Trump Surrenders On Minimum Wage; ‘I Don’t Know How You Live On $7.25 An Hour’

Promising to push for a reduction in taxes paid by the “middle class,” Donald Trump added that he thought taxes would be raised for “the wealthy.” Speaking with left-wing MSNBC’s Chuck Todd for an interview with Meet The Press on Sunday, Trump also expressed support for raising the minimum wage across the country via state regulations.

“Let me explain how the world work, okay?” began Trump. “I come up with the biggest tax cut, by far, of any candidate. Anybody. And I put it in. But that doesn’t mean that’s what we’re gonna get. We have to negotiate,” said the author of The Art Of The Deal.

Todd began the segment with a left-wing framing of the impact of tax cuts, stating that those with higher incomes would yield greater savings on their earnings than those with lower incomes when comparing total dollars saved.

“For the wealthy, I think frankly it’s gonna go up. And, you know what? It really should go up,” added Trump, implying that he was referring to billionaires like himself.

“When it comes time to negotiate, I feel less concerned with the rich than I do with the middle class,” said Trump. “The rich is probably gonna end up paying more.”

“I have seen what’s going on, and I don’t know how people make it on $7.25 an hour. Now, with that being said, I would like to see an increase of some magnitude, but I’d rather leave it to the states,” said Trump, adding and implication that states would feel compelled to compete with one another in raising their minimum wages.

“Let the states decide,” said Trump. “But I think people should get more. I think they’re out there. They’re working. It is a very low number. You know, with what’s happened to the economy, with what’s happened to the costs, I mean, it’s just, I don’t know how you live on $7.25 an hour.”

In an interview with left-wing CNN’s Wolf Blitzer last week, Trump expressed openness to federal mandates to raise the existing minimum wage. In earlier debates with his former Republican competitors for the GOP’s presidential nomination, Trump expressed resistance to such proposals.

Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.