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Trump Tariffs Are Already Throwing Americans Out Of Their Jobs

Trump Tariffs Are Already Throwing Americans Out Of Their Jobs

On Thursday —one day after President Donald Trump’s self-branded "Liberation Day"— 900 auto workers in Michigan and Indiana were “liberated” from their jobs, thanks to Trump’s new tariffs.

Stellantis NV, which manufactures Ram trucks and Jeeps, announced on Thursday that 900 U.S. workers across five facilities were being temporarily laid off, directly citing Trump’s 25% tariffs on imported cars as the cause.

"With the new automotive sector tariffs now in effect, it will take our collective resilience and discipline to push through this challenging time. But we will quickly adapt to these policy changes and will protect our company, maintain our competitive edge and continue delivering great products to our customers,” Antonio Filosa, chief operating officer of Stellantis North America, said.

The news broke as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on CBS News to declare that employment will boom because of Trump's sweeping tariffs.

"You're going to see employment leaping starting today," he said.

Meanwhile, economists were lighting their hair on fire to warn just how damaging Trump's tariff policy will actually be.

“Monstrously destructive, incoherent, ill-informed tariffs based on fabrications, imagined wrongs, discredited theories and ignorance of decades of evidence. And the real tragedy is that they will hurt working Americans more than anyone else,” Justin Wolfers, an economics professor at the University of Michigan, wrote on X.

And, with approximately 134 million households across the United States, Trump’s tariffs will amount to a $5,000 tax increase on every household, according to Wolfers.

The stock market is also responding in kind, with the markets losing more than 3% of their value since Thursday's opening bell.

Democrats, for their part, are calling on their congressional Republican counterparts to stand up to Trump and demand that he rescind his tariffs and put an end to the economic destruction.

"Trump’s idiotic economic policies are driving the world toward a global downturn. Instead of lifting a finger to stop it, House Republicans canceled votes after less than 24 hours of work this week & went home—refusing to stand up to Trump while American families pay the price," Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York wrote on X.

In a surprising move, four Senate Republicans joined Democrats in rebuking Trump’s tariffs on Canada Wednesday, but the House is not expected to move on that legislation, which Trump said he would veto anyway.

And on Thursday, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa joined Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington in introducing a bill that would require the president to notify Congress of tariffs, allowing Congress 60 days to approve or deny them.

“For too long, Congress has delegated its clear authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce to the executive branch. Building on my previous efforts as Finance Committee Chairman, I’m joining Senator Cantwell to introduce the bipartisan Trade Review Act of 2025 to reassert Congress’ constitutional role and ensure Congress has a voice in trade policy,” their news release said.

But even if this passes in the Senate, it’s difficult to see it passing in the House or avoiding a veto from Trump, who has shown no signs of lifting his tariffs.

“I don't think there's any chance Trump is gonna back off his tariffs,” Lutnick said on CNN. “This is the reordering of global trade.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Reacting To Trump Economic Policies, Consumer Anxiety Surges

Reacting To Trump Economic Policies, Consumer Anxiety Surges

President Donald Trump's foolish and chaotic economic policy is paralyzing the economy and causing consumer sentiment to plummet—ratcheting up the odds that the United States descends into a full-blown recession, experts said Friday.

The warnings came as the University of Michigan said that consumer sentiment dramatically fell in March, dropping 12 percent from February as consumers of all political stripes said they expect the economy to get worse in the coming year, according to data released by the University of Michigan.


“Republicans joined independents and Democrats in expressing worsening expectations since February for their personal finances, business conditions, unemployment, and inflation,” the University of Michigan said in its monthly survey of consumers. “Consumers continue to worry about the potential for pain amid ongoing economic policy developments. Notably, two-thirds of consumers expect unemployment to rise in the year ahead, the highest reading since 2009.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta said Friday that it expects the U.S. economy will have shrunk 2.8 percent in the first three months of 2024—marking a steep decline since Trump took office, when the bank predicted the economy would continue on a growth trajectory.

Even worse is that inflation ticked up in February for the fourth straight month, increasing 0.4 percent even before Trump's idiotic tariffs go into place—which economists say will only worsen the price increases.

Ultimately, the new data points have economists fearing that Trump's policies are going to send the economy off a cliff as both companies and consumers scale back because they are spooked by Trump's chaos.

“There is no other conclusion possible other than the Trump 2.0 economic policies are frightening consumers as much as they do corporations,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at FwdBonds, CNN reported. “The economy is going to stall out if not something worse if Washington policymakers are not careful.”

Meanwhile, Washington Post economic columnist Heather Long said that consumer sentiment falling off a cliff could lead Americans to stop spending—which could plunge the economy into recession as the economy is largely dependent upon consumers opening their wallets.

"This is one of the scariest charts I've seen in awhile," Long wrote in a post on X of the consumer sentiment index. "In the 'vibe-cession' under Biden, people gave the economy poor grades. But they were generally optimistic about their personal finances (esp the rich). Under Trump 2025, people at all income levels are worried they will be worse off in a year. This is the type of situation that causes people to really pull back on spending. This is what is different than 2023 or 2024."

Forbesreported in February that consumer spending makes up about 70 percent of the U.S. economy. From the report:

When spending grows, so does the economy. The economy slows when consumers keep their money in their pockets. When spending increases, companies see more business and eventually need more help. As spending trails off, companies eventually postpone hiring. If markets get worse, executives eventually lay off workers.

So if consumers actually stop spending—either because of real or predicted price increases from Trump’s tariffs—that could lead to economic disaster.

Ultimately, amid the negative news about the economy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday plummeted more than 700 points as of press time, continuing the market's plunge that began when Trump first started announcing his tariff intentions.

“Republicans are raising costs, crashing the economy and driving us into a recession,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a post on X. “What happened to bringing about the golden age of America?”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Elon Musk

How Trump And Musk Wrecked Social Security Program In Just Two Months

President Donald Trump and co-President Elon Musk's cuts to the Social Security Administration's workforce and operations have caused massive problems for the popular social safety net program that 73 million Americans depend on to afford their basic cost of living.

The Washington Post published a bombshell report on Tuesday, detailing the problems Musk has caused at the Social Security Administration through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

From the report:

The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts because the servers were overloaded. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones at the front desk as receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. But the agency no longer has a system to monitor customers’ experience with these services, because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk.[…]

The turmoil is leaving many retirees, disabled claimants and legal immigrants who need Social Security cards with less access or shut out of the system altogether, according to those familiar with the problems.

The problems are thanks to a myriad of choices Musk has made to how the agency runs.

The Social Security Administration plans to cut roughly 7,000 employees—or 12 percent of its workforce—which current and former Social Security officials say could make it impossible for the program to keep up with the needs of the tens of millions of Americans who receive and apply for benefits annually.

“Everything they have done so far is breaking the agency’s ability to serve the public,” Martin O’Malley, who served as Social Security commissioner under former President Joe Biden, told The New York Times.

Musk and his DOGE bros also changed the way recipients can verify their identities to the agency, nixing the ability to do so over the phone and requiring the elderly and disabled people who receive benefits to do it either online or in-person. That’s an incredible burden for a population that is not as computer literate as others. It could also burden recipients who live in rural areas or areas with poor internet access. Going in person would be even more of a burden since many elderly and disabled recipients cannot travel to offices—if they could even get an appointment.

A memo obtained by the newsletter Popular Information said the new identity-verification procedure would lead an additional 75,000 to 85,000 weekly visits to agency offices. In turn, that would lead to “longer wait times and processing times,” the memo said. Already, wait times for appointments can be more than a month.

Musk has had it out for Social Security since his buddy Trump put him in charge of finding waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government.

Musk criticized the social safety net program as a “Ponzi scheme.” He lied that the program is rife with fraud—lies that have led eligible people to lose benefits. He also helped force out the acting Social Security administrator and replace him Leland Dudek, an unqualified hothead who has acted vindictively since taking over.

For example, Dudek canceled a contract that allowed new parents in Maine to apply for Social Security numbers for their newborn infants at the hospital—a move that would have forced those parents to travel to a Social Security office to obtain. He seemingly did it to punish Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who stood up to Trump at a meeting with governors.

Dudek also threatened to shut the entire Social Security Administration down because he was mad that a judge blocked DOGE officials from accessing Americans’ sensitive personal information as they sought to prove Musk’s baseless lies that the agency is rife with fraud.

Musk isn’t the only Trump administration official attacking Social Security.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disparaged the program and accused anyone who has had problems receiving benefits as being "fraudsters."

"Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't. She thinks something got messed up and she'll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming, yelling, and complaining. And all the guys who did PayPal, like Elon knows this by heart, right? Anybody who's been in the payment system and the process system knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen,” Lutnick—who is a billionaire and could easily ensure his mother-in-law wouldn’t face financial ruin if her Social Security check went missing—said on a podcast.

Musk’s attacks on the overwhelmingly popular social safety net program goes against Trump’s claim that he would protect Social Security if elected.

And breaking Social Security is politically moronic. It is one of the most popular programs in the country.

Eighty-seven percent of Americans ages 25 and older believe that Social Security should be a priority for the nation, regardless of governmental budget deficits, according to an October 2023 poll from Greenwald Research for the National Institute on Retirement Security, a nonpartisan research organization. And a more recent poll, conducted by Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that 67 percent of Americans believed the government spends too little on Social Security. Only six percent said too much is spent on the program.

What’s more, older voters who receive Social Security benefits are among the most reliable voting blocs in the country. That means a backlash from those voters could sink Republicans chances in the 2026 midterm elections. In 2024, Trump won voters ages 65 and older by just one percentage point, according to exit polls, so even a modest backlash from that voting group could heavily damage Republicans next November.

And the signs that the backlash is coming are already showing up. Older voters are packing into Republican lawmakers’ town halls to demand they stand up to Musk’s DOGE cuts.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Pete Hegseth

Bone Stupid: Trump Officials Leaked Military Secrets On Phone App

Democrats are aghast after the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic reported that he was accidentally added to an unsecure text chain in which Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and multiple other top national security and Trump administration officials discussed planning a military strike in Yemen.

The Trump administration says the text chain—in which the officials were discussing not only whether to strike the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group, but how and when they would do it—is authentic. They are looking into how Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to the thread.

But the fact that the Trump administration officials were discussing classified and highly sensitive military plans on a messaging app is the real problem.

Goldberg reported that Hegseth was discussing information that, “could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility.”

He also reported that multiple national security lawyers said Waltz “may have violated several provisions of the Espionage Act, which governs the handling of ‘national defense’ information.”

From Goldberg’s report:

All of these lawyers said that a U.S. official should not establish a Signal thread in the first place. Information about an active operation would presumably fit the law’s definition of “national defense” information. The Signal app is not approved by the government for sharing classified information. The government has its own systems for that purpose. If officials want to discuss military activity, they should go into a specially designed space known as a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF—most Cabinet-level national-security officials have one installed in their home—or communicate only on approved government equipment, the lawyers said. Normally, cellphones are not permitted inside a SCIF, which suggests that as these officials were sharing information about an active military operation, they could have been moving around in public. Had they lost their phones, or had they been stolen, the potential risk to national security would have been severe.

And on top of that, Goldberg reported that by using an app like Signal—where texts are set to disappear—the Trump officials could also have been violating federal record laws.

“If you read one article today, make it this one,” Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) wrote in a post on X of Goldberg’s report. “Total incompetence, yet again. And putting our national security at great risk.”

Democrats are now demanding information and threatening to launch investigations.

“Only one word for this: FUBAR,” Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), who served as an Army intelligence officer in Iraq, wrote in a post on Bluesky, referring to the military slang term to describe something as “Fucked Up Beyond All Repair.” “If House Republicans won’t hold a hearing on how this happened IMMEDIATELY, I’ll do it my damn self.”

Only one word for this: FUBAR. If House Republicans won’t hold a hearing on how this happened IMMEDIATELY, I’ll do it my damn self.

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— Pat Ryan (@pkryan.bsky.social) March 24, 2025 at 5:11 PM

Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) also said he will demand an investigation.

This article completely exposes the Trump Administration's incompetent and irresponsible methods of handling our national security.

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— Rep. Salud Carbajal (@carbajal.house.gov) March 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who lost both of her legs while serving in Iraq, was aghast at the recklessness of the Trump administration officials.

Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in history, is demonstrating his incompetence by literally leaking classified war plans in the group chat... Hegseth and Trump are making our country less safe.

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— Tammy Duckworth (@duckworth.senate.gov) March 24, 2025 at 7:54 PM

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said, “Every single one of the government officials on this text chain have now committed a crime – even if accidentally – that would normally involve a jail sentence.”

And Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) connected the incompetence of the Trump administration’s national security officials to the Trump giving co-President Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency bros access to Americans’ personal information.

“The Trump Administration, which just committed one of the biggest and most incompetent national security breaches in history, is also giving Elon Musk and his team of unvetted lackeys access to every American's personal information,” Beyer wrote, putting in stark terms just how much trouble we all are in with these fools leading the federal government.

Ultimately, there is so much irony to this story.

First, almost every member of that chain criticized former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, citing national security concerns.

“Talk about a DOUBLE STANDARD: Biden’s sitting National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan sent top secret emails to Hillary Clinton’s private account and the DOJ didn't do a DAMN THING about it,” Waltz—who is responsible for adding Goldberg to the text chain in which they were recklessly discussing military operations—said in a 2023 appearance on Fox News. “No wonder Americans are losing faith in our justice system.”

“Seems like every day there are new revelations on how Hillary's private email server put national security at risk,” Rubio wrote in a 2016 tweet.

"Hillary Clinton put some of the highest, most sensitive intelligence information on her private server because maybe she thinks she's above the law, or maybe she just wanted the convenience of being able to read it on her Blackberry,” Rubio also said at a campaign event for his failed presidential bid in January 2016. “This is unacceptable."

Even more ironic is that just last week, Hegseth reported that the Department of Defense was going to be investigating who leaked his plan to brief co-President Elon Musk on the United States' plans for war with China—another thing that makes Americans less safe as there is no reason Musk should be privy to that information.

Given that Hegseth is discussing confidential military plans via Signal, maybe he should look in the mirror for why that information leaked.

Worst of all, as Democrats lambast the Trump administration officials and call for investigations, Republicans have been virtually silent—even though they would be screaming to the heavens if a Democratic administration had done anything even remotely similar.

As of press time, few Republican lawmakers have commented. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) posted on X, “Classified information should not be transmitted on unsecured channels—and certainly not to those without security clearances, including reporters. Period. Safeguards must be put in place to ensure this never happens again.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told Semafor’s Burgess Everett that it, “Sounds like a huge screw up. I mean, is there any other way to describe it?”

We can guarantee that Cornyn would’ve had much stronger words if it had been Biden administration officials doing the same.

And Trump himself used the age-old excuse that he hadn’t heard the news in order to avoid commenting on it.

“I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me, it's a magazine that's going out of business. ...You're telling me about it for the first time,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

If the commander in chief did not yet know about the fact that his top aides were putting the country at risk by discussing military operations via text message, then that’s a scandal in and of itself.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Top GOP Senator: Republican Threat To Impeach Judge Is 'Idiotic'

Top GOP Senator: Republican Threat To Impeach Judge Is 'Idiotic'

Egged on by wannabe dictator Donald Trump, House Republicans are pushing GOP leadership to let them embark on impeachment proceedings against federal judges who dare to rule against their Dear Leader—a time-consuming and destined-to-fail effort that harms the rule of law and could even wound the Republican Party in elections moving forward.

Multiple Republican lawmakers have filed articles of impeachment against four federal judges who recently ruled against the Trump administration.

“Congress has the constitutional power to impeach rogue activist judges—and we intend to use it,” Republican Rep. Brendan Gill of Texas, who filed articles of impeachment against a federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to turn around planes that were deporting alleged Venezuelan immigrants to a gulag in El Salvador, wrote in a post on X.

House Republicans are pushing for the impeachments to move forward even as Politico reported that some GOP lawmakers view the effort to be “idiotic.”

“You don’t impeach judges who make decisions you disagree with, because that happens all the time,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told Politico in early March. “What you do is you appeal, and if you’re right, then you’re going to win on appeal.”

Even Chief Justice John Roberts warned that impeachment is not the way to handle disagreements with judicial decisions.

“We are going to keep the impeachments coming,” Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee wrote in a post on X. Ogles himself filed articles of impeachment against a judge who ordered the Trump administration to restore websites it had taken down to comply with Trump's executive order targeting “gender ideology extremism.”

But complicating things for Republican leadership is that Trump blessed the impeachment efforts on Tuesday, saying that the judge who tried to block his effort to deport immigrants without due process is a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama."

“This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” Trump wrote in a deranged Truth Social post.

Co-president Elon Musk, who has threatened to fund primary challenges to Republicans who don’t do what Trump says, also wants judicial impeachments.

“This is a judicial coup. We need 60 senators to impeach the judges and restore rule of the people,” Musk wrote in a post on X on Tuesday after another federal judge ruled against the Trump administration, this time on its attempted ban of transgender troops.

Given that GOP leaders acquiesce to all of Trump's wants, no matter how immoral or unconstitutional, his demand puts them in a difficult place of having to choose what’s right or to make their Dear Leader happy.

“Everything is on the table,” Russell Dye, a spokesperson for House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, toldPolitico. An unnamed spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson also told Politico that judges “with political agendas pose a significant threat” and that Johnson "looks forward to working with the Judiciary Committee as they review all available options under the Constitution to address this urgent matter.”

But as aides for Johnson publicly said all options are on the table, top GOP aides privately admitted the impeachment route is stupid and will take up time the House needs to pass the rest of Trump’s destructive and unpopular agenda.

“It’s never going to happen,” an unnamed senior Republican aide told Politico. “There aren’t the votes.”

Plus, forcing Republicans to vote on impeachment could be politically damaging for the GOP.

Polling from February—when Republicans began crowing about impeaching judges who ruled against Trump—showed that voters want Trump to follow court orders.

"This court issue is a big loser for Trump," CNN's Harry Enten wrote in a post on X, referring to a Washington Post poll from February. "The belief that Trump must follow court orders is more popular than Mother Teresa: 84% of all adults, 92% of Dems, 82% of Indies & 79% of the GOP."

Other polls have similar findings, including an NBC News survey released Wednesday. It found that a 43 percent plurality of voters believe the president and executive branch have too much power, as opposed to 28 percent who believe the Supreme Court and judicial branch have too much.

The cherry on top of this for GOP leaders is that their members would be taking potentially damaging votes on impeachment for nothing. The charges would be disposed of in the Senate, where there is no way on earth that two-thirds of the chamber would vote to convict and remove judges. Republicans have just 53 votes there. To impeach a judge, they’d need 14 Democrats to also join in.

But never put it past Republicans to do stupid things in the name of subservience to Trump.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

State Sen. Justin Eichorn

GOP Legislator (And MAGA Zealot) Busted For Alleged Solicitation Of Minor

A Minnesota Republican state lawmaker was arrested on Monday for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

State Sen. Justin Eichorn was arrested after he communicated with police department officers who were posing as a 16-year-old female, MPR reported.

In a scene that sounds straight out of a To Catch a Predator episode, Eichorn set up a time to meet up with who he thought was a 16-year-old girl, but when he showed up, he was instead met by police who placed him under arrest.

“As a 40-year-old man, if you come to the Orange Jumpsuit District looking to have sex with someone’s child, you can expect that we are going to lock you up," Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said in a statement announcing Eichorn's arrest, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.

In what should come as no surprise, Eichorn has fashioned himself a protector of children during his time in the Minnesota legislature.

In 2021, he came out against a bill that would move away from teaching an abstinence-based sex education curriculum to children in Minnesota schools.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my elementary age kids learning this stuff. Before you know it, they’ll be reading kids 50 Shades of Grey. This discussion is better had at a more mature age. Thankfully, the Senate will work to stop this and other crazy ideas,” Eichorn said in a Facebook post at the time.

Eichorn is also an anti-abortion zealot who wants to ban abortion in Minnesota under the guise of protecting children.

This is not the first time Eichorn has been in the news in recent days.

Just this weekend, he was met with cheers from Make America Great Again influencers when he and three other Minnesota Republican state senators introduced a bill to classify “Trump Derangement Syndrome”—which MAGAs coined to describe people who oppose Trump's actions—as a mental disorder.

The bill defines "Trump Derangement Syndrome" as "the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump." The bill states that Trump Derangement Syndrome "produces an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology in President Donald J. Trump's behavior."

The bill further says that TDS sufferers have "verbal expressions of intense hostility toward President Donald J. Trump" and exhibit "overt acts of aggression and violence against anyone supporting President Donald J. Trump or anything that symbolizes President Donald J. Trump."

State Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy slammed the bill as "wasteful, frivolous and shameful," and said it was "possibly the worst bill in Minnesota history," according to a report from CBS News.

Looks like Eichorn should have been more concerned with his alleged proclivities for underage girls than with people who oppose Trump.

Ultimately, Eichorn is just the latest Trump supporter arrested or accused of sex crimes.

Last week, Robert Morris, a televangelist and former member of Trump’s evangelical advisory board, was indicted and charged with “five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child stemming from incidents that date back to the 1980s,” according to a news release from Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

“In December 1982, Morris was a traveling evangelist visiting in Hominy with the family of the alleged victim, who was 12 at the time. The indictment alleges Morris’ sexual misconduct began that Christmas and continued over the next four years,” the news release states.

Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was also accused of raping an adult woman, but he was confirmed as the head of the Pentagon in spite of those allegations.

There’s also former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Trump’s failed attorney general pick whose nomination went up in flames amid uproar over Gaetz’s alleged sexual exploits with underage girls. Trump is reportedly upset that he didn’t fight to get Gaetz confirmed, and reportedly said he believed Republican senators would have looked past Gaetz’s sexual deviancy had his nomination moved forward.

And Trump himself has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women and was found liable for sexually abusing former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.

MAGA attracts some real creeps.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Mahmoud Khalil

ICE Detention Of Khalil Is 'Unprecedented, Illegal' Attack On Free Speech

On Monday, President Donald Trump bragged about taking steps to deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, saying the Columbia University graduate student who organized anti-Israel protests last year is "the first arrest of many to come."

"We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country—never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply. Thank you!"

Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Saturday, who said they were taking him into custody because the State Department had revoked his student visa. However, Khalil is a legal permanent resident with a green card who had not been charged with any crimes before his arrest.

After his arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said that Khalil led “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization” and that he will now be deported because that violates an executive order Trump signed on January 30 that says the Trump administration will “deport Hamas sympathizers and revoke student visas.”

“We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X.

In an appearance on Fox Business on Monday, Trump border czar Tom Homan defended Khalil’s deportation, and said the United States can deport legal permanent residents.

"Absolutely we can," Homan said. "Did he violate the terms of his visa? Did he violate the terms of his residency here? Committing crimes, attacking Israeli students, locking down buildings, destroying property, absolutely. Any resident alien who commits a crime is eligible for deportation."

But Khalil wasn’t arrested for any of those aforementioned crimes.

Arresting and deporting someone over speech that does not align with the administration’s policies is a terrifying slippery slope. Today it’s Palestinian activists, but next it could be anyone who criticizes Trump or Republicans.

“This arrest is unprecedented, illegal, and un-American,” the American Civil Liberties Union, which defends the right to free speech in the United States, said in a statement on Monday. “The federal government is claiming the authority to deport people with deep ties to the U.S. and revoke their green cards for advocating positions that the government opposes. To be clear: The First Amendment protects everyone in the U.S. The government’s actions are obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate. The government must immediately return Mr. Khalil to New York, release him back to his family, and reverse course on this discriminatory policy.”

Even anti-immigration right-wing activists have said they take issue with Khalil's arrest and deportation for that reason.

"There’s almost no one I don’t want to deport, but, unless they’ve committed a crime, isn’t this a violation of the first amendment?" far-right commentator Ann Coulter wrote in a post on X.

Ultimately, the move is one of many free speech crackdowns Trump and the Republican Party have taken since he was sworn in on January 20.

Trump has targeted law firms who have either defended Democratic officials or sued Trump.

On Thursday, he signed an executive order that revoked security clearances of lawyers at the law firm Perkins Coie and barred them from federal government buildings “when such access would threaten the national security of or otherwise be inconsistent with the interests of the United States.” In the order, Trump attacked Perkins Coie for “representing failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton,” and for defending Fusion GPS which he said “manufactured a false ‘dossier’ designed to steal an election.”

“This is dangerous as hell,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said to the Wall Street Journal of Trump’s attacks on law firms. “If you defend other people’s rights, even if it’s your job, the president of the United States will retaliate against you.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) received a letter from the Department of Justice in February demanding he “clarify” comments he made calling co-President Elon Musk a "dick."

“This sounds to some like a threat to Mr. Musk—an appointed representative of President Donald Trump who you call a “dick”—and government staff who work for him. Their concerns have led to this inquiry,” Ed Martin, interim United States attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote in the letter.

“So if you criticize Elon Musk, Trump’s DOJ will send you this letter,” Garcia wrote on Bluesky. “Members of Congress must have the right to forcefully oppose the Trump Administration. I will not be silenced.”

Martin also threatened Georgetown University Law School, saying that if the school continues to teach classes related to diversity, equity, and inclusion that his office would not hire students from the school.

And House Republicans censured Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green for saying during Trump's joint address to Congress on March 4 that Trump had "no mandate" to cut Medicaid. Republicans are also threatening to remove Green from his House committee assignments over his protest.

With all these moves, fascism is no longer a threat: It’s here, and it’s terrifying.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Supreme Court Slaps Down Trump Over USAID Spending Freeze

Supreme Court Slaps Down Trump Over USAID Spending Freeze

The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied the Trump administration's request to freeze payments on $2 billion in foreign aid work that had been completed—marking for the first major Supreme Court loss of President Donald Trump’s second term.

In a 5-4 order, the court said the Trump administration must follow a decision by a lower-court judge, who ruled that the administration must pay the nearly $2 billion in work that had been done by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

District Court Judge Amir Ali had ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze the aid by 11:59 p.m. on February 26.

But after the Trump administration appealed his decision directly to the Supreme Court, the court put Ali's order on hold while they debated whether to hear arguments.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court decided against taking the Trump administration's appeal, and said that since the original court-ordered payment date has passed, they directed Ali to "clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order, with due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines."

The $2 billion in aid was associated with the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Trump and co-President Elon Musk tried to stop just hours after he was sworn in on January 20.

The abrupt aid freeze risked allowing hundreds of millions of food that had already been purchased spoil and rot before it got to the impoverished people it was intended for.

The Supreme Court ruling, however, does not stop the Trump administration from shuttering USAID and stopping its work in the future.

Four conservative justices slammed the majority ruling, with Justice Samuel Alito writing, “Today, the Court makes a most unfortunate misstep that rewards an act of judicial hubris and imposes a $2 billion penalty on American taxpayers.”

“The fact that four justices nevertheless dissented—vigorously—from such a decision is a sign that the Court is going to be divided, perhaps along these exact lines, in many of the more impactful Trump-related cases that are already on their way,” CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck said.

Trump and Musk have effectively shut down USAID. The Trump administration said they plan to cancel nearly all of the agency’s contracts, and have either put on leave or laid off nearly the agency’s entire staff.

Experts say those moves will likely cause massive human suffering.

A March 4 memo from Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health at USAID, said that the pause on foreign aid “will lead to increased death and disability, accelerate global disease spread, contribute to destabilizing fragile regions, and heightened security risks—directly endangering American national security, economic stability, and public health.”

Enrich estimated that without USAID’s efforts to stop disease spread, there will be as many as 166,000 additional Malaria deaths, 28,000 more cases of the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses, and 200,000 more paralytic polio cases annually.

Enrich was put on leave after his memo was leaked.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

New 538 Poll Average Shows Trump Approval In Steep Decline

New 538 Poll Average Shows Trump Approval In Steep Decline

President Donald Trump's honeymoon is officially over.

The convicted felon's job-approval rating is now underwater, according to 538’s polling average, and it’s happened just a little more than one month into his second term.

According to 538’s average, which sadly is unlikely to be updated anymore after ABC News laid off the site’s entire staff on Tuesday, 47.9 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing in office, while 47.6 percent approve.

The polling average largely tracks with a Civiqs poll conducted for Daily Kos, which found 52% of voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing, compared with 48 percent who approve.

According to 538’s average, Trump's job approval rating is in a state of steep decline. On Inauguration Day, his net approval rating was +8.2 percentage points, and now it is -0.3 points.

"Trump’s approval rating is underwater again—a month and a half after beginning his term with his highest approval ratings ever (+8)," Jacob Rubashkin, an elections analyst with the outlet Inside Elections, wrote in a post on X.

The quick end to Trump's honeymoon is in stark contrast to past presidents.

Former President Joe Biden had a positive approval rating until September of his first year in office, according to 538’s average. Former President Barack Obama had a net-positive approval rating until around August 2010—well over a year into his first term—according to 538’s historical averages. And former President George W. Bush had a net-positive rating nearly his entire first term in office, before the public soured on him around May 2004.

Public opinion on Trump has dropped amid the chaos he and his administration have wrought on the country.

The mass purge of the federal workforce, led by co-president Elon Musk, has left thousands out of work and others worried about negative downstream economic impacts.

The tariffs Trump imposed on China, Canada, and Mexico have led to a steep decline in the stock market amid fears that the results of Trump's policy will once again stoke inflation.

And Trump's embrace of murderous Russian dictator Vladimir Putin over U.S. ally Ukraine is also deeply unpopular.

“We’re going to look at presidents at this point in their presidency, right, and the word here that I would use to describe Trump is awful. In fact, the only person who does worse than Trump does right now with a +1 net approval rating is himself back in 2017, when he was at -8,” CNN’s Harry Enten said on Tuesday -- before the FiveThirtyEight average turned negative.

Enten continued, “Donald Trump is doing historically awful.”

And with the economy teetering on the brink of a recession, Trump's approval rating could tumble even further.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Poll: Massive Voter Rejection Of Medicaid And Food Stamp Cuts

Poll: Massive Voter Rejection Of Medicaid And Food Stamp Cuts

A new Civiqs poll conducted for Daily Kos should give Republicans a serious case of heartburn.

The survey, which was fielded February 28 to March 3, finds that 63 percent of registered voters oppose the idea of cutting programs like Medicaid and food stamps that help low-income Americans. Those are the same two programs Republican lawmakers plan to slash in order to pay for President Donald Trump's tax cuts for the rich. Half of voters (50 percent) strongly oppose cutting those programs.

The GOP budget blueprint, which passed the House last week with only Republican votes, would require hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicaid and food stamps in order to just partly pay for the GOP's plan to extend the tax cuts they passed in 2017, which overwhelmingly benefit the highest-earning taxpayers.

The new poll finds that nearly every demographic group opposes making cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, which help 72 million Americans afford health care and 42 million Americans put food on the table, respectively.

The cuts are opposed by an overwhelming share of female voters (68 percent), male voters (57 percent), non-college-educated voters (60 percent), college-educated voters (67 percent), urban voters (74 percent), suburban voters (62 percent), rural voters (56 percent), and every age group.

The only major group surveyed that supports the cuts are Republicans, 55 percent of whom support making cuts to those programs. However, that is weak support from a group that usually eats up everything Trump wants.

The poll's results provide insight into why Republicans are lying about the kind of cuts their budget necessitates.

“The word Medicaid is not even in this bill,” Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana said at a news conference on Capitol Hill last week, as he sought to convince his own members to support the budget. “Democrats are lying about … what’s in the bill.”

But Democrats are not lying about the fact that the budget would make steep cuts to Medicaid.

"Their resolution calls for at least, as a floor, $880 billion to be cut by what is under the purview of the Energy and Commerce Committee,” Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, ranking member of the House Budget Committee, explained. “If Energy and Commerce Committee said, 'We don't want to cut Medicaid. Instead, we will cut literally everything else we possibly can, 100 percent,' that only gets you about halfway to the $880 billion. So by definition, they have to, at a minimum, cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid.”

Experts say cuts that steep would leave many at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage.

Indeed, heavily Republican states such as West Virginia, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas have some of the highest percentages of state residents on Medicaid, according to data from KFF, a nonpartisan organization focused on health policy.

“Everyone who relies on Medicaid would be at risk,” Edwin Park, a research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, told NBC News. “Specifics of the proposal will matter—each state will be hit, and how hard they’ll be hit will vary—but certainly they’re all at risk.”

Protests have cropped up across the country as voters try to convince Republicans not to slash the programs. Over the weekend, people in Alaska, Colorado, New York, and Wisconsin gathered to slam their Republican lawmakers for voting for the bill that necessitates cuts to Medicaid.

Republicans were also met at town halls by angry constituents who oppose Medicaid cuts.

But whether Republicans will listen to voters is another story.

Trump has blessed the GOP proposal with his endorsement, saying, "We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget to ‘kickstart’ the Reconciliation process, and move all of our priorities to the concept of, 'ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.' It will, without question, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

And Republicans have shown time and again that if Trump says jump, they say how high.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

'Liars And Deceivers!': MAGA Furious Over Trump's Fake 'Epstein Files' Release

'Liars And Deceivers!': MAGA Furious Over Trump's Fake 'Epstein Files' Release

After years of promising to release the information the federal government had on now-deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the Trump administration allegedly did so on Thursday by giving documents to a group of untrustworthy right-wing influencers who are famous for spreading disinformation and hate.

Trump-loving social media personalities Rogan O'Handley, Chaya Raichik, Liz Wheeler, Chad Prather, and Mike Cernovich were seen leaving the White House holding binders that said "The Epstein Files" on the cover. Some of them even posed for smiling, jubilant photos with the binders in hand.

No actual trustworthy sources were given access to the documents, which Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed in a Wednesday night appearance on Fox News would include flight logs with "a lot of names."

Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that the files that were released included information already publicly known.

From the Post’s report:

A source who has reviewed the files said the release spans more than 100 pages, including a list of contacts without further context.

The person said the unveiling was likely to be a “disappointment” to sleuths eager for bombshell new evidence about the billionaire pedophile’s connection to prominent political and business leaders.

Josh Gerstein, a respected legal reporter at Politico who broke the news that the Supreme Court was overturning Roe v. Wade, wrote that the binders given to the right-wing influencers were “theater.”

“These files are not classified. Never were. That's also not a proper declassification marking,” Gerstein wrote in a post on X.

Now, Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are trying to shift blame for the lack of information onto the FBI.

"Attorney General Pam Bondi REVEALS in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel that the FBI is WITHHOLDING Epstein documents from her," right-wing personality and Russian propagandist Benny Johnson wrote in a post on X.

“We got the binder at noon. SDNY and FBI held back the real information and AG Bondi directed Kash Patel to start kicking ass. AG Bondi handed what she had. There was nothing martial. There was an embargo until after the UK ‘prime minster’ visit,” Cernovich wrote in a post on X.

The way the Trump administration handled the document release led to criticism even from MAGA personalities.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, the Republican who chairs a supposed “Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets,” expressed her anger in a post on X.

"I nor the task force were given or reviewed the Epstein documents being released today… A NY Post story just revealed that the documents will simply be Epstein's phonebook. THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR,” Luna raged. “GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR instead of leaking old info to press."

Meanwhile Laura Loomer, an unabashed bigot and Trump superfan who made news during the 2024 campaign when she was seen traveling with Trump, was skeptical in a post on X.

"I love President Trump. But, how embarrassing for the Trump admin that the release of the Epstein files has been FUMBLED by giving files regarding a landmark pedophile scandal to a group of 'influencers' instead of having an official agency release them,” she said. “Not a good look.”

Loomer also railed on the Trump administration.

She wrote in an all-caps screed on X:

THERE ARE NO EPSTEIN FILES!!!THE BINDERS ARE PROPS.
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE RIGHT WING PAID INFLUENCERS LIED TO ALL OF YOU TODAY!
THEY ENGAGED IN DECEPTION TO RUN COVER FOR PEDOPHILES!!!
THEY POSTED SELFIES WITH PROP BINDERS!
LIARS AND DECEIVERS

MAGA loyalists have been claiming for years that Trump would reveal the Epstein client list.

But they conveniently forget that Trump himself was buddies with the very wealthy financier/human trafficker, as evidenced by multiple photos of Trump and Epstein together.

And Trump even called Epstein a "terrific guy."

“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump said in a 2002 interview with New York magazine. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

Trump himself was even listed in publicly released documents from a 2015 defamation lawsuit filed by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre.

According to documents unsealed from that lawsuit, Guiffre said in a deposition that she was “lured into working as a masseuse for Epstein when she was 17 and working as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida,” the New York Post reported.

It’s possible Trump doesn’t want the files released for that very reason.

In January, after he was unfortunately sworn in, Trump signed an executive order promising to release FBI files on John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., but conveniently left Epstein off the list.

Other high-profile Trump administration officials have also been linked to Epstein, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who flew on Epstein’s private jet twice.

During the 2024 campaign, Kennedy tried to defend his ties to Epstein by saying that he’s actually friends with lots of sexual predators—as if that was a defense.

“I mean, I knew Harvey Weinstein. I knew Roger Ailes. I knew—OJ Simpson came to my house. Bill Cosby came to my house,” Kennedy said.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Trump Pushes Plan To Gut Medicaid Despite Promise To Protect Program

Trump Pushes Plan To Gut Medicaid Despite Promise To Protect Program

President Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed the House Republican budget plan, which would decimate Medicaid, the federal health insurance program that covers 72 million disabled and low-income Americans. What do Republicans get in return? Tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the rich.

In a rambling post on X, Trump wrote: "The House and Senate are doing a SPECTACULAR job of working together as one unified, and unbeatable, TEAM, however, unlike the Lindsey Graham version of the very important Legislation currently being discussed, the House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it! We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget to 'kickstart' the Reconciliation process, and move all of our priorities to the concept of, 'ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.' It will, without question, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

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?

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Trump

Inflation Ticks Up -- And Trump Tariffs Will Make It Worse

In January, inflation rose three percent from a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Wednesday, making for the biggest one-month increase since August 2023 and a warning sign for President Donald Trump.

Last month’s inflation was higher than economists expected, with the cost of shelter, food, and gasoline driving the price increases. In fact, the BLS said that the price of eggs alone rose 15.2 percent in January, amounting to “the largest increase in the eggs index since June 2015.”

Inflation rose even though Trump promised he would lower costs “immediately” upon taking the White House, saying at the Republican National Convention in July, "I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates, and lower the cost of energy—we will drill, baby, drill. … But by doing that, we will lead a large-scale decline in prices."

It was an absurd promise to make in the first place, but it’s one that experts say will age poorly. The ten percent tariff that Trump is imposing on China—as well as the 25 percent tariffs currently on pause for Mexico and Canada)—and the new 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are expected to exacerbate price increases.

“This is a warning for President Trump and his team as they ready hefty tariffs,” Washington Post economics columnist Heather Long wrote in a post on X. “Americans remain very sensitive to price increases. When Trump launched his last trade war in 2018, inflation was 2 %. Now the starting point is 3%.”

Industries that rely on steel and aluminum are increasing their prices.

Nucor, a major U.S. steel producer, sent a letter to its customers on Monday saying they are increasing prices on all steel rebar prices by $40 per ton due to the "significant rise in input costs" caused by Trump's tariffs.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Ford said at a Tuesday investor's conference that Trump's tariffs will be "devastating" for the auto industry, leading to possible layoffs.

"Let's be real honest: Long term, a 25% tariff across the Mexico and Canada borders would blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we've never seen," CEO Jim Farley said, according to the Detroit Free Press. "Frankly, it gives free rein to South Korean, Japanese and European companies that are bringing 1.5 million to 2 million vehicles into the U.S. that wouldn't be subject to those Mexican and Canadian tariffs. It would be one of the biggest windfalls for those companies ever."

Ford donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.

Bharat Ramamurti, an economist who served as the deputy director of the National Economic Council under former President Joe Biden, said the fact that inflation is accelerating under Trump is a bad sign for his presidency.

“Inflation reaccelerating. Consumer confidence plunging. Trump approval rating historically low for a presidential honeymoon period. Legislative efforts still stuck in neutral. For all the bluster, the new admin is off to a brutal start,” Ramamurti wrote in a post on X.

Trump, of course, is taking no responsibility for the rise in inflation in January.

"BIDEN INFLATION UP!" Trump wrote in an all-caps rage-post on his Truth Social platform.

Meanwhile, The New York Timesreported that Trump’s administration is starting to temper expectations about their ability to lower prices.

And that could spell trouble for his approval rating. In a recent YouGov poll for CBS News, 66 percent of Americans said Trump isn’t focused enough on lowering prices.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Mike Lee

GOP And Musk Demanding Social Security Cuts To Fund Trump's Tax Scam

Republican lawmakers are explicitly saying they are looking into cutting Social Security to pay for President Donald Trump's tax cuts—touching the third rail of politics as they seek to pass Dear Leader's agenda.

Republican Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia, told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on Monday that Republicans have been “discussing” cutting mandatory spending—that is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans benefits—in order to pass Trump's tax cut agenda, which will require trillions in reciprocal cuts if Republicans want to make it a reality.

"That's what we've been discussing," Moore said. "This is our once in a lifetime opportunity."

Rep. Riley Moore says Republicans are looking to pay for more tax cuts with cuts to mandatory spending -- that is, Social Security and Medicare

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 10, 2025 at 2:49 PM

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, also went even further in a post on X, saying that, "Social Security [is] a ripoff for most Americans compared to essentially any legitimate retirement investment."

The comment was in response to a post from co-President Elon Musk, who pushed incorrect information about how Social Security works to claim the program is rife with fraud. Musk loves to use claims of fraud as justification to slash federal spending through the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory commission Trump created in order to cut the federal budget.

"Just learned that the social security database is not de-duplicated, meaning you can have the same SSN many times over, which further enables MASSIVE FRAUD!! Your tax dollars are being stolen," Musk wrote.

In fact, the news outlet Semaforreported that Social Security benefits are indeed next on DOGE’s list for cuts. According to Semafor:

The Social Security Administration is an upcoming focus of the Department of Government Efficiency, a source with knowledge of its work told Semafor, and one person involved in DOGE is currently preparing to work with the agency that provides benefits to the elderly and disabled.

Musk’s unqualified DOGE bros have already accessed the Treasury Department’s systems that make payments for Social Security, raising alarm bells from Democratic lawmakers.

“The federal government is not Twitter. It matters if Elon breaks things at the Social Security Administration. Musk has no clue what SSA employees do, nor does he care—it doesn't matter to him if you miss a Social Security Check. He belongs NOWHERE NEAR your Social Security,” Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, wrote in a post on X.

Cutting Social Security benefits could cause a massive backlash from voters.

A January poll from the American Association of Retired Persons found that 85 percent of Americans say they want Social Security benefits to be maintained, even if that requires raising taxes.

“It is rare in today’s political climate to see people unite around anything, but virtually all Americans want their Social Security benefits to be preserved and are willing to do what it takes to ensure the program continues to provide meaningful support for future generations,” Deb Whitman, AARP’s chief public policy officer, said in a statement on the findings.

But Social Security isn’t the only social safety net program that Republicans want to slash in order to pay for Trump’s tax cuts for the rich.

Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, also went on Bartiromo's show Monday morning to say that Republicans are also looking to implement work requirements for Medicaid and food stamps.

"We think there should be work requirements for able-bodied people who choose not to work,” Harris said. “We don't think they should be on Medicaid. We don't think they should be receiving food stamps."

Rep. Andy Harris: "We think there should be work requirements for able-bodied people who choose not to work. We don't think they should be on Medicaid. We don't think they should be receiving food stamps."

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 10, 2025 at 2:51 PM

The only state to ever have implemented work requirements for Medicaid was Arkansas. And the experiment failed.

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

The Arkansas policy was a failure in many respects:

  • The work-reporting requirement harmed thousands of people by taking away their health coverage, leaving many uninsured. It harmed thousands of others by requiring them to live under the ongoing stress of potential coverage loss.
  • People who were supposed to be exempted from submitting monthly proof of their work hours were not always shielded from losing coverage.
  • The requirement imposed extreme levels of red tape on targeted Medicaid enrollees, resulting in coverage losses and no increases in employment.

Of course, for any of these cuts to become reality, the GOP-controlled Congress would have to actually pass them. And Politicoreported that the Republican infighting about what to cut and how deep those cuts will be is threatening the party’s ability to pass Trump’s agenda.

But never underestimate Republicans’ ability to fall in line when Trump asks them to. If his agenda is imperiled, Trump is sure to put pressure on GOP lawmakers.

It’s why Democrats are imploring supporters to make their voices heard in the hopes that a massive public backlash could finally break Republicans’ subservience to Trump.

“Show up to things,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, wrote in a post on X laying out the ways the public can thwart Trump’s agenda. “Protests. Town hall meetings. Picket lines. Political leaders—yes, even Republicans—pay attention to public, in person action more than anything else.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Mike Flood of Nebraska

Struggling To Fund Trump Tax Scam, House GOP Urges 'Sacrifice'

President Donald Trump on Thursday met with House Republican leaders and laid out his demands to cut taxes for the rich, as well as his proposal to end taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security.

Trump's tax proposal could cost as much as $11 trillion—yes, trillion with a T—over the next 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce the federal budget deficit. It's an astronomical number that, without corresponding cuts, would make the debt at least 132 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States, according to the CRFB.

Because the procedural mechanism Republicans want to use to pass Trump's policy agenda requires that legislation generally not add to the federal debt, that means Republicans would have to offset the tax cuts with massive amounts of cuts elsewhere in the budget.

And even GOP lawmakers are admitting the cuts they’ll need to make will be painful for the American people.

"It will be littered with a collection of ideas, some of which Americans are going to really not be for, but hey, if we don't sacrifice, if we don't understand that this is going to be a painful process, nothing’s going to change," Republican Rep. Mike Flood of Nebraska said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, referring to the forthcoming GOP budget that will be used to pass Trump's tax-cut agenda.

“My message to the American people is: We as a nation, as Americans, have to recognize that this is such a big problem—our debt—that we’re going to have to say no to some programs that we like but we simply can’t afford,” he added.

Republicans have been circulating proposed cuts, including deeply slashing Medicaid—which insures more than 72 million low-income Americans, or more than 20 percent of the U.S. population.

Also on the list? Axing tax breaks to make child care and higher education more affordable. Major cuts to food stamps. Taxing scholarship money. And curtailing employer transportation benefits that make commuting more affordable.

Of course, pain for the American people would come only if Republicans pass the legislation, which is in doubt.

After meeting behind closed doors for five hours on Thursday, House Republicans still don't have an agreed-upon framework for how to move forward, Politicoreported.

That comes after House Republicans couldn't agree to a framework during a recent three-day retreat.

And even if they do figure out a framework, getting it passed will be a separate story since the draconian cuts necessary to cut taxes for the rich would politically damage GOP lawmakers in swing seats.

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York is expected to soon be confirmed as United Nations ambassador, meaning that Republicans will then have just 217 seats in the House. In other words, for months, their leadership won’t be able to lose a single House vote if they want this tax bill to pass.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Elon Musk

More Polls Find Musk Is A Big Liability For Trump

Donald Trump’s co-president, Elon Musk, is deeply unpopular, and his unlawful meddling in the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency, a federal advisory commission he leads, could become a serious liability for Trump and the GOP.

House Majority Forward, a progressive nonprofit, released polling from Impact Research on Thursday that found Musk's approval rating underwater, with 42 percent viewing him favorably and 51 percent viewing him unfavorably.

HMF said that voters are not a fan of Musk and his DOGE bros reportedly meddling in Treasury Department payment systems, which could impact Social Security and Medicare payments as well as tax return disbursement, among many other things. And HMF encouraged Democrats to go after Musk and DOGE on that issue.

"While not opposed to the concept of DOGE initially, registered voters fear DOGE may endanger the programs working families and seniors rely on for the purpose of enriching members of the Trump administration. These participants voiced strong opposition to gutting Social Security benefits, raising the retirement age, and cutting other government-sponsored retirement benefits," HMF wrote of their poll's findings.

The HMF poll results are similar to a bevy of other polling on Musk that came out this week.

A YouGov survey released Wednesday found that while the vast majority of Americans (83 percent) think Musk has influence over Trump, a plurality (46 percent) don't want him to.

A Morning Consult poll also published on Wednesday found that more voters disapprove of Musk's role in the Trump administration than support it for the first time since the outlet began tracking Musk's approval in November. The poll found that just 41 percent of voters approve of Musk's appointment, a 10-percentage-point decline since January 20, when Trump took office.

A new Civiqs poll fielded February 1-4 found that a plurality of registered voters (46 percent) believe Musk performed a Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration. That comes after Civiqs found that 52 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of the right-wing billionaire.

Ultimately, Democrats have been sounding the alarm about Musk's power grab over the federal government.

Musk and his army of college-aged DOGE bros are working to shut down federal agencies and freeze spending that Congress approved, which has drawn numerous lawsuits.

As mentioned in the HMF poll, Musk and DOGE have also reportedly been accessing the Treasury Department's payment systems responsible for allocating trillions of dollars of grants, Medicare benefits, and Social Security payments. This has raised alarm bells from security experts and Democrats, who have vowed to introduce legislation to stop it.

“The scale here is unprecedented in terms of the risk to sensitive personal and financial information,” Alan Butler, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told Politico. “It’s an absolute nightmare.”

Beyond the polling, there are real-world signs that Musk is galvanizing the demoralized Democratic base.

Protests cropped up in state capitals all over the country on Wednesday, with thousands of demonstrators voiced opposition to Musk’s hostile takeover of the federal government.

Pete Souza, a former presidential photographer, said he attended one of the protests in Illinois.

“I’ve probably been to 100 political protests like this in my life, and there have always been counter protesters that show up. Until today,” Souza wrote in an Instagram post, along with photos of the Illinois protest. “NO ONE came to support Trump/Elon. Not a single counter-protesters. ZERO.”

Wired reported that Musk's role is now "causing rifts" in the Trump administration.

However, publicly, GOP lawmakers seem totally fine with what Musk is up to. And House Republicans on Wednesday blocked efforts by Democrats to subpoena Musk to testify.

“I just moved to subpoena Elon Musk to appear before the Oversight Committee to answer for his unlawful takeover of agencies across the government,” Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, wrote Wednesday in a post on X. “Republicans blocked my motion without allowing any debate. They will stop at nothing to cover up Elon Musk's lawlessness.”

Republican Senators have gone on TV to razz Democrats, telling them to get used to Musk's role.

“It is going to be a very aggressive movement on the part of Republicans, President Trump, and Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, so the Democrats need to get used to this,” Sen. Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, said in a Tuesday appearance on Fox News. “We are going to find ways to focus our American taxpayer dollars on the things that they should be spent on, which is the American people and our interests.”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Elon Musk

Trump And Musk Prepare To Storm NOAA And National Weather Service

After illegally axing USAID and drafting plans to do the same with the Department of Education, President Donald Trump and his unelected co-president, Elon Musk, have now set their sights on decimating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal scientific agency that helps forecast the weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditions, and manages the protection of marine life.

"Hearing reports that Musk’s cronies are targeting NOAA—infiltrating key systems & locking out career employees," Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland wrote on X. "NOAA is vital for weather forecasting, scientific research & more. Their critical work saves lives. My team and I are looking into this & we will not stand for it."

As of Wednesday morning, parts of the NOAA website appear to be down, including the Global Monitoring Lab, which conducts research on greenhouse gasses. Greenhouse gasses lead to global warming and climate change, which Trump and the GOP deny are real, despite the scientific consensus otherwise.

What's more, Trump on Wednesday nominated Neil Jacobs to lead the NOAA, the same guy who was reprimanded in June 2020 for "Sharpiegate"—when Trump used a sharpie to alter the path of Hurricane Dorian on an official map to say it would impact Alabama and Florida when it was not projected to.

In fact, the report finding that Jacobs violated scientific ethics with his involvement with Sharpiegate is now offline, replaced with text saying, “These are not the sites you are looking for” (a reference to the film “Star Wars”). However, the report can still be accessed through the Wayback Machine, an internet archive that helps preserve websites even if they are removed.

The report found that Jacobs—who at the time served as acting director of the NOAA—issued statements about the hurricane that were "driven by external political pressure" and "inappropriately criticized ... underlying scientific activity," which "compromised NOAA's integrity and reputation as an independent scientific agency."

Jacobs would have to be confirmed by the Senate to get the job. But Senate Republicans have confirmed all of Trump’s unqualified and dangerous Cabinet nominees so far, so hoping that Republicans would do the right thing and vote down Jacobs is a fool’s errand.

Ultimately, getting rid of NOAA is a goal of Project 2025, the far-right Heritage Foundation’s roadmap for a second Trump term. On last year’s campaign trail, Trump claimed he had nothing to do with that agenda, but it is now clearly driving the actions of him and his administration.

Project 2025 also calls for privatizing the National Weather Service, which helps forecast major events like hurricanes, wildfires, blizzards, and flooding. That would make it harder for Americans to get accurate (and free) information about impending storms.

Experts say that privatizing the NWS would make hurricane preparation and clean up even harder.

“Attacking this agency, attacking the science that it's doing is really damaging to the public,” Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, told PBS News in September. “They would like the private sector to run rampant and not be fettered by any kind of guardrails. And we all know that the climate crisis is accelerating, getting worse, having an impact on our economy as well as the environment.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.