The tax bill that President Donald Trump signed in December doesn’t do much for the average person. But that didn’t stop Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who represents Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District, from trying to pretend that it does.
Ryan tweeted that a school administrator he met was “pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week,” which would “more than cover her Costco membership for the year.”
The tweet may have sounded like an Onion article parodying just how little money the average person got from the $1.5 trillion tax bill, but Ryan meant it sincerely.
After being ridiculed to no end on Twitter, the Ryan campaign deleted the tweet — which also didn’t go unnoticed.
Paul Ryan does not want you to see this tweet. But it is a very important tweet that everyone should see even though Ryan deleted it. pic.twitter.com/lZZvywnZbm
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum)
Both of Ryan’s Democratic challengers, Cathy Meyers and Randy Bryce, also took note of the Speaker’s lackluster observation.
Myers concluded Ryan was in for a rude awakening:
Paul Ryan gave corporations and the wealthiest families a $1.5 trillion tax cut, but he thinks the rest of us will be happy with a measly $1.50 a week!
He’s in for a suprise come November! https://t.co/0e6LqhTG5a
— Cathy Myers (@CathyMyersWI)
And Bryce pointed out that the Koch brothers, who recently gave $500,000 to Paul Ryan’s campaign efforts, got $1.4 billion from their tax cut:
The Koch Brothers got $1.4 billion. https://t.co/Fy47Ksr2Gh
— Randy Bryce (@IronStache)
A dollar and a half extra per week is hardly anything to be celebrating, and it demonstrates how out of touch Ryan really is with his constituents. Most Wisconsinites are struggling with stagnant wages as it is, so the pittance of an extra $1.50 per week is not exactly thrilling.
Ryan deserves the ridicule and scorn he got for sending out that tweet, and he clearly knows it. But he deserves a lot more for passing the bill that made this depressing story a reality in the first place.