1. Puerto Rico
The administration is approaching Puerto Rico as if protecting Trump’s image is its top priority. That has more or less proved impossible, given that he didn't seem to know Puerto Rico was even a problem at all until a few days after his NFL spat, and his war with the infuriated mayor of San Juan didn't do him any favors.
2. Trickle-down’s retro comeback
Their tax plan, with its bias toward rich families at the expense of that deficit the Republicans never actually cared about in the first place, seems doomed to fail. For example, the estate tax, which taxes income from inheritances, was targeted, as no-one wants to have to hand over their birthright to the government. Problem: Estate taxes are only ever a problem for the wealthy anyway. Filing an estate tax, according to the IRS, is only necessary for inheritances with a net worth of $5.5 million. Indeed, when Trump himself drowns in his own ego or something, his family would save an estimated $1 billion, based on his estimated net worth.
3. Yay, firearms
Then, the Las Vegas shooting made the GOP’s refusal to do much more than offer “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of gun violence even more apparent than ever. I'm not an advocate for taking guns away from people. But we do need some common sense laws in place, though. The bump stock, an attachment that makes semi automatic guns into full auto ones, along with the silencer and armor piercing bullets, should probably not be sold in the U.S. for instance. Guess which regulations were set to be eased by Republicans before Las Vegas?
4. Gerrymandering
Worse yet for the Republicans is the prospect that the gerrymandering they've been pulling since 2010 is at risk of being shafted by the U.S. Supreme Court.That refers to the practice of drawing district maps in an effort to solidify an advantage, and in the 2012 election in Wisconsin led to a less than 50 percent vote share winning Republicans 2/3 of the State legislature seats. Under this, Democrats would need to get well in excess of the 50 percent just to have 50 percent of Wisconsin's seats.
However, sorting districts to give them an advantage gave a lot of power to the primary contests, because both the most engaged voters show up, and they don't need to worry about fronting a moderate for the general elections. That, combined with the anti-moderation pushed by the likes of Sean Hannity and Steve Bannon, is why a weirdo like Roy Moore is probably going to become a senator in 2018.
Logan Graham is a senior studying media arts with a focus in games and animation at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. How are you feeling about Trump's presidency? Let Logan know by emailing him at lg261813@ohio.edu.
