Republicans’ botched pitch for tax cuts could cost them dearly. Their revised plan, disclosed on Thursday, deals only partly with earlier criticism that it benefits the rich. And the chief lieutenants responsible for selling it to the public for the White House, Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin, have fumbled their way through their own script.

G.O.P. House leaders have, at least, ditched the idea of scrapping the top rate of tax of nearly 40 percent, for the highest earners. But they’re cutting to 25 percent the rate for so-called pass-through entities like limited-liability companies and partnerships. Many wealthy people, including President Trump and some members of his cabinet, have made liberal use of these.

And they’re doubling the estate tax exemption and then repealing the tax over the next six years. In September, Mr. Trump claimed this so-called death tax would “protect millions of small businesses and the American farmer.” Yet it affects only about 0.2 percent of the population — ultra-wealthy families, in other words. Its repeal would save Trump’s family and the offspring of rich cabinet members billions of dollars, Democrats argue.

Comments made by Trump administration officials are not helping. Mr. Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, claimed in September that the typical American family earns $100,000 a year. He’s vastly overstating it: The median annual American household income in 2016 was about $59,000. The Pew Research Center tallies an annual middle-class income as low as $40,000, depending on where you live. Mr. Cohn, former president of Goldman Sachs, listed at least $250 million in assets in his financial disclosure.