California Republicans Pay the Price of Trump

Representatives Darrell Issa and Dana Rohrabacher bailed on the House tax bill, and why wouldn’t they? The general theme of the bill is to transfer trillions in wealth from the poor and middle class to the very wealthy and leave so much federal debt behind that spending is constrained for years to come. So far, so good, for Republicans.

But the wealth transfer takes a U-turn for many residents of affluent, high-tax, real-estate-rich, blue-state enclaves like the Southern California districts that the two Republicans represent in Congress. When constituents are about to be hit with a sizable tax increase, Rohrabacher said, “I’m supposed to represent their interests.”