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Now They Gotta Sell It….Open Thread for 7/5/2025

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Now Republicans Have to Sell Trump’s Megabill to Voters

“Republicans had a hard time persuading some of their own lawmakers to support the party’s big tax-cutting and domestic-policy bill. They might have an even harder time selling it to the public,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Polls show that the bill is unpopular. Opposition outweighed support by more than 20 percentage points in recent Fox News and Quinnipiac University polls. Some Republican lawmakers facing tough races next year represent the most Medicaid-reliant districts. They will have to defend the big cuts in the bill to Medicaid, the health-insurance program for low-income and disabled people, as well as to rural hospitals and to nutrition assistance, once known as food stamps. Those cuts help fund tax cuts in the bill that President Trump called for during the 2024 campaign.”

…

One Big Unpopular Bill

G. Elliot Morris: “On average across pollsters and methods, 31% of Americans support the One Big Beautiful Bill, while 54% oppose it. That net rating of -23 is, to put it mildly, absolutely abysmal. That’s true in both absolute terms (having a majority against you with just a third in support is terrible!) and comparative terms.”

“According to data compiled by Georgetown’s Warshaw, the OBBBA is the second most unpopular piece of key legislation since 1990, and likely the most unpopular budget (I have to say ‘likely’ because we don’t have polls of every budget proposal) ever.”

“According to the polls, the only bill more unpopular than this year’s GOP budget bill is the 2017 Republican health care bill, which would have killed the funding mechanism for the Affordable Care Act, cut $800 billion from (basically eliminating) Medicaid, and slashed taxes on high earners.”

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  2. It will be interesting to see how the Trump coalition responds to AG Bondi declaring that Epstein had no list and committed suicide.

    A lot of the Joe Rogan types were really into the bullshit that Trump was all about exposing this kind of stuff.

    • Trump Looks to Avoid Casting Blame in Texas Flood

      “When a hurricane hit North Carolina last year, Donald J. Trump claimed without evidence that the Biden administration was avoiding helping residents in Republican areas. When wildfires burned through Los Angeles earlier this year, Mr. Trump excoriated local and state Democrats for the calamity, making false assertions about water use policy,” the New York Times reports.

      “But after a catastrophic flood that tore through Texas last week, leaving at least 100 dead, Mr. Trump cautioned against casting blame.”

  3. Trump just got really pissed off that a reporter asked about Epstein. He said he cannot believe people are still talking about Epstein.

    Well,his base has been talking about him for many years now and are probably quite surprised that Trump now wants to shut the whole topic down…

  4. No surprise…..
    Federal Judges ain’t just giving up…    …

    Meanwhile, a judge Monday issued the first known injunction against a provision of the Republicans’ reconciliation package, temporarily blocking Medicaid funding cuts to Planned Parenthood’s health centers.

    U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s lightning-fast ruling — issued without explanation and before the government responded — sparked criticism from conservatives who see it as the latest instance of judges abusing their authority….

    …

    Talwani’s ruling is temporary; the appointee of former President Obama is set to hold a July 21 hearing and then decide on whether to issue a longer injunction….

    …

    A conservative commentator on Tuesday asked the president’s Cabinet whether it planned to challenge the “rogue judge” who ruled for Planned Parenthood and against a provision of the law. Attorney General Pam Bondi said “absolutely.” ….

    More…

  5. I’m really getting a kick out of all these Republican lapdogs of Trump with their hypocritical blasting of AG Pam Bondi..

    Not that I give a damn about that legal whore Bondi who probably should have been disbarred over her machinations to steal the 2020 election for Trump.

    However watching these clowns act as if Bondi ,on her own ,decided not to release the Epstein file is only the latest show of fealty to their rapist leader .

    What kind of idiot would believe that Bondi was doing anything other than what her boss,Trump, ordered her to do?

    It’s Trump that is not releasing that file as anyone with the least bit of sense would know.

    So the question that should be be asked is why Trump doesn’t want the file released?Bondi? She’s nothing but a stooge for the leader of the Republican Party .Every one of these” conservatives “ who are yakking about this are nothing but two bit hypocritical clowns .

    Just another example of how Trump totally dominates MAGA and the Republican Party.

  6. And in other news…..

    Trump has threatened to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship because she has said some bad things about him.

    Wonder where the House “ freedom” caucus stands on this.After all they believe in uh…” freedom.”Haha!

  7. I do not know what will ultimately come from any of us- it is tough to truly shatter a cult, and I do not think a whole lot of people are about to start voting for Democrats over this…. but there is a pretty big MAGA schism going on right now over Epstein. This one is really hurting a lot of those people deeply and personally.

    They are begging to use Bondi as a scapegoat, but Trump just expressed his support for her over the people who do not want to let Epstein go, and that is getting them upset and confused and feeling used.

    Epstein was a truly horrible person who is better off removed from this world, but for so many in MAGA, his Jewish surname adds tremendous fire to their far-flunged theories. Now, that this can be used against Trump, various people on the Far Left who also have deeply seated anti-Jewish mindsets are going to be willing to run with that also.

    As for myself, I just find it funny that Fox News and some other outlets were doing tons of stuff on Epstein for years and now, based on this past week, MSNBC programming is starting in on their own conspiracy theories over the matter.

  10. As illogical as it might be, this Wall Street Journal story is probably the thing that will drive confused MAGA types back to Trump’s side on Epstein being a “hoax.”

    I do not think the MSM fully realizes how this cult works.

        • RCP Congressional Generic polling average for 2026 has Dem’s UP +25…..

          Jeffries gonna get Speakers gavel for SURE….
          Some?
          House GOPer’s have about 5 months before they HAVE TO turn on Trump or lose their government paychecks in less than year and a half

            • Democrats may indeed take the House in 2026, but the fact that Republicans in Texas seem poised to redraw their maps for next year to get up to 5 additional seats and Ohio may also do the same would be a huge complication. This will be a huge fight the next two years with all sorts of legal wrangling and probably SCOTUS ultimately deciding.

              Some want Democrats to follow suit then in California, which would seemingly be a bit more complicated legally.

              The entire situation of mid-decade redistricting could become a very big problem for the entire system.

                • Here’s a better one😏

                  If Jeffries in the Speaker and Gavin is the President for the 2030 census and Texas and Florida DEPORTED migrants?

                  They COULD lose in the numbers and take THAT House seats hit…

                • The issue in California is that their maps are drawn by an “Independent Commission” and not the legislature, so legally, it would be more complicated.

                  Also though, one would think that if the Democrats are going to have a good 2026, they would already be flipping some marginal Congressional seats in California. So, changing their maps might not really have much of a net effect like what could happen in Texas.

                  The bottom line though is that these sort of political games, even as the concept of retaliation has to be considered, is a very bad thing, that will always lead to unintended consequences.

                  Somewhat related though, I do expect both Nebraska and Maine to act to get rid of their split EV system for 2028.

  11. I don’t completely discount that.
    But coming on the same day that Trump’s hand bruising and bad makeup job to cover it are explained away as a venous issue could push them back into distrust territory.

    • The old DJT playbook of use and discard…

      Who would’ve thunk that one day he would consider Rupert Murdoch Dow-Jones and <i<The Wall Street Journal to be his enemies?

      Who owns Fox News?

  15. Barring some extraordinary event (which Trump has proved adept at summoning up), his current polls on issues and achievements are sinking.

    After six months that included a string of achievements on President Trump’s legislative goals, views of his second term are increasingly defined by the difference between his political base, which likes what it sees, and the rest of the country, which has growing doubt.

    On the economic front, it comes from continued calls to focus more on prices, rather than tariffs, which most Americans oppose. And now, there’s the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which at least initially, most believe will help the wealthy.

    On matters of deportation, differences hinge on who, and how many, Americans see as being targeted, as well as the use of detention facilities. Here again, the Republican and MAGA political base remain overwhelmingly approving of it all, but the rest of the American public has become less so.

    (On another matter, by comparison, most say the case of Jeffrey Epstein is not very important in their evaluations of the president, and in particular, the president’s MAGA base remains overwhelmingly approving of his job performance, especially on immigration.)

    Most now say the administration is not prioritizing dangerous criminals for deportation and also is deporting more people than they thought it would…

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-trump-deportation-program-prices/

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