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BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, & CROOKED MEDIA Friday, August 30, 2019 |
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| —Joe Biden, pushing us under the Amtrak |
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| OUR LOSS, THEIR GAIN |
| The economy is teetering toward recession and the 2020 election is fast upon us, so naturally President Trump has his eyes on the ball: going around Congress to give the richest people in America including himself a tax cut unilaterally.
Why is this happening? On Friday morning, Trump retweeted notorious rich guy Steve Forbes, who posted an article by anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (both rich guys), in which they advocate for Trump to bypass Congress and give rich people a new tax cut. “An idea liked by many?” Trump wrote.
What is this “idea”? Under current policy, if you invest $1 million in something, and cash out five years later for $2 million, your capital gain is $1 million, and you owe the government a capital gains tax based on that amount. Under the tax cut plan Trump promoted, you would adjust the value of the initial investment for five years’ worth of inflation. Let’s say that makes it $1.1 million—now your capital gain is “only” $900,000 and you owe the government less in taxes. Neat trick, huh?
Can he just do that? Not legally, but when has that ever stopped Trump?! Back in 1992, the government’s own Office of Legal Counsel, which interprets laws for the executive branch, said the president lacks the authority to index capital gains for inflation. Trump seems to want to try, on the theory that the Supreme Court he’s stacked with loyal conservatives will let him get away with it. “Many people like indexing,” he told reporters recently, “and it could be done very simply. It could be done directly by me.”
Will he? It’s unclear. Trump has also demonstrated that he realizes the politics of giving rich people a legally dubious tax cut are crazy. “I think it will be perceived, if I do it, as somewhat elitist. I don’t want to do that,” he also told reporters last week.
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| A Trump-appointed federal judge has denied congressional Democrats’ request to expedite their lawsuit to obtain President Trump’s tax returns from the IRS. Though it’s unclear how long the litigation will take, the delay makes it even less likely that the case will be resolved before the 2020 election. The judge’s decision may have been influenced in part by an 80-year-old Trump supporter in Utah who has been filing motions to intervene in the case that argue the proceedings could distract Trump from his official duties. (It also may have been influenced by the fact that the conservative movement is engaged in an all-consuming effort to help Trump cover up crimes and corruption, so he can win a second term and keep appointing right-wing judges to the federal bench. Happy Friday!) |
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| The DNC will reject Iowa’s plan to allow voters to caucus virtually (electronically or by phone) after members of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee expressed concerns about recent evidence that the systems that enable virtual caucusing are vulnerable to hackers.
Hurricane Dorian is expected to make landfall on Florida’s east coast as a Category 3 hurricane by Monday afternoon. Cool timing for President Trump to raid FEMA funds to build that wall of his.
Experts say Trump shared a classified image from a drone or satellite when he tweeted mockingly about the aftermath of an accident at an Iranian space facility on Friday, saying that the U.S. was not involved in the incident. Look, so long as he didn't transmit the image over a private email server, there can’t possibly be a scandal here.
Uber and Lyft have pledged to spend $60 million in support of a California ballot initiative that would allow them to continue classifying their drivers as contract workers, instead of forcing the companies to reclassify them as employees, so the companies can keep withholding benefits from them.
Three high profile pro-democracy leaders in Hong Kong were jailed ahead of the island’s 13th straight weekend of mass protests, which coincide with the politically sensitive five-year anniversary of the Chinese legislature’s vote to impose limits on Hong Kong’s elections. Officials have charged them with organizing an unauthorized assembly, obstructing police, and rioting.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro banned the use of fire to clear land for 60 days in response to the wildfires burning the Amazon rainforest. Farmers in Brazil commonly burn down trees to clear space for new crops and livestock, and many blame Bolsonaro’s pro-development policies for encouraging people to burn the rainforest to develop the land.
Trump’s personal assistant Madeleine Westerhout resigned on Thursday after she told reporters that that he didn’t like being in pictures with Tiffany because he thought she was overweight, and that she was closer to Trump than his daughters, at an off-the-record dinner.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s account was hacked today, making the rest of us on the platform feel super safe, as usual!
Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) announced he will not seek re-election in 2020. Shimkus has served in the House since 1997, and Trump won his district by over 46 points in 2016. Shimkus is the 10th House Republican to retire rather than seek re-election.
The maker of red solo cups will release reusable and fully recyclable aluminum versions of the cup. Sustainable beer pong! We probably should’ve put this in Is That Hope I Feel. |
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| The Trump administration wants Customs and Border Patrol to be able to collect DNA samples from undocumented immigrants in its custody, according to a draft policy that BuzzFeed obtained. Expect an outcry from civil-liberties and immigrants-rights advocates. |
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| At a press conference to announce the government’s decision to charge a white nationalist with a federal crime, Justin Herdman, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio spoke out against advocates of white supremacy and white nationalism:
“If you want to waste the blessings of liberty by going down a path of hatred and failed ideologies, that is your choice. Democracy allows you to test those ideas in the public forum…. [Y]ou have an absolute God-given and inalienable right to be on the losing end of this argument. What you don’t have, though, is the… right to threaten the lives and well-being of our neighbors. They have an absolute God-given and inalienable right to live peacefully, to worship as they please, to be free from fear that they might become a target simply because of the color of their skin, the country of their birth, or the form of their prayer.”
PREACH, SIR! |
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