Do you live under a rock?

Posted on: August 20, 2019 at 21:07:45 CT

Trump raised eyebrows in October when he suddenly began to talk about a 10 percent tax cut for the middle class that would be passed ahead of the midterms. He told reporters in Nevada that he was working on a “very major tax cut for middle-income people” and that the White House and congressional leaders were “studying very deeply, round the clock” on something to be announced very soon — certainly ahead of the elections.

No one seemed to have any idea what he was talking about: There was no discernible plan in the works, and his aides reportedly had no idea what was going on. Congress wasn’t even in session. (When a reporter pointed it out to Trump, he said the vote would be after the election, but the proposal would be released beforehand.)

Trump and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, admitted a couple of weeks later but still before the election that there was no middle-class tax cut on the way in the then-empty halls of Congress. But they still tried to dangle the carrot, saying they’d take “swift action” on a 10-percent cut at the start of the new Congress next year.

Now that the midterms have come and gone, it seems like that’s out the window, too. It was never going to be likely with Democrats in control of the House, but the real problem is that there never was a plan in the first place.