‘Kill the bill, don’t kill us!’
Republicans in Congress passed a final tax reform package to send to President Trump Wednesday, and you may only have a few days on Earth left to live because of it.
As the Senate was set to vote on the final version of the tax bill, protesters shouted from the gallery, “ Kill the bill, don’t kill us .” Apparently, the bill passage meant those poor protesters were going to be murdered.
Rosie O’Donnell effectively offered to bribe Republican Senators Susan Collins and Jeff Flake if they voted against the bill, which the washed-up comedian claimed was going to kill Americans to benefit the super rich.
Just a few weeks ago, ThinkProgress editor-in-chief matter-of-factly stated: “The Senate tax bill will kill about 15,000 people every year.” Legum also argued he wasn’t making an emotional argument, but a calm, empirical statement.
Other critics of the bill said the bill would only metaphorically kill America and its democracy. Prominent voices such as Democratic Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley argued the bill amounted to the largest bank heist in history. (RELATED: The Tax Bill Just Killed The Universe!)
And the establishment media, which is supposed to be objective and non-partisan, has done a stellar job of endlessly repeating the GOP plan steals money from poor people to give to the rich. (RELATED: Media Bias Against GOP Tax Bill Misleads The Public)
It’s no wonder only 17 percent of Americans think they’re gonna get a tax cut. The reality is 80 percent of Americans will receive a tax cut.
It is unfortunate that the rhetoric over tax cuts makes it seem Congress is debating the merits of executing poor children. But liberals know it works to their benefit to make all issues, no matter how mundane, a matter of life and death. It’s not like Republicans are going to counter it with appealing rhetoric.
For instance, NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie posed this stupid question on the tax bill to House Speaker Paul Ryan: “Are you living in a fantasy world?”
Instead of trying to combat the obvious partisanship and absurdity of such a question, Ryan went for canned talking points on how businesses will reinvest their tax cuts into jobs in America. No one cared about the Speaker’s rebuttal and all the focus was paid to how Guthrie humiliated him with a great question.
At least she didn’t ask how he feels about murdering thousands of Americans.
While obviously the fear-mongering media and Democratic politicians share the lion’s share of the blame for convincing Americans a tax bill will rob and murder them, Republicans shouldn’t be excused for their failure to communicate the plan.
Calculators created to see how the tax bill will affect your returns have shown the nice cuts Americans will receive from the reform package — but they only came out this week and were compiled by media outlets, not Republicans.
Instead of endlessly repeating the tax bill will benefit 80 percent of Americans, Republican leaders spent most of their time talking about the minutiae of reinvestments.
At the end of the process, a few Republicans got wise and appropriated Democratic talking points about taxing the rich to argue only rich liberals in California and New York have to worry about tax hikes.
Strangely, the same people who demand punitive taxation for the rich are really upset Sen. Ted Cruz and others are showing enthusiasm for raising taxes on wealthy people in wealthy enclave.
Guess only rich people in Tennessee and Texas should be paying higher taxes, not the urban elites of Manhattan and Los Angeles.
There are admittedly serious problems with the tax bill that should be discussed. It keeps alive the carried interest loophole that President Trump criticized as unfair during the campaign. The expanded child tax credit does little for middle-class families while massively benefiting illegal immigrants. There’s also the question of whether significantly reduced corporate tax rates will help average Americans. (RELATED: The Child Tax Credit Won’t Save Western Civilization)
But it is certain that the bill will not kill millions and may actually provide a stimulus for the economy. The vast majority of Americans should expect something out of it — just don’t expect to learn that from CNN.
Tax reform isn’t the last time we’re going to hear about Republicans murdering kids or imposing fascism because of a minor overhaul. Democrats know it is effective to say so — shrieking of genocide did kill the Obamacare repeal.
Republicans just need to learn how to better counteract the apocalyptic warnings of their opponents.
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