Moments after the final passage of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta dumped cold water on the new law, declaring that Republicans could suffer “unintended consequences because there were hardly any hearings on this, because there wasn’t much discussion in the public” concerning the “deeply unpopular” bill.
“This is now a signature legislative achievement for President Trump, no question about it, but instead of selling this policy before passing it, they passed it and now they’re going to have to sell it and that's what you heard from the House Speaker on the morning talk shows and that's where what you heard from the President,” Acosta began at 1:01 p.m. Eastern.
Acosta aired a clip of Trump praising the House passing the Senate version of the bill before returning live to continue peddling the CNN avalanche of declarations that tax cuts are massively unpopular:
The question, I think, this afternoon is whether the President just takes a victory lap and sings the praises of this piece of legislation or is he going to take questions from reporters? We're still expecting at some point for the President to hold one of those year-end news conferences as Presidents often do before they head to the holidays and, of course, Wolf, this White House and the Republicans on Capitol Hill, they’re about to test the law of unintended consequences because there were hardly any hearings on this, because there wasn’t much discussion in the public about this tax cut bill before it was brought to passage[.]
Hmmm. One has to wonder if there’s a reason why there “wasn’t much discussion in the public about this tax cut bill.” Oh right, the media may have had something to do with this, seeing as how they’ve been beyond obsessed with the Trump-Russia probe.
Anyway, the smug CNN persoanlity concluded that the GOP will be along for the ride in finding out if “they can turn the numbers around for this piece of legislation because, as you know, the polls have shown, including here at CNN, that it's deeply unpopular at this point.”
Right on cue, host Wolf Blitzer agreed: “Deeply unpopular but it did pass the House of Representatives just moments ago, 224-201.”
As NewsBusters contributing writer Brad Wilmouth and others noted, CNN spent oodles of time this past week touting its own poll claiming the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to the legislation reforming the tax code and putting more money in their paychecks.
Here’s the relevant transcript from CNN’s Wolf on December 20:
CNN’s Wolf
December 20, 2017
1:01 p.m. Eastern
JIM ACOSTA: The President was touting this victory earlier this morning at the white house meeting with his cabinet. This is now a signature legislative achievement for President Trump, no question about it, but instead of selling this policy before passing it, they passed it and now they’re going to have to sell it and that's what you heard from the House Speaker on the morning talk shows and that's where what you heard from the President this morning with his cabinet. Here's what he had to say about this tax cut package being passed.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The passage of the massive tax cuts and reform. It’s — a lot of reform in there but the tax cuts supersede and I said very specifically “use the word tax cuts.” You know, for 34 years, they've been trying to do this and they haven't and they used the word “reform.” Well there is reform but I said we'll be talking about tax cuts. [SCREEN WIPE] This bill means more take-home pay. It will be an incredible Christmas gift for hardworking Americans. I said I wanted to have it done before Christmas. We got it done. I want to thank all of the leaders, I want to thank Mitch McConnell, I want to thank Paul Ryan and so many other people and we'll go through the official ceremony a little while when they come over to the White House.
ACOSTA: Now, the President is planning to have some of those Republican leaders over here at the White House later on this afternoon, 3:00. We understand the event will be on the south portico of the White House, but some details are still being worked out. The question, I think, this afternoon is whether the President just takes a victory lap and sings the praises of this piece of legislation or is he going to take questions from reporters? We're still expecting at some point for the President to hold one of those year-end news conferences as Presidents often do before they head to the holidays and, of course, Wolf, this White House and the Republicans on Capitol Hill, they’re about to test the law of unintended consequences because there were hardly any hearings on this, because there wasn’t much discussion in the public about this tax cut bill before it was brought to passage and on its way to the President's desk, they are going to have to find out whether or not they can turn the numbers around for this piece of legislation because, as you know, the polls have shown, including here at CNN, that it's deeply unpopular at this point, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER: Deeply unpopular but it did pass the House of Representatives just moents ago, 224-201.
