Trump doesn't know what's next after taxes

[DonViejo]

Still smarting from the failure of Obamacare repeal and focused on taxes, the White House hasn't worked out its next big-ticket item as 2018 looms.

By ELIANA JOHNSON, ANDREW RESTUCCIA and BEN WHITE 11/27/2017 05:04 AM EST

The White House and Capitol Hill are singularly focused on passing a tax reform bill – but almost no one in Washington seems to know what the Trump administration will bear down on next. White House policy initiatives are typically planned months in advance, with congruent strategies for communications and a view toward working them through Congress. But there is little agreement between White House officials and Republican leaders on the Hill about what should follow tax reform.

Over the course of conversations with nearly a dozen senior aides in the White House and on Capitol Hill, a range of possibilities surfaced, from welfare reform to the infrastructure program Trump touted on the campaign trail to revisiting Obamacare repeal – an effort that has twice frustrated the Trump administration.

The looming vacuum in the Republican agenda underscores how the relative chaos and disorganization of the Trump White House can affect policymaking across Washington. Former administration officials say the situation is virtually unprecedented, and that it is threatening the president’s ability to score legislative victories for the GOP heading into next year’s midterm elections. It may also cost Trump personally once the 2020 re-election campaign begins in earnest about a year from now.

“There is very little in the pipeline, and no obvious next item on the agenda after tax reform except maybe a return to health care,” said Yuval Levin, the editor of National Affairs, a leading conservative policy journal, who works closely with Republicans on Capitol Hill. “Combine that with a president who doesn’t think in terms of policy and you’ve got no clear next step.”

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/27/trump-agenda-tax-reform-260405

[WinkyDink]

1. "Find more Obama stuff. Get rid of. #anything"

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Bulldoze the vegetable garden and replace with a putting green.

[gratuitous]

2. How about nibbling around the edges of society?

The Trump administration is fucking up all kinds of good things government does, mostly because they can, partly because Obama instituted them, and sometimes just for the fun of making poor people's lives more miserable. But that doesn't fit Politico's narrative, so they elect to ignore what's happening right before their insipid faces.

[enough]

3. Somewhat misleading headline. They're going to keep doing what they're already doing

all day, every day. Restructuring and packing the judicial system with ultra conservative judges, undoing regulations on safety and environmental protection, deconstructing the state department, erasing science from policy, etc. etc. Supress voting.

They know that they're doing. That headline makes them laugh.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

4. I thought he said he was going to go after welfare "reform" next

Trump calls for welfare reform as he rallies GOP for tax vote

President Trump told House Republicans that he wants Congress to tackle welfare reform after it finishes work on a sweeping tax bill that would slash the corporate rate.

The remarks came during a rare Capitol Hill visit by Trump ahead of a House vote on the tax bill, which lawmakers are expected to approve in a party-line vote.

A confident, jovial Trump said he expected the Senate to also pass tax reform and eventually deliver a bill to his desk, which would give Republicans their first major legislative victory of the Trump era.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/360692-trump-calls-for-welfare-reform-as-he-rallies-gop-for-tax-vote

During the campaign, the Big Three were (1) repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with something "beautiful" (i.e., screw the poor and middle class), (2) lower taxes (that is, lower them drastically on the very rich--especially himself--while raising them on everyone else), and (3) rebuild the infrastructure. He must have recognized that the last one didn't screw anyone over, but in fact improved life for most Americans, from providing good paying jobs to fixing long-neglected bridges, tunnels and roads. So he's falling back to Plan A: screw the poor. He and the Repugs did the same thing by refusing to reauthorize the program which provides medical care for poor children.

Of course, there were the incessant cries of "Build the Wall!" and "Lock Her Up!", and we've seen how well he's done on those (thankfully).

Resist.

[greatauntoftriplets]

6. Even more golf?

[Johonny]

7. economic collapse?