Former Obama administration official Ron Klain:
I’ve got a simple message for Democrats who are embracing President-elect Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan: Don’t do it....
Trump’s plan is not really an infrastructure plan. It’s a tax-cut plan for utility-industry and construction-sector investors, and a massive corporate welfare plan for contractors. The Trump plan doesn’t directly fund new roads, bridges, water systems or airports.... Instead, Trump’s plan provides tax breaks to private-sector investors who back profitable construction projects.... Trump’s plan isn’t really a jobs plan, either.... Contractors have no obligation to hire new workers, or expand workers’ hours....
[B]ecause there is no proposed funding mechanism for Trump’s tax breaks, they will add to the deficit — perhaps as much as $137 billion. Yes, some economists think more deficit spending will boost growth. But you can be sure of this: In Trump’s hands, rising deficits will be weaponized to justify future cuts in health care, education and social programs....
[I]f the Republican approach to the Recovery Act is any indication, the Trump plan will come chock-full of policy changes that undermine core Democratic principles. Buried inside the plan will be provisions to weaken prevailing wage protections on construction projects, undermining unions and ultimately eroding workers’ earnings. Environmental rules are almost certain to be gutted in the name of accelerating projects.
Let's face it, everything legislatively designed by Trump and his fellow Republicans will be, by virtue of the designers' inbred racketeering, some version of Trump University. Democrats should unite early in staying the hell away -- from all of it. Oppose, oppose, oppose, because all of it will soon have that familiar Trump stench.