Could?:

Americans worry Musk's campaign to slash government could hurt services, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

A majority of Americans worry that Elon Musk's drive to slash the federal government could hurt services their communities depend on and believe that billionaires have too much influence on President Donald Trump's administration, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Some 58% of respondents to the six-day survey completed on Tuesday said they were concerned that federal programs such as Social Security retirement payments and student aid could be delayed by Musk's campaign, double the 29% of respondents who said they did not worry about it.

Americans, including some of Trump's most ardent supporters, are nervous about the influence wealthy Americans are having on the White House after Trump stocked his cabinet and circle of advisers with corporate executives and billionaires.

Among poll respondents, 71% agreed with a statement that the very wealthy have too much influence on the White House, and 69% said they think the wealthy are making money off their White House connections.

Even among Americans who said they strongly identify with the Make America Great Again, or MAGA, movement--the president's most ardent supporters who make up about a third of his party--some 44% thought the richest Americans were profiting from White House connections.

Dow tumbles more than 700 points as inflation and tariff fears mount

US stock markets fell sharply Friday after an economic report showed American consumers are growing increasingly fearful of price increases and how President Donald Trump's tariffs could reignite the inflation crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 748 points, or 1.7%. The broader S&P 500 also sank 1.7% and the Nasdaq was 2.2% lower. The Dow tumbled for the second consecutive day, falling about 1,200 points over the course of Thursday and Friday.

The University of Michigan's latest survey, released Friday, showed that US consumer sentiment declined in February for the second consecutive month, according to a final reading, down by a steep 10% from January. That was double the decline initially reported earlier this month.

#1 Yes.

Trump is burning the nation down and there's nothing anyone can do about it.
The judicial and legislative branches are both controlled by people completely loyal to him and afraid of Musk.
Posted by ClownShack

Only angry Republicans & Independents in red states & in red areas of blue/purple states coming together with angry Democrats everywhere might be able to stop him.

"[GA Republican Dave]"

Correction: [GA Republican Rich] as in:

Rich McCormick bailed on CNN after his ill-fated town hall

More DOGE stupidity that could get people killed. Winning!:

More than 130 of the eliminated workers held jobs that directly or indirectly support the air traffic controllers, facilities and technologies that the FAA uses to keep planes and their passengers safe, according to the union that represents them, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists. That alone creates reason for concern about the impact of the cuts, people familiar with the terminations said, even if the initial firings spared the air traffic controllers themselves.

"even the CNN poll has the potus in the 60's as far as approval..."

Nope:

CNN Poll: Americans worried by Trump's push to expand power

A broad majority feel the president isn't doing enough to address the high prices of everyday goods. And 52% say he's gone too far in using his presidential power, with similar majorities wary of his push to shutter federal agencies and elevate Elon Musk to a prominent role in his efforts to reshape the government.

Americans divide on Trump's performance in office thus far, with 47% approving and 52% disapproving, below the start-of-term ratings for any recent presidency other than his own.

Most adults nationwide, 55%, say that Trump has not paid enough attention to the country's most important problems and 62% feel he has not gone far enough in trying to reduce the price of everyday goods. Sizable shares across party lines share the latter view, including 47% of Republicans, 65% of independents and 73% of Democrats. In CNN's January polling, the economy eclipsed all other issues as Americans' top concern.

More describe themselves as pessimistic or afraid when looking ahead to the rest of Trump's second term (54%) than say they feel enthusiastic or optimistic about it (46%). In December, 52% were on the positive side, 48% negative. Notably, the share saying they feel "afraid" has climbed 6 points to 35%, rising by a roughly equal share across partisan lines.

One day Trump says he's not going to cut Medicare and Medicaid. The next day he endorses the House budget which includes massive cuts to Medicaid. For days Trump says Musk is in charge of DOJE. Then one day in court, DOJ lawyers say he isn't, but later that same day WH spokesperson reassures the media Musk is in charge. So the WH saying Trump has no plans to get rid of the USPS is pretty much meaningless. Watch what he does, not what he says.

"No more voting by mail, come any future election."

Or there will still be voting by mail but somehow the ballots in Democratic areas won't be postmarked and delivered on time.

Josh Marshall
@joshtpm.bsky.social

This is in fact a real picture and it will work nicely in the ads next year about the military families devastated by Elon's illegal firings.

Josh Marshall
@joshtpm.bsky.social
These stories showing up nonstop on local TV news

Former IRS worker who supported President Trump speaks out after being laid off

Well, that's the end of the USPS as we know it. How long before it is privatized under the guise that this will be a cost-savings measure>

FTA:

In the first month of the second Trump administration, the world's richest man"underinformed, chronically online, and staffed by a coterie of teenaged and twentysomething former engineering interns"has been moving at warp speed to reshape, reduce, and even dismantle the United States government. But while Musk's rampage has been feverishly covered, the scope of its impact remains largely underappreciated. Experts say it can't be measured in weeks or months or even in government services affected. Rather, it will be felt over the span of decades and defined in metrics like intellectual talent lost.

Dozens of interviews with top researchers revealed a persistent, overbearing fear that the United States is at the starting point of a massive brain drain. The federal government has long taken an active role in funding basic scientific research, which is financially risky and expensive but critical to discoveries that yield new technologies, including treatments and cures for diseases. Young researchers hoping to find new treatments for cancer, dementia, or other diseases may find that, with government funding curtailed, they may never get the opportunity. Areas of scientific investigation will be cut off as the Trump administration discourages or outright prohibits funding for certain fields of research.

Trump and the GOP don't have a mandate, let alone a mandate for the authoritarian overreach they are enacting. Couple that overreach with the harm the hapahazard cuts are going to cause to individuals, many of them Trump voters, and you have a recipe for a lot of unnecessary and irreversible suffering:

From the interview:

Sargent: Let's quickly go through this polling. CNN finds that 47 percent of Americans approve of Trump's performance while 52 percent disapprove. Gallup finds him at 45 to 51. And The Washington Post finds that 43 percent support what Trump has done in his first month while 48 percent oppose it. Julia, here we have two national polls showing a majority disapprove of Trump and a third poll showing pretty low support for his first month's accomplishments, such as they are. It's still early days, but those aren't great numbers for Trump, are they?

Azari: No, they're not. They're not entirely unexpected, but they really do underscore the point that I've been trying to make since the November election, which is that there's not a lot of conclusive evidence that Trump's specific agenda is very popular. In a context in which there's a lot of distrust of government, it's not obvious that strong executive overreach is the answer to that distrust.

Sargent: That brings up what you wrote in your piece, which is, One of the big questions right now is what's going on with what you call the anti-authoritarian majority. Even during the election we saw majorities taking Trump's criminality seriously, majorities opposing the authoritarian threats and so forth, but obviously that anti-authoritarian majority didn't materialize at the ballot box this time. Now, however, people are seeing the authoritarian rule up front. The Post poll finds that 66 percent say Trump shouldn't be able to freeze funding without congressional approval, and 57 percent say he's gone beyond his authority. CNN finds 52 percent say he's overstepped his powers--that includes 57 percent of independents. Julia, is this a situation where people didn't really know what this would look like until they saw it?

I'm glad to see that not all Trump voters have given up their ability to think and speak out:

Georgia Republican faces town hall backlash over DOGE's 'chainsaw approach' to federal cuts

Rep. Rich McCormick faced an angry crowd Thursday during a town hall in his Georgia district, where many constituents lashed out at the Republican lawmaker over his support for massive federal layoffs and budget cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency.

In video of the event taken by Greg Bluestein, a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and an NBC News contributor, attendees clashed with McCormick, bashing both President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk who is helping lead DOGE's efforts to drastically reduce government spending.

In one instance, an attendee referred to recent cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by asking, "Why is the supposedly conservative party taking such a radical and extremist and sloppy approach to this?"

Bannon: "They stole it. The system is so big, so corrupt, so powerful ... fix bayonets, we're charging again. That is why Kash Patel is director of the FBI! That is why Bobby Kennedy is the head of HHS! That is why Tulsi Gabbard is at DNI! That is why Pete Hegseth is in the Pentagon! Fix bayonets!"

Too bad for you if you need to contact the IRS for any reason. There won't be anyone there to answer your call or letter.

But the Fox News viewers will likely see only the promise not to cut.
#8 | Posted by LampLighter

They will see the cut if their Medicaid is cut. That's what it's going to take to wake some MAGA voters up:

'Chainsaw to a silk rug': Blindsided Trump voter furious after firing

A disabled military veteran and information technology technician with the Federal Emergency Management Agency said he was blindsided this week when the Trump administration " whom he voted for " informed him of his termination.

FTA:

For the most part, Republican members are publicly cheering the administration's push to slash the federal government, which is being led by billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk with Trump's blessing. But privately, many are feeling helpless to counter the meat-ax approach that has been embraced so far, with lawmakers especially concerned about the dismissal of military veterans working in federal agencies as well as USDA employees handling the growing bird flu outbreak affecting poultry and dairy farms.

"I thought we were supposed to be in a new era of meritocracy. Not the indiscriminate firing of people," said one Republican congressional aide granted anonymity to speak candidly.

He got Charlie Manson eyes...
#7 | POSTED BY LEE_THE_AGENT

He's got googly eyes.

Some of the MAGA reading this are going to die because of sh-- like this.
#2 | Posted by Zed

My response when I hear about some MAGA voter crying and complaining when they find out Trump is hurting them or someone they love: "Oh well."

After going on Fox and declaring Medicare and Mediciaid wouldn't be touched, Trump turns around and does this:

Marcy Kaptur
@repmarcykaptur.bsky.social

There is nothing efficient nor cost-savings about the way DOGE is proceeding. They are doing a hatchet job in areas where a scalpel is required:

Facing a furor after news reports last week that the prestigious corps of young epidemiologists being trained as "disease detectives" at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had been targeted for termination, the administration of President Donald Trump reversed course. The roughly 100 trainees at the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) were spared.

But another outstanding group of young CDC trainees wasn't so lucky. At least 15 of 21 fellows in CDC's lesser known Laboratory Leadership Service (LLS) were axed last weekend. The ultracompetitive, 2-year program, which trains Ph.D. scientists in the intricacies of public health laboratory work, has spawned leaders at state and local labs from Milwaukee to Tennessee to New York City.

In an interview, McConnell said he could not say much about the visit for security reasons. But Bevin, speaking on WHAS radio, divulged a few more details. He said it took "quite a bit of time" to get in and out of the facility, and said officials had to cut a seal to open the vault for them.

In addition to the gold bricks, Bevin said he got to hold a 1933 double eagle, a $20 gold coin that was never circulated. Bevin, who said he collected coins as a child, compared it to "seeing a leprechaun on a unicorn."

"All I will say is that it is freakishly well secured," he said. "The gold is safe."

The Fort Knox depository has only opened its doors to non-authorized personnel on three occasions: In 1943 for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1974 for 10 Congress members to break down "cobwebs" to "re-assur[e] the public that their gold is intact and safe" and in 2017 for a delegation including Sen. Mitch McConnell, R. Ky., and then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "It is freakishly well secured," then-Gov. Matt Bevin, R. Ky., said after visiting the Fort Knox depository in 2017. "The gold is safe," Bevin added.