How the GOP’s bill broke the Democrats

Semafor ^ | Jul 3, 2025, 7:28pm CDT | David Weigel

[E. Pluribus Unum]

With the passage of Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” the GOP won a generational victory. It did so by co-opting key Democratic messages and building a MAGA-based story of America and what ails it.

Democrats are getting used to that. Most of them consider Trump as a sui generis political figure who voters don’t associate with the GOP’s least popular ideas.

Ironically, Trump built that reputation in 2020, before he lost the presidency. He had scrapped the GOP’s old commitment to reforming Social Security and Medicaid in his 2016 campaign, denying Democrats one of their best issues. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he implemented bipartisan relief bills that expanded health care coverage and gave direct cash payments to most Americans.

In 2024, when he pledged to cut more taxes and protect welfare programs — trimming only “waste, fraud, and abuse” — swing voters remembered 2020 and found it credible. His policies added $7.8 trillion to the national debt, but Democrats voted for some of them, and Republicans never really blamed him for that number. Nikki Haley criticized Trump for growing the debt, and he beat her in South Carolina by 20 points.

Democrats built their anti-megabill campaign on what had worked in 2017, when they got enough Republican votes to save the Affordable Care Act. The GOP was more aligned with Trump than it had been then, which they knew going in. But it also had a more coherent story to tell, which Democrats unwittingly helped with.

The MAGA story in 2025 was that America needed to be saved from internal drift and external threats, which this legislation would do. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s entrance into the MAGA coalition was an important part of the story. Neither party...

---

TOPICS:
KEYWORDS:

[BenLurkin]

Joe Biden broke the Democrats.

[Lod881019]

It broke half this board Id wager tds on here is just as high with some people as the prime time lineup on msnbc

[shelterguy]

It does seem to have a disturbance in the force right now.

[Jim Noble]

Here’s the deal with MAGA.

We had to do it. There was no alternative.

But it might not be enough. It’s the last chance for a peaceful solution.
Bug we may need to move on to other solutions.

[Nervous Tick]

>> tds on here is just as high with some people as the prime time lineup on msnbc

Yeah, there’s a few like that here. Not that many, I think, but they sure are obnoxiously vocal and persistent!

[Lod881019]

I honestly think half this board voted for Harris some of them sound like Rachael Maddow

[SunkenCiv]

• Breitbart Business Digest: Economists Say Trump Was Right All Along on Tariffs [07/07/2025]
  • Are interest rates too high? [07/07/2025]
  Trump's Energy Department warns Americans could face 800 hours of blackouts by 2030 [07/07/2025]
  • Have We Reached Late-Stage Climate Hysteria? [07/07/2025]
  US judge temporarily blocks law barring Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood health centers [07/07/2025]
  • SCOTUS Ruling Against Universal Injunctions Didn't Go Far Enough [07/07/2025]
  Doctors and public health organizations sue Kennedy over vaccine policy change [07/07/2025]
  • Multilevel Intervention Increased HPV Vaccination for Most Children [07/07/2025]
  [Catholic Caucus] Catholic 'LGBT ministry' supported by British cardinal marches in London 'pride' parade [07/07/2025]
  • California will not block trans athletes from school sports, defying White House [07/07/2025]
  Jason Clare considers introducing classes to stamp out rise in antisemitic attacks in major reform to national curriculum [07/07/2025]
  • Why a Therapy Student Risked Her Career to Expose Sexually Explicit Lessons [07/07/2025]
  Canada goes by unscathed for 'Liberation Day' tariffs, all eyes on July 21 deadline [07/07/2025]

[Lod881019]

The funny thing is I never see them in threads criticizing democrats funny how that works

[shelterguy]

It sounds like dem underground at times.

[napscoordinator]

The proof will be in November in Virginia and New Jersey.

[griswold3]

Sounds reasonable. But are those today’s talking points from the “party”? Sorry. I have been so jaded.

[cgbg]

The New Jersey governor election was stolen after midnight last time.

I see no reason to believe that will not happen again.

[Lod881019]

Why? They are both democrat states and Winsome Sears in Virginia is a never trumper what I look at is the state of Pennsylvania where the presidency is won and they are within 75000 votes of flipping the party registration in the state thanks to Donald almost exclusively

[GOPJ]

The funny thing is I never see them in threads criticizing democrats funny how that works...

I've noticed that too. Odd, right? /s

[bigbob]

Here’s an interesting factoid:

From the time he came down the golden escalator til he leaves office, Trump will have dominated American politics for 15 years, whether in or out of office.

That hasn’t happened since FDR.

[Nateman]

...Democrats had let the US-Mexico border get “out of control,” and Republicans needed to seal it.

The border was under Democrat control. They wanted it busted open for the Great Replacement and siphoned money from multiple agencies to pay for their invasion. We now have a mini civil war in play as ICE begins to reverse the Great Replacement and the Left goes violent in its opposition. Marines are experts at dealing with violence. Antifa is finally getting the blowback they so richly deserve.

[daku]

It’s like a high school class loses its teacher and is replaced by an incompetent substitute who then goes on to let the students do whatever they wished.
The students progress stops and reverses while they insist their path is the correct one .
This is only made right by an instructor who can stop the nonsense and make the kids get back to work.

[Does so]

“Joe Biden broke the Democrats”
.
Even Karine Jean-Pierre’s book cover derides the “Broken White House”.

[sauropod]

.