The GOP Thinks You Don’t Know Shit From Shinola

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Chris Frates reports that Republicans are frustrated that everyone is misinterpreting their opposition to raising tax rates on the wealthy. So on Monday, a group of K Street’s “top GOP communicators” got together to discuss how they can change the narrative that they’re the ones getting in the way of a fiscal cliff deal:

“How can we fight back against that and how can we make that point and how can we message that we’re the party of small business owners and we’re not defending the rich?” asked a meeting participant.

It’s sort of fascinating to read this kind of thing. The obvious problem Republicans have is that their single-minded opposition to raising tax rates on the rich is, in fact, employed in defense of the rich. Even the fabled low-information voter knows this perfectly well, and mounting a messaging campaign to convince the public that Republicans are actually defending small businesses is an exercise in futility. It will just convince people that Republicans are unusually shameless hucksters who think their constituents can’t distinguish fecal matter from shoe polish.

But reading stories like this, I wonder if the GOP brain trust understands this? Have they drunk their own Kool-Aid so deeply that they truly think they’re not defending the rich? Or is stuff like this purely for public consumption, and they just haven’t figured out yet that it has no chance of working? It’s a mystery.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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