Democrats have been slamming House Speaker Paul Ryan after he deleted a tweet touting an AP story, in which a school secretary explained that she got a nominal raise because of the GOP tax bill. Because the amount was so small, or “crumbs” as Nancy Pelosi would put it, Democrats bashed Ryan and Republicans for daring to celebrate Americans getting more money in their paychecks.
The media took notice of the deleted tweet today as well, spending several segments on it on both MSNBC and CNN, spinning the story from the Democrats’ side. But HLN host and CNN contributor S.E. Cupp told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on CNN Newsroom Monday afternoon that Ryan shouldn’t have deleted the tweet or minimize how happy people are to be getting tax cuts.
Fill-in host Anderson Cooper started off the segment by playing a tape of the woman mentioned in the AP article by Sarah Sell, who explained that she had simply responded to a Twitter survey conducted by the reporter, which asked if she had seen any changes in her paycheck as a result of the GOP tax bill:
“I said yes and I answered four or five simple questions. I answered them honestly. When she asked what I would do with the extra money, that's the only thing I could think of is it would cover my Costco membership for the year. I answered it honestly. I really didn't expect it to go where it went,” she grinned, with a surprised look on her face.
Turning to CNN politics reporter and Editor at Large Chris Cillizza, Cooper explained what all the hoopla was about. “Chris, a lot of Democrats are kind of going after Paul Ryan saying he's out of touch, that $1.50 a week only amounts to about $60 a year. Interestingly, Paul Ryan deleted that tweet he sent,” Cooper said.
Cillizza agreed that it was “interesting” that Ryan deleted the tweet, since it seemed to concede that he had made a mistake. But he added that because Republicans are “convinced that this tax cut is a good thing for the American public,” they should focus their energy on “educating” the public “on ways in which it is a good thing.”
But, Cillizza claimed that Ryan touting this particular woman’s story was “problematic,” because “that’s not a lot of money to most people.”
“I think it’s sort of an unnecessary error,” he added. He backtracked again, saying that overall, tax reform is something Republicans should talk about, including President Trump, saying that the Russia memo was not really something that “animates” his base like tax cuts do.
“...[H]e'd be better served than continually talking about this Russia memo which I don't -- it may animate a piece of his base, but it's not going to be something that they win on. You know, I think you want to talk about tax cuts. People are getting more money. This woman aside who is getting a marginal amount, they are getting more money. Talk about that,” he conceded.
Turning to fellow guest S.E. Cupp, Cooper asked for her opinion. “Was it a mistake for Paul Ryan to tweet that?”
Cupp disagreed that the tweet was a mistake, saying taking it down was the real mistake. She slammed Democrats for “dunking” on Ryan and the woman who was happy about more money in her paycheck, calling it a “weird look for Democrats:”
No. I don't think he should have taken it down. I think it is a real weird look for Democrats to dunk on Paul Ryan and by extension a woman who is happy she got a tax break. It misses the bigger picture that as Chris said, people are happy with the tax reform. Whether it's employees of places like Walmart, Boeing, AT&T who are getting bonuses. Massachusetts -- state regulators just told their utility companies to lower their rates as a result of the lowered corporate tax rate. That's Massachusetts. Tax-a-chusetts!
Massachusetts isn't the only state to announce such news. Electric companies in Washington D.C. announced last month that they would be offering the same lower rates for their customers as well.
Cupp bashed Democrats for "missing" the point, that no matter how large or how small, any amount of extra money makes most people happy.
“So I think Democrats are missing where the energy is on this, no pun intended, and making a little bit more in their giddiness of this than the rest of the country sees,” she said, as the segment ended.
