Another Shoe Is About To Drop
We all know the odds of a pre-midterm apology from Donald Trump acknowledging the disastrous state of the nation are closer to none than slim. A validation for what we are paying everyday at the gas pump and at the grocery store would be appreciated. It’s tough out there and these prices hurt those who don’t have a billion in the bank. Instead, the president recently gave himself an A+ on the economy, saying, “There’s never been a job done like we’ve done... There’s no economy like this economy.” All while Americans struggle with more than $4 gas, climbing interest rates, and rising inflation. It should be noted that the president brags about his economy as he travels along the campaign trail from Kansas to Texas to Alabama and Nebraska — all once-reliably red states he won by double digits. His stump speeches are now an effort to salvage his party from a major repudiation in the midterms. Because Trump is incapable of taking responsibility for anything ever, he has deputized JD Vance as the administration’s contrition politician. He has been dispatched to ask (beg?) voters for more time. His message is the polar opposite of Trump’s. While Vance claims the administration has been doing “amazing things,” he adds the caveat that they just need more time. “Give us another couple of years. Give us another chance,” he pleaded. If you believe the polls, most voters are responding with “fat chance” or “no chance.” It’s not just the current mess we’re in, but what’s coming next. It is not hard to see why Trump is waiting until after the election to launch the most potentially devastating part of his agenda. Here’s what the Republicans haven’t bothered to mention. When the White House and congressional Republicans hammered out their so-called Big Beautiful Bill in July 2025, they front-loaded it with short-term boons like no tax on tips, which expire in 2028. But they backfilled it with new rules that will knock millions off Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but not until after the midterms. Beginning next January, new work requirements for many Medicaid recipients will push at least 7 million Americans off the program. Besides the devastating impact of the loss of health insurance to individual Americans, the cuts will put further strain on an already overtaxed healthcare system. Hospitals will close, especially those in rural areas, and everyone is likely to see increased premiums. This month, SNAP recipients got a small cost-of-living increase, $8 a month for an individual and $29 a month for a family of four. The bump means little when it doesn’t even cover inflation and as more people struggle with food insecurity. Food banks are facing unprecedented demand as more students are accessing free school lunches. Just after the midterms, new work mandates, increased paperwork, and stricter recertification rules for SNAP will be fully phased in. Between 5 and 6 million people have already been dropped from the nutritional program, including more than a million children, as states move to adapt to the new rules. According to Feeding America, one in five children in America is food insecure. One in five. And now millions more will lose the food assistance they do get from the government in the coming months. New work requirements for both Medicaid and SNAP are being implemented as the unemployment rate rises. For many, a vicious circle will ensue — They can’t find a job, so they can’t afford food, but they can’t get assistance without a job. Trump’s cuts to the social safety net are estimated to save $1 trillion dollars over 10 years. That sounds like a lot of money, but it does not come close to offsetting the more than $4 trillion in billionaire tax cuts. The sweeping tax and spending bill also appropriated tens of billions of dollars to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS has used that money to round up and deport thousands of immigrants, many here legally and most with no criminal record. So much for getting rid of the “worst of the worst.” The scorched-earth deportation policy is causing a new family separation crisis. During Trump’s first term, DHS took children from their parents as they were crossing into this country. They did it as a deterrent. As horrifying as that practice was, it is now much worse. In July 2025, DHS changed its policy that required officers to reunite families prior to deportation. The new, vaguer rule states it must be done “when operationally feasible.” That rule change, plus a fevered rush to deport as many immigrants as possible, has meant that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now separating families and then deporting parents, leaving tens of thousands of children with no close family and in legal limbo. With no reliable data from the government, the Brookings Institution has compiled information from various nongovernmental organizations and determined that through May of 2026, 205,000 children have experienced parental detention, while 35,000 of them have been left with no parent in the country. That number is no doubt now much higher. In July alone, ICE arrested 49,000 immigrants, a majority of whom had no criminal record according to The New York Times. Is this who we are? Targeting the most vulnerable among us and labeling it as a way to root out “waste, fraud and abuse” while giving rich people tax cuts? It is not only amoral, it is tone deaf. So is deporting legal immigrants and abandoning their children. Trump and his MAGA loyalists may not understand how unpopular these policies are, but indications increase that voters are listening and not liking what they hear.
No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading. Stay Steady, |
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