Sean CastenDonald Trump and the GOP gave our nation's wealthiest a $5 TRILLION tax cut. That's more than enough to cover these costs. That's what he's prioritized over your health and child care. Here are some other things Trump has prioritized: https://x.com/factpostnews/status/2039444784083771629?s=20
1. Let's only look at the dumbest things Trump has funded. Things that are self-evidently wasteful and provide no value to the American people (as compared to health & child care). Incomplete list in process.
2. $1.5 million to Michael Flynn as a "settlement" after he pled guilty to lying to Federal investigators about conversations he had with the Russians during the 2016 Presidential transition. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-justice-department-settles-lawsuit-trump-ally-flynn-undisclosed-sum-2026-03-25/
3. Nearly $5 million to the family of Ashli Babbit for her role attacking the Capitol and the US Capitol Police. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/06/ashli-babbitt-trump-settlement-00392746
4. $47 million maintaining ships full of illegally seized oil that cannot find an international market because the United States lacks clear title. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/us/politics/trump-seized-oil-tankers-cost.html
5. $220 million to run DHS ads featuring Kristi Noem on a horse, and to fund lots of shady businesses under what appears to be a highly corrupt operation led by "undersecretary" Lewandowski. https://www.propublica.org/article/kristi-noem-dhs-ad-campaign-strategy-group
Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts
The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rules for the taxpayer-funded campaign.
6. $400 million (and counting) to demolish part of the White House for a vanity project with no approval or authorization because baby wants a ballroom. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/17/trump-white-house-ballroom-400-million/87808741007/
7. $3 billion to attack Venezuela and seize their oil under pretenses that have never been fully explained or defended but in at least one case ("he was indicted by SDNY so we had to get him") apply to Trump himself. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-14/us-military-s-venezuela-operations-most-likely-cost-billions
8. $20 billion in emergency stabilization funds to Argentina to prop up their economy and expose US taxpayers to Argentinian currency risk, even as US soy farmers were losing market share to them on account of dumb tariffs. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/14/nx-s1-5609382/argentina-loan-bessent-treasury-bailout#:~:text=via%20Getty%20Images-,Last%20month%2C%20during%20the%20longest%20government%20shutdown%20in%20U.S.%20history,Subscribe%20to%20Planet%20Money+
9. $2 billion per day (so >$30 billion as of today) to bomb Iran and jack up your gasoline prices with no clearly stated objective, strategy or evident awareness of geography or global energy market impacts. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/9/is-the-iran-war-really-costing-the-us-2bn-per-day#:~:text=Earlier%2C%20on%20Thursday%2C%20two%20US,reach%20that%2C%E2%80%9D%20he%20said
10. $85 billion in additional funding for ICE (3x historic funding levels) so they can hire more, less qualified people to violate your rights, kill American citizens and fulfill Steven Miller's racist fantasies without accountability. https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy26_homeland_security_conference_bill_summary.pdf
11. Like I said, this list isn't complete. But that is - just off the top of my head - $140 billion in wasteful spending that the GOP is prioritizing over American's basic needs. This is the not-even-a-close-call stuff.
12. For context, that is almost equal to the total $ the US collected from tariff revenue last year. So even if you love the inflationary effect of those tariffs, it's a wash on the revenue side. https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-revenue-does-the-federal-government-collect-from-tariffs/country/united-states/
How much revenue does the federal government collect from tariffs?
$194.9 billion in FY 2025. This figure reflects revenue from tariffs and other import-related fees, also known as customs duties. Customs duties are taxes and fees paid by US importers and collected by US Customs and Border Protection on goods imported into the country, which generate revenue for the federal government.
Deborah Rose ❌👑@SeanCasten Kamala Harris would have stood by her "For the People" campaign slogan. #justsaying
DB@SeanCasten The real money is going into hardening his new bunker, replacing the one there where he hid during the George Floyd protests in DC. The new ballroom is just a camouflage canopy on top. Hope that gets widely reported because with National Guard and new bunker he never had to leave
ferricoxide@lawyersgunsnmoney @SeanCasten
And the constantly-ballooning "costs" he used to talk about were resultant of "how do we make this bunker more luxe". I doubt it was about making the bunker harder to breach or otherwise more-protective.
And the constantly-ballooning "costs" he used to talk about were resultant of "how do we make this bunker more luxe". I doubt it was about making the bunker harder to breach or otherwise more-protective.
@ferricoxide I’ve read accounts saying the hardening includes overhead resistance to the deep burrowing bunker-buster bombed like the US has. No doubt there is a gold toilet as well. @SeanCasten
@lawyersgunsnmoney @SeanCasten
I feel like that probably doesn't matter if the attacking country is, say, Russia or China. Their bunker-busters would, presumably, be nuclear, and of sufficient yield that it wouldn't matter. I mean, there was a point in time where, because of the efficacy of nuclear bunker-busters, the US mostly stopped trying to build new underground bunkers.
Honestly, I think the biggest potential threat to Trump is domestic and, at that point, possibly from those charged with protecting him.
I feel like that probably doesn't matter if the attacking country is, say, Russia or China. Their bunker-busters would, presumably, be nuclear, and of sufficient yield that it wouldn't matter. I mean, there was a point in time where, because of the efficacy of nuclear bunker-busters, the US mostly stopped trying to build new underground bunkers.
Honestly, I think the biggest potential threat to Trump is domestic and, at that point, possibly from those charged with protecting him.
@ferricoxide I think we are saying the same thing, just replace “nuclear” with “drones” If he just wanted a secure place to hide, the current bunker was already there. There were drones flying over Ft McNair in DC where Rubio and Ka$h live last week. Also drones swarming nuclear airbase in Louisiana. IMO he’s thinking about that and has been. @SeanCasten
Doreen32128 ready to rumble!@SeanCasten Can you imagine her family gets $5m because she attacked the US Capitol? What an effed up world we live in! :-(
Urzl@SeanCasten Armed guards told her to stop breaching a locked door and she didn't.
That's not wrongful death, that's the natural consequence of engaging in an insurrection and siege.
@SeanCasten
So, what herr #Trumpler is saying is, "let them eat war"? Because, it seems to echo of another time of tone deafness among a country's ruling-class.
So, what herr #Trumpler is saying is, "let them eat war"? Because, it seems to echo of another time of tone deafness among a country's ruling-class.
ReneeReadsSciFi@SeanCasten Exactly when is Congress going to do anything about it? We’ve contacted our representatives, we’ve organized growing protests, we’ve made our social media posts, and everything else we can think of short of violence. When is congress going to be the check on the executive branch that it is supposed to be?