The biggest mystery in American politics today isn’t the question of why Republicans are pretending Donald Trump is just a normal, regular politician — it’s why they think passing their toxic tax-cut bill will be greeted by the public as a “victory.” Two-thirds of those polled are against it, and one-third is brainwashed that it will actually help the economy, which doesn’t need any help right now.
Given their innate criminal nature, it’s no surprise Republicans in Congress have resorted to outright bribery to pass this abomination. That bribery is most evident in the case of Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who, though he opposes Trump, is acting just like him. Corker was a holdout until a modification was made that will benefit him personally to the tune of hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. Remember, Republicans have principles, and the main one is, “Give me all your money.”
Rich people have been selling the lie about tax cuts for a long time — all the way back to Andrew Mellon, who apparently was the first to sell tax cuts for the rich as self-funding. He could claim this because it hadn’t been tried yet. Now that it’s failed repeatedly, what’s the GOP’s excuse?
Josh Marshall explains why the Trump legal team is acting so huffy about those legally obtained emails: They probably show that some people knowingly lied to the FBI.
Eugene Robinson points out something that in any other administration would be incredibly controversial: The Trump family’s obvious self-enrichment, which he dubs the Trump Family Swamp, a name I don’t expect will catch on.
Today in presidential pettiness, Trump apparently considered rescinding Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court because he wasn’t sufficiently loyal. He’s like a mafia don, minus the brains.
Finally, I am looking to a new hope in the age of Trump: The government actually spent money trying to figure out what’s up with UFOs. I figure they took one look at Trump and headed back to Alpha Centauri, convinced there’s no intelligent life here.