6: McConnell Goes FULL VILLAIN With Heartless Medicaid Remark

Summary

Bulwark Takes: Episode 6 Summary – "McConnell Goes FULL VILLAIN With Heartless Medicaid Remark"

Release Date: June 24, 2025

In this compelling episode of Bulwark Takes, hosts Tim Miller and Sam Stein dissect a heated political development involving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's controversial remarks on Medicaid cuts. The discussion delves into the implications of McConnell's stance, the broader Republican strategy, and the potential impact on healthcare coverage in red states.

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1. Mitch McConnell's Controversial Medicaid Comment

The episode kicks off with Tim Miller highlighting a particularly damaging statement from Senator Mitch McConnell (00:54), which has set the political landscape abuzz:

Tim Miller (01:14): "McConnell says, 'This failure isn't an option regarding this bill. It has to pass. No matter what's in it, failure isn't an option.' And then he goes on to say, 'I know a lot of us are hearing from people back home about Medicaid, but they'll get over it.'"

This remark has been widely criticized for its apparent disregard for the welfare of Medicaid beneficiaries, painting McConnell as indifferent to the struggles of low-income Americans relying on the program.

2. Hosts' Reactions and Analysis

Sam Stein voices strong disapproval of McConnell's comment, questioning its severity and intent:

Sam Stein (02:29): "No, I think it's really bad. It just feels like, 'we're all gonna die,' which is really hard to pass."

Tim Miller concurs, emphasizing the insensitivity conveyed in McConnell's words:

Tim Miller (02:49): "McConnell's comment feels like he's both dismissive and authoritarian about Medicaid, showing a lack of genuine concern for the affected individuals."

3. The Republican Strategy and Internal Conflicts

The discussion shifts to the broader Republican strategy in handling the Medicaid cuts within the current legislation. Tim Miller suggests that McConnell and his allies are prioritizing the passage of the bill over its potential negative impacts:

Tim Miller (03:30): "It's just, just totally. Just no concern at all," referring to the neglect shown towards Medicaid recipients.

Sam Stein adds that even within the Republican ranks, there's a nuanced relationship with Medicaid, noting:

Sam Stein (03:30): "It resembles a kind of relic, with old guard Republicans like McConnell distancing themselves from newer Republicans who might have a more favorable view of Medicaid."

4. Impact on Red States and Healthcare Coverage

A significant portion of the conversation centers on how Medicaid cuts will disproportionately affect red states—states that predominantly vote Republican. Tim Miller elaborates on the geographic and political ramifications:

Tim Miller (05:19): "The flyer shows that North Carolina, Virginia, and Louisiana are among the hardest hit, highlighting that these are predominantly red states."

Sam Stein expresses skepticism about whether any Republican, including Thom Tillis and Josh Hawley, will vote against the bill despite its unpopularity due to political pressures:

Sam Stein (05:48): "I have absolutely no confidence that Tillis will vote against this bill, even though he has expressed public reservations."

5. Legislative Process and Lack of Transparency

The hosts critique the Senate's rushed approach to passing the bill, bypassing thorough analyses and hearings:

Tim Miller (07:55): "There have been zero CBO analyses in the Senate bill. This is an insane process."

Sam Stein underscores the severity of the situation, pointing out that the bill is being pushed through without adequate debate or consideration of its consequences:

Sam Stein (07:55): "It's shocking to see how the process is unfolding, forcing Republicans to choose between supporting an unpopular bill or facing political backlash."

6. Trump's Role and Future Political Implications

The conversation touches on former President Trump's influence and the potential fallout for Republican senators:

Tim Miller (09:15): "Trump could have forced their hand to do something more politically popular, but he chose not to, leaving them with this unpopular bill."

Sam Stein speculates on the vulnerability of senators like Tillis, who must navigate the delicate balance between aligning with Trump and addressing their constituents' needs:

Sam Stein (10:02): "Tillis is in a pick-your-poison situation—either align with Trump and face a tough primary or try to distance himself, potentially jeopardizing his re-election."

7. Conclusion: The Road Ahead

As the episode wraps up, Tim Miller and Sam Stein emphasize the high-stakes nature of the upcoming votes and the real-world impact on millions of Americans:

Tim Miller (10:36): "Subscribe to the feed. We care about you. If we do something that upsets you audience, we're not just going to be like, 'you'll get over it.' We hear your concerns, so we appreciate you."

Sam Stein (10:40): "We are all gonna die, but along the way, we do care."

The hosts leave listeners with a poignant reminder of the human element behind legislative decisions, encouraging engagement and awareness of the ongoing political maneuvering.

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Key Takeaways:

• McConnell's Statement: Viewed as dismissive of Medicaid beneficiaries, sparking backlash and concern.
• Republican Strategy: Prioritizing the bill's passage over constituent welfare, leading to internal conflicts.
• Impact on Red States: Disproportionate effects on predominantly Republican states, raising questions about political priorities.
• Legislative Process: Criticized for being rushed and lacking transparency, with minimal analysis.
• Future Implications: Senators like Tillis face tough choices that could influence their political futures and voter trust.

Notable Quotes:

• "This failure isn't an option regarding this bill. It has to pass. No matter what's in it, failure isn't an option." – Mitch McConnell (01:14)

• "I'm not just going to be like, 'you'll get over it.' We hear your concerns, so we appreciate you." – Tim Miller (10:36)

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For those interested in the intricate dynamics of American politics and the real-world implications of legislative decisions, this episode of Bulwark Takes offers a deep and insightful analysis.

Transcript

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[Tim Miller]

No purchase necessary. VGW Group Void where prohibited by law 21 plus terms and conditions apply. Hey everybody, it's Tim Miller from the Bulwark here with managing editor Sam Stein. We got something just across the wire here over on Capitol Hill and it includes possibly like one of the worst, most damaging quotes I've seen from a senator in a while.

[Sam Stein]

Second worst.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, one of the worst and most damaging quotes I've seen from a member of Congress in a while. It comes from Senator Mitch McConnell and it's related to the big turd, the big beautiful bill, whatever we're calling it. And it comes from the folks at Punchbowl News who cover Capitol Hill, as well as almost anybody besides Joe Perdicone. The quote is as follows. It comes McConnell is responding to some concerns that Thom Tillis had had. We'll get to that in a second about the Medicaid cuts in the bill. And McConnell says this failure isn't an option regarding this bill. It has to be pounds. No matter what's in it, failure isn't an option. And then he goes on quote, I know a lot of us are hearing from people back home about Medicaid, but they'll get over it. Yeah, that feels like a quote that sticks around. I know we're hearing about Medicaid, but they'll get over it. It's just, it's such an easy thing to encapsulate the fight against it. These guys do not care. They pretend to be a working class party. They're jamming through a tax cut for the rich. And when you say to them, but what about poor people's health care? Their react, they'll get over it. Am I, am I overstating it?

[Sam Stein]

No, I Think it's really bad. I just don't, I don't know. I, I think it's a second tier just below. We're all gonna die, Jody. Er, it's really, it's hard to really pass. Well, they're gonna die or we're all gonna die. So we're all gonna die because getting over it, you're still alive.

[Tim Miller]

I gotta say, I think McConnell might be worse because Joni earns his comment was just more of like a, I can ask a philosophical comment about how to dust we all to dust we all return. You know, sort of thing, simulation.

[Sam Stein]

Do we even need Medicaid?

[Tim Miller]

And, and, and McConnell is just basically like, it's, it's, it's nice for the Dems. It's got to feel good to have the old crow back as an enemy since he's been like, you know, he's been like a quasi resistance member.

[Sam Stein]

There's something unsettling about. It's like, oh yeah, I forgot about that.

[Tim Miller]

Oh, right. That is why we hated that guy. Oh yeah, that's a reminder. Yeah. I mean it's just, just totally. Just no concern at all.

[Sam Stein]

And also kind of resembles a kind of relic, a little bit of the old guard Republicans, like the new Trumpy MAGA Republicans are super into Medicaid. And you know, you have Josh Hawley and Thom Tillis not really that maga, but he knows that there's tons of Republicans on Medicaid. In fact, if you look at the data, it's more likely that you're going to get Trump voters on Medicaid than Democrats at this point. And so they all know it. But McConnell's. McConnell's not of that era. This is a government program.

[Tim Miller]

It's a country Republican. I think that's right. And the magazine is at least more thinking about how to frame it. Do they actually care about the people on Medicaid anymore? Not a lot of evidence of that so far. But are they conscious of like pandering to them? Yes. And like, you see the ad, there's an ad that's been run and have you seen it? There's an ad that's been run by a Trump super pac. I don't know what we're getting here in Louisiana, but like kind of supporting the bill, trying to prop up this bill, which is very unpopular. And the whole ad frames it as. It's a working class tax cut. You know, this is going to help the working class. Right.

[Sam Stein]

I guess it just means tax on tips.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. No, it's not. Yeah. Yeah, they cite their tax on tips extended. But just the fact that they feel the need to frame it that way, you know, shows they think, they realize it's a vulnerability. And here's Mitch McConnell just being like actually working class people. Healthcare? No thanks.

[Sam Stein]

Well, also Mitch is not running again, so he doesn't really care. Whereas Tillis is up the cycle and he's telling thune apparently get, you know, give me some cover here, Buddy.

[Tim Miller]

Let's go to Tillis, actually, let's just go to what he said and then I'll get your reaction to it. So he had this, this, I guess a flyer that he created for his colleagues. It's kind of nice old school. Go to the meeting, pass out a little flyer.

[Sam Stein]

It does feel a little old school.

[Tim Miller]

Couldn't have emailed.

[Sam Stein]

It could have been an email, Buddy.

[Tim Miller]

So he passed out this flyer and it goes through the states and it' his state, North Carolina has the most Medicaid funds lost. Virginia second. My state, Louisiana is third. Then it kind of goes down the list and it's mostly red states. It's all, it's all red states. It's all red. It's all states. Trump won on those except Virginia. And so I think he's trying to point out to his colleagues here, it's like, guys, this is like we're disproportionately hurting ourselves with this, these cuts. But I don't know.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, well, it's, it's tough to know what to make of it because I don't have any anticipation or, or confidence that Tillis will vote against this bill. Like I don't think gun to the head, you would say, yeah, Tillis will end up voting against this bill even though he's now as public with his own reservations about what's in it. And same with Holly. I mean, Holly's been out there constantly saying, ah, we can't do this, we can't do this. I mean, again, gun to head. Do you think Holly will vote against this bill? So I don't really think so. And you know, maybe that's, remember whatever.

[Tim Miller]

Happened to Ron Johnson? Wasn't he going to vote against this?

[Sam Stein]

He was going to vote against it because it wasn't enough on the deficit. But it's just, let me just lay out. So let me just lay out, I guess the sort of larger picture here for the viewers. It's 3:30 on Tuesday. Basically the Senate is rushing to do a version of their bill that they want to vote on on Friday, maybe over the weekend. And then they're going to tell the House, take it or leave it. And the House will basically have to say we're going to pass nothing or we're going to pass this. And we're at a really high stakes moment here where basically every Republican is going to be forced to either defy Trump or back a bill that many of them say they don't like, or at least components of which they don't like. Untilis will be at the top of that. Holly will be there, too. Johnson, who knows. But there's a number of House members who are going to have to take very difficult votes.

[Tim Miller]

And Tillis is up for reelect.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah. And he's up for. All the House members, obviously are up for reelect, too. I have absolutely no. I mean, I would bet money that this thing passes. And it's shocking to me that the process is playing out this way where you will have huge chunks of Republicans, red states, Republican voters losing their health care coverage with how many hearings in the Senate? Zero. How many CBO analyses in the Senate bill. Have there have been. Have there been. Zero. Will they go to conference between House and Senate to hash out their differences? No. It is an insane process. And for Mitch McConnell to say, you know what, they'll get over it, don't worry about it. That's the premise on which they're passing.

[Tim Miller]

Amy's right. They have gotten over a lot. I guess the only thing I'd hand.

[Sam Stein]

Although I will say, are you a little surprised? But I guess I was a little surprised. Things in the aggregate are actually, I wouldn't. I'm not trying to say it's been a great month for Trump, but it's been a better than expected week for Trump. And yet the polling data and maybe just hasn't caught up. His polling data has never been worse. So I don't know, maybe people aren't over it.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. I just basically have a personal policy where I'm going to just not ignore pollution. Yeah. Well, I know Trump's approval rating polls for this year because I just think that it's a lot of noise. There's a lot of shit happening. It doesn't matter that much. But I hear you though. It's. I think it's at least possible there's some people not getting over it.

[Sam Stein]

Sure.

[Tim Miller]

I want to. Just the one thing about the Hill, I sort of want to point about the Hill side of it, which you brought up, which is like this. It's basically being passed through inertia, like the first part of the McConnell quote is really the operative part. Failure is not. Isn't an option. But this just takes me back to the original kind of point of like, they could have just extended the Trump tax cuts, threw a no tax on tips. On top of that, you know, cut a few unpopular things that don't actually cost that much money, but, you know, things that aren't popular, the base and just called it and.

[Sam Stein]

Well, they had to pay for it. No, they had to pay for it. Yes, under the reconciliation rules.

[Tim Miller]

They could have created their own reconciliation rules. They. They run the House and the Senate.

[Sam Stein]

I know, but they. I don't. I guess in that. In theory.

[Tim Miller]

I guess my point is they could have put something up that had less political pain than this. Like, it's. It's pretty interesting.

[Sam Stein]

But they want. But a lot of them want to cut Medicaid. Isn't that the point? I mean, that's the point, but I.

[Tim Miller]

Guess it's a lack of leadership from Trump. I guess what I'm saying. Trump could have forced their hand to, like, do something more politically popular, and he chose not to. So here they are.

[Sam Stein]

No, I 100% agree with that. And on top of that, I mean, he could have done. He could have gone full Bannon and, like, you know, paid for some of this no tax on tips, no tax on overtime by saying, yeah, we'll raise taxes on, like, the very, very wealthiest, which is what Bannon was arguing. Do that.

[Tim Miller]

Well, I think that's a quote that's going to stick around for a while. It'll be interesting to watch Tillis in the coming weeks.

[Sam Stein]

But how will he get out of this one? How could he possibly vote yes?

[Tim Miller]

Well, he's going to vote yes, but, I mean, I think it's going to be. It's either going to be. Tom Tillis is kind of in a pick your poison situation. He can either ride with Trump and have an ugly primary, or, excuse me, and have an ugly general, or try to triangulate away from Trump and probably have an ugly primary. Um, and so I think that's. He's just kind of stuck there. All right, we'll keep watching it. Subscribe to the feed. We care about you. You know, we know if. If we do something that upsets you audience, we're not just going to be like, you'll get over it. All right? We, We. We hear your concerns, so we appreciate you.

[Sam Stein]

You know, we are all gonna die, but along the way, we do care. Yes.

[Tim Miller]

Not the bulwark. So we'll see you guys soon. Tell your friends. Bye.

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[Tim Miller]

Thank you for calling Amica Insurance. Hey, I was just in an accident. Don't worry. We'll get you taken care of.

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Tim Miller]

No purchase necessary. VGW Group void where prohibited by law, 21/ terms and conditions apply.