Today's Must-Read: Well, They Did It (Update)

Republicans managed to pass the most unpopular piece of legislation since Reganomics last night with no public hearings, no analysis, none of the regular procedural things that we've come to expect from a functional legislature. From Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo, who starts off with this tweet from Sen. Jon Tester (D-WY) which pretty much says it all:

Sen. Jon Tester didn't cuss. But the Montana Democrat might have after receiving the 500-page GOP tax bill hours before vote-a-rama and final passage last night (with no debate) about 2 a.m. Friday afternoon, Claire McCaskill (D-MO) tweeted a list of Manager's Amendments she'd received from a lobbyist rather than from her Republican colleagues. "None of us have seen this list, but lobbyists have it."

I was just handed a 479-page tax bill a few hours before the vote. One page literally has hand scribbled policy changes on it that can’t be read. This is Washington, D.C. at its worst. Montanans deserve so much better. pic.twitter.com/q6lTpXoXS0

— Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) December 2, 2017

Sullivan details some of the horrors included in the bill (I don't think anyone has a grasp of the full enormity of this monster).

The only answer is vote Democratic -- maybe the next Congress can reverse this -- after they've impeached Trump and Pence and inaugurated Nancy Pelosi as president.

Update: Paul Krugman weighs in on just what a travesty this whole thing has been:

And there’s a world of difference between normal political spin — yes, all politicians try to emphasize the good aspects of their policies — and the outright lies that have marked every aspect of the selling of this thing.

Mnuchin said his department had a study showing great effects on growth; that was a lie. Donald Trump says the bill is “not good for me”; that’s a lie. Senator John Cornyn said, “This is not a bill that is designed primarily to benefit the wealthy and the large businesses”; that was a lie. Senator Bob Corker said he wouldn’t support a plan “adding one penny to the deficit”; that was a lie.

In other words, this whole process involves a level of bad faith we haven’t seen in U.S. politics since the days when defenders of slavery physically assaulted their political foes on the Senate floor.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

(Via Bark Bark Woof Woof)