By Matt Rooney
There’s spin, and then there’s unapologetically manipulative bullsh*t.
I’m not exaggerating. I’m intemperately describing the egregious TV ad running right now that emerged from the sewer of the Democrat Governors Association (DGA), titled “Trump of Trenton,” which curiously enough, Save Jerseyans, might actually help Jack with low-propensity Trump voters by reminding them that he’s actually the Trump-endorsed candidate. But that’s a story for another post…
The DGA spot includes audio from a June ’25 Ciattarelli appearance in Bergen County; the heavily-edited cut makes it sound like he’s endorsing a 10% sales tax increase. Clothes, food, etc., at a time when the long-term impacts of Biden-era inflation continue to haunt Americans. In reality? The sometimes wonky GOP nominee (a CPA and CEO in another life) was answering an attendee’s question: “Could you do [an] increase in sales tax and eliminate state income tax?”
“I just came back from Tennessee not too long ago,” Ciattarelli explained. “We were on a fundraising trip there, and Tennessee has no income tax. What Tennessee has is a 10% sales tax on everything, including food and clothing. The philosophy has always been in this state [that] we have like a 7% sales tax just to round off the numbers, but there’s no sales tax on necessities of life, food, and clothing. I will work with the New Jersey State Society, CPAs. We’re going to look at what other states do. And every option is on the table.”
So no, Jack was NOT proposing a 10% sales tax. He was illustrating how different, lower tax states have reformed their respective tax systems. But because the Democrat Party is desperate to blunt any GOP momentum in New Jersey, they deceptively edited Jack’s comments down to the following, misleading presentation:
Like I said… there’s spin which is normative in politics, and then there’s this shameless travesty! Even by contemporary Leftist standards.
Jack did address the DGA’s smear campaign head-on during remarks at the end of this week:
VIDEO: @Jack4NJ is pushing back against that deceitful DGA ad which employs out-of-context cutting to falsely make it seem like he endorsed a 10% sales tax hike.
Fact check: FALSE ❌ pic.twitter.com/BwmcIzJUK2
— Matt Rooney (@MattRooneyNJ) September 6, 2025
