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Trump hasn’t changed the Republican Party. It never cared about the deficit.
The Deficit, with a capital D, is something the Republicans "care about" only when a Democrat, with a capital D, is in the White House.
By Matt O'Brien
February 23, 2018
President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.)
In 2010, Republicans held up a health-care bill for 9/11 first responders because they thought its $7.4 billion price tag was too much at a time when the deficit was over $1 trillion. In 2011, Republicans threatened to force the government to default on its debt if the Obama administration didn't agree to $1.2 trillion of spending cuts over the next 10 years. And so, of course, in 2018, Republicans are doing more to add to the deficit when unemployment is 4.1 percent and falling than Democrats did in 2009 when it was 8.3 percent and rising. This is at once shocking, but not surprising. Shocking because this is the worst possible policy — Republicans support stimulus now that the economy doesn't need help but didn't when it did — but not surprising because this is who they've been for a long time now. Indeed, Republicans have shown us over and over and over again that they don't actually care about the deficit. They only say they do when they're worried that Democrats are about to redistribute more money from the rich to the poor. As soon as they control the White House, they go back to doing what they have for 40 years now: cutting taxes for the rich and increasing spending on the military, no matter how much red ink piles up.
But again, this isn't just a story about Trump. It's a story about the Republican Party. Whenever a Democrat is in the White House, Republicans propose very specific tax cuts, very vague spending cuts and very unrealistic Medicare vouchers, so that, after a period of self-flagellation for their prior fiscal sins, they can pose as deficit hawks once again. Professional centrists promptly swoon and shower Republicans with awards, like they did with Speaker of the House Paul D. Ryan back in 2011, for their supposed bravery. So what if their plans don't add up. At least they're “starting a conversation.” It's one that lasts until a Republican is president. At that point, the spending cuts they didn't want to name never materialize, and the tax cuts they couldn't wait to make do. But don't worry. It won't be long until Republicans bemoan that “both parties have squandered the public's trust” and need to change course before Washington “buries the next generation under an avalanche of debt.” (That's what Ryan wrote in his 2012 budget). It's coming in either 2021 or 2025. You know, the next time there's a Democratic president to start running against.
The Deficit, with a capital D, is something the Republicans "care about" only when a Democrat, with a capital D, is in the White House.