Apr 30, 2017 2 min read

The latest attempt by Donald Trump to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people comes through what should be called the Trump Family Further Enrichment Tax Reform Plan, a thinly-veiled effort to pad the wealth of real estate developers like the president and others of vast means. Did anyone truly believe that he would look out for the interests of the “forgotten Americans,” the average Joe?

Why should the president not think that he can get away with this? He is engaged in every possible conflict of interest as he would have us believe that he has no involvement in the family business empires that are in place throughout the world with more to come.

Independent economic forecasts have the nearly $20 trillion national debt the president railed against increasing massively if his “reform” plan becomes law, but not to worry, the administration tells us: deficits will disappear because the economy will be so juiced and productivity will increase so markedly that we will come out ahead as money trickles down from the wealthy beneficiaries of the bill.

One of the many “big lies” told by the administration was Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin’s insistence that the Trump tax plan will be targeted to the middle class. That will go down in history as a monumental fib along with the president’s pledge that his replacement legislation for the Affordable Care Act will provide every American with health care coverage at a fraction of the cost.

We will see whether Republicans’ lip service to reducing deficits and national debt applies to a president of their own party. If the president gets away with successfully pushing his convoluted version of tax reform, he can get away with virtually anything.

Oren M. Spiegler

Upper St. Clair