"The tax plan that Republicans are soon expected to pass has grown more unpopular in the last two months, with nearly two-thirds of Americans believing it’s designed mostly to help corporations and the wealthy, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll," NBC News reported on December 19.
Newsweek had a good old time mocking the act.
The magazine declared Democrats the big winners in this because all the polling showed the public hated the plan.
The magazine puzzled over the passage of the tax cuts.
It did not matter to Republicans:A President George Bush would have worried himself out of a tax cut over the polling.
—that no one (other than Republican donors and ideologues) thought that changing the tax system was even a medium priority,
—that the bill was written for (and in some cases was literally written by the lobbyists for) the largest corporations and wealthy people,
—that the bill received the worst poll ratings of any major piece of legislation in history,
—that the bill made the tax system even more complicated than it already was,
—that the process of creating the bill was chaotic, compressed, and entirely partisan,
—that the Republicans went out of their way to take a whack at taxpayers in blue states, hypocritically violating the Constitution by deliberately setting up discriminatory treatment among the states (and all but dooming many of the sixteen blue-state Republicans in the House who lamely voted against the bill), or
—that the Republicans lied non-stop about the magical growth effects of tax cuts.
Donald Trump is the biggest poll vaulter in politics.
President Trump told Republicans, trust me on this. They trusted him because they now know that Donald Trump defies all the laws of the physics of politics. He is the first (and likely only) thrice-married, twice-divorced president. I rest my case.
And now Republicans may defy political gravity in the midterm election.
"U.S. consumer confidence surged in February, building off its rebound from January and reaching the highest level since 2000," CNBC reported.
"The Conference Board's measure of consumer attitudes on current and future economic conditions increased to 130.80 in February, up from 124.30 in January."
Perception is reality in politics.
President Trump won the Battle of the Spin before he ever engaged the enemy. He is a student of Sun Tzu.
Going in, Trump knew the press would call it a tax cut for the rich, and a small, temporary cut for the rest of us who might be lucky enough to get one.
He eschewed calling it a tax reform because that conjures up the image of lobbyists carving out tax breaks for themselves.
Instead, he called it a tax cut. That made his message clearer and cleaner.
Then he got corporations to share the wealth. The flurry of $1,000 bonus checks to millions of workers was something unexpected, exciting, and fun. This was found money. Who doesn't like found money?
The new schedule with lighter withholding taxes came out just as the Christmas bills came in.
Nancy Pelosi then blundered and reminded voters that every Democrat voted against the tax cut when she called those thousand-dollar bonuses crumbs.
Trump realizes that good policy is good politics, but he also knows that marketing matters. He branded the bill a tax cut -- and got businesses to sell it by providing bonuses to their workers.
David Harsanyi saw this happening in December, writing that Democrats were fooling only themselves in opposing Trump's plan.
"As an ideological matter, every time a Democrat claims that keeping more of your own money is tantamount to stealing – which is all the time – voters should remember this is fundamentally a debate between people who believe the state should have first dibs on your property and those who don’t. The only way to frame the bill as a tax hike is by using the 2025 expiration of individual rate cuts. And the only way they won’t be extended is if Democrats decide to raise taxes again. These are debates Republicans should embrace," Harsanyi wrote.
"That’s not to say tax reform will save the day. Historically speaking, it’s likely the party in power will lose a bunch of seats in 2018 midterms. But to claim, as Democrats are sure to do, that those loses are unique or tied to the toxicity of an agenda item – particularly a tax cut, which is generally popular among Americans (when they know it exists) – is far-fetched."
The problem for Democrats is they are not very bright. They have credentials and are clever, but they cannot think for themselves.
They are trying to be a Tea Party to President Trump, but the tax cut is not Obamacare because most people actually benefit from the tax cut, whereas Obamacare helped a very small percent of the public while costing the rest of us money.
There also is the matter of lying to the public. Trump may not always get his facts exactly right, but he is not an empty-suited liar.
For the key to marketing is having a quality product.
Look for Trump to lead congressional Republicans to a couple more victories before November.
The best way to keep your job is to do it well.
@@@
The media chose to go to war with Donald John Trump in 2017 rather than accept him as president.
The media chose poorly.
From Leslie Eastman's review at Legal Insurrection:
Surber, a recovering journalist with over 30 years of experience, has been cataloging the #FakeNews that has been regularly offered as serious analysis of President Donald Trump’s actions, policies, and opinions. He has brought his enormous collection together in the longest, most serious book he has yet written: Fake News Follies of 2017.Fake News Follies of 2017 is available on Kindle and in paperback.
Autographed copies are available. Email me at DonSurber@GMail.com for details. I am including a "director's cut." I will give you the original Chapter 1 that I cut because while the chapter was amusing, it really had nothing to do with the Fake News Follies of 2017.
Republicans: "arising tide lifts all boats."
ReplyDeleteDemocrats:"the beatings will continue until morale improves."
TG.
"A rising tide lifts all boats", was Jack Kennedy's line. He had to fight his own party, much for the same reasons.
DeleteOne of the few smart things he ever did.
Excellent post, Don!
ReplyDeleteThe Democrats need their heads read.
ReplyDeleteGetting between Joe Public and a fistful of dollars is about as wise as wearing white ABBA flares to a heavy-metal concert.
When my son called two weeks ago and said he was making $47 more dollars a paycheck, he was psyched. He gets paid twice a month. Do the math. He's on The Train already, but it was still cool to hear. Way to fail again, Stretch.
ReplyDeleteMy sister only watches nbc nightly news and considers herself among the most aware citizens of this country.
ReplyDeleteLate last year she was shocked that I thought the tax cuts were a great idea. She knew they were horrible and would hurt most taxpayers.
I have not had the heart to ask what she thinks now, although as a loyal viewer of Lester Dolt, she probably still has the same opinion.
Here’s hoping the democrats get schlonged at the polls over this.
"Poll vaulter" Priceless! Great writing is but one reason why I bookmark Don Surber!
ReplyDeleteThat one made me grin, too!
DeleteJimNorCal
I found a hundred dollar bill one time when out with some friends. We ate hot-pepper cheeseburgers and fried mushrooms washed down with cold beer until it was all gone. Found money is the best!
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you President Trump, and Republican Senators and Congressmen and women, for the extra $98.79 every two weeks. Next time we're busting their asses about something don't forget about the tax cuts, and give them a little slack.
But not too much.
Meanwhile, Newsweek, which chose to tangle with Trump, is about to get evicted from their office space.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
Not kidding...
Yeah, that made me chuckle, too!
DeleteBack in 2010, Sidney Harmon the HiFi mogul bought Newsweek for $1.00. I thought at the time he was ripped off, and now he wants his dollar back!
I have family members who would consider 1000 dollars a year literally god sent.
ReplyDelete