I would not bet that the republicans will keep up the Three Stooges act up much longer. Someone with the brain among them will wake up and realize just how much they can impose on this country and get to work. The result will most likely be a disaster which will collapse on itself, but it will affect us for a long time, and in the meantime the overactive, uneducated base will pop another cold one and cheer on the continuation of chaos. All the while Vladimir has his Cheshire Cat smile while telling us, "...don't worry, be happy!"
108
Still this illusion that the biggest issue in tax inequity is what the tax rates are. Look at the Trumpster -- since by his own claim he paid hardly any taxes, what his tax rates were hardly matters. The real issue is what gets counted as taxable income, and the Finance Masters and their lawyers in the Caribbean tax havens are very good at making taxable income disappear altogether. Just read "Perfectly Legal" by David Kay Johnson, who used to (and still perhaps does) work for the Times to understand how these rackets work.
94
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." This situation is clearly an instance of the Dunning-Kruger effect in psychology, where the more ignorant a person is of a subject, they more strongly they believe in the correctness of their opinion. Actual demonstrable expertise in some body of knowledge is evidence of bias. I do not believe that a cure for this syndrome has ever been found.
101
"The good news is that this crowd is so inept it might not work."
Ms. Collins; the last line could have been the 1st line, the 2nd line, and on and on... Their incompetence and wrongheadedness is breathtaking. It seems that autocracy and stupidity are hardly strange bedfellows. That Trump supporters still hold an 85% favorability rating for him is likewise breathtaking and wrongheaded.
The Democrats seem to be content to sit on the sidelines for the most part and wait for the implosion. And that is a huge mistake. The leadership amongst them seem truly blinkered in their status quo Clintonian corporatism. Their is a strong yearning on the Left, and believe it or not on the Right for a renewal of a democracy that currently exist in name only.
The GOP have NO interest in even a shadow version of democracy. They are going for the throat and if the blood ever starts flowing in the streets they'll double down with Herr Trump as the titular head. But a titular head who will continue to draw out the worst in us. The time may be soon for the flag to be flown upside down, not in protest, but as a measure of true distress.
Ms. Collins; the last line could have been the 1st line, the 2nd line, and on and on... Their incompetence and wrongheadedness is breathtaking. It seems that autocracy and stupidity are hardly strange bedfellows. That Trump supporters still hold an 85% favorability rating for him is likewise breathtaking and wrongheaded.
The Democrats seem to be content to sit on the sidelines for the most part and wait for the implosion. And that is a huge mistake. The leadership amongst them seem truly blinkered in their status quo Clintonian corporatism. Their is a strong yearning on the Left, and believe it or not on the Right for a renewal of a democracy that currently exist in name only.
The GOP have NO interest in even a shadow version of democracy. They are going for the throat and if the blood ever starts flowing in the streets they'll double down with Herr Trump as the titular head. But a titular head who will continue to draw out the worst in us. The time may be soon for the flag to be flown upside down, not in protest, but as a measure of true distress.
69
Ms. Collins,
Excellently written, as usual. While the laughs certainly help me get through the day, none of us can forget that nearly half this nation sees absolutely no problem with the Trump presidency.
This other America believes in Trump's lies. When I say lies, I mean statements that have been factually disproven and entirely discredited. Half of our citizens have been given the proof, and yet choose to believe his lies. They know the truth. They have chosen to ignore it, as long as he makes them feel somehow more entitled, more American, than the rest of us whom they disdain.
As for your latest example, the entirely non-existent tax plan "moving along in Congress", every member of the House and Senate (even Republicans) could tell Trump supporters that there is no tax plan before Congress, and they would still believe there is one, simply because he said so. He tells them they are the "real Americans". In exchange for this, they are willing to believe in any lie he tells, and worse, are willing to act on his lies.
We are living in a fantasy world if we believe ineptitude will save us. Trump voters have long since shown they care nothing for qualifications or ability. As long as Trump's supporters have power, they are capable of incredible damage. Ms. Collins, if you can find any humor in their destructive behavior, perhaps that will be one of your future columns.
Excellently written, as usual. While the laughs certainly help me get through the day, none of us can forget that nearly half this nation sees absolutely no problem with the Trump presidency.
This other America believes in Trump's lies. When I say lies, I mean statements that have been factually disproven and entirely discredited. Half of our citizens have been given the proof, and yet choose to believe his lies. They know the truth. They have chosen to ignore it, as long as he makes them feel somehow more entitled, more American, than the rest of us whom they disdain.
As for your latest example, the entirely non-existent tax plan "moving along in Congress", every member of the House and Senate (even Republicans) could tell Trump supporters that there is no tax plan before Congress, and they would still believe there is one, simply because he said so. He tells them they are the "real Americans". In exchange for this, they are willing to believe in any lie he tells, and worse, are willing to act on his lies.
We are living in a fantasy world if we believe ineptitude will save us. Trump voters have long since shown they care nothing for qualifications or ability. As long as Trump's supporters have power, they are capable of incredible damage. Ms. Collins, if you can find any humor in their destructive behavior, perhaps that will be one of your future columns.
67
Asking Trump about progress on bills is like asking your eight year old if he or she has finished his or her school report. "It's moving along, Mom."
And Gail, you are too kind: "So productivity will be less than high."
If conservatives (I mean the loony Bannon kind of people) get their way, we'll be funding government in the way kids used to show up at your door at Halloween with those UNICEF milk cartons for donations. In the GOP plan, each department would muster the kids. You'd see a milk carton with "DoD" or "DOE" written on it.
I didn't realize that Lady Gaga is as young as I am. Amazing. Right, that's when Reagan and Tip O'Neill would go drinking together. Now congress is like the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story.
And Gail, you are too kind: "So productivity will be less than high."
If conservatives (I mean the loony Bannon kind of people) get their way, we'll be funding government in the way kids used to show up at your door at Halloween with those UNICEF milk cartons for donations. In the GOP plan, each department would muster the kids. You'd see a milk carton with "DoD" or "DOE" written on it.
I didn't realize that Lady Gaga is as young as I am. Amazing. Right, that's when Reagan and Tip O'Neill would go drinking together. Now congress is like the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story.
38
Socially conscious individuals interested in divestment from say, the oil & gas sector, generally have limited success due to the bottom feeders taking up the slack. No offense to flounders.
On the practical side, we buy an electric or hybrid auto & they raise gas prices. We buy a SUV & they keep prices relatively stable & raise production.
One would think that giving the plutocrats tax cuts would encourage them to retire. The reason this doesn't work is because they've been retired their entire lives, with a few exceptions like the potato king in Idaho.
The corollary to this thinking on the plebeian side, are those who win the lottery & keep their jobs. So by all means, give the plutos a tax cut. They can't quit & neither can we.
On the practical side, we buy an electric or hybrid auto & they raise gas prices. We buy a SUV & they keep prices relatively stable & raise production.
One would think that giving the plutocrats tax cuts would encourage them to retire. The reason this doesn't work is because they've been retired their entire lives, with a few exceptions like the potato king in Idaho.
The corollary to this thinking on the plebeian side, are those who win the lottery & keep their jobs. So by all means, give the plutos a tax cut. They can't quit & neither can we.
6
This man has the gall to talk about saving tax payer money. We still haven't seen what he's paid over the years. And not one Trump supporter has questioned that....go figure.
67
Gail I'm so depressed. Can you write a column on how you manage to stay sane and engaged in this fiasco and write your wonderful relevant accurate columns? Maybe I can use some of your techniques to not feel so helpless.
64
I am one of your biggest supporters, Gail. I love your way with words.
However, I have to take issue with your joke that 1986 was a great year, It was the year that Reagan abolished the media Fairness Doctrine which gave rise to fake news Fox.
Had that not happened, it is highly unlikely we'd have so many Americans believing the lies told daily by Fox and voting based upon those lies.
So, for me, 1986 was a terrible year, which contributed mightily to the ruination of our country by weakening journalism.
However, I have to take issue with your joke that 1986 was a great year, It was the year that Reagan abolished the media Fairness Doctrine which gave rise to fake news Fox.
Had that not happened, it is highly unlikely we'd have so many Americans believing the lies told daily by Fox and voting based upon those lies.
So, for me, 1986 was a terrible year, which contributed mightily to the ruination of our country by weakening journalism.
93
The closing Trump advertisement in the election railed against a supposed cabal of international elite financial figures who were claimed to be causing America's decline. It pictured financier George Soros, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, and GS CEO Lloyd Blankfein as the prime villains. Trump's inaugural address also reiterated the populist theme that the day of revenge against financial elites has arrived. Despite this, the one certain thing that can be predicted is that the Republican-controlled congress will enact and President Trump will sign is the elimination of the estate tax. This literally could be called taking from the millionaires to give to the billionaires. Estates under $5.49 million are now totally exempt from the estate tax. Billionaires are not as able as mere millionaires to employ various strategies to avoid estate taxes. Repealing the estate tax will give $billions to a fraction of the top 1%, which will ultimately have to be made up by the rest of the taxpayers. There is no doubt as to what Republican control of both congress and the presidency will be.
There will be a further shift in the tax burden away from the rich and onto the middle class. Corporate income tax receipts, whose incidence falls entirely on the owners of corporations, were 4% of GDP then and were 1.77% in 2016. During that same period, payroll tax rates as a percent of GDP have increased dramatically from 3.27% in 1966 to 5.95% in 2016..."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/4047608
There will be a further shift in the tax burden away from the rich and onto the middle class. Corporate income tax receipts, whose incidence falls entirely on the owners of corporations, were 4% of GDP then and were 1.77% in 2016. During that same period, payroll tax rates as a percent of GDP have increased dramatically from 3.27% in 1966 to 5.95% in 2016..."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/4047608
35
Do all the baseballs so smartly swatted by this administration still count as "home runs" if they all plop into open septic tanks? The notion that serious harm may be averted by the sheer incompetence of this White House crowd is hardly reassuring, especially in the face of the global crises that will inevitably crop up, if not actually caused by Trump's Express Train to crazy country.
The Trump administration has evolved smartly from answering every question with "That's a very good question." Now, when asked about the President's belief about global warming, we get great gobs of gobbledygook from such shining luminaries as Scott Pruitt and Sean Spicer.
(I must take a moment to put in a plug for haplessly unhappy Sean. From the mindless swagger of a mere 140 days ago, the poor guy now projects the bearing of a mindless whipped cur. His cowed public persona is now as miserable as the words that emerge from his mouth. I pity him.)
The Trump administration has evolved smartly from answering every question with "That's a very good question." Now, when asked about the President's belief about global warming, we get great gobs of gobbledygook from such shining luminaries as Scott Pruitt and Sean Spicer.
(I must take a moment to put in a plug for haplessly unhappy Sean. From the mindless swagger of a mere 140 days ago, the poor guy now projects the bearing of a mindless whipped cur. His cowed public persona is now as miserable as the words that emerge from his mouth. I pity him.)
58
Isn't it obvious by now that our president is slightly unhinged? He lies constantly in order to create a reality in which he is master of the universe and is beloved by all. Instead of the truth in which he is the butt of jokes both at home and abroad.
Maybe we need to enact a new law that requires all presidential candidates to undergo psychiatric testing before they are allowed to campaign in order to weed out people like our president. Just a thought.
Maybe we need to enact a new law that requires all presidential candidates to undergo psychiatric testing before they are allowed to campaign in order to weed out people like our president. Just a thought.
79
Trump says something and 66% of the country immediately knows it's either a lie or incomprehensible and meaningless jumble. And 33% of the country thinks it's the truth.
The percentage of the country tied to the administration frantically spins and spins.
What a mess.
The percentage of the country tied to the administration frantically spins and spins.
What a mess.
57
Let us all thank, once again, the fools out there that turned this gang loose on America. Your parents must be so proud to know that you had a hand in helping Russia and China prosper.
56
Why must you be so nasty?
5
Are you referring to Donald Trump?
61
If you recall, the healthcare plan was very "dog ate my homework" too. Congress can't blame that one on Trump. Seven years and the House produces an irreconcilable stink bomb worthy of the pit of eternal stench. Paul Ryan's walk of shame out classes Justin Bieber's Brazilian exploits. What do you even say when you walk past the neighbor's house? 23 million isn't so bad; Mao had at least 30 million? Ryan would definitely not be invited to my 4th of July party.
I'm not sure how a tax cut is supposed to work either. Ineptitude need not apply. Spending a trillion un-financed dollars is politically unviable. I know Republicans will try anyway but you're not magically getting this one through the Senate on budget reconciliation. When you govern, you actually need to pay for things you want to buy. I know that sounds like something a grownup would say but that's how things work. Sorry folks.
I'm not sure how a tax cut is supposed to work either. Ineptitude need not apply. Spending a trillion un-financed dollars is politically unviable. I know Republicans will try anyway but you're not magically getting this one through the Senate on budget reconciliation. When you govern, you actually need to pay for things you want to buy. I know that sounds like something a grownup would say but that's how things work. Sorry folks.
33
So amazing seeing as how he was such a successful guy in business. Now it's just pathetic that he can't get anything done. Well, there's trashing a fragile climate accord and opening up national monuments to development. Those was good, but they don't really buy you votes with your base and it's the base Trump thinks about. Well, there's Jared and Pootin, he thinks about a lot, but they don't get you votes either.
You know Trump's base, that bunch of white, angry, unruly, uneducated, rural, haters of the elite somewhere in the rustbelt, but out of the beltway anyway? Some would call it a mob, but that's elitist.
So, trash the world, constipate the government, loot the country for the Trump industries, and give your base the lizard-eyed wink-wink, oink-oink.
The base is all that counts. It helped put Trump where he is. Together with that other bastion of angry, white mobbery. That bunch is called the GOP.
You know Trump's base, that bunch of white, angry, unruly, uneducated, rural, haters of the elite somewhere in the rustbelt, but out of the beltway anyway? Some would call it a mob, but that's elitist.
So, trash the world, constipate the government, loot the country for the Trump industries, and give your base the lizard-eyed wink-wink, oink-oink.
The base is all that counts. It helped put Trump where he is. Together with that other bastion of angry, white mobbery. That bunch is called the GOP.
51
If only us readers could have one day without Trump. One day without fearing what this maniac will do next. America is suffering from "overtrump."
35
Gail, Freedom Carcass nuts have no desire to raise the debt ceiling. I wonder how former hyena in good standing Mick Mulvaney will react come September when the next crisis approaches?
19
Apparently 48% of American voters are quite sanguine with this disfunctional government. They didn't vote. Don't care? Now we have a very dangerous leader who with strong authoritarian tendencies looking for an iceberg to crash into. Angry white voters be careful what you want!
36
I'd say it's the rest of us who need to be careful about what the angry white voters want.
9
"The good news is that this crowd is so inept it might not work."
It's the Peter Principle on steroids. There was perhaps a time when Trump and his appointees did well in the private sector for themselves--in entertainment, business deals, or just being an attractive offspring of a rich con artist able to grab media attention.
But coming from the private sector with little or no political experience in the public sector (which has a whole different and opposing set of values than the private sector), too many of these people in the Trump administration have reached their level of incompetence when attempting to lead our complicated executive branch of the government.
Lesson 1: his principle can't be used nefariously if one is hell-bent on wrecking an organization.
Ronald Reagan--the voice of government isn't the solution, it's the problem--did not rely on congressional legislation to hobble the government agencies that conservatives hate. He appointed inexperienced, inept people to run those agencies (e.g., Anne Gorsuch of the EPA, James Watt of HUD, etc)
Now why did cagey Putin single out DJ Trump to promote KGB style as his preferred POTUS candidate? What does Putin want, & what has Trump delivered his few months in office? Divide, confuse, weaken the US domestically; diminish the power of NATO against Russia; and elevate Putin & Russia as powerful world players--check!
When will Americans realize our emperor has no clothes, and incompetence can kill us?
It's the Peter Principle on steroids. There was perhaps a time when Trump and his appointees did well in the private sector for themselves--in entertainment, business deals, or just being an attractive offspring of a rich con artist able to grab media attention.
But coming from the private sector with little or no political experience in the public sector (which has a whole different and opposing set of values than the private sector), too many of these people in the Trump administration have reached their level of incompetence when attempting to lead our complicated executive branch of the government.
Lesson 1: his principle can't be used nefariously if one is hell-bent on wrecking an organization.
Ronald Reagan--the voice of government isn't the solution, it's the problem--did not rely on congressional legislation to hobble the government agencies that conservatives hate. He appointed inexperienced, inept people to run those agencies (e.g., Anne Gorsuch of the EPA, James Watt of HUD, etc)
Now why did cagey Putin single out DJ Trump to promote KGB style as his preferred POTUS candidate? What does Putin want, & what has Trump delivered his few months in office? Divide, confuse, weaken the US domestically; diminish the power of NATO against Russia; and elevate Putin & Russia as powerful world players--check!
When will Americans realize our emperor has no clothes, and incompetence can kill us?
36
Let's all work very hard to crush the GOP
in 2018 and 2020 and beyond. They
could have stopped this national tragedy
from happening, and were unprepared
for Trump's electoral victory.
In fact the GOP was gearing up to
block Hillary Clinton from achieving
anything during her term. Jason
Chaffetz loudly proclaimed his intention
to hold hearings about her emails/Benghazi for years to come. Mitch
McConnell said he would block her
Supreme Court nominees.
People, we know who the real culprits
are in this whirling mess and we must
do everything we can to mitigate the
damage and send the GOP right to
the bottom of the trash-heap of history!
in 2018 and 2020 and beyond. They
could have stopped this national tragedy
from happening, and were unprepared
for Trump's electoral victory.
In fact the GOP was gearing up to
block Hillary Clinton from achieving
anything during her term. Jason
Chaffetz loudly proclaimed his intention
to hold hearings about her emails/Benghazi for years to come. Mitch
McConnell said he would block her
Supreme Court nominees.
People, we know who the real culprits
are in this whirling mess and we must
do everything we can to mitigate the
damage and send the GOP right to
the bottom of the trash-heap of history!
62
An Op-Ed Commenter reflects the opinions and core beliefs of the commenter, who is free to write about a range of topics but is also expected to do original thinking. We maintain strict separation between ourselves and the nytimes which could care less about us and has made that easy to do.
2
"You’d think the first priority would be passing Obamacare repeal and a new health insurance plan,"
Even children should understand that the first priority is protecting our majorities in Congress. A bit more difficult to grasp for the deliberately confused is that fact that Trump will have nominated and placed at least 2 more conservative justices on the Supreme Court by 2020. I can feel your pain.
Even children should understand that the first priority is protecting our majorities in Congress. A bit more difficult to grasp for the deliberately confused is that fact that Trump will have nominated and placed at least 2 more conservative justices on the Supreme Court by 2020. I can feel your pain.
7
It's time to stop saying "We don't know if the president believes in climate change". He doesn't. He's said so many times, calling it a hoax and a plot by China. Until and unless he himself publicly comes out and declares that his mind has been changed we should all assume that a climate change denier occupies the White House.
17
I've heard tell of a 2009 letter to Obama asking for action on climate change signed by the whole Trump family (and others)
NYTimes, please re-print that!
NYTimes, please re-print that!
7
What happened to the Deficit Hawks of the Obama years? They are like chameleons, changing hues before our very eyes.
Are we judged by what we leave to our progeny - the sustainability of our planet's air & coastlines, the manageability of our debt? Or do we just plan on dying before those bills come due?
Are we judged by what we leave to our progeny - the sustainability of our planet's air & coastlines, the manageability of our debt? Or do we just plan on dying before those bills come due?
15
It's awful, but thank goodness we have you Ms Collins.
7
Unfortunately, the results of Republicans' inept policies don't show in the first four years of their reign.
By the time those signs appear they get re elected and then it's too late.
It will take at least sixteen years of an effective congress under a Democrat president to make America truly great again.
By the time those signs appear they get re elected and then it's too late.
It will take at least sixteen years of an effective congress under a Democrat president to make America truly great again.
12
Two generations of Republican economic philosophy have demonstrated a pattern: tax cuts for the rich, big deficits, lower credit rating, recession, higher unemployment and mortgage defaults.
Then, when pensions and property values are low, the rich spend their tax savings buying up the reeling middle class.
Enter the Democrats to fix the economy and punch up the value of rich people's portfolio. Then, America votes for another Republican.
Then, when pensions and property values are low, the rich spend their tax savings buying up the reeling middle class.
Enter the Democrats to fix the economy and punch up the value of rich people's portfolio. Then, America votes for another Republican.
11
You are so funny. When I think about Trump and his disastrous policies I think about crying. So it really helps to see a funny column like this. Please keep up the good work.
11
Cutting taxes for the wealthy is just a way of increasing taxes on everybody else. A plan King George and Louis XVI swore by. Would the Americans care to have a slice of cake with their tea?
16
Trying to put possible tax legislation with yesterday's employment news and data on employment, changes in the Internal Revenue Code to provide incentives for job training and drug treatment ought to be the kind of tax reform rational legislators could agree on.
2
Imagine what Jason Chaffetz, Fox News, Mitch McConnell, Rush Limbaugh, and all the rest would be saying if Hillary had been elected president and had refused to release her tax returns.
30
...and if Hillary lost the popular vote, had any possible Russian connections and put Chelsea in the White House!
20
With Trump, you always follow the money. Unless he sees a way to personally profit from acknowledging the existence of global warming, he never will.
26
@Ed: Who in this world, what politician does not follow the money? Can you name one "public servant" in the Oval Office or elsewhere in our vast bureaucracy who has not retired from public life wealthier than when he first became involved in the system? Clinton emerged from modest socio economic origins to become, along with his spouse, a billionaire. Upon entering politics, Obama was worth little monetarily but now has just bought a mansion in posh Kalorama "quartier" of DC, where his neighbors are the President's inlaws. Obama was also able to use his political influence to buy a choice piece of real estate in Chicago thanks to Mr. Resko. and continues to monetize his time as President by giving speeches for hundreds of thousands.The Donald pulled out of Paris Accord because it imposed restrictions on us, but not on other signatories,and required us to "compensate," read "to bribe," major polluters to curb toxic emissions which they have no intention of doing.Money saved could be used to repair infrastructure "en desuetude!"How many of the signatories in Paris who arrived by private jet at public expense returned home also by private jet?Global warming is real, but Paris Accord, while costing us millions will do little to alleviate problem. Could not Obama's endorsement of Accord be merely an extension by other means of his "apology tour? "Last truly honest man in the WH was James Earl Carter, and I regret he has not received more recognition for his integrity.
6
The best outcome we could hope for would be that both healthcare repeal and the Trump cuts go through.
Why? Because it would completely collapse the US economy, which would in turn collapse the world economy. We'd have the economic depression to end all economic depressions.
And this would fix the whole climate change thing.
There are no further carbon inputs from a civilization that no longer exists, so, win!
Why? Because it would completely collapse the US economy, which would in turn collapse the world economy. We'd have the economic depression to end all economic depressions.
And this would fix the whole climate change thing.
There are no further carbon inputs from a civilization that no longer exists, so, win!
14
It would re-set the socialistic rush to destroy the world.
1
Old Doc hates anything socialistic except his social security and medicare.
10
It's looking more like extreme capitalism is destroying the world.
10
"There is bipartisan agreement in Washington that the current tax system, which Wyden likes to call “a dysfunctional, rotting economic carcass,” is … imperfect."
But, In any tax cut proposal, why is it that the rich are always provided for first? Just because they are rich? The rich people in America are a minority. The vast majority of Americans, the Average Americans, are the Poor and the Middle Class who earn under $65,000.00 a year. The tax cut proposals by Donald Trump and those by Paul Ryan favor only the rich in America. The Average Americans, the Poor and the Middle Class will be worse off with any tax cut bill from the republican party.
Why do the rich deserve a tax cut? Are they even paying their fair share of the total tax burden based on their ability to pay taxes and still enjoy their luxury life style?
If we want to expand the Economy, we need more dollars in the pockets of the majority of Americans who spend the money, not just the rich minority who invest the money to make themselves even richer.
The republican proposal to expand the Standard Deduction, but then take away Personal and Dependent Exemptions and almost all of the Itemized Deductions is not a tax cut. It is a recipe for a tax increase.
But, In any tax cut proposal, why is it that the rich are always provided for first? Just because they are rich? The rich people in America are a minority. The vast majority of Americans, the Average Americans, are the Poor and the Middle Class who earn under $65,000.00 a year. The tax cut proposals by Donald Trump and those by Paul Ryan favor only the rich in America. The Average Americans, the Poor and the Middle Class will be worse off with any tax cut bill from the republican party.
Why do the rich deserve a tax cut? Are they even paying their fair share of the total tax burden based on their ability to pay taxes and still enjoy their luxury life style?
If we want to expand the Economy, we need more dollars in the pockets of the majority of Americans who spend the money, not just the rich minority who invest the money to make themselves even richer.
The republican proposal to expand the Standard Deduction, but then take away Personal and Dependent Exemptions and almost all of the Itemized Deductions is not a tax cut. It is a recipe for a tax increase.
21
"But, In any tax cut proposal, why is it that the rich are always provided for first?" "Why do the rich deserve a tax cut?"
Because we have already reached the state in our dysfunctional budget and tax system where a "rich" minority pays the vast majority of taxes. According to the 2016 CBO report, for fiscal year 2013, the upper 20% of US households paid 70% of all federal taxes, including payroll taxes.
Logical aside: you have to pay taxes in order to get a tax cut.
In my opinion, a democratic society (and government) cannot endure when a minority of citizens pays for the rest.
Because we have already reached the state in our dysfunctional budget and tax system where a "rich" minority pays the vast majority of taxes. According to the 2016 CBO report, for fiscal year 2013, the upper 20% of US households paid 70% of all federal taxes, including payroll taxes.
Logical aside: you have to pay taxes in order to get a tax cut.
In my opinion, a democratic society (and government) cannot endure when a minority of citizens pays for the rest.
"Because we have already reached the state in our dysfunctional budget and tax system where a "rich" minority pays the vast majority of taxes. According to the 2016 CBO report, for fiscal year 2013, the upper 20% of US households paid 70% of all federal taxes, including payroll taxes."
Which is as it should be based on their ability to pay and that is the heart of the Tax Code. The rich should most likely be paying more in taxes with the example of Trump and his 2005 tax return and the Alternative Minimum Tax he paid on over $900 Million in income.
The rich do not deserve a tax cut. The rest of Americans do deserve some relief and more money in their pockets which would get our economy moving even better than it is now.
Which is as it should be based on their ability to pay and that is the heart of the Tax Code. The rich should most likely be paying more in taxes with the example of Trump and his 2005 tax return and the Alternative Minimum Tax he paid on over $900 Million in income.
The rich do not deserve a tax cut. The rest of Americans do deserve some relief and more money in their pockets which would get our economy moving even better than it is now.
8
Can a democratic society endure when all of the wealth is accumulated by those who already have more than they can spend in several lifetimes while the rest struggle to afford healthcare and education?
The wealthiest Americans have reaped most of the rewards of the past decades while the middle class and poor have stagnated or worse. The rich pay more in taxes because they earn more: minimum wage hasn't kept pace with inflation, while the income of the rich has skyrocketed. If we raised the minimum wage to a living wage, the percent of total taxes paid by the rich would decline because the poor would earn and pay more. But that would cut into corporate profits, returns to investors, salaries for CEOs and so on.
The wealthiest Americans have reaped most of the rewards of the past decades while the middle class and poor have stagnated or worse. The rich pay more in taxes because they earn more: minimum wage hasn't kept pace with inflation, while the income of the rich has skyrocketed. If we raised the minimum wage to a living wage, the percent of total taxes paid by the rich would decline because the poor would earn and pay more. But that would cut into corporate profits, returns to investors, salaries for CEOs and so on.
4
Many high-income people complain that they disproportionately and unfairly bear the burden for financing the government, and that poorer Americans--Romney's 47%--should pay more in taxes. If you subscribe to this view, which is self-serving and inaccurate, you will believe that it's time to stop oppressing the rich and to lower their taxes. Trump represents this view with crystalline purity. This flawed view will drive the debate toward lower taxes on the rich and greater inequality until we get a more balanced view of the interrelation between taxes, federal spending, federal debt, and money. Then we'll understand that the wealthiest American households--the 10% who own 85% of U.S. financial assets--actually benefit disproportionately from our system. Since most legislators are very rich, or are financed by the very rich, it's not likely that the views from the bottom or the middle will be represented or even articulated. Trump, like other Republican presidents since Nixon, has allied the middle third with the top third by alienating it from the bottom third.
21
Any notion that the rich in this or any other society or culture have been or are "oppressed" is preposterous. By definition. As in, how do you "oppress" rich people?
6
Wrong. We have a re-distributionist tax system in which those making more money pay more. Nothing self serving about it.
1
I will consider retirement in a banana republic farther south (as I now feel I'm living in banana republic as is--my apologies to Nicaragua) if this Congress pushes through a quick and dirty tax cut for themselves while cutting Medicare and Social Security. I don't see how they possibly can. In years' past (like the Reagan/Bush eras), it might have worked. But between today's social media platforms and the eyes of mainstream media clearly focused on all the shenanigans, misdemeanors and actual crimes that go on in this administration, I don't think they can get away with it, at least I hope not.
13
The good news is that the traitor will be going to prison along with his crew.
19
The bad news is that it won't be tomorrow.
7
I've been preaching the "Lack of Plans" Plan re;Trump since it looked like he would be the GOP nominee. Actually long before that. Its always been part of his inane patter. From his late night show appearances, thru his other media adventures...he talks a lot, while saying very little - a sign of an unstructured mind. A man who thinks he's a Bigly Idea man, but who has no follow-up - is someone who doesn't care to, want to, or can't figure out the details of an actionable plan. We all know these guys, lots of ideas, lots of talk about them, no means to manifest them.
Trump thought all he need do was show up, put on his ermine cloak, and the Repubs would peel and feed him grapes for 4-8 years. That they'd do all the work, as they kept telling everyone they had much better plans - then Obama/Dems - sitting on their desks. All drafted and ready to go. Fact checked (lol) and everything...just plug and play!
Trump also surrounded himself with people who have no DC networks, none outside of DC worth all that much, and almost to a man (where are the women, besides Omarosa or Conway?) have no clue how gov't works. And then there's Mr. Ivanka - poster boy for The Clueless.
Of course there are the numerous conflicts of interests (how many now?) that IF existed with a Dem-POTUS, the entire GOP would be climbing the walls trying to impeach. There would be so many investigations they couldn't staff them! Subpoenas would be flying around like lies at FOX.
What a mess.
Trump thought all he need do was show up, put on his ermine cloak, and the Repubs would peel and feed him grapes for 4-8 years. That they'd do all the work, as they kept telling everyone they had much better plans - then Obama/Dems - sitting on their desks. All drafted and ready to go. Fact checked (lol) and everything...just plug and play!
Trump also surrounded himself with people who have no DC networks, none outside of DC worth all that much, and almost to a man (where are the women, besides Omarosa or Conway?) have no clue how gov't works. And then there's Mr. Ivanka - poster boy for The Clueless.
Of course there are the numerous conflicts of interests (how many now?) that IF existed with a Dem-POTUS, the entire GOP would be climbing the walls trying to impeach. There would be so many investigations they couldn't staff them! Subpoenas would be flying around like lies at FOX.
What a mess.
26
Bring back the guillotines!
12
One last cigarette and blindfolds too.
2
My fury with fellow Americans who thought it would be a good idea for a Manhattan real estate grifter to be president grows daily.
57
Any day now. Believe me!
Any day now we will be proud of the greatest cabinet and administration ever assembled in the history of America.
Any day now we will have a beautiful tax cut, so huge that it will reduce the deficit while increasing defense spending.
Any day now, OBAMACARE will be gone and replaced by the best health coverage for everyone - it will be so cheap.
Any day now, coal miners will be back under ground extracting that beautiful clean-coal - so clean that black lung and silicosis will never have existed.
Any day now we will have a wall so beautiful and huge that it will be visible from space and will keep global warming out of our country and prevent our red-blooded patriots from falling off the edge of the planet.
Any day now. ¿Mañana?
Any day now we will be proud of the greatest cabinet and administration ever assembled in the history of America.
Any day now we will have a beautiful tax cut, so huge that it will reduce the deficit while increasing defense spending.
Any day now, OBAMACARE will be gone and replaced by the best health coverage for everyone - it will be so cheap.
Any day now, coal miners will be back under ground extracting that beautiful clean-coal - so clean that black lung and silicosis will never have existed.
Any day now we will have a wall so beautiful and huge that it will be visible from space and will keep global warming out of our country and prevent our red-blooded patriots from falling off the edge of the planet.
Any day now. ¿Mañana?
31
Hillary looks better every day. Not Bernie! Bernie looks too gleeful!
It's like he accomplished exactly what he wanted to do. If he couldn't have the presidency he'd ruin it for everyone. Thanks Bernie. By the way where is your tax returns?
It's like he accomplished exactly what he wanted to do. If he couldn't have the presidency he'd ruin it for everyone. Thanks Bernie. By the way where is your tax returns?
9
Bernie ruined nothing: He didn't get taken seriously enough to ruin anything, thanks to the Democrats and the New York Times.
4
"Politico" in April 2016 says Bernie's taxes are "boring" as expected. No one wants to read boring stuff, so his release was pretty uneventful. Just as it should be for any politician.
3
Kent wants to believe it's the Democrats fault that Bernie didn't get taken seriously. Lol. When Bernie was asked by Chris Matthews how he would do the things he was touting, Bernie was at a complete loss for words. People realized he didn't even know how the banks really work. He said Republicans would roll over for him because millions of kids would stand outside and protest. Oh yeah, the low information millennial crowd are going to win over the Republican Congress. What kind a hemp are they growing in in Vermont anyway?
2
fair's fair, quick to pick, quick to praise: "A) there is no tax bill and, B) nothing is moving along in Congress" are right on the mark, especially the latter which holds for congress, has held, for years, since our electeds became a subsidiary of k street enterprises, and, most harmfully, in recent memory,
with the mcconnell congress effort to nullify obama's presidency and the schumer promise to do the same for trump's...
if jefferson is right (the vote here is yes) that we get the government we deserve, its time rather for reflection than continued rancor...there's no shortage of denial (say, the genocide of native tribes for starters) and hypocrisy (lots of inhumanity to go with our fervent demands for freedom of worship no to mention our shamelss use of "diversity" as a mask for inaction addressing the problems of racial and social disadvantage so painfully visible in blighted neighborhoods and in the evident waste of potential, denied by unequal opportunity).
with the mcconnell congress effort to nullify obama's presidency and the schumer promise to do the same for trump's...
if jefferson is right (the vote here is yes) that we get the government we deserve, its time rather for reflection than continued rancor...there's no shortage of denial (say, the genocide of native tribes for starters) and hypocrisy (lots of inhumanity to go with our fervent demands for freedom of worship no to mention our shamelss use of "diversity" as a mask for inaction addressing the problems of racial and social disadvantage so painfully visible in blighted neighborhoods and in the evident waste of potential, denied by unequal opportunity).
8
One think we can all always be certain of: Republicans, even with total control of the government -- both houses of Congress plus the Presidency -- as well as much of the judicial branch -- even with all that, they find it impossible to govern in any recognizable manner. Elections, they can steal, and aplenty, but to govern is something which eludes them totally.
27
Did you mean to type drama rather than trauma? There has been some drama but not any trauma. We have had no terrorist attacks since President Trump took office and illegal immigration numbers are way down.
He has kept us safe and that is one of the promises he made to the voters. He promised he would rein in on illegal immigrants entering our country and this is actually happening. He has increased employment numbers which he vowed to do.
There has been some drama within the administration but this has occurred with precious administrations. He appointed Neal Gorsuch to the Supreme Court who is a well qualified candidate with excellent credentials. This was not an easy task with the Democrats giving them little support.
He voted against the Paris Accord which he felt was not in our best interests. We were paying the bulk of the cost while receiving little in return. He did the right thing but his detractors will find fault with anything he accomplishes. The drama that is occurring is largely due to his enemies which are evident in their criticisms. For those of us who supported him and still do, we are very pleased with his results so far.
He has kept us safe and that is one of the promises he made to the voters. He promised he would rein in on illegal immigrants entering our country and this is actually happening. He has increased employment numbers which he vowed to do.
There has been some drama within the administration but this has occurred with precious administrations. He appointed Neal Gorsuch to the Supreme Court who is a well qualified candidate with excellent credentials. This was not an easy task with the Democrats giving them little support.
He voted against the Paris Accord which he felt was not in our best interests. We were paying the bulk of the cost while receiving little in return. He did the right thing but his detractors will find fault with anything he accomplishes. The drama that is occurring is largely due to his enemies which are evident in their criticisms. For those of us who supported him and still do, we are very pleased with his results so far.
2
Trump has been president less that five months. Nothing he has done--and he has done very little--has increased national security or employment. The economy is still Obama's and will be for several more months. Employment levels in particular are trailing indicators. Even Bush 43's lack of stewardship of national security did not result in a major terrorist attack for the first seven months of his first term. Trump and the majority of his advisors know almost nothing about government, history, defense, and economics. This ignorance will catch up with him--and us--sooner rather than later.
9
Please refer to Susan Rice's op ed today and Thomas Friedman's piece from Thursday. Trump has already done enormous damage to our standing in the world and he has no conception at all of what constitutes political and technological leadership. Hint: coal ain't it. Keep sipping that Kool Aid.
2
You set the bar very low. The minority of voters who voted for him deserve him. The majority of us, don't.
7
Possibly a way to get real tax reform that would help address the gross domestic problem of not enough taxes paid by the top 10 percent is for Congress to be paid and forced to live on the median income in the country - on the order of $56,000 currently.
19
It wouldn't make any difference. As long as we continue to elect millionaires and billionaires to office, government by and for the people is impossible. This is supposed to be a government OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, AND FOR THE PEOPLE. Our government has been corrupted and destroyed by the self-interest of the wealthy. We no longer live in a Republic, because the "pseudo-republicans" have sold their votes to the Koch brothers and the members of the 10% club. The Koch.brothers must be arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and jailed for SEDITION. Everyone who signed the Koch brothers pledge must be impeached and prosecuted for selling their votes...
4
Of course his tax plan is in the works, embedded in the "health plan" that the Republicans rammed through the House without so much as a hearing, and is now in the hands of the Senate. That one. Remember, it was designed to provide cover for the huge tax break for the 1%? He's never lost sight of it, despite his other "distractions."
14
". . . somewhat smaller than a premature baby gnat."
Gail, you're priceless.
Gail, you're priceless.
33
Let us hope that the Trump administration continues to be the inept, mendacious, clueless, inexperienced, gaggle of self-serving nincompoops it has shown itself to be for the remainder of its term. Let us consider Trump as a placeholder: a sad, one-off example of what can go wrong when no one cares about billions of dollars finding their way into the process of electing our leaders.
Domestic or foreign policy, this group is in way over its head.
Domestic or foreign policy, this group is in way over its head.
28
The more we hear from DJT the more obvious it becomes that he really does spew the last thing/ topic or bit of data given to him.
Clearly someone in the administration told him....... and by the way..... no worries.... we have a tax bill moving through Congress....
So he went with it! Not truth to it at all, no evidence, just a blind random statement that somehow shows he has got things moving in the right (literally, conservative) direction, while nothing could be farther from the truth.
Like a bad infection, this administration will clear up eventually. In the meantime we need to keep this administration isolated and chasing its own tale so as not to harm others.
So far, so good.... c'mon 2018 midterms!
Clearly someone in the administration told him....... and by the way..... no worries.... we have a tax bill moving through Congress....
So he went with it! Not truth to it at all, no evidence, just a blind random statement that somehow shows he has got things moving in the right (literally, conservative) direction, while nothing could be farther from the truth.
Like a bad infection, this administration will clear up eventually. In the meantime we need to keep this administration isolated and chasing its own tale so as not to harm others.
So far, so good.... c'mon 2018 midterms!
20
We are no longer going to be a player on the world stage. We are being left behind, perhaps for good. We are now seen as unreliable and dangerous by other nations. It doesn't matter how we got here, even if it is shown that the election was interfered with by the Russians. It won't change the fact that we are saddled with an adolescent narcissist incapable of being a serious leader. It doesn't matter about Trump's tax returns, even if they show he paid no taxes for years, because his supporters will see him as savvy.
The Republicans have been cruising for eight years, campaigning on overturning the ACA and replacing it, destroying the social safety nets and re-writing the tax code which will only benefit the wealthy and add to the deficit (as you pointed out Gail). They have had eight years to come up with a detailed replacement for the ACA, but never bothered to put together a coherent, acceptable replacement. As for the budget, the architect of Trump's "budget" apparently needs a lesson in arithmetic. So scratch that budget, and look for a new and improved one sometime "by the end of summer".
It is ironic that the Republicans now have all the power, but cannot function as a cohesive group. Obstructing was so much easier, and they are stuck with Trump who has no firm policy about anything. If government posts remain unfilled, at some point things will begin to unravel.
We are on a runaway train with no engineer. Our only hope is to elect sane people in 2018.
The Republicans have been cruising for eight years, campaigning on overturning the ACA and replacing it, destroying the social safety nets and re-writing the tax code which will only benefit the wealthy and add to the deficit (as you pointed out Gail). They have had eight years to come up with a detailed replacement for the ACA, but never bothered to put together a coherent, acceptable replacement. As for the budget, the architect of Trump's "budget" apparently needs a lesson in arithmetic. So scratch that budget, and look for a new and improved one sometime "by the end of summer".
It is ironic that the Republicans now have all the power, but cannot function as a cohesive group. Obstructing was so much easier, and they are stuck with Trump who has no firm policy about anything. If government posts remain unfilled, at some point things will begin to unravel.
We are on a runaway train with no engineer. Our only hope is to elect sane people in 2018.
24
Trump's budget architect also spent a lifetime in Catholic schools where the teachings of Jesus apparently went in one ear and out the other.
9
The tax plan will be transcribed from that napkin to the back side of a used 3x5 card and they will not have discussed it with Congress ahead of time so the House will file the card in the circular file and start over with their own plan. If we follow the script of the healthcare bill, then the Senate will put the House Budget Plan in the same round file and start over again. By October they'll need a continuing resolution to avoid closing the government because they still won't have majority votes.
What we need from the Administration is leadership to reach out to the House and Senate and put together a compromise plan that will have a chance of passing. Unfortunately, leadership isn't the right word. Dysfunctional is more likely for the poorly organized, understaffed, unqualified group of clowns in the Administration.
What we need from the Administration is leadership to reach out to the House and Senate and put together a compromise plan that will have a chance of passing. Unfortunately, leadership isn't the right word. Dysfunctional is more likely for the poorly organized, understaffed, unqualified group of clowns in the Administration.
16
The Republican Party is apparently entirely devoid of people who understand the dynamics of modern mixed economies.
7
Steve, I would also add they are devoid of understanding how to govern. Since they sat on their thumbs during President Obama's 8 years, they have shown us how inept they are at governing.
2
He's just presenting his set of alternative facts that his constituency will believe--that he is trying to move things forward in Congress but the partisan Democrats are only interested in the Russian connection which is blocking his promised progress.
If the media would stop over-hyping the Trump/Russia situation and let the investigations run their course, it would become clear even to his fact-deficient fans that there isn't any movement in Congress because Trump has no bills, no ideas. He just wields a pen well when signing executive orders but isn't capable of actually putting forward decent legislation (the Wall, the Ban, the Insurance?)
If the media would stop over-hyping the Trump/Russia situation and let the investigations run their course, it would become clear even to his fact-deficient fans that there isn't any movement in Congress because Trump has no bills, no ideas. He just wields a pen well when signing executive orders but isn't capable of actually putting forward decent legislation (the Wall, the Ban, the Insurance?)
9
Great column, Ms. Collins- The real sleeper in all this tax "reform" is the elimination of the estate tax, the holy grail of the oligopolists (both large and small) who really control our economy and pose such a threat to our elections/government.
18
This becomes really scary when you connect the dots;
1, Trump refuses to release his tax returns, (It's all about who he owes money to)
2, The election is obviously hacked & manipulated by Russia to help Trump,
3, Flynn, Kushner & Sessions are privately cozy to the Russians, (obviously this was cleared by Trump himself), (did the check clear?)
4, Flynn is fired (after 16 days) only because the Washington Post outs him,
5, Trump immediately starts protecting and defending Flynn, (obviously Flynn knows the election's dirty laundry & that Trump was aware of the Russia connections), (again, did the check clear?)
6 Trump kowtows to the world's autocratic leaders, Egypt, Phillipines, Turkey & yes. Saudi Arabia, (once again, did the check clear?),
7, Trump rolls back anything with a scent of Obama, just because,
8, In his first foreign foray he is duped by Saudi Arabia, (the biggest financier of terrorism in the world) with a medal, plenty of gold plating and a $100M appeasement to Ivanka, He then proceeds to alienate and indiscriminately offend every ally in the G7.
9, Upon his return, he proceeds to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, (the dumbest move of an American President in 100+ years) with statistics that even the authors recanted. (when was the last time that 195 nations agreed on anything? So it must be a bad "deal"!)
The list goes on & on. Is Trump really working for America?
Connect the dots America.
(Oh, and once again, did the check clear?)
1, Trump refuses to release his tax returns, (It's all about who he owes money to)
2, The election is obviously hacked & manipulated by Russia to help Trump,
3, Flynn, Kushner & Sessions are privately cozy to the Russians, (obviously this was cleared by Trump himself), (did the check clear?)
4, Flynn is fired (after 16 days) only because the Washington Post outs him,
5, Trump immediately starts protecting and defending Flynn, (obviously Flynn knows the election's dirty laundry & that Trump was aware of the Russia connections), (again, did the check clear?)
6 Trump kowtows to the world's autocratic leaders, Egypt, Phillipines, Turkey & yes. Saudi Arabia, (once again, did the check clear?),
7, Trump rolls back anything with a scent of Obama, just because,
8, In his first foreign foray he is duped by Saudi Arabia, (the biggest financier of terrorism in the world) with a medal, plenty of gold plating and a $100M appeasement to Ivanka, He then proceeds to alienate and indiscriminately offend every ally in the G7.
9, Upon his return, he proceeds to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, (the dumbest move of an American President in 100+ years) with statistics that even the authors recanted. (when was the last time that 195 nations agreed on anything? So it must be a bad "deal"!)
The list goes on & on. Is Trump really working for America?
Connect the dots America.
(Oh, and once again, did the check clear?)
38
I wish a reporter would ask Trump when he plans to switch over his golf resorts to coal heat. Please, please -- somebody ask him that. Or, even, ask one of his new talking heads who are being dispatched by his "war room" to spread misinformation.
22
"It might not work"!!! Gail says. It's so wonderful to hear some optimism! Even if it's a faint whisper. But something has changed. Perhaps it's like they used to say about the contrast between the Soviet Union and the US--in the Soviet Union all you had to do to be heard was whisper. In the US you had to shout to gain attention. Perhaps, with Trump, we've become more like the old Soviet Union. With that thought I feel like I've become manic depressive. Stop the roller coaster. I want off. I guess if I simply stopped thinking.....
9
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin doesn't do minutia. Period (said with great Sean Spicer emphasis).
10
How dare Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus give their clown car to Trump to use!
15
The only saving grace of the Trump "administration" is its utter incompetence. That alone may save us.
22
At this point - who cares that Trump believes climate change is a hoax.
It's more important to get his bind base and Republicans in DC to believe HE is a hoax !
The biggest hoax ever to be president.
13
Hmmmmm.......if they lower someone's tax rate but take away his loophole, might he still be paying the same amount?
How did such stupid people ever manage to become so evil?
How did such stupid people ever manage to become so evil?
10
Eventually, the US will resemble Oklahoma.
17
You called it, Gail, with wit!
9
Only to be expected from the
Collection Of Villainous Fools Exploiting False Evidence
Collection Of Villainous Fools Exploiting False Evidence
12
Despite the fact that trump ran as a populist he will give in to the republicans taxing the super rich a lot less because he doesn't want to be impeached by republicans who might be willing to go along with democrats.
4
Along with the majority of Americans, the world is rooting for us to get past this nightmare that is Trump. They admire us for our freedoms, our optimism and our can-do attitude. Trump appreciates little or none of this, much less his responsibility to inspire the goodness in us all. The sooner we rid ourselves of him and become again the beacon of hope we have always been the better.
35
1986 doesn't surprise since it was when Newt Gingrich was coming to power by instituting hyper-partisan warfare and gridlock.
17
Tax bill moving along in Congress? What tax bill? The only thing that's moving along is Trump's ties to Russia. Since they own him he's essentially a Russian agent and will be impeached soon. Wait till his tax returns are leaked.
16
The Republicans are hoping that "The Big Bribe" will get them by. The "Big Bribe" is their proposed elimination of the estate tax. They are hoping that Trump adverse Republicans, such as ex-NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, won't push too hard for Trump's impeachment because they see a big estate tax windfall for their children, whom they presumably value more than everybody else including the planet.
At this point, it's painfully obvious that Trump is engaged in attempting to obstruct justice and can be impeached on the basis of his public pronouncements and interviews alone. The rest of this is distraction.
At this point, it's painfully obvious that Trump is engaged in attempting to obstruct justice and can be impeached on the basis of his public pronouncements and interviews alone. The rest of this is distraction.
21
I love it that a nominee for deputy treasury secretary, "Goldman Sachs executive Jim Donovan, withdrew his name from consideration, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family." Usually, government officials want to spend more time with their families AFTER they have served in government.
23
Those of us who have had close contact with Goldman Sachs over the years know that their upper echelon break down into two castes: meritorious advancement and lucky sperm often with less than generous cranial capacity. Let's put it kindly, Mnuchin is never going to be in the running for the genius award. He's the kind of mediocre mind that Trump, who is intellectually stunted by an attention span exceeded by that of a fruit fly, feels comfortable with.
Someday soon people will brag about having served with Trump about as readily as when French Aristocracy bragged about their connections to Louis XVIth and Marie Antoinette during Robespierre.
Someday soon people will brag about having served with Trump about as readily as when French Aristocracy bragged about their connections to Louis XVIth and Marie Antoinette during Robespierre.
24
'Spending more time with my family' is the political euphemism for 'Yeah, I'm hiding something. And I don't want anyone looking for it.'
9
I've heard reports coming in from all over the country of a huge uptick among single, young rising stars in the republican party who are rushing into marriage so that they can "spend more time with their families."
30
Republicans' number one priority is tax cuts and number two is deregulation. They did not care about healthcare. They were due for a loss of face on that in any case since it is totally impossible for them fulfil Trump's promise of covering everyone without spending a lot more. They are not idiots - they're the ones who keep getting elected - and Congressional Republicans will come up with a tax plan in due course when they get a better line on how to get past Trump's incompetence. They will also have strategies to get past any Senate rules, and larger deficits have not impeded them for decades.
15
The Republicans are just stooges paid by plutocrats to preclude negative feedback to extreme wealth concentration.
6
“a plan to lower corporate tax rates while eliminating special-interest loopholes, make the system simpler for the average citizen and raise the rates on those who have the most ability to pay. O.K., forget the last one.”
No, we shall not forget the last one, which is the most important ingredient of tax reform. Until that last one is on play, no changes in the structure ought to be made.
Just because the 1986 tax-reform was a bipartisan effort it wasn’t a good one. It was actually the worst, escalating inequality. In steps, it gave a top rate of 28%, from the prior 70%, which was down from 91% - partly coincidental, but in the Eisenhower era, with a top rate of 91%, the economy & the rich did well, middle class probably became the largest ever. And America became the most coveted place on earth, though segregation & other problems were still there. However, 91% was unnecessary & unsustainable.
A top rate of 50% on the top 0.1% incomes is actually ideal & sustainable.
Now the working poor suffer the most. Too many of them regularly pay crippling interests to payday lenders to stay afloat. They’re hit with imperceptible high local taxes, but the worst being prohibitive housing costs.
It’s okay to moderately cut corporate taxes. But payroll tax also must be cut on the first $20K to 1-2%. Actually the cap should be eliminated, but cut it to 1% beyond, say $150K.
No, we shall not forget the last one, which is the most important ingredient of tax reform. Until that last one is on play, no changes in the structure ought to be made.
Just because the 1986 tax-reform was a bipartisan effort it wasn’t a good one. It was actually the worst, escalating inequality. In steps, it gave a top rate of 28%, from the prior 70%, which was down from 91% - partly coincidental, but in the Eisenhower era, with a top rate of 91%, the economy & the rich did well, middle class probably became the largest ever. And America became the most coveted place on earth, though segregation & other problems were still there. However, 91% was unnecessary & unsustainable.
A top rate of 50% on the top 0.1% incomes is actually ideal & sustainable.
Now the working poor suffer the most. Too many of them regularly pay crippling interests to payday lenders to stay afloat. They’re hit with imperceptible high local taxes, but the worst being prohibitive housing costs.
It’s okay to moderately cut corporate taxes. But payroll tax also must be cut on the first $20K to 1-2%. Actually the cap should be eliminated, but cut it to 1% beyond, say $150K.
13
Tax cuts for the rich. The last time that happened under GW we had an unpaid for war costing trillions, huge debt increases and a bubble that sent us into an economic tail spin from which we are still recovering. Under President Obama we had modest increases of taxes for the rich, 8 years of steady economic growth and control of debt which went from 2 trillion dollars a year to just over 500 billion, a lot but still manageable.
So you want to go back to the bad old days. Have fun.
By the way Trump releasing his tax returns is a great idea, but it would cramp the style of our looter in chief.
So you want to go back to the bad old days. Have fun.
By the way Trump releasing his tax returns is a great idea, but it would cramp the style of our looter in chief.
49
Trump in his usual delusional fog marches on lying to himself about his 'accomplishments'. In the meantime hundreds of thousands people remain in limbo over health care. Trump can't fill needed positions in government because no sane person wants to associate their name with his. The Congress and Trump are so inept and polarized they can't reform the tax code. (or anything else). Trump has risen from an out of touch enigma to a dangerous and ludicrous headcase.
37
The fundamental problem is that we now have people in power who are willing to start with a conclusion - based on ideology or ego or a gut feeling - and then look for facts to support it, and if they don't find them, just make them up.
I see this in the healthcare debate, the inauguration crowd size, the abandonment of the Paris accords and almost every day where Trump's media team and Media supporters look for some skeptic of justification for his latest outrageous claim.
I see this in the healthcare debate, the inauguration crowd size, the abandonment of the Paris accords and almost every day where Trump's media team and Media supporters look for some skeptic of justification for his latest outrageous claim.
20
It's okay, the secret is in the sauce, and the Republicans are keeping that veery secret. They are working hard behind closed doors to reward their rich benefactors (and get some of that delicious sauce for the president), and promise us wonderful satisfaction with their results. They have neglected, though, to disclose that the rest of us a) will have to pay a lot for their ingeniousness and b) really won't get any of the sauce.
15
Trump views our country like a business enterprise. These tax cuts have to be funded so, he looks at America's balanced sheet and he heads immediately to a quick fix, variable costs; liabilities/accounts payable.
The most recent, Paris Climate Agreement,: pulling out saved him 3 billion dollars committed to the agreement.
Department of Education; 9 billion savings which the reduction in federal funding
EPA; he wants to cut spending by31% cutting 15,000 jobs in the agency and jeopardizing the exponential growth of employment in the private sector.
"Social Safety Net" programs: : Reducing federal spending for; Children’s Health Insurance Program,Medicaid, Medicare, Social security disability insurance , unemployment insurance, etc.
The list is far too extensive to share. Trump strategty to fix this deficient is by attacking the liabilities/accounts payable Colum. As a result, the oceans will continue to rise and the air we breath will become more toxic, the need of educating our future generation to compete in this global market will be afforded by the few, our health will decline, and poverty will grow.
Mr. Trump, our democracy is not a business and you are not a CEO. Nor is our government a private club, it is a public place. Our national economy is based on general principles, not a money making enterprise. It is meant to represent the collective will and the needs of the People.
Please Mr. Trump just go away, far away.
The most recent, Paris Climate Agreement,: pulling out saved him 3 billion dollars committed to the agreement.
Department of Education; 9 billion savings which the reduction in federal funding
EPA; he wants to cut spending by31% cutting 15,000 jobs in the agency and jeopardizing the exponential growth of employment in the private sector.
"Social Safety Net" programs: : Reducing federal spending for; Children’s Health Insurance Program,Medicaid, Medicare, Social security disability insurance , unemployment insurance, etc.
The list is far too extensive to share. Trump strategty to fix this deficient is by attacking the liabilities/accounts payable Colum. As a result, the oceans will continue to rise and the air we breath will become more toxic, the need of educating our future generation to compete in this global market will be afforded by the few, our health will decline, and poverty will grow.
Mr. Trump, our democracy is not a business and you are not a CEO. Nor is our government a private club, it is a public place. Our national economy is based on general principles, not a money making enterprise. It is meant to represent the collective will and the needs of the People.
Please Mr. Trump just go away, far away.
39
You are much appreciated Gail. Not the usual babble or whitewash, and with a refreshing bent of wry humor.
I am flagging however, this in the face of the onslaught of an unprecedented level of outright disinformation, brazen fabrication, and the just plain old 200 proof stupidity that flows from our president’s mouth like water over Niagara Falls.
I was clinging to the notion that somehow our national Trump travail would get sorted out. I now realize the truth and unquestionable wisdom of the adage about not being able to make chicken salad out of chicken, well you know, dodo.
These are most certainly disheartening and extraordinarily dangerous times for America.
I am flagging however, this in the face of the onslaught of an unprecedented level of outright disinformation, brazen fabrication, and the just plain old 200 proof stupidity that flows from our president’s mouth like water over Niagara Falls.
I was clinging to the notion that somehow our national Trump travail would get sorted out. I now realize the truth and unquestionable wisdom of the adage about not being able to make chicken salad out of chicken, well you know, dodo.
These are most certainly disheartening and extraordinarily dangerous times for America.
21
Well, at least we're all starting to understand Seamus' viewpoint a lot better.
7
I guess the silver lining in Trump's 'win' is that it is no longer possible for the Republicans to pretend to be something different from what they truly are. The facade is about being Christian (for Pence it's before being American), being good and helpful to the less fortunate. wanting the best for all their fellow Americans, not just the very rich ones. So that facade has 'been on the table' for at least forty years.
But Trump and his Motor Mouth blew all that up. The facade has been shattered. We know exactly who they are in their brazen actions to enrich those who no longer needed additional dollars in their piggy banks, to tear down our government of the people, by the people, for the people. Well, Mr. Lincoln, your party is destroying this nation and it will perish from this earth. The extremely sad thing is that now we are also a rogue nation, dis-respected and unwanted among the civilized people of this planet. Your party, Mr. Lincoln, is now the party of Bannon and Trump. And notice that Bannon deserves top billing. Without The Grim Reaper, we wouldn't have Trump. Bannon and Trump, The Great Destroyers who have no understanding of how to create from the ashes of their destruction.
I grieve for our children all over this beautiful blue marble. The children that Republicans are always supposed to put first because they are so very, very christian. Trump blew their cover.
Now maybe things will change in America. Maybe.
But Trump and his Motor Mouth blew all that up. The facade has been shattered. We know exactly who they are in their brazen actions to enrich those who no longer needed additional dollars in their piggy banks, to tear down our government of the people, by the people, for the people. Well, Mr. Lincoln, your party is destroying this nation and it will perish from this earth. The extremely sad thing is that now we are also a rogue nation, dis-respected and unwanted among the civilized people of this planet. Your party, Mr. Lincoln, is now the party of Bannon and Trump. And notice that Bannon deserves top billing. Without The Grim Reaper, we wouldn't have Trump. Bannon and Trump, The Great Destroyers who have no understanding of how to create from the ashes of their destruction.
I grieve for our children all over this beautiful blue marble. The children that Republicans are always supposed to put first because they are so very, very christian. Trump blew their cover.
Now maybe things will change in America. Maybe.
28
I have to admit, I am intentionally avoiding conservative friends who voted for Trump and still support him. I simply don't understand how anyone can support him. The man doesn't have a functioning brain cell left, and virtually everything he has done since taking office makes us weaker and stupider, just like him. Anyone who voted for him ought to be at least privately ashamed, and if they had any class they'd admit their error and move on.
25
I agree with you. And, many other people are going through friend-shock-loss.
Having met new people at Resist, etc.,we are registering new voters, working against the other uneducated religious bigots, going door to door in purple counties, sending donations to many progressives. Being an American means having to save America. The world knows that, but dangerous Americans just refuse to learn.
Having met new people at Resist, etc.,we are registering new voters, working against the other uneducated religious bigots, going door to door in purple counties, sending donations to many progressives. Being an American means having to save America. The world knows that, but dangerous Americans just refuse to learn.
4
When that puppy finally leaves the kennel it will surely be in a German car, and inside with the AC going full blast...global warming has made riding on the roof just too dang hot.
183
Why do we keep calling him the president. If there ever were someone who wasn't the president it is Donald Trump. He doesn't look like a president, he doesn't act like a president, he doesn't talk like a president, and he didn't win the presidency. And on top of that he cheated. He is Donald Trump, or the Donald. Putin's puppet.
Whatever, but for sure not the president.
Whatever, but for sure not the president.
28
Turn the phrase he uses to put down others back on him: refer to him as the "so-called president". Complete with air quotes.
14
How about 'wanna be despot'?
3
The only thing Donald Trump has "achieved" is activating white racist thugs to organize, come out of the closet, and work to intimidate any and all anti-Trump protesters. They are Trump's Brown Shirts, the violent force aimed at shutting up and putting fear into any opposition to his dictatorial take over of our democracy.
And fools like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan think they can manipulate Trump so they can achieve their own limited, short-sighted agendas. Fools! It NEVER works!
Even now, there's rumblings among Republicans that McConnell is a total failure as Majority Leader. He can't get anything done or through the Senate. His only ways have been using Mike Pence as tie-breaker, and citing an arcane rule to shut up Elizabeth Warren speaking against a nominee (Sessions) because he was also a sitting Senator. Mitch is totally ineffective at working with Democrats and has no allies among them. So the rumblings are started that the GOP needs a REAL leader, who can lead the entire Senate, not just 30 or 40 Republicans (30 did not sign the letter praising Trump's withdrawal of the Paris Accord). The first name on the list as a viable replacement is, unsurprisingly, Richard Burr, who, like Sam Irvin 45 years before him (and also from North Carolina), is strong enough to share leadership of his committee with the ranking member. Six months ago, who would have thought it?
But Burr has made his committee THE most respected Congressional entity looking into the Trump mess.
And fools like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan think they can manipulate Trump so they can achieve their own limited, short-sighted agendas. Fools! It NEVER works!
Even now, there's rumblings among Republicans that McConnell is a total failure as Majority Leader. He can't get anything done or through the Senate. His only ways have been using Mike Pence as tie-breaker, and citing an arcane rule to shut up Elizabeth Warren speaking against a nominee (Sessions) because he was also a sitting Senator. Mitch is totally ineffective at working with Democrats and has no allies among them. So the rumblings are started that the GOP needs a REAL leader, who can lead the entire Senate, not just 30 or 40 Republicans (30 did not sign the letter praising Trump's withdrawal of the Paris Accord). The first name on the list as a viable replacement is, unsurprisingly, Richard Burr, who, like Sam Irvin 45 years before him (and also from North Carolina), is strong enough to share leadership of his committee with the ranking member. Six months ago, who would have thought it?
But Burr has made his committee THE most respected Congressional entity looking into the Trump mess.
16
" ... Goldman Sachs executive Jim Donovan, withdrew his name from consideration, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family."
The next person to withdraw his/her name from consideration for a senior posting in the Trump administration will say, " .. I want to spend more time out of federal prison."
The next person to withdraw his/her name from consideration for a senior posting in the Trump administration will say, " .. I want to spend more time out of federal prison."
23
"So productivity will be less than high." What I find fascinating is the high productivity and creativity outside Washington D.C. 45 boasted he represents Pittsburgh, not Paris. Pittsburgh is one of the Greenest cities in the country! His ignorance isolates him as a careless fool. Beyond turning on green lights in cities that care for Paris Climate Change Agreement, Mayor Bloomberg, now out of office, has organized Governors, Colleges and Universities, and over 130 CEO's all committed to the Paris Agreement and wanting to register their commitment with the U.N. in a way that is not a treaty (to do so would violate the U.S. Constitution). While so far concern for the environment has not won major elections, not addressing the environment as a public health and safety issue has its costs and consequences. 45 by dismissing science refuses to count the costs and consider the consequences, not just by not keeping to promises made by President Obama to reduce greenhouse gases, but also to diplomacy. Is our diplomatic word our country's honor? As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band", we really do have "a fool on the hill".
20
Trump is Bannon and Putin's poodle. He was his father's poodle and now he's Bannon and Putin's poodle. He's a weak man, mentally unstable, insecure but pretends to be a tough guy -- one with bone spurs that rendered him incapable of being in the military where "tough guys" like him are exposed as the wimps that they are.
29
What would a Republican administration be without raiding the treasury??
21
"The good news is that this crowd is so inept it might not work."
This may be our one saving grace. Clearly, there is no shortage of evil within the Trump Administration and its GOP enablers. But they can't carry out their evil agenda (or ANY agenda) based on the appalling level of incompetence they display every day. Trump is driving the bus, with his foot firmly on the accelerator, as he and his GOP passengers are headed over the cliff.
This may be our one saving grace. Clearly, there is no shortage of evil within the Trump Administration and its GOP enablers. But they can't carry out their evil agenda (or ANY agenda) based on the appalling level of incompetence they display every day. Trump is driving the bus, with his foot firmly on the accelerator, as he and his GOP passengers are headed over the cliff.
197
Just pray he doesn't get impeached too soon. At least no until mid-terms. I would rather take my chances with this feckless, reckless, embarrassing boob than with the cool, cunning, beady -eyed crusader, Pence, who is on a social assignment for a white male god to straighten the rest of us heathens out.
4
If we only knew how soon.
2
Please, please, please NYT, publish all major legislation each week above the fold and which reps and senators support it, how it will affect districts, and if possible where it originated from.
Even if Trump refuses to release his taxes and the SCOTUS continues to wake up in sweaty thoughts of how Citizens United place one of the nails in the coffin of our precious democracy where they can make horrible decisions without a public beheading, the lobbyists can easily be tracked.
Even if Trump refuses to release his taxes and the SCOTUS continues to wake up in sweaty thoughts of how Citizens United place one of the nails in the coffin of our precious democracy where they can make horrible decisions without a public beheading, the lobbyists can easily be tracked.
42
This is like living in OZ. Like the scarecrow....Trump has no brain. Like the Tin Man...Trump has no heart. Like the Lion...Trump has no courage. But, at least the OZ characters had some level of humanity and were eventually redeemed, unlike Trump. Sad.
24
I think that Trump is more like the man behind the curtain. When exposed, he is all bluster, loud talk, and false to the core.
14
But at least the Wizard was a nice guy, though a faker, and he didn't grope women.
4
A one page tax bill summary would never fly with Mnuchin's previous employer, Goldman Sachs. He should be embarrassed by presenting such a document to Congress and the public. The devil is always in the details, and the bean counters will create the winners and losers while Trump propagandizes a tax bill for which he has little understanding, except how it applies to his personal empire.
189
And that one page tax bill summary? There was only ONE copy. There were no photocopies, no electronic versions and journalists had to take a phone photo to share with colleagues!? Is this the new standard operating procedure in the Trump White House?
2
It is a sad time in US history when the best that can be said about the Republican control of the federal government is that they are too inept to actually impose the most harmful elements of their agenda on the people of the US.
370
President Bann, ah, Trump is on a mission to take down anything Obama. These guys live to get even. It's like P T Barnum got elected and Bill the Butcher is carving up our nation and world like a side of beef.
14
Over here in Europe, it makes me SAD that "many people say" they cannot believe what is going on with the USA these days.
11
A sucker is born every minute and Trump seems to have cornered the market.
18
The most disgusting aspect of that Rse Garden spectacle was to hear the sycophants clapping and Pruitt echoing Trump's lies as they turned our country into an international pariah and laughing stock of the world. I cannot understand why the so-called "adults" in his Cabinet, including three formerly honorable generals, have not resigned.
19
Perhaps, Christy, because they are somewhat less honorable than they were assumed to be.
p.
p.
6
Hurrah for Trump's incompetence? Perhaps his 'not knowing' what's going on, and not having the faintest idea how to fix the economy in a reasonable fashion', is a good thing. Idleness may have, after all, its virtues. Doing nothing, to avoid harmful disenfranchisement of the poor, is better than draconian tax cuts for the 'rich and powerful'. Do we really think, for a minute, that the current loopholes will be closed? Not while there is a wide-open door for even the large semi- trucks to go through, unimpeded, in the name of greed. Since you raised the issue of taxes, our vulgar bully in chief must be considered a crook until he releases his tax returns (although you and I, and all of us, feel certain it would just confirm our suspicion).
11
One positive thing Trump has done is motivate a lot of men to want to spend more time with their families.
16
Ron Wyden could become a heroic superstar in CollinsWorld. And the Mulvaney/Mnuchin two-headed Chupacabra would emerge to scare the kids. Cast Scott Pruitt as the blundering ax-wielding sneak in the basement, and a whole new Marvel movie could set records for bloodshed.
5
Gail, please please,please,please make "Trump not showing his tax returns" the new "Romney's dog Seamus on the roof of the car." Every column. Every week. Work it in somehow. I will look for it as I looked for Ninas in the weekly Hirschfeld cartoon.
20
Not only has he not shown his tax returns from previous years but has refused to even say if he filed for 2017, leading this taxpaying citizen wondering whether has he filed this year, or in years past? The man is a fraud, laughing all the way to the bank with with US taxpayer money. Maybe a few rubles too.
5
It's no wonder that the Republican Party can't govern . . . after all they'd been on vacation for eight years. Really, how do the Republicans even define themselves?
18
There are so many universes in this administration that defy any coherent approach to governing. We have the Trump universe, his family's universe, his foreign policy universe, his domestic policy universe, his staff's universe (chief of staff/communications/Vice President), his other staff's universe (Bannon), the congressional universe, the FBI universe---I could go on, but like parallel lines, none of these universes ever intersect. Every morning, depending on the tweets of the night, all the universes wake up trying to either dodge one of the other universes or find an intersection point with one of the universes, which, ends the day like it began. While some may say, well, this is how the Trump genius works--continual upheaval and incoherence will produce huge and beneficial policies. And maybe in the real estate universe this organizational strategy works, but in the governing universe confusion only breeds stagnation.
7
Maybe its all these universes that are causing global warming! Yes, meant to be very tongue in cheek.
3
America has totally lost its moral compass. The wealthy, god fearing rich Republicans only care about tax cuts for themselves --- these self proclaimed good Christians have so much compassion for the underprivileged and people struggling to make ends meeet that they would gladly see them deprived of healthcare and other benefits as long as their self interests are met.
Then you have the real battlers who have been let down by both parties. In their desperation they turn to a fraud like Trump for salvation. They are going to be even more demoralized when they finally realize they have been conned.
How did this once great country get to this point. BIGLY SAD!!
Then you have the real battlers who have been let down by both parties. In their desperation they turn to a fraud like Trump for salvation. They are going to be even more demoralized when they finally realize they have been conned.
How did this once great country get to this point. BIGLY SAD!!
14
Your "President's" primary goal, within his Sociopathic presence, is clearly in force: the chronic daily presentation of his Face before the American Public. Meanwhile, we, the People, are being "Led" by this dynamic Personality Disorder. I am allowed just Words: Sometimes the sanest reaction to an insane situation...is Insanity.
6
Trump easily baffled his masses with his con game which he still perpetuates and his supporters still ohh and ahh at his every word and sing high praises, which is a must in order to keep Trump's attention.
He has delivered some of his promises, but, as one person commenting lamented that He is facing too many obstacles that need to be removed-the Constitution for one, and the legislative and judicial bodies as the other.
That is the ticket-let us elevate Him to a modern version of Hugo Chavez. Then He will be able, along with his junior president and his fawning Vice President, to get his toxic agenda enacted, to our detriment.
He has delivered some of his promises, but, as one person commenting lamented that He is facing too many obstacles that need to be removed-the Constitution for one, and the legislative and judicial bodies as the other.
That is the ticket-let us elevate Him to a modern version of Hugo Chavez. Then He will be able, along with his junior president and his fawning Vice President, to get his toxic agenda enacted, to our detriment.
5
If the Democrats don't win big in '18, we're done. America, the "Shinning City on the Hill" will be just another former empire gone to ash. It was nice while it lasted, but already we are less than we were. Europe will, indeed, be going it alone. Chinese ascension will continue and they will lead the revolution to renewable power. Perhaps they can save the planet, I know this adminstration won't.
12
For all my life I could always find something to relate to, something of understanding with those whom which I disagreed.
Now, I can find nothing and for the first time have utter contempt in my heart for those who brought us this disaster. Donald Trump gave every support to the fact that his presidency would undermine our country and bring us to disaster. He was singularly unqualified and yet the people voted him in. They just wanted someone to shake it up or hated Hillary so much that they tossed the fate of our republic into the abyss.
At this juncture, despite all he has done to undermine this country and all the GOP traitors have failed to do to stop him, there are still....I have to say...idiots who support them.
I no longer have either patience or good will toward these people. They have unleashed the plague and while many try to feverishly find the antidote the prognosis is grimmer each day.
Now, I can find nothing and for the first time have utter contempt in my heart for those who brought us this disaster. Donald Trump gave every support to the fact that his presidency would undermine our country and bring us to disaster. He was singularly unqualified and yet the people voted him in. They just wanted someone to shake it up or hated Hillary so much that they tossed the fate of our republic into the abyss.
At this juncture, despite all he has done to undermine this country and all the GOP traitors have failed to do to stop him, there are still....I have to say...idiots who support them.
I no longer have either patience or good will toward these people. They have unleashed the plague and while many try to feverishly find the antidote the prognosis is grimmer each day.
13
They are so stupid it is beyond believe. It's like they never read a book or ever read a real newspaper. All they do is watch FOXNews. FOXNews has been the great dumbing down of America. It feeds them their baser instincts but has no nourishment for the mind or soul. It leaves them feeling empty and angry. Is the one thing the main thing that is destroying America. It's their big brother 1984!
6
At least we can tell our grandchildren "Yes anyone can grow up, or not grow up, to become president." And implement the mother of all nightmares.
9
Gail, you describe perfectly the theater of the absurd this administration is. Perhaps a special Tony category of one can be arranged.
8
Gail, you keep picking away at Donald Trump. You never give him credit for anything. Can't you at least acknowledge the fact that he NEVER tied his dog to the roof of his station wagon while driving his family to Canada. Geeeeez....
10
Does he have a dog? Is there any dog that would have him?
6
And in case most people forgot: we still do not have a nominee for FBI director. If the current pace of hiring and firing continues, we might end up with a single person in the White House, the last man, cofveve...
16
When comedy, non-fiction and tragedy are one.
20
Counting on Congressional and Presidential ineptitude to keep us all from circling the drain is a sign of the Apocalypse.
19
I just find it amazing how so many of the candidates offered positions in the Trump administration choose instead to spend more time with their families. I can only conclude they have incredibly strong family values.
19
I am so tired of reading about Trump and his latest foolishness. I was tired of it all through the campaign but all the attention to him just got him elected--just as all the attention now just keeps him in office as America just sits transfixed by the antics of a loon gotten into the Oval Office. All it would take is the Republicans stopping all this any number of ways. But they won't; they will hang on hoping for the tax cut, the cutting apart of all regulations (which is the root cause of Trump's Paris accords severing--or all the attention he received from his latest foolishness). So we sit mired in nonsense day after day. "Unprecedented" is the only word anyone dares to use on the air for fear of repercussions from Trump voters affecting the bottom line. Yesterday I cut off the set and don't plan to put it back on. Today I am foregoing news stories indefinitely. Perhaps if we all turned our backs on him, Trump would have to go away. With no audience his whole reason for living will dry up, and the loon will simply fly away. The day that all the media reps stand up and walk out of the room during the daily briefing, the day they refuse to write about him, that could happen. All of the media could turn their attention to other things, disregarding him completely. If the Republicans won't do what they need to do, at least the media could. We must let him know, we don't want him around--anywhere.
26
I had a thought the other day: What if we all promised that if Lil Donnie resigned, we would all continue to act as if we really cared what he thought, said and did, but he wouldn't have to put up with all the hassles he now faces, he could just golf and screw people in business deals - oops, I mean run his businesses. Would THAT be enough to get him to leave office?
Heck, we could even throw in a billion dollars to sweeten the pot - it would be worth it.
Heck, we could even throw in a billion dollars to sweeten the pot - it would be worth it.
2
Ignoring Trump would be the thing that drove him out of office quicker than anything. The press should give him zero space, walk out of the briefings or just not show up. TV should ignore him too. Twitter is his way of crying "look at me, look at me, me, me, me" and if we ignore that too, it would drive him out because he can't stand being ignored.
4
Another thing the media could do is focus their attention on Bannon. When Bannon appeared before the cameras awhile back, that's when rumors started about Bannon being sacked. The bottom line is that Bannon got more press time than The Donald, and The Donald couldn't stand that.
5
Once, it was inconceivable that the US would find itself traveling down the road to perdition, a torturous journey other nation states have traveled.
The US is being led on the journey by a man who is yet to prove he has the ability or will to act within a fact based world. The Republican control Congress as the Trump enabler has demonstrated its unwillingness to check the Administration.
Dysfunction is unavoidable. Good outcomes not possible.
The US is being led on the journey by a man who is yet to prove he has the ability or will to act within a fact based world. The Republican control Congress as the Trump enabler has demonstrated its unwillingness to check the Administration.
Dysfunction is unavoidable. Good outcomes not possible.
19
As always this is to express thanks to Gail Collins, as her writing serves to lift my depression with reminders that I am not alone. It is still preferable to be awake, because in sleep my nightmares keep worsening, and the horror of trump and his people rampages over the globe. That illuminated globe!
15
It's easy to know what trump is thinking or going to do on any given issue - it's the opposite of what President Obama thought or did. That's the guiding principle of this administration. It has nothing to do with facts, science, scholarly reports, intelligence briefings, world opinion or popular opinion so we can stop wondering or trying to figure it out.
29
Covfefe
Tax reform can be simple and politically correct. There are three tax bases: wealth, income and consumption. If we tax all three the rates on each will be mathmatically low. If the rates are low there is little need for tax expenditures (deductions, special income rates, deferrals, credits and exemptions). If we eliminate $1.3 trillion in annual tax expenditures (the essence of crony capitalism) we could balance the budget from day one. Families should save a million dollars over a lifetime and multi-millionaires should fend for themselves with no waste in government tax and transfer programs.
The simple solution involves the inverse taxation of wealth and income. To explain, consider midpoint individual tax rates of 1% on net worth and 18% on income (with no payroll taxes). Any taxpayer could elect to reduce one tax rate by raising the other - (inverse taxation). For example, the wealth tax could be reduced to zero by increasing the income rate to 28%. In the other direction, the income tax rate could be reduced to 8% by increasing the wealth tax to 2%.
A $500,000 individual wealth tax exemption for retirement, health care and education savings would accomplish all the essential family wealth transfer objectives. Wealth taxes paid over a lifetime would also be a credit against the Estate Tax. C corporations would be taxed with a 4% VAT and 8% income tax shifting some of the burden away from workers (no 15.3% payroll tax) and onto to owners (via the wealth tax).
Tax reform can be simple and politically correct. There are three tax bases: wealth, income and consumption. If we tax all three the rates on each will be mathmatically low. If the rates are low there is little need for tax expenditures (deductions, special income rates, deferrals, credits and exemptions). If we eliminate $1.3 trillion in annual tax expenditures (the essence of crony capitalism) we could balance the budget from day one. Families should save a million dollars over a lifetime and multi-millionaires should fend for themselves with no waste in government tax and transfer programs.
The simple solution involves the inverse taxation of wealth and income. To explain, consider midpoint individual tax rates of 1% on net worth and 18% on income (with no payroll taxes). Any taxpayer could elect to reduce one tax rate by raising the other - (inverse taxation). For example, the wealth tax could be reduced to zero by increasing the income rate to 28%. In the other direction, the income tax rate could be reduced to 8% by increasing the wealth tax to 2%.
A $500,000 individual wealth tax exemption for retirement, health care and education savings would accomplish all the essential family wealth transfer objectives. Wealth taxes paid over a lifetime would also be a credit against the Estate Tax. C corporations would be taxed with a 4% VAT and 8% income tax shifting some of the burden away from workers (no 15.3% payroll tax) and onto to owners (via the wealth tax).
2
How do you know someone has an ulterior motive for dropping out of a nomination? When a person who has a job that probably allows little time at home says he is doing it to spend more time with his family.
9
One has to be desperate or delusional to volunteer to pave the road for Trump's bus.
4
Its the educated guess. As the "spend more time with family," excuse, for people who traditionally do not spend much time with family as a professional choice, is the #1 excuse for people looking to bow out of a job; A; before they are fired, B; they have a super-duper offer waiting for them, C; they see no good for themselves in taking an offer.
Rare are the people in these circles, who have not long ago made peace with the lack of time spent with family. (and of course there's zero follow-up on these people,right? So we don't ever know if they spend more time with family?!)
Which by the way, is the same for the rest of the working classes. How many regular folks turn down a promotion, etc, for this excuse?(outside of those who are already traveling a great deal, now looking at even more time on the road)
We all know our jobs take us away from family...and most times there is no means to control that.
Rare are the people in these circles, who have not long ago made peace with the lack of time spent with family. (and of course there's zero follow-up on these people,right? So we don't ever know if they spend more time with family?!)
Which by the way, is the same for the rest of the working classes. How many regular folks turn down a promotion, etc, for this excuse?(outside of those who are already traveling a great deal, now looking at even more time on the road)
We all know our jobs take us away from family...and most times there is no means to control that.
4
The president's idea of winning is doing whatever it takes to make sure the other guy gets less. If the other guy suffers and is devalued in the process, all the better. And, because of his Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Trump will lie, cheat and steal to make sure he "wins" and that everyone knows it. It's compulsive behavior.
A man with a non-existent sense of ethics can't be expected to do what is right or give anyone a fair shake. Trump didn't release his taxes because he had his people work every angle they could play, legal or otherwise, to get Trump significantly more than he deserved.
Trump's win at all costs compulsions put our country in grave danger.
A man with a non-existent sense of ethics can't be expected to do what is right or give anyone a fair shake. Trump didn't release his taxes because he had his people work every angle they could play, legal or otherwise, to get Trump significantly more than he deserved.
Trump's win at all costs compulsions put our country in grave danger.
28
Trump counts it a victory if anything at all follows from what he decrees.
3
Ms. Collins, the Queen of Droll! Long may she reign! With so much Trump administration material to choose from, it must get tedious picking a subject.
Don't forget to do some gardening in order to maintain a sense of equanimity. This too shall pass, once Mueller does his job..
Don't forget to do some gardening in order to maintain a sense of equanimity. This too shall pass, once Mueller does his job..
11
At this point, how anyone could identify as, or vote, Republican, is beyond me.
Oh, wait, I forgot - millions of Americans are addicted to listening to an overweight, thrice (Or is it four times by now?) married, drug-addled, deaf gasbag on the radio every day. He tells them Trump is great because he annoys the liberals, and that Republican is the thing to be. Then there's Fox News.
Let me amend my first sentence: At this point, how any thinking person could identify as, or vote, Republican, is beyond me.
Oh, wait, I forgot - millions of Americans are addicted to listening to an overweight, thrice (Or is it four times by now?) married, drug-addled, deaf gasbag on the radio every day. He tells them Trump is great because he annoys the liberals, and that Republican is the thing to be. Then there's Fox News.
Let me amend my first sentence: At this point, how any thinking person could identify as, or vote, Republican, is beyond me.
61
Fantastic pleasures in a state of eternal bliss await those who can prove to God that they can adhere to the most ludicrous beliefs in defiance of all facts and reasoning unto death.
5
There are many in their ranks who cling to the old ideals. Many who still look thru their rose-colored glasses and see things from wen the Repubs were progressive. Like during the Eisenhower years. When Civil rights was mostly their thing. When they had actionable ideas that weren't all focused on tax cuts for a small percentage, and gutting social programs instead of seeking fixes and ways to update them.
Watch C-Span, and you can see and listen to these Conservatives, they all seem to live in the past...clinging to some hope that the current batch of Repubs will wakeup and turn the corner and become a party of action. But apparently these Conservative wonks dont want to see the reality about the GOP. They dont see how belligerent to good ideas McConnell is, dont see how little Ryan does, and more importantly seems to know. That being in power doesn't mean having to do important things. All that matters to McConnell is BEING in power.
Watch C-Span, and you can see and listen to these Conservatives, they all seem to live in the past...clinging to some hope that the current batch of Repubs will wakeup and turn the corner and become a party of action. But apparently these Conservative wonks dont want to see the reality about the GOP. They dont see how belligerent to good ideas McConnell is, dont see how little Ryan does, and more importantly seems to know. That being in power doesn't mean having to do important things. All that matters to McConnell is BEING in power.
2
If you read between the lines, especially of articles in this
newspaper, you can detect a subtext that says: this administration
is putting on a show whose correlation to its real activities in the
background is all over the map (for nerds: -1.0 to 1.0).
Some information is conveyed in hand signals (e.g. see the photo
accompanying Susan Rice's Op-Ed "To Be Great, America Must
Be Good"). Why is this? That would make this comment too long.
newspaper, you can detect a subtext that says: this administration
is putting on a show whose correlation to its real activities in the
background is all over the map (for nerds: -1.0 to 1.0).
Some information is conveyed in hand signals (e.g. see the photo
accompanying Susan Rice's Op-Ed "To Be Great, America Must
Be Good"). Why is this? That would make this comment too long.
4
Hilarious, brilliant and scathing!
I too am optimistic that this Administration may be too busy shooting itself in the foot to destroy the planet. All encompassing incompetence may not just save us from the pure evil of Trump's non-ideology, but may bring with it a slow rot to the Republican Party that forces each member to pick a side, for or against the greatest Presidential disaster in American history (and future).
I too am optimistic that this Administration may be too busy shooting itself in the foot to destroy the planet. All encompassing incompetence may not just save us from the pure evil of Trump's non-ideology, but may bring with it a slow rot to the Republican Party that forces each member to pick a side, for or against the greatest Presidential disaster in American history (and future).
20
Not so inept in beating the most hyped democratic candidacy since Kennedy, with every financial, editorial, academic, corporate and cultural force against them - and shrewd enough to focus on winning, which in this country, BY CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, means 270 electoral votes. There is NO requirement to garner more raw votes. So who was the goat? Further, one look at the 2018 map should make the already unhinged cringe as Congressional Red majorities will expand, especially in the Senate. Then we have the Crone who won't leave the country alone and her pity-me tour. Certain to unite the fracked party she helped ruin, eh? Now, the gift of Griffin. It is so heartening to know we need not buy ammo - our opponents supply all we need. 'Bots all folks!
Hey, Guys. He "saved" 800 Carrier jobs. Isn't that enough? Sure .... hasn't done diddly-squat since except muck up the Western Alliance and trash the free world. But what do you want for a buck? 800 jobs is 800 jobs ...... especially offset against the hundreds of thousands headed for China to make our solar panels. And if a few gazillionaires get a whopping tax cut and we can gut the social safety net, why we might save 800 more. Every tiny bit counts.
19
Thanks, Gail, because this bobo president hates being called out as a fool, though seems okay with being reviled or confronted as a liar. His idea of tax reform, Heh! Heh!, same as releasing his own taxes, is a wax job on America, because the art of the deal is landing a sucker. Of course, Trump The Fool's sucker base is so potty it'll stand by its possum long after he's roadkill, probably enshrine his remains in the Rich Racist White Guy Hall of Fame
14
We should look at taxes in the same way we view admission to the Met. No "required" fee but all Citizens should make a "voluntary" contribution based on their ability and willingness to pay. (Very similar to our current estate law allowing billionaires to donate their billions to charity and non-profits like Ivy League endowments, etc., rather than the US Treasury) Most virtuous Democrats would gladly contribute the entire suggested amount while most free-loading Republicans would contribute some modest, lesser amount. The contributions from the generous virtuous would likely overwhelm those from the selfish miserly. We could then eliminate all enforcement mechanisms (IRS), thus saving that expense.
4
the last man nearly ruined this place
he didn't know what to do with it.
If you think your country's bad off now
just wait till I get through with it.
Rufus T. Firefly
he didn't know what to do with it.
If you think your country's bad off now
just wait till I get through with it.
Rufus T. Firefly
6
Funny, except it's not.....
To the millions who enjoyed the delightful entertainment of the trump/tweet show for the last 18 months, time to get back to work....
He's begging for irrelevancy, a goal he seems competent to achieve, and it's time we treat him as the irrelevant nothing he is.... maybe he goes to jail, maybe he gets impeached, maybe not... irrelevant and out of our hands.
The real arena is the Senate and the House, to a lesser extent.
So, citizens, 'The Gong Show' has had its run... Now let's get rid of ALL the BOZOS in the 'Bozone' (formerly know as Congress) and show that we are worthy of the many things our brave and wise forebears fought and died for;
"fairness, justice for all, and a more perfect union..."
The world will welcome us back, but now we have to earn it anew....
To the millions who enjoyed the delightful entertainment of the trump/tweet show for the last 18 months, time to get back to work....
He's begging for irrelevancy, a goal he seems competent to achieve, and it's time we treat him as the irrelevant nothing he is.... maybe he goes to jail, maybe he gets impeached, maybe not... irrelevant and out of our hands.
The real arena is the Senate and the House, to a lesser extent.
So, citizens, 'The Gong Show' has had its run... Now let's get rid of ALL the BOZOS in the 'Bozone' (formerly know as Congress) and show that we are worthy of the many things our brave and wise forebears fought and died for;
"fairness, justice for all, and a more perfect union..."
The world will welcome us back, but now we have to earn it anew....
14
How to get things done #1:
Agree that the planet is warming and the waters are rising. Then, instead of claiming you're building a wall, claim you're building a dike. You're welcome.
Agree that the planet is warming and the waters are rising. Then, instead of claiming you're building a wall, claim you're building a dike. You're welcome.
15
Trump believes that if he says it, it is real. It is other-worldly to face the fact that we have approximately 35% of this country, that actually see clothes on this fraud. There are now so many moving parts in the 'Russia Investigation' that I doubt a majority of Republican Senators are going to be willing to attach their names to a major healthcare and/or tax cut bill, that ultimately will be call Trumpcare or The Trump Tax Cuts.
As each new revaluation comes out about the Russia investigation, the 'Trump Brand' becomes more and more damaged. The irony of Trump destroying his own brand is rich.
As each new revaluation comes out about the Russia investigation, the 'Trump Brand' becomes more and more damaged. The irony of Trump destroying his own brand is rich.
14
The bigger problem than this disastrous President and his administration is the solid 35-40% support he receives. They think he's doing a good job. Sad!
14
I couldn't agree more, I find that more frightening than Trump!!!
3
Just when you thought it couldn't get worst....
6
Truthful hyperbole. Or lying in plain English.
Trump has based a career in real estate by outright lying, or twisting the truth. And he has never, ever paid any price for doing that. Just the opposite - he has been rewarded for it.
Why would he stop now? Is the American electorate going to hold him accountable? It's a sure bet Congress won't, at lease while the Republicans hold the majority.
Democrats have to stop bringing a knife to a gun fight. The party needs to elect fresh leadership who are willing to call it like it is and get into the mud ring with the Republicans. Anthony Weiner certainly had his major issues, but as a Congressman from NYC he was never afraid to push back and push back hard.
Almost winning run off elections just is not good enough.
Trump has based a career in real estate by outright lying, or twisting the truth. And he has never, ever paid any price for doing that. Just the opposite - he has been rewarded for it.
Why would he stop now? Is the American electorate going to hold him accountable? It's a sure bet Congress won't, at lease while the Republicans hold the majority.
Democrats have to stop bringing a knife to a gun fight. The party needs to elect fresh leadership who are willing to call it like it is and get into the mud ring with the Republicans. Anthony Weiner certainly had his major issues, but as a Congressman from NYC he was never afraid to push back and push back hard.
Almost winning run off elections just is not good enough.
4
I once had a job dealing with attorneys who were facing disbarment for unethical behavior. They all lied to their clients, sometimes so brazenly it was breathtaking. Then, when one of those clients finally began to figure things out, the attorneys simply stopped communicating. The "stop communicating" phase sometimes lasted as long as a year before the State Bar finally took action. At that point these serial liars always had some excuse to explain what had happened. They were depressed, or going through a divorce, or abusing pharmaceuticals, or being audited by the IRS, etc. Sound familiar?
8
With apologies to Marvin Gaye,
Taxes, Trump, and Trouble.
Taxes, Trump, and Trouble.
2
I recall an earlier declaration of Trumps: "We will renegotiate the national debt. Those the government owes will get cents on the dollar" - or something to that effect.
So, all those out there who admire Trump may want to reconsider if this happens. It will amount to an unmitigated disaster even if his cronies in congress just consider it. "Run the government like a business" is an old GOP slogan. Bankruptcy is a business strategy, see Trump's history.
So, all those out there who admire Trump may want to reconsider if this happens. It will amount to an unmitigated disaster even if his cronies in congress just consider it. "Run the government like a business" is an old GOP slogan. Bankruptcy is a business strategy, see Trump's history.
9
@harold,
Trump ran most all his businesses into the ground. Especially, the casino businesses, they all went bankrupt!
Trump ran most all his businesses into the ground. Especially, the casino businesses, they all went bankrupt!
2
"Also, the chances that there will be a big bipartisan deal are somewhat smaller than a premature baby gnat." (Love that line!) It's amazing that although McConnell & friends have been drooling in the wings to repeal/replace/overhaul the entire Obama legacy, they have nothing, not one workable outline. Most middle school students would by now have a fully formed thesis paper. Let's face it, they are just not "working" the way that you and I have come to think of "working."
10
My theory is that everything, successful or not, is a distraction from the Russian probe. One shouldn't be surprised another couple of pages of his old tax return be leaked out. This juvenile magician parlor trick is getting old
Could this last for another three and a half years? Time will tell. In the mean time, if the Bannon camp is the one leaking the Jared's problem, score one for the regressiionalist (calling it nationalist would be a mislabel)!
Could this last for another three and a half years? Time will tell. In the mean time, if the Bannon camp is the one leaking the Jared's problem, score one for the regressiionalist (calling it nationalist would be a mislabel)!
5
Liars, every single one of them is a blatant liar. They lie constantly to deceive, and to hide their incompetence. This is America!
17
Oh the republicans were so gleeful once they got their hands on all the levers of power in Washington. "Boy watch us now"!
they gloated. We'll show you nay sayers how to govern.
So how has that turned out so far?
they gloated. We'll show you nay sayers how to govern.
So how has that turned out so far?
13
“That’s a very good question.” Honeychile, there's a lot of those out there. Biggest of all is how in Hell did we get in this mess? (Oh.) What have we done to deserve this? Seems like an old codger named Job was asking the same question once upon a time, and I don't think he got a very good answer either. You suggest that the sum total of ineptitude might be our salvation. There you go again, whistling past the graveyard while the ghoulies and ghostes and long-legged beasties are snapping at your heels. (The prayer those words are taken from ends, "Dear Lord, deliver us." Hope it's not too late!)
4
Everything Trump touches, absolutely everything, turns into Covfefe.
18
In a bizarre sort of way it's not a bad thing that Donnie Boy and Mitch and Paul can't seem to get anything done. Just think what horrors and damage they could do if they weren't so inept.
I know, I know America looks stupid to the rest of the world and that's partially true, but the rest of the world lives in a glass house too and needs to cut us some slack while we figure out how to get rid of the crooks and liars.
And as long as there are people like Gail Collins, The NYT and a few brave Democrats we will.
I know, I know America looks stupid to the rest of the world and that's partially true, but the rest of the world lives in a glass house too and needs to cut us some slack while we figure out how to get rid of the crooks and liars.
And as long as there are people like Gail Collins, The NYT and a few brave Democrats we will.
15
The emperor not only has no clothes, he is also lacking a brain and a heart.....
15
Reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes scene where the Teacher ask Calvin, What state do you live in?, Calvin lights up with a big smile and replies, The State of denial!
It humorous in a cartoon, less so in the Fairytale reality known as Trumpland.
It humorous in a cartoon, less so in the Fairytale reality known as Trumpland.
10
As Arthur Miller wrote in "Death of a Salesman", "attention must be paid" to Willy Loman, and now to our troglodyte, President Trump. The houses of Congress return to Washington on Monday - and we will be looking for Trump's legislation attempts to come forward in the House and Senate. His American Health Care Act (still shapeless, though he promised to repeal and replace Obamacare on "Day One" of his administration), and his tax bill both DOA. "He said, he said" - the former FBI Director James Comey will take the stand - which will be another media circus. Trump labeled him "a nut job" to the Russians visiting the Oval Office. What else? Oh, yes, Trump's withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord "to reassert American Sovereignty" - leaving us on the outside of global warming with Syria and Nicaragua, the three little Hans Christian Andersen Match Girls. Meanwhile, an iceberg the size of Delaware is calving off the Antarctic. So does Trump still believe that climate-warming is a hoax? The President has been fairly close-mouthed to his Press Secretary, Sean Spicer. Also, Gail, did you notice the big league change in the President's hair-do since he returned from his around-the-world in 8 days voyage on Air Force One? His hair is now white as snow and so are his eyebrows - no more making fun of his salmon, cantaloupe-coloured croissant of hair! He still has that (un)healthy orange tan like former Speaker John Boehner, who got out while the getting was good.
9
Come on, give ol' T-rump a break. After doing all this heavy lifting - scraping TPP, dumping on NATO, dissing our old allies, ripping into NAFTA, shrinking foreign aid, enabling and cuddling up to authoritarian regimes, and trying to back out of Paris - for his buddy Putin, can't he do a little something for himself? You know, a tax break so he can keep all his ill-gotten gains.
What use is a kleptocracy if you have to give some of it back?
What use is a kleptocracy if you have to give some of it back?
24
Clinton Tax increase on the wealthy in 1993, if I am remembering this correctly, reduced our deficit to zero and he left office with a surplus. The story that sticks in my mind is that there was one junior republican, woman, representative who voted yes and this allowed it to pass. Apparently this destroyed her ability to get re-elected but it got passed. Now this is where my story ability in my head may falter but if I a not mistaken, Chelsea Clinton married her son. Since Gail Collins is a big reader of political books and knows a lot of the history of these folks I would be curious if this is right.
Then under George Bush Jr. these tax increases were rolled back temporarily but never reinstated and with the war resulted in a huge deficit. Since we are still under these rolled back tax system for the wealthy. As for Trump he doesn't seem to have the attention span or the ability to foster long term projects. Tax reform is near and dear to the Republican hearts but they don't seem very interested. The have the majorities and should be passing legislature right and left. No pun intended. So what is saving democracy is ineptness. I talk to my friends and wonder how long it will be before Trump shuts down facebook and starts jailing journalists like in Turkey.
Then under George Bush Jr. these tax increases were rolled back temporarily but never reinstated and with the war resulted in a huge deficit. Since we are still under these rolled back tax system for the wealthy. As for Trump he doesn't seem to have the attention span or the ability to foster long term projects. Tax reform is near and dear to the Republican hearts but they don't seem very interested. The have the majorities and should be passing legislature right and left. No pun intended. So what is saving democracy is ineptness. I talk to my friends and wonder how long it will be before Trump shuts down facebook and starts jailing journalists like in Turkey.
21
Is this any way to run a business, much less a country? Are people going to accept the fact that electing an "outsider" who knows nothing about an organization (the businessman who has never been in politics and who thinks he has all the answers because he made a fortune selling widgets) is not how to improve health care, reform the tax system, deal with thorny diplomatic issues, bring jobs to workers who have lost jobs to technologies, solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem, get rid of the power of lobbyists, manage the export deficit, bring home squirreled billions of American corporations, prevent the flight of jobs, deal with undocumented immigrants. If the country survives Trump, his election may serve as a good example of how not to fall for this kind of scam again.
17
"Trauma, taxes and Trump, Oh my, trauma, taxes and Trump, oh my..."
sang Ivanka, the tin man (Named Kushner), the scarecrow ( Named Mr. Sessions; well, crows are black) and the cowardly lion (Mr. All the other Republicans) on their way to the "Trump Tower in the Emerald City".
I am not going to debase my comment nor chance not having it accepted by pointing out that Mr. Mnuchin is only a couple of letters away from being Mr. Munchkin, no, no, not me (I'll leave that to Ms. Griffin).
Of course, we already have the "Wicked Witch", Ms. Clinton, who is spending almost as much time talking about the election as "Twitler" the difference being, of course, he won. But, let's face it, when it comes to holding "glowing orbs", Mr. Trump comes off looking far more sinister than Ms. Clinton could ever have.
But, if the "Oz" comparison is accurate, at any moment Ms. Clinton will fly on her broom above D.C. writing in black smoke, "Don't you wish it was me in the White House" while contemplating if she has enough "flying monkeys" in her arsenal to carry off Paul Ryan, the mayor of the "Emerald City", at least for now.
But, alas, the comparison starts falling apart as D.C. doesn't resemble "Oz" anymore but seems more like "Mordor" from the Ring Trilogy as the evil Republicans unleash thunderbolts of tax relief for the wealthy and, well, nothing for the rest of us.
Sigh..at least Dorothy was only dreaming; we're living this nightmare.
sang Ivanka, the tin man (Named Kushner), the scarecrow ( Named Mr. Sessions; well, crows are black) and the cowardly lion (Mr. All the other Republicans) on their way to the "Trump Tower in the Emerald City".
I am not going to debase my comment nor chance not having it accepted by pointing out that Mr. Mnuchin is only a couple of letters away from being Mr. Munchkin, no, no, not me (I'll leave that to Ms. Griffin).
Of course, we already have the "Wicked Witch", Ms. Clinton, who is spending almost as much time talking about the election as "Twitler" the difference being, of course, he won. But, let's face it, when it comes to holding "glowing orbs", Mr. Trump comes off looking far more sinister than Ms. Clinton could ever have.
But, if the "Oz" comparison is accurate, at any moment Ms. Clinton will fly on her broom above D.C. writing in black smoke, "Don't you wish it was me in the White House" while contemplating if she has enough "flying monkeys" in her arsenal to carry off Paul Ryan, the mayor of the "Emerald City", at least for now.
But, alas, the comparison starts falling apart as D.C. doesn't resemble "Oz" anymore but seems more like "Mordor" from the Ring Trilogy as the evil Republicans unleash thunderbolts of tax relief for the wealthy and, well, nothing for the rest of us.
Sigh..at least Dorothy was only dreaming; we're living this nightmare.
15
You did did not address the bizarre preface to Trump's announcement abandoning the climate agreement. The Marine corps jazz band and and VP Pence's hallucinatory paen to the Buffoon in Chief evoked a third world dictator enjoying his brief tenure as Boss Man.
17
I've been saying this for some time yet here I go saying it again. All the educated people in the U.S., all the pundits and self-anointed cognoscenti in media, business and politics keep dancing around it. All those both on the left and right side of the aisle. They keep deferring and "mansplaining" away what to me has become quite obvious. The man is mentally ill. If you'll forgive the colloquialism, the man is NUTS!
Can't anyone, everyone, see this? America seems to have issues in accepting this but Merkel (amongst the other international leadership class) obvious did as she got a behind the door up close and personal look at this character we've voted as our Leader. She seems to have come away less than impressed, yes? I'm sure the other world leaders did, too.
So, we have a nut-job helming the United States of America. He is off his rocker, a few crackers short in his box, and he isn't going away except by being dragged off to a home. And I think it is rapidly reaching that point. I, as an American, have had enough of someone trying to destroy my national character in both the domestic and international arena's. Isn't this about the same point other American's have reached?
John~
American Net'Zen
Can't anyone, everyone, see this? America seems to have issues in accepting this but Merkel (amongst the other international leadership class) obvious did as she got a behind the door up close and personal look at this character we've voted as our Leader. She seems to have come away less than impressed, yes? I'm sure the other world leaders did, too.
So, we have a nut-job helming the United States of America. He is off his rocker, a few crackers short in his box, and he isn't going away except by being dragged off to a home. And I think it is rapidly reaching that point. I, as an American, have had enough of someone trying to destroy my national character in both the domestic and international arena's. Isn't this about the same point other American's have reached?
John~
American Net'Zen
22
And sooner or later, the Inept Republicans are going to have to A. take the blame for failure to legislate or B. Blame someone for creating the mess that prevented them from following up on their promises to legislate once they were given control by the voters. And, sorry, this, isn't like a Chinese restaurant menu. Survey says: B wins. Let's see, who is there to blame?
12
jimbo, they will blame O'bama.
2
Great piece Gail. A side note. I thought a bozo journalist on Bloomberg kept saying Gary Con (spelled Cohn) wrong. I assumed it was Co In (spelled Cohan). Bozo was right. But this makes way more sense. If you listen to him talk he "drives" you nuts with his slick selling point messages. He keeps attempting to "drive" home the same nonsensical points. Ok, he said the word 'drive' at least 7 times in an interview yesterday.But whose counting? They must not be counting else they would get on the same page and drive the legislation to the finish line.
4
Keep them on their toes, keep them guessing, the Public has the attention span of a fruit fly. Better still, keep confusing the Media and send them off in the wrong direction, but best of all keep the World baffled and perplexed.
In an earlier exchange with a friend, a great beauty, who Gaugin would have wanted to paint, we had one of our animated weather reports via phone. 'He is crazy'. This is not helping us, I replied. America is the laughing-stock of the World, she continued. Not unless our Allies find it funny to see a president unhinged. This is dangerous and tragic.
Half the Country is somewhat traumatized and Trump looks on his last legs. Awful. It is a bit like being dragged, kicking and screaming daily to a bull-fight where down goes the Toro, over and over again.
Apparently it is okay for a president not to release his tax returns and is not unprecedented. Think once, think twice, before the average citizen tries this stunt with the I.R.S. A sibling of inherited wealth goes pale if you mention the word 'Tax'. It cropped up not long ago in a rare exchange. You sound irrational, he whined, like our mother. 'Then all the more reason not to discuss a financial transaction with somebody who is unhinged!'I roared.
If Trump has produced anything beneficial for our Country, please let this American know in due course. Meanwhile, my friend is saying her prayers, praying for this Country she loves, and I am beginning to sound like Trump. Wonderful.
In an earlier exchange with a friend, a great beauty, who Gaugin would have wanted to paint, we had one of our animated weather reports via phone. 'He is crazy'. This is not helping us, I replied. America is the laughing-stock of the World, she continued. Not unless our Allies find it funny to see a president unhinged. This is dangerous and tragic.
Half the Country is somewhat traumatized and Trump looks on his last legs. Awful. It is a bit like being dragged, kicking and screaming daily to a bull-fight where down goes the Toro, over and over again.
Apparently it is okay for a president not to release his tax returns and is not unprecedented. Think once, think twice, before the average citizen tries this stunt with the I.R.S. A sibling of inherited wealth goes pale if you mention the word 'Tax'. It cropped up not long ago in a rare exchange. You sound irrational, he whined, like our mother. 'Then all the more reason not to discuss a financial transaction with somebody who is unhinged!'I roared.
If Trump has produced anything beneficial for our Country, please let this American know in due course. Meanwhile, my friend is saying her prayers, praying for this Country she loves, and I am beginning to sound like Trump. Wonderful.
5
Unlike Directors Mulvaney and Cohn I can't pretend to speak for this Administration. But like them and so many otters I have been held back by
the Paris Climate Accords, so-called. Last year or so, to commemorate the American Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize I planned to build a (coal) fire on Main Street and shoot it full of holes. However under Paris rules I had to substitute a wind turbine which took a lot more hard-earned ammunition to bring down. But down it went and now with the weight of Paris off my shoulders and a doozy of a tax cut by the end of August things are looking red.
the Paris Climate Accords, so-called. Last year or so, to commemorate the American Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize I planned to build a (coal) fire on Main Street and shoot it full of holes. However under Paris rules I had to substitute a wind turbine which took a lot more hard-earned ammunition to bring down. But down it went and now with the weight of Paris off my shoulders and a doozy of a tax cut by the end of August things are looking red.
3
Now you can nuke it. Happy?
1
The fact is this administration can't even climb to the "Amateur Hour" rung on the performance ladder. They are collectively that bad.
This is of course a good thing for the country. Why? It gives Mueller more time to do his necessaries and uncover what Trump desperately doesn't want us to know.
Next up? Cue the Comey testimony!
(I still can't get past the notion that this has become so like the drip drip drip release of the Podesta emails. The drips just keep on coming. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! It started small, but is going to end up yugely bigly!)
This is of course a good thing for the country. Why? It gives Mueller more time to do his necessaries and uncover what Trump desperately doesn't want us to know.
Next up? Cue the Comey testimony!
(I still can't get past the notion that this has become so like the drip drip drip release of the Podesta emails. The drips just keep on coming. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! It started small, but is going to end up yugely bigly!)
15
There is only ONE solution: the POTUS should hire a new WH Chief of Staff. My suggestion is Mark Burnett. Even though he's really really busy (I think he has seven shows going on two networks), his resume includes "creator" and principal writer and executive producer of The Apprentice.
We're watching the Boardroom antics and weekly drama of that show as it's transposed into the Executive Branch of the United States government. This is The Apprentice on steroids. This is "tune in next week to see if Steve can propose a tax cut plan that wins, or will it be Mick's?"
The problem is (Mike, you're fired. James, you're fired. Etc.) that the episodes are getting mixed up. We need an executive producer. For instance, we had so much airtime wasted a couple of weeks ago when Jeff's Team B brought in like twenty candidates for Dir. of the FBI for interviews, then all of sudden nothing. Back burnered.
The star has gotten a lot of airtime mileage on the "release-the-tax-returns" ploy. The audience is loving that . . . will he? Won't he? Now we have the newest wrinkle: does he believe in global warming? Or not?
He just forgot one thing (that the Executive Producer could keep him straight on): the national Approval Rating is NOT calculated by Nielsen's.
We're watching the Boardroom antics and weekly drama of that show as it's transposed into the Executive Branch of the United States government. This is The Apprentice on steroids. This is "tune in next week to see if Steve can propose a tax cut plan that wins, or will it be Mick's?"
The problem is (Mike, you're fired. James, you're fired. Etc.) that the episodes are getting mixed up. We need an executive producer. For instance, we had so much airtime wasted a couple of weeks ago when Jeff's Team B brought in like twenty candidates for Dir. of the FBI for interviews, then all of sudden nothing. Back burnered.
The star has gotten a lot of airtime mileage on the "release-the-tax-returns" ploy. The audience is loving that . . . will he? Won't he? Now we have the newest wrinkle: does he believe in global warming? Or not?
He just forgot one thing (that the Executive Producer could keep him straight on): the national Approval Rating is NOT calculated by Nielsen's.
14
"The last one, Goldman Sachs executive Jim Donovan, withdrew his name from consideration, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family."
Whenever I hear this tired excuse trotted out, I have to wonder: Did anyone consult the family?
Whenever I hear this tired excuse trotted out, I have to wonder: Did anyone consult the family?
17
The whole world is laughing at the loser Trump and his Republican Party. A bunch of ignorant bullies with their paw on the button. Maybe the whole world is crying in fear. No they are laughing at Trump and his voters for how they could be so stupid in both foreign policy and domestic policy. More taxes for the middle class, less taxes for the rich, no health care for the sick and more health care for the well.
Trump, what a guy, what a loser.
Trump, what a guy, what a loser.
19
C'mon, Gail,
You know his tax returns are on the roof of the car.
You know his tax returns are on the roof of the car.
15
I've been thinking seriously about Pres. Macron's invitation for us all to come and live in France. I think that's what he said. I don't know how much more of
Trump I can take, and even if he's removed, by some miracle of joy, there is
Pence, the religious right retro of all time. What to do. France has the best
medical care - I'm old and will lose s. security; but maybe they'll take pity on
me, and offer me some other consolation, even a reward for leaving a country
that has lost it's way. Perhaps I'll get the medal of honor, or some other French
lovely medal for my good deed, my departure from the tyranny of an inept
government that has killed democracy and is ruled by deplorables, including our
congress out of hell. If only Mitch McConnel would disolve like the wicked witch
and who is this Mike something or other who insulted Judy on PBS, accusing her
of being a "liberal" spokesperson. Then ranting his anti-science spiel on global
warming filled with mis-information and aggression. Why are these people so
ignorant, ??? Is it fake news, alt info, nazi popularism; anti-humanizing tendencies. America has gotten really weird. I give up, (almost)...... Help!
Trump I can take, and even if he's removed, by some miracle of joy, there is
Pence, the religious right retro of all time. What to do. France has the best
medical care - I'm old and will lose s. security; but maybe they'll take pity on
me, and offer me some other consolation, even a reward for leaving a country
that has lost it's way. Perhaps I'll get the medal of honor, or some other French
lovely medal for my good deed, my departure from the tyranny of an inept
government that has killed democracy and is ruled by deplorables, including our
congress out of hell. If only Mitch McConnel would disolve like the wicked witch
and who is this Mike something or other who insulted Judy on PBS, accusing her
of being a "liberal" spokesperson. Then ranting his anti-science spiel on global
warming filled with mis-information and aggression. Why are these people so
ignorant, ??? Is it fake news, alt info, nazi popularism; anti-humanizing tendencies. America has gotten really weird. I give up, (almost)...... Help!
15
P. Kay, very sad indeed but so true. Great comment.
2
You only lose your Social Security if you give up your citizenship.
Susan - I think I lose health care, but I think it won't be a
big deal in Paris. You're right about the citizenship. Thanks.
big deal in Paris. You're right about the citizenship. Thanks.
Any tax bill will go the same way as the ACHA. Off to the Senate to die in the sum of all the reactionarys fears.
9
Why do we keep asking if Trump "believes" in climate change? Some people believe in a god--others do not. But climate change is happening in this world and is a matter of fact, not religion.
We could ask Trump if he "understands" that climate change is happening.
Of course we would have to "believe" he is capable of understanding anything.
We could ask Trump if he "understands" that climate change is happening.
Of course we would have to "believe" he is capable of understanding anything.
30
Really good point! It drove me crazy when Pruitt yesterday was saying he didn't "personally believe" the data on man-made climate effects. Is there still not a single scientist in the White House?
3
Trump's delusions about the "tax bill" that doesn't exist must come from either a delusional advisor (Bannon? Kushner? so many choices!) or from Fox News/Bretbart/whatever. They all addle the President for fun and profit.
12
Delusional man that it seems has the power to hold hostage an entire nation. He has created an alternate universe where he is omnipotent. In the mean time the US of A continues to free fall into the abyss.
11
I looked at the Dunning-Kruger effect explained on Wikipedia and now, but not too late, I know what's moving the White House guy. Very interesting.
Since then I can only pity the American people for having to endure such a creature.
Since then I can only pity the American people for having to endure such a creature.
17
Adding a bit of context to Gail's "Attention must be paid..." in referencing CONGRESS, our justifiably ignored Congress' return to Washington, the famous line comes from "Death of A Salesman" when Linda, Willy Loman's wife, describes the suicidal death spiral her husband (Congress) is in, as follows: ". He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person. You called him crazy— (Act 1)
7
What a nightmare. The media were complicit in helping the Russians affect the outcome of our elections.
They constantly focused on Trump's media grabbing antics. As a matter of fact, the media freely shared stolen email, illegally stolen property from a break in, and described the robbery as "hacking"... Hacking is a term that originated from BENIGN mutually agreed "unauthorized entries" by "White hats" long ago in the nineties.
Breaking and entry and sharing of stolen property with the help of media gave us Trump. Now its 24 hour news with our lying incompetent autocrat.
Thank you Media! Thank you NYT. Thank you CNN. Here we are all riding to hell as the lies, conspiracies, corruption and utter incompetence are now REAL. Not readership increasing sensational stories. This is the hell you helped create. Our America is losing its place in the free world as we watch helplessly.
They constantly focused on Trump's media grabbing antics. As a matter of fact, the media freely shared stolen email, illegally stolen property from a break in, and described the robbery as "hacking"... Hacking is a term that originated from BENIGN mutually agreed "unauthorized entries" by "White hats" long ago in the nineties.
Breaking and entry and sharing of stolen property with the help of media gave us Trump. Now its 24 hour news with our lying incompetent autocrat.
Thank you Media! Thank you NYT. Thank you CNN. Here we are all riding to hell as the lies, conspiracies, corruption and utter incompetence are now REAL. Not readership increasing sensational stories. This is the hell you helped create. Our America is losing its place in the free world as we watch helplessly.
22
"The budget director, Mick Mulvaney, told a reporter that the budget sent to Congress was not necessarily "indicative of what our proposals are."
CNN and other media outlets should judge Donald Trump based on " what's in his heart" rather than "what's come out of his mouth."
Kellyanne Conway 1/09/17
"I don't think we are going to change our ongoing efforts to reduce those emissions in the future either, so hopefully people can keep it in perspective."
Rex Tillerson 6/02/17
Etc. Etc. Etc.
We really have "fallen through the looking glass."
CNN and other media outlets should judge Donald Trump based on " what's in his heart" rather than "what's come out of his mouth."
Kellyanne Conway 1/09/17
"I don't think we are going to change our ongoing efforts to reduce those emissions in the future either, so hopefully people can keep it in perspective."
Rex Tillerson 6/02/17
Etc. Etc. Etc.
We really have "fallen through the looking glass."
22
Wrong Donald does not have a heart or a conscience .
Mulvaney is one of the worst, most evil, dumbest people in his administration.
Mulvaney is one of the worst, most evil, dumbest people in his administration.
2
There are many thoughtful comments here.
Now mine: I wish so much I didn't have to look at this silly old baboon every day.
Now mine: I wish so much I didn't have to look at this silly old baboon every day.
43
You're not alone, if it makes you feel any better....
5
@gordy: "I wish so much I didn't have to look at this silly old baboon every day." Wish I could give you an infinite number of recommends for your comment. I find him to be the biggest boor that has ever walked the earth, never mind dangerous with his nukes. I'm so BORED of this boor. I don't listen any more. Gave up TV and can control better my own exposure to the Biggest Boor On Earth. It's helped a lot.
1
You gotta laugh to keep from crying.
That sap Mulvaney in his office eating peanut butter sandwiches to signify his childhood penury while this administration wastes millions of other people's money going on their golfing weekends and Trump is peddling his real estate garbage the world over but pays no taxes. Mulvaney gets to gnaw on Medicaid and Planned Parenthood while Melania sashays in a 50K coat and the Donald's cotton candy hair plugs cost how much.
That sap Mulvaney in his office eating peanut butter sandwiches to signify his childhood penury while this administration wastes millions of other people's money going on their golfing weekends and Trump is peddling his real estate garbage the world over but pays no taxes. Mulvaney gets to gnaw on Medicaid and Planned Parenthood while Melania sashays in a 50K coat and the Donald's cotton candy hair plugs cost how much.
22
Hillary Clinton recently wore a $12,000 Armani jacket. She doesn't actually go around wearing rags. The difference is that Melania has a better figure and wears them well.
2
Oh, for the days of Barack Obama, when weeks went by and the actions of the President weren't the lead news story. When the President of the United States was quietly going about the business of the Nation.
When heads of state from around the world were greeted graciously, without handshake drama, without leaks of classified information, without insult to decades old friends, without invitations to human rights violators.
When trips abroad solidified our allegiance to help defend our allies and stand up to our foes; reiterated our determination to fight against violations of human rights and those that perpetrated them and could do so with some moral high ground because we fought them at home; and confirmed our status as the leader of the free world, militarily - socially - and morally.
When science and education and the English language and facts and the First Amendment were treasured and honored and those who stood out in those fields were as honored as military heroes - pointed out as heroes to our kids - as role models to follow.
And when our own open spaces and awesome natural places - were valued, not as sources for natural resources for us to utilize, but for what they were - beautiful, untouched open natural places on an earth we only inhabit for a short time - to be seen and respected and left pristine for those coming after us.
And when our one earth - home to us all - was to be protected - not exploited.
Oh, Obama. We miss ye.
When heads of state from around the world were greeted graciously, without handshake drama, without leaks of classified information, without insult to decades old friends, without invitations to human rights violators.
When trips abroad solidified our allegiance to help defend our allies and stand up to our foes; reiterated our determination to fight against violations of human rights and those that perpetrated them and could do so with some moral high ground because we fought them at home; and confirmed our status as the leader of the free world, militarily - socially - and morally.
When science and education and the English language and facts and the First Amendment were treasured and honored and those who stood out in those fields were as honored as military heroes - pointed out as heroes to our kids - as role models to follow.
And when our own open spaces and awesome natural places - were valued, not as sources for natural resources for us to utilize, but for what they were - beautiful, untouched open natural places on an earth we only inhabit for a short time - to be seen and respected and left pristine for those coming after us.
And when our one earth - home to us all - was to be protected - not exploited.
Oh, Obama. We miss ye.
67
To his everlasting credit, Obama never felt compelled to impress visiting dignitaries by demonstrating how much classified information was at his fingertips.
6
And it was only five month ago...a lifetime already.
5
What people have to accept about the Republicans is, that the tax cut is just another way for them to get the pleasure of spitting in the face of millions of people.
Yes, pleasure. It is called Duper's Delight. They cannot consume any more material things, so that source of pleasure is not there for them. So they go for the rush they get out of hurting others, which is in endless supply and nearly effortless to do. Just issue a few bullets points on taxes or tweets on climate, and sit back and snigger while the millions howl in pain and fear!
The rest of us cannot understand this, thank goodness. But we must accept that is what we are up against here
Yes, pleasure. It is called Duper's Delight. They cannot consume any more material things, so that source of pleasure is not there for them. So they go for the rush they get out of hurting others, which is in endless supply and nearly effortless to do. Just issue a few bullets points on taxes or tweets on climate, and sit back and snigger while the millions howl in pain and fear!
The rest of us cannot understand this, thank goodness. But we must accept that is what we are up against here
16
I find it very difficult to believe that as the Russia probe, spearheaded by Robert Mueller, progresses there would not be an absolute necessity to evaluate the president's tax returns. While most of us will not understand at what point the law would mandate those returns be made available to the investigation, I suspect it will happen.
There are so many Russian contacts sprouting ( http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/connections-trump-putin-r... ; this is likely already out of date). I am sure the president can fend off parts of the investigation for some unknown time-frame, but permanently? Looking at past investigations with some parallel (Nixon being the most recent)--and given the importance of the money trail--it is difficult to see how those tax records will not become part of the investigation, even if not simultaneously available as part of the public record.
One wonders what is already waiting in the wings as a case is developed.
There are so many Russian contacts sprouting ( http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/connections-trump-putin-r... ; this is likely already out of date). I am sure the president can fend off parts of the investigation for some unknown time-frame, but permanently? Looking at past investigations with some parallel (Nixon being the most recent)--and given the importance of the money trail--it is difficult to see how those tax records will not become part of the investigation, even if not simultaneously available as part of the public record.
One wonders what is already waiting in the wings as a case is developed.
8
NYT---I must protest. Tonight there are 4 photos of Trump’s snarling, belligerent, arrogant face on the Times op ed page. Including a big one on the top of the page that accompanies Susan Rice’s op ed To Be Great America Must Be Good. Why the photo? It’s overkill. It’s offensive.
I’m sick and tired of having his repellent photo repeatedly shoved at me when I am trying to read Times columns and articles. And paying a monthly fee to do it. These constant pics are totally unnecessary. Stop abusing your readers. The lack of photos won’t reduce your customers and revenue. We’re here to read. We don't need illustratrations that serve no purpose in adding to the op ed piece or article.
I’m sick and tired of having his repellent photo repeatedly shoved at me when I am trying to read Times columns and articles. And paying a monthly fee to do it. These constant pics are totally unnecessary. Stop abusing your readers. The lack of photos won’t reduce your customers and revenue. We’re here to read. We don't need illustratrations that serve no purpose in adding to the op ed piece or article.
16
Unfortunately, Trump is correct when he says that his "tax bill is moving along in Congress". What he means is that a group of conservative Republicans are working in secret; no hearings, no Democrats, no CBO, to craft an enormous tax cut for the wealthy. They hope that they can ram it through Congress before there is any analysis of what it means.
13
I still claim that Trump called up his tax attorneys and said "Give me a one-pager about how federal law could eliminate my tax liability."
Kellyanne dutifully crossed out the first line and wrote "Trump 2017 Tax Plan."
Voila! America's new tax plan!!!!!
Kellyanne dutifully crossed out the first line and wrote "Trump 2017 Tax Plan."
Voila! America's new tax plan!!!!!
15
Slick, Gail, in quoting from Death of a Salesman since yesterday's meeting in the rose garden Trump announced Death of the planet, master-minded by Steve Bannon who should be banned from said planet. "Dysfunctional carcass" is a good way to describe each of them.
9
I don't believe Russia used "kompromat" against Trump or Kushner or ever planned to use them as, well, agents to achieve it's ends. But I do believe there was a plan — an outside bet, really — to do all it deniably could to favour a Trump victory. A bet surely, for there was little hope that Trump would win.
But if he did, the Russians knew (they, too, have very smart analysts) that the result would be a very seriously divided America, that a Trump administration would rend the country and create social tear in the American fabric such as it has not seen since the Vietnam war. The objective is of course to weaken the USA internally and to shatter its preeminence on the international scene.
Russia won its bet. The country is torn apart and the Trump administration is itself destroying the USA's credibility and ascendancy all over the planet. I see today in the NYT that small business is supporting the American withdrawal from the Paris Accord, the opposite position of much (very) big business. One more instance of divisive pressure created by the Trump administration.
Who needs "kompromat" when some fool will do all the work for you without even realizing that he is being used. If Americans voters did not see Trump for who he really is, the Russians sure did.
But if he did, the Russians knew (they, too, have very smart analysts) that the result would be a very seriously divided America, that a Trump administration would rend the country and create social tear in the American fabric such as it has not seen since the Vietnam war. The objective is of course to weaken the USA internally and to shatter its preeminence on the international scene.
Russia won its bet. The country is torn apart and the Trump administration is itself destroying the USA's credibility and ascendancy all over the planet. I see today in the NYT that small business is supporting the American withdrawal from the Paris Accord, the opposite position of much (very) big business. One more instance of divisive pressure created by the Trump administration.
Who needs "kompromat" when some fool will do all the work for you without even realizing that he is being used. If Americans voters did not see Trump for who he really is, the Russians sure did.
599
Agreed. But they also worked it so that if Clinton had won, the country would be just able as divided and not much more would have been done, since they were feeding information ripe to destabilize a Clinton presidency. For them, the 2016 election wasn't about win/lose, but about win/win bigly.
1
"... that a Trump administration would rend the country and create social tear in the American fabric such as it has not seen since the Vietnam war."
Trump didn't make that tear. The oligarchs, aided and abetted by a Republican Congress, stoked that incipient tear eight long years during the Obama administration. Trump just picked and picked at it until it became the hot, swollen mess it is today.
Trump didn't make that tear. The oligarchs, aided and abetted by a Republican Congress, stoked that incipient tear eight long years during the Obama administration. Trump just picked and picked at it until it became the hot, swollen mess it is today.
2
Steve Bannon actually admitted that Trump is "a blunt instrument for us" in a Vanity Fair interview during the campaign. I don't know if he even realized that the Russians were thinking the same thing at that time.
2
"Trump, in a desperate lunge to accomplish something, will try to ram through a quick-and-dirty tax cut that will aid the rich and increase the deficit."
Hey, that's the Ryan-McConnell tax plan! Don't let Donald steal their thunder!
Hey, that's the Ryan-McConnell tax plan! Don't let Donald steal their thunder!
7
Believes the globe is warming? At this juncture I'm not sure that our Mar-a-Lago mentor believes there is a globe. Someone once asked him about global warming and he said it was all just circular reasoning!
Only joking. I'm trying out for one of those openings at Fox News. Speaking of which, I have a theory. I'm strongly considering, that since Fox has been diminished by the death of, Ailes, and the dismissal of it's highest and mightiest stars, that the Republican party has entered into an undetermined, chaotic state. Trump aside, they don't know what they are doing. Include him and the Earth is flat!
Only joking. I'm trying out for one of those openings at Fox News. Speaking of which, I have a theory. I'm strongly considering, that since Fox has been diminished by the death of, Ailes, and the dismissal of it's highest and mightiest stars, that the Republican party has entered into an undetermined, chaotic state. Trump aside, they don't know what they are doing. Include him and the Earth is flat!
12
Glass half empty, Gail? If Supreme Leader stands at a podium, looks out beyond the teleprompter, and says something weirdly implausible, that's how we know it's "so true, believe me". Duhh.
Just schnaz-up your lingo and shout it out like a North Korean tv anchor and get on with the Trumpification of the USA, try:
"Great fortune, lucky citizens for our most talented leader will shortly bless us with his generous cut upon our taxes. On the occasion of showing world, the true power and strength of our undefeatable passion for industry, and to forever shut the mouths of our enemies who would surely laugh and laugh at us as the hyenas that they are, our great and fearless and mighty leader has pronounced them too fearful to waggle their evil tongues. Let all know, our heroic workers of Pittsburgh will forever thank Supreme Leader for many hours in coal mines, steel mills, and slag pits. Supreme Leader 2020."
Just schnaz-up your lingo and shout it out like a North Korean tv anchor and get on with the Trumpification of the USA, try:
"Great fortune, lucky citizens for our most talented leader will shortly bless us with his generous cut upon our taxes. On the occasion of showing world, the true power and strength of our undefeatable passion for industry, and to forever shut the mouths of our enemies who would surely laugh and laugh at us as the hyenas that they are, our great and fearless and mighty leader has pronounced them too fearful to waggle their evil tongues. Let all know, our heroic workers of Pittsburgh will forever thank Supreme Leader for many hours in coal mines, steel mills, and slag pits. Supreme Leader 2020."
13
Please, I want him to secede, already. Take all his Trumpbillies and form the NEW Confederacy. Probably 70% of the population of THIS state would join him. And why not??? The GOP has turned Kansas into a third world cesspool on the prairie. But, the Trumpbillies don't care, as long as there's gays, uppity woman and brown people to hate. Throw in Benghazi! E-Mails! Clintons! Abortion! Immigrants! Etc.Etc.Etc., it's a winning formula, in perpetuity, for them. They truly thrive on rage, and it's very easy to target their rage. Give them someone to feel superior to, that's all they want. AND, they won't notice their living standard is sliding down, more every year. After all, that's the fault of the " libruls " and Obama. Seriously.
19
They attribute all their own misfortunes to the wrath of God at the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.
2
Trump looks more disheveled every day. Puffy face, waddles rather than walks, suits don't fit. He looks confused and sounds confused: "we have s tax bill that is doing very well in Congress." Really?
The job is eating him alive.
The job is eating him alive.
18
Not fast enough!
2
There's a lot to eat and it isn't going fast enough.
2
The presidency is dessert. His failed casinos and bankruptcies were the entree.
3
I'm thinking before we get to the climate change issue, there is the flat earth question.
18
And I really believed that by now he would've resigned in order to spend more time with his family.
7
Mulvaney States in another times article that he is frugal. Mr Mulvaney eats a peanut butter sandwich for lunch so he should know. This current proposed sorta budget was probably written by Scrouge on a used bar napkin with Mulvaney's help.
Like everything else in this administration the proposed budget lacks character and substance. Move along...there's nothing to see.
Like everything else in this administration the proposed budget lacks character and substance. Move along...there's nothing to see.
5
I'm trying to figure out how we got this irresponsible. FDR managed to stabilize the country after the depression and pay for WWII without adding to the deficit. How, by raising taxes and putting people to work and using social programs to create stability and opportunity and of course selling war bonds.
We've been at war for 16 years. Cutting taxes during wartime is fiscally irresponsible. Trump and Congress represent everything that is wrong with our country. Democrats are just as guilty as Republicans for the mess we are in. At some point someone needs to grow up and fix our current mess.
We've been at war for 16 years. Cutting taxes during wartime is fiscally irresponsible. Trump and Congress represent everything that is wrong with our country. Democrats are just as guilty as Republicans for the mess we are in. At some point someone needs to grow up and fix our current mess.
278
The United States government is really an insurance company with an army, navy and air force. When you look at federal spending between Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, government pensions, military expenditures and military pensions there is very little left. With a generally, but not universally, healthier population living longer a larger percentage of the overall pie is going to be required for government provided Retirement income. We need to up the ante on the contributions of citizens towards these costs, which is the political third rail for politicians. Good luck with change until it becomes a crisis.
I'm a Democrat and I laud the fact that FDR managed to get the country out of the Depression, established many programs to help the desperate, and was an effective war President ... but the idea that he did this with a balanced budget is NUTS! In his early years he submitted budget requests that were balanced EXCEPT for relief:
https://fdrlibrary.org/budget
"He considered such programs to be emergency in nature, and therefore separate from usual governmental outlays. Such spending brought protests from fiscal conservatives, which FDR answered in 1936 at a campaign speech in Pittsburgh:
"To balance our budget in 1933 or 1934 or 1935 would have been a crime against the American people. To do so we should either have had to make a capital levy that would have been confiscatory, or we should have had to set our face against human suffering with callous indifference. When Americans suffered, we refused to pass by on the other side. Humanity came first.""
After the war started the US ran very large war deficits ... get real.
We are dealing with people for whom reality is whatever they want to pretend it is. You must not add to this with comparable fictions.
https://fdrlibrary.org/budget
"He considered such programs to be emergency in nature, and therefore separate from usual governmental outlays. Such spending brought protests from fiscal conservatives, which FDR answered in 1936 at a campaign speech in Pittsburgh:
"To balance our budget in 1933 or 1934 or 1935 would have been a crime against the American people. To do so we should either have had to make a capital levy that would have been confiscatory, or we should have had to set our face against human suffering with callous indifference. When Americans suffered, we refused to pass by on the other side. Humanity came first.""
After the war started the US ran very large war deficits ... get real.
We are dealing with people for whom reality is whatever they want to pretend it is. You must not add to this with comparable fictions.
3
We've been at war all this time to punish 19 people who died in one spectacular act of terrorism.
2
Gail, you sound tired.
We understand, it's hard to watch this guy let alone commentate.
We understand, it's hard to watch this guy let alone commentate.
4
I would suggest that anyone in the Trump administration who does not have a family, get one real quick, so they can 'spend more time with them' when the noose begins to tighten.
21
Fools leading fools. Don't think the repulsives know how to add. 1+1 never seems to add up for them. Unless they subtract 1. Has t-rump actually accomplished anything but alienate the country and the world and taken climate change into the slimey pit where the whole white house lives. Pitiful.
5
Trump thinks that he's a CEO who can say "Get it done" and his wish is everyone's command. But the best and most effective Presidents have always realized that you have to lead people to doing what you want to do. As a beloved professor put it well over 40 years ago, FDR was far more effective at getting things done than Hitler or Stalin precisely BECAUSE he had to work within the checks and balances. (My favorite professor--we fought like cats and dogs but it was never personal, and he taught me to think critically). Trump never got that, and never will get that because he's so mentally defective he cannot accept that.
He is simply the worst President the nation has ever had. Far, far worse than Dubya, John Tyler, James Buchanan, Nixon, Andrew Johnson, or Warren G. Harding. Buchanan took 4 years to break the nation. Trump's doing it in 4 months.
He is simply the worst President the nation has ever had. Far, far worse than Dubya, John Tyler, James Buchanan, Nixon, Andrew Johnson, or Warren G. Harding. Buchanan took 4 years to break the nation. Trump's doing it in 4 months.
12
Trump's mob is a collection of juveniles who believe someone they call "God" decreed the whole universe into existence.
2
"Also, everybody is going to be sort of distracted, what with the fired F.B.I. director testifying before Congress ... So productivity will be less than high."
Outstanding.
"Total Lack of Congressional Productivity" is one of my favorite NYT dream headlines for 2017 behind only "Mueller Subpoenas ... Everything" and "Trump Takes Last Ride on Marine One"
Least favorite headline is not based on a dream: "1327 Days Left in Trump Administration"
Outstanding.
"Total Lack of Congressional Productivity" is one of my favorite NYT dream headlines for 2017 behind only "Mueller Subpoenas ... Everything" and "Trump Takes Last Ride on Marine One"
Least favorite headline is not based on a dream: "1327 Days Left in Trump Administration"
3
I personally love this stuff, but it’s gone way beyond preaching to the choir. We’re sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows with the choir, while the Church is burning down.
But that’s OK. Here’s my plan. The evil ones are going to do evil things, and that their fans will applaud every time they get their pockets picked. So I’m going for solidarity. I’m going to go have a beer with a Trumpette. And I’m going to keep trying to turn one of them, come Hillary or high water. The time for separation is past. Sure there are heinous, murderous, racists among them, who have to be avoided like rattlesnakes. But the mass of them live lives of quiet desperation. They really do. What would Thoreau do? If we’re going to turn this country around by the mid term elections, we’ll have to do it together. And if I have to, I’ll learn the chord changes to Kumbaya, stare at the ceiling, and think of my country. And my family tree, too.
But that’s OK. Here’s my plan. The evil ones are going to do evil things, and that their fans will applaud every time they get their pockets picked. So I’m going for solidarity. I’m going to go have a beer with a Trumpette. And I’m going to keep trying to turn one of them, come Hillary or high water. The time for separation is past. Sure there are heinous, murderous, racists among them, who have to be avoided like rattlesnakes. But the mass of them live lives of quiet desperation. They really do. What would Thoreau do? If we’re going to turn this country around by the mid term elections, we’ll have to do it together. And if I have to, I’ll learn the chord changes to Kumbaya, stare at the ceiling, and think of my country. And my family tree, too.
6
I have a name for your new program: " Adopt a low information Rube."
1
Let's face it, y'all. Trump is the most ignorant, dumbest president we've
Ever had. Except when he wants to make money on our dime. Then he resorts to the tricks he has used all his life. There is no talking to him, as he doesn't use our logical reasoning. His base is still waiting for his magic to happen, and they urge us to give him time. Time for what, they don't know, nor does he, but they can't afford to think of why they ever voted for him because it would diminish them. Our mistake is in trying to treat him as a rational human being, and so to expect rational thinking, at least some times. We must give up that hope and just work for ourselves despite him.
Sideline him, nod politely, ask him how his golf is going, and do our American thing locally and within the States.
Ever had. Except when he wants to make money on our dime. Then he resorts to the tricks he has used all his life. There is no talking to him, as he doesn't use our logical reasoning. His base is still waiting for his magic to happen, and they urge us to give him time. Time for what, they don't know, nor does he, but they can't afford to think of why they ever voted for him because it would diminish them. Our mistake is in trying to treat him as a rational human being, and so to expect rational thinking, at least some times. We must give up that hope and just work for ourselves despite him.
Sideline him, nod politely, ask him how his golf is going, and do our American thing locally and within the States.
11
The brightest way possible is that this crowd is totally inept. Now I get the "trauma" in the title Gail!
1
Shouldn't Trump's election move Congress to do something to prevent an imbecile like him from ever becoming president again?
Such as:
Get rid of the Electoral College.
Require candidates for President to pass a written test.
Require voters to pass a written test.
Replace the president with 3 co-presidents. (What are the odds 2 would be imbeciles?)
Limit voting to both coasts and Illinois.
Something must be done. The current system obviously isn't working anymore.
Such as:
Get rid of the Electoral College.
Require candidates for President to pass a written test.
Require voters to pass a written test.
Replace the president with 3 co-presidents. (What are the odds 2 would be imbeciles?)
Limit voting to both coasts and Illinois.
Something must be done. The current system obviously isn't working anymore.
3
What does one do about imbecile plutocrats who spend a billion dollars every year on nihilism promotion?
1
Ironically, the Founders created the Electoral College as a fail safe for the very reason you state - eliminating the election of a person chosen by the masses that is, by character, totally unfit to serve in the office of President.
Unfortunately, over the years, the Electoral College just became a rubber stamp, for mass insanity.
Unfortunately, over the years, the Electoral College just became a rubber stamp, for mass insanity.
1
Don't forget to require candidates to provide at least five years of full tax returns, personal, corporate and foundation.
Oh, for the good old days, with Seamus on the roof of the car and a general lightness of being in the country! Our current imbroglio fest would be thrown out of a Hollywood pitch meeting as too unbelievable and yet here we are.
If strings or the space-time continuum allows for multiverses, how can I get a ticket for another one?
If strings or the space-time continuum allows for multiverses, how can I get a ticket for another one?
9
Unfortunately, Trumpism still isn't close enough to collapsing. His supporters are going to hang in for at least another six months.
4
A former head of the CIA asks,(rhetorically?) about “manner of ignorance, chaos, hubris….”would someone (Jared, Trump, etc.) have to have…Another former intelligence official adds the dimensions of ”naïve or crazy.” And then the article goes on to note the various “actors” who have been involved and a brief summary of this ongoing comic-drama.Written by a cast of knowns, unknowns, and perhaps even hidden folk/systems.And these daily semantic performances, by a cast of pro-con suppliers of (mis)information, seem to be endless.Little interest, if any, seems to be focused on what type of ordinary people-diverse American citizens, and “hidden non-citizens,”- whose lives are, and will continue to be, effected by all of this-enable this (ir)reality to go on? Put up with this? What are viable options for US-viewers after somehow experiencing, understanding, or not, the semantics of twitter?Or published words? Voiced words on radio,TV, etc.? As our very uncertain present, and even more uncertain future(s), are unpredictable and uncontrollable?With unstoppable,unexpected outcomes?Words, tools for communication, clarification and constructed meanings, do not seem to be helping many people these days.And even less so, as so many people, in an anchored WE-THEY culture, seem to be sufficiently comfortable in their/our daily lives.As we begin-remain willfully blind.Deaf.Ignorant. Of what is.Was.Could be. Needs to be. For equitable types and levels of well being. Every ones!
1
I'm beginning to think that the Congressional Republicans, those pious, holier-than-thou, do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do pillars of very select parts of the community, have seen the light. They are false prophets. They are bad people. They aren't destined for heaven. Therefore, there's no reason not to use their remaining time on earth to snatch up every dime, use up every resource, and beat down their fellow man in their stampede to the top. And they are following their new leader, one who has spent decades perfecting the art of trampling on ordinary human being to inflate his coffers, like a pack of licentious animals.
Meanwhile, the rest of us dutiful taxpayers will drive on our crumbling roads, send our kids to under-funded schools, watch our health-care costs skyrocket, breathe increasingly filthy air, see a fortune thrown away on gigantic, soon-to-be obsolete military toys, and wait for bad news about Social Security. But at least we don’t have to fret about the 1%.
Meanwhile, the rest of us dutiful taxpayers will drive on our crumbling roads, send our kids to under-funded schools, watch our health-care costs skyrocket, breathe increasingly filthy air, see a fortune thrown away on gigantic, soon-to-be obsolete military toys, and wait for bad news about Social Security. But at least we don’t have to fret about the 1%.
15
Why don't the Democrats crib the policy position statements from Hillary Clinton's campaign, find a writer to sass them up (they are solid but boring), and begin promoting solutions to Republicans now throwing swimming parties in quicksand?
It would be a start, a place neither party seems able to reach.
It would be a start, a place neither party seems able to reach.
5
The Democrats have more position papers than you can shake a stick at. What they don't have is a strong, articulate candidate in his or her forties to advocate those positions forcefully. They are especially disadvantaged by having so few governors to spread their messages. In an era where public support for Congress is abysmally low, relying on the Senate to produce Presidential candidates is a wrong-headed strategem.
But first, though, Democrats need to recruit a phalanx of effective Congressional candidates in time for 2018. Trump is not going to be impeached or indicted nor will he resign. The best we can do is neuter him by taking back control of the House. That won't keep him from taking the US down the road of international isolation, but it will keep him and the Republicans in Congress from destroying the lives of millions of Americans through their domestic policies.
But first, though, Democrats need to recruit a phalanx of effective Congressional candidates in time for 2018. Trump is not going to be impeached or indicted nor will he resign. The best we can do is neuter him by taking back control of the House. That won't keep him from taking the US down the road of international isolation, but it will keep him and the Republicans in Congress from destroying the lives of millions of Americans through their domestic policies.
Dark money always flows to the weakest and least attractive Democratic candidates.
Love the alliterative title but I think a more accurate header would be "Trauma Taxes Trump.
Trump is exhibit A as to why we have an estate tax (what the right calls a "death tax"). It's to keep America from turning into a psychodrama, playpen in which the spoiled, neglected and abused heirs of extreme wealth have to constantly prove to themselves that they are innately superior to the rest of us.
Trump is exhibit A as to why we have an estate tax (what the right calls a "death tax"). It's to keep America from turning into a psychodrama, playpen in which the spoiled, neglected and abused heirs of extreme wealth have to constantly prove to themselves that they are innately superior to the rest of us.
12
So are you getting that class started an hour ago and the Republicans are shuffling and vamping because they didn't do their homework and attendance and show-and-tell is nearly over and they used the dog-eating-it excuse last week and the teacher just looked at his or her watch to make sure it's time to begin learning? They'll have to create a false alarm by saying they smell smoke and they'll all have to evacuate while the fire department comes and investigates and by the time they get back into the classroom, it's lunch!
It's like a bad version of an existential play where the same thing is repeated every day, you know, like 'Waiting for Godot." We are living in an existential play and Godot are the Republicans who never show up but are talked about constantly. Let's call it "Waiting for the Republicans to Deliver."
I can't wait for 2018 to come so we can all vote, give the Democrats an energy drink so we can all finally leave "Waiting for the Republicans to Deliver" and go to see Bette Midler in 'Hello Dolly."
It's like a bad version of an existential play where the same thing is repeated every day, you know, like 'Waiting for Godot." We are living in an existential play and Godot are the Republicans who never show up but are talked about constantly. Let's call it "Waiting for the Republicans to Deliver."
I can't wait for 2018 to come so we can all vote, give the Democrats an energy drink so we can all finally leave "Waiting for the Republicans to Deliver" and go to see Bette Midler in 'Hello Dolly."
13
Trump's train of idiots pines for The Rapture.
2
Thank you for a column that doesn't include silly stuff like presidential pets. Trump and reality is quirky enough that just describing it adds the sarcastic touch you enjoy. Today's piece is spot on.
2
None of this about policy for Trump and the republicans, its about politics and and how it will be played on Fox news. The Paris accords are a non binding agreement that let each country set it's own goals, but republicans spin it for political theater as an unfair burden. Tax cuts for the middle class and job creation will be the message for giving the 1 percent a bigly tax cut. The republicans are the worst sort politicians who are being led by an incompetent reality TV star who only cares about is own businesses.
3
Keeping up with this administration's follies is exactly like binge watching a bad TV series, or, worse yet, a reality show.
You want to see the bad guys punished, and order restored to the world.
But once you've finished watching, you're ready to read a good book, watch a good movie, or go back to watching Masterpiece Theater.
You want to see the bad guys punished, and order restored to the world.
But once you've finished watching, you're ready to read a good book, watch a good movie, or go back to watching Masterpiece Theater.
4
Strange how you continue to think of Trump as someone who has the intention of being a real POTUS. He doesn't care about you! He made a lot of inane promises and is now ticking them off. ACA? Check. Climate Agreement? Check! Tax cuts for the rich? Probably check, too.
You could argue that in this he is actually more reliable than most professional politicians and no wonder his base is ecstatic and will vote for him and 'his' candidates in 2018. The GOP understands this and will ride the wave. Bear in mind, too, that a lot of dire predictions, such as the collapse of Wall Street, haven't come true (yet) and that the effects of his stupid decisions will not be felt yet, by 2018.
The Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." is coming to life before our eyes.
You could argue that in this he is actually more reliable than most professional politicians and no wonder his base is ecstatic and will vote for him and 'his' candidates in 2018. The GOP understands this and will ride the wave. Bear in mind, too, that a lot of dire predictions, such as the collapse of Wall Street, haven't come true (yet) and that the effects of his stupid decisions will not be felt yet, by 2018.
The Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." is coming to life before our eyes.
3
It is sad (SAD!) that our only hope is that those in power are too inept to govern.
5
There is exactly one thing that 50 Republican senators can agree upon - cut taxes. And that is what they will do. (Because the can't get to 60, these will expire in 10 years.)
Then, to be sure that the lights stay on, about 40 of them will join with a few Democrats and raise the debt ceiling.
Finally, both sides will pass a continuing resolution to keep the government running until the 2018 election.
And, with all probability, that will be all she wrote in 2017 on Capitol Hill.
Then, to be sure that the lights stay on, about 40 of them will join with a few Democrats and raise the debt ceiling.
Finally, both sides will pass a continuing resolution to keep the government running until the 2018 election.
And, with all probability, that will be all she wrote in 2017 on Capitol Hill.
13
As we discuss plans to cut the tax rate, it might be well to remember that the top rate has been as high as 94 percent for the top bracket in 1944, The rate remained high - over 70 percent in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
So let's not shed too many tears for today's millionaires who are paying half that rate.
So let's not shed too many tears for today's millionaires who are paying half that rate.
20
The amazing thing about those exorbitant tax rates of the past, was that the rich paid them and were still rich.
3
Gail,
I am so glad you mentioned the twin shams of "evolution" and "climate change" in the same sentence. Yes, I know you just used the word evolution as an adverb and are not talking about "Darwinian evolution" itself, but it is an opening for me to point out that it has finally been debunked. If Darwin's implausible theory were correct, how could the President of the United States be so similar to Australopithecus unchanged? Thus, evolution and climate change in the same sentence - Chinese hoaxes (like twice cooked pork) for sure.
I am so glad you mentioned the twin shams of "evolution" and "climate change" in the same sentence. Yes, I know you just used the word evolution as an adverb and are not talking about "Darwinian evolution" itself, but it is an opening for me to point out that it has finally been debunked. If Darwin's implausible theory were correct, how could the President of the United States be so similar to Australopithecus unchanged? Thus, evolution and climate change in the same sentence - Chinese hoaxes (like twice cooked pork) for sure.
8
Every tax plan should begin by taxing all income as ordinary income and subject to Medicare and social security taxes
The great transfer of wealth through tax breaks for investors has hollowed out the middle class and must be corrected.
Our developer in chief and phony populist will never do this of course. He will get his cut..his pass through and his estate tax repeal and then the oligarchy will be complete and we will be not better than Argentina
The great transfer of wealth through tax breaks for investors has hollowed out the middle class and must be corrected.
Our developer in chief and phony populist will never do this of course. He will get his cut..his pass through and his estate tax repeal and then the oligarchy will be complete and we will be not better than Argentina
25
"Crowd," Ms. Collins, is the appropriate word to describe this...well, I'm sure what or who they are. Crowd implies no real order and this administration, if nothing else, has accomplished that feat with genuine earnestness.
4
Gail Collins: refreshing, hilarious, and completely accurate.
9
I'm beginning to think that Trump is the GOP's ultimate distraction strategy … to mask their sheer legislative incompetence. Well, that and the fact no one really likes almost anything on their policy agenda anymore.
7
You know what's most funny? How brilliant this administration is at 'trump'eting it's agenda. Everything is Marketed brilliantly but made poorly.
This is the only thing I see they are good at - what the trumps are good at - a facade with nothing behind.
This is the only thing I see they are good at - what the trumps are good at - a facade with nothing behind.
14
This is an excellent summary of the national situation created by Trump. It's hard to accept that we as a country have sunk to these depths. The summary gets even worse when one considers Trump's useless and expensive border wall which smacks of lunacy.
8
1986-to-today produced an environment that has compelled weak whites to seek revenge.
1986 ushered in the age of ambivalence, equivocation, and perversion of the word 'diversity.' Educated Americans stopped calling what they saw was fraudulent. Post 1986, every argument in America, and every way of thinking, was deemed equally meritorious. Flat earth society was given equal time with National Geographic.
Risk taking died in 1986. Americans took only sure bets (and defrauded people), real risk taking was left mostly to immigrants. 1986 was about leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions. Very little new wealth created, but a lot of churn. Bonfires . . .
1986 started the sociocultural rot. Since 1986, America's way of dealing with diversity is not by ensuring everyone in the room is equally worthy, intelligent, and qualified - regardless of race and gender. It is about ensuring that the room includes people of multiple races, genders and orientations despite their worth, intelligence, and qualifications. Every institution now has perverted diversity, with weak links that require superhuman effort from a handful of people to ensure minor gains. In this system, the weak whites are left holding the bag. And they got their revenge with Trump.
Revenge, plain and simple. That is what it has come down to; perversion of the center and left producing a banana republic and an Emir.
Kalidan
1986 ushered in the age of ambivalence, equivocation, and perversion of the word 'diversity.' Educated Americans stopped calling what they saw was fraudulent. Post 1986, every argument in America, and every way of thinking, was deemed equally meritorious. Flat earth society was given equal time with National Geographic.
Risk taking died in 1986. Americans took only sure bets (and defrauded people), real risk taking was left mostly to immigrants. 1986 was about leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions. Very little new wealth created, but a lot of churn. Bonfires . . .
1986 started the sociocultural rot. Since 1986, America's way of dealing with diversity is not by ensuring everyone in the room is equally worthy, intelligent, and qualified - regardless of race and gender. It is about ensuring that the room includes people of multiple races, genders and orientations despite their worth, intelligence, and qualifications. Every institution now has perverted diversity, with weak links that require superhuman effort from a handful of people to ensure minor gains. In this system, the weak whites are left holding the bag. And they got their revenge with Trump.
Revenge, plain and simple. That is what it has come down to; perversion of the center and left producing a banana republic and an Emir.
Kalidan
1
Another day, another alternative fact from the administration.
24
Small business wants that 15% tax rate, no climate based regulations and
Trump gives lip service to jobs. That's all it takes to keep Lyin' Trump in good graces with his base. That and making hate speech and action just fine.
Trump gives lip service to jobs. That's all it takes to keep Lyin' Trump in good graces with his base. That and making hate speech and action just fine.
27
Then they are as short sighted and unAmerican as the man they voted for. Shame on them!
2
Perhaps Trump lives in dread of being a president that isn't the top story of every news cycle. I vaguely recall that back in my pre-Trump youth, days might go by where a president's decisions or behavior were not "trending", as today's young people say.
Trump must keep stoking the fires of conspiracies, enemies and alternative facts to ensure that the spotlight keeps its focus on him. For a Trump out of the media's glare ceases to be a Trump at all. As with any addict, this requires increasing doses of irrational decision-making.
Trump must keep stoking the fires of conspiracies, enemies and alternative facts to ensure that the spotlight keeps its focus on him. For a Trump out of the media's glare ceases to be a Trump at all. As with any addict, this requires increasing doses of irrational decision-making.
87
I don't know that there is much point in listening to Trump anymore. Most of what he says is inaccurate and/or designed to distract from his or the GOP's actions. While we wait for the FBI and NSA to gather and interpret data on Trump and his people, we need to keep an eye on what Trump and the GOP are actually doing, and the Democrats need to step up and start describing better ways to govern a country. Otherwise, all we can count on (I hope) is that the federal bureaucracy will continue doing its thing despite Trump, and government will not collapse completely. The whole point of a bureaucracy is to have a system that is not too vulnerable to the deranged influence of any one person.
117
It's understandable that people don't want to listen to Trump anymore. My wife feels the same, and has the same distaste for the words all the Republican leadership.
I disagree. Trump is the most powerful human being in this country, and on this planet. He wants to use his power, including in ways his predecessors refrained from. He is also skillful at shaping popular opinion. So it's worth listening to him to be aware of what he is up to. And I hope that his lies and betrayals can be used against him, to reduce his power.
I disagree. Trump is the most powerful human being in this country, and on this planet. He wants to use his power, including in ways his predecessors refrained from. He is also skillful at shaping popular opinion. So it's worth listening to him to be aware of what he is up to. And I hope that his lies and betrayals can be used against him, to reduce his power.
5
When will this national nightmare be over?
83
Not soon enough, John; not soon enough.
17
Gail,
I think you are the only one who understands what is happening, or not happening in Washington. I really look forward to your column. Keep up the good work.
RAJA Rochester
I think you are the only one who understands what is happening, or not happening in Washington. I really look forward to your column. Keep up the good work.
RAJA Rochester
42
The other good news is that at least Trump is not the leader of the free world anymore.
He fired himself from that position yesterday.
He fired himself from that position yesterday.
Why, other than the amusement factor, do we listen to anything Trump says?
1. The probability is high that he'll say the opposite very shortly.
2. Fact-checking will indicate that it's a long haul from the truth. (As in "The tax bill is moving along...")
3. It won't make sense. (Oh, how much time we wasted trying to make sense of those letters that his fingers randomly hit as he fell asleep on the keyboard.)
4. We have long been trained by advertising to know that it not really true, but presented so as to grab our attention.
Other possible reasons cheerfully accepted.
1. The probability is high that he'll say the opposite very shortly.
2. Fact-checking will indicate that it's a long haul from the truth. (As in "The tax bill is moving along...")
3. It won't make sense. (Oh, how much time we wasted trying to make sense of those letters that his fingers randomly hit as he fell asleep on the keyboard.)
4. We have long been trained by advertising to know that it not really true, but presented so as to grab our attention.
Other possible reasons cheerfully accepted.
23
The only thing that Trump wants is tax relief for the wealthy. Health care reform is a tax break for the wealthy. Withdrawing from the Paris agreement is a tax break for the wealthy. Plans for a tax reform are a giveaway for the wealthy. There is nothing this President does that will not enrich him and the 1%.
So, middle class Trump supporters. How do you like your boy now?
So, middle class Trump supporters. How do you like your boy now?
Gail, I can't help thinking that you just aren't that funny anymore. But I don't blame you because, since the presidency has collapsed and become something beyond absurd, everything is either sad or scary, and not funny. How I miss the days when we could all laugh about Mitt Romney's dog riding on the roof of the car, instead of worrying about this president destroying our country and the planet.
56
And for a woman who has one of the three best senses of humor on earth to not be funny anymore, imagine how ghastly, how beastly, how hopeless things have become.
3
Look on the bright side (admittedly, I said this about W. too) but I am pretty well convinced that we can't do any worse thant Trump. If we survive this then the sky is the limit.
Nice to see all of the Republican profiles in courage - Men and Women of the GOP standing up without fear, without consideration of their political careers, willing to tell the Apprentice in Chief that he is fool who has more business in a padded room than in the Oval Office. At our hour of need, these great patriots, modern day incarnations of the Founding Fathers, stand on the ramparts of democracy courageously defending American ideals like freedom of religion, equality, liberty, sacrifice for the common good! Godspeed, you good men and women - into the breach!
Ronald Reagen looks down and a tiny tear drop falls from his eye then dabs it with the corner of the American Flag. It is an utter disgrace.
Nice to see all of the Republican profiles in courage - Men and Women of the GOP standing up without fear, without consideration of their political careers, willing to tell the Apprentice in Chief that he is fool who has more business in a padded room than in the Oval Office. At our hour of need, these great patriots, modern day incarnations of the Founding Fathers, stand on the ramparts of democracy courageously defending American ideals like freedom of religion, equality, liberty, sacrifice for the common good! Godspeed, you good men and women - into the breach!
Ronald Reagen looks down and a tiny tear drop falls from his eye then dabs it with the corner of the American Flag. It is an utter disgrace.
31
Republicans in Congress - PROFILES IN MENDACITY. That has a nice ring to it.
2
If we survive this -- indeed. This is looking more and more like a complete transplant of oligarchic dictatorship into America. Every decision he makes fits that model. And I think he really believes he is Pasha-in-Chief and should be treated as such. The scariest part for me is the behaviour of the congressional Republicans. They are abetting this transplant which, if successful, will destroy the US government and destroy the USA we all thought we knew.
3
"In the middle of his speech trashing the climate accord, President Trump suddenly blurted out that his “tax bill is moving along in Congress.” This was something of a surprise since, A) there is no tax bill and, B) nothing is moving along in Congress."
Two choices here:
1) Just another Trump lie.
2) He really thinks he has a tax bill moving along in Congress.
So which is better? Being psychopathic or delusional?
Two choices here:
1) Just another Trump lie.
2) He really thinks he has a tax bill moving along in Congress.
So which is better? Being psychopathic or delusional?
88
Let's not forget that this is the president who cooed about, "Clean, clean coal," clearly unaware that no such thing exists.
35
Or
3) He has severe ADD or ADHD and has to say whatever pops into his mind because he is afraid he will forget it if he doesn't say it right away. It doesn't have to be true, he just has to say it. And many people, not all, who have ADD or ADHD, don't think about the consequences of their actions or what happens when they say something that's not true.
This gets him into trouble when he tweets or speaks in public. There are many reasons he is not mentally fit to be the president. This is just one of the reasons.
3) He has severe ADD or ADHD and has to say whatever pops into his mind because he is afraid he will forget it if he doesn't say it right away. It doesn't have to be true, he just has to say it. And many people, not all, who have ADD or ADHD, don't think about the consequences of their actions or what happens when they say something that's not true.
This gets him into trouble when he tweets or speaks in public. There are many reasons he is not mentally fit to be the president. This is just one of the reasons.
21
Has anyone considered that a bill is being created behind closed doors? And Trump just spilled the beans, Again.
6
The bad news is - we're only 4 months into this mess. One of these days, Trump and crew are really going to figure out how to run things. If you think things are bad now, just wait.
50
An apt alliterative title: Trauma, Taxes, and Trump. Add another T to the mix: Toxic. Everything Trump touches glows with toxicity: Bashing NATO, going rogue on climate change, firing the man investigating him, dismantling our health care system, cozying up to Putin, promoting a tax plan that would punish most of us while making the rich richer, etc. etc. Twitter away, Mr. President.
78
Don't forget "Tuchas" as in "a pain the T.Rump".
2
Why does everyone spend so much time, energy, money, and worry over items that will never be resolved - what a waste. Why not put our efforts into something productive like replacement of the US President and Vice President ... in a legal way. DJM
26
Um, have you looked to see who's next in line after Pence???
2
Trump lies without concern for the truth. Past Presidents get to the same place with excess optimism. Both Bush and Obama promised us immigration reform. Bush couldn't get it past Congress. Obama passed an unconstitutional executive order. Trump is a heavy-handed oaf. But if I had a nickel for every false hope created by all the Presidents, I'd be a wealthy man.
5
With this administration it'd be like winning a loaded Mega-Millions jackpot.
Wasn't there a time when Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility? Or am I slipping into that fallacy called thinking there actually once was a reality?
45
Once many Republicans cared about fiscal responsibility. Since 1980, however, most Republicans (especially the leadership, but also the majority of the rank and file) have discarded the concept. Many Republicans since then, even such as Ryan and McConnell, mouthed slogans about fiscal responsibility, but there was no real fiscal responsibility actually promoted.
4
Trump is more interested in undoing anything that Obama did, good or bad. So the healthcare repeal, withdrawal from TPT and now climate accord are all part of that effort.
Tax bill has nothing much to do with Obama and so there is no hurry to push that along, other than in the usual Trumpian fashion, stating something that is a lie, such as "tax bill is moving along in Congress."
Obamacare is not repealed either, but the Republicans in the House passed a bill and that gave Trump a photo op. Travel ban is another thing that has gone nowhere.
All this "winning" must be just too much for Trump voters. I'll bet they are telling him not to "win" so much.
Tax bill has nothing much to do with Obama and so there is no hurry to push that along, other than in the usual Trumpian fashion, stating something that is a lie, such as "tax bill is moving along in Congress."
Obamacare is not repealed either, but the Republicans in the House passed a bill and that gave Trump a photo op. Travel ban is another thing that has gone nowhere.
All this "winning" must be just too much for Trump voters. I'll bet they are telling him not to "win" so much.
28
The good people of Pittsburgh voted for Hillary by 80%. The Paris Agreement wasn't about Paris - that's just where the Agreement was negotiated. He's right though - he definitely doesn't represent Paris.
When Don speaks of the "American Taxpayer" he's looking at you - not in the mirror. Try to imagine marching off to war at the command of this tax and draft dodger in chief. Where do I sign !?!
When Don speaks of the "American Taxpayer" he's looking at you - not in the mirror. Try to imagine marching off to war at the command of this tax and draft dodger in chief. Where do I sign !?!
26
If there is any trashing being done, it is against President Trump. If he isn't being trashed, it is his daughter Ivanka Trump or her husband Jared Kushner being attacked. The liberal progressives are furious that he upset their Paris Climate Accord and criticized those nations who are not contributing their fair share to NATO. Good for him for having the moxie to speak the truth and not being afraid of the leftist critics. This is why he got elected and still has supporters who applaud his grit and determination.
You need not worry, President Trump will get his tax bill and healthcare plan passed. It will be accomplished much to the chagrin of his critics.
You need not worry, President Trump will get his tax bill and healthcare plan passed. It will be accomplished much to the chagrin of his critics.
1
Unless you're a millionaire, the chagrin will be yours, too. What is quite uncanny about Trump supporters is their blind faith, in spite of all the evidence showing Trump won't make this country better for them. This would be worthy of pity if their irresponsible and die hard support wasn't going to take us all down. Considering the terrible political and financial disasters looming in the horizon for middle class Americans, this pathological unconditional support is infuriating. Call it naïveté or stupidity, I don't understand how some people are so susceptible to brain washing. It makes me think of an elderly neighbor who developed dementia and gave all her expensive jewellery to a con artist, to her family's dismay. That must be it; middle class or underprivileged Trump supporters are probably cognitively impaired, possibly from spending too much of their time in front of a TV set.
7
No it isn't that simple....
Trump's entire speech about Paris was half truths or lies
He is purely representing coal workers, and I DOUBT that you are one
His tax plan isn't going anywhere because a tax cut for the rich won't fly
He has no interest or ability to research policy
He hasn't appointed half of his government because no one will take the job
His health care plan is opposed to what 80% of people in this country want
It is fairly cleat that he is hiding something on Russia
Good luck with all that
Trump's entire speech about Paris was half truths or lies
He is purely representing coal workers, and I DOUBT that you are one
His tax plan isn't going anywhere because a tax cut for the rich won't fly
He has no interest or ability to research policy
He hasn't appointed half of his government because no one will take the job
His health care plan is opposed to what 80% of people in this country want
It is fairly cleat that he is hiding something on Russia
Good luck with all that
7
What tax bill? What healthcare plan? Mr. Trump doesn't have any proposal for either of these. It is vaporware.
And the Republicans in Congress are so used to saying "No" that they forgot how to govern. They wouldn't be able to find enough agreement among themselves to pass a resolution stating that the sky is blue.
And the Republicans in Congress are so used to saying "No" that they forgot how to govern. They wouldn't be able to find enough agreement among themselves to pass a resolution stating that the sky is blue.
7
Trump is clearly generating interest overseas. Angela Merkel will win her next election by running against him. Benjamin Neanyahu will win his by running with him.
Clearly not everyone overseas agrees with him - and neither do some of us - but he has put the US front and center on the world stage. And that's a world that has a lot more in common with the US (e.g. defeating terrorism) than those bemoaning Trump's decision on climate control may want to concede.
Clearly not everyone overseas agrees with him - and neither do some of us - but he has put the US front and center on the world stage. And that's a world that has a lot more in common with the US (e.g. defeating terrorism) than those bemoaning Trump's decision on climate control may want to concede.
2
And the world is shaking its head. I still can't fathom how getting rid of a third of the State Department is going to help "defeat" terrorism, but sure, whatever. And yes, of course, we have all kinds of issues in common with the rest of the world, but "new world order!" "we are a sovereign nation"; "our air is not the global community's business"--actual comments on our Congressman's Facebook page. While even China sees smog and invests in renewable energy, we are headed up (I can't exactly say led) by an old man who lives in the past and wants to keep us hostage there with him. And it's not his age necessarily I'm talking about. It's like that guy in the bar who says he's smarter than all the politicians together and we elected him to blink in the lights and find things are more "complicated" than he imagined.
2
You know, I knew this was going to be bad, but I didn't think it was going to be this bad. And yes, I was around for the Nixon Follies too.
And that's why I voted for Hillary. And so did my 20-something children. We knew she had baggage. But she also had, well, a brain.
I can't even laugh along with your columns anymore. But the wine helps.
And that's why I voted for Hillary. And so did my 20-something children. We knew she had baggage. But she also had, well, a brain.
I can't even laugh along with your columns anymore. But the wine helps.
72
Republicans were universally glass half empty when Obama was president. Now, with Trump, they're all, "What's a glass?"
40
Gail, it has been recently reported by news sources that the search for a new F.B.I. Director has been "chaotic", proceeding "without any structure", and that during your favorite President's abbreviated candidate interviews, he is "distracted " and "talks about himself ". This would be fine, of course, if new leadership was needed for the Federal Bridge Inventory at D.O.T. But, that position in not in play here.
"Send in the Clowns", oh no, they're "already here"!!
"Send in the Clowns", oh no, they're "already here"!!
26
When Trump was merely a real estate guy with a pathologically inflated view of himself, he said that if a person (himself) lied often enough, people would believe the lies. His strategy might've worked before the advent of the Internet and when he was a private person. But in 2017, his words, speeches and TV appearances are indelible -- we have proof of his lies, distortions and contradictions, no matter how many times he swears by them.
28
It's going to be very interesting to watch the campaigning at the midterms. Very likely the GOP will have to run on a record of performance unmatched in its failures - healthcare, taxes, walls, etc. The only "accomplishments" seem to center on destruction - of regulations, environment, international relations. Given history, of one thing we can be sure - the GOP will spin it all as the fault of the Democrats. And, just as surely, half the voters will buy it.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hear a case next week on Ohio's dropping of a couple million voters from its rolls, primarily in the metro areas, and primarily those who typically vote Democrat. That will be a bellwether on how the midterms will go. If voter suppression efforts are upheld, all bets are off. If you can't win by governing in a way that voters will approve, disapprove the voters. Works like a charm. Ah, democracy. What a quaint concept.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hear a case next week on Ohio's dropping of a couple million voters from its rolls, primarily in the metro areas, and primarily those who typically vote Democrat. That will be a bellwether on how the midterms will go. If voter suppression efforts are upheld, all bets are off. If you can't win by governing in a way that voters will approve, disapprove the voters. Works like a charm. Ah, democracy. What a quaint concept.
40
"The last one, Goldman Sachs executive Jim Donovan, withdrew his name from consideration, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family."
At least 45 doesn't have to give that excuse, because he IS spending time with his family every single day, as they wander into his office to chew the fat. Nothing like a little nepotism (unpaid, mind you) to keep your hands clean and your brain clear.
I'm wondering if anything embarrasses this administration. On this groaning board of a table, I want to see a duel between Mulvaney and Gary Cohn about which proposal is going to bankrupt this nation faster: tax reform, or ACA repeal. You see, once we were told these two deals went hand in glove--two for the price of one-- so they could ram the whole mass down the public's throats under "reconciliation".
Such a nice word for an administration, served by a compliant and complicit Congress, that hasn't the slightest urge to reconcile on anything.
There isn't a calculator big enough, even the smooth-talking IBM Watson, that can make these numbers add up.
At least 45 doesn't have to give that excuse, because he IS spending time with his family every single day, as they wander into his office to chew the fat. Nothing like a little nepotism (unpaid, mind you) to keep your hands clean and your brain clear.
I'm wondering if anything embarrasses this administration. On this groaning board of a table, I want to see a duel between Mulvaney and Gary Cohn about which proposal is going to bankrupt this nation faster: tax reform, or ACA repeal. You see, once we were told these two deals went hand in glove--two for the price of one-- so they could ram the whole mass down the public's throats under "reconciliation".
Such a nice word for an administration, served by a compliant and complicit Congress, that hasn't the slightest urge to reconcile on anything.
There isn't a calculator big enough, even the smooth-talking IBM Watson, that can make these numbers add up.
41
You can't expect much work from the Senate or the Congress. They are out of Washington more than they are there. Maybe we could "dock" their pay.
One page budgets are the best we can hope for. As for as the ACA, they could lessen their work load if they just decided to go to a one payer system.
It is not the government workers who are inefficient. It is our coddled Congress and Senate. If they were working at a normal job, they would have been fired long ago. But they set their own agendas and vote for their own pay raises, benefits and budgets for their office operations.
And they don't believe in the minimum wage. Why would anyone think that any changes that affect most of the voters are going anywhere. It is only their donors who are going to get what they want, but don't need.
One page budgets are the best we can hope for. As for as the ACA, they could lessen their work load if they just decided to go to a one payer system.
It is not the government workers who are inefficient. It is our coddled Congress and Senate. If they were working at a normal job, they would have been fired long ago. But they set their own agendas and vote for their own pay raises, benefits and budgets for their office operations.
And they don't believe in the minimum wage. Why would anyone think that any changes that affect most of the voters are going anywhere. It is only their donors who are going to get what they want, but don't need.
14
If the Russians are so great at hacking why can't they get a hold of Trump's tax returns? On second thought, maybe that's the material they already have on file for later use....
68
Reply to Dr. Buckman: PERFECT!
3
Maybe Wikileaks already have them and they are being extorted by Trump, you know the other way around?
1
I think it's only a matter of time before someone does hack into the IRS and Trump's returns show up.
There is an unfunny side to the tax issue. The wealthy are not paying their taxes, holding off in the hope that a huge tax break will be passed. They don't want to wait for a refund and so the government is running out of cash on hand to operate as a result.
One can eliminate all of the partisan static and just concentrate on one thing; the party in power has had 8 years to prepare themselves for this current situation. They should have had detailed, to the letter, plans for health care, taxes, immigration, etc. Yet, it appears they cannot even cobble together anything greater than a 1 page outline, and even that is riddled with errors and questions. Why haven't they planned for this day?
Because they don't care about governing, they only care about holding their office and paying off their campaign contributors. If I was a GOP'er I would be very angry about this. The Dems had a plan for health care, waiting for the day they knew would eventually come and as a result we have a much better health care bill than we had before that time. They came into power, they actualized their plan. Why isn't the GOP like that?
One can eliminate all of the partisan static and just concentrate on one thing; the party in power has had 8 years to prepare themselves for this current situation. They should have had detailed, to the letter, plans for health care, taxes, immigration, etc. Yet, it appears they cannot even cobble together anything greater than a 1 page outline, and even that is riddled with errors and questions. Why haven't they planned for this day?
Because they don't care about governing, they only care about holding their office and paying off their campaign contributors. If I was a GOP'er I would be very angry about this. The Dems had a plan for health care, waiting for the day they knew would eventually come and as a result we have a much better health care bill than we had before that time. They came into power, they actualized their plan. Why isn't the GOP like that?
50
Because like you said they only care about their job and their uber wealthy donors.
9
"we have an administration that refuses to reveal whether the president believes the globe is warming"
A couple of days ago, we were told the President denies science. Now we are told that he won't say.
That is kind of dumb. However, the initial claim in the media that he denied science is also a problem for the media. Credibility is important, and the media is wildly throwing it aside in its outrage at Trump.
Be more careful. It will get you further.
A couple of days ago, we were told the President denies science. Now we are told that he won't say.
That is kind of dumb. However, the initial claim in the media that he denied science is also a problem for the media. Credibility is important, and the media is wildly throwing it aside in its outrage at Trump.
Be more careful. It will get you further.
9
We know he doesn't believe in climate change, he has said so multiple times. Why do we need for him to say it again? He has staked out his position over decades....he doesn't believe it.
7
People are naturally confused about where Trump stands on climate-change science because his position has shifted over the years.
In 2009 Trump and three of his children signed an open letter to President Obama calling climate change "an immediate challenge facing the US and the world today." A year later Trump tweeted that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese." In 2014 his foundation donated $5,000 to a group fighting climate change. In 2015 he told Hugh Hewitt that "I'm not a believer in man-made global warming." He repeatedly called climate change a "hoax" on the campaign trail, then denied doing so, then admitted to Bill O'Reilly in 2016 that "yeah, I probably did."
Credibility is important, alright. Since he pulled the US out of the Paris Accord, the press would like him to go on the record as president on just where he stands on the science. He won't. That isn't "kind of dumb." It's wrong.
In 2009 Trump and three of his children signed an open letter to President Obama calling climate change "an immediate challenge facing the US and the world today." A year later Trump tweeted that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese." In 2014 his foundation donated $5,000 to a group fighting climate change. In 2015 he told Hugh Hewitt that "I'm not a believer in man-made global warming." He repeatedly called climate change a "hoax" on the campaign trail, then denied doing so, then admitted to Bill O'Reilly in 2016 that "yeah, I probably did."
Credibility is important, alright. Since he pulled the US out of the Paris Accord, the press would like him to go on the record as president on just where he stands on the science. He won't. That isn't "kind of dumb." It's wrong.
18
He also doesn't keep track of the lies he blurts out. I doubt if he remembers Melania's birthday, much less his previous positions on policies he doesn't understand. Putin picked the right boy for his American coup.
5
I'm tired of being outraged but I am clear that any CEO or major political figure should be required to make their income tax filings for the past ten years public. Paul Ryan And Mitch McConnell will never let it happen. God I miss Jimmy Carter and Jerry Ford.
64
To all my progressive friends who are hoping Trump gets impeached: be careful what you wish for.
If that happens, you'll have President Pence to replace Trump. Here's a guy who can speak properly, out of both side of his mouth, unlike Trump.
Here's a guy who can lie about Flynn lying to him. After all, Pence was in charge of vetting people to positions in the White House during the transition. Furthermore, Representative Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent Pence a letter on November 18, 2016 requesting more information about the potential conflicts of interest posed by Flynn's lobbying work.
But, here's also a guy who worked in Congress and know's what a bill is, and how it gets passed.
At least if Trump remains in office, we'll just have an ineffectual president, who is incapable of getting anything done.
Given this Hobson's choice, I choose Trump incompetence.
If that happens, you'll have President Pence to replace Trump. Here's a guy who can speak properly, out of both side of his mouth, unlike Trump.
Here's a guy who can lie about Flynn lying to him. After all, Pence was in charge of vetting people to positions in the White House during the transition. Furthermore, Representative Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent Pence a letter on November 18, 2016 requesting more information about the potential conflicts of interest posed by Flynn's lobbying work.
But, here's also a guy who worked in Congress and know's what a bill is, and how it gets passed.
At least if Trump remains in office, we'll just have an ineffectual president, who is incapable of getting anything done.
Given this Hobson's choice, I choose Trump incompetence.
107
It is Nixon-Agnew redux. Pence will have to get replaced before Trump is forced out.
12
Pence is just as dirty as Trump. Pence introduced Trump to Paul Manafort, and Pence's determination to make this a fundamentalist Christian nation just manifested in the rollback of contraceptive protections for "religious" reasons. If every evangelical shared Pence's bizarre fear of being seduced by harlots--sorry, being seduced by any woman not his wife, we'd need a lot more free contraceptives, not fewer.
5
V
I disagee. Pence will be a place holder till 2020. A weak version of Ford after Nixon. He can barely answer any question regardless if he is lying or just trying to answer. He was on his way out in Indiana when this gig came along to bail him out. His ties to Congress are more on the Freedom Caucus side and while loud and crazy they can't get things done. Pence would be no different.
Better a dullard that can be managed than a certifiable crazy guy with his finger on the button.
I disagee. Pence will be a place holder till 2020. A weak version of Ford after Nixon. He can barely answer any question regardless if he is lying or just trying to answer. He was on his way out in Indiana when this gig came along to bail him out. His ties to Congress are more on the Freedom Caucus side and while loud and crazy they can't get things done. Pence would be no different.
Better a dullard that can be managed than a certifiable crazy guy with his finger on the button.
2
Well "Trumpcare" was an $800 billion dollar tax cut for the wealthy in the guise of an ACA replacement plan, so why wouldn't a tax reform plan be a tax cut for the wealthy as good as the budget proposal?
29
Maybe, just maybe, they're trying to say "TAX on carbon to CUT emissions? Just kidding. The plan will probably involve paying all tax refunds to non-wealthy Americans in bulk coal - and charging for delivery.
37
A chicken in every other pot and two lumps of coal in every Christmas stocking?
None of us know what conversations occur in the homes of people who work for the Trump administration. Not even when they’re having a Russian over for a cookout or something like that.
A few months ago, when those people landed their jobs with Trump, there may have been an occasional cousin or uncle or sibling who rolled his or her eyes upon hearing about the new position.
For the most part, though, there were probably sincere congratulations. Sometimes accompanied by, “Great, you finally found a job.”
That was then, and this is now.
Today, relatives and friends of people who work for Trump or for one of his cabinet members are saying to the frazzled, hollow-eyed woman or man, “Tell me again, what on earth were you thinking?”
That's progress.
A few months ago, when those people landed their jobs with Trump, there may have been an occasional cousin or uncle or sibling who rolled his or her eyes upon hearing about the new position.
For the most part, though, there were probably sincere congratulations. Sometimes accompanied by, “Great, you finally found a job.”
That was then, and this is now.
Today, relatives and friends of people who work for Trump or for one of his cabinet members are saying to the frazzled, hollow-eyed woman or man, “Tell me again, what on earth were you thinking?”
That's progress.
68
“I don’t know how we get to 50.”
McConnell is just concerned about the average age in Congress. While the average EU parliamentarian is 45 years old, in the US Senate it's about 60.
McConnell is just concerned about the average age in Congress. While the average EU parliamentarian is 45 years old, in the US Senate it's about 60.
37
There is nothing untoward about being "about 60," Blackforest. Or even older. I'm just a few weeks away from 80, and I'm likely to be able to out lift and, even more likely, out think any 45-year-old.
Enough with the ageism.
Enough with the ageism.
4
Mr. Trump is convinced that to regain our lost greatness, above all, the US must be feared for its economic and military might. Another way to induce fear abroad is to live dangerously, as the administration has been doing -- by keeping friend and foe in suspense on everything.
51
oh, that explains it.
6
Well, what about all that laughing at us all over the place?
Is the suspense you're talking about include holding one's breath for the next idiocy?
Is the suspense you're talking about include holding one's breath for the next idiocy?
4
For as long as I can remember, Republicans have equated cutting taxes with governing.
Everyone thinks their taxes are too high, and that someone else is getting a benefit from them. We all seem to have the opinion we can do better with our money than the government does, and frequently that is true. Most of us would not have spent money to invade and occupy Iraq.
However, this gang of amateurs has found a constituency that believes it is taxes that are keeping the economy from growing faster. Corporate profits are at an all time high, CEOs, fund mangers, and other like individuals are receiving incomes that make the robber barons look like pikers. Incomes of $1million a day are not unusual and Trump wants to cut their taxes?
What we do not know, is how DJT gets his income. Most of his properties are financed, he does not actually own his hotels, he gets paid for his name. His business are built on borrowing, which is debt, but his party wants a no debt budget, they are appealing to those who think the government budget is like their household budget, and believe the government should be run like a business.
If so, then your taxes should be as high as possible so the gov. can make the most profit. Then you have to figure out who the stockholders are and how to distribute those profits.
So your local services should make a profit,just like the HMOs do.
Everyone thinks their taxes are too high, and that someone else is getting a benefit from them. We all seem to have the opinion we can do better with our money than the government does, and frequently that is true. Most of us would not have spent money to invade and occupy Iraq.
However, this gang of amateurs has found a constituency that believes it is taxes that are keeping the economy from growing faster. Corporate profits are at an all time high, CEOs, fund mangers, and other like individuals are receiving incomes that make the robber barons look like pikers. Incomes of $1million a day are not unusual and Trump wants to cut their taxes?
What we do not know, is how DJT gets his income. Most of his properties are financed, he does not actually own his hotels, he gets paid for his name. His business are built on borrowing, which is debt, but his party wants a no debt budget, they are appealing to those who think the government budget is like their household budget, and believe the government should be run like a business.
If so, then your taxes should be as high as possible so the gov. can make the most profit. Then you have to figure out who the stockholders are and how to distribute those profits.
So your local services should make a profit,just like the HMOs do.
128
"Everyone thinks their taxes are too high..." Most people want lower taxes, along with more services; except, of course, for those people who can afford private school for their children and their own security detail.
55
Government spending feeds multiplier effect.
Billionaires don't have the time to spend all their income, so they sit on mounds of stagnant money.
Billionaires don't have the time to spend all their income, so they sit on mounds of stagnant money.
14
Sorry, I read it twice and still don't get what you are attempting to say.
2
Trump has appointed a young, staunch conservative to replace the late Justice Scalia (odds are he will get one more appointment), has just scrapped the Paris greenhouse-gas agreement, and is quietly going about the business of dismantling regulations put in place during the Obama Administration. Meanwhile, despite his supposed unpopularity, two special House elections have gone in favor of Republicans. In the one the Democrats might pick up we have seen $80 million spent. Yeah, besides conclusively dooming most people on the planet in ways we can only imagine by gutting the domestic regulatory structure which might have made the Paris agreement even a long shot, he hasn't done much. I think we have more to worry about than taxes.
152
reading it the way you describe it makes Dilbert look more functional than the federal government.
56
“In the middle of his speech trashing the climate accord, President Trump suddenly blurted out that his ‘tax bill is moving along in Congress.’”
This clearly shows that:
a) Trump was unaware that Congress was not in session, or
b) Trump missed his 4th grade civics class and does not know how a bill becomes a law, or
c) Trump lives in his own imaginary world, or
d) All of the above.
It’s going to be a long, hot summer – not because this inept Congress will pass any significant piece of legislation, but because all of the Russia investigations will gather steam.
P.S. Gail, the Dow was hovering around 2000 in 1986. It hit 4000, nine long years later in 1995.
This clearly shows that:
a) Trump was unaware that Congress was not in session, or
b) Trump missed his 4th grade civics class and does not know how a bill becomes a law, or
c) Trump lives in his own imaginary world, or
d) All of the above.
It’s going to be a long, hot summer – not because this inept Congress will pass any significant piece of legislation, but because all of the Russia investigations will gather steam.
P.S. Gail, the Dow was hovering around 2000 in 1986. It hit 4000, nine long years later in 1995.
216
He is trying to be reassuring.
1
When Mr. Trump said his "tax bill is moving along in Congress", he meant the bill for all the taxes he owes but sneaks out of paying. And he meant the bill that will declare Trump to be free of taxes forever. Watch for it.
127
Ms. Collins, while your column really does not contain anything new, you have put events and actions together in a way that is striking. You are right in that there is no logic or even connection to actual events in Washington and even the world. In reading your column it suddenly strikes me that what we are witnessing bears a strong resemblance to reality programming like the Apprentice. Most people know that reality programming is not real, rather it is written to give the illusion of reality. What happens behind the scenes does not matter as much as the illusion.
Could it be that we are experiencing Reality Government? If Donald Trump’s base hears him say that government is “moving along” that is probably all that matters for them. After all reality stars say things that are not true all of the time. It is part of the program script. We have been treating him as an actual President when he is just playing a president. The scary part of all of this is the cast of characters working to be chief “script writers.” I don't know if we can survive 4 years of someone who just plays a president.
Could it be that we are experiencing Reality Government? If Donald Trump’s base hears him say that government is “moving along” that is probably all that matters for them. After all reality stars say things that are not true all of the time. It is part of the program script. We have been treating him as an actual President when he is just playing a president. The scary part of all of this is the cast of characters working to be chief “script writers.” I don't know if we can survive 4 years of someone who just plays a president.
427
When Trump had been in office less than a month, one of my friends in our jewelry making group remarked about how great Trump was doing and would do better if he could be left alone.
She didn't know I am the lone Democrat in the group (I live in ruby red East San Diego County). I kept my mouth shut for which I received a pat on the back from my husband, even though I wanted to scream,"What are you seeing that I'm not?"
She didn't know I am the lone Democrat in the group (I live in ruby red East San Diego County). I kept my mouth shut for which I received a pat on the back from my husband, even though I wanted to scream,"What are you seeing that I'm not?"
6
"I don't know if we can survive 4 years of someone who just plays a president."
On c'mon, we did it for eight years while Reagan was in office.
On c'mon, we did it for eight years while Reagan was in office.
4
Mr Trump, our Presidents, just says stuff. It would be a relief to know that he had a script, and could stick with it, but I believe we are far removed from that, not to speak of being light-years away from having a President who think about policy and outcomes (that is, outcomes not immediately related to his ego and damaged sense of self-worth).
Mr Trump just says stuff.
More fools we who pay attention as though there was any meaning beyond immediate aggrandizement involved.
Mr Trump just says stuff.
More fools we who pay attention as though there was any meaning beyond immediate aggrandizement involved.
4
Trump, Trump, brain in the rump
Why do you blunder so?
With tweets you palter
Your efforts falter
Your IQ is so low.
Trump, Trump, on the stump
You spew out lurid lies,
Your deed you’ll rue
On CO2
You’re witless and unwise.
Trump, Trump, facts you dump,
In Alt-Right Land you live,
Your brain’s deplete
Covfefe you tweet
All your cortex could give.
Why do you blunder so?
With tweets you palter
Your efforts falter
Your IQ is so low.
Trump, Trump, on the stump
You spew out lurid lies,
Your deed you’ll rue
On CO2
You’re witless and unwise.
Trump, Trump, facts you dump,
In Alt-Right Land you live,
Your brain’s deplete
Covfefe you tweet
All your cortex could give.
659
Bravo! One of your best, Mr. Eisenberg!
12
Brilliant!
6
You have invented the trifecta limerick form.
5
I don't know that Trump and friends' ineptness is going to keep them from passing a tax bill, Gail. Stupidity and ignorance did not stop them from ignoring global warming, proposing a health care and tax bill that was never going to pass, keeping The Wall in the budget, and much else.
Nobody can evaluate this Administration with anything resembling rational observations. We are dealing with a greed crazed and debt addled leader, enabled by oil oligarchs and rural supporters who care about nothing but themselves. Just like the President.
Let's band together and call this sorry excuse for a government what it is: stupid, incompetent, greedy, dishonest, and violent.
Nobody can evaluate this Administration with anything resembling rational observations. We are dealing with a greed crazed and debt addled leader, enabled by oil oligarchs and rural supporters who care about nothing but themselves. Just like the President.
Let's band together and call this sorry excuse for a government what it is: stupid, incompetent, greedy, dishonest, and violent.
591
...and COFEFE!
Mr. Trump has traumatized America's reputation with his compulsive anxiety, fear, and inability to speak the simple truth.
Our historic allies have considerable concerns about economic ties to a nation adrift.
Our historic allies have considerable concerns about economic ties to a nation adrift.
200
This is how Trump thinks:
1) Cut rich people's taxes. I'm a rich person, and I need my taxes cut. Can I get a tax REFUND? I'd like that.
2) Anything that Obama did I'm going to smash. It may be good for the country, but it's out. He's a black man and they CANNOT have a victory. (And I still think he was born in Kenya.)
3) I don't understand the new healthcare bill. I don't need to. Obamacare has to go, that's what I know.
4) Poor people are stupid. Even if they did vote for me and put me into office. I could tell them I'm a possum and they'd believe it.
5) I don't understand the Paris accord. All I know is that the French are snobs and it's not my job to help Parisians.
6) I don't think the climate is changing. We have summer and winter, like always. Let the coal plants burn. I'm hungry.
7) Putin and I have an understanding. I stay out of his way, he keeps all that blackmail stuff on me quiet. Works for us!
8) Financial planners shouldn't have to work towards the best interest of their clients. Duh. How will they make money if they do that? That's why I took out that dumb rule.
9) Comey had to go. I can't manipulate him.
10) Melania hates me.
11) Ivanka looks at me differently now.
12) I think Jared's going to jail. Whatever. Then I'll get Ivanka to myself.
13) Next week might be my last week in office after Comey talks. Maybe I'll forbid it. Can I do that? I am the president...
14) I like lying. I don't know where my lies start and end. I don't know.
1) Cut rich people's taxes. I'm a rich person, and I need my taxes cut. Can I get a tax REFUND? I'd like that.
2) Anything that Obama did I'm going to smash. It may be good for the country, but it's out. He's a black man and they CANNOT have a victory. (And I still think he was born in Kenya.)
3) I don't understand the new healthcare bill. I don't need to. Obamacare has to go, that's what I know.
4) Poor people are stupid. Even if they did vote for me and put me into office. I could tell them I'm a possum and they'd believe it.
5) I don't understand the Paris accord. All I know is that the French are snobs and it's not my job to help Parisians.
6) I don't think the climate is changing. We have summer and winter, like always. Let the coal plants burn. I'm hungry.
7) Putin and I have an understanding. I stay out of his way, he keeps all that blackmail stuff on me quiet. Works for us!
8) Financial planners shouldn't have to work towards the best interest of their clients. Duh. How will they make money if they do that? That's why I took out that dumb rule.
9) Comey had to go. I can't manipulate him.
10) Melania hates me.
11) Ivanka looks at me differently now.
12) I think Jared's going to jail. Whatever. Then I'll get Ivanka to myself.
13) Next week might be my last week in office after Comey talks. Maybe I'll forbid it. Can I do that? I am the president...
14) I like lying. I don't know where my lies start and end. I don't know.
1672
Brilliant!
7
Ha Ha Katie. That would be a funny column unto itself!
10
Katie, you are brilliant!
9
The silver lining - and it's not much of one - is that trump is no longer the leader of the greatest nation on earth, no longer the leader of the free world. He has abdicated that role. Unfortunately that means our country is now isolated and moved to the back of the line.
517
Isolated? I'm in Germany right now and Trump is all over the TV - but so is Jerry Brown. Overseas countries know that the US is more than one person. Besides, if one of them is attacked, we'll see how isolated the US is when said country looks to us for help.
4
Which we won't provide without a yuge payment.
2
Yes, I wonder how Angela Merkel likes being leader of the free world?
4
What I am missing is the Democrats tax plan
And the Democrats reform of Obamacare
They should have learnt by now, it is not enough to be unTrump, they must also be the solution. So while the Republicans dither, start providing the vision by which Democrats will govern: act as though you have ideas and power, and one day you may.
And the Democrats reform of Obamacare
They should have learnt by now, it is not enough to be unTrump, they must also be the solution. So while the Republicans dither, start providing the vision by which Democrats will govern: act as though you have ideas and power, and one day you may.
890
You must have missed the last election when Democrats in general and Hillary in particular laid out a very different agenda than the one that The Donald got himself elected on. Anyway, the Democrats haven't been invited in- not by Trump or Ryan or McConnell.
75
Your comment is both wise and foolish, me thinks. It would be wise, if there were anyway the Democrats could do anything to improve Obamacare. One reason they didn't bring it up during the last six years of Obama is that they knew the Republicans would use the occasion try to destroy it. Furthermore, they would never have even been able to get a vote on the House floor because of the Hastert/Boehner procedural blockage that required a majority of Republicans to agree on a bill before it could be moved to the floor, a virtual veto handed to about 1/4 to 1/3 of the House.Yes, the Democrats need to offer a vision to the nation, as you indicate, but actually proposing complex legislation when they have no chance of getting it approved would only cost them support.
9
Stu: yes I did see Trump promises overwhelm Clinton proposals, but we move on. As the promise of an effective Republican government is seen to be broken, voters will mature and want substance. Keep the message simple, yes, but now is the time to say: this is what a government should be doing for the People.
3
What?! Congress only took off twelve days this time? I really, really hate to hear that. With this Congress, whenever they are in session, we have to be ready for anything.
What might Congressional Republicans do to us next? Work late one night and slash Medicare? Decide to add more money to wealthy peoples' estates to make up for those high inheritance taxes of long ago? They would, of course, give their action a nice-sounding name, something like "depletion allowance" or "righting the imbalance." Frank Luntz could help with the hard work of finding a nice euphemism.
What might they do for themselves? Buy every member an airplane because of all the arduous travel they do? Hire more of their families as staff? Get drunk and swim trunkless in the Dead Sea? Award themselves Medals of Freedom with "from work" in the small print?
I say a Congress that only holidays and vacations isn't a bad thing at all. I cannot wait for the August recess so I can have a long period respite from anxiety. Congress popping in for a day or two ever so often is nerve wracking.
What might Congressional Republicans do to us next? Work late one night and slash Medicare? Decide to add more money to wealthy peoples' estates to make up for those high inheritance taxes of long ago? They would, of course, give their action a nice-sounding name, something like "depletion allowance" or "righting the imbalance." Frank Luntz could help with the hard work of finding a nice euphemism.
What might they do for themselves? Buy every member an airplane because of all the arduous travel they do? Hire more of their families as staff? Get drunk and swim trunkless in the Dead Sea? Award themselves Medals of Freedom with "from work" in the small print?
I say a Congress that only holidays and vacations isn't a bad thing at all. I cannot wait for the August recess so I can have a long period respite from anxiety. Congress popping in for a day or two ever so often is nerve wracking.
262
Why in Heaven's name would our closest historical allies drift away from America, when our dubiously elected president is a compulsive liar?
Listening to David Brooks tonight on PBS, i learned 14 new ways to state that the individual who staggering financial debts to Russia speaks with a forked tongue.
America's first priority is to supply Starbucks coffee to any remaining graduates of the Quantico FBI Academy, and make them work weekends to actually complete the Trump-Russia extra-marital affair.
Listening to David Brooks tonight on PBS, i learned 14 new ways to state that the individual who staggering financial debts to Russia speaks with a forked tongue.
America's first priority is to supply Starbucks coffee to any remaining graduates of the Quantico FBI Academy, and make them work weekends to actually complete the Trump-Russia extra-marital affair.
70
Yesterday, Donald Trump said:
"We're going to have the cleanest air. We're going to have the cleanest water."
It reminded of when Donald Trump said:
“You will end up with great health care for a fraction of the price and that will take place immediately after we go in. Immediately! Fast! Quick!”
Which reminded me of the time that Donald Trump reminded everybody that:
"Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Nobody."
Well, you certainly can't argue with a pathological liar and talented Snake Oil salesman of the higher caliber.
For 63 million satisfied Snake Oil customers, who cares about the planet, air, water, health care, women's rights and other trivial concerns ?
They've got warm Snake Oil, White Spite, and cultured ignorance that is just as good as actual knowledge, and the Liar-In-Chief is on their side....and that's all any God-fearing American moron needs in this day and age...praise the idiotic Lord.
And soon we'll get heaping portions of succulent Trump tax cuts that will be oh-so delicious and cure most of America's problems.
"Everyone will get a tax cut...and we will magically balance the budget...believe me...the King of Moral, Intellectual and Economic Bankruptcy"
"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." - H.L. Mencken
The brainless American 'heartland' finally has their coveted Idiot-In-Chief.
Stupid Snake Oil is so delicious.
"We're going to have the cleanest air. We're going to have the cleanest water."
It reminded of when Donald Trump said:
“You will end up with great health care for a fraction of the price and that will take place immediately after we go in. Immediately! Fast! Quick!”
Which reminded me of the time that Donald Trump reminded everybody that:
"Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Nobody."
Well, you certainly can't argue with a pathological liar and talented Snake Oil salesman of the higher caliber.
For 63 million satisfied Snake Oil customers, who cares about the planet, air, water, health care, women's rights and other trivial concerns ?
They've got warm Snake Oil, White Spite, and cultured ignorance that is just as good as actual knowledge, and the Liar-In-Chief is on their side....and that's all any God-fearing American moron needs in this day and age...praise the idiotic Lord.
And soon we'll get heaping portions of succulent Trump tax cuts that will be oh-so delicious and cure most of America's problems.
"Everyone will get a tax cut...and we will magically balance the budget...believe me...the King of Moral, Intellectual and Economic Bankruptcy"
"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." - H.L. Mencken
The brainless American 'heartland' finally has their coveted Idiot-In-Chief.
Stupid Snake Oil is so delicious.
1060
Spot on, as always, Socrates. Keep them coming, they make me laugh (otherwise, I'd cry for the truth of it).
9
Why anyone, voters or the media, takes Trump's words seriously is the question of the day in my opinion. Just about everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie or at least a half-truth. It's time the media stops taking anything he says seriously. Nothing he says is credible or even logical.
3
"But it presumed the tax cuts wouldn’t add to the deficit, and now that’s apparently back on the table. (The table, Wyden said in a phone interview, “is gonna collapse like some overloaded Thanksgiving banquet.”)"
This metaphor is too delicious-sounding for the hellishness it represents. Let's say, rather, that the table is going to collapse because a group of cowardly sociopaths take a sledgehammer to it. (It's the poor people's table, so they don't care, thus the sociopath part.)
But I think you may be right, Gail - the incompetence of this crowd might just keep us treading water until 2018, or impeachment/resignation, whichever comes first.
This metaphor is too delicious-sounding for the hellishness it represents. Let's say, rather, that the table is going to collapse because a group of cowardly sociopaths take a sledgehammer to it. (It's the poor people's table, so they don't care, thus the sociopath part.)
But I think you may be right, Gail - the incompetence of this crowd might just keep us treading water until 2018, or impeachment/resignation, whichever comes first.
93
How nice would it be to be able to binge watch the Trump Show, getting straight to the end of the series so that we could assess the damage and move on with repairs as quickly as possible?
293
Trump is more satire than sitcom, more farce, less comic - but it lacks credibility and is weak in terms of a cohesive plot. Bad make-up too: the star is clearly showing his age.
75
good gestalt of the situation, no fiery brands here either, just the facts ma'm, and a few observations.
20
It's easier to understand the current Administration if you think of it like Trump does, as a TV show, a fictional one.
In a TV show about the White House, you need only a few characters, more is too hard to control. The viewer is asked to imagine they exist, behind the scenes, but they don't. Hundreds of unfilled actual jobs, no problem, just keep them out of the script, Jared Kushner can jump in and handle practically anything in the script, like the episode about peace in the Middle East.
Actual facts don't matter, this is made for TV drama, which only requires much anticipatory buildup for dramatic Presidential speeches. You already know what he is going to say of course, in spite of twists and turns in the plot.
Bills about super complicated stuff like health care and taxes have to be boiled down to a page or less, after all episodes are an hour long with 20 minutes of commercials. The script calls for sweeping promises by the President, followed by fiendish machinations in Congress to get a vote before the CBO scores the bill, perfect made for TV drama!
And The Trump Show, like any good TV series, has some deeply buried secret that could end it all. Tantalizing clues are dropped along the narrative path by those unseen officials leaking intelligence to the press. Fans of the show remain confident that all of the dark subtext spilling into the show have a heroic explanation that will Make America Great Again.
But there is no real government, just a TV show.
In a TV show about the White House, you need only a few characters, more is too hard to control. The viewer is asked to imagine they exist, behind the scenes, but they don't. Hundreds of unfilled actual jobs, no problem, just keep them out of the script, Jared Kushner can jump in and handle practically anything in the script, like the episode about peace in the Middle East.
Actual facts don't matter, this is made for TV drama, which only requires much anticipatory buildup for dramatic Presidential speeches. You already know what he is going to say of course, in spite of twists and turns in the plot.
Bills about super complicated stuff like health care and taxes have to be boiled down to a page or less, after all episodes are an hour long with 20 minutes of commercials. The script calls for sweeping promises by the President, followed by fiendish machinations in Congress to get a vote before the CBO scores the bill, perfect made for TV drama!
And The Trump Show, like any good TV series, has some deeply buried secret that could end it all. Tantalizing clues are dropped along the narrative path by those unseen officials leaking intelligence to the press. Fans of the show remain confident that all of the dark subtext spilling into the show have a heroic explanation that will Make America Great Again.
But there is no real government, just a TV show.
392
This is just a bit too convincing. Now I wonder if I should be worrying, and looking for little slips of paper replacing seemingly solid objects.
33
Dear dear Gail, how do you do it - out of djt's daily confetti cannon salvo providing such a vast plethora of targets, how do you sort wheat from chaff; how in the world ?
You are masterful as usual, but we must take issue with:
" The one thing the Republicans really, really want to do is cut taxes. Well, that and raise the debt limit so the government doesn’t plunge into a giant, calamitous, deadly financial whirlpool and ruin the economy. "
We should never forget that Bannon (whom Joe Scarborough has identified as being the real POTUS) has let it be known he is ' a Leninist ' who wants to take apart the establishment in D.C., and we all should remember Mick Mulvaney's role in the summer 2011 debt ceiling fiasco, and the value he placed on appearing crazy:
“ I’ll play chicken with you every time. You think I am crazy, and I know you are not. ”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/10/08/are-the-gop...
with the resulting downgrade in rating of U.S. debt apparently not disabusing Mulvaney of his tactics.
Since there are plenty more crazy GOP'ers lolling around in the same talent pool where djt found Mulvaney, we're not so sanguine about the debt ceiling.
You are masterful as usual, but we must take issue with:
" The one thing the Republicans really, really want to do is cut taxes. Well, that and raise the debt limit so the government doesn’t plunge into a giant, calamitous, deadly financial whirlpool and ruin the economy. "
We should never forget that Bannon (whom Joe Scarborough has identified as being the real POTUS) has let it be known he is ' a Leninist ' who wants to take apart the establishment in D.C., and we all should remember Mick Mulvaney's role in the summer 2011 debt ceiling fiasco, and the value he placed on appearing crazy:
“ I’ll play chicken with you every time. You think I am crazy, and I know you are not. ”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/10/08/are-the-gop...
with the resulting downgrade in rating of U.S. debt apparently not disabusing Mulvaney of his tactics.
Since there are plenty more crazy GOP'ers lolling around in the same talent pool where djt found Mulvaney, we're not so sanguine about the debt ceiling.
179
"Bannon (whom Joe Scarborough has identified as being the real POTUS) has let it be known he is 'a Leninist'".
Nothing wrong with that. John always was my favorite Beatle.
Nothing wrong with that. John always was my favorite Beatle.
4
Josh - Would that it were so, but it's the other Lenin that Bannon wants to emulate, saying:
" Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” Bannon was employing Lenin’s strategy for Tea Party populist goals. He included in that group the Republican and Democratic Parties, as well as the traditional conservative press. "
http://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannon-trumps-top-guy-told-me-he-was-...
Emulating Russia's oligarchy (where 110 Billionaire$ operate with Putin) here in America with our 500+ Billionaire$ doesn't sound like very much of an improvement on our current situation; quite the opposite in fact.
Of course, that could be just our own opinion, since fewer and fewer Americans think it ' essential to live in a democracy ':
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/world/americas/western-liberal-democr...
Authoritarians and autocrats disguised as populists take advantage of the fact democracy is messy, requiring citizen involvement and education, instead of society being able to put democracy on auto-pilot/automatic update, then forget it.
" Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” Bannon was employing Lenin’s strategy for Tea Party populist goals. He included in that group the Republican and Democratic Parties, as well as the traditional conservative press. "
http://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannon-trumps-top-guy-told-me-he-was-...
Emulating Russia's oligarchy (where 110 Billionaire$ operate with Putin) here in America with our 500+ Billionaire$ doesn't sound like very much of an improvement on our current situation; quite the opposite in fact.
Of course, that could be just our own opinion, since fewer and fewer Americans think it ' essential to live in a democracy ':
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/world/americas/western-liberal-democr...
Authoritarians and autocrats disguised as populists take advantage of the fact democracy is messy, requiring citizen involvement and education, instead of society being able to put democracy on auto-pilot/automatic update, then forget it.
8
It's too ironic. After going to Europe and scolding our allies for supposedly not paying their fair share of NATO costs, Trump comes home to work on a tax code to help the wealthy not pay their fair share.
1002
And The Trumpster boasts of not paying his fair share.
142
Paying taxes is for dummies. Complaining about other people not paying taxes shows you're smart.
10
We know he doesn't pay his fair share!
1
We are hoping that the government is so inept that they will get nothing done, but are living with the specter that they are so inept they get a lot of really bad stuff done.
I have no faith that they will fail to pass a healthcare bill. They will reduce the level of toxicity to something acceptable (Good news! It isn't ricin in the water supply, it's only cyanide!) that only kills the people who wouldn't have voted in their primaries anyway.
And they will manage a tax cut that will put a few hundred dollars in people's pockets, but hit them for a few thousand in combined property taxes and sales taxes needed to make it up at the local level. Of course it will put a lot more in the pockets of people who need it less.
And of course there is foreign policy that we will cede to China and Germany, unless we throw a curve ball and a few missiles at North Korea.
That'll distract everyone from both taxes an healthcare, at least for a while. Distraction is what passes for aptitude these days.
I have no faith that they will fail to pass a healthcare bill. They will reduce the level of toxicity to something acceptable (Good news! It isn't ricin in the water supply, it's only cyanide!) that only kills the people who wouldn't have voted in their primaries anyway.
And they will manage a tax cut that will put a few hundred dollars in people's pockets, but hit them for a few thousand in combined property taxes and sales taxes needed to make it up at the local level. Of course it will put a lot more in the pockets of people who need it less.
And of course there is foreign policy that we will cede to China and Germany, unless we throw a curve ball and a few missiles at North Korea.
That'll distract everyone from both taxes an healthcare, at least for a while. Distraction is what passes for aptitude these days.
176
Golly, Cathy, you forgot Russia!
1
Not only will the foreign policy cede leadership to China and Germany, it will give a big boost to Russia, a country who will benefit from Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris agreement. I am waiting to see if they use our withdrawal as an excuse to do so next. He is giving them cover. They depend on gas and oil revenue and their economy is in bad shape from sanctions put in place by Obama.
5
And the distraction will be used as a welcome smokescreen to quickly pass a couple more toxic bills that have been sitting in the back of G.O.P drawers.
4
The whole , entire Trump " show " is getting really ridiculous and is starting to feel to me like watching reruns . Anyone with even a little intelligence after awhile has to see the absurdity of the " show " . It reminds me of the Gong Show from the late 70s . What happened to america ?
67
I hate to break it to you but The Gong Show is returning to network TV this summer.
22
Let's hope what is really moving along is Mueller's investigation. Nothing actually moves along in the real world when it comes to Trump's pronouncements. The Muslim ban, the wall, health care reform. tax reform, and infrastructure spending, all inhabit what can only be described as a perpetual state of limbo. Republican leaders must be constantly asking themselves, what is this guy talking about? His comments bear no resemblance to what is happening in the Congress. Only in the frighteningly large geographically rural parts of the United States do Trump's comments make sense. And that is who Trump is talking to. An alternate universe where all of Trump's nonsensical comments are greeted with rapt attention and belief.
232
Just like a cult leader and his cult devotees.
10
I am hoping he is going to run out of the short supply of enablers competent enough to do his bidding.
In the meantime, his voters have every intention of holding onto that worthless piece of scrip, certain it is a winning lottery ticket.
The Zen question: would the Donald hire or fire his own doppelgänger?
In the meantime, his voters have every intention of holding onto that worthless piece of scrip, certain it is a winning lottery ticket.
The Zen question: would the Donald hire or fire his own doppelgänger?
29
He would hire him, because he's just that vain.
3
He would not hire his own doppelganger if he thought it would get better ratings. I hope he sees his rating on the climate agreement are as poor as they were on his firing of Comey. Of course, he is down to only being able to watch Fox - just like his supporters. They really do live in an alternate "reality". Fox is probably telling them that everyone is cheering this decision.
8
The Trump tax plan is actually the second law of thermodynamics.
40
Gail,
Republicans would like to increase the debt ceiling to prevent a US default. To accomplish that they will need some democratic support. This is a perfect opportunity for them to get something they want, like Donald Trump' s taxes.
Republicans would like to increase the debt ceiling to prevent a US default. To accomplish that they will need some democratic support. This is a perfect opportunity for them to get something they want, like Donald Trump' s taxes.
33
Relax, I haven't heard any Democrat say that they don't support raising the debt limit.
10
Just remember, Bob Mueller, the Special Counsel, can simply request them from the IRS if they are relevant, and how could they not be?
29
Those most able to pay are people like Buffet, Gates and Soros & sons, as well as the Trumps and Kushners. But, then, that’s not actually what liberals are after, as they want to increase taxes on everyone with a nickel to spare after buying a day’s ration of gruel. But if you all stuck to the truly “wealthy”, you probably could drive serious tax reform in America. As it is …
In 1986, I was one year into a 10-year stint beggaring myself to live in Manhattan and we were all still scared stiff of AIDS. Don Imus was certain that we were all going to die. 1986 was indeed a long time ago – I was still quite young and pretty.
All this hoopla about Mnuchin, Tillerson and others not having deputies is a bit perplexing until you realize that just about everyone working as apparatchiks in D.C. are diehard unchained, potted liberati. You’d think that with all of them, the top guys wouldn’t want for “help”; but it CAN get a little tiresome needing to get an entire office to strip and walk through metal detectors whenever you want “help” from them. Trump’s people need to raid ALEC and the Heritage Foundation.
Its’s clear that a Republican Congress isn’t going to let Trump ram a napkin-sized tax plan through any more than they’re going to replace a fatally flawed ACA with a fatally flawed AHCA anytime soon. And that’s not completely a bad thing.
It might not be ineptness but the first glimmers of responsible governance after many years of its absence.
In 1986, I was one year into a 10-year stint beggaring myself to live in Manhattan and we were all still scared stiff of AIDS. Don Imus was certain that we were all going to die. 1986 was indeed a long time ago – I was still quite young and pretty.
All this hoopla about Mnuchin, Tillerson and others not having deputies is a bit perplexing until you realize that just about everyone working as apparatchiks in D.C. are diehard unchained, potted liberati. You’d think that with all of them, the top guys wouldn’t want for “help”; but it CAN get a little tiresome needing to get an entire office to strip and walk through metal detectors whenever you want “help” from them. Trump’s people need to raid ALEC and the Heritage Foundation.
Its’s clear that a Republican Congress isn’t going to let Trump ram a napkin-sized tax plan through any more than they’re going to replace a fatally flawed ACA with a fatally flawed AHCA anytime soon. And that’s not completely a bad thing.
It might not be ineptness but the first glimmers of responsible governance after many years of its absence.
3
Reply to R Luettgen
"... that’s not actually what liberals are after, as they want to increase taxes on everyone with a nickel to spare after buying a day’s ration of gruel."
You need to brush up on the tax code and proposals by the Trump Administration. Sorry to break this to you but the one-pager substitutes a $24,000 standard deduction for all city and state income and property taxes, as well as mortgage interest. Experts anticipate that this would cost upper middle income people in places like NJ a lot more Federal tax.
They also expect that the truly wealthy would gain millions, by lowering top rates, repealing Medicare surcharges and repealing the Federal estate tax, that currently applies only to estates of $5 to $10 million (single or married).
Hoping for your sake Trump is unsuccessful with his "tax plan" or you may have to cut back to half rations of gruel (or move to Kansas).
"... that’s not actually what liberals are after, as they want to increase taxes on everyone with a nickel to spare after buying a day’s ration of gruel."
You need to brush up on the tax code and proposals by the Trump Administration. Sorry to break this to you but the one-pager substitutes a $24,000 standard deduction for all city and state income and property taxes, as well as mortgage interest. Experts anticipate that this would cost upper middle income people in places like NJ a lot more Federal tax.
They also expect that the truly wealthy would gain millions, by lowering top rates, repealing Medicare surcharges and repealing the Federal estate tax, that currently applies only to estates of $5 to $10 million (single or married).
Hoping for your sake Trump is unsuccessful with his "tax plan" or you may have to cut back to half rations of gruel (or move to Kansas).
285
Richard is trolling liberals again, folks. It's his entertainment. He probably believes half of it, more's the pity for him.
223
@Richard: Where in heaven's name have you gotten the idea that progressives are supportive of tax increases for the middle class? Personally, I'm in favor of instituting a luxury sales tax which would affect only the affluent (anyone who could afford to buy a Mercedes Benz isn't going to pass up doing so because of the imposition of an extra 10% sales tax on the purchase). And I'm in favor of treating capital gains, investments, inheritances and so forth like any other form of income. And I'm in favor of having all necessary benefits and programs directed at the poor being paid for entirely by the rich (with deductions for any CEOs who actually hire the destitute). That's just me, of course, but I've yet to hear about any congressional Democrats who are looking for additional tax revenues from anyone with no more than a nickel (or a dollar or a hundred dollars) to spare at the end of a work-day.
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Of course Republicans have been determined to pass their tax "reform." They just called it by another name, when they twice tried, with different results, to repeal the ACA.
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They can't do "repeal and replace", with either healthcare or taxes, just "repeal". Who knew that the "replace" part was so complicated?
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