Tuesday roundup

The media's attempt to sour public opinion on the tax cuts is really sinister:

The benefits of the Trump tax cuts have been powerful and broad. A whopping 82 percent of middle-class Americans saw a tax cut last year, with an average savings of more than $1,260. A full 90 percent of workers saw an increase in pay after the IRS adjusted withholding tables to reflect the new law. Last year, wages grew an average of 3.3 percent, the best in a decade. The Republican tax cuts accelerated job growth by nearly 25 percent and opportunity zones led investors to put their money into distressed communities. Finally, the Trump tax cuts doubled the child tax credit, saving working families an estimated $100 billion.

These aren't just Republican talking points. The Tax Policy Center estimated that 82 percent of middle-income Americans will receive a tax cut for an average reduction of individual income taxes of $1,260 in 2018, increasing after-tax incomes by 1.7 percent. Lower-middle-class households saw the largest tax cut as a percentage of their income, The Wall Street Journal reported. The new withholding tables lower the amount of money employers withhold from workers' paychecks, according to USA Today. According to the Treasury Department, 90 percent of Americans saw an increase in their take-home pay. The Bureau Of Labor Statistics reported a 3.3 percent average wage increase.

CNBC reported the wage growth for October and December 2018 was tied for the best since April 2009. The Bureau Of Economic Analysis reported that real GDP grew by 3.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2018. The opportunity zones provision is helping struggling communities, and the child tax credit is tailored to help lower-income families. 

Yet Americans are skeptical of the Trump tax cuts. According to the RealClearPolitics average, only 36.3 percent of Americans approve of the cuts, while 40.8 percent disapprove of them, giving the Trump tax cuts a negative 4.5 percent. Only 17 percent of Americans think their taxes were cut, according to a Wall Street Journal poll from earlier this month.

How could so many post-Americans be so misinformed to come to such a dim conclusion?

Matthew Yglesias, a liberal writer for The American Prospect, The Atlantic, Slate, and a co-founder and editor at Vox, bragged about orchestrating this misinformation campaign.

"Nobody likes to give themselves credit for this kind of messaging success, but progressive groups did a really good job of convincing people that Trump raised their taxes when the facts say a clear majority got a tax cut," Yglesias tweeted. 

Scumbags.

Nancy Pelosi is trying to have it both ways re: AOC, dismissing her and her House freshmen radical buddies as marginal, yet appearing with them on that Rolling Stone empowered-women cover.

One can't help but give at least a little fist pump for Tiger Woods, coming back from sex addiction, a divorce, a DUI, back surgery and a resultant opioid addiction to win the 2019 Masters. Quite a testament to human determination.

Lots of well-articulated laments about Notre Dame today. Rich Lowry's at National Review is particularly good.

Erick Erickson at The Resurgent says that faith is really not hard. It's about saying yes to a God who insists on loving you.