The GOP has slipped into a fantasy world since the days of Eisenhower. They have convinced themselves that down is up, bad is good and lies are the truth.
They believe American voters will reward them for enriching the already enriched, for instance.
They believe Americans will appreciate a two dollar a month cut in their taxes, [which they will not notice until April, 2019, five months AFTER the midterm elections] and ignore Wells Fargo announcing the tax bill will increase their profits in 2018 by 18%, or tens of billions of dollars a year.
They believe the fiction that the ‘middle class’ will reap the benefits of this (or any other tax cut legislation). That belief is based on a simple mathematical error — they define the middle-class as those with their own salaries of around $200,000 a year, (the top 1.6%, actually) and not the $15,000 to $45,000 in individual annual income the actual 50 percentile middle class brings home. [IRS Database]
They believe advertising will ‘fix’ any opinions against the tax bill they danced around about last night. They completely ignore that polls have clearly shown that the 17 million dollars in advertising already aired have had a negative effect. The public’s opinon of the tax bill has fallen, not risen, as a result of that advertising. The opinions of Americans that tax cuts favor the rich AT THEIR EXPENSE is well ingrained, (whether true or not) and each tax cut bill only reinforces the popularity of that opinion.
They completely ignore history. After Reagan’s famous 1980’s tax cut he lost both the House and the Senate for the rest of his Presidency. After Bush’s famous tax cut he too lost both houses of Congress. So did Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama.
In ancient times the indignity of a fallen warrior was that he might be killed with his own weapon, hence the phrase, ‘hoisted on one’s own petard.’
The GOP stands to be hoisted high on their own petard.