian Wooldridge Rachel Reeves [must convince Brits]( that she can be trusted to run the economy. — Paul J. Davies As [TSMC and Foxconn]( expand their global footprints, other players will need to follow. — Tim Culpan Lina Khan’s [hipster antitrust policy]( is more conservative than you think. — Matthew Yglesias Enough with Silicon Valley unicorns. Here’s [a new name for firms]( that fit the bill: thoroughbreds. — Parmy Olson Thank [neoliberal economics]( for low unemployment, stable inflation and strong growth. — Allison Schrager ICYMI Justice Alito [got caught]( on tape. Apple’s big idea? An [iPad calculator](. Chappell Roan [turned down]( the White House. The New York Fed [is losing]( star power. Montana is facing a [suicide crisis](. Kickers The [joyful climb]( of Carlos Alcaraz. Gen Z says you’re doing [the heart sign]( (and [dinner parties]() all wrong. Luxury brands want to [meme their way]( into our hearts. The girls are [cosplaying]( Emily in Paris a little too hard. Notes: Please send crab dip and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads](, [TikTok](, [Twitter](, [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. 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