What's an oligarchy? With Trump's 'Big, Beautiful' bill, we're living in one. | Opinion
This is the clearest expression yet from this administration that it cares about adding comfort to the comfortable and further afflicting the afflicted, pulling the curtain back on its faux-populism.
America’s status as an aristocratic oligarchy arrived in the form of a dumbly-named piece of legislation – the “Big, Beautiful Bill” – that was passed in the early morning hours by House Republicans who wouldn’t spit on poor people if they were on fire.
President Donald Trump, architect of the bill’s embarrassingly stupid name, and his billionaire donors and cabinet members, along with the whole of the GOP, fully showed their tuchuses with this massive domestic-policy bill. It helps the rich. It balloons the deficit Republicans claim to care so deeply about, to the tune of $3.3 trillion over the next decade. And it hurts the poor, cutting billions from Medicaid, Medicare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that many rely on as a lifeline.
It’s the clearest expression yet from this administration that it cares only about adding comfort to the comfortable while further afflicting the afflicted, pulling the curtain back on the faux-populism of Trump’s MAGA con.
A free jet for Trump, a bill that slashes Medicaid and SNAP for others
As if eager to throw a middle finger at the non-rich Americans who will be hurt if this bill or anything close to it becomes law, the Trump administration accepted a “free” flying-palace jet from Qatar on May 21, the day before the bill passed the House. That jet will get about $1 billion in upgrades and become Air Force One, allowing the president to fly in opulence while, according to the Congressional Budget Office, more than 7 million Americans previously covered by Medicaid are put on the road to being uninsured.
And on May 22 – in the wake of the bill’s early-morning passage through the House – President Trump is scheduled to host an exclusive dinner at one of his golf resorts in Virginia, hosting 220 people who invested nearly $400 million in his bafflingly corrupt cryptocurrency venture.
Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Paste BN: “This is one of the most blatant and appalling instances of selling access to the presidency I've ever seen.”
'Millions of parents will be left to make impossible choices'
And guess who isn’t invited to the fancy dinner? The same people who won’t get to fly on the fancy plane, or benefit from the Republican Party’s fancy new legislation.
Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, a national advocacy group focused on poverty-related hunger, said in a statement:
“Slashing SNAP by nearly 30 percent is not a cost-savings. By cutting funding for our nation’s most effective anti-hunger program, this bill has opened the door for millions of older adults skipping meals to afford medication, because they were unable to find a job within the new three-month time limit. Millions of parents will be left to make impossible choices between paying rent and buying groceries, and millions of children could lose direct access to free school meals that fuel their health and learning.”
I’m sure President Trump or one of the assorted billionaires who surround him would respond to that, but they’re probably heading out to the golf resort to celebrate the millions Trump is making on his $TRUMP meme coin.
The Republican bill shows everyone who they are - a party for the rich
A luxury jet, a private dinner where the average seat costs about $1 million, and a big, fat-cat backhand to the face of regular Americans.
That’s the Republican Party, folks. The sweeping bill they passed through the House at the crack of dawn on May 22 tells you exactly who they are and how much concern they have for people who aren’t lining their pockets.
Welcome to the aristocratic oligarchy. We’re now on the outside looking in.
Follow Paste BN columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk