
Remember this?
I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. Huckabee copied me.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2015
Here’s the news today:
Trump's budget, expected to be unveiled Tuesday, will include $800B in Medicaid cuts, administration official says https://t.co/gasLNN1WS2 pic.twitter.com/6bCPLAofOP
— CNN (@CNN) May 22, 2017
It took him two years, but Donald Trump finally managed to break his biggest campaign promise yet. After tweeting about it, doing television interviews about it, and spouting it at every campaign stop, Trump’s vow not to cut Medicaid turns out to be a lie. I wonder what all those outlets who gave him free campaign air time will do with their footage:
A deeper look into the budget that does what House Republicans are trying to do with Trumpcare shows that not only is he planning to boot children, seniors, drug addicts, single mothers, and every other vulnerable group imaginable from their healthcare, but he is cutting Social Security as well. Not directly, but in the form of cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance. SSDI is specifically for people who have worked enough to earn the credits for it, unlike SSI, which is available even to those who have never worked.
According to the CNN report, the method of cutting has largely to do with how Medicaid would be funded going forward. First, supplemental federal funds would be stripped away from states that expanded their Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. States that didn’t expand coverage would be barred from doing so immediately. Then, some states would get per capita grants, which are a fixed amount per Medicaid subscriber. Other states would receive “block grants,” which are even worse, as they do not adjust according to how many enrollees there are in those states.
But wait, there’s more! The budget also cuts SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, a program even Trump knows affects 43 million Americans. Hmm… Are we leaving anything out? Oh, that’s right. It cuts CHIP, the children’s health insurance program.
Lest you think all this money Trump intends to save might be going to some project that’s at least worthy to his voters, let me disabuse you of the notion:
$800 billion in medicaid cuts with a deep tax cut for the wealthiest among us.
It's Bush's 3rd term with 25 Cheneys.#maga— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) May 22, 2017
No, that’s not just John Fugelsang spouting hyperbole. The reason you’re so used to hearing the phrase “tax cuts for the rich” is because that’s literally all Republicans want out of government. And according to the New York Times, that’s what Trump is promising.

“Starving sick children so rich people can get richer” is a pretty inappropriate prediction, Google.
A liar, a thief, and a conman walk into a bar. The bartender says “What’ll it be, Mr. Trump?”
Trump says, “Tax cuts for the rich. Is that a drink? You should make that a drink. Put it in gold shot glasses with my name on the side. It’ll be YUGE.”
Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images