I watched the votes

Do you remember when there was a public debate over who should get "credit" for sinking the hellish Obamacare repeal bill? The theatrics of Senator McCain's vote earned him praise. Others pointed out that no, it wasn't Senator McCain, it was Senators Collins and Murkowski that really did the bill in.

For the tax cut bill, we don't have to debate: Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, John McCain, and Jeff Flake all voted for this awful bill and deserve all the credit for its passing.

I watched the votes. Save Senator Bob Corker, it was a party-line vote. President Trump's clownish and offensive behavior gives Republicans the perfect way to "stand for something" while implementing the exact policies they have always desired.

The point here is not that I expected these Senators to surprise us all and vote against the bill and then support progressive policies. The point is that these votes are depressingly predictable. If we want a politics that actually represents us, we need to pay attention to the way power is actually exercised and drop our false hopes that Republicans will spontaneously drop support for policies that they've campaigned on for decades.