The California governor continued to troll the Trump administration on social media after the president posted racist AI videos
By Meredith Kile
California Gov. Gavin Newsom continued to troll President Donald Trump and his administration on social media this week, copying the White House's latest tactics to spin mockery back in their direction.
Over the last several weeks, Newsom's press office account has taken to posting in all-caps, mimicking Trump's posting style on Truth Social.
This week — after the president came under fire for posting a racist, AI-created video of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — Newsom's account followed suit, posting some AI creations of its own.
In one of Newsom's clips, a viral meme version of Vice President JD Vance with a round face and long, curly hair presents "A History of Couches" — a callback to the infamous, but false, rumor that Vance recounted a sexual encounter with his couch cushions in his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.
In "A History of Couches," the memeified deepfake of Vance introduces the Chesterfield style of leather sofa, detailing the history and "elegance" of its design.
"There are rumors that I once had an encounter with a Chesterfield," Vance appears to say in the AI-generated clip. "People exaggerate, twist the truth, but when you sit on one, you understand where such stories come from. The Chesterfield isn't just furniture, it's an experience, and some of us know that a little too well."
The governor captioned the AI video, "POOR JD! HIS SWEET BELOVED COUCH NOW COSTS MORE WITH THE TARIFFS!"
Newsom's mocking posts continued throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. In a second deepfake video of Vance, the AI-generated VP appears to address some of his real-life scandals, including a resurfaced photo of him in drag and allegations that he wears eyeliner. That video also mentions the fake couch rumor.
"What I don't understand is why people are so obsessed with this other thing: couch intimacy," the fake Vance says in the clip. "Like really? That's the part you're hung up on? Out of everything? That's bizarre to me."
Newsom's personal X account similarly targeted the vice president, sharing a clip of Vance on Fox News where a minion filter has been applied to mask his face and voice.
Newsom's latests efforts to troll Trump come just days after the president posted a fake AI video of himself.
On Saturday, Sept. 27, Trump posted a fake news clip apparently generated using AI in which he said every American would be getting "their own medbed card," according to outlets including Forbes, CNN and The Daily Beast.
The video, which was discussed and shared by CNN's Jake Tapper on Instagram, featured an AI-generated Fox News segment hosted by Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. It highlighted the "historic new healthcare system," which, in actuality, is non-existent and often touted by conspiracy theorists.
“Every American will soon receive their own medbed card,” an AI-generated version of the president said in the video, in part. “With it, you’ll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals led by the top doctors in the nation, equipped with the most advanced technology in the world.”
The clip was deleted from Trump's profile around 12 hours after it was first posted, The Daily Beast reported. Fox News confirmed to The Verge that the segment “never aired on Fox News Channel or any other Fox News Media platforms."
By Vance Ginn, Ph.D, Deane Waldman, M.D.
October 3, 2025
The current federal government shutdown is framed by Democrats as an attempt to “protect Medicaid” enrollees from “devastating” cuts in coverage by the Trump administration. Republicans argue that Medicaid should be focused on truly medically vulnerable citizens and should not be paying for illegal residents or healthy adults who have returned to work. Both sides miss (or ignore) the real point: the U.S. healthcare system is failing Americans because it rewards bureaucracy, not care, effectively wasting trillions of dollars a year.
Medicaid was never meant to be the sprawling entitlement it is today. In 1965, it was designed to cover less than 2% of the population, specifically those who were truly medically vulnerable. Following expansions under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and the COVID lockdowns and emergency declarations of both the Trump and Biden administrations, nearly one in four Americans is now enrolled. Many are healthy, working-age individuals eligible for employer coverage.
Image created using AI
Republican proposals to trim Medicaid would improve the rolls, reduce its $900 billion annual price tag, and focus resources on those who genuinely need help. Medicaid is not only fiscally unsustainable but also medically inefficient, with too many dollars lost to “BURRDEN”—bureaucrac y, unnecessary rules, regulations, directives, enforcement, and noncompliance.
When administrators are paid first, too little remains for providers, and the result is deadly. Medicaid enrollees often suffer long wait times and literally die waiting for care—“death by queue.” Georgia’s new Medicaid Pathways program spent $54 million on bureaucracy last year while delivering just $26 million in actual healthcare.
Georgia is not an outlier; it’s the norm. Medicaid spends more and more on BURRDEN, leaving less and less for patients. Meanwhile, the American Medical Association reported national health spending in 2023 rose to $4.9 trillion—$14,570 per person—outpacing GDP growth. Americans are paying more, waiting longer, and dying in line.
The U.S. doesn’t lack spending. It lacks a system that prioritizes patients over paperwork.
Consider employer-sponsored insurance. A $300 billion federal tax exclusion means workers never see part of the money they earn. Instead, it flows into costly, one-size-fits-all coverage chosen by HR, creating “job lock” that traps employees in positions solely for the sake of insurance.
Medicaid’s spending formula magnifies the problem. States get more federal money the more they spend, with little to no accountability. Programs waste billions on administration while patients go untreated. Studies show Medicaid enrollees often fare no better than the uninsured, and one-third of doctors refuse new Medicaid patients.
Meanwhile, outdated certificate-of-need laws, scope-of-practice limits, and cumbersome, time- and money-wasting billing mandates restrict supply, reduce competition, and drive up costs. Administrative expenses consume up to 50% of U.S. healthcare spending, double the OECD average. Nearly one-fifth of the U.S. GDP is allocated to healthcare, yet incentives ensure that the bureaucracy thrives while patients wait for care that never comes.
The result: bigger bills, longer waits, and fewer choices for families—while bureaucrats prosper. Real reform means flipping incentives so patients, not administrators, come first.
Here’s how:
First, shift the tax benefit from employers to employees. Give families control of their healthcare dollars in no-limit health savings accounts. That means higher wages, portable coverage, and personalized plans.
Second, block grant Medicaid to the states. Washington’s open-ended funding fuels overspending. Capped support would encourage state innovation, such as time-limited personal HSAs for Medicaid that promote self-sufficiency.
Third, cut red tape. Repeal certificate-of-need laws and scope-of-practice restrictions so more professionals can meet patient needs directly.
Fourth, unleash innovation. Price controls, FDA delays, and politically driven subsidies weaken America’s biotech edge as China races ahead. Patients win when innovators compete to deliver faster cures at lower costs.
These reforms would lower costs and restore the principle that healthcare should serve families, not bureaucracies. Workers would see higher take-home pay. Patients would gain faster access to care. Americans would benefit from lower prices and new treatment options.
Washington’s spending doesn’t measure compassion. It’s measured by whether a parent can get a sick child treated promptly, whether seniors can afford their prescriptions, and whether breakthroughs reach patients promptly.
Healthcare reform isn’t about Washington saving the system it broke. It’s about trusting We the People (“We the Patients”), empowering states, and unleashing free markets. Until we enable patients and providers instead of bureaucrats and politicians, we’ll keep pouring trillions into a system where Americans pay for the privilege of waiting in line to die.
Why the left opposes everything Trump backs — even when they know he’s right
By Victor Davis Hanson
Published Aug. 24, 2025
Nothing seems to destroy him -- not the raid on his home, not 93 lawfare indictments, not efforts to strike him from state ballots, not two impeachments, not even two assassination attempts. AP
The Pavlovian left goes berserk at the mere prospect of each new Trump initiative.
Its escalating reactive venom and hysteria are calibrated to the success of Trump’s latest policy.
Yet the new hard-left Democratic Party offers no counter-agenda to explain its furor. Still less do Democrats attempt bipartisan efforts to craft shared legislation.
Take foreign policy.
Democratic senators trashed the recent Trump-Putin Alaska summit as a failure. Then they became depressed when, just days later, an entourage of European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suddenly flew to the White House.
The Euros praised Trump for offering some sort of negotiated pathway to peace after over three years of war and some 1.5 million dead, wounded, missing and captured on both sides — on Europe’s doorstep.
So why did Democrats object to such negotiations by Trump?
Was the reason that no such thing occurred during the Biden administration, when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, after his earlier invasions during the Obama era?
What is the left’s alternate plan? The old Biden idea of supplying Ukraine with enough money and arms to keep fighting and dying, but with no path to either victory or a negotiated peace?
Would they prefer a fourth, fifth or sixth year of war, or another 1 million casualties?
The more Trump pressed almost all NATO members to pay their promised 2% of GDP on defense, the more Democrats grew irate over Trump’s overseas influence.
NATO members now want to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP and gush that Trump is “Daddy.”
Democrats steamed at that, since Europeans are supposed to hate Trump, not admire him for rebooting NATO.
Would they prefer the old, disarmed NATO?
Under the Biden administration, over 10 million illegal aliens flooded the country, sometimes 10,000 a day at the southern border. More than half a million criminals swarmed in.
Yet now there is essentially zero illegal immigration and over 100,000 criminal aliens deported. A million who entered illegally have voluntarily gone home.
Yet the left has fought the enforcement of immigration law tooth and nail.
Do they believe it is lawful and moral to break immigration law but immoral and illegal to enforce it?
What is their solution?
To allow in 20, 30 or 40 million more illegal aliens to distort the census and bring in new voters and constituencies?
Is their plan to protect 400,000 illegal-alien criminals to roam at will? Or to add another 600 sanctuary jurisdictions that will not hand over criminal illegal aliens to immigration authorities?
Democrats used to support reciprocal tariffs to save American jobs and businesses — while warning of Chinese mercantilism.
But now they blast Trump for negotiating tariffs with dozens of nations in efforts to reduce an unsustainable $1 trillion trade deficit.
So far, Washington projects $300 billion in new revenue.
Foreign businesses have promised to invest between $10 trillion and $15 trillion within the United States. Trading partners have lowered tariffs on US goods and services.
So why the left-wing frenzy?
Do they object to too much new federal income? Is there too much new foreign investment?
Are new foreign tariffs too low on US exports? Are Democrats worried that China may lose money?
In 35 minutes of precision bombing, Trump disabled the Iranian nuclear program that was readying nuclear weapons. Few Iranians and no Americans died. No wider war followed.
Did they prefer the Obama-era “Iran Deal” that had brought Iran to the threshold of nuclear acquisition? Did they want theocratic Iran to have nuclear weapons to threaten democratic Israel?
Do Democrats complain that Trump tweets too much and sometimes is crude in his postings?
Not really. California Gov. Gavin Newsom tries to out-Trump on social media.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett responds with scatological attacks.
Democrats in Congress let off f-bombs.
What explains the Democrats’ nihilism?
One, the prior Biden administration was among the most aimless, corrupt and unpopular in modern history — so the contrast with Trump’s successes is too hard to bear.
Two, Democrats so hate Trump the messenger that they seek to destroy his entire message, even when it benefits their own country and the world at large.
If Trump conducts peace, they prefer war. If he wages war on crime, they side with the criminal. If he stops illegal immigration, they want more illegal immigrants.
Three, they fear they have no alternatives to the Trump record, because his agenda is common sense and supported by a majority of Americans.
Four, the left cannot stop Trump’s success.
Nothing seems to destroy him — not the raid on his home, not 93 lawfare indictments, not efforts to strike him from state ballots, not two impeachments, not even two assassination attempts.
Instead, all that only made him stronger — and thus more hated.
Obamacare destroyed the health insurance market, Trump is rebuilding it
By Jack Hellner
September 10, 2025
For years, the Democrats have maintained their goal to take away freedom of choice on health care, wanting government health care for all. The misnamed “Affordable Care Act” took away freedom of choice, forcing everyone to buy a Rolls Royce policy, which obviously made premiums skyrocket.
Democrats continually lied, saying that if you liked your plan and doctor you could keep them, and they intentionally lied when they said Obamacare would substantially lower premiums. What a joke!
The bill had thousands of pages of regulations, and took away lifetime and annual limits, which meant small- and medium-sized companies couldn’t afford the risk, leaving large companies with a captive audience.
The results of Obamacare are obvious. Health insurance is much more unaffordable. In 2009, a policy for individuals cost an average of $92.43 per month, and family coverage was $349.36 per month, according to BLS data. The average cost of individual coverage in 2025 is $621 per month, or up 480%, which is 431% higher than the 49% overall inflation rate from 2009 to 2025. The average cost of family coverage in 2025 is $2,026 per month, or up 575%, which is 526% higher than the 49% overall inflation rate from 2009 to 2025.
Yet, most people posing as journalists and other Democrats continue to intentionally lie to the public that Obamacare has made health insurance more affordable.
Thankfully, we now have a president who understands freedom of choice and more competition is the way to make things more affordable, not complete government control:
Trump unlocks cheaper healthcare plans that could save American families thousands of dollars
President Donald Trump just took a pivotal step to make healthcare affordable again.
On Sept. 4, his administration announced that most Americans will now be eligible to buy what are known as ‘copper plans’ on the ObamaCare exchanges. Before this reform, nearly all Americans were legally barred from buying these much more affordable plans. But now working families can get the plans they need at a price they can afford – and many uninsured people will likely get covered as a result.
The president is fixing one of the fundamental problems with ObamaCare. That law forced Americans who get their insurance on the individual market to buy costly plans, and in the 11 years since the law went into effect, they’ve gotten even pricier.
Biden and the Democrats couldn’t get enough people to sign up for Obamacare, so they kept ratcheting up subsidies and income eligibility levels.
Here’s more, from Sally Pipes at Newsmax:
Thanks to Obamacare, Insurance Fraud Irresistible
According to a new study by the Paragon Health Institute, an astounding number of patients with premium-free exchange plans filed no claims whatsoever last year.
[snip]
It’s hard not to interpret this situation as anything but evidence of widespread fraud enabled by the enhanced premium subsidies green-lit by Democrats in 2022.
First, some background. As part of the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act, the Biden administration made exchange premium subsidies even more generous than the Affordable Care Act envisioned. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act extended those enhanced subsidies through the end of this year.
One consequence of this policy is that anyone earning between 100% and 150% of the federal poverty level now has access to effectively zero-cost insurance.
That creates a strong incentive for insurers and brokers to enroll as many of these people in exchange plans as possible. They can claim the federal premium subsidies — and the enrollee can ostensibly get free coverage.
According to the study, there were a whopping 12 million individuals who fell into this category last year. That's a more than three-fold increase from just three years prior, before Biden's enhanced subsidies went into effect.
How much is this scheme costing taxpayers?
The Paragon study estimates that in 2024 alone, $40 billion in federal subsidies were paid to health insurance companies on behalf of patients who received no medical care.
This looks like these policies have generated massive fraud. How is it possible that over 50% of people, 12 million, covered by Obamacare didn’t use health insurance at all and insurers were paid $40 billion for that coverage?
Are we really supposed to believe that 12 million people who have these policies didn’t get shots, didn’t pick up prescriptions, didn’t go to urgent care or emergency rooms, didn’t get their no cost physicals, and didn’t get mammograms?
Of course, if Trump and other Republicans want to investigate Obamacare for fraud, they will be accused of wanting to take away health insurance from people and causing people to die. Those are the standard talking points in all elections.
Democrats ARE spending money on healthcare for illegal migrants — in California, it’s $6.4 billion
By Chris Pope
Published Oct. 2, 2025, 4:50 p.m. ET
Last week, Vice President J.D. Vance tweeted: “Democrats are about to shut down the government because they demand we fund healthcare for illegal aliens.”
Democrats and the media bristled. That wasn’t true, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash) protested: “Undocumented immigrants are not eligible to enroll in federally funded health coverage under existing law or Democrats’ funding proposal.”
Liberal fact-checkers argued that Medicaid subsidies for emergency care were trivial, and did not count as health coverage.
But their “fact checks” are just semantics.
In fact, last year, nationwide Medicaid spending on “emergency care for undocumented aliens” almost tripled — because the state of California used it as a method of laundering federal money to fund a comprehensive health benefit for its unauthorized residents.
Medicaid is an enormously lucrative program for states.
It gives them between $1 and $9 for every $1 they spend on health care benefits for eligible low-income Americans, without any upper limit.
Illegal immigrants are supposed to be prohibited from receiving Medicaid, as they are from obtaining Medicare and Obamacare subsidies — but an exception to this is that states may claim federal Medicaid funding for hospitals to provide “emergency care” for unauthorized immigrants.
CNN’s fact-checker plays down this provision, noting: “Less than 1% of total Medicaid spending went toward emergency Medicaid for undocumented immigrants in fiscal year 2023.”
Yet this exception has quickly become a significant loophole.
From 2023 to 2024, Medicaid spending on “Emergency Services for Undocumented Aliens” suddenly soared from $3.8 billion to $9.1 billion.
This wasn’t due to the economy or changes in healthcare costs. In 49 states, in fact, emergency Medicaid spending declined.
The surge in this expenditure was entirely due to the state of California, where spending suddenly leaped from $1.6 billion to $6.4 billion.
The federal government is supposed to cover 50% of California’s Medicaid costs — but Washington paid for 70% of the state’s Medicaid ESUA expenditures in 2024.
What happened?
In 2024, California became the first state to offer comprehensive health insurance to all undocumented immigrants.
Here's what we know about the government shutdown
Democrats and Republicans failed to reach an agreement over a stopgap funding measure by Tuesday night’s deadline, leading to the shutdown.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes fell at the start of Wednesday’s trading session following the shutdown.
Student loan payments must still be met during this time, while the Education Department will halt new grantmaking activity and investigations over possible civil rights violations.
If the shutdown continues, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ nonfarm payrolls report, considered far more comprehensive and reliable than the ADP release, will not be released on Friday.
Funding for the Hudson Tunnel project and Second Avenue subway extension in New York has been put on hold.
The program now covers 1.6 million people at a cost of $8.5 billion per year.
This benefit was supposed to be paid for with state-only funds, but California has taken advantage of Medicaid’s open-ended payment structures to shift the cost to the federal government.
The state claimed $4.8 billion of increased Medicaid expenditures as “emergency services for undocumented aliens” — 56% of the cost of the eligibility expansion.
For context, emergency care normally accounts for only 5% of health care spending.
This is not the only way California made the feds pay for the new benefit: The state also imposed a tax on insurers to increase the cost of covering legitimate Medicaid beneficiaries.
That allowed it to claim $5 billion in federal revenues as “state funds,” which could be used to extend healthcare benefits to immigrants supposedly excluded from Medicaid.
Six other states, including New York, provide comprehensive health benefits to illegal immigrant adults — although they have not yet been so brazen about claiming federal funds for the purpose.
This summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act only trimmed the matching rates which states can claim for Medicaid ESUA benefits.
That will reduce the share of California’s costs borne by federal taxpayers from 70% to 50%. The Trump administration may also be able to withhold matching funds for expenditures which are inappropriately categorized as “emergency care.”
But a deeper problem remains: The enormous and open-ended discretion Medicaid gives states to claim federal funding makes it hard for the feds to ensure that the program’s expenditures are reserved for its intended purposes.
Until that changes, the Democratic claim that federal money isn’t being used on illegal immigrants is simply not true.
Blame government shutdown on ObamaCare — the ruinous law that broke American politics
By David Harsanyi
Published Oct. 2, 2025, 6:40 p.m. ET
Speaker Mike Johnson at a press conference with other Republican leaders on the government shutdown on Oct. 2, 2025. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Since Democrats have shut down the federal government because they want another $1.5 trillion bailout of ObamaCare, it’s a good time to remind everyone that the law has been a wide-ranging and expensive fiasco.
Virtually every promise made by Democrats regarding the Affordable Care Act has failed to come true.
Sure, Barack Obama infamously promised that Americans could keep their preferred insurance if they desired.
By the end of his second term, around 7 million people had been booted from their insurance because of the ACA. Who knows how many have been dropped since.
But let’s also not forget that Obama pledged that the law would reduce family health insurance premiums by “up to” $2,500 annually by the end of his first term.
Premiums not only continued to rise during his presidency, but since 2010, they have spiked from $13,000 to nearly $24,000.
Democrats used to love to talk about “bending the cost curve.” Well, congrats.
Obama also promised that ObamaCare’s state exchanges would enhance competition among insurers and lower costs. Taxpayers are now on the hook for 90% of the cost of those premiums.
If the COVID-era ObamaCare subsidies are allowed to sunset, taxpayers will be responsible for a mere 80%.
Without the subsidies, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that 3.6 million users would leave the exchanges.
ObamaCare didn’t create better health-care insurance options for consumers; it created millions of state dependents.
The ObamaCare exchanges were sold as self-sufficient engines of capitalism even as Democrats were doing everything to inhibit market competition.
Many ObamaCare exchanges now only have a single insurer. Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and Humana have all basically abandoned them.
One of the most contentious debates over the ACA was the cost. Democrats stressed that the project would cost less than a trillion dollars over a decade.
On numerous occasions, Obama promised he would not add “one dime” to the debt. Democrats, in fact, guaranteed the ACA would help reduce deficits.
If you dared question the estimates, fact-checkers would swarm and call you a liar.
There’s no definitive number on the debt added by ObamaCare since its passage. It is likely in the hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions.
Democrats promised that penalties on employers who failed to provide health insurance would bring in “substantial” revenue to allay costs.
Once the ACA was passed, Obama ignored that requirement by delaying implementation, before “tweaking” the law without any constitutional authority.
The employer mandate now brings in only a small fraction of promised returns.
Obama also kept delaying the ACA’s “Cadillac tax,” a levy on alleged “gold-plated” private employee plans.
The tax was meant to discourage upper- and middle-class workers from obtaining the types of plans Democrats deemed too generous as a way of lowering costs but also raising “revenue.”
Once labor unions found out they also had “gold-plated” plans, well, Democrats dropped the idea, which was repealed in 2019.
The individual mandate, which the Supreme Court miraculously transformed into a “tax,” now exists only in conceptual form, despite Democrats’ promise that it would generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue.
It brings in zero dollars.
So it’s no surprise that Democrats have been demanding Republicans bail out the poorly conceived law since its passage.
When Congress refused to pass new subsidies in 2013, the Obama administration, again without any constitutional authority, ordered the Treasury to create a $7 billion per year appropriation for insurance companies participating in the allegedly self-supporting exchanges.
When a district court ruled that the payments were unconstitutional, Obama ignored the decision.
Don’t you love it when Democrats lecture people about norms?
When Democrats added new ObamaCare subsidies to the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act to fund those with incomes 400% over the federal poverty line, they sold it as a temporary measure to get through the COVID-19 economy.
Every Democratic leader referred to the subsidies as “a bridge” that was meant to help until the economy rebounded from the pandemic.
Here we are in 2025. You know what they say about temporary government programs.
Aside from all the failed promises, the passage of ObamaCare broke American politics.
For the first time in US history, a party unilaterally rammed through a massive national reform without any input from half the country.
In their effort to appease a handful of moderates in their party, Democrats larded up ObamaCare with unenforceable mandates, taxes and bureaucratic complexities that created the illusion of affordability.
When they still couldn’t pass the bill using the traditional lawmaking process, they blew up a bunch of governing norms to do it.
Now, Democrats have shut the government down to try and force Republicans to help prop up this disastrous law.
Dems shut down the government because they think it’s not going bankrupt fast enough
By Post Editorial Board
Published Oct. 2, 2025, 6:37 p.m. ET
Democrats have shut down the federal government because they think the federal debt isn’t spiraling out of control fast enough — they demand the Republican majorities in Congress agree to spend more taxpayer cash on Dems’ priorities.
Dems forced the shutdown by using the filibuster to prevent a Senate floor vote that would’ve passed the House “stopgap” bill to fund federal operations for another six weeks or so.
As their price just to allow a vote, Democrats demand roughly $1.5 trillion in added spending.
Despite their denials, a significant part of that is funding for health coverage for illegal immigrants: Their own alternative bill spelled that out, with language repealing recent GOP legislation that restricts Medicaid coverage of such migrants.
The main category of federal Medicaid spending on “undocumented aliens” jumped from $3 billion in 2023 to $9 billion in 2024; even more federal cash flows indirectly to such care via various state accounting gimmicks that the Biden administration winked at.
An even bigger chunk of Dems’ $1.5 trillion demand is to fund ObamaCare subsidies to lower the price of insurance bought via the “exchanges.”
Democrats used their Biden-era majorities in Congress to impose these “temporary” subsidies first via the “American Rescue Plan Act” and then the “Inflation Reduction Act” (though of course bailing out ObamaCare had nothing to do with bouncing back from COVID or fighting inflation).
Millions of Americans won’t buy ObamaCare policies without these subsidies because — despite Dems’ insistence at the time that ObamaCare would “bend the cost curve down” — premiums have nearly doubled since Democrats rammed the law through without a single Republican vote.
The GOP’s willing to discuss restoring some subsidies — but not in the stopgap bill.
Meanwhile, the ObamaCare law also vastly spiked federal Medicaid outlays, bribing states to expand coverage by picking up 90% of the added costs — another “temporary” arrangement that Dems keep extending.
As a result, Uncle Sam’s Medicaid spending has exploded: It jumped from $409 billion in 2019 to $615 billion in 2023 and roughly $650 billion this year.
The GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act this year aimed to slow that growth in coming years; undoing those restraints is another part of Democrats’ $1.5 trillion ransom demand.
Now step back and look at the bigger picture.
Thanks in good part to President Joe Biden’s two huge spending bills, the national debt is now over $37 trillion, up from not quite $28 trillion when he took office.
Not only did that hog-wild spending produce Bidenflation, it put the country on a completely unsustainable fiscal path.
Republicans are trying to restore sanity by 1) slowing Medicaid’s growth, 2) declining to renew the huge subsidies that cover up ObamaCare’s failure, and 3) stopping the use of federal funds to cover illegal immigrants’ health care.
Democrats are trying to blackmail the GOP into surrendering on all three counts — abandoning all efforts to stop the debt from spiraling out of control — simply to fund the government through November.
JORGE MARTINEZ: Democrats Chose Illegal Immigrant Benefits Over The American People, And Now Washington Is Closed
by Daily Caller News Foundation
October 2, 2025
The government is officially shut down. Agencies have gone dark, families are anxious, and markets are uneasy. But make no mistake: This crisis is not the product of fiscal prudence or a careful budgeting process. It is the direct result of Democrats demanding $1.5 trillion in new spending, including billions for free healthcare and benefits for illegal immigrants, at the expense of hardworking Americans.
This is political hostage-taking, plain and simple.
At the center of this standoff is the Left’s obsession with expanding entitlements for non-citizens. According to the White House’s own analysis, the Democrat plan would commit nearly $200 billion over the next decade to cover healthcare for illegal immigrants and other non-citizens. To fund this reckless giveaway, they would gut reforms designed to protect vulnerable American patients.
This shutdown is not about whether veterans get their checks or whether small businesses receive federal support. Conservatives offered clean funding measures to keep the government open. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the radical Left rejected them. They chose illegal immigrants over American citizens.
Shutdowns are never painless. Economists estimate that each week of closure drains about $15 billion in GDP and costs tens of thousands of jobs. Families waiting on permits, benefits, or loan approvals will see delays. Active-duty military will continue serving without pay. Essential workers will carry on, but under stress and uncertainty.
That hardship lands squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats. They had the choice to fund government responsibly— border security, veterans, infrastructure, law enforcement — without tying it to a radical agenda. Instead, they walked away.
This comes as the national debt already tops $37 trillion, and annual interest payments on that debt are projected to exceed defense spending within two years. At a moment that demands restraint and focus, Democrats doubled down on giveaways and pork-barrel politics.
President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have drawn a sharp line: government should serve Americans first. That means securing the border, defending the homeland, strengthening wages, and investing in infrastructure. It does not mean funneling taxpayer money to illegal immigrants or bloated agencies that exist to enforce woke ideology.
The Trump-Vance Administration’s budget framework is a plan rooted in national interest, not political gamesmanship. Unlike Democrats, this administration has been transparent. They told the American people exactly what they would fund and what they would not. It is the Left that chose to block these commonsense measures and force a shutdown.
Why would Democrats force this outcome? The answer is simple: politics. They believe that by dragging the nation through a shutdown, they can paint Republicans as irresponsible while hiding their own radical priorities.
But Americans are not fooled. Poll after poll shows that citizens want stronger borders, fiscal discipline, and an end to handouts for those who broke our laws to enter this country. By making illegal immigrant healthcare the hill they chose to die on, Democrats have revealed their true priorities.
This shutdown is painful but also clarifying. It exposes the Left’s willingness to sacrifice stability in order to expand government dependency. And it highlights the Trump-Vance Administration’s commitment to an America First agenda, even under intense pressure.
Republicans must hold the line. To surrender now would be to signal that Democrats can always win by threatening chaos. That would guarantee more reckless spending, more border neglect, and more shutdowns engineered by the Left in the future.
Instead, conservatives should rally around the principle that government exists for citizens, not special interests, and not illegal aliens. That is the only path to a stable, prosperous, and sovereign United States of America.
The shutdown is real. The pain is real. But so is the opportunity to redefine what government stands for. If Republicans stay united and the Trump–Vance Administration continues its firm leadership, Democrats will have no choice but to come back to the table, and on terms that prioritize America first.
This fight is not just about dollars. It’s about direction. Do we spend our future on illegal immigrant benefits and ideological programs, or do we invest in security, sovereignty, and American prosperity?
EXCLUSIVE: Mike Johnson Rips Democrats, Legacy Media For ‘Intentionally Lying’ About Healthcare For Illegals
by Daily Caller News Foundation
October 2, 2025
House Speaker Mike Johnson blasted Democratic lawmakers and their allies in the legacy media on Thursday for appearing to intentionally mislead Americans about illegal immigrants receiving taxpayer-funded healthcare.
Johnson and top GOP leaders accused Democratic lawmakers of seeking to restore nearly $200 billion in health care benefits for illegal migrants and other non-citizens in exchange for reopening the government. The speaker has been embarking on a media blitz in recent days and told the Daily Caller News Foundation the effort is partly to refute left-wing talking points that legacy media outlets are pushing in an effort to give cover to Democrats during the shutdown fight.
“As has been demonstrated over and over, the mainstream media is simply repeating verbatim Democrat false talking points,” Johnson told the DCNF. “We have to be out there telling the truth — because the entire mainstream media apparatus is covering for the Democrats and sharing their falsehoods.”
“ABC, CNN, CBS, MSNBC — they don’t even pretend to be objective anymore,” Johnson continued. “It’s just a totally one-sided parade.”
Johnson spoke with the DCNF on the second full day of the shutdown, which began after Senate Democrats rejected a clean, bipartisan bill to fund the government through Nov. 21. The speaker has repeatedly said that he and Senate Majority Leader John Thune see no reason to negotiate with Democrats until they vote to reopen the government.
CNN notably cut away from a House GOP leadership press conference on Thursday after Johnson began discussing how Democrats’ funding plan would provide healthcare benefits to illegal migrants.
The CNN anchor appeared to fact-check Johnson’s statement despite her colleague, Jake Tapper, acknowledging Wednesday that Democrats are seeking to eliminate a provision that cracks down on certain states who provide illegal migrants with emergency Medicaid coverage.
Democrats’ proposal would also restore billions in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, eliminate a $50 million fund for rural health providers and enact a permanent extension of Biden-era Obamacare subsidies.
Johnson also ripped ABC’s George Stephanopoulos for accusing him of falsely claiming that Democrats’ proposal provides healthcare for illegal migrants in an interview Wednesday.
“They’ve [Democrats] gotten cover because, as you’ve seen, most of the mainstream media outlets are delivering, giving them softball interviews and asking them the question to read off the page,” Johnson told the DCNF. “Conversely, when I go on it’s like a coliseum.”
Johnson has pointed to six provisions within Democrats’ $1.5 trillion counter-proposal that would undo Republicans’ Medicaid reforms enacted in July and provide taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits to noncitizens, including illegal migrants.
Nearly every House Democrat voted against the clean seven-week funding extension to avert a government shutdown on Sept. 19. The one Democrat who broke ranks accused top Democrats of plunging the country into a government shutdown to curry favor with far-left activist groups.
Democrats are seeking to remove GOP-passed language that reduces Medicaid payments to states who have expanded Medicaid and offer emergency coverage to illegal migrants.
“There’s a lot of emergency health care at hospitals that [is] provided to illegal aliens,” Vice President JD Vance told “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday. “That was funded by the federal government. We turned off that funding because of course we want American citizens to benefit from those hospital services, not to be taxed and then have those hospital services go to illegal aliens.”
The Democrat funding plan also removes new restrictions passed by Republicans in July that bars most noncitizens from receiving Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare.
Democratic lawmakers’ proposal would also restore a maneuver dubbed the “California Loophole” that allows Democratic-led states to use Medicaid spending to provide benefits to illegal migrants.
The amount that Democrats propose to spend on healthcare benefits for noncitizens is roughly equal to the $195 billion needed to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program for the next decade, according to a memo authored by the White House.
Johnson also sharply criticized his Democratic colleagues for either deliberately misleading voters or being unaware of the language within their own proposal to fund the government.
“There are Democrats who are intentionally lying and hoping that people will buy it,” Johnson told the DCNF. “They’re hoping that they’ll get sufficient air cover from mainstream media allies to try to convince the American people that what is on paper isn’t actually there.”
“And then there’s others who simply are ignorant of the facts,” Johnson continued. “They haven’t read, or maybe they read and don’t understand the very simple language in the legislation that they drafted.”
Some Democratic lawmakers, conversely, have defended the restoration of healthcare benefits for noncitizens and illegal migrants.
“Are Democrats demanding health care for illegal aliens?” a reporter asked Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters, who voted to shut down the government, on Tuesday.
“Democrats are demanding health care for everybody,” Waters replied. “We want to save lives.”
Johnson predicted that American citizens losing access to some healthcare services due to the shutdown could force Democrats to relent and reopen the government.
“This is real pain for real people,” Johnson told the DCNF. “The question is, how much of an appetite will they have, for how long, to jeopardize the health and safety of real American citizens?”
‘The Party of Hate, Evil, and Satan’: Trump Blasts Dems
by Sandra Rhodes
October 3, 2025 at 10:00 am
President Donald Trump had a few choice words in describing the Democratic Party as the federal government remains shutdown.
Trump took to social media Thursday night to post a collage of Democrats Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plus former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden, per Mediaite.
The words “The Party of Hate, Evil, and Satan” are included along with “The Democratic Party is Dead! They have no leadership! no message! no hope! their only message for America is to hate Trump!”
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@DailyTruthPosts) October 3, 2025
The government has been shut down since midnight Wednesday after a stopgap funding measure failed to pass the Republican majority Senate where the vote was 53-47. Sixty votes are needed.
Schumer seeks to barter Democratic votes in exchange for an extension of COVID-era healthcare premium subsidies for Obamacare.
The cost is immense for more than 20 million Americans if those subsidies are not extended.
Their premiums could more than double each month from $888 a month to $1,904. The subsidies expire Dec. 31.
Trump also made a post on social media boasting he had presided over “record Black employment” while also claiming there was “record Black imprisonment” under former President Bill Clinton and “record Black welfare” under former President Barack Obama.
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@DailyTruthPosts) October 3, 2025
CNN has since reported that claim was false.
Trump and the GOP have also claimed Democrats want unauthorized immigrants to receive government healthcare — a measure that is illegal and a claim also shot down by CNN fact-checking.
THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO GIVE YOUR HEALTHCARE MONEY TO ILLEGAL ALIENS AND OPEN OUR BORDERS TO THE CRIMINALS OF THE WORLD, A DEADLY COMBINATION BECAUSE EVERYBODY WILL COME!
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@DailyTruthPosts) October 3, 2025
Members of the GOP have beseeched Democrats to tone down their rhetoric in the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September.
However, Trump has warned of the “enemy within” as he defended his deployment of the military in the U.S.
Democrats Ask For Money While Blaming Trump, GOP For Shutdown
by Daily Caller News Foundation
October 2, 2025
Leading Democrats are fundraising off of the government shutdown — and blaming Republicans and President Donald Trump for it — despite voting against keeping government operations running, according to emails reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Senate Democrats sparked a government shutdown on Wednesday after rejecting a clean, bipartisan extension of government funding. Democratic lawmakers and top Democratic spending groups have sent a flurry of fundraising emails with donation links attached since the shutdown began despite the funding lapse jeopardizing active-duty service member pay, disaster relief funding and Americans’ access to certain healthcare services.
The House Majority PAC, a top Democratic outside spending group involved in House races, sent out a fundraising emailon Wednesday featuring an image of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, with text that reads “Republicans’ shutdown continues, and Barack and Michelle Obama speak up!” The email also states that “one of the most powerful and respected Democratic couples in HISTORY have stood up and called on every American to act before it’s too late!”
“That’s why House Majority PAC is uniting a HISTORIC wave of support to show Trump and Republicans that Democrats will make their government shutdown BACKFIRE!,” according to the email. “So top Democrats have agreed to 600% MATCH every donation to help us do it!”
A fundraising email penned by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Wednesday attacked the president for posting an altered-video of the minority leader donning a sombrero.
“He [Trump] just posted a racist and bigoted attack against me in a desperate attempt to distract from the Republican shutdown,” the email read. “When extremists fan the flames of hostility, you better believe I’ll respond.”
“I’m asking 786 supporters to step up and prove Democrats stand united,” the email continued. “Will you rush $15 before midnight to hand Donald Trump and his MAGA allies a stunning rebuke?”
Jeffries notably declined to say on Wednesday whether he would withhold a paycheck during the government shutdown.
Vulnerable House Democrats who are expected to field competitive GOP challengers during the midterms have also blasted out fundraising missives during the shutdown.
Democratic Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford argued Wednesday in a fundraising email that Republicans were responsible for the shutdown despite the Nevada Democrat voting against funding the government.
“Together, we can hold Republicans accountable and demand a government that works for the people,” Horsford wrote. “Thank you for being in this fight.”
Similarly, Democratic Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur wrote Wednesday in an email requesting donations that she and her Democratic colleagues in Congress have “been in Washington all week, doing our job: working to keep our government open and fighting to protect affordable healthcare for families in Northwest Ohio and across the country,” while Republicans “literally walked out.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson adjourned the House following nearly every House Democrat, including Kaptur, opposing a bipartisan spending bill to fund the government on Sept. 19.
Democratic candidates running for House seats in 2026 have also recently sent fundraising appeals attacking Republicans over the shutdown.
“Today, Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress have shut down the federal government, and we will all pay the price,” Democratic New Hampshire House candidate Stefany Shaheen reportedly wrote in a fundraising email obtained by the NHJournal.
Shaheen is running in a contested primary to succeed Democratic New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas, who is vying to replace Shaheen’s mother, Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, in the Senate.
Shaheen did not disclose that her mother has voted against a House-passed bipartisan bill to fund the government three times. The retiring senator is expected to vote on the measure for a fourth time on Friday.
The DCNF also reviewed fundraising emails sent by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Emilia Sykes of Ohio and Eugene Vindman of Virginia.
Johnson told the DCNF in an interview Thursday that House Democrats have lost further credibility after voting to shut down the government and then immediately insisting that they are serious about reopening the government.
“Their whole existence is framed around messaging, no matter how false or misleading,” Johnson said. “The House Democrats are simply not being taken seriously by anyone at this point.”
Jeffries, Horsford and Kaptur did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment. Stefany Shaheen did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
WATCH: Hakeem Jeffries Freezes When Confronted With Proof Of Healthcare For Illegal Aliens In Dem Plan
By Cullen McCue
Oct. 03, 2025
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was at a loss for words when CNN host Jake Tapper confronted him with the fact that some portions of the Democratic Party’s demands in the ongoing shutdown fight will provide healthcare for illegal aliens and non-citizens.
Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have claimed that they are merely arguing in favor of a continuation of Obama-era Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that are set to expire and additional healthcare expenditures for American citizens. “It’s a total, absolute [expletive] lie,” Schumer fumed while speaking with MSNBC on Wednesday morning.
Jeffries has said the same, claiming that Republican arguments on the issue constitute an “outright lie.”
“Federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to provide medical coverage to undocumented individuals. That’s the law. And there is nothing in anything that we have proposed that is trying to change that law,” he said during a September 30 interview with CNBC.
Republican leaders, including Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), have pushed back by pointing to Biden-era programs that allowed non-citizens to receive healthcare benefits. “Yes, it is illegal for illegal aliens to receive health care paid for by hardworking American taxpayers. But [Democrats are] making the demand to change that. … That’s one of Chuck Schumer’s primary demands to keep the government open,” Johnson told CNN on September 28.
As the shutdown dragged on towards the 24-hour mark on Wednesday, Jeffries once again appeared on CNN to claim that Republican arguments about healthcare for illegal aliens are false. Host Jake Tapper responded by pointing to exact provisions that contract the Democrats’ line of attack.
“So let me ask you about a provision that the Republicans are talking about quite a bit. I know you want to talk about and Democrats want to talk about extending the Obamacare subsidies which expire at the end of 2025. But they talk about the provisions and it’s right here,” Tapper said while showing Jeffries the provision.
“Subtile e, and this has to do with the repeal of health care subtitle changes and specifically what it is they they’re how they characterize it, is you want to give health insurance uh to undocumented immigrants,” he continued, at which point Jeffries interjected with “that’s a lie.”
Tapper agreed, though he did note that the plan “does bring back funding for emergency Medicaid to hospitals, some of which does pay for undocumented immigrants and people who don’t have health insurance.”
“And also there is this provision, and it’s not about undocumented immigrants, it’s about people with asylum seekers and people with temporary protected status, et cetera, et cetera, but about their ability to get Medicaid. So they’re non -citizens, they’re not undocumented, they’re not illegal. Why even include that in a bill knowing that they’re going to seize right upon that and use that to message?”
REPORT: President Trump Declares U.S. Is Now In a Formal WAR With Drug Cartels
by Kaley
Oct. 03, 2025
In a memo to Congress, President Trump has reportedly declared an official war on drug cartels!
Specifically, the brief memo said that the U.S. is now in a formal “non-international armed conflict” with the cartels in North and South America.
Check it out:
🚨 BREAKING: Trump admin tells Congress that US is now in 'non-international armed conflict' with drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations pic.twitter.com/prH6ATwUQl
BREAKING 🚨 President Trump has decided that the U.S. is engaged in a formal “armed conflict” with drug cartels his team has labeled terrorist organizations and that suspected smugglers for such groups are “unlawful combatants,” the administration said in a confidential notice to…
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) October 2, 2025
BREAKING 🚨 President Trump has decided that the U.S. is engaged in a formal “armed conflict” with drug cartels his team has labeled terrorist organizations and that suspected smugglers for such groups are “unlawful combatants,” the administration said in a confidential notice to Congress this week — NYT
Fox News covered the story:
Since President Trump took office, drug cartels have rightfully been officially designated as terrorist organizations.
And, it’s not just talk. The Trump administration is taking serious action to treat dangerous drug cartel members as the terrorists they are.
As you probably know, President Trump’s war declaration comes after the U.S. military has already conducted several successful strikes on Venezuelan drug boats.
It also comes amid reports that the Department of War is preparing to strike drug labs inside Venzuela.
Fox News has more details on the memo:
The Trump administration sent a memo to Congress on Thursday saying that the United States is now “in a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, which administration officials have designated as “terrorist organizations.”
“The President directed these actions consistent with his responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to his constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive to conduct foreign relations,” the memo states.
The notification to congressional lawmakers came as Democrats on key committees have accused the administration of exceeding its powers to use the military against the cartels, particularly in the wake of recent strikes on what the administration said were drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.
“The cartels involved have grown more armed, well-organized, and violent,” the memo said. “They have the financial means, sophistication, and paramilitary capabilities needed to operate with impunity.”
“They illegally and directly cause the deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens each year,” it continued. “Although friendly foreign nations have made significant efforts to combat these organizations, suffering significant losses of life, these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere in the form of organized cartels. Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.”
The memo specifically cites the Sept. 15 strike.
The New York Times was the first to obtain the memo and provided more context.
Here’s more from the original NYT report:
The notice was sent to several congressional committees and obtained by The New York Times. It adds new detail to the administration’s thinly articulated legal rationale for why three U.S. military strikes the president ordered on boats in the Caribbean Sea last month, killing all 17 people aboard them, should be seen as lawful rather than murder.
Mr. Trump’s move to formally deem his campaign against drug cartels as an active armed conflict means he is cementing his claim to extraordinary wartime powers, legal specialists said. In an armed conflict, as defined by international law, a country can lawfully kill enemy fighters even when they pose no threat, detain them indefinitely without trials and prosecute them in military courts.
Geoffrey S. Corn, a retired judge advocate general lawyer who was formerly the Army’s senior adviser for law-of-war issues, said drug cartels were not engaged in “hostilities” — the standard for when there is an armed conflict for legal purposes — against the United States because selling a dangerous product is different from an armed attack.
Noting that it is illegal for the military to deliberately target civilians who are not directly participating in hostilities — even suspected criminals — Mr. Corn called the president’s move an “abuse” that crossed a major legal line.
“This is not stretching the envelope,” he said. “This is shredding it. This is tearing it apart.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said in a email that “the president acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans.”
The Trump administration has called the strikes “self-defense” and asserted that the laws of war permitted it to kill, rather than arrest, the people on the boats because it said the targets were smuggling drugs for cartels it has designated as terrorists. The administration has also stressed that about 100,000 Americans die annually from overdoses.
However, the focus of the administration’s attacks has been boats from Venezuela. The surge of overdose deaths in recent years has been driven by fentanyl that drug trafficking experts say comes from Mexico, not South America. Beyond factual issues, the bare-bones argument has been broadly criticized on legal grounds by specialists in armed-conflict law.
The notice to Congress, which was deemed controlled but unclassified information, cites a statute requiring reports to lawmakers about hostilities involving U.S. armed forces. It repeats the administration’s earlier arguments but also goes further with new claims, including portraying the U.S. military’s attacks on boats to be part of a sustained, active conflict rather than isolated acts of claimed self-defense.
Specifically, it says that Mr. Trump has “determined” that cartels engaged in smuggling drugs are “nonstate armed groups” whose actions “constitute an armed attack against the United States.” And it cites a term from international law — a “noninternational armed conflict” — that refers to a war with a nonstate actor.
“Based upon the cumulative effects of these hostile acts against the citizens and interests of the United States and friendly foreign nations, the president determined that the United States is in a noninternational armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” the notice said.
What are your thoughts?
Do you support a formal war on the drug cartels who have been harming Americans for decades?
DHS Arrests Over 800 Criminal Illegal Immigrants in Chicago’s Operation Midway Blitz
By Cole Harrison
Oct. 03, 2025
For too long, Chicago residents have watched their neighborhoods transform into personal fiefdoms for criminal networks. Families double-lock their doors, avoid certain streets after dark, and wonder when their elected officials will prioritize citizen safety over political posturing. (Here’s a hint: they won’t.)
Now, after years of escalating violence and lawlessness, the federal government has delivered what local politicians wouldn’t—a massive enforcement operation that’s finally putting criminals where they belong.
From Daily Wire:
Homeland Security agents arrested more than 800 illegal immigrants as part of its “Operation Midway Blitz” and the massive raids will continue despite the government shutdown…
“The Trump Administration will not allow violent criminals or repeat offenders to terrorize our neighborhoods or victimize our children and innocent Americans. We will not allow sanctuary politicians or violent rioters to stop us from enforcing the law and arresting pedophiles, murderers, gang members, rapists, and domestic abusers from American communities.”
The numbers tell the real story about Operation Midway Blitz’s success: over 800 illegal immigrants arrested, including rapists, individuals with DUI convictions, and criminals who had been previously deported only to return and commit more crimes. This isn’t random enforcement—it’s targeted removal of dangerous individuals who’ve proven they have zero respect for American laws or American lives.
The operation, launched in honor of 20-year-old Katie Abraham who was killed by an illegal immigrant in a hit-and-run crash, represents everything sanctuary city politicians have failed to do. Governor Pritzker complains about federal agents carrying “large weapons” and wearing tactical gear. Meanwhile, these same agents descended on apartment complexes teeming with suspected Tren de Aragua gang members. One raid alone involved 300 federal officers.
Targeting Violent Gang Networks
The scope of criminal activity being addressed is staggering. These aren’t people seeking a better life—they’re organized crime members who’ve exploited America’s generosity and sanctuary policies to establish criminal enterprises. The Tren de Aragua gang, a Venezuelan criminal organization, had essentially colonized entire apartment buildings in Chicago. Their business model? Human trafficking, drug distribution, and violent crime. And they thought they’d found the perfect safe haven.
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin didn’t mince words about the operation’s goals: hunting down “the worst of the worst” who have “flocked to Chicago and Illinois” specifically because they knew local politicians would protect them from federal law enforcement. The audacity is breathtaking—but not as breathtaking as watching them finally get arrested.
Democrats Admit Policy Failures
In a twist that surprises absolutely nobody who’s been paying attention, even Chicago’s own Democratic leadership is finally admitting what conservatives have said all along. The sanctuary policies created this mess.
Alderman Raymond Lopez, after watching his proposal to allow cooperation with federal immigration officers get voted down, laid the blame squarely at Mayor Brandon Johnson’s feet. “You challenged them to go do that, and yet you cry here and say we’re under attack,” Lopez told the mayor during a heated city council meeting. “You all brought this on the people of the city Chicago… You are the ones who allowed this to happen in your communities, because you had the chance to protect people and said, ‘No.'”
State Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer noted the obvious: “The TRUST Act is the reason why federal authorities have come to Illinois. It’s because Gov. Pritzker has made it illegal for our local law enforcement to enforce federal laws.” Funny how clarity arrives when your constituents start demanding answers.
The Trump administration’s message is unmistakable: no amount of political theater, violent protests, or sanctuary policies will prevent the removal of violent criminals from American communities. Operation Midway Blitz proves that when local leaders fail their citizens, federal law enforcement will fill the void. For the law-abiding residents of Chicago who’ve been abandoned by their own government, these 800 arrests represent something they haven’t felt in years—hope that someone finally puts their safety first.
Key Takeaways
Federal agents arrested 800+ violent criminals Chicago politicians refused to touch
Even Democrat aldermen admit sanctuary policies created this crisis
Operation continues despite violent mobs attacking ICE agents
When local leaders choose criminals over citizens, federal intervention becomes necessary
President Trump to Meet Russ Vought to Cut ‘Political SCAM Democrat Agencies’ Following Government Shutdown: “I Can’t Believe the Radical Left Democrats Gave Me This Unprecedented Opportunity”
by Jim Hᴏft
Oct. 2, 2025
President Donald J. Trump listens to the Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought delivers remarks prior to President Trump signing Executive Orders (Credit: White House)
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would meet with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, a key architect of the Project 2025 blueprint, to determine which federal agencies, deemed by Trump as “political SCAM Democrat Agencies,” should face cuts and whether those cuts will be temporary or permanent.
With Congress deadlocked and the shutdown entering its second day, the White House is pressing ahead with sweeping plans to slash government.
Trump described the impasse not as a crisis but as a chance to purge bureaucratic excesses and reshape federal power in line with conservative priorities.
Officials say the meeting with Vought will lead to mass layoffs, departmental closures, and funding freezes, according to Reuters.
The President’s post signals that these changes may not simply be temporary austerity measures, but irreversible restructuring.
Trump wrote on Truth Social:
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT”
While no definitive list has been released, if Project 2025 is implemented, expect these Democrat-run bureaucracies to be on the chopping block:
Department of Education – Trump has long signaled he wants to dismantle this agency, and early 2025 efforts already saw major workforce reductions
FEMA – Long criticized by the Trump administration, FEMA’s role in federal disaster relief has been repeatedly challenged.
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) – An executive order in March 2025 sought to eliminate it “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
EPA (or parts thereof) – Under Project 2025, environmental oversight agencies are prime candidates for defunding or abolition.
More from Reuters:
The government shutdown, the 15th since 1981, has suspended scientific research, , economic data reports, and a wide range of other activities. Major benefit programs, like Social Security, will continue to send out payments.
A standoff in Congress has frozen about $1.7 trillion in funds for agency operations, which amounts to roughly one-quarter of annual federal spending. Much of the remainder goes to health and retirement programs and interest payments on the growing $37.5 trillion debt.
Pay has been suspended for roughly 2 million federal workers, with roughly 750,000 ordered not to work and others, such as troops and Border Patrol agents, required to work without pay. Many could face personal hardship if the standoff is not resolved before October 15, when the next paychecks are due to be issued.
A prolonged shutdown could disrupt air travel, threaten food aid for millions of Americans, and weigh on exports and mortgage applications.
However, past shutdowns have not had a lasting impact on the broader U.S. economy. The longest lasted 35 days in 2018 and 2019, during Trump’s first term, due to a dispute over immigration.
Late last week, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reportedly circulated internal guidance to agencies, warning them to prepare for waves of deferred resignations and reductions in force should Congress fail to approve full appropriations, according to the New York Post.
Agencies were told to begin drafting Separation and Reduction in Force (RIF) plans targeting nonessential positions.
On January 28, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memo to the entire federal civil service titled “Fork in the Road,” offering employees a deferred resignation option.
The offer promised continued salary and benefits through September 30 if workers left voluntarily, but only if they signed away legal rights and accepted the exit by a looming deadline.
By mid-February, approximately 75,000 federal employees had signed the exit agreement.
More than 100,000 additional workers are expected to depart as of Tuesday, making this breakaway the largest one-day drop in federal workforce history, according to The Guardian.
CNN CUTS OFF Speaker Johnson as He Attacks Democrats For Shutting Down the Government Over Healthcare Funding for Illegal Aliens (VIDEO)
by Cristina Laila
Oct. 2, 2025 4:20 pm
Fake News CNN cut off House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday as he attacked the Democrats for shutting down the government over healthcare funding for illegal aliens.
Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance made it clear that Democrats are refusing to keep the government open because they are prioritizing illegal aliens.
“Democrats want a $1.5 trillion spending package that funded free health care for illegals. We told them that was absurd, and now they’re willing to shut down the government over it. It’s unacceptable,” Vance said earlier this week after a meeting with top Democrats Schumer and Jeffries.
On October 1 at 12:01 am, the government partially shut down because two measures failed in the Senate. The measures to reopen the government failed again on Wednesday morning.
CNN cut Speaker Johnson off as he said the Democrats blocked the GOP-backed bills to give illegal aliens free healthcare.
The House passed a clean, short-term stopgap funding bill to keep the government open. Schumer rejected it.
Johnson laid it out clearly:
_ Democrats demanded restoring healthcare access for illegal aliens.
_ They wanted $500 million funneled back to leftist PBS propaganda.
_ They tried to slash funding for rural hospitals that serve working-class Americans.
_ They demanded $1.5 trillion in NEW spending tied to just a seven-week funding measure.
Instead of working with Republicans to responsibly extend funding until November, Schumer chose a shutdown.
CNN absurdly claimed that the Democrats don’t want to give illegal aliens healthcare.
“CNN is not a NEWS organization. They cut off the Republican press conference to CENSOR the truth from the American people and LIE about indisputable FACTS,” Mike Johnson said.
“On page 57 of the Democrat’s OWN bill – they insist we restore $200 BILLION in health care subsidies for illegal aliens,” he added. “CNN must correct this.”
WATCH:
CNN is not a NEWS organization. They cut off the Republican press conference to CENSOR the truth from the American people and LIE about indisputable FACTS:
On page 57 of the Democrat’s OWN bill - they insist we restore $200 BILLION in health care subsidies for illegal aliens.… pic.twitter.com/Aycaj1zopx
Secretary Kennedy Denounces Exorbitant Drug Prices for Americans
By Cristian Rosales
Oct. 03, 2025
In a powerful statement on the state of medication access in the United States, Secretary Kennedy warned of the abuses faced by citizens who pay disproportionately high prices for the same products sold much more cheaply in other countries. During his speech, Kennedy emphasized that Americans should not be taken advantage of, highlighting the importance of protecting consumers from exploitation by large pharmaceutical corporations that prioritize profits over public health.
“The American people should not be paying 300 or 400, or even 1,000% more than people in other countries for the same medication,” Kennedy declared. The federal official noted that, in many cases, these drugs are produced in the same factory in New Jersey that supplies international markets, such as the United Kingdom, where prices can be as low as a tenth of what is charged in the United States. This price discrepancy exposes a system that fails to protect citizens, benefits corporations, and generates widespread public dissatisfaction.
These practices demonstrate the need for strategic intervention to protect Americans from the abusive pricing policies of major pharmaceutical companies. Secretary Kennedy emphasized that this is not only an economic issue but also a matter of social justice: no citizen should face financial barriers to accessing essential medicines that ensure their health and well-being. I have stressed that this situation reflects a model that prioritizes corporate profit maximization over fairness and the protection of American lives.
Kennedy also criticized international price disparities, noting that the difference between what Americans pay and what citizens in allied countries like the United Kingdom, France, or Germany pay is unacceptable. “Often, the same medication, produced on the same production line, is sold for a fraction of the price in other markets,” he stated, emphasizing the urgency of implementing policies that ensure fair and equitable pricing for US citizens without relying on the discretion of corporations that place profit above saving lives.
This statement, delivered under the leadership of President Donald Trump, seeks to reduce the economic burden on Americans and ensure that health policies prioritize people over corporate interests. Kennedy stressed that this is not unnecessary about market intervention but about guaranteeing Americans access to reasonable and transparent prices, preventing the country from becoming a stage for international abuses that directly affect citizens' wallets.
Additionally, Secretary Kennedy highlighted the importance of competition and transparency in the pharmaceutical industry. He pointed out that large corporations, by manipulating prices unilaterally, create an unfair market that penalizes American consumers. This is a clear example of why strict oversight and intelligent regulation are necessary to protect citizens without compromising innovation and scientific research.
The speech also emphasized a symbolic and practical point of great significance: Americans deserve respect and justice. Kennedy stated that paying such high prices for essential products while other countries enjoy much lower rates is a clear example of inequity that cannot continue. This stance reinforces the narrative that the government must act to correct abuses by the private sector that directly impact the daily lives of citizens, without resorting to socialist solutions that discourage production or innovation.
In conclusion, Secretary Kennedy's statement reinforces the urgent need to address the drug pricing crisis in the United States from a Republican perspective: protecting citizens, ensuring economic justice, and demanding corporate accountability. As long as pharmaceutical companies continue to impose disproportionate prices, Americans will remain victims of a system that prioritizes profits over health and well-being. Kennedy's defense underscores that guaranteeing fair prices is not a luxury but a fundamental duty of the US government, aligned with President Donald Trump's philosophy of putting citizens first and ensuring that no one is exploited by major corporations.
Elizabeth Warren Loses Her Mind When Journalist Notes That Democrats Actually Do Want Healthcare for Illegals on the Taxpayers’ Dime (VIDEO)
by Mike LaChance
Oct. 2, 2025 9:40 pm
Elizabeth Warren loses her cool on CBS News – Screencap of Twitter/X video.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts lost her cool on CBS News this week, when reporter Tony Dokoupil noted that Democrats actually do kinda want to provide healthcare to illegals, funded by taxpayers.
She got really angry but then pretty much confirmed what Tony Dokoupil was saying, while giving a long, confusing explanation.
You know what’s very telling in this ongoing debate? The anger and frustration of Democrats. It’s a tell that indicates that they are losing this argument and they know it. You see the same thing with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
Transcript via Curtis Houck on Twitter/X:
Dokoupil: “So, senator, you know, Republicans say what you’re really fighting for is taxpayer dollars for, as they put it, illegal aliens. I know that’s not strictly true but there is a provision –”
Warren: “Oh, excuse me not strictly true.”
Dokoupil: “It’s not directly true, but –”
Warren: “It is a flat-out lie. It is a flat-out lie.”
Dokoupil: “– the way that they frame it –”
Warren: “There is nothing in Medicaid, nothing in Medicare, that permits one undocumented immigrant to get one dollar of assistance. None.”
Dokoupil: “– Senator –”
Warren: “Zero.”
Dokoupil: “– if you let me finish the question –”
Warren: “Of course. I’m sorry.”
Dokoupil: “– sorry, in the Democratic counter offer the proposal for funding, there is a restoration of Medicaid benefits for certain noncitizens that had been taken away in the Big, Beautiful Bill as Republicans put it.”
Warren: “No!”
Dokoupil: “Republicans don’t think those people should be getting health care on the taxpayer dime. I’m not asking on the merits. Politically, putting that in there, exposes you to this talking point, this lie as you put it. Why put it in there? Why is it worth it?”
Warren: “No. What’s happened is that what we’re saying is that whenever hospitals give care, what is going to be the level of reimbursement? And the Republicans said it’s going to be a low level. The Democrats said we just want go back to the level it was before because you’re going to bankrupt hospitals. You’re going to put rural hospitals out of business. The Republicans and the Democrats’ plan, nothing changes the number of undocumented immigrants who still get care if they show up bleeding and unconscious at an emergency room. There is absolutely zero difference. The difference is whether or not hospitals who, under laws that date back to Ronald Reagan, may provide emergency care to anyone who’s unconscious, will actually get reimbursed at a very low level that will put the hospital ultimately out of business potentially or at a higher level. The Republicans – there is no change, no change in the number of undocumented migrants who get any help under what the Democrats want. Look, what we’re looking for is help for people who are going to get pushed out of nursing homes, help for people who are at home and relying on home health aides.”
See the video below:
WATCH: Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren explodes when ‘CBS Mornings’ co-host Tony Dokoupil points out Democrats do, in fact, want to provide health care to “noncitizens…on the taxpayer dime.”
Warren snapped back by declaring “it’s not strictly true” and “a flat-out lie”….… pic.twitter.com/fOSqgcSdUI
The founder of a Texas megachurch who resigned last year after a woman in Oklahoma accused the pastor of sexually abusing her in the 1980s pleaded guilty Thursday to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child, authorities said.
By JAMIE STENGLE
Robert Preston Morris, 64, entered the pleas before a judge in Oklahoma’s Osage County as part of a plea agreement, according to the state attorney general’s office.
The abuse began in 1982 when the victim was 12 and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to the statement by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. The abuse continued over the next four years, the statement said.
Morris was the senior pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, where he led one of the nation’s largest megachurches until his resignation. He was indicted earlier this year by an Oklahoma grand jury. Under the plea agreement, Morris received a 10-year suspended sentence with the first six months to be served in the Osage County Jail.
Morris was handcuffed and wearing a suit as he was escorted out of court on Thursday by two sheriff’s deputies.
The victim, Cindy Clemishire, who is now 55, said in a statement that “justice has finally been served, and the man who manipulated, groomed and abused me as a 12-year-old innocent girl is finally going to be behind bars.” The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Clemishire has done.
“My hope is that many victims hear my story, and it can help lift their shame and allow them to speak up,” she said. “I hope that laws continue to change and new ones are written so children and victims’ rights are better protected. I hope that people understand the only way to stop child sexual abuse is to speak up when it happens or is suspected.”
Morris must register as a sex offender and will be supervised by Texas authorities via interstate compact. He also was ordered to pay his costs of incarceration, including any medical expenses, and restitution to the victim.
One of Morris’ attorneys, Bill Mateja, said Morris wanted to accept responsibility for his conduct, and wanted to bring the legal matter to an end for the sake of him and his family and Clemishire and her family.
“While he believes that he long since accepted responsibility in the eyes of God and that Gateway Church was a manifestation of that acceptance, he readily accepted responsibility in the eyes of the law,” Mateja said.
Mateja said Morris wanted to apologize to Clemishire and her family for his conduct and asked for forgiveness.
When asked about the allegations last year by The Christian Post, Morris said in a statement to the publication that when he was in his early 20s he was “involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying.” He said it was “kissing and petting, not intercourse, but it was wrong.”
Gateway Church was founded by Morris in 2000. He has been politically active and formerly served on President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board. The church hosted Trump on its Dallas campus in 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy.
Gateway Church declined to comment Thursday.
The pleas were entered before Osage County District Special Judge Cindy Pickerill.
“There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Drummond said. “This case is all the more despicable because the perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position of trust and authority. The victim in this case has waited far too many years for this day.”
A bronze painted sculpture depicting US President Donald Trump and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein returned to the National Mall on Thursday. It first went up in September and was quickly removed
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