Donald Trump and maga Republicans are causing harm to the poor and aged by cutting Medicaid just so the rich can get a another tax cut

Medicaid cuts threaten the foundation of community care.

Echo opinion letter published in the Culpeper Star-Exponent newspaper, in Virginia, by Janis Rieley.

As the Chair of the Board overseeing Encompass Community Supports, I am writing to express deep concern over the proposed cuts to Medicaid and the Department of Health and Human Services draft budget. 

These damaging proposals threaten to unravel the support systems sustaining some of our most vulnerable neighbors.

The draft HHS budget includes the elimination of important aging and social services programs such as the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Section 202 Housing for the Elderly (combines 202 into a block grant with other programs which jeopardizes targeted support).

For decades, our organization served as a vital safety net for older adults, people with disabilities, and individuals facing behavioral health challenges. Medicaid is not just a funding source for these programs—it is the lifeline that ensures low-income seniors can manage their health, that adults with mental health challenges can access medication and counseling, and that caregivers can get the respite they need to keep going.

In our Virginia community, many residents rely on Medicaid-funded services, every day. Cuts to this essential program will not only endanger their health and dignity but will also push more people into crisis—into emergency rooms, nursing homes, and jails—all of which are far more expensive, less compassionate, and ultimately unsustainable alternatives.

Medicaid and aging programs help older adults to age in place, a proven, cost-effective strategy supported by decades of research. Medicaid also helps individuals with developmental disabilities live independently and with dignity in their communities. "Encompass’ Leaflin Lane", a subsidized senior living apartment for people over 62, with very low income, was made possible through Section 202 Housing.

Our cargiving dedicated staff and community partners work tirelessly to stretch every Medicaid dollar and do so while responding to growing needs. But, we cannot do more with less. Funding cuts do not eliminate needs; they shift costs to families, hospitals, and local governments, who are often ill-equipped to bear them.

We urge our state and federal lawmakers to remember the faces behind the numbers: the grandmother who wants to stay in her home, the adult son caring for his father with dementia, the young adult recovering from addiction who finally found hope in community-based treatment. These are not line items—they are lives.

Investing in home based and non-profit community care are not only the right thing to do, but also the fiscally responsible thing to do. Call your Senators and Congressional delegaton today. Please plead with them to protect Medicaid and programs that support older Americans and people with disabilities. (Maine Writer note- Although the Trumpziism "Big Ugly Bill" has been signed into law, the Congress can still pass legislation to mitigate the harmful impact of cuts to social safety net programs like Medicaid, Social Security, Supplemental Nutrition - SNAP, and Medicare.)

A budget that works for all ensures that aging, disability, or mental health challenges never means being left behind.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans cut Medicare Medicaid and middle class safety net programs but give tax cuts to billionaires

Health care access in Idaho has come under attack from the GOP | Opinion By Lauren Necochea 

Medicaid is an investment that benefits everyone. It keeps parents healthy enough to work, guarantees care for neighbors with disabilities and seniors, and prevents families from drowning in medical debt. Just as important, Mdicaid is important to sustain rural hospitals and clinics that would otherwise be unable to keep their doors open. Medicaid works miracles with a bare bones budget. Unfortunately, constant attacks from Republicans in the Statehouse and Congress could make it impossible for Medicaid to carry out its mission. The most recent hit to Medicaid stems from the hole the Republican supermajority blew in our state budget. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has announced a sudden 4% cut to Medicaid reimbursement for all providers and services, affecting everything from rural hospitals and nursing homes to school programs, disability care, and hospice care. Providers were given less than ten days’ notice and warnings that more cuts may follow. The negative impact will be profound. Medicaid already pays less than private insurance, which means doctors, hospitals, and clinics often struggle to cover the costs of care. Rural hospitals and clinics may be forced to cut services or close. 

Like the Idaho Medical Association warned, this will drive Idaho into an “access to care crisis.”

The terrible news comes on top of other reckless decisions by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Earlier this year, they eliminated Healthy Connections, the program that helped clinics treat Medicaid patients by funding primary care and preventing costly emergency room visits. This wise investment ends in January. The governor eliminated paid family caregiving for people with disabilities, even as we face a severe shortage of workers to address complex medical needs, like managing a child’s feeding tube. This left parents in the lurch, unsure whether they could safely leave their children and go to work.

Still, more cuts are on the horizon. Congressional Republicans, including Idaho’s delegation, rammed through the most significant Medicaid cut in U.S. history, despite thousands of pleas from voters. That decision strips health care from nearly 73,000 Idahoans and endangers rural hospitals and clinics. 

Other forms of health insurance are also under attack. The Republican budget proposes cuts to Medicare and increases the cost of private coverage for Idahoans on Your Health Idaho. In short, the GOP is creating a perfect storm. 

As Idahoans lose coverage, rural clinics and hospitals won’t be able to keep their doors open. This eliminates not only health care access, but also rural jobs and economic vibrancy.

This isn’t what voters want. Idaho Democrats have opposed every measure that makes health care more expensive and threatens clinics and hospitals with closure. There’s only one way to deliver the leadership Idahoans deserve, and it’s through the ballot box. 

Let’s do it❗ 

From Lauren Necochea, the chair of the Idaho Democratic Party.

Check out her social media at this site here.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans hide from Town Halls because they are political cowards

Idaho lawmakers should hold ton halls❗ Here’s what we’d ask them | Opinion published in the Idaho Statesman newspaper:

Idaho’s congressional delegation, from left to right: Representtaive. Russ Fulcher, Representative. Mike Simpson, Senator Mike Crapo and Senator Jim Risch. All are members of the Republican Party. 

The U.S. House of Representatives is on summer vacation — sorry, “August recess” — having skipped town quickly to avoid a vote on whether to demand release of the so-called Epstein Files, which may show whether Donald Trump was somehow connected with Epstein’s sex trafficking of minors. Whatever the reason, Idaho’s U.S. Republican Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher should be back home in Idaho. The Senate is still in session.

What a wonderful opportunity to meet with constituents and hear their concerns. Wouldn’t it be great if lawmakers held town halls once again to meet face to face with Idahoans❓ 

By the way, we’re not talking about telephone town halls with screened phone calls and preapproved questions or private events with selected attendees. We’re talking about a town hall that’s open to anyone and everyone to ask questions or express their concerns about an issue.

Town halls with Washington politicians are becoming more and more rare. Senatir Mike Crapo last held an in-person town hall in Sandpoint in 2022, according to Boise State Public Radio. 

We could not find any recent evidence Senator Jim Risch held a public town hall, but he chastised a reporter in 2020, for daring to ask him a question at a public event. 

Congressman Simpson has not held an in-person town hall in over 13 years, according to the Idaho Democratic Party. 

Fulcher used to hold them all the time, with great success and attendance back when he was a state senator representing Meridian and Kuna. Fulcher last did an in-person town hall in 2024, at which protesters shouted him down, which the Statesman opinion editor condemned. 

Remember when then-U.S. Rep. Raúl Labrador was roundly booed at a town hall in 2017, when he said “nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care?”

Maybe that’s why Republican lawmakers don’t want to do town halls any more. It’s a shame.😔😒😞 

Among the issues and questions we’d like to see Idaho’s delegation address and answer: Why did you eliminate funding for public broadcasting❓ We would especially like to see lawmakers visit more rural areas of Idaho, where people are most at risk for losing services and explain how those cuts the Republicans 🐘voted for  are going to be good for them. 😳😔

Someone should ask them if they support cuts to the National Endowment to the Arts and the Humanities❓ If so, why❓ We’d like to see them go to Malad, Idaho and explain why organizers of the Malad Valley Welsh Festival might not be able to bring speakers in for next year’s event. Or Hagerman, Idaho about why a project documenting 435 local military service members shouldn’t get federal aid. Even though the Senate is still in session, we would still encourage our senators to meet with their constituents — all their constituents, not just the voters who support them — the next time they’re in town.

We’d love to see Risch answer the question: Do you agree with cutting funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development❓ You previously spoke highly of USAID and the importance of its work. What changed❓

We’d like to see an Idaho resident ask Crapo about the One Big Beautiful (aka "ugly"❗) Bill. Republican Senator Crapo touts what he says are the many positives of the bill: extension of tax cuts for the middle class, tax credits for nuclear and semiconductor manufacturing, no tax on tips and overtime for tipped/hourly workers, an increase in the child tax credit and standard deduction, money for farmers and small businesses, and a 💲50 billion fund for rural hospitals. 

But someone should ask him how all those goodies, increased spending and tax cuts will affect the budget deficit and national debt. Crapo likes to cherry-pick one “report” from the White House Council of Economic Advisers — a committee stuffed with Trump yes-men — that says the One Big Beautiful Bill will cut the deficit. Are you at all concerned that perhaps, maybe — just maybe — Trump ordered the Council of Yes-Men Economic Advisers to fudge their numbers to come up with the conclusion he wanted? Why ignore all the other myriad studies❓ Why ignore the Tax Foundation, the Congressional Budget Office and the Committee for a Responsible Budget, which have all said the bill will add trillions to the debt❓ We would also urge all of Idaho’s lawmakers to hold town hall meetings in small rural towns and field questions from people currently on Medicaid and reassure them that somehow cutting 💲900 billion from Medicaid over the next 10 years won’t affect them. Simpson should explain, with a straight face to a group of farmers and ranchers in Aberdeen who probably are losing workers, his reasoning behind why he believes Melania Trump🤢 😕deserves to have an opera house  at the Kennedy Center named after her. Or did Trump ask him to do that as a favor? While he’s at it, perhaps Simpson, a trained dentist by trade, could explain his support for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who wants to ban fluoride from drinking water, calling it a “dangerous neurotoxin” that he thinks is linked to arthritis, thyroid problems, bone fractures and cancer and is related to IQ loss or reduced intelligence in children. Finally, since this was the whole reason House lawmakers fled D.C. early, they should answer the question, “If President Trump had ties to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking in minors, shouldn’t the public be made aware of that❓” Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. 

Donald Trump and maga Republicans cut taxes for the rich by taking money from middle class social safety nets- Impeach Trump Again!

Shame on Idaho lawmakers who voted for Trump’s hidious: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ | Echo opinion published in the Idaho Statesman

Budget bill 😳😧😠 The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” was passed by the House by one vote❗

Both Idaho Republicans Representative Mike Simpson (age 74) and Representative Russ Fulcher (age 63) voted for it, even though the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said this bill will increase the federal deficit over the next 10 years by over 3 trillion dollars. 

This hideious bill will cut hundreds of billions from Medicare and Medicaid and various other social safety net programs, all or most of which benefit the middle class down to the poorest. 

Republicans are making these cuts to justify a tax cut that will disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations. To summarize – the party of “fiscal conservatism” wants to increase the deficit (which would be absolutely unacceptable if the White House were occupied by a Democrat) in order to cut taxes mostly for the wealthy, while giving lip service to paying for this tax cut by cutting $800 billion from programs that help ordinary Americans. The absolute stupidity of this approach is mind-boggling. 

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition): As a lifelong Idahoan and Boise resident, I know firsthand how vital SNAP is. 

After losing my job during the Great Recession, I went from working as a legal assistant to applying for food assistance just to keep my son fed. I skipped meals so he could eat dinner. I borrowed eggs and oil from my mom so he wouldn’t go to school empty-handed for a class party. 

SNAP helped us survive when everything else fell apart.  Today, more than 132,000 Idahoans rely on this program — including veterans, older adults and families who work hard but can’t make ends meet. Yet Congress will slash average benefits to just $5 a day. That won’t even cover a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread.

Worse, these horrible cuts will strip thousands of Idaho kids of free school meals. That’s not fiscal responsibility — it’s punishing children and families. 

SNAP isn’t charity. It’s a smart, effective program that reduces hunger and keeps communities strong. Idaho grocers, farmers, and families all benefit. I urge Idaho’s delegation to reject these harmful cuts. You can’t fix a broken budget by taking food away from children. 

From Dawn Pierce, in Boise, Idaho

Donald Trump and maga Republicans enabling fear and anger to justify dictator behavior- Impeach Trump Again!

"If a Democratic president did any of these things, Republican outrage would be biblical," Jonah Goldberg.  

Trump, more than ever,mixes anger, fear and insults to stir supporters.

Trump exaggerates D.C. crime rate to justify federal troops

The Trump quest for power is unparalleled in our country’s history. There is no state of emergency that requires the federalization of the police force in D.C. 

Trump is using the wrongminded decision to fill cities with Democratic mayors with National Guard troops is his display that says he controls the streets. It' part of his campaign to terrorize cities and people who do not back him. But Americans do not have to buy the terror he is selling.

Jonah Goldberg reports, in the last month, the president sent troops -- now armed -- into the District of Columbia ostensibly to combat an ill-defined crime "emergency." Because of the District's special constitutional status, he has the authority to do so. But he's already talking about taking the show on the road to Chicago, Baltimore and New York, all cities that just happen to be run by Democrats.

The D.C. gambit -- following an earlier scheme in Los Angeles -- is partly intended to force Democrats to talk about crime (which they are very bad at). But it also seems intended to normalize using the army on American soil, at the whim of the president, an idea directly contrary to the law and constitutional order.

The Trump administration has acquired a 10% stake of Intel and wants more such "deals." It raided the home of a prominent critic, John Bolton, without much explanation. 

Annoyed by commentary from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the president threatened to re-open a criminal investigation in which Christie was already cleared of wrongdoing. Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for releasing data he did not like, and fired the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency allegedly for a preliminary finding that contradicted his claims of military success (this on the heels of earlier Pentagon purges).

Trump successfully ordered a pliant Texas Republican governor and legislature -- elected officials who do not answer to the federal government -- to redraw state maps to produce more Republican friendly districts. He has declared he will lead an effort to dictate how elections are conducted -- a function he has no legal or constitutional authority over -- on the grounds that the states are merely "agents" of the federal government.

Since taking office, Trump has lawlessly defied Congress' explicit instruction to force the sale or termination of the Chinese spyware social media app, TikTok. The White House recently opened a TikTok account.

Democrats raised alarms about this hardly exhaustive list. They are obviously correct about the GOP's staggering hypocrisy. If a Democratic president did any of these things, Republican outrage would be biblical.

But the issue is bigger than that.

Echo published in the Culpeper Star news:

For my entire adult life, when conservatives raised concerns about the government intruding on constitutional rules and norms, Democrats (and the media) almost invariably responded with contemptuous eye-rolling and mockery. This is one of the reasons the new right no longer cares much about those rules and norms. They've convinced themselves that the left only cares about such things when they constrain Republicans. Contempt breeds more contempt. Norms for thee, unrestrained power for me is a surefire way to destroy all norms.

I'm not saying that what Trump is doing isn't worse than what Democrats did -- or wanted to do, but failed. But in our politics, the ratchet effect always leads to ever greater violations, in part because each side wildly exaggerates the other's transgressions.

Point out that Trump is weaponizing the justice system or profiting off government, the reply is "they did it first." There's some truth there. But when Democrats did such things, Republicans shrieked it was wrong. Now one team's wrongness is justification for even more wrongness.  (Maine Writer- IMO, this statement by Goldberg is over stated.....I do not believe Republicans should be able to get away with this kind of rationalization❗)

Partisanship is not new. But partisans used to respect the rules as a way to ensure they were followed when their team was out of power. That's what has been lost: the idea that the rules should apply to your team, too.


Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch: thedispatch.com.

Tears of grief as I read this echo opinion: Minnesota child writes about growing up learning "Code Red"

Opinion | I’m just 16, and I already have too many memories of mass shootings: It’s easy to offer condolences from afar while doing nothing to stop the guns. By Lydia Ganser

Echo opinion published in The Minnesota Star Tribune

Five years old. My first code red drill. An intercom voice thundered. My kindergarten teacher paused our read-aloud, guiding us toward the classroom’s single-stall bathroom. Silencing our whispers, Mr. Matt explained that code reds occurred during emergencies — such as when zoo animals ran loose within the school. You see, when lions and tigers roam hallways, we must remain silent because nobody wants to get noticed by a predator ready to kill. With lips sealed, we nodded in unison. This made perfect sense.

Eight years old. Rather than rushing home to indulge in Valentine’s Day treats, I learned what code reds truly are.

With glossy eyes, Mommy depicted what had occurred in Parkland: How there was a boy, a very angry boy, who went into a school to hurt people. Months later, Mommy — herself a teacher — left home carrying cardboard signs that read “Never Again.” I begged her not to leave. I did not want a code red to happen to her too. This made far less sense than lions and tigers in hallways.

Ten years old. Knees pulled to chest atop my parents’ duvet, I was informed that my friend, his mother, and his brother were victims of gun violence. The world drained of color as my tears soaked the bedspread. Hours later, I watched cross-legged as the children I had grown up with recognized their friend, William, was now a memory. Their sobs rang in my ears as it hit them that William would never again walk through that door. A week later, I sat in a house of worship wearing a dress the shade of orange William adored, surrounded by children’s wails from those who did not yet understand. I wished I didn’t either.

Twelve years old. My pant leg buzzed in class as news that 21 people were murdered in their place of learning consumed the internet. On the ride home, I read name after name to my mother as their small faces surfaced online. That night, my brain stayed busy, mapping escape routes in case my school was next. The following morning I wept, thinking of all of the kids awakening to the loss of friends they would never again giggle with. I cried for them, I cried for me, I cried for every child unfortunate enough to understand.

Thirteen years old. I listen as our president declares mass shootings to be, “not a gun problem.” ❓I wonder to myself whose problem it must be. The same man claims “nothing happened” during his four years in office. The tears shed were nothing. The 14,500 children lost during his term were nothing. My friends’ lives were nothing. I understand.

Sixteen years old. Two miles away, an active shooter. Dozens of rounds fired as children worshiped in pews. I read as statements unfold; as politicians urge for prayer toward the victims. Prayer for the 10-year-olds met with bullets as they prayed. I think how easy it must be to pray when your students are not the ones facing gunfire amid their morning Mass. How simple it must be to tweet “join me for praying!” as you watch from afar while second-graders lose their lives to preventable evil. I think how one who possesses such immense power could post condolences while revoking the very laws that could have saved them.

In 2025 alone, the U.S. has recorded nearly 300 mass shootings, leaving almost 10,000 casualties as of early May. At the same time, the Trump administration has revoked the bump-stock ban, rescinded the zero-tolerance policy for law-violating gun owners, halted safety device sale requirements and has actively worked to deregulate firearm exports. Do not offer thoughts and prayers as you systematically enable such tragedies. Do not claim prayers are sufficient when children die as they pray. Do not pretend you do not understand.

From Lydia Ganser is a junior in the Minneapolis Public Schools district.

Donald Trump hears from Missouri voters: "I am pissed and I am pissed at you": Rep. Mark Alford

Get your head out of Trump's Ass❗

"This Guy 2028": This Missouri Voter Is Going Viral For His Heated Takedown Of His Republican Representative

Ed Mazza Tuesday, August 26, 2025 

I am pissed, and I’m pissed at you,” a man who identified himself as Fred Higginbotham told Missouri Republican Congressman Mark Alford at a town hall in Missouri, on Monday as he urged him to study the Constitution “and get Trump out of office.”  Trump, he said, is a “dictator.”

“I listened to him for about a half hour today, and I got sick at all the lies he brought up,” Higginbotham said, later adding: “You need to take your head out of Trump’s ass and start doing your representation of us.” Many in the room cheered❗📣✌🙏

Higginbotham also spoke about his own struggles, saying he was about to lose his farm, and urged Alford to increase taxes on large corporations and the wealthy: Constituent: I am pissed, and I am pissed at you. The man is a dictator. He knows nothing about what he talks about. You need to take your head out of Trump’s ass.

Many GOP lawmakers have largely shunned town halls and other public events this year. When they do turn up for them, they often face a roomful of angry voters ready to shout and jeer.

Alford, however, is planning to hold 15 town halls this week, according to Kansas City’s KSHB.

But it was his encounter with a single voter on Monday that took off online, as many on X echoed the cheers of those in the room:

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must "get their heads out of Trump's ass"- Missouri Town Hall voter

Missouri Constituent to Republican Congressman Mark Alford: "I am pissed, and I am pissed at you. The man is a dictator. He knows nothing about what he talks about. You need to take your head out of Trump’s ass." pic.twitter.com/B5m3Sx6qve
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 26, 2025

Trump’s cheat code

To the editor of The Chief: A voice for workers published in New York City

We at The Chief-Leader remain committed to independent reporting on labor and civil service. It's been our mission since 1897. 

In each of President Barack Obama’s first 13 months in office, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported job losses. The largest loss, 825,000 jobs, came in March 2009; in total, the BLS reported 3.6 million jobs lost over those 13 months.
What did Obama do❓ Did he fire the BLS commissioner❓ Of course not. Obama rolled up his sleeves and went to work. That’s leadership. By the time President Obama left office in January 2017, he regained those 3.6 million lost jobs and added 11.6 million more.

This past week, we witnessed Donald Trump react to unfavorable data; he whined, scapegoated and falsely claimed to be the victim of politically motivated fraud. True leaders cringe at the tactics that come naturally to Trump.

Unfortunately, Trump’s claims are about as reliable as his golf score. Recently, cameras caught this serial golf cheat in action in Scotland and again in Bedminster, New Jersey, during a tournament Trump claimed he “won.” Bryan Marsal, a Winged Foot Golf Club member, described his golfing experience with Trump: “We go to the first tee … he said, ‘You see those two guys? They cheat. See me? I cheat. And I expect you to cheat because we’re going to beat those two guys today,’” summing up “he believes that you’re gonna cheat.… So if it’s the same, if everybody’s cheating, he doesn’t see it as really cheating.”🤥

Trump isn’t a leader, he is a liar and if you are on his side, Trump demands that you also lie. After telling reporters why he “had” to fire the BLS Commissioner, Trump said that grocery prices have fallen and “gasoline is way down. It’s gonna soon be less than $2 a gallon.” I must be shopping at the wrong supermarkets and gas stations.

Joseph Cannisi

Donald Trump and maga Republicans support the evil retribution campaign against anyone Trump does not like: That's a lot of people!

Trump’s Vendetta Campaign Targets Mr. John Bolton

Echo editorial opinion published in The Wall Street Journal

This FBI raid makes clearer that second-term success for the President includes retribution.

Trump promised voters during his campaign for a second term that he had bigger things on his mind than retribution against opponents. But it is increasingly clear that vengeance is a large part, maybe the largest part, of how he will define success in his second term.

Trump's revenge campaign took an ominous turn Friday as FBI agents raided the home and office of Trump’s first-term national security adviser John Bolton. They brought two broad warrants to search the “premises.” Agents showed up unannounced at his Bethesda, Md., home at 7 a.m. They confiscated his wife Gretchen’s phone because it was visible and not on her person. Mr. Bolton had already left for his office, which is where FBI agents greeted him.

Trump Gets His Revenge on John Bolton. Who’s Next?

An echo editorial published in The New York Times 

Less than 12 hours after President Trump’s inauguration in January, he revoked the security detail protecting John Bolton, his former national security adviser turned critic, despite credible threats from Iran. Since then, Trump has repeatedly ridiculed Mr. Bolton on social media, including by calling him one of the “stupid people” making it harder to end the Ukraine war. The president has also continued his yearslong accusations that Mr. Bolton leaked classified information, without offering any evidence.

None of Trump’s pressure tactics stopped Mr. Bolton from pointing out the president’s many foreign policy failures. On Thursday evening, Mr. Bolton was back on CNN, saying that President Vladimir Putin of Russia had managed to “roll” Trump at their recent (failed❗) Alaska summit, and criticizing the administration for being unable to explain the outcome of the summit or the future of peace talks.

On Friday morning, Augut 22, 2025, the intimidation ratcheted up several notches. 

At dawn, the F.B.I. conducted a search of Mr. Bolton’s house in Bethesda, Md., and his office in Washington. Agents carried out boxes of papers and put them into vehicles with flashing blue lights in front of the amassed cameras. The Times reported that officials were investigating whether Mr. Bolton had improperly leaked national security information to the news media and other parties to damage the Trump administration. Mr. Bolton, notably, has not held government office in six years.

It is too early to know what the F.B.I. will claim to find in all of those boxes but not too early to surmise that the search for incriminating documents was not the real goal of Friday’s search. 

Even if it turns up documents that should not be there, the administration has damaged any presumption of good faith by flinging weightless accusations of criminality at those who challenge it. That approach was evident in the snide social media posts that accompanied the search. “NO ONE is above the law,” wrote Kash Patel, the bureau’s director. “@FBI agents on mission.” Mr. Patel’s deputy Dan Bongino jumped to an accusation of guilt with his response: “Public corruption will not be tolerated.” And Attorney General Pam (aka "Nurse Ratchet "of DOJ) Bondi declared: “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”

The search is a new chapter in Trump’s campaign of retribution against his critics. The White House and its loyalists in the Justice Department and the F.B.I. are sending a clear message: Keep quiet, or we will use the extraordinary power of federal law enforcement to threaten your job or your liberty and put you under a lasting cloud of suspicion. And they are using the fearsome punitive authority of the government to conduct this campaign.

Trump has accused former President Barack Obama of “treason,” claiming his predecessor was behind the effort to reveal how Russia helped Trump’s 2016, campaign. “He’s guilty,” Trump said of Mr. Obama in July, acting as both judge and jury. 

Almost immediately the Justice Department created a task force to investigate the allegation. Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought two federal indictments against Trump, is now under a federal investigation after Senator Tom Cotton, (aka "Cotton Balls Cotton") Republican of Arkansas, accused him of violating the Hatch Act.

The White House is also using accusations of mortgage fraud against three people for whom Mr. Trump holds special grievances. The F.B.I. has begun a criminal investigation into whether Letitia James, the attorney general of New York and a Democrat, lied on mortgage documents. Ms. James, who denied the charge, won a fraud judgment against Trump in a state court last year. (This week a New York appellate court tossed out the half-billion-dollar fine against him as excessive but upheld the judgment.) The Justice Department has even issued a subpoena to Ms. James for records related to her lawsuit against Mr. Trump, an extraordinary intrusion into a state legal matter that directly affects Ms. Bondi’s boss.

The second target is Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and an outspoken adversary of Mr. Trump, whom the president has accused of similar deception on a mortgage application; a federal investigation is underway. The third is Lisa Cook, a member of the board of the Federal Reserve (appointed by President Joe Biden), whom Trump threatened to fire on Friday, claiming the grounds of mortgage deception*. The allegations initially came from Bill Pulte, Trump’s appointee as the Federal Housing Finance Agency director, who has not explained how Ms. Cook’s federal mortgage application came to his attention. The move fits with Trump’s intention to take control of the central bank, despite its independence from the executive.

It is possible none of these investigations will result in a criminal charge. Still, they can do great harm to their targets. The cost of mounting a defense can be ruinous, and in some cases the reputational damage can be impossible to fix.

Whatever the outcome, they instill fear in anyone who might consider challenging the president, and they erode trust in the justice system.

Trump seems convinced that he is doing nothing to his rivals that was not done to him in earlier prosecutions and lawsuits. 

That is untrue (IOW, another lie❗🤥). There is little comparison between the substantial evidence amassed in his cases — in particular, that he tried to break the nation’s election laws in 2020, and refused to return classified White House documents — and the frequent lack of evidence lobbed at his adversaries.

We do not pretend to know how any of these cases will turn out. 

Nevertheless, it is clear that Trump and his appointees are perverting the justice system to serve their political interests and intimidate their critics. Given this pattern, Mr. John Bolton and the rest of Trump’s targets deserve every benefit of the doubt. Despite the justice system’s many imperfections, Americans long had reason to trust that federal officials would not target people for investigations without evidence. Under the Trump administration, that assumption is disappearing. The president has given all Americans reason to believe that justice is now applied selectively and unfairly.

*Donald Trump has a history of being accused of mortgage fraud❗

New York v. Trump is a civil investigation and lawsuit by the office of the New York Attorney General alleging that individuals and business entities within the Trump Organization engaged in financial fraud by presenting vastly disparate property values to potential lenders and tax officials, in violation of New York Executive Law § 63(12). The defendants were Donald Trump, five other individuals including three of his children, and ten business entities including some that owned property in New York, Florida, and Chicago.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are an evil duo who got away with victimizing young girls luring them into sex trafficking

Jeffrey Epstein's evil Michigan connection with Ghislaine Maxwell:

The media only scratched the surface of the crimes against young girls committed by Jeffrey Epstein and so many others. I recommend the 2020 book "The Spider"* , by Barry Levine if you want more information than what social media and TV are giving us.

Here is one example:  Echo opinion letter pubished in Ottowa County News Network, in Michigan.

In 1998, Epstein gave a large donation to the Interlochen Center for the Arts in northern Michigan. In return t,he camp built the Jeffrey Epstein Scholarship Lodge and gave Epstein two weeks a year to stay in this lodge. He and his then-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, would take advantage of this in the summer months and sit on its porch looking for victims. One young 13-year-old camper from Florida was victimized by Epstein and Maxwell for several years, and who knows how many others fell prey to these monsters.

The lodge is now called The Green Lake Lodge and can be rented.

The book is filled with the names of those who were friends with Epstein and Maxwell, friends who might be revealed to be predators in the Epstein Files. After you read this book, you can see why both Biden and Trump do not want these files to see the light of day. I am sure many of our business and political and show business elites are very nervous.

By the way, anything Maxwell says can not be trusted. She is a known liar and sexually preyed upon young girls, too. If Trump wants to get the truth, he or his lawyers at the Department of Justice must talk to the victims, not just the predator. The camp cut ties with Epstein in 2007, after his child sex conviction.

From Henry Idema in Grand Haven

*Who was Jeffrey Epstein❓ Donald Trump has called the ongoing interest in the details about Epstein’s web of clients and enablers a “hoax.” But in this book, a Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist delivers the most comprehensive account yet of the disgraced financier’s life and death, revealing a criminal enterprise that stretched over decades. “An exhaustively detailed look at the life, death, and alleged crimes of Epstein, along with his years-long friendship with Trump in the 1990s, and early 2000s—and how Trump’s ascendancy to the presidency ultimately helped expose Epstein.”—Forbes

Donald Trump and maga Republicans attacking healthcare with Medicaid cuts devastating patient access to financially stressed hospitals

Donald Trump and maga Republican attacks on healthcare is expensive and dangerous:  Echo opinion letter published in the Ottowa News Network, in Michigan: ONN is a nonprofit newsroom that ensures all people in Ottawa County have access to trusted news.

All people have a fundamental right to healthcare, and, as a society, it benefits us to have people who are healthy in terms of people’s ability to work, the reduction of spreading illness, and curbing mental health crises.

A wrong minded, misleading and unsupported opinion in USA Today that claims Medicaid has been disconnected from helping its recipients to find work. It also claims that tens of millions of able-bodied adults are trapped in government dependency and not flourishing because they are not working.

The piece further purports that the cuts Donald Trump and Republicans made to Medicaid are not gutting Medicaid, but preserving the core of the safety net for the truly vulnerable and that he and his fellow Republicans are helping millions of able-bodied adults leave welfare and find work. He makes much the same claims for the SNAP program. This article completely ignores the facts.

The following statistics are from the Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent source for health policy research:

• 64% who receive Medicaid are already working either full- or part-time❗
• 12% are not working due to caregiving responsibilities.
• 10% are not working due to illness or disability.
• 7% are attending school to improve their ability to attain work.
• 8% are retired or unable to find work.

*Note: Total does not sum to 100%, due to rounding.

So, where are the tens of millions of able-bodied adults not working❓ The 64% who are working are in jobs that don’t offer healthcare to their employees, which is why they qualify for help. 

In addition, these people don’t earn enough to qualify for a premium subsidy under the Affordable Care Act, making the ACA policies unaffordable.

The cuts made to Medicaid and the changes made to the Affordable Care Act are going to increase hospital prices as they seek to cover the costs of people showing up to the ER with no health insurance. Hospitals with emergency departments are required to treat patients without insurance with emergencies. Premiums will increase as health insurance companies seek to cover the higher hospital prices. Hospitals that see a larger number of Medicaid patients, particularly inner city and rural hospitals, may well close because they can’t make it financially.
So, how are Republicans going to reduce waste and fraud❓ They are going to waste people's time and fraudulently cheat people out of benefits they qualify for by saddling them with onerous paperwork and red tape. Many low-income workers work odd hours, making it difficult to complete the requirements.

Both Arkansas and Georgia have tried or currently have work requirements for Medicaid. Both had serious issues with their websites not functioning correctly and people unable to submit their paperwork, resulting in the denial of benefits. The websites are closed at night and clients have difficulty getting an actual person to resolve issues. Georgia has spent more than $91 million in state and federal funds launching, building and operating its eligibility reporting system that still has major glitches two years on. In the meantime, qualified recipients go without the health insurance they need and deserve.

All people have a fundamental right to healthcare, and, as a society, it benefits us to have people who are healthy in terms of people’s ability to work, the reduction of spreading illness, and curbing mental health crises. Republican attacks on the U.S. health system are shortsighted, expensive and dangerous for us all.

From Beverley Rannow in Holland, a city in Michigan

Donald Trump and maga Republicans create cruel inhumane Alligator Alcatraz where local residents oppose unlawful immigrant detention

Echo opinion letter published in the News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida:

As South Florida residents, we are appalled by the construction and operation of Alligator Alcatraz, an affront to American values right in our backyard. This makeshift facility, built in secret on a remote airstrip, is a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe. The governor’s initiative to detain immigrants without due process subverts established legal rights and constitutional protections. 

People have been arrested for minor traffic violations, brought to jail, fingerprinted and handed over to ICE. The data show the risks of this have grown since January 2025, as federal officials expand efforts to work with state and local authorities to apprehend and deport immigrants with no prior convictions.

Eyewitness and legal accounts of the conditions within Alligator Alcatraz are horrifying. Reports of unsanitary conditions, inadequate medical care, and the denial of confidential access to legal counsel are not the hallmarks of a just society.

The location itself is an insult to our state’s natural heritage. Ripping up the fragile Everglades ecosystem to build a barbed-wire compound shows a callous disregard for the environment that defines our region. We should be stewards of our land, not exploiters of it for a cruel and politically motivated project.

We must join the outraged voices — from legal and environmental groups to neighbors and human rights advocates — to demand an immediate end to Alligator Alcatraz and insist on a humane and lawful approach to immigration. This facility is a moral stain on our community and a dangerous precedent for our nation.

From Alison and Clay Wescott, in Naples, Florida