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Make Sure Everyone Knows: This Destructive Bill Is the Trump Trash Fire
As the preeminent bully of our Times, TRUMP lusts to brand people and groups he dislikes with pejorative nicknames. It is time to return the Favor.
Jul 04, 2025
The narrow passage of the Trump-GOP 1,100-page bill that spells death, destruction, and deprivation to the American people—including MAGA voters and innocents abroad—should destroy the Trumpster Republicans in the 2026 congressional election.
However, by then it will be too late for poor American children facing President Donald Trump reducing the food stamp programs; the 15 million Americans being thrown off Medicaid; the damage to or the termination of many clean solar energy and wind energy sales; the body blow to electric car prospects; the young Americans benefitting from AmeriCorps, Job Corps, student loans, and VA medical benefits. The Trump cuts will also undermine housing assistance programs, Meals on Wheels, disability assistance programs, and Head Start. Millions of desperate humans overseas are already cut off suddenly from USAID medicine, food supplements, clean drinking water, and other lifesavers that cost a few dollars per life saved. Tens of thousands have already died. (See Nicholas Kristof’s articles: “Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True.” “White House Billionaires Take On the World’s Poorest Kids.”).
Why is Trump (Elon Musk is now vehemently against the bill) doing this to all the people—red states, blue states? Why is he opening the air and water pollution spigots; stoking the greenhouse gases of the oil, gas, coal infernos (“Drill Baby Drill”); damaging people’s health everywhere? Didn’t Trump constantly pledge to his voters last year the paradise, the prosperity, the peace touted in his MAGA—Make America Great Again rhetoric?
If the Democrats had a strategic sense, they would PUT THE TRUMP BRAND ON EVERY DAMAGING, CRUEL, VICIOUS IMPACT ON INNOCENT PEOPLE, CHILDREN, MOTHERS, AND FATHERS, AND THE ELDERLY.
Of course, he lied, fooled, flattered, and flummoxed enough voters. Sadly, the feeble corporate Democrats allowed Trump to gain the White House and achieve his real objective, which is MATA OR MAKE AMERICA TRUMP AGAIN.
As Mark Green and I, (See, “Wrecking America: How Trump’s Lawbreaking and Lies Betray All,” 2020) together with scores of psychologists observing Trump over the years, described this failed gambling czar, airline owner, university owner, etc., as a dangerously unstable, egomaniacal, vengeful person fueled by daily lying and fantasies who promotes harmful policies supporting him and other corporate greedhounds.
Trump’s bellowing, snarling, false accusations and broken promises in thousands of tweets, utterances, phone calls, and speeches demonstrate that he is a fascist dictator, willing to issue illegal executive orders and dictates.
What are Trump’s goals?
First, he wants to use the White House as a massive business opportunity to make him and his family fabulously wealthy. He wants more tax escapes for the wealthy and giant corporations; privileged personal family investments in crypto-currency that he is now de-regulating; to sell memorabilia, including Bibles (he has violated 7 out of the 10 Commandments and never goes to Church); to cut profitable deals with rich Arab nations and billionaires looking for favorable treatment; and to freeze federal minimum wages and pull down worker rights all to feed his and his class warfare friends’ insatiable avarice!
Second, Trump wants VENGENCE—taking it out on critics, political opponents, prosecutors, and using immigrants as a mass media scapegoated diversion that whip his core MAGA loyalists into a constant frenzy. His pathological vengeance includes going after universities, law firms, mainstream media owners who are, respectively, studying, suing, or reporting his daily crimes, obstruction of justice, shredding of the Constitution, and federal statutes that may produce challenges to his tyranny, burgeoning police state, and physical threats to members of Congress, governors, and the surviving federal civil servants who dare challenge what Vice President JD Vance, before his ambitious conversion, called “America’s Hitler.”
Remember, how many times Trump has followed his lawless acts with the words “this is just the beginning.” This corporation, masquerading as a human being, has long said that “with Article II, I can do whatever I want as president,” now backed by the Supreme Courts’ June 2024 reckless and abdicatory decision (6 to 3) in Trump vs. U.S. immunizing presidents from criminal prosecution for their official acts (undefined). This is why, drunk with his own power, he can say, “I run the country and the world.”
Third, entrench and immunize the rule of the Super-rich, the Plutocracy—that Trump wants to and has to curry the favor of with unprecedented giveaways and sweetheart deals. Accordingly, he bloats the Pentagon budget beyond what the Generals asked for ($150 billion more in the BIG WRECKING AMERICA BILL just passed). He gives Wall Street and the Fossil Fuel corporations everything they want—no regulation, no prosecutions, massive tax cuts, and dangerous new technology without legal or ethical restraints, to even protect our children.
He fires the federal cops on the corporate crime beat, drops over 120 pending corporate prosecutions started under former President Joe Biden, fires federal agency Inspectors general who would have watchdogged his Administration, pushes out scientists and health specialists and weather experts whose work is to forewarn the people of oncoming natural disasters.
It is astonishing how much Trump gets away with. He and his cronies explain their cuts to just about every people-benefiting program, including firing 25,000 IRS staffers who service our calls or investigate complex corporate tax evasion. They claim, without details, that people cheat on their Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, and food programs. BUT THEY IGNORE MASSIVE CHEATING AND STEALING BY CORPORATE CROOKS FROM MEDICAID, MEDICARE, AND OTHER SAFETY NET PROGRAMS IN THE HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR. THEY PROTECT COMPARABLE SUMS OF CORPORATE SUBSIDIES THAT WERE UNTOUCHED BY TRUMP-MUSK AND ALLOW A VAST, WASTEFUL, UNAUDITED PENTAGON BUDGET TO GET BIGGER.
For example, a few days ago, Dan Diamond of The Washington Post reported a huge “Fraud Bust” by the government, started under Biden, an “alleged $10.6 billion fraud scheme” involving shell corporations, foreign and domestic thieves billing, in the names of hacked beneficiaries, Medicare for millions of urinary catheters, glucose monitors, and other supplies. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats in Congress recognized corporate crime, corporate subsidies, and corporate bloated contracts as the key factors in the infliction of the cruel treatment of the American people across the board. Without robust corporate law and order, corporate abuse knows no bounds.
The treachery and betrayal by Trump and his GOP ( “Gougers of People”) of the American people is unprecedented. It is only a matter of time before hundreds of millions of the American people will experience the pain and be exposed to the silent violence caused by Trump.
If the Democrats had a strategic sense, they would PUT THE TRUMP BRAND ON EVERY DAMAGING, CRUEL, VICIOUS IMPACT ON INNOCENT PEOPLE, CHILDREN, MOTHERS, AND FATHERS, AND THE ELDERLY. Scuttling budgets and preparations for pandemics and climate disasters should be labelled with TRUMP’S name. Huge rip-offs of consumers after Trump collapsed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s law enforcement should be labeled TRUMP’S RIP-OFFS. Increased child hunger and patients thrown off Medicaid should be acknowledged as “Brought to you by DONALD TRUMP.” And much more. Signs, billboards, and social media portrayals of the Trump carnage are urgently needed.
As the preeminent bully of our Times, TRUMP lusts to brand people and groups he dislikes with pejorative nicknames. It is time to return the Favor. TRUMP THE EVERYDAY WRECKING BALL OF AMERICA AND ITS CITIZENRY HAS TO GO!
(See, Civic Self-Respect by Ralph Nader, 2025.)
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Trump’s Big Ugly Bill Is Fascism in Writing
It establishes an anti-immigrant police state in America, replete with a standing army of ICE agents and a gulag of detention facilities, and it was passed by a narrow margin despite popular opinion.
Jul 03, 2025
President Donald Trump’s 940-page Big Ugly Bill was passed today by the House and is now on the way to the White House for Trump’s signature.
It is a disgrace. It takes more than $1 trillion out of Medicaid—leaving about 12 million Americans without insurance by 2034—and slashes Food Stamps, all to give a giant tax cut to wealthy Americans.
It establishes an anti-immigrant police state in America, replete with a standing army of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and a gulag of detention facilities that will transform ICE into the most heavily funded law enforcement agency in the government.
The best analogy isn’t to Lyndon Johnson. It’s to the “strongmen” of the 1930s—Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Franco.
It will increase the already-bloated deficit by $3.4 trillion.
It’s also disgraceful because of how it came to be.
Trump was elected with only a plurality of American voters, not a majority. He eked out his win by a margin of only 1.5%.
His Big Ugly Bill squeaked by in the Senate by one vote, supplied by Vice President JD Vance, and by just two votes in the House. No Democrat in either chamber voted for it.
Polls show most Americans oppose it.
It was passed nevertheless—within an artificial deadline set by Trump—because of Trump’s total grip on the Republican Party.
Republican lawmakers feared that Trump would go after defectors with public attacks or endorsements of primary challengers.
They also feared withering blowback from conservative media, “MAGA” diehards, and Trump himself on social media.
After North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis announced his opposition to the bill, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Tillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER! He’s even worse than Rand ‘Fauci’ Paul!”
Then Trump pledged to back a primary challenger to Tillis, and Tillis announced he would not seek reelection. Trump called that “good news,” and threatened primary challenges against other Republican fiscal conservatives standing in the way of the bill’s passage.
Other presidents in my lifetime have been able to summon majorities of lawmakers for unpopular causes—I think of Lyndon Johnson and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965—but none with the retributive threats, social media fury, and potentially violent base of supporters that Trump is now wielding.
Needless to say, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts made America more inclusive. Trump’s Big Ugly Bill makes America crueler.
The best analogy isn’t to Lyndon Johnson. It’s to the “strongmen” of the 1930s—Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Franco.
That such a regressive, dangerous, gargantuan, and unpopular piece of legislation could get through Congress shows how far Trump has dragged America into modern fascism.
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Trump’s Big, Ugly Bill Will Leave America Sick, Hungry, and More Unequal Than Ever
Never before in the history of this nation has such a large redistribution of income been directed upward, for no reason at all.
Jun 30, 2025
One of my objectives in this daily letter is to equip you with the facts you need. As the Senate approaches a vote on President Donald Trump’s giant “big beautiful” tax and budget bill, I want to be as clear as possible about it.
First, it will cost a budget-busting $3.3 trillion. According to new estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Senate bill would add at least $3.3 trillion to the already out-of-control national debt over a decade. That’s nearly $1 trillion more than the House-passed version.
Second, it will cause 11.8 million Americans to lose their health coverage. The Senate version would result in even deeper cuts in federal support for health insurance, and more Americans losing coverage, than the House version. Federal spending on Medicaid, Medicare, and Obamacare would be reduced by more than $1.1 trillion over that period—with more than $1 trillion of those cuts coming from Medicaid alone.
All told, this will leave 11.8 million more Americans uninsured by 2034.
If the bill now being considered by the Senate is enacted, 11.8 million Americans will lose their health insurance, millions will fall into poverty, and the national debt will increase by $3.3 trillion, all to provide a major tax cut mainly to the rich and big corporations.
Third, it will cut food stamps and other nutrition assistance for lower-income Americans. According to the CBO, the legislation will not only cut Medicaid by about 18%, it will cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) by roughly 20%. These cuts will constitute the most dramatic reductions in safety net spending in modern U.S. history.
Fourth, it will overwhelmingly benefit the rich and big corporations. The CBO projects that those in the bottom tenth of the income distribution will end up poorer, while the top tenth will be substantially richer.
The bill also makes permanent the business tax cuts from the 2017 legislation, further benefiting the largest corporations.
Finally, it will not help the economy. Trickle-down economics has proven to be a cruel hoax. Over the last 50 years, Congress has passed four major bills that cut taxes: the 1981 Reagan tax cuts; the 2001 and 2003 George W. Bush tax cuts; and the 2017 Trump tax cuts. Each time, the same three arguments were made in favor of the tax cuts: (1) They’d pay for themselves. (2) They’d supercharge economic growth. (3) They’d benefit everyone.
All have been proven wrong. Here’s what in fact happened:
(1) Did the tax cuts pay for themselves?
No. Rather than paying for themselves, the Reagan, Bush, and Trump tax cuts each significantly increased the federal deficit. In total, those tax cuts have added over $10.4 trillion to the federal deficit since 1981 compared with the Congressional Budget Office’s baseline projections.
(2) Did the tax cuts supercharge economic growth, create millions of jobs, and raise wages?
Absolutely not. Rather than growing, the economy shrank after passage of the Reagan tax cuts. And unemployment surged to over 10%. Following the enactment of the Bush and Trump tax cuts, the economy did grow a bit, but at rates much lower than their supporters predicted.
(3) Did the tax cuts benefit everyone?
Heavens, no. Rather than benefiting everyone, the savings from the Reagan, Bush, and Trump tax cuts flowed mainly to the richest Americans. The average tax cut for households in the top 1% under the Reagan tax cut ($47,147) was 68 times larger than the average tax cut for middle-class households ($695). The Bush tax cut for households in the top 1% was 16 times larger than the average tax cut for the middle class. The 2017 Trump tax cut for households in the top 1% was 36 times larger than for middle-class households.
Summary: If the bill now being considered by the Senate is enacted, 11.8 million Americans will lose their health insurance, millions will fall into poverty, and the national debt will increase by $3.3 trillion, all to provide a major tax cut mainly to the rich and big corporations. There is no justification for this.
Never before in the history of this nation has such a large redistribution of income been directed upward, for no reason at all. It comes at a time of near-record inequalities of income and wealth.
What you can do: Call your senators and tell them to vote “no” on this calamitous tax and budget bill. Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121.
Beyond this, help ensure that senators who vote in favor of this monstrosity are booted out of the Senate as soon as they’re up for reelection.
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