Media mogul Matt Drudge lit into congressional Republicans on Wednesday over fears they are waffling on campaign rhetoric regarding tax cuts and Obamacare.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and a host of other Republicans will likely feel heat from constituents after Mr. Drudge — who rarely tweets — issued a blistering critique of their leadership.
“No Obamacare repeal, tax cuts! But Republicans vote to shut Warren? Only know how to be opposition not lead! DANGER,” the media icon tweeted. “Republican Party should be sued for fraud. NO discussion of tax cuts now. Just lots of crazy. Back to basics, guys!”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was stopped from reading a letter by Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow on the Senate floor on Tuesday after she used it in conjunction with a personal attack on Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the White House’s nominee to lead the Justice Department.
Mr. Drudge’s comments mirrored the sentiments of Steve Forbes, who appeared on CNBC Wednesday morning.
“They’re backing off on health care, they’re backing off on the tax thing. If they don’t get something done soon they’re going to be in big trouble economically and politically — especially in 2018,” the billionaire said on “Squawk Box.” “They can lose the House if they botch this thing on taxes.”
Panelists pushed back, saying it seems too early in the Trump administration to make such an assessment.
“You can see that already they’re bringing unnecessary divisions on the tax side,” Mr. Forbes said. “We’ve been in this tax game for years. We could have rolled out, easily, a well thought out series of tax cuts.”
The billionaire said that a “straight-vanilla tax cut” would be sufficient if different factions of the Republican Party can’t agree on anything else.
“We’ve done that before. It works!” Mr. Forbes said.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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