A New Yorker article of June 20, 2016, entitled "Occupied Territory"and written by Ryan Lizza, is a compendium of unexamined precepts, fairy tale yearnings of prominent GOPers, misleading statements on GOP policy and practice, and a forlorn hope that the real Donald Trump is totally different from the imperial Trump.
Lizza says that there is wide agreement about the meaning of conservatism. "The Party stands for lower taxes, less government, deregulation, free trade, and austere budgets." After "lower taxes," Lizza should have added "for the wealthy," as beginning with Ronald Reagan, and put on steroids by George W.Bush, the income tax burden has been shifted down lower on the economic totem pole, with the great bulk of the tax cuts accruing to the wealthiest tax filers.
In regard to less government, the Republican Party stands for a bloated Pentagon, the maintenance of an intelligence empire created most centrally after 9/11, and a foreign policy dominated by the use of military force. Since much of the federal budget goes to fund the program needs described above, with the addition of trust fund spending for the major entitlement programs, and interest on the budgetary debt, there is relatively little left to fund domestic programs. Thus, the Republican Party does not and cannot stand for "austere budgets."
Ryan Lizza calls Maine's Senator Susan Collins,one of the last Republican moderates remaining in Congress, yet she hopes for a fairy tale transformation of Donald Trump. Collins says: "But I think, because I know Ted Cruz, and I don't know and have never met Donald Trump, that with Donald Trump I hope he can minimize his weaknesses, change his approach, and draw on his strengths." Even after clinching the GOP nomination for president, Trump has doubled down on the weaknesses that Collins has perceived. Trump's focus on immigration may be his greatest public strength; however, the solution he proposes is totally unworkable.
Ryan Lizza writes that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-ARK) has moved closer to Trump because of his, Trump's, positions on immigration and taxes. Trump's federal income tax plan, written in December 2015, is heavily slanted toward the wealthy, particularly due to his lowering the top marginal tax rate from 39.6% to 25% and his elimination of the capital gains tax. Trump's proposal to eliminate income taxes for individuals earning $25,000 or less and family units earning $50,000 or less is less significant than it seems to be on the surface. These taxpayers presently pay little or nothing in federal income taxes; also, the IRS has indicated that only about 47% pay any income tax at all. Moreover, the IRS has also stated that the average taxpayer pays 5% of his/her total income to the national government.
Sen. Cotton says that the people who are truly hurting are working-class Americans.He then goes on to tell a story about a woman he met at a factory in Texarkana. She proceeds to list the taxes she pays, many of which are levied by state or local governments. Lizza makes no mention that Cotton is not a proponent of lower taxes for the working class. Thus, when Cotton alluded to the fact that the working class hasn't had a raise in a very long time, Ryan Lizza should have mentioned that both he and Trump are supporters of the right-to-work, which takes away the bargaining power of the working class.
Lizza writes that House Speaker Paul Ryan is "widely regarded in the GOP as a policy intellectual." Ryan has written several long-term budgets, all of which have been designed to give massive tax cuts to wealthy taxpayers; partially, at least, privatize Social Security, turn Medicare into a voucher program; and provide a block grant to states to fund Medicaid, even if the need exceeds the grant. A feature of all of the Ryan budgets is that none of them balance the budget in less than ten years. One of them would not have balanced the budget until the 2040s. These policy proposals are hardly he work of a "policy intellectual."
Overall, then, Ryan Lizza has hit some pertinent points but he should have been more critical of some of the pronouncements of those he interviewed.
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