An “astonishing oversight” in the megabill expected to pass Thursday morning could spell the end of the MAGA revolution, a political expert predicted.
While handing out massive tax cuts for America’s super wealthy, bolstering the military and border and paying for it with Medicaid cuts, Trump’s allies have forgotten one major thing, Politico’s senior politics editor Charlie Mahtesian wrote.
“The so-called Big, Beautiful Bill is still missing one key element — an overarching plan to create and lock in a durable Republican coalition,” he wrote.
“It’s an astonishing oversight. Over the past decade, Trump has unleashed the tectonic forces of political realignment. He has torn his party down to the studs and then remade it in his image. He has splintered the Obama coalition and accelerated a class-based political reordering that stands to upend nearly a century of convention.
“ … These are accomplishments most presidents have only dreamed of. Yet the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda does almost nothing to harness any of it in the service of a permanent MAGA governing majority. He is spending every last cent of his political capital on a bill marked by its lack of ambition and vision.”
Mahtesian wrote that the passage of Trump’s signature bill was the time to do something huge, designed to cement the president's movement for years — or decades — to come.
“This was the moment to announce the arrival of what could be a multi-ethnic working-class coalition,” he wrote. “The time to deal a crowning blow to a feckless opposition party that remains convinced the only thing holding it back is ineffective messaging.
“Instead, the White House produced a domestic policy bill that could have just as easily been produced by any generic Republican administration.”
He said by failing to stamp a unique MAGA vision onto the bill, Trump has created something that will not be considered a legacy — and has no long-term unifying factors.
“Decades from now, no one will point to this legislation as a key building block of a lasting Republican coalition,” he wrote.
“It’s more likely to be remembered for the estimated $3.3 trillion it is set to add to the national debt.”
