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‘Makes My Blood Boil’: Top Trump Official’s ‘Lies’ Blasted

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A claim by President Donald Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget is being met with strong criticism, including allegations of telling “lies.”

OMB Director Russell Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist and an architect of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, claimed that the Trump budget bill—his so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” that critics charge is anything but—won’t lead to anyone losing health care coverage.

Critics and multiple analyses of the bill make clear that claim is false.

Asked about charges that “people will die” if the bill is enacted into law, with hundreds of billions in cuts to critical safety net programs including Medicaid and SNAP, Vought called the allegations “totally ridiculous,” and “astroturf.”

READ MORE: ‘Economic Ruination’: Trump Admits Tariffs Could Backfire, Fears Foreign Retaliation

“This bill will preserve and protect the programs, the social safety net, but it will make it much more common sense,” Vought claimed.

But the Congressional Budget Office’s report stated that the budget, or reconciliation bill would lead to an “increase in the federal deficit of $3.8 trillion,” “$698 billion less in federal subsidies from changes to the Medicaid program,” and “$267 billion less in federal spending for SNAP.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), citing the CBO’s report, states: “Roughly 15 million people by 2034 would lose health coverage and become uninsured.”

The CBO estimated that, for example, 7.6 million people would lose Medicaid, 1.8 million would lose Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) coverage, and another 4.2 million would lose coverage for subsidy non-renewal.

The Washington Post adds that “Similar conclusions have been reached from right- and left-leaning organizations, including the Tax Foundation, the Penn-Wharton Budget Model, the Manhattan Institute and the Center for American Progress.”

Vought also claimed that “one out of every five or six dollars in Medicaid is improper. We have illegal immigrants on the program. We don’t have able-bodied, working adults that don’t have a work requirement that they would have in TANF or even SNAP. And those are something that’s very important to institute. That’s what this bill does.”

READ MORE: ‘Don’t Feel Sorry for Him’: Trump Rips ‘Vicious’ Biden

“No one will lose coverage as a result of this bill,” he insisted.

Retired U.S. Air Fore Colonel Moe Davis, a former Guantanamo Chief Prosecutor, pointed to a New York Times report titled, “Trump and Allies Sell Domestic Policy Bill With Falsehoods.”

Davis wrote that “Trump and his comrades…are using their favorite strategy that I’ve labeled MSU (Making S— Up) to deceive Americans about their Big Beautiful Wealth Transfer to the Rich Bill.”

Critics, meanwhile, are blasting Vought.

“This has become a routine talking point from the White House and Republicans — and its unambiguously a lie,” wrote MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS).

“The CBO says that approximately 7,600,000 people will lose coverage as a result of the bill’s Medicaid cuts,” wrote Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias. “An additional 1,800,000 will lose ACA exchange coverage due to cuts there. Failure to extend subsidy enhancements costs another 4,200,000 their insurance coverage.”

“Outrageous lies. In Ohio alone the state has said 770,000 people will lose coverage,” observed U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH).

“GOP response to credible estimates that ~8m people will lose insurance due to Medicaid cuts: 1) no one will lose coverage 2) only the freeloaders and bums will lose coverage (not deserving people like you!) 3) look we’re all going to die anyway,” noted MSNBC anchor Catherine Rampell, referring to Senator Joni Ernst’s remarks, among others.

“The White House is lying to you. At least 13.7 million Americans will lose their health care, according to the official non-partisan scorekeepers,” said U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), the Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee.

“This makes my blood boil,” commented former Biden OMB official Topher Spiro.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Afraid, Corrupt, or Don’t Care?’: Ernst Slammed for Trump Support at Fiery Town Hall

 

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Revealed: The Real Reason Kristi Noem Was Fired

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The rumor mill was spinning fast on Thursday as news reports from multiple outlets revealed President Donald Trump was considering firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Within hours, he did, announcing the nomination of U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as her replacement.

Some critics pointed to Noem’s damaging testimony before Congress this week, when she declared that President Trump had approved her spending $220 million in an ad campaign that, as one GOP senator said, boosted her name recognition. On Thursday, Trump told Reuters, “I never knew anything about it.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that the “final straw for Trump was Noem’s combative hearing Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The president watched the testimony and was apoplectic about her performance, telling advisers that evening he would remove her from the job, according to people familiar with the matter.”

READ MORE: ‘Dereliction of Duty’: Trump Officials Slammed Over Failure to ‘Keep Americans Safe’

But according to NBC News, Noem was not fired only because of her testimony.

“An administration official told NBC News that the president decided to fire Noem due to ‘a culmination of her many unfortunate leadership failures including the fallout in Minnesota, the ad campaign, the allegations of infidelity, the mismanagement of her staff, and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE,'” the news outlet reported.

The allegations of infidelity were in full swing during her congressional testimony, as U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) grilled the DHS chief.

“Secretary Noem, at any time during your tenure…have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?” the Congresswoman asked.

“That is garbage and it is offensive that you have brought that up,” Noem responded..

“It is about your judgment and decision-making,” Kamlager-Dove replied.

Lewandowski, according to Fox News, is also expected to exit DHS.

READ MORE: Trump’s Iran War Triggers Gas Price Shock — Especially in Red America

 

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‘Bad to Worse’: Mockery Ensues as Trump Trades Noem for ‘Erratic’ Mullin

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President Donald Trump’s announcement that Republican U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin will become the new Secretary of Homeland Security — replacing embattled Kristi Noem — is drawing mockery.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported that “Trump loves watching Mullin on TV and often praises him, which was a factor in this decision.”

Calling him “erratic” and “unstable,” California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom slammed Mullin’s nomination.

“Markwayne Mullin could not remember if we were at war THIS WEEK,” he said. “His state has one of the highest crime rates in the country — with a murder rate 40% higher than California’s. He literally tried to fight union workers during a hearing and told them to ‘shut your mouth.’ And said ‘I don’t want reality’ at a Senate hearing about race.”

The president may have another challenge ahead of him.

After dodging increasing calls for Noem’s impeachment over her controversial congressional testimony on Wednesday, he wrote that Mullin will be the new DHS Secretary as of March 31. Politico’s Kyle Cheney notes there are other factors at work.

According to Cheney, “it’s not clear how Trump can simply announce this is effective on March 31. Mullin is not Senate-confirmed and not eligible to become acting secretary under laws governing cabinet-level vacancies.”

If it’s a matter of getting enough Democrats to support Mullin, Trump can already count on the Senator from Pennsylvania.

“As a member of the Homeland Security Committee + Ranking Member of Subcommittee on Border Security: I’m not sure how many fellow Democrats will vote to support our colleague  @SenMullin as the next DHS Secretary, but I am AYE,” Democratic Senator John Fetterman wrote.

Meanwhile, critics continued to express opposition to the decision to hand the reins of the more than $100 billion federal agency to Mullin.

“Firing Noem to hire Markwayne Mullin is the definition of going from bad to worse,” declared Democratic strategist Max Burns.

Some pointed out that Mullin is the only current U.S. Senator to not hold a bachelor’s degree.

Others noted that he is “the same guy who was hiding from MAGA rioters during the January 6th insurrection.”

And some pointed to reports “showing him in violation of the STOCK Act.”

The progressive social media account The Tennessee Holler called Mullin “one of the biggest Trump sycophants in Congress.”

The Atlantic’s Norman Ornstein added, “That Markwayne Mullin is the dumbest member of the Senate was a qualification for Trump to choose him to head DHS.”

 

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Trump’s Iran War Triggers Gas Price Shock — Especially in Red America

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President Donald Trump’s war against Iran is having harsh effects on the price of gas for consumers, but no one is being harder hit than his red-state base.

According to Patrick De Haan, the widely-cited head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, as of Thursday morning, the national average price of gasoline stands at $3.24 per gallon.

“That’s now just 1.4 cents shy of its highest national average since 2024 — and, based on GasBuddy’s tracking, the highest national average so far during President Trump’s two terms,” De Haan writes.

What that means is collectively, he says, Americans are paying about $90 million more at the pump than just one week ago.

At the state level, 49 out of 50 states have seen at least a ten-cent increase since last week. And twelve states are seeing at least a 30-cent increase in just the past week.

READ MORE: ‘Total Scumbag Move’: MAGA Rages as Trump Faces Demands to End Texas GOP War

Who is being hit the hardest?

Nine of the top ten highest price increases are being seen in red states.

De Haan says that Louisiana is being hit the hardest, with a 39.7-cent per gallon increase over last week.

Georgia is seeing a 37.5 cent increase. Iowa, Indiana, and West Virginia are all in the 35-cent range. Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Ohio in the 34-cent range. South Dakota comes in at a 32.6-cent increase. And Illinois, a blue state, comes in at number ten, at 31.1 cents per gallon.

According to Michael Gunther, senior vice president at Consumer Edge, the “pain isn’t evenly distributed.”

He says that “customers of value-oriented, drive-dependent brands — Dollar General, Jack in the Box, Boot Barn — allocate the highest share of their wallet to gas. Lower-income, suburban consumers with very little cushion to absorb a sustained spike.”

De Haan adds that gas prices will continue to climb.

“While the national average gas price is seeing a slower climb today, increases will likely throttle back up soon as wholesale gasoline prices jump again,” he notes.

READ MORE: Trump Uses Voter ID Push to Stoke Base With ‘Men in Women’s Sports’ Claim

 

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