IRS

Debt Ceiling Cheetahs

In yesterday’s blog, I talked about how Republicans don’t actually care about corruption unless a Democrat does it. In the case of the Biden family, Republicans can only pretend there’s corruption…but they really really care about it. The same holds true to a lot of other issues, like debt.

Republicans don’t give a shit about debt except when Democrats are in power. Right now, they’re tying raising the debt ceiling to cutting government spending. That sounds nice, right? If it’s the right thing to do, then why didn’t they make those same demands during the Trump administration (sic)? Republicans raised the debt ceiling three times during Trump’s presidency (sic).

Republicans are often better at messaging than Democrats. Most people have the perception that Republicans are better with budgets and the economy. But the facts are that most economic downturns occur during Republican administrations and most government spending is created by Republicans. Republicans are as good with finances just as much as they are with patriotism (Russian meddling), law and order (January 6 and defending Trump crimes), and family values (grab them by the pussy).

Ronald Reagan added $1.86 trillion to the national debt, a 186 percent increase from the $997.8 billion debt at the end of Jimmy Carter’s last budget. Reagan was a big fan of the trickle-down myth and gave huge tax cuts to asshole billionaires.

George H. W. Bush added added $1.55 trillion to the debt, a 54 percent increase from the $2.857 trillion debt at the end of Reagan’s last budget.

George W. Bush added $5.85 trillion to the national debt, a 101 percent increase from the $5.8 trillion debt at the end of Clinton’s last budget. He funded two wars while giving billionaire assholes more tax cuts. No one could have predicted that wouldn’t work out (that’s sarcasm).

And Trump? He added nearly $7 trillion to the debt. Take in the fact that Trump added $7 trillion while only having half the time of Reagan and George W. (because he lost his reelection attempt to Joe Biden and is now a one-term loser). His greatest legislative accomplishment was giving himself a tax cut because he’s a billionaire asshole. All three times that the debt ceiling needed to be raised during the Trump presidency (sic), guess who voted for each time. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Do you know what preconditions they attached each time they voted to raise it? None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

But in all fairness to Republicans, there are very good reasons why they didn’t add any preconditions to raising the debt ceiling during the Trump presidency (sic). It’s because they’re lying scum-sucking hypocritical weasely stupid racist bastards who don’t actually give a flying fuck about debt. And in fact, if you listen to them, most don’t understand the debt ceiling. And according to a recent poll, most Americans don’t understand it either.

A new poll commissioned by CNN says that 60 percent of Americans only want the debt ceiling raised if spending cuts are attached to it. They don’t specify what spending they want cut, they just want cuts. But, some people do lie when asked a question by a pollster. For example, nearly half of respondents claim they have been following negotiations over the debt ceiling, but that has to be a lie…or they’re stupid. Are we a nation full of Boeberts?

Are the respondents stupid? Yes, they are. While 60 percent are on the GOP’s side with attaching spending cuts to raising the debt ceiling, only 23 percent say Republicans have the right priorities? That’s like saying Nickelback is the best band in the world while also hating bands that keep rewriting the same song over and over and over and over and…

Kevin McCarthy said, “I told the president Feb. 1, ‘I said, Mr. President, you’re not going to raise taxes. You’ve got to spend less money than was spent this year.'”

Raising the debt limit, pay attention, DOES NOT INCREASE SPENDING and despite what Fucker McCarthy said, it DOES NOT RAISE TAXES!!!! Raising the debt limit is paying off spending that’s already been agreed upon, legislated, and passed. Republicans are screaming about cutting spending before they will raise the debt ceiling while NOT working on the next budget where you do negotiate spending cuts.

And Repubicans are proposing cuts to a lot of social programs while demanding increases in others, like the defense budget. Kids, spending more money isn’t spending less money. Fact, fact, fuckity, fact, fact.

Another demand Republicans are making is to eliminate the hiring of 87,000 IRS agents over the next decade. Republicans have to lie to sell this bullshit. They claim that the new agents are being hired to come after the little guy, but most importantly, poor white people who vote Republican. They will punish you for being conservative. In fact, all these new agents will be armed with guns. Be afraid…be very afraid.

The reality is, most of the new agents are to replace retiring agents and over the ten years. Most will not be armed. And most of these hirings are so the IRS will have more manpower to go after tax cheats….you know, Billionaire assholes. Republicans circle the wagons around billionaire assholes. For example, Donald Trump paid ZERO in federal taxes in 2020. How does an asshole that claims he’s worth $10 billion come out paying zero in taxes? How does an asshole who’s worth is actually $2.5 billion come out not paying any taxes?

So when President Biden and Kevin come to terms on raising the debt limit, it won’t be enough for all the Republicans in the House. A lot of them will still vote against it. Kevin has a slim GOP majority in the House, but he will still need Democrats to pass raising the debt ceiling his demanded cuts. Have fun with that.

The majority of Americans want spending cuts attached to raising the debt limit. But, just because the majority believes in something that doesn’t make it right. Mob rule doesn’t make anything factual. Once upon a time, the majority in this nation was against gay marriage. Hell, a majority used to be against interracial marriage. In 2003, a majority of Americans were in love with the idea of invading Iraq only because it made them feel warm and squishy inside.

Kevin McCarthy created this crisis. There would not be a crisis if they simply voted to raise the debt ceiling without conditions. It would be done. The bills would be paid. It would not push the entire global economy into chaos. As it is now, the nation may be in default of its debts on June 1.

Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans are holding the entire planet hostage over this GOP-created crisis.

Musice note: I listened to Alice Cooper, Alien Ant Farm, Anna Nalick, and Audioslave (I was in the A’s).

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Name Shame

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The likelihood of Donald Trump not having anything to do with his name being on the stimulus checks is about as likely as him not being responsible for naming Trump Tower, the Trump jet, the Trump helicopter, the Trump yacht, Trump hotels, Trump resorts, and Donald Trump Jr. If it’s stupid, it has his name on it.

The man is a narcissistic baby who’s too much of a coward to be honest over his blatant self-promotion in the time of a crisis. That is, blatant self-promotion on government resources.

Yesterday, during his daily LookAtMe-LookAtMe-LookAtMe party, he was asked about his name being placed in the memo line of the stimulus checks. How’d the orange shitweasel play it off? Like a coward.

Trump said, “I don’t know too much about it. But I understand my name is there. I don’t know where they’re going, how they’re going. I do understand it’s not delaying anything, and I’m satisfied with that. I don’t imagine it’s a big deal. I’m sure people will be very happy to get a big, fat, beautiful check and my name is on it.”

With Trump, everything is big, beautiful, strong, powerful, best ever…and a lie. And the reason he doesn’t know “where they’re going” or “how they’re going” is because he doesn’t care about that part. He only cares about what it can do for him.

What kind of egocentric, narcissistic, self-centered, asshole puts his name on relief checks during a crisis where people are dying? According to Trump, not him. But it was him. In fact, according to sources, he held meetings and strategy sessions over it.

This is the guy that surrounds himself with sycophants every time he signs a document, then holds it up to show off his giant signature made with a Sharpie. He’s like a baby proud he used the potty all by himself for the first time.

It’s a long-standing practice that checks from the Internal Revenue Service feature a signature by a civil servant. The president can’t sign the checks. So, what Trump and Treasury Secretary Baby Fishmouth Steve Mnuchin concocted was to put “Donald J. Trump” in the memo line.

This is just like his fucking charity that was a scam. Donald Trump didn’t put his own money into the Trump Foundation. But celebrities and other billionaires did. So, when Donald Trump would actually contribute money to a charity from the foundation, instead of his usual practice of spending it on himself to buy gifts and pay off fines for his golf clubs and bribe Republicans not to sue him, he would take credit for the charitable contribution. He’d boast about how much he gave to a charity and what a wonderful asshole he was. The truth is, he was taking credit for contributing to a cause with other peoples’ money. This is the same thing.

In this case, Donald Trump is taking credit for giving you money that belongs to you.

This isn’t Donald Trump’s money. In fact, it’s not even something he should get the credit for. The $2 trillion “Economic Impact Payment” that’s going out to millions of Americans had to pass both houses of Congress. If anyone should have their name on the checks, it should be Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell.

But what would be best if there weren’t any politicians name on a government check. Donald Trump is already using government resources to campaign for his reelection. Why? Because he’s a conman.

Earlier this week, he aired a propaganda video at his daily press conference that was boasting about all he did in combating the pandemic while leaving out the entire month of February. Now, he’s using payments from the IRS to taxpayers to campaign for himself.

Here’s the other thing about this scam: It may delay when the physical checks go out. Why? Because it wasn’t announced until Monday to just five senior IRS officials. In addition to having the task of quickly disbursing billions of dollars to taxpayers in a crisis, the IRS must change the computer code to add Trump’s name before the Bureau of the Fiscal Service can print the checks. What a fucking asshole.

With Trump, it’s me, me, me. And his sycophants support it. We’ve had three years of people pretending Donald Trump isn’t an idiot or a narcissist. And every time his cult defends behavior like this or pretends it’s normal, they come off looking more ridiculous and pathetic. The real irony here is that the people who complain about socialism and welfare will now have a socialistic welfare check with Donald Trump’s fucking name on it.

Senator Chuck Grassley said it was “nothing out of the ordinary,” except, it’s never been done before. He also said the expense was “negligible.” That means, doing this cost us even more money. I doubt Grassley would have been so kind if Obama had put his name on checks to voters. I’m pretty sure the entire Republican Party would have stormed the White House pitchforks, torches, and rope for lynching. They already had the rope.

If this selfish scam by Donald Trump even has the slightest chance of delaying these checks, he should have declined doing it. But that’s ignoring he never should have brought it up in the first place. Even speculating or asking was a dick move.

Pelosi said, “Delaying direct payments to vulnerable families just to print his name on the check is another shameful example of President Trump’s catastrophic failure to treat this crisis with the urgency it demands.” She’s right. Trump is putting more focus on himself than helping Americans through this pandemic. Once again, it’s all about Trump, Trump, Trump.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said it was the “height of insecurity” and, “In the midst of this crisis, President Trump is doing what he always tends to do: make it all about Trump.”

Representative Aryanna Pressley, who is one of the women Donald Trump referred to with his “Send them back” comment, said it was “a cruel political stunt from a petulant man who’s failing our families.” Ah yes. I haven’t used “petulant” in a while to describe Trump. Thank you, Ms. Pressley.

Keep in mind, his name on the checks is not the signature a check requires. His name will be on the memo line. The memo line isn’t important. It’s rare that people, when they actually do write a check, write anything in the memo line. So if you’re one of the Americans receiving an actual physical check instead of direct deposit, you can have a little fun. You can make an addition to the memo line next to Trump’s signature. Go crazy. Be creative. Be clever. The IRS will have the ability to see the deposited checks eventually, and maybe seeing what you added to the memo will brighten some civil servant’s day.

I’m one of those who will receive a physical check. I haven’t received a refund in a very long time so the IRS doesn’t have my direct deposit information that I’m aware of. I’m also a little hesitant about giving Donald Trump my social security and bank routing and account numbers. So, when I get my check (I think I’m getting one), “Donald J. Trump” will be in the memo line.

Guess what’s going to be in the memo line when I make my deposit.

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Mythical Audits

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I have serious doubts that Donald Trump’s taxes have been under audit since 2015. First off, he’s not whining about it. He hasn’t been tweeting and screaming at the IRS for unfairly attacking him. He hasn’t accused the IRS of being a part of the “deep state” and going after him from directions by Obama and Hillary Clinton. So far, the IRS’s audit of him isn’t the greatest travesty ever committed against an American president and it’s not time to investigate the IRS. The second reason I have doubts is that this audit has been ongoing since 2015.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal has asked the IRS for six years of Trump’s tax returns. Neal made the request through an obscure but frequently used provision of the federal tax code that allows Congress’s tax-writing committees to view tax information on any filer. Trump and Republicans are up in arms over this.

Donald Trump has refused to release his taxes. With the exception of Gerald Ford, Trump was and is the only major party candidate not to release his taxes over the past forty years. Ford didn’t totally dodge the issue as he did release tax data. Trump’s lawyer, playing whatabout, asked, “Why is he not requesting information about the audits of previous presidents?” Previous presidents released their taxes, fucknut.

Trump has claimed he can’t release his taxes because they’re under audit. Do you really believe that the guy who claimed his New York-born father was born in Germany is telling the truth about the audit? Even if he is telling the truth, there is nothing that prevents him from releasing his taxes during an audit.

Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen told Congress, “What he didn’t want was to have an entire group of think tanks that are tax experts run through his tax return and start ripping it to pieces, and then he’ll end up in an audit and he’ll ultimately have taxable consequences, penalties, and so on.”

The IRS does make it a practice to audit the president’s returns so Trump’s recent filings may be under audit…but the Treasury Department is headed by Steve Mnuchin. While the IRS is supposed to be independent, this is the Trump era. Have you seen the Justice Department? Any audit happening right now by the IRS is an investigation of their boss. Congress has a right to review that. As it turned out, despite an audit, Nixon had underpaid.

Richard Nixon was under audit and stated, “People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.” Then, Nixon allowed Congress to examine his taxes WHILE they were under that audit. That debunks Trump’s claim that he can’t release his taxes. Trump’s lawyers promise to fight the release despite Congress having the authority to request them.

Maybe if you’re a Republican, you don’t have a problem with a president not releasing his taxes while also doing business with foreign nations. Trump sycophants don’t need oversight of the president or accountability. If it turns out the president is a crook, they won’t care.

Trump is afraid his taxes will expose where his money comes from. People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Why would anyone want to surrender that right?

Trump is also afraid it’ll be revealed he’s not as rich as he claims. We already know he’s not a great businessman, a great negotiator, or has the best brain. But the faith his supporters put into him, despite overwhelming evidence, is based upon him being rich. Trump is their idea of a billionaire and it doesn’t matter how racist, stupid, immature, or insecure he is because he’s rich. A poor 72-year-old would never get away with acting the way Trump does. What if it turns out he’s just a senile old man who’s rich, but not billionaire rich? Would his supporters lose faith? Would it destroy everything they believed in? Trump not being a billionaire might be the one thing that finally destroys his support from the wingnut base. For them, his not being rich would be far worse than his being a crook.

As Nixon said, “People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook.” As it turned out, he was a crook. So is Donald Trump…and he’s not really a billionaire.

Be Complicit

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