The Big Beautiful Bill-ionaire-grift

The Big Beautiful Bill-ionaire-grift 1

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How Paramount’s $16-million Trump settlement came together — and could’ve fallen apart

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By early spring, Paramount Global was in crisis. President Trump wouldn’t budge from his demand for an eye-popping sum of money and an apology from the company to settle his lawsuit over a CBS News “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. Journalists at the storied broadcaster were in revolt against the parent company.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s board faced withering pressure, with a settlement widely seen as a prerequisite for getting government approval for the company’s $8-billion sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media, or the deal would collapse.

Then a new emergency erupted.

On May 4, CBS aired a hard-hitting “60 Minutes” segment that took aim at Trump’s targeting of law firms. Correspondent Scott Pelley anchored the report, which relied heavily on an interview with a leading Trump irritant — former top Hillary Clinton advisor Marc Elias.

Trump was furious. He threatened Paramount with an additional lawsuit alleging defamation, according to people close to the situation who were not authorized to comment.

The behind-the-scenes drama eventually would culminate with Paramount agreeing to pay $16 million to end the president’s battle over edits to October’s Harris interview, which Trump alleged was manipulated to boost the then-vice president’s election chances. Trump’s suit had demanded $20 billion in damages.

The deal resulted from months of back-and-forth among a constellation of power players with competing interests: the president, mogul Shari Redstone, tech billionaire Larry Ellison and his son David, Hollywood super agent Ari Emanuel, CBS News’ ousted leader Wendy McMahon and Jeff Shell, a former NBCUniversal chief now with RedBird Capital Partners, which backs Ellison’s Skydance.

The settlement, which the president approved late Tuesday, included a commitment by Trump to drop his claims and not sue over the May “60 Minutes” broadcast, according to sources and a Paramount statement.

Paramount said it agreed to pay Trump’s legal fees. The remainder of the $16-million settlement will go toward his future presidential library.

“Larry Ellison is a friend of mine. He’s a great guy,” Trump told reporters following a Thursday night rally in Iowa. “I think he’s going to run CBS really well, and I think he’s making a good deal to buy it.”

The beleaguered company behind “Mission: Impossible” and “Yellowstone” mustered victories during the negotiations, withstanding the Trump team’s earlier demand for a $100-million payout, the knowledgeable sources said.

The company also refused to apologize for CBS’ reporting or edits, a stance to protect its journalistic ethics and 1st Amendment rights.

“This settlement allows Paramount to focus on its prospective sale, and CBS can maintain its principles,” said C. Kerry Fields, a business law professor at the USC Marshall School. “But principle has its price, and there certainly was one set here.”

The eight-month skirmish with Trump shined a harsh light on Paramount’s vulnerabilities — and deep divisions within the company and its prospective new owners.

Paramount had a narrow window to reach a truce. The company wanted to finalize the settlement before Wednesday, when Paramount held its annual shareholder meeting and three new members joined the board.

“This [settlement] was all about survival — it was that dark,” Fields said. “Paramount has to execute the sale to Skydance in order to survive.”

At first, Paramount’s sale to the Ellison family seemed like a sure bet. Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corp., is close to Trump and his company is a possible buyer for TikTok, another deal of interest to the president. The landmark Paramount-Skydance deal, struck a year ago, could reshape one of Hollywood’s original studios and the entertainment landscape.

Redstone and her family agreed to part with their entertainment holdings, National Amusements Inc., and controlling Paramount shares. The family’s shaky finances were a catalyst for the sale. Redstone has borrowed heavily to meet debt obligations, including a $186-million term loan from Larry Ellison last year. The family is waiting for the cash from the sale of Paramount and National Amusements to the Ellisons and RedBird, a private equity firm.

But an unexpected misstep altered the deal’s course.

Last fall, “60 Minutes” invited Trump and Harris to participate in preelection interviews. Trump agreed, then backed out. CBS News went forward with a Harris sit-down.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris talks to “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker.

(CBS News)

Correspondent Bill Whitaker asked Harris about the Biden administration’s rocky relations with Israel’s prime minister. Producers used different portions of her answer on two programs: a convoluted response on CBS’ Sunday morning show “Face the Nation,” and a more succinct part on “60 Minutes.”

Trump and his supporters zeroed in on the discrepancy. They accused CBS of doctoring the interview. CBS News denied the allegation, saying the edits were routine.

Days before the election, Trump sued in Amarillo, Texas, ensuring the case would be overseen by a Trump-appointed judge.

His lawsuit alleged the “60 Minutes” edits amounted to election interference — “malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to confuse, deceive, and mislead the public,” in the suit’s words.

US President Donald Trump in the Oval. Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

(Bloomberg)

1st Amendment experts said the case had no merit; some figured it was a campaign stunt.

Days later, Shell, the RedBird executive who will become Paramount’s president should Skydance take over, held a conference call with top CBS executives. Shell suggested “60 Minutes” release the full Harris interview transcript in a bid for transparency, according to people familiar with the matter.

News executives refused, drawing a clear division between some high-level Paramount executives and Ellison’s team.

Those Paramount executives have bristled over Shell’s involvement, including a comment he reportedly made to McMahon late last year, stating the company eventually would have to settle. Skydance has said it has an agreement with Paramount that gives Ellison and Shell the ability to give input on key business issues — even before acquiring Paramount.

A spokesperson for Shell declined to comment.

The role of Shell, ousted from his previous role running NBCUniversal after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with an underling, has been controversial. Representatives for the creators of “South Park” have accused him of overstepping his authority and meddling with a protracted negotiation over their overall deal and streaming rights to the long-running cartoon. A representative for Shell denied that accusation.

Trump had scored previous victories over media organizations. In December, the Walt Disney Co. agreed to pay him $16 million, including $1 million for his attorney fees, to end a dispute stemming from ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate description of Trump’s liability in a civil court case. Press advocates howled.

Paramount held firm. But it failed to get Trump’s case dismissed or moved to a court in New York, where CBS and “60 Minutes” are based.

So the company was in a box. Its sale to Skydance requires the approval of the Federal Communications Commission to transfer CBS TV station licenses to the Ellisons, and that consent has been elusive.

In one of his first moves as FCC chairman, Trump appointee Brendan Carr launched an inquiry into whether CBS’ edits of the Harris interview rose to the level of news distortion — the crux of Trump’s lawsuit.

In February, Carr demanded CBS release a raw transcript of the Harris interview and the unedited footage. CBS complied; the material showed Harris had been accurately quoted.

The Texas judge ordered Paramount and Trump’s lawyers into mediation. Talks began April 30.

That weekend, “60 Minutes” ran its report on Trump and the law firms, riling Redstone and others. The Trump team and Paramount were already far apart, the sources said.

Soon, CBS News and Stations President Wendy McMahon was forced out. Knowledgeable sources attributed her departure to months of strife and persistent criticism from Redstone, who serves as Paramount’s chair. McMahon also made missteps, including overseeing an unsuccessful reboot of “CBS Evening News.”

Her exit followed that of Bill Owens, the longtime executive producer of “60 Minutes,” who fought efforts to settle.

The day McMahon was ousted, left-leaning U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) lobbed a salvo at Redstone. In a May 19 letter, they warned that Paramount board members risked possible bribery charges if they paid Trump to settle the lawsuit as a way to win FCC approval for the Skydance deal.

By early June, Redstone and the Ellison team were getting restless.

Emanuel, the agent, stepped in to help get the dealmaking back on track, people familiar with the matter said. Emanuel is Trump’s former talent agent and one of Ellison’s closest allies.

On June 7, Ellison met briefly with Trump at a UFC event in New Jersey. Emanuel is executive chairman of the WME Group and chief executive of UFC’s parent company, TKO.

According to a source, Emanuel associate Dana White, the Trump-supporting UFC chief executive, helped facilitate the Ellison meeting with the president, which occurred steps away from the fighters’ octagon.

People close to Ellison and Emanuel declined to discuss Ellison’s interactions with the president. Representatives of Skydance, Redstone and Emanuel declined to comment for this story.

Finally, a breakthrough came when Trump offered support for Ellison and the Skydance deal, though he continued to blast Harris and CBS News.

“Ellison is great,” Trump said from the White House lawn on June 18. “He’ll do a great job with it.” Late Thursday, Trump called David Ellison “a fantastic young man.”

Meanwhile, the clock was ticking. Redstone and others wanted the board to handle the settlement before the shareholder meeting, when one director stepped down, and three new members joined the board.

Redstone recused herself from voting but made her wishes known.

The settlement was finally reached about 10 hours before the Paramount board switched.

One person close to the legal effort said the agreement “got over the finish line” due to a sweetener for Trump. His team anticipates that Paramount networks eventually will run millions of dollars worth of free commercials, or public service announcements, in support of Trump causes, including combating antisemitism and increasing border security.

Trump also referenced the alleged side deal.

“We did a deal for about $16 million plus $16 million — or maybe more than that in advertising,” Trump said. “So [the settlement] is like $32- to maybe $35 million.”

Paramount said it agreed to a $16-million settlement. .

“Paramount’s settlement with President Trump does not include PSAs,” the company said in a statement. “Paramount has no knowledge of any promises or commitments made to President Trump other than those set forth in the settlement proposed by the mediator and accepted by the parties.”

Skydance declined to comment. Emanuel did not respond to messages.

The settlement does contain another provision championed by Trump.“60 Minutes” will release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after those interviews air, “subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns,” Paramount said.

1st Amendment advocates were disheartened by the deal. So were Trump’s enemies, including the senators who had vowed to investigate the deal for bribery.

Paramount’s move to “settle a bogus lawsuit with President Trump over a “60 Minutes” report he did not like is an extremely dangerous precedent,” Sanders, the U.S. senator, said in a statement. “Paramount’s decision will only embolden Trump to continue attacking, suing and intimidating the media.”

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GOP Lawmaker Tells New Gang Name For MAGA Caucus

GOP Lawmaker Tells New Gang Name For MAGA Caucus 2

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Back in March, Rep Drunken Van Orden started to get a lot of negative feedback over the damage that the Orange Felon and former President Elmo were doing to the country. People were also becoming increasingly concerned about the programs they need to survive, like Medicaid and SNAP food stamps. In response – and because he’s too chickenshit to hold a townhall meeting in person – DVO made a video promising that he would never going along with a bill that would do that:

In rural areas doesn’t mean that, so just because we live in rural areas doesn’t mean that high quality health care should be readily accessible to us. I have very, very few hard lines when it comes to these issues that we talk about regularly. One of them is this, that I’ve been crystal clear with the leadership in the House here, if during this budget reconciliation process, they’re going to try to cut rural health care, I am not on board. I will not be on board with a package that does, that if anybody is trying to cut any type of rural health care, it’s just not going to happen on my watch.

Enter the offensive budget buster bill, and DVO goes right along with it, breaking his own promise not to cut the social safety nets.

But a lot of congresscritters claimed they did not know what was in the bill they just voted for. Maybe we should give DVO the benefit of the doubt.

Wednesday came along and DVO said this about the recon bill, per Kenzie Nguyen of Punch Bowl News:

See?! DVO ain’t no one’s little bitch, amirite? He’ll finally do something right, right?

No, not really. DVO also said this:

screenshot_20250702_202827_x_720

Sigh. To paraphrase the old saying, if it looks like a little bitch, talks like a little bitch, and votes like a little bitch, it’s a little bitch.

I really think that the MAGA caucus should wear biker leathers and/or t-shirts that had “Trump’s Little BItches” on them. In fact, I say we make a trend of it. Call them out for what they are.

Fox Host Upset Newsom ‘Switched The Narrative’ On ICE Raids

Fox Host Upset Newsom 'Switched The Narrative' On ICE Raids 3

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Fox’s Trace Gallagher straight up lied about what’s going on in California and across the country during their coverage of the House voting on Trump’s “big beautiful” turd of a bill this Wednesday evening. They can’t defend the indefensible, and they know people don’t actually like these ICE thugs going around snatching up people from churches and their workplaces, so they have to pretend it’s not happening.

CA Gov. Newsom has been hitting back against Trump hard lately, questioning his mental competence, and giving a very good speech about the cruelty of these ICE raids and who is being snatched off the streets last month, which, of course, has had all of the talking heads on Fox’s panties in a knot, since they’re more than happy to keep pushing the lie that the only ones being kidnapped by ICE are gang members and criminals.

Gallagher was joined by former Fox host turned candidate for California governor, Steve Hilton and CA US Attorney Bill Essayli, and told this whopper while harping that Republicans hadn’t all gotten in line and voted for Trump’s budget bill yet.

GALLAGHER: I mean, you look at the border stuff, you look at where you’re trying to fight the good fight in California to make sure that, you know, we can get the worst of the worst out, fighting against these sanctuary policies.

There have been so many crimes committed against people. Who are residents, legal residents of California, and the goal is to… and they’ve switched the narrative.

So that’s the whole thing is you’re not only fighting things like this, but you’re fighting the narrative here in California about, you know these illegal immigrants being, oh they’re just, you know, like Gavin Newsom says, old ladies walking down the street are being grabbed and thrown in the back of a car and taken away never to be seen again.

That’s just not the truth.

ESSAYLI: It’s not true. The president campaigned exactly on the priorities that you just discussed. The American people elected a majority in the House to deliver, to help the president deliver on that agenda.

It is absolutely true and Democrats need to keep hammering them with story after story about every individual they snatch off the streets, every person they send to be tortured in prison, every American citizen they kidnap, and every single person they allow to die while in custody.

Trump and ICE Barbie think this whole thing is some big joke. Well, it’s not appealing to most sane Americans, and it’s not going to get any more popular as more people realize what’s going on. Fox can continue to lie about it, but they can’t stop the reporting going on at the local level and people witnessing what’s going on with their own eyes.

French Mural Depicts Lady Liberty Covering Her Face In Shame

French Mural Depicts Lady Liberty Covering Her Face In Shame 4

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Dutch artist Judith de Leeuw told Storyful it’s meant to reflect shame for the United States’ current immigration policies.

Source: Judith de Leeuw via Storyful

A new mural depicting Lady Liberty covering her face in shame was unveiled in Roubaix, France, ahead of Independence Day in the United States. Dutch artist Judith de Leeuw painted the mural, titled “The Statue of Liberty’s Silent Protest,” on a building on Rue de Chemin-de-Fer. De Leeuw told Storyful that the Statue of Liberty, originally a gift from France to the United States as a symbol of friendship and freedom, was depicted covering her eyes in the mural to reflect the shame over the United States’ current immigration policies under the Trump administration. “Roubaix has a large migrant population, and many of them live in extremely difficult circumstances. The values that the statue once stood for—freedom, hope, the right to be yourself—have been lost for many,” she said. De Leeuw added that the mural took six days to complete, and called the date of its unveiling – right before the July 4 Independence Day holiday – a “meaningful coincidence.” Although she was nervous that the message was too controversial, she said locals embraced the message given the harsh realities of immigration in France.

Republican Who Voted For Medicaid Cuts Dumps His Stock…

Republican Who Voted For Medicaid Cuts Dumps His Stock... 5

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Before voting for Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill that would leave millions without Medicaid, and therefore access to healthcare, Rep. Robert Bresnahan made sure to make himself a tidy little profit by selling his stock in Centene. That stock has now fallen 43 percent.

Source: Alternet

A company that monitors how legislators buy and sell stock is reporting that Rep. Robert Bresnahan (R-Pa.) has sold his stock in Centene just as Trump’s budget bill is preparing to pass the House.

“We recently saw Representative Robert Bresnahan selling Centene stock. Centene provides healthcare exchanges for Medicaid. The stock has now fallen 43 percent since his sale,” posted Wisconsin financial services company Quiver Quantitative, which advises clients to buy and sell stock according to how legislators with inside knowledge appear to be voting.

The company describes itself as a reliable Geiger counter on which industries will flourish or suffer as legislators determine bills that survive the House and Senate. For example, Quiver Quantitative noted that stock for Viasat rose 132 percent after Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) invested in it last year.

Ironically, or perhaps not ironically at all, Bresnahan vowed in 2024 to ban stock trading among congressmen so that no one could trade in stocks. That was then. This is now.

Rep. Rob Bresnahan said he would ban stock trading when he got to Congress. Since the Pennsylvania Republican took office in January, he’s traded securities at least 530 times.

Forty of those trades, worth at least $166,000, were made after May 6, when he announced that he would move his assets into a blind trust.

Hypocrite. Scumbag. Insert your own adjective here.

Democrats had no problem calling this one out.

CNN Host Nails GOP Rep. On Hypocrisy Over CBO

CNN Host Nails GOP Rep. On Hypocrisy Over CBO 6

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CNN’s Brianna Keilar took lying hypocrite Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett to task for his flip-flop on the Congressional Budget Office.

Burchett, who has proven he’s willing to sell his soul for Trump on more than one occasion, made an appearance on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront this Wednesday, and guest host Keilar brought the receipts when it came to Burchett’s ridiculous arguments that the CBO, which he previously wanted others to rely upon, should not be trusted, and that they should be using what they call “dynamic scoring” for Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” instead.

We’ve watched this nonsense from them since the days of Paul Ryan, where he also wanted the parliamentarian to allow them to use the confidence fairy to score their plans to blow up the deficit by trillions.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Here’s some of the exchange with Keilar and Burchett via Mediaite after Burchett told her he was questioning the CBO estimate for the bill:

KEILAR: So, you’re taking issue with the CBO estimate here?

BURCHETT: Yes, Ma’am. I do have an issue with it. The office is very partisan. I mean, 85% of the people in their healthcare division identify as a Democrat, or they’ve contributed to Democrats or they’re registered Democrats. I believe their leading economist is that. We oughta do away with these organizations because we use them when we like them. We don’t use them when we don’t like them. And you’ve got a bunch of bureaucrats in here that are on a lifetime gravy train. And frankly, we’ve got independent agencies that can do that. We have people up here with accounting degrees that can do the math. So, I feel like that is that is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

KEILAR: So, in January 2024, there was a Republican who trusted the CBO so much that they reintroduced a resolution to require the House clerk to read the CBO estimate of any bill. I believe that was you, Sir. The third time you introduced that resolution? Is that right?

BURCHETT: That’s correct, Ma’am. And that proves just what I said–

KEILAR: But you don’t like the CBO now.

BURCHETT: Ma’am?

KEILAR: But you don’t like the CBO now. You introduced that resolution over multiple years, but now you’re dissing the CBO.

BURCHETT: Did the bill pass?

KEILAR: Your resolution?

BURCHETT: Yes, Ma’am.

KEILAR: You introduced it, Sir. It’s irrelevant.

BURCHETTE: I know it, Ma’am. They never passed because nobody wants any verification. It proves my point when it serves–

KEILAR: But the point– you took a stance.

Burchett proceeded to attack Keilar and CNN as being partisan for heaven forbid reporting what’s in this godawful bill, but Keilar held her ground with Burchett and wasn’t ready to take his crap.

As we’ve said here time and time again, Republicans cannot defend what’s in this bill, so they’ve got to lie about it. The trouble for them is, it’s not working.

This Awful Mistake Will Haunt Her For The Rest Of Her Life

This Awful Mistake Will Haunt Her For The Rest Of Her Life 7

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Lisa Murkowski–she of the 1000 mile stare when called out on her dirty backroom deal to throw us to the wolves, should go to hell. This fraud who pretended to be one of the last reasonable Republicans. Remember when Murkowski was *so concerned* she might leave her party, become independent!? Now she votes to destroy the lives of millions for Peter Thiel to get a tax cut for whatever cyborg parts he’s shopping for, the fucking weirdo.

Murkowski’s a quieter arsonist. Her deal to raise Medicaid funds for Alaska, while passing massive Medicaid cuts for the rest of us..let me translate without bullshit, corporate-media euphemisms: SHE IS LETTING AMERICANS DIE TRAGIC, UNNECESSARY DEATHS—17MM will lose healthcare, three millio their SNAP–or FOOD.

She may be worse b/c she knows better. Knows Trump’s a thug, is compromise and what the legislation does, Murkowki’s the same traitor as the rest of MAGA. Don’t let her live it down, publicly, ever (be loud, but peaceful).

Watch the video, with my commentary on her. As I bet you’ll guess, it’s not nice. But sure AF is deserved. And Subscribe to our Blue Amp Substack to back our Soundcheck Fund to support smaller creators! We have even more to say on Murkowski over there…

Rep Frost Speaks Truth To Power And Power Doesn’t Like It

Rep Frost Speaks Truth To Power And Power Doesn't Like It 8

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During a House Rules Committee meeting, Rep. Maxwell Frost couldn’t take it anymore and called out the Republicans on their false pro-life claims to their faces. Rep Virginia Foxx damn near lost her dentures in her faux outrage:

FROST: Yeah, see, they say they’re pro-life because they want the baby to be born go to school and get shot in the school. Die in the school. Die on the streets. … that is what they say.

FOXX: Hey, I’m not going to say anything and you’ve gone over the cliff.

UNKNOWN PERSON: I moved to strike his words

FOXX: You’ve gone over. We were going to be quiet, but you’ve gone over now. I’m at every word, we are going to strike your words. But on the other hand, it might be good to leave your words. Might be good to leave your words because that’s how you feel. But you are not going to come into this room and impugn our integrity. You will not we are pro-life people from conception to natural death, most of us are, and don’t you come in here and say we want to preserve life so people can get shot.

FROST: That’s what I’ve seen.

FOXX: You are you through.

Did anyone else catch how condescending Foxx was? She was acting like she was doing Frost a favor by letting him speak – as long as he didn’t get too uppity.

However, the part about impugning their integrity deserves all the derisive laughter it gets. They impugned their own integrity so damn much, they don’t have any integrity left to impugn. The fact that they are even discussing the thought of taking away health care from children to give an even bigger tax break to billionaires proves that. The Republican agenda which includes taking away childcare, food, health insurance, or even reasonable safety in one’s own house or yard from being shot shows that they are no where near pro-life. Not when they try to find so many ways to make it more likely a person is going to die.

H/T Aaron Rupar for the video

Barabak: Congratulations, America, you’re 249 years old! But this last one has been rough

Barabak: Congratulations, America, you're 249 years old! But this last one has been rough 9

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Happy Birthday, America!

Today, you turn 249 and, honestly, you don’t look a day over 248. (Ha ha.)

Seriously, it’s perfectly understandable why there’s more gray on your scalp and deeper worry lines on your face. This last year has been challenging, to say the least.

A convicted felon and adjudicated sex abuser was elected president — history made! — and ever since has worked tirelessly and diligently to establish himself as the nation’s first monarch, and a fabulously remunerated one at that.

Federal troops are occupying the nation’s second-largest city, over the objection of the state’s leaders, as masked agents scoop people off the streets of Southern California for the temerity of venturing out with brown skin and an accent.

Our social safety net is being shredded, the country is pulling back from its international leadership in the arts and science, and we’ve squandered our global standing as a beacon of hope and compassion.

But that’s not all.

Political violence is becoming about as familiar and normalized as schoolyard shootings. In roughly the last 12 months we’ve witnessed two attempts on Trump’s life and the assassination of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband.

Medicaid, the program that serves millions of the needy, elderly and disabled, is on the chopping block. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps Americans weather the worst times after natural disaster, has been drastically depleted just as we’re heading into the fire and hurricane seasons.

As for the loyal opposition, Democrats are in bad odor with voters and even many of their own partisans after Joe Biden’s handlers gaslighted the public on the frailty and declining faculties of the octogenarian president.

Only after a cataclysmically bad debate performance, which revealed his infirmities for all to see, did Biden grudgingly stand aside in favor of his anointed successor, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Once more, Democrats are wandering the wilderness, wearing a familiar groove in their desolate pathway as they debate — again — whether to veer left or hug the center.

That’s quite the catalog.

But no one ever said this representative democracy thing was going to be easy, or endlessly uplifting.

America, you’re a big, boisterous nation of more than 342 million people, with all sorts of competing impulses and interests, and no end of certitude to go around.

In our last presidential election, we split nearly evenly, with Trump squeaking past Harris in the popular vote 49.8% to 48.3%. It was one of the narrowest margins of victory in the last century, though you wouldn’t know it from Trump’s radical actions and the servility of the Republican-run Congress.

But our differences are more profound than the now-familiar gulf between red and blue America.

In a recently completed deep dive on the state of our democracy, researchers at UC Berkeley found an almost even divide over how to measure our political system’s success.

Slightly more than half of those surveyed said a successful democracy is one that’s adaptable and has the capacity for change, while nearly half said success stems from adherence to long-standing principles.

With that kind of stark disagreement on such a fundamental question, is it any wonder we struggle to find consensus on so much else?

But, heck, if it’s any consolation on this star-spangled holiday, the country has been through worse. Much worse. And you, America, have not only survived but also in many ways grown stronger by facing down your flaws and overcoming some knee-buckling challenges.

Slavery. Civil war. Racist exclusionary laws. Two worldwide conflicts. Depression. Financial crises. And too many deadly natural disasters — floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes — to possibly count.

Your treatment of some Americans, it should be said, hasn’t always been fair and just.

People are despairing over the Supreme Court and its deference to the president. But it’s worth noting that earlier court majorities held that Black Americans — “beings of an inferior order,” in the words of the notorious Dred Scott decision — could be denied citizenship, that racial segregation was constitutional and that compulsory sterilization based on eugenics was perfectly legal.

That sordid history won’t necessarily make anyone feel better about the current state of affairs, nor should it. But it does give some perspective.

All of that said, today’s a day to celebrate the good things and the bright, shining place you aspire to be, with liberty and justice for all. So, chin up, America! Have another slice of birthday cake, and don’t worry about the calories — you really do look terrific for 249!

Meantime, it’s up to us, your citizens, to keep working toward that more perfect union. Whatever ails you, America, the remedy resides with we the people and the power we hold, particularly at the ballot box. Unhappy with the wrecking crew that’s chain-sawing federal programs and allowing Trump to blowtorch the Constitution and rule of law? Vote ‘em out, starting with the 2026 midterm election.

Don’t give up hope or the belief that, as dark and difficult as things seem right now, better days lie ahead.

That abiding faith is what makes America great.

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