July 21, 2025 • 22 mins
Join me as I revisit the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and unpack what changed, what stayed the same, and who really benefits. From devastating Medicaid cuts to massive tax breaks for the wealthy, this episode breaks down the promises Republicans made—and the realities Americans now face. We’ll explore how Trump’s influence shaped the bill, silenced opposition, and turned political theater into policy. Whether you’re following politics closely or just trying to understand what’s happening, this episode sheds light on the stakes for us all.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Raheel Khan (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of Khannecting
the Dots.
It's been another week inTrump's America, and I wanna
start today by talking aboutsomething that perfectly
captures where we are as acountry.
Because what I'm about todescribe isn't just about any
single issue.
It's about how completely oneman now controls our political
(00:21):
system.
Let's start first with StephenColbert.
Just weeks ago, CBS andParamount settled Trump's
lawsuit over that 60 minutesinterview with Kamala Harris, a
lawsuit most legal expertscalled frivolous.
Then days after Colbertcriticized the settlement as a
bribe.
They canceled the Late Show.
(00:43):
Think about what just happenedthere.
A major media corporation, not agovernment agency, not a
political party, but a privatecompany.
Made a business decision tosilence a prominent Trump
critic.
They claim it was financial, butthe timing tells a different
story.
Particularly since Colbert showis still the most watched late
(01:05):
night show, a network tv.
This pattern of corporateself-censorship extends to
government institutions.
In the same week, Republicansvoted on Trump's rescission
bill.
He had demanded the claw back$9.3 billion in previously
approved foreign aid funding andfunding for NPR and PBS.
(01:28):
Republican Senators went throughtheir usual theater expressing
concerns and appearingdeliberate and methodical, but
ultimately bowed to Trump'swill.
No real debate.
No substantive pushback, justcompliance.
But the most revealing examplecame with the Epstein files.
(01:49):
For months, conservativeinfluencers and Republican
lawmakers have been demandingtransparency,"Release the
Epstein files", they shouted.
"The American people deserve thetruth".
The idea of a special prosecutorwas even floated.
Seeing the files had become arallying cry across right wing
media.
But here's what makes this storyso revealing.
(02:12):
When Republicans had the chanceto actually vote for
transparency, with realopportunities in the house,
every single Republican voted itdown.
Not some of them, all of them.
This wasn't because some newdamaging information about Trump
had emerged.
The Wall Street Journal'sbombshell story about that
salacious birthday card.
(02:33):
Trump allegedly sent Epstein.
You know, the one with theoutline of a naked woman and the
line"may every day be anotherwonderful secret" that didn't
come out until July 17th.
Two days after Republicanskilled the transparency efforts,
Republicans weren't protectingTrump because any new
information even surfaced.
(02:53):
Why?
Because they already knew enoughto be worried.
Back in 2002, Trump told NewYork Magazine that Epstein"likes
beautiful women as much as I do,and many of them are on the
younger side".
Three years later, he toldHoward Stern about walking into
dressing rooms at his pageants.
"You know, they're standingthere with no clothes and you
(03:14):
see these incredible lookingwoman, and so I sort of get away
with things like that." Add theAccess Hollywood tapes, the Miss
Teen USA allegations.
Elon Musk's June accusation thatTrump was"in the Epstein files"
and Trump's well-documentedfriendship with Epstein and the
picture becomes clear.
Republicans didn't need to waitfor a smoking gun.
(03:37):
They had enough evidence, toknow transparency was dangerous
for Trump.
So rather than let the truthemerge, they chose preemptive
protection.
That is a hallmark of autocracy,not just abandoning principles
when they threaten the leader,but abandoning them in
anticipation of threats thatmight emerge.
(03:58):
But the most perfect example ofthis autocratic control; trumps
one big, beautiful bill signedinto law on July 4th, with all
the pomp and circumstance Trumpdemanded.
Packed with his legislativepriorities and passed with
barely any real opposition fromthe supposed co-equal branch of
government.
(04:19):
If you've listened to this showbefore you remember back in
episode five, I broke down thehouse version of this bill and
talked about its potentialconsequences for America.
Now that it's officially law, Iwanna take a look at it again.
See what's changed.
What stayed the same, how theopposition was easily sidelined,
(04:40):
and how the GOP delivered forTrump, for their donors and for
themselves.
But not for the American people.
Because what we witnessed wasn'tjust one of the greatest con
jobs in legislative history,enriching Trump and his
billionaire allies off the backsof the poor, but also, autocracy
in action.
(05:00):
Republicans performing justenough opposition to maintain
the illusion of democraticdebate while ensuring Trump got
exactly what he wanted.
First, let's start with thenarrative that Trump and the
Republicans have been pushing.
Their sales pitch.
This bill rescues the middleclass.
It makes taxes fair.
(05:22):
It rewards work and stopsgovernment waste.
In reality, most independentanalysts say the same thing.
This is Sheriff of Nottingham.
Economics perfected.
Take from the poor and give tothe rich.
Who actually gets the tax cuts.
Just like in the house version,the final bill gives most of its
(05:43):
tax benefits to the wealthiestAmericans.
People who already pay less thantheir fair share thanks to
loopholes, working familiescan't use.
The bottom 20% of earners.
They'll get, on average,$120back per year.
The middle of 20%, about$1,100per year.
(06:03):
The top 1% about$75,000 peryear.
And the top 0.1%, a staggering$275,000 per year.
Two thirds of all tax cuts go tothe richest.
20% of Americans.
The top 1% alone get more thanthe bottom, 80% combined.
(06:24):
The Congressional Budget Office,or CBO, estimates, the final
bill will add$3.3 trillion tothe national debt over 10 years.
That's even after trilliondollars in safety net cuts.
How are supposed fiscalconservatives explaining this
massive debt increase?
They declared that extending the2017 tax cuts doesn't count as
(06:47):
new spending because those cutsare already current policy.
It's like saying your Netflixsubscription doesn't cost
anything because you've had itfor years.
Remember that state and localtax deduction that helps wealthy
Blue State residents?
Well, the house version hadraised it from 10,000 to$20,000
a year.
The final bill?
(07:08):
$40,000 a year for the next fiveyears.
This mainly benefits familiesthat make somewhere between
$100,000 to$500,000 a year.
About one third of Americanfamilies.
So again, this is about keepingaffluent, voters happy, those
who benefit the most from thesesalt deductions.
Then there's healthcare.
(07:30):
The Medicaid cuts got evenworse.
It's estimated to lose atrillion dollars.
As a result, the CBO nowprojects up to 12 million people
could lose health insurance.
Nearly a million more than theoriginal house estimate.
Republicans added a$50 billion"rural hospitalization fund",
which they say will help.
But will it really?
(07:51):
That's like if I took away yourlast dollar, then just gave you
back 5 cents and told you tosurvive off of that.
Here are some other keyprovisions that made it through:
work requirements for Medicaidthat increase medical debt, not
employment.
Snap cuts completely removing3.2 million people off of food
assistance and reducing benefitsfrom millions more.
(08:13):
The elimination of the$200 taxon gun silencers.
No taxes on tips, which stillwon't benefit.
40% of tipped workers andexperts say is rife for abuse by
the wealthy.
Earlier phase out of tax creditsfor wind and solar power, which
experts predict will increasehousehold energy costs.
And billions for Trump'spunitive mass deportation plans.
(08:37):
There are a few things they didstrip out: the AI moratorium,
preventing states fromregulating artificial
intelligence.
Proposed sales of public lands.
And the tax on wind and solarprojects that use Chinese
components.
But notice the pattern.
The corporate giveaways and taxcuts for the rich stayed.
(08:57):
The policies that hurt workingfamilies stayed.
Things that weren't critical forTrump's agenda are the only
things to get removed.
And here's something that gotvery little attention.
That I talked about in the lastepisode.
This new law makes it muchharder for courts to enforce
orders against the government.
If the administration violates acourt ruling.
(09:19):
Judges can't hold them incontempt unless plaintiffs
posted massive bonds upfront.
Legal experts, warn this couldmake court orders"unenforceable"
and turn judicial rulings into"advisory opinion".
So the bill doesn't just robfrom the poor and give to the
rich.
It also weakens the courts, akey guardrail against autocracy.
(09:42):
So how are Republicansjustifying all this.
by rewriting reality.
Republicans claim this billworks because: tax relief fuels
growth and"lifts all boats" workrequirements ensure only
"deserving people get benefit".
Trillion dollar deficits demandtough choices.
But when you look at theevidence, every single one of
(10:04):
their argument crumbles.
While the Senate was debatingthe Bill.
House speaker, Mike Johnson wenton a media blitz.
He was on any Sunday show hecould find attacking the CBO for
daring to analyze the bill'sactual costs.
On Fox News Johnson claimed theCBO always gets it wrong and was
off.
$1 trillion on the 2017 taxcuts.
(10:28):
Here's the problem.
As a fact checker from theWashington Post noted,"even the
CBO couldn't predict thepandemic".
Johnson is blaming the CBO fornot foreseeing COVID-19.
He even cited the study claiming84% of CBO employees are devoted
donors to Elizabeth Warren.
Bernie Sanders, and otherdemocrats.
(10:49):
The study was from a privateconservative group, not a
government agency, and factcheckers have debunked similar
claims.
His other argument.
"We're not cutting Medicaid inthis package.
There's a lot of misinformationout there, about this." Like I
said earlier, the CBO estimatesthe bill cuts 1 trillion from
Medicaid and will cause up to 12million people to lose health
(11:11):
coverage.
Johnson's response.
On CNN, he said,"you're talkingabout 4.8 million able-bodied
workers, young men, for example,who are on Medicaid and not
working.
That is called fraud, they'recheating the system." Yeah, but
that 4.8 million number.
Nobody really knows where itcame from.
And the Kaiser Family Foundationfound that most Medicaid
(11:33):
recipients subject to proposedwork requirements are in fact
already employed.
And we know what happens withwork requirements.
In Arkansas, 18,000 people lostcoverage in nine months.
Not because they weren'tworking, but because the
paperwork was impossible tonavigate.
Health Secretary, RFK Junioroffered this great explanation
(11:56):
on Fox Business.
"First of all, there's no cutson Medicaid.
There is a diminishment of thegrowth rate of Medicaid, which
is bankrupting our country".
Then he added"the national debtis also determinant- social
determinant- of health.
If we're leaving our kids withthese giant debts, they can't
afford healthcare.
(12:16):
They can't afford good food".
So let me get this straight.
Cutting.
Medicaid helps health outcomesbecause debt is unhealthy?
From a bill that adds$3.3trillion to the national
deficit?
And of course, who can forgetthe president?
He went around repeatedlyclaiming that without this bill,
(12:36):
Americans would face a whopping68% tax increase.
factcheck.org found this claimhas no basis in reality, if the
2017 tax cuts expired, taxeswould rise about 10.7%, nowhere
near the 68% he was claiming.
The Tax Policy Center estimatedan even smaller increase, around
(12:59):
7.5%.
To be fair, both numbers arestill a lot, but nothing like
the crazy numbers Trump wasinsisting on.
Notice a pattern here.
Every Republican talking pointfollowed the same script.
Attack the numbers even whenthey're accurate.
Redefine words.
Cuts become growth reductions.
(13:21):
Blame someone else.
CBO, media, Democrats.
Create statistics when real onesdon't work.
This messaging strategy workedjust well enough to get the bill
passed while keeping their basein line.
Here's the other disturbing partof this whole charade though.
How completely Republicans havefallen in line.
(13:45):
This was supposedly the party offiscal conservatives, claiming
to represent the working class,but their no votes aren't real
opposition.
They're calculated to protectseats while ensuring Trump gets
what he wants.
As John Stewart said on, hisJuly 7th episode,"it should have
been clear that this bill, likeeverything else was gonna pass,
(14:07):
on the day they said it wasgonna pass.
That the nos for the bill werefor show." The arguments put
forward were"scripted to allowcertain senators plausible
deniability without putting anypart of that agenda actually at
risk.
As usual, he's not wrong.
Let's look at some of theperformances.
After the house passed itsversion back in May.
(14:30):
Marjorie Taylor Green posted onX.
"Full transparency.
I did not know about thissection on pages 278-279 that
strip states of the right tomake laws or regulate AI for 10
years.
I am adamantly opposed to this,and it is a violation of state
rights that I would've voted noif I'd known this was in there".
(14:51):
So grand of her to make a standafter voting Yes on a bill She
didn't even read.
She made sure Trump's agendasailed through Congress and
after the fact tried to lookindependent and principled.
In the Senate, members like RonJohnson and Josh Hawley spent
months criticizing the billsaying it was being rushed, or
(15:13):
that the Medicaid cuts were toosevere.
Josh Hawley even wrote anopinion piece in the New York
Times back in May, arguingagainst Medicaid cuts.
Amazingly, they both voted forthe bill without major
concessions.
Then there's Senator Tom Tillis,perhaps the lone voice in real
opposition to this bill.
He decided not to run for athird term after Trump said he
(15:36):
would primary him in the nextelection.
Not your usual renegade, heactually spoke the truth about
the healthcare cuts.
"I think the people in the WhiteHouse, the amateurs advising the
president, are not telling himthat the effect of this bill is
to break a promise".
Of all the cop outs though, themost egregious was Alaska
(15:56):
senator Lisa Murkowski.
At the last minute, she wonconcessions for Alaska and then
had the gall to tell NBC news.
"Do I like this bill?
No.
But I tried to take care ofAlaska's interest, but I know
that in many parts of thecountry there are Americans that
are not going to be advantagedby this bill".
She then stated that she hopedthe house would reject the
(16:18):
Senate version because"we're notthere yet" and the bill"needs
more work".
This is the same woman who saidback in April that many
Republicans were afraid of toughnegotiations because of fear of
retaliation from the president.
Now she was hoping somebody elsewould do her job for her.
When the bill made it back tothe house, the Atlantics, Russel
(16:40):
Berman stated it best.
"Republicans from both ends ofthe party mounted seemingly firm
stands against the proposal,only to fold under pressure from
the President and GOP leaders.
In a series of votes throughoutthe night, dissenters turned to
supporters without winning anychanges to the bill".
Think about the math for asecond.
In the Senate, republicans have53 seats.
(17:03):
The bill passed 51/50, withexactly three Republicans voting
no Collins, Paul, and Tillis.
Precisely the number they couldafford to lose while still
passing the bill with Vance'stiebreaker.
In the house with a razor thinmajority, exactly two
Republicans voted no Massey andFitzpatrick.
(17:25):
Just under the number thatwould've killed the bill.
This is how for the first timein recent history, every major
provision in the bill of thisscale matched the rhetorical
priorities of the president anddissent even among those who
knew better, barely registeredabove background noise.
Want more proof?
(17:46):
Look at the recent rescissionbill.
Fresh from celebrating theirvictory on the big, beautiful
Bill Republicans immediatelywent to work on Trump's next
demand.
Slashing foreign aid andcompletely defunding NPR and
PBS.
These weren't popularpriorities.
Defunding public broadcastinghas been a Republican wishlist
item for decades, but rank andfile members never had the
(18:10):
stomach for it.
Trump made it personal.
He hates NPR and PBS for theircoverage.
Suddenly Republicans found theircourage.
The same with foreign aid cuts,classic America first
isolationism that Trumpdemanded.
When it came time to vote.
There were no meaningfuldebates, no consideration of how
(18:31):
aid cuts affect civilians or howlosing public media hurts,
particularly, rural communities.
Lawmakers who spent careersdefending international
engagement and educationalprogramming offered only token
objections, then fell in line.
The pattern was identical to thebig, beautiful bill perform
independence, delivercompliance.
(18:54):
So where does all of this leaveus?
Well, when it comes to the big,beautiful bill we've just
witnessed, one of the greatestlegislative heists in American
history.
This isn't just a bad bill, it'sa monument to everything wrong
with American politics.
The corruption of money, theperversion of democracy, and the
complete abandonment of anypretense that government should
(19:15):
serve working people.
The one big, beautiful bill isneither big nor beautiful.
It's small and ugly.
A small vision of an Americawhere might makes right and
money trumps humanity.
This bill will cause realsuffering for real people.
Children will go hungry,families will lose healthcare.
(19:36):
Seniors will struggle to affordmedications.
And all of this suffering has apurpose to pay for tax cuts for
people who already have moremoney than they can spend in
their lifetimes.
It's not just bad policy, it'simmoral policy.
It's sheriff of NottinghamEconomics taken to its logical
(19:57):
extreme.
And what have we learned aboutthe current Republican Party
through this whole ordeal?
That their principles are forsale or completely non-existent.
Their claims of fiscalresponsibility are a joke.
They make talking points thatare increasingly disconnected
from reality.
And that the Republican party isnow completely a cult of
(20:20):
personality, where Trump'swishes matter more than any
stated principle or campaignpromise.
But this isn't just about onebad bill.
This is about what happens whena democracy stops functioning as
a democracy, when oppositionbecomes performance art.
When facts become optional.
(20:41):
When loyalty to one personmatters more than loyalty to the
country.
What can we do about this?
Even though the bill is now law,this fight isn't over.
There are two key opportunitiesahead.
Many of the worst cuts don'ttake effect until after 2026 and
are extended out over 10 years.
(21:01):
And the individual tax cutsexpire in 2028.
None of this has to bepermanent.
Major reversals are unlikelywhile Trump holds veto power,
but those windows give uschances to change course.
Future congresses can restorewhat's been cut.
Until then.
Support organizations, helpingpeople navigate reduced benefits
(21:22):
or those that are mounting legalchallenges to the worst
provisions.
Volunteer for candidates whobelieve government should serve
working people, notbillionaires.
And most importantly, vote.
Vote in every general, primary,and special election you're
eligible for.
Whether it's for local, state,or federal positions.
(21:44):
The people breaking ourdemocracy are counting on us to
give up.
Don't give them that victory.
Stay engaged because the peoplewe elect determine whether we
have a government that serves usor exploits us.
Thanks for listening toKhannecting the Dots.
If you found this episodeinformative, please share with
someone who might benefit fromhearing it.
(22:05):
Consider subscribing whereveryou get your podcasts and leave
a review.
Until next time, stay curious,stay critical, and stay
connected.
Welcome back to another episode of Khannecting
the Dots.
It's been another week inTrump's America, and I wanna
start today by talking aboutsomething that perfectly
captures where we are as acountry.
Because what I'm about todescribe isn't just about any
single issue.
It's about how completely oneman now controls our political
(00:21):
system.
Let's start first with StephenColbert.
Just weeks ago, CBS andParamount settled Trump's
lawsuit over that 60 minutesinterview with Kamala Harris, a
lawsuit most legal expertscalled frivolous.
Then days after Colbertcriticized the settlement as a
bribe.
They canceled the Late Show.
(00:43):
Think about what just happenedthere.
A major media corporation, not agovernment agency, not a
political party, but a privatecompany.
Made a business decision tosilence a prominent Trump
critic.
They claim it was financial, butthe timing tells a different
story.
Particularly since Colbert showis still the most watched late
(01:05):
night show, a network tv.
This pattern of corporateself-censorship extends to
government institutions.
In the same week, Republicansvoted on Trump's rescission
bill.
He had demanded the claw back$9.3 billion in previously
approved foreign aid funding andfunding for NPR and PBS.
(01:28):
Republican Senators went throughtheir usual theater expressing
concerns and appearingdeliberate and methodical, but
ultimately bowed to Trump'swill.
No real debate.
No substantive pushback, justcompliance.
But the most revealing examplecame with the Epstein files.
(01:49):
For months, conservativeinfluencers and Republican
lawmakers have been demandingtransparency,"Release the
Epstein files", they shouted.
"The American people deserve thetruth".
The idea of a special prosecutorwas even floated.
Seeing the files had become arallying cry across right wing
media.
But here's what makes this storyso revealing.
(02:12):
When Republicans had the chanceto actually vote for
transparency, with realopportunities in the house,
every single Republican voted itdown.
Not some of them, all of them.
This wasn't because some newdamaging information about Trump
had emerged.
The Wall Street Journal'sbombshell story about that
salacious birthday card.
(02:33):
Trump allegedly sent Epstein.
You know, the one with theoutline of a naked woman and the
line"may every day be anotherwonderful secret" that didn't
come out until July 17th.
Two days after Republicanskilled the transparency efforts,
Republicans weren't protectingTrump because any new
information even surfaced.
(02:53):
Why?
Because they already knew enoughto be worried.
Back in 2002, Trump told NewYork Magazine that Epstein"likes
beautiful women as much as I do,and many of them are on the
younger side".
Three years later, he toldHoward Stern about walking into
dressing rooms at his pageants.
"You know, they're standingthere with no clothes and you
(03:14):
see these incredible lookingwoman, and so I sort of get away
with things like that." Add theAccess Hollywood tapes, the Miss
Teen USA allegations.
Elon Musk's June accusation thatTrump was"in the Epstein files"
and Trump's well-documentedfriendship with Epstein and the
picture becomes clear.
Republicans didn't need to waitfor a smoking gun.
(03:37):
They had enough evidence, toknow transparency was dangerous
for Trump.
So rather than let the truthemerge, they chose preemptive
protection.
That is a hallmark of autocracy,not just abandoning principles
when they threaten the leader,but abandoning them in
anticipation of threats thatmight emerge.
(03:58):
But the most perfect example ofthis autocratic control; trumps
one big, beautiful bill signedinto law on July 4th, with all
the pomp and circumstance Trumpdemanded.
Packed with his legislativepriorities and passed with
barely any real opposition fromthe supposed co-equal branch of
government.
(04:19):
If you've listened to this showbefore you remember back in
episode five, I broke down thehouse version of this bill and
talked about its potentialconsequences for America.
Now that it's officially law, Iwanna take a look at it again.
See what's changed.
What stayed the same, how theopposition was easily sidelined,
(04:40):
and how the GOP delivered forTrump, for their donors and for
themselves.
But not for the American people.
Because what we witnessed wasn'tjust one of the greatest con
jobs in legislative history,enriching Trump and his
billionaire allies off the backsof the poor, but also, autocracy
in action.
(05:00):
Republicans performing justenough opposition to maintain
the illusion of democraticdebate while ensuring Trump got
exactly what he wanted.
First, let's start with thenarrative that Trump and the
Republicans have been pushing.
Their sales pitch.
This bill rescues the middleclass.
It makes taxes fair.
(05:22):
It rewards work and stopsgovernment waste.
In reality, most independentanalysts say the same thing.
This is Sheriff of Nottingham.
Economics perfected.
Take from the poor and give tothe rich.
Who actually gets the tax cuts.
Just like in the house version,the final bill gives most of its
(05:43):
tax benefits to the wealthiestAmericans.
People who already pay less thantheir fair share thanks to
loopholes, working familiescan't use.
The bottom 20% of earners.
They'll get, on average,$120back per year.
The middle of 20%, about$1,100per year.
(06:03):
The top 1% about$75,000 peryear.
And the top 0.1%, a staggering$275,000 per year.
Two thirds of all tax cuts go tothe richest.
20% of Americans.
The top 1% alone get more thanthe bottom, 80% combined.
(06:24):
The Congressional Budget Office,or CBO, estimates, the final
bill will add$3.3 trillion tothe national debt over 10 years.
That's even after trilliondollars in safety net cuts.
How are supposed fiscalconservatives explaining this
massive debt increase?
They declared that extending the2017 tax cuts doesn't count as
(06:47):
new spending because those cutsare already current policy.
It's like saying your Netflixsubscription doesn't cost
anything because you've had itfor years.
Remember that state and localtax deduction that helps wealthy
Blue State residents?
Well, the house version hadraised it from 10,000 to$20,000
a year.
The final bill?
(07:08):
$40,000 a year for the next fiveyears.
This mainly benefits familiesthat make somewhere between
$100,000 to$500,000 a year.
About one third of Americanfamilies.
So again, this is about keepingaffluent, voters happy, those
who benefit the most from thesesalt deductions.
Then there's healthcare.
(07:30):
The Medicaid cuts got evenworse.
It's estimated to lose atrillion dollars.
As a result, the CBO nowprojects up to 12 million people
could lose health insurance.
Nearly a million more than theoriginal house estimate.
Republicans added a$50 billion"rural hospitalization fund",
which they say will help.
But will it really?
(07:51):
That's like if I took away yourlast dollar, then just gave you
back 5 cents and told you tosurvive off of that.
Here are some other keyprovisions that made it through:
work requirements for Medicaidthat increase medical debt, not
employment.
Snap cuts completely removing3.2 million people off of food
assistance and reducing benefitsfrom millions more.
(08:13):
The elimination of the$200 taxon gun silencers.
No taxes on tips, which stillwon't benefit.
40% of tipped workers andexperts say is rife for abuse by
the wealthy.
Earlier phase out of tax creditsfor wind and solar power, which
experts predict will increasehousehold energy costs.
And billions for Trump'spunitive mass deportation plans.
(08:37):
There are a few things they didstrip out: the AI moratorium,
preventing states fromregulating artificial
intelligence.
Proposed sales of public lands.
And the tax on wind and solarprojects that use Chinese
components.
But notice the pattern.
The corporate giveaways and taxcuts for the rich stayed.
(08:57):
The policies that hurt workingfamilies stayed.
Things that weren't critical forTrump's agenda are the only
things to get removed.
And here's something that gotvery little attention.
That I talked about in the lastepisode.
This new law makes it muchharder for courts to enforce
orders against the government.
If the administration violates acourt ruling.
(09:19):
Judges can't hold them incontempt unless plaintiffs
posted massive bonds upfront.
Legal experts, warn this couldmake court orders"unenforceable"
and turn judicial rulings into"advisory opinion".
So the bill doesn't just robfrom the poor and give to the
rich.
It also weakens the courts, akey guardrail against autocracy.
(09:42):
So how are Republicansjustifying all this.
by rewriting reality.
Republicans claim this billworks because: tax relief fuels
growth and"lifts all boats" workrequirements ensure only
"deserving people get benefit".
Trillion dollar deficits demandtough choices.
But when you look at theevidence, every single one of
(10:04):
their argument crumbles.
While the Senate was debatingthe Bill.
House speaker, Mike Johnson wenton a media blitz.
He was on any Sunday show hecould find attacking the CBO for
daring to analyze the bill'sactual costs.
On Fox News Johnson claimed theCBO always gets it wrong and was
off.
$1 trillion on the 2017 taxcuts.
(10:28):
Here's the problem.
As a fact checker from theWashington Post noted,"even the
CBO couldn't predict thepandemic".
Johnson is blaming the CBO fornot foreseeing COVID-19.
He even cited the study claiming84% of CBO employees are devoted
donors to Elizabeth Warren.
Bernie Sanders, and otherdemocrats.
(10:49):
The study was from a privateconservative group, not a
government agency, and factcheckers have debunked similar
claims.
His other argument.
"We're not cutting Medicaid inthis package.
There's a lot of misinformationout there, about this." Like I
said earlier, the CBO estimatesthe bill cuts 1 trillion from
Medicaid and will cause up to 12million people to lose health
(11:11):
coverage.
Johnson's response.
On CNN, he said,"you're talkingabout 4.8 million able-bodied
workers, young men, for example,who are on Medicaid and not
working.
That is called fraud, they'recheating the system." Yeah, but
that 4.8 million number.
Nobody really knows where itcame from.
And the Kaiser Family Foundationfound that most Medicaid
(11:33):
recipients subject to proposedwork requirements are in fact
already employed.
And we know what happens withwork requirements.
In Arkansas, 18,000 people lostcoverage in nine months.
Not because they weren'tworking, but because the
paperwork was impossible tonavigate.
Health Secretary, RFK Junioroffered this great explanation
(11:56):
on Fox Business.
"First of all, there's no cutson Medicaid.
There is a diminishment of thegrowth rate of Medicaid, which
is bankrupting our country".
Then he added"the national debtis also determinant- social
determinant- of health.
If we're leaving our kids withthese giant debts, they can't
afford healthcare.
(12:16):
They can't afford good food".
So let me get this straight.
Cutting.
Medicaid helps health outcomesbecause debt is unhealthy?
From a bill that adds$3.3trillion to the national
deficit?
And of course, who can forgetthe president?
He went around repeatedlyclaiming that without this bill,
(12:36):
Americans would face a whopping68% tax increase.
factcheck.org found this claimhas no basis in reality, if the
2017 tax cuts expired, taxeswould rise about 10.7%, nowhere
near the 68% he was claiming.
The Tax Policy Center estimatedan even smaller increase, around
(12:59):
7.5%.
To be fair, both numbers arestill a lot, but nothing like
the crazy numbers Trump wasinsisting on.
Notice a pattern here.
Every Republican talking pointfollowed the same script.
Attack the numbers even whenthey're accurate.
Redefine words.
Cuts become growth reductions.
(13:21):
Blame someone else.
CBO, media, Democrats.
Create statistics when real onesdon't work.
This messaging strategy workedjust well enough to get the bill
passed while keeping their basein line.
Here's the other disturbing partof this whole charade though.
How completely Republicans havefallen in line.
(13:45):
This was supposedly the party offiscal conservatives, claiming
to represent the working class,but their no votes aren't real
opposition.
They're calculated to protectseats while ensuring Trump gets
what he wants.
As John Stewart said on, hisJuly 7th episode,"it should have
been clear that this bill, likeeverything else was gonna pass,
(14:07):
on the day they said it wasgonna pass.
That the nos for the bill werefor show." The arguments put
forward were"scripted to allowcertain senators plausible
deniability without putting anypart of that agenda actually at
risk.
As usual, he's not wrong.
Let's look at some of theperformances.
After the house passed itsversion back in May.
(14:30):
Marjorie Taylor Green posted onX.
"Full transparency.
I did not know about thissection on pages 278-279 that
strip states of the right tomake laws or regulate AI for 10
years.
I am adamantly opposed to this,and it is a violation of state
rights that I would've voted noif I'd known this was in there".
(14:51):
So grand of her to make a standafter voting Yes on a bill She
didn't even read.
She made sure Trump's agendasailed through Congress and
after the fact tried to lookindependent and principled.
In the Senate, members like RonJohnson and Josh Hawley spent
months criticizing the billsaying it was being rushed, or
(15:13):
that the Medicaid cuts were toosevere.
Josh Hawley even wrote anopinion piece in the New York
Times back in May, arguingagainst Medicaid cuts.
Amazingly, they both voted forthe bill without major
concessions.
Then there's Senator Tom Tillis,perhaps the lone voice in real
opposition to this bill.
He decided not to run for athird term after Trump said he
(15:36):
would primary him in the nextelection.
Not your usual renegade, heactually spoke the truth about
the healthcare cuts.
"I think the people in the WhiteHouse, the amateurs advising the
president, are not telling himthat the effect of this bill is
to break a promise".
Of all the cop outs though, themost egregious was Alaska
(15:56):
senator Lisa Murkowski.
At the last minute, she wonconcessions for Alaska and then
had the gall to tell NBC news.
"Do I like this bill?
No.
But I tried to take care ofAlaska's interest, but I know
that in many parts of thecountry there are Americans that
are not going to be advantagedby this bill".
She then stated that she hopedthe house would reject the
(16:18):
Senate version because"we're notthere yet" and the bill"needs
more work".
This is the same woman who saidback in April that many
Republicans were afraid of toughnegotiations because of fear of
retaliation from the president.
Now she was hoping somebody elsewould do her job for her.
When the bill made it back tothe house, the Atlantics, Russel
(16:40):
Berman stated it best.
"Republicans from both ends ofthe party mounted seemingly firm
stands against the proposal,only to fold under pressure from
the President and GOP leaders.
In a series of votes throughoutthe night, dissenters turned to
supporters without winning anychanges to the bill".
Think about the math for asecond.
In the Senate, republicans have53 seats.
(17:03):
The bill passed 51/50, withexactly three Republicans voting
no Collins, Paul, and Tillis.
Precisely the number they couldafford to lose while still
passing the bill with Vance'stiebreaker.
In the house with a razor thinmajority, exactly two
Republicans voted no Massey andFitzpatrick.
(17:25):
Just under the number thatwould've killed the bill.
This is how for the first timein recent history, every major
provision in the bill of thisscale matched the rhetorical
priorities of the president anddissent even among those who
knew better, barely registeredabove background noise.
Want more proof?
(17:46):
Look at the recent rescissionbill.
Fresh from celebrating theirvictory on the big, beautiful
Bill Republicans immediatelywent to work on Trump's next
demand.
Slashing foreign aid andcompletely defunding NPR and
PBS.
These weren't popularpriorities.
Defunding public broadcastinghas been a Republican wishlist
item for decades, but rank andfile members never had the
(18:10):
stomach for it.
Trump made it personal.
He hates NPR and PBS for theircoverage.
Suddenly Republicans found theircourage.
The same with foreign aid cuts,classic America first
isolationism that Trumpdemanded.
When it came time to vote.
There were no meaningfuldebates, no consideration of how
(18:31):
aid cuts affect civilians or howlosing public media hurts,
particularly, rural communities.
Lawmakers who spent careersdefending international
engagement and educationalprogramming offered only token
objections, then fell in line.
The pattern was identical to thebig, beautiful bill perform
independence, delivercompliance.
(18:54):
So where does all of this leaveus?
Well, when it comes to the big,beautiful bill we've just
witnessed, one of the greatestlegislative heists in American
history.
This isn't just a bad bill, it'sa monument to everything wrong
with American politics.
The corruption of money, theperversion of democracy, and the
complete abandonment of anypretense that government should
(19:15):
serve working people.
The one big, beautiful bill isneither big nor beautiful.
It's small and ugly.
A small vision of an Americawhere might makes right and
money trumps humanity.
This bill will cause realsuffering for real people.
Children will go hungry,families will lose healthcare.
(19:36):
Seniors will struggle to affordmedications.
And all of this suffering has apurpose to pay for tax cuts for
people who already have moremoney than they can spend in
their lifetimes.
It's not just bad policy, it'simmoral policy.
It's sheriff of NottinghamEconomics taken to its logical
(19:57):
extreme.
And what have we learned aboutthe current Republican Party
through this whole ordeal?
That their principles are forsale or completely non-existent.
Their claims of fiscalresponsibility are a joke.
They make talking points thatare increasingly disconnected
from reality.
And that the Republican party isnow completely a cult of
(20:20):
personality, where Trump'swishes matter more than any
stated principle or campaignpromise.
But this isn't just about onebad bill.
This is about what happens whena democracy stops functioning as
a democracy, when oppositionbecomes performance art.
When facts become optional.
(20:41):
When loyalty to one personmatters more than loyalty to the
country.
What can we do about this?
Even though the bill is now law,this fight isn't over.
There are two key opportunitiesahead.
Many of the worst cuts don'ttake effect until after 2026 and
are extended out over 10 years.
(21:01):
And the individual tax cutsexpire in 2028.
None of this has to bepermanent.
Major reversals are unlikelywhile Trump holds veto power,
but those windows give uschances to change course.
Future congresses can restorewhat's been cut.
Until then.
Support organizations, helpingpeople navigate reduced benefits
(21:22):
or those that are mounting legalchallenges to the worst
provisions.
Volunteer for candidates whobelieve government should serve
working people, notbillionaires.
And most importantly, vote.
Vote in every general, primary,and special election you're
eligible for.
Whether it's for local, state,or federal positions.
(21:44):
The people breaking ourdemocracy are counting on us to
give up.
Don't give them that victory.
Stay engaged because the peoplewe elect determine whether we
have a government that serves usor exploits us.
Thanks for listening toKhannecting the Dots.
If you found this episodeinformative, please share with
someone who might benefit fromhearing it.
(22:05):
Consider subscribing whereveryou get your podcasts and leave
a review.
Until next time, stay curious,stay critical, and stay
connected.
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