Propaganda I'm not falling for
Plus: Thank our lucky stars Beyoncé is safe
President Donald Trump’s signature legislation has passed in the Senate, but Republicans are far from all on board and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act barely squeaked by. It now heads to the House.
Welcome to this week’s issue of Whig. This newsletter is now one year old! Thanks for reading, and if you know someone who you think would appreciate it, please do share. — Hunter Schwarz
How a bill becomes a law:
Vice President J.D. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the Senate version of the 940-page One Big Beautiful Bill Act today. The bill, which would make cuts to social safety net programs like Medicaid, decrease government spending by $1.2 trillion, and make $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, would result in $3.3 trillion added to the national deficit over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, a federal agency.
Three Republicans — Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, and Rand Paul of Kentucky — joined all Senate Democrats in voting against the bill. Tillis, who signaled earlier that he’d vote against the legislation because its cuts to Medicaid will hurt his state, announced Sunday he won’t seek reelection next year after Trump threatened to primary him.
For Paul, it’s what the bill will do to the national deficit. “Even using the math, even using the formulas that the supporters of the bill like, the deficit will grow by $270 billion next year,” Paul said during remarks on the Senate floor before the vote. “That doesn’t sound at all conservative to me, and that’s why I’m a no.”
Elon certainly doesn’t like it:
The ceasefire between Trump and Elon Musk could soon be over. Musk (who remember, paid for all this) said on his social network X Monday, “Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
Now Trump is threatening to sick DOGE on him. “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social Monday.
Propaganda I’m not falling for:
1. Labubus, 2. Benson Boone, and 3. Republicans saying their tax cut bills will pay for themselves. The White House claims the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will reduce the deficit and increase economic growth. History has found, however, that past claims that tax cut legislation would pay for themselves through economic growth failed to deliver.
Tax cuts passed during Republican administrations in 1981, 2001, 2003, and 2017 all “increased deficits, produced uneven economic results, and delivered their largest benefits to wealthy Americans,” according to a report from Co-Equal, a nonpartisan nonprofit that didn’t take a position on the current bill.
“This record reveals a consistent pattern,” the report’s authors wrote. “The tax cuts did not deliver on the promises of their advocates. In fact, they often achieved exactly the opposite, worsening the debt and exacerbating income inequality.”
Funeral services held for slain lawmaker and husband:
Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, who were shot and killed during an attack on their house last month, were laid in state at the Minnesota State Capitol Friday, and their funeral service was held Saturday at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis.
Former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were in attendance. Walz called Hortman “a close friend, a mentor,” and “the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history.”
This lawmaker is trying to nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize:
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee last week because of the ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Carter, who’s running for Senate next year against Sen. Jon Ossify (D-Ga.), wrote in the letter, “President Trump took bold action to ultimately champion peace through strength and facilitate a ceasefire framework that brought hostilities to a halt.”
Eric Trump is open to political dynasty:
You might not have the appetite for future additional President Trumps, but the third son of the current one does. “I think the political path would be an easy one, meaning, I think I could do it,” first son Eric Trump told Financial Times. “The real question is: ‘Do you want to drag other members of your family into it?”
Trump, who’s executive vice president of the Trump Organization and falsely claimed “if there’s one family that hasn’t profited off politics, it’s the Trump family,” said he’s “wholly unimpressed by half the politicians I see” and thinks he could “do it very effectively.” He’s not necessarily the one who will throw his hat into the ring, though. “I think other members of our family could do it too,” he said.
That’s Professor Emhoff to you:
It’s the first day of work for former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. As California waits to hear whether or not his wife will run for governor, Emhoff is starting today at his alma mater, USC’s Gould School of Law, where he’ll be a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law.
“It is great to be back home in Los Angeles, and I am excited and honored to return to USC Gould, where my legal journey began,” Emhoff said in a statement. He previously taught at the Georgetown University Law Center when Harris was vice president.
Why dead politicians keep tweeting:
The Instagram account for the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) liked a post congratulating New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani for winning New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary last week, even though she died nearly a year ago. It’s just the latest example of politicians seeming to post beyond the grave, and Politico is out with a new report on the nonexistent rules about lawmaker social media accounts after a lawmaker dies.
“When a member of Congress dies, nobody seems to care about getting the log-ins from you, or assuming control of the Facebook page,” Zack Brown, who was communications director for Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) when he died in 2022, told Politico. “I still, if I wanted to, could go post to Facebook as Congressman Young — I could still tweet today as Congressman Young. And nobody from archives or records or from House administration, or anybody, seems to give a sh*t.”
Brown said that while the physical aspect of closing down Young’s office after his passing was “meticulous,” like files and knickknacks that had to be logged, the “digital aspect of it was completely ignored.”
Obergefell on a decade of marriage equality:
Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the historic Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide 10 years ago last Thursday, says the fight for marriage equality isn’t over.
Obergefell told NBC News the court’s 2022 decision overturning the right to an abortion shows there’s potential for marriage rights to be overturned. “Marriage is a right, and it shouldn’t depend on where you live,” he said. “Why is queer marriage any different than interracial marriage or any other marriage?”
Lawmakers in at least 10 states have introduced legislation to undermine same-sex marriage, per an NBC News count, including legislation urging the Supreme Court to overturn Overgefell.
Apple has the No. 1 movie in America:
F1 starring Brad Pitt brought in more than $55 million domestically, giving Apple its first box office hit. Since the iPhone maker doesn’t have its own distribution arm, the company partnered with Warner Bros. to get the movie to theaters, according to Variety.
Thank our lucky stars Beyoncé is safe:
Beyoncé is safely back on Earth. The singer had a scary moment while performing “16 Carriages” Saturday in a suspended prop Cadillac that’s designed to travel over the audience during her Cowboy Carter Tour show in her hometown of Houston. Fan footage shows the prop tilted in the air when Beyoncé asked the show to stop before she was brought safely down.
Her company Parkwood Entertainment said in a statement that a “technical mishap caused the flying car, a prop Beyoncé uses to circle the stadium and see her fans up close, to tilt.”
Katy Perry tears up, sings “Firework”:
Katy Perry had her first Lifetimes World Tour stop in Australia on Monday since word of her split with partner Orlando Bloom broke, and it looks like she understandably has lots of feelings. Perry got visibly emotional before the show’s final number, “Firework,” telling the crowd, “Thank you for always being there for me, Australia. It means the world.”
Brat really is over now?:
After changing the album art of her entire discography to images with Brat-style low-res text last year to mark Brat’s release, Charli XCX has finally changed them all back.
Mariah Carey on her next album:
“Type Dangerous” is just the first single for Mariah Carey’s next album. The singer told Apple Music “I don’t want to reveal the whole thing,” but that it’s finished. “We got some Mariah ballads,” she said, and the second single, which is “coming soon,” is “very summery.”
Brandy and Monica are going to make music together again:
Brandy described her relationship to Monica as “a musical marriage” during a joint appearance on The Tonight Show last week, and said they’re working together on more music. The pair will perform together on The Boy is Mine Tour later this year, named after their No. 1 hit. “We’ll start working on some music immediately,” Monica said.
Doja Cat covers V magazine:
Doja Cat is in Dolce & Gabbana on the cover of the new V magazine, shot by Steven Klein. “There are some people who don’t see it as music. They see it as if this is some kind of football for girls and gays,” she said. Why can’t it be both?
Anna Wintour stepping down at Vogue:
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour was spotted in public Monday for the first time since she announced in a staff meeting last week that she was stepping down from her role after 37 years. She plans to stay on as Condé Nast’s global chief content officer and Vogue’s global editorial director.
Wintour, who inspired Meryl Streep’s character Miranda Presley in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada, was spotted at the Marc Jacobs' 2026 runway show at the New York Public Library. Speaking of…
The Devil Wears Prada 2 has started filming:
Production has started for The Devil Wears Prada 2, which brings back Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci for a sequel, with Kenneth Branagh joining to play the role of Presley’s husband. I’m obsessed with the teaser graphic:
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