Trump’s mean attacks on McCain

Can you imagine if Barack Obama made a cutting reference to Ted Kennedy while Kennedy was fighting brain cancer?

And yet, Trump does that same thing to John McCain in every campaign speech he delivers and barely an eye is batted.

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) August 1, 2018

One poll shows that 40% of Republicans think Russian interference is alright if they keep control of Congress

No surprise. Which itself is simply tragic https://t.co/s4ctmcBOun

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) July 31, 2018

The original column on the poll.

Analysis | 4 in 10 Republicans think foreign election interference would be a minor problem — or no problem at all https://t.co/MsKQoDEyTL

— val_mccabe (@val_mccabe) August 15, 2018

Tax roundup

Rick Newman on Yahoo says that “Business tax payments plunge, while workers pay more”

Huge payouts for CEOs

As Republicans scheme their second round of tax breaks, here's a look at how the #GOPTaxScam has failed American workers. https://t.co/e1C2eeiEXe

— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) July 26, 2018

While we’re on the subject of the Koch brothers, here are the members of Congress who received money from the Koch brothers within a week of the final tax bill vote. pic.twitter.com/hry5VBErBh

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) July 31, 2018

Remember when Republicans in Congress promised this wouldn’t happen?https://t.co/kOHlc5pMBC

— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) July 31, 2018

Tax as a share of GDP, 2016.

France: 45.3%
Sweden: 44.1%
Italy: 42.9%
Netherlands: 38.8%
Greece: 38.6%
Germany: 37.6%
Spain: 33.5%
UK: 33.2%
Canada: 31.7%
Japan: 30.7%
Australia: 28.2%
South Korea: 26.3%
US: 25.5%

(OECD)

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) July 31, 2018

WH econ chief @larry_kudlow said @USCBO agrees that tax cuts will “virtually” pay for themselves.
Nope. CBO says the $1.5 trillion cuts bring in $461 billion — less than 1/3 of their cost.https://t.co/XPiuhl24uw pic.twitter.com/GZBOwYMLrS

— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) July 31, 2018

If companies had given their gains from the @GOP's tax scam to workers:

– Lowes employees could've gotten $18,000 raises.
– Starbucks employees could've gotten $7,000.
– McDonald's employees could've gotten $4,000.

Instead, that $ went to shareholders.https://t.co/Yqlr22wXPo

— Sherrod Brown (@SherrodBrown) July 31, 2018

I can vouch for the withholding issue described below. I get a federal pension and my federal tax withholding was reduced by 17%. No way my taxes are going down that much. I reset it to last year’s monthly amount. I will see how close that is when I file my taxes in 2019.

JUST IN: 21% of Americans are UNDERWITHOLDING taxes on their weekly paychecks, GAO says. That means they'll get a nasty surprise when they file their taxes.

Check your withholding. A LOT changed in the new tax law. Here's how to do it:https://t.co/5nQOb6kmXX #money pic.twitter.com/Dzno3SjKdN

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) July 31, 2018

Watch out taxpayers, you may owe more money to the IRS next year https://t.co/ukaT6gKk7j

— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) August 2, 2018

Hiring no stronger under Trump

Job growth has been on a roll since the recovery began in 2010. Obama finished out his last 18 months with stronger employment gains than Trump has over his first 18 months. My @Morning_Joe chart: pic.twitter.com/jhKRjesgvd

— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) July 30, 2018

Trump’s next tax scam

Most of the benefits from the Trump tax cuts went to rich people. Now they want to give the wealthy even more in tax cuts. They can’t even try to claim this will help most people.

The Trump administration is mulling a unilateral $100bn tax cut for the wealthy, potentially wielding Treasury's regulatory powers if Congress doesn't act on capital gains, w/ @jimtankersley. https://t.co/8MQOmHGROb

— Alan Rappeport (@arappeport) July 30, 2018

🚨 77% of cap gains tax is paid by people making more than $1 million

🚨 96% of households making under $100k have ZERO cap gains

🚨72% of all taxable cap gain goes to the richest 1%

🚨The tax rich people pay on cap gains is already 10 points lower than regular income. https://t.co/IMK8CKxD8k

— Michael Linden (@MichaelSLinden) July 30, 2018

2018 election security roundup

Trump has shown no leadership in stopping Russian hacking in the 2018 elections. There are other potential problems.

The Midterm Elections Are in Serious Danger of Being Hacked. https://t.co/5Uov6ROk83 pic.twitter.com/aisQWZ2zv4

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) July 31, 2018

America isn't doing enough to stop the Kremlin from messing with private election companies https://t.co/RC1e37lwlE pic.twitter.com/8EohmxLbih

— Paste Magazine (@PasteMagazine) July 30, 2018

Russia’s cyberwar against the US is widening. If Putin targets our power grid on Election Day, he can suppress the vote while smashing our economy and wreaking havoc on our whole society — all in a day’s work at the Kremlin. Trump is asleep at the switchhttps://t.co/6XBB7Bo7Hp

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 28, 2018

Fact check: Trump and the Koch brothers

Another in the endless series of Trump lies.

FACT CHECK: FALSE.
TRUMP’s campaign most certainly did seek support from the KOCH BROS during the campaign, but the Koch network froze out Trump. https://t.co/aMqUPV8VMm https://t.co/Bp6oH5jYI3

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) July 31, 2018

Costs for universal health care

Does Bernie Sanders’s health plan cost $33 trillion — or save $2 trillion? https://t.co/PEpqI3sFJ3

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 31, 2018

update:

“Medicare for all could save businesses trillions of dollars”

From the article linked to above:

“On the whole, the Blahous analysis finds that total health spending would actually decline under the Sanders plan, compared with the status quo, with the feds paying a lot more, but everybody else paying nothing. And more people would get coverage, since everybody would be eligible. ”

update 8/9/18:

Another fact check on the claim that the Sanders Medicare-for-all plan would save $2 trillion —> https://t.co/1ACcmQDAaA

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) August 8, 2018

Why a business CFO supports Trump’s tariffs

I don’t agree with him but I think we should hear his point of view.

The CFO of Gulf Craft, a Louisiana maker of custom aluminum boats, told me Trump's tariffs are very tough on the company, but he still strongly supports Trump's decision. I told him people on Twitter were gonna mock him for this, asked if he wanted to explain at length. He said: pic.twitter.com/V7ThYvb23U

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 27, 2018

Taxpayers are spending a lot of money for security for Trump’s sons

Taxpayers have spent a small fortune on protection for Trump’s sons while they’re out making money for his business.https://t.co/YsHlicwiW7

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) July 28, 2018

The Secret Service spent more than $200,000 when Trump's sons went open the Trump International Golf Club in Dubai. https://t.co/JJLgPpjvrQ

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 18, 2018