Companies that tie announcements to tax bill earn goodwill with Trump
Source: Washington Post, by Philip Rucker
Moments before President Trump claimed his first legislative victory, he was notified that AT&T would be investing an additional $1 billion in U.S. networks and offering its employees a one-time bonus — thanks, the company said, to the Republican tax bill.
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Trump tweeted Friday morning: “Our big and very popular Tax Cut and Reform Bill has taken on an unexpected new source of ‘love’ - that is big companies and corporations showering their workers with bonuses. This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of, and now it is the rage. Merry Christmas!”
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“It’s an extremely clever way to get the president’s attention,” said Scott Reed, the chief political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “It reinforces his signature legislative success, and it probably gets them some good points inside the White House.”
Some of the companies have business motives for currying favor with the administration. Boeing relies on government contracts for much of its business, while AT&T has been seeking to acquire Time Warner, at times arguing with the Trump administration over antitrust issues. The Justice Department is suing to block the $85 billion merger, which Trump said in November was “not good for the country.”
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“The clearest way to curry favor with this government is to play to the ego of the president, whether that’s the Cabinet roundtable praising him or companies being smart and doing things they were already planning to do in the way that he will like,” said Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson, who was a spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
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Read it all at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/companies-that-tie-announcements-to-tax-bill-earn-goodwill-with-trump/2017/12/21/ff65c864-e675-11e7-833f-155031558ff4_story.html
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