The budget Trump endorsed would require cuts to Medicaid so extreme that it would surely force states—which administer the program—to either make up for the loss of federal subsidies or kick many recipients out of the program. Those cuts would then be used to help extend the tax cuts Republicans passed in 2017, which primarily benefitted the wealthy.

According to a July 2024 report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank:

Households with incomes in the top 1 percent will receive an average tax cut of more than $60,000 in 2025, compared to an average tax cut of less than $500 for households in the bottom 60 percent, according to the Tax Policy Center (TPC). As a share of after-tax income, tax cuts at the top—for both households in the top 1 percent and the top 5 percent—are more than triple the total value of the tax cuts received for people with incomes in the bottom 60 percent.

Trump’s endorsement of the House GOP budget plan came just hours after he said in an interview with sycophantic Fox News host Sean Hannity that he wouldn't touch Medicaid.

“Medicare, Medicaid—none of that stuff is going to be touched," Trump said, an apparent lie if he wants the House Republican budget to pass.

"It's difficult to reconcile President Trump's vow to 'love and cherish' Medicaid with his endorsement of the House budget that would cut over $800 billion from the program. Cuts of that magnitude go well beyond eliminating fraud and abuse," Larry Levitt, executive vice president of health policy at KFF, said in a post on X.

Before Trump’s endorsement, the House budget appeared to be in trouble, with multiple GOP lawmakers in competitive House seats balking at the idea of stripping health care away from their constituents, Politico reported.

From Politico’s report:

The vulnerable incumbents wary of slashing Medicaid services include Reps. David Valadao of California, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania. Others like Nicole Malliotakis of New York from redder districts have also raised concerns. They were generally blindsided by the deeper level of proposed cuts, a Republican said, as that possibility never came up in earlier discussions with GOP leaders.

With the narrow majority Republicans have in the House, they can afford to lose just one vote and have the budget pass.

Of course, Trump's endorsement of the proposed budget could breathe life into House GOP leadership's efforts since Republican lawmakers have so far refused to stand up to Trump out of fear.

Even if the bill does pass the House, it would then have to pass the Senate, where Republicans are also criticizing the House bill.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told HuffPost on Tuesday that he does not support the kind of massive Medicaid cuts that the House budget calls for.

“I would not do severe cuts to Medicaid,” Hawley said of the program, which voters in his deep red state voted in 2020 to expand to cover an additional 460,000 people in the state.

In sum, Republicans are in disarray. Who could’ve seen that coming?