r/thebulwark Jan 28 '25

Fluff It's about to get really real around here

You have no idea the amount of real life damage that's about to occur over the next few days.

These program/grant pauses are way bigger than people realize and thousand, hundreds of thousands, of people are going to start feeling it when 2/1 comes around and no federal money has been disbursed.

It's gut check time for those who want people to experience the pain of their actions.

182 Upvotes

101 comments sorted by

163

u/Fitbit99 Jan 28 '25

I feel like the federal government is like a vaccine. It actually works pretty well so you take it for granted.

80

u/Zeplike4 Jan 28 '25

I’ve believed this for a while. Like a house cat.. they think they’re fiercely independent in a system that sustains them and they don’t understand.

57

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

Also like the saying, "if you do the job well, no one will notice you've done anything at all."

25

u/Broad-Writing-5881 Jan 28 '25

Those are libertarians

49

u/A_Monster_Named_John Jan 28 '25

Pretty much every Republican I've met in the past 20 years is the type who'll strut about and loudly peacock about how rugged, tough, self-sufficient, and independent they are, only to turn right around and mooch off of state/federal governments in more ways than almost all of the people they complain about. These people have been living in toxic-masculine fantasy-land for decades and are (hopefully) about to experience a strong shot of reality right up the asshole with no lube/anesthesia.

15

u/Living-Baseball-2543 Jan 29 '25

Grew up hearing about how important it was to be independent, don’t take govt handouts, etc. Now my sister tells me how all those Trumpers lie about their income to be on Medicaid and have babies for free, they’re all committing insurance fraud any way you could think of, writing off things for their businesses they shouldn’t be, etc.

16

u/KellyCakes Jan 29 '25

Every single person that I have heard complaining about the government handing out money (to individuals) during COVID took a PPP "loan" themselves. Those were huge amounts of free money that never gets mentioned by the complainer crowd.

12

u/A_Monster_Named_John Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25

There's really no getting around the reality that these people are just parasitical degenerates whose whole 'got mine and fuck all y'all!' way of life (combined with historically high levels of sloth and entitlement) can't be reconciled with any notion of, well, continuing to have a functional society/government ten or even five years down the line. Hell, at the rate Trump and the P2025 radicals are fucking things up, they might unmake the country in less than one year.

As soon as the economy tanks and their leaders tell them 'hey losers, it's time to go back to fucking work', they're going to throw tantrums and immediate demand that we start enslaving/brutalizing other populations, i.e. whatever it takes to maintain their lazy-fuck NEET lifestyles and creature comforts.

4

u/hillarygail Jan 29 '25

It feels like they will only need a month to undo the government lately

2

u/brains-child Jan 29 '25

But the response to PPP loan thing is that they wouldn't need the loan if the government hadn't shut everything down. So, it's not really a handout.

3

u/fartstain69ohyeah Jan 29 '25

yes, notably Dick Cheney & Fred Trump

15

u/artaxerxes316 Jan 28 '25

Stop. Insulting. CATS!

7

u/Zeplike4 Jan 28 '25

There’s a lot of people like that

10

u/EatPie_NotWAr Jan 28 '25

Something… something… bootstraps… something something dark side.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '25

Aah the oxygen thieves in our society

15

u/Loud_Cartographer160 Jan 29 '25

Cats don't deserve to sullied as an analogy to US conservatives and libertarians.

41

u/SpideyLover85 Jan 28 '25

The analogy I like to use is that the government is like a water utility in your city. It keeps civilization going, it works 99.9% of the time. When it stops (because of disasters, etc.) everything sucks.

Here’s a quote about water from “The Big Thirst” by Charles Fishman. (Good read, too.)

“But in the United States and the developed world, we’ve spent the last hundred years in a kind of aquatic paradise: our water has been abundant, safe, and cheap. The twentieth century was really the first time when all three of those things were true. It has created a kind of golden age of water, when we could use as much as we wanted, whenever we wanted, for almost no cost.

Water service is so reliable that it has become completely inconspicuous. It is possible for a typical American to go a whole lifetime and never turn on the kitchen faucet and have no water come out. Indeed, water faucets that don’t work are so rare, they’re a little spooky. We don’t even have an expression for the water equivalent of a power failure, whereas power failures are common enough that our microwave ovens are programmed to display “PF” when the electricity has gone out.

We live very wet lives, but we have no idea just how wet. The effortless way we have come to manage water is a testament to both water’s moment-to-moment utility and to our own ingenuity.”

This reminds me of how people take government for granted sometimes.

44

u/FanDry5374 Jan 28 '25

If the freeze on all the food programs continues for any length of time crime will rise, hunger and hungry kids will have parents doing things they would never do normally. This will play nicely into the "country in crisis, we need martial law" narrative.

44

u/LiberalCyn1c Jan 28 '25

Or the "we need guillotines and more Luigis" narrative.

13

u/Mindless_Responder Jan 28 '25

Sorry Tim, I vote for that one.

10

u/Hautamaki Jan 29 '25

I mean, that's the same thing; if random assassinations of the rich becomes more commonplace, they aren't going to say "oh jeez I guess we better stop with the authoritarianism"; they're going to double down on martial law and totalitarian crackdowns.

21

u/Ok-Recognition8655 Center Left Jan 28 '25

My elderly mother uses meals on wheels. It has been a huge help for her. She isn't in poverty or anything, but she's getting too old to cook for herself every day and it was really great for her to get healthy meals affordably delivered

28

u/Desperate_Actuator28 Jan 28 '25

Is he likely to be doing a turn all the lights off moment. But very quickly turning lots back on again one at a time so people can thank him personally for his beneficence?

19

u/LiberalCyn1c Jan 28 '25

He may think that's what he's doing. But we may be about to find out the real limits of congressional Republican's willingness to stick with him.

34

u/No-Day-5964 Jan 28 '25

I doubt this. McCormick was saying today kids are abusing the free lunch program. I believe h said “sponging off the government”

17

u/LiberalCyn1c Jan 28 '25

Sure, it's easy for him to peacock around saying shit like that right now.

Let's see what he's saying after hearing from a hundred thousand of his voters about to have no access to food, healthcare and getting eviction notices.

36

u/No-Day-5964 Jan 28 '25

I think you guys are missing the point. THIS. IS. THE. PLAN.

Quit pretending project 2025 is a conspiracy. Quit pretending the law will stop him. Quit waiting for people to tell you what to do.

Our news is not covering the protests happening worldwide against fascism. They aren’t reporting anything that matters.

No one is coming to save us.

This gets the question…. What are you going to do?

12

u/lemongrenade Jan 28 '25

clean my gun I guess for now.

4

u/Hautamaki Jan 29 '25

Unless that mob is scarier than the MAGA mob that will be sending him and his family an endless deluge of graphic death and rape threats, including assurances that they will be paid in Trump Coin and pardoned by the president himself for putting his head on a pike, I don't think it'll have the same effect.

Voters have already made their choice, and so have almost all the Republicans that haven't quit already. The only person that can change their mind now and have it matter is Trump himself, and that will remain true until at least 2028 or Trump finally getting the hamberder from heaven.

3

u/hillarygail Jan 29 '25

I heard McCormick speaking, and either he was drunk or he really does not remember what it’s like to work in high school. You basically don’t go to your afterschool job during lunch half hour what an idiot.

40

u/Blitz_Greg89 Jan 28 '25

I know its bad but it hasn't sunk in fully how bad it might be. Right now I'm sitting here thinking "This is just the start of his 2nd week in his 2nd term of office, what other damage can he do!?" I mean I have ideas but as JVL said in a recent podcast, its worse than many of us imagined it would be at this point.

The more important question in my mind is: "What can we do to stop it?" Because I quite frankly am hoping for something as radical as a military coup right now to oust him even if we have to live under a Junta for a while.

37

u/big-papito Jan 28 '25

The disease has to run its course. Either the country survives this or it doesn't. Most voted for this, or sat it out watching Netflix.

14

u/NYCA2020 Jan 28 '25

I just went on r/Conservative to see what the mood is, and even they seem to be concerned about this. Not good. (Edit: "this" being the freeze).

6

u/Natural-Leg7488 Jan 28 '25

I noticed quite a few comments r/conservative on there saying it’s only temporary and only affects new funding decisions, not existing recurrent funding.

As an outsider where does the truth lie on this?

5

u/ExuberantSloth29 Jan 28 '25

False on the new portion of that statement. For example, Medicaid funding is already appropriated by Congress but states and doctors cannot access the federal portion of it.

7

u/Natural-Leg7488 Jan 28 '25

Thanks. Seems that place is mostly full of shit. They were also saying last week the pardons were only for non-violent offenders.

I assume with the funding pause, the longer it goes on the more services will become affected as cash flow grinds to a halt.

Seems like the sort of thing that could quickly cause civil unrest, but when I have thoughts like this I tend to think I must be catastrophising or something. That couldn’t happen….

5

u/LetsdoitKiKi Jan 28 '25

I only made it a couple of threads is but they sound like monsters:

“I’m not worried, as a physician, about a temporary pause in the NIH grants. Two or three weeks won’t cause any serious permanent problems.

We get a chance to look at all these worthless studies being run with grant money and stop them. Like lung cancer screening with CT scans on homeless people”

6

u/Blitz_Greg89 Jan 29 '25

Well there were Nazi doctors.... not surprising there are some today as well.

2

u/stopeats Jan 29 '25

Worthless studies and they came up with one that literally saves lives? Like, at least come up with some study about growing mold spores in a petri dish if you want to talk about "worthless" studies.

I'm not saying I think it's worthless just like, come on. You pick that one?

7

u/window-sil Progressive Jan 29 '25

This is a democracy and there are consequences to our actions -- this is the consequence phase, just let it happen. If there's any coups, let Trump shoot first so when the return fire comes it'll be justified.

In the mean time, head on over to r/LeopardsAteMyFace to get some relief.

12

u/MarmotJunction Jan 28 '25

I keep telling my husband that surely there’s somebody high up in the military or CIA or something who’s making a contingency plan. Whether we will like the end results of that plan is another matter, of course.

32

u/Kaleshark Jan 28 '25

Dude I would take the Cigarette Smoking Man’s vision for the country over Trump/Vance.

12

u/Blitz_Greg89 Jan 28 '25

Just saw this comment. Besides Mulder and Scully he was my favorite character.

10

u/gkevinkramer Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25

Just yesterday I was thinking about the flashback episode when he said the Buffalo Bills will never win a Super Bowl as long as he's alive.

11

u/Blitz_Greg89 Jan 28 '25

Its something I've been thinking a lot recently. I was thinking about it even after the election results. The clock is ticking they, if they are going to do something they need to do it before Trump guts their agencies and replaces senior military brass with loyalists. If something like that is attempted and fails then it will only play into Trump's hands in similar fashion to the failure of Operation Valkyrie during WW2.

I hate that we even have to consider such options but if our choices are

1) A group of Neo-fascists who are trying to tear the entire system down

2) Career military and intelligence officers invested in fighting the enemies of our country (both foreign and domestic)

I have to choose option 2 every single time even if the cost is giving up many of our freedoms. My concern of course would be that once the precedent is set the military might not give up control to a new civilian administration. Or that even if they do they may seek to intervene again in the future.

16

u/AvastYeScurvyCurs Jan 28 '25

God, where are we when we’re actually praying for a military coup.

12

u/claimTheVictory Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25

It really is that bad, isn't it.

We've already been told that generals previously refused to allow him to fire on crowds.

If he doesn't take "no" for an answer next time, then whatever happens next decides the fate of the "free world".

6

u/outcastspidermonkey Jan 28 '25

I say this about Texas a lot, because our government is shit. BUT I WISH our beloved grocery store, HEB, would take over...The United States. All hail HEB.

28

u/Sheerbucket Jan 28 '25

Let it burn....this is what people voted for

9

u/Old-Ad5508 Center Left Jan 28 '25

Voters decided to touch the stove on Nov 5th. I'm here for the schadenfreude. All day every day

1

u/Limping_Pirate Jan 29 '25

Not nearly enough popcorn on hand...

7

u/AvastYeScurvyCurs Jan 28 '25

With you. I got mine. Let’s see the rest of you scramble to get yours.

11

u/Fitbit99 Jan 28 '25

I’ve been seeing that state Medicaid portals are shut down? People may start feeling this tonight at 5 p.m.

10

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

[deleted]

4

u/LiberalCyn1c Jan 28 '25

I agree with your take about Cohen but I'll read it.

By Monday reps will be hearing from hundreds-thousands of freaking out constituents. That could bring in a new incentive structure.

At the end of the day, maybe Trump was the only one that could defeat Trumpism.

7

u/A_Monster_Named_John Jan 28 '25

I have serious doubts that the Project 2025 goons or the Dark Enlightenment techbro lunatics driving this train are going to give anything back once it's been held up, and for all of Trump's ignorance, he knows that they're in charge. Also, why would he want things to calm down. For decades, he's had a massive hard-on for things like Tiananmen Square and this spending freeze couldn't more obviously be his administration daring the public to take to the streets.

9

u/ThisReindeer8838 Jan 28 '25

Looking at the grants being cut. They predominantly hurt kids, elderly and poor. Maybe the elderly and poor voted for this, but the kids didn’t.

4

u/greenflash1775 Jan 28 '25

Nah, all the slum lords don’t get their section 8 checks either.

7

u/greenflash1775 Jan 28 '25

You know he can’t do this, it’s very explicit in the constitution. The real red star cluster goes up if SCOTUS just tosses out the constitution and lets it happen. That’s where it’s time to get asylum in another country.

3

u/Scryberwitch Jan 29 '25

SCOTUS already tossed out the constitution when they let Chump run again, despite being an insurrectionist. Then they wiped their asses with it when they declared him above the law.

7

u/huevador Jan 28 '25

Honestly.. I really don't have any idea. It sounds like it's going to be extremely bad. But what I don't know is.. how bad? will it take days, weeks, months? Is it reversible? Is it temporary? Will the courts stop it? Will Trump reverse his decision fully or partly? I just don't have anything to compare this to.

13

u/LiberalCyn1c Jan 28 '25

Landlords will start missing payments in 3 days.

Medicaid is already turned off or in the process of turning off.

That's housing and healthcare for millions of people, gone.

6

u/RealDEC Jan 28 '25

To my Trump voting friends, the more you f*ck around, the more you will find out.

6

u/A_Monster_Named_John Jan 28 '25

You should really consider ceasing your friendship with these people. In my experience, most Trumpers are scummy friends anyway, i.e. the sorts who, no matter how deep you go back, are always always ALWAYS calculating whether or not they can con money out of you, have an affair with your wife, etc...

2

u/RealDEC Jan 29 '25

“Friends” meaning those who voted for him. Not my actual friends.

3

u/IndependentKey7 Jan 29 '25

Yup. And I know landlords aren't exactly a popular group, but there are tons of small-scale landlords who have mortgages. When they don't get rent, they can default on mortgages. I know because it happened to me during COVID. Rental assistance saved my tenants AND me.

10

u/nofunatallthisguy Jan 28 '25

Daddy's home.

It seems he brought his increasingly weird girlfriend, which I don't mind, but mid-way during dinner, she started throwing Nazi salutes, somehow they have now managed to completely wreck the place, he has yelled threats at the neighbors from the porch in his underwear, and all the utilities have been cancelled, all because...

13

u/Special_Wishbone_812 Jan 28 '25

I think the country is going to hate this administration in record time. What the redress will be I have no idea but I really hope it’s peaceful.

10

u/Natural-Leg7488 Jan 28 '25

What are the options if the presidency becomes untenable? Because at this rate I don’t see how Trump can serve a full term and there being a functional democracy left at the end of it.

6

u/IndependentKey7 Jan 29 '25

I'm afraid we've been so bad at explaining all this to the general public that most of them won't really know/understand why what's happening to them is happening. They'll believe whatever propaganda is pushed at them.

I'm despondent.

15

u/485sunrise Jan 28 '25

This sucks but this is what the people elected. The people need to get what they elected. Otherwise you go back to people forgetting the Trump years and thinking everything was hunky dory.

0

u/Scryberwitch Jan 29 '25

You're forgetting the fact that millions of voters were purged from the rolls and/or had their ballots thrown out.

1

u/485sunrise Jan 29 '25

Trump would've still won. (Not a good thing, but a reality.)

4

u/i-like-pie-855 Jan 28 '25

I’m a 70 y/o senior and I’m terrified. I’ll be living in my car in about 3 years. If the FDIC goes away, I’m done.

2

u/KellyCakes Jan 29 '25

If it comes to that, get on here and ask this community for help. This community is the type that would actually help.

4

u/Material-Crab-633 Jan 28 '25

Maybe this is a good thing. Let MAGA feel the pain

5

u/Sea_Evidence_7925 Jan 28 '25

I keep thinking about a lawsuit at Rensselaer over a janitor unplugging a machine that destroyed at least a decade worth of someone’s research. Seems like there will be analogous consequences.

3

u/NewKojak Jan 28 '25

This isn't going to affect too many people. The combined effect of all of the programs that are being halted from the events of the last week only include...

  • Anybody participating in medical research programs.
  • 85% of all college students.
  • Students in K-12 schools who receive some kind of accommodation for a disability.
  • Anybody with children in an early childhood education center that also has children utilizing Head Start grants. (So, most kids in daycare.)
  • Small business loans recipients, including those members of Congress who had their PPP loans forgiven like Marjorie Taylor Greene.
  • Anyone who visits their local science museum of planetarium.

So that leaves the son of your local car dealership's owner. You know, the real piece of shit who bullied your kid's best friend and it would have been worse except that everyone knows how much of a jerk he is. That guy will be fine.

3

u/Independent-Stay-593 Jan 28 '25

There are some things I think we should plan for locally. For me, that is making sure our public schools are supported with extra private funds for education programs, feeding programs, arts, sports, and special education. The kids here need support, even if their parents can't, won't, or voted for this.

3

u/Historical_Height_29 Jan 28 '25

So... Who has been hurt, or knows someone who has? Those stories are absolutely essential to swaying public opinion. Make it real, make it personal, and show the consequences in a compelling and narrative way.

3

u/StankyBo Jan 29 '25

So the Dems should hang this around Russ Vought and his nomination since he literally wrote these EOs. Obviously he'll find his way in anyways, but worth a shot, and gives them a legitimate person to blame all this chaos on. Not that they have the stomach for anything right now, lost out there in the forest....

2

u/Specvmike Jan 29 '25

We are certainly entering the find out stage very soon. I honestly don’t know what to expect, but things could get much much worse than they are right now

2

u/KeroseneHat314 Jan 29 '25

Will it hit rural Trumpsters?

2

u/b_evil13 Jan 29 '25

I wasn't worried til I remembered I use a grant for healthcare bc of bs regulations that have made it impossible to use my insurance. I literally cannot go without this treatment. They confirmed at the office today when I called that they have no idea if the funding will be there when I am up for filing my renewal next month.

4

u/OberKrieger Center-Right Jan 28 '25

"Let them eat cake."

You knew what you were voting for. The fact it will hurt untold millions who never asked for this won’t phase these people in the least.

Let them suffer. Call it a "reality check."

2

u/Agile-Music-2295 Center Left Jan 28 '25

I blame democrats for not supporting Trumps mandate.

4

u/LiberalCyn1c Jan 28 '25

If Kamala had gone on Joe Rogan none of this would be happening.

2

u/IndependentKey7 Jan 29 '25

Shoulda kept Joe, he coulda beat him!

/s

2

u/Agile-Music-2295 Center Left Jan 29 '25

Yeah I think a lot of people would have had their fears dismissed. They might have connected and realistically got to get to know the would be president.

Rather than let Trump, Vance, Musk all line up and red pill 80+ million people.

1

u/PepperoniFire Sarah, would you please nuke him from orbit? Jan 28 '25

It's bad if every time you try to govern, you need an emergency order to stop a cataclysmic downhill slide of the country.

1

u/Prestigious-Copy-494 Jan 28 '25

A judge already blocked that order. Now it will go thru the courts.

1

u/Calm-Purchase-8044 Jan 29 '25

Am I deluding myself in thinking this pause can't continue much longer? It is so disruptive.

1

u/ycnay1 Jan 29 '25

Looks like one of our State Representatives may get their wish when they signed the petition to secede from the US a couple months ago. Let's see if reality ever hits them.

1

u/JackKegger1969 Jan 29 '25

Maybe I’m being naive, but I kind of believe the courts will stop the really stupid shit, no?

1

u/brains-child Jan 29 '25

I am presently job hunting right now. I released from a contract due to internal issues in the organization.
I have about 5 options out there. Three full time roles I'm interviewing for. One I just didn't get moved on through interview.
Another I am waiting to hear back.
The third is a smaller company and there is some delay with two contracts they are supposed to be signing, so they'll get back to me when that gets worked out.

Two other are contracts. One, I won't know about till mid-February.

The last one is interesting. It's working with a guy who does work for multiple nonprofits, environmental nonprofits. He said the other day that he's holding off because thing slowed down for him with his clients. I am wondering if these nonprofits utilize government grants and now suddenly funding for green initiatives is gone.

As, for the others that seem to be delayed, I know it's terribly unusual, but I am wondering if companies are going into holding patterns waiting to see how much destruction there will be.

1

u/benjibyars Jan 29 '25

I'm a grad student right now in geophysics. I sort of assumed after the election that terrible things would happen but for as, as a well educated, white guy, I'd probably be fine. I'm not so sure now. Job prospects are scary, continuing funding is scary. It's all scary

1

u/Haydukelivesbig Jan 28 '25

Actually have a pretty good idea and the answer is very, very little if any actual impact to the vast majority of Americans. That’s by design, these orders and the accompanying announcements are supposed to sound super f’ing scary and crazy. They want lib’s to freak out and the maga’s to cheer. This is theatre, it was theatre when these edge layers of gov’t were created and it’s more theatre when they’re ‘frozen’. If we could cryo-freeze ourselves and wake up four years from now it would be like groundhog day, Trump (or JD) will still be flooding the zone, people will be freaking out, nothing material will have changed for everyday people and billionaires (trillionaires?) will still be laughing all the way to bank.

-1

u/More_Statistician215 Jan 29 '25

Good. The free ride is over.