Like Space Force, Military Parade, Aides Scramble To Explain Trump’s Tax Cut

HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 22: U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage for a rally in support of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on October 22, 2018 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Cruz, the incumbent, is seeking Senate ... HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 22: U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage for a rally in support of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on October 22, 2018 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Cruz, the incumbent, is seeking Senate re-election in a high-profile race against Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke. (Photo by Loren Elliott/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

As a president with a penchant for premature police announcements, President Donald Trump has recently declared he plans to give middle-class families a 10 percent tax cut “in the next week,” leaving aides scrambling to explain and create a semblance of policy that previously only existed in Trump’s mind, according to The Washington Post.

One possible solution that aides are discussing is the creation of a nonbinding resolution that could serve as a promise to voters that if Republicans are able to hold their majorities in Congress, lawmakers may be able to cobble together a 10 percent tax cut for the middle class sometime in the future.

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has agreed to serve as a liaison between Congress, the White House and the Treasury Department to firm up a plan in “coming weeks,” a far-cry from Trump’s promised tax relief arriving before the election.

But this is how Washington has grown accustomed to operating under Trump, according to the Post. The President sometimes prefers to publicly report his plans before said-plans exist when he feels his aides aren’t taking his agenda seriously enough.

“He thinks, ‘Hey, if I say it on Twitter, then these guys will have to follow,’” a former White House official told the Post.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Calling this bald-faced election tactic a “policy announcement” is … a little too credulous.

    @nicole_lafond

  2. “He thinks, ‘Hey, if I say it on Twitter, then these guys will have to follow,’” a former White House official told the Post.

    OK, they phoned the Mooch, that doesn’t count…

  3. Ugh, I put on CNN this morning and they announced that The Mooch would be on to discuss The Caravan. Turned it right off and washed some painting show on PBS instead.

  4. Oh. So he’s not, in fact, unmoored from reality, living in a dream world where he can promise things that are literally impossible in the world of objective reality he seems to show little interest in or regard for. OK. Very, uh, reassuring.

  5. it’s very simple, he’s lying.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

18 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for publishermike Avatar for old_curmudgeon Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for 1gg Avatar for epicurus Avatar for cervantes Avatar for ottnott Avatar for dickweed Avatar for southerndem Avatar for clauscph Avatar for morrigan_2575 Avatar for uneducated Avatar for coimmigrant Avatar for maximus Avatar for gregor Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for haddockbranzini Avatar for ourtown

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: