Trump busted for touting support from laughably fake economists for GOP tax scam

Donald Trump himself touted the letter Friday afternoon, tweeting out a video that opened with the number “137” emblazoned on the screen.

“Economists on the TAX CUTS and JOBS act,” Trump tweeted, quoting a line from the letter. “The enactment of a comprehensive overhaul — complete with a lower corporate tax rate — will IGNITE our ECONOMY with levels of GROWTH not SEEN IN GENERATIONS…”

Economists on the TAX CUTS and JOBS ACT:

“The enactment of a comprehensive overhaul – complete with a lower corporate tax rate – will IGNITE our ECONOMY with levels of GROWTH not SEEN IN GENERATIONS…” pic.twitter.com/2vCBDtLh3C

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2017

There’s just one problem: 137 economists didn’t endorse the bill.

In an apparent attempt to lend credibility to their nightmarish tax scam, Republicans appear to have invented fake economists and lied about the resumes of others on the list in order to claim that they had support for the bill.

According to The Intercept’s Lee Fang, “[a] review of the economists listed on the letter reveals a number of discrepancies, including economists that are supposedly still academics but are actually retired, and others who have never been employed as economists. One might not even exist.”

One of the supposed “economists” is actually a low-level office assistant at the New York State Tax Department. When contacted, his spokesperson said he didn’t even remember signing the letter.

Another person on the list is a former attorney whose law license was revoked after being convicted on felony charges and sentenced to six months in prison for, ironically, falsifying documents and forging a judge’s signature.

Thirteen of those who signed the letter were listed as current academics. All were found to be retired.

One of the “economists” might not even be a real person.

“One of the signatories, Gil Sylvia of the University of Georgia, does not have a biography page or any online trace of employment at the university,” Fang wrote. “A university representative told The Intercept that no one with the name Gil Sylvia is employed there. There is a Gil Sylvia working as a marine resource economist at Oregon State University. He did not respond to a request for comment.”

And there you have it: The GOP tax scam is so bad that they literally had to invent fake economists because real ones wouldn’t endorse it.