Friday, January 26, 2018

Shutdown is the least of Democrats' problems

The embarrassing cave-in from the ill-advised government shutdown ploy of the congressional Democrats won't be their biggest problem in November. Rather, it will be their dishonest opposition to the Republican tax reform that will come to haunt them.

Even leaving aside the powerful effect of the long-overdue reduction in corporate taxes, the impact on personal income taxes will resonate in the middle class. Nancy Pelosi might think a hundred dollars a month in saved taxes is "pathetic," but for many people that means a welcome addition to discretionary spending. Besides, for many people, the savings will be much greater.

In the meantime, Trump is going to outmaneuver them on the Dreamer issue. Not all the media bias and invective in the world will keep people from seeing what is going on.

On top of that comes Trump's inspired choice to attend Davos. The Times may trumpet that Trump's "isolationism" (why are they still pushing that tired old chestnut?) will isolate him, but the photos of him dining congenially with top executives from Germany and other countries belies that. Dick Durbin can do his best to poison the domestic well but he is sitting at home while Trump is meeting with the president of Rwanda in Davos.

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