Thread by @ezralevin

OK, I’ve got 4 thoughts to share on the passage of this historically monstrous tax bill in the House and now the Senate tonight.

I know, it's past 1am (blame the GOP for these midnight shenanigans), but I just gotta get this out.

1st thought: this really, really sucks. I've noticed some progressives want to paint this as a “win” because this will “hurt” the GOP in elections next year. That’s not a where I start. This bill will have real and awful human consequences. This is tragic.

If it wasn’t clear before, it’s very clear now: the congressional GOP are ideological extremists. They cared less about their constituents and our democratic institutions than about raw political power and the enrichment of themselves and their donors.

This legislation shovels billions of dollars to the rich and corporations while raising taxes on workers. It leaves millions of Americans without healthcare coverage and destabilizes the health insurance markets for everybody else. And it costs us all around $2 trillion.

The abominable-ness of this bill is matched by an equally abominable process. The GOP passed this wildly unpopular, multi-trillion dollar attack on our tax & health systems faster than it takes to name a post office.

This isn't how representative democracy is supposed to work.

So, no, this is not a “win.” The GOP wielded its power cynically and unilaterally - and yes there will be consequences for them. But this brings disgrace to our republic, and it will bring pain and suffering to our people for years to come.

This is a loss for us all.

2nd thought: the resistance crushed it. In every state - it doesn’t matter how blue, red, or purple - constituents fought against this bill on their home turf. We made it as painful as possible for the GOP to betray their constituents.

I am 100% confident that had we had we mobilized 10 or 100 more actions, the outcome would have been the same. But had we failed to mobilize, it would have happened faster, it would have been worse, it would have had Dem support.

If you fought this fight, you should be proud.

I have to give a shout out to @indivisibleteam. @chadderr on our team led the tax scam fight for us. He came up with the “tax scam” frame and his team produced an uncountable number of resources for our field so they could fight back on their home turf. And fight back they did.

3rd thought: The fight’s not over. We now have two tasks:
-Define for the public precisely what this GOP congress just did.
-Retake power.

Our message to the GOP is simple: We will replace you, & then we will repeal your god-awful legislation.

Repeal & replace, remember? Back in March 2010, when the Tea Party lost on Obamacare, they didn’t give up. That loss fueled their takeover of govt. This loss will fuel ours.

Tomorrow, the next day, and every day until they're out of office, no GOP Senator or Representative should be able to appear in public without getting asked why they voted to cut their own taxes, raise taxes on constituents, wreck our health care, & explode the deficit.

Some are up for reelection in 2018. Some are up in 2020. Some are up in 2022. They will lose and they will be publicly disgraced.

We will not forget.
We will not move on.
We will take away their majority.
We will hang this around their necks and it will drag them down.

4th (last!) thought: The GOP just unilaterally changed how policy is made - and this ultimately won't work out well for them or their rich, white supremacist donors. The new rules say that all you need are 50 votes to pass historic legislation. That’s the world we live in now.

We must rebuild. Yes we will beat them, but we’re not just in this to “win.” The question for us now is not only how we undo the damage they’ve done, but how we take advantage of this new world to build something up.

We are going to have a progressive House, Senate, & Presidency. This GOP congress' first bill in 2017 was an attack on our health care and a giveaway to their despicable donors. What will our first bill in 2019 be? What will it be in 2021? And who will be introducing those bills?

The work we do now and in the coming months will define what’s possible. As hard as tonight’s loss is - and as much damage as we know is yet to come - this is the opportunity we have.

We will fight. We will win.