In the tumultuous early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a rather surprising twist emerged from a familiar cast of characters: the IRS and Donald Trump. A fresh batch of documents has illuminated the behind-the-scenes chaos that erupted when the Trump administration decided to try something incredibly audacious—putting the former president’s name right on the COVID-19 stimulus checks. Yes, that’s right; in the middle of a public health crisis, the IRS found itself scrambling like a chicken with its head cut off over the legality of such a move.
Back in March 2020, Congress approved an impressive $2.2 trillion relief package aptly named the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The plan was simple: send $1,200 checks to approximately 80 million taxpayers to help ease the financial strain of lockdowns. However, the process took a sharp left turn when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the rather unconventional request to add Trump’s name on those checks, leading to a flurry of emails over at the IRS as their officials panicked about potential legal ramifications of this presidential branding.
It turns out the IRS took the extraordinary step of seeking a legal opinion on whether it was appropriate to add Trump's name to the checks.
IRS officials were worried that they were personally being used by the White House to promote Trump’s reelection and would be in… pic.twitter.com/kPpxBs3kJs
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) October 18, 2024
It became a race against time, with IRS staff frantically bouncing emails back and forth, desperately seeking legal advice to ensure that Trump’s name wouldn’t violate some arcane law. This marked an unprecedented moment in IRS history, as stimulus checks had never previously sported the president’s autograph. Some IRS agents expressed legitimate fears that dangling Trump’s name on the checks could politicize the agency, potentially violating the Hatch Act—an odd political clash where a government agency worried about its own image when it came to supporting taxpayer relief.
Interestingly, the IRS did take the rare step of engaging legal counsel to assess the situation, a move that would have made any self-respecting bureaucrat sweat. Ultimately, they received the green light from Treasury lawyers, allowing the initiative to plow forward. Trump’s name was officially appended to the checks, a maneuver that many critics argued transformed a bipartisan effort into a brand-building exercise.
Fast forward to today, and the impact of that decision is still reverberating through the political landscape. It appears that voters have a long memory when it comes to financial relief, and many associate those stimulus checks with Trump rather than the usual suspects in Washington. Polling data suggest that a significant number of voters trust Trump more than Vice President Kamala Harris on economic issues, which likely has Democrats scratching their heads. After all, who could forget the sight of his signature just a few years ago next to those cold hard cash numbers?
In the end, the unintended consequences of that brief IRS panic led to a branding triumph for Trump, with voters remembering those checks came courtesy of his administration. As taxpayers look back at the COVID-era stimulus checks, it seems the connection to Trump has left a lasting impression—one that could play a pivotal role as Americans head to the polls once again.