BIG SPENDING REPUBLICANS TRY TO REBRAND

Big spending republicans try to rebrand. Under President Trump, Republicans had no problem passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, giving tax breaks to the ultra wealthy and Corporate America. The manufacturing base did not come back, as Trump had promised, and the deficit swelled trillions. Most middle class Americans realized a few hundred dollars in tax savings, some a few thousand. Then when President Biden was elected a transformation appeared in front of our very eyes as those same Republicans now decided they wanted to be deficit hawks and rein in any large spending proposals that would increase the deficit. In the House, Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, leader of the conservative Republican Study Committee, wrote a memo arguing that the only way for the Republican party to win control of Congress was by "enthusiastically rebranding and reorienting as the party of the working class." "For too long the Republican Party fed into the narrative that the party was the party of big business or the party of Wall Street," wrote Banks. Big spending republicans try to rebrand.

And yet, just months into the Presidency of Biden, we see the Republican party moving towards its old ways, stifling legislation that would benefit the middle class, and obstructing tax increases aimed at the wealthy and corporate America, even though the large majority of Americans and even many wealthy and Corporate Executive's agree that they are needed. Biden's economic recovery package is threatening to drive a wedge between Republicans and the working class voters they're trying to hold onto, by forcing the GOP to choose between protecting corporate tax cuts or creating more blue collar jobs. The Biden infrastructure bill is seen as a blue collar jobs work program by many, especially in the construction, and transportation industries. The materials industries that would produce the supplies for the roads and bridges would also produce thousands of jobs, yet if the Republicans block that bill they will be seen as catering to the wealthy, again.