DEMS/ELECTION/GOP/TAXES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “His Republican opponent doesn’t say much publicly about the Trump tax cuts, but on a warm night in a small-town union hall an hour outside Columbus, Danny O’Connor was happy to talk about them — a lot. ‘We just saw, this last December, a $2 trillion swipe of the national credit card, a giveaway to big corporations,’ Mr. O’Connor, the Democrat in a special election on Aug. 7 for an open congressional seat here, told the crowd, drawing nods. ‘That doesn’t do anything for us. It doesn’t do anything for working people.’ In Washington on Friday [7-27-18], Republicans celebrated the Commerce Department’s report that the economy grew by 4.1 percent in the second quarter this year, its fastest quarterly rate since 2014. And party officials said the strong growth report could soften candidates’ reluctance thus far to dwell on economic themes, though they said that Republicans would continue to attack Democrats on other issues, especially the House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi, who is unpopular with conservatives…For their part, Democrats are weaponizing the tax law — which is mired in only middling popularity — against Republican opponents in some key races. Their critiques have been fed by government statistics showing wages for typical American workers have not risen over the past year, after adjusting for inflation, even though Republicans promised the tax cuts would unleash rapid wage growth.”
-Jim Tankersley, “Trump Owns the Booming Economy. Republicans on the Trail Barely Mention It,” The New York Times online, July 27, 2018