Trump gets the news he dreaded from his own party - Brian Tyler Cohen

Transcript:

if you're looking for some news that
might completely derail Trump's
legislative agenda it looks like what
Republican Ran Paul just said on air
Somebody has to stand up and yell "The
emperor has no clothes and everybody's
falling in lock step on this Pass the
big beautiful bill Don't question
anything." Well conservatives do need to
stand up and have their voice heard This
is uh a problem we've been facing for
decades now and if we don't stand up on
it I I I really fear the direction the
country is going Now that right there is
a direct shot at Trump's signature
legislation Ran Paul is essentially
calling the big beautiful bill that
Trump is ushering through a fraud And
he's signaling that he's prepared to
vote against it And here's why this is
so significant Republicans can only
afford three defections in the Senate
because once they hit four this bill
dies completely The math here is simple
Republicans have a narrow 53 to 47
majority in the Senate They're using
budget reconciliation to pass the bill
which means they need a simple majority
but they can't lose more than three
votes If four Republicans defect the
bill is dead And if his position holds
Rand Paul just became defection number
one His comments this morning seem less
like subtle political positioning than
an outright declaration that he's voting
no Josh Holl's also planted a flag
against stripping Medicaid away from 14
million Americans which the CBO has
already declared this bill would do Do
you agree with the speaker is this bill
not a cut to Medicaid
well the right thing to do is not to cut
Medicaid So I'm glad to hear him say
that Manu it ought to be just a basic
foundational principle It is wrong to
cut health care for the working poor And
that's what we're talking about here
with Medicaid My state is a Medicaid
expansion state Over 20% of Missurrians
including hundreds of thousands of
children are on Medicaid And Mono
they're not on Medicaid because they
want to be They're on Medicaid because
they cannot afford health insurance in
the private market These are working
people and their children who need
healthare and it's just wrong to go and
cut their health care when they're
trying to make ends meet trying to help
their kids trying to make sure that
they're able to provide for their
families So I hope that the House GOP
and the Senate GOP will get the message
here By the way President Trump has said
the same thing no Medicaid benefit cuts
In other words unless Josh Holly
pretends that a bill that will cut
Medicaid from 14 million Americans
somehow doesn't cut Medicaid from 14
million Americans which to be clear is
entirely possible because their
shamelessness knows no bounds then he'll
likely be the second affection And then
of course there are two Republican
senators who should be absolutely
terrified about this bill Susan Collins
of Maine and Lisa Marowsky of Alaska
because both of their states have
massive numbers of people on Medicaid
who could lose coverage if this bill
passes Let me give you the numbers that
are likely keeping Collins and Rowsky up
at night In Alaska over 246,000 people
are enrolled in Medicaid That's about
1th3 of the entire state population In
Maine over 320,000 people are on
Medicaid That's nearly a quarter of the
state's population Think about what this
means politically Susan Collins would
have to go back to Maine and explain to
320,000 people of her constituents why
she voted to take away their healthcare
Lisa Marowsky would have to face 246,000
Alaskans and tell them that their
Medicaid coverage is being eliminated to
fund tax cuts for billionaires And these
aren't abstract numbers These are
working families elderly people in
nursing homes children with chronic
illnesses and people with disabilities
In Alaska over 70,000 people gained
coverage through Medicaid expansion
alone Collins and Mowski would be voting
to rip healthcare away from massive
portions of their own states And here's
the political reality that Democrats
have to understand here Collins and
Marowski are already nervous about this
bill They've both expressed concerns
about cuts to social programs in the
past They're both from states that rely
heavily on federal programs and they're
both moderate Republicans who care about
their reputations This is the moment
then for Democrats to apply maximum
pressure Every Democrat should be
calling out Collins and Marowski by name
They should be running ads in Maine and
Alaska showing exactly how many people
would lose their coverage They should be
holding press conferences with Medicaid
recipients from both states The reality
is that Rand Paul just gave Collins and
Marowski political cover to vote against
this bill Instead of being the only
Republicans opposing Trump they can now
join Paul in standing up to what he's
calling an emperor with no clothes In
fact between Paul and Holly the
criticism comes from both the left and
right You've got Paul saying that it's
fiscally irresponsible and betrays
conservative principles to vote for this
bill and you've got Holly admitting that
this bill is going to hurt Medicaid
recipients So whatever justification
you're looking for not to support this
bill it's there The fact that Paul feels
compelled to speak out may actually
suggest that other Republican senators
are having similar concerns but are
afraid to voice them publicly Let's be
honest here These people in the GOP
aren't exactly beacons of honesty and
independence They mostly exist to serve
at the altar of their god king And they
know that that if they speak out they'll
likely invite a primary challenge
bolstered by Donald Trump and probably
funded by Elon Musk Perhaps Rand Paul is
giving them the cover that they need not
to feel like they're walking the plank
alone But either way the Democratic
strategy should be clear Make this vote
about Holly and Collins and Marowsk's
own constituents Force them to explain
why they are prioritizing tax cuts for
billionaires over health care for
hundreds of thousands of people in their
own states and call them I spoke with
Elizabeth Warren just days ago back when
the bill was still working its way
through the House and she highlighted
the need to flood the phone lines of
members of Congress But the same concept
applies here in the Senate Collins
Marowsky and Holly are not immune to
public pressure People have power And
when we talk about the fight right now
in the House listen part of it is the
Republicans are even more extreme saying
more babies need to lose health care
more people need to go hungry But
there's a bunch of other Republicans
saying "Woo uh wait just a minute We're
all going to be up for reelection in
2026
and starting to do a little of the maybe
we should have cold feet about this So
this is the moment for people to pick up
the phone to get on email to text their
representatives in the House And this is
true whether your reps are Democrats or
Republicans Call them text them email
them A and if you've already done that
once do it again do it again and do it
again because it is in play right now So
nobody has to accept the oh this is how
it always is The ball is in the air
right and where this is going to come
down is literally in the fight in
Washington DC on Capitol Hill as you and
I speak This is the moment to get
involved in that fight Again our job
right now as this bill works its way
through the Senate is to make this vote
impossible for these senators to cast
The Emperor has no clothes as Rand Paul
said Now it's time for Democrats to make
sure everyone can see
it
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now in a political environment where
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certain voices if they don't like
critical coverage That means my
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tech billionaires who are already making
it clear that they are willing to cater
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