President Donald Trump's political orbit is in total disarray as he wages war with his longtime ally, tech billionaire Elon Musk, over the future of his "big, beautiful bill" that extends tax cuts for almost exclusively wealthy earners while cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid, food stamps, and clean energy subsidies.
But speaking on CNN, Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN), a hard-MAGA lawmaker who recently gained infamy for telling a fired government worker they deserved it, insists that all of this is actually a winning day for the president.
"First of all, I'm sorry that I even have to bring this up, but there are policy ramifications to this breakup, and this Trump-Musk feud is spiraling so out of control," said anchor Jake Tapper. "Musk just accused Trump of being in the Epstein files. He did not provide any evidence for that claim. What's your reaction to this all?"
"Well, remember, Jake, as you've already pointed out, this started with a policy disagreement about the big, beautiful bill," said Banks. "And President Trump is right. We have a moral duty to do what he said he was going to do on the campaign trail and extend the Trump tax cuts on working-class families."
"This has actually been a really good day for President Trump," Banks continued. "He started the day off with a 90-minute call with President Xi in China, with an agreement that they're going to get together and meet and talk about trade deals that put America first. And then you just heard [CNN correspondent] Manu [Raju] talk to Senator Ron Johnson, who was a hard no before, and now he's opening the door to getting to yes on the big, beautiful bill because President Trump is working directly with senators. He's taking the high ground with Elon and the back-and-forth online. He's more focused on passing the big, beautiful bill to support working-class families in this country. That's what matters most."
Tapper quickly expressed his skepticism at Banks' assertion that Trump is "taking the high ground," reminding him that Trump proclaimed Musk went "crazy" and threatened to have all his subsidies and federal contracts revoked.
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