How true populists should think about Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’

Surging deficits and expiring tax cuts have placed the Republican party in an unenviable position. Simply extending all the tax cuts would add trillions of dollars in debt. But, as the party has become more attuned to the interests of the working class, the deep spending cuts it has traditionally championed alongside lower tax revenue have become less palatable. Proposed cuts to Medicaid, the programme that provides healthcare to the poor, have become the focal point in the clash.

The version of Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Republicans in the House of Representatives hews more closely to the old playbook, reducing revenue by nearly $4tn over 10 years and seeking to mitigate the deficit impact with a range of spending cuts, primarily an $800bn reduction in spending on Medicaid. The Senate’s proposed Medicaid cut would be even deeper.

Some Republican members of Congress and conservative commentators have expressed strong opposition to these cuts, led by Senator Josh Hawley, who calls the approach “both morally wrong and politically suicidal.”