"The GOP knows their donors will drop them like a hot rock if they don't deliver tax cuts for their billionaires."
by Jake Johnson
Just days after 51 Senate Republicans approved a budget resolution that paves the way for over a trillion dollars in cuts to life-saving safety net programs and a massive windfall for the wealthy, White House staffers teamed up with the President Donald Trump's rich donors to launch a multi-million dollar sales campaign aimed at winning over the American people, who polls have found are overwhelmingly opposed to slashing taxes for millionaires, billionaires, and large corporations.
Late Monday, top White House officials quietly met with leaders of the "non-profit" America First Policies, which is affiliated with the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. As Politico's Alex Isenstadt reports, both organizations have raised around $25 million in 2017, and the groups are looking to "play a more visible role" in the struggle to convince Americans that enormous tax breaks for corporations and the top one percent will primarily benefit the working class.
Non-partisan analyses have shown that the Trump-GOP plan, contrary to White House talking points, would disproportionately favor the rich.
Isenstadt summarized the White House donor meeting:
Those involved in Monday's gathering included Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Nick Ayers. Also present were Brian Walsh, Brad Parscale, Katie Walsh, and Corey Lewandowski—all top strategists for the pro-Trump nonprofit America First Policies.
During the course of the hour-long meeting, top officials with America First Policies signaled plans to wage an aggressive effort to push tax reform, according to four people with knowledge of the discussion. The group told the White House it was planning to spend in the millions.
Trump is also set to meet with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill Tuesday, where he hopes to "forge unity" behind a plan that critics have denounced as a "tax scam."
The White House's gathering with well-heeled donors and congressional Republicans to "plot" its tax plan sales campaign came as resistance groups are also preparing for a long fight against the Trump administration's efforts.
As Common Dreams reported last week, MoveOn.org and a coalition of progressive tax organizations are teaming up to mobilize and counter White House and GOP "turbo spin mode."
Ben Wikler, Washington director of MoveOn.org, reiterated in a Twitter thread late Monday the importance of calling attention to the potentially devastating consequences of the Republican tax push and remaining focused amid the "constant barrage" of Trump-related chaos.
"The GOP's plan to sell its tax bill is obvious: lie. The longer the debate rages, the more their lies crumble. So they want speed. We delay," Wikler wrote. "The GOP knows their donors will drop them like a hot rock if they don't deliver tax cuts for their billionaires. Works for me. Let's do that... and in the process, we just might rescue healthcare, pell grants, disaster preparedness, and every other damn thing the federal government does."
If the GOP can hurtle through a mangled legislative procedure & reach a vote on tax bill by end of year, as they plan to do, we likely lose.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) October 23, 2017
If we can hold them off at each step, though, the public might have a chance to find out what's actually in this travesty—and we have a shot
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) October 23, 2017
Source: Originally published on Commondreams.org | Photo: Wikimedia Commons