Few thoughts on tax swindle

First, I got to think that the recent elections in Virginia and then last week in Alabama gave a special urgency to GOP leaders in Congress to ram through this tax heist, while they still can. Their window of opportunity, they figured is closing and could easily slam shut next fall when voters go to the polls.

Second, the tax giveaways to the wealthy and corporations and the accompanying explosion of the federal deficit to levels never reached is but the front end of a GOP stampede at the back end to cut Social Security, Medicare, and other government programs that meet people’s needs. Already, it is part of their talking points.

Third, the Trump family and many Republican legislators will reap rich financial rewards from the passage of this bill. As Paul Krugman has noted, their zeal to ram through this bill wasn’t only to satisfy their rich doners. They too were pigs at the troth. And this should be said again and again until we are blue in the face.

Fourth, the press conference of Trump and Republican legislators on the capital steps, during which the likes McConnell, Ryan, Hatch, and Pence lavished effusive praise on Trump should be enough to convince anyone that the GOP will do nothing to reign in the worst authoritarian tendencies of this fake president. That event and their words unmistakably smacked of a cult of personality.

Fifth, what transpired this week should give new energy to all of us hoping to turn next year’s elections into a wave election in which Democrats take control of both chambers.