Republicans are getting so weird about overseas voters

When it comes to overseas voters, the Trump campaign can’t quite decide what to do. On one hand, Donald Trump wants their votes. On the other, he thinks they are traitorous scumbags who are part of a vast voter-fraud scheme. So, while he is wooing overseas voters with tax-break promises, Republicans are filing a flurry of lawsuits explicitly targeting overseas voting. No one will be surprised to learn that Republicans are only worried about overseas votes in the swing states. 

Last week, Trump released a video pledging to end what he calls “double taxation” on Americans who live overseas. Currently, Americans abroad are required to pay income taxes in their country of residence and here. It’s easy to get whipped into a frenzy about this until you learn that the tax exemption for overseas taxpayers is $126,500, and they can also reduce their tax bill with foreign tax credits. Because of that, roughly 82% don’t pay any taxes here. So, any giveaway to overseas voters is really a gift limited to the rich. 

Trump’s pitch didn’t arise organically. In fact, it looks a lot like he made up this whole plank of his tax policy platform because basically one random Republican dude asked him to. Solomon Yue, who heads the advocacy group Republicans Overseas, bragged to the Wall Street Journal that he decided to approach Trump after seeing how willing Trump was to promise tax giveaways to everyone else.