Elon Musk on Wednesday suggested that President Donald Trump’s criticism of subsidies received by his companies was wrong, as he continued to mock supporters of the president’s signature spending bill, a day after the president said he’ll look into potentially deporting the Tesla CEO and threatened probes into his companies amid a reignited feud between the two.
Donald Trump is once again reminding Republicans where disloyalty gets you.
The president celebrated on Sunday night shortly after GOP Senator Thom Tillis announced he would not seek re-election next year. A day earlier, the North Carolina Republican had voted against advancing Trump’s signature spending package—the so-called “big, beautiful bill”—incurring the president’s wrath. Trump quickly slammed Tillis in Truth Social posts and threatened to back a primary challenger.
“Great News! “Senator” Thom Tillis will not be seeking reelection,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after Tillis bowed out.
In a follow-up post, Trump suggested that Republicans who oppose his legislative priorities could pay a political price.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-celebrates-civil-war-win-with-brutal-message-to-gop
CNN aired a breaking news segment featuring a guest exclaiming, “this is huge” in response to Donald Trump’s strike on Iran.
On the program, United States Representative Thomas Massie predicted Republicans will lose their majorities due to the President’s impulsive leadership.
Anchor Manu Raju introduced Massie, who advised Trump to “go back and look at the first Iraq war,” highlighting that the President at the time engaged in debate and voting with his government before any significant military action. He cited additional instances, such as Barack Obama’s 2013 desire to intervene in Syria, which Congress rejected, resulting in no action. It comes as new dementia fears were raised about Trump after viewers spotted a mysterious clue in his suit.
https://www.the-express.com/entertainment/tv/175645/cnn-donald-trump-iran-airstrike
Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.), one of the most vocal Republicans pushing against American intervention in Iran, posted on the social platform X that President Trump’s bombing of Iranian nuclear sites is unconstitutional.
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Massie wanted to introduce a war powers resolution in the House on Tuesday that would prohibit American involvement in Iran.
“This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our constitution,” he posted on X on June 16.
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Republican Rep. Warren Davidson (Ohio) echoed a similar sentiment to Massie’s in a post on X.
“While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional,” Davidson wrote.
President Donald Trump‘s most favorable pollster has warned that it could be “all over for MAGA” if the president gets the United States more deeply involved in the conflict between Iran and Israel.
“Kiss the Republican majority goodbye… For the next decade,” Rich Baris, the director of Big Data Poll, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “If he pulls the trigger, it’s all over for MAGA.”
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-pollster-warns-all-over-maga-iran-israel-2086637
President Donald Trump is hoping to turn a crisis into an opportunity by using the Los Angeles protests to persuade on-the-fence GOP lawmakers to back his spending bill.
White House officials and Trump allies believe the optics of the protests could ultimately benefit the president as he seeks funding for the hardline immigration proposals outlined in his “Big, Beautiful Bill,” including expanded deportations of migrants.
“We see the riots in L.A. as laden with political opportunity—a fight between what Republicans say they want vs. the radical left and protesters waving the Mexican flag in front of burning cars—and the Democrats supporting them,” a senior White House adviser told Axios.
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Trump also agreed it would be a “great thing” if his border czar, Tom Homan, authorized the arrest of California Gov. Gavin Newsom amid the partisan tensions surrounding the protests.
“I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican—this is a line we cannot cross as a nation. This is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism,” Newsom posted while sharing a clip of Trump’s remarks.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-is-using-the-la-crisis-in-ultimatum-to-gop-lawmakers
Early Wednesday, when most Americans were snuggled in their beds, Republicans in the House of Representatives were working hard to take away the health care of millions of Americans, blow a $3 trillion hole in the budget deficit and make the wealthiest people in America richer and the poorest Americans poorer.
If this sounds like hyperbole, it’s not. The GOP-controlled House Rules Committee convened at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning to discuss a bill that hasn’t been fully drafted and the provisions of which were still part of intense negotiations. Indeed, the real work on the legislation was happening behind closed doors as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., tried to cobble together enough votes to pass something, anything, so he could meet his self-imposed deadline for a floor vote by Memorial Day. Late Wednesday, GOP leaders released yet more significant changes to the bill, and on Thursday morning the full House passed the bill by a single vote.
What we do know about the legislation the GOP is calling the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is genuinely terrifying.
According to an analysis published Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, the numbers in the GOP’s draft legislation are brutal. The bill would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion — a rise that is spooking bond markets already worried about the president’s tariff increases. The bill would slash $267 billion in federal spending for SNAP, which more than 42 million low-income people rely on to put food on the table for their families. And it would cut nearly $700 billion from federal funding for Medicaid.
The CBO estimated Tuesday that the Medicaid cuts could cause roughly 8 million people to lose their health insurance coverage, and that number could rise to 15 million thanks to other provisions in the legislation. The amendments revealed Wednesday, writes Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, surely “would lead to more people losing health insurance.” But Republicans scrambled to vote Thursday before the CBO could update its totals.
All this is being done to extend the Trump tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit wealthy people. The impact of the GOP’s bill is extraordinary in both its cruelty and its extreme inequality. According to the CBO’s estimate, household resources for the poorest people would decrease by 4% over the next eight years, while the richest people’s household resources would increase by 4%.
Also billed as the Republican’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” and bullshit like this subtitle:
… the bill actually continues tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the working poor, those living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. Buried starting at page 327 of 389 is a new 5% tax on remittances sent to family & friends overseas. This 5% tax is on top of the income taxes and the 15.3% (yes, the actual amount is twice the deduction that appears on your check stubs!) social security and medicare taxes that the sender has already paid, plus 2-4% in currency exchange fees.
Amidst the buzz surrounding the ambitious fiscal plan revealed by Republicans this week, a particular proposal has flown under the radar yet holds the potential to severely impact millions of workers and their families both within and outside the United States: a new tax on remittances sent abroad, costing up to $50 each month.
This initiative is part of the ‘ways and means bills,’ as termed by lawmakers aligned with President Donald Trump. The legislative package seeks to extend and expand tax exemptions implemented during his first term while introducing a series of public spending cuts. However, among the numerous provisions, the remittance tax stands out for its immediate and silent social impact.
The proposal specifically calls for a 5% tax on remittances sent from the United States. This levy would fall on the sender, meaning the worker in the U.S. who sends money to their home country to support loved ones, with an amount of $50 for every $1,000 sent.
With this tax, a monthly transfer of $300 could cost the worker an additional $15 in taxes, a figure that may seem small in macroeconomic terms but represents a significant expense for households living paycheck to paycheck.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5304927-trump-agenda-shaky-congress
