Think you know Trump’s new bill? Try this big, beautiful quiz.
Think you know Trump’s new bill? Try this big, beautiful quiz.
By Lawrence Douglas/The Guardian
Thu 10 Jul 2025 06.00 EDT.
The legislation may be the most regressive tax measure in US history – but at least Ice should be happy.
1. In making permanent the Trump tax cuts of 2017, which had been set to expire later this year, the so-called "big, beautiful bill" is perhaps the most regressive tax measure in American history, transferring huge sums of money from the poorest Americans to the richest. On average, Americans in the top 0.1% of earners stand to receive a $300,000 annual tax break, while the poorest 20% stand to lose about $560 per year. Making these cuts permanent will blow a hole in the federal deficit but fiscally makes sense because:
A. As Trump noted: “After this kicks in, our country is going to be a rocket ship economically.”
B. While economists have shown that the tax cuts championed by every Republican president beginning with Ronald Reagan have never contributed to wage growth or a sustained boom in investment, that’s only because the cuts were never quite massive enough.
C. The price of super-yachts has gone up a lot in the last couple of years.
D. The redistributive welfare schemes of Marxist freaks like presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden had permitted the bottom 40% of American households to gain control of a whopping 0.4% of total household net worth.
Answer: D. The redistributive welfare schemes of Marxist freaks like presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden had permitted the bottom 40% of American households to gain control of a whopping 0.4% of total household net worth.
2. During the Biden administration, Republican “fiscal hawks” – including senators Mike Lee (Utah), Rick Scott (Florida) and Ted Cruz (Texas), and representatives Chip Roy (Texas), Andy Biggs (Arizona), and Ralph Norman (South Carolina) – were prepared to let the US default on its national debt rather than raise the debt ceiling by even a single dollar unless congressional Democrats were prepared to accept draconian budget cuts. These same GOP lawmakers voted in support of Trump's big bill that raises the debt ceiling by an astonishing $5tn and promises to add some $3.4tn to the federal deficit. They did so because:
A. Having recently attended a seminar on liberal Keynesian economics held at Harvard University, they claim to have now come to appreciate the wisdom in deficit spending.
B. They blamed congressional Democrats for hiding the increase in the bill’s fine print.
C. They said they confused trillions with billions, with one lawmaker saying: “Who can keep track of all those zeroes?”
D. They have mastered the art of suppressing the normal human shame that comes from acting in a transparently hypocritical fashion.
Answer: D. They have mastered the art of suppressing the normal human shame that comes from acting in a transparently hypocritical fashion.
3.A largely overlooked feature of Trump's bill is its elimination of the longstanding tax on the purchase of:
A. Textbooks and other necessary school supplies.
B. Feminine hygiene products.
C. Firearm silencers.
D. Insulin pumps, medical thermometers and hearing aids.
E. Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.
Answer: C. Firearm silencers.
4.In making 4m acres of federal land available for coal leasing and in eliminating virtually all the clean energy tax incentives passed during the Biden administration, Trump's bill will, according to experts, reap the greatest economic benefit for which country?
A. The United States
B. Guinea-Bissau
C. Chad
D. China
E. Seychelles
Answer: D. China
5. Although Elon Musk's “department of government efficiency” (Doge) had previously drastically slashed the staffing of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), canceling at least 1,200 grants meant to support cultural and academic projects, Trump's bill provides $40m to the NEH to be spent on commissioning statutes for one of the president’s pet projects, a “Garden of Heroes”. The following pair of great American heroes are all candidates for Trump’s planned garden except:
A. Cy Young and Kobe Bryant
B. John Wayne and Alex Trebek
C. Earl Warren and Web Du Bois
D. Sam Walton and Vince Lombardi
E. Antonin Scalia and William F Buckley Jr.
Answer: C. Earl Warren and Web du Boris.
6.While stripping Medicaid of $1tn in financing with the likely result that over 11 million Americans will lose access to health insurance, Trump's bill appropriates an astonishing $170bn for immigration enforcement. This exceeds the annual defense spending of which nation?
A. Russia
B. Germany
C. India
D. The United Kingdom
E. All of the above
Answer: E. All of the above.
7. The $30bn specifically targeted for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) will triple its current budget. This will give Ice a budget larger than which federal law enforcement agency?
A. FBI
B. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
C. US Marshals Service
D. Bureau of Prisons
E. All of the above combined.
Answer: E. All of the above combined.
8. Included in the Trump bill's $170bn for immigration enforcement, about $45bn is earmarked for building and maintaining new Ice detention facilities. This would more than double Ice’s detention capacity, permitting the agency to detain about 120,000 people at any given moment. This expansion is desperately needed because, of the 56,000 people presently in Ice detention:
A. The overwhelming number are, as Stephen Miller declared: “the most heinous of the most heinous” –convicted murderers, serial rapists and known terrorists.
B. The great majority, though perhaps not super dangerous, nonetheless are copiously tattooed, though perhaps not as copiously as Pete Hegseth.
C. 70% have never been charged with a crime, a fact that suggests these folks are experts at deviously avoiding detection by law enforcement.
D. Fewer than 10% have ever been charged with a serious crime, a fact that suggests there is no need for this radical expansion – unless Miller’s underlying agenda is to unleash masked shock troops on the streets of America who will throw a “whole society of really honorable, decent, family-loving people”, as George W Bush described them, into a network of detention centers.
Answer: D. Fewer than 10% have ever been charged with a serious crime, a fact that suggests there is no need for this radical expansion – unless Miller’s underlying agenda is to unleash masked shock troops on the streets of America who will throw a “whole society of really honorable, decent, family-loving people”, as George W Bush described them, into a network of detention centers.
9. Confronted with polling that shows that Americans disapprove of the "big, beautiful bill" by nearly a two-to-one margin, Trump insisted:
A. "It’s the most popular bill ever signed.”
B. “If you see anything negative. . .it’s all a con job.”
C. The negative numbers are the work of Democrats “because they hate Trump. But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them … because I really believe they hate our country.”
D. All of the above.
Answer: D. All of the above.
10. Democrats are confident that the unpopularity of Trump's bill will permit them to recapture Congress in 2026. This hope seems clearly warranted because:
A American voters have a long political memory and a demonstrated capacity to connect cause with effect.
B. Even diehard Maga supporters will be able to see that their beloved leader has sold them a bill of goods.
C. Pushing through tax breaks for billionaires while sticking it to poorer Americans has always cost Republicans at the polls.
D. Really, what else do they have?
Answer D. Really, what else do they have?
By Lawrence Douglas/The Guardian
Thu 10 Jul 2025 06.00 EDT.
The legislation may be the most regressive tax measure in US history – but at least Ice should be happy.
1. In making permanent the Trump tax cuts of 2017, which had been set to expire later this year, the so-called "big, beautiful bill" is perhaps the most regressive tax measure in American history, transferring huge sums of money from the poorest Americans to the richest. On average, Americans in the top 0.1% of earners stand to receive a $300,000 annual tax break, while the poorest 20% stand to lose about $560 per year. Making these cuts permanent will blow a hole in the federal deficit but fiscally makes sense because:
A. As Trump noted: “After this kicks in, our country is going to be a rocket ship economically.”
B. While economists have shown that the tax cuts championed by every Republican president beginning with Ronald Reagan have never contributed to wage growth or a sustained boom in investment, that’s only because the cuts were never quite massive enough.
C. The price of super-yachts has gone up a lot in the last couple of years.
D. The redistributive welfare schemes of Marxist freaks like presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden had permitted the bottom 40% of American households to gain control of a whopping 0.4% of total household net worth.
Answer: D. The redistributive welfare schemes of Marxist freaks like presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden had permitted the bottom 40% of American households to gain control of a whopping 0.4% of total household net worth.
2. During the Biden administration, Republican “fiscal hawks” – including senators Mike Lee (Utah), Rick Scott (Florida) and Ted Cruz (Texas), and representatives Chip Roy (Texas), Andy Biggs (Arizona), and Ralph Norman (South Carolina) – were prepared to let the US default on its national debt rather than raise the debt ceiling by even a single dollar unless congressional Democrats were prepared to accept draconian budget cuts. These same GOP lawmakers voted in support of Trump's big bill that raises the debt ceiling by an astonishing $5tn and promises to add some $3.4tn to the federal deficit. They did so because:
A. Having recently attended a seminar on liberal Keynesian economics held at Harvard University, they claim to have now come to appreciate the wisdom in deficit spending.
B. They blamed congressional Democrats for hiding the increase in the bill’s fine print.
C. They said they confused trillions with billions, with one lawmaker saying: “Who can keep track of all those zeroes?”
D. They have mastered the art of suppressing the normal human shame that comes from acting in a transparently hypocritical fashion.
Answer: D. They have mastered the art of suppressing the normal human shame that comes from acting in a transparently hypocritical fashion.
3.A largely overlooked feature of Trump's bill is its elimination of the longstanding tax on the purchase of:
A. Textbooks and other necessary school supplies.
B. Feminine hygiene products.
C. Firearm silencers.
D. Insulin pumps, medical thermometers and hearing aids.
E. Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.
Answer: C. Firearm silencers.
4.In making 4m acres of federal land available for coal leasing and in eliminating virtually all the clean energy tax incentives passed during the Biden administration, Trump's bill will, according to experts, reap the greatest economic benefit for which country?
A. The United States
B. Guinea-Bissau
C. Chad
D. China
E. Seychelles
Answer: D. China
5. Although Elon Musk's “department of government efficiency” (Doge) had previously drastically slashed the staffing of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), canceling at least 1,200 grants meant to support cultural and academic projects, Trump's bill provides $40m to the NEH to be spent on commissioning statutes for one of the president’s pet projects, a “Garden of Heroes”. The following pair of great American heroes are all candidates for Trump’s planned garden except:
A. Cy Young and Kobe Bryant
B. John Wayne and Alex Trebek
C. Earl Warren and Web Du Bois
D. Sam Walton and Vince Lombardi
E. Antonin Scalia and William F Buckley Jr.
Answer: C. Earl Warren and Web du Boris.
6.While stripping Medicaid of $1tn in financing with the likely result that over 11 million Americans will lose access to health insurance, Trump's bill appropriates an astonishing $170bn for immigration enforcement. This exceeds the annual defense spending of which nation?
A. Russia
B. Germany
C. India
D. The United Kingdom
E. All of the above
Answer: E. All of the above.
7. The $30bn specifically targeted for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) will triple its current budget. This will give Ice a budget larger than which federal law enforcement agency?
A. FBI
B. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
C. US Marshals Service
D. Bureau of Prisons
E. All of the above combined.
Answer: E. All of the above combined.
8. Included in the Trump bill's $170bn for immigration enforcement, about $45bn is earmarked for building and maintaining new Ice detention facilities. This would more than double Ice’s detention capacity, permitting the agency to detain about 120,000 people at any given moment. This expansion is desperately needed because, of the 56,000 people presently in Ice detention:
A. The overwhelming number are, as Stephen Miller declared: “the most heinous of the most heinous” –convicted murderers, serial rapists and known terrorists.
B. The great majority, though perhaps not super dangerous, nonetheless are copiously tattooed, though perhaps not as copiously as Pete Hegseth.
C. 70% have never been charged with a crime, a fact that suggests these folks are experts at deviously avoiding detection by law enforcement.
D. Fewer than 10% have ever been charged with a serious crime, a fact that suggests there is no need for this radical expansion – unless Miller’s underlying agenda is to unleash masked shock troops on the streets of America who will throw a “whole society of really honorable, decent, family-loving people”, as George W Bush described them, into a network of detention centers.
Answer: D. Fewer than 10% have ever been charged with a serious crime, a fact that suggests there is no need for this radical expansion – unless Miller’s underlying agenda is to unleash masked shock troops on the streets of America who will throw a “whole society of really honorable, decent, family-loving people”, as George W Bush described them, into a network of detention centers.
9. Confronted with polling that shows that Americans disapprove of the "big, beautiful bill" by nearly a two-to-one margin, Trump insisted:
A. "It’s the most popular bill ever signed.”
B. “If you see anything negative. . .it’s all a con job.”
C. The negative numbers are the work of Democrats “because they hate Trump. But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them … because I really believe they hate our country.”
D. All of the above.
Answer: D. All of the above.
10. Democrats are confident that the unpopularity of Trump's bill will permit them to recapture Congress in 2026. This hope seems clearly warranted because:
A American voters have a long political memory and a demonstrated capacity to connect cause with effect.
B. Even diehard Maga supporters will be able to see that their beloved leader has sold them a bill of goods.
C. Pushing through tax breaks for billionaires while sticking it to poorer Americans has always cost Republicans at the polls.
D. Really, what else do they have?
Answer D. Really, what else do they have?
