Private jets scandal, tax plan test Trump's brand


CNN)Donald Trump's self styling as the people's champion who would drain the Washington swamp got him to the White House.

But now that unique brand is in for a stern test as the President is battered by controversies over wealthy cabinet members living high on the taxpayer dime and as he pushes a tax plan that Democrats are already billing as a massive giveaway to Trump's rich friends.

Trump's transformation from a billionaire Manhattan real-estate magnate who jetted around in a private Boeing, into an advocate for the crushed dreams of middle class Americans in the globalized economy was one of the most audacious and successful aspects of his presidential campaign.
His outsider screeds lambasting a Beltway establishment steeped in political corruption were a perfect fit for a time when many voters thought their politicians were getting fat on government salaries and Washington perks and getting nothing done.

That's one reason why Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is now in deep trouble, amid a storm over his use of taxpayer dollars to finance flights on corporate jets -- even over short distances.
CNN reported Wednesday that Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt also used private planes for government business. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has also been under fire for requesting the use of a government plane during his European honeymoon.
Trump left Price twisting in the wind on Wednesday.

"I will tell you personally, I'm not happy about it," Trump told reporters. "I'm going to look at it. I let him know it."
Asked if he would fire Price, the President replied: "We'll see."

Whether Price keeps his job in the end, Trump's comments were a clear sign that the President understands that the secretary's conduct, and that of several other members of the cabinet who took private jets, strikes at the heart of the drain the swamp narrative that he used to such effect last year.

And since Trump has made no attempt to broaden his support since taking office, the continued loyal support of his political base is an existential requirement for his presidency -- one reason why he has stoked cultural and race controversies that resonate with his largely white, rural constituency, including his showdown with kneeling NFL players.

But the shenanigans of cabinet members are not the only apparent contradiction with the roots of Trumpism that the President is going to have to square in the coming weeks.
The tax reform plan that Trump unveiled in Indiana on Wednesday is already being attacked as a typical Republican approach, that critics say would hand huge benefits to the rich -- i.e. people like the President himself.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/28/politics/donald-trump-cabinet-taxes/index.html