In 2017, per a Quinippiac poll, only 25% supported the Trump tax cut. Every Republican in

[Atticus]

Congress voted FOR it. 83% of the benefits went to the top 1%.

Now, in 2021, per MSNBC just now, 75% support the Biden covid relief act. Every Republican in Congress voted AGAINST it. The benefits go to everyone and 85% of Americans will receive checks within days.

If you can wrap your head around those facts and still vote Republican, please kiss my ass!

[multigraincracker]

1. Trump tax cuts are trillion bucks a year forever.

COVID relief bill is a one time $1.9 trillion.

[wiggs]

4. Worse than that...IIRC I believe some of the tax cuts for middle class expire in couple years nt

[JT45242]

8. Next year the rates of middle class go up right on target plan for the (R)

This was done so that when Trump lost, and taxes went up, the (R) would blame the new guy for raising taxes on the middle class even though it was part of their law.

Since they knew they would still have at least 40 and potentialy a majority of the Senate, they planned on blocking any attempt to undo the Trump tax hike on the lower classes to hep them in the midterms and to win back the white house in 2024.

A smart -- totally unethical -- ploy that would fool most of the public especially once the spin guys blamed it all on the do nothing democrats.

[liberalla]

18. Yes, the tax cuts for the 1% were made permanent, and the rest return to the previous levels

(in steps, not all at once)... IIRC

[progree]

24. The non-corporate ones end at the end of 2025. I don't think there are any step changes in those,

it is one big step change at the end of 2025.

[Escurumbele]

11. This is not good news...read this article from the NYT

[link:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/business/economy/biden-trump-tax-law.html|

I was hoping Biden would get rid of the trump tax cuts...This is disheartening, to say the least.

[hedda_foil]

31. Biden can't just make it go away. It's a Congressionally passed law. Only another law can change it

[Irish_Dem]

2. Racism and hatred appear to be more important than practical self-interest?

Time will tell.

[Cosmocat]

12. Honestly, that concept was proven a long damn time ago

It's just at a farcically obvious stage now.

[Irish_Dem]

13. Taken to its logical conclusion: Over half a million people dead. Economy and society in shambles.

Kids not in school, people not working. People sick and dying. Democracy hanging by a thread.

But hating the other is more important that dealing with our horrendous crises.

[Cosmocat]

28. Yep "Oh, my God, DR SUESS!"

nm

[jaxexpat]

17. Most of the people I knew who support the QOP back in Kentucky cited.....

gun rights as their sole motivation. For them it was a right to hunt issue. They lived for their seasonal hunting experience.

In Jacksonville the "man on the street" talking point on gun ownership is "to prateyct mah self and my faymlee". The unspoken here is that the protection is from a fantasy black uprising. Deeply ingrained slavery hangover syndrome, I suspect.

Neither group had enough income to be affected by the QOP tax manipulation. It made so little difference that it didn't impact their lifestyles at all. Nor do either group understand how they are being manipulated to vote against their own interests.

[Irish_Dem]

29. Yes, as you point out "gun rights" are directly linked to racism.

[jaxexpat]

39. it's at the heart of the matter. Way too many of the ammo and cammo types....

live for the "pre-emptive strike" moment. Their permission to kill.

[Irish_Dem]

40. They are all ready to start shooting and play soldier.

[treestar]

3. State by state polls would help

But even so, it would seem there are Republican senators where a majority in their state is for it. That's what is truly mysterious. I get it if you are from a red state but purple one? Why do they find it in their interest to vote against their state?

[Elessar Zappa]

7. I bet even in the reddest states that a majority

are for the stimulus. The stimulus has a 60% approval rating among Republicans.

[treestar]

20. Yes, so why do they vote

differently from their constituents majority, and why will that state re-elect them?

[Ferrets are Cool]

5. I will go just a bit further...

If you STILL have an R behind your name after the last two repuq administrations, you can KISS my ASS. There is NO excuse.

[uponit7771]

6. K&R, I'm still getting mud stomped with salt caps

[Escurumbele]

9. Those who believe Republicans were correct in voting against it should

not cash their checks, they should return them. Put your actions where your mouth is.

[malaise]

10. Great post

ReTHUGs are the oligarchs' tools - no one else matters. They use their base to keep the wealthy happy.

[Tommymac]

26. Truth.

Let it ring out.

[Sogo]

14. Excellent point.

[dalton99a]

15. Kick

[LawDem]

16. Gerrymandering equals unresponsive governance

Because of extreme gerrymandering, Republicans in Congress consistently vote contrary to the interests of a majority of their constituents. Extreme gerrymandering doesn't just make this possible,. It makes it inevitable. Most GOP reps don't give a rat's ass what the general public wants. All that matters is that they score well with the right wing extremists who control their party and vote in primary elections. Because of extreme gerrymandering, they don't have to worry about the general election.

But then you already knew that, didn't you? Anyone paying attention knows it. But extreme gerrymandering is so effective, it makes it nearly impossible to change things. So to tell you something else you already know, that is why the pro-democracy legislation soon to be at issue in Congress MUST PASS, filibuster or no filibuster.

[moose65]

19. Gerrymandering doesn't affect the Senate

Senators have to get the votes of voters from across their states. If you're a Republican Senator in a purple state, why would you vote against it? Or, if you just got re-elected in 2020 (Susan Collins) or if you've announced your retirement (Burr) what incentive would you have to vote against the bill?

Answer: pure unadulterated assholishness.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. These are the kind of things that Democrats, from Biden on down,

need to talk about frequently. Staying silent on who voted for what, or who didn't vote for something else, let's them get away with such despicable things.

I'm sure I don't have the exact quote, but it's something like, "All that it takes for evil to win is for good men to remain silent."

Just as every single day Obama should have been pointing out that the Republicans were refusing to consider his nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Instead, he essentially shrugged his shoulders, everyone assumed Hillary would win, which even without foreknowledge of Trump becoming President, was not a good idea. Even if she had won the Electoral College and become President, the Senate would still have been majority Republican and would probably have refused to consider her nominee either.

Republicans are simply not held accountable. For anything they do.

[calimary]

23. And the Dems BETTER use this in ALL upcoming campaigns!

[Atticus]

25. Prolly not those last three words. nt

[calimary]

30. LOL!

[niyad]

27. Actually, anyone who is still an "r" after this, I do not want your lips, or indeed any part of your

hateful, misbegotten lifeform anywhere near my person. May you all rot.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

32. The right-wing "outrage media machine" clearly works...

... on some people.

I had a fellow "poor schmuck" coworker years ago who went so far that he argued for no taxes on the wealthy! "They're the ones who give us jobs!", he said.

I replied that he would've fit in perfectly as a lowly serf under the feudal system of Europe. "The king and the lords give us jobs!"

[panfluteman]

33. The SAD Political Reality Is This:

Republicans today are, first and foremost, whores to the billionaires and the corporate elite, and see them as their REAL constituents.

Republican legislators will ALWAYS vote in the interests of their real constituents, no matter how unpopular it may be with the vast majority of the American public.

As for the voters who wound up voting them into office, they were just SUCKERS that they had to con one way or another, by hook or by crook, into voting for them. And there are a LOT of dumb and gullible voters out there in America today.

It's as simple as that.

[Progressive Jones]

38. Guns, Gawd, and Gays. nt

[bucolic_frolic]

34. STIM will see growth in jobs and profits, Republicans will come to see the benefits

The only downside will be inflation. And it's here already.

[BobTheSubgenius]

35. There is no rational reason for the average voter to tick the "R" box.

None. The only reasons they have are bad ones.

[smirkymonkey]

36. K&R

[Midnight Writer]

37. A Senator from California represents 30 times the number of people as a Senator from Montana.

Yet they each get an equal vote and have the same power.