Trump got a delivery of fast food last week and it has been talked about in the news. The short story: it was a PR stunt to promote Trump’s reduction for taxes on tips.
But the really sad part of the story relates to why “DoorDash Grandma” is working at all.
The event
Let’s start with the way the Trump administration wanted the news to go. The smelly president was hungry for some fast food, called DoorDash, and got a delivery of McDonalds. This gave him a natural chance to talk about the benefits of his ‘no tax on tips’ policy.
But “DoorDash Grandma” was obviously coached in terms of exactly what to say. When Trump wandered off into other topics she resisted his meanderings into Biden and border policy. But even then the facts were screwed up. She didn’t “save” $11,000 due to Trump’s policy: that is the total amount of tips she earned in the year. Her tax savings were more like about $1,500.
DoorDash as a company is one of the toxic ‘gig economy’ benefactors, draining thousands of workers of every possible penny for menial sub-minimum wage payment with no health or welfare benefits. DoorDash is also a large contributor to the Trump campaign, and benefits from legislation (or lack thereof) that has failed to protect the very workers being taken advantage of.
So even the PR team massaged view of the “DoorDash Grandma” event is pretty questionable. But what about the Grandma herself? What is her story?
Why is she working with DoorDash
The DoorDasher in question is apparently Sharon Simmons, a 58 year old Grandma. The truly sad part of her story is that she is working thousands of hours a year to earn what money she can to pay for her husband’s cancer treatment. She ‘Dashed” over 14,000 times to keep the money trickling in.
So Sharon’s efforts in the gig economy, her desire to earn more from her tips, is a desperate bid to earn enough to keep her husband alive. The system is failing her, and she has been so blinded to reality that she vainly tries to get the system to give back some of what it stole from her. DoorDash only cares about maximizing their own profits- they won’t care for Sharon or her husband unless they are forced to by societal controls.
My thoughts on a better solution
In any just society basic health treatments for Sharon’s husband would be paid for by the very taxes she and others like her protest. Corporations like DoorDash would be required also pay taxes and employee health benefits towards the health and well-being of their gig workers. Instead of multi-billionaires getting another yacht, Sharon’s husband and thousands like him would get life-saving medical treatment.
Trump’s $100 tip just doesn’t cut it, nor does his $1,500 tax reduction on Sharon’s tips. Reducing tax on tips is a nice thing to do but it doesn’t make up the difference for someone who barely earns a survival wage to begin with. Cancer treatments cost thousands a month, and just societies provide a safety net to make sure those kinds of treatments don’t only go to wealthy few.
