The Press Covers for Republican Criminals, L.A. Times version

Well, here is an account from the mainstream press, from a pathetic tool named Lisa Mascaro in the Los Angeles Times yesterday, which is nothing but an attempt to cover up the hateful criminality and corruption of the Republicans' "tax reform" proposals, which are perfectly well known to Lisa and everyone else who pay attention to the situation.

I'll intersperse Lisa's comments with my own, and as is my habit in Wingnut Wrapup, I will not dignify this pack of deliberate distortions with a link.  You can find it easily enough if you want to.

"They have a blueprint and principles. They’ve held countless strategy sessions for what could be the biggest tax overhaul in decades..."

Principles?  Lisa and every other damned person in the mainstream press knows that the only principle involved here is the Republicans selling themselves to their rich backers with massive amounts of money stolen from the rest of us, in return for their backers continuing to cough up enough money to enable Republicans to run smear campaigns to destroy the reputations of anybody that tries to run against them.  That is the only principle that the Republican party has had for at least half a century.

"All Republicans need now is an actual plan."

Screw you, Lisa; they have a plan.  It involves not giving a damn what the American people want, or what is good for them, and instead make sure that every single person on their side of the aisle has been bribed sufficiently to make sure they go along with the most massive theft in human history.

"Despite months of promises and what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calls a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” the GOP-led Congress and White House have yet to agree on how to revamp the tax code, including how much to reduce corporate and individual tax rates, how tax cuts would be paid for or whether they will be offset at all."

Once in a lifetime?  The only God damned thing the Republican party has cared about for decades is "revamping" the tax code and doing away with regulations, so the entire wealth of the country flows into the pockets of the few hundred rich guys it takes to finance their permanent control of power in this country.  That's only "once in a lifetime," if that once lasts our whole lives.

“There is no movement on tax reform,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus...“I’m sure they’re working, paddling like a bunch of ducks,” he said. “They just need to make some decisions.”

The only decisions are how to do this while attracting the least attention, and how much they can steal this time around, and how much they need to leave for another go at "tax reform, when people forget what a disaster this one turned out to be, as Republican "tax reforms" always do.

"Next week, Republicans are set to unveil a “consensus document,” which they say will be a much more detailed overview than previous policy papers. But despite some earlier hopes, it is not expected to be an actual plan or bill."

They don't dare state their intentions out in the open, or a few deaf, dumb and blind reporters like Lisa will be backed into a corner, and might just have to admit the truth.

"Key Senate Republicans, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), announced this week a deal to proceed with a package that would add an estimated $1.5 trillion to the deficit, an extraordinary pivot for a party that has prided itself on fiscal conservatism."

A party that has prided itself on fiscal conservatism?  Sure, they claim to be that, but do you think that a person like Lisa rises to her position at a major newspaper without noticing that when they are in power, they do not give a damn about the deficit, and that the subject only comes up as a lying excuse to oppose anything the Democrats want to do, or anything that benefits anyone but the rich? Come on, who could believe that?  Do you really think that Lisa does not know this?  She is openly lying in our faces to hide the reality of the theft of our national wealth; that is what mainstream press reporting has consisted of for decades.

“This is really the heart and soul of who the Republican Party is,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group."

Giving the rich a free ride, on the backs of all the rest of us.  That sure as hell is the heart and soul of what being a Republican is.

“Republicans have been fighting to have control of the House, the Senate and the White House to make some improvements to the fiscal situation, and they are on track to do absolutely the opposite,” she said."

Improvements to the fiscal situation?  After saying something true, Maya sure backtracks fast.  They are not trying to "improve" the fiscal situation, they are trying to engineer a multi trillion dollar theft.

“The wealthiest Americans are not my priority,” Trump said recently. “My priority are people in the middle class, and that’s where we’re giving the big tax reduction to.”

Believe that one, do you?  If so, you sure are easy to lie to.  Check this out:

"Trump has made clear his preference for a massive corporate tax cut — dropping the rate from 35% to 15% — which is even too low for some of the most conservative Republicans who worry it would pile on to the nation’s debt. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan has aimed closer to a 20% rate.

But that idea was abandoned by the White House after fierce opposition from groups aligned with the powerful Koch brothers and other businesses groups. 

That left Republicans scrambling to agree on an assortment of deductions to offset some of the costs, aiming particularly at Democratic-leaning states with proposals to cap mortgage interest deductions for loans above $500,000, for example, which would particularly hit expensive real estate markets in California and New York. 

They also have discussed limiting the ability to write off state income taxes, which also would hit hardest in high-cost, liberal-leaning states."

Openly screwing the middle classes in order to deliver trillions to the rich.  And all at the behest of the worst monsters in the country, who have promised the Republicans $400 million, or more than a million dollars per Republican in congress, if they deliver on their promise to thieve the rest of us blind and give all of the proceeds to the Kochs and their friends. Still believe Trump's priorities are intended to help the middle class?

"But such steps would not be enough to pay for everything, piling onto deficits. Roughly speaking, every percentage-point reduction in the corporate tax rate costs about $100 billion over a decade, putting the price tag for Trump’s 15% corporate rate at about $2 trillion."

In optimistic estimates, let us remember.  The real cost? Probably far greater.

"Republicans are under great pressure from their allies in the business community to make progress on their plan, which is being crafted under special budget rules that allow for simple majority passage, bypassing a Senate filibuster that would otherwise require 60 votes."

I.e. cheating on the legislative rules of this country to allow rich people to steal the wealth of the country.  That has been the program of the Republican party for decades, and anyone, like Lisa here, who does not state that clearly is both a liar and a party to the Republican dismemberment of the United States.