Let's talk about political theater for a moment.
Last fall, a House subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the impact of one of President Biden's key pieces of legislation: the Inflation Reduction Act. Unsurprisingly, Republicans hated him. They were particularly upset about clean energy tax incentives. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) framed his criticisms around a populist message.
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LZ Granderson
LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports, and living life in America.
“Some of these green cars, the electric cars, can cost $100,000 a year, so almost by definition, the really rich braggarts in our society are the people who build them,” he said, before asking a witness: “You mean they give special credits to the rich guy who likes to show off his $100,000 a year Chevy but doesn't get a credit if he's an average guy trying to buy a car for $35,000?”
Grothman's Norma Rae impersonation was so convincing you almost forget she is the same politician who was once cornered by hundreds of pro-union protesters as they shouted, “Shame, shame, shame!” because his policies were very harmful to the “average man.” His stunt last fall was bold political theater.
As was the response of the witness, Preston Brashers, researcher at the Heritage Foundation. This is the same group of experts that is reportedly guiding policies that a future Trump administration would enact if the former president were re-elected in November. Brashers, who once bafflingly accused the Biden administration of plundering the American people, lamented the lack of affordability of eco-friendly items such as solar panels.
Wait, now. We all understand that many Americans felt financially strapped last year. But does this think tank want us to believe that stress at the checkout line was caused by a year of Biden's inflationary policy? After Trump spent four years plundering the economy to serve the rich? Corporate tax revenue under Trump fell to one almost minimum of 75 years. The top 1% now have More wealth than the entire middle class..
We can have a discussion about tax policy without pretending that all our problems are Biden's fault.
We can have a discussion about spending without vilifying Republicans.
But there is no longer room for debate about Trump's ability to manage the economy. That's finished.
Even before he first ran for president, Trump bankrupted companies six times. (He explained that this was clever business.) in legal trouble with the US government over and over again since the 1970s.
Trump inflated the deficit at $7.8 trillion, and $3.3 trillion of that figure was before COVID-19 reached the US. and required vast stimulus programs.
And now he owes so much money after losing a series of court cases that he is selling gold gym shoes at campaign stops to raise money for his legal fees. Sports shoes with a red bottom: a kind of Christian Louboutin imitation. The exact type of shoe associated with wealth. The kind of wealth that House Republicans say they are fighting.
It's all theater.
And yet, for Trump the show is not over. In a way, this is just beginning and the next act is not looking good for him.
Because as someone whose image has been based entirely on wealth and power, he must be suffering a serious blow to his already fragile ego now that so many more Americans We know for a fact that he inflated his wealth by billions of dollars to scam others' money..
We need to talk about the economy: Last June, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in its 30-year outlook that public debt will equal a record 181% of U.S. economic activity by 2053. But anyone who claims Trump is an expert proven in financial matters will instantly lose as much credibility as the former president has. His record is clear: Trump's policies ruined the federal government's finances just as they ruined his business.
Trump's record as a public official: When he left office, he had increased the federal deficit by approximately $23,500 per person. Just the 2017 tax cuts for corporations and wealthy Americans plunged the nation into $2 trillion more in debt.
Trump's record as a businessman: He has now been found to have lied about his success. That is not an opinion; is a proven finding in court despite Trump's efforts to obfuscate it. In the last two months alone, he has lost court cases with prices totaling almost 600 million dollars. You'll have to sell a lot of shoes to cover that.
We can debate Biden's record versus Trump's on almost anything else: public health, immigration, you name it. But to claim that the former president should be given the keys to our economy is beyond the bounds of political theater. It is dangerous.
