“Congressional Republicans are willing to endanger their hold on power to enact policy changes they believe in. And what they believe in — what has been the party’s core moral foundation for decades — is that the government takes too much from the rich, and gives too much to the poor.”
A hot take in The Atlantic by Jonathan Chait — my former favorite political writer at New York magazine (sorry, Olivia Nuzzi) — on the thinking behind Republicans willingness to push Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” through to the Senate, as they risk losing their constituencies over what the bill will do: slash social services and cement tax cuts for the rich — forever.
“Don’t fuck with Medicaid,” Trump told GOP reps as they toiled through the night to pass his bill. Here is a good example of Trump saying one thing, when he really means another. Because the bill actually does propose to cut a good chunk of Medicaid — and that number comes out to nearly $700 billion, over a ten-year span.
To justify the enormous rollback of essential social services used largely by GOP constituencies, Trump means to say — we’re not cutting social services for those who really need it but the fakers who are cashing in on money that deserves to be in the safe embrace of the rich. And his fear-mongering, propaganda — what ever you want to call it — will work for his GOP reps to go back and parrot to their people who are concerned about the cuts.
Trump is abusing language — stretching the limits of what words mean — telling people one thing, meaning another, sometimes meaning nothing at all. And we all sit here and watch him do it, then we talk about him doing it, write about him doing it, but when is someone going to say to him — hey! Stop doing this! Who will join JFK’s next Pulitzer Prize winner in heaven — Profiles in Courage Part. 2? Who will be the Senator to stand up against Trump’s bill? I guess we’ll have to see.
When the BBB — my code word for: Big Beautiful Bill — went through in the morning, news sites praised Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for “doing it again!” He rallied the radical rascals of his party. But did he really do anything? I’d say Trump’s fiery speech more likely made the case for him. Johnson has the easiest job in the world with Trump in charge. He doesn’t do shit.
GOP Hawks also had to swallow their pride, approving a bill that will add, depending on discussions in the Senate, trillions to the national deficit. “The belief that deficits will never matter is dangerous, especially as doubts mount over the country’s commitment to economic stability and low inflation under Mr. Trump,” writes The Economist — which advises the Senate to: VOTE AGAINST IT.
Indeed the deficit is dangerous. As Republican Rep. Jodey Arrington of Texas wrote on X in early April, “Deficits are a tax on our children—and no creative accounting can change that reality.”
But how can we expect the Senate to heed his warnings, when Arrington himself voted in the end to support the bill? We must hold hope. Some might be rolling their eyes at me — she’s so naive. But I do understand that the chances are slim — I read David Kirkpatrick’s piece on John Thune in The New Yorker — I simply choose to remain hopeful. Without hope we are nowhere. Stagnant. Stuck. Left with what Sartre would say was “No Exit.” I choose to keep going: because I have hope.
“Cynicism is a pill, don’t swallow it” — Ian Bremmer
Ashley Elizabeth Miller 
Please leave your thoughts!