Transcript: Trump Drops New Hints on How He’ll Screw Over Mike Johnson
Ornstein: He’s asking for the impossible, Greg, because basically he wants to use this process of reconciliation. These are supposed to be things that are strictly related to taxing and spending, and are supposed to be ones under something in the Senate called the Byrd Rule, after Robert Byrd, that does not add to the deficit over 10 years. That’s why these tax cuts in the past go for 10 years, then completely die out and expire. Trump wants to continue all of those tax cuts, which would mean another $5 trillion added to the debt. He wants to do, as you said, Greg, who knows what on the border. He wants to include his tariff proposals and theoretically, all of these spending cuts that will offset the tax cuts and lead us to a balanced budget.
The problem there, to start with, is the only places where you can find big amounts of spending that you could in theory cut are from the defense budget or these permanent programs sometimes called entitlements: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. And Medicare and Social Security are not allowed under reconciliation. They could gut Medicaid, but a lot of Republicans are going to find out that that means cutting nursing home care. And to put all of that together in one bill, that is a dubious legality that would have to be approved by the Senate parliamentarian. What we know about Trump, Greg, is that if anything goes wrong, he’s not going to accept any of the blame for it. He is going to blame the Republicans who he said disappointed him and sold his ideas short.
Sargent: Absolutely. And Norm, we’re already seeing Republicans fighting over this. Senate Republicans don’t want to do this in one bill, but House Republicans do want to do it in one. It looks to me like House Republicans, because their majority is so razor-thin, would really struggle to do it in two bills. Trump has sided with House Republicans so far, screwing over Senate Republicans, but he also left Republicans dangling in the wind on this for a long time. They wanted a signal on which he wanted. And now as soon as he actually sends a signal, he starts sending mixed signals again. How does this play out?
