Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" is teribble, and most importantly, it’s built on Lies.
This week, I’ve been diving into Trump’s stupid bill. After reviewing the reporting, especially from Mother Jones and The New York Times, I can confidently say this: the bill is a thousand-page Trojan horse. It’s bloated, deceptive, and dangerous.
NO ONE likes it once they learn what’s in it. Check out the polling results below, based on what people felt once they understood what was in the Bill. The chart below was found in Mother Jones, and it comes from Yale political science professor Jacob Hacker and his post-doctoral researcher, Patrick Sullivan, at the American Political Economy eXchange. “The survey of about 4,500 US respondents was conducted by an initiative Hacker directs within Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies. But the magnitude of their findings was truly surprising to Sullivan, whose past work also involved how people’s attitudes and preferences change in response to new information.”1
Even the people voting on it don’t even know what’s inside.
Case in point: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene recently admitted she was unaware that the bill included a provision banning states from regulating artificial intelligence for the next ten years. Ten. Years.2
Senator Lisa Murkowski, who should have a new award named for her, “Profiles in Cowardice,” initially raised concerns, specifically about the Medicaid and SNAP work requirements buried in the bill. She worried about the impact on Alaska’s outdated systems and feared the state could be penalized for higher error rates; the bill would penalize states for these rates. Then, she cut a backroom deal just for Alaska. And then, according to reports, her deal was removed after she voted yes—a profile in cowardice.
The Medicaid Lie
Many of the bill’s most harmful provisions are justified with one word: fraud.
In a previous newsletter, I wrote:
“The GOP bill's authors claim they're simply encouraging ‘able-bodied adults’ to work, ensuring ‘fairness,’ and targeting ‘fraud.’ But here’s what you won’t see in the headlines: there is no real epidemic of welfare fraud. What we have instead is a bloated administrative machine and private corporations like Maximus profiting from policing the poor under the banner of efficiency.”
That is not just an opinion. According to Marketplace, estimated overpayments in programs like SNAP and Medicaid are below 1.5%. But that tiny number has been weaponized to gut services and funnel public money into private contracts.
New Lies, Old Scripts
The New York Times' Carl Hulse connected this moment to a long-standing political tactic.
Hulse says, “Ronald Reagan had the 'Welfare Queen.' Today, Republicans are targeting what they describe as the 'lazy gamer, ‘ the so-called able-bodied man playing Xbox on Medicaid.”3 Speaker Mike Johnson, Representative Lauren Boebert, and others have trotted out this imagery to justify slashing Medicaid rolls.
“That’s what Medicaid is for,” Johnson said on CNN. “Not for 29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.”
But as The Times points out, this narrative falls apart under scrutiny. According to Brookings, 40% of these so-called ‘loafers’ don’t even use healthcare services. Many are caregivers, students, or people in transition. Some are undocumented. Others are just poor. But they are not frauds.
So What Does the Bill Actually Do?
According to Mother Jones, here’s what’s inside this so-called “beautiful” disaster:
Repeals clean energy tax credits for wind, solar, battery storage, and hydrogen, killing hundreds of thousands of jobs and raising your power bill by $490 per year on average.
Slashes corporate taxes, adding an estimated $3 trillion to the national debt, while claiming Medicaid must be “reformed” to reduce spending.
The stupid Bill also blocks states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade, handing over power to tech giants.
It cuts the judiciary off at the knees by limiting access to class-wide injunctive legal remedies and requiring every individual to sue on their own dime.
Who Profits?
The cruelty is the point, but the money tells the deeper story.
It adds work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP to enrich private profitters who send people on “make work jobs” to enrich investors and owners of these firms. As an aside, I am SO very pissed that no one is mentioning this and that Demoracts and even progressive are not chalngeing this “fraud waste and asbuse” lie! Companies like Maximus rake in government contracts to “get people jobs” or “investigate fraud.” In Indiana, one firm made $30 million helping just 199 people find employment.
And still, the GOP tells us poor people must balance the budget, not oil companies, not billionaires, not war profiteers.
This Is Bigger Than Policy
This bill is not about policy. It is about power. It is about control.
It is about restoring a racial and economic order, and installing a ruling wealthy class unaccountable to the “little people.” It is about building a government where corporations are immune, poor people are disposable, and the courts are toothless.
What can you do?
Tell the truth. Post. Share. Correct people. Do not let the lie of "fraud, waste, and abuse" stand unchallenged.
Call your representatives. Even if they’re in favor of the bill, let them know you’re watching.
Support organizing efforts to protect the courts, healthcare, and social safety nets.
Vote, and make sure the people around you vote. Midterms matter. Local races matter. State courts matter.
Because this bill is not the end, it’s the blueprint.
And we’re either going to fight for what’s right, or we’re going to lose it for the next hundred years.
In solidarity,
Shari
Qualified: At the Intersection
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/06/trump-big-beautiful-bill-polling-unpopular-republicans-yale-study/
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/marjorie-taylor-greene-admits-also-didnt-read-gop-megabill-voted-rcna210847
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/us/politics/republicans-medicaid-cuts.html
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