Reddit Politics Summary Monday Jan 1st 18

What is this?

This is a digest of the top posts on reddit/r/politics over the last 24 hours.
Once a day my bot wakes up and summarizes each post and puts this message into steem. If you like it please vote :)

Remember, much of what Trump does can be undone

(15710) (comments)

• One of the most telling features of the bill is that the modest breaks for the middle class are set to expire in less than a decade, while the corporate cuts are permanent.As a result, the bill is remarkably unpopular, with surveys suggesting that it is opposed by more than half of the population and supported by only a third. As the so-called resistance looks ahead to another year of protest, Trump opponents should distinguish between what’s likely to stick, and what isn’t.For all the talk about how Trump was a different, more populist kind of Republican, the tax law he signed is cartoonish proof that the GOP is slavishly devoted to the interests of the rich. Democrats will probably not fully repeal the bill — many of the middle-class breaks may be extended, for example — but they can and will substantially increase taxes on the wealthy the next time they have the opportunity. Earlier this year, the air board issued a new advisory that emphasizes design rather than distance, recommending anti-pollution features such as air filters, sound walls and thick vegetation as "promising strategies" to reduce the health risks from freeways. When the Senate confirmed the 49-year-old arch-conservative Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, it instantly granted Trump a durable political "win." Just how much of a win will depend on future events. Indeed, since the advent of modern polling, the only major legislative initiative that was less popular with the public was the Republican proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The next Democratic head of the CFPB will see his or her job as protecting consumers rather than dismantling consumer regulations.Granted, some damage by Trump cronies can’t be undone. The next Democratic Congress should be able to undo much of the tax bill — and, for that matter, much of what this administration has wrought through legislation. And despite the tax "reform" label, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s crowning achievement does not simplify the tax code; it makes the tax code more complex. This shift would have a huge influence on the course of American politics, not least by sharply constraining what the next Democratic Congress can accomplish. He’s packing the lower courts with young, reactionary and, in some cases, comically unqualified judges who will affect American jurisprudence for the worse.Legislation isn’t forever. CAPTION A Los Angeles psychologist claims to have left a festively wrapped box of manure outside the Bel-Air home of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. CAPTION Doug Jones on Thursday became the first Democrat in 25 years to be confirmed as the winner of a U.S. Senate seat in Alabma.

Trump said he was going ‘back to work.’ Then he went golfing — for 7 straight days.

(10701) (comments)

• with a young daughter holding a neon poster that said this 5 year old loves Trump, a heart replacing the word loves. "The motorcade entered Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach at 9:40. Your pooler saw a family on Southern Blvd.

Smearing Mueller shows the depths of Republican fear

(6130) (comments)

• If the subsequent lie to the FBI about that conversation was ordered by Trump , Trump also may be in violation of the Logan Act, which prohibits private citizens from conducting foreign policy. Both Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos lied to the FBI about contact with Russians, with Flynn asking Sergey Kislyak during the transition to eschew any sanctions-related escalation. First, he has secured two guilty pleas.
• Jim Jordan , they believe that three other Republicans - Trump appointee Sessions, Sessions appointee Rod Rosenstein, and Rosenstein appointee Bob Mueller a conspired to damage what is already a mangled presidency, which ordinarily would have most of us reaching for the popcorn as this administration implodes in slow motion. Along with other paste-eating nihilists such as Rep.

After Equifax breach, anger but no action in Congress

(4067) (comments)

• As is often the case, Congress gradually shifted to other priorities — this time the most sweeping tax code overhaul in a generation, and another mad scramble to fund the federal government. Instead, the aftermath of the breach played out like a familiar script: white-hot, bipartisan outrage, followed by hearings and a flurry of proposals that went nowhere.
• Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce consumer protection subcommittee, who introduced legislation in the wake of the Equifax incident.
• Every time lawmakers punt on the issue, critics say, they are leaving Americans more exposed to ruinous identity theft scams — and allowing companies to evade responsibility.

Dem: Trump ‘most despicable human being’ to serve as president

(2893) (comments)

• "Instead of unequivocally condemning hateful actions by neo-Nazis, white nationalists and Klansmen following a national tragedy, the president said 'there were very fine people on both sides.' There are no good Nazis.

Trump starts 2018 at golf club

(2577) (comments)

A New Year’s Resolution for the Media: Do Not Let Republicans Get Away With Saying ‘Reforms’ When They Mean ‘Cuts’

(2122) (comments)

• I have a simple request to journalists, columnist, pundits, and others writing about forthcoming efforts of Republicans to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the anti-poverty programs that make up our safety net.
• Bernie Sanders saying these reforms are really cuts, but why set this up as "he said, she said?" Ryan is talking about cuts, plain and simple, but lacks to courage to say so.
• It is unquestionably the case that our aging demographics mean that for a period, the costs of fully funding Social Security and Medicare will rise in a way that by 2035, they will require another 3 percentage points of GDP . We can and should have good arguments as to whether that’s the best use of 3 more points of GDP, but there is no coherent argument that it would be impossible to do so.

At Least a Dozen Former Obama Administration Officials Vie to Unseat House Republicans

(1486) (comments)

• The Obama administration alumni are part of a Democratic Party effort to take back control of the House of Representatives and create a counter to President Donald Trump’s efforts to roll back Obama-era policies.

The "What happened in your state last year?" Megathread, 2017.

(202) (comments)

• And it's been a resounding success: every week, users from all over the United States contributed to the thread, discussing local politics and giving an insight into how their state was being run. So with the end of 2017 in sight, I would like to give you all the opportunity to give /r/politics an insight into your state's most important political news stories last year.
• Greitens in particular seems to have had a lot of dark money going into his campaign last year, and pulled some shady maneuvers to pack the state education board and oust its chairwoman.
• Overall, we’re left with a lot of questions and the ramifications won’t be seen until Walker’s gone, but he’ll be able to tout the early successes when he runs for president in 2020 or 2024.

The "What happened in your state last week?" Megathread, Week 1

(33) (comments)

• The tax bill, approved by Republicans in Congress and signed into law by President Trump last week, slashes corporate income taxes, cuts income-tax rates for individuals and creates a new deduction for business income that is reported as personal income tax. 'The Bullock administration has revised downward its estimate on how the Republicans’ federal tax-cut bill impacts Montana’s state budget – but says it’s still a negative, because of changes in taxing business income. Montana’s Department of Revenue estimated that Montanans will pay $750 million less in federal individual income taxes next year because of the bill – and that doesn’t include the reductions in corporate taxes.