Commentary by Jerry Lanson

I confess. While millions marched and protested nationwide Saturday, many beneath dark and drizzly skies, I was putting up streamers, filling ice chests and arranging flowers and food for our granddaughter’s high school graduation party.

My brother, niece and friends picked up the slack and assuaged my guilt a bit by joining rallies before we gathered at our house. But I won’t fully right my equilibrium until I am out protesting again next week, and the week after and for many more to come.

Saturday clearly was cathartic. It energized the resistance and dwarfed Trump’s Flag Day birthday parade. Still the challenge is to sustain that energy for the long haul. And it will be long.

It seems clear that No Kings Day made a difference. In my state, two US House representatives, Seth Moulton and Ayanna Pressley, held town meetings Monday in its wake, sharply criticizing President Donald Trump’s actions, The Boston Globe reports. After his event, Moulton acknowledged to The Globe, “there is a degree to which some Democrats seem to be afraid to speak up or to speak out.”

Pressley told a separate gathering, that “this administration is lawless, and we are trying to beat them with the rule of law.”

Though many judges have stood up to Trump, their rulings and injunctions are temporary and often put on hold as they slowly make their way up the ladder of federal courts. Citizens, however, are not constrained as to how quickly or frequently they can mobilize and exercise their rights to protest peacefully. And the mass protests of citizens, in turn, could motivate more Democratic representatives like Moulton and Pressley to find their voices and pressure Republican representatives to at least temper their open-ended, rubber-stamp approval of whatever Trump and his most heinous staffers want.

This will demand stamina, week to week and month to month, as the headlines in just the last few days since the weekend rallies demonstrates. Here is a cross-section:

On health

• “A Senate Bill Would Make Deep Cuts to Medicaid” – The New York Times, June 16.

• “Dismissed Members of CDC Vaccine Committee call RFK Jr.’s actions ‘destabilizing.’” Associated Press, June 16.

On immigration

• “Trump Officials Reverse Guidance Exempting Farms, Hotels from Immigration Raids,” The Washington Post, June 16.

• “L.A. ICE Raids Leave People Scared to Leave the House …,” Los Angeles Times, June 17.

• NYC Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander Arrested by ICE: City Officials Demand Release.” Fox News, June 17.

On Consolidating Power

• “Trump Fires Democratic Commissioner of Independent Agency that Oversees Nuclear Safety,” Los Angeles Times, June 16.

• “White House Eyes Rarely Used Power to Override Congress on Spending,” The New York Times, June 17.

On International Relations

• “Trump Renews Embrace of Putin Amid Rift with Allies,” New York Times, June 16

On Corruption

• “’I Have Never Seen Such Open Corruption’ Trump’s Crypto Deals and Loosening of Rules Shock Observers,” The Guardian, June 17

This, of course, is a snapshot. They headlines come fast and furious.

Perhaps the most ominous and hideous has been the reaction of Trump and some other Republicans to the cold-blooded murders in their home of former Minnesota Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband just hours before the No Kings protests and Flag Day parade in Washington began to gear up. Though Hortman has been ulogized as a special legislator, even by some of her Republican state colleagues, her death was dismissed in a blizzard of social media lies by some nationally elected Republicans.

And the president? A headline in the political journal The Hill today read, “Trump says he won’t call ‘whacked-out’ [Minnesota Gov. Tim] Walz after Minnesota lawmaker shootings.” (Walz described Hortman as “the most consequential speaker in state history.” She reportedly frequently worked across the aisle with Republicans.)

Also today, according to The Washington Post, U.S. Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota pushed back against Senate colleague Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, for spreading lies about Hortman’s murder. “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way,” he wrote on Social Media. In fact, police have arrested a suspect whose roommate identified as a Trump supporter. He allegedly had a long list of Democrats in multiple states he sought to assassinate.

The Post reported that Smith confronted Lee in person in the Senate, a rarity in today’s bitterly divided chamber, and said later, “He indicated that he, of course, meant no harm. But, of course, these things do cause harm. They hurt people.”

With the world teetering near the brink of widespread war and the Trump Administration doubling down on its violent and often masked immigration arrests, it’s difficult to assess where we are, let alone where we are heading.

It is clear, however, the public has begun to awaken and that harmful economic measures such as Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and tariffs likely will hasten disenchantment with his presidency.

As a Washington Post headline stated today, June 17,”GOP Budget Bill Faces Nearly 2-to-1 Opposition, With Many Unaware: Poll. (For the unaware, this is the bill that among other things will take away the health care and food stamps of millions of Americans, and sharply increase tax breaks for the rich.)

Staying visible in the streets in peaceful protest will help alert the unaware, often isolated in their personalized social media worlds. It may be the best way to counter alternate realities and ignorance.

For those who participated for the first time on No Kings Day, welcome. I hope to see you out there again soon. As one of my signs reads: “Democracy is Under Assault: Join Us!”

Lanson’s commentary first appeared in his Substack From the Grassroots.

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JUNETEENTH 2025

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

“I may do it. I may not do it. Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

That, of course, is President Donald Trump.

He was talking to reporters earlier this week about whether he would order the US military to strike Iran.

But that statement is fairly representative of everything about the Trump Administration.

And it very well may be that the “Nobody” he referred to includes himself.

At least that’s what his various statements on topics ranging from who is going to be rounded up by ICE to who is going to be paying what in terms of tariffs. (As for the tariffs: You are going to be paying. The “what” remains to be seen. For example, on “Liberation Day” China, like essentially every country on the planet, had a “reciprocal” tariff of 10%. Then there was the 20% tariff from March related to fentanyl. That’s 30%. But they were put on top of a 25% tariff still existing from the first Trump Administration (based on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, claiming unfair trade practices). So 55%. But then Trump became miffed at the Chinese so he boosted the tariffs to 145%. Then there was a reset to 30%. Who knows what they are now and who knows where these various numbers came from?)

Among the items on the list of “Priorities” on the official White House website, there’s this under the “Drain the Swamp” category:

“President Trump is taking swift action to end the weaponization of government against political rivals and ordering all document retention as required by law.”

As you may recall, special prosecutor Jack Smith initially charged Donald Trump with willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act: Remember the beautiful boxes of classified documents in the bathroom at Mar-a-Lago? Seems like that wasn’t exactly “document retention as required by law.”

And as for the ending of “the weaponization of government against political rivals,” how does one explain the examinations of the “Biden crime family,” Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Liz Cheney, Christopher Krebs, Miles Taylor, Mark Milley, Robert Mueller. . . .

Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t. Who knows?

One might argue that the inconsistency exhibited by the man who is often seen in public wearing a baseball hat with a meaningless slogan on it (the only 79-year-olds who should be seen in public wearing a hat like that ought to be in Del Boca Vista, and only Del Boca Vista) is a negotiating tactic.

Keep the people you are negotiating with off balance.

While that might be useful in real estate transactions or property developments, when there is a need for long-term relationships with other parties because there is a mutual dependence (like it or not), this unpredictability may provide short-term advantage, but makes the other parties have rapidly diminishing confidence with the “deal maker.” Yes, there may be a gain in the moment, but after that moment is passed, after the echo of “Yahtzee!” is gone, then those who have been put off-kilter by the unpredictability of the other party are likely to want to get theirs back.

Or put more simply: Those who Trump treats badly (can anyone explain why he has been so abusive to Canada? Can he?) are probably not going to establish cordial relations with the country who is responsible for putting that person in the position to do that. He will be gone, but the bad taste will linger like scombroid fish poisoning.

This is no way to run a country.

Although he “wrote” in The Art of the Deal “never let anyone know exactly where you’re coming from,” it would be slightly more confidence-inspiring if it seemed that he knew.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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Right On? -- Has President Trump’s stranglehold on the Republican Party and MAGA populists finally cracked? News outlets left and right are cataloging the rift over the way Trump is abandoning his isolationist-no war campaign promise and how Israel’s missile attacks on Iran over its nuclear weapon development could become the current president’s own Iraq War. 

Be sure to read our analysis of this issue on our Substack page. As always, your comments are welcome here. Why go to X-Twitter, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok when you can engage with our No Alternative Facts, No False Equivalencies, No Echo Chambers discourse? Simply email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

Scroll down with the trackbar on the unaffiliated far-right to read never-Trumper Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s comments on the White House’s flip-flop on exempting farms, restaurants and hotels from immigration raids, just below, and do not miss anecdotes about the June 14 No Kings demonstrations in the corresponding left column. 

Scroll down further for Macaulay’s commentary on the House’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and its effect on the federal deficit.

Are you pro-MAGA? Don’t miss contributing pundit Rich Corbett’s “Commerce Over Conflict” in the right column on Page 2. Your civil comments are welcome, too.

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JUNETEENTH 2025

Scroll down for commentary by Sharon Lintner, Joel Postman, Jim McCraw and Hugh Hansen.

Breeding Ground of Hate -- The president has created a breeding ground of hate and in doing so, he has made hate acceptable. We are beginning to see the consequences. 

The hate is escalating, leading some to commit acts of violence. This weekend, that hate left a state representative and her husband dead, a state senator and his wife severely injured. Horrific acts such as these will create fear among those who desire to run for office, allowing their opponents to dominate and win through intimidation.

When I was serving as vice president of our local borough council, my views didn't always line up with my Republican counterparts. One November morning, after the election, I went out to find my white car splattered with red paint. The sight of this frightened not only me, but my neighbors as well. This act of intimidation left me fearing for my physical safety. In spite of this, I finished my four-year term without missing one meeting or one vote, but I will not run again. Fear can paralyze. 

Hate on the national level is filtering down, emboldening local officials and dividing communities. Hate is gaining traction. People say we can change that at the voting booth, but if we can't get honest, sincere candidates due to fear and intimidation then what? --Sharon Lintner 

We’re Not Accustomed to Totalitarian Spectacles, Yet -- Trump's June 14 parade — whether characterized as a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the US Army or as a self-thrown birthday celebration for a nascent dictator — failed to deliver the president's anticipated totalitarian spectacle. We can only hope this is because, unlike in North Korea and Russia, where citizens are accustomed to and accepting of such demonstrations, which are frequent and well-orchestrated, the United States is not yet at a point where these displays are part of everyday life. This was evidenced by the well-attended "No Kings" demonstrations in cities of every size (and political leaning) across the country, and by the willingness of people to speak out against the Trump juggernaut. Let us hope we turn the tide and never reach parity with those states that conduct shows of military force and demonstrations designed to remind citizens of their obligation to unerringly praise and support "dear leader." --Joel Postman

Resistance in The Villages -- The Administration’s recent behaviors in Los Angeles, with the National Guard, the Marines, and ICE, and the Trump/Army birthday parade, were met with the largest demonstration so far in TheVillages, Florida, a well known bastion of MAGA Republicans. The lines of protesters were longer and deeper than ever before, and the variety of signage was spectacular, Our favorite sign of the two-hour demonstration, carefully watched by Sumter County sheriffs and wetted down by irrigation sprinklers, was Elect A Rapist, Expect To Be Fucked. This is the largest retirement community in the country, pushing out toward 170,000 residents, with about 20 percent of them retired military, another big chunk of retired cops, firemen and EMTs and healthcare workers, all concerned about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, among so many other things. – Jim McCraw

One-Tenth of Small Town -- I was very pleased with, and slightly surprised by, the No Kings demonstration here in our little northern Michigan town. We had about 300 people, or roughly 10% of our official population. We did not chant or call/response, so as to respect the children's trout fishing tournament taking place behind us. The drive-by traffic, heightened because most Michigan schools had let out days earlier, was at least 20 to 1 supportive (I saw two middle fingers, one thumbs-down, and heard one snooty "Nyooo," while scores on into hundreds honked, waved, and gave thumbs up and peace signs). There were people from my Lions Club and other service organizations, my gym, and several of our churches. If only we could have let Trump be president before the election! – Hugh Hansen

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MONDAY 6/16/25

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday June 12, “Our farmers are being hurt badly by, you know, they have very good workers. They’ve worked them for 20 years.

“They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be, you know, great. And we’re going to have to do something about that.”

He pointed out, “We can’t take farmers and take all their people and send them back because they don’t have maybe what they’re supposed to have, maybe not.”

While the near-incomprehensible utterances are startling — evidently he missed the “subject-verb-object” portion of his early education — what he was talking about was the situation regarding undocumented migrant farm workers — those people he has ordered ICE to deport.

According to study by the US Dept. of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (which has probably been DOGEd, because who needs facts?):

“The share of hired crop farmworkers who were not legally authorized to work in the United States grew from roughly 14% in 1989–91 to almost 55% in 1999–2001; in recent years it has declined to about 40%.”

The study found that in 2022 the number of crop farm workers with “no work authorization” (i.e., undocumented farm workers) was 42%.

That number of people simply isn’t going to be prest-o-change-o replaced by those who have lost their jobs due to manufacturing plants closing in the US.

Given the magnitude of that number you would have imagined that someone in the Trump Administration would have figured that rounding those people up and sending them somewhere beyond the southern border probably wouldn’t be a particularly good idea.

But that just shows how out of touch Team Trump is when it comes to people actually doing work. 

Let’s remember Trump saying back in April when he signed an executive order in support of coal mining: “One thing I learned about the coal miners is that’s what they want to do.

“You could give them a penthouse on Fifth Avenue and a different kind of a job and they’d be unhappy. They want to mine coal, that’s what they love to do.”

While I have mined as much coal as Trump has (none), I’ve been a janitor, a dishwasher, and picked up trash in a parking lot with a nail on the end of a stick and I can tell you that when I got a different kind of job I was very happy. Those coal miners probably love a paycheck more than they love mining coal and would be perfectly happy living in a penthouse doing something else to earn money in ways not associated with cave-ins, explosions, and black lung disease.

Trump’s comment is like his Commerce Secretary-billionaire Howard Lutnick saying, “Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month, my mother-in-law — who’s 94 — she wouldn’t call and complain.”

Arguably she could get good loan terms from her son-in-law.

Back to Trump’s comments about the undocumented migrant workers.

He admitted that some of them have “been there for 20, 25 years and they’ve worked great. And the owner of the farm loves them.”

But: “And then you’re supposed to throw them out. . .” — Well, isn’t that what he said is supposed to happen? This is his idea, not someone else’s. Not the farmers’, certainly -- “. . .and you know what happens? They end up hiring the people, the criminals that have come in, the murderers from prisons and everything else.”

Think on that for a moment. No, not the “and everything else,” which is inexplicable. But the whole notion that the “murderers from prisons,” whom Trump has described in many instances as being the worst of the worst, likely insane, drug-addled and otherwise bad, are going to the Central Valley to pick tomatoes.

Again, evidence that there is little understanding of how the real world works. And I do mean “works.”

Another example of this is the necessity of rehiring people DOGE thought were unnecessary. 

According to a story earlier this month in The Washington Post: 

“Trump officials are trying to recover not only people who were fired, but also thousands of experienced senior staffers who are opting for a voluntary exit as the administration rolls out a second resignation offer. . . .

“A Post review found recent messy re-hirings at agencies including the Food and Drug Administration, the IRS, the State Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In some cases, the government is posting new online job listings very similar to positions it recently vacated. . . .

“In February, the Agriculture Department launched a campaign to rehire bird flu response workers after avian influenza sent egg prices soaring. That same month, the Trump administration fired nearly 17% of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s workforce, temporarily imperiling the safety and security of America’s 5,000 nuclear warheads — before hiring them back after an outcry. . . .”

Clever, eh?

If there is any evidence of “waste, fraud and abuse,” it is primarily in what DOGE has done. Ask anyone who works in human resources and they’ll tell you it costs a hell of a lot more to hire someone than it does to keep someone.

And there are the tariffs. Remember back in April when Team Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro said, “So we’re going to run 90 deals in 90 days. It’s possible.”

Turns out those possibilities weren’t so good. How many “deals” have there been in 74 days?

One. (The UK. This is not counting the fuzzy claim of a deal with China. Just like everything having to do with Liberation Day there is a whole lot of bluster and little in the way of evidence.)

Trade negotiations are complex undertakings by people who have serious understandings of the implications and ramifications of tax policies on their countries.

This is not to go down the path of saying that Trump “chickens out.”

It is to say that Team Trump is mainly incapable of doing things that are hard. It is easy to whip out an oversized Sharpie and sign and executive order. It is something entirely else to structure and implement a useful policy.

Trump was going to end the war against Ukraine in 24 hours after taking office.

Nope.

Trump claimed he would put an end to the war in Gaza.

Not only has that not happened, but now there is a war between Israel and Iran.

What has he done on that front except bluster on his blog?

And so there is the “No Kings” pushback against Trump.

He probably likes the notion that he is being considered a king by those who don’t like him.

Yes, he is consistently overreaching the bounds — legal and traditional (funny thing how the so-called conservatives who don’t realize that, as Russell Kirk wrote, “the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity,” something they’ve cast off with reckless abandon) — of the Office of the President.

But arguably this isn’t as much because of some sort of monarchial mania as it is simply that he doesn’t understand things, despite the fact that he claims that during a recent cognitive test he “got every answer right” and that "One of the doctors said, 'Sir, I've never seen anybody get that kind of — that was the highest mark.'" Right. No one else has ever aced the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.

While some may dismiss that claim as simply being silly, it is part and parcel of everything he does in office.

If he wasn’t 79 you might imagine he’s not unlike one of those boy kings who achieved the throne before they hit puberty. They don’t know what they’re doing, but they’ve got the gig. 

He’s big on claims. Not so big on getting things done that matters in ways that aren’t performative. 

The problem is that the consequences of his actions damage the people he has sworn to protect.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 6/16/25

Is an Israeli-Iranian war inevitable? How will the Trump administration respond? Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and if you lean left, please say so in the subject line so we post your opinions in this column.

Scroll down this column to read contributing pundit Kate McLeod’s reaction to Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is in the corresponding right column. You are more than welcome to react as well.

Be sure to scroll down further for comments on the Musk-Trump split by left-column contributing pundits Jerry Lanson, Sharon Lintner, Hugh Hansen, Joel Postman and Jim McCraw. 

Three Lanson commentaries fill out the rest of this column’s page; “Ice’s Menacing Roundups Rachet Up,” “Behind the Headlines” (on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) and “Who Will Stand? Who Will Lead?”, on what Lanson says is a Trump administration attack on civil rights.

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FRIDAY 6/13/25

Is an Israeli-Iranian war inevitable? How will the Trump administration get involved? Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and if you lean right, please say so in the subject line so we post your opinions in this column.

Scroll down for Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (spoiler alert: he doesn’t think the huge deficits it will cause are very conservative).

Be sure to scroll down further in the right column for pro-MAGA contributing pundit Rich Corbett’s take on the Musk-Trump split, “The Pro-Republican Perspective on Recent Developments.” 

Macaulay’s not-so-MAGA take on the same issue, “Trump v. Musk: Another Diversion” is filed in The Gray Area.

More Macaulay fill out the rest of the right column on this page; “Maybe Bidenomics Wasn’t So Bad After All,” “Great This Ain’t” and “Born in the U.S.A.”

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FRIDAY 6/13/25

In which a contributing pundit comments Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary on the Big Beautiful Bill Act, which first appeared on our Substack page…

Ill Wind: It is almost impossible to figure out what these individuals "STAND FOR". They're like fuzzy dandelion puffs in the wind. And the wind is coming from -- I believe I don't need to finish that sentence.

--Kate McLeod

Email your COMMENTS on Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s “If You Like Massive Deficits, You’ll Love OBBB,” and/or contributing pundit Kate McLeod’s response … or President Trump’s response to anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles and other cities, the Musk-Trump tiff, or any other recent issues, to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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WEDNESDAY 6/11/25

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

One of the arguments that is made on behalf of the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act is that if we go back to the 2017 Trump tax cuts, there were improvements in both employment and the level of GDP growth. 

While this is certainly the case, that is only part of the picture.

Those tax cuts added $1.5 trillion to $1.8 trillion to the federal deficit. In other words, they added to the debt in a non-trivial way.

And so what will happen if the OBBB passed by the House makes it through the Senate, where it is modified around the edges, and is signed into law?

According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, which has been looking at taxes for 85 years, if the expiring 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) measures are extended, which is an objective of the OBBB, “Long-run GDP would be 1.1% higher.”

Huzzah!

Except for something else. (And I don’t mean the tariffs, which are expected to decrease US GDP growth, so that’s a whole other issue of an unwillingness to look at figures.)

The Tax Foundation reckons the TCJA extension “would decrease federal tax revenue by $4.5 trillion from 2025 through 2034.”

And of that figure, the 1.1% GDP increase would offset “$710 billion, or 16%, of the revenue losses.”

That means $3.79 trillion in the hole. That’s $421 billion for each of the nine years.

Now there is something else about taxes that need to be taken into account.

Thanks to the clever boots of DOGE, some 11% of the workforce of the IRS were eliminated. According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the biggest hit was to tax auditors: 31% of the revenue agents got the axe or otherwise left. DOGE plans to eliminate up to 40% of IRS employees by year’s end.

Let’s not be naïve about this. Tax auditors look for discrepancies in tax returns. Certainly, some of those are simple mistakes. And some of them are, well, deliberate efforts made to keep from paying what is due, a.k.a., cheating.

If Bob, who works at Home Depot in the lumber department, or Betty, who operates a three-chair salon, gets audited, odds are the amounts of money involved are the stuff of Optima Tax Relief commercials.

The real money is in the complicated filings of individuals and corporations who can provide demi-serious and absolutely serious monies to the federal coffers.

But by minimizing the number of IRS auditors, the likelihood of those monies being collected is reduced. 

Realize the auditors earn an average $93,000 and the return on investment for that is probably a solid multiple, especially for those who can analyze the complicated cases.

So we will have reduced revenues coming into the government and a reduced number of people whose job it is to make sure the monies that are owed makes it to the government.

It used to be that Republicans cared about things like deficits and making sure that people paid their fair share.

Now it seems that they are dazzled by the promise of a Golden Age without having the slightest notion of how that’s achieved in the real world.

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WEDNESDAY 6/11/25

Scroll down this column for comments by contributing pundits Jerry Lanson, Sharon Lintner, Hugh Hansen, Joel Postman and Jim McCraw. Submit your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

Short-Lived Distraction: I consider the Musk-Trump schism a short-lived distraction. I won't play conspiracy theorist, but I don't believe it will last and I'm curious whether it is contrived. In the meantime, the traditional media are distracted from examining Trump's big bill, which is filled with horrible stuff, or from explaining it to the public at large. 

People may know that it will eliminate health insurance for 10.7 million Americans on Medicaid over the next decade.  They likely don't know it will sharply curtail Pell grants, which help enable 40% of college students to seek higher education. Even as college costs keep climbing, the bill and Trump's proposed budget will cut Pell grants by nearly 25% of their current maximum of $7,395.  

The bill also will eliminate food stamps for millions of individuals and families.

And there is much more tucked away in its pages, including constraining the courts, a co-equal branch of government, from holding people in contempt of court if they ignore court rulings.

Now there are calls in the Senate for even more cuts so that the bill won't balloon the deficit by $2.4 trillion to provide big, permanent tax cuts for the mega-rich.  Suddenly cuts to Medicare, the health insurance for everyone over age 65, is being discussed.

So while the Trump-Musk circus plays out to everyone's entertainment, we are in the process of crushing average Americans and older Americans to further enrich billionaires. Alas, tens of millions of Americans -- including many Trump supporters -- won't know what hit them until long after the bill is passed.  Then the pain will set in but it will be too late.

Republicans were clever to call this the Big Beautiful Bill. It has stuck. Actually, it's the Big Hideous, Horrible bill. --Jerry Lanson

Brakes on BBB: The Trump- Musk feud might become the brakes that stop the "Big, Beautiful Bill." After his fiasco at the DOGE, maybe, just maybe, Musk can finally be of some help to the people. Perhaps he carries enough influence to persuade others to have the courage to vote against this "Big, Bad Bill." It looks like the infighting is off to a vicious start, let the unraveling begin! --Sharon Lintner 

Liking the Break-Up: I'd be pleased with a permanent break, though I'm taking deep breaths rather than holding mine. While neither of these men have a stable-enough personality to make their future relationship predictable, Trump's base has been more steadfast than the tech bro bunch. --Hugh Hansen

Musk Must Turn: It is my fervent hope that Elon Musk turns completely on MAGA and Trump, calls for his impeachment, then funds only Democrats in dozens of close House races so that we can get rid of Trump, Hegseth, Bondi, Patel, and the rest of the Trump Gang for ever and ever. I have never in my life seen this level of bald-faced presidential corruption and blackmail while the Supreme Court sits on it well-manicured hands and lets him get away with it. Every day. And the idea of that fat orange punk having a parade for himself makes my stomach turn. --Jim McCraw

Musk Becomes Villain for Trump: The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump is likely to endure, with little political impact. 

The conflict quickly degraded from one of ideological differences to a street fight. While Musk initiated the dispute, he will become another convenient hip-pocket bogeyman for Trump. Like Bezos, Hillary Clinton, or DeSantis, he’s someone Trump can attack to energize his base and show he’s out there fighting elites, liberals, Dems, and so on. 

Trump has shown no inclination to walk back his attacks. Musk in the meantime is no stranger to conflict and outrageousness. Both men benefit from the spectacle. Expect it to continue, but to become increasingly meaningless. --Joel Postman

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MONDAY 6/9/25

Scroll down this column for the pro-GOP perspective by Rich Corbett. Do not miss Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s much different take, “Trump v. Musk: Another Diversion” in The Gray Area. Submit your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

The Pro-Republican Perspective on Recent Developments: The recent public spat between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk over the "One Big Beautiful Bill" has been overblown and is already fading. Their disagreement, largely centered on Musk’s concerns about the bill’s deficit impact, is a minor hiccup in the grand scheme of Republican priorities. 

Trump and Musk, both larger-than-life figures, share a commitment to advancing America’s economic strength, and this temporary rift is unlikely to derail their broader alignment. Reports indicate Trump is already negotiating adjustments to the bill, showing his willingness to bridge differences while keeping his "America First" agenda intact. The feud is a distraction — Republican unity remains strong, and Musk’s influence, while notable, won’t overshadow the party’s momentum.

On the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring of the "One Big Beautiful Bill," Republicans are right to question its projections. The CBO’s estimate of a $2.4 trillion to $3.8 trillion deficit increase may fail to account for the dynamic economic growth spurred by tax cuts, much like it underestimated the benefits of Trump’s 2017 tax reforms. Those cuts fueled job creation and GDP growth, proving that lower taxes can stimulate revenue through economic expansion. Republicans argue the current bill’s tax cuts, including extensions of the 2017 provisions and new breaks on tips and overtime, will similarly drive prosperity, offsetting projected deficits. The CBO’s static models often miss this bigger picture, and GOP lawmakers are justified in prioritizing growth over pessimistic forecasts.

As the bill moves through the Senate, there’s hope among fiscal conservatives for a compromise that includes deeper tax cuts to further stimulate the economy. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has signaled openness to strengthening the legislation, potentially incorporating additional reductions favored by fiscal hawks like Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Johnson (R-WI). These conservatives rightly push for policies that curb government overreach and empower businesses and individuals through lower taxes. With a slim 53-47 Senate majority, Republicans have room to refine the bill, balancing Trump’s vision with demands for fiscal discipline. A compromise that amplifies tax cuts while addressing deficit concerns would be a win for the GOP’s pro-growth, limited-government principles. Here’s hoping the Senate delivers. --Rich Corbett

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MONDAY 6/9/25