r/politics • u/Quirkie The Netherlands • 1d ago

Soft Paywall Obama Breaks Silence on Trump’s ‘Unimaginable’ Presidency - “Imagine if I had done any of this,” the former two-term president said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obama-breaks-silence-on-trumps-unimaginable-presidency/
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u/EE_Tim 1d ago

It's called the Two Santas Strategy and it's by design.

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u/John-A 18h ago

But isn't Trumps cuts combined with tariffs almost certain to unintentionally reverse Republican propaganda then?

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u/EE_Tim 17h ago

No, those tax cuts are revenue, so GOP cutting taxes increases the debt tremendously (like last time)

The Senate’s budget plan allows for extending the tax cuts under a scoring method that treats them as not adding to future deficits, even though a new estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation projects they will add $5.5 trillion over the next decade when including interest, and $4.6 trillion not including interest.[source]

It's exactly in line with the Two Santas Strategy: spend frivolously when in power, rail against spending when not.

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u/John-A 16h ago

Yes, I understand that but Trump and DOGE are now cutting spending on Dem bellweathers while still cutting taxes.

Not only giving up all pretext of not being Grinches but also cutting massive numbers of federal workers AND now Trump gloating about killing the entire stock market.

My point is the old con depends on playing off both sides because it's impossible to BE BOTH sides, except Trump is dropping turds in that punch bowl as well now.

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u/EE_Tim 9h ago

I'd argue it's trying to be both Santas at once, but this is uncharted territory for conservatives - they've never tried dismantling the government this way as there wasn't a cult surrounding a singular person (Reagan got the closest). Rightwing media has implanted the idea that any government is bad and any spending by the government is bad. In that way, the dismantling of the government is a gift and the tax cuts are a gift. Once Democrats take control, they will rail against the government not working and the debt again.