I subscribe to a Substack with a particularly apt title: “Can We Still Govern?” A recent essay reviewed the multiple accusations of fraud used by our clown-car administration to bolster their allegations of “rigged votes” and their war on poor Americans, among other “alternate reality” efforts.
As the essay pointed out, Trump’s obsession with fraud has been the root justification for many, if not most, of the wrongheaded and unpopular decisions of this administration – from gutting the federal workforce, to attacking Social Security, to making it harder, especially for women, to vote, and for the hysterical attacks on immigrants that “justified” his toxic and thuggish immigration raids in Minnesota.
Speaking of toxic, Stephen Miller is one of the most rabid inhabitants of fantasy land. Miller has enthusiastically endorsed the fiction that immigrants “have been cheating for years” and has claimed that “if all of this theft were stopped, it would be enough to balance the budget. The extraction of wealth from American taxpayers to people who don’t belong here is the primary cause of the national debt.”
As the Substack points out,
This is not just untrue, it is a lie on the scale of Elon Musk claiming he would eliminate the deficit. Absolutely fantastical, a kind of fraudulent fraud claim, one untethered from the surly bonds of reason and evidence. The reality, according to an analysis from the libertarian Cato Institute, is the opposite: immigrants have significantly reduced the deficit, contributing a fiscal surplus of $14.5 trillion between 1993-2023.
if there is any rhetorical device that characterizes this administration, it’s the bald-faced lie (although Trump is so untethered from reality, so firmly ensconced in fantasy-land, that it is possible he believes the whoppers he spouts, at least at the time when they occur to him). The linked essay notes his repeated false claim that those evil Somalis had stolen $19 billion dollars from Medicaid in Minnesota, despite the fact that the federal government’s own data shows that Minnesota has been quite effective at controlling waste in its Medicaid program.
The Trump administration uses ridiculous claims like this to justify withholding Medicaid funding from Blue states. The administration’s announcement that it is withholding $259 million of Medicaid funding from Minnesota was how it kicked off its “War on Fraud.”
Trump uses fraud accusations about “fraud and waste” to distract from the reality that his administration is really hell-bent on gutting Medicaid.
The underlying hypocrisy is staggering. Trump is yelling about fraud, even as his administration goes on an unchecked crime-spree. Withholding $250 million in Minnesota’s Medicaid funding will not only do nothing to prevent fraud — it will turn eligible beneficiaries into the victims of Trump’s fraudulent fraud squad.
Indiana’s MAGA legislative super-majority is dutifully following suit.
Just this year, our terrible legislature enacted new and stricter eligibility controls, requiring eligibility checks every six months, mandatory three-month work histories, and copays for non-emergency ER visits. They were unable, however, to pass HB 1066, restricting officials from using tax dollars to purchase luxury cars…Here in Indiana, we emulate the Trump administration by afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable.
What makes this so infuriating is that the Trump administration is easily the most corrupt presidential administration in history. Conflicts of interest are everywhere, while spending is out of control. (I recently posted about the items recently purchased by the Department of Defense, including massive amounts of lobster, King Crab and shrimp, plus $100,000 on a piano, $26,000 for a violin, and $21,750 for a flute.) Before her “reassignment,” we learned that Kristi Noem had spent $200 million on luxury jets with bars and bedrooms, and had handed another $220 million in no-bid contracts to firms with which she was connected. And as the essay reminds us, “Kash Patel has turned the FBI into his own personal Make-A-Wish Foundation, using FBI planes to party with US hockey players in Italy, with buddies for golf and hunting trips, or to meet up with his girlfriend who now has her own FBI security detail.”
The essay also reminds us that Trump’s concerns about fraud haven’t kept him from pardoning individuals convicted of massive fraud, including–but certainly not limited to–Lawren Duran, who masterminded one of the largest-ever cases of Medicare fraud. Trump relieved Duran of the obligation to repay the over $84 million he defrauded from the public. Democratic House Judiciary staffers report that Trump’s pardons have eliminated over $1.3 billion in restitution and fines.
But sure, let’s make working poor folks who rely on Medicaid re-certify their eligibility every six months. (And don’t let those grifters on SNAP buy candy or soda.) The “good Christians” who support this obscene administration evidently think that’s what Jesus would want…
This is in all actuality good news if even half is correct. The near surge in illegal immigration vs their cost due to a lower level of education compared lowers the CBO projection from $14.9 trillion over tge last thirty years to a $.9 trillion bwetween 2024-2034.
The overall cost currently is costing local state and federal accounts $150.7 billion per year. Its hard to overlook how the government limits expenditures to veterans but gives free housing and debit cards to those that broke immigration laws. Without government stemming the current tide what would future projections look like? Not good no matter what they were in the past.
Legal immigration that brings in highly qualified professionals obviously give great paybacks. Even regulated large increases in immigration can be helpful as they work to harvest our farms.
With the federal government having a $40 trillion deficit we are looking at immigration still. But how can politicians state past facts and leave out future predictions of those that crossed over in such an unregulated illegal immigrant surge.
As AI takes jobs, the workers that are here need no more competition. I have been for those that paid the toll of slavery, a sin this country is enduring. Its turned its back on them allowing such a huge surge of undocumented immigrants to take their jobs. No mention of the economic impact on this category.
Having served in inner city churches that serve immigrants of all backgrounds I have an emotional response to good news that the CATO institute put out.
Overall we need consistency in government to do a better job of regulating immigrants so that they aren’t seen as pawns in the world of politics. Pray for our immigrant population as politicians use them for political gain from all sides of the political spectrum.
With all of the serious consequences of dumptrump’s antics, they are all, each and every one of them, distractions from any attention to the one and only thing he fears: revelations of his absolute and disgustingly illegal actions with Jeffery Epstein. It has been remarkably successful so far, but it won’t go away, thus his frenetic increase in negative attention-getting activities, the most heinous and devasting so far, the war in Iran. He says it will end soon, but believe me, only if he can come up the next distraction; this war will not end soon, I’m afraid as it is the best so far at filling up the headlines. The number of those covering up for him – how many in the DOJ etc. have had unredacted access to the crap he was involved in? However many it is would be the number of folks to be indicted when this all comes out.
Yesterday I almost choked when IBJ published an article stating that Trump was threatening to deploy ICE agents to replace TSA agents at the airport and he was going to make sure they enforce the immigration laws.
I’m not sure he is aware that the reason we have a partial shut down, is ICE is out of control and now his solution is to deploy his out of control personal militia to airports.
Let’s talk about government operating in fantasy land.
Oh, don’t worry about CATO. They are looking out for those who can afford to hire think tanks and lobbyists. Since every Congressional District in this country, the Uniparty won’t be cutting that budget in half since Donald wants a Trump Fleet of Naval vessels and he won’t make them “ugly.”
Trump has done an excellent job of speeding up DOGE-like efficiency, which, within a mere 48 hours, after right-wing Christian martyr Charlie Kirk had his crime scene dug up and concreted and added brick layers. However, both the hirer and contractor were redacted for “national security”. How’s that for transparency?
City Council had a meeting recently where they discussed taxpayers’ costs due to large layoffs, but the police department said they will sacrifice by buying new $70,000 Chevy Tahoes instead of $85,000 Suburbans.
Trump’s administration will be the first to spark a people’s revolution. However, most can only comprehend their $7 increase in their water bill, not anything else.
The psychology involved, I think, is a combination of projection – meaning that the Trump-ites know they’re the ones committing fraud for self-enrichment. Stephen Miller is a psychopath just like his boss. He has no idea what he’s doing except expressing his own self-loathing and hate.
That said, at the next level down into the sewer, we have the criminal enterprise thinking where everything is fair game and any means to grab as much as one can while the grabbing is good is the primary goal. Isn’t it obvious?
Epstein? Sure. Juicy scandal stuff. Horrible tragedy for the victims. I think the reason for the obfuscation is what Trump told MTG: “My friends will be hurt.” But so will he. If the rumor is true that the Epstein crap is not included in the immunity idiocy by SCOTUS, then he’ll be tainted yet again with crimes against humanity.
You may have noticed that Trump gives not a single whit about crimes against humanity. And his incredibly callous comment regarding the death of Robert Mueller is clear indication of that. The man is a monster, a psychopath and aging rapidly into the depths of his most dangerous phase.
Trump’s “Fraud” thing is the very essence of projection, a process the GOP, and now the MAGA folks have been using all over the place. TRUMP is the biggest fraud this country has seen, bigger, still, than Joe McCarthy.
Mueller, the man who had the goods on the fraud of the 2016 election, has died, and if I live long enough, I’ll use Trump’s quote to cheer his death.
Well put, Vernon.
Here in Indiana, we emulate the Trump administration by afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable.
Sheila: What a vivid image of our current reality!
How do we get the message to the masses that Trump = Republican and that if we do not want more of the same it means that we have to vote down every Republican candidate that puts his name forward.
Orange Jesus (OJ) has added one trillion dollars to the deficit every six months. I would like to remind everyone that this so-called business man, told us that he loves debt. In business he would simply move assets to a different Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), then file for bankruptcy. I don’t think he’s smart enough to understand that countries don’t operate like businesses. There’s no such thing as an LLCountry.
Those who claim that undocumented immigrants are a problem, let me just say that we now have proof positive that they’re not taking jobs from citizens. Since adults don’t want to do menial labor, Arkansas led the way to child labor and Florida changed the rules governing child labor. Other red states will follow. AI won’t be replacing farm workers any time soon. As to the professionals brought in on H1B visas, yes they are especially important to ongoing research, but what will they do, when research funding is cut by OJ and his minions? BTW the number of student visas has been reduced significantly. OJ and company don’t want students from s…hole countries, no matter how bright they might be.
Mueller’s death should be mourned by the entire country, OJ included. He named several people and prosecuted them, but he never said that OJ had any part in cooperation with Russia. In hindsight that may have been a mistake. RIP Bob. You’ve earned it.