Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has taken a variety of positions on the minimum wage during his campaign, and Tuesday night was no different. This time though, his changing stances came much closer together than normal.
In an interview with Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly, Trump took three different positions on the issue in less than 30 seconds.
When O’Reilly said to Trump, “There has to be a federal minimum wage. What would you set the federal minimum wage at?”
Trump’s immediate response was, “There doesn’t have to be,” suggesting that he believes there doesn’t have to be a federal minimum wage at all.
But with his very next breath Trump went on to say,
“I would leave it and raise it somewhat. You need to help people, and I know it’s not very Republican to say.” That would indicate that he believes that the wage needs to be raised because wages are too low.
And yet when Bill O’Reilly asked specifically what Trump thought of a $10 federal minimum wage, Trump responded,
“I would say ten. I would say ten… But the thing is we’ll let the states do it.”
O’Reilly himself tried to pin down Trump’s position on the minimum wage toward the end of their exchange, to no avail.
“So we have you on the record as $10 minimum wage federally and states can do whatever they want?” he said. “No,” Trump replied. “You have me on the record as saying the states are going to raise it higher than that.”
Trump’s contradictions continued on Wednesday morning. In
a press conference, he said,
“The minimum wage has to go up… At least $10. But it has to go up… Federal.”
Yet in the very next moment he said, “But I think that states should really call the shots.” Those two ideas are at odds: if the states are left to their own devices, that won’t mean a federal increase, and some states will very likely choose not to increase their wages.
Even Trump’s own campaign manager may not quite know where the candidate stands. In an interview with CBS This Morning on Wednesday, Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort was asked about Trump’s comments to O’Reilly and specifically whether Trump believes in raising the federal minimum wage. He replied simply,
“Donald said what he did,” adding that a deeper explanation would be included in upcoming economic policy speeches.
