They started this during the Reagan presidency when he dropped the top income tax rate on the morbidly rich from 74% down to 28%, and the GOP tripled down on it with four subsequent massive tax cuts for the rich during the presidencies of Bush, Trump I, and Trump II. They stimulated the economy with a sort of sugar high, making people think that the GOP can produce a good economy; They raised the national debt dramatically (it’s at $38 trillion today, 100% of which tracks back to Reagan’s, Bush Jr.’s, and Trump’s massive tax cuts and Bush’s two illegal $5 trillion off-the-books wars); They produced trillions in additional wealth for the richest families in America, who returned the favor by recycling billions into the campaign coffers of Republican candidates; And they made people think that Republicans are the “tax-cut Santa Clauses.” Wanniski first proposed his Two Santa Clauses strategy in The Wall Street Journal in 1974, after Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace and the future of the Republican Party was so dim that books and articles were widely suggesting the GOP was about to go the way of the Whigs.
Author: Thom Hartmann
Published at: 2025-12-24 19:33:13
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