Summary
Vivek Ramaswamy, recently appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has proposed defunding federal programs that lack current congressional authorization.
This could affect programs like veterans’ healthcare, NASA, and early education initiatives, which still receive funding despite expired authorizations.
Ramaswamy argues that cutting these programs could save billions, and he’s committed to targeting expenditures that “don’t advance the interests of American citizens.”
DOGE, co-led by Elon Musk, aims to curb government spending, with Musk estimating potential cuts of up to $2 trillion.
America: Our soldiers are heroes!
Also America: But they don’t deserve a penny and should pay exorbitant prices for healthcare…
I know this isn’t all Americans, but it’s more than I thought.
If Fuckface 45 and his cronies actually take office on Jan 20, then this country as we know it is gone. It’s over. It’s cooked.
They need to be jailed for their crimes before getting into office.
Specifically about veterans’ healthcare: Veterans surveyed supported Trump 61% to 37% Harris with 2% undecided. And it’s not like the plan to screw up VA benefits was hidden, it was there in Project 2025.
Days after the election, I was talking to coworkers who literally said that was just propaganda and he’s not actually going to do it. Because he said that.
Turns out all people needed was a little bit of plausible deniability…
How is veteran healthcare unauthorized?
It was authorized, but it had an expiration date. Now it’s something that we just take for granted so much we never even thought about having to re-authorize it.
OIC. Well snowballs chance when orange twit assumes the throne
Really surprised he’s the first republican to try cutting it. They’ve been going after vets for years.
It’s a political hand grenade. Of course Trump is the only one willing or able to eat it.
Is it really a political hand grenade? Seems like majority of vets vote red no matter what.
Nah, they’re observant. They have to be. They’re trained to be. They may be young and dumb, but they’ll see shit like this. Trust me, I’ve been there. The young ones may vote red but the older ones dont. And that matters in the military.
Watching the latter half of GWOT veterans eat the bait on the Republican line has been really painful for those of us who got home in 2004 and found out what Bush had been telling the people while we were fighting. At least Obama was honest about why he sent us over. It was a fool’s errand but better than a snipe hunt disguised as regime change.
I’d like to believe you, but 65% red is a pretty high number. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/veterans-vote-trump/
That’s in the face of nearly every military leader that had contact with Trump saying he was unfit, Trump having that weird campaign event at a cemetery, etc.
65% with Fox News being shoveled into every chow hall in the military, open recruiting for the republican party, and forced church. That’s the highest they’re able to get. And a bunch of those do pay attention. In 2020 Active duty voted blue because conservative service members either crossed party lines or stayed home. The veterans who swing hard right get fully captured by the alt right you tube crap too. Come for the cool guns, stay for the speech about Trump. Gods I could go on for hours about that whirlpool of tactical influencers.
But the upside is that anyone who has even a couple braincells no onboard the right wing train bounces right off that stuff. And he might delete our healthcare, but to be honest, and this is the important bit; Veterans don’t have enough votes to swing national or state elections. He does this and it’s everyone listening to us complain about the sudden lack of healthcare after 2 major wars that he has to worry about.
Gotta save that money for corporate welfare
This next two years of “FO” realizations for the FA crowd will bring me no pleasure. Unfortunately we’re past the point of return now in participative democracy due to a menially literate population that has had the capacity for rational and forethought drowned out for 3+ generations.
Time, yet again history, to teach people lessons the same, hard way. 😔
The problem is that it appears as though there are tens of millions of Americans who are literally unable to FO. Or they FO, but are entirely unable (or perhaps unwilling at this point) to connect it to all the FA they’ve been doing.
they just want Russia to be the top superpower
Don’t know anything about top superpower, but Russia already has better healthcare than american veterans. Even tourists have better healthcare in Russia than americans in America.
most so-called third world countries have better healthcare than the US. what I’m talking about is influence over there world. they’re dismantling the country, and even though they’re already terrible at education and healthcare, it will get worse.
Shameless, veterans risk their lives for their country, the least the govt can do is give them healthcare
Unfortunately for veterans, they aren’t risking their lives for their country. They’re risking their lives for the special interests of corporate oligarchs who couldn’t care less about them.
I know but that’s a hard sell for poor young recruits, if they knew this more they’d charge like mercenaries
FWIW, this breaks from the Two Santas Strategy. This Santa is suppose to be funding things conservatives want, while at the same time reducing taxes (on the rich), thereby driving the deficit up without making their voters mad. If you actually cut funding for a bunch of stuff people rely on, you will earn the ire of the voters, that’s why no one ever does it.
Yeah, there will be a core of people who will defend Trump and Musk to their self-inflicted death, but those people are in the minority. Most Americans (and most people in the world) voted against the incumbent this year because they were unfortunately there during a time of inevitable inflation. And they’ll do it again if their lives continue to get materially worse over the next few years.
I can’t help but wonder how we would be sitting right now if Trump had won in 2020. But we’re due for a generational crisis, and I don’t think that wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting.
Save billions on essentials while spending trillions in bullshit.
Do it. Cut tricare too. I don’t want those things gone, but holy hell yes please eliminate the willingness of the military to aid you against the constitution. Defund barrack improvements and force married troops to bring their spouses into the barracks while you’re at it.
Crash and burn and let us rebuild America with an understanding it wasn’t immigrants or trans people that did this, it was rich people and fascists.
As a former military child, I largely agree with cutting tricare. It’s pretty good, and military people take for granted that they get socialized Healthcare but not the rest of us. Yeah, “serving the country” and all that, but most military personnel aren’t doing anything that anyone else isn’t doing. Most military personnel are not in combat roles. Everyone should be treated well because everyone benefits the nation. Take away the socialized healthcare of the military and vets and maybe we’ll get socialized healthcare in general.
I doubt this will work, but it’ll at least force military people to come to terms with the fact they have socialized healthcare and how well it works. My dad at least used to argue with me whenever I called it that. I’m not sure if he still thinks it isn’t true. I’m sure other people haven’t even considered that that’s what it is.
So DOGE is getting cut then?
Trump: “What is the worst idea we can implement?”
Ramaswamy:“Let’s make all the people that know how to use the most complex and deadly weapons mad at us as quickly as possible!”
Wait, a firearm is complex or am I misunderstanding?
Firearms aren’t really that complex.
When it is connected to a f-16 it might be complex.
I mean
I can’t make one.
Ask Tetsuya Yamagami. Likely he can give you some pointers.
/s please don’t.
They won’t cut the funding that goes to the richest Americans and themselves of course.
The crazy thing is the amount of money donated to a Trump by people who work for the Dept of Defense. Or maybe that includes contractors, aka, the rich.
I’ve can only hope that they fuck things up so bad that… Oh who am I kidding. There are to many stupid Americans for anything they do to make a difference in the Trumpublican party.
As a US citizen, paying for veterans healthcare and early education programs advance my interests a whole fucking lot more than paying this jackass.
Stupid piece of shit, you don’t speak for us.
I know what you mean but he does, quite literally, speak for us now. This is what we asked for.
I sure as fuck didn’t, I voted against every single fascist asshole on my balot. I’m just angry.
Right there with you
So did I but unfortunately we lost. That’s democracy in action. The country we live in (the collective we) asked for this.
Collectively protest the most American way possible. Stop buying anything but the essentials. Don’t cut out life enjoyment, but make sure it’s for as few dollars as possible. This fucks with the supply chains and their precious stocks.
I already do that cause I’m broke as shit 😅 most of what I let myself buy is stuff that makes it a little easier to manage my sleep disorder
In like a 3rd party way or an actual way?
In like european way or american way?
Thanks for voting. You’re justified in being angry. There’s a lot to be angry about. Right now we need to focus on blocking every action of this government. We need to shine a light on candidates doing the right thing and bring them up to positions of leadership.
Suggestions?
Pick an issue, or a few, you care about. Find the local or regional group that is already fighting for that issue. Join their newsletter. When they have events or meetings near you, go. Meet people and network. Someday you will find a way you can help in a way that fits your skill set, say yes.
It really is that easy to get involved, and these organizations need volunteers way more than they need money. People make the world move forward, not money, not votes. I mean voting and giving helps too, but giving your time is often way more important with activism.
I’ll see what I can do… Appreciate the input.
One more thing I might suggest is to start attending some of your town/city council meetings. You can also ask the clerk to put you on their mailing list for meeting minutes. Some have a sign up on their website. Just getting a feel for what your locality is dealing with can help you to understand what the local issues are. Local politics are often more accessible to change.
This is an unusual question, but do you know any way I can get more involved if I’m not awake when people meet and organize?
I have a severe circadian rhythm disorder and as a result am not awake during the day. All I’ve been able to come up with in terms of contributing is writing cards to potential voters (I got a couple in the mail when I updated my voter registration), and maybe calling potential voters on the other side of the country who are in a different timezone.
I feel really powerless to contribute, but I don’t wanna sit back and do nothing, disability or not :( if you can’t think of anything, that’s okay, I will keep looking for ways to be involved
Voting is a small part of political change, it needs to be done but that’s not where the work is. Getting involved in your community and pushing for changes is far more productive, activism of all types.
I would start by getting on mailing lists for things you care about and email for local city council meeting minutes. You might be surprised by some of the meeting times of local orgs. Some events are evening, but you can still learn about what is needed if you are staying engaged with local things. I can’t tell you what will work, but I reiterate I would start by getting on mailing lists for things you care about and take opportunities when they come.
Edit: and don’t be so hard on yourself, you can only do what you can do. Take your wins when they come and focus on those.
