*** “I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration – and a very effective form of promotion.” [ Donald John Trump: “The Art of The Deal” ]
Note: This post supplies excerpts from: “Trump Has Betrayed His Working-Class Voters” [New York Times “Round Table”; 7/6/25]:
“As President Trump was poised to sign his signature policy bill into law, Times Opinion asked seven of our conservative columnists and contributors a simple question: Will it be good for America or bad for America? The group we convened included libertarians, New Right thinkers and traditional conservatives. Here’s what they thought.
BEST PROVISION
— David Brooks: “The increase in the child tax credit…and the tax-advantaged savings accounts for children…Those policies are proven to decrease child poverty, and they are consistent with the general trend we shod be taking: Spend more on the young and less on the old.”
– – David French: “The defense spending increase…is necessary and overdue….Russian aggression has escalated and China is engaged in an immense military buildup.”
— Matt Labash: “Even if I hate the bill – and I do – it seems to deeply irritate Elon Musk. And anything that irritates Musk as much as Musk irritates the rest of us should earn grudging credit as a karmic delivery system.”
— Katherine Mangu-Ward: “Extending the income tax provision in Trump’s 2017 tax cuts was a perfectly reasonable thing to do [though it should have been paired with more spending cuts].”
— Daniel McCarthy: “Americans deserve to keep more of the money they earn, so the scope and scale of the tax cuts are the best part of the bill.”
— Curt Mills: “The president has a mandate to combat illegal immigration…The signature policy bill infuses Immigration and Customs Enforcement and related agencies with cash and personnel. it is justified.”
— Matthew Schmitz: “Trump’s most notable second-term successes have come at the border, where he has reduced illegal crossings, and on campus, where he has changed the relationship between government and universities.”
WORST PROVISION
— Brooks: “THe [at least] $3 trillion increase in the public debt over the first decade…When your interest rates are higher than your economic growth rates, that makes for a long-term catastrophe. Or maybe not so long term.”
— French: “The biggest problem with the bill is also the most obvious: Tax cuts can’t be a priority when we need a military buildup and lower deficits. Instead, the Trump administration has chosen the most fiscally reckless course.”
— Labash: “It screws the poor and rewards the rich. Anyone still laboring under the illusion that this is a populist administration needs to understand that “for the people” means “only some of the people,” usually the millionaires and billionaires.”
— Mangu-Ward: “The debt implications are straight up insane….”if made permanent, the Senate bill would cost more than the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS Act combined.””
— McCarthy: “..until the Pentagon can pass a rigorous financial audit, this threatens to throw goos money after bad. Defense is the department most in need of the Department of Government Efficiency treatment.””
— Mills: “A cause of America’s malaise at home is its illegitimate and hated empire abroad. The U.S. military-industrial complex doesn’t put America first. the Defense Department deserves to be focused, not further bloated. this bill goes in the wrong direction.”
— Schmitz: “Promoting personal responsibility through Medicaid work requirements may be laudable in theory. But it seems a bit rich when legislators are voting for a bill that swells an already staggering deficit. If the G.O.P. really believed in hard work, thrift and personal responsibility, it would rein in its own profligacy.”
WHAT ELSE. MATTERED
— Brooks: “Trump was elected by winning working-class voters. and all they get is no tax on tips..and a few other trifles? Americans are feeling betrayed. Democrats can now correctly argue that Trump has betrayed his working-class voters.”
— French: ‘This bill is a further reminder that Republicans in Congress have no independent will…very little courage. Republicans instead choose to do the wrong thing to placate Trump.”
— Labash: “Principled conservatives never stood a chance of shooting down this measure. Because Trump knows his audience and knows that Republicans are now as completely unprincipled as he is. When you’re in the cultist business – which 95 percent of them are – you either fall in line or go out of business.”
— Mangu-Ward: “Adopting a current policy base to claim that tax-cut extensions cost little is budgetary sleight of hand that not only obscures bonkers deficits but also undermines the Senate filibuster..”
— McCarthy: “Pulling a bill this big with a majority so small in the House is a feat of extraordinary political acumen, like ir or not.”
— Mills: “Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, or food stamps, are draconian. these are government programs that actually help younger Americans as this country lapses into gerontocracy.
— Schmitz: “You can’t keep slashing taxes while refusing to reduce spending. At some point, the G.O.P. will have to choose between tax cuts and entitlements.”
***. “His entire life Trump has been a con artist. In “The Art of The Deal,” he brags about deceptions that enriched him. He has boasted about not paying bnaks that loaned him billions of dollars.” [ David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You Think”. Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize winner ]
*** “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” [ Lenin ]
***. “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” [ Adolf Hitler ]
With Justice For All 