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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 12/29/17

New Year's Update for Trump Voters

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From Robert Reich Blog

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Almost one year in, it's time for another update for Trump voters on his election promises:

1. He told you he'd cut your taxes, and that the super-rich like him would pay more. You bought it. But his new tax law does the opposite. By 2027, according several nonpartisan analyses, the richest 1 percent will have got[ten] 83 percent of the tax cut and the richest 0.1 percent, 60 percent of it. As Trump told his wealthy friends at Mar-a-Lago just days after the tax bill became law, "You all just got a lot richer."

2. He promised to close "special interest loopholes that have been so good for Wall Street investors but unfair to American workers," especially the notorious "carried interest" loophole for private-equity, hedge fund, and real estate partners. You bought it. But the new tax law keeps the "carried interest" loophole.

3. He told you he'd repeal Obamacare and replace it with something "beautiful." You bought it. But he didn't repeal and he didn't replace. (Just as well: His plan would have knocked at least 23 million off health insurance, including many of you.) Instead, he's doing what he can to cut it back and replace it with nothing. The new tax law will result in 13 million people losing health coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

4. He told you he'd invest $1 trillion in our nation' crumbling infrastructure. You bought it. But after his giant tax cut for corporations and millionaires, there's no money left for infrastructure.

5. He said he'd clean the Washington swamp. You bought it. But he's brought into his administration more billionaires, CEOs, and Wall Street moguls than in any administration in history, to make laws that will enrich their businesses, and he's filled departments and agencies with former lobbyists, lawyers and consultants who are crafting new policies for the same industries they recently worked for.

6. He said he'd use his business experience to whip the White House into shape. You bought it. But he has created the most dysfunctional, back-stabbing White House in modern history, and has already fired and replaced so many assistants (one of them hired and fired in a little more than a week) that people there barely know who's in charge of what.

7. He told you he'd "bring down drug prices" by making deals with drug companies. You bought it. But now the White House says that promise is "inoperative."

8. He promised "a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections." You bought it. But foreign lobbyists are still raising money for American elections.

9. He told you "I'm not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid." You bought it. But he and House Speaker Paul Ryan are already planning such cuts in order to deal with the ballooning deficit created, in part, by the new tax law for corporations and the rich.

10. He promised "six weeks of paid maternity leave to any mother with a newborn child whose employer does not provide the benefit." You bought it. But the giant tax cut for corporations and the rich doesn't leave any money for this.

11. He said that on Day One he'd label China a "currency manipulator." You bought it. But then he met with China's president Xi Jinping and declared "China is not a currency manipulator." Ever since then, Trump has been cozying up to Xi.

12. He said he wouldn't bomb Syria. You bought it. But then he bombed Syria.

13. He said he'd build a "wall" across the southern border. You believed him. But there's no money for that, either. Chief of staff John Kelly says it is "unlikely that we will build a wall, a physical barrier, from sea to shining sea."

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Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, has a new film, "Inequality for All," to be released September 27. He blogs at www.robertreich.org.

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