Cautious optimism is warranted, however it looks like Senate Majority Leader John Thune is pushing hard to hit the deadlines set by President Trump for passage of the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) reconciliation package.

Speaking today right before a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator Thune noted he is optimistic the Senate can finalize their negotiations on the BBB over the next two days, setting up the Senate to hold their first cloture votes on Friday and a vote-a-rama through the weekend.

President Trump is still assisting Leader Thune with phone calls to Senate republicans between foreign policy engagements.  Trump is only staying in the Netherlands for 24 hours so he can quickly get back to DC to assist in any arm-twisting needed by Thune or Johnson.

According to Politico, House Speaker Mike Johnson has cautioned House representatives to stay in town this weekend and be prepared to reconcile both bills and vote on the package as soon as it exits the Senate.   As many of you are aware, this is a critical legislative package containing a large amount of President Trump’s America First policy priorities.

As things stand right now, it looks like Thune is going to try and get the package into voting position on Friday, with immediate votes to take place.  We are critical of Thune when warranted, but should also appreciate the work of the Majority Leader when he is structurally supportive of the MAGA agenda.

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This is madness.  Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sends a twitter message as if he’s ordering coffee from the guy down the street, telling NATO members not to forget to send him his $40 billion in “budgetary support.”

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Budgetary support means we pay for the operational cost of Ukraine government, including govt payrolls, pensions, healthcare services, welfare and social services for the people in Ukraine.

The crazy thing is, unless Trump stops it, our congress will give it to him.  And even if Trump tries to stop it, congress will demand the payment as part of their appropriations process.

Maybe it’s just me, but the in-your-face hubris of it is, well, just off-the-charts.  As if we don’t have important priorities here at home that could better use these taxpayer funds.

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I’m becoming increasingly convinced that people on the ConInc side of the conversation also need to pretend not to know things.

There is an increased sentiment of frustration toward President Donald Trump being espoused, and obviously that will be amplified by those who want to use a narrative of “increased sentiment of frustration toward President Trump.”

The part that surprises me is the part where people seem to have forgotten the purpose of the U.S. Senate.

CONTEXT – Currently there is a Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) in the senate, the culmination of years of work by President Trump and his team together with politicians in congress. There is no smaller BBB, there is no modified BBB, there is only one big comprehensive package of initiatives and priorities for President Trump’s agenda. One Big Beautiful Bill.

That’s it. Just this one legislative priority that has all the stuff Donald Trump promised in the 2024 election. It’s all in one bill; all of it. As a consequence, President Trump needs this bill to pass congress; there is no fallback position; there is no alternative; there is no safer option. The BBB is an all or nothing swing for the fences.

GAINING VOTES – This BBB is the legislative package approach that President Trump accepted. As a consequence whatever it takes to get that BBB legislation passed, is exactly what we should expect to see done. Remember, this is a legislative construct that only targets REPUBLICAN VOTES. Republicans control every element of this BBB discussion.

People not happy about President Trump remarks about illegal-alien farm workers. Well, President Trump is buying gaining the votes of Big Ag state senators.

People not happy about President Trump support for Israel. Well, President Trump is buying gaining the votes of Big War senators.

People not happy about President Trump support for more Ukraine weapons against a peace initiative targeting Vladimir Putin. Again, President Trump is buying gaining the votes of the defense contractor senators.

These are just a few examples of stuff in the background.  The passage of the BBB is a priority for President Trump and every Republican senator knows this.  Every single republican senator is willing to blackmail President Trump to get support for their vote.

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The blood slowly drains from the face of Margaret Brennan as she faces the indefatigable smiling truth that Kevin Hassett represents. The furrowed brows deepen, the lips pulsate to a purple posture, the accusatory sanctimony drips from her squints and failed constructs until ultimately, she is reduced to a sneering inflection of autonomous twitching.

Kevin Hassett smiles, thanks Ms. Brennan for her endeavors, outlines the White House position on the BBB and China trade negotiations, then happily orders an ice-cream cone for his walk back to the office on a bright sunny day.

[TRANSCRIPT] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by the Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett. He joins us from the White House. Good morning to you.

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Hey Margaret, good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So I do want to allow you to respond to some of the very specific criticisms that Senator Klobuchar made. One of the things she brought up was something that, frankly, the Senate Majority Leader seemed to acknowledge was under discussion, and that was touching Medicare, making some kind of adjustment. He said anything we can do that’s waste, fraud, and abuse is open to discussion. Is the White House open to any discussion around Medicare?

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Congresswoman Harriet Hageman from Wyoming outlines background and perspective on the Big Beautiful Bill in a brief statement uploaded to her social media accounts.  Rep Hageman walks through the important aspects of the bill as well as parliamentarian rules for its construct.  WATCH:

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Senior White House official Taylor Budowich, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, and James Braid discuss the details of President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill.

The legislation is described by Stephen Miller as the culmination of all President Trump’s campaign promises.

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I said when the alignment first took place, there would come a point when Elon Musk turned on President Trump and attempted to split MAGA into oppositional teams so that Musk could achieve his agenda.  Elon Musk is currently mining for team members.

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Elon Musk supports President Donald Trump by putting the House and Senate in control of Democrats?

See this for what it is.

Elon Musk has an agenda, and it has nothing to do with DOGE or spending. Y’all already know what his agenda is, many of you just didn’t want to believe it.

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There are many special interest groups within the House republican party that made the framework of the Big Beautiful tax cut and spending bill a lot less beautiful with smaller spending cuts.  The Big Beautiful Bill is now in the Senate, and Senator Rand Paul announced today he is a big “No” on the bill itself.

Appearing on Fox News to announce his opposition, Rand Paul also answered questions about the ongoing government weaponization review. WATCH:

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As President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson departed a Republican conference meeting covering the pending legislative vote on the Budget and Tax bill proposal, they paused to talk to media (two videos below).

President Trump is focused on growing the economy, the Republican budget hawks want spending reduced.  President Trump doesn’t want to increase the deduction for State and Local Taxes (SALT), the blue state Republicans demand the red states pay for their state tax policy.  WATCH:

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WASHINGTON DC – […] Trump’s Capitol Hill visit comes less than 24 hours before Johnson wants the House Rules Committee to meet and finalize the bill for a floor vote. Johnson told reporters after the meeting that a Wednesday vote “would be optimal” but acknowledged he had to “tie up a few loose ends” with the various factions.

What’s clear is that Trump himself is not interested in stretching out the talks much longer. He said in response to a question from POLITICO that the hard-liners needed to pare back their demands for deeper spending cuts: “I’m a bigger fiscal hawk,” he said. “There’s nobody like me.”

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Apparently, each week the Dept of Govt Efficiency (DOGE) team gets together for a weekly debriefing and recap session of what is happening in the various agencies under review.  Fox News host Jesse Watters accompanied Elon Musk to this week’s meeting.

Fox News has shared the discussion to help people understand a little bit more about what is happening behind the scenes with the DOGE review team. It is an interesting discussion.  WATCH:

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Part Two is below.

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