‘No delayed fuse’: Columnist warns GOP just sparked immediate 'catastrophe'



Washington Post columnist Philip Bump called out President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for their campaign to "rebrand" the GOP's cuts to Medicaid and tax cuts to the highest wage earners.

Speaking to MSNBC on Thursday, Bump challenged stand-in host Christina Ruffini on her comment that the bill's worst provisions would be delayed.

"I do think that it is incorrect to say that this is going to be something which is sort of on a delayed fuse," said Bump.

He noted that he interviewed a person involved in a public health system for a major metropolitan city yesterday, who is making decisions now about the cuts.

"They are already trying to figure out, like, they don't wait until these kick in to come up with their plans for their budgets," Bump explained. "He said to me, and I quote, 'I think this is going to be a very apparent catastrophe very quickly.'"

Bump also pointed out that Johnson's characterization of the bill was way off.

"It was just absolutely and utterly bizarre," he said. "We haven't really talked about that. Like the way he framed this as being about, this is what happens with a unified government. It's a total abdication of his role as the leader of the House of Representatives. And to have him say that the people he sat down with, well, we went and asked the White House and asked Cabinet officials what the effects of this were going to be. It's like the three little pigs asking the wolves' friends if he poses a threat. It's insane."

Bump challenged painting the bill as "normal, standard legislative process and a triumph of the American process." He called it "very bizarre."

"And I think Republicans are very, very quickly going to see that they're not going to be able to control this narrative because they passed this bill, which is almost essentially uncontrollable," Bump said.

See the clip below or at the link here.

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