By definition, “smash-and-grab” robberies are perpetrated in a hurry. Thieves shatter a storefront window, break a display case or breach a back door and snatch whatever they can run away with.
The haste of the heist reflects the fear of being caught and held accountable under the rule of law. If only our lawmakers had the same trepidation about looting programs that serve their most vulnerable constituents to fund tax cuts for billionaires.
Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is as odd as it is ugly — a time-lapse smash-and-grab robbery of wealth, health and power committed in broad daylight. Trump needed 51 accomplices to get away with it. Our Pennsylvania senator from Connecticut was all in and stands to collect a hefty cut of the haul.
Multimillionaire MAGA Republican Dave McCormick sold out with a smile. MAGA Republican Reps. Rob Bresnahan and Dan Meuser — also multimillionaires — rubber-stamped Trump’s smash-and-grab wish list months ago, and will surely do so again. The House is expected to vote on the Senate-revised version of the bill, which as of Tuesday still read like a codification of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
The inflatable fat cat served as a backdrop for speakers at the protest outside of Rep.Rob Bresnahan’s office on Washington St. in Scranton on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
Protesters snap photos of Eric Skelton’s inflatable while rallying outside of Rep.Rob Bresnahan’s office on Washington St. in Scranton on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Skelton came out to in attempts to “save as much of the traditional safety net” as possible. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
Action Together NEPA Communications and Organizing Director Jessica Brittain led the crowd gathered outside outside of Rep.Rob Bresnahan’s office in chants to express their opposition to the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ on Washington St. in Scranton on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
Executive Director of Action Together NEPA Alisha Hoffman-Mirilovich voiced her concerns about the potential impacts to healthcare in the area with the passing of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ to the crowd gathered outside of Rep.Rob Bresnahan’s office on Washington St. in Scranton on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
Chris Kelly (TIMES-TRIBUNE FILE)
The wealthy PACs who back Bresnahan — who vowed never to accept cuts to Medicaid and voted for them anyway — are behind a recent political ad blitz painting the freshman congressman as a champion of the working class and a protector of constituents who rely on the Medicaid and SNAP benefits he helped gut.
The desperate, dishonest spots may placate the MAGA cult, but they didn’t play with protestors who peacefully assembled outside Bresnahan’s Scranton office Tuesday.
“Hands off Medicaid, hands off SNAP!” chanted the crowd of about 50. “Make the billionaires pay their tax!”
A downtown protest at 2 p.m. on a tropical Tuesday is a tough sell, but the crowd grew steadily as speakers blasted Bresnahan, McCormick and Trump’s big ugly bill. The crowd was lively despite the news that the Senate passed the bill 50-51 about an hour earlier. Jessica Brittain of Action Together NEPA, a progressive nonprofit, led with the bad news, calling out McCormick and Bresnahan for their votes. Somehow, Meuser escaped mention.
“No one’s surprised that he (McCormick) voted yes, because where does he reside?” Brittain asked.
“Connecticut!” the crowd answered.
“Where else does he reside?” Brittain continued. “In Trump’s back pocket! You know where he doesn’t reside?”
“Pennsylvania!” the crowd replied.
Brittain turned her focus to Bresnahan, who was represented in effigy by an inflatable “fatcat” smoking a cigar and a nightmarish clown on stilts.
“Bresnahan promised his constituents multiple times that he would not vote for anything to cut Medicaid,” she said. “What happens next? This bill goes right back to the House, where he has an opportunity to make a big decision for his constituents. Is he going to vote — for a fourth time — to cut Medicaid and break his promises, or is he going to do the right thing and vote no?”
That’s a rhetorical question, of course. What’s that old saw? “Democrats fall in love; Republicans fall in line.” Even when their dear leader is marching Our Republic over a cliff.
Trump wants to sign his One Big Beautiful Bill into law Friday, the Fourth of July, which is the cherry on top of this septic sundae. On the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, America will crown its first king, steal from the sick, poor and middle class to reward the rich and explode the deficit, robbing generations of Americans stuck paying the unsustainable bill.
Bresnahan, Meuser and McCormick will continue to claim that’s not what they voted for, but talk is cheap. Lies are expensive. Until now, Trump voters have been spared any costly consequences for electing a convicted conman president. They’re about to get what they voted for — a time-lapse smash-and-grab robbery in broad daylight. When they deny their complicity, don’t argue.
Show them the receipts.
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, saw it all and will testify. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.