Just don't tell him about the SCUD brand disposable assassin robots

Donald Trump just loves Big-Boy Trucks, and so it only makes sense that he's jetting off to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, today to talk up his tax plan to a bunch of truck drivers and business owners, because, like them, he understands the value of hard work, interstate transportation, good infrastructure, and a steady supply of Alex Jones Trucker Speed. Or at least he likes to believe he understands that, because he has seen some trucks and has a button saying he loves them. Trump's speech is all about how the richest one percent of Americans need a big whopping tax cut so truckers can reap the benefits of all the economic growth that will result. The speech will be delivered in an airport hangar, and you bet there will be trucks parked in there as decor. No word yet on whether a big beautiful Kenworth will be right behind him as a backdrop, or if it'll be that weird "Blacks 4 Trump" death cult guy again. Maybe the Blacks 4 Trump death cult guy will be in a truck!

Trump is going to say some beautiful things about America's big beautiful truckers, calling them "the lifeblood of our economy" and fluffing them like anything so they'll support tax cuts for billionaires:

“Nothing gets done in America without the hard-working men and women of the trucking industry,” Trump plans to say in his speech, according to a senior administration official. “America depends on you for the fuel that powers our cars, the produce that nourishes our communities and the beautiful steel that stands up our tallest skyscrapers.”

Beautiful Chinese steel, but beautiful steel nonetheless.

Trump is expected to appeal to the truckers to support his one-time tax amnesty for US corporations to bring profits made overseas back to the US without having to pay taxes on them, which ought to be fantastic news for all the long-haul truckers who have secret accounts in offshore tax havens.

“We will eliminate the penalty on returning future earnings back to the United States, and we will impose a one-time low tax on money currently parked overseas so it can be brought back home to America where it belongs," Trump is prepared to say in the speech, according to the senior administration official. "My council of economic advisers estimates this change alone will likely give the typical American household a $4,000 pay raise."

To everyone's great surprise, the Washington Post notes that neither the administration official who leaked that line of bullshit nor any other White House sources could "provide any detail Tuesday on the math behind the $4,000 figure, including the time span for the purported savings." But it will definitely happen, because shut up is why. One of Trump's economic advisers did toss out the number -- again, with no actual evidence -- in a speech last week, so you know it has to be true.

Ever the skeptical haters of America, WaPo notes that when George W. Bush did essentially the same thing in 2004, the scheme

provided little in the way of hiring, and some of the companies that benefited from the tax break actually cut payrolls. Several studies have concluded the benefits of the effort fell far short of what was advertised.

Obviously, the question we should ask is, why does the Washington Post hate truckers? These tax cuts will really be great. If they weren't, would the US Chamber of Commerce even be able to afford to pay actors to play happy blue-collar workers and small business owners excited about how ordinary Americans will be helped by tax cuts for the wealthy?

The official also claimed the Republican plan to eliminate the estate tax would be simply terrific for family-owned trucking businesses, a claim that was such complete bullshit that WaPo opinion writer Greg Sargent got a whole column out of it.

I spoke this morning to David Cay Johnston, a veteran tax reporter who has written numerous books on how the wealthy game the tax system to their advantage. When I ran this claim about the estate tax by Johnston, he burst out laughing and dismissed the assertion as “absurd” and a “scam.”

Pfft. What about all the mom-n-pop trucking companies owned by couples with assets of over $11 million, huh? Once you get that next shipment of cattle to Dallas, you'll probably have that kind of money yourself to pass on to your kids. Especially if you put off that brake job a little longer and drive a few extra hours per trip, you could own one of the 30 trucking firms in the entire country that Johnston estimates -- if he's being "very generous" -- might make enough to be subject to the estate tax at all.

Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Begin For Man Who Shouldn't Be There At All In an alternate universe, Merrick Garland politely refuses to say how he'll vote on a challenge to President Clinton's expansion of Obamacare.

So let's hear it for all the truckers who'll become rich when Donald Trump passes tax cuts for the people who own the loans on their trucks. At least a couple of them might become rich under Donald Trump, just as long as they're OK with freezing to death in their trucks.

Besides, once we give the rich the biggest tax cut in history, we won't be divided by "politics" anymore, as this ad from the Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity promises:

Between the Alex Jones Brand Trucker Speed addling their brains, and the rightwing radio stations playing Alex Jones on a loop that's pretty much all longhaul dudes have to listen to while they drive truck, we suspect, sadly, they will believe him.

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[WaPo / WaPo]