by Emil Guillermo
The tragic flooding in Texas happened as if on cue to remind us all about the value of government.
You may not like the idea of paying taxes for things like modern, high-tech emergency warning systems. Or the best weather information in a constantly changing climate environment. Or for disaster relief, that is there when you need it.
But after seeing the disaster in Texas, it’s clear we forget: We can be penny-wise and pound-foolish when we choose not to spend in the public good.
Spending on the right things, at the right time, saves lives.
Going cheap puts your citizens at risk.
This realization comes on the heels of that Trump megabill, where we cut government so deep with DOGE, and then went even further. The billionaires got their tax cut.
The rest of us cross our fingers for the negative benefit.
In exchange for the tax cuts to the rich, others will die when their Medicaid goes away.
One estimate based on similar Medicaid changes in the past shows a best-case scenario of a minimum of 13,000 dead nationwide.
Double it to get a sense of the worst case.
13,000 dead is a lot more than the victims of the Texas flood, which as I write, is over 100.
The lesson? There’s no reason why anyone should die in America if we weren’t so penny smart and pound-foolish when it comes to taxes.
Put it all together, and we have a memorable weekend. Texas happened almost immediately after Trump signed his megabill–the one that cuts services like FEMA and weather scientists at NOAA.
With Donald Trump’s signature of his megabill in the broad daylight of the Fourth of July, there was no need for fireworks.
What was there to celebrate?
It’s now all out in the open.
The House approved the Senate bill, virtually unchanged.
And then the president signed the bill for all to see on the very day we celebrate America’s Declaration of Independence.
Irony of ironies. On a day of freedom, the president signs a bill that saddles us with a bankrupt America.
How do you deal with a historic $37 trillion national debt?
Pay it back? Nope. You make things harder by cutting revenues with those historic tax breaks.
There should be no doubt who to blame when the ironic crud hits the fan.
Thats “crud,” as in my forced acronym for Trump’s legislative descent toward a “Cruel and Unusual Democracy.”
He vowed to end the swamp. He has his own Trump Crud.
A stretch? But so is Trump mocking the Democrats at the signing.
“Oh, it’s so dangerous,” Trump said sarcastically of the Dems moments before he signed the bill. “So everybody’s going to die. It’s actually just the opposite. Everybody’s going to live.”
Let’s see him say that to his supporters who lose their health care, or access to a rural hospital that’s forced to close. Medicaid recipients left with nothing won’t be thriving like the wealthy who got their big tax cut.
When the impacts of Trump’s legacy bill come back to hurt normal Americans, there should be no debate.
We all saw the process—Trump did it all without any real concern for the majority of the American people.
The Republicans know there are dangerous things in that bill, called by MAGA supporters the Big Beautiful Bill, Normal folks will come to know it as the Big Ugly.
It’s the largest tax cut ever for the wealthiest Americans.
That’s unusual in a nation that seemed to care about its poor in the past.
Now, under Trump, it’s OK to be cruel.
It’s Trump’s “Cruel and Unusual Democracy.”
Does that sound like America under our Constitution?
We know the Constitution bans cruel and unusual punishment (8th Amendment). But Trump’s megabill passing shows America is hurtling toward becoming a democracy that’s both cruel and unusual, a diminished America, under Trump’s creeping authoritarianism.
But just wait. Add a few things, like nationalism. A racist, xenophobic focus on the border and on all immigrants. Hold them at bay with alligators until they disappear. Top it off with an overweening pride in our military. What we’re left with is an America under Trump that appears to be on the throes of seeing a dreaded “F” word come alive and apply to itself.
And it’s just the first six months.
From Taco to Caco
When the Senate passed the bill early last week by a 51-50 vote, we knew it was crazy. Even supporters of the bill, like Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who carved out Alaska from some of the pain because it was a non-contiguous state, didn’t like it.
Her carve-out made all the AAPI in Hawaii odd beneficiaries of her selfish political move. But even Murkowski had hoped the bill could be made better if the House slowed it down to work out the cruelty.
She voted for it anyway. She’s no hero.
Some budget hawks, self-described Reagan conservatives, were concerned enough to make a stink. But they gave in to the bigger stink of Trump.
All Trump did was play to the egos of members of Congress like Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-SC). They went to the White House and, for the price of a selfie and some White House gift shop swag, they caved.
If TACO–“Trump Always Chickens Out”– is an acronym when he bails on tariffs, this was CACO– “Congress Always Chickens Out”–when it comes to standing up to Trump.
With the House vote, make that “Congress Always Chickens-out Again.”
Legislatively, we were left with CACA.
And it’s all due to the authoritarian persuasiveness of Trump.
According to reports, Trump was feeling the expansion of his powers with the Senate vote and the recent SCOTUS win over district judges’ national injunctions. Now he appears uncheckable.
He promised the House hawks he’d fix concerns as his presidential power expands. That would mean not abiding by certain laws on subsidies and spending. Norman and others took Trump at his word. That’s how the president has the House in his pocket.
Kingly power
Growing executive power is what this bill is about. It’s the transformation of the presidency into an authoritarian kingship.
Over the weekend, the New York Times reported on memos obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that revealed how the Trump administration believes it is above the law.
The memos show how Attorney General Pam Bondi told tech companies they could lawfully violate laws barring American companies from supporting TikTok.
It’s based on the Trump Administration’s belief that the president has the constitutional power to set aside laws.
Set aside laws? You mean break them at will?
This is a president who feels he’s a man in full. Trump actually believes he can nullify any law. And apparently, members of Congress, who should act as a check, seem to go along with this.
When the budget hawks caved and voted with Trump on his bill, they were playing along. Daddy Trump, as NATO calls him, will make it right.
Add the Supreme Court, where Justice Sonia Sotomayor says Trump has his favorite six “on speed dial,” and what happened to the checks and balances?
It’s the New America we didn’t expect, but we’re in it now.
Trump’s cruel and unusual “democracy.”
EMIL GUILLERMO is an award-winning journalist, news analyst, and comic stage performer. He has written a weekly “Amok” column on Asian American issues since 1995. Find him on YouTube, Patreon, and Substack. See him perform live on the Canadian Fringe circuit at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, July 16-27. Get your tickets here: https://www.winnipegfringe.com/performer-detail.aspx?kw=Emil+Amok+Guillermo
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