Congressman Rodney Davis was recently asked:
“How is it possible that I pay more in federal income taxes than the President? How is that fair?”
I imagine many of us asked ourselves this question upon learning about Trump’s massive tax avoidance. If you’re a well-adjusted human adult with a functioning moral compass you probably landed on “it’s not fair and it shouldn’t be possible” which is cool because it’s the objectively correct answer.
If however you’re a petulant hack like Rodney Davis, then you probably said something dumb like “well, it’s legal, you’d do it too if you could” and pretended like you just knocked it out of the park even though a.) that answer makes you sound like a sociopath, and b.) you’re literally a lawmaker and the only reason it’s possible for Trump (and others like him) to manipulate our tax code in this way is because you made it possible.
It’s possible because Rodney Davis rewarded those who took advantage of the laws they wrote in this way and for this purpose by giving them even more money via the GOP Tax Cuts.
It’s possible because, like many of his Republican colleagues, Rodney Davis has mistaken his near total self-interest for an actual set of values, projecting his selfishness onto others in the mistaken assumption that if any of us were in Trump’s situation we’d do the same thing.
It’s possible because too many people that think like Rodney Davis believe that responding to the question “is this fair” with “well, it’s legal” is an actual coherent answer instead of an admission that they have no concept of what fair/unfair even means.
Fair/unfair is not a question of legality, it’s one of morality. It may be legal for Trump to abuse the system in this way, but that doesn’t make it fair. It certainly doesn’t make it good, and it certainly doesn’t absolve Rep. Davis of the responsibility he has as a lawmaker for creating and protecting the system by which people like Trump loot our public resources for their private gain with virtually zero repercussions.
Top image is a screenshot from the video.