nihilism, pure and simple

The Nice Polite Republicans on NPR this morning interviewed a republican representative from Maryland regarding the tax bill sailing through Congress.  He was allowed to regurgitate all the talking points leadership has been selling.   He incorrectly posited that a middle class family with $90,000 income would receive a $4000. tax refund.  Of course, the whole line of questioning was besides the point.  What this tax bill does is gut the federal government's ability to fund infrastructure investment, research and development, social services and most anything benefitting the majority of the nation's population.   As Kevin Drum points out, if you give the institutional republican party credit for any insight it would be they realize that despite their best efforts to disenfranchise and demonize minorities in this country, demographic destiny will catch up to them shortly.  Despite the candidacy of tRump maximizing the white, mostly racist vote, they figure they will probably be out of power for decades if the party survives at all, so why not make their last years in power a smash and grab operation.  So what if it leaves America a helpless, hollowed out power.  They will leave this mess to the next democratic administration which will, hopefully explain that now that the adults are once again in charge again, the oligarchic concentrations of wealth and power now being enshrined in the tax code will be dispersed to the general population and the nation will begin the rebuilding process in a more equitable fashion.