Republicans of every stripe are publicly shuddering over just how much political damage House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his GOP maniacs can do to their party over the next two years.
The scope, they are realizing, is simply breathtaking—which is why everyone from Donald Trump to perennial anti-tax scold Grover Norquist is weighing in.
Norquist is having fits over the notion that House Republicans want to levy a 30% national sales tax on everything Americans buy in lieu of all other taxes such as income, payroll, estate, corporate, and other taxes.
“This is a political gift to Biden and the Democrats," Norquist told Semafor. “I think that this is the first significant problem created for the Republican Party by the 20 people who thought that there was no downside to the approach they took.”
President Joe Biden, also sensing Republicans' political peril, noted last week that Republicans want to raise taxes on "thousands of everyday items" while reducing taxes "for the super-wealthy."
But believe it or not, that's but one of a ballooning number of political volcanoes into which House Republicans seem eager to toss their party.
Naturally, the party whose base is oldest and most dependent on social safety net programs such Social Security and Medicare is promising to blow up the global economy unless Democrats agree to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Democrats aren't taking the bait, saying they absolutely will not negotiate on raising the debt limit—let alone cutting Social Security.
But even the guy who orchestrated a home-grown terrorist attack on the U.S. seat of government knows that cutting such programs would be political dynamite.
In a two-minute video message on Friday, Trump offered his congressional colleagues a bit of advice.
“Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security,” Trump said in a campaign announcement primarily targeting President Biden over migrants at the southern border.
Of course, no one is more concerned about the House maniacs than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is already trying to insulate his caucus from the MAGA death grip.
McConnell wants absolutely nothing to do with the House GOP's promise to blow up the economy unless the Social Security and Medicare cuts cometh.
Asked Thursday whether he's concerned about the economic fallout of the U.S. breaching its debt ceiling for the first time ever, McConnell downplayed the prospect.
"No, I would not be concerned about a financial crisis," McConnell told reporters in Kentucky.
But it’s not just GOP politicians. Fox News political analyst Brit Hume advised House Republicans on Wednesday to quit bragging about all the investigations they plan to launch into Joe Biden and start actually doing something.
Specifically, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, who chairs the Oversight Committee, has promised to investigate everything from 'Biden family influence-peddling' to issues at the border and classified documents found in Biden's possession.
It amounts to a lot of wild promises without a lick of actual work, Hume noted.
"It might be a good idea for him to get off television awhile, delve into the material here, and when he finds something, maybe tell us about it then," Hume said of Comer. "So far what he’s doing basically is hyping these investigations. He runs the risk of appearing to be nothing but a partisan about it, which is something the Republicans can’t afford because when that starts to happen, the press will be all over these Republicans."
There's going to be more where that came from. House GOP
maniacs are just getting started with the pain they plan to unleash on
the American public and, by extension, everyone associated with the
Republican Party.
No comments:
Post a Comment