Douthat: Right.
Bannon: I’m talking about significant spending cuts, starting in defense. Medicare and Social Security are off to the side. Significant spending cuts, and if we don’t get the cuts and the wealthy don’t have some cuts, I don’t want to increase taxes on the wealthy just because I believe in soak the rich. Maybe I do, but I would not want to be part of policy.
I want to do that to get our financial house in order because we just can’t keep borrowing a trillion dollars every 100 days. So yes, if we can’t balance it, in addition with more tax cuts for the working class, particularly Social Security, then we’ve got to close that gap from $2 trillion, and Congressional Budget Office backs me up. House Freedom Caucus has said it’s got to be $2 trillion a year. We got to close that.
I think it’s spending cuts, and if it has to be increased taxes — not just they don’t get the tax cuts reinstalled from Trump ’17, but you actually increase taxes on these people. And I believe in incentives. I believe, Ross, that will incentivize the donor class to get focused on cutting government spending.
Let’s make them part of the process. So that’s the only way you can do it. When I mention tax cuts, and I’m going to tell you, when I go around and give speeches — I gave one to Wall Street, a third of the audience of a Wall Street crowd standing ovation, one-third didn’t applaud, and one-third spit on the floor. But when I go to Denton, Texas, or places like that and I say this program about increased taxes for the wealthy, it’s a standing ovation. The people are there, and the voters are there.
Douthat: I think you’re totally right that there is a big constituency, especially now that the party has been transformed, of Republican- and populist-leaning Republican voters who would be fine with some soaking the rich in the context of a bigger budget deal. I’m completely skeptical that there is any large-scale elite faction, including everyone you just described, who are fanning out over the agencies that would be up for that beyond the margins. Like, can the Trump administration tax university endowments? Sure. Absolutely. They can do that.
#Opinion #Steve #Bannon #Broligarchs #Populism
