A Republican Recipe for Rancor and Death

Our Federal Correspondent on the latest skulduggery from the wanna-be King and his MAGA minions.

Jun 13, 2025

Trumpian Republicanism is a noxious mixture of damaging and discredited budget ideas combined with dictatorial dreams that are poisonous to democracy. Gangster government is on the march, fueled by retribution and quid pro quos. Claiming big law firms threatened national security, Trump went after the attorneys who represented or hired people he considered enemies. Then, when the targeted law firms promised to work pro bono for the administration, any purported threat disappeared.

Trump also uses bribery to put big bucks in his own pocket. According The New York Times, at a dinner for investors in Trump’s crypto scheme, “Justin Sun, a Chinese billionaire who became one of the largest holders of the $TRUMP memecoin after buying more than $40 million, earning him a spot in an even more exclusive private VIP reception with the president before the dinner. The Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023 accused Mr. Sun of fraud, but after Mr. Trump took over, the agency put its lawsuit on hold.”

Americans have fought for liberty and personal rights since our revolution against British rule. Yet masked men — refusing to show a warrant or identification — snatched an international student off the street and held her in jail for six weeks because she wrote an op-ed the president didn’t like. It took a lawsuit and a judge to free her. Out of ignorance or a desire to suck up to Trump, Homeland Security’s Kristi Noem claimed “habeas corpus” -- the constitutional requirement that feds can’t take people’s liberty without due process -- is “a right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country."

Much of the administration’s authoritarian actions are rationalized with lies. Meanwhile, truth-tellers are punished. Attorney General Pam Bondi axed the attorney who admitted that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported, thus rejecting reality and grossly politicizing both intelligence and the law. In a press conference about charges later filed against Garcia, Bondi improperly proclaimed he committed all sorts of crimes that don’t appear in the federal indictment.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired analysts who found that the Venezuelan government doesn’t control the Tren de Aragua gang, thus blowing up Trump’s rationale for invoking the Alien Enemies Act for deportations. Trump asserted the 247 men renditioned to a Venezuelan prison hellhole were vicious and dangerous, but only six were convicted of violent crimes in the U.S. One nonviolent deportee was a 23-year-old who “was arrested in Chicago in August 2023 on misdemeanor charges for riding his bike on the sidewalk while drinking a can of Budweiser.” (Just compare that fellow’s treatment to prolific drug user and billionaire Elon Musk getting advance warning of drug tests at SpaceX. Talk about a perfect exemplification of pure racism and corruption.)

And what’s going on in Los Angeles looks like a prelude to an American police state. Stephen Miller told ICE to target undocumented day laborers in Home Deport parking lots, rather than pursuing criminal immigrants. In the wake of the destructive Palisades fires, there’s a huge need for roofers, framers and sheetrockers. Just like the dishwashers and cooks kidnapped by ICE around the country, these people taken into custody are working class folks trying to feed their families and pay rent. Not gang members.

When protestors gathered in LA, various federal agencies amped up pressure. Then local police got involved. The Los Angeles Police Department, known for being brutal at times, praised people for exercising “their First Amendment rights responsibly.” Yet the Trump administration took over the California National Guard and sent in armed Marines. One Trump ally advised him to “dispatch unmarked vans to follow key agitators and snatch them from the streets while the media are not looking.”

Trump’s federal stormtroopers pushed SEIU California President David Huerta to the ground (resulting in a head injury for Huerta) then cuffed, stuffed and charged him with a felony for merely banging on a gate. Then Trump threatened to arrest CA Gov. Gavin Newsom. And, as Trump prepared to observe tanks at a Washington, D.C. Soviet-style military parade, he announced that anybody protesting his birthday party “will be met by very heavy force.”

Meanwhile, Trump and congressional Republicans’ budget might look like normal politics, but the “big beautiful bill” is even worse than usual for the poor and middle class. It’s a supercharged version of the standard Republican budgetary playbook going back to at least Ronald Reagan. Meaning slash programs for the poor and middle-class, claiming cuts are necessary because the budget isn’t balanced. (Somehow, in the GOP’s mind, it’s good for people to have less food, health care and heat than needed.) Also planned are tax cuts, particularly for the very rich, while pretending the largesse will trickle down. Once again, we’ll watch the deficit and debt surge, with the pain hitting the masses the hardest. Reaganomics-Redux.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the BBB makes the poorest Americans poorer and the richest richer. With the House of Representatives’ 30% cut to food stamps and big health care cuts, Republicans clearly voted to transfer wealth upwards, to benefit and further enrich millionaires and billionaires.

Under Joe Biden, the highest percentage of Americans ever had health care coverage -- 92%. In his first term, Trump tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Now, despite claiming he doesn’t want to cut Medicaid, the budget passed by the House (and rejected by every Democrat) slashed Medicaid, Medicare and subsidies for people buying ACA plans. Nearly 15 million will lose coverage meaning fewer cancer screenings, blood pressure checks and other tests that allow chronic conditions to be caught and treated. The result: a lot of people dying. Researchers say 51,000 Americans will die unnecessarily every year because of cuts to testing and treatment. That’s 10,000 more than the annual number of nationwide car accident fatalities.

Congressional Republicans’ attitudes range from Sen. Josh Hawley, who called the cuts “morally wrong and politically suicidal,” to Sen. Joni Ernst, who told voters, “Well, we are all going to die.” Walking through a cemetery, Ernst followed up by comparing her quip that “everyone dies” to knowing about the tooth fairy. Then, in a dramatic pivot, Ernst said those who believe in Jesus CAN live forever. Ernst’s sociopathic lack of empathy is wildly offensive. Personally, as a Jewish person with cancer, it has a special repulsive resonance.

Obviously, the standard Republican talking points about health care have returned in full force. Hint: Anytime they say they want to “protect the most vulnerable,” they actually want to make it impossible for people with incomes slightly above the absurdly low federal poverty level of $15,650 a year to get covered.

The GOP’s rhetoric should sound familiar to Mainers. When Paul LePage was governor, he called MaineCare “medical welfare.” That kind of garbage talk is back. So is a red tape requirement for people to report how much they work. That prerequisite presumes that some folks just don’t deserve to see a doctor. And that GOP logic ignores the many studies showing that states with work-reporting requirements spend a lot of money on bureaucracy. Such rules also create chaos and deny coverage to qualified recipients and especially hurt people with variable work schedules and caretaking duties. Obviously, Republicans are lying when they claim the BBB doesn’t include cuts to healthcare. Also, their declarations that those cuts "strengthen" Medicaid, is only true in Opposite Land.

All of this is bad for Mainers, particularly folks in the Second Congressional district, according to Rick Pollack, who heads the American Hospital Association. “Hospitals — especially in rural and underserved areas — will be forced to make difficult decisions about whether they will have to reduce services, reduce staff and potentially consider closing their doors,” he explained. “Other impacts could include longer waiting times to receive care, more crowded emergency departments, and hospitals not being able to invest in technology and innovations for clinical care.”

As the below graphs show, two in three Maine nursing home residents receive Medicaid and about 39 percent of Maine births are paid for by the federal program. As the Maine Center for Economic Policy explains, congressional Republicans' cuts mean a lot less money for Maine government, blowing “an almost $190 million dollar hole in our state budget… They’re passing the buck to states while burying struggling families in red tape and making food and health care more expensive.”

Trump further harmed the health of Americans by massively decimating biomedical research and public health. His proposed budget cuts the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $18 billion or 43%, including a 37% cut in cancer research. (Yes, cancer research!) And under Elon Musk and RFK Jr., thousands of NIH employees were fired, destroying clinical trials that had been underway for years. So much for “Making America Healthy Again.”

For context, it’s important to understand that the federal government started supporting scientific research in the U.S. in the 19th century. Trump’s attacks on universities and non-citizens teaching and training in the U.S. kills that tradition while making our country weaker today and even worse in the future. Trump’s massive cuts will mean fewer medical and scientific breakthroughs. Scientists, who train for many years before leading their own research, won’t be working in America. Those big brains will prefer to study and research in countries where the threat of a trip to the gulag isn’t part of graduate school.

Long term, this means innovative and impactful cures and treatments that could save and extend lives won’t exist.

Remember how Trump hated Dr. Anthony Fauci and other NIH scientists who challenged his crazy ideas during the pandemic? And considering RFK’s anti-vax crackpottery, it’s horrific, but unsurprising, to watch the administration decimate vaccine programs. HHS reversed researchers’ COVID vaccine recommendations for pregnant women and children and ended funding for a new vaccine for HIV. Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory board, whose recommendations impact whether peoples’ insurance will cover vaccines. Fewer vaccinations will translate into more outbreaks of communicable diseases. To be blunt: people will die. Unnecessarily.

Everyone knows lead poisoning has lifelong effects on brain development. That’s why it’s particularly appalling to see Kennedy, whose father was a champion for children living in poverty, dismantling lead control efforts. Kennedy lied to Congress, falsely claiming scientists haven’t been cut, then published a bogus report with non-existent research hallucinated by AI.

And let’s not forget that Sen. Susan Collins voted for Kennedy. Despite bragging about her power, she’s done nothing to hold him accountable for his anti-science actions. Even worse, when asked by a reporter whether she regretted voting for him, Collins said “no.” Meanwhile, she gets favorable coverage from the Maine media for expressing her “concerns.”

As people suffer because of the GOP’s budget badness, House Republicans snuck in a gift for their favorite dictator and future autocrats: a provision that stopped judges from holding government officials in contempt of court. The bill also massively expands funding for detention facilities. If the Republicans get their way, more Americans will be imprisoned, fewer will get help to prosper and the only real judicial limit on Trump will vanish.

Authoritarianism, enshittification and impoverishment are part of the same hurtful and corrupt agenda. This supercharged terribleness is a surefire recipe for brutal disaster. With presidential lawlessness running rampant, Republican elected officials are either compliant or active collaborators, not champions of freedom and foes of government tyranny.

To make matters worse, the cowardly corporate media are settling bullshit lawsuits with Trump in order to gain financial favors. (Although Paramount might not give Trump $50 million for an FCC decision they want because their shareholder lawsuit insurance doesn’t cover bribery.)

Our institutions aren’t on their deathbeds, but they’ve been severely wounded.

Often, the courts have made a difference in holding Trump in check. So has fighting back with lawfare. Protests are accelerating. So far, every targeted law firm that challenged Trump in court won. Democracy is not dead yet, despite attempts by the majority party to poison the well.

Amy Fried spent many years as a political scientist at the University of Maine, teaching and mentoring, earning multiple awards and her current title of Professor Emerita, and publishing research in numerous academic books and articles.

More from Amy: A Democracy Forum podcast “Constitutional Crisis: Is Our Government Making Us Sick?” with Dr. Nirav Shah (former Maine CDC Director), Art Blank (former MDI Hospital Director), and the moderator Ann Luther of the League of Women Voters of Maine. Also a Washington Monthly podcast with Luisa Deprez (and co-hosts Anne Kim and Garrett Epps), “Trump versus Maine: The Mouse that Roared.”

Links:

As Trumps Monetize Presidency, Profits Outstrip Protests

Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk freed from immigration detention

Trump Administration Knew Vast Majority of Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Had Not Been Convicted of U.S. Crimes

Justice Department fires immigration lawyer who argued case of mistakenly deported man

What happens when honest intelligence work can get you fired?

On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama

Trump is playing with fire by deploying troops to Los Angeles

Stephen Miller has set his sights on new targets to find undocumented migrants: Home Depot and 7-Eleven

Press Release from the Los Angeles Police Department

By the Numbers: House Republican Reconciliation Bill Takes Food Assistance Away From Millions of People

CBO Preliminary Analysis of the Distributional Effects of the “Big Beautiful Bill” Act