Republicans hate the idea of even a symbolic increase in taxes on the very rich. But Trump keeps bringing it up, only to give them excuses to say no.

President Donald Trump is giving Congress conflicting messages on whether he wants a tax hike on high-income earners to help pay for his legislative agenda, posting on Truth Social Friday that Republicans “should probably not do it.

President George H. W. Bush was excoriated after striking a deal with a Democratic Congress to raise taxes after famously saying, “Read my lips; no new taxes” at the 1988 Republican National Convention. The quote was widely blamed for Bush’s loss to Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election.