Trumpism Smells Like...
The president peddles perfume
The absurdist show-runners of our time have once again outdone themselves, because this is a real thing. Amid wars, rumors of wars, constitutional crises, legislative meltdowns, here is the president of the United States hawking his new perfume.
Trump’s perfume is called “Victory 45-47” because “they’re all about Winning, Strength, Success”… and who doesn’t want to smell like that?
Trump wants his marks followers to “enjoy” and “have fun” with the perfume that carries the catchy name: “Fight, Fight, Fight.”
But what makes the whole scam chef’s kiss perfect is the disclaimer that explains (in small print) that: “Trump Fragrances are not designed, manufactured, distributed or sold by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, or any of their respective affiliates or principals….”
Happy Tuesday.
The BBB Smells Like…
As I write, the fate of the reconciliation bill has not been decided. But there are a few things that we do know: The Mother of All Crap Sandwiches is a political nightmare that actually got worse in the Senate. Which is really saying something.
Among other things, the bill is a massive transfer of wealth to the rich; while slashing Medicaid and food assistance; and potentially killing millions of jobs; all the while adding $4 trillion to the national debt. Over at the Dispatch, Nick Catoggio describes it thusly:
This may be the first major legislation in my lifetime that makes no serious pretense of improving Americans’ lives. It’s landed in a bizarre “sour spot” that shouldn’t be possible in a democracy—terrible as policy, more terrible as politics, yet somehow inevitable.
It’s so bad that it’s caused a centrist Republican to suffer a crisis of conscience, another thing that didn’t seem possible in America 2025.
As the more prudent and deliberative body, the senate was supposed to smooth out some of the bill’s rougher edges and make it marginally less politically toxic. But NOTUS reports this morning: “That does not appear to be happening.”
The Senate bill includes deeper cuts to Medicaid. And take, for example, green energy credits, which have a progressive sheen for the “green” part but also several massive industries with many jobs attached to them and global technological competitiveness thrown in, to boot — that’s the “energy credits” part.
And then there is a new tax on wind and solar power that “had never been publicly discussed or proposed during reconciliation negotiations.” One imagines that the ghastly and unwieldy bill is loaded with even more nasty surprises. But despite that, the GOP appears committed to legislate in haste and repent at leisure.
The Big Beautiful Friendship: An Update
The rapprochement is off. The breakup is on. And the threats are escalating.
On Monday, Elon Musk — the world’s richest man and Trump’s former co-president — took to Xitter to rail against the BBB and called for the formation of a new political party.
“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” Musk wrote. “Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.”
Musk specifically targeted members of the Freedom Caucus, threatening to finance primary challenges for members who vote for Trump’s bill. "Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!" Musk wrote. "And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth."
Musk seemed to up the ante even more when he said that he would bankroll Trump “nemesis” Thomas Massie, who has opposed the spending bill.
Predictably, Trump responded by threatening Musk and his businesses.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump wrote.
Trump also suggested that the U.S. could cut back on spending by targeting segments of the economy in which Musk plays a significant roll.
“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
Meanwhile, of course, there are real-world consequences, including this: One in four nursing homes say they will shut down if Trump’s bill passes.
A Reminder That The Brutality is the Point
President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that the concept of “Alligator Alcatraz” is that escaped detainees will be eaten by the local wildlife.
On Tuesday morning, Trump was on his way to visit the hastily-built migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades. Before departing the White House, he took questions during a brief media gaggle.
When one reporter asked if the “idea” behind the facility is that migrants will be discouraged from attempting to escape by the risk of being eaten by a snake or an alligator, Trump said:
I guess that’s the concept. This is not a nice business! I guess that’s the concept. If you, you know, snakes are fast, but alligators — we’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator, OK, if they escape prison. How to run away: don’t run in a straight line, run like this. And you know what? Your chances go up about one percent, OK? Not a good thing.
A Reminder That This is Not Normal
On today’s “To the Contrary” podcast, I’m joined by ArcDigital editor Nicholas Grossman. We had a wide-ranging conversation on Senator Thom Tillis's self-defenestration and the cult of Trump. We explored the Supreme Court's role in enabling executive overreach and discuss how Trump's foreign policy blunders may ignite a new era of global nuclear proliferation.
One highlight: We’ll miss the Pax Americana when it’s gone.
Subscribers can listen to an ad-free version right here… or you can watch on YouTube / Listen (and subscribe) on Apple/ Spotify / iHeart / RSS Feed.
Nota bene
Tom Nichols in The Atlantic: Trump Insults America—Again [GIFT LINK}:
On Sunday, President Donald Trump had a rambling conversation with the Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo….But when it came to China, Trump returned to one of his favorite themes: moral equivalence between the United States and authoritarian regimes.
Bartiromo noted that authorities recently arrested some Chinese nationals accused of smuggling in biological materials that could threaten the U.S. food supply. “We don’t know where that came from,” Trump said, waving away the arrests as possibly nothing more than the apprehension of a few “whackos.” Bartiromo pressed on: The Chinese have hacked “into our telecom system; they’ve been stealing intellectual property; fentanyl, COVID, I mean, you know, all of this stuff, so how do you negotiate with obviously a bad actor and trust them on economics?”
And then Trump went for it. “You don’t think we do that to them?” he said with a smirk. “You don’t think we do that to them?” he repeated as Bartiromo struggled during a few seconds of silence. “We do,” the president said. “We do a lot of things.”
**
Charles C.W. Cooke: There Is No Trumpism—Just Trump
Since he arrived on the political scene, Trump has achieved the impossible feat of holding contradictory opinions on almost every imaginable topic while cultivating a reputation for conviction. In the last three months alone, he has been for and against increased taxes on the rich; enthusiastic about and irritated by the SALT deduction; in favor of “the largest deportation program in American history,” and concerned about the effect that such a policy might have on employers; so bellicose toward Iran that he flirted with regime change, and so determined to see peace that he cursed out Israel on the White House lawn. Pick a topic — abortion, guns, crime, TikTok — and you will find multiple Trumps. No wonder that those who feel obliged to defend him whatever he does look as if they are suffering from acute schizophrenia.
Derek Thompson: “American Energy Policy Cannot Afford to Be This Dumb”:
Trump’s signature legislation—the so-called Big Beautiful Bill—doesn’t just dismantle the tax credits for solar, storage, and wind that Joe Biden signed into law as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. It goes further by adding a new tax that clean energy projects can only avoid if they can prove they aren’t using critical parts made in China….It essentially ties clean energy’s legs together and says, “okay, now let’s see how fast you can run.”
You’ll sometimes hear conservatives accuse progressives of caring so much about climate change that they’d force ordinary Americans to bear the cost of higher prices and worse lives just to save the planet. But right now, it’s Republicans who are willing to stymie energy production, at the risk of rising electricity costs, just to own progressives and punish their favorite energy sources….
To appreciate just how bad this law would be for energy policy, you don’t have to listen to environmentalists approaching DEFCON 1 levels of panic. You could instead listen to Republican tech entrepreneurs, red-state experts, and ordinary energy analysts. Many of them think the bill is “utterly insane.”
Tuesday dogs
Auggie, waiting for me to get up. He has plans.
Trump cologne smells like Eau d'Orange Shit Stain.
What did you expect?
The tax on clean energy companies that is part of the BBB will lead to tens of thousands of lost jobs in red states such as TX. Where is Ted Cruz? Or Cornyn? At this point, we should all root for it to pass, and then pledge to all work together to use the destruction that the bill causes to send Trump and his sick MAGA cult into oblivion.