Trumps big, beautiful bill is at risk and its the GOP that could sink it

President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill is still in its pupa stage — and some Republicans seem to be doing all they can to make it emerge as a small and ugly bug, not the butterfly they’ve promised.Nearly four months into his second term, Trump has hit a slump.The negative response to his “Liberation Day” tariffs added to a feeling of unease nagging at much of the country, dragging the president’s approval rating down.The much-heralded reconciliation bill that Trump has promised represents the first — perhaps the only — chance for him and congressional Republicans to turn the ship around and avert a blue wave in 2026.Which makes it all the more baffling that some in the GOP seem willing to sink it.At issue are three particularly foolish ideas.First, a strange alliance of populist and fiscal-hawk Republicans wants to double down on Trump’s tariff folly by raising taxes on high-earning Americans.Trump himself has expressed interest in the idea, declaring on Truth Social last week that he would “graciously accept” a tax hike on the rich “in order to help the lower and middle income workers.”The president has even privately lobbied Speaker Mike Johnson “to raise the top tax rate and close the carried-interest loophole,” according to Punchbowl News.Some Republicans, like Texas Rep.

Chip Roy, see such measures as a way of reducing the budget deficit.Others want to virtue-signal GOP allegiance to “the little guy.”But robbing Peter is of no help to Paul, as Republicans have argued for decades — and punishing those at the top of the ladder won’t benefit those still climbing it.Indeed, it will only make that climb that much more difficult, by discouraging the investment and risk-taking that drive economic growth.Moreover, the way to fix a budget deficit is to cut spending, not cut into Americans’ earnings.If there’s any political plus to pushing a tax hike, it’s sure to prove fleeting compared to the longer-term c...