Merry Christmas? Trump Is Going To War Against Jesus... But In A Very Real And Profound Way

Has Donald Trump ever gone to Church with an open mind and open heart? You probably know in your own heart the answer. When Jesus said "And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels... He was talking about the hungry and thirsty, the homeless, naked, sick, and imprisoned, right? Proverbs 14:31: "He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him." Trump wants you to vote for Roy Moore today. He says it's to pass his agenda. Ask yourself if that agenda is that agenda Jesus-friendly. Doesn't it sometimes feel to you that those most consistent in ignoring, disrespecting or even trampling Jesus' message to mankind are the very same people who make the loudest outward displays of religiosity (and are the most likely to vote for Moore in Alabama today)?

So what's that agenda Trump says Moore will help him pass? Yesterday, Politico explained that Trump "is eyeing changes to health care, food stamps, housing and veterans programs" in a report: Trump's plan to target the federal safety net. Paul Ryan and the rest of the GOP Congress are his enablers and disciples.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are hoping to make the most sweeping changes to federal safety net programs in a generation, using legislation and executive actions to target recipients of food stamps, Medicaid and housing benefits.

The White House is quietly preparing a sweeping executive order that would mandate a top-to-bottom review of the federal programs on which millions of poor Americans rely. And GOP lawmakers are in the early stages of crafting legislation that could make it more difficult to qualify for those programs.

In the meantime, the Trump administration has already begun making policy shifts that could have major ramifications.

Federal health officials are encouraging states to impose work requirements on able-bodied adults on Medicaid-- a major philosophical shift that would treat the program as welfare, rather than health insurance.

The Agriculture Department said last week that it would soon give states greater control over the food stamp program, potentially opening the door to drug testing or stricter work requirements on recipients of the $70 billion program long targeted by fiscal conservatives.

Another initial move has already backfired-- the Veterans Affairs Department announced it would redirect hundreds of millions of dollars from a program for homeless veterans to local VA centers, but it reversed course after fierce blowback from advocates.

While candidate Donald Trump pledged to protect some safety net programs, conservatives have long wanted to devolve control of social programs to the states and impose stricter work and drug testing rules. Now that they control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, Republicans believe they have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to overhaul those programs, which they have long argued are wasteful, are too easily exploited and promote dependency.

“People are taking advantage of the system and then other people aren't receiving what they really need to live, and we think it is very unfair to them,” Trump said in October.

The president is expected to sign the welfare executive order as soon as January, according to multiple administration officials, with an eye toward making changes to health care, food stamps, housing and veterans programs, not just traditional welfare payments.

...Defenders of the safety net programs, meanwhile, fear the effort could rob Americans-- including many Trump voters-- of a vital lifeline.

“It would be a recipe for massively exacerbating poverty and inequality in America in violation of all of Trump’s campaign promises,” said Rebecca Vallas, managing director of the Center for American Progress’ poverty program.

“The poor are under attack,” said National Community Reinvestment Coalition President John Taylor, who accused Republicans of “rigging the system” for the top 1 or 2 percent at the expense of the middle class and poor.

“Most Americans, if they really understood what was going on, would not support it,” he said.

Although the effort to reshape the country's welfare system is all but guaranteed to produce powerful political backlash, it appears to have broad backing from conservative congressional Republicans, who are already coordinating with the White House on a legislative agenda to complement expected executive actions.

White House Domestic Policy Council staff, who are working closely with congressional Republicans on legislation, are slated to meet this week with House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee staff.

The exact provisions of the pending bill are unknown, but a conservative group closely aligned with lawmakers said Republicans intend to pass broadly focused legislation.

...Ryan spokesman Doug Andres declined to offer more details, adding that Republicans would discuss the issue at their January retreat.

In recent days, Ryan said he hopes to embark on entitlement and welfare reform next year. He has said entitlement reform-- an overhaul of programs like Medicare and Medicaid that has been his priority since his days as Budget chairman-- is essential for tackling the debt, which is set to surge by $1 trillion under the Republican tax reform bill, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

“We have a welfare system that’s basically trapping people in poverty and effectively paying people not to work, and we’ve got to work on that,” he said in a recent radio interview.

Democrats immediately pounced on Ryan’s comments. “Paul Ryan just admitted that after providing $1 trillion in tax breaks to the top 1% and large corporations, Republicans will try to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and help for the most vulnerable Americans,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wrote on Twitter.

It is unclear whether Republicans will take aim at Medicare given Trump’s campaign promise not to touch it. Trump also promised not to cut Medicaid or Social Security, the latter of which is trickier for lawmakers to change because of procedural rules designed to protect the program.

If Republicans steer clear of Medicare, they say they will need to cut deeper into programs like food stamps and Medicaid. Despite Trump’s campaign vow on Medicaid, the GOP already placed the health insurance program for the poor on the chopping block earlier this year as part of its failed push to repeal Obamacare, proposing to siphon nearly $800 billion from the program over a decade.

But at least owners of private jets will get a tax break on their planes' maintenance costs. And the children of billionaires won't have to pay their fair share of taxes on their lucky inheritances of money largely gotten from cheating and criminal activities.

Jenny Marshall is running for a Piedmont district in North Carolina where bigoted congresswoman Virginia Foxx keeps her life completely clear of Jesus' message  but made millions of dollars as a Chirstmas tree farmer. "It is amazing to me," Jenny told us, "that those on the right are willing to ignore the pleas of the least of those among us. To strip programs that feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, provide medical care to the sick plus a whole host of other ways that keep people from literally dying is unconscionable. I have always said that we will fund what we value. It is blatantly obvious that the GOP do not care for the ones that need help the most. They only care about their special interest donors and the wealthy elite. It is time that we get our priorities straight and put people into office that will actually do what is in the best interest of the people first."

Frank Schaeffer knows the "religious" right better than any man alive. Today he told us to get this through our heads: "The Trump GOP loves rich donors and literally hates Jesus. Merry Christmas! Headlines read like Old Testament quotes denouncing the rich robbing the poor and announcing God’s wrath. Ironic that white evangelical voters gave us Trump and his 'Healthcare for Kids Traded for Billionaire Tax Cuts' headlines. So… this Christmas do NOT watch It’s A Wonderful Life again! It’ll only make you sad that there used to be ideals in this country. To borrow from the movie: Potter the hardhearted banker won. George Bailey is dead and so are his kids who had no healthcare after the Trump/GOP-Potter cut it to line the pockets of the rich. White evangelical voters’ favorite pagan woman-abusing molester/groper son Trump just banned the spirit of Christmas past, present and future in a way Dickens could not even imagine. Trump and his GOP are the new instigators of today’s updated Massacre of the Innocents-- the biblical account of infanticide by Herod the Great in his attempt to kill the baby Jesus."