President Trump really wants the Senate to pass the “big, beautiful bill” that has now gotten through the House. But a number of GOP Senators are, for now, speaking uncomfortable truths about that massive budget measure: It would balloon the deficit and slash spending on the poor and working class, largely to fund a massive tax cut for the wealthy. And right on cue, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt just delivered two ugly rants on Fox News that demonstrate how this ruse works. One of them absurdly threatens GOP senators who oppose the bill. The other disgustingly misleads about its fiscal impact. We talked to Paul Waldman, co-author of White Rural Rage and a regular chronicler of how badly Trump-GOP policies harm Republican voters. He explains the real aims of the broader Trump project, how it victimizes MAGA country, and why Republicans might struggle to pull off their usual scam this time around. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.
PODCAST
Trump Press Sec’s Vile Rants on Fox Show How He’s Screwing MAGA Voters
As Karoline Leavitt’s gaslighting about Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” goes wild, a writer on rural America explains what all this reveals about how thoroughly the Trump project scams his own supporters.

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in Washington, D.C., on May 19