‘This is class warfare’: Tax vote sparks political brawl over populism that will carry into 2018 elections

The Senate Republicans’ chaotic late-night vote Friday to overhaul the tax system widened the country’s partisan divisions Saturday — sparking a political grudge match that lawmakers vowed to carry into next year’s midterm elections. …

Democrats see an opening for an attack on President Trump and Republicans as allies of the wealthy and Wall Street interests. Republicans, who watched Trump capture an antiestablishment populist mood in 2016, may find it difficult to sell a tax bill that was underwater in polls even before the mostly party-line vote on the Senate measure. …

Trump and GOP leaders, enthused after their first major legislative victory of the year, have forcefully defended the measure. … In speeches, on social media and in TV ads, Republicans have described the legislation as the spark of a “middle-class miracle” that voters will see soon in their paychecks. CONT.

David Weigel, Robert Costa & Paul Kane, Washington Post