June 18, 2025 • 11 mins
Rand Paul has shifted from “no way” to “maybe yes” on Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” — but he’s not giving in without tough conditions. In this Morning Report, Willie Lawson breaks down: ✅ What’s really in the BBB (hint: tax cuts, defense and border spending — and a staggering $5 trillion debt ceiling increase)
🛑 Why Rand Paul hated it — calling it reckless, fiscally tone-deaf, and a political liability
🤝 What changed — a direct call from Trump and leverage that only Paul holds in a razor-thin Senate
⚠️ Reactions from Sen. Johnson, Speaker Johnson, Elon Musk, and Democrats — and why GOP unity is still shaky
🎯 What this means — can Paul wring real concessions or will it be all optics? What’s at stake in the debt‑over‑deficit GOP debate? Paul’s stance so far: “I’m not an absolute no — but get that debt ceiling separated or trimmed, deepen spending cuts, and I’ll vote yes.” In other words — deal with me, don’t bypass me. 🔔 SUBSCRIBE for conservative news with backbone
👍 Like, COMMENT on whether you think Paul got a fair deal
🔗 VISIT FightBackMedia.com for more in-depth content 🎵 [Credit: (attribution for music bed)]
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/morning-report--3694168/support.
🛑 Why Rand Paul hated it — calling it reckless, fiscally tone-deaf, and a political liability
🤝 What changed — a direct call from Trump and leverage that only Paul holds in a razor-thin Senate
⚠️ Reactions from Sen. Johnson, Speaker Johnson, Elon Musk, and Democrats — and why GOP unity is still shaky
🎯 What this means — can Paul wring real concessions or will it be all optics? What’s at stake in the debt‑over‑deficit GOP debate? Paul’s stance so far: “I’m not an absolute no — but get that debt ceiling separated or trimmed, deepen spending cuts, and I’ll vote yes.” In other words — deal with me, don’t bypass me. 🔔 SUBSCRIBE for conservative news with backbone
👍 Like, COMMENT on whether you think Paul got a fair deal
🔗 VISIT FightBackMedia.com for more in-depth content 🎵 [Credit: (attribution for music bed)]
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/morning-report--3694168/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Good morning, Welcome to the Morning Report. My
name is Willy Lawson. The Morning Report is a production
of Fightbakmedia dot com, Fight Bankmedia dot com, fight Bankmedia
dot com and rybakmdiatv dot com. I hope that you
are great today and today it's a big one. It's
(00:21):
a bigin Ran Paul Uh, Senator from Kentucky, the Libertarian Lion,
as he's called. He is the Senate budgets bulldog, the
guy who can fill a buster while quoting James Madison
and ordering takeout, seems to have blinked. Maybe that's right.
(00:44):
After after weeks of pounding the podium against Trump's massive
tax and spend spending package, you know, the one that
Trump calls his big Beautiful Bill, Paul is signaling that
he is not necessarily absolute. Note he just might be
a yes. Today, we're gonna break it all down, the stakes,
(01:11):
the substance, and the strategy behind Rampaul's drastic shift. Is
this a case of principle involving into pragmatism or is
it just politics Kentucky style. Let's get into it. Okay,
(01:46):
this big beautiful Bill that is so Trump or the
Triple B as it's being called and not by accidents.
Is Trump's opening salvo in his second term agenda. It's
a east permanent Trump tax cuts, check, elimination of federal
(02:10):
taxes on tips, income and overtime pay check. A huge
bump in defense and border spending. Oh yeah, but it's
not just cuts and boost it's also a debt ball.
This bill would hike the debt ceiling by as much
as five trillion dollars depending on the final version. And that,
(02:34):
my friends, is what Scott ram Paul's goat. Paul slammed
the bill as a fiscal betrayal. He called a spending
cuts wimpy and anemic, said the debt limit hike was
the biggest in history, and for a while there he
looked like he might not be the be the one
to sink on Trump's signature legislation. Now here's where it
(03:00):
gets interesting. For weeks, Paul was dug in no to
the debt ceiling increase, no to bloat at border budgets,
no to bearing Republican's credibility on spending. But behind the scenes,
pressure tense pressure, some of them from Trump himself, from
(03:22):
Senate leaders, even from House Speaker Mike Johnson, who went
on a pr offensive defending the bill. Paul says he's
got a call from President Trump personally, and that's the
conversation that changed the game. Suddenly, Paul said, I'm not
an absolute no translation, make me an offer. I can
(03:46):
live with. What he wants now is a separate vote
on the debt ceiling, or at least a smaller, more
temporary increase, something that doesn't feel like handing a drunk
the keys of the treasury for the next two years. Look, Ram,
(04:08):
Paul isn't wrong. The bill will add trillions to the debt,
even with the growth baked in. The Congressional Budget Office
is already waving red flags. But here's the political calculation.
Trump wants a win. Senate Republicans need to win. House
(04:33):
Republicans barely pass this thing the first time, and they
don't want to vote on it again. So Paul, he's
playing the long game. If he can extract some concessions,
like a separate debt vote, some deeper cuts, and maybe
(04:55):
even a symbolic nod to restraint, he'll have reshaped the
bill and save face. Let's be honest. He also he'll
also have protected his brand because Rand Paul, who is
the author of Festivus every year, comes out and talks
(05:17):
about some of the ridiculous spending. As a matter of fact,
had it not been for Festivus, Doge would have have
had a much more difficult start because Rand Paul doesn't
want to be the guy who tanked Trump's tax cuts.
He doesn't. He wants to be the guy who made
them smarter. Now the reactions have been loud all over
(05:39):
the map. Trump first he bashed Paul, then he called them.
Now he's probably watching Fox News to see if it worked.
Figure Johnson, he's out there calling Elon Must terribly wrong
for trashing the bill, which, for the record, Must did
what the did all of this all, excuse me, Must
(06:03):
did with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Fiscal conservatives
they are rallying behind Paul. Others are quietly folding, and
the Democrats they're just sitting back watching Republicans cannibalize themselves.
Chuck you, humor is having a grand old time. Now,
(06:24):
this is this is what happens whenever there is some
internal squabbaling. You know, Fuddy, I saw a graphic about
the number of ideas and ideals that are contained in
the Democrat side and the Republican side. The Republican side
(06:44):
has a much larger spectrum, that got larger spectrum of
thoughts and ideas the Democrats do. The Democrats are fairly
which is why they're able to just band together without
any problem. They're able just to band together without a problem.
And whenever you see someone like a Fetterman is an outlier.
(07:08):
For sure, all Democrats are here and Ftterman's out here.
You can easily see it where Republicans have this sort
of morphing ball of ideas, where factions like the Liberty
Caucus will break off. And then you have, of course
the establishment Republicans. I hate that term of establishment. So
(07:30):
you have all these things trying to work together, and
some of the factions exist because one thatcher or another
wasn't seemed to be didn't seem to be doing a job.
So the Liberty Caucus exists because the establishment Republicans weren't
(07:51):
doing the job they were. So they were elected for
a very specific purpose and they have a very specific mindset.
You see how this is. This is very very difficult
to balance some to somehow, it's very you know, it's
very very hard. If you have, let me give you
a sports example, because that's what we do around here.
(08:13):
We go to sketch you a sports example. Let's say
you've got a quarterback who can throw for five thousand years.
It's for five thousand yards. Here's five thousand yards, so
you know what. He and his wide receivers want to
throw the ball on every play because they really believe
that that's the way to go. And then you get
in a an offensive line and the offensive line. Offensive
(08:40):
lines would much rather run the ball. Let's say you've
got a great offensive line, a center, two guards, and
two tackles that are amazing, but they want to they
think it's better to run the ball. You've got to
you've got to kick butt running back and a full back. Wow,
a full back, and they want to run the ball.
(09:01):
And now you've got a head coach and an offensive coordinator.
One's a run the ball guy, one's a throw the
ball guy. And what you have is enough weapons to win,
but you have to be able to marshal them all
together in a way. You got to be able to
marshal them all together in a way so you can win.
(09:23):
And unfortunately, sometimes they're going to squabble. They're going to squabble,
and that's what we're saying. Now. Now you can sit
on the sideline across from the sideline and have a
grand old time laughing at him. But Juck Schumer knows
that if they ever get it together, it's going to
(09:44):
be an oncoming train and it's going to run his
ass slap over. So where does all this land rand?
Paul is doing what smart legislators do when the spotlight's
hot and the stakes are high, negotiating, he's making his point.
(10:05):
He's making sure he doesn't get left, but he's making
sure he doesn't get left out of the parade. But
the big picture here is this, The big beautiful bill
is on track. Brand. Paul may not love it, but
he doesn't want to be the villain, and if he
plays his cards right, he won't be. He'll be the
(10:26):
guy who helped trim the fat without killing the cow.
That's it for morning report for this morning. Remember, tax
cuts matter, but so does find a physical sanity and
somewhere in between, the art of the possible. Again, my
(10:51):
name is Willie Lawson. Please make sure you subscribe here
on YouTube. Make sure that you subscribe on rumble and
Fightbackmedia dot com. Do we see again? Walk there and
learn something, to love somebody, and for goodness sake, shall
take care of yourself. We will see you when we
see you. Bye bye now
Good morning, Good morning, Welcome to the Morning Report. My
name is Willy Lawson. The Morning Report is a production
of Fightbakmedia dot com, Fight Bankmedia dot com, fight Bankmedia
dot com and rybakmdiatv dot com. I hope that you
are great today and today it's a big one. It's
(00:21):
a bigin Ran Paul Uh, Senator from Kentucky, the Libertarian Lion,
as he's called. He is the Senate budgets bulldog, the
guy who can fill a buster while quoting James Madison
and ordering takeout, seems to have blinked. Maybe that's right.
(00:44):
After after weeks of pounding the podium against Trump's massive
tax and spend spending package, you know, the one that
Trump calls his big Beautiful Bill, Paul is signaling that
he is not necessarily absolute. Note he just might be
a yes. Today, we're gonna break it all down, the stakes,
(01:11):
the substance, and the strategy behind Rampaul's drastic shift. Is
this a case of principle involving into pragmatism or is
it just politics Kentucky style. Let's get into it. Okay,
(01:46):
this big beautiful Bill that is so Trump or the
Triple B as it's being called and not by accidents.
Is Trump's opening salvo in his second term agenda. It's
a east permanent Trump tax cuts, check, elimination of federal
(02:10):
taxes on tips, income and overtime pay check. A huge
bump in defense and border spending. Oh yeah, but it's
not just cuts and boost it's also a debt ball.
This bill would hike the debt ceiling by as much
as five trillion dollars depending on the final version. And that,
(02:34):
my friends, is what Scott ram Paul's goat. Paul slammed
the bill as a fiscal betrayal. He called a spending
cuts wimpy and anemic, said the debt limit hike was
the biggest in history, and for a while there he
looked like he might not be the be the one
to sink on Trump's signature legislation. Now here's where it
(03:00):
gets interesting. For weeks, Paul was dug in no to
the debt ceiling increase, no to bloat at border budgets,
no to bearing Republican's credibility on spending. But behind the scenes,
pressure tense pressure, some of them from Trump himself, from
(03:22):
Senate leaders, even from House Speaker Mike Johnson, who went
on a pr offensive defending the bill. Paul says he's
got a call from President Trump personally, and that's the
conversation that changed the game. Suddenly, Paul said, I'm not
an absolute no translation, make me an offer. I can
(03:46):
live with. What he wants now is a separate vote
on the debt ceiling, or at least a smaller, more
temporary increase, something that doesn't feel like handing a drunk
the keys of the treasury for the next two years. Look, Ram,
(04:08):
Paul isn't wrong. The bill will add trillions to the debt,
even with the growth baked in. The Congressional Budget Office
is already waving red flags. But here's the political calculation.
Trump wants a win. Senate Republicans need to win. House
(04:33):
Republicans barely pass this thing the first time, and they
don't want to vote on it again. So Paul, he's
playing the long game. If he can extract some concessions,
like a separate debt vote, some deeper cuts, and maybe
(04:55):
even a symbolic nod to restraint, he'll have reshaped the
bill and save face. Let's be honest. He also he'll
also have protected his brand because Rand Paul, who is
the author of Festivus every year, comes out and talks
(05:17):
about some of the ridiculous spending. As a matter of fact,
had it not been for Festivus, Doge would have have
had a much more difficult start because Rand Paul doesn't
want to be the guy who tanked Trump's tax cuts.
He doesn't. He wants to be the guy who made
them smarter. Now the reactions have been loud all over
(05:39):
the map. Trump first he bashed Paul, then he called them.
Now he's probably watching Fox News to see if it worked.
Figure Johnson, he's out there calling Elon Must terribly wrong
for trashing the bill, which, for the record, Must did
what the did all of this all, excuse me, Must
(06:03):
did with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Fiscal conservatives
they are rallying behind Paul. Others are quietly folding, and
the Democrats they're just sitting back watching Republicans cannibalize themselves.
Chuck you, humor is having a grand old time. Now,
(06:24):
this is this is what happens whenever there is some
internal squabbaling. You know, Fuddy, I saw a graphic about
the number of ideas and ideals that are contained in
the Democrat side and the Republican side. The Republican side
(06:44):
has a much larger spectrum, that got larger spectrum of
thoughts and ideas the Democrats do. The Democrats are fairly
which is why they're able to just band together without
any problem. They're able just to band together without a problem.
And whenever you see someone like a Fetterman is an outlier.
(07:08):
For sure, all Democrats are here and Ftterman's out here.
You can easily see it where Republicans have this sort
of morphing ball of ideas, where factions like the Liberty
Caucus will break off. And then you have, of course
the establishment Republicans. I hate that term of establishment. So
(07:30):
you have all these things trying to work together, and
some of the factions exist because one thatcher or another
wasn't seemed to be didn't seem to be doing a job.
So the Liberty Caucus exists because the establishment Republicans weren't
(07:51):
doing the job they were. So they were elected for
a very specific purpose and they have a very specific mindset.
You see how this is. This is very very difficult
to balance some to somehow, it's very you know, it's
very very hard. If you have, let me give you
a sports example, because that's what we do around here.
(08:13):
We go to sketch you a sports example. Let's say
you've got a quarterback who can throw for five thousand years.
It's for five thousand yards. Here's five thousand yards, so
you know what. He and his wide receivers want to
throw the ball on every play because they really believe
that that's the way to go. And then you get
in a an offensive line and the offensive line. Offensive
(08:40):
lines would much rather run the ball. Let's say you've
got a great offensive line, a center, two guards, and
two tackles that are amazing, but they want to they
think it's better to run the ball. You've got to
you've got to kick butt running back and a full back. Wow,
a full back, and they want to run the ball.
(09:01):
And now you've got a head coach and an offensive coordinator.
One's a run the ball guy, one's a throw the
ball guy. And what you have is enough weapons to win,
but you have to be able to marshal them all
together in a way. You got to be able to
marshal them all together in a way so you can win.
(09:23):
And unfortunately, sometimes they're going to squabble. They're going to squabble,
and that's what we're saying. Now. Now you can sit
on the sideline across from the sideline and have a
grand old time laughing at him. But Juck Schumer knows
that if they ever get it together, it's going to
(09:44):
be an oncoming train and it's going to run his
ass slap over. So where does all this land rand?
Paul is doing what smart legislators do when the spotlight's
hot and the stakes are high, negotiating, he's making his point.
(10:05):
He's making sure he doesn't get left, but he's making
sure he doesn't get left out of the parade. But
the big picture here is this, The big beautiful bill
is on track. Brand. Paul may not love it, but
he doesn't want to be the villain, and if he
plays his cards right, he won't be. He'll be the
(10:26):
guy who helped trim the fat without killing the cow.
That's it for morning report for this morning. Remember, tax
cuts matter, but so does find a physical sanity and
somewhere in between, the art of the possible. Again, my
(10:51):
name is Willie Lawson. Please make sure you subscribe here
on YouTube. Make sure that you subscribe on rumble and
Fightbackmedia dot com. Do we see again? Walk there and
learn something, to love somebody, and for goodness sake, shall
take care of yourself. We will see you when we
see you. Bye bye now
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