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OPINION

I have witnessed poor Americans getting clobbered by Republican politicians time after time during my life. Yet, every four years, the poor - by either voting for Republicans out of ignorance or not voting at all…also out of ignorance - hand the rich and powerful the stick with which they are beaten.

Americans - rich and poor - are 17 months from a mid-term election and 41 months from a presidential election. The damage - economically and culturally - wreaked worldwide by Donald Trump and his cult-like followers, is already incalculable.

Last week, once again, Republicans took the stick offered willingly to them, and began yet another severe beating of the most vulnerable, most ignorant segment of Americans. Rich and powerful people and large corporations never suffer the blows…they are witnesses…mostly unmoved by what they see.

The stick, of course, is a metaphor. Like most weapons employed by Republicans the past century…it is legislation…laws are the sticks used to beat those unfortunate enough to be poor and powerless.

(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

This time the stick is the so-called Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill”…as much a misnomer as calling 1930s and 1940s Nazi Germany…“A Really Great Time for All.”

Republicans have fuelled hatred my entire life…doing more than any other political faction to sew fear and racial discord, among other ills. It is the party of white supremacy…and long has been. Today, it no longer even runs from that charge…embracing it as a trait as central to being American as patriotism, the flag and Christianity.

Today’s Republican Party claims to be a working-class party…the protector of ordinary citizens against powerful elites…not known for subtlety…even a section of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is titled “Working Families Over Elites.”

This legislation - overwhelmingly popular among elected Republicans - isn’t popular with most Americans…even those who voted Republican. That might be hard for some Canadians to fathom…but like Canadians who don’t really know policies but support their party - their tribe - unequivocally…outcomes are often unwanted.

Look up the word “regressive”…and you should find a photo of this 1,000+-page bill/stick. Regressive means returning to a previous, less advanced or worse state or way of behaving.

The “Big Beautiful Bill” combines two things Republicans love to do…giving a huge tax cut to the wealthy - something they did in Trump’s first term - and getting revenge on President Obama by destroying the Affordable Care Act.

The bottom line: Republicans pushed through a bill that reduces disposable income among the bottom 20 percent of American earners by 4 percent…the same amount it raises disposable income for folks in America’s top 20 percent of earners.

No Republican lie can drown out the truth of facts.

Of course, previous Republican presidents like George W. Bush pushed tax cuts that mainly benefitted the rich…but this one finances the tax cuts for the rich by cutting services for those who don’t live in gated communities. Using the stick on the poor covers some of the rich tax cut…the rest is piled on America’s burgeoning $36.2 trillion debt…another $3.3 trillion.

Again, no Republican lie can drown out the truth of facts.

Republicans like to bellow about Trump’s no tax on tips and no tax on overtime ideas. That might sound good…if you’re ignorant of facts…but fewer than 2 percent of Americans are affected.

Maybe less-affluent folks support this dangling trinket because they don’t feel so guilty tipping 10 percent or less…knowing servers won’t have to report their tip earnings now…it’s like you tipped 15 percent. Hey, big spender.

Republicans are less mouthy about two hyper-regressive parts of the Big Beautiful Bill…an expanded, permanent deduction for “pass through” business income, and a higher permanent threshold for estate taxes. Who benefits? The rich and big corporations. Together, these provisions cost $1.1 trillion…over six times the cost of no tax on tips and no tax on overtime provisions.

Are poor Americans saying, “Hmmmm” yet?

You might remember Trump’s promise to gut the Internal Revenue Service. Basically, that means the U.S. government will lose about $3.3 trillion in unreported income over the next decade.

The rich who benefit from the Big Beautiful Bill earn most of their income from methods not taxed as wages. Historically, the top five percent of American earners represent half of America’s unreported and underreported  taxes. As Mel Brooks said in a movie, “It’s good to be king”…or more accurately “It’s good to be a friend of the king.”

Finally, Republicans like to talk about “deserving” Americans when they lie about Medicare. Republicans want poor folks to believe Medicare recipients are cheats, scofflaws and people who avoid employment. All…untrue. Two of every three Medicare recipients work…pay taxes.

Some 16 million Americans will lose health care insurance under the bill…and yes, that’s the same number who would have lost coverage in 2017, when Republican vindictively sought to repeal Obama Care…one of the 50-some-odd times they tried.

An elephant is the mascot of Republicans…an animal they say, “Never forgets.” I didn’t know elephants were vengeful, too…of course, maybe that’s just wishful Republican thinking.

As the Big Beautiful Bill winds it way through the House of Representatives and on to the Oval Office, I find myself wondering…then answering my own question, “What price ignorance?”

It is the Trump Administration…and all his freshly whipped supporters.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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