taxes going up significantly for grad students. I can see why they are upset.
I'm pretty sure this is a feature and not a bug. Conservatives hate graduate students, educated peoples, and all forms of scientists.
Educated scientists gave us the theory of evolution and birth control. Educated scientists tend to doubt the revealed truth of Divine scripture, like when it says animals could talk and the sun stopped in the sky. Educated scientists question the authority of societally enforced gender discrimination and keep making noises about the wage gap, when they should be telling their womenses to get back in the kitchen. Educated scientists fight against teaching creationism in public schools. Clearly, educated scientists oppose the GOP ideology in every form, so why should the GOP encourage anyone else to become one? Better to just tax them into Oblivion.
So I don't think it's a coincidence. The whole tax plan is targeted at groups they don't like, which is why it is so bad for blue states, and poor people who need health insurance, and small businesses, and graduate students, but great for super wealthy inheritors, big corporations, and real estate developers. It's more politics than policy, but that doesn't mean they won't pass it.