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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.

Buttigieg Blasts Trump's 'Despicable' Behavior After Air Tragedy

Buttigieg Blasts Trump's 'Despicable' Behavior After Air Tragedy

After Donald Trump tried to blame Pete Buttigieg for the deadly plane crash in Washington, D.C., the former transportation secretary fired back, defending his service and telling Trump to be an adult and show leadership rather than find a scapegoat in the middle of a horrific tragedy.

"Despicable," Buttigieg wrote in a post on X, referring to Trump's batshit crazy news conference in which he blamed everyone from Buttigieg to former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, to people with dwarfism for the crash that killed 64 civilians and three members of the military. "As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch."

Buttigieg then said Trump bears some of the blame for the crash, as he is in charge and has already taken actions to make the skies less safe.

"President Trump now oversees the military and the [Federal Aviation Administration]," Buttigieg continued. "One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again."

At the time of the crash, there was no head of the FAA, as Trump's co-President Elon Musk had forced out the previous administrator because the FAA fined Musk's company SpaceX.

Trump also gutted an aviation safety committee days before the crash, getting rid of a three-decade-old safety committee that was created by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Because the committee was created by an act of Congress, Trump couldn’t get rid of it, but he did fire all of its members, which will make the committee unable to do the work of looking into airline safety issues, the Associated Press reported.

Kara Weipz, the president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, said a statement that Trump’s gutting of the safety commission, “will undermine aviation security in the United States and across the globe.”

Aside from wrongly blaming Buttigieg, Trump also blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts for the crash—even though he has no evidence that a DEI hire caused the tragic accident.

When asked by a reporter how he knows that DEI is to blame, Trump replied, “Because I have common sense.”

Reporter: You blamed the diversity elements but then told us you weren’t sure that the controllers made any mistakes. Trump: It’s all under investigation. Reporter: That’s why I’m trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.

[image or embed]

— Vince D. Monroy (@vincedmonroy.bsky.social) January 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM

Ultimately, the investigation into what led to Wednesday night’s tragedy is just beginning.

But aside from having an idiot in the White House, the two men who helm the agencies tasked with getting to the bottom of what happened—Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—are also not the brightest tools in the shed.

Duffy is a former reality TV contestant turned GOP congressman with no transportation experience. And Hegseth is a veteran turned Fox News host with no experience leading a major organization.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Midterm Harbinger? Democrats Flip Seat In Deep Red Trump Country

Midterm Harbinger? Democrats Flip Seat In Deep Red Trump Country

Democrats on Tuesday flipped an Iowa state Senate seat in a district Donald Trump carried by 21 percentage points just a few months earlier, an incredible special election result that may serve as an early warning signal for Republicans about the 2026 midterms.

Democrat Mike Zimmer defeated Republican Kate Whittington, 52 to 48 percent, in a special election for Senate District 35—a rural seat located on the state’s eastern side.

In November 2022, Republican Chris Cournoyer defeated her Democratic opponent, 61 to 39 percent, in this same seat—making Zimmer's win a massive shift toward Democrats. (Cournoyer resigned the seat to become Iowa’s lieutenant governor, creating the vacancy.)

Zimmer’s win should give Republicans a case of heartburn since special election results often correlate with the outcome in the next midterm election.

Democrats saw a similar overperformance in special elections in 2017, after Trump took office the first time. Those special election victories turned out to be the precursor to Democrats taking back the U.S. House and winning big in state-legislative races in 2018.

“This earthquake victory in Iowa puts Republicans across the country on notice,” Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “In a ruby red district that Trump won by 21 points, DLCC candidate Mike Zimmer clinched a comfortable win against his extreme MAGA opponent. Tonight’s win marks the first flip of the cycle and builds on key majority-making wins in Virginia earlier this month. The DLCC is starting the new cycle strong just a month into 2025—from battlegrounds to Republican territory. We have dozens more special elections on the horizon—we’re only just getting started.”

It wasn’t just Zimmer who overperformed in a special election on Tuesday.

In Minnesota, Democrats won a state Senate district by a 91-to-9 percent margin to win a majority in the chamber. In November, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris carried this same district, with 83 percent to Trump’s 14 percent—making Tuesday’s results a sizable swing toward Democrats, according to data from the Downballot.

Ultimately, Zimmer’s performance also gives Democrats hope in upcoming congressional special elections.

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York is expected to leave her seat to be Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, and her district’s partisanship is similar to that of the Iowa state Senate seat Democrats just won.

“Democrats just flipped a Trump +21 Iowa state Senate seat in the first special election since Trump assumed office. Of note: New York’s 21st District, which Elise Stefanik is vacating soon, was also Trump +21 in 2024,” Jacob Rubashkin, deputy editor of the election-analysis outlet Inside Elections, wrote in a post on X.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Caroline Kennedy Warns Senate Against Confirming Her Cousin RFK Jr.

Caroline Kennedy Warns Senate Against Confirming Her Cousin RFK Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, sent a letter to the Senate Tuesday imploring them to reject his nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, saying he is a "predator" and a recovering drug addict who is now "addicted to attention and power."

“I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together,” Kennedy, the only living child of former President John F. Kennedy, wrote in the letter, which she later read on video. “It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator.”

She sent the letter one day before RFK Jr. will begin his confirmation hearings before the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

In Kennedy’s searing letter, she attacked RFK Jr. for his personal conduct and his lack of experience, saying that both should disqualify him from leading the country’s health care infrastructure. s

“He lacks any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience. His views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed,” Kennedy said, accusing him of causing the deaths of 80 children in Samoa who died of Measles after he spread anti-vaccine propaganda on the island.

“These facts alone should be disqualifying, but he has personal qualities related to this job, which for me pose even greater concern,” she continued.

Kennedy also addressed RFK Jr.’s heroin addiction, saying that, while she commends him for being in recovery, he is responsible for getting other family members addicted to drugs.

“Siblings and cousins who Bobby encouraged down the path of substance abuse suffered addiction, illness, and death, while Bobby has gone on to misrepresent, lie, and cheat his way through life,” she said.

She also shared a disturbing story about how RFK Jr. “enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”

This letter is not the first time Kennedy has criticized her cousin.

“I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous, but I don’t think most Americans share them.” RFK Jr. falsely believes vaccines cause autism, and doctors fear that if he is put in charge of HHS he would pose “direct threat to the safety of our patients and the public at large,” she said in November to an audience in Australia, where she served as ambassador in the Biden administration.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

RFK Jr.’s siblings have also been critical.

"Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story,” they wrote in a joint statement after he ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump.

It’s unclear whether RFK Jr. will be confirmed. A handful of Republicans have expressed trepidation about supporting him, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a polio survivor who has criticized RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine misinformation.

Sen. Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, said that RFK Jr. will need to convince her that he is not pro-abortion to get her vote. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, also expressed concern about his anti-vaccine record.

RFK Jr. can afford to lose just three GOP Senators’ votes to be confirmed as secretary of health and human services.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Doctors And Public Health Officials In Panic Over Trump's Gag Order

Donald Trump's gag order on the country's health agencies has set off panic among public health officials and researchers.

After Trump was sworn in Monday, his administration ordered federal health agencies to cease all public-facing communication, causing public health officials to fear that they won’t be able to inform the public of viral or foodborne illness outbreaks, and that they will lose funding for everything from cancer treatments to vaccine development.

Officials at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are particularly concerned about the current bird flu outbreak, which has led to a 37 percent increase in the price of eggs from the same time last year. The bird flu poses a risk to the public, especially if the virus becomes transmissible between humans.

Similarly, doctors, scientists, and drug researchers reported that the government is canceling medical conferences and grant review panels, which could mean that they’ll lose progress on cancer research to vaccine development.

As STAT News reported:

Several meetings of National Institutes of Health study sections, which review applications for fellowships and grants, were canceled without being rescheduled, according to agency notices reviewed by STAT. A Feb. 20-21 meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, a panel that advises the leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services on vaccine policy, was also canceled. So was a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria that was scheduled for Jan. 28 and 29.…

“Peer review via study sections is required by law in order for the NIH to disburse most of the $40 billion annual extramural budget,” said Norman E. Sharpless, a former director of the National Cancer Institute, part of the NIH. “If study sections and advisory council meetings are postponed for more than even a brief period, this will likely lead to interruptions in grant funding, which is bad for U.S. biomedical research.”

According to a document obtained by Science magazine, the gag order will end on February 1. But it’s unclear how much freedom health agencies will have to communicate with the public when it’s lifted, or whether the National Institutes of Health will continue to be able to fund drug and vaccine development.

That’s because Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is an anti-science, anti-vaccine whack job who has promoted the unsafe consumption of raw milk and disproven COVID-19 cures.

ProPublica reported that Kennedy wants to shift research away from infectious diseases and vaccines and has said that the NIH should focus half of its budget on “preventive, alternative and holistic approaches to health.”

More than 17,000 doctors sent a letter to the Senate, which has yet to vote on Kennedy’s confirmation, warning that he is dangerous and should be rejected.

“This appointment is an affront to the principles of public health, the tireless dedication of medical professionals, and the trust that millions of Americans place in the health care system,” the letter said. “RFK Jr. has a well-documented history of spreading dangerous disinformation on vaccines and public health interventions, leaving vulnerable communities unprotected and placing millions of lives at risk. His appointment is a direct threat to the safety of our patients and the public at large.”

Unless four Republicans flip their votes against Kennedy, he is likely to be confirmed.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Lisa Murkowski

Only Two GOP Senators Opposing Hegseth's Tainted Nomination

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, announced in a social media post that she will vote against Donald Trump’s disgraced secretary of defense pick, Pete Hegseth.

With this move, Murkowski became the first Republican to publicly say she would oppose one of Trump’s Cabinet picks, though he’s likely to still get confirmed during the Friday vote.

In a lengthy statement, Murkowski said that the “allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking,” which Hegseth has denied, “starkly contract” with what is expected of someone tasked with leading the Department of Defense. She also expressed concern about Hegseth’s past comments that women don’t belong in combat roles, though he attempted to walk this back during his Senate confirmation hearing.

“After thorough evaluation, I must conclude that I cannot in good conscience support his nomination for Secretary of Defense. I did not make this decision lightly; I take my constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent with the utmost seriousness,” she wrote.

“The past behaviors Mr. Hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment,” Murkowski went on. “… These behaviors starkly contrast the values and discipline expected of servicemembers. Men and women in uniform are held accountable for such actions, and they deserve leaders who uphold these same standards.”

Joining Murkowski in opposing Hegseth’s nomination is Sen. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. On Thursday, during a procedural vote to advance his nomination, Collins voted against doing so, along with Murkowski. The rest of the Senate GOP opted to move forward with Hegseth’s confirmation, in a 51-49 vote.

Unfortunately, assuming all Democrats oppose his nomination, the two Republicans’ votes aren’t enough to prevent Hegseth’s confirmation.

It’s somewhat notable that Collins seems to oppose Hegseth’s nomination now, just one day after she called the most recent report of his alleged abusive behavior “troubling.”

By that, Collins was referring to an affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth. In it, Danielle alleged that Hegseth abused alcohol to the point where he “passed out, threw up, and had to be carried out of family events and public settings, sometimes shouting sexually and racially offensive statements.”

It also said that Hegseth engaged in threatening behavior toward his second wife, Samantha Hegseth, to the point that she devised an “escape plan” that involved texting a “safe word” to friends and family in case she ever needed assistance. Danielle also accused Hegseth of making racist and sexist comments, including his argument that women shouldn’t vote or work and that Christians need to “outbreed” growing Muslim populations.

In a statement to NBC News, Samantha denied any physical abuse in her marriage to Hegseth, whose attorney also denied the latest charges.

Hegseth appeared to clear his most difficult hurdle last week, skating through his confirmation hearing where his Republican allies largely lobbed him softball questions. After the hearing, Sen. Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, who previously expressed skepticism toward Hegseth’s bid, said she’d now support him.

But these new reports on Hegseth’s behavior come as the Senate is preparing for a crucial vote to advance his nomination.

Indeed, even the newest allegations, however damning, aren’t enough to move many members of Trump’s GOP. In addition to helping clear the way for a final confirmation vote,Sen. Eric Schmitt, Republican of Missouri, suggested that Democrats were colluding with Hegseth’s enemies to tank his bid.

“It’s desperate. This is a sad attempt by Democrats to oust a reformer,” Schmitt told Politico.

Notably, these aren’t the only allegations that could potentially sink Hegseth’s bid to lead the Department of Defense. In 2017, he was accused of rape, though he maintains that the encounter was consensual.

Moreover, a former colleague of his from Fox News accused him of getting “handsy” while drunk, claiming that he groped “her bottom” while the two were in New York, according to NPR.

The majority of Americans have already said that they don’t want a Cabinet full of drunks and abusers. But somehow Republicans, save for Murkowski and maybe Collins, can stomach it.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

As Bird Flu Looms, Trump Orders Public Health Agencies Silenced

Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday ordered federal health agencies to cease all public-facing communication, The Washington Postreported, a move that will leave Americans in the dark about everything from viral outbreaks to the spread of possible food-borne illnesses.

The directive to halt all communication with the public comes amid a particularly bad virus season, with influenza A, COVID-19, RSV, and norovirus tearing through communities across the country.

It also comes as a bird flu outbreak is causing an egg shortage, leading to spiking egg prices.

Currently, the outbreak is mostly contained to animals like poultry and cows. And humans who have contracted bird flu got it from infected animals, not other humans.

In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—an agency Trump has now essentially placed a gag order on—announced that a human in Louisiana was in critical condition after contracting bird flu from exposure to a backyard flock of infected birds.

“It has been determined that the patient had exposure to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks,” said the CDC. “This is the first case of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. that has been linked to exposure to a backyard flock. … No person-to-person spread of H5 bird flu has been detected.”

However, scientists are warning that the virus is mutating and could cause yet another public health crisis under Trump's watch.

According to the Washington Post, the CDC was set to issue three reports this week about the bird flu outbreak but now will not.

People within the public health agencies are reportedly not sure why Trump ordered all communication with the public to cease.

One official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal from the new administration, told The Washington Post they are hopeful this communications pause is just the sign of a badly run transition and not something more nefarious.

“We have tried to assume good intentions here, and that they’re just disorganized,” the official said.

However, it’s worth noting that in 2017, during Trump’s first presidency, he ordered a similar pause in public-facing communication from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture, and the Interior Department, ordering them to, as the Washington Post reported at the time, “convey only information that supports the new president’s agenda.”

Trump also has a history of trying to keep public health information from the public.

During his botched response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump wanted people to stop testing themselves for the virus because a high number of cases would make him look bad.

It’s unclear how long Trump’s administration will gag public health agencies or whether the agencies will be able to release factual information when the order is lifted.

Even more troubling is that Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services—which oversees the CDC and its communication on disease outbreaks—is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-science quack who falsely believes vaccines cause autism and drinks raw milk, which can expose humans to bird flu.

Experts are speaking out about the new gag order, saying it endangers public health.

“More cases of H5N1 [bird flu] are occurring in the United States than in any other country. Pausing our health communications at a time when states are scrambling to contain this virus is dangerously misguided,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology at Brown University, wrote in a post on X. “This will make America less healthy and will worsen the virus’s economic tolls.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.