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10 hours ago
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Battle to define ‘America First' intensifies as Israel strikes Iran
The Movement is a weekly newsletter tracking the influence and debates steering politics on the right. or in the box below. The ideological battle over what 'America First' means in the Trump era is intensifying in wake of Israel's strikes on Iran, splitting the MAGA right and testing its relationships with the president. On one side, noninterventionist doves insist the Trumpian tagline means the president must avoid U.S. troops, resources or dollars going toward the conflict, for fear of getting dragged into an endless war. 'Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA,' Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posted Sunday on the social platform X. But on the other end, foreign policy hawks and supporters of Israel are appealing to President Trump's position that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, and encouraging him to leave all options — including direct military intervention — on the table. 'How is it not AMERICA FIRST to congratulate those who just made sure Islamists who chant 'DEATH TO AMERICA' and who openly plotted to assassinate President @realDonaldTrump never have an opportunity to have a nuke?' right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer posted on X over the weekend. In a Saturday phone interview with Trump responded to criticism from former Fox News host Tucker Carlson — who said in a newsletter that 'politicians purporting to be America First can't now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with' the strikes — by saying he is the one that will ultimately write the definition. 'Well, considering that I'm the one that developed 'America First,' and considering that the term wasn't used until I came along, I think I'm the one that decides that,' Trump said. And Monday, Trump offered one part of his definition: 'AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!' he posted on Truth Social. Trump beat back the dove side somewhat in another post calling Carlson 'kooky' — prompting Greene, who almost never criticizes the president, to make the stunning move to come to Carlson's defense. 'Foreign wars/intervention/regime change put America last, kill innocent people, are making us broke, and will ultimately lead to our destruction. That's not kooky. That's what millions of Americans voted for,' Greene said. Despite Trump claiming ownership of the tagline, different wings of Trump supporters spent much of the last few days warring about the 'America First' response to the conflict. Conservative radio host Mark Levin, who is on the hawkish side of the debate, made a lengthy post Monday about 'Real MAGA and Fake MAGA,' saying 'Real MAGA is not isolationist or antisemitic. In another post, Levin took aim at Greene, calling her 'a little known politician from Georgia.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also weighed in on the 'America First' debate in a Monday interview with ABC News. 'Today, it's Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it's New York. Look, I understand 'America First'. I don't understand 'America Dead,'' Netanyahu said. 'That's what these people want.' As Trump takes responsibility for defining the America First response, he is being vague and open enough to give both the hawks and the doves reason to believe they are right about their own versions of America First. The initial response from the administration to the strikes, in the form of a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, notably distanced the U.S. from the attacks — saying 'Israel took unilateral action against Iran' and that the U.S. was 'not involved in strikes against Iran.' But the U.S. did assist in intercepting missiles that Iran shot into Israel in response — and NBC News reported the U.S. had been 'quietly moving some pieces into place to prepare for the Israeli attack.' Trump slammed Iran for failing to make a deal after 60 days of negotiation on its nuclear program — referencing his warnings that there would be bombing if it did not do so. But even as the recent conflict derailed a round of peace talks that were supposed to take place Sunday with Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — in part because Iranians with whom the U.S. was dealing are now dead, as Trump said — the president has not taken negotiation off the table. 'They should talk, and they should talk immediately, before it's too late,' Trump said Monday at the G7 Summit in Canada. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Iran is seeking negotiations in order to end the hostilities — a development cheered by noninterventionists such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). 'Iran's move to reenter negotiations isn't a coincidence. It's the result of a foreign policy that rejects endless wars and puts American priorities first,' Paul said. But Trump has declined to wholly rule out using U.S. force in Iran. Asked Monday in Canada what it would take for the U.S. to get involved in the conflict, Trump demurred: 'I don't want to talk about that.' Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is among those urging Trump to use U.S. military might to help Israel in Iran if talks are not possible. 'If diplomacy fails, Mr. President, President Trump, you've been great, help Israel finish the job. Give them bombs. Fly with them if necessary,' Graham said Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation.', a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I'm , House leadership reporter at The Hill. Tell me what's on your radar: ebrooks@ Not already on the list? President Trump is pumping the brakes, shifting gears, and speeding up on the kind of migrants he is targeting as he aims to fulfill his promise of mass deportations. The president is clearly sensitive about negatively impacting key industries that rely on migrants who entered the country without permission for labor — but seems to have reversed himself on pausing enforcement on such industries. Let's review. Thursday morning: Trump posted recognition of concerns from those in the agricultural and hotel industries about his 'very aggressive policy on immigration' taking away workers who are 'almost impossible to replace' — promising that 'changes are coming.' It was a notable shift in tone from the kind of hard-line stances and messaging from the immigration hard-liners in Trump's administration such as Stephen Miller — particularly in wake of anti-Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests in Los Angeles that prompted Trump to activate the National Guard. Thursday afternoon: Trump made another post appealing to the immigration hard-line side. 'I campaigned on, and received a Historic Mandate for, the largest Mass Deportation Program in American History,' he said, adding that migrants in the U.S. illegally should self-deport 'or, ICE will find you and remove you.' But directives to soften enforcement on certain industries as the president had first espoused still came. ICE was directed to 'largely pause raids and arrests on American farms and in hotels and restaurants,' NewsNation reported, citing Department of Homeland Security sources. Sunday: Trump made another long social media post giving further guidance on deportation targets: Democratic-run cities. 'ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH,' Trump said, to expand detention and deportation efforts in the nation's largest cities that 'are the core of the Democrat Power Center.' Monday: 'Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including its Homeland Security Investigations division, told leaders at the agency in a call Monday that agents must continue conducting workforce site immigration raids on agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants, according to two people familiar with the call,' The Washington Post reported. The whiplash is exposing some divisions within the Trump administration. The New York Times reported over the weekend that the initial post about agriculture workers came after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins had told the president about worries about the effect of the immigration raids on the agricultural industry. Rollins appeared to respond to the reporting in a post on X saying to 'ignore the noise from the fake news media.' 'The President and I have consistently advanced a 'Farmers First' approach, recognizing that American households depend upon a stable and LEGAL agricultural workforce. Severe disruptions to our food supply would harm Americans. It took us decades to get into this mess and we are prioritizing deportations in a way that will get us out,' Rollins shocking shootings of Minnesota Democratic lawmakers in the early hours of Saturday morning — killing Minnesota House Democratic Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband — set off an ugly ideological blame game on social media. Right-wing posters did not want to believe the now-detained suspect in the shootings, Vance Boelter, was on their 'side.' And despite evidence piling up that Boelter shared right-wing beliefs, some still don't want to believe it. The first misdirection came after a number of accounts posted videos of Hortman earlier in the week getting emotional while talking her vote in favor of a bill vote that cut access to health care for immigrants in the country illegally — insinuating her assassination was a result of progressive left anger about that vote. She was the only House Democrat to vote for the bill, averting a potential government shutdown. Other emerging details fueled the belief the shootings were left-on-left violence. Law enforcement confirmed Boelter had flyers in his car that said, 'No Kings,' an apparent reference to the anti-Trump protests that occurred across the country Saturday. And Boelter was in 2019 appointed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) to a workforce development board. But Boelter's friend and roommate told CBS News that the suspect was very conservative, listened to the right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's 'Infowars,' and had voted for Trump. Reporting in the Minnesota Star Tribune said Boelter did not know Walz; that the 60-member member board includes people appointed by the governor who do not agree with his political views; and that he voted in the 2024 primary election, but not in the Democratic primary. That has not stopped the narrative from taking hold, though. Donald Trump Jr. had this to say on right-wing influencer Benny Johnson's YouTube show Monday: 'They're sitting there, 'Oh, please be a MAGA guy.' Oh, it happens to be a Tim Walz appointee in his own state. He happened to go after a Democrat legislator, but it seems like he went after a Democratic legislator because she voted against Democrat Party policy, which was the unabashed, unlimited health care funding for illegal immigrants.' Among those who pushed the left-on-left violence narrative: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who posted a photo of the masked suspect Sunday with the commentary: 'This is what happens When Marxists don't get their way.' Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) confronted Lee about the post in the Senate Monday night, my colleague Al Weaver reports. Lee refused to answer questions from reporters about the encounter. Minnesota state Sen. Julia Coleman (R) posted on X on Saturday that she found the race to figure out of Boelter was a Republican or Democrat 'absolutely shameful.' 'The state needs unity. Not blame. Now more than ever we should come together and put partisan politics aside,' Coleman June 17: Unleash Prosperity hosts a policy forum on 'The Impact of Immigration on the 21st Century American Workforce' at the Conservative Partnership Institute, 12:30 p.m. EDT. Livestream here. Tuesday, June 17: The Federalist Society's DC Young Lawyers Chapter hosts a reception with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), America's Square at 5:45 p.m. EDT. Details here. Tuesday, June 24: Heritage Foundation Launch of 'American Founders' & Presentation of America's 250th Anniversary Innovation Prizes, with keynote by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), 4 p.m. EDT. Details here. Riley Gaines, a prominent activist against transgender athletes in women's sports, announced at Turning Point USA's Young Women Leadership Summit over the weekend that she is pregnant with her first child. She did so while taking a jab at Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles, who had gotten into an online tiff with Gaines over transgender athletes and told Gaines to 'Bully someone your own size, who would ironically be a male.' Gaines, revealing her baby bump, said: 'How many men do you know who have this?' The Trump Organization commemorated the 10th anniversary of the now-president gliding down the escalator to announce his presidential campaign by announcing it is starting a mobile phone service company. Trump Mobile will not only provide service but plans to manufacture phones in America and will have its customer service call centers based in America, executives said at the announcement. The plan will also come with telemedicine and roadside assistance features. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump helped roll out the announcement. Big Beautiful Bill update: The Senate Finance Committee released its portion of President Trump's tax cut and spending priorities bill Monday, making some changes to the version passed in the House that will be controversial. It reverts the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap to $10,000, after blue-state lawmakers had pushed to raise the cap to $40,000. It lowers health care provider taxes — a mechanism states use to extract more federal Medicaid provider taxes — to 3.5 percent, stricter than the House version. But it significantly slows down the repeal of some green energy incentives compared to the House version. Jewish Insider's Gabby Deutch and Emily Jacobs: DNI Tulsi Gabbard draws friendly fire from Republicans for video warning of nuclear war Politico's Rachael Bade and Felicia Schwartz: Inside the MAGA vs. hawk battle to sway Trump on bombing Iran The New York Times's Tyler Pager, Miriam Jordan, Hamed Aleaziz, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs: Inside Trump's Extraordinary Turnaround on Immigration Raids Thanks for reading. Check out more newsletters from The Hill here. See you next time! Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Battle to define ‘America First' intensifies as Israel strikes Iran
The Movement is a weekly newsletter tracking the influence and debates steering politics on the right. Sign up here or in the box below. Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The ideological battle over what 'America First' means in the Trump era is intensifying in wake of Israel's strikes on Iran, splitting the MAGA right and testing their relationships with the president. On one side, noninterventionist doves insist that the Trumpian tagline means the president must avoid U.S. troops, resources or dollars going toward the conflict, for fear of getting dragged into an endless war. 'Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA,' Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posted on X on Sunday. But on the other end, foreign policy hawks and supporters of Israel are appealing to Trump's position that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, and encouraging him to leave all options — including direct military intervention — on the table. 'How is it not AMERICA FIRST to congratulate those who just made sure Islamists who chant 'DEATH TO AMERICA' and who openly plotted to assassinate President @realDonaldTrump never have an opportunity to have a nuke?' right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer posted on X over the weekend. In a Saturday phone interview with The Atlantic, President Trump responded to criticism from former Fox News host Tucker Carlson — who said in a newsletter that 'politicians purporting to be America First can't now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with' the strikes — by saying he is the one that will ultimately write the definition. 'Well, considering that I'm the one that developed 'America First,' and considering that the term wasn't used until I came along, I think I'm the one that decides that,' Trump said. And on Monday, Trump offered one part of his definition: 'AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!' he posted on Truth Social. Trump beat back the dove side somewhat in another post calling Carlson 'kooky' — prompting Greene, who almost never criticizes the president, to make the stunning move to come to Carlson's defense. 'Foreign wars/intervention/regime change put America last, kill innocent people, are making us broke, and will ultimately lead to our destruction. That's not kooky. That's what millions of Americans voted for,' Greene said. Despite Trump claiming ownership of the tag line, different wings of Trump supporters spent much of the last few days warring about the 'America First' response to the conflict. Conservative radio host Mark Levin, who is on the hawkish side of the debate, made a lengthy post on Monday about 'Real MAGA and Fake MAGA,' saying 'Real MAGA is not isolationist or antisemitic. In another post, Levin took aim at Greene, calling her 'a little known politician from Georgia.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also weighed in on the 'America First' debate in a Monday interview with ABC News. 'Today, it's Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it's New York. Look, I understand 'America First'. I don't understand 'America Dead,'' Netanyahu said. 'That's what these people want.' As Trump takes responsibility for defining the America First response, he is being vague and open enough to give both the hawks and the doves reason to believe they are right about their own versions of America First. The initial response from the administration to the strikes, in the form of a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, notably distanced the U.S. from the attacks — saying that 'Israel took unilateral action against Iran' and that the U.S. was 'not involved in strikes against Iran.' But the U.S. did assist in intercepting missiles that Iran shot into Israel in response — and NBC News reported that the U.S. had been 'quietly moving some pieces into place to prepare for the Israeli attack.' Trump slammed Iran for failing to make a deal after 60 days of negotiation on its nuclear program — referencing his warnings that there would be bombing if they did not do so. But even as the recent conflict derailed a round of peace talks that were supposed to take place on Sunday with Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — in part because Iranians with whom the U.S. was dealing are now dead, as Trump said — the president has not taken negotiation off the table. 'They should talk, and they should talk immediately before it's too late,' Trump said Monday at the G7 Summit in Canada. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Iran is seeking negotiations in order to end the hostilities — a development that was cheered by noninterventionists like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). 'Iran's move to reenter negotiations isn't a coincidence. It's the result of a foreign policy that rejects endless wars and puts American priorities first,' Paul said. But Trump has declined to wholly rule out using U.S. force in Iran. Asked Monday in Canada what it would take for the U.S. to get involved in the conflict, Trump dummured: 'I don't want to talk about that.' Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is among those urging Trump to use U.S. military might to help Israel in Iran if talks are not possible. 'If diplomacy fails, Mr. President, President Trump, you've been great, help Israel finish the job. Give them bombs. Fly with them if necessary,' Graham said Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation.' Further reading: Israel-Iran war spotlights MAGA divide, from my colleague Brett Samuels. Welcome to The Movement, a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I'm Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. Tell me what's on your radar: ebrooks@ Not already on the list? Subscribe here President Trump is pumping the brakes, shifting gears, and speeding up on the kind of migrants he is targeting as he aims to fulfill his promise of mass deportations. The president is clearly sensitive about negatively impacting key industries that rely on migrants who entered the country without permission for labor — but seems to have reversed himself on pausing enforcement on such industries. Let's review. Thursday morning: Trump posted recognition of concerns from those in the agricultural and hotel industries about his 'very aggressive policy on immigration' taking away workers who are 'almost impossible to replace' — promising that 'changes are coming.' It was a notable shift in tone from the kind of hardline stances and messaging from the immigration hardliners in Trump's administration like Stephen Miller — particularly in wake of anti-Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests in Los Angeles that prompted Trump to activate the National Guard. Thursday afternoon: Trump made another post appealing to the immigration hardline side. 'I campaigned on, and received a Historic Mandate for, the largest Mass Deportation Program in American History,' he said, adding that migrants in the U.S. illegally should self-deport 'or, ICE will find you and remove you.' But directives to soften enforcement on certain industries as the president had first espoused still came. ICE was directed to 'largely pause raids and arrests on American farms and in hotels and restaurants,' NewsNation reported, citing DHS sources. Sunday: Trump made another long social media post giving further guidance on deportation targets: Democratic-run cities. 'ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH,' Trump said, to expand detention and deportation efforts in the nation's largest cities that 'are the core of the Democrat Power Center.' Monday: 'Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including its Homeland Security Investigations division, told leaders at the agency in a call Monday that agents must continue conducting workforce site immigration raids on agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants, according to two people familiar with the call,' the Washington Post reported. The whiplash is exposing some divisions within the Trump administration. The New York Times reported over the weekend that the initial post about agriculture workers came after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins had told the president about worries about the effect of the immigration raids on the agricultural industry. Rollins appeared to respond to the reporting in a post on X saying to 'ignore the noise from the fake news media.' 'The President and I have consistently advanced a 'Farmers First' approach, recognizing that American households depend upon a stable and LEGAL agricultural workforce. Severe disruptions to our food supply would harm Americans. It took us decades to get into this mess and we are prioritizing deportations in a way that will get us out,' Rollins said. Related: Inside Trump's Extraordinary Turnaround on Immigration Raids, from the New York Times… Trump officials reverse guidance exempting farms, hotels from immigration raids, from the Washington Post. The shocking shootings of Minnesota Democratic lawmakers in the early hours of Saturday morning — killing Minnesota House Democratic Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband — set off an ugly ideological blame game on social media. Right-wing posters did not want to believe that the now-detained suspect in the shootings, Vance Boelter, was on their 'side.' And despite evidence piling up that Boelter shared right-wing beliefs, some still don't want to believe it. The first misdirection came after a number of accounts posted videos of Hortman earlier in the week getting emotional while talking her vote in favor of a bill vote that cut access to health care for undocumented immigrants — insinuating that her assassination was a result of progressive left anger about that vote. She was the only House Democrat to vote for the bill, averting a potential government shutdown. Other emerging details fueled the belief the shootings were left-on-left violence. Law enforcement confirmed that Boelter had flyers in his car that said, 'No Kings,' an apparent reference to the anti-Trump protests that occurred across the country on Saturday. And Boelter was in 2019 appointed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) to a workforce development board. But Boelter's friend and roommate told CBS News that the suspect was a very conservative, listened to the right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's Infowars, and had voted for Trump. Local reporting in the Minnesota Star-Tribune said that Boelter did not know Walz; that the 60-member member board includes people appointed by the governor who do not agree with his political views; and voted in the 2024 primary election, but not in the Democratic primary. That has not stopped the narrative from taking hold, though. Donald Trump Jr. had this to say on right-wing influencer Benny Johnson's YouTube show on Monday: 'They're sitting there, 'Oh, please be a MAGA guy.' Oh, it happens to be a Tim Walz appointee in his own state. He happened to go after a Democrat legislator, but it seems like he went after a Democratic legislator because she voted against Democrat Party policy, which was the unabashed, unlimited health care funding for illegal immigrants.' Among those who pushed the left-on-left violence narrative: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who posted a photo of the masked suspect on Sunday with the commentary: 'This is what happens When Marxists don't get their way.' Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) confronted Lee about the post in the Senate Monday night, my colleague Al Weaver reports. Lee refused to answer questions from reporters about the encounter. Minnesota state Sen. Julia Coleman (R) posted on X on Saturday that she found the race to figure out of Boelter was a Republican or Democrat 'absolutely shameful.' 'The state needs unity. Not blame. Now more than ever we should come together and put partisan politics aside,' Coleman said. Related: Fact check: Did suspect in Minnesota shootings have close ties to Gov. Tim Walz? No, by Walker Orenstein in the Minnesota Star Tribune Thanks for reading. Check out more newsletters from The Hill here. See you next time!
The Hill
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump, G7 huddle amid international tensions
Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here PRESIDENT TRUMP met with global leaders at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Alberta, Canada, on Monday, as Israel and Iran traded strikes for a fourth day. The president declined to address whether the U.S. would become involved in the burgeoning war. 'I don't want to talk about that,' he said, standing alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. In a Sunday interview with ABC News, Trump said 'it's possible' the U.S. could get involved. Republicans are divided between their support for Israel and opposition to U.S. involvement in a conflict abroad. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Monday the war had exposed those 'who are real America First/MAGA' and those 'who were fake and just said it because it was popular.' 'Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA,' she posted on X. In tomorrow's edition of The Movement, The Hill's Emily Brooks takes a deep dive into the battle to define the 'America First' movement. Click here to sign up & get it in your inbox. Residents in Tehran, Iran, were warned Monday to evacuate ahead of the next round of Israeli strikes. Israel claims to have achieved 'aerial superiority' over Iran's capital city after a wave of new strikes. The Israeli military said it had uncontested control of the skies above the Tehran, as well as an area above western Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had done significant damage to Iran's nuclear program. 'I think that we set them back quite a bit,' Netanyahu said on Fox News Channel's 'Special Report.' According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu said the country is 'on the way' to destroying Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile threats. Netanyahu also said Israel had assassinated the intelligence chief for Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), one of several senior military operatives and scientists to be killed in Israel's targeted strikes. Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter asked the U.S. to maintain a 'defensive posture' in support of Israel. Several media outlets reported that Israel had an opening to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but that Trump opposed the move, and Israel did not follow through. Netanyahu on Monday didn't rule out targeting Iran's Supreme Leader in the future. 'It's not going to escalate the conflict, it's going to end the conflict,' he told ABC News. RUSSIA ON TRUMP'S MIND Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend about tensions in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war. 'He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end,' Trump posted on TruthSocial. Trump argued Monday at the G7 that it was a mistake to kick Russia out of the organization more than a decade ago under then-President Obama, saying it might have prevented the current war with Ukraine. 'The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named [former Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau didn't want to have Russia in, and I would say that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in,' Trump said. In addition to Carney, Trump met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, amid tensions over Trump's tariffs. Trump is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the summit this week, among others. 💡Perspectives: • The Free Press: Inside the fight over the administration's Iran policy. • The Jerusalem Post: As Iran vows our destruction, Israel unites. • The Washington Post: Trump politicized the military. • The American Spectator: The Sanctuary State Confederacy. • The Hill: Polls show support for Trump's deportations is declining. Read more: • G7 leaders gather in Canada amid Trump tariffs, Middle East conflicts. • Israel-Iran attacks loom over Trump at G7: Five things to watch. • The Memo: Trump grapples with prospect of all-out Israel-Iran war. • Israel-Iran war spotlights MAGA divide. • Israel-Iran conflict poses new dilemma for Democrats. The Trump Organization is launching a new Trump Mobile phone business. The attorneys general of all 50 states, Washington D.C., and four territories agree to a $7.4 billion opioid settlement with Purdue Pharma and the members of the Sackler family who own the company. © Ramsey County Sheriff's Office via AP The threat of political violence is hanging over Washington after two Minnesota state lawmakers were shot in their homes over the weekend. The suspected assassin, Vance Boelter, was apprehended Sunday night after a two-day manhunt. Boelter is accused of killing Minnesota Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, who were shot at their home early Saturday. He's also alleged to have shot State Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife Yvette Hoffman at their home. The Hoffmans are recovering from their gunshot wounds after undergoing surgery. Boelter faces a stalking charge for each lawmaker he shot, murder charges for the killings of Hortman and her husband and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence. In the suspect's car, police found five firearms, large amounts of ammunition and a 'hit list' containing the names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials, reportedly all Democrats. 'One man's unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota,' Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said. 'This cannot be the norm, it cannot be the way we deal with our political differences,' he added. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) will receive additional protection from the Capitol Police. 'We have to reevaluate how we are protecting members of Congress and staffs in the face of rising threats,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. Notable instances of violence against politicians: • President Trump survived two attempted assassinations during his 2024 election campaign. • In 2022, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's security was bolstered after an armed man was apprehended near his home. • That same year, a man broke into Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) home and beat her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. • House GOP leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) was shot in 2017. • Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot in 2011. 'People need to call people out,' Klobuchar said on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'Some people need to look in the mirror and say, 'Hey, I've got to stop this or stop my colleagues from doing this because it makes it much worse.' We need to bring the tone down, and we also need to stand up when people do bad things.' Klobuchar singled out Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) for a social media post apparently blaming Walz for the killing. • The heightened threat of political violence comes amid protests and unrest in major cities over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation raids. Over the weekend, police used used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear protests in Los Angeles, where Trump has dispatched U.S. Marines and National Guard troops to keep the peace. Police made several arrests at a riot in Portland, Ore., outside of an ICE facility. Two people were shot at a 'No Kings' rally in Salt Lake City. Trump has vowed to accelerate ICE raids and deportations despite the protests, although his focus has narrowed. In a post on social media, Trump directed ICE to 'expand efforts' to detain and deport people in the country illegally in cities run by Democrats 'where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.' As Trump ramps up his focus on blue cities, he's drawing back enforcement efforts against workers in the agriculture, hotel and restaurant industries, NewsNation reports. 'Effective today, please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels,' Tatum King, a senior ICE official, said to regional leaders in a memo. Trump had signaled the shift in a Truth Social post last week. 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' he said. 'This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!' That move provoked criticism from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who said ICE should not 'pull back on any kind of enforcement.' 'I think worksite enforcement in all industries needs to be able to move forward,' Cotton said on CBS's 'Face the Nation.' 'And I think ICE agents on the front lines need the support of political leadership.' 💡Perspectives: • The Hill: LA riot coverage shows the media's Biden 'miss' intentional. • The Guardian: In California, Trump finds his perfect antagonist. • The Wall Street Journal: How progressives set the stage for the L.A. riots. • The Hill: Democrats must seize the mantle of law and order. • Los Angeles Times: Trump's war on Latinos reaches a new low. Read more: • What we know about Vance Boelter. • Minnesota officials describe multipronged manhunt for shooting suspect. • Immigration protests put Democrats in tricky territory. • Padilla backlash could backfire on Democrats, some in party worry. • Padilla handcuffing raises the stakes for Democrats. © UPI Photo President Trump and Senate Republicans face a crucial week ahead as they seek momentum on their agenda bill, with the clock ticking toward their self-imposed July 4 deadline. The Senate Finance Committee will release portions of the bill's text, which will include some of the most controversial aspects dividing Republicans, including proposed cuts to Medicaid. 'This next week will probably be make or break,' said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who has warned Republicans he won't vote to cut Medicaid. It's unclear how the panel will address other lighting rod issues, such as the State and Local Taxes deduction. The Hill's Al Weaver breaks down the math in the Senate for the bill's passage. • Two top union leaders resigned from the Democratic National Committee over the weekend. American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten announced her departure after 23 years, citing disagreements with DNC Chair Ken Martin. 'While I am a proud Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging, and I do not want to be the one who keeps questioning why we are not enlarging our tent and actively trying to engage more and more of our community,' wrote Weingarten, who had been a DNC member for 23 years. And Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), stepped down from his post as an at-large member, saying he wants to focus solely on union organizing. 'This moment demands unwavering focus, discipline, and clarity,' Saunders wrote. 'It demands that we devote every ounce of our energy to defending our members, protecting our collective bargaining rights and making sure that all workers know we are in their corner and we are fighting.' Saunders and Weingarten both endorsed former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler in his race against Martin for DNC Chair. 💡Perspectives: • The Liberal Patriot: Democrats must get uncomfortable to win the Senate. • Wall Street Journal: How Trump blew up Northwestern's business model. • The Hill: Have gay rights stalled with Trump back in power? • Sasha Stone: The left's Bacchanalia of narcissism. • The Hill: Why are we still talking about Biden's presidency? Read more: • Infighting jeopardizes hopes of Democratic comeback. • Trump's former surgeon general is now one of his most pointed critics. Someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up to get your own copy: See you next time!
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Stephen Miller wages war on the GOP's libertarians
The Movement is a weekly newsletter tracking the influence and debates steering politics on the right. or in the box below. Stephen Miller is leading a public war against the Republican Party's libertarians as he reframes the 'one big, beautiful bill' to being the key that unlocks President Trump's mass deportation agenda. Going mainly after libertarian-leaning lawmakers such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who have brought up concerns about the megabill's deficit impact, the White House deputy chief of staff — and chief architect of Trump's immigration agenda — is taking a sledgehammer to what remains of the libertarian-conservative fusionism that was prominent in the party pre-Trump. 'The libertarians in the House and Senate trying to take down this bill — they're not stupid. They just don't care,' Miller said in an interview with conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk last week. 'Immigration has never mattered to them; it will never matter to them. Deportations have never mattered to them; it will never matter to them. You will never live a day in your life where a libertarian cares as much about immigration and sovereignty as they do about the Congressional Budget Office.' Miller's personal advocacy for the bill ramped up amid outcry from deficit hawks within Congress and from outside voices like Elon Musk. And while he echoed other top Republicans in denying the Congressional Budget Office's budget math, Miller has particularly focused on one of the legislation's key pillars: the billions of additional dollars to fund construction of the border wall and deportation efforts such as detention facilities, more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, and transporting deportees. The uprisings by those objecting to deportations that popped in Los Angeles over the weekend — prompting Trump to deploy the National Guard in response — is further fueling Miller's arguments. And there is plenty of polling to explain the strategy: A CBS News poll released Monday, for instance, found 54 percent of Americans approved of Trump's deportation efforts. Miller has explicitly wondered if libertarian-leaning Republicans such as Massie were fighting the bill in order to oppose the deportation program. Massie, calling from the road on his way back to D.C. on Monday, told me that is not the case. 'He and I have the same immigration, deportation, wall policy, with the exception of E-verify. That's the only libertarian objection I have,' Massie said. 'He's appealing to a trope that all libertarians are open borders, and he knows that's not true about me. He and I have spent hours talking, Stephen Miller and I, on these drives to and from D.C. … He's trying to spread some doubt about the messenger, and not my message.' But times are different now. 'He can't be as honest and candid as he was with me when he didn't have Donald Trump as his boss,' Massie said. 'He's got his job is to sell this bill, and he's trying to put lipstick on a pig, and Rand Paul and I are pointing out it's a pig.' Paul again became a Miller target after he told Fox News's Maria Bartiromo on 'Sunday Morning Futures' that the funding Trump administration is seeking for the border wall is 'excessive,' and he would probably do 'half as much' as what he wants for hiring more agents. The border, Paul argued, is 'largely controlled right now,' warning against hiring 'an army of Border Patrol agents that we have on the hook for payments and pensions Miller seethed. 'While ICE officers are battling violent mobs in Los Angeles, Rand Paul is trying to cut funding for deportations and border security,' he posted on the social platform X. A spokesperson for Paul sent me a statement firing back at Miller and the campaign against the libertarian senator. 'Clearly, they are afraid the big, not yet beautiful, bill won't pass. That's why he's being attacked by a pack of rabid paid influencers and the guy that wants to suspend the ancient writ of habeas corpus,' the Paul spokesperson said — making a reference to Miller saying the administration was 'actively looking' at suspending the constitutionally-protected mechanism that migrants have used to challenge their detention by declaring an invasion. 'They've given up arguing on the issue of our time, the debt, and have now descended to lies, innuendo and nonsense,' the Paul spokesperson said. Asked about Miller's digging into libertarians, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded: 'Libertarians hate taxes which is why they're going to love The One, Big, Beautiful Bill that gives a 15 percent tax cut to working Americans while totally eliminating taxes on tips and overtime.' Miller's aversion to libertarians, though, seems to go deeper than opportunistic messaging for the bill. He posted in 2022 that the uprising of the ideology in the House GOP is 'how we ended up with open borders globalist [Paul] Ryan.' He blamed libertarian candidates for siphoning votes away from failed Trump-endorsed candidates in 2022 — Herschel Walker in Georgia, Blake Masters in Arizona, and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire. 'Another example of how libertarians ruin everything,' Miller said in one post responding to a 2022 Georgia Senate poll. He did, however, praise Trump's courting of the Libertarian Party — speaking at the minor party's national convention in 2024, and following through with a major campaign promise giving a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road drug marketplace. And Massie told me he endorsed Trump to try to help boost the small-L libertarian contingent of the GOP coalition. That coalition, though, has apparently worn out its usefulness to Miller. 'By including the immigration language with the tax cuts with the welfare reform, it creates a coalition. Politics is all about coalitions,' Miller said in the interview with Kirk — also praising Trump in the interview as 'able to create a winning formula for populist, nationalist, conservative government.' Massie sensed the lack of electoral pressure is adding to the willingness to cast the libertarians aside. 'The thing here is that he doesn't have to run again,' Massie said. 'This is one of these signature things. If he has to burn part of the coalition to get it done, they're probably willing to do it.' Alex Nowrasteh, vice president of economic and social policy studies at the Cato Institute – the biggest libertarian think tank in Washington — said Miller's attacks on libertarians are, in one sense, no surprise. But he warned about the political implications that Miller's war has for the right. 'They are not typically long-term thinkers in terms of political coalition,' Nowrasteh said of Trump folks such as Miller, adding that 'this disagreement between Miller and Massie and Paul just shows how sundered that coalition was.' A White House official noted Trump's coalition includes Americans from all different backgrounds, including those who were not Republican voters prior to supporting Trump. , a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I'm Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. Tell me what's on your radar: ebrooks@ Not already on the list? Free-marketers are putting their advocacy for extending President Trump's tax cuts into overdrive. The free market group Unleash Prosperity Now came out with a letter signed by 300 economists saying the extension of tax cuts in Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' will 'succeed in making the tax system more pro-growth and fairer,' getting positive shoutouts from Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent and a Truth Social share from Trump. Stephen Moore, a former economic adviser to Trump in his first term who co-founded Unleash Prosperity Now, told me the advocacy for the tax cuts is going well — but that GOP leaders' goal of sending it to Trump's desk by Independence Day is likely too ambitious. 'I'd love to see that, but I think there's too many differences right now to get it done by Fourth of July,' Moore told me. And he is 'not pleased' by the House version of the bill hiking up the state and local tax (SALT) deduction from $10,000 to $40,000. 'It's going to have to be negotiated down,' Moore said. 'We're very much in favor of playing hardball with them and saying, 'Look, OK, you want to take the whole party down with you, and you want to vote against a bill that gets 85 percent of your constituents a tax break, go ahead and blow it up,'' Moore said of the SALT-focused blue-state Republicans. Moore also responded to my reporting from last week's edition of about the 'new right' populist think American Compass celebrating its fifth anniversary with Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 'This is kind of, you know, the big government Republicanism coming back. I view it as a cancer in the party,' Moore said. 'This is a movement that's anti-trade, anti-immigration, pro-union, pro-big-government-spending. Those are all contrary to the very free market freedom policies that binds all Republicans together. It's a movement that's really being funded by the left to try to divide and conquer the Republican Party.' 'The fact that Rubio and JD Vance have associated themselves with that movement is not a positive sign for the future of the party,' Moore added. : , from Fox Business's Eric Revell…President Trump's move to empower Elon Musk after the 2024 election — namely through the meme-inspired Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort — was met with excitement over the winter, with lawmakers giddy to see Trump's new bestie, the world's richest person (a campaign benefactor for several of them). But now the Musk-Trump falling out over the 'big, beautiful bill' has soured many Republicans on the 'DOGEfather.' If you're a Republican, choosing between Musk and Trump is an easy call (in favor of the president, of course). And it raises questions about the future of the DOGE organizations within Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) had hitched her political wagon to DOGE by chairing a new DOGE subcommittee — and while she needled Musk by condemning 'lashing out on the internet,' she still has high praises for the government efficiency effort. 'I think DOGE is great. Government efficiency is fantastic. It's exactly what we need. And the American people support it, and it must continue. It doesn't have anything to do with with a disagreement on the internet. It has everything to do with the massive $36 trillion in debt,' Greene said. But Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), a co-chair of the House DOGE Caucus, said the blowup does impact his group's effort. 'It impacts any time there's a casualty on the field,' Sessions told me. Related: , from me and my colleague Mychael Schnell Tuesday, June 10: Americans for Prosperity has a fly-in of state leaders to press Senators to extend the 2017 tax cuts. Wednesday, June 11, 7:05 p.m.: Congressional Baseball Game for Charity Thursday, June 12, 12:00 p.m.: The Cato Institute hosts a policy forum: 'What Is the Opportunity Cost of State AI Policy?' Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R), co-founder of Latinas for Trump, excoriated the president for seeking to ramp up deportation efforts, calling the effort 'unacceptable and inhumane.' She posted on X: 'I understand the importance of deporting criminal aliens, but what we are witnessing are arbitrary measures to hunt down people who are complying with their immigration hearings—in many cases, with credible fear of persecution claims—all driven by a Miller-like desire to satisfy a self-fabricated deportation goal.' A White House spokesperson said in response that deportees receive due process. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) misidentified a Sikh as a Muslim while saying it was 'deeply disturbing' that the turban-wearing guest chaplain delivered the opening prayer in the House on Friday. She later deleted the post, but said: 'America was founded as a Christian nation, and I believe our government should reflect that truth, not drift further from it.' Derek Guy, the man behind the @dieworkwear account on X that posts commentary on men's fashion, revealed he arrived in the U.S. as an immigrant without legal status, having been brought over the border with Canada by his parents when he was a baby — prompting teasing from Republicans who have often been the target of his commentary. Vice President Vance responded with an approving meme to a post that suggested he now had 'the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever.' Guy responded with a jab at Vance's outfits: 'I think i can outrun you in these clothes.' Spectator World's Kara Kennedy: The rise of Eric Trump Wall Street Journal's Joshua Chaffin: The Other Nasty Breakup Inside MAGA The Hill's Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee: Trump unleashes MAGA rebellion on Federalist Society Axios's Scott Rosenberg: Silicon Valley's not crying for Musk Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
10-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Stephen Miller wages war on the GOP's libertarians
The Movement is a weekly newsletter tracking the influence and debates steering politics on the right. Sign up here or in the box below. Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here Stephen Miller is leading a public war against the Republican party's libertarians as he reframes the 'one big beautiful bill' to being the key that unlocks President Trump's mass deportation agenda. Going mainly after libertarian-leaning lawmakers like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who have brought up concerns about the megabill's deficit impact, the White House deputy chief of staff — and chief architect of Trump's immigration agenda — is taking a sledgehammer to what remains of the libertarian-conservative fusionism that was prominent in the party pre-Trump. 'The libertarians in the House and Senate trying to take down this bill — they're not stupid. They just don't care,' Miller said in an interview with conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk last week. 'Immigration has never mattered to them, it will never matter to them, deportations have never mattered to them, it will never matter to them. You will never live a day in your life where a libertarian cares as much about immigration and sovereignty as they do about the Congressional Budget Office.' Miller's personal advocacy for the bill ramped up amid outcry from deficit hawks within Congress and from outside voices like Elon Musk. And while he echoed other top Republicans in denying the CBO budget math, Miller has particularly focused on one of the legislation's key pillars: The billions of additional dollars to fund construction of the border wall and deportation efforts such as detention facilities, more ICE officers, and transporting deportees. The uprisings by those objecting to deportations that popped in Los Angeles over the weekend — prompting Trump to deploy the National Guard in response — is further fueling Miller's arguments. And there is plenty of polling to explain the strategy: A CBS News poll released Monday, for instance, found 54 percent of Americans approved of Trump's deportation efforts. Miller has explicitly wondered if libertarian-leaning Republicans like Massie were fighting the bill in order to oppose the deportation program. Massie, calling from the road on his way back to D.C. on Monday, told me that is not the case. 'He and I have the same immigration, deportation, wall policy, with the exception of E-verify. That's the only libertarian objection I have,' Massie said. 'He's appealing to a trope that all libertarians are open borders, and he knows that's not true about me. He and I have spent hours talking, Stephen Miller and I, on these drives to and from DC …. He's trying to spread some doubt about the messenger, and not my message.' But times are different now. 'He can't be as honest and candid as he was with me when he didn't Donald Trump as his boss,' Massie said. 'He's got his job is to sell this bill, and he's trying to put lipstick on a pig, and Rand Paul and I are pointing out it's a pig.' Paul again became a Miller target after he told Fox News's Maria Bartiromo on 'Sunday Morning Futures' that the funding Trump administration is seeking for the border wall is 'excessive' and he would probably do 'half as much' as what he wants for hiring more agents. The border, Paul argued, is 'largely controlled right now,' warning against hiring 'an army of border patrol agents that we have on the hook for payments and pensions Miller seethed. 'While ICE officers are battling violent mobs in Los Angeles, Rand Paul is trying to cut funding for deportations and border security,' he posted on X. A spokesperson for Paul sent me a statement firing back at Miller and the campaign against the libertarian senator. 'Clearly, they are afraid the big, not yet beautiful, bill won't pass. That's why he's being attacked by a pack of rabid paid influencers and the guy that wants to suspend the ancient writ of habeas corpus,' the Paul spokesperson said — making a reference to Miller saying the administration was 'actively looking' at suspending the constitutionally-protected mechanism that migrants have used to challenge their detention by declaring an invasion. 'They've given up arguing on the issue of our time, the debt, and have now descended to lies, innuendo and nonsense,' the Paul spokesperson said. Asked about Miller's digging into libertarians, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded: 'Libertarians hate taxes which is why they're going to love The One, Big, Beautiful Bill that gives a 15 percent tax cut to working Americans while totally eliminating taxes on tips and overtime.' Miller's aversion to libertarians, though, seems to go deeper than opportunistic messaging for the bill. He posted in 2022 that the uprising of the ideology in the House GOP is 'how we ended up with open borders globalist [Paul] Ryan.' He blamed libertarian candidates for siphoning votes away from failed Trump-endorsed candidates in 2022 — Hershel Walker in Georgia, Blake Masters in Arizona, and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire. 'Another example of how libertarians ruin everything,' Miller said in one post responding to a 2022 Georgia Senate poll. He did, however, praise Trump's courting of the Libertarian Party — speaking at the minor party's national convention in 2024, and following through with a major campaign promise giving a full pardon to Ross Ulbrict, the founder of the Silk Road drug marketplace. And Massie told me he endorsed Trump to try to help boost the small-L libertarian contingent of the GOP coalition. That coalition, though, has apparently worn out its usefulness to Miller. 'By including the immigration language with the tax cuts with the welfare reform, it creates a coalition. Politics is all about coalitions,' Miller said in the interview with Kirk — also praising Trump in the interview as 'able to create a winning formula for populist, nationalist, conservative government.' Massie sensed that the lack of electoral pressure is adding to the willingness to cast the libertarians aside. 'The thing here is that he doesn't have to run again,' Massie said. 'This is one of these signature things. If he has to burn part of the coalition to get it done, they're probably willing to do it.' Alex Nowrasteh, vice president of economic and social policy studies at the Cato Institute – the biggest libertarian think tank in Washington — said that Miller's attacks on libertarians are, in one sense, no surprise. But he warned about the political implications that Miller's war has for the right. 'They are not typically long term thinkers in terms of political coalition,' Nowrasteh said of Trump folks like Miller, adding that 'this disagreement between Miller and Massie and Paul just shows how sundered that coalition was.' A White House official noted that Trump's coalition includes Americans from all different backgrounds, including those who were not Republican voters prior to supporting Trump. Welcome to The Movement, a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I'm Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. Tell me what's on your radar: ebrooks@ Not already on the list? Subscribe here Free-marketers are putting their advocacy for extending President Trump's tax cuts into overdrive. The free market group Unleash Prosperity Now came out with a letter signed by 300 economists saying that the extension of tax cuts in Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' will 'succeed in making the tax system more pro-growth and fairer,' getting positive shout-outs from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and a Truth Social share from Trump. Stephen Moore, a former economic adviser to Trump in his first term who co-founded Unleash Prosperity Now, told me that the advocacy for the tax cuts is going well — but that GOP leaders' goal of sending it to Trump's desk by Independence Day is likely too ambitious. 'I'd love to see that, but I think there's too many differences right now to get it done by Fourth of July,' Moore told me. And he is 'not pleased' by the House version of the bill hiking up the state and local tax (SALT) deduction from $10,000 to $40,000. 'It's going to have to be negotiated down,' Moore said. 'We're very much in favor of playing hardball with them and saying, 'Look, okay, you want to take the whole party down with you, and you want to vote against a bill that gets 85% of your constituents a tax break, go ahead and blow it up,'' Moore said of the SALT-focused blue-state Republicans. Moore also responded to my reporting from last week's edition of The Movement about the 'new right' populist think American Compass celebrating its fifth anniversary with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 'This is kind of, you know, the big government Republicanism coming back. I view it as a cancer in the party,' Moore said. 'This is a movement that's anti-trade, anti-immigration, pro-union, pro-big-government spending. Those are all contrary to the very free market freedom policies that binds all Republicans together. It's a movement that's really being funded by the left to try to divide and conquer the Republican Party.' 'The fact that Rubio and JD Vance have associated themselves with that movement is not a positive sign for the future of the party,' Moore added. Related: Over 300 economists urge Trump, GOP leaders to extend tax cuts before massive tax hike hits Americans, from Fox Business's Eric Revell… Last week's newsletter on American Compass and my interview with founder Oren Cass… President Trump's move to empower Elon Musk after the 2024 election — namely through the meme-inspired Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort — was met with excitement over the winter, with lawmakers giddy to see Trump's new bestie, the world's richest man (a campaign benefactor for several of them). But now the Musk-Trump falling out over the 'big, beautiful bill' has soured many Republicans on the 'DOGEfather.' If you're a Republican, choosing between Musk and Trump is an easy call (in favor of the president, of course). And it raises questions about the future of the DOGE organizations within Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) had hitched her political wagon to DOGE by chairing a new DOGE subcommittee — and while she needled Musk buy condemning 'lashing out on the internet,' she still has high praises for the government efficiency effort. 'I think DOGE is great. Government efficiency is fantastic. It's exactly what we need. And the American people support it, and it must continue. It doesn't have anything to do with with a disagreement on the internet. It has everything to do with the massive $36 trillion in debt,' Greene said. But Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), a co-chair of the House DOGE Caucus, said the blow-up does impact his group's effort. 'It impacts anytime there's a casualty on the field,' Sessions told me. Related: Elon Musk's stock plummets among Republicans, from me and my colleague Mychael Schnell
