ÐÔÊӽ紫ý

Moore starts by saying Trump has essentially stopped and reversed the trend of rising prices for everyday expenses and eliminated inflation. Neither of those statements is true. It's just a talking point thrown out there under the theory that, if people hear it enough, they'll believe it. 

Moore mentions tax cuts for the working class and the removal of taxes on tips for workers who depend on such things to make a living. What he doesn't mention is that the tax breaks for the middle class are next to nothing compared to the cuts for the wealthiest Americans. He also doesn't mention that the bill slashes funding for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, on which West Virginians heavily rely. 

Indeed, millions of Americans stand to lose health care coverage and go hungry. The elimination of taxes on tips and a sliver of a tax cut for middle-income individuals won't make up for that. By the way, those cuts were instituted (despite Trump's promise not to touch programs like Medicaid) solely to help extend tax cuts for the wealthy because, as everyone now knows, tax cuts don't pay for themselves. There is nothing new or revolutionary here. It's the same old right-wing playbook of shifting heavier economic burdens onto those who can't afford it so the rich get richer. 

Moore claims Trump's budget bill cuts federal spending. He doesn't mention that it will add anywhere from $3.5 trillion to more than $4 trillion to the national deficit. Most Trump Republicans, conveniently, only care about the deficit when a Democrat is in the White House. Now it's something they just don't mention. 

Moore says the bloated funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement included in the bill will "ramp up mass deportations," as if that's a good thing. 

Of course, everyone knows how Moore views immigrants, or at least those who aren't white. He visited the brutal CECOT prison in El Salvador — where the U.S. has shipped migrants robbed of due process, some of whom weren't even in the U.S. illegally — and posed in front of crowded cells while giving a double thumbs up. It was a disgusting and embarrassing display that invoked comparisons to the infamous Abu Ghraib photos. But Moore doesn't care. Cruelty and robbing individuals of their humanity is part and parcel of the GOP under Trump. If you're not stepping on someone's neck, be it the poor, women, minorities or immigrants, you're not doing it right. 

Of course, Moore also includes the obligatory nod to coal, natural gas and oil, saying fossil fuels are the future. He should try telling that to the more than 600 West Virginia coal miners who lost their jobs over the past four months or so. 

Trump's big ugly bill is going to devastate West Virginia, which isn't exactly in the best shape as it stands. Rural hospitals will close. Jobs will be lost. Many West Virginians will lose their health care coverage. 

People like Moore and those who fund his campaigns will be that much richer and remain able to perpetuate their power over everyone else. That's all they really care about, and that's what this bill does. It'll indeed be a Golden Age, but only for a select few.