For 20 years, Republicans have told the ugly lie that Dem proposals to tax the rich would devastate "family farms." It's sad to see Dem Heidi Heitkamp reviving this to block one of Biden's proposed taxes on the rich to fund human infrastructure. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Incredibly, Heidi Heitkamp is arguing that Democrats risk *alienating rural voters* if they close a loophole allowing untold amounts of inherited wealth to escape taxation.
I talked to tax experts. It's nonsense. It's strikingly cynical nonsense, too:
Covid seemed to open space for a new understanding of our political economy. Yet the same old lobbyists have descended to kill progress, using the same old arguments.
Dems should lean hard into condemning GOP sabotage of our Covid response. This will illustrate the concrete dangers of GOP extremism and activate the pro-public-health majority. In the Virginia Gov race, Dems are now doing this. It's a key test. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Note this: Terry McAuliffe is campaigning for governor in Virginia while squarely advocating for certain types of mask and vaccine requirements.
GOPer Glenn Youngkin opposes any requirements, even in schools.
Democratic voters need to take state-level elections more seriously. You'd think the huge wave of voter suppression and the active sabotage of our Covid response by GOP governors in red states might make a difference.
Manchin's threat to destroy Biden's agenda is worse than it seems. Failure to pass the climate part of the reconciliation bill would hamper US leadership at this fall's global climate conference. In all kinds of ways, that would be a disaster. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Manchin is threatening to destroy the world, basically.
These quotes from climate expert @Alice_C_Hill are horrifying.
Failure to pass reconciliation means the coming global climate conference could be a huge missed opportunity, with dire consequences:
@Alice_C_Hill It’s galling that the word “climate” appears nowhere in Manchin’s op ed, even as he feigns a divinely inspired reading of what America truly “needs to spend."
This, even as he warns that this spending will weaken our ability to combat future crises!
Don't normalize this: Some Republicans now want to expel Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger from the GOP caucus. Rs who openly advocate for political violence and insurrection are accommodated. Rs who want a full repudiation of them face punishment. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Republicans who actively work against efforts to whitewash 1/6's true insurrectionist intent are traitors to the GOP.
The Freedom Caucus letter calling for ouster of Cheney/Kinzingzer is a remarkable document, a marker of our slide into authoritarianism:
The slide into authoritarianism is a project of GOP elites.
House GOP leaders tolerate Rs who endorse political violence and insurrection. But they punish Rs who want a full repudiation of them. And they're abusing their power to keep 1/6 covered up:
Dems must respond forcefully to Kevin McCarthy's obscene threat to punish companies that cooperate with the 1/6 committee. Experts tell me an Ethics Committee investigation is a minimum first step. @RepSwalwell tells me a DOJ referral should be considered: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
@RepSwalwell A House Ethics Committee investigation into Kevin McCarthy's threat is an absolute minimum.
@NormEisen tells me such a probe could gather more information, potentially implicating McCarthy further. And it could conceivably result in a referral to DOJ:
Indeed, Kevin McCarthy's threat is really an effort to protect Republicans themselves, because they're implicated in the insurrection, and the 1/6 committee will shed light on that:
When Madison Cawthorn disgustingly described the 1/6 rioters as "political prisoners," he gave voice to a widely-held idea among the GOP and the right. On some level, the 1/6 cause was a righteous one. This is central to the threat we now face. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
The right wing self-justificatory feedback loop:
"If we keep lying to our supporters about the totalitarian leftist menace, they just might resort to violence! Wouldn't that be just awful???"
The spin from Cawthorn's spox captures this perfectly: