(December 15, 2020 at 2:40 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: What exactly was praiseworthy?  I must have missed a memo.

I've never heard any Republican say that Trump didn't 100% implement Republican policies.  That is despite Trump not even knowing what Republicans stand for.

Republicans really like tax cuts.  Trump signed them (and likely put in a plug to make sure the inheritance tax got removed). 

That's probably about it for accomplishments.  The rest were random policies thought up by Stephen Miller, something Trump saw on FOX, or something that stoked Trump's ego (like having love-ins with dictators).

(December 15, 2020 at 2:45 pm)HappySkeptic Wrote:

(December 15, 2020 at 2:40 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: What exactly was praiseworthy?  I must have missed a memo.

I've never heard any Republican say that Trump didn't 100% implement Republican policies.  That is despite Trump not even knowing what Republicans stand for.

Republicans really like tax cuts.  Trump signed them (and likely put in a plug to make sure the inheritance tax got removed). 

That's probably about it for accomplishments.  The rest were random policies thought up by Stephen Miller, something Trump saw on FOX, or something that stoked Trump's ego (like having love-ins with dictators).

I thought his policy was just to get rid of as much stuff that Obama had done that he possibly could.

(December 15, 2020 at 2:54 pm)arewethereyet Wrote:

(December 15, 2020 at 2:45 pm)HappySkeptic Wrote: I've never heard any Republican say that Trump didn't 100% implement Republican policies.  That is despite Trump not even knowing what Republicans stand for.

Republicans really like tax cuts.  Trump signed them (and likely put in a plug to make sure the inheritance tax got removed). 

That's probably about it for accomplishments.  The rest were random policies thought up by Stephen Miller, something Trump saw on FOX, or something that stoked Trump's ego (like having love-ins with dictators).

I thought his policy was just to get rid of as much stuff that Obama had done that he possibly could.

Why not both?

(December 15, 2020 at 2:45 pm)HappySkeptic Wrote:

(December 15, 2020 at 2:40 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: What exactly was praiseworthy?  I must have missed a memo.

I've never heard any Republican say that Trump didn't 100% implement Republican policies.  That is despite Trump not even knowing what Republicans stand for.

Republicans really like tax cuts.  Trump signed them (and likely put in a plug to make sure the inheritance tax got removed). 

That's probably about it for accomplishments.  The rest were random policies thought up by Stephen Miller, something Trump saw on FOX, or something that stoked Trump's ego (like having love-ins with dictators).

Donald Trump implemented quite a number of policies which were, prior to him, anathema to Republicans. 
Whether Republicans admit it or not is irrelevant. 
Trump started a trade-war, over tariffs. Many "free-trader" Republicans were apalled and in fact said so at the time. 
Trump's tax bill (which will no doubt be amended in the year or two to come) has such a huge deficit in the out-years, it also was against every "fiscally conservative" 
Republican's position ever.

(December 22, 2020 at 1:17 pm)Bucky Ball Wrote: Trump's tax bill (which will no doubt be amended in the year or two to come) has such a huge deficit in the out-years, it also was against every "fiscally conservative" 
Republican's position ever.

You're wrong on this one. Every republitraitor president in the last fifty years has proposed a tax break on the rich that is fiscally irresponsible and leaves the country mired in debt.

It's because of their motto "soak the poor to feed the rich".

The confusion comes from the difference between what Republicans say they will do and what they end up doing.  For example, here is an excerpt from a speech given by Reagan in support of a balanced budget amendment.

"We must not, and we will not, permit prospects for lasting economic recovery to be buried beneath an endless tide of red ink," Reagan said in his Rose Garden remarks. "Americans understand that the discipline of a balanced-budget amendment is essential to stop squandering and overtaxing. And they're saying the time to pass the amendment is now."

And here is how the deficit grew under Reagan:

If memory serves, I believe Regan and all Republicans since have espoused a philosophy of cutting taxes without necessarily cutting government programs. A "starve the beast" approach. Of course at the same time all Republican administrations have signed on to most military budget increases, needed or not. This philosophy of course causes deficits to increase because spending hasn't dramatically decreased. Maybe a little here and there, but nothing dramatic. And this graph illustrates how the great recession and covid recession have furthered the deficit. The latest military budget was for over $740 Billion. The green line probably shows where the deficit might have gone if we had kept taxes where they were pre-Regan. The only reason it dipped during Clinton's era was he increased taxes a smidge. Bottom line is that as a country, we just spend too much and take in too little in taxes. Much like the Romans, we are addicted to war.

Clinton decreased defense spending and during that time the "dot com bubble" increased revenue.  Note the ratio to GDP in the graph.

I'm not sure how much the dot com contributed to tax revenues. The bubble was in stock market speculation, so the only way that gets taxed is through capital gains and only if you cash out. The economy was growing leaps and bounds and that had tax revenues soaring.

(December 22, 2020 at 3:05 pm)Nomad Wrote:

(December 22, 2020 at 1:17 pm)Bucky Ball Wrote: Trump's tax bill (which will no doubt be amended in the year or two to come) has such a huge deficit in the out-years, it also was against every "fiscally conservative" 
Republican's position ever.

You're wrong on this one. Every republitraitor president in the last fifty years has proposed a tax break on the rich that is fiscally irresponsible and leaves the country mired in debt.

It's because of their motto "soak the poor to feed the rich".

In practice, no matter what the Republican Party says, “fiscal conservatism” is largely a fantasy. They may use it as a justification for cutting the social safety nets, but theory invariably goes out the window, on a large scale, because they will invariably find a way to increase spending, and if it means borrowing money they can’t get from tax revenue because they cut taxes, then so be it.