Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Well, howdy there, Internet people. It's Belle again. So today, we're going to talk about Trump's plan to make you forget. Republicans in Congress seem to have realized how much Americans don't like Trump's one big, beautiful billionaire package. They might have even realized how damaging it's going to be by this point.
Chapter 2: What is Trump's plan to make you forget?
But the polling is enough to show them they have to do something. In recent polling by Pew, if you added up everybody who approves of Trump's signature package, even just a little bit, it doesn't even equal the percent of Americans who strongly disapprove. They know they've taken away people's health care, hurt their financial futures.
But what matters to them is that they put vulnerable Republicans and their majority at risk. That's why they want to redistrict.
Chapter 3: How are Republicans responding to Trump's unpopularity?
They know their policies are so bad, Americans want to vote them out. But now the dinosaurs in Congress have a new, unstoppable plan. Wave keys at you like a toddler so you'll forget. September 30th, federal money runs out. And contrary to years of Republican positions and rhetoric, a pretty big chunk of the House Republican Conference wants earmarks back.
what they called pork barrel spending for years, and they're now calling community project funding. Last time Trump was in office back in 2019, Senate Republicans voted for a permanent ban against earmarks. The strategy here seems pretty simple. Pass a bunch of flashy local spending to grab people's attention and hope they forget about everything Republicans took away from local communities.
The lost jobs, the disruptions, the lost health care, and so on. They'll try to focus us on things that are tiny in the big picture and hope voters forget that all of the price increases and disruptions from Trump's tariffs occurred because Republicans in Congress allowed it. It's cheap, it's cynical, and it will probably work on some voters. Let's be honest with ourselves.
If a whole bunch of voters weren't easily manipulated into voting against their own interests, we wouldn't be in this situation and half the people in D.C. wouldn't be there. But the problem for Republicans is that some of their party is dead set against the idea. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has a proposal that would rescind any earmarks that were bragged about.
If politicians passed earmarks for their voters and then campaigned about it, put out a press release or so on, the money would be taken away. He said, quote, the only time members can talk about the earmarks, their congressionally directed spending is as part of official Senate business, a hearing, a subcommittee hearing, and on the floor. Almost two dozen Republican senators support it.
You have a divided Republican party on key issues that will become a campaign topic. This is also the sort of thing that can cause a lot of tensions and issues as they try to work out a budget.
Regardless of whether they try to actually do their constitutionally mandated job or just slack and let Trump do it, Republicans will have to either push through a continuing resolution or actually put forth a budget. Earmarks are going to be a big topic and probably a fight within the Republican Party. Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.
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