Donald Trump has embraced the Right Wing mantra, like no other, talk patriotically, as you screw those who support you. It is a modus operandi that fits perfectly with Trump’s life-long behavior. In other words, practice fake patriotism.
It is surprising that the faux patriotism has fooled so many for so long. Trump and the Right Wing’s misinformation complex practice remains very effective.
Recently Robert Reich wrote a piece titled “Patriotism, Taxes, and Trump” that lays it out. He said the following.
Selling the Trump-Republican tax plan should be awkward for an administration that has made patriotism its central theme. That’s because patriotism isn’t mostly about saluting the flag and standing during the national anthem. It’s about taking a fair share of the burden of keeping America going.
But the tax plan gives American corporations a $2 trillion tax break, at a time when they’re enjoying record profits and stashing unprecedented amounts of cash in offshore tax shelters. And it gives America’s wealthiest citizens trillions more, when the richest 1 percent now hold a record 38.6 percent of the nation’s total wealth, up from 33.7 percent a decade ago.
Reich points out an unfortunate truth. Republicans are reinstituting trickle-down economics on steroids not out of duty to improve the economy of each American citizen, the patriotic thing to do, but because donations will dry up from wealthy donors who want the mechanism to pilfer Americans, an unpatriotic act.
The reason Republicans give for enacting the plan is “supply-side” trickle-down nonsense. The real reason is payback to the GOP’s mega-donors. A few Republicans are starting to admit this. Last week, Gary Cohn, Trump’s lead economic advisor, conceded in an interviewthat “the most excited group out there are big CEOs, about our tax plan.”
Republican Rep. Chris Collins admitted that “my donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.’” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham warned that if Republicans failed to pass tax reform, “the financial contributions will stop.”
Reich concluded his article with an indictment of the Republican tax cut scam and admonished the lack of patriotism of those pushing Republicans to hurt the working class for the benefit of a few.
Robert Reich’s book, “Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few” is a must-read. For those who believe in and want to give capitalism a last chance to succeed, it is a great read.