I never thought I’d say that, but I miss voodoo economics.
It’s astounding when a quirky piece of economics — the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves — actually becomes the official Republican line. Frustratingly, the doctrine’s grip on the party has become more and more entrenched, even with its false evidence – Clinton’s boomthis underwhelming performance The Bush Economy Even Before the 2008 Financial Crisis Kansas fiascoTrump tax cuts failed generate investment boom – Continuous accumulation.
To this day, voodoo economics continues to cause real damage.Republicans who control Mississippi, a poor state underfunded educational programs That is Close the hospitalrecently acted to boost the state’s economy… tax cut.
However, as far as I know, the diatribe about the evils of high marginal tax rates has not inspired any domestic terrorism.
As widely reported, the suspect accused of shooting 10 people in Buffalo is ”Alternative Theory,” it claims that sinister elites — especially Jews, of course — deliberately brought in immigrants to displace and disempower white Americans. So did the men accused of massacres at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 and an El Paso Walmart in 2019 .
Alternative theory was once a fringeism, but today it has attracted significant mainstream support within the Republican Party in disguise at best, and this mainstream acceptance has helped it spread.
As The Times record on file, Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show magnifies this teaching more than 400 times.Lest you think of Carlson as a media personality, remember David Froome’s motto: “Republicans initially thought Fox worked for us. Then we found out we worked for Fox.”
In any case, a growing number of prominent Republican politicians also support a thinly veiled alternative theory.Elise Stefanik, the third House Republican to run Facebook Ads Claims Democrats want an amnesty for illegal immigrants to “overthrow our current voters.” JD Vance, Ohio Senate Republican candidate, claim “Biden’s open borders” are bringing “more Democratic voters into the country.”
why Paranoid Take over the Republican Party? Facts have little to do with it. Some of the most anti-immigrant politicians come from places with little to no immigration: less than 5% Ohio and less than 4% Residents of New York’s Stefanik district are foreign-born.In New York City, that percentage is nearly 38%.
Nor does it appear to be the prevailing fad driving this political shift. Yes, large numbers of Americans are anti-immigrant, racially hostile, or both. But it’s always been true.Public opinion seems (if ever) to be better for immigration than in the past; racial tolerance indicators such as Interracial marriage is approvedat an all-time high.
What has changed, however, is the behavior of the Republican elite, who used to push back Oppose conspiracy theories, but now embrace them as long as they seem politically expedient.
I think that’s where voodoo economics comes in — not as an idea, but as a determinant of the kind of person who becomes a Republican politician.
The rise of supply-side economics coincided with the rise of movement conservatism—an interlocking network of elected officials, media organizations, think tanks, and lobbying firms. As the movement’s core ideology involves tax cuts for the wealthy, it has strong support from billionaires and corporate interests, which in turn means it offers job security to anyone who remains loyal enough.
Who is attracted to this movement? Many were careerists: people were happy to be consuls, whatever the party line at the time. They may have signed on to promote low taxes and a weaker safety net, but when the winds turned, most parties immediately joined MAGA.
Stefanik is a perfect example: Paul Ryan Protégé He has moved seamlessly to full-blown Trumpism, including false claims of electoral fraud, and now to promoting the great alternative theory.
People like Vance who are not professional political personnel are actually proving exceptions to the rule.His defining characteristic is opportunism: Trump’s denouncers turned slave aides, self-proclaimed advocates of the rural poor against any program that might help them. His lack of moral center may be the reason why Donald Trump is backing him.
So when I say I miss voodoo economics, what I really mean is that I miss the fantasy I share that the impact of its rise will be largely limited to the politics of taxation and spending. What we now know is that the acceptance of eccentric economics heralds a general moral breakdown in the Republican establishment.
The debacle opened the door to all sorts of paranoiacs and conspiracy theorists — with deadly consequences. I think there is a straight line from the Laffer curve to January 6th to Buffalo.
