- The GOP offsets some of those costs by raising taxes on individual earners who use tax breaks such as the mortgage interest deduction and the state and local tax deduction. But critics say the GOP could have chosen to overhaul the tax code in a way that concentrated benefits on middle- and working-class Americans — and chose not to.
A guy I know went through a hellish divorce. As in he ended up homeless in order to pay alimony and childsupport and not end up in jail. She sued him for the legal bills needed to fight him, then trashed his credit intentionally so it would be harder for him to keep a security clearance. He's better now, but he just exploded on facebook about the new tax bill. Alimony will no longer be a deductible item under the new rules. This is what he linked Oh, and dumbass proudly voted Trump because he hates Hillary, and Trump cared about the 'little guy' out here in 'Merica. Part of me wants to stand up and scream "FUCK YOU DUMBASS" and laugh in his face. The other part of me wants to sit back with popcorn and watch the cognitive dissonance crumble. At least his three kids get to go to school and he only has about 3-4 more years of alimony left.
Sadly there are lots of the types out there. Folks who would complain about all those lying politicians, but suddenly a sociopathic rich guy comes along and is worthy of trust.
I'm listening to the audio book of Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton (a book that I cannot recommend enough, btw). I'm as far as the Revolutionary War, but even then, Hamilton had an interesting perspective: he was in favor of democracy to a point, and certainly believed in citizens having more say in their government, but was also really wary of the mob. We've of course seen how elitism can be used to disenfranchise groups we don't like (especially racial minorities), but it's interesting to wonder if we're not seeing the side-effects of a greater degree of popular involvement. Trump is exactly the kind of politician that the Founders were worried about.