InProgress

from the Center for American Progress

Wealth inequality has grown under the Trump administration

Since the start of the second Trump administration, the wealth gap between the richest Americans and the bottom half of the country has widened considerably thanks to soaring stock values and tax policy changes in congressional Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill that favor the wealthy, as well as persistently high debts for the middle and bottom half of the nation’s wealth distribution.

New Center for American Progress analysis of the Federal Reserve Board’s Distributional Financial Accounts shows that from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2026:

• Households in the top 1 percent of the wealth distribution saw their net worth increase by an average of $1.8 million per household.
• Households in the top 0.1 percent of the wealth distribution saw their net worth increase by an average of $9.6 million per household.
• Households in the bottom 50 percent of the wealth distribution saw their net worth increase by roughly $1,200 per household.

In other words, since Trump took office, the ultrawealthy—the top 0.1 percent—gained more than 8,000 times as much wealth per household as those in the bottom half of the wealth distribution.

CAP Economist Sara Estep explains this growing wealth gap in an explanatory video: 

CAP’s Ben Hovland: I monitored voting in 2020, 2024. Our elections aren't being stolen.

The Trump administration has been trying to sow chaos and confusion to boost the false narrative that election results must be fraudulent if you don't like the outcome. This is not what the facts show. CAP Senior Fellow Ben Hovland writes in USA Today about monitoring America's transparent, bipartisan election systems firsthand:

I served for more than seven years as a commissioner of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the only federal agency dedicated exclusively to monitoring how elections in our country are run. My tenure included terms as the commission's chair during the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.

During that time, I crisscrossed the country, speaking with thousands of election officials and learning how best to support their meticulous work.

Facts and truth matter. When Americans vote, the will of the people must be respected.

While each state runs its elections a little differently, I have found certain basic truths to be consistent across the country: Election officials are reliable professionals who follow state and federal law with transparency and accountability built into every step of the process.

That might sound different than what you’ve heard or seen on social media. Exaggerated claims of noncitizen voters and outright lies about compromised voting equipment are being repeated far too often.

This week, on National Voter Registration Day, Ben Hovland highlighted why it’s more important than ever to protect your right to vote:

ICYMI: Reforming National Security for the Future

The Trump administration’s reckless and dangerous national security agenda has cost lives around the world and threatened our democracy here at home. A future administration and Congress must reform and rebuild U.S. national security institutions. Yesterday, CAP gathered a group of distinguished speakers for an event to discuss the way forward.

Hear from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) on why he won’t approve the Trump administration's attempts to rename the Department of Defense: