Trump, Kids, Cancer and a Chainsaw
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2025/04/trump-kids-cancer-and-chainsaw.html
By Steve Lee | Guest Contributor |
The President, who regails himself as the leader of the “Pro-Family” party, has constantly been attacking them since the day he was sworn in. He’s
fired thousands of breadwinners putting families in danger of foreclosure
and potentially homelessness; he’s scared thousands of families into hiding
out of fear of deportation (without due process); he’s cut back research
funding for medical research, he’s threatened our first amendment rights to
a free press, and he’s planning to dismantle the Department of Education
that is responsible for educating our kids and mainstreaming those who are
disabled.
These are just a few of the hits on his America’s Top 40.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order ending “Birthright
Citizenship,” a Constitutional right that any baby born in the United States
is an American citizen. This order, if upheld by SCOTUS, will rewrite
centuries of American legal precedent. It will also leave hundreds of
thousands of kids born here without a legal nationality. A group of what
some refer to as a “permanent underclass.”
This class consists of
approximately 500,000 kids, according to a group of Democratic attorneys
general. These facts make it difficult to see any “Pro-Family” aspect of the
current administration. An administration that lacks any degree of humility
or humanity in so many of its policies. These policies essentially terrify
families rather than protect and nurture them.
Already the world’s most powerful person and the richest man on earth, in
their quest to display power, have cut a program that had cost nothing at all
while developing more than 60 drugs for children to fight cancer and other
rare life-threatening diseases. The “Give Kids a Chance Act” which passed
Congress in 2011, didn’t cost taxpayers a dime, notes founder Nancy
Goodman.
The Act was up for renewal as part of the Continuing Resolution
to fund the government from December 2024 until March 2025. Trump,
Musk, and their lackeys trimmed the expansive document before
Congress's approval with the Act left on the cutting room floor. The two
leaders cut “free” funds for pediatric cancer research and treatment!
Let’s not forget about Trump and Musk’s additional efforts to dismantle
federal research grants to find cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease and
related dementias, ALS, Diabetes, mental health disorders, opioid abuse, and genetic and rare diseases. Annually, since 2018, Congress has
enacted a provision in its appropriations bill that expressly prohibits any
Administration from modifying these parameters.
Regardless, Trump’s new policy to cap indirect costs for the National Institute
of Health (NIH) at 15%, essentially cuts billions of dollars in funding for
life-saving research and development to find cures. The NIH is the world’s
leading medical research agency and largest funder of cancer research,
providing approximately $8 billion per year just for cancer research.
Trump.
Musk and DOGE are expected to cut 1,200 jobs at NIH as part of the
layoffs planned for the Health and Human Services Department. Across HHS,
job loss is expected to exceed 20,000 or approximately 25% of its total
workforce. Currently, there are over 7,000 active clinical trials taking place
nationwide. Everyone is now in danger of being shelved a move that will
cost lives.
Trump and Musk are in direct violation of the law, causing irreparable
damage to critical research programs. According to the ranking member of
the House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Education Subcommittee, Rosa DeLauro, “The Trump
Administration is attempting to steal critical funds promised to scientific
research institutions funded by the NIH, despite explicit legal prohibition
against this action.”
DeLauro added, “Based on legal statute, which is clear and unequivocal,
Musk and the Trump Administration are prohibited from implementing its
new policy to cut funding for biomedical research that was approved by
Congress… President Trump is taking an axe to our efforts to find cures for
diseases and disorders that are tearing apart families across the country.”
In 2017, during the first Trump Administration, he attempted to cut NIH
research by approximately $6 billion or nearly 20%. This cut would have cut
cancer research by nearly $1 billion and across-the-board cuts to every
other area of life-saving research. Both Republicans and Democrats were
in universal opposition to this defunding. Such defunding would have
certainly put America on a path to decline.
One of the most significant issues, should Trump be allowed to cut funding
and lay off researchers, is the real possibility of these top researchers
leaving the US and offering their expertise to other countries, such as
China or European countries that would be more than happy to be on the
cutting edge of life-saving medical research, all to the United States
detriment. The exodus has already begun, with several top scientists having
moved their research to Canada.
Trump and Musk are also supporting funding cuts for free school lunches
and defunding programs that make it easier for kids to be placed in foster
care or permanent homes. The 20-plus state ban against abortion, one of
Trump’s favorite topics, has led in some cases to forcing children to give
birth to children.
These above examples of concern establish that Trump is misguided in
referring to himself as “Pro-Life.” He’s actually just “Anti-Choice.” A
distinction, to be sure. He’s not so concerned about life and its quality as
he is about restricting women’s rights.
One of Trump’s campaign promises, the disbandment of the Education
Department, is underway. This requires an act of Congress to accomplish,
but Trump proceeds as if he is our king. Regardless of how this issue is
ultimately resolved, Trump is committed to a roughly 50% layoff of DE
employees.
This will cut critical infrastructure supporting millions of public school students nationwide. This is likely to cause tremendous harm to
marginalized groups, such as the disabled (approximately 15% of the
student body) and students who learn English as their second language.
Layoffs are likely to devastate special education programs nationwide.
Under the Heritage Foundation-backed Project 2025, the administration should dismantle the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and disseminate the funds to each state for their elected officials to determine how best to spend that state's allotment. This would mean no federal
government oversight, and money could be distributed indiscriminately,
perhaps by ZIP code.
This would also make it more difficult for families to
file complaints regarding rights violations. The DE abruptly paused
investigations of approximately 12,000 complaints thay had pending when
Trump’s term began. Any oversight would be handled by the DHHS, which
was also decimated with 20,000 layoffs and lacking any institutional
knowledge of special education issues. Critical healthcare for kids will likely
disappear as well.
ICE and Border Patrol now have open access to our public schools and
buses, thanks to a recent executive order. Keep in mind there are 600,000
undocumented kids in our public schools, a right insured in the 1982 US
Supreme Court case Plyer v Doe. Despite this holding, Texas, Oklahoma
and Tennessee have introduced bills to block undocumented kids from
public schools. These recent challenges have caused dread and panic in
immigrant families. School districts have noticed a sizable drop in school
attendance due to fear of arrest and deportation.
Trump consistently shows that he’s more adept at destroying things than
building anything that could be considered as having a positive effect on
the majority of Americans. He so easily demolishes lives, jobs, research,
schools, families, friendships, wealth, information, trust, and peace.
In
return, he builds walls, camps, fear, disease, and lack of trust.
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