Senate Republicans passed a bill that cut one trillion dollars from healthcare for poor people to make the first Trump administration tax cuts permanent, yes, but also to finance  an additional tax cut for the wealthy. The largest transfer of wealth in American history from the poor to the rich, it’s called.  It was only able to pass because moderate and often sensibly non-partisan Lisa Murkowski of Alaska negotiated some extra goodies for her state in exchange for her vote.

If she had voted according to her repeatedly-stated belief that the bill was horrible – not because of deficit expansion, as Musk argues, but because it hurts the poor, it wouldn’t have passed. They could have negotiated something similar after the artificial deadline of July 4^th, but the similar could still have been better. Her Kentucky colleague Senator Rand Paul called her out on getting pork for her constituents at the expense of the entire rest of the country, and she was offended by it, staring down an NBC reporter for asking her to comment on it, giving a long diatribe about her obligation to her constituents.

It was painfully reminiscent of Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson’s (D) Cornhusker Kickback to win his vote for Obamacare back in 2010. But his extra goodies were ultimately dropped from the bill. He was shamed into the drop in the end. No such luck with Murkowski.

Then there’s today’s addition to the injustices of the deportation push. The president revoked the protected status of Haitian immigrants today, saying conditions have improved enough for them to go home. No one in Haiti agrees with that assessment. Haitians who thought they were safe had two months before they were deported, but a judge halted implementation of the plan tonight. The administration is likely to appeal.

The administration is revving up its push to denaturalize immigrants who became citizens. President Obama denaturalized some citizens too – but that was for folks who fraudulently became American citizens, and it was done in a criminal context. The Trump administration wants to strip naturalized citizens for something as potentially ambiguous as crimes that pose an ongoing threat to the United States – the same argument made for deporting pro-Palestinian students for protesting.  Why in civil trials? Because then the deportation target won’t have a right to a lawyer, as one does in criminal proceedings. There’s that pesky old due process again that this administration is determined to get around.

Lastly, there’s the death in ICE custody of a 75-year-old Cuban immigrant who came to the U.S. almost 60 years ago! At the time, the country extended legal status to those fleeing Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Isidro Perez was picked up this month for no longer being eligible to remain. The ineligibility was a drug bust more than 40 years ago for which the man already served time.

In what universe was this necessary? Who benefits from detaining and deporting a senior citizen who’s lived here since he was 16 and without incident for four decades!

What a day. What a political party. What a movement!  What American greatness….