Jeffries provides great theater, but could not stop Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill
Democrats’ misinformation, fearmongering, performance politics, and stunts failed to stop President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill (BBB). He got his bill through Congress – and by his arbitrary deadline.
The only thing Democrats had to offer was performance politics and meaningless delaying tactics. Their weeks and weeks of over-the-top, draconian attacks on the legislation failed miserably – just as their hyperbolic demonization of President Trump for years failed to prevent his impressive comeback victory in November 2024.
When the BBB came up earlier for a procedural vote, all House Minority Leader Jeffries could do was delay the process by forcing the public reading of the 940-page document. Ironically, GOP squabbling delayed the procedural vote more than Democrats could ever hope to.
Finally, when it came time to vote on the BBB itself, Jeffries resorted to yet another meaningless and ineffective stunt. He took to the floor and orated for more than eight hours – setting a House record for the longest floor speech. I assume he didn’t want to be outdone by New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who recently set the record for the longest filibuster. In both cases, their performances received almost no live media coverage – other than at the end, when they broke their respective records. In Booker’s case, curiosity about how he managed the urination issue was a hot topic for speculation.
On the eve of the final vote, House Minority Leader Jeffries delivered a filibuster-style speech lasting more than eight hours. He restated the same shopworn, draconian talking points. It was so pointless that even MSNBC didn’t cover it live. It was performance politics that had no real impact on anything.
As he wrapped up his soliloquy, Jeffries made an interesting cultural shift. He took up the voice, style, and demeanor of a Black preacher. (Having spent a lot of Sundays in inner-city Black churches, I think I can say that with some authority. But I digress.) To complete the optics, Jeffries surrounded himself with five Black female legislators who filled out the role of parishioners – providing the iconic Black church verbal intercessions. I say that with admiration, since I love the energy and communion of Black gospel services.
Some folks on MSNBC suggested that the long speech was a clever ploy, since it put the vote on the BBB in the morning sunlight – rather than the dead of night. That theory, however, assumes that the vote was some sort of skullduggery. Perhaps that’s how those on the left saw it, but I’m inclined to believe that Speaker Johnson and his GOP members were thrilled to have the vote at a more popular viewing hour. In fact, the Speaker gave a very positive and enthusiastic speech touting the benefits of the BBB – along with a few Reagan-esque barbs at his Democrat colleagues. The three major cable networks all gave him 20 minutes of live coverage—something Jeffries’ record-breaking “magic moment” never got.
Jeffries’ speech was great theater—very entertaining. But in terms of political strategy—or accomplishing anything meaningful—the speech was not very effective. The BIG issue of the moment was Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. That was a huge achievement with major ramifications, making Trump arguably the 21st Century’s most consequential president — with President Obama a close second.
Both Jeffries and Trump have carved their names into the journal of American political history. One accomplishment will soon fade and be forgotten. The other will be the topical subject of political history for generations. Which is which? Take a guess.
So, there ’tis.
Poor Larry. He used to get his ya’s ya’s as the loser attacking the establishment. Now he can only attack the losers. And he has few wins to laud his success as a winner. So he continues to be a whiner.
Here we go. Congress, the Courts, the Oval, it’s all yours. You have your first big legislation. I hope the best for the big, beautiful bill. It takes a long time to know if your supply-side economics supported by you mandates for taxation without representation and your penchant to void the rule of law replaced by your undue cruelty to immigrants, legal and illegal alike. It’s right out of Project 2025 and probably written by The Heritage Organization. The citizens in the crosshairs of your cuts are our most vulnerable and exist pretty much without a voice. I expect the administration to continue to communicate in their opaque fashion to “cook the books” on the stats, financials, and even reporting. I expect we will hear little bad for some time. Hopefully everything will turn out hunky-dory and we find benefit in taxation without.
Instead of touting the benefits of this bill, the author laments Jeffries showboating his performance art at Congress. I guess he missed Trump’s parade, his staging of immigrants being disappeared for effect, and all the other brand images this President does and is famous for. Like our President, Larry does not want to unite the country and probably endorses Trump who said on the July 3rd, celebrating our Independence Day, you know, the one that is for ALL Americans, united, actually said: “And I think we use it (all Democrats voting against the BBB) in the campaign that’s coming up, the midterms, because we gotta beat ’em. But all of the, all of the things that we’ve given, and they wouldn’t vote, only because they hate Trump. But I hate them too. You know that. So, it’s sort of, I hate, I really do. I hate them. I cannot stand them because I really believe they hate our country.”
Who’s on first to be the bigger man, Larry? Trump the President or Jeffries the minority lead in the House….. Shouldn’t it be the bigger man? And let’s face it: Trump is not uniting the country; quite the opposite.
Personally, I am not hurt, only helped, as the cuts affect others and some savings, weirdly, are positive for me. The biggest issues to me are the deficit caused and the inhumanity of the mass deportation efforts. I have no issue with following the law; I have huge issues with lack of due process, not following the rule of law, habeas corpus, and the promotion of cruel and unusual punishments to instill fear in everyone, loathing by many.
The biggest threat, IMO, is the deficit and debt which Trump, based on his life experiences, expects he can refinance or write-down. He can’t. Currently, I am pretty sure we are running a bad deficit which is being somewhat blunted by the tariff taxations without representative being foisted on us. We are pulling in $30B a month now in what’s essentially a sales tax, or VAT tax on lots of things you buy. The economy is still OK, but we are stressing it out, the chaos does not help. Combined with a lack of reporting like: we just killed all USAID funding and support —- so what happened? Did USAID not save anyone so no change OR did we just kill a whole bunch of people by withholding food and medicine we used to give? We just don’t count so it’s not there. USAID was $40B a year; that’s a lot of food and medicine suddenly not available to the world’s most vulnerable. It’s got to be a lot of dead babies. Same with SNAP cuts from this bill, will we notice the poor kid’s malnutrition, or just look the other way?
The largest debt ceiling rise was $4T in 2023. Trump just raised it by $5T and fiscal conservatives said: OK. Even a crushing deficit will not be felt given the new debt ceiling, the largest ever in US history and on Trump’s watch. ICE deaths have doubled this year, so far. The Lancet estimates USAID prevented deaths of more than 90 million people between 2001 to 2021. They further estimate 14M deaths by 2030, many children. By March of this year, estimates are 10,000 have died, mostly children we used to save. I don’t want lower taxes for that.
We are cutting Medicaid. Most of us will not notice nor will we notice the affected, at first. Its poor people, rural areas, not most of us that will not be getting medical support. But the affected will end up sicker than needed as they enter ER for the most expensive free-care in the world with the cost passed on to us —- the insurance holders as our rates rise. Still, won’t see the effects for some time, won’t affect most of us directly, so —- who cares? I do, but apparently not as much as I used to. This one is tough: data shows that ObamaCare blunted insurance price inflation. Tough math because hidden in that is the fact that the underinsured paid a hell of a lot more to be fully insured: always would have even without ObamaCare, but Obamacare mandated a higher threshold of basic coverage. Overall, prices rose slower post ObamaCare. Trump’s actions should move the needle the other way and raise prices faster, again. *https://www.vumc.org/health-policy/affordable-care-act-effect-on-health-care-costs*
Food benefit cuts are the samefor me in that they do not affect me personally; I don’t even know anyone anymore on snap. And will take some time for us, as a nation, to notice. Especially if we don’t look. Afterall, it’s just poor kids, a lot of rural, not folks I see everyday. However, on this one, the businesses paying paycheck to paycheck to the working poor, like Walmart, McD’s, etc. gonna have some hungry snap-less workers who will probably be a bit less productive as they steal to eat, steal to live. Even while working 40-hour weeks.
For the most part, I personally will not notice the cuts, I don’t often cross paths with “those people,” and that’s the point: fuck the people who can’t raise a ruckus. People that we used to save are dying and this bill will add a few more to the funeral pyre. Trump and the supply-siders say we are cutting waste. Think that depends on WHO you think is waste that you are wasting.
On the tax deductions, mostly positive for me. That’s just weird and not like Trump. Perhaps not as much as the rich, but on this one Trump is tossing Blue states a bone. Less SS taxes, pretty sure I will be capped, but will still get something. The return of the SALT deduction is huge and makes very little sense given they used these to target liberals in liberal states. The SALT deduction rebate by Trump seems to speak directly to the rich being able to raise a ruckus. This deduction clearly favors NY, CA, and NJ. In NJ, where we pay the highest property taxes in the US, 40% of us will benefit from this change. And that 40% is very blue. When Trump screwed us with the 2017 version, I pointed out how Machiavellian it was for him to hit such a narrow target of liberals in NJ, CA, and NY. I blamed Paul Ryan but never really found the architect of this little gem of a deduction reduction. For some strange reason, he changed his mind in the latest bill. Can’t imagine it was fairness, not his style. I bet if you look at the Heritage Group, you will find a bunch living in the NE. Or, and please Lord no, maybe Trump is tired of FL and wants to live at his NJ golf course where, yes, I have peed on his lawn for effect. Hey, he shits on me, I pee on him…. It’s a fair exchange.
The tip and overtime thing is a political stunt. How they operationalize it will show how ridiculous they are. I don’t know how they tax tips today. At least effectively. Plus, why advantage waiters and the small portion of overtime pay out there? Overtime pay makes up less than 4% of US salaries and wages. Stunt. Surprised he didn’t make garage sales revenues tax free; seems a similar stunt and just as impossible to operationalize.
Up to this point, IMO, it could work. Clinton followed a Republican effort and put time parameters on welfare. Leftists said “they will all die,” but as far as I can tell no one did. We were wrong to think so, Republicans were right to do so, and Clinton heard them and made it so. Wow, wish we had those thinking’s today…… But there is a stupid part and it’s big enough to really hurt us going forward. Immigration. Even if it’s the right thing, this is the wrong way to do it. Voiding due process and the rule of law. Putting military on our streets. Disappearing people. Death Camp gulags. Drop-offs in war zones. Many are being murdered already, many others committing suicide. This bill doubles down on the dark side and the dark side will probably hurt us going forward: more in the next installment.
Bottom line: hope for the best. IMO, beyond immigration, he might pull this off. It’s supply-side economics now, let’s see what happens.
So Dunger is afraid. Good.
What kind of person says “good” to another’s pain or fears?
Hammon does.
It’s easier when it’s a stranger with different ideas, looks, or religions, isn’t it?
Let us know when you have something that’s actually interesting to say…….
The border spending is the really stupid part of all this and will only get worse. Let’s say Trump is successful and gets rid of the 14 million people he wants to. At that point, what do you do with an extra $150B in ICE agents? Did he campaign on spending $150B in ICE agents to fail at getting the job done? That’s a lot of people who enjoy manhandling other people while voiding the rule of law now with nothing left to do and no job waiting when it’s mission accomplished. Who will we sick them on then? When the Knights put the Vikings in their place, the Pope has to invent the Crusades to give them something to do. A mere 1,200 years later and a lot of Muslims still hate Christians. Plus, let’s get real. He prioritized the criminals, for a month, and then he went for the lawnmowers, HDepot day workers, strawberry pickers and the like, and to get to 14 million he promised to take out a lot which includes a fuck of a lot of valuable, law abiding save one misdemeanor, US employees. I fully endorse a secure border, great immigration and asylum laws, and enforcement. Especially against criminals. But I also like to get a fair return on every dollar we spend if we can. What’s the return here? The crime: for jumping the border, a misdemeanor with up to $250 in fine and 6 months in the pokey. Let’s say that misdemeanor criminal is working fulltime, paying taxes, going to church, etc. Done nothing wrong except jumping the border. How much do we spend to remove this useful part of our economy, how do we replace them in the work force, are we safer, and who’s going to spend the wages they used to spend? I don’t see a great economic return for that. Worse yet if he was picking strawberries, hard to eat strawberries not picked, and the farmer will probably just hit the system for loss costing us more on top. We spent $20,000 per removal before Trump, not including travel. He is not transparent as to current costs but given the price of military transports is double commercial, that we send six to arrest where we used to send one or two, all the detainment camps, etc. etc. etc., the spending must be through the roof. Often just to remove a working, tax paying, spending member of our society to replace them with dead air. We are spending much higher for this deportation, per removal. Criminals, I can see the value. A lawnmower, not so much and now who will move the lawn? So, we spend $20K, lose the strawberries, lose his tax payments, rent, purchases, etc. And we have an open job that no American wants to take meaning —— gonna have to pay more, charge more, blah de blah. This is the stupid part of his bill and it’s going to get much, much worse.
And here’s the funny part. He’s bringing in $30B per month from you, in taxation without representation, or tariffs. His first war, the tariff war, followed by his Houthi war and his Iranian war while he still fails his promise to end the Ukrainian war with his respected ally: Putin. So he’s cuttiing at the budget, but at the same time cutting taxes, and will use his tariffs, which he will hold at 10% across the board as effectively a sales tax that replaces the income tax. Oh yeah, a sales tax affects the poor and middle much more than the rich so that transfer of wealth continues big time.
Yup, this mass deportation does not benefit the economy or us, as individuals. And, for the most part, we are taking out law-abiding, taxpaying, workers, when we need their spending and their productivity to enjoy the quality of life we enjoy. This is a very bad part of the bill..
I still hope the bill benefits America, but the savings and cuts will need to really give us a boost to cover all the losers this crazy deportation of 14,000,000 people from our country. Makes the tariff war look like chump change.
Just to finish up on immigration deportations, our economy, and getting value for our tax dollars. Trump’s mass deportation is of 14 million workers. The vast majority are not criminal beyond a $250-fine misdemeanor with maybe a little jailtime, but doubtful. The vast majority work, pay taxes, and go to church. Trump’s plan sucks, economically and morally. It is too expensive for very little return for flying a McDonalds worker to another country to create a job opening. It’s often cruel and unusual punishment outside the rule of law. He disappears innocent people. His preferred method of transport, the military plane for great photo ops, the DOD estimates, a single flight involving a C-17 cost approximately $252,000 to transport 80 migrants from El Paso, Texas, to Guatemala City. Using a C-130E for the same 12-hour flight could cost between $816,000 and $852,000. A DHS-chartered flight typically costs just $8,577 per trip. Trump has mandated use of a half dozen military transports; you see em on TV. We have thousands of military personnel on the border. They need food, medical, housing, you name it, to be transported in, set up, operated and maintained. Better get them some entertainment too. This is all above what we would be paying these folks to train for real military operations at camp.
14 million individuals at $20K a piece, the normal fee, is $280B. At Trump’s expedited photo op cost, expected to easily clear $20K, that’s an estimate over $500B in cost added to the deficit to get rid of lawnmowers, field workers, burger slingers, painters, home builders, and the like. Not sure what our return is on this beyond deficit, the destruction of the dollar, shaggy lawns and unpainted houses. Trump is not releasing budget or cost numbers for this dust-up, but that $500B could easily trip $1 trillion added to the deficit. That’s a lot of tariff tax needed to cover that bet. And for what? He can’t even get the criminals out efficiently and effectively.
I dare Republicans to take a long, hard, accurate look at the legal, moral, economic, and financials on this to see how we are spending ourselves to the poor house to get rid of people guilty of jumping the border: a misdemeanor with a maximum $250 fine and a little time, optional, in the poky. Would you personally spend $20K to give the guy who mows your lawn free plane fare to Mexico?
Why doesn’t Trump and the Republicans make e-verify a national requirement via law and we can do this for virtually nothing as well as pulling all those troops off the border? Not one of you has ever spoken to that simple truth. Why are we wasting all this money? For good TV perhaps?
What Larry won’t tell you is WIFM. Here’s what’s supposedly the benefits of the BBB. These are Trump’s numbers, numbers that his personal Executive Office Council of Economic Advisors published that Trump expects to make his BBB work. He failed miserably to make his bones with the first term tax cuts. According to his own metrics. This time, as printed and supported by his whitehouse.gov, his own metrics defy reality as follows:
Real wages for workers will increase by as much as $7,200 per year. (Do you really believe this? 7.2% per year, for 4 years? Based on history, current projections, impossible)
After-tax take-home pay for a typical family with two kids will increase by as much as $10,900 per year. (ditto and with over 50 years work experience, never seen it happen, have you ever gotten a $40K raise in four years?)
Real investment will increase by as much as 10%. (Real investment is investments in tangible assets without financial investments like stocks, bonds, etc and other financial investments. Not even sure we measure that at the FRED.)
At least 1.1 percentage points added to annual real GDP growth. (Uh, pretty hard to calculate something given we don’t know “annual real GDP growth for the future. Pretty easy to say, yup, we added 1.1% on whatever the number is. Trump’s 1q gdp was negative, he’s gonna need a bigger boat, especially if he’s waiting for trickle down supply-side effects to make that up this year, so he will be negative on this commitment in year one, at least. Last time he ended with a recession, for those believing history repeats itself).
7 million jobs will be protected and created. (heard that one before)
Moreover, as a result of President Trump’s economic agenda, Trump says:
The deficits will be reduced by as much as $11.1 trillion — including as much as $5.2 trillion from economic growth, $1.6 trillion from discretionary spending cuts, $2.8 trillion from tariff revenue, and as much as $1.5 trillion from interest savings. (He can’t do it with this bill but I applaud the attempt. Then again he said this last time as we entered a recession with the highest unemployment in decades.)
The debt-to-GDP will fall to between 88% and 99% — versus rising to 117% if the Trump Tax Cuts aren’t extended in the One Big Beautiful Bill. (ditto and IMO this is the most important statistic of them all. This is the one stat that rules them all when it comes to the general health of our economy. He is lying through his about doing it. Last time he said “bigger than 4%, lots bigger, maybe 8%, and then got us Covid. Currently GDP growth is in the negative, most expect substandard gdp growth this year and, under 2%, and given Trump, they won’t forecast out farther due to chaos.)
Again, I wish him the best, but pretty sure he will fail on his own numbers. IMO, the gdp/debt is the most critical to judge the entire economy and our progress to solvency out of debt. Joe reduced the increase for three years, blew it in his last year, and, so far, Trump has sucked pondwater as a negative gdp growth factor tends to do. He is current at a record high for the ratio, the last record being set by Trump in 2020. So, he’s two for two in debt ratio suck land with consistency being the hobgoblin of little minds. The next GDP reading is end of July, it’s preliminary and the 1Q will be finalized then. I actually expect Trump to do OK in this, but not to break 3%, just low 2% if he is lucky. Like wages, pay, etc., he’s off to a rocky, chaotic start.
But I give him credit for focusing on gdp/debt ratio —- that’s a good sign. Now we will see what happens as trickle-down, supply-side economics rules the day once more. Always failed in the past, perhaps this time will be different.
There is only one ugly human allowed to comment by writing a book here. Sick!