Mitch McConnell admits he lied about middle-class tax cuts

“I misspoke on that. You can’t guarantee that absolutely no one sees a tax increase,” McConnell now says.

But in the GOP thesaurus, “misspoke” is simply a nicer word for “lied.”

Republicans have insistently pushed the fantasy that their tax scheme will be good for middle-class families, and that it is not merely a massive give-away to corporations and the wealthiest families.

But actual facts have put the lie to those claims. As The New York Times recently noted, the “winners” in the GOP’s tax plotting are not working families, but rather a veritable who’s who of favored GOP demographic blocs: “Business,” “Multinational corporations,” “The rich and their families,” and “Hedge funds.”

The Times notes that “some middle-class families” may see a slightly reduced tax bill, but only the small number who meet who very specific criteria. And even then, “if the legislation dampens home prices, as realtors are warning, it could diminish the wealth of middle class families whose biggest investment is generally their home.”

Considering the White House is pushing the scheme by touting “trickle down” economic theory, which has been debunked and dismissed by all but the rich and the far right, it’s clear that the livelihoods of middle class Americans are not at the forefront of their minds.

McConnell tried to pretend otherwise, but the claim was so laughably false and easily disproven that he had to backpedal on it days later.

As David Bergstein, national press secretary for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, noted in a statement, “The only thing that Mitch McConnell can guarantee is he’ll stop at nothing to make sure his donors are taken care of — even if it means lying about how his donor-driven policies will hurt middle class families.”

And of course, McConnell is not alone. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham made it very clear Thursday that the tax scam has nothing to do with helping working people and everything to do with buttering up billionaire donors and fattening their own coffers in the process.

As New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins put it succinctly, his wealthy donors are warning him, “Get it done or don’t ever call me again.”

McConnell offered up some jargon to try to cover his tracks, telling the Times, “What we are doing is targeting levels of income and looking at the average in those levels and the average will be tax relief for the average taxpayer in each of those segments.”

Except “average” people have nothing to do with the GOP’s machinations. McConnell tried to lie his way out of the fact that his party only cares about the richest among us.

The more that people learn about this tax scam, though, the clearer those lies become — and the faster the backpedaling will get.