Fumbles by the administration’s multi-millionaire tax bill pitchmen — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and economic adviser Gary Cohn — are reportedly worrying Republicans ahead of a must-win Senate vote on legislation touted as good for the middle class, Politico reports.
The anti-tax reform activist group Not One Penny’s Facebook ad featuring a photo of Mnuchin and his wife posing with freshly printed sheets of money led to thousands of calls to lawmakers urging them to vote “no” on the bill, Politico reported.
“If you asked us to put together a photo shoot to show this is a taxpayer-funded giveaway to millionaires and billionaires, I don’t think we could do a better job of this,” Not One Penny spokesman Tim Hogan told Politico.
And in September, when Cohn declared the $1,000 the average American family is likely to save from the proposed tax plan offered them an opportunity to “renovate their kitchen, they can buy a new car” seemed to show him as hopelessly out of touch, Politico noted.
“These guys are the ultimate Wall Street insiders,” Brian Fallon, who served as press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, told Politico. “Any savvy public relations person would say that they should be a mile away from the salesmanship for the bill. But they’re out front. It’s just a clue that there is no one senior in the White House to say to them, ‘you’re benched.’”
Six Senate Republicans are still withholding their support for the tax cut package, Politico reported.
The White House said its sales pitch, however, doesn’t depend on Mnuchin and Cohn — and that President Donald Trump is the chief cheerleader, Politico said.
“The president’s entire team, led by Secretary Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, have been sweeping the country talking to Americans about how tax reform will give them a pay raise and make our economy great again,” said deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters.
Trump has delivered at least eight tax reform-related speeches across the country, Politico reported.
“We took nuggets of the things the president was saying [about tax reform] and polled it, asking, do you agree with this statement,”an unnamed official told Politico. “I think nine of those nuggets polled at 80 percent or higher among likely voters. We’re very confident of the message we’ve been selling.”