History will record that Trump and Republicans did this.
While Mr. Trump, who is being reinforced and encouraged by White Christian Nationalist sycophants who equate him with Jesus, is releasing bombastic, unhinged social media posts and holding mentally unbalanced press conferences promising to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age and ridicule fellow N.A.T.O. members for not giving him Greenland, the man who bankrupted a casino just released his ‘screw you American People’ budget recommendations for the next fiscal year.
At the same event where Trump was compared to Jesus, the man who robbed from the poor and middle class and gave to himself, his family, and his top one percent cronies in the Big Billionaires First Bill, delivered very un-Christian remarks about the need to provide daycare for America’s struggling (thanks to him) families:
“I said to Russell (Budget Director Vought and Project 2025 Mastermind), don’t send any money to daycare because the United States can’t take care of daycare. That has to be up to a state. We can’t take care of daycare. We’re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare. You gotta let a state take care of daycare, and they should pay for it too. They should pay. They have to raise their taxes, but they should pay for it. We could lower our taxes a little bit to them to make up for it, but it’s not possible for us to take care of daycare. Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal. We have to take care of one thing. Military protection. We have to guard the country. But all these little things, all these little things. All these little scams that have taken place…You have to let states take care of them, Russell…”
For those who are still a little unclear on the Trump/Project 2025 Agenda.
They want to do away with every program from the Square Deal, New Deal, Fair Deal, the Great Society, the War on Poverty, and progressive measures signed by Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.
Pretty sure the American People who are struggling with higher prices at the gas pump, the grocery store, and the doctor’s office because of Trump tariffs, wars of choice, and cuts to health care, do not think daycare, Medicare, and Medicaid are little things.
The American People who put all of Trump’s character flaws, past transgressions, and crimes aside when they voted for him in the hopes he would reduce the price of the bread they put on their table should be convinced by now that there is no affordability agenda coming from his regime.
Need more proof. See below what he wants to cut from the American People in the budget blueprint he released last week.
For those people who equate Trump with Jesus, pretty sure this budget, with its calling for marked defense increases (that would benefit his sons who are now in the drone construction business) while the American People fight for fiscal crumbs, is not a budget the person who inspired Christianity would embrace.
Commenting on Trump’s public stance on not funding Daycare, Medicaid, and Medicare, Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari wrote: “Oh wow, he actually admitted it.”
Representative Adelita Grijalva posted: “Trump doesn’t want you to have childcare or healthcare, but is okay with spending $200 BILLION for another endless foreign war!”
On Trump’s comments, Representative Greg Stanton offered: “Trump said the quiet part out loud. He’d rather use your tax dollars to fight a war we didn’t ask for than to protect Medicare and Medicaid.”
Stanton also reacted to Trump’s budget proposals with: “Utility bills are through the roof. Trump’s response is exactly the wrong answer. His budget eliminates the program that helps low-income families and seniors keep cool in extreme summer heat. In Arizona, that plan would be deadly.”
Arizona Legislative Republicans Are Not Offering an Affordability Agenda Either.
Mr. Trump’s assertions that the states should take care of Daycare, Medicaid, and Medicare, and raise taxes to pay for it, probably fell on deaf ears with most Republican state legislators across the country, including the ones in Arizona who have consistently worked to undermine the Affordabilty “Arizona we can Afford’ Agenda Legislative Democrats and Governor Katie Hobbs have been promoting since the start of the Legislative Session.
Like Trump, if the measure does not help the rich, like giving them blank check access to working and middle class tax dollars to send their children to the private school- indoctrination center of their choice, Arizona Legislative Republicans are not interested.
They are not even interested in paying public school teachers what they are worth.
In a post by State Democratic Representative Lorena Austin, she highlighted that Republicans refused to advance parts of their affordability agenda, including paid family leave, retirement savings, and the renewal of increased public school funding through Proposition 123.
At the conclusion of her remarks, Austin said:
“What I can tell you is that Democrats are committed to fighting for affordability for Arizonans, because that’s what we need. We don’t need to be funneling money into crazy conspiracy theories or into flying cars, which, yes, was a bill that we heard this past week. We need to come back to reality and have a relatable budget for our people because they deserve it. They work hard. Most of our constituents are working two, three jobs just to make it by. We have seniors who are being priced out of their homes because they don’t have enough money from their pensions. It doesn’t have to be this way. And that’s what Democrats are fighting for in Arizona. We’re fighting for an Arizona that you can afford.”
Arizona Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan also criticized Arizona Legislative Republicans in the below post, accusing them of adopting scare tactics with regard to the filing of state income taxes and for not negotiating seriously on the fiscal year budget.
In her remarks, Senator Sundareshan said:
“…The truth is, the chaos and the confusion around filing taxes was never real. It was created. It was manufactured and it was pushed by Legislative Republicans. While they were creating this confusion, they have failed to do the real work. Their budget started off unbalanced. Now budget negotiations have stalled completely, and they still haven’t brought forward a serious plan, one that includes renewing Prop 123 and actually investing in Arizona’s future. We’ve had your back from day one, and we’re gonna keep fighting for an Arizona you can afford.”
Democratic House Leader Oscar De Los Santos has also led on advancing an affordability agenda, challenging irate Republican Committee Chairpersons to hear bills to make life livable for Arizonans and getting denied. Please see below.
He has also been highly critical of Trump’s budget proposals, writing on April 2: “His big plan is to … cut health care to fund another war in the Middle East.”
On Trump’s proposal to cut utility assistance to low income residents, De Los Santos posted:
“CHAOS vs COMPETENCE: Washington Republicans want to end utility assistance for working families. Meanwhile, @GovernorHobbs just invested millions to help families pay their bills. And @AZAGMayes sued Trump in May 2025 to stop him from single-handedly killing LIHEAP.”
On April 4, he wrote: “Donald Trump plans to spend more than $377 million renovating the White House residence — while eliminating $5 billion in lifesaving medical & health research.”
Commenting to Blog for Arizona, Leader De Los Santos said of the Trump and Arizona Republican priority to screw working and middle class Americans while rewarding the millionaire and higher plutocrats:
“Plain and simple, Republicans are killing the Democratic affordability agenda that would take on the corporations that are price gouging us. They’re killing legislation to make housing more affordable, to rein in data centers that are increasing our utility bills, and to crack down on health insurance giants that are driving up insurance costs. Instead, Republicans are hell-bent on giving billionaires tax cuts.”
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