The best guess as to who the Republican Party represent, is that it is a tiny elite group of oligarchs. Thus it is no coincidence that the ruling party’s top priority and only achievement this year is to enact “tax reform” that serves to meet their select constituency’s needs. The outcome is an even greater concentration of the country’s wealth into the hands of a very few. Already one percent of the population owns ninety percent of America's wealth. This perception is widespread throughout the electorate but the new Grand Oligarchy Party just don’t care - “Let them eat cake”.
There is thus a total disconnect between the constituencies that make up the GOP - the voters, legislators and the cadre of establishment supporters, fund raisers, officials and intelligentsia that used to be the Party engine. All in all their electoral support seems to have dwindled to less than about thirty -five percent. However well over eighty percent of this support appears more loyal to the cult of Trump rather than to “The Party”. The legislators, whose role ostensibly is to enact the traditional Republican principles of fiscal and social conservatism don’t represent that nor do they even further the promised Trump populism. Rather, they represent the afore mentioned small cadre of “donors” lead by the Koch Brothers, Richard Scaife and the Bradley and Olin families and of course, literally, their own interests to an extent previously unimagined.
If all this wasn’t crystal clear before It is now as the legislators passed, the conceived in secret, eleven hundred page “Tax Reform” Act. The latter represents their manifesto of their unashamed concentrating of the country’s fortune into the oligarchs. Of course there are a few pathetic tidbits thrown to the serfs that have built their riches on. As Bill Kristal a former leading Republican conservative policy wonk maintained, in disgust, “It digs out the socialist in me’!
REPUBLICANS AND DEFICITS
On their first mean spirited attempt to eliminate Obamacare the Republicans were saved from themselves by the thin red line of McCain, Murzowski and Collins. (One of the reasons for the need to do away with Obamacare was that it would “save” over three hundred billion for the fat cats in the projected tax legislation. The “Tax Reform” Bill craftily attempts to grab that money anyway as one of its provisions puts Obamacare in the balance). The potential for Republican legislative opposition to the Tax Reform effort should be far greater but as the Bill’s soufflé of handouts reveals everyone was “bought off” - either personally or for a pet project.
One of the more profound impacts of “Tax Reform” is the potential loss of healthcare for thirteen million Americans and the increase of premiums for the rest.
Where are the nearly forty Freedom Fighters of the House? To jog their memories, the reason for their existence is they are the original Tea Party rebellion that formed in disgust to George W. Bush’s Medicare and Iraq extravagances that pushed up the deficit. They have stood guard since then - going ballistic when Barack Obama saved the economy when he bailed out the auto industry. They rose up at the potential increase of the deficit under Obama’s foreclosure relief program. There are not only silent to the probable two trillion dollars increase to the deficit in “Tax reform”, they are aiding and abetting this disgrace. Apparently if you are getting some of the spoils it is ok to run up the deficit.
THE REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS AND TRUMP
Initially the Republic legislators were embarrassed and distressed by Trump but, with a few exceptions, they have thrown their lot in with him. In the beginning the legislators at least held their noses or weakly condemned Trump’s racism. They ignored his disgusting sexism, his embarrassing tweets, his dysfunctional administration, his treasonous behavior towards Russia and the fact that he had turned the leader of the free world into a laughing stock. The reason given throughout this painfully long year, particularly as to Speaker Ryan’s thought processes - “We need him to sign tax reform”.
Last week’s Alabama historic setback and it’s consequences could have been ameliorated had Trump not backed an accused child molestor putting the full weight of the Republican National Committee begins him. This result combined with Virginia and New Jersey elections, not to mention over fifty other local elections show at least a countrywide ten percent swing to the Democrats should have made the Republican legislators reflect for a second before holy bolus passing a bill which has only twenty - nine percent backing by the body politic. Instead there was joyful celebration at this major achievement of the Republican Congress at passing Trump’s “Tax Reform”
The President is beginning to enjoy his role as leader of the Party and campaigning is his best. He is ready as he was in Alabama to turn the 2018 midterms into a referendum on him and he still has enough support to fill a stadium - (Then so does Billy Joel!). The Republicans who have so embraced him now cannot say no to his “help”. He is their standard bearer.
Potentially more dangerous for the country is that there is an increasing movement in Congress for the Republicans to politicize and delegitimize the Mueller investigation. So not only are they not full tilt investigating the interference of a foreign country into its Presidential election but they are backing Trump’s claim that the investigation is a sham. The allegation nightly on Fox News is that the FBI probe is a coup attempt is not being challenged. There is constant public speculation that Mueller/Rosenstein/Sessons may be fired with no response from the Republicans legislators. This is the slippery slope to totalitarianism. It appears that now that the President can sign “Tax Reform”, anything goes including the Constitution. Most significantly the last constituency of the Republican Party, the Legislators, who could have saved it from extinction have joined in the death dance.
THE MOTHER OF ALL SWAMPS
This Bill represents the mother of all swamps. It is epitome of the bad all days when everything was traded and cooked up behind closed doors, because that is exactly what happened. Every Republican who had an objection, an interest a pet project was “looked after” and it contains a new provision that favors at least fifteen Senators financially including Senator Corker who changed his no vote to a yes vote. It is an open secret that lobbyists were heavily involved in the process. Fundamentally the Tax Reform favors business and the wealthy to an unprecedented degree .
Rather than simplify the tax code it complicates it. The promise that taxes would be able to submitted on a postcard is unfulfilled. It has been forecast that even more taxpayers will need preparers now. An unnecessary spiteful provision is directed at the blue states by not allowing them to deduct their higher local and state taxes. The attitude seems to be they don’t vote for us so screw them.
According to a report by 13 prominent tax accountants, issued by the University of New York, it provides even more opportunity than currently available for tax avoidance. It encourages corporate tax shelters and provides every possible stratagem to minimize taxes for the wealthy. The Republicans just have no shame. Eleven hundred pages were produced late Friday to be voted on on Tuesday. Not one hearing was held in its production and now there is no time to explain its contents to the people so they can protest.
It was ably shepherded by perhaps the most cynical and manipulative leader the Senate has ever seen, Mitch McConnell and the self righteous House Speaker Paul Ryan. The latter has a religious belief that the rich should get richer and the poor poorer. Ryan has not disguised the fact that if deficits occur the way to pay for them will be cutting social security, medicaid and medicare. As for McConnell, who for a year refused to fill the Supreme Court with Obama’s nominee, there will be a special place in history under the rubric of followers of Machiavelli. He has disdained parliamentary procedure in the Senate which has for generations been the glue that kept this unwieldy country with all its constituents together. The only good news is that there is an all out war between Trump’s uncouth Bannon and slippery McConnell. Trump’s Svengali has threatened McConnell and his supporters with Primaries and he means it.
TRUMP AND THE BILL
Trump is using the occasion to trot out all his lies. His central message is that this is a massive Xmas present to his beloved gullible working class. This in the teeth of the fact that what benefits, if any, his electorate will receive will cease in a few years so as not to run the deficit too high! In reassuring the faithful he claims future administrations will fix it up when the time comes. My heavens there is just no limit to the cant and the hypocrisy.
He screams it benefits him not a penny when the benefits to his real estate operation, personal tax and his heirs is staggering and estimated in the billions - “Believe me. This is going to cost me a fortune” has been his demagoguery until a day before it was released. Incidentally another victim of Republican greed will be charitable contributions as the byzantine bill will result in billions lost as tax credits will not be straight forward. This should not bother Trump as he has just closed his own “Charitable Foundation” with the revelations that it donated nothing to charity and was used illegally to pay off debts. Just for the record, Trump’s promise that he was going to stop companies from shifting capital oversea - a big applause line, has not only not happened, it is now easier.
He mouths the mantra that the increased investments the companies will make will create jobs thereby preventing the trillions deficit. He will claim that it is fake news that this is not going to happen. In fact CEO’s have been singularly unforthcoming. Companies that have just received this staggering windfall are, according to Bloomberg News, sitting on over two trillion dollars anyway and haven’t provided any stimulus.
WHERE TO NOW?
One of the feeble excuses that the Republican swamp used in rushing this Bill through was that it had to have something to show the electorate for the 2018 midterm elections. The only constituency that this will resonate with is that of the oligarchs including Trump. It remains to see how this rhetoric will halt the forthcoming electoral onslaught.
Of course omnipotent Trump believes he can swing it. So far he is batting 0 for 2. At kindest he had no impact in Alabama, where he had exhibited his highest popularity. It is worth repeating that he initially supported Lucas Strange for the Republican nomination and he was defeated by Roy Moore. The POTUS went full tilt for Roy Moore making the understandable miscalculation that he just couldn’t lose and the result would strengthen his hold on the GOP, having finally backed a winner. Luckily a feature of sociopathy is that one never learns from one’s mistakes so, as he has promised, Trump will be backing hundreds of Republican candidates in the belief that it will make the difference - which it will!
AT THE END OF THE DAY.
For those of you that are worried that America will become a banana republic, stop worrying, it is already is one.
The last line standing to defend democracy is the electorate itself. The oligarchs who poured hundreds of millions of dollars into ensuring total Republican control are not going to let go of their investment that easily and will double down. The money is probably all tax deductible under “Tax Reform”, anyway.
If Trump preemptively strikes North Korea before the Republican legislators hobble him they will have a lot more on their consciences than just feathering their own nests.
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