Musk turns the GOP's devotion to billionaire tax cuts into a trap

Musk turns the GOP's devotion to billionaire tax cuts into a trap
Under mounting pressure from Elon Musk, Republicans are now considering cuts to Medicare

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published June 6, 2025 9:31AM (EDT)


(Salon) It seems like only a couple of days ago that I was writing about President Trump and his former BFF Elon Musk's apparent falling out. Actually, it was a couple of days ago, but even though I was pretty sure that the famous bromance was on the rocks, due to all the vicious, anonymous back-stabbing by administration figures, I had no idea it was going to blow up as spectacularly as it did on Thursday.

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I have no idea if they will patch things up but I do know that Donald Trump lives for revenge, so if I were Elon Musk, I'd watch my back in any case. But setting aside the soap opera aspects of the break-up, the catalyst for MAGA's big catfight was the budget bill that's currently sitting in the GOP-controlled Senate — and Musk isn't the only one who's got a very big problem with it. In fact, virtually no Republican in Congress likes the president's signature legislation, but they were forced into doing something they know is a loser because Trump insisted that they put the whole kitchen sink into one bill instead of passing a popular immigration and defense bill early and then spending the rest of the year negotiating what was always going to be a heavy lift to pass their precious tax cuts for the weallthy and cuts to popular programs.

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It hit the Senate with a thud. The deficit hawks are apoplectic at the cost of the bill, which every non-partisan analyst, including their own Congressional Budget Office, estimates will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit, while the "populist" Republicans, such as they are, are nervous about the 16 million people losing their health insurance. In fact, they're all so discombobulated by this thing that some of them are making monumental political gaffes trying to deal with it. A case in point is Iowa Senator Joni Ernst with her notoriously clumsy "we're all going to die" comment and even worse follow-up.

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Republicans are known to favor the rich and everyone knows they are champing at the bit to cut the safety net programs. It seems Trump's found a way to abandon his pledge not to do that by realizing that his docile GOP potted plants will eagerly back his lie that they aren't doing it when they obviously are. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/06/06/musk-turns-the-gops-devotion-to-billionaire-cuts-into-a-trap/