Home Depot co-founder derides Dems for criticizing Trump’s tax overhaul

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) this week announced that it would offer one-time, $1,000 bonuses to hourly employees, joining more than 100 companies that are offering some type of financial boost in the wake of President Trump’s business-friendly tax overhaul, which was signed into law in late December.

Despite this, Democrats have largely dismissed any economic benefits from the tax cuts as short-lived, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) dismissing the bonuses as “crumbs” – a move that could haunt them during the 2018 midterm elections, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus warned.

“These are things that the Pelosi and Schumer group don’t have a clue about. It’s why they lost the election, it’s as simple as that,” he said during an interview with FOX Business’ Neil Cavuto. “[Hillary] Clinton never knew about the real people out there. That’s why they lost the election, and that’s why they’re going to lose the next election for the same reason.”

Perhaps most significantly, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act slashed the corporate tax rate 14 percentage points, reducing it from 35% to 21%. President Trump promised business leaders would funnel those savings back to employees. Marcus, a multi-billionaire, said he spent his life interacting with employees and customers and knows that to the everyday person, $1,000 is “more than meaningful.”

“If you want to talk to somebody who is off the charts and doesn’t understand reality, it is Schumer and Pelosi,” he said.

Other notable companies that announced bonuses and pay bumps includes FedEx (NYSE:FDX), which committed more than $3.2 billion in wage increases, bonuses and pensions funding; Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which issued bonuses up to $2,5000 (NASDAQ:AAPL); and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), which bumped the hourly wage for employees from $10 to $11 and offered bonuses up to $1,000.