Building unity. Many Republican legislators in the United States House and Senate have said that they don’t think President Biden has done a good job of building unity with them. Well, they said the same thing about President Barack Obama. And the simple truth is that Republicans don’t want to unite with Democrats.
This is not hard to understand. The only ideas that Republican legislators would support are reducing taxes on the wealthiest individuals and on companies, and raising taxes on many members of the middle class; and reducing taxes on the wealthiest individuals and on companies, and raising taxes on many members of the middle class; and reducing taxes on the wealthiest individuals and on companies, and raising taxes on many members of the middle class.
This is true because the Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which the Republican legislators all loved very much, succeeded in doing two things: reducing taxes on the wealthiest individuals and on companies, and shifting most of that tax burden to individual members of the middle class, thereby raising taxes on many individual members of the middle class. It did not cause a jump in employment, or a burst of sustained GDP growth, or have any other measurable economic impact — other than to raise the national debt by $2 trillion.
So, the 2017 Trump tax cut reduced taxes for the wealthiest individuals and on corporations and companies, and had no impact that could be measured beyond the first two quarters after it took effect.
As for building unity, it takes action by two political parties to unite, and if one party is unwilling to compromise on anything, and meet the other party anywhere close to the middle, then there is no hope of any kind of unity, cooperation or compromise. One cannot dance with someone who refuses to dance. Many Democratic legislators have proven, time and time again, that they are willing to move to the center, to move toward the position the Republicans typically take.
But, many Republican legislators have demonstrated a complete unwillingness to compromise or move from their position of “we should enact tax cuts,” and “we should not spend any government money (collected taxes) on anything other than (maybe some) roads and bridges, and Senators’ and Representatives’ salaries.”