David A. Love is a writer and commentator based in Philadelphia. He contributes to publications including Atlanta Black Star, ecoWURD, and Al Jazeera. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidALove . The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) Unlike Donald Trump's manufactured crisis and his vanity wall at the Mexico border, severe income inequality and economic greed are true national emergencies. Still, the President plans to ask for $8.6 billion for the wall and a 5% cut across federal agencies -- except for defense -- in his 2020 fiscal budget.

This comes as Trump and the Republicans are waging a war against socialism as a 2020 campaign strategy , which goes against the needs of the millions of Americans who rely on government assistance to help meet their basic needs.

In yet another example of how this administration and its supporters continue to ostracize those in need, two of Trump's children took it upon themselves to talk about something they seem to have virtually no experience in: earning things.

During an interview on Fox News, Ivanka Trump , when asked about the concept of "a job with a family-sustaining wage" in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal, said: "I don't think most Americans, in their heart, want to be given something. I've spent a lot of time traveling around this country over the last four years. People want to work for what they get. So, I think this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want. They want the ability to be able to secure a job."

Eric Trump told Sean Hannity that the notion that people should be given things rather than work hard for them is "almost an anti-American message."

These two grew up with silver spoons in their mouth, so they couldn't possibly know what it feels like to barely be able to -- and in some case not be able to -- pay rent or put food on the table.

And as we were reminded with President Trump's unnecessarily long government shutdown, that's the reality of most Americans.

We saw how federal workers lined up for food pantries and soup kitchens , and it only highlighted what many already knew, which is that many Americans are only one paycheck away from poverty.

The President likes to tout that his administration is responsible for the nation's low unemployment rate, but what is the use of a low unemployment rate when people cannot live on the jobs they hold?

Forty percent of Americans do not have $400 in case of an emergency expense. Drug and health care costs preclude millions from being able to afford to get sick, and public servants and first responders cannot afford to live in the communities they serve.

Even with all of these facts, Trump filled his cabinet with millionaires and billionaires who are disconnected from the financial hardships of many Americans, such as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin , who failed to disclose $100 million in assets and his role as director of a fund located in a tax haven fund. He said that it was an oversight. Mnuchin also profited from 16,000 foreclosures as a bank executive and spent $800,000 of taxpayers' money flying military planes on personal trips.

And Trump-appointed Alex Azar, who tripled the price of insulin as a pharma executive , is in charge of Health and Human Services.

All of these proposals could help level the playing field so that the Eric and Ivanka Trumps of the world aren't the only ones who have a clear shot to success.

But instead of recognizing how these ideas could benefit Americans -- including his white working class supporters -- Republicans have put socialism on trial and returned to the traditional conservative red-baiting of government social programs meant to improve the lives of Americans. The GOP campaign was on display at the recent CPAC conference, where participants decried efforts at restoring liberal democracy, promoting social and economic justice and saving the environment as, according to former Trump advisor Sebastian Gorka, a Stalinist plot to steal your hamburgers . "They want to take your pickup truck! They want to rebuild your home! They want to take away your hamburgers! This is what Stalin dreamt about but never achieved," Gorka said referring to the Green New Deal.

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Of course, income inequality in America did not begin with Trump, but because of his administration's continued attack on the programs that benefit some of the most vulnerable Americans, it has rightly become a focal point of the fight against him.