Whatever else one might say about Donald Trump (and there is always plenty to say), there is no question that he has exposed the seedy underbelly of the lies that the Republican party has been feeding its supporters over the years, that the policies that the party advocates will benefit them when in reality it benefits just the one-percenters. Trump’s success shows that the voters are catching on that they’ve been had on that issue, though they may have just replaced an old con with a new one, that Trump will solve their problems.
Even former Republican congressman and current MSNBC media personality Joe Scarborough now acknowledges the truth.
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough complained on Tuesday that the Republican Party was fracturing because it had advocated economic policies benefiting the richest Americans for the last 30 years with the promise that the wealth would “trickle down” to others — but it never did.
“The problem with the Republican Party over the past 30 years is they haven’t — and I’ll say, we haven’t — developed a message that appeals to the working class Americans economically in a way that Donald Trump’s does,” the former Republican lawmaker explained. “We talk about cutting capital gains taxes that the 10,000 people that in the crowd cheering for Donald Trump, they are never going to get a capital gains cut because it doesn’t apply.”
“We talk about getting rid of the death tax,” he continued. “The death tax is not going to impact the 10,000 people in the crowd for Donald Trump. We talk about how great free trade deals are. Those free trade deals never trickle down to those 10,000 people in Donald Trump’s rallies.”
“You sound like Bernie Sanders,” NBC’s Chuck Todd pointed out.
“But herein lies the problem with the Republican Party,” Scarborough complained. “It never trickles down! Those people in Trump’s crowds, those are all the ones that lost the jobs when they get moved to Mexico and elsewhere. The Republican donor class are the ones that got rich off of it because their capital moved overseas and they made higher profits.”
If Trump is the person who ends up killing the trickle down theory of economics within the Republican party, then he deserves a lot credit even though, as David Cay Johnson suggests, he may have been a huge beneficiary of those very same oligarchy-friendly policies.
Gah, I can’t even read this section without mentally rolling my eyes and shouting a sarcastic “Rrrreeaally?” And yet, I still have to hope that this revelation would occur to other republicans and conservatives in the future.
Is there any real data showing that run of the mill Republicans have figured these economic issues? Or are they disappointed with the Republican establishment for not doing enough to stop gay marriage and illegal aliens?
I seriously doubt it. When the “Death Tax” was a hot issue it was quite easy to find commentaries that pointed out it used to be called the Estate Tax, AND that it didn’t even kick in until an estate was worth almost $5 million. And as for reducing capital gains taxes, how could any decent person not be outraged by the idea that dividends, which just roll in every quarter without an ounce of effort on the part of the payee, should be taxed at a lower rate than the wages that normal people work so hard for? If the Archie Bunkers of America (and really, that is who is supporting Trump) couldn’t figure this stuff out back when Reagan got reelected in a landslide, I have no hope at all that they have figured it out now.
Reginald,
I don’t have any data but Matt Taibbi says that most of Trump’s stump speech deals with how ordinary people are getting screwed and not so much with the headline grabbing stuff.
p.s. Thomas Frank has also been paying close attention to Trump’s speeches and talking with his supporters and agrees with Taibbi on this.
The republicans simply cannot claim to be in favor of small government and low taxes while consistently supporting the growth and deployment of the US’ massive military.
Matt Taibbi says that most of Trump’s stump speech
Maybe some of us should actually listen to Trump instead of what the media says about Trump?
The very idea pains me. I don’t want to listen to any of the shitheads. But if you can tolerate the debates maybe you’ll take one for the team?
That complaint is hilarious. “We’ve been pushing for legislation that harms most constituents for the last 30 years, and now they’re finally mad!” But of course, the only way to solve this is for the Republican party change so drastically it would no longer resemble the present Republican party in any way.
#2
I think the statement was meant more generally than that: the regular Repubs may not have figured out the finer points of the economics legislation that the GOP advocates, but they sure as hell know they are still in relative poverty, underemployed, losing services etc etc.
Nothing new about this. The GOP has been selling their voters down the river for decades!!! Trump is a symptom, not a cause.
That being said, Trump is also not a solution. He is part of the problem, an opportunistic demagogue who will sell them down the river again somehow, someway.
The peasants know something is wrong. Some are picking up their pitchforks and torches. Fewer have any idea what castle to storm or why.
Well it’s nice to hear some people finally admit it. I feel like there ought to have been a common-sense quiz to go with this (remember when conservatives used to tell themselves they were the practical ones and it was liberals who were out of touch with reality?). Maybe something like “We’d like to give tons of money and profit to the owner of your company. If the owner of your company won the lottery, how much would they share with you?”