Column: I know what Trump was really talking about in his child care rant, and it's more troubling than you thought

Michael Hiltzik : Donald Trump's incoherent rant about child care policy has gone viral.

He says he was answering a question at the Economic Club of New York when he said he would commit to making child care more affordable.

Hiltz: Trump 's answer was incoherent at best; at worst, outrageously offensive to millions of families drowning in costs.

In 2018 , he says, Rubio and Ivanka Trump put forward a proposal for paid family leave.

Ruben Navarrette : The real goal of using parental leave to erode Social Security was evident from the proposal’s genesis.

He says it could have been paid for by eliminating just some of the tax cuts handed over to the wealthy in the tax package Republicans passed in 2017 , which have been estimated to cost at least $1.5 trillion over 10 years , or about 10 times the maximum annual cost of parental leave.

The bottom line is that Trump and his running mate have no practical ideas about how to relieve the burden of child care expenses.

This isn’t the “ownership society” that Republicans as recently as George W. Bush proclaimed; it’s the “you’re on your own” society. Trump ’s words Thursday may have been incoherent, but his point was crystal clear. Get the latest from Michael Hiltzik Commentary on economics and more from a Pulitzer Prize winner. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times ..