Despite Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s more than precise outlining of what was and was not affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing funding for federal grants, loans, and other financial programs pending agency review, along with a memorandum from the Office of Budget and Management (OMB) outlining the same, Democrats took this opportunity to rail against dictator Trump, fearmonger, and have an absolute meltdown.
.@PressSec: Individual, direct assistance from the federal government will continue.
Spending on illegal DEI programs, the Green New Scam, wokeness across the federal bureaucracy, and other bloated programs will not. pic.twitter.com/EfoqJGkM9P
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 28, 2025
The detailed memorandum was even distributed to the White House press corps.
Full memo here – outlining what is and isn’t impacted by OMB pause on federal funds for a period of review
Document shows pause is not across the board, but limited to programs impacted by executive orders such as ending DE, the Green New Deal, and NGOs that “undermine the… https://t.co/1AknxYbIVY pic.twitter.com/5z5l6QqV9H
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) January 28, 2025
Full memo here – outlining what is and isn’t impacted by OMB pause on federal funds for a period of review
Document shows pause is not across the board, but limited to programs impacted by executive orders such as ending DE, the Green New Deal, and NGOs that “undermine the national interest”
Here is OMB explaining that “mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause.” pic.twitter.com/gUdZfjwPh7
— Alex Pfeiffer (@Pfeiffer47) January 28, 2025
But Democrats decided they had been quiet long enough, and this EO’s deadline of Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. was the perfect opening to pounce.
In other words, it’s another day ending in “Y.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was one of the first out the gate.
The reckless funding freeze by the Trump administration jeopardizes everything from community health centers to cancer research to child care to critical infrastructure projects. It is an unconstitutional power grab that puts lives and livelihoods at risk.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) January 28, 2025
Her governor, “Tampon” Tim Walz, crawled out from under his rock of shame to be of use to his party… or something.
President Trump just shut off funding for law enforcement, farmers, schools, veterans, and health care.⁰
We are working diligently to reverse this, but we are preparing for every outcome to help Minnesotans weather this storm.Minnesota needs answers. We’ll see Trump in court.
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) January 28, 2025
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) took to video to not just rail about Medicaid and cancer research, but to bring up for the eleventy-millionth time Trump’s pardoning of the J6 prisoners.
Trump’s government funding shutdown – Medicaid, cancer research, elementary schools – is cataclysmic by itself.
But together with the pardon of the rioters, the firing of the IGs, etc. it’s a brazen, transparent effort to seize power.
Let’s start acting like it. pic.twitter.com/MIgo002QAF
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 28, 2025
BREAKING: Federal Judge Issues Stay of Trump’s Funding Freeze
Trump Executive Order Bans Federal Funds for Pediatric Transgender Procedures
The supposed damage done by Trump’s actions started resembling a game of telephone: As the lies were passed down the line, they became increasingly damaging and incredibly outrageous. Exhibit A: Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who took it from Medicaid and SNAP benefits going away to hospitals shutting down and vital services crippled. Constitutional crisis!
Trump is holding all the nation’s hospitals and vital services hostage to seize power from Congress and hand it over to billionaires.
We must state the truth: this is a constitutional crisis. It’s a massive, illegal power grab that the House and Senate have a sworn duty to stop.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2025
And lest she miss a chance to dial it to 11, Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) sounded the hysterics and invited her constituents to be hysterical with her.
Trump needs to reverse this immediately. It’ll wreak havoc on TX hospitals, schools, police, food banks, & emergency responders that depend on federal grants.
If you’re in TX-30 & your organization is affected, I want to hear from you. Email us: [email protected] https://t.co/vnNIxPsCvr
— Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (@RepJasmine) January 28, 2025
As though it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, the Medicaid websites in several states went dark for no apparent reason.
The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage.
We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent.
We expect the portal will be back online shortly.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 28, 2025
While some legacy media outlets were honest brokers and shared the news, others ramped it up to DEFCON2.
Medicaid portal issues today are unrelated to federal funding freeze, and Trump admin is looking into the outage, White House officials told @CBSNews https://t.co/xGqtxRRrAy
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 28, 2025
Giving a wholly new meaning to the term “chaos actor.”
🚨 URGENT: Trump administration’s federal funding freeze has thrown #Medicaid systems into chaos across the nation. Multiple states report being locked out of Medicaid reimbursement portals, potentially disrupting healthcare access for millions of Americans. pic.twitter.com/r8tYjInWrz
— Nadine Smith (@1NadineSmith) January 28, 2025
While it cannot yet be proven, the most likely reason for this system-wide outage was that some industrious bureaucrat resister decided to shut down the website to prove the point that this freeze was dangerous and a threat to democracy.
So the order doesn’t say to shut down the Medicaid portals.
That gives us two options: 1) A bureaucrat engaged in malicious compliance shutting down government portals, or 2) Dems airing baseless rumors and whipping up a frenzy ahead of a White House briefing. https://t.co/JZ9ewiFN1y
— Daniel Vaughan (@dvaughanCI) January 28, 2025
This is perfectly normal and acceptable behavior—said no one ever. Democrats knew that lawsuits had been filed by the non-profits that would be affected. Right on schedule, a Biden-appointed judge issued an administrative stay on existing funding while allowing the pause to remain in effect as to any new spending.
But as former Obama Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” and Democrats have certainly taken this to heart. They are probably taking credit for the judge’s quick action, and they may have played some role in it. But the desperation is palpable. The old playbook is no longer working as effectively as it used to, and they know they have very few plays left.
Trump is winning, and after years of watching Democrats gum up the works, it is satisfying to see them this discombobulated and running out of moves.
