Kay highlighted this tweet in the morning thread:
News —> Republicans are pointedly warning Democrats: If you raise taxes on corporations and upper earners now, we’ll cut them back when we win power https://t.co/MBwXjOklwp
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) May 19, 2021
The fact that the tweet is illustrated with Rand “Baby Doc” Paul’s stupid Backpfeifengesicht face is icing on the cake. But that arrogant and contemptible wretch gives droning, supercilious voice to his party’s monomaniacal focus here. As Kay put it:
This the only real issue on the Right. Low taxes for rich people is the one and only real thing they work on. The rest is just grievance culture and whining.
It isn’t an accident that it’s the only thing Trump and his GOP majority accomplished. They don’t do any work on anything else. The rest is performance and fundraising.
Yep. And that puts the GOP at odds with America:
Two-thirds of Americans (67%) support raising taxes on those making $400,000 or more while keeping tax rates at current levels for anyone making under that amount. Nearly all Democrats and Democratic leaners (88%) support this proposal, along with 70% of independents and nearly half of Republicans and GOP leaners (45%). Even among those with household incomes of $150,000 or more, the highest category for which we collect data, 62% of people support an increase in taxes for those making at least $400K.
Early in the 2016 Republican primary, Republicans recoiled from Trump like vampires from a big, stinky garlic necklace. Our crack team of Beltway celebrity reporters largely interpreted that response as decency and seriousness shrinking from the vulgar and trifling.
But if we follow the “watch what they do, not what they say” school of analysis, it’s easy to see what elected Republicans found so alarming about Trump: the lies he was telling at the time that went against Republican anti-tax orthodoxy:
“I do very well. I don’t mind paying a little more in taxes.”
“It’s [Trump’s bogus tax plan] going to cost me a fortune, which is actually true.”
“I am willing to pay more, and you know what, the wealthy are willing to pay more.”
All lies, of course, like every other word that came out of Trump’s flapping gob. After he took office, Trump rubber-stamped the GOP donor relief bill that McConnell barfed up, leaving the national cupboards rather bare for the public health and economic crises to come. But Trump’s lies about taxing the rich on the campaign trail created a mythology that Jonathan Chait described as a “proof point in [Trump’s] self-declared presentation as a rich man sacrificing his self-interest to help the little people.”
Right now, the institutional Republican Party has nothing to offer except culture war bullshit and the absurd stabbed-in-the-back martyr mythology around Trump. Maybe that web of stupidity, hate and fear has captured all the idiots it is ever going to ensnare. With the current level of polarization, national and swing district politics are increasingly about collecting the unaffiliated and motivating the apathetic.
The GOP voted against every dime of relief Americans have received since Trump left office, and they’ll keep right on doing that as long as they’re out of power. So, if their only actual policy pitch is “vote us back in so we can cut taxes for rich people,” I think that’s a fight we can win.
Keith P.
And? (it would have been funnier if they’d used Ted Cruz for that headline)
Kent
They will do it anyway, whether or not we raise them now. There is ALWAYS some additional corporate tax cut or loophole they will willingly endorse. No matter how low the rates actually go
The GOP is never done cutting corporate taxes and tax rates for the rich.
BruceFromOhio
“Vote us back in so we can cut taxes for rich people and corporations.”
Yeah, it’s got legs. Keep it simple, Dems!
Baud
As everyone recognizes, they’ll do it anyway. This is just more grist for the “only Dems have agency” mill.
mrmoshpotato
No shit, you fake eye doctor. You bastards don’t want the government to help anyone who can’t help themselves. Story of the past 40+ years.
(Yes, I know they’d love having no democratic (small d or big D) government at all.)
Doug R
62% of the $150,000+ support it? What are we worried about then?
Cameron
How strange – positive achievements and positive plans are actually popular! Democrats want to build; Republicans want to tear down. That’s a battle Democrats can win. Hell, look at those poll numbers on taxes, and Democrats are already winning.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
Every time I see his face, I want to mail a new baseball bat to his neighbor, and to whoever lives next to Ted Cruz. And to “checks list”.
Damn. Five dozen bats? Damn.
Ksmiami
@Boris Rasputin (the evil twin): hell I want AOC to just clobbers Greene with a baseball bat if she gets in her face
randy khan
That doesn’t sound like the kind of threat that anyone in the Democratic caucus will take seriously. I’d even think about messaging to point out the Republicans want to keep giving away money to the rich people who are their real constituency, rather than helping out regular people the way the Democrats do.
Kay
I think the plan was to say the tax cuts caused the economic expansion, but then Trump had to keep lying about the tax cuts, so they were really boxed in.
Conventional Republicans haven’t backed off on trickle down at all, BTW. If you listen to Kasich or Jeb Bush it’s still 1993 so even if they de-Trumpify they still have the same economic agenda they have had since Reagan.
John Revolta
@Doug R: Well, we’re worried about a) getting them to actually vote and 2) making sure they’re able to vote and 2a) making sure their votes get counted.
Patrianakos
If you really think you can win another election on “Cut Rich People’s Taxes”, go right ahead. The way things stand now, the next time you take power, the Republic is dead anyway.
Benw
@Baud: We had to raise corporate taxes through the roof to fund the times when GQP runs huge deficits. See, Republicans made us do it!
mrmoshpotato
@Ksmiami: Yes please.
Splitting Image
Other people beat me to it, but the Republicans will cut taxes for the rich the next time they are in power even if the Democrats lower them by 90% in the meantime.
Soaking the fuckers is better than they deserve and also likely to help keep them from getting back into power in the first place. Everybody wins.
Jeffro
As I mentioned in the morning thread
Sounds like the party of the working class to me!
//
Jeffro
OT: Geminid I saw your note about the rock slide in the earlier thread…sad to see that there will (likely) be no blasting, that could have made for a nice family outing. =)
Kay
Democrats should look at the child tax credits that go out next month for how to successfully get the word out.
I have never in my life seen where so many completely politically unengaged people know all about a Democratic program and they know it’s “Biden”. It’s extraordinary. I don’t know if it’s the simplicity of it or what, but I can’t help but compare it to the coverage of children in Medicaid. That’s another child program Democrats alone provided yet none of the recipients credit them for it. I wonder what the difference is.
James E Powell
@Doug R:
Getting Manchin, Sinema, and who knows who else to vote for it.
Another Scott
“The other guys must do what I want. Otherwise I’ll do what I want.” – GQP
Is that the way US politics is going to work for the next 40 years, also too??
Does anything else in the universe work that way?
“Rafa, Novak says you need to stop hitting the ball with so much top-spin. Otherwise, he’s going to hit the ball back. Why won’t you compromise with him??”
[ sigh ]
And it’s not even summer yet.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jeffro
Also OT: I know the pandemic is not nearly over, but if the otherwise excellent Biden Administration could please consider switching over some of those updates/airtime to updates/airtime on the progress of the investigations, charges, and prosecutions stemming from the January 6th insurrection, that would be great.
I’m sure they’re waiting until they pass whatever infrastructure bill they can get through, but…pass something and then let’s go. The GQP is (obvs) in full swing trying to memory-hole this thing and we really need to force their hand. Make them continue to lie & deny the evidence of the country’s own eyes, or make them affirm President Biden’s win and piss off the orange moron. No more having it both ways.
JMG
Research on this topic is extensive and it all comes to the same conclusion. Members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, hear more from and listen more to the wealthy than any other kind of citizen. It doesn’t always influence their views, but it stacks the deck pretty effectively.
Baud
@Kay: Has Biden sent out letters yet?
Bluegirlfromwyo
@Kay: In 40 years of the Laffer so-called Curve, they’ve never even bothered to guess the point of optimal tax rate/optimal revenue. It has always been the same agenda, it will always be the same agenda.
Hell, I keep waiting for Republicans to tell me tax cuts for the wealthy cure migraines.
Jeffro
@Jeffro: or as Asha Rangappa puts it:
…with the added benefit of greatly weakening the GQP
Baud
@Jeffro:
Or, more accurately, a gender reveal.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I sent this to my two Trump-voting and Trump-supporting nieces with kids:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: He did for the $1400, I got mine a week and a half ago.
jeepers
Rand Paul looks like he’s at the end of a multi-day bender in that pic. Has he developed a substance abuse problem?
Ken
There’s some delay while they find exactly the right size and color of Sharpie for his signature.
Barbara
@Keith P.: It’s not a threat when that’s what you would do anyway. To be ignored, at best, and capitalized on if possible.
lowtechcyclist
I think the Dems need to create a bogus GOP ad campaign. I envision billboards saying, “you know those child tax credit checks you’re about to get? EVERY LAST ONE OF US VOTED AGAINST THEM! So if you don’t want them, VOTE FOR US! Yours truly, THE REPUBLICAN PARTY”
IMHO, they should do that with everything. “Those commie Democrats wanted to raise your minimum wage to $15.00. What could they have been thinking? But we rescued you from that, and the minimum wage is still [fill in that state’s minimum wage], right where you like it! So VOTE REPUBLICAN, so we can PROTECT you from higher wages”
And so on.
hitchhiker
They’re counting on ginning up fear and hate even more, with the goal of bringing in enough scared and hateful non-voters to win some close races.
That, plus roping off Democrats with re-districting and strict, stupid rules is their policy agenda.
We win if we can gin up confidence and patriotism, especially in Gen Z and Millennials. There are more of them — a lot more, at this point — than there are boomers and their elders.
That’s just one reason they ought to cancel a bunch of student debt and make that free early childhood/post-high school education thing happen. Millennials need both, and Gen Z is right behind them. They’ll turn out.
Old School
@WaterGirl: Are you letting them know how to opt out so they can prevent their bank accounts from having that liberal money infect their other funds?
(Yes, I know they’d be adjusting it to be part of next year’s tax return.)
trnc
Somebody gets it.
trnc
@WaterGirl: Very curious to hear what response you get, if any.
Jeffro
@jeepers: they’re all such a weird, hateful, creepy bunch you almost wonder if it’s some combination of HGH, snorting Adderall, etc.
Or maybe they all contracted prion disease from the same nasty CPAC buffet table some years ago?
Minstrel Michael
@Ksmiami: Vengeance for Charles Sumner!
Betty Cracker
@Kay: It’s really good to hear that unengaged people know the Biden admin is behind the child tax credit. Can’t wait to hear what my brother has to say about it. He’s a single parent with two young kids and doesn’t make a ton of money, so it’ll be a big deal in their lives. He’s been drifting toward the dark side since our mom died and isn’t around to slap some sense into him. I do my best, but it’s not the same. ;-)
rikyrah
@Keith P.:
I know…
and?
So?
rikyrah
@Kay:
I don’t have any children.
I do tell everyone with kids that I know about the credit. And, that they should tell their friends.
WaterGirl
@Old School: Tempting! But no, I kept the information quite neutral. For best results.
WaterGirl
@trnc: I sent the twitter link by text with this note:
Replies:
Niece 1, with a 3-yr-old and 5-yr-old: Perfect, thanks for sending it! Hope you’re doing well. ❤️
Niece 2, with a 13-yr-old: Thanks for the info. :-)
taumaturgo
@Kay:
Democrats are lousy at messaging because unlike the GQP that is all in with the legalized corruption aka donations, the D’s old guard leadership talks a good game about every major issue but almost always settles for less than half loaf with the larger share going for the same donors the GQP adores.
taumaturgo
@lowtechcyclist: Naugh. The donor class is dead set against any increase in the minimum wage, so are many centrist democrats. Some democrats pretend they care about a minimum wage increase but would not risk any political capital defending the increase.
Kay
@rikyrah:
This is one where they told me. I was “what 300 and what are you talking about?”
I’ve gotten so used to them telling me Facebook nonsense that I’m primed to tell them they’re WRONG – it’s practically kneejerk at this point :)
Kay
@taumaturgo:
They’re not lousy at messaging but I wonder sometimes if there’s enough back and forth. The polling was really inaccurate for D’s the last cycle. Maybe they rely on that too much. It was all but useless for them in 2020.
taumaturgo
@Kay: I disagree, the current leadership is horrendous at messaging. In the last cycle, the infamous DNC relayed too much in media advertising and too little in voter outreached claiming Covid was the issue. The QGP did both, especially one-to-one voter outreach among minorities and they did very well filling the vacuum left by the D’s.
Chief Oshkosh
@mrmoshpotato:
No, I think you may have internalized their message. They don’t the government to help anyone who isn’t them or their friends.
Matt McIrvin
“You better watch out, if you pass the policies you want when you’re in control, we’re going to pass the policies we want when we’re in control!”
As opposed to… what? What do they think we think they normally do? Are we supposed to never institute any policy for fear they’ll eventually end it? Maybe people just shouldn’t elect Republicans, eh?
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I don’t know what goes on nationally, but from what I’ve seen with the state party here in FL, they rely too much on polling and consultants. I think that’s a big reason we’ve been locked out of power statewide since the 1990s.
Some of the local county parties are excellent — the one where I used to live (Hillsborough, which includes Tampa) really turned things around. But it’s a shit-show at the state level. The woebegone county level DEC where I live now is basically a support group for societal outcasts. ;-)
Ksmiami
@mrmoshpotato: if Greene had gotten in my face like that she’d still be on the ground. The DNC has a choice – rhetorical brick bats at the loudest decibels, or real ones swung by Fetterman or Colin Allred.
Betty Cracker
@taumaturgo: I agree we’ve diluted our brand and have messaging issues. But I don’t fault the Dems for not doing one-on-one outreach in the middle of a pandemic. The Republicans benefited from filling that vacuum, but it wasn’t because they’re smart and we’re dumb. It was because they’re irresponsible. Sociopaths have an advantage over non-sociopaths because they don’t give a shit who gets hurt, but the answer isn’t to become sociopaths.
taumaturgo
@Betty Cracker: Maybe the GQP were irresponsible and maybe they are sociopaths, all indications don’t leave much room for doubts but the D’s are overly cautious choosing to target the safe suburbs at the expense of economically marginalized areas and it cost them dearly, especially among Latino women. The D’s Latino one-to-one outreach better be revamped or 2022 could turn out into another Obama-like midterm wipeout.
sdhays
@taumaturgo: And what, pray tell, is the magic incantation that Chuck Schumer or Joe Biden can whisper to Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema to make them just accept the entire liberal agenda with no filibuster?
Omnes Omnibus
@sdhays: You must understand that, for that commenter, the Dems are and always will be wrong.
trnc
@WaterGirl: Whew! Those were more sane than I expected.
WaterGirl
@trnc: Yeah, response was better than I expected. The second one could have been a cool formality, hard to tell. But the first one was better than I anticipated! A “perfect” and “thank you” and a heart. :-)
RR_Mikey
Every time I see a picture of this clown, I cannot stop focusing on that cheesy toupee that he wears. Somehow his hair is as straight as an arrow on the sides above the ears and then it explodes into curls as it moves up his head. All the better with the curls to cover what many times is the tell tale hairline that gives a toupee away.
Mai Naem mobile
Rand Paul used to like an asshole college frat boy. He’s not aging well at all and now he looks just like a severely constipated crazy eyed unattractive weirdo.
cmorenc
@hitchhiker:
Which is exactly how Trump ended up rather narrowly carrying North Carolina by 75k votes and 1.2% out of 5.45 million total votes cast, doing 3-4% better than the pre-election polls had forecast, by his last-couple-of-weeks rallies in red-leaning areas of NC, which likely brought out 150-200k additional voters who were previously soft about intending to turning out.
Interestingly, only 5,235 million votes were cast in the US Senate race between Tillis and Cunningham, which Tillis won by 95.6 thousand votes and 1.6%. Cunningham’s rather mild sex scandal didn’t help him, but it was the late swelling of Trump turnout that enabled Tillis to narrowly win, not primarily the sex scandal. Anyone who voted for Tillis was never going to vote for Cunningham in the first place – the Senate race was all about turnout.
taumaturgo
@sdhays: If one looks at the GQP party discipline that is imposed by a twice impeached loser ex-president and how 99.00% of the party speak with one voice, one has to be in awe. Launching an informational campaign in Arizona and West Virginia that would lower the approval numbers of the respective Senators will catch their attention. However, it won’t happen for the reason that the current Administration to some degree agrees with Machin and Krysta’s political calculus and at worse, they would serve as the perfect foil for the reduction in scope or failure of the bills they happen to object to. D’s control the Senate, the House, and the WH and yet the feeling is they are spinning in place. The country’s democratic survival is at stake and the old democrats’ 1980 political playbook won’t do. A new 2021 aggressive political attack, not defense, against the fascist is passed due, but I’m certain this will not happen under the current sclerotic conservative leadership. A recent example is how the conservative democrats are reaching back to the “Israel has the right to self-defense”, which has been compared to the GQP meme of “thoughts and prayers.” It signifies nothing and covers up the ongoing atrocities against children in Gaza, and in the other case, the ongoing gun slaughters in our country. This reflexive stance makes the D’s incapable and unwilling to stand up against the disproportional brutality inflicted on the Palestine people by a superior military force supported by our tax dollars. Folks, the Overton window has shifted yet D’s remain somewhere in the past, hanging on to the arcane filibuster rule that will sink not only the party but the country.