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Top Stories
Trump’s Trickle Down Tax Plan Is Already In Trouble In Congress
The Gist: President Trump will unveil Wednesday a proposal to slash the corporate tax rate from 35 to 15 percent—a change that would balloon the federal deficit by an estimated $2 trillion dollars over a decade. The plan will reportedly include additional cuts to the income tax rate paid by high earners and a tax credit for child care that would mostly benefit the wealthy, at further cost to the federal budget.
How Fox News’ Toxic Culture Is Finally Catching Up To It
The Gist: The claims have an eerie familiarity. An older, male Fox News higher-up would invite a young, female colleague to his office, make comments about her looks, and ask her out for drinks or to accompany him to a hotel. In some cases, he would forcibly kiss her, or explicitly ask for sexual favors. If she did not comply, her star at the network would be swiftly extinguished.
Trump, White House Go After Court Over Sanctuary Cities Ruling
The Gist: After a judge halted part of an executive order threatening to yank funding for sanctuary cities on Tuesday, the White House and Trump himself both blasted the judge.
From The Reporter’s Notebook
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that construction will “100 percent” begin on his proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border “soon,” TPM’s Esme Cribb reported. “And we’re going to have the wall built. I mean, I don’t know what people are talking — I watch these shows, and the pundits in the morning, they don’t know what they’re talking about,” he said. “The wall gets built, 100 percent.”
Agree or Disagree?
Josh Marshall: “What’s worth asking is this: Is this even envisioned as a foundation and non-profit? Or is Ivanka setting up something like a venture capital or private equity fund? i.e., one designed to make a profit? As is the case on many other fronts, Trump and his family ran the 2016 campaign not so much against Hillary Clinton but a looking glass Hillary Clinton which was actually what they aspired to be and do if they won.”
Say What?!
“We must also be mindful of the impact on the federal budget. By leveraging any criminally forfeited assets of El Chapo and his ilk, we can offset the wall’s cost and make meaningful progress toward achieving President Trump’s stated border security objectives.”
– Sen. Tex Cruz (R-TX) introduced legislation that would funnel any assets seized from Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman as part of the United States’ criminal case against him.
BUZZING: Today in the Hive
From a TPM Prime member: “I hear and agree with you that there are many quite probable reasons to believe that there is a Russia connection of some sort. My issue is with the nature and scale of it. Is it really an all encompassing super scandal, or is it just a couple of underlings like Flynn and Manafort failing to properly register as foreign agents? There have been a blizzard of posted links that I have followed all hyperventilating about a super scandal, and they all seem to be coming from a circular pool of self supporting internet posters, twitter accounts, etc. I want to believe it, but I feel like I am in danger of falling down a rabbit hole of hype. I am a staunch empiricist by nature and have yet to see any solid proof of anything. A large amount of of hope is building up around the Russiagate scandal bringing trump (and repubs) crashing down. The total lack of any concrete evidence worries me. I hear excuses like “the FBI, CIA, NSA are crossing their ‘t’s and dotting their ‘i’s”, and “it would reveal too much spy craft”, or “these things take a long time, they are working on it”. For the record I think those could all be legit excuses, but if any of these amazingly serious charges are true there would be a real urgency to stop it as quickly as possible. Is it really possible that there are recordings of trump or Chaffetz or Page negotiating with the Russians (Putin) to totally sell out the country and the IC would be slow walking things? To put it another way, if it is known and provable that the President of the United States is Putin’s puppet what are they waiting for? From a security point of view there is very little I can think of that would be a bigger threat to the country.”
Related: Chaffetz: Flynn In Big Trouble For Taking Foreign Payments As Former Officer
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What We’re Reading
The Republican Lawmaker Who Secretly Created Reddit’s Women-Hating ‘Red Pill’ (The Daily Beast)
I Got Hacked So You Don’t Have To (GQ)
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