A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): In Land of Lincoln, we’re now No. 6

I’ll have to confess to being a little shocked when I learned of the latest U.S. Census Bureau’s latest estimates of population. That’s the one that says Illinois, with its 12.802 million people, is now smaller than Pennsylvania’s 12.805 million.

Which means Illinois is now the sixth largest of the 50 U.S. states. We’re no longer in the Top 5!

WHAT IS SURPRISING about that? I have to confess. I thought we already were Number 6. When I first heard of reports saying we were out of the Top 5, my reaction was “What else is new?”

Perhaps it was all those years of political reporting that had me thinking there were five other states with more Electoral College votes than Illinois. Five states with more political influence than ours.

Although we were still amongst the top of the Great Lakes states. In fact, we’re still at the head of those states in population. Although it should be noted that Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota all experienced slight increases in population – according to the latest Census Bureau estimates.

Are we headed for a point some five or six decades from now that Illinois will be just another mass of the states whose lifeblood relies on lakes such as Superior, Erie and Michigan, to name a few?

IT SHOULD BE noted that it was my mistake to take the Electoral College too seriously on this issue. Because the number of electors a state gets doesn’t always coincide with the number of residents. Smaller states get more than they ought to, even the ones that get the bare minimum of three.

Whereas Illinois’ electoral problem has always been a matter of the state’s population not growing enough to warrant more representation. Take the early 1930s when the state peaked at 27 electors, compared to the 19 it now has (and 18 it could be reduced to following the 2020 population count).

Back then, Illinois had 7.63 million people total (with nearly half living within the Chicago city limits). Yet despite having 5.3 million more residents now, we get eight fewer electors. There are entire states that have the same political representation.

So aside from having fewer people living in Illinois, what else is notable to people living along the southwest shores of Lake Michigan?

DECLARING VICTORY AFTER A LOSS?!?: President Donald Trump is going around claiming he killed off the healthcare reform plan that was a major part of President Barack Obama’s legacy – even though the measure remains in federal law and is likely to never be formally repealed.

TRUMP: Winner; or loser?

It seems the tax overhaul bill (all $1.5 trillion of it) includes provisions that eliminate the penalties people are charged if they do not have health insurance. Which was the provision meant to encourage people to use the Affordable Care Act.

Meaning he’s made it possible for people to ignore the law requiring people to have some sort of health insurance. Of course, Trump has made a mess that complicates the situation for those people who want to get health coverage, but can’t afford to do so without the subsidies that Affordable Care helped provide.

Trump’s victory declaration will appease his own ego, and I’m sure he’ll claim it gives him a legacy of his own. Although most likely, it is nothing more than political spin gone wild.

CHICAGO’S STINK NOW COMES FROM ‘DA BEARS’: It’s a good thing that professional football’s Pro Bowl – the end-of-season all-star game – is one that football fans care less about.

Because for the third straight season, there won’t be any members of the Chicago Bears playing in the game that is supposed to represent the best football has to offer. Then again, a team with a 4-10 record (with two games remaining) surprisingly doesn’t have anybody worthy of all-star status.

So there’s definitely no reason for Bears fans to care about the game to be played Jan. 28, 2018 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla. I can’t even envision the players caring much.

Because at least in the old days, the Pro Bowl’s appeal was that it was played in Honolulu, Hawaii – a locale that added an exotic touch to bring a season of football to an end. Somehow, a corporate-named stadium near Disney World just doesn’t have the same touch.

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EXTRA: Could Pence make Middle East trip? Trump's holiday "surprise?"

PENCE: Middle East, or Indy, for holiday?

Vice President Mike Pence made a point of rescheduling his journey to the Middle East for mid-January, since he wants to be on hand for when the Senate takes its vote on the tax plan desired by President Donald Trump to benefit the more wealthy amongst us who feel ever-so-overtaxed.

Yet with the House of Representatives giving its approval Tuesday afternoon, making it possible for a Senate vote Tuesday night, it may seem that Pence could still make his overseas travel.

OR WILL HE prefer the thought of a Hoosier Christmas? Returning to his home state of Indiana for the holidays.

Trump's holiday surprise? His alter ego?

For the record, Republican leadership says they pushed to take the final vote on the Trump tax plan so that it could be sent to the president for final consideration prior to Christmas.

Which literally could make it possible that Trump acts to sign the measure into law on Christmas. His "gift" to Americans? Or his "screw you" to the majority of people who didn't vote for him!

Which would truly make Donald J. the 21st Century equivalent of the "Grinch who stole Christmas." It's just too bad we can't find a "Cindy Lou Who" who can shame him into a sense of decency.

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Now we see why Trump was so eager to have Moore vote in the U.S. Senate

John McCain, the senator from Arizona who tried challenging Barack Obama nearly a decade ago for the presidency, is about to demonize himself yet again amongst the ideologues of our society.

McCAIN: Taking an early holiday break

McCain has been in poor health, having dealt with brain cancer for the past year and currently undergoing treatment for a viral infection. Which means he’s gone home. He’s called an early beginning to his Christmas holiday. Which, for his own sake, is good.

YET IT MEANS he’s not on Capitol Hill at a time when Congress is supposed to be considering the tax bill that President Donald J. Trump has referred to as his “Christmas gift” to the American people.

Although about the only ones who will benefit are those who are in the same tax bracket as The Donald himself. Which means there is a great mass of our society that would love to see this plan collapse.

They’d thoroughly enjoy having the Democratic minority caucuses in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, including Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth from Illinois, unite to kill the tax plan – and ensure that Trump’s first full year as president was one of complete failure. As in being unable to get anything he desired passed by Congress.

Of course, it is the Republicans who control both congressional chambers. But in the Senate, it is such a slim margin of majority for the GOP. Meaning that McCain’s absence will be noticed. And that the people who are desperate for Trump to have his first political victory will be looking for someone to blame.

TRUMP: Still looking for first political victory

I HAVE NO doubt that they will be more than willing to accept McCain as their “fall guy” should the tax bill fail to get approved by the Senate when it is scheduled to come up for a vote Wednesday. That is, of course presuming the House of Representatives passes it first on Tuesday.

For a political party that wants to think it is all powerful and that the opposition ought to just “Shut up!” and learn to do what it’s told, you’d think one lone vote due to illness wouldn’t be missed.

If the Republican Party were truly as significant as it likes to think it is, it wouldn’t be missed.

But there is the fact that it technically has a 52-48 margin over the Democrats in the Senate. One that will become 51-49 when Doug Jones takes his seat from Alabama in the Senate early next year.

MOORE: His loss hurts Trump

JUST LAST WEEK, McCain and Thad Cochran of Mississippi were absent due to health reasons. The Associated Press has reported that Cochran plans to show up on Wednesday for the tax plan vote.

But who’s to say that someone else will be unable to make it for the session. Or for that matter, that the upcoming year won’t include many times when Trump wants Congress to put its stamp of approval on his many goofy whims and desires.

But won’t be able to because of the numbers game.

Illinois on proper side of tax issue ...

It becomes all the more apparent why Trump would be willing to put aside his own concerns (if any) he might have had about the personal character of Roy Moore in Alabama. For a president who doesn’t have any real political skills to get things done, he’s not capable of swaying over the opposition to his desires.

IN FACT, THE whole concept of this Age of Trump is telling the opposition to “Stuff it!”

Which is why it would be perfect if Trump himself were to be told the equivalent of “Stuff it!” by the American people with regards to his tax plan – which truly is meant to benefit only a tiny segment of our society. Whom I’m sure that Trump believes are the only people in our society who matter.

... with Durbin and Duckworth

Now as much as I’d like to see a political defeat on this issue, I’m not getting my hopes up. My own sense from having observed government and politics throughout the years is that officials only occasionally do the “right thing.” We may have seen our share of the “right thing” with Jones’ electoral victory last week.

So when it comes to the $1.5 trillion tax cut that likely won’t benefit the majority of us, the only real question I have is how will the slim Republican majority manage to pass this in a way that will let them deny responsibility for the harm it could cause us all? Because that’s the most likely outcome.

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