| | | | Donald Trump is never going to release his taxes | | Sometime tomorrow, President Donald Trump will sign into law a massive overhaul of the US tax system -- a reordering of who pays what (and why) the likes of which we haven't seen since the Bush tax cut in 2001.
This tax cut law will not be a good thing for Donald Trump. How do I know? Donald Trump said so.
"America's tax code is a total dysfunctional mess," Trump said at a rally for the tax plan last month. "It is riddled with loopholes that let some special interests, including myself, in all fairness -- it is going to cost me a fortune, this thing. Believe me, believe me, this is not good for me."
We have no choice but to do so -- for one simple reason: Trump is the first president in the modern era who has not turned over any of his tax returns.
During the campaign and intermittently over his first year in office, Trump has been asked about his returns and when they might be released publicly. He has consistently said: a) tax returns don't reveal much (not true!) and b) he can't release his return because he is under audit by the Internal Revenue Service (also not true; Richard Nixon released his tax return when he was under audit in 1973.)
His aides have also occasionally argued that the issue of Trump's taxes is settled now because he won the election in 2016. It's difficult to fact check that claim because the 2016 exit poll -- much to my chagrin -- didn't ask about Trump's tax returns.
The simple fact is that Trump made a calculation back in the campaign that whatever negative attention he received for not releasing his taxes was less damaging than what would happen if he did release those taxes. Almost three-quarters (73%) of people in a new CNN national poll said they would like Trump to make some of his returns public.
Whether Trump's feared damage was that he would be shown to be less wealthy than he has bragged -- or something more serious -- isn't obvious (at least to me).
The Point: Regardless of his reasons, what we now have is a tax cut law -- or soon-to-be law -- that every independent analyst believes will benefit Trump and his family. Does it? Will it? To what extent -- and for how long? We don't know any of those answers. And we aren't likely to find them out.
-- Chris | | From CNN's Phil Mattingly and Deirdre Walsh:
"The House of Representatives will have to revote Wednesday morning on Republicans' plans to overhaul the US tax system, though the legislation is still expected to pass both chambers in Congress and be on President Donald Trump's desk in the next 24 hours. A version of the bill passed along sharp partisan lines, 227-203, with 12 House GOP members opposing the legislation, and no Democrats voting for it, earlier Tuesday. But shortly after debate started in the Senate, the House majority leader's office advised its conference to be prepared to vote Wednesday, citing Senate rules that would likely strip out certain parts of the final bill in order to pass with a simple majority. The Senate is expected to clear the bill later Tuesday, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the vote."
Read more in their story here; and follow CNN's live updates on the tax bill here. | | SEXUAL HARASSMENT SETTLEMENTS | | CNN's Juana Summers reports:
"Congress paid out $174,000 from a US Treasury fund from 2008 to 2012 to settle claims of sexual harassment and sex discrimination against offices of the House of Representatives, according to data released Tuesday by the House Administration Committee.
"That sum is a small fraction of the more than $17 million that the Office of Compliance, Congress' little known agency that handles workplace complaints and represents all settlements, paid out over the past 20 years. The Office of Compliance has not typically made public breakdowns of how it spends taxpayer funds, but has been under increasing pressure to do so by lawmakers and those outside Congress who have called for more transparency."
Read more in Juana's story here. | | | Hanson! Holidays! This will make you happy. Guarantee. | | | CNN's Daniella Diaz reports: The Hall of Presidents at the Magic Kingdom Park at Disney World in Florida is set to reopen Tuesday -- featuring a new robot President Donald Trump (see the above image). Trump's robot is introduced by a George Washington robot, and he has a speaking role. The President recorded his remarks for The Hall of Presidents, just as every sitting president has done for the attraction since the early 1990s, according to the Disney blog. Read more here. | | SEN. MCCAIN = MR. POPULAR | | CNN's Sophie Tatum reports:
"Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain is viewed more favorably by Democrats and independents than Republicans, a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS released Tuesday shows. Sixty-eight percent of Democrats said they had a favorable opinion of the Republican senator, whereas 48% of independents and 46% of Republicans responded the same way. McCain is popular overall, the poll shows, with 54% of adults answering that they had a positive view of the Arizona lawmaker. Only 30% said their opinion of McCain was unfavorable. McCain returned to Arizona on Sunday, where he is continuing to recover from the side effects of chemotherapy for a brain tumor."
Read the full story here. | | SPEAKING OF POPULARITY... | | CNN's Ryan Struyk writes:
President Donald Trump's approval rating sank to a new low in CNN polling on Tuesday, earning the approval of just 35% of Americans less than a year into his first term.
That's a significant drop from the 45% approval rating that Trump had in March, shortly after taking office. It marks the worst approval rating in a December of a first year in the White House by a wide margin — and only the second time since the dawn of modern polling that a president's approval rating sank under 50% at this point. A broad 59% of Americans said they disapprove of how Trump is handling his job as president.
George W. Bush ended his first year at 86% approval, John F. Kennedy hit 77%, George H.W. Bush reached 71% and Dwight Eisenhower hit 69%. Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama all finished their first calendar years with approval ratings in the mid-to-high 50s. Ronald Reagan, previously the holder of the worst approval rating in December of a first year in the White House, finished his first calendar year at 49%.
This is according to a half century of available polling data from CNN, CNN/ORC, CNN/USA Today/Gallup and Gallup.
Read more in Ryan's story here. | | THE LONG NOT SO LOYAL LIST | | | A Washington Post report Tuesday suggests President Donald Trump was frustrated with his Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. As Chris points out, Gorsuch just joined a long list of people not loyal enough to Trump. Here's Chris' list of people Trump has fumed at for alleged disloyalty or for causing him undue problems or bad press: (And that's far from complete). Read more in Chris' analysis here. | | From Brenna: On the ninth day of Christmas, 2017 gave to me -- a press briefing surprise! Being White House press secretary is a very difficult job, so you've got to imagine the highlight of Sean Spicer's time in the West Wing was this moment.
Spicer, a New England Patriots fan, was just minding his own business, going about his daily press briefing, when from the side door there arose such a clatter! It was Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who asked Spicer if he needed help. Gronk, sliding into your press briefing like ^^^
Spicer was clearly surprised and excited — and let's be honest, how often are surprises also exciting and not just the worst? "I think I got this," Spicer replied.
You've got this, too. And by "this" I mean "this newsletter," which you should share with your team. Don't forget to tell friends and family this holiday season to subscribe to The Point. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | | | | |
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