slate - "Trumps Tax Speech Isn't Really Worth Evaluating, TBH"
By Isaac Chotiner
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/08/30/trump_s_tax_speech_has_no_relation_to_reality.html
Donald Trump gave a speech on taxes today. Delivered to a modest crowd in Missouri, it was the best example yet of his commitment to infusing populist rhetoric into his plutocratic governing. A president who loves to speak of the forgotten (white) man is intent on pushing a tax cut that will almost surely explode the deficit, all in the service of enriching people even more wealthy than himself. The speech was just another reminder of how little Trump cares about actual policy, and how the things he says out loud have little connection to governing realities.
Remember health care? Trump clearly had no interest in the details or specifics of repealing Obamacare, and displayed an unwillingness or inability to utter more than brief bromides on the issue. He talked about giving health care to everyone and making it more affordable than ever, and then told Congress, in vaguely menacing tones, that if the House and Senate didnt pass a bill that would do the opposite hed be really angry.
Trump seems to know more about taxes than he does healthcare. (We call this grading on a curve.) In his speech, he approvingly mentioned the tax reform bill of 1986something he was opposed to at the time, and for many years afterand spoke at some length about companies moving jobs and money overseas. Trump talked of corporate taxes as the scourge of working Americans (but didnt mention how far the corporate rate would fall, or what effect it would have). He went into some detail on giving a holiday to companies who have money parked abroad, which can politely be called a giveaway, regardless of the language it is sold in. But this speech was still mostly bereft of specifics. Executive branch officials like Gary Cohn and Steve Mnuchin have been weighing in with principles, but once again the White House is leaving the details of an issue to Congress.
And once again we have a pretty clear sense of what Paul Ryan and his aficionados in the House want to do. Trump may have spoken of his policies being pro-worker, and briefly laid into tax breaks that primarily benefit the wealthy and special interests. But we all know whats coming from Congress, and its not populism. Ryan and McConnell care as much about the tax burden on non-rich Americans as Trump does the future of Medicaid. Their interest lies not only in lowering corporate rates, but also in cutting taxes on high-earners. They gaze out upon the vast beauty of America, and mourn that this egalitarian Eden does not give enough aid and comfort to the forgotten millionaire.
snip - more to read at the above link