Musk and Trump Are Cutting Popular Programs. That's Deliberate.

[Eugene]

Source: The New Republic

Musk and Trump Are Cutting Popular Programs. That’s Deliberate.

Liza Featherstone
Mon, February 17, 2025 at 6:00 AM EST 5 min read

One particularly sadistic aspect of Elon Musk’s and Donald Trump’s rampage through our government is that they’re cutting programs that are popular. To some observers, that might seem like bad politics, in line with the juvenile, amateur-hour image of this administration. But the unpopularity of some of these cost-cutting moves does not represent a goofy misstep on this administration’s part. Rather, it’s exactly the point.

Not only does the Inflation Reduction Act enjoy broad support—renewable energy even more so—but 80 percent of its manufacturing grants flow to red states. Some Republican politicians are now quietly complaining about how Musk’s (unconstitutional) cuts to the program will affect their districts. Republican elected officials bragged about these when the IRA first passed, which was funny since they didn’t vote for it, but you can see why they’d want to take credit for policy that made their constituents lives better and enjoyed bipartisan support. Last summer many Republican congresspeople wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson to warn him against a full repeal of the IRA or even an overzealous reform, fearing that would “undermine private investments and stop development that is already ongoing.”

-snip-

Sure, no one likes “government waste,” a powerful frame used to justify Musk’s interventions. And not everyone loves all federal government programs—not many are going to call their senators’ offices on behalf of the CIA or the IRS. But why pick on so many of the most popular ones?

Most likely, their popularity is precisely what the Trump-Musk administration dislikes about them. For anti-government ideologues, it’s important that people not have good experiences with the government. Every clean energy investment in your community, every Social Security check, every child enrolled in Head Start, every improvement in air and water quality, is a threat to right-wing ideological dominance. They know it, and they want to stop Americans from having those positive associations.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/musk-trump-cutting-popular-programs-110000287.html

[mwmisses4289]

1. Huh. Interesting take on the dumpster wrecking ball.

[Ocelot II]

2. I had considered this possibility, but I don't buy it.

Musk and especially Trump are not long-term strategic thinkers and they don't really care about ideology, although they are happy to follow along with Project 2025 as long as it gets them what they want. And what they want is money and personal dominance. Musk talks like an anti-government ideologue but he acts like the shitty boss of a big corporation who wants to make as much money as possible while not having to pay people. He expects to use AI (developed and owned by him but paid for by us) to operate the government. Of course he doesn't care about clean air and water or feeding poor children; that's just collateral damage - but he'll have his pimply-faced teenaged Muskenjugend create AI systems that operate the government agencies he deems necessary and that he can get paid for running. Trump, on the other hand, doesn't care about any of it as long as he can play golf and grift off his fan base and have parades in his honor and excite his base by hating on immigrants and trans people. If they were serious about getting the masses to hate government over the long term they wouldn't be cutting everything all at once and pissing off millions of people who have suddenly lost their jobs or their farms or their health care or who can't afford groceries or get construction work done or are afraid to fly because there aren't enough air traffic controllers or visit national parks because nobody is maintaining them.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. I think I agree. They'd grind it down slowly for a bad experience. Breaking it fast means it is pinned on Muck-tRump. nt

[MayReasonRule]

4. Dead On Point

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣤⣤⣤⣤⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣾⣿⠟⠉⠀⠀⠈⠙⠻⣿⣿⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣾⡿⠁⠀⣠⣤⣄⡀⠀⠀⠈⢿⣿⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⠁⢠⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⠀⠀⢻⣿⣿⣇⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⡇⠀⠿⠿⠁⠀⠙⣿⣿⣧⠀⠀⠈⣿⣿⣿⡀⠀
⠀⠀⠲⢶⣶⣾⣿⣦⣄⣀⣀⣤⣤⣤⣴⣶⣶⣶⠄⢸⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀
⠀⢠⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠿⠛⠛⠛⠋⢉⣉⡉⠀⢀⣼⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀
⠀⠀⠉⠼⠿⠿⠟⠛⠁⠀⠀⠀⣿⣆⠈⠻⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⢠⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⣿⣆⠀⠈⠛⠛⠋⠁⠀⠀⢀⣾⣿⣿⡏⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⢿⣷⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⡟⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠻⢿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠙⠛⠛⠛⠛⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

[erronis]

5. New Republic link - (just to give credit to the author of the yahoo copy)

https://newrepublic.com/article/191573/musk-trump-freeze-ira-education-environment

[alarimer]

6. They are also cutting programs people are unaware of.

And of course anything having to do with science because you can't monetize that. Here is one example: the sea lamprey control program of the Great Lakes.

Which destroyed the lake trout fishery in the 30s. By the time they figured out how this happened and how to control, lake trout were not able to come back. Instead, they started stocking salmon. The end result, though, is a robust recreational fishery.

Trump (or Musk?) has fired numerous employees in that program. I hope they have a contingency plan because the return of lamprey (well, they were not eliminated, just controlled enough) will destroy these new fisheries. My heart sank when I realized this would also be on the chopping block. They have no idea the kinds of things government does, that ONLY government can do (in this case a Great Lakes Fishery Commission that includes Canada- well it DID include Canada anyway, not sure of that status either).

For me this is personal (I don't work in the Great Lakes or in freshwater at all). I have been a state government employee my whole working life and I am not a leech. We do important work; work that mostly cannot be done by the private sector.

Here is the trailer for the documentary (on Prive Video and also Kanopy)