Trump’s GOP Death Panel in Progress
[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
There’s been an uptick this week in reporting on the role of health care subsidies in congressional budget negotiations.
Most Americans worry about health care costs: AP-NORC poll
By ALI SWENSON and LINLEY SANDERS | Updated 1:22 PM EDT, October 21, 2025
https://apnews.com/article/poll-shutdown-health-care-insurance-costs-trump-f0282a0f5bedf3f01172ed3fa0ba4fd2
Health insurance sticker shock begins as shutdown battle over subsidies rages
Many states have shown rising premiums ahead of open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans. Congress is deadlocked over extending covid-era subsidies that bring costs down.
By Paige Winfield Cunningham | October 22, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/10/22/obamacare-aca-enrollment-price-increases/
Some Americans fear high health insurance premiums if ACA enhanced subsidies expire: ‘Very much a worry’
ACA enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year.
ByMary Kekatos | October 21, 2025, 10:51 AM
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/americans-fear-high-premiums-aca-enhanced-subsidies-expire/story?id=126613026
News media are finally telling us what many of us have already known: Trump’s GOP congressional caucus wants to kill Americans.
There are some GOP moderates who are pressing for some, well, moderation on health care subsidies because their constituents need the assistance.
Republican moderates press leadership on health credit extension
Millions of Americans in red states rely on subsidies to keep insurance costs down
By Sandhya Raman and Jessie Hellmann | October 22, 2025 at 12:36pm
https://rollcall.com/2025/10/22/republican-moderates-press-leadership-on-health-credit-extension/
And these moderates need their seats. Check the last graf of that RollCall article — it’s a who’s who of GOP seats in districts that are flippable.
In other words, the state of health care subsidies may mean control of the House.
Trump refuses to negotiate unless the government shutdown ends, but that means giving up the only leverage Democrats have since the moderate GOP reps have been unable to persuade Trump and the rest of the GOP House caucus to budge.
Meanwhile, reality is doing a number on Americans who rely on health care subsidies, including small business owners:
These kinds of rate increases mean households will be making choices between going without health care insurance or going without paying mortgages, skipping car payments, not making the rent, cutting back on groceries they haven’t already cut because of inflation.
Do the math:
— Median weekly earnings for wage and salary workers = $1196 / week
— Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the U.S. = $1631 / month
— “The USDA estimates $297–558 for a monthly food budget for one person, $614–963 for a couple, and $996–1,603 for a family of four.” (This number was reported in May 2025 and has surely risen since the underlying source report.)
— Average transportation cost per U.S. household = $819 / month
That’s just the basics and doesn’t include out-of-pocket health care expenses, or any other necessities like clothing. It’s extremely grim for minimum wage workers, and for those whose work fluctuates like freelance writers or seasonal contractors.
There’s almost nothing left or worse after rent and/or health care, and it will be worse in rural areas.
Imagine having to choose between feeding your kids and getting any necessary medication including insulin. Imagine trying to pay for prenatal care let alone delivery of a healthy child, and making the rent. Heaven help you if either you or the child suffer complications before/during/after birth.
For many of us this isn’t a thought experiment. It’s a painful reality. Some of us will have to work even longer to pay for health care, well beyond age 65; some of us are already dealing with this challenge, as Business Insider reports in these slice-of-life stories that tend to blame the victim (ex. Faber shouldn’t have been a farmer).
I’m 82 and earn $16 an hour working at a boat store. I don’t have much saved and can’t retire, but everything will work out.
https://www.businessinsider.com/cant-retire-working-at-80-social-security-minimum-wage-2025-10
A trucker in his late 70s who can’t afford to retire shares the big regret he made decades ago that may have changed his circumstances
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/a-trucker-in-his-late-70s-who-can-t-afford-to-retire-shares-the-big-regret-he-made-decades-ago-that-may-have-changed-his-circumstances/ar-AA1HKHOP
These folks couldn’t save enough for retirement when health care costs were much lower. Today’s younger workers aren’t able to save much at all, not with inflation chipping away at all their expenses. We’ll be reading bleak stories of elderly who can’t retire for decades.
In essence, Trump and his GOP minions’ death panel have become Dickensian: “If they would rather die, …they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
One might think this is the Trump-GOP’s approach to housing policy; if enough people go bankrupt, into foreclosure, or die, there will be more housing available.
It’s as destructive and thoughtless as taking a wrecking ball without a plan to the East Wing of the White House.
This feels like Bush’s “Now watch this drive.”
(Image: two panes, Trump standing in front of White House. Trump holds his right hand to his right ear in top pane, saying, “You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound? Oh, that’s music to my ears. I love that sound.” In second pane Trump says, “Other people don’t like it. When I hear that sound, it reminds me of money.”)
And when it’s done, Trump will stiff the demo firm because ‘they didn’t have the proper permits’ to destroy a national monument.
Thanks Rayne, for a timely and hard-hitting post! I nearly got sick to my stomach when I heard Trump say that foul line about “it sounds like money”. I am reminded of my favorite Bible verse from Timothy (although I am not a rabid Christian) – “The love of money is the root of ALL evil!” Trump is the personification of that idea.
I am so disgusted about his behavior related to this absolutely unnecessary destruction, pissing away money that could have been put to far better use.
It’s an abomination when millions of Americans are wondering how they are going to make ends meet next year and beyond.
Those words are repellent enough. (Turning beloved American institutions into teardowns = “money,” but not for Americans–for Trump, whose donors will swell that hideous ballroom he intends.)
The visual, that bronzered face with the oval gap around the pale lips that makes it look like a weird skin mask, adds a note of horror-movie Guignol that fits your post, Rayne.
Blumenthal is asking them ALL questions.
From Scott MacFarlane via Heather Cox Richardson:
https://bsky.app/profile/macfarlanenews.bsky.social/post/3m3zc52mqyk2z
October 25, 2025 at 7:32 AM NEW:
PDF with ALL the letters:
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025-10-24-Letters-from-Blumenthal-to-Trump-Ballroom-Donors.pdf
Marcy linked to Elizabeth Warren’s [and others] letter to Google:
https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social/post/3m3uf2sksdk2v
October 23, 2025 at 8:41 AM
PDF: https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/final_warren_follow-up_letter_to_google_and_youtube_re_youtube_settlement.pdf
replying to Rayne and harpie re: the East Wing destruction:
Blumenthal’s inquiries raise the underlying question of who wanted this? And why? The “donors” seem like ex post facto ingratiators once again trying to buy Trump’s favor. But the answer to the first question seems to be: Trump. Only Trump. And probably just to show he can.
In that sense this boondoggle resembles his invasions of blue cities and his extra-judicial murders in international waters. As his mind and body disintegrate he is wielding the vast powers of the office to demonstrate his OWN powers. Unfortunately, as has been true his entire life, he is capable only of destroying things. He claims to be a “builder,” but what he’s built is rot. He’s torn down everything around it to deny the contrast.
“It’s as destructive and thoughtless as taking a wrecking ball without a plan to the East Wing of the White House.”
Without a plan…**in October** mind you.
It’s 100% insane but also 100% in line with Trump’s repeated failures as a developer & builder & executive – 0 planning, 0 thought, 0 consideration for reality, just naked businessman id
Apparently it’s going to have “guest suites” in it. (For the CEOs of the companies, perhaps? because the WH rarely has more than one official guest at a time, and excuse me, Blair House is available.) They still haven’t explained why the thing needs that much space. Or how many floors it’s going to have, to create that much space in that small a footprint. It’s been suggested that The Felon Guy intends to live there after officially leaving office – and he’d be a private citizen then, and not entitled to stay there.
It makes me want to use a catapult to lob in incendiaries. Preferably before it’s completed.
The guest suites are so Trump can bug them, or whatever country is sponsoring him can bug them. Think of the way Trump has eavesdropped on occupants in Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago.
And look at the tech companies sponsoring this — like they might not likewise be interested in listening in.
Everyone on the left is sure the suites will have audio and video for The Felon Guy’s convenience. It will be like Mar-al-Ego in that way.
Some more horror stories:
WA residents shopping for health insurance hit with sticker shock [Seattle Times]
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/wa-residents-shopping-for-health-insurance-hit-with-sticker-shock/
Meanwhile, for comedy relief, the WSJ throws this op-ed across the transom:
ObamaCare Premiums Are Doubling? Don’t Believe It
Thankfully behind a paywall, but includes this gem:
Oddly, the WSJ editorial pages never apply this principle to tax cuts for the .01%.
“ObamaCare Premiums Are Doubling? Don’t Believe It”
LOL like the receipts are lying.
The East Wing is where the First Lady’s offices are. What did Melania do to piss off the pussy grabber?
She should probably avoid being on stairs when he is behind her. I don’t think she likes golf.
So if there is only one wing, does it lose the “West” designation? Is it just “The Wing” ? I suggest a new moniker, the “Right Wing”
I guess it depends on which direction you are looking. As I look at the face of the White House, it would be the “Left Wing.” Or is that flipping the bird?
They’re just winging it at this point.
True, but the East Wing is indisputably down.
What on earth does she need it for now? She’s probably spent more nights in Buckingham Palace than in the WH this term.
I’m fine with calling the new ballroom the “Fascist Wing”.
Takes “Dancing with Fascists” to a new level of corruption, cruelty and criminality.
They’ll name it for martyr Charlie Kirk.
Maybe she really, really didn’t want to deal with the fucking Christmas decorations this year? Who can forget the blood red topiary trees along the East Colonnade in 2018?
I’m really pissed about this demo, actually. I have to shake off the ‘pissed off’ feeling every day – sometimes twice, given one thing or another.
House Process Question: Can House Democrats begin a discharge petition for a budget bill of their choosing as a marker to pressure “moderate” Republicans?
I predict that Trump will eventually put forward a “rescue” package of minimal fixes to smooth the feathers of his base and make him look like Lady Bountiful. It will, of course, be replete with poisonous features furthering his retribution agenda. It will have some catchy name. It will be marketed as Donald Trump looking out for the little guy, a statesman of compassion and reason who cuts through the partisan bickering and inaction that make Congress so useless (and unnecessary). It will be his gift to the nation and Republicans in Congress will receive it with great fanfare and rejoicing. The House will immediately pass a new CR that incorporates it. It will pass the Senate because Democrats objecting at that point will just look petty and obstructive. Trump will claim credit and probably demand a triumphal arch on the Mall to pay proper tribute to his greatness. Erosion of support for Trump will be reversed, regardless of the rise in the cost of living: this will be a renewed reason to believe.
Democrats need to be ready for this move and plan accordingly.
“Erosion of support for Trump will be reversed, regardless of the rise in the cost of living: this will be a renewed reason to believe.”
Going to have to overcome facts like farms failing, more financial support to other authoritarians like Milei in Argentina despite farm failures; more food insecurity as harvests aren’t picked and shipped; the goddamned stupid tariffs; so on. I don’t see how Trump digs himself out when he doesn’t grok the first rule of holes.
I completely agree that there is no reason to believe Trump will become any less careless, arrogant or stupid. If turning a given percentage of swing voters who voted Republican in 2024 is sufficient to requirement, we may be able to put some kind of brake on our descent into madness.
I am originally from the Midwest and I am, admittedly, obsessed with the phenomenal loyalty of Trump’s support among people I grew up with and to whom I am related. For instance, I see clips of farmers threatened with bankruptcy because of his policies saying, “I support him on most things, but I disagree with him on this”, and they say it more in sadness than in anger. Their anger seems reserved for Democrats and liberals, whom they blame for everything they hate about life today. I believe this is the key to understanding the phenomenon: a huge portion of us is overwhelmed by and hates modernity itself. The current state of our society is not the triumph of the Left or the Democratic Party as has become a curiously unchallenged, popular belief, and that has made them obvious scapegoats for those stoking grievances against it and positioning themselves to profit from them. Conservatives oppose change; Liberals do not; ergo change is on the Libs.
Defending the status quo ante is not a viable proposition for Democrats. Owning change must become part of their brand, but it is imperative that the change they advocate be a convincing image of a new and better life, built on democratic principles (not that this is currently much of a selling point to the aggrieved) that recognizes and visibly addresses the needs of people who depend on wages or income from small businesses to survive and prosper. Make fairness and equity integral to the vision and in a way that includes the more recently disaffected without the inclusion of others landing on them as a rebuke. Not easy, but doable.
“Conservatives oppose change” which is William F. Buckley’s definition of conservatism.
Life is change, not for change’s sake but because living creatures respond to stimuli. Run into a wall? Change direction.
But it’s not just about change the right-wing resists. They want control, and they want it in the hands of white Christian nationalists. It’s not as if they haven’t had control even as the US has become 40% non-white/mixed race. They’re freaking out because they are told repeatedly by their trusted authority figures — those with access to/ownership of the media — that they are no longer in control of their own lives and non-whites will take their power from them. Media could ease this anxiety, but only multiple generations of conditioning through education could get them to leave the basement lowest levels of Maslow’s hierarchy where those anxious about their existence reside.
Miller would be happy with all the poors and olds dying. He apparently thinks the ideal population for the US is no more than 100 million – less than a third of the current population.
…and that the remaining 100 million folks all look like him!
Make America Ghastly Again
“…remaining 100 million folks all look like him!”
Visibly Jewish? And last I checked there’s a great deal of resentment for our stubborn and peculiar refusal to accept Christ.
Yep, the population that voted for Trump and the white supremacists who don’t bother to vote = about 100 million.
Death panels brought by a death cult.
Other topic, where is the National Guard in DC? We finally actually have Trump’s example of America hating terrorists destroying federal property.
Why isn’t the Guard stepping in to protect our house? Their civilian leadership is failing them in their mission.
One wild guess is that the Trump crime family with minions Bondi and Patel must have put all the Epstein files and computers containing evidence into the East wing. ” We finally cleaned up that mess”.
Leaving MAGA
Nothing like a fundie or a fund,
Especially for the rich with golden-tongue
who’ve made democracy so moribund,
and exploited all our nation’s young.
The GOP just loves to slash,
cut and stomp and dish out trash,
bash and smash and cause a crash,
So we have to give them our backlash.
It’s time to call a halt to slush,
Let’s speak the facts, no more airbrush,
Pull back the curtains, no hush-hush,
We love free speech and we won’t shush.
We don’t want farms to foreclose
because of tariffs or Bessent’s pose,
We know where all this arose:
The GOP where cons are pros.
Who’s behind that Windsor “not”
Selfish in a posed mugshot,
Doesn’t give a diddly squat,
Except to get more than he’s got.
Uppity up our every cost
by Republicans who’ve double crossed
all of us because they’re bossed
by lack of courage and ethics tossed.
Groceries, healthcare, Epstein, hate,
Republicans screwed us; that ain’t great,
Leaving MAGA, some can’t wait,
The best of them won’t hesitate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86tcoDjJWbk
‘There is going to be a cannibalization of itself’: Former Trump supporter (Rich Logis) on MAGA breakdown
9/24/25; rev. 10/24/25
“…where cons are pros…” (and, of course, vice versa)–I just love this one, SL. There’s so much in it that demands rereading. “Windsor ‘not'” jumps out the first time, but I didn’t catch the “posed mugshot” and its meaning until a second or third time through.
We WON’T shush. That’s for damn sure. Thank you for being such an original, in public, where people like me can see.
the Jeffery Epstein Event Center is disguised as donald’s Throne Room where the sound of money reverberates 24/7
[Welcome to emptywheel. Please use the same username and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. Thanks. /~Rayne]
I just saw TRUMP’s east wing depredation called: BRIBARY BALLROOM
I like it…could maybe use one more B…?
It was RePosted by Cheryl Rofer:
https://bsky.app/profile/nukestrat.bsky.social/post/3m3wtnxu7qk2c
October 24, 2025 at 8:08 AM
I don’t have a suggestion at the moment for another B word, but B_ _ tard’s BB comes to mind.
I’ve been thinking of it as the Sleazeball Room.
Rather than “Ballroom” it seems to be more an “Event Center”, one where if you ever have to ask the price of an admission-ticket, you will never be able to afford “The Show”. Also parking, even by way of VIP (the lines!), may be something of an issue. And if you do go, grab a bite to eat beforehand, as dinner for a thousand can never be “gourmet.”
The Sleazeball Room at the … (not the first to suggest this)
Jeffrey Epstein Event Center
I’m assuming that at that size they have a large kitchen and equally large facilities for the paying guests.
With Trump’s love of pomp and gold, it is simply I dream of Versailles. Les Etats Unis, c’est moi.
Also:
Average new car price is $50,000!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/cars/shopping/2025/10/24/new-car-prices-average-kelley-blue-book/86862162007/
Still driving my 2003 Honda. But parts have gotten expensive. And auto insurance premiums are way up.
“Average” is not a good measure for most of us. A few thousand luxury cars in the +1,000,000 range can throw this whacko.
I’d prefer “Median” but even that across a population that runs from well below poverty to obscenely wealthy will not be indicative. Perhaps some quintiles might work better.
And then when many of us can’t afford to actually buy a new car, all the numbers are jacked up. Same for used cars. Price these things out of ordinary people’s budget and we’ll try to find alternates.
Still nursing my own 2002 CRV. Stick shift. You’re right about insurance.
We’re relatives! 2003 Element and 2002 CRV share many parts, e.g., chassis and suspension. I love my Element!
Mine is an ’02 Prius. Insurance will eat me before the car goes. (CA changed its insurance requirement last winter, and that was a big jump.)
Health insurance on ACA is better than none at all, but for people earning slightly over what the new subsidy cutoffs will be without an extension demanded by Democrats, it will be unaffordable. As it is now, in some markets (think NYC) it is hard to find doctors who accept most plans on ACA marketplace, and premiums plus deductibles are close to unaffordable as is. My child is freelance, so the only option for her is ACA. Everyday she needs to use health care (dr visits or prescriptions) is a horror show. Many hours spent on phone with insurer arguing that obviously covered coverage shouldn’t be denied. She wins these battles, most of them, but the time and stress are taking a toll. Can’t imagine what she will do if the Democrats don’t win this shutdown fight.
I keep a detailed log of every time I have to call United Healthcare, incl the “advocate” name (as they call them now) and the city they’re from. I always tell the person the # of the call that I’m making (“this is the 289th call I’ve made to UHC this year.”) The person always says I’m so sorry! And I say, “well at least you’re getting paid for this. For me, this is an unpaid part-time job.”
Even if he, by some miracle, decided to make the deal with Democrats, there is nothing stopping him from not spending the appropriated money, or even from him diverting the funding to something that he wants. He’s already done it numerous times, and if the Democrats don’t know that he cannot be trusted to keep his word, then they are delusional.
He’s a conman, a liar and a thief, without an iota of integrity.