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How Republicans Got Here

November 3, 2026 · 5:40 am ET · Leave a Comment

Punchbowl News: “President Donald Trump stood on the White House lawn on July 4, 2025, gushing about signing the One Big Beautiful Bill into law, surrounded by GOP leaders and lawmakers. Speaker Mike Johnson gave him the gavel used to close the House vote. B-2 bombers flew overhead.”

”For Trump, it was a signature moment in his return from the political wilderness after 2020’s defeat and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.”

Said Trump: “It’s the biggest bill of its type in history. We’ve never had anything like that before. Nothing like that they thought would be possible to get passed.”

“Yet for the last 16 months, GOP lawmakers have searched fruitlessly for a mission while Trump did his own thing: launching a hugely unpopular war with Iran that shows no sign of ending anytime soon; remaking the White House and pursuing other vanity projects; and raking in billions of dollars from his crypto holdings and other business dealings even as concerns about corruption grow.”

2026 Campaign, White House

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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