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GOP Raids Medicaid to Make Oligarchs Even Richer - The Wednesday AM Quickie 2/26/25

By Corey Pein —

Good news! Scientists now say that newly discovered asteroid will not strike the Earth in 2032 after all. Sorry if you already placed your bets on that one. - Corey

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THE BIG NEWS

House GOP Plunders Medicaid as Elon Musk Takes His Chainsaw to Social Security and Veterans Benefits

Prosecutors in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, are dismissing a citation against Teresa Borrenpohl, the former Democratic candidate who was dragged from a town hall meeting on Saturday by men in black shirts after she heckled local Republican officials. The city also yanked the license of the security company that employed the goons. At similar meetings across the country, Americans are telling elected officials that they reject the Republican agenda that's busily replacing civic institutions with a far-right oligarchy – but Republicans are covering their ears. "I've not heard anyone say they don't want to cut anything. It's just that they don't like Elon [Musk]. That it's," Oklahoma GOP Rep. Kevin Hern, whose flaccid responses to constituent questions drew groans last week, tells NBC News. "We're moving forward with the cuts."

Ah yes, "the cuts." What a quaint way of describing the destruction and plunder of America's public institutions. House Republicans yesterday passed a budget that pays for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to further enrich the wealthy with $2 trillion in federal spending cuts that will punish the poor – including an estimated $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries calls it "the largest Medicaid cut in American history" and says "we are not going to stand for it one minute." Food stamps are also on the chopping block, with the GOP budget calling for $230 billion in cuts to the agriculture committee. Among Republicans, fiscal responsibility is out – their budget will add more than $11 trillion to the national debt – and smash-and-grab kleptocracy is in. It's no wonder they're blowing off constituents. What they're doing is indefensible.

Meanwhile, ProPublica reports, Elon Musk's chaos cronies at DOGE are meddling with the Social Security Administration and threatening to implement "catastrophic" closures and staff cuts that will ruin millions of people's lives. And per the Washington Post, Musk minions "have in recent days directed the Department of Veterans Affairs to cut more than 800 existing federal contracts" – "including those that help to provide medical services, recruit doctors and provide burial services to veterans." Musk's rampage has Trump's blessing, even though Musk reportedly called Trump "a fucking moron" behind his back at their first White House meeting. The blowback is starting to make some Republicans nervous. But make no mistake: their party empowered Musk and shares his agenda. They are accomplices in this wholesale thievery. And every day this madness goes on, they violate their oaths to the Constitution.

Ukraine May Agree This Week to Trump Shakedown Deal Without Security Guarantees

Donald Trump says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with him on Friday to sign away his country's natural resources in response to the new, pro-Russian American policy of "protection racket" diplomacy. Zelenskyy previously vowed not to sign "something that 10 generations of Ukrainians will have to repay." But with the Ukraine's key ally, the US, effectively switching sides in the war thanks to Trump, Zelesnkyy effectively had no choice. The precise terms of the deal are as yet unknown; it may give the US a 50 percent share of the profits from Ukrainian natural resources. One thing is certain, according to the Associated Press: the deal does not include any security guarantees for Ukraine, which may now be forced to rely on European allies for military aid. Aspiring Tsar Vladimir Putin has also reportedly offered to sell the US Ukrainian minerals from territories seized by Russia, the center of Trump's new axis.

Trumpocalypse, Con't.: Teachers Union Sues Education Department Over Civil Rights Rollback

  • Imagine What Republicans Would Say If a Democratic President Purged the Military, the FBI, and Intel Agencies All at Once Incoming FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, who calls the Bureau "irredeemably corrupt," is still hosting his podcast, and selling discounted health supplements that he says provide "nutritional armor for your body." via the Washington Post, NBC News, the New York Times, and Politico.
  • Trump Yanks Security Clearances from Lawyers at Firm Representing Former DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith Meanwhile, the Justice Department this week argued for the release of Jan. 6 insurrectionist Jeremy Brown, who was pardoned by Trump, and is serving a seven-year sentance on unrelated charges including posession of illegal weapons like "grenades, a modified AR-15-style rifle, a sawed-off shotgun," and having stolen a classified report when he left the Army. via the New York Times and Politico.
  • Judge Orders Administration to Release Billions of Dollars in USAID Funds By Midnight After Trump Flunkies Ignored His Previous Order The unlawful delays in the disbursement of foreign aid has "wreaked havoc on some of the world's poorest and sickest communities." via the Washington Post and the Guardian.
  • Looking Good, Sir! White House Says Giant Bruise on Trump's Swollen Hand Is a Mark of His Unwavering Commitment to the People Trump, who refuses to release his medical records, "has bruises on his hand because he's constantly working and shaking hands all day every day," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explains. via NBC News and the AP.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Israel Bombs Syria After New Government Demands It Withdraw Troops Meanwhile, the Gaza ceasefire will hold for a few more days as Israel and Hamas agreed to exchange more dead bodies of hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. via the New York Times and the Associated Press.
  • FAA Reports Near Misses for Commercial Aircraft Landing in Washington, DC and Chicago "The past few weeks have seen four major aviation disasters in North America"; Trump's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy put out a statement blaming the pilots, before any investigation has been completed. via the New York Times and the AP.
  • 'This Is Outrageous': Chilean President Gabriel Boric Blames Power Companies for Nationwide Blackout Boric ordered a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew after the outages knocked out traffic lights, transit services, mobile phone services, and the internet. via CNN and the AP.
  • US Dockworkers Win Contract with Big Pay Increases and Protections Against Automation "'The only way they would have gotten a deal like this was through striking, showing that they had the economic power and, it turns out, the political power,' said William Brucher, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations." via the New York Times.

SOME NUMBER

$5 million

That's how much Donald Trump wants to charge for "gold card" visas that would give wealthy foreigners – including, he says, Russian oligarchs, some of whom are "very nice people" – US residency and "a route to citizenship." Meanwhile, Trump's Homeland Security Department announced it was creating a mandatory registry of undocumented immigrants; failure to register will be considered a crime, but advocates warn that the registry will be used to target people, including children, for detention and deportation.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

2/26: It's Hump Day!

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Hannity Struggles Defending Trump's Firing of Military Vets

These stories are only going to multiply.

Trans TV Star's Passport Changed By Trump Order Requiring Sex Assigned at Birth

That's Hunter Schafer of Euphoria fame.

PARTING WORDS

"They're going to fear us no matter what. So let the fear come from a place of reality."

-- May Alejandro Rodriguez, a 21-year-old Mexican American transgender college student in Washington State, speaking to the Washington Post about her decision to buy a gun after the election of Donald Trump, in response to growing threats from the right to trans people's safety, health, and right to exist.

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