In the wee hours of Saturday morning, the U.S. Senate passed a major tax reform bill. While the U.S. House of Representatives passed a version of the same bill, the two are not identical, so the measure now goes into a process called “reconciliation” before it hits the president’s desk. Even so, liberals (and at least one former Republican) started freaking out, as if this bill were the end of the world.
Here are some of the most ridiculous responses to the passage of the tax bill. Enjoy!
1. “America died tonight.”
Kurt Eichenwald, a senior writer for Newsweek and contributing editor for Vanity Fair, took up the Chicken Little cry with gusto.
“America died tonight,” Eichenwald tweeted. “Economic suicide adopted to feed the insatiable greed of donors, who have been refusing to dole out $ to GOP until they got their tax cuts. Voters fooled by propaganda and tribal hatred.”
The writer concluded with a message to young people. “Millennials: move away if you can. USA is over. We killed it.”
America died tonight. Economic suicide adopted to feed the insatiable greed of donors, who have been refusing to dole out $ to GOP until they got their tax cuts. Voters fooled by propaganda and tribal hatred.
Millenials: move away if you can. USA is over. We killed it.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 2, 2017
The most ironic thing about his entire tweet? Donations have been rolling in to the Republican National Committee (RNC) over Trump, long before tax cuts. The RNC has thirteen times as much money as its Democratic counterpart.
As for the tax bill ending America, there’s no need to respond to such a ridiculous claim.
2. “There’s no America now.”
Comedian and actor Patton Oswalt took up the theme asking, “Is there any going back after this Tax Bill Scam? To America? Does it matter now if Trump is impeached? There’s no America now.”
At least he clarified, “Not the one we knew. Sorry, feeling real despair this morning.”
Is there any going back after this #TaxBillScam? To America? Does it matter now if Trump is impeached? There’s no America now. Not the one we knew. Sorry, feeling real despair this morning
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 2, 2017
The Atlantic‘s Conor Friedersdorf, no fan of Trump or the tax bill, shot down this ridiculous statement. “I don’t understand these reactions,” Friedersdorf tweeted. “Trump and his Republican enablers are doing a lot of permanent damage. Tax policy is among the things any future government can just reverse.”
I don't understand these reactions. Trump and his Republican enablers are doing a lot of permanent damage. Tax policy is among the things any future government can just reverse. https://t.co/GnsX1poZib
— Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) December 2, 2017
3. “It’s akin to rape.”
An economic analyst who actually worked with Ronald Reagan also went overboard, comparing the tax bill to raping the poor. No joke.
“It really defies comprehension,” Bruce Bartlett, a historian of supply-side economics who advised Reagan and served as a Treasury official under George H.W. Bush, said on MSNBC Saturday. “Maybe they think that the poor have it so easy that they need to have to pay more taxes to force them to go out and work more.”
“It really — the amazing thing is that people seem to be accepting this so meekly and mildly. It’s really akin to rape. It really is,” Bartlett added. He suggested that decreasing taxes on businesses would only lead to more profits for executives. “This is not going to create a single job, believe me.”
Really?
4. “Millions of Americans died tonight.”
Liberal blogger Bill Palmer compared the tax bill to mass murder. “Millions of Americans died tonight,” he tweeted. “So did the careers of every one of these psychotic drooling animals in the Republican Party who voted for it. This was mass murder.”
Of the Republican Congress, he wrote, “They all belong in prison. We’ll settle for destroying their careers and their traitorous party.”
https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/936853688768872451
Amber Athey, a reporter for The Daily Caller, mocked this statement. “The liberals were right, it hasn’t even been 24 hours and I already died as a result of the GOP’s tax bill. RIP ME,” she tweeted (from her cold, dead hands…).
https://twitter.com/amber_athey/status/937075121189195776
5. Attacks on John McCain.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) proved pivotal in the defeat of the Republican health care push earlier this year, but he supported the tax reform bill. Liberals on Twitter who praised him for “saving” Obamacare are now demanding his head.
“Dear Senator John McCain, here’s hoping you die a long, slow, painful death from that brain cancer. #GOPTaxScam,” one user tweeted.
https://twitter.com/happy_skeptic/status/936859083495243778
“It’s truly a travesty that John McCain didn’t die in Vietnam,” said another.
its truly a travesty that john mccain didnt die in vietnam
— comrade thanker (@dotcormunism) December 2, 2017
“I hope John McCain experiences what feels like an eternity of suffering in the moments before his painful death from advanced brain cancer,” wrote a third.
https://twitter.com/dead_pets/status/936862652990570503
Samantha Sanderson, a user who said her father died from glioblastoma — the disease McCain was diagnosed with — gloated over the prospect of his slow and painful demise.
“My Dad had the same exact brain cancer you have Senator McCain. It is a 14 month death sentence. You are six months into it. In about 2 months, your doctors will tell you .. they have done all they can and the dull ache will become a screaming massive headache,” she wrote.
“And God will not give one flying fu*k that you stayed in Vietnam and got beat every day,” Sanderson added. “And God will say …. who are you John McCain to make someone beg for their life so that the Koch Brothers can have more money in their pockets and the wealthy can send their kids to private school at her expense? And you will have no answer ….”
6/ And God will say …. who are you John McCain to make someone beg for their life so that the Koch Brothers can have more money in their pockets and the wealthy can send their kids to private school at her expense? And you will have no answer ….
— Samantha Sanderson (@SamSanderson123) December 2, 2017
This is just a sample of the hate directed towards McCain. Both The Daily Wire and The Right Scoop have longer lists.
Even MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough — no fan of the tax bill — condemned these disgusting attacks on McCain.
“The extreme hatred being aimed at John McCain today is as disappointing as the extreme hatred right wingers regularly aim at Democrats,” Scarborough tweeted. “We have to be better and remember that Republicans and Democrats alike may soon be called on to avert a constitutional crisis.”
Your hatred of John McCain and of all those who don't hate John McCain over a single vote speaks volumes to the sickness that infects American politics. Your type will be calling him an American hero when he votes to impeach Trump. Grow up. https://t.co/pFeplzBB7R
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) December 2, 2017
The tax reform bill remains in flux, and it is possible the legislation could still fail. Republicans in the Senate rushed the bill, damaging the legislative process in an attempt to pass tax reform before a potential loss in Alabama. This process deserves criticism, and unfortunately reminds Americans of the notorious way Democrats passed Obamacare in 2010.
None of that justifies this kind of hyperbole, or the disgusting attacks leveled against John McCain. This bill is not ending America, causing poor people to be raped, or murdering anyone. In the best-case scenario, it will cut taxes across the board and unleash economic growth to still raise government revenue. It may make things worse — it is hard to say for certain at this point.
Again, no bill has been passed by both houses, President Trump hasn’t signed anything, and none of the reform’s affects (whatever they will be) have come to pass. But a great many people have made fools of themselves, nonetheless.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member