June 29, 2025

For those not well off, Trump's Big Beautiful Bill's message is "let them eat cake." By Hal M. Brown


 While there’s no evidence Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake" (the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche") upon being told that the peasants had no bread. The French phrase mentions brioche, a bread enriched with butter and eggs, considered a luxury food. The quote is taken to reflect either the princess's frivolous disregard for the starving peasants or her poor understanding of their plight. (Wikipedia)

In the case of Trump, he understands the plight of those his policies hurt. Depending who they are, he either doesn’t care or is happy that he has caused them to suffer.

Fleshing out what I mean by offering examples of how Turmp’s policies hurt people, and what Big Beautiful Bill will do to so many, seems superfluous since the meaning ought to be obvious and this is all over the non-Trumpian media news.

I’m not a student of French history which is why, as I wrote this, I had to look up Marie Antoinette on Wikipedia to find out the following:

As queen, Marie Antoinette became increasingly a target of criticism by opponents of the domestic and foreign policies of Louis XVI and those opposed to the monarchy in general. The French libelles accused her of being profligate,promiscuous, having illegitimate children, and harboring sympathies for France's perceived enemies, including her native Austria. She was falsely accused of defrauding the Crown's jewelers in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, but the accusations damaged her reputation further. During the French Revolution, she became known as Madame Déficit because the country's financial crisis was blamed on her lavish spending and her opposition to social and financial reforms…

I suppose you can say that any similarities to President of the United States Donald J. Trump are purely coincidential. Most people know what her ulimtate fate was:

You’ve probably seen the above painting as it is often used online. Here’s a Google Image search.

Trump won’t suffer a violent and ignominious demise. If he falls from grace, the worst thing that will happen to him, no matter how many people he hurts, will be to retire to live a life of luxury at Mar a Lago surrounded by people who treat him like a king who was treated horribly by his enemies.

I suppose he could get embarrassingly fat by eating all that cake.

The vainglorious preening narcissist might ban photographers from his golf outing,s but this won’t stop cartoonists. (These are AI from Perchance)

Alas, this may prove to have been wishful thinking. Even though yesterday I tried to think of a best case scenario (link here), I fear that at 81 years of age I won’t live to see America return to the democracy I enjoyed all of my life. I dread thinking what kind of country today’s children will grow up to adulthood in.

With what seems to be only minor bumps in the road to autocracy Trump’s brag about never getting tired of winning seems to be holding true. (Reference)

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For those not well off, Trump's Big Beautiful Bill's message is "let them eat cake." By Hal M. Brown

 While there’s no evidence Marie Antoinette said " Let them eat cake " (the traditional translation of the French phrase " Qu...