For the sake of something closer to being accurate…
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A reminder from Kansas:
https://www.thestate.com/opinion/article309967420.html
Hey America. It’s Kansas. We’ve done the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ and know how it ends | Opinion By Dion Lefler
As I contemplate the passage of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” a few minutes ago, I can’t help but remember how I, and everyone else in Kansas, were sold the same bill of goods by our governor 13 years ago.
Former Gov. Sam Brownback ran almost exactly this same play in 2012. Income tax cuts weighted toward the wealthy, based on an underlying, but deeply flawed, theory that those cuts would spur a burst of economic growth the likes of which we had never seen. It was supposed to cover the damage from shortening one leg of the “three-legged stool” (income, sales and property taxes) that supports the state government.
The growth never materialized and the result of the “Brownback Tax Experiment” was perennial budget shortfalls, followed by traumatic cuts to public services.
It’s more than a bit chilling to hear the same “pro-growth” rhetoric Brownback used to pass the tax experiment, now on a national level justifying the Big Beautiful Bill.
This is from the press release Brownback issued when he signed the cuts into law in 2012:
“Our new pro-growth tax policy will be like a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy. It will pave the way to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, bring tens of thousands of people to Kansas, and help make our state the best place in America to start and grow a small business.”
Compare that to this press release from the White House justifying the budget reconciliation bill that just passed:
“The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers the largest tax cut for working- and middle-class Americans in history. Put simply, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill will unleash our economy and deliver a Blue-Collar BOOM.”
We’ll see.
When Kansas pioneered this, the most notable cuts were in education, which Brownback tried to hide via an accounting trick of redefining state support for schools as “block grants.” The state Supreme Court saw through it and eventually ordered the funding restored.
And Medicaid? Brownback privatized it and renamed it KanCare. When promised savings from that didn’t occur, he sliced $38 million from its budget, kicked 1,500 disabled Kansans to the curb, and cut payments to providers, laying the groundwork for the bankruptcy of rural hospitals across the state.
Brownback and his captive Legislature regularly conducted “sweeps” of state agencies that had their own independent sources of revenue, diverting user fees and taxes earmarked for specific purposes to try to plug the gaping holes he created in the general fund. The most famous example was sweeping gas tax money from roads and bridges — so much so that everyone started referring to the Kansas Department of Transportation as “The Bank of KDOT.”
In a desperation move, Brownback tried to fill the hole by messing with sales taxes. In 2010, the previous governor, a Democrat, asked for and got a three-year sales tax increase passed to help the state recover from the Great Recession. In 2013, Brownback, the mighty tax cutter, made most of that increase permanent.
It wasn’t nearly enough.
The Brownback Tax Experiment was ultimately repealed in 2017 by the Republicans, who mustered a two-thirds majority in the Legislature to override the governor’s veto (they were joined by Democrats, but there aren’t enough of them at the Statehouse for a decent game of red rover).
Trump rescued Brownback from an ignominious retirement to his farm in western Kansas by appointing him to a make-work job as United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.
While Trump’s bill is mostly the same . . . stuff, different scale, there are some key differences between Kansas and the federal government:
Kansas lawmakers and governors are required to pass a balanced budget each year, so they couldn’t default to deficit spending, like the Big Beautiful Bill does. It’s currently forecast to add approximately $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.
Unlike Brownback, Trump doesn’t have a sales tax to raise to try to offset his mistakes. But he does have the next best thing, tariffs, which act as a de facto sales tax on imported goods.
Three months ago, I wrote about how the price of tires for my car went from $58 each to $66 within 24 hours of Trump announcing his “Liberation Day” tariff hikes. Now, they’re $85, where you can find them.
So by now, you’re probably thinking, “Hey Dion, why didn’t you write about all this before Congress passed Trump’s bill, so they’d have been warned?”
To that, I’d ask, “Why would you think it would have made any difference?”
My own congressman, Ron Estes, was Kansas state treasurer during the Brownback Tax Experiment. He had a front-row seat for the entire movie and knows how it ends.
Estes is now one of the Big Beautiful Bill’s most ardent supporters.
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. They’re wrong. In 2025, it’s the definition of good politics for Republican office holders like Trump and Estes.
You see, the hole card Trump has — that Brownback didn’t — is control over the immigration apparatus of government. The Big Beautiful Bill will shower an extra $100 billion on immigrant detention, border walls and deportation.
The bill will undoubtedly hurt millions of Republicans. But if there’s one guiding principle of the MAGA movement that currently dominates GOP politics, it’s that it’s willing to endure any level of suffering, as long as the Mexican family next door gets it worse.
So see you in five years or so when the Big Beautiful Bill crashes and burns like the Brownback Tax Experiment. Until then, keep your seat belt fastened and your seatback in the upright and locked position.
It’s gonna be a rough ride.
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I was wondering why one report said one thing (decrease), & the WaPo said jobs grew, like something over 100k jobs in June if I could go look harder for it (“search is unavailable right now”)
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And has been shown and known (by a few), time and time again. When oh when will most realize that they’re being divided and conquered? 
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I get the impression they are used to suffering, and do not trust any other condition.
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Well, they sure do love playing the [false] victim card.
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Because we can’t trust anything in the media anymore.
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That’s why they were so hell bent on passing the bill ASAP. Because ICE/DHS had blown through their budget and were running on fumes. I suspect that was part of the leverage used against GOP lawmakers - that if they didn’t pass the Murder Bill, they’d be responsible for DHS shutting down because of overspending, and the administration would manufacture horrible stories of immigrants raping and murdering because Senator/Representative [redacted] didn’t pass the bill.
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Because nothing says America like…
“Every one of our national park battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honor of America 250,” Trump said at the “America 250” event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on the eve of the Fourth of July, adding: “We’re going to have a UFC fight – think of this – on the grounds of the White House.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the plans, adding that the president is “dead serious.”
He was on full whackadoodle in Iowa yrsterday.
“We’re going to have B-2s and F-22s and F-35s flying right over the White House,” Trump told reporters before flying to Iowa. “We’ll be signing with those beautiful planes flying right over our heads.”
And farmers and hotels and I’m guessing Mar A Lago gonna be able to keep their immigrants.
Trump outlined how Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was developing legislation to effectively allow farmers to vouch for their workers to allow them to stay.
Because the secretary of defense is the best choice for conservation efforts. And voluntary conservation should work out well.
Trump signed an executive order on the flight to Iowa creating a Make America Beautiful Again Commission to overcome what he called “years of mismanagement, regulatory overreach and neglect of routine maintenance" at the National Park Service and the Forest Service.
The commission is to include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and Office of Management and Budget and others.
Trump seeks to expand access to public lands and recover fish and wildlife populations through voluntary conservation efforts.
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He was a busy boy yesterday.
PUTTING AMERICANS FIRST: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order investing in our national treasures by increasing fees for foreign tourists visiting our national parks to improve services, access, and affordability for Americans.
Increasing fees for foreign visitors will also ensure fairness. American citizens fund national parks and public lands with their tax dollars, yet they are currently charged the same rate as foreign visitors who do not pay taxes, meaning that American citizens pay more to see their own national treasures than foreign visitors do. President Trump is ending this unfair situation and putting Americans first.
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I’ve never seen someone asked for their passport while entering a national park. Good luck collecting that.
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