President softens doubters "Trump told me he likes to see me on TV"
How has Donald Trump managed to silence those voices in his party who doubt his Big Beautiful Bill? Autographs, photos and "lousy freebies" are said to have convinced them.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- In the House of Representatives, only two Republicans voted against Donald Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill, although some members were previously skeptical.
- Trump had launched a "charm offensive" to convince the doubters and change their minds with autographs, photos in the Oval Office and free fan merchandise.
- "We're not a bunch of little bitches here": a delegate defends himself against the impression that the Republicans had fallen over.
The result was close, but sufficient: the House of Representatives waved through the so-called Big Beautiful Bill by 218 votes to 214, although some Republicans had also expressed criticism of the large package of measures.
MSNBC presenter Chris Hayes summarizes the reasons: "It includes tax breaks for the very wealthy and for corporations and cuts healthcare subsidies by a trillion dollars over the next decade. It kicks an estimated twelve million Americans off health insurance. [It] makes ICE the largest police agency in the world."
Add to that the ballooning national debt, which would increase by three trillion dollars , Hayes continues.
The deficit and cuts to healthcare in particular have caused headaches for some Republican MPs: If they vote in favor, they risk being left holding the bag in next year's midterm elections.
Fan merchandise and photos in the Oval Office
If they refuse, Donald Trump will ensure that the politicians are no longer on the ballot. Thom Tillis experienced this first-hand:
The senator from North Carolina was one of the few Republicans to vote against the BBB because he will no longer be running in 2026. Trump's daughter-in-law Laura could take the 64-year-old's place.
And how did the president get his other party colleagues to change their minds?
The 79-year-old "cajoled" the doubters on the phone, but also in the White House, according to the New York Times (NYT): "They left the Oval Office with signed fan merchandise and photos."
With arguments such as "Don't let the Democrats win" and "Don't play into their hands", Donald Trump is said to have softened up the Republicans in question. A clip from Tim Burchett on Facebook shows what they looked like afterwards.
"Yeah, he signed a bunch of stuff"
"The president was wonderful as always," says the congressman from Tennessee as he leaves the White House with colleagues. "He was informative, funny and told me he liked seeing me on TV, which was pretty cool."
His colleague Byron Donalds on Florida asks Burchett, "Did you show what he signed for you?" "Yeah, he signed a bunch of stuff," is the response. "It's cool."
For example, Trump signed Burchett's place card, in which he also corrected the misspelled name because an "r" was missing.
The sons of Congressman Chip Roy from Texas received various souvenirs, the NYT writes further about Trump's "charm offensive". The 79-year-old took a similar approach the previous week when the BBB was discussed in the Senate, according to the NYT: Trump had invited skeptical senators to his golf club in Virginia to do so.
"We're not a bunch of little bitches here, okay?"
He then offered Republican Lindsey Graham the chance to pick out a Gartis shirt in the store at the golf course. Left-wing media are outraged by this: "Trump won over Republican budget rebels with lousy freebies", headlines "The New Republic".
Derrick van Orden is particularly clear ahead of the BBB vote: "The President of the United States didn't give us a mandate," the Republican allegedly grumbles.
He continues: "We're not a bunch of little bitches here, okay? I'm a member of Congress. I represent almost 800,000 residents of Wisconsinn."
The Republicans will now have to answer to this electorate - as soon as they realize what has happened: 48% of those who took part in a survey were unaware of the BBB. But Mitch McConnell is still optimistic.
"I know that many of us are hearing about Medicaid from people back home," says the Republican senator on the loss of health insurance for millions of people. "But they'll get over it."
