Trump’s Budget Proposal: "You Deserve Less"
Trump NBC Interview: "I don't think a beautiful baby girl that's 11 years old needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls...
Congress continues to squabble over a promised “big, beautiful, budget bill” and there is no light at the end of the tunnel visible. Hearings have been delayed and GOP morale is low as the suicidal and invite-Trump-to-knife-us-in-the-back factions joust. Right now the arguments are about who gets screwed, by how much, and when.
The President’s idea of a budget has been released, and it’s a doozy. Before I delve into it, readers should remember that budgets from the executive branch historically don’t get adopted. That said, Trump’s second term is ahistorical in every sense with its overriding reach for power, trampling of both tradition and oversight, not to mention the underwhelming collection of grifters and wing nuts named to run various agencies. This budget could be forced down Republican legislators’ throats.
The White House document largely focuses on discretionary spending, the 14% of federal spending not related to mandated monies plus defense. Reductions on this small portion of the federal pie have been popular with reactionaries ever since the realization that many programs were inclusive of non-whites and women. These are the areas on the national level where the Civil War is still being fought, where compromise has often meant delegating authority to the states.
To the extent where anything is being saved, it is what’s left over after the demons of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Facts have been exorcised. And since so called entitlements like Social Security and Medicare fall into the mandatory portion of the budget, the president gets to seemingly keep campaign promises by focusing on things that generally don’t seem to directly affect voters.
Paul Krugman’s overall analysis of the items to be removed or reduced is a good starting point.
First, the budget removes almost anything that hints at empathy toward people in difficulty, be they citizens of poor countries or U.S. citizens living in poverty. Bear in mind that Elon Musk has said that empathy is “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.” OK, he claims to be empathetic himself, but do you believe him? And his disdain for empathy is clearly shared by Trump and many in his administration.
Second, the budget proposal takes aim at science. It’s especially harsh on research that might affirm climate change or the usefulness of vaccines, but there’s a clear hostility to science in general. As I wrote last week, MAGA wants to keep its prejudices, and hates anything that might force it to consider the possibility that it’s wrong.
And we’re talking about really massive cuts. As I said Friday, we’re arguably looking at the destruction of the whole edifice of US science, not some time in the future, but right away.
There’s a reason why “discretionary” spending is targeted for at least a 22% overall reduction, namely that the enforcement powers falling under that category are somewhat threatening to acts of greed and deception; the real money to be made comes from the mandatory sector. I’ll give you two guesses on who’s making the real money…
But if the aim is to reduce overall spending, ignoring where 86% of spending takes place has severe limitations. While some short term benefits could be realized, many discretionary program reductions have long-term consequences when it comes to GDP growth.
Mandatory spending is easily glossed over when fantasies about increased revenue are brought into play.
Since the realization (for most people) –based on actual experience– that tax rate reductions for the wealthy don’t actually stimulate revenue, we’re being treated to promises and projections based on tariff revenue. These half-baked calculations are frosted with speculation about a five thousand dollar rebate to taxpayers and/or some elimination of odious income taxes.
Project 2025’s influence on the administration’s financial priorities comes from an underlying premise of removing secular aspects of the culture and giving mysticism-based practices hegemony. Some of our billionaires and many evangelicals believe that a “revision” of democracy and society along these lines is inevitable.
Both would utilize a patriarchal pyramid of power using pseudo-scientific qualifications for sociopolitical mobility. In one case gross wealth plus genetics becomes an affirmation of ability, in the other a blessing from above plus fervor confers legitimacy. In either case the rest of us are to serve at the pleasure of our superiors who would limit our possibilities as humans and treat us as fodder for their aspirations. Think of it as the Middle Ages, with AI, or as a cult with infallible leadership. Or both.
Pope Donald John Trump the first is exhibiting increasingly erratic behavior, and people are starting to notice.
Trump’s apparent determination to dominate the news and to project an image of leadership is overlapping with his increasingly erratic behavior. After suggesting on Tuesday that he’d like to be Pope, tonight the president of the United States posted on his social media site an AI-generated image of himself wearing papal robes and a miter
I’m sure the White House troll department thought a social media post of him as pope was a good idea that would prompt “liberal ‘tears.”
Plans for a military parade (originally conceived to celebrate the 250th year since the founding of the US Army) to mark the President’s 79th birthday offer the opportunity to provide a window into the thought processes of the man.
Last week, an executive order established Trump as chair of White House Taskforce 250. He’s already promising a “grand celebration” to mark the country’s 250th birthday on 4 July 2026 which will provide yet another opportunity for a Russia-like review of the troops.
His defensiveness on any criticism of his parades, his obliviousness to the hypocrisy of the expense, and the opportunity for vigorous public protest will all draw him outside the bubble his handlers have created for him. Expect more drama, and never forget that Trump is but a game piece on a board where democracy is denigrated and replaced by rule of entitled wealthy men for the supposed winners.
Region’s farms squeezed by funding freezes and tariffs by Roxana Popescu at the Union-Tribune
San Diego County’s $1.78 billion agriculture industry is anchored by thousands of small farms, from Julian’s apple orchards to the flower fields and fowl ranches sprinkled across suburban lots and rural corridors. The county had more than 4,000 farms in 2022, more than half of which were smaller than 10 acres, according to U.S. Census figures. The number of farms fell 21% from five years earlier.
LFPA and a similar program that brought local produce to schools, also canceled, had opened new markets to small farms. Without them, “local farms may be forced to scale back production, potentially laying off workers and reducing their agricultural output.
The loss of these resources may push some farms out of business, leading to a decrease in the availability of locally grown food and a weakening of the agricultural base in San Diego County,” the San Diego Hunger Coalition wrote in March.
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Trump Wants to Erase Black History. These Digital Archivists Are Racing to Save It by Jason Parhan at Wired
It is still too soon to say just how much of a long-term impact Trump’s attack on Black history is going to have on our population's historical literacy, but Foster and Jules say they are not deterred by the work ahead of them.
“What does it mean for the federal government, at this moment, to be stewards of Black people’s history? It only takes the stroke of a pen to start dismantling things. So what does that mean looking forward?” Jules says.
Ultimately, road maps to a better future are impossible without grassroots preservation efforts, Clark says. “The destruction of those histories and records makes it harder for people to remember what that progress looked like. Both its successes and its failures. And it makes it harder for people to imagine what continued progress could look like. That is the whole point.”
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Can we all just admit that MLS is terrible? By Brendan Dentino at Out In Left
Soccer is exploding in popularity in the US. MLS’s growth is one indication of that, and so is the presence of the Club World Cup this summer and the real World Cup in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028 and international club teams falling over themselves to play exhibitions here. Fueling all of this is normal human beings—consumers, in the parlance of league executives—who fork over their discretionary income to divert their attention for a couple hours from the tedium and concerns of workaday life.
That “deal” would be fine if American consumers were getting commensurate value. They are not. Season tickets next year for Everton, a Premier League team that hasn’t been relegated in 74 years and is moving into a brand-new stadium, start at $45 a game. Season tickets to San Diego FC, an expansion team that plays in a league in which mediocrity is the raison d’etre, start at $40 a game. There is even a choice for Liverpudlians. They can cheer for Liverpool or for Everton. San Diegans have no choice. MLS wouldn’t let us have that.
