The One Big Beautiful Bill Passes
A Political Win For President Trump. But What Of The Country?
Earlier today, by a four vote margin (218-214), the House of Representatives brought the One Big Beautiful Bill across the finish line. The bill now advances to President Trump’s desk where he (and not an autopen) will sign the legislation tomorrow—not coincidentally on the Fourth of July.
Readers already know my thoughts on the bill.
I stand by everything I said the other day, and regret none of it. However, I will not rehash those arguments here.
What I will say is that this bill is an undeniable political win—a huge political win—for President Trump. Even the corporate media is obliged to grudgingly concede that much.
The package, passed by the Senate in a marathon session earlier this week, includes tax cuts and funding boosts for the Pentagon and border security. It also includes more contentious spending cuts to pay for the rest of the bill, including the biggest downsizing of the federal safety net in decades.
It gives Trump the first major legislative achievement of his second term, following a fierce arm-twisting campaign by GOP leaders to unite a deeply divided party behind his sweeping domestic agenda.
What I will also say is that President Trump himself deserves considerable credit for getting this bill through Congress.
As Politico noted the other day, Trump has been on the phone lines actively whipping the vote almost as if he were competing for Steve Scalise’ job in the House.
A White House official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about strategy, confirmed that the president is meeting with House Freedom Caucus members and other GOP lawmakers on Wednesday.
“He’s been working the phones pretty consistently over the last several days, and members have been calling him as well,” the official said. “He’s going to get it over the finish line.”
According to CNBC, President Trump along with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson worked through the night to get recalcitrant GOP holdouts to get on board with the legislation.
Republicans expressed confidence that the bill would pass, despite opposition in prior rounds of voting by a handful of GOP holdouts who warn that the package will exacerbate U.S. deficits.
Five of those Republicans initially voted no on a key procedural vote Wednesday evening to tee up the bill for final passage. Their opposition caused hours of delays, but four of them relented overnight and the motion passed around 3:30 a.m. ET.
Both House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Trump himself heaped pressure on the naysayers to clear the way, a White House official told NBC News. The president has spent months urging congressional Republicans to send him the bill by the Fourth of July.
These are not insignificant details, because they absolutely put to rest once and for all one of the more obnoxious and disgusting lies corporate media and the Democrats love to tell about Donald Trump. Donald Trump proved conclusively that he is above all else not an authoritarian, nor any sort of dictator or fascistic leader. He is none of these things.
Authoritarians do not spend hours upon hours cajoling legislators to see things their way. Authoritarians to not engage in phone call upon phone call, meeting upon meeting, whipping votes to get their pet priorities pushed into law.
Vladimir Putin does not spend all not pleading with the Duma to pass bills. Xi Jinping does not negotiate with the Naitonal People’s Congress. These men tell underlings what laws to pass, and those laws are then passed. That is the authoritarian way.
Congress’ system of budgeting is beyond broken and appallingly disfunctional. The Federal bureaucracy remains bloated and overgrown, and the One Big Beautiful Bill is not likely to reduce that much if at all. The One Big Beautiful Bill will not balance the budget.
Yet President Trump worked the Congressional system the way a legislator and politician should—through engagement and negotiation (with a little bit of carrot and a little bit of stick, I’m sure). While I am not persuaded of the One Big Beautiful Bill’s virtues, I do give credit to President Trump for achieving a legislative victory and not merely an executive one.
To all those who continue to rail about President Trump being a fascist, a dictator, and “literally Hitler”: Take the express elevator straight to Hell. You have been officially, completely, and permanently corrected.
I do not consider the One Big Beautiful Bill an overall economic win for the United States. I do congratulate President Trump for a significant and likely consequential political win for his Presidency.
(And yes, people of intellect and integrity can hold both positions in their brains at the same time without having a case of the vapors.)
The One Big Beautiful Bill is obviously a political win for President Trump.
Is it an economic win for the country? Is it any sort of win for the country? Share your thoughts below, or drop a comment in chat.
I mentioned your point about Trump not being an Authoritarian and examples in your article, and my husband said Trump is not negotiating and persuading but threatening, “if you don’t vote my way your political career will be over and your life a living hell” and “he has made statements that are naked threats and his tone and words are always intimidations “ which led into a rant about Trump’s rape conviction, exploiting judges, and bankruptcies..ugh there is no reasoning, I thought it was a brilliant point on authoritarianism.
I am concerned about the economy and how this bill will affect everything. I love libraries and funding was cut, I need to go on ACA so I’m not sure what that looks like now, etc.
We still don’t know the details of what’s in the bill. I’m looking forward to reading your comments on the particulars, as they become known, Peter. There will be some good stuff and disastrous stuff in the bill, and you’re the man to analyze their probable effects!