Mr. Trump goes to the Capitol

DC world focuses like a 2-year-old on the sudden acknowledgement of Biden’s dementia and his begrudging admission that he has prostate cancer that morphed into bone cancer. He likely won’t last until Labor Day.

But FJB is old news and the rest of the world watches Trump, a man who now is the same age FJB was during his presidency, triumph over political adversaries foreign and domestic.

His visit to Arabia drew more than respect from its leaders. It’s admiration. He is willing to work with past adversaries, including Syria.

But that was last week. This is now. He got on the horn, as an old boss used to say, and chatted with Putin for two hours. Briefing reporters, Trump said, “Putin just said they [Russians] respect your wife a lot. I said what about me? They like Melania better. I’m OK with it!”

Asked about tariffs, Trump said, “Do you know how many auto plants are being built now in this country because of the tariffs? Three just announced yesterday that they are building. There is a revolution going on, a positive one, in our country and I love it!”

Ignorant people dismiss tariffs as a tax on the poor. No, that is what a sales tax does by raising the price of everything. Tariffs apply to imports only. Buy American and you don’t pay a tariff, which is why factories are moving back.

Oh, I realize that the plants will not employ as many people as they did before Corporate America self-deported. The new plants won’t employ as many people as they do now. Automation does that because machines produce higher quality products cheaper. Robots don’t show up hung over on Monday and they don’t goof off on Friday.

But there will be jobs here in America and that matters the most. That is the purpose of protective tariffs, to keep America from having to rely on the whims of foreign nations for products.

At the Capitol on Tuesday, Trump focused on passage of a budget with tax cuts for the workers—no taxes on tips and no taxes on overtime. He had a high-profile meeting behind closed doors with House Republicans. He talked to reporters afterward.

The president said of the Big Beautiful Bill, “It’s not important for me, it’s important for the country. I think it’s the most important bill this country has ever done.”

He said, “We have a tremendously unified party.”

Trump said, “Here’s what I want on Medicaid, we’re not touching anything. All I want is one thing—three words—we don’t want ANY waste, fraud or abuse. Very simple.”

The meeting went well. Reporters did not like that. Trump took their questions and one of the first was “You told them you were losing patience. Are you losing patience?”

Trump unleashed the new conservative answer to stupid questions: Sez Who?

He shot back, “I didn’t tell them [that]. Who told you I said I’m losing patience?”

The reporter said, “That’s what we heard inside the room.”

Trump said, “That’s a lie! Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. Who told you that?”

The reporter said, “We heard from, uh, people inside the room.”

Trump said, “Oh really? That’s totally untrue. I never used the term. I didn’t say losing [patience]. I didn’t even talk about it. In fact, it’s the opposite. I think we’re going to get it done.

“I’m not losing patience. We’re ahead of schedule. Anybody that told you that is a liar. Why don’t you go back to your source and tell them they’re liars?

“If the source even exists.”

President Trump is ahead of schedule. His return to the Capitol came on exactly four months after his second inauguration.

Obama needed 14 months to pass Obamacare with a 40-plus seat majority in the House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. He should have spent less time with Diddy, and more time on doing his job.

Trump learned from his own first presidency. It took nearly two years to pass his first tax package.

Now he has small majorities in both houses and his main tax plan is set to pass in a few weeks.

Oh, there are some holdouts. Tom Massie is trying to be Liz Cheney Jr. by putting his precious principles ahead of actually getting anything done.

And of course the media continues to lie. Mini-Mike Bloomberg’s wire service said, “Trump Loses Patience With SALT Demand as Tax Bill Faces Snag.”

Trump’s denial was not included in the 25-paragraph report. Odd that they could not squeeze the president’s rebuttal in the story—and by odd I mean as common as a garter snake.

Politico slapped on its story the headline, “Trump appears to be losing patience with blue-state Republicans on SALT.”

The word patience did not appear in the story, which is proof that copy editors no longer bother reading copy. Failure to read is an industrywide problem. 404 Media reported, “Chicago Sun-Times Prints AI-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don't Exist.”

Things at the Capitol are going so poorly for Trump that Politico reported, “The Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to pass legislation that would eliminate the collection of federal taxes on tips, moving a step closer to fulfilling one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign promises.”

Oh and Eric Daugherty tweeted, “Big Beautiful Bill holdout Republican Rep. Ralph Norman now a YES in the Rules Committee.”

The Art of Persuasion.

FJB’s dementia and his staff’s auto pen have Jim Treacher asking, “So, Who Was Really President for Four Years?”

We know who is president now.