Trump sells Roger Marshall’s credit card swipe fee bill at his Kansas rally: “What the hell is it, Roger?”

Two days out from the vote, the president of the United States stood in Salina, pitched a bill without saying what it does, and told the crowd nobody knows what it is.

At his Kansas rally for Sen. Roger Marshall, Trump promised to sign Marshall’s bill on out-of-control credit card swipe fees, which he said would be “saving you an estimated at least $2,000 per year.” His number. Then the confidence drained out in real time: “Most people have no idea what the hell it means... Does anyone know what a credit card swipe fee is?... What the hell is it, Roger?” His closing pitch: “Nobody knows what the hell it is, but it’s important.”

For the record, Marshall’s own January press release on the Credit Card Competition Act says the average American family pays nearly $1,200 a year in swipe fees, total. By our math, saving “at least $2,000” on a $1,200 bill is quite the deal. The bill itself has been sitting in the Senate Banking Committee since it was introduced in January.

A swipe fee is the cut card networks and banks take from shops on every card purchase. Now Roger knows.