Republicans Are Funding the Iran War by Cutting Your Healthcare

The White House is looking into a creative new way to finance Trump’s war in Iran: Kicking 300,000 Americans off their health insurance to pay for it.

We’re entering Week 5 of “Operation Epic Fury,” or as I like to call it, “The War No One Asked For.” In this week’s episode, we get exactly what Trump promised he wouldn’t do: boots on the ground in the Middle East. As Trump runs up the bill with this next development, Republicans are forced to find a way to pay for it. Their latest proposal: deep cuts to healthcare.

The headline is that they’re paying for a war with healthcare cuts. The real story is the sneaky way they’re structuring the bill to get it done.

What Just Happened

After Trump put his hand out and demanded another $200 billion be added to his allowance, like a kid who wants to pay for Pokemon cards, Republicans in Congress revealed they’re considering cuts to federal health subsidies to cover the tab.

One proposal pulls $30 billion out of healthcare subsidies, which would leave 300,000 more Americans uninsured.

It’s Not What It Looks Like

What might look like a budget tradeoff is actually a reallocation. Secretary of Defense (of War? of Excursions?) Pete Hegseth may have thought he was just firing off a meme worthy soundbite when he said, “It takes money to kill bad guys.”

But what he really should have said was that it takes money from Americans to kill bad guys. And by taking that money from Americans’ healthcare subsidies, he is, ironically, killing Americans. Who’s the bad guy, then?

What’s worse is that this funding bill isn’t just to pay for the war. It also funds ICE.

What’s Actually Happening

Republicans are pulling the old bait and switch. What they’re calling a “funding problem” is actually an opportunity for them. It’s a packaging strategy. They’re rolling three politically difficult policies into one single bill: war funding, ICE expansion, and healthcare cuts. On their own, each of these things would face a tough vote. But smashed together, this becomes a package where enough Republicans support one or the other that it can pass with the right coalition.

Republicans are attempting to use a process called reconciliation to bypass the filibuster. Reconciliation requires only a simple majority to pass legislation. No need to play games to finagle Democratic support. All they have to do is build a Republican coalition by dangling carrots for the war hawks, the immigration nutjobs, and the healthcare sadists, and boom - you’ve got yourself a majority.

That’s not to say that this is a slam dunk, or even a good idea. Actually, it’s potentially a very bad idea. Republicans are painting themselves into a corner, and facing two unpleasant options (if it even qualifies for reconciliation by the parliamentarian): Either vote for this and own the resulting massive healthcare cuts in an election year when Republicans’ approval numbers are already in the toilet. Or, vote no on this and break with Trump. Which, well, we all know how that goes.

Spin vs. Reality

They’re saying: Republicans claim they’re targeting “fraud, waste, and abuse” in federal programs. They point to programs like the earned income tax credit and housing tax credits as examples of inefficiency.

What’s actually happening: This is very straightforward. Republican spending cuts kick 300,000 people off their health insurance, and those lucky enough to remain get slapped with huge premium increases.

And all those “savings” just get funneled into the war and ICE.

The Pattern Here

Republicans are going to have to come up with a new strategy because this one’s becoming too obvious. What they’re doing is manufacturing “waste” or “fraud” that needs to be taken care of. Then they can rebrand cuts to those wasteful or fraudulent programs as “reform.” And then they’ll take those cost savings and funnel them elsewhere. In this case, Iran and ICE.

That’s not savings. That’s cooking the books.

Who Loses

It’s you. You’re losing your health coverage, or your premiums are shooting up, or you’re paying for a war you were promised wouldn’t happen.

Who wins? Trump. It’s always Trump.

Because while he claims he doesn’t have time to deal with all that - he’s doing a war, you guys - he does somehow find the time to help himself. Somehow he has the time to build a ballroom, or refurbish a Qatari jet, host Crypto dinners that put millions in his own pockets.

The Bottom Line

Trump always manages to find time to help himself. He ran as a populist champion. Then, he launched a trade war that raises the cost of everything, passed a tax cut that disproportionately helps millionaires and billionaires, cut healthcare, and plunged the US into a war that costs billions per day.

And he does it all while millions of Americans get crushed in the fallout from those decisions. What’s worse, he knows, and he doesn’t care.