Should the Democrats cooperate with Trump on infrastructure projects? [View all]

[MrPurple]

I was disappointed that the Democrats didn't seem to stage more dramatic filibusters of the tax bill, or if they did, they didn't generate much coverage. They really needed to use enough apocalyptic language to generate more coverage, laying down the gauntlet that shorting the treasury (which is already in deficit) by trillions of dollars is going to squeeze out Medicare and Social Security later down the road.

I suspect that Trump's infrastructure bills will just be tax breaks for his crony developers to do glitzier projects while core infrastructure goes mostly unattended (replacing old lead pipes isn't the kind of sexy thing that Trump can put his name on). IMO, every infrastructure hearing needs to be a place where the Democrats drive home how the treasury has just been sacked and that the Republicans have wasted the money that could have been used for infrastructure. Every infrastructure debate should be treated as a negotiation to undo tax law changes that most benefit the wealthy in order to pay for them.

That likely won't succeed, but the messaging needs to repeatedly drive home the specifics of tax law changes that that send money back to billionaires and what that is depriving us of. If you look at the Gallup Daily Tracking poll, Trump's popularity has improved after the tax bill. The Democrats need to drive home what it actually does and lay the groundwork that will make it difficult for Ryan and the Rethugs to claim that "entitlement reform" is needed. The public need to be hit over the head with the message that it's the Republican tax cut for the wealthy that's the reason the Medicare and Social Security will be coming up short and that the remedy isn't program cuts, it's undoing the irresponsible tax code changes.