Raw Story

Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk has made no secret of his desire to take a hatchet to Medicaid, and now Congress is planning to vote on a huge domestic policy agenda that has even die-hard MAGA Republicans nervous.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is hoping to push the vote through this week, even though the enormous proposed cut to Medicaid — totaling more than $800 billion over the next 10 years — hasn't been endorsed by President Donald Trump, who has "expressed reservations" about the cuts.

That's because at last count, more than 72 million people were enrolled in Medicaid, and voters have been vowing to fight the cuts at all costs.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) told reporter Rachel Bade with Politico that he's "all in on DOGE" and that cutting the federal workforce is "wildly popular" with Republicans in his district.

ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'

When news broke in the Wall Street Journal that "Representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have been working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS], where they have gotten access to key payment and contracting systems," Musk posted to X that CMS "is where the big money fraud is happening."

“That’s where the battle’s coming,” Gonzales told Bade. “There’s no doubt that there’s waste, fraud and abuse in every program in the government, including Medicaid — but at what point do you stop cutting into the fat and start cutting into the bone? You can’t pull the rug out from millions of people.”

Bade wrote that Gonzales has co-authored a letter with seven other House Republicans representing large Hispanic communities "asking Johnson to rethink where the GOP is headed on Medicaid. And he said he plans to personally confront the speaker about the issue at a scheduled meeting" Monday night.

Read the Politico article here.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) defended his wife Casey's possible run for governor and slammed Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a potential challenger, for missing votes in Congress.

During a Monday press conference in Tampa, DeSantis was asked about Donalds' recent hints that he might run for governor. President Donald Trump has suggested that he would back the lawmaker.

"You know, my view is, is Donald Trump just got into office," DeSantis said. "I want these congressmen focused on enacting his agenda. They haven't done very much yet. They're not putting his executive orders into place... We have such a narrow majority that to be trying to campaign other places and missing these votes, I think, is not something that's advisable at all."

"So I think people look at it and say, you know, you got a guy like Byron," he added, "he just hasn't been a part of any of the victories that we've had here over the left over these last years."

ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'

"He's just not been a part of it. He's been in other states campaigning, doing that. And that's fine. But okay, well, then deliver results up there."

During his time in office, Donalds has missed crucial votes on government funding.

Watch the video below.

Many right-wing media outlets are vigorously defending the mass layoffs of federal government employees being pushed by the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE (which is not yet an official agency authorized by Congress). And they are claiming that the Trump/DOGE efforts will save taxpayers a lot of money.

But Fox News' Jesse Watters is urging Trump and DOGE to spare a personal friend who is a military veteran facing a layoff.

On a Wednesday, February 19 broadcast of Fox News' "The Five," Watters asked Trump to be "less callous" with the mass firings, noting that his friend Chris is working for the U.S. Defense Department and at risk of being laid off.

Watters told his colleagues, "He punched out after 20 years, and (is now) working for the Pentagon. And he's only been there a few months, so he's probationary, and he just found out he’s probably going to get laid off. He's going to get DOGE’d."

ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'

The right-wing Fox News host went on to say, "This guy is not a DEI consultant. This guy is not a climate consultant. This guy is a veteran. So when you’re talking about DOGE-ing people, veterans should get priority. Because if you’re going to go out there and kill enemies, and put your life on the line for this country, you should not be in the same category as people that are doing DEI."

The Trump administration and DOGE are targeting a wide range of government agencies for layoffs. According to the Washington Post, as many as 200,000 probationary-level federal government workers may lose their jobs.

The New Republic's Hafiz Rasid said of the Fox News host, "Watters is only upset because someone he knows personally was affected by Trump and Musk’s mass firings. Otherwise, he’d continue to cheer on the arbitrary cuts across the federal workforce. What he and the rest of right-wing media don’t realize is that plenty of other federal workers like Chris have lost their jobs or will soon."

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) offered a dose of cordiality Thursday afternoon to his colleague, former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) amid reporting he will not seek another term in office.

Murphy, while speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper, took a shot at McConnell over his moral convictions, arguing that he bears much of the responsibility for the GOP allowing Trump to remain the central figure in the party and set him up to run for his second term.

"I want to get your reaction to Mitch McConnell announcing he's not going to seek re-election," said Tapper. "I know you've disagreed with him on a number of policy fronts and strategic pursuits by the conservative movement. He is one of the few Republicans saying anything challenging at all about President Trump. How do you think the Senate will be different without him there?"

ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'

"Well, listen, I appreciate the votes that Mitch McConnell has taken," said Murphy. "I appreciate the fact that over the last four years, he was willing to reach out to Democrats. We got the bipartisan gun bill done in 2022 that has reduced gun violence rates in this country by 20 percent, because Mitch McConnell wanted to do something in a bipartisan way on the issue of violence in this country."

Nonetheless, Murphy continued, "Nobody's going to forget the fact that after the riots in 2021, he had the chance to vote to impeach Donald Trump and deny Trump the chance to be back in the White House. Had Mitch McConnell decided to vote for impeachment, enough Republicans would have followed him to get that number above the requisite two-thirds."

"So his legacy is going to be very mixed," Murphy added. "He is the reason why Donald Trump is president today, albeit with a record that also includes a lot of bipartisan accomplishment that he helped make possible during the Biden administration."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

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Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy got booed in California on Thursday morning when he attacked the high-speed rail project that Californians have wanted for decades.

Duffy attacked the project as wasteful spending and said it was headed toward a “compliance review."

“President Trump has thought about this project, he’s talked about this project, and I think he was kind when he said that this project has been mismanaged,” Duffy told reporters.

ALSO READ: A new ugly streak in American politics

A video of the conference showed jeers under Duffy's comments. Initial boos were replaced by chants of “Build the rail! Build the rail!”

At another point, the crowd chanted, “We pay taxes, we want trains!”

Duffy yelled at the crowd that they should be complaining to Gov. Gavin Newsome and the Democratic legislature.

See the moment in the videos below or at the link here.

- YouTube youtu.be

- YouTube www.youtube.com

The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board expressed serious concerns over President Donald Trump's concessions to Russia on Ukraine this week, writing that he "tilts toward a Ukraine sellout."

In recent days, Trump — who has cozied up with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 presidential election — has backed off the longtime stance the U.S. has held in solidarity with Europe to protect Ukraine from the yearslong, brutal Russian invasion, falsely suggesting Ukraine started the war and offering up "peace" proposals that one-sidedly give all concessions to Russia.

"Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky replied on Wednesday that Mr. Trump was living in a 'disinformation space,' which may have been imprudent but was accurate," wrote the board, which has also been outspoken against Trump's recent economic policies. "Mr. Trump escalated on Wednesday, as he usually does, calling Mr. Zelensky a 'dictator,' and suggesting Ukraine’s leader snookered the U.S. into supporting a war 'that couldn’t be won, that never had to start.' Mr. Zelensky 'refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’'"

ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'

None of this is true, the board wrote.

"The war began not because Mr. Putin had legitimate security fears — but because the aging former KGB agent wants to reassemble most of the Soviet empire he saw crumble as a young man," continued the board. "Ukraine has delayed elections while it is operating under martial law and fighting a war for survival. Its constitution allows this, and Britain under Nazi siege didn’t hold an election during World War II. Was Churchill a dictator? Ukraine’s democracy is fragile and would be stronger if it could affiliate with Western institutions like the European Union. The only dictator in the war is Mr. Putin, who poisons exiled Russians on foreign soil and banishes opponents to Arctic prison camps. Call us when he holds a free election."

The board reiterated their gripes with former President Joe Biden's foreign policy, including following through on the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that Trump initially brokered. Nonetheless, "Americans may have a similar reaction if they see Russia emerge triumphant and realize this wasn’t the peace they had in mind."

The way forward, the board concluded, is "making clear to Mr. Putin the arms and pressure he’ll face if the Russian doesn’t wind down the war to accept a durable peace. As it stands now, Mr. Trump’s seeming desperation for a deal is a risk to Ukraine, Europe, U.S. interests — and his own Presidency."