Bulwark Takes - 10: Sarah and Tim: Voters Reject Trump’s Cuts

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Sarah Longwell and Tim Miller join Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House to discuss the political fallout from Trump’s healthcare cuts, growing voter backlash, and GOP infighting. Sarah also spotlights Home of the Brave, a new campaign sharing stories of Americans harmed by Trump’s agenda.

Hey guys, Sarah Longwell publisher of the Bullwork here. My buddy Tim Miller and I, we were just doing a Bullwork double feature with Nicole talking about the polling numbers tanking on Trump's big beautiful bill and some of the insane comments by Mitch McConnell. I also had the chance to talk about our new project that I'm doing with my buddy George Conway and Michael Fanone and Sarah Matthews, Susan Rice, a project called Home of the Brave, where we are soliciting real stories of the harm that people are suffering due to Donald Trump's policies. And so we got into that.

It was great. Hope you'll go check it out. Give it a watch. See you guys. Yeah, I mean, Sarah, there's no partisan difference in the households that benefit from Medicaid. It's 62% identify as Republican, 62% of self-identified democratic households or voters

have someone in their household who has been on Medicaid or benefited from Medicaid. There's no partisan difference in the recipient of healthcare. The difference is in the callousness and the way Mitch McConnell talks about people, quote, getting over 16 million people in our country, according to the CBO, will lose access to healthcare through Medicaid. Mitch McConnell used to be the guy who cared about that. And Tom Tillis in this, these are always tarantulas in a bowl and then we're talking about Republican in-fighting, but Tom Tillis is the one

who's correct on this. It'll be devastating electorally. Look, this bill is already extremely unpopular and I think that one of the only things that could make it even more unpopular is for Mitch McConnell to become one of its big champions because voters hate Mitch McConnell. Like Republican voters hate Mitch McConnell. And I listen to them in focus groups. Every time you bring up Mitch McConnell, you are met with complete and total derision. And one of the reasons that Donald Trump was able to sort of become politically popular

in a party that had previously been Mitch McConnell's is that he made it clear that he was going to be a populist president who was going to sort of preserve a lot of these social programs. He was going to be a different type of Republican. Now for a lot of traditional Republicans, that was a bad thing, but for a lot of voters, it remade the Republican coalition and a lot of the voters who are now part of this magified Trump coalition, they hate Mitch McConnell and they like their social programs and they thought that Donald Trump was going to keep a promise to them to not take those away and

sort of, you know, as an offset to giving billionaires tax cuts, which has always kind of been the rap on Republicans. And so I think that that this becoming kind of a Mitch McConnell kind of bill is going to make it even more unpopular with the exact voters that Republicans have been able to bring into their coalition. And I think that Tillis is absolutely right. It's a political both a nonstarter and then an eventual something that could be catastrophic for them. I mean this bill, I hear about voters more, the longer it's out there, the more it's sort of being talked about, the more voters are learning about it and the less they like it.

Like this is one of those things where the more they know about what's in it, the more they don't want it to pass. And so I don't think that Mitch McConnell's comments did anything to make it more popular. Let me, Sarah, I have some of the polling, but you tell me if you have more Fox News, their poll showing support of the big, beautiful bill. Thirty eight percent of their respondents support it. Six, almost 60 respondents support it.

Almost 60% oppose it. And then Fox News polls the big, beautiful bill among white, non-college men. And just 43% support it. And 53% oppose it. I think Pew Research has some numbers out. 29% of adults favor the bill, while almost 50 oppose it. 21% say they weren't sure.

But to your point, it's been out there long enough. And what's interesting is Elon Musk savaging Trump and the bill and blowing up his relationship with Trump over the bill also speaks to a different part of the Trump coalition, sort of that. I don't know what we're calling them anymore that the men in the Manosphere Wing of the party has also heard Elon Musk hate it so much that he blew up his relationship with Donald Trump over it Yeah, well, this is the thing the bills in the sour spot with big parts of the MAGA coalition, right so for the people for whom debt and government efficiency and the idea that it's going to add

trillions and trillions of dollars to our national deficit, it is deeply unpopular with that part of the party. And then it's also very unpopular with sort of the Josh Hawley wing of the party, where they have a lot of voters who rely on these programs who know they're going to get cut. And for once, the Democrats messaging is breaking through and I'm listening to voters in the

focus groups. They are saying back what Democrats are putting out there, which is they are cutting your programs, programs that benefit you, regular voter in order to give tax cuts to very rich people. That stuff lands, and it lands with a lot of these voters who are now part of this MAGA coalition. And I hear voters all the time talk about how angry they are about it.

And so, yeah, I think that as this continues, it's gonna get less popular, not more popular. So, Tim Miller, these are images from the Capitol today. People are protesting. There's some reporting that Mike Johnson, here you have it. This is a protest, I think in the Russell Senate office building, they were protesting healthcare cuts in the big, beautiful bill. 34 people were arrested for illegally demonstrating inside the Russell Senate office building. But you've also got Mike Johnson, who's basically the White House legislative affairs director,

who's privately warning that the Senate, they push this through, will cost him his speakership, his majority. Yeah, a couple thoughts. I think that was the same protest I saw some pictures for where they're zip tying the elderly people in wheelchairs We're protesting Medicaid, which is a just a bad image I don't I don't know zip to those really necessary to bring out the zip ties again You know, obviously I had Capitol police have protocols or whatever

But if I was the Republicans running the Senate in that case, I would probably discouraging them from doing that You know as far as the Mike Johnson and whether this has trouble in the House, the Mitch McConnell quote, it's a nice reminder of dark Mitch McConnell. There's like a moment there where I was softening on Mitch because he opposed some of the cabinet secretaries unlike anybody else. But it's a nice reminder of dark Mitch McConnell. The part of the quote that you focused on, obviously the people who get over it, is such a bad quote and it will be easy for Democrats to run in ads all next year.

It was just a huge own goal. To me the more interesting political strategic part of the quote was the first thing he said though where he said failure is not an option. I guess I hate to give the Republicans advice, but I just keep coming around to why? I truly don't understand why they're jamming this through. Donald Trump in the past, see what you want about him, has been decently savvy on these issues, particularly with regards to entitlements,

of not being on the side of these kind of cuts. They have both the House and the Senate. They could just pass popular stuff, and they could just extend the Trump tax cuts for the middle class, and maybe whatever, throw no tax on tips on top of it. I'm sure they're gonna have to fund their ICE prisons, which isn't gonna be that popular, but I think they'll be forced to do that. But besides that, I, you know, I don't, I don't know why they feel the need to put this

bill through, which is just a horrible bill on the merits. It's going to increase costs for people, not decrease costs. It's going to increase the merits. It's going to increase costs for people, not decrease costs. It's going to increase the debt. It's going to make healthcare less accessible for their own working class base. It truly makes no sense. And it feels like that they're just doing it to, because they feel like they have to do something. Like that's the thing about that Mitch McConnell quote, failure is not an option. Like there's this inertia that's taken hold and I go, I guess we got to do something. And so they're going to jam through this really unpopular bill.

And to me, it seems like a major political strategic error that a lot of folks are going to lose their seats over it next year if it doesn't change. Well, it's you're right to focus on that part of it. What does that even mean? Failure isn't an option because we're all in a cult and we can't disappoint the dear leader. It's not good policy. I mean, none of them believe in its impact on the debt.

None of them are fans of it because of its policy implications. So what is this a window into? And I want to put up one more set of numbers. This is what Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia will lose. Almost $25 billion. This is a Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, will lose. Almost $25 billion. This is a Republican governor. I wonder if he has weighed in or agrees with Mitch McConnell that failure isn't an option. State of Louisiana loses $20 billion.

State of South Carolina, $20 billion. Tennessee, $16 billion. Kentucky, $12 billion. Ohio, $8.5 billion. West Virginia, $6 billion. Missouri, $12 billion, Ohio, $8.5 billion, West Virginia, $6 billion, Missouri, $6 billion. I mean, Tim, these are not bastions of state woke politicians. Are they all just marching off a cliff? And what is the plan for the human beings impacted?

Yeah. Oh, I don't think there's a plan for the human beings impacted. The political plan, I think is that they're just going to kind of jam it through and hope people don't notice by the next midterms. And a lot of the stuff they have backloaded. So a lot of these cuts come late, you know, in 2027 or, you know, they're not totally unsavvy about this. I believe that that chart you're just showing was the,

was the chart that Tom Tillis, the North Carolina Senator, who's up next year. So I was reasonably concerned about this was showing to his Tom Tillis, the North Carolina Senator who's up next year, so has reason to be concerned about this, was showing to his colleagues, yeah, that is when the Tillis was showing to his colleagues to kind of make this point, which is, what are we doing? Like we're hurting ourselves with this policy. And I truly think the reality is, they started from a place of,

we have to extend the Trump tax cuts, because, you know, Trump, you know, that's part of Trump's pride, right? We're, we're in some type of Trump cult, if you want to call it that. And we can't do anything to make it seem like the Trump tax cuts weren't good. So we have to extend them. And we have to have all this funding for ICE detention centers because Stephen Miller is in there.

And that is essentially the only core ideological agenda these guys have is mass deportation. So we have to do those two things. And we're going to try to backfill everything else to make it work, you know, starting from that finish point. And they've ended up with this kind of monstrosity that cuts healthcare services for people, but still balloons the deficit. And I don't think basically anybody is going to end up happy except for, you know, private prison companies are probably going to do pretty well and the very top 1%. You know, I don't miss Steve Bannon's influence because I don't think he's a force for good.

But I think politically Donald Trump might basil. I mean, Steve Bannon was the bulwark against devastating the working class. Okay, hold on there. Let's choose a different word. What? Steve Bannon was not the bulwark. Okay, let's choose another word. He was the damn? What was he? He was... We'll choose another word, but I didn't mean to offend both of you. But I mean, Basil, whatever word we choose, I don't think Steve Bannon was a champion of

Medicaid cuts. And I don't think Steve Bannon is a champion of everything at Walmart and Target going up because of Trump's tariffs. I mean, you really see the whole MAGA, whatever it is, rolling, you know, booze crew, whatever we want to call the movement careening away from its populist roots with real indifference to the political impact of tax cuts for the rich, you know, $400 million planes from Middle East countries. I mean, there it's almost unrecognizable other than the immigration focus from its origin.

Tim, I thought you were gonna attack me for saying I miss Steve Bannon, but I promise not to invoke the bulwark in a negative manner. If you all stick around one more block at least, when we all come back, we'll talk more with Sarah about a new campaign she has launched nationally, showcasing first-person accounts of the actual Americans who are being

impacted by Trump's second presidency, those who are brave enough to expose his failures and the hurt and damage they are experiencing and suffering because of him. The campaign is called Home of the Brave. It's fantastic. We'll show you some of the ways people are pushing back against Donald Trump and those who are enabling him. In the few months since Trump has been president, he's fired thousands of veterans from the federal workforce. He's gutted VA health care. He's de-staffed the veterans suicide hotline.

He's gutted research at the VA. He's eliminated mortgage protections for veterans who are at risk of losing their homes. And he's threatened to cut other benefits for veterans that they desperately depend on and their families depend on. And it isn't just veterans. Millions of Americans have already been devastated by the things Trump has done, the cuts and the wanton disregard for how benefits impact and in some instances, protect and save people's lives. Our friend Sarah Longwell is launching a new project around these issues.

It's called Home of the Brave. She's encouraging all of these people impacted to speak out about the damage Donald Trump has done to them. Take a look. We say America is home of the brave. So why are so many people caving to this wannabe dictator? Law firms, media companies, universities, tech oligarchs are all buckling when threatened by Donald Trump

and his administration. These elite cowards might be caving, but not us. We're Americans, and we aren't intimidated. So let's do what the cowardly elites won't, stand up and say something. We're collecting stories about how this administration is hurting people like you. Visit ElfTheBrave.org now to share yours.

Let's remind Trump why America is still the home of the brave. I love this campaign. We're back with Sarah, Tim and Basil. Sarah is a member of the advisory board and spokesperson of her home of the brave. Sarah, tell us about this campaign. We're back with Sarah Tim and Basil. Sarah is a member of the advisory board and spokesperson for Home of the Brave. Sarah, tell us about this campaign. Well, Nicole, like you and I talk about it a lot on this program, how important it is for people to speak out.

I mean, one of the features of Donald Trump's regime, his tenure over the last eight years, has been watching people go quiet in the face of his threats, in the face of the menace that he often projects, you know, and the way that he has threatened retaliation has caused all of these different American institutions, including media companies and the tech companies and universities, to go quiet, to cower in the face of his threats. And so the only choice now is for regular people to stand up and say something. You saw it with the no kings protests.

And look, when Tim and I are out on the road for the bulwark and we're doing live shows, people always ask the same question. What can I do? What can I do in this moment? I'm so scared. I'm so panicked. And I say, use your voice. That's what you've got your voice in your vote. And so telling the stories of the negative personal consequences that people are experiencing as a result of Trump's policies is the way to help people understand why Donald Trump has failed them, has betrayed them, has lied to them. And hopefully by regular Americans standing up and telling their stories, it

will give the necessary courage. You know, we talk about courage being contagious, the necessary courage to a lot of the cowards in our elite institutions who have caved to this guy because they don't want to, you know, get crosswise with shareholders or alumni or whatever their reasons. They're not good ones. And so it's up to patriotic Americans now to tell their stories and stand up and hope that other people will follow their lead. And that's what this campaign is about. Come tell us your stories, go to ofthebrave.org, tell them, we'll help amplify them. We'll make sure people see them.

And through that, we'll help people understand how this administration is failing this country? I had Alejandro Barranco on yesterday at five o'clock. His father was the weed whacker who was at work doing his landscaping job when the armed ICE agents arrested him and beat him and according to him and his son dislocated his shoulder and then left him without health care. And I had this thought interviewing him about how much more exposed he was, right? Like I work at a company that is an infrastructure for our coverage. He is a person whose father suffered at the hands of ICE and he came on our show and talked about it. And I wonder, Sarah, what the phenomenon is, as you understand it right now, that has inverted courage, where you've got the people with the most to lose

displaying the most extraordinary acts of courage and the people in the safest and most comfortable spaces doing less. Oh, I don't know quite how to explain it, because to me it is unfathomable how people who have so much, to whom this country has given so much, have decided to take Donald Trump. And this didn't happen in his first term. Like in his first time, I remember watching Republican elected officials cave to him, but a lot of members of civil society stood up. I mean, the tech sort of, the oligarchs,

they weren't in his pocket back then. Jeff Bezos was standing up to him back then. Like, everybody, or at least wasn't cowering in front of him. But I think when Donald Trump ran explicitly on a platform of retribution, that was all it took for so many of these media companies to say, well, you know, I've got a merger that I've got to get done. Or media companies to say, well, you know, I've got a merger that I've got to get done or law firms that say, I don't know, our mergers

and acquisitions business, we can't stand to lose this. And so we're going to not stand up for the rule of law, the process that literally we are here to defend. So the only thing that I can think is that Donald Trump has been corroding and corrupting our society now for almost a decade. And I think it is what you're seeing is it take a toll and there is only one antidote. And the only antidote is regular people saying we are not going to do this. We're not going to let all of you buckle down. You guys want to be afraid of him? Fine.

Even if we are a little scared, we're still going to speak up because that's what America is all about. You know, that is that is the what this country is how it was founded. It has been the through line of our history and it's what it's going to take now to put Trump on the back of his heels to lower his approval ratings. And you know what? This is one thing I know about communications. People don't trust the elites anymore, but they do trust each other. Regular Americans explaining how this impacts them.

And that is the way we're going to turn the narrative about that Donald Trump around. It's the way you're going to weaken him, lower his approval ratings, and make sure that this term of his is unsuccessful, a deep failure. And that's how you keep MAGA from being the law of the land going forward. I, I, I want to see more of it. I could talk to you about this for the whole two hours. Let me play more from from your testimonials. Hi, my name is Laurie Laplante. I'm a veteran.

I was in the Navy for 10 years. My husband is also a veteran. He was a submarine officer. My father-in-law was a three star admiral. My father-in-law was a three-star admiral. My father-in-law passed away in January and we are still waiting to have his funeral at Arlington. A lot of it is because of the cuts that the Trump administration has done at the Veterans Affairs. So that is really delaying things. And it's just heartbreaking. Everyone wants to put him to rest and to move on and remember his life and legacy, but we can't.

It's very frustrating. I wish the Trump administration, as much as they say they care about the vets and wants to take care of the vets, they're not doing it. Sarah, it seems that we should abandon talking about things like red lines in our politics because Trump has just danced back and forth over what was once a red line in our politics and that is respect reverence for our veterans. Yeah, but this is also a through line about Trump. I mean, Trump is not a person who served.

He is a person who wants the Army to be his own personal ego driven sort of event for his birthday, like birthday party. He is not somebody who's shown reverie. He called them suckers and losers. We know from what, you know, obviously the generals are one of the groups of people I would like to see speak out so much more often than they have. But what little we know has come from people like General Kelly, who tell us about the absolutely crazy

things that Donald Trump has said about our veterans. He has no idea what it means to sacrifice, no idea what it means to have somebody who's deeply important to you and want to be able to bury them with the legacy that they deserve because they served this country and have them not be able to get somebody on the phone to do the burial because Donald Trump and this is where look the cuts that a lot of people can't see touch and feel they are touching people in lots of ways but they don't always have a place to tell the story about how it's

affecting them and this might not be something somebody would think of when they make when Doge was going around making all these cuts and that's why it's affecting them. And this might not be something somebody would think of when they make, when Doge was going around making all these cuts. That's why it's important to tell these stories from these people about the way in which they are no longer have just the general services that were, that is due to them as a family of veterans who have served this country. Donald Trump has made it clear he doesn't care about veterans. And I think it's time that people telling these stories help Americans sort of see through the Emperor has no closed way that Donald Trump tries to use the military as a political prop, but then doesn't actually

take care of people who've actually served. Sarah, do us this favor. As people come forward for the Home of the Brave campaign and mission, offer them a seat at our table any day that they would like to join us. Because I think the pro-democracy side has to do a better job than it's done over the last nine years of lifting up these voices. And I think this work is so important. Thank you so much for joining us to tell us about it.