The Conversation -- July 2, 2025

Jacob Bogage, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Senate on Tuesday narrowly approved massive tax and immigration legislation that Republicans hope will become the centerpiece of ... Donald Trump’s second term, dramatically reorienting the role of the federal government and unwinding many of the Biden administration’s accomplishments. Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote for the measure, which extends trillions of dollars in tax cuts from Trump’s first term and implements new campaign promises — such as eliminating income taxes on tips and overtime wages — while spending hundreds of billions of dollars on immigration enforcement and defense. To offset the cost, the legislation would cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income individuals and people with disabilities, and other health care programs. It would also cut SNAP, the anti-hunger Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. Nearly 12 million people will lose health care coverage if the bill becomes law, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Linda Qiu of the New York Times: “As ... [Donald] Trump sought to pass his tax and domestic policy bill, he and his allies have insisted that the legislation would be a boon for seniors and the middle class.... Still, some of their most repeated talking points — a warning about vast tax increases if the bill did not pass, a purported elimination of taxes on Social Security and boasts about a record tax cut for average Americans, or insistence that the bill would not balloon the deficit or cut Medicaid — are not accurate. Here’s a fact-check.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: BTW, I heard on the teevee that the devastating provisions of the bill will not go into effect until after the 2026 election. So the dimwits will never know what hit them. Even if Democrats take control of both houses of Congress, they still will not gain enough seats to override a Trump veto. So (a) the bill's provisions will go into effect, and (b) they would hit during Democrats' watch, so the dumbkopfs will blame Democrats. ~~~

~~~ Tony Romm of the New York Times: “Millions of low-income Americans could experience staggering financial losses under the domestic policy package that Republicans advanced through the Senate on Tuesday, which reserves its greatest benefits for the rich while threatening to strip health insurance, food stamps and other aid from the poor.... That reality could undercut Republican lawmakers and ... [Donald] Trump, who insisted anew this week that their legislative vision would benefit the entire economy.... On average..., [the Senate bill amounts] to about $560 in losses for someone who reports little to no income by 2034, and more than $118,000 in gains for someone making over $3 million.... Martha Gimbel ... of the [Yale B]udget [L]ab described the Senate measure as 'highly regressive.'... On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the bill as a 'deal for working people,' saying on Fox News that it would protect Medicaid.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Who teaches these reporters to write? What does "could undercut" mean here? ~~~

     ~~~ Dismantling Obamacare, a Piece at a Time. Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: “The Senate version of ... Donald Trump’s massive tax and immigration spending plan would wipe out many of the strides made by the Affordable Care Act in reducing the number of uninsured Americans, resulting in at least 17 million Americans losing their health coverage, according to nonpartisan estimates and experts. The bill ... would effectively accomplish what Republicans have long failed to do: unwind many of the key components of the ACA, President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, which dramatically increased the number of Americans with access to health insurance.... In addition, both [the House and Senate] versions of the bill would allow pandemic-era enhanced subsidies for health insurance through ACA marketplaces to expire at the end of the year, sharply raising out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans. The CBO estimates that 4.2 million people would lose insurance as a result. An additional 1 million are likely to become uninsured because of a combination of other Trump administration cuts and the Republican legislation, according to the CBO. The bill also includes other, less-noticed changes that over several years would make it harder for states to maintain the ACA’s Medicaid expansion at existing levels....”

~~~ “Agonizing.” Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, on Tuesday cast the deciding vote for ... [Donald] Trump’s sprawling bill to slash taxes and social safety net programs, embracing a measure she acknowledged would harm Americans after securing carve outs to protect her constituents from its harshest impacts. 'Do I like this bill? No,' Ms. Murkowski, who appeared to be quietly seething as she was questioned about her vote, told NBC News. 'But I tried to take care of Alaska’s interests. But I know that in many parts of the country, there are Americans that are not going to be advantaged by this bill.'... Republicans stuffed the bill with all sorts of goodies designed to win her over, including a provision that would allow certain Alaskan whaling captains to deduct more of their expenses.

“After the vote, Ms. Murkowski continued to express grave concerns about the legislation she had supported. 'Agonizing,' she said when asked to describe the process of getting to 'yes' on the bill. She said that ultimately she supported an extension of the 2017 tax cuts, which expire at the end of the year, and killing the bill would also have had a harmful impact on the people in her state. 'I struggled mightily with the impact on the most vulnerable in this country when you look to the Medicaid and the SNAP provisions,' she said.” ~~~

     ~~~ RAS and Akhilleus expressed little "concern" for Lisa's "agonizing." In yesterday's Comments, RAS noted that Murkowski must have "lost the coin flip with Collins." ~~~

She said, 'My hope is that the House is gonna look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet.' I mean, my question to her is, if you really believe that, then why the hell did you vote for this bill? It doesn’t make any sense! It’s a dereliction of your duty as United States senator and as a representative for the people in Alaska. When was the last time this current House of Representatives has fixed or solved anything? Where have you been, Senator Murkowski? This Republican House is dysfunction on steroids. -- Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), during a meeting of the House Rules Committee ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Murkowski has plenty of money. She’s 68. She cast a critical no vote on the last round of ACA repeal and did just fine. If she didn’t want to take the pressure anymore she could spend the rest of her life on a lucrative no-work lecture circuit. Instead she wants her legacy to be senselessly sickening and killing and immiserating people because she can make it marginally less bad for her own state, and she’s still trying to convince herself that someone else will fix it. Unspeakably vile." MB: The whole post is interesting.

     ~~~ Katherine Tully-McManus & Jordain Carney of Politico report on some of the horsetrading Murkowski engaged in to get to an "agonizing" "yes" vote. ~~~

~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "Democrats are already vowing to make ... [Donald] Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' a centerpiece of their strategy for taking back the House of Representatives in 2026. MB: I don't have a lot of confidence that Democrats can carry this off, especially because of the way Republicans have apparently loaded the aid cuts not to take effect till after the 2026 election. Meanwhile, I know JayDee is easy to forget, but let's not: ~~~

     ~~~ Cheyanne Daniels of Politico: “Democrats are rushing to portray Vice President JD Vance as the central figure behind the passage of the GOP’s megabill, with potential 2028 rivals arguing it will come back to haunt the MAGA heir apparent.... Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called Vance’s vote an 'absolute and utter betrayal of working families,' while California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged Americans to 'bookmark' the moment Vance became 'the ultimate reason why 17 million Americans will lose their healthcare.' 'VP Vance has cast the deciding vote in the Senate to cut Medicaid, take away food assistance, blow up the deficit, and add tax breaks for the wealthiest,” former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeg posted on X. 'This bill is unpopular because it is wrong. Congress votes this week, but it’s our voices — and our votes — that will have the final say.'”

Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: “The White House said on Tuesday that ... [Donald] Trump had paused the delivery of some air defense interceptors and precision-guided bombs and missiles to Ukraine, citing Pentagon concerns that the U.S. weapons stocks were dwindling too low. Included among the munitions being halted are interceptors for Patriot air defense systems, precision artillery rounds and missiles that the Ukrainian air force fires from American-made F-16 jets, according to Pentagon officials. They have been critical weapons in Ukraine’s efforts to hold off increasingly intense attacks from Russia, at a particularly perilous moment in the three years and four months since Russia invaded.... Only last week, after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in The Hague, Mr. Trump said he was open to selling more weapons to Ukraine.... But the signal to President Vladimir Putin of Russia may be that the United States is gradually getting out of its role as Ukraine’s major supplier of advanced weaponry. That, in turn, may encourage Mr. Putin to drag out talks about a cease-fire....” ~~~

Trump’s approach to economic statecraft is to impose pressure and get leverage and try to get the best deal possible.... For whatever reason, with Russia, he doesn’t want to have any leverage over Putin. -- Edward Fishman of Columbia U.'s Center on Global Energy Policy ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Aaron Krolik of the New York Times: “Since ... [Donald] Trump returned to office in January, the United States has issued no new sanctions against Russia related to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In some cases, the administration has eased restrictions. And without new ones, analysts say, existing measures lose their force. The result has created an opening for new dummy companies to funnel funds and critical components to Russia, including computer chips and military equipment that would otherwise be cut off to the Kremlin, trade and corporate records show.... During his presidency, Joseph R. Biden Jr. imposed thousands of so-called maintenance sanctions targeting new schemes.... In total, the Biden administration imposed more than 6,200 blocks on individuals, companies, vessels and aircraft linked to Russia.... But this year, those actions have come to a standstill, according to a New York Times analysis....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, there are literally (numerically?) thousands of ways Trump is acting as Putin's puppet, most of which don't make the news. It isn't just attacking President Zelensky during a state visit or withholding weapons from Ukraine. 

Eprat Livni & Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed to  'conditions to finalize' a 60-day cease-fire with Hamas, though he provided no detail about the terms of a potential deal. The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announcement, and Israeli officials have not yet confirmed they have agreed to conditions. Mr. Trump has been pressing Israel and Hamas to end their nearly two-year-old war. The announcement, which the president made on Truth Social, his social media site, comes ahead of a meeting Mr. Trump is scheduled to have with Mr. Netanyahu in Washington next week.”

Cat Zakrzewski, et al., of the Washington Post: “As ... Donald Trump visited a new immigration detention center in the Everglades, the White House celebrated the local alligators as a new kind of security force. 'It’s known as “Alligator Alcatraz” which is very appropriate because I looked outside, and that’s not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon,' Trump said during a news conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) after touring the site Tuesday morning. 'Very soon this facility will have some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.... We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation.'.... Trump also raised the idea of deporting U.S. citizens convicted of crimes, an idea he floated earlier this year. 'We also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time, people that whack people over the head with a baseball bat from behind when they’re not looking and killing people, that knife you when you’re walking down the street.… Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here, if you want to know the truth,' he said.... Under U.S. law, the government has no authority to deport citizens.... Asked earlier in the day whether the intent was for the alligators to eat escaping detainees, Trump said he guessed 'that’s the concept.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yesterday I speculated that maybe one of those alligators would have Trump for lunch, and Akhilleus thought it more likely a venomous snake would get him. I'm thinking we might have heard on the news had Trump succumbed to any creatures of the great swamp. As for the law against deporting U.S. citizens, when has the law or the Constitution entirely contrained Trump?

There's naturalization and there's naturalization. If you get too prolific with that free-speech stuff, Trump might denaturalize you. ~~~

Rachel Scott, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday his administration will 'have to take a look' at deporting Elon Musk after the billionaire reignited the feud with the president over his spending bill. Musk, a South African national and a naturalized U.S. citizen, made several weekend X posts slamming Republicans over the 'Big Beautiful Bill,'  arguing that it was adding more debt. 'It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!,' Musk posted Monday afternoon." Thanks to Julie in MA for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: “Trump has shown, over and over, that he has no real ability to make moral distinctions about anything.... When Trump depicts America as an unending nightmare of crime and carnage, he’s not only trying to trigger a cortisol rush among his followers; he’s also creating a narrative of despair. It’s a clever approach. He tells Americans that because the world is nasty, all that “shining city on a hill” talk is just stupid and all that matters is making some deals to get them stuff they need. Meanwhile, he paints America as something out of a medieval woodcut of hell, implicitly warning that he can’t really extinguish the lava and the fires but promising to at least put on a show of punishing some of the demons. This nihilism and helplessness is poisonous to a democracy, a system that only works when citizens take responsibility for their government.” Thank you to laura h. for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Hollow People. Marie: I doubt there's a neat break, but in general, I think it's fair to say that there are two kinds of citizens: those who have morals and those who don't (i.e., they're either amoral or immoral). You and I, being moral people, may disagree on important public policies -- say, the death penalty. But each of us has come to her position via moral inquiry. As Nichols points out, morality does not enter into Trump's decisions; following Groucho Marx (apocryphally, at least), Trump would say “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them … well, I have others.” Nichols does not seem ready to believe that millions of Americans share Trump's lack of moral grounding. I think they do. They know what morality is, and they may be able to recite moral "rules" (like the Ten Commandments), but it doesn't occur to them to apply these rules to themselves. 

Santul Nerkar of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Tuesday nominated Alina Habba, his former campaign spokeswoman and personal lawyer, to be New Jersey’s U.S. attorney for the next four years, a move that would remove her interim status.... Ms. Habba has bucked the traditionally nonpartisan approach of U.S. attorneys. She has aggressively carried out Mr. Trump’s wish to use the Justice Department to target his enemies.... 'We could turn New Jersey red...,' Ms. Habba said in an interview with a conservative podcast host after her appointment. 'Hopefully while I’m there, I can help that cause.'...

“She has directed the government’s lawyers to investigate Philip D. Murphy, the Democratic governor of New Jersey, and the state’s attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, over the state’s immigration policies. In May, Ms. Habba’s office brought criminal trespassing charges against Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, after he was arrested outside an immigration detention facility. Her office has also charged Representative LaMonica McIver, who was also present at the facility when Mr. Baraka was arrested, with assault. The charges against Mr. Baraka were later dropped, and Ms. Habba’s office earned a rare admonition from a federal magistrate judge. 'Your role is not to secure convictions at all costs, nor to satisfy public clamor, nor to advance political agendas,' Judge André M. Espinosa told prosecutors.”

Alan Feuer & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: “A former F.B.I. agent who was charged with encouraging the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to kill police officers has been named as an adviser to the Justice Department task force that ... [Donald] Trump established to seek retribution against his political enemies. The former agent, Jared L. Wise, is serving as a counselor to Ed Martin, the director of the so-called Weaponization Working Group, according to people familiar with the group’s activities. Mr. Martin, a longtime supporter of Jan. 6 defendants, was put in charge of the weaponization group in May after Mr. Trump withdrew his name for a Senate-confirmed position as the U.S. attorney in Washington. His nomination faltered in part because of the work he had done as an advocate and defense lawyer for people charged in connection with the Capitol attack. Even in a Justice Department that has often been pressed into serving Mr. Trump’s political agenda, the appointment of Mr. Wise to the weaponization task force was a remarkable development. His selection meant that a man who had urged violence against police officers was now responsible for the department’s official effort to exact revenge against those who had tried to hold the rioters accountable.” The AP's report is here.

This Is Ludicrous. Benjamin Mullin, et al., of the New York Times: “Paramount said late Tuesday that it has agreed to pay ... [Donald] Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of an interview on the CBS News program '60 Minutes,' an extraordinary concession to a sitting president by a major media organization. Paramount said its payment includes Mr. Trump’s legal fees and costs and that the money, minus the legal fees, will be paid to Mr. Trump’s future presidential library. As part of the settlement, Paramount said that it had agreed to release written transcripts of future '60 Minutes' interviews with presidential candidates. The company said that the settlement did not include an apology. The deal is the clearest sign yet that Mr. Trump’s ability to intimidate major American institutions extends to the media industry. Many lawyers had dismissed Mr. Trump’s lawsuit as baseless and believed that CBS would have ultimately prevailed in court, in part because the network did not report anything factually inaccurate, and the First Amendment gives publishers wide leeway to determine how to present information.” The CBS News story is here. MB: What, no apology? I guess Paramount really is tough.

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: “The University of Pennsylvania said on Tuesday that it had struck a deal with the federal government that will limit how transgender people may participate in its athletic programs, bowing to the Trump administration’s new interpretation of the law that bans sex discrimination in education. The government also said the Ivy League school had pledged to 'adopt biology-based definitions for the words “male” and “female’” that comply with the Trump administration’s reading of Title IX and a pair of executive orders that the president issued this year. The agreement was tied to a civil rights investigation, conducted by the Department of Education, of a transgender woman’s participation on Penn’s women’s swim team three years ago. In April, the Education Department said that Penn’s support for the swimmer, Lia Thomas, had violated the law governing sex discrimination in most educational settings. Penn’s president, J. Larry Jameson, noted in a statement on Tuesday that the university had been in compliance with the interpretation of federal law that was in effect when Ms. Thomas swam there. But he said that the Trump administration’s inquiry had left Penn vulnerable to 'significant and lasting implications,' a reference to the possibility of a loss of federal funding.”

Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s move to terminate long-running deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States, preventing their removal to the Caribbean nation. In a 23-page order, Judge Brian Cogan of the Eastern District of New York wrote that Secretary Kristi Noem, who leads the Department of Homeland Security, 'does not have statutory or inherent authority' to end the immigration protections, known as Temporary Protected Status. The administration moved to end the protection last week. The Biden administration had extended those protections for Haitians through Feb. 3, 2026. Judge Cogan wrote that Ms. Noem would have to wait until then to decide not to renew the protections for Haitians according to what he called 'the statutorily prescribed procedures Congress has enacted.'... Haiti and migrants from the country — who are overwhelmingly Black — have been the focus of Mr. Trump’s vitriol. In 2021, Mr. Trump said that Haitian migrants were spreading AIDS to the United States, saying 'it’s like a death wish for our country.' He also referred to Haiti as a 'shithole' country in remarks denigrating Haitian immigrants.”

Christina Jewitt & Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with a dramatic reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services, finding that the mass firings and organizational changes were probably unlawful. In an opinion accompanying the order, Judge Melissa R. DuBose of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island said that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to wipe out entire programs and reorient the agency’s priorities and work far exceeded his authority. 'The executive branch does not have the authority to order, organize or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress,' she wrote. A coalition of 19 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia had banded together in a lawsuit led by Letitia James, the New York attorney general, seeking to reverse Mr. Kennedy’s plan to cut 10,000 federal health workers after mass layoffs began in April.”

Ben Brasch of the Washington Post: “Sixteen states are suing the Trump administration for  'unconstitutionally' ending more than $1 billion in mental-health-related grants created to help after mass school shootings, the states’ attorneys general said Tuesday. The Education Department began discontinuing the grants in April, claiming that schools diversifying their pool of psychologists are misusing the funds and saying the grants would be rebid.... Donald Trump’s January executive order called on programs that foster diversity, equity and inclusion in schools to be cut.”

Now Here Is Some (Alleged) “Waste, Fraud AND Abuse.” Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: “An FBI special agent who supervised other agents had sex with prostitutes during overseas assignments and domestic travels, and used an agency-issued device to pay for the encounters, the Justice Department’s watchdog said Tuesday, committing policy violations that agency officials have said could expose agents to extortion.... The inspector general’s summary said 'criminal prosecution was declined,' without elaborating. The summary did not provide the time frame for the alleged misconduct, nor the locations where it occurred. It did not say whether disciplinary action was taken and referred to the agent only as a 'then-FBI Supervisory Special Agent.'... The allegations add to an emerging picture of a culture within the FBI in which agents freely paid for sex while working overseas.”

⭐When Ken W. mused yesterday that "there must be [pictures] somewhere of Hitler and the gang whooping it up at the grand opening of Dachau," Akhilleus laura h. came through with "Here There Are Blueberries." (Thanks to Akhilleus for the correction. My apologies to laura for the error.) The photographs are truly astounding when you realize what lies directly in the background: ~~~

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Alabama. Mark Walker of the New York Times: “A man who has spent 25 years on Alabama’s death row is eligible to be retried for the 1988 murder of a deputy sheriff, a federal appeals court ruled this week, because prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by intentionally rejecting Black potential jurors. In a decision issued on Monday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found that prosecutors in Montgomery County, Ala., had violated Michael Sockwell’s 14th Amendment rights by systemically excluding Black jurors from his 1990 trial, fearing they would be sympathetic based on his race. Mr. Sockwell, now 62, is Black. The court determined that prosecutors 'repeatedly and purposefully struck Black jurors, making only dubious and capricious excuses.'”

New York. Dana Rubenstein of the New York Times: “Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist whose blend of populist ideas and personal magnetism catapulted his upstart candidacy, won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City by a significant margin, according to The Associated Press. The race was called for Mr. Mamdani on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after New York City’s Board of Elections released its tabulation of ranked-choice ballots. Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, won with 56 percent of the vote. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo came in second with 44 percent. The board will certify the final vote in mid-July. Mr. Mamdani, 33, now moves on to a contested general election in November, where he will face Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who opted out of the primary to run as an independent; Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder running on the Republican line; and Jim Walden, a lawyer also running on an independent  line.” ~~~

~~~ Racist President* Makes Another Racist Attack. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Tuesday floated an outlandish claim that Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for New York mayor, was an illegal immigrant and threatened to arrest him if he blocked immigration arrests in New York City. Mr. Mamdani was born in Uganda and has lived in New York City since 1998, when he was 7 years old. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018.... There is no credible evidence to suggest Mr. Mamdani is not, or shouldn’t be, a U.S. citizen. Mr. Trump’s attack on the mayoral candidate echoed language he has long used to lend credibility to falsehoods. 'A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,' he said of Mr. Mamdani. 'We’re going to look at everything.' When a journalist raised the possibility that Mr. Mamdani 'will not allow' ICE to make immigration arrests, Mr. Trump replied, 'Well then we’ll have to arrest him.'

“The attack was the latest effort by Mr. Trump to promote far-fetched conspiracy theories about his political opponents: He used a similar attack to falsely accuse Nikki Haley, his rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, of not being eligible for the presidency. Later that year, he falsely questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’s identity as a Black woman. And Mr. Trump’s attack against Mr. Mamdani echoed the lie that raised his profile in the Republican Party ahead of his 2016 run for president: that President Barack Obama was not legitimately elected because he was not born in the United States.”

The Conversation -- July 1, 2025

Trump is in the Everglades to open the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention facility. It would be a shame if a big reptile et him up. 

Jacob Bogage, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Senate on Tuesday narrowly approved massive tax and immigration legislation that Republicans hope will become the centerpiece of ... Donald Trump’s second term, dramatically reorienting the role of the federal government and unwinding many of the Biden administration’s accomplishments. Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote for the measure, which extends trillions of dollars in tax cuts from Trump’s first term and implements new campaign promises — such as eliminating income taxes on tips and overtime wages — while spending hundreds of billions of dollars on immigration enforcement and defense. To offset the cost, the legislation would cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income individuals and people with disabilities, and other health care programs. It would also cut SNAP, the anti-hunger Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. Nearly 12 million people will lose health care coverage if the bill becomes law, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.”

Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: “Trump has shown, over and over, that he has no real ability to make moral distinctions about anything.... When Trump depicts America as an unending nightmare of crime and carnage, he’s not only trying to trigger a cortisol rush among his followers; he’s also creating a narrative of despair. It’s a clever approach. He tells Americans that because the world is nasty, all that “shining city on a hill” talk is just stupid and all that matters is making some deals to get them stuff they need. Meanwhile, he paints America as something out of a medieval woodcut of hell, implicitly warning that he can’t really extinguish the lava and the fires but promising to at least put on a show of punishing some of the demons. This nihilism and helplessness is poisonous to a democracy, a system that only works when citizens take responsibility for their government.” Thank you to laura h. for this gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ The Hollow People. Marie: I doubt there's a neat break, but in general, I think it's fair to say that there are two kinds of citizens: those who have morals and those who don't (i.e., they're either amoral or immoral). You and I, being moral people, may disagree on important public policies -- say, the death penalty. But each of us has come to her position via moral inquiry. As Nichols points out, morality does not enter into Trump's decisions; following Groucho Marx (apocryphally, at least), Trump would say “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them … well, I have others.” Nichols does not seem ready to believe that millions of Americans share Trump's lack of moral grounding. I think they do. They know what morality is, and they may be able to recite moral "rules" (like the Ten Commandments), but it doesn't occur to them to apply these rules to themselves.  

There's naturalization and there's naturalization. If you get too prolific with that free-speech stuff, Trump might denaturalize you. ~~~

Rachel Scott, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday his administration will 'have to take a look' at deporting Elon Musk after the billionaire reignited the feud with the president over his spending bill. Musk, a South African national and a naturalized U.S. citizen, made several weekend X posts slamming Republicans over the 'Big Beautiful Bill,'  arguing that it was adding more debt. 'It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!,' Musk posted Monday afternoon." Thanks to Julie in MA for the lead.

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This is the most deeply immoral piece of legislation I have ever voted on in my entire time in Congress. We're debating a bill that’s going to cut healthcare for 16 million people. It's going to give a tax break to…massively wealthy people who don't need any more money. There are going to be kids who go hungry because of this bill. This is the biggest reduction in … nutrition benefits for kids in the history of the country. -- Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Senate floor

I've been in this business of public policy now for 20 years, eight years as governor, 12 years in the United States Senate. I have never seen a bill this bad. I have never seen a bill that is this irresponsible, regressive, and downright cruel. -- Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), Senate floor 

This place feels to me, today, like a crime scene. Get some of that yellow tape and put it around this chamber. This piece of legislation is corrupt. This piece of legislation is crooked. This piece of legislation is a rotten racket. This bill cooked up in back rooms, dropped at midnight, cloaked in fake numbers with huge handouts to big Republican donors. It loots our country for some of the least deserving people you could imagine. When I first got here, this chamber filled me with awe and wonderment. Today, I feel disgust. -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Senate floor ~~~

~~~ Scene of the Crime. Jacob Bogage, et al., of the Washington Post: “Senate Republicans inched toward passing their massive tax and immigration bill Monday, working through the evening to win over the final holdouts as they seek to deliver the first major legislative victory of ... Donald Trump’s second term.”

     ~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments here. ~~~

~~~ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Frank Thorp & Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Tucked inside Republicans' massive domestic policy bill is an excise tax for wind and solar projects, a provision that came as a surprise not just to the renewable energy industry, but also to numerous senators who are crafting the legislation. In a twist, Republican senators insist they don't know how or why the tax was inserted into the bill they're rushing to pass. No senator is taking credit for or defending it. And at least one wants it removed. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the Budget Committee chairman, who released the 940-page bill, said he doesn't know where that provision came from. 'It's a secret, I guess,' Graham told NBC News on Monday evening."

Colby Smith of the New York Times: Donald “Trump stepped up his pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower borrowing costs on Monday, accusing its chair, Jerome H. Powell, in a handwritten note of costing the country 'a fortune' and demanding that he cut interest rates 'by a lot.' In a separate social media post on Monday, Mr. Trump said Mr. Powell and his colleagues on the Fed’s Board of Governors, who vote on every monetary policy decision, 'should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to the United States.'... The president’s note to Mr. Powell on Monday promoted savings of 'hundreds of billions of dollars' if the Fed lowered interest rates. Republicans are trying to pass a sweeping tax and spending bill that is poised to raise the federal deficit sharply, which would force the government to earmark more money to cover interest payments on the debt.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If I were Powell, I would send Donnie Dumbo back a nice handwritten note explaining the Fed's reluctance to lower interest rates is entirely Trump's fault. "You are responsible for the worsening economy, you ignorant oaf Mr. President*, thanks to your Big Bad Bill that unnecessarily increases the national debt and to your nonsensical. wild tariffs -- as well as other draconian policies (like forcing depopulation and discouraging ecologically-sound development)." ~~~

~~~ Joe Rennison of the New York Times: “The dollar is off to its worst start to a year in more than half a century. The United States’ currency has weakened more than 10 percent over the past six months when compared with a basket of currencies from the country’s major trading partners. The last time the dollar weakened so much at the start of the year was 1973, after the United States had made a seismic shift that had ended the linking of the dollar to the price of gold. This time the seismic event is ... [Donald] Trump’s efforts to remake the world order with an aggressive tariff push and a more isolationist foreign policy. The combination of Mr. Trump’s trade proposals, inflation worries and rising government debt has weighed on the dollar, which has also been buffeted by slowly sliding confidence in the role of the United States at the center of the global financial system.... After peaking in mid-January [MB: i.e., while Joe Biden was president], the dollar index began to slide.”

Shannon Kingston of ABC News: "... Donald Trump on Monday lifted U.S. sanctions on Syria, signing an executive order to carry out a promise he made in May.... When he met with Syria's new president Ahmad al-Sharaa last month, Trump announced he would lift the crippling U.S. sanctions against Syria and urged al-Sharaa to meet specified conditions in hopes that it will stabilize the country. Those conditions included normalizing relations with Syria's neighbors, including Israel, as well as the United States. Ahmad al-Sharaa is a former al-Qaeda insurgent who fought against U.S. forces in Iraq and served time in the infamous Abu Ghraib priso[n.]"

Matthew Lee of the AP: “... Donald Trump has instructed his top Cabinet officers to review U.S. policy toward Cuba, ordering them to examine current sanctions and come up with ways to toughen them within 30 days. In a memo Monday, Trump said the reviews should focus on Cuba’s treatment of dissidents, its policies directed at dissidents and restricting financial transactions that  'disproportionately benefit the Cuban government, military, intelligence, or security agencies at the expense of the Cuban people.' In one potential significant change, the order said the U.S. should look for ways to shut down all tourism to the island and to restrict educational tours to groups that are organized and run only by American citizens.”

Matt Dixon of NBC News: “... Donald Trump is expected to be at the formal opening Tuesday of a controversial immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades that state leaders have dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz.' The Palm Beach Post reported Sunday that Federal Aviation Administration data indicated that Trump would be in South Florida for the opening. Two White House officials and a Florida official familiar with the travel confirmed to NBC News that Trump is 'likely' to be there. The facility is on a little-used airstrip in Miami-Dade County that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration seized using emergency powers to build a housing facility for undocumented migrants.... 'Alligator Alcatraz' has been hyped as the highest-profile example of Florida's push to be the state that most aggressively tries to align with Trump's immigration agenda.”

Brianna Tucker & Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: “Lawyers for ... Donald Trump on Monday filed a motion to drop his federal lawsuit against J. Ann Selzer — a longtime Iowa pollster, and the Des Moines Register newspaper — and refiled the suit in an Iowa state court. Attorneys for Trump sued Selzer and the Des Moines Register in December over a poll that showed him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris (D) in the state just days before the 2024 presidential election. The suit alleged that Selzer’s poll amounted to 'election interference'  and accused the newspaper of violating the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. Selzer’s legal team argued her polls are a form of political speech protected by the First Amendment and that Trump misunderstands the legal concept of 'fraud.'” MB: Probably judge-shopping.

A few days ago, Donald Trump accused New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdami of being a "Communist." Uh, who's the Communist? ~~~

~~~ Jacob Dreyer in a New York Times op-ed: “Once upon a time, many Americans believed China would inevitably become more like us.... [But] Donald Trump’s return to office has made clear that in important respects — democratic erosion, the fixation on strong borders, the curbing of free speech and numerous other examples — America is starting to look a bit more like China.... The MAGA movement and its leaders demonize the Chinese Communist Party. But some of their actions validate the party’s ways, showing that practically speaking, they seem to want similar things. Both push a muscular patriotism, are obsessed with manufacturing and hostile to immigrants. Both want a country where ethnic minorities are expected to bow to the dominant group and traditional gender roles are enforced. And all of this is presided over by a domineering ruling party led by an autocrat who flatters himself with military parades.” Dreyer cites several more parallels.

⭐Jack Rakove in the Washington Monthly: "Once a constitutional crisis becomes an endemic condition, the term no longer usefully describes our collapsing system. Instead, we live in an era of constitutional failure when the relevant institutions cannot fulfill their responsibilities. Because constitutional failure is a term we have never needed to use, it merits a precise definition. First, it must identify the specific situations where the government institutions have manifestly not fulfilled their constitutional functions. Second, it should treat these omissions not as occasional lapses but systemic defects. Third, it must explain how the political and ethical norms of constitutional governance have evaporated. To apply this framework to the second Trump administration is hardly difficult." Read on. Thank you to laura h. for the link. MB: This is the best exposition I've read on "where we're at." Others may build on it and refine it, but it's an excellent place to start. (Also linked yesterday.)  

They called you crooks — when you were the best of us, there for the rest of us. And don’t think any less of us, when politics makes a mess of us. It’s not left-wing rhetoric to feed the hungry, heal the sick. If this isn’t murder, I don’t know what is. -- Bono, message to U.S.A.I.D. workers ~~~

~~~ Requiem for American Excellence. Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: “As most staff members at the U.S. Agency for International Development marked their final day with the agency, they got thanks from two presidents and a rock star. The Trump administration has eliminated most U.S. foreign assistance programming, saying that it fails to advance American interests. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the former Trump adviser Elon Musk worked to dismantle U.S.A.I.D., arguing that its staff was insubordinate.... 'You’ve shown the great strength of America through your work, and that is our good heart,' former President George W. Bush told the staff in a video message played during a videoconference.... Former President Barack Obama, in a separate message, said the decision to dismantle U.S.A.I.D. would 'go down as a colossal mistake.' 'Ending your presence and your programs out in the world hurts the most vulnerable, and it hurts the United States,' Mr. Obama said, citing the agency’s efforts to prevent disease, fight drought and build schools. 'To many people around the world, U.S.A.I.D. is the United States,' Mr. Obama added.... Bono, the U2 frontman and longtime advocate for developing countries, offered a lyrical send-off in a video of his own.” An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Arix Bendix of NBC News: "More than 14 million people could die over the next five years because of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to an analysis published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet.... The analysis found that, from 2001 through 2021, USAID-funded programs prevented nearly 92 million deaths across 133 countries, including more than 25 million deaths from HIV/AIDS, around 11 million from diarrheal diseases, 8 million from malaria and nearly 5 million from tuberculosis." 

Marie: Never mind the dying children and diminution of American prestige, as far as Elon was concerned, he used his time in Washington, D.C., productively -- to advance his own interests: ~~~

~~~ Desmond Butler, et al., of the Washington Post: “A Washington Post examination found that in at least seven major departments or agencies, DOGE secured the power to view records that contain ... trade secrets [of Elon Musk's competitors], nonpublic details about government contracts, and sensitive regulatory actions or other information. The Post found no evidence that DOGE has viewed or misused government information to benefit Musk’s business empire, which spans industries including artificial intelligence, space exploration and medical devices. But some competitors are alarmed about the possible exposure of their proprietary information or other private data.”

Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “Elon Musk said Monday he would follow through on threats to establish a third party if ... Donald Trump’s 'big, beautiful bill' is enacted by Congress. Musk said on X his 'America Party will be formed the next day' after its passage. He posted as the Senate moved closer to a final vote on what he called an 'insane' domestic policy bill.... 'Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!' Musk wrote on X. 'And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.'” The New York Times story is here.

Tara Copp of the AP: U.S. Northern Command head Gen. Gregory Guillot, “the top military commander in charge of troops deployed to Los Angeles to respond to protests against immigration raids[,] has asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if 200 of those forces could be returned to wildfire fighting duty, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Monday.”

Welcome to Trump's America, Where You Might Be Better Off in Jail. Travis Loller & Ben Finley of the AP: “Kilmar Abrego Garcia will stay in jail for now over concerns from his lawyers that he could be deported if he’s released to await his trial on human smuggling charges, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled Monday. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had asked the judge to delay his release because of what they described as 'contradictory statements' by ... Donald Trump’s administration over what would happen to the Salvadoran national. The lawyers wrote in a brief to the court Friday that 'we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue' by the Justice Department, adding that the 'irony of this request is not lost on anyone.'... Hours earlier, Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn told a federal judge in Maryland that the U.S. government plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a 'third country' that isn’t El Salvador. Guynn said there was no timeline for the deportation plans.” MB: That's right. Trump and his administration are such threats to U.S. law that a resident may be safer in jail than at home where Trump's agents could break in and again arrest and deport him to a foreign prison.

Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “A federal appellate panel appeared poised Monday to back ... Donald Trump’s use of a centuries-old wartime law to fast-track deportations of Venezuelan migrants in a case widely expected to put that debate back before the Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit grilled an attorney [-- Lee Gelernt of the ACLU --] for targeted detainees during oral arguments, asking what authority judges had to 'second-guess' the president’s decisions in defending the country amid armed conflicts.... Judge Andrew S. Oldham..., who was nominated to the court by Trump during his first term, [asked], 'Are we allowed to conduct a federal trial to countermand the president when he says this is an invasion?'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, yes, you are. If the POTUS says a yardstick is as long as your back yard is wide, then a judge may counter that by deciding that a yardstick is three feet long. A president*'s declaration must be reasonable and meet common definitions of a term (like "invasion") if it is to be definitive. Oldham, BTW, clerked for Sam Alito & was counsel to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. He seems, at first blush, to be better than Alito at sounding reasonable even as he disingenuously advocates for a crazy dictator.

Bienvenue en France. Victor Goury-Laffont of Politico: “The first American academics fleeing Donald Trump's America for France have arrived. Aix-Marseille University last week introduced eight U.S.-based researchers who were in the final stage of joining the institution's 'Safe Place for Science' program, which aims to woo researchers who have experienced or fear funding cuts under the Trump administration. AMU offers the promise of a brighter future in the sun-drenched Mediterranean port city. While both France and the European Union have launched multimillion-euro plans to woo researchers across the pond since Trump assumed the U.S. presidency in January, AMU's initiative was the first of its kind in the country — meaning the eight researchers who were welcomed are the first academic refugees planning to trade the United States for France.”

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California. Laurel Rosenhall, et al., of the New York Times: “California leaders on Monday rolled back a landmark law that was a national symbol of environmental protection before it came to be vilified as a primary reason for the state’s severe housing shortage and homelessness crisis. For more than half a century, the law, the California Environmental Quality Act, has allowed environmentalists to slow suburban growth as well as given neighbors and disaffected parties a powerful tool to stop projects they found objectionable. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills, which were written by Democrats but had rare bipartisan support in California’s divided State Capitol, that will allow many development projects to avoid rigorous environmental review and, potentially, the delaying and cost-inflating lawsuits that have discouraged construction in the state.” The link appears to be a gift link.

Colorado. Colleen Slevin & Mead Gruver of the AP: “An 82-year-old Colorado woman who was injured in a Molotov cocktail attack on demonstrators in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza has died, prosecutors said Monday. Karen Diamond died as a result of the severe injuries she suffered in the June 1 attack in downtown Boulder, Colorado, the local district attorney’s office said in a statement. Prosecutors have listed 29 victims, including 13 who were physically injured. Mohamed Sabry Soliman already faced dozens of charges in state court including attempted first-degree murder, using an incendiary device, and animal cruelty because a dog was hurt in the attack. He has not been arraigned on those charges that now include first-degree murder.... Soliman told investigators he tried to buy a gun but was not able to because he was not a 'legal citizen.' Federal authorities have said the Egyptian national has been living in the U.S. illegally with his family.” ~~~

~~~ Marie: This was a horrible, antisemitic attack on innocent people exercising their First Amendment rights. The attack might have been even worse but for a gun law. Unspeakable things will happen when you give lunatics easy access to lethal weapons. 

Idaho. Mike Baker & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: “Bryan Kohberger, the man charged in the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, has reached a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.... A plea hearing is set for Wednesday. In a letter to the victims’ families on Monday, prosecutors said that Mr. Kohberger’s defense team asked for a plea offer last week. Under the proposed agreement, which must be approved by the judge in the case, Mr. Kohberger would plead guilty to all charges, face four consecutive life sentences and waive all rights to appeal.”

Idaho. Kim Bellware & Daniel Wu of the Washington Post: “The man suspected of killing two firefighters and gravely wounding a third in an ambush-style attack on Sunday as they responded to a fire in Northern Idaho at one time expressed interest in being a firefighter, officials said Monday. The suspect, who was found dead near the site of the attack on Canfield Mountain, was identified as 20-year-old Wess Roley of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris said at a news conference. Roley appeared to be living out of his car and had minor run-ins with local law enforcement, including trespassing and welfare checks, but no apparent criminal history, Norris said. Other questions surrounding the suspect, including a possible motive and how he obtained his weapon, were unanswered Monday as investigators pored over the still-active crime scene.”

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Bienvenue en France. France Accepts First U.S. Refugees. Victor Goury-Laffont of Politico: “The first American academics fleeing Donald Trump's America for France have arrived. Aix-Marseille University last week introduced eight U.S.-based researchers who were in the final stage of joining the institution's 'Safe Place for Science' program, which aims to woo researchers who have experienced or fear funding cuts under the Trump administration. AMU offers the promise of a brighter future in the sun-drenched Mediterranean port city. While both France and the European Union have launched multimillion-euro plans to woo researchers across the pond since Trump assumed the U.S. presidency in January, AMU's initiative was the first of its kind in the country — meaning the eight researchers who were welcomed are the first academic refugees planning to trade the United States for France.”

The Conversation -- June 30, 2025

⭐Jack Rakove in the Washington Monthly: "Once a constitutional crisis becomes an endemic condition, the term no longer usefully describes our collapsing system. Instead, we live in an era of constitutional failure when the relevant institutions cannot fulfill their responsibilities. Because constitutional failure is a term we have never needed to use, it merits a precise definition. First, it must identify the specific situations where the government institutions have manifestly not fulfilled their constitutional functions. Second, it should treat these omissions not as occasional lapses but systemic defects. Third, it must explain how the political and ethical norms of constitutional governance have evaporated. To apply this framework to the second Trump administration is hardly difficult." Read on. Thank you to laura h. for the link. MB: This is the best exposition I've read on "where we're at." Others may build on it and refine it, but it's an excellent place to start.  

The New York Times is liveblogging the Senate's vote-a-rama.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jacob Bogage & Theodoric Meyer of the Washington Post: “The GOP is racing to push [a] mammoth budget [bill] across Trump’s desk by a self-imposed July 4 deadline, but fissures remain within the party over the cuts to social benefit and anti-poverty programs and the bill’s growing price tag. Lawmakers were debating the measure on the Senate floor through the evening before an onslaught of Democratic amendments was expected starting Monday morning.... Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill would extend tax cuts passed in 2017, enact campaign promises such as no tax on tips, and spend hundreds of billions of dollars on the White House’s mass deportation drive and national defense priorities. To offset the cost, it would make steep cuts to Medicaid  and SNAP..., formerly known as food stamps. The legislation would add roughly $3.3 trillion to the national debt over 10 years, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office, the lawmakers’ nonpartisan bookkeeper. That estimate does not include increased borrowing costs, which would be substantial because the measure, even with spending cuts, is largely deficit-financed.... Democrats have been determined to make any passage as painful as possible. [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer demanded that the entire 940-page bill be read aloud on the Senate floor — a process that took nearly 16 hours.... Democrats are also planning to introduce a host of amendments before the final vote that are sure to lose but will put candidates on notice in future elections.” An AP report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: “Republicans’ marquee domestic policy bill that is making its way through the Senate would result in deeper cuts and more Americans losing health insurance coverage than the original measure that passed the House last month, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. According to a report published late Saturday night, the legislation would mean 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034. Federal spending on Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare would be reduced by more than $1.1 trillion over that period — with more than $1 trillion of those cuts coming from Medicaid alone. The fresh estimates make official what many analysts had already predicted and some Republican lawmakers had feared.... They are also at odds with ... [Donald] Trump’s vow not to touch Medicaid except to do away with waste and fraud. The scale of the proposed reductions in Medicaid is unprecedented in the history of the program, which has tended to expand coverage over time since its creation in 1965.” The link appears to be a gift link.

Way Beyond Stupid. Brad Plumer of the New York Times: “Senate Republicans have quietly inserted provisions in ... [Donald] Trump’s domestic policy bill that would not only end federal support for wind and solar energy but would impose an entirely new tax on future projects, a move that industry groups say could devastate the renewable power industry. The tax provision, tucked inside the 940-page bill that the Senate made public just after midnight on Friday, stunned observers.... Those tax credits were at the heart of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats passed in 2022 in an attempt to nudge the country away from fossil fuels, the burning of which is driving climate change. [Mr.] Trump, who has mocked climate science, has instead promoted fossil fuels and demanded that Republicans in Congress unwind the law.”

No Surprise Here. Sylvan Lane & Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: Donald “Trump urged Senate Republicans on Sunday to overrule the chamber’s parliamentarian in order to pass key parts of his sweeping domestic policy bill. In a Sunday post on Truth Social, the president backed a call from Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) and other GOP hard-liners to ignore rulings from Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. 'Great Congressman Greg Steube is 100% correct. An unelected Senate Staffer (Parliamentarian), should not be allowed to hurt the Republicans Bill. Wants many fantastic things out. NO! DJT,' Trump wrote. The parliamentarian is the nonpartisan Senate official responsible for determining whether parts of laws meant to be passed through budget reconciliation comply with the rules for that process. Budget reconciliation bills can pass the Senate with simple majorities, thereby averting the filibuster. But those provisions must follow specific instructions passed through a budget resolution and not expand the deficit past the window laid out in the bill.... Overturning the parliamentarian would require support from at least 51 senators on the floor.”

Tillis to Spend More Time with His Family. Deirdre Walsh of NPR: "Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced on Sunday that he would not seek reelection next year. Tillis was one of the most high-profile Republicans to say he could not support ... [Donald] Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' Republicans' massive tax and spending bill, in its current form. Trump on social media had attacked him as 'a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER!' and threatened to support primary challengers to him next year.... '... the choice is between spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington or spending that time with the love of my life Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home. It's not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election.'" (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story, by Annie Karni, is here. ~~~

~~~ Al Weaver of the Hill: Donald “Trump on Sunday celebrated Sen. Thom Tillis’s (R-N.C.) announcement that he wouldn’t seek reelection next year. '“Great News!' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday evening.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We'll see how "great" the news is. I don't know who-all Republicans have on tap to run for Tillis' seat, but generally speaking, it's harder for a "green" candidate to win than it is for an incumbent. So I sure hope  a Democrat wins that seat because of Trump's standard-issue vengeance binge against Tillis. ~~~

~~~ Justin Green of Axios: "Fresh off announcing he'll retire next year, Sen. Thom Tillis gave a lengthy floor speech Sunday night attacking cuts to Medicaid in the 'big, beautiful bill.'... The Senate's version of the 'big, beautiful bill' would result in 12 million more people without health insurance in 2034 than today, the Congressional Budget Office projects." ~~~

     ~~~ Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: “Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Sunday that the Senate version of ... [Donald] Trump’s massive spending bill 'will betray the very promise' the president made when he pledged not to interfere with people’s Medicaid benefits.... 'What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding’s not there anymore, guys? I think the people in the White House … advising the president are not telling him that the effect of this bill is to break a promise,' Tillis said in his floor speech.” IOW: Tillis says Trump doesn't know WTF he's doing. MB: Suggesting Trump is merely ignorant is probably too kind; I think he just doesn't care.

Murkowski Got Hers. This from yesterday's New York Times liveblog: “When Senate Republicans released the latest version of their sprawling domestic policy package in the wee hours of Saturday morning, it contained a number of new provisions that might have seemed out of place.... But the seemingly random items ... appeared to be aimed at winning the support of a critical Republican holdout whose vote could make or break the measure: Senator Lisa Murkowski.... As G.O.P. leaders scrounged on Saturday for the votes to pass the legislation, they seem to have addressed many of her concerns, insulating Ms. Murkowski’s state from some of its most painful cuts while including an assortment of other Alaska-friendly provisions in the bill. The latest version ... would provide a new tax exemption to fishers from villages in western Alaska. There is now an exemption from new work requirements for food assistance. And several provisions have been added that would funnel federal dollars to Alaskan health care providers. There is even a provision that would allow certain Alaskan whaling captains to deduct more of their expenses.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Ron Filipkowski on BlueSky: "Lisa Murkowski cuts a last minute deal solely to benefit Alaska, exempting it from some of the more odious parts of the bill to secure her vote and sell out the rest of the US. Yeah this stuff sucks and hurts a lot of people, but I got Alaskans exempted so the hell with you." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: This kind of horsetrading is hardly unusual. An infamous example was the 2010 "Cornhusker Kickback" in which Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska demanded a $100MM Medicaid bonus for Nebraska for his vote on the Obamacare bill. That kickback was ultimately cut from the bill, but other special considerations found their way into the final bill. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Jennifer Rubin of the Contrarian: This is “the worst bill in modern history.... Even those who mouthed concerns about the draconian cuts, including Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) fell into line, voting to move the bill forward. They are daring voters not to hold them accountable for their monstrous hypocrisy.... [Yet this] reverse-Robin-Hood scheme is deeply unpopular in every recent public poll.... Perhaps the scariest poll for Republicans was one from Maine showing Collins sure has reason for 'concern': Her favorability is a miserable 14% with disapproval at 57%.... Donald Trump might strong-arm enough Republicans to vote for a bill that constitutes not only the largest Medicaid cut in history but also a historic transfer of wealth from middle- and low-income Americans to the wealthiest. However, he cannot save them from voters.”

⭐Don Moynihan on Substack: "Tax cuts were the only major piece of pre-pandemic policy Trump was able to pass in his first term, and he realizes that his other policies are broadly unpopular and will not stand on their own terms. So they are all being shoved in together into a massive piece of legislation that would fundamentally change America, and pushed as quickly as possible before the public fully understands what is in there.... One very simple way to make sense of the bill is to look at which income categories win and lose in terms of flow of resources. Here, the pattern is clear: the rich do better *at the expense* of the poor.... The Trump administration wants to spend much more on the security state....  The Budget Lab at Yale estimated that somewhere like $4 to $4.5 trillion would be added to the deficit by the Senate bill [but removes investments in Americans' futures that would give them the wherewithal to pay off the debt].... The bill also seeks to kill off support for alternative energy funding...." ~~~

Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: “Canada’s government announced on Sunday night that it would cancel a tax on American technology companies that led ... [Donald] Trump to suspend trade talks between the two countries, handing an important victory to Mr. Trump. Prime Minister Mark Carney discussed the decision to scrap Canada’s digital services tax with Mr. Trump on Sunday, Mr. Carney’s office said. In a sign that trade talks were resuming, Canada’s finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, spoke with the United States Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, on Sunday, according to Mr. Carney’s office. The tax, which had been due to take effect on Monday, became the latest flashpoint in difficult negotiations between the United States and Canada on Friday, when Mr. Trump said the talks were off. On social media, Mr. Trump called the levy a 'blatant attack' and said he would inform Canada within a week about the duties 'they will be paying to do business with the United States of America.'” MB: Like all narcissistic bullies, Trump -- the original “blatant attacker'” -- can dish it out, but he can't take it. ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's story is here.

John Hudson & Warren Strobel of the Washington Post: “The United States obtained intercepted communication between senior Iranian officials discussing this month’s U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program and remarking that the attack was less devastating than they had expected.... The communication, intended to be private, included Iranian government officials speculating as to why the strikes directed by President Donald Trump were not as destructive and extensive as they had anticipated.... The intercepted signals intelligence is the latest preliminary information offering a more complicated picture than the one conveyed by the president, who has said the operation 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran’s nuclear program.”

David French of the New York Times: “... as bad as ... cranks like Kash Patel, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth ... are, their influence is ultimately limited — first by Trump himself, who feels completely free to overrule and disregard any decision they make for the sake of his own interests and whims, and second by time itself. Trump’s political appointees won’t be in American government for long, and while they can inflict lasting damage during their short tenures, the next president can replace them and at least start the process of repair. Emil Bove [-- Trump’s nominee to serve on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals --] however, would be a problem for a very long time. At 44 years old, he’s been nominated for a lifetime appointment.... That means he’d long outlast Trump in the halls of American power, and if past performance is any measure of future results, we should prepare for a judge who would do what he deems necessary to accomplish his political objectives — law and morality be damned.”

Marianne LeVine, et al., of the Washington Post: “Trump administration officials have vowed to hold companies accountable for employing people who are in the country illegally — no matter which industry they are in or how big or small they might be. But the Department of Homeland Security’s enforcement operations have overwhelmingly focused on arresting workers rather than punishing employers. Since the start of the year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has posted news releases regarding approximately two dozen raids on the “Worksite Enforcement” section of its website. Local news outlets have documented dozens more. The Washington Post was able to identify only one employer charged after the raids ICE has publicized.” MB: When is ICE going to raid a Trump property -- and arrest Eric? I suspect the Trump are employing undocumented workers, just as they have in the past.

Alex Gangitano of the Hill: Donald “Trump said [Sunday] that there will be a temporary pass issued for migrants working at farms and in the hospitality industry to allow employers to have more control after the administration sent mixed messages about exceptions in its mass deportation efforts.... 'What I do have, I cherish our farmers. And when we go into a farm and we take away people that have been working there for 15 and 20 years, who were good, who possibly came in incorrectly. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to do something for farmers where we can let the farmer sort of be in charge. The farmer knows he’s not going to hire a murderer.... But you know, when you go into a farm and you set somebody working with them for nine years doing this kind of work, which is hard work to do and a lot of people aren’t going to do it, and you end up destroying a farmer because you took all the people away — it’s a problem. You know, I’m on both sides of the thing. I’m the strongest immigration guy that there’s ever been, but I’m also the strongest farmer guy that there’s ever been, and that includes also hotels and, you know, places where people work, a certain group of people work,' the president added.... 'We’re working on it right now. We’re going to work it so that, some kind of a temporary pass, where people pay taxes, where the farmer can have a little control as opposed to you walk in and take everybody away.'” MB: Thanks, Trump. Really appreciate the clarity. I guess this means that your boy Eric, being a lot like a farmer who can pick out murderers, will not be arrested & detained in El Salvador, after all.

These inner-city rats, they live off the federal government. And that’s one reason we’re $37 trillion in debt. And it’s time we find these rats and we send them back home, that are living off the American taxpayers that are working very hard every week to pay taxes. -- Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), on New Yorkers who voted for Zohran Mamdani for mayor ~~~

~~~ Nobody Is Safe. Paul Krugman: “... while Tuberville stands out even within his caucus as an ignorant fool, his willingness to use dehumanizing language about millions of people shows that raw racism is rapidly becoming mainstream in American politics.... You can see the resurgence of raw racism all across Trump administration policies, large and small.... The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is set to massively increase ICE’s funding — basically setting up a huge national secret police force.... I personally don’t have any illusions of safety. Yes, I’m a native-born white citizen. But my wife and her family are Black, and some of my friends and relatives are foreign-born U.S. citizens. Furthermore, I’m Jewish, and anyone who knows their history realizes that whenever right-wing bigotry is on the ascendant, we’re always next in line.... Everyone who cares about keeping America America needs to take a stand against the resurgence of bigotry. Because the truth is that we’re all rats now.”

“Too Many Mosquitoes.” Fighting Fascism with Alacrity & Humor. Jake Spring of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration wants national parks visitors to report signs or other information that’s 'negative about either past or living Americans,' and posted QR codes on signs across the country encouraging people to submit comments. Instead of rooting out examples of anti-American ideology, however, commenters have responded by criticizing mosquitos and staffing cuts and praising the parks’ natural beauty as well as its employees.... Many called for undoing funding cuts and rehiring staff who were fired by the Trump administration.... Positive comments — along with direct criticisms of Trump’s policies — vastly outnumbered those that were critical of educational materials.... Visitor complaints about the parks themselves generally had little to do with the administration’s aims.”

Marie: I would say the Trump Voter Challenge that RAS found needs a bit of refinement. (For instance, Trump did not grab someone by the pussy on camera, as the challenge claims.) But the idea of developing a simple card like this is a good idea. Pass 'em out at GOP gatherings, even at Trump rallies. The argument is one that, properly framed, simple people can understand. And I've never heard a politician put it this way. (Also linked yesterday.) 

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New York. Chelsia Marcius  of the New York Times: “Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned for mayor on the theme of making New York City more affordable, said in a major national television interview that during a time of rising inequality, 'I don’t think we should have billionaires.' Mr. Mamdani, the likely winner of the Democratic primary for mayor of New York, said in an appearance on 'Meet the Press' on Sunday that more equality is needed across the city, state and country, and that he looked forward to working 'with everyone, including billionaires, to make a city that is fairer for all of them.' At the same time, Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, asserted that he is not a communist, a response to an attack from ... [Donald] Trump. 'I have already had to start to get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I’m from, who I am — ultimately because he wants to distract from what I’m fighting for,' Mr. Mamdani said.” ~~~

~~~ Fascist Rule No. 1: Everyone Must "Behave." Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "Trump in an interview on Sunday doubled down in his assertion that Mamdani is a communist and said the likely Democratic primary winner must 'do the right thing' if he's elected mayor of NYC or else he'll withhold federal funding. 'I can't imagine it, but let's say this, if he does get in I'm going to be president and he is going to have to do the right thing, but they're not getting any money...,' Trump said on Fox News' 'Sunday Morning Futures.' 'Whoever's mayor of New York is going to have to behave themselves or the federal government is coming down very tough on them financially.'"