A Gulag in the Swamp and Medicaid Cuts: Even the New Trump Fragrance Won't Wash Away This Stench...

Republicans can't sell this bill so Trump distracts with more cruelty

Perhaps I missed it. But watching the votes come down in the Senate for Trump’s big debt bill, I did not catch many high fives or attaboys. It was more like aye… and bye. That’s because Republicans in Congress know some in their party will pay a price for this monstrosity during next year’s midterms. What GOP House member of Senator wants to go back to their district or state and sell this garbage? The legislation comes with the god-awful combination of soaring debt and plummeting social safety net spending. The polls show the voters already fully understand who benefits - the Trump oligarchy. Just imagine how that will go down at the GOP’s next town hall meetings, if they’re brave enough to hold one. Republicans in Congress know all too well they may be voting themselves out of the majority in 2026. And that was before Elon Musk threatened to mount a new political party to make Trump and the GOP pay for its “porky pig” ways.

Speaking of pork, that appears to be how the White House dragged Alaska’s wavering Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski across the finish line, with special carve-outs that benefit her state. Murkowski once famously said members of Congress are “afraid” of Trump. Seems the truth is the only thing Murkowski really has to fear is… losing her seat.

So it was no surprise that during the same week Trump was asking his party to grab their barf bags and vote yes that he was also traveling to Florida to tour the state’s new gulag for migrant detentions - Alligator Alcatraz. Trump knows he can salvage a bad news cycle in conservative media if he can find new and, in this case, medieval ways to torment immigrants. Distract the base from Medicaid coverage they’re going to lose or the skyrocketing deficits plaguing future generations by conjuring up the fantasy of terrified migrants being eaten by alligators - a prospect that seemed to delight Trump when speaking with reporters Tuesday morning.

“We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator, okay?” Trump said with a chuckle. “Don’t run in a straight line.”

Image via Department of Homeland Security

Trump’s maniacal crocodile smile followed this heinous Department of Homeland Security tweet, posted above, portraying alligators wearing ICE hats. Keep in mind it was just a few days ago when top ICE officials were complaining that their agents have to wear masks to protect themselves from threats. Nobody should be threatening ICE agents. But maybe you would engender more sympathy for your employees if they’re not reduced to gators in ICE hats. And therein lies the problem in bending the knee and working for Trump. In the end, you don’t get to keep your dignity. You’ve sold it to him. The question should be asked of top officials at ICE: Do you actually want to see a migrant mauled to death by an alligator? Their boss, the president appears to be saying he would.

Then again, the agency is already facing questions about migrants dying in their custody. Over the weekend, ICE revealed that a 75 year old Cuban migrant, who appears to have been residing in the U.S. since the mid-1960’s, died after suffering chest pains at one of the agency’s detention centers. The agency says Isidro Perez had been picked up by ICE officers in early June and that his death is now under investigation. Unlikely to be a part of that probe was why Perez was detained by ICE in the first place, other than to meet the inhumane quotas set by the administration as part of its immigration roundups. What was the purpose of his detention? Was he going to be deported back to Cuba, a communist dictatorship? Cuban Man Dies in ICE Custody

Asked to comment, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan brushed off the man’s death with a level of heartlessness that was stunning, even for him. Homan might as well have said he doesn’t care.

“People die in ICE custody. People die in county jails. People die in state prisons,” Homan said. Homan on Cuban dying in ICE detention

Years from now, when Trump is gone, his legacy of cruelty will remain. Homan and other Trump anti-immigrant zealots, like Stephen Miller, may have the resources to at least try to evade any accountability for what they have done. That task will be more daunting for the lower-level Trump administration officials who participated in these inhumane practices. Something to think about the next time you put on that ICE hat.

The stench of working for Trump can’t be washed away. But perhaps it can be masked. Lucky for MAGA, Trump is now selling his “limited edition” fragrances on his Truth Social account.

Trump Fragrances

Trump’s latest snake oil in a bottle aside, there is a different Musk the Republican Party may need to consider. No, that’s not a new Trump scent. It’s the president’s now jilted political ally who appears to be only beginning to plot his revenge. Trump has now threatened to DOGE Musk’s federal contracts and maybe even deport the richest man in the world back to South Africa. But a new, fiscally conservative “America Party,”now being pondered by Musk, would damage Republicans at the ballot box, not Democrats. Gotta hand it to Musk. It would be hard for MAGA to vote against “America,” amirite? It could all add up to the smell of defeat in 2026.

Forget hungry alligators in the Everglades. Vengeful voters can pick up on the scent of betrayal from their politicians and prove to be far more ferocious.