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In a recent AP-NORC (Univ. of Chicago) poll, voters say they trust Republicans to do a better job handling the economy than Democrats, by 39 percent to 29 percent. (David Brooks, NYT)

WHAT?

Have these people read nothing in the last six months about what Rick Scott of Florida, the man in charge of Republican senate races, has offered as the Republican economic plan should they take control of Congress?

Here are some of the proposals in that plan:

(1) A federal minimum income tax of $100 for single filers and $200 for couples filing jointly will be enacted, impacting millions of middle-and-low income Americans, including those who receive the refundable Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit. It will also hit millions of seniors on Social Security who are currently exempt from federal income tax and active-duty military receiving tax-exempt combat pay. Scott says this proposal is necessary so everyone will have “skin in the game.”

(2) End federal support to state and local governments that will affect special needs programs for public schools, police and firefighters, support for technology upgrades and efforts to fight opioids. It will also cut grants and aid to public K-12 schools nationwide.

(3) Eliminate federal funding for health programs such as CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) and Medicaid.

(4) Sunsetting federal programs like Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits, meaning they will expire unless funding is renewed every five years, eventually leading to them becoming discretionary spending that Republicans can then end completely.

These are only a few of the 12 proposals of the Republican economic plan they intend to enact into law. If anyone can explain how any American except the very wealthy can support a political party that wants to do these things, I would welcome the explanation.

The reality is, Republicans have been awful, truly awful, when it comes to the economy whenever they have been in power.

The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 reaped rewards for the rich, cut federal income dramatically, and wrecked the economy to the point of causing the worst economic calamity since the Great Depression.

The Trump tax cut of 2017 that we now know benefited only the wealthy and corporations and never “trickled down” to offer anything for average income Americans. What is more, Republicans are doubling down on this tax cut, telling us they plan to reinstate it, rescind loan forgiveness for college students, and also rescind the minimum corporate tax the Inflation Reduction Act imposed on them to ensure they pay at least some tax.

This is what Republicans say they will do in spite of the fact that corporate profits are the highest they have ever been and account for 51% of the inflation we are experiencing here at home, as Rep. Katie Porter documented with irrefutable evidence in a recent congressional hearing.

“Make no mistake,” says former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, “powerful corporations are using inflation as a smokescreen to hike prices and rake in record profits.”

And crime rates. Rates are higher in red states (Republican) than blue states (Democrat). The truth is available to anybody who wants to see it.

The simple and unchallengeable truth about Republicans is that their economic policies always, always, always, benefit the wealthy and never, never, never help the rest of us.

Yet, in spite of the facts, more voters believe Republicans do better than Democrats on the economy. Talk about cognitive dissonance.

There are several conclusions all these facts suggest: (1) millions of American have no idea what is actually going on in the country; (2) millions of Americans believe Republican propaganda instead of the truth; (3) millions of Americans vote based on the silly notion that things can’t get worse for them with somebody else in charge; (4) millions of Americans believe elections don’t matter because all politicians are crooked anyway; (5) millions of Americans have given up on their own country and don’t care what happens.

My guess is, more than one of these conclusions will influence the way people vote in November, the net effect being that they will cast votes that may very well result in things getting worse rather than better for the country and themselves.

I am not one who believes if Republicans win big next month the country is doomed and our democracy is lost.

What I do believe, though, is that the chaos Republicans apparently enjoy stirring up will get much worse, dividing the country even more. Indeed, if they do what they say they will do, we will see them try to end the Biden presidency by bringing phony impeachment charges against him, do everything they can to hinder the Justice Department’s investigations into Trump, and misuse their power to further weaken the institutions of our democracy.

On the state level, Republicans will intensify their assault on our democracy by passing additional laws that restrict people’s right to vote and attempting to bend the system to increase Republican chances of winning.

They will also pass more draconian anti-choice laws and will challenge the Supreme Court ruling that established gay marriage as a constitutional right.

There is no secret about what Republicans will do. The people who continue to attack the integrity of the 2020 election without ever producing a single piece of evidence to support their claims of fraud are proving they are willing to lie, cheat, and steal in order to win at any cost.

That millions of voters who are themselves decent people will give support to all of this tells us that, yes, democracy can be lost here in the United States just as it has happened in other countries, proving that, as it turns out we Americans are not nearly as special as we believe ourselves to be.