[ad_1]
The big tax cut of the middle class on the eve of the elections did not start as a factual proposition, but as a false promise.
When President Trump abruptly told reporters this weekend that middle-income Americans would benefit from a 10% tax cut before the mid-term elections, neither Capitol Hill officials nor those from his government did not know anything about such a reduction. The White House has not published any background information. And while tax cuts require legislation, Congress will not be in session until the November 6 elections.
Nevertheless, Washington's bureaucratic mechanisms have nonetheless begun to work – developing a policy that could be seen as supporting Trump's fantasy.
One of the options currently being considered by government officials is a non-binding, symbolic "resolution" designed to signal to pre-election voters that, if Republicans hold their majorities in Congress, they could get a reduction of 10% tax for the middle class. And the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), Said Tuesday that he would work with the White House and the Treasury Department to develop a plan "in the coming weeks. ".
The mystery tax cut is just the latest example of the federal government trying to change its policies to meet Trump's sudden public promises – or to look for evidence to support his conspiracy theories and lies.
The Pentagon jumped into action to organize a military parade and launch a "space force" on the whims of the president. The Commerce Department decided to create a car pricing plan after Trump threatened to impose them. And this week again, Vice President Pence, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House rushed to try to support Trump's unsupported claim that "unknowns from the Middle East" were part of the government. a caravan of migrants in Central America – for the president to admit Tuesday night that there was no evidence at all.
President Trump speaks at a campaign rally Monday in Houston. (Eric Gay / AP)
"Virtually no one on the planet has the kind of power a US president has to scramble bureaucracies at the service of fantasy," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. University of Pennsylvania. "All that Donald Trump wakes up and thinks, or what comes to you in the midst of a speech, actually has the reality that he is liable to prosecution in a sense strange."
Watch Trump's comments this week on the caravan of Central American migrants heading for the US border with Mexico.
The President tweeted Monday morning an unfounded warning that "criminals and strangers from the Middle East are mixed," and repeated it later. His complaint received significant media coverage, but government agencies did not immediately provide supporting information.
At the end of the day, Sarah Sanders, press secretary at the White House, told reporters that "the absolute presence of Middle Eastern nationals in the caravan was in the caravan".
Although Trump's claim does not specifically concern suspected terrorists, his administration and he seemed to imply – again without any evidence – that his hypothetical "Middle East" might have the intention of committing terrorism.
Vice President Pence, presented Tuesday at a meeting of the National Council of Space, tried to defend President Trump's unproven assertion that Middle Easterners were part of A caravan of migrants in Mexico. (Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg)
In an interview with the Washington Post Live, he said Tuesday that it was "inconceivable that there were no people of Middle Eastern descent in a crowd of over 7 000 people heading to our border, "said Pence.
But a few hours later, Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event that he had no evidence to support the claim about the caravan.
"There is no evidence of anything," said Trump, "but it could very well be."
Daniel A. Effron, a professor of organizational behavior at the London Business School who studies the psychology of lies, said that political leaders such as Trump can make lies look true through imagination and repetition.
"When the lies seem familiar to you, you fear not knowing what is true or what is wrong," said Effron. "There is a lot of information to keep in mind, and you use familiarity to indicate what is true. The other concern is that when you're asked to imagine how something might be true, you know it's wrong, but you do not necessarily think it's unethical. "
Simon Blackwell, retired philosophy professor at the University of Cambridge and author of the book "Truth," said, "If you control the agenda effectively, no independent investigation will be possible, and I think that's what Trump is a genius for. "
Trump has a habit of taking his collaborators off guard with random political ads that are more rooted in his imagination and desires than any organized administration initiative.
Trump sometimes issued directives publicly if he felt that his subordinates were not executing his agenda with sufficient force or taking his wishes seriously. He thinks, "Hey, if I say it on Twitter, then these guys will have to follow," said a former White House official, who requested anonymity to frankly share the president's process.
In July 2017, Trump revealed in a tweet his decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military. His missive on social media pre-empted a policy review with several options that he was ready to receive from government officials. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his subordinates struggled to react and reconcile the president's sudden demand with military practices and protocols.
The Pentagon was also forced to develop a "Space Force" after Trump announced last spring that he wanted to create a sixth branch of the army. The President first said it was conceived as a joke, but "Space Force" became a frequent song at his campaign rallies and he commissioned Pence to oversee the initiative.
Trump also sent excited military leaders in January when he said at a meeting with Pentagon officials that he wanted a grand military parade like the one he had been happily witnessing in Paris on July 14, accompanied by marching soldiers and chariots on the Washington boulevards.
After winning the constituency in 2016, Trump falsely claimed that he had only lost the popular vote against Hillary Clinton because of a widespread election fraud – culminating in a formal commission on the issue chaired by Pence. The committee was finally dissolved after being mired in lawsuits and managed to hold only two meetings.
Pentagon officials have taken his desire as a presidential directive and have worked reluctantly to hold a parade for this fall, but Trump overturned his plans in August, citing cost concerns and blaming local officials in Washington.
Trump has caused similar surprises in the trade, one of his signature political crusades. Encouraged by the fact that his initial tariffs did not force Canadians, Japanese and Europeans to meet his requirements, Trump threatened in June to impose import duties on all foreign auto imports before that a government plan be developed.
The threat, which he had repeated over and over again, which he called "a lynchpin," prompted the Commerce Department to review and scare US allies.
Trump's commitment to reduce taxes, which he launched for the first time Saturday, followed a familiar pattern.
The president has been touting for days an imminent tax cut, despite the lack of legislation so far – as well as any concrete details of the plan shared by all the people who would have need to be involved.
At a rally on Monday night in Houston, Trump said, "We will cut taxes by 10% for middle-income families. It will go on sale next week. He added, "We've been working on it for a few months," said Brady, who sat in the audience and responded with a nod.
Trump added, "This is about middle-income people, all middle-income people, a high tax, 10%. We will put it in next week. "
Meanwhile, the administration officials have begun to discuss a much more modest measure of asking Congress to vote in the future on a non-binding resolution providing for a reduction in the amount of money spent. 10% tax in the future.
But no decision has been made and, in most cases, lawmakers and senior government officials are trying to moderate expectations and divert issues from a tax plan that now only exists. in the words of the president.
Although the president has a tremendous capacity to create his own reality, the challenge lies in the execution.
"It is impossible to say that we will have a tax cut for the middle class before the November elections, unless Congress agrees to return to the session," she said. "But there is a sense of reality when someone describes it in the terms that Trump has described. That is, Republicans do not stand up and say, "No, we do not," "No, we're not," and "No, we will not."
Because of his position, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Kevin Hassett, would likely be involved in the development of the administrative policy on taxation. Still, he told reporters on Tuesday that he could not answer questions about it.
"At the moment, the person who is discussing the 10% tax reduction of the White House is the president," Hassett said.
Damian Paletta and Erica Werner contributed to this report.
[ad_2]Source link
