Did you know? The Patriot Post is funded 100% by its readers. Help us stay front and center in the fight for Liberty and support the 2024 Patriots' Day Campaign.

February 2, 2018

Repeal and Replace … Tax Cuts and Jobs?

Democrats cruise into the 2018 elections with a dour mantra that surely won’t fly with the middle class.

Without a single vote from the minority party, Americans were treated to a Christmas bonus of sorts as the Republicans’ Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed by President Donald Trump just in time for that last cup of egg nog. Since then, hundreds of companies have announced a plethora of good economic tidings: employee bonuses of $1,000 or more, increases in the corporate minimum wage — sometimes to that magical $15-an-hour leftist price point — and expansion or major investments in infrastructure placed into motion. Indeed, while some Democrats sneered about how “pathetic” the cuts were and then doubled down on their remarks about the “crumbs” they claim are being given out by wealthy fat cats, those “crumbs” will start showing up in paychecks over the next few weeks as new withholding tables are placed into service. Even those few who would otherwise lose on the deduction end would receive that benefit.

Judging from their reactions at the State of the Union address, Democrats can’t seem to stand prosperity. And this is a problem, because their once-formidable 15-point lead in generic congressional balloting has all but disappeared since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed. Clearly, the Democrats are coming to be seen as the Party of No in a country whose economy has been humming along. Given that their demagoguery failed before passage, it’ll likely to continue to backfire.

So it’s on to Plan B, and something borrowed from the GOP — the concept of “repeal and replace.” You see, Democrats claim that they’re all in favor of middle-class tax cuts, but changes to the estate tax and to the provision that allows a few homeowners in high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California (ahem, Nancy Pelosi) fully deduct their state and local taxes — those have to go. To the Democrats, it’s simple: They just have to educate the public through a series of what Pelosi calls “teach-ins” on “what this tax scam means to families.” (Perhaps they’ll unveil new definitions of terms such as “theft,” “Armageddon,” and an array of others they’ve used to attack these tax cuts.)

However, unlike the Tea Party-backed Republicans of 2010, who figured they could waltz right into office and enforce their anti-ObamaCare mandate, most Democrats are realistic about the prospects for change while Donald Trump resides in the Oval Office. “As long as [Trump] is president, we’re not going to have the 2/3 to override a veto,” warned outgoing Michigan Democrat Rep. Sander Levin. To even have a chance of passing such a bill, Democrats would need to regain the House and Senate. It’s true that Democrats have a slim lead in the generic congressional poll, but the reality is that they’d have to win a significant majority of the 40 to 50 House seats seen as “in play” in order to regain control. It’s even worse in the Senate, where 26 of the 34 seats on the ballot belong to Democrats — eight of them in states Trump won. So while Democrats need just a net gain of two seats, the Senate math is hard, too.

We will grant, of course, that anything can happen in the 10 months remaining until the 2018 election. Surely the Democrats and the media (but we repeat ourselves) will do their best to talk down any Trump successes and talk up any damaging findings from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s rather dubious “Russian collusion” probe. But if the economy stays on track, a pocketbook election isn’t likely to favor the Democrats. All the GOP has to do is remind the voters to look at their paycheck and remember which side voted to make it noticeably larger, and which side dismissed it as mere “crumbs.”

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.