About a month before the Republicansâ domestic policy megabill become law, Paul Krugman wrote a column complaining about not only the substance of the far-right package, but also its silly name.
âThe name of the legislation â not its nickname, its official title â is the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, because thatâs what Trump has been calling it,â Krugman wrote. âAre we a mature republic with a normal head of state, or are we being ruled by Kim Jong Un in orange makeup?â
He had a point. Legislative names arenât always easy, but âthe One Big Beautiful Bill Actâ was so juvenile that it sounded like something a small child might come up with. At its unveiling, I half-expected to see the name written in crayon, sounded by stars and lightning stickers.
Now, seven weeks after Donald Trump signed the package into law, the package is apparently getting a rebrand. Politico reported:
President Donald Trumpâs One Big Beautiful Bill Act is in for one big, beautiful rebranding effort. Today, Vance arrives in Peachtree City, Georgia, to visit a refrigeration manufacturing facility and reframe the sprawling Republican legislation. Out: âOne Big Beautiful Bill Act.â In: âworking families tax cuts.â Thatâs a reaction in part to bleak polling numbers for Trumpâs signature legislative accomplishment as the midterms heat up.
At the signing ceremony for the Republican Partyâs domestic policy megabill, held at the White House on the 4th of July, the president claimed the legislation was âthe most popular bill ever signed in the history of our country.â Even by 2025 standards, this was hilariously untrue: The inaptly named package was actually one of the least popular major legislative proposals in recent history. On Capitol Hill, it faced bipartisan opposition in the House and Senate, and even some of the GOP members who voted for it conceded they didnât like it.
As Congressâ summer recess got underway, the Republican Party planned to spend July and August making the case for the megabill, touting its contents and virtues in the hopes of making it a bit more popular.
Those efforts appear to have flopped. Not only have GOP lawmakers been reluctant to associate themselves with a package they know the public doesnât like, but the latest public opinion research suggests efforts to boost the packageâs standing havenât worked at all.
No wonder the party is already eyeing a rebrand.
But before Republicans get too excited about celebrating the megabill as âworking families tax cuts,â they might want to grapple with the facts. It was just last week when The Associated Press reported on the real-world effects of the GOP package:
The [Congressional Budget Office] estimates that the 10% of poorest Americans will lose roughly $1,200 a year as they experience restrictions on government programs like Medicaid and food assistance, while the richest 10% of Americans will see their income increase by $13,600 from tax cuts.
While itâs true the CBO found that middle-income households are poised to get a little more from the Republican tax breaks, itâs also true that (a) the increases would amount to less than 1% of their annual income, which isnât enough to keep up with inflation; and (b) the largest beneficiaries of the Republicansâ law are the top 10% of earners.
There is no modern precedent for such a regressive redistribution of wealth. Traditionally, elected officials have feared a public backlash if they try to take from the poor to give to the rich â but this year, Trump and his party did it anyway.
These are facts a rebrand canât fix.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
