Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

These Charts Show Why Republicans Who Planned to Run on Trump's Tax Plan in November Are Going to Need a New Plan

These Charts Show Why Republicans Who Planned to Run on Trump's Tax Plan in November Are Going to Need a New Plan
MSNBC

Yeah, that's not gonna work.

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan proposed an idea that giving more money to the richest of Americans would ultimately benefit the poorest. The idea , intended to sell Americans on tax breaks for the wealthy during a poor economy, became known as Reaganomics.

No one bought Reaganomics by the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency, and George H. W. Bush paid for that failure, as did the American economy. But the failure of trickle down economics didn't stop it from being recycled as a selling point by the GOP in 2017.


But do Americans believe huge tax cuts for the richest of people and corporations benefit those lower on the income scale? Polling from the recent election in Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district seems to indicate they do not.

During an appearance on Morning Joe on MSNBC, President Barack Obama's car czar, broke down the numbers. Steven Rattner, who worked restructuring the auto industry in 2009 as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury, is a renowned veteran Wall Street financier.

Ads touting the Republican tax cuts actually took public support away from the GOP candidate. These are numbers the GOP and President Donald Trump need to study leading up to the 2018 midterms.

Polls prior to the recent election, which saw Democrat Conor Lamb defeat Republican Rick Saccone, in a heavily red district, all indicated voter dissatisfaction with the GOP tax breaks.

The 18th congressional district is not the first district that favored Donald Trump in 2016 to flip blue. However it does seem to indicate a slight change in GOP strategy.

Early campaign ads and appearances praised the Republican tax plan, Donald Trump's signature achievement. But by the end of the Saccone campaign, no one as talking about it, including President Trump.

In his final appearance in Pennsylvania, stumping for Saccone, Trump spoke at length on his proposed tariffs, but failed to mention his former greatest achievement. Perhaps the facts that polls have been trying to convey finally sunk in.

The majority of American voters haven't forgotten Reaganomics. Trickle down theory failed in the 1980s and no one expects it to succeed now.

In addition, businesses made it clear where they will be spending their surplus money. It won't be on worker wages as the GOP claimed.

But will just not talking about their tax breaks for the wealthy help Republicans win in the 2018 midterm elections? We will see in November if a strategy of avoidance works for those members of the GOP who employ it.

More from News

Melania Trump
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Melania Just Held A Bizarre Press Conference To Debunk 'False Smears' Related To Jeffrey Epstein—And Everyone Had The Same Response

First Lady Melania Trump had everyone thinking the same thing after she held a bizarre press conference on Thursday to deny that she had anything but casual ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the late disgraced financier, pedophile, sexual abuser, and sex trafficker.

Mrs. Trump publicly denied any ties to convicted sex offenders Epstein and his procurer Ghislaine Maxwell, saying claims linking her to Epstein are “lies” meant to damage her reputation. She said she met her husband, President Donald Trump at a New York City party in 1998 and did not meet Epstein until 2000, contradicting a witness statement in the Epstein files that alleges Epstein introduced the couple.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sarah McBride; Nancy Mace
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Dem Rep. Sarah McBride Perfectly Shames Nancy Mace For Her Transphobic Response To McBride's Condemnation Of Trump

Delaware Democratic Representative Sarah McBride pushed back at South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace after Mace responded with transphobia to McBride's criticism of President Donald Trump's genocidal threat to kill the "whole civilization" of Iran.

Trump has insisted that God supports his war on Iran and declared—before a provisional ceasefire was announced—that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" ahead of a deadline to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges that legal scholars and world leaders have said would constitute war crimes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of JD Vance
News Nation

JD Vance Dragged After Making Bizarre 'Skydiving' Analogy About His Wife To Explain Iran Ceasefire Deal

Vice President JD Vance had critics raising their eyebrows after he used a bizarre analogy about his wife–Second Lady Usha Vance—going skydiving while attempting to explain the United States' position on Iran's right to enrich uranium.

Vance addressed reporters on the tarmac at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport as he left Hungary, where he had voiced the Trump administration’s support for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán only days before the country’s elections.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @mikemancusi's Instagram video
@mikemancusi/Instagram

Comedian Explains How Millennials' Midlife Crises Are Different From Past Generations—And He's Spot On

Don't make promises you cannot keep, unless your goal is to hurt someone.

Millennials know that practically better than anyone. They were fed a long and impassioned series of advice, hyper-focused on the importance of getting a college degree in order to find a good job. They were also force-fed traditionalist ideals of getting married, having kids, and buying a nice house with the money they'd be making from that great job, of course.

Keep ReadingShow less