Former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs is firing back at the Trump administration’s criticism of his organization’s push for a guaranteed income program to aid Americans in need.
“This is the same President that signed 166 million stimulus checks (and) pushed Congress for $2,000 in direct payments” to Americans, Tubbs said in a statement to Stocktonia after Trump officials characterized basic income programs as “handouts.”
Tubbs, founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, caught the attention of Trump officials after a story appeared on Fox News explaining his program, which has become a movement in some cities. The Urban Institute said more than 100 pilot programs using the program’s no-strings minimum income idea have taken root.
After the story appeared, a White House spokesperson told Fox News that instead of providing minimum incomes, people should look to jobs and investments.
“Americans don’t need handouts, but a dynamic economy with wage, job, and investment growth — which the Trump administration is unleashing with a proven economic agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and tariffs,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. “Democrat mayors should focus on cleaning up their city streets before embarrassing themselves with a stupid PR push.”
On Monday, Tubbs responded, saying that the Trump administration had distributed its own handouts — but not necessarily ones that went to families struggling to get by.
Tubbs noted that Trump has floated the idea of issuing payments to Americans, most recently from tariff proceeds and last year, from savings from staffing cuts brought about by his Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Trump painted the payments as “cash, straight to Americans, no strings. But suddenly it’s a ‘handout’ when the money goes to families who actually need it,” Tubbs said.
Tubbs, a Democrat, became the first Black mayor of Stockton in 2016. He lost a reelection bid to Republican Kevin Lincoln in 2020. Both men have continued their political careers since.
Tubbs went on to serve as a special adviser for economic mobility and opportunity for Gov. Gavin Newsom. Besides Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, he also founded companion organizations with similar names aimed at counties and legislatures. In 2024, he announced he is running to become California’s next lieutenant governor.
After Lincoln lost a race for Congress in 2024, he filed as a candidate for the 13th congressional district, running for a seat now held by Rep. Adam Gray, D-Turlock.
Tubbs said he sees guaranteed income not as a handout, but as “a lifesaver for the 60% of Americans who can’t afford the basic necessities needed to survive.” It becomes more important given rising grocery bills and rent hikes, he said, calling it a “a floor that makes other solutions possible.”
Tubbs personally knows what it means to live on a tight family budget. He was born in Stockton to a 16-year-old mother and a father who was incarcerated during much of his son’s early life. Tubbs went on to attend Stanford University before launching his political career.