Trump Believes Russia Will Win In Ukraine, It’s Just A Matter Of How Long
“The president’s view is Russia is going to win, it’s a matter of how long it takes,” said a senior, unnamed White House official to Politico this week, reflecting on President Trump’s view on where the war stands.
“Russia has the bigger economy, has the bigger military, has more than enough bodies to throw into the meat grinder, and just doesn’t care. And although they are making slow progress, they are still making progress,” the official added. “The president just wants to stop the killing.”
Indeed the last several weeks have seen clear Russian gains on the ground in Eastern Ukraine, with a steady flow of reports of towns, settlements, and villages being newly captured in Donetsk and elsewhere.
There’s been some confusion over Trump’s policy in arming Kiev. He has gone further than he ever has before in approving new anti-air defense systems, but still appears to be ruling out long-range offensive weapons, amid conflicting reports.
Has realism finally set in concerning Washington policy? It should have been evident from the start of this horrific ‘war of attrition’ that Ukraine was never going to win.
Still, Zelensky has resisted doing the one thing which could end the war – make territorial concessions. He hasn’t so much as offered to give up Crimea.
Zelensky is still lobbying Washington for a major new weapons package which would ‘send a message’ to Putin:
“President Trump and all of America and Europe know that we want peace and an end to the war,” Zelenskyy said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax correspondent Shelby Wilder in Kyiv. “But the Russians understand only force. So, only strong sanctions and only strong weapons. We are ready for action, for a demonstration of force.
“I remember that we had a powerful deterrence package before President Trump became president. I wanted America to sell us such a package. But it was not done. We talked to President Trump about these things. I would really like us to be strong. A demonstration of strength forces Putin to the negotiating table. It is not a fact that we will have to use this force, but if Russia knows about its existence, it is already a strong argument for ending the war.”
Trump has pivoted to placing more of the responsibility for assisting Ukraine on NATO. For example, during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte he emphasized that Europeans must finally pay their fair share.
“We’re not buying it, but we will manufacture it, and they’re going to be paying for it,” Trump said while invoking “very rich” European allies. “They feel very strongly about it, and we feel strongly about it too, but we’re in for a lot of money, and we just, we don’t want to do [it] any more.”
Foreign buyers purchased $56 billion worth of existing homes in the United States between April 2024 and March 2025, up by 33.2 percent from the previous 12 months, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said in a July 14 statement.
In terms of the number of properties, they bought 78,100 units, a 44 percent increase from the prior year. This was also the first annual increase since 2017. The average purchase price was $494,400, a “record high,” NAR said.
“International interest in buying U.S. real estate increased following the global economic recovery from several years of pandemic-related disruptions,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.
“However, elevated home prices and interest rates continue to dampen overall potential sales activity and remain well below pre-pandemic levels.”
China was the top buyer nation of U.S. existing homes, making up 15 percent of all foreign purchases. Canada was a close second at 14 percent, followed by Mexico at 8 percent, India at 6 percent, and the United Kingdom at 4 percent.
The top housing market for international buyers was Florida, which accounted for 21 percent of all such deals. This was followed by California (15 percent), Texas (10 percent), New York (7 percent), and Arizona (5 percent).
“To some degree, due to stubbornly high mortgage rates, a greater share of international home buyers paid cash—47 percent compared to 28 percent among all buyers—and they were more likely to purchase homes priced in the upper end of the market,” Yun said.
“Foreign buyers are drawn to investing in American real estate, in part, by our country’s strong protection of private property rights.”
Among all foreign purchases, 56 percent were made by foreigners who live in the United States as recent immigrants or who have visas allowing them to reside in the country.
Interest in U.S. home purchases by Canadians dropped this year amid trade tensions, according to a July 4 statement from real estate brokerage Redfin.
The number of Canadian users on the Redfin platform searching for homes in the United States decreased by 26.4 percent from a year earlier in May.
In February, President Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada, citing the “extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl,” according to a Feb. 1 White House fact sheet. The tariffs would remain in effect “until the crisis is alleviated,” it said.
Trump also recently announced bumping up the tariffs on Canadian imports to 35 percent.
Canadians searching for American homes started “declining significantly” from February, Redfin said.
“Normally I work with about five Canadian buyers each spring, mostly older folks looking for a second home. This year, there were none,” Heather Mahmood-Corley, a Redfin Premier agent in Phoenix, said in a statement.
“People from Canada are retreating from owning real estate in the U.S. because of political tensions; some of them are worried it will no longer be practical to travel back and forth between the two countries, and some don’t want their money tied up in the U.S.”
International buyers purchasing residential properties in the United States can have both positive and negative effects. For one, it brings in capital and can stimulate economic growth. Some areas would benefit from foreigners buying property, as it could push up property values.
On the other hand, there may not be significant changes in prices, while foreign purchases create financial challenges for local residents seeking affordable housing.
Prospective buyers are already facing difficulties in finding an affordable home.
For instance, the average sales price of homes sold in the United States in the first quarter was $503,800, up from $417,400 in the first quarter of 2021, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Similarly, the average weekly rate of a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has consistently remained above the 6 percent level since mid-September 2022.
Both of these factors make purchasing a home an expensive option for many households.
Syrian HTS Troops Mass Murder Civilians At Hospital In South, Days After US Drops Terror Designation
There is gruesome evidence emerging of mass atrocities in the southern Syrian province of Suwayda, where government soldiers under the Sharaa/Jolani regime have been conducing sectarian attacks on Druze and Christians, while seeking to get the etho-religions Druze community to lay down their weapons.
New disturbing images emerging Wednesday show dozens of dead civilians strewn about the floor at the National Hospital of Suwayda. The images seem authentic and verified, as Syria expert Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma has described that a regime soldier in the aftermath filmed the results of the massacre while proclaiming “God is Great” and that there has been ‘victory’ over the Druze there.
Massacre of Druze in #Syria at the National Hospital of Suwayda.
In the first video, a Druze nurse is pleading for help as regime soldiers are about to overrun the hospital.
In the second video, a regime soldier films the results of the capture and proclaims that “God is… pic.twitter.com/ibLzinnhiU
Russia’s RT News has also picked up on the footage, captioning the “HORRIFIC images reportedly out of Suweida hospital in South Syria shows staff MASSACRED” for “Suspected of being Druze” — as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) describes.
Exact number of dead and wounded are unknown at this early point, but the hospital was under siege by the government forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). London-based SOHR writes:
SOHR sources denied a statement issued by the Information and Communication Department of the Ministry of Defence, which accused “outlaw groups of taking the national hospital in Al-Suwaidaa as a starting point to launch their operations against the army and internal security forces.
SOHR warns of the continued siege of Al-Suwaidaa National hospital and targeting or storming it under flimsy pretexts.
Reliable SOHR sources confirmed that there are medical staff and patients only inside the national hospital in Al-Suwaidaa, without the presence of any armed manifestations.
The third floor of the hospital was also bombed by the Ministry of Defence forces, which besieged the hospital from all sides, putting it out of service. The hospital suffers from a blockade that prevents medical supplies from reaching it, further aggravating the situation.
It appears everyone in the hospital has been massacred. Sick and wounded patients were reportedly murdered in cold blood in their hospital beads.
Syrian government jihadists have massacred the entire Sweida National Hospital. Druze and Christian patients, doctors, nurses, women, children, and everyone taking shelter inside.
HTS has just taken off the US-designated terrorism list earlier this month, after Trump had posed with its leader Sharaa (Jolani, who had earlier been a member of ISIS) while visiting Riyadh, expressing hope that he’ll make for a good post-Assad ruler.
These US-backed jihadist thugs have also been attacking more churches in Syria’s south…
Syrian regime terrorists attacked Mar Mkhayel Church in Suwaida and set it on fire. Just weeks ago, they bombed another church and killed dozens. No one is safe in this new “free” Syria pic.twitter.com/m67NZWTqJZ
Recall that Trump had gone so far as to praise al-Sharaa as a “young, attractive guy” who has a “real shot at doing a good job”. There was no mention at the time of protecting some of the world’s most ancient churches and Syria’s sizeable Christian community.
The fruit of that ‘good job’ thus far has been a genocidal campaign launched against Alawites near Latakia, Druze in the south – as is happening currently, as well as attacks on churches, including last month’s suicide bombing of St. Elias Orthodox Church in Damascus, which left at least 25 people – including children – dead. A group affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham actually took responsibility.
That jolt you feel from your morning coffee isn’t just hitting your brain—it’s reaching deep into your cells and flipping biological switches that could help you age more slowly.
Recent research suggests caffeine acts like a personal trainer for our cells, stressing them just enough to activate the same longevity pathways triggered by hitting the gym or cutting calories.
“In a sense, a bit of stress is beneficial,” John-Patrick Alao, a postdoctoral research scientist and the lead author of the study, told The Epoch Times.
The Cellular Machinery Behind Longevity
The study, published in Microbial Cell, discovered that caffeine induces a stress-like response in cells, activating a longevity pathway called AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK).
AMPK functions like a cellular fuel gauge. When energy runs low or during times of stress, AMPK activates, forcing cells to conserve resources, repair damage, and clean up faulty components by recycling parts of themselves.
In biology, too much stress harms cells, but small amounts can actually help them adapt and repair, preventing damage from piling up. Over time, this helps tissues stay healthier, which supports a longer lifespan.
“Our research, at least in terms of caffeine, suggests that AMPK gets turned on because caffeine is exerting some sort of stress on the cells,” Alao said.
Alao noted that the little stress exerted by caffeine on yeast cells switches on protective genes and keeps cells in repair mode, preventing damage from building up and extending their lifespan. He likened it to having a mechanic with you at all times to catch problems early.
“Caffeine’s natural activation of this pathway suggests it could be a valuable nutritional tool… Something as common as your morning coffee could eventually play a role in how we design diets or treatments to improve long-term health and potentially support cancer therapies,” said Dr. Thomas M. Holland, a physician scientist and assistant professor at the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, who isn’t part of the study.
The researchers used fission yeast cells for their experiments. While the findings cannot be directly applied to humans, yeast have similar cellular pathways that work similarly to human cells.
Holland noted that while the study used yeast and didn’t provide specific intake recommendations for humans, other research supports moderate caffeine consumption.
Potential Risks of Caffeine-Induced Stress
While caffeine’s mild stress on cells helps trigger processes tied to a longer lifespan—like making them divide earlier and at smaller sizes—this same response can also make cells more vulnerable to DNA damage because it gives them less time to catch and fix problems before multiplying, allowing damage to slip through more easily.
This poses particular risks for people with genetic conditions such as ataxia telangiectasia (ATM), who have difficulty repairing DNA damage.
“If you have ATM mutations, caffeine is probably not good for you,“ Alao said. ”But if you are healthy and you don’t have these mutations, then it is because you are turning on the stress… and your DNA repair machinery is then being turned on.”
However, Alao noted that significant questions remain about how caffeine’s effects translate from yeast cells to humans. In people, AMPK is more complex, with different forms found in different tissues like the heart and skeletal muscle.
Alao said that the AMPK system, while protective in healthy cells, may also help cancer cells survive under metabolic stress.
How Much Caffeine Is Best for Longevity?
Multiple large-scale studies have linked coffee consumption to longer, healthier lives. A recent study of nearly 50,000 women over 30 years found that those who drank about 315 milligrams of caffeine daily—roughly one and a half large cups of coffee—were more likely to age healthily, free from major chronic diseases.
Another study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that people who drink one to three cups of coffee daily have a 15 percent lower risk of death compared to noncoffee drinkers. The study also showed that coffee’s health benefits diminish when it is paired with sugar and saturated fats, such as those in many dairy-based creamers.
“Typically around 200 to 400 milligrams per day, or roughly two to four cups of coffee, [have been shown in studies to be] both safe and potentially beneficial for most adults,” Holland said.
Holland emphasized that caffeine is most beneficial when included as part of a balanced lifestyle—particularly one that combines a mostly plant-based diet and regular physical activity. He noted that natural sources of caffeine, such as coffee and tea, also provide polyphenols and antioxidants, which may help reduce inflammation, improve metabolism, and lower oxidative stress—factors linked to reduced cancer risk.
Like Holland, Melissa Mitri, a registered dietitian and nutrition writer, recommends people stay away from supplements and energy drinks. “Some energy drinks and supplements contain a more concentrated form of caffeine, such as caffeine anhydrous, which can provide a significantly larger and more potent dose of caffeine than what is found in a cup of coffee.”
Mitri also noted that while more research is needed, a moderate amount of caffeine may help protect healthy cells during cancer treatment by reducing the potential damage caused by therapies like chemotherapy.
“Caffeine turns on AMPK, and AMPK is a really important target because it gets turned on by calorie restriction and exercise, and we know that calorie restriction and exercise are proven to extend lifespan,” Alao said.
Other Longevity Solutions
Caffeine isn’t the only compound linked to a longer lifespan through these cellular pathways. Other substances and diets are already known to target the same longevity-enhancing systems.
Rapamycin, for example, directly inhibits Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (TORC1), a protein complex that helps control how cells grow and respond to nutrients, slowing down the cell’s growth machinery.
Metformin, a widely used diabetes drug that improves insulin sensitivity, doesn’t act directly on TORC1 but instead lowers the cell’s energy state, which in turn activates AMPK.
Chronic overnutrition—particularly diets high in sugar, refined starches, and ultra-processed foods—deactivates AMPK, activating a pathway called TORC1, which promotes growth and accelerates aging.
“If you eat a lot of sugar, a high-fat Western diet, the TOR [Target of Rapamycin] is always on. And this leads to aging,” Alao said.
In contrast, dietary restrictions like low-protein diets and intermittent fasting activate AMPK, promoting the cellular cleanup processes that appear crucial for longevity. “Basically the body starts to eat itself, which seems to be important for cleaning all the damaged proteins and so on.”
A new libel complaint in Clark v. Gygax(that would be Gary Gygax’s son Luke Gygax), over a failed Kickstarter related to a planned new installment in a “tabletop game,” “Castle Wolfmoon”:
In the published post, Defendant made numerous knowingly false statements, including claims that Plaintiff was misappropriating Gary Gygax’s name, that Plaintiff was lying to the public about the Castle Wolfmoon project’s authorship, and that Defendant was not associated with the project.
This is of course just at the Complaint stage, so we know only the allegations. But it naturally piqued my interest (as a D&D player from back in the 1970s), and I thought it might likewise interest some readers.
A new libel complaint in Clark v. Gygax(that would be Gary Gygax’s son Luke Gygax), over a failed Kickstarter related to a planned new installment in a “tabletop game,” “Castle Wolfmoon”:
In the published post, Defendant made numerous knowingly false statements, including claims that Plaintiff was misappropriating Gary Gygax’s name, that Plaintiff was lying to the public about the Castle Wolfmoon project’s authorship, and that Defendant was not associated with the project.
This is of course just at the Complaint stage, so we know only the allegations. But it naturally piqued my interest (as a D&D player from back in the 1970s), and I thought it might likewise interest some readers.
It remains important for energy traders to closely monitor the Strait of Hormuz and other key critical maritime chokepoints in the region (recall Red Sea events last week, given persistent geopolitical tensions involving Iran and Israel.
Tehran retains a diverse toolkit—both asymmetric and conventional—for disrupting tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. These methods include naval mine deployment, anti-ship missile and drone launches, fast-attack craft swarms, and the seizure of vessels transiting the critical waterway responsible for 20% of the world’s oil flows.
Shortly after the U.S. launched “Operation Midnight Hammer” in late June, deploying stealth bombers to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan using Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, Iran’s parliament voted to authorize the closure of the strait. However, Tehran never closed the strait, but there was at least one report we covered that said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps mulled over littering the waterway with mines.
Given that the mines were not deployed, a troubling new report from local media indicates that the IRGC has intercepted and seized a foreign tanker in the Gulf of Oman. The seizure was reportedly carried out under the pretext of “fuel smuggling,” according to Iranian state media outlet Mehr News Agency (MNA) on X.
“The Chief Justice of Hormozgan Province has announced the seizure of a foreign oil tanker on charges of smuggling 2 million liters of fuel in the Sea of Oman,” MNA reported.
The Chief Justice of Hormozgan Province has announced the seizure of a foreign oil tanker on charges of smuggling 2 million liters of fuel in the Sea of Oman.#BREAKING#BreakingNewspic.twitter.com/gCr6yugb9f
Here are more details from pro-Iranian news channel Al Mayadeen:
“Following persistent surveillance of suspected fuel smuggling operations off Iran’s Sea of Oman coast, security forces boarded and searched a foreign oil tanker,” Ghahremani said.
Iranian authorities confirmed the seizure of the foreign tanker after detecting irregularities in its cargo documentation, with security forces arresting 17 crew members, including the ship’s captain, during the operation. The vessel was suspected of transporting two million liters of smuggled fuel through the Sea of Oman.
Fuel smuggling via “dark fleet” tankers has been a consistent tactic used by Iran to circumvent Western sanctions, with much of the crude oil ultimately making its way to China. Details about the seized vessel’s ownership and final destination remain limited.
China has finalized new export controls on technologies crucial to making batteries and processing critical minerals, materializing a threat made in the earlier stage of its trade war with the United States.
In a joint announcement on July 15, China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology unveiled an updated version of its Catalog of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export.
The catalog, alongside two dual-use export control lists, is a key instrument governing China’s export control regime. It is divided into two categories: technologies completely banned from export, and technologies restricted under a licensing regime. Technologies on the restricted list cannot be exported without government approval.
The latest update adds a new entry: battery cathode material preparation technology, which specifically covers those for producing lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP), and phosphate-based cathode precursors. These are essential materials for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles.
The catalog also tightens existing rules under the section on the Non-Ferrous Metal Smelting and Rolling Industry, expanding restrictions on technologies for extracting metallic lithium and gallium, a vital material in semiconductor chips.
This round of revisions was initially proposed in January, shortly before the second inauguration of President Donald Trump, who has pledged to use tariffs and other tools to protect U.S. industries and rebalance trade between the United States and the rest of the world.
The U.S.–China trade war is currently in a state of truce, putting on hold Trump’s April 2 executive order on reciprocal tariffs, which would have raised tariffs on Chinese imports to as high as 145 percent.
China remains the world’s dominant miner and refiner of lithium and gallium. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has identified both materials as critical to national security and economic competitiveness.
According to a USGS report released in January, the United States is unable to domestically source any of 31 key critical minerals, and can only commercially refine one: beryllium. China, by contrast, is the primary source for eight of those minerals and the near-exclusive provider of 17.
Gallium was among three materials Beijing subjected to export controls in December 2024. In a parallel development, a high-grade gallium deposit discovered in Montana earlier that year has received fast-track permitting approval under the Trump administration, part of a broader push to reshore critical mineral supply chains and reduce reliance on Chinese imports.
The Montana deposit is being extracted by U.S. Critical Materials, a Utah-based company. Harvey Kaye, the company’s executive director, said during a hearing before the House Small Business Committee that it will extract gallium first.
“Our plan is to extract from our deposit literally this year and be able to, in effect, stand on the steps of the White House and/or Congress with a bag of gallium … found in Montana, processed with American technology, and available for the defense of this country and, indeed, the free world,” Kaye said.
Israel Conducts Massive Strikes On Damascus After Sharaa Regime’s Sectarian Attacks
“The heavy blows have started” Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz has posted to X above a video (below) showing a Syrian news presenter abruptly taking shelter after a massive explosion in central Damascus.
The rare daytime aerial attack by Israel in the heart of Damascus created panic in the streets, and quickly after huge columns of smoke lingered over the downtown area. There are casualties, with state news agency SANA quoting the Health Ministry as saying that at least three were killed and nine people wounded in the Israeli attacks.
Eyewitnesses say they saw Israeli warplanes circling above the capital city, and that there were at least three to four strikes. Syria has no air defense systems to speak of, after Bashar al-Assad’s December 8 ouster and subsequent heavy Israeli bombings of all remaining Syrian military equipment.
The large-scale attack, which could see more to follow, has been roundly condemned by Syria’s regional partners who are trying to prop up the new Hayat Tahrir al-Sham government under self-declared interim President Sharaa (Jolani).
The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli attacks as an attempt to “sabotage Syria’s efforts to ensure peace.” The Syrian people have a “historic opportunity to live in peace and integrate with the world,” the statement continued.
The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has also condemned these new attacks on Damascus in the “strongest terms” – saying the air assault represented a “flagrant violation” of Syria’s sovereignty, “a breach of international laws and norms, and a serious threat to regional security and stability.”
The statement further described this as an “irresponsible escalation” which threatens sought-after stability in Syria.
There is no Iranian influence in Syria today.
Yet, Israel just bombed Damascus.
The new Syria, led by a frmr AlQaeda leader, has shamefully done everything to appease Israel.
But only complete emasculation is acceptable to Israel.
Israel is framing its actions as in protection of the Druze (an ancient ethno-religious minority community in region), which have come under sectarian attack by Jolani’s HTS forces.
In southern Syria, jihadists have filmed themselves torturing and forcibly shaving the mustaches of prominent Druze clerics and other men. Facial hair in the Druze religion is considered sacred and is highly symbolic.
Disturbing images have emerged from Syria’s Suwayda province, where members of the “new Syrian regime” dishonored a Druze man by shaving his mustache. For Druze men, growing a mustache is a religious tradition, and shaving it is considered a sin. pic.twitter.com/4hDe8wPiSQ
Israel’s military has long used sectarian tension inside Syria as part of a ‘divide and rule’ strategy. Immediately after Assad’s fall, the IDF send tanks and ground units deep into southern Syria.
Christians are also heavily present in the south, and they are under direct threat as well, but Israel has not invoked ‘protection of Christians’ as having anything to do with its policy…
Wearing an ISIS patch, an extremist militant operating under the Syrian army threatens to ethnically cleanse the Druze minority in southern Syria. pic.twitter.com/KtebNvMBX3
Syria’s new “liberators” continue to show their true colors, but also bearing immense responsibility for this are the Gulf states, the United States, and Western countries who had long armed and trained these al-Qaeda fanatics in the first place, as part of the regime change operation against Assad.
Democrats were virtually salivating as they unanimously voted against Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill two weeks ago, which certainly should give pause to Republicans as they prepare for the midterms and the 2028 elections beyond.
What gives the Democrats hope that they can campaign effectively against Trump’s mega-bill? Is it the fact that Republicans were able to make permanent the 2017 tax cuts? Are they planning to campaign against the “no tax on tips” provision that even Kamala Harris supported? Will they claim that funding border security and mass deportation of illegal aliens is somehow bad for the country?
No, no, and no. Democrats are not idiots. (ZH: oh?) They know they have the short straw on all of those 80-20 issues. So they are going back to the same issue they have demagogued since 2008 – health care. By tugging on the heartstrings of the American public, they know they can use fear to win votes.
During debate in both the House and Senate, Democrats relied on questionable forward-looking interpretations of the impact of the mega-bill on Medicaid to claim that nearly 12 million low-income people would lose health coverage if the bill passed, as it ultimately did.
The left-leaning Congressional Budget Office supplied some of that data, and by the time the vote was finalized on July 3, various other groups were adding fuel to the fire. KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation, added the 12 million who would allegedly lose Medicaid to 5 million people who they claimed would lose coverage on the ACA marketplace to conclude that at least 17 million would be at risk. Then there was the claim that Trump’s budget would deny food stamps to hungry children and pregnant women.
But not so fast. Despite the bleak picture painted by Democrats and weak-kneed RINOs that Trump wanted poor people to just die and be done with it, there were reasonable explanations for all the budget changes that had nothing to do with genocide. Reductions in Obamacare premium subsidies are just an acknowledgment that the COVID crisis is over, and those boosted premiums are no longer necessary. Likewise, food stamps are still going to be provided to the disabled, families with young children, and the impoverished elderly, even if Democrats want to pretend otherwise.
And pretend they will, so if Republicans want to prevail in future elections, they had better fully understand the truth about the Big Beautiful Bill because otherwise they will be painted as heartless elitists who want their fellow Americans to die by the millions.
Fortunately, the road map is already clear on how to respond to the demagoguery of the Democrats, and it was modeled by two members of the Trump administration on the Sunday morning talk shows last week.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, faced down their hostile questioners on CNN’s “State of the Union” and CBS’ “Face the Nation” respectively.
Bessent, who by all accounts is the most competent member of Trump’s Cabinet, immediately pushed back on Dana Bash’s supposition that the bill would cut benefit programs like Medicaid:
Only in D.C. is a 20% hike over 10 years a cut. Medicaid funding will go up 20% over the next 10 years. The people who Medicaid was designed for – the pregnant women, the disabled, and families with children under 14 – will be refocused. The able-bodied Americans are not vulnerable Americans, so a work requirement or a community service requirement, that’s very popular with the public.
Bessent then struck a blow against the argument that millions of Americans will lose their Medicaid coverage because they didn’t remember to re-apply for benefits under the new rules.
“It is a group of Democrats who unfortunately seem to think that poor people are stupid. I don’t think poor people are stupid. I think they have agency, and I think to have them register twice a year for these benefits is not a burden. But these people who want to infantilize the poor and those who need these Medicaid benefits are alarmist.”
Over on “Face the Nation,” Hassett was interviewed by Weijia Jiang, senior White House correspondent for CBS. She dutifully recited the claim that 12 million people would lose their Medicaid coverage, but Hassett struck back hard:
Let’s unbundle that a little bit. What we are actually doing is asking for a work requirement, but the work requirement is that you need to be looking for work or even doing volunteer work and you don’t need to do it until your kids are 14 or older, so the idea that that’s going to cause a massive hemorrhaging in availability of insurance doesn’t make a lot of sense. And if you look at the CBO numbers, if you look at the numbers they say are going to lose insurance, about 5 million of those are people who have other insurance … If they lose one, they’re still insured.
Hassett also explained that the best way to get insurance is to get a job, and so if the Trump economy stimulates growth, it will help people to happily leave Medicaid after they gain employment.
On another question, about whether the Big Beautiful Bill is harmful because it grows the national debt by between $3 trillion and $5 trillion over the next 10 years, Hassett responded by reminding the reporter that the Congressional Budget Office is underestimating growth in the economy compared to what happened in the first Trump term pre-COVID. Based on that historical record, Hassett expects the debt to actually shrink by $1.5 trillion in the next decade.
What Hassett didn’t say, but which should be on the lips of every Republican defending their votes for the Big Beautiful Bill, is that over the 10 years from 2014 to 2024, the federal debt increased by more than $17.5 trillion. Admittedly, Trump’s first term played a role in that thanks to COVID, but only Trump and Republicans are making any effort today to shrink the debt. If left up to Democrats, every social program in the budget would see increased funding, deficit be damned.
To summarize, here are the talking points that every Republican candidate for Congress must master if they hope to beat back Democrat distortions:
1. Republicans voted to increase Medicaid spending over the next 10 years by 20%.
2. Republicans voted to preserve Medicaid for the needy by making sure that everyone using the program’s valuable resources is truly needy – and eligible.
3. Republicans voted to create an economy where more people can get jobs that provide high-quality health insurance. Emphasize this: Jobs are good.
4. Republicans treat Medicaid recipients with dignity, asking them to follow simple rules to qualify for the benefit, rather than treating them as helpless wards of the state.
5. Republicans are bending the curve downward on the national debt. Even if the CBO is right that the debt will increase by $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years, that increase is only 20% of what it was over the previous 10 years. And the Trump tax cuts are expected to stimulate the economy, so the national debt will actually decrease.
Those will do for a start. Remember, the Big Beautiful Bill is the codification of the agenda that President Trump ran on in 2024. It’s not tricky. It’s not nefarious. And if it is unpopular, that’s only because Democrats have been lying about it. Now, it’s up to Republicans to fight back against the Big Medicaid Lie, or else pay the price for their silence.
Frank Miele, retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont., is a columnist for RealClearPolitics. His book “The Media Matrix: What If Everything You Know Is Fake” is available from his Amazon author page. Visit him at HeartlandDiaryUSA.com or follow him on Facebook @HeartlandDiaryUSA and on X/Gettr @HeartlandDiary.
