Trump Plans to Audit the Budget

Tanya Woo, Rob Saka, & Sara Nelson Must Be Thrilled

“At the suggestion of Elon Musk, who has given me his complete and total endorsement . . . I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms.”

Same Song Different Verse

Sound Familiar?

In Seattle, the conservative majority on our City Council have spent the last year peddling the same conservative rhetoric.

Just like Elon Musk and Trump, big business urged the current council majority to run on the obvious falsehood that there was so much waste we could avoid taxes on the richest or big businesses and simply trim the fat without serious cuts to services.

This is famously a tried and true Republican marketing tactic to keep taxes on the rich low and services meager-found in New Gingrich’s rightwing Contract with America, and peddled before him by Ronald Reagan and after him by Paul Ryan. 

I have pointed out something similar before—that Project 2025’s plan for federal taxes has striking similarities to Tanya Woo, Bob Kettle, Sara Nelson, Rob Saka, and Maritza Rivera’s plans for Seattle. (Actually, under Project 2025, federal taxes would still be more progressive than Seattle’s!) 

But some commentators were super offended that I would point this out, suggesting that by doing so, I’ve somehow implied these people are voting for Trump or are trying to overthrow the government.

Their excruciatingly lazy read of my words aside, the actual point still stands—the City Council majority is peddling a Republican tax and spending plan for Seattle.

Given the fact that Seattle revenues have declined as a share of the economy, we are facing a $260M budget deficit. The Mayor and Council’s only options are enormous, painful cuts to basic services like affordable housing and transportation, and core city functions like budgeting, permitting, and planning. Or they could act like moderate Democrats and modestly increases taxes on the richest among us to restore the funding.