Originally published at: Senate Republicans’ Sneaky Math Gimmicks Foreshadow Plans To Run Roughshod Over The Senate
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. Senate Republicans have passed a budget resolution that sets in motion their plan for gigantic tax cuts, skewed heavily toward billionaires, and that heralds their intent to pass it by breaking the budget rules. In order to cloak the massive increase in…
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They’ve already sold the prime cuts, now they want to monetize the offal.
We’re the sausage.
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Autocrats act autocratically.
I never said it was only Donald Trump, but I think some still think he and his administration is “it”, and not Republicans generally.
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The IRS is broken at this point. So, no income. Countries are also leaving the bond market. So, no debt financing. They’re also well on their way to breaking all the agencies, so the government won’t function at all - including the armed forces. And now they want to steal the rest.
Putin did this too, which is why “mighty Russia” couldn’t just roll in and take Ukraine. For the life of me, I can’t figure out how they think they’re going to get away with this. Sure, Trump is old and I’m pretty sure he’s factored in, “I don’t care what happens - I’ll be dead.” But the rest of them? It’s just not going to end well. I don’t care how bad you cheat, it’s 330 million vs. a few thousand. Good luck with that.
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Not that I am in any way in favor of the outcomes of this particular legislation or the intellectual dishonesty that it is carrying forward, but given that this would basically eliminate the filibuster entirely, in the event they don’t just stop elections forever, this would eventually mean actual improvements could be made without needing 60 vote majorities. I have a hard time being against that. (In fact, I have explicitly been for that for at least the last 5 years.)
Again, not at all excusing the “hey, this totally doesn’t change the deficit” lying.
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Figures don’t lie but liars can figure.
That said, one of the many lies is that this is about extending Trump’s “tax cuts” when it would be more true to say it is about extending Trump’s “tax shift”. That is the biggest part of Trump’s bill they want to extend and make permanent shifts taxes from billionaires (the top 1/10 of the top 1%) to those people in the top 7 % to the top 99%. That is for every taxpayer Trump gave a $3,000 or more tax cut to, he gave 3 taxpayers a $3,000 or more tax increase.
But the biggest point is in regard to all these “gimmicks” and “tricks” Republicans are using to get around the rules, why is it Democrats cannot do the same when they are in power. That is what I see is that Republicans have what it takes to rule and Democrats do not even have what it takes to govern.
A lesson I learned along time ago from my high school wrestling coach was you cannot play by the Marques of Queensbury rules when the other guy is kicking you in the nuts.
What Republicans do not fear and they should fear if the Democrats were a real opposition is that what Republicans do today Democrats will do tomorrow. That is unless they are willing to go along with Trump and turn America into an autocracy where the Congress and Courts have no real power, Trump’s disastrous policies will lead to a Democratic takeover and then they will rue the day they did this.
But Democrats have given Republicans no reason to fear as Democrats always insist on playing by the rules when the other side is not equally bound.
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For the life of me, I can’t figure out how they think they’re going to get away with this.
Because Republicans in the last 40 years have yet to pay a political price for anything, be it deficits, 9/11, lying America into and losing wars, recession, pandemics, insurrections, taking away equality from women and minorities.
Between the media and Democrats being wimps even when in power (“we are forward looking and not backwards looking”, Obama’s excuse for not reviewing the lies and crimes of George W Bush) Republicans have learned they can do anything and not be held accountable.
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Anyone who thinks the mid terms will save us is fooling themselves.
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It’s not “Democrats” during the Biden administration. It’s Manchin and Sinema. Sinema, in particular, wrote this oped you probably haven’t read, in the Washington Post in 2021: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/21/kyrsten-sinema-filibuster-for-the-people-act/
I vehemently disagree with her and point to right here right now as to why, especially the Supreme Court.
That said, it’s important to be super clear on who and why the fault lies with.
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I’m beginning to think that nothing short of revolution is going to change this. Until the fear of the people is put into some of these Republicans in congress they are just going to go along with whatever Trump wants.
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I’ve posted this before, and it’s still true; they know they can’t win fairly, so they cheat. It’s beyond disgusting, it’s against the Constitution. It was a nice republic for 235 odd years…guess we couldn’t keep it.
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We just had two autocrats sit smugly in the Oval Office, each claiming they could not nor would not do anything to retrieve an uncharged man from a murderous prison, flaunting their contempt for the rule of law.
So, no, I don’t expect the cretins in Congress from the same party as fascist papa to be even remotely disturbed by running roughshod over some quaint parliamentary nicety. They have their marching orders and are thus goose stepping toward the finish line.
QED
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Nobody could have predicted that Senate Republicans would get rid of the so-called “60 vote rule” aka the filibuster as soon as it got in their way. Oh wait, everybody did predict exactly that.
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