To Survive the Russia Scandal, Trump Should Embrace His Populist Roots

Last week, Jonathan Swan of Axios delivered a fascinating scoop buried by the tidal wave of Russia stories and yet still relevant to whether Trump can endure them: Steve Bannon, the president’s chief strategist, has been agitating in White House meetings to raise — not lower — marginal tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. This is noteworthy for several reasons. Republicans are traditionally unified around cutting taxes, especially for the rich. The GOP controls the White House and both houses of Congress, so they have the power, at least in theory, to pass their tax-cutting agenda without Democratic support. And even the suggestion that wealthy Americans might shoulder a greater portion of the tax burden has been inimical to Republican leaders for at least a generation.

So it didn’t come as a shock when prominent Republican officials summarily dismissed the idea. On ABC’s This Week, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Bannon’s colleague, called Swan’s scoop a “false leak,” whatever that is. But the report wasn’t false, nor was the idea unreasonable.