To be quite dumbfounded about what’s happening in the US?

[delightfuldweeb]

For some reason, my Facebook reels section is currently full of US political stuff. I’ve been very lazy this weekend and have ended up watching absolutely loads of clips of republican senators (or congress? No idea!) being quizzed on “the Big Beautiful Bill” that will cut Medicaid and food stamps.
I’ve seen RFK Jnr and others be quizzed about a report into the health of the population that appears to have been mostly made up and full of conspiracy theories. Then there’s the anti vax stuff of course. The loss of rights for women in bodily autonomy. The ICE stuff, with the director of homeland security either telling mistruths or not actually knowing what’s going on.
I’ve watched doctors talk about their experiences of dealing with insurance companies who won’t cover surgeries/ procedures. Research into MND, cancer, childhood diabetes and dementia has had its funding removed. Then there’s the stuff about Harvard and visas for foreign students / professors.

One of the most shocking was a clip from a “town hall” where someone in the audience shouted “people will die” talking about the Medicaid cuts. The senator just said sarcastically “we’re all gonna die” and smirked. The next day she made a video for Instagram where she didn’t apologise, she doubled down on her sarcasm and said she didn’t realise she’d need to explain to people that everyone dies, and mentioned the tooth fairy?!

Honestly, I knew stuff was bad with Trump. But this stuff has been eye watering!!!! The US is well and truly fucked.

Maybe it’s like us under Liz Truss -life for most people just carries on.

Yanbu

No I don’t think so. Yes Truss fucked up massively but she was gone pretty quickly. The stuff US at the moment could be the plot for a dystopian novel.

Yanbu.

It's scary.
Nobody who voted this shit show in can actually have researched policies themselves. I mean shit, anyone who is not a rich/white/straight/cis man and voted for this has voted against themselves!

Life for most people did not just carry on under Liz Truss! She lasted just 45 days, but in that time mortgage rates went through the roof and many people still feel the impact today! Woman was an absolute weapon.

YANBU OP. When Trump was running his first campaign back in 2016 I watched in horrified fascination. It was like watching a lorry teeter on the edge of a cliff.

But once the lorry is actually falling and crashing down the cliff face you don’t ‘enjoy’ watching any more and you have to look away because of the awfulness.

I’m like that now with American news, I can’t really watch or listen any more.

Read what's happening in France to take your mind off it. It puts our so called football hooligans into perspective. One thing about US politics is that they don't hide their views. Do you think that the Tory party cared about child poverty, sum housing, no investment and the subsequent deaths?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgqyg325gno.amp

@Ponoka7 that link doesn't work

I was wondering, what on earth was going on in Paris last night? Is that what you're referring to? I gather the trouble started during the match so it's not about football. But perhaps some people took an opportunity while resources were concentrated on the match?

@delightfuldweeb I get very different versions of what's going on in the US. But it's obviously a massive country. I have two cousins with very opposing political views and in very different parts of the US. So I have no idea which version is closer to any kind of truth.

Yet uk benefits cuts for the disabled don't make a dent in you? People here will die and become homeless

Leave America to the Americans

Also check where your meat is coming from

Why do you think I don’t care about what is happening here? Am I only allowed to care about one thing at once?

What happens in the US has repercussions for the whole world. Trump has dismantled all legislation that addresses climate change.

Why? Where is the meat coming from that might be a problem?

I was watching footage from the senate. That’s why it was so scary.

Good job we haven't got a gurning idiot of a politician who is wedged up Trump's backside and determined to lead up the same path.

America

From Gov website- Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or Adult Disability Payment (ADP) in Scotland, is paid if you find it difficult to carry out daily tasks or get about.
It’s not means-tested, which means you could get it regardless of how much income or savings you have.

@Theunamedcat -Yet uk benefits cuts for the disabled don't make a dent in you? People here will die and become homeless

But PIP isn’t means tested -benefits don’t just go to poor or starving

I have family living in Paris. They tell me that rioting was predicted, planned and organised weeks in advance and residents changed plans and stayed indoors in an effort to keep safe. Law and order is breaking down everywhere.

You’re seeing the worst of the worst. We have family there and it’s not like this for most people. We visited recently and My sil was aware prices would go up and wanted a pair of slacks before they did.

The Ukraine Russian war plus covid has had a huge impact on many resources around the world. Plus the way the internet tells everyone they need more stuff all the time. That is going to have grass roots level impact everywhere over time

@delightfuldweeb
You need to stop watching random videos on Facebook and social media about the US. Many of them are sponsored and biased and once you start watching videos from one narrative you will get lots more videos sharing only one side of the story. You know how social media algorithm works right?

The proposed changes to Medicaid in the bill include:

• to introduce work requirements for certain categories of people on Medicaid based on the principle that if you are able bodied and able to work you should.
• reduce waste and fraud especially around people who are not eligible getting access to Medicare and Medicaid eg undocumented immigrants eg here is how this impacts some states like California. https://calmatters.org/health/2025/03/medi-cal-budget-shortfall/
• Even Newsom California’s uber liberal governor now sees it’s not sustainable: https://calmatters.org/health/2025/05/newsom-freeze-medi-cal-undocumented-immigrants/

Other things the bill proposes for the working class that the Democrats are silent about:
. Eliminate tax on overtime wages
. Eliminate tax on tips for workers like waiters who earn a signifier chunk of their wages from tips
. Eliminate tax for social security
. Open investment accounts for babies born with $1k that they will access at 18 to help them with a good start to life.
. Focus on continuing to cut waste which is a massive issue. Washington DC spends money like drunken sailors and the US cannot continue to spend the way they do. The budget deficit is about $2 trillion dollars, this means the US government is spending $2 trillion more than it earns each year. The US now spends over $800bn on debt interest every year. It’s unsustainable and tough decisions and cuts need to be made.

Food stamp changes: it is requiring parents to start looking for work when their children hit 7 years old, currently people on food stamps are not required to find work until their children are over 18, I’m sure you can we this is way more generous than the UK and I don’t see why people should be allowed to not work simply because they have children under 18.

“only parents with children under age 7 would be exempt from the work requirements, a significant change from the current exemption for parents with children under 18. This means parents with school-age children as young as 7 must work to keep their benefits.”

Is the bill perfect, no but democrats don’t have much to fight against so they are all unified in using the “OMG!!!! they are cutting Medicaid” argument and you are watching biased propaganda videos on social media that give you one biased view.

Is RFK perfect, no, but I never heard Obama or Biden address or try to deal with the known issue of unhealthy food practices in the US and at least he is willing to push food companies in the US to start making much needed changes.

And neither did they address or try to deal with the debt crisis, they kept spending and spending and spending. We all applaud Germany for fiscal responsibility yet attack any plans to address the US’s financial irresponsibility which is unsustainable.

I live in Chicago and every freaking year the governor and mayor find new ways to raise new funds through taxes and it’s never enough. Democratic states and cities already have very high property taxes, I pay $13k a year in property taxes yet every freaking year there is a new tax because they need to spend spend spend.

The US does not have a revenue problem, it has a massive spending problem.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/illinois-budget-passes-includes-tax-increases-on-sports-wagering-tobacco/3757896/?amp=1

In summary you need to stop watching random videos on social media, you will get sucked into a rabbit hole of biased commentary.

What has means testing got to do with whether a benefit is being made even harder to get or not?

You're right, OP, it's terrifying to see what's happening in the US. The brazen corruption. The misuse of emergency powers. The attacks on academic freedom. It is truly dystopian.

The Monstrous Awful Bill is really bad news on numerous fronts and one thing that does not get mentioned enough is how a clause in there (if passed through Senate as drafted) is designed to remove funding for courts, which will make it basically impossible for the judiciary to challenge the power of the executive. This is a coup in progress.

The tax cuts for the rich are unconscionable. At the same time, the tariff chaos is already driving up prices of everyday goods. This should really hit in the Autumn. So, the very wealthy are getting unprecedented benefits from the government whilst the poorest get their food stamps (look up SNAP) and medical safety nets removed. Republican representatives' answer to their constituents is essentially to get over themselves and believe in God so they can die in hope for better in the afterlife. Wonderful. That lady who went viral is a caricature but it is barely an exaggeration of what the party stands for nowadays.

The American Dream? The version they used to sell to the world about being the land of opportunities? There no healthy competition among businesses anymore. I mean, that is an older problem already: too much being consolidated into too few corporations has long been an issue in many industries. They want to deregulate everything but the outcome is that the game is rigged for emerging entrepreneurs. Now Trump has driven the final nail into the coffin for many small businesses that just cannot absorb the ridiculous taxes (because tariffs are an import tax) that have been imposed on them. In many cases, they just don't have access to the right manufacturing resources within the US. Look up Hayley Pavone and her situation - she has been very vocal on behalf of small US businesses.

The land of the free? You try and say anything critical of the regime nowadays and you get punished. Experts on McCarthyism are already saying this is much worse (and the 50s were no picnic for anyone with pro-socialist leanings). Censorship is thriving. Everyday, new restrictions are brought in on federal agencies and departments.

The stuff about research is 100% true. The tragedy about what is going on in universities is not just the mind-boggling xenophobia against legitimate students who have been invited to study in the country (and should be appreciated for it considering how much they contribute to the HE sector's revenue), it is really about the long-term consequences on science and medicine. The next vaccines, the next generation antibiotics (or replacement for them as quite soon antibiotics may stop working, antibiotic resistance is an issue) cancer therapies etc. who will be developing those? Innovation at all will suffer. Elon Musk and the tech bros are megalomaniacs who think the private sector can replace the role that federal agencies and research institutes were doing but I doubt that very much.

Sure there could be an opportunity in the UK thanks to this brain drain and I hope the government will push investment into research and make sure we attract some of the scientists and students leaving the US. But are we smart enough for that or will we go 'forriners not welcome' with the same indiscriminate stupidity?

Ultimately, who will benefit from all this long-term? China. Many of its universities are already in the top 10 and 20 for global research. It is the only superpower with the resources to match what the US was investing in science and innovation. The EU and UK will try and keep up but as we've been shafted by DJT on defence, we're going to have to prioritise that over pure research. What a shame. It's the death of the West as leader in those fields.

Cos if you’re rich you maybe shouldn’t get it in the first place.

Also the absurdity of that bill is that it will raise the debt long term, not cut it. If the US already has a spending issue, this is not going to help; there is also some concern about Trump's policies weakening the dollar, which would make borrowing more difficult.