Depredations in Trumpland & the GOP dilemma

Republicans have a problem: destroying the federal safety net will harm their own voters. Their approach is to promise not to do what they're doing, then deny that they did it. How is that going to work?

Here are the links to all the articles mentioned: 

Lena H. Sun, Carolyn Y. Johnson, Rachel Roubein, Joel Achenbach & Lauren Weber, “Internal budget document reveals extent of Trump’s proposed health cuts,” Washington Post, Apr 16, 2025 https://archive.ph/HWsAg

Caitlin Yilek, “House Republicans face dilemma over Medicaid cuts as they vow to protect benefits,” CBS News, Apr 24, 2025 https://bit.ly/3RFOFpf

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld & Stephen Henriques, “The GOP’s proposed cuts to FEMA and Medicaid reveal the paradox of red state dependence,” Fortune, Apr 28, 2025 https://fortune.com/article/gop-fema-medicaid-cuts-reveal-red-state-federal-funds-dependence/

Sara Rosenbaum & Alexander Somodevilla, “‘Limit Save Grow’ Medicaid work mandate legislation: The worst way to operationalize a bad policy,” Health Affairs, Apr 23, 2025 https://bit.ly/3Sej5yX

Anonymous, “The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster,” Can We Still Govern? Apr 28, 2025 https://bit.ly/3EOQZr5

Megan Molteni, J. Emory Parker & Jonathan Wosen, “NIH grants plummeted $2.3 billion in Trump’s first months, as federal-academia partnership crumbles,” STAT, Apr 24, 2025 https://bit.ly/42AQIB8

Caitlin Owens, “MAGA world signals it will protect Medicaid,” Axios, Apr 23, 2025 https://bit.ly/3Sfufn7

Peter Lurie, Aaron Kesselheim & Joshua Sharfstein, “It’s not hard to see through RFK Jr.’s ‘radical transparency’ pledge,” Washington Post, Apr 24, 2025 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/24/robert-kennedy-hhs-transparency/

Alexander Tin, “FDA head falsely claims no scientists laid off, as agency shutters food safety labs,” CBS News, Apr 23, 2025 https://bit.ly/43bOlF6

Tina Reed, “Key FDA drug data goes missing amid DOGE cuts,” Axios, Apr 24, 2025 https://bit.ly/4lVXPvr

Allison DeAngelis, Jason Mast & Elaine Chen, “With the FDA in turmoil, the ‘revolving door’ with industry is spinning faster,” STAT, Apr 25, 2025 https://bit.ly/3Z00udJ

O. Rose Broderick, “No new autism registry, HHS says, walking back NIH director’s claim,” STAT, Apr 24, 2025 https://bit.ly/4jWRSwD

Elizabeth Cooney, “Women’s Health Initiative, known for hormone therapy trials, to lose federal funding,” STAT, Apr 22, 2025 https://bit.ly/3EHfCGb and Rob Stein, “In a reversal, the Trump administration restores funding for women's health study,” NPR, Apr 25, 2025 https://bit.ly/3RJmiXa

John Quackenbush, “Government word search is killing my cutting-edge research,” STAT, Apr 23, 2025 https://bit.ly/43jsScr

Rachel Frazin, “Republican senator asks Kennedy to restore HHS staff that worked on coal miner health,” The Hill, Apr 22, 2025 https://bit.ly/4cXjQG7

Helen Branswell, “U.S. health officials inject new uncertainty into approval process for Covid boosters,” STAT, Apr 27, 2025 https://www.statnews.com/2025/04/27/fda-covid-vaccine-approval-process-novavax-pfizer-moderna/

Rachael Robertson, “Anti-vaxxers say bioweapon caused measles outbreak,” MedPage Today, Apr 23, 2025 https://bit.ly/3GLO2bc

Alice Miranda Ollstein, “Clinics begin closing as Trump admin continues freeze on family planning funds,” Politico, Apr 22, 2025 https://bit.ly/4388XxY

Jeff Beach, “North Dakota’s pesticide protection law a first for the US,” North Dakota Monitor, Apr 24, 2025 https://bit.ly/42ARmP4

Dan Ruetenik, “Trump’s surgeon general nominee, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, faces scrutiny over credentials,” CBS News, Apr 24, 2025 https://bit.ly/3GukD5x

Lauren Gardner & David Lim, “Once all-powerful, pharma’s allies in Washington are fleeting,” Politico, Apr 24, 2025 https://bit.ly/4iD7GDD

N. Adam Brown, “What UnitedHealth’s stock drop reveals about Medicare Advantage,” MedPage Today, Apr 29, 2025 https://bit.ly/42WYWT8