Republicans Will Let America Burn While Holding Out for Tax Cuts [View all]

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http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/gop-will-let-america-burn-while-holding-out-for-tax-cuts-w500163


Republicans Will Let America Burn While Holding Out for Tax Cuts

The core principle of the GOP is to make the rich richer, and that's more important to its congressional leaders than any U.S. institution
By Ed Burmila
19 hours ago


snip//

At the same time, though, Republicans are making it clear that talk is all we are going to get so long as there is any chance of pushing through tax cuts before Trump has a Chernobyl-level meltdown. If the breakdown of the rule of law and the institutions of government troubles them, it doesn't trouble them enough to give up the prospect of getting the wealthiest Americans their 100th tax break of the last four decades. The GOP claims its corporate tax cut from 35 percent to 15 percent will not raise the debt, an assertion that relies upon the repeatedly disproven claim that economic growth will skyrocket after tax cuts. Paul Ryan urges you not to notice that due to extensive loopholes, American corporations currently pay nowhere near the nominal 35 percent rate. Oh, and they're also sitting on $2 trillion in cash, which negates the argument that investment is being held back by the tax rate.

It's good to have priorities.

snip//

Their priority will not change no matter what Trump does and no matter how many vastly more pressing problems confront the nation. The core principle of the GOP is to make the rich richer, and that is more important to people like Ryan than any of our institutions. As reality dawns on the naively hopeful GOP members who believed they could "manage" Trump, their willingness to keep the nuclear codes in the hands of a giant toddler says a lot about their values.

In their more reflective moments, Republicans may be troubled by what is happening in the White House. Too bad they're not troubled enough to do anything about it. As the great democratic theorist DMX once famously noted, "Talk is cheap, motherfuckers." All the anguished and disapproving tweets in the world don't matter when Republicans are still cynically and selfishly trying to use this unfolding disaster as cover to revive the same discredited economic policies they've been pushing for decades. Soon we'll reach a crossroads where they'll have to choose between the Constitution and making Tax Day easier on the Koch brothers. Their recent words and actions don't inspire much confidence that they'll make the right choice.