When is enough enough?

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-doge-cuts-tom-cole-alzheimers-research-rcna193200

Republicans silent after Trump reportedly slashes funds for Alzheimer’s center

By Rachel Maddow

For 26 years, the state of Missouri was represented in Congress by Republican Roy Blunt. He began as Rep. Blunt, serving in House Republican leadership for years, before becoming a senator.

Blunt, among everything else he did during his time in office, was a persistent advocate for funding Alzheimer’s research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). When Blunt announced in 2021 that he was retiring from office, the NIH decided to dedicate their very important Alzheimer’s research center to him. They called it the Roy Blunt Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Research.

At the dedication ceremony, in 2022, Blunt talked about the importance of NIH funding and Alzheimer’s research funding specifically. A bunch of other Republicans from Congress showed up as well and stressed how important it was to fund that specific program. Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma told the crowd, “To be able to do what we’ve done, a fivefold increase in Alzheimer’s and dementia research is a very special thing."

“This is our most expensive disease,” he continued. “And you can look at the trendline of what it costs to pay for Alzheimer’s and you’ll pretty quickly make the point that it’s cheaper to try and cure it, or at least manage it and delay it, than it is to deal with it. And that has really guided the investments here more than anything else.”

Cole made the point that funding this specific Alzheimer’s center is not just a good thing to do, it also saves the government money in the long run. But, you can probably guess where this is headed.

This week, The New Republic reported that the Trump administration has now slashed funding to that Republican-beloved Alzheimer’s center. Approximately one-tenth of the center’s workers have now been let go, including its incoming director, “a highly regarded scientist credited with important innovations in the field," people familiar with the situation told The New Republic.

On Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said senior scientists and the center's acting director were fired by the Trump administration.

Cole’s office did not respond to a request for comment about these reported cuts, but Michael Greicius, a neurologist at Stanford University, explained to The New Republic the devastating impact closing the center would have on Alzheimer’s research. “[The center] has developed infrastructure and a brain trust that’s really unmatched in the world, in terms of its advances in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” he said. “Weakening [it] will set Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s research back substantially.”

If you’re looking for a poster child for something this administration is doing that has no apparent support from anyone — and that can be expected to have not just public opposition and expert opposition but specifically Republican opposition — I think you’ve got your winner.

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My own mother is in a care center in Missouri, surrounded by friends and family, suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. This slashed funding sets back our hope of a research breakthrough beyond her lifetime for sure. Donald Trump doesn't have to treat American citizens this way. The Republican Congress doesn't have to, either. But they've made their choices, to follow this man, no matter if it leads to their own damnation. All in the name of amassing the saved budgetary money to fund another tax cut for the richest people in this country.

When is enough going to be enough for the Republican rank and file, watching this man shred our democracy, and our hope for a brighter future for the most vulnerable among us? What will it take before Republicans stop following this megalomaniac and start actually caring for those in this country who depend upon him to make the moral decisions necessary to further America's humanity? When is enough enough? -- Suzi

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-doge-cuts-tom-cole-alzheimers-research-rcna193200

@Suzianne

Critical government services are simply being torched without any understanding of what they're for. The enemy is within, ignorant and cruel, slashing indiscriminately, illegally, and without oversight or constraints.

I believe this can be stopped, but gathering and organizing is taking time. The best hope lies in civil disobedience and resistance, but the brakes may yet be applied by Congress.

‘Embarrassing,’ ‘cruel,’ ‘absurd,’ ‘extortion’: GOP moderates find voices on Trump

As their Republican colleagues avoid criticizing Trump like the plague, a handful have begun using some pretty strong words.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) last week issued a challenge to fellow Republicans who might be concerned about what President Donald Trump and his administration are doing — but haven’t been willing to say so.

Basically, she said it can’t just be me.

“It requires speaking out. It requires saying, ‘That violates the law,’ ‘That violates the authorities of the executive,’” Murkowski said. She added: “So it requires speaking out and standing up. And that requires, again, more than just one or two Republicans.”

Republicans in general haven’t exactly heeded her clarion call. But she is getting some sudden backup from a handful of prominent moderate Republicans using rather strong language.

They’ve used words such as “embarrassing,” “cruel,” “absurd,” “extortion” and “trauma” while crying foul over what Trump and Elon Musk are doing to the federal government, as well as Trump’s attacks on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Still, Murkowski’s criticisms have been the most full-throated of any Republican.

At a town hall last week, she criticized the mass firings of federal workers, which she called mostly “indiscriminate,” and said they had caused “confusion, anxiety, and now trauma to our civil servants.” She also suggested that the Trump administration might be violating multiple laws with its funding freezes, including the Impoundment Control Act. She said that this “cannot be allowed to stand.”

Murkowski followed that up this weekend by criticizing Musk’s Saturday email asking federal employees to share five accomplishments from the previous week. She called it an “absurd weekend email to justify their existence.”

She’s now been joined in some more tempered criticisms of Musk by freshman Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), whose reputation as something of a moderate dates to his time in the House.

Two of the three House Republicans who represent districts Trump lost in the 2024 election have also been increasingly outspoken about Trump’s Ukraine comments. Trump last week falsely claimed that Ukraine started the war and called Zelensky a “dictator.”

Reps. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) have taken exception to that, posting repeatedly on X about it.

Bacon called Trump’s version of events “embarrassing,” while adding: “We are better than this.”

On Sunday, Fitzpatrick suggested that Trump’s efforts to gain rare Earth mineral rights as a concession from Ukraine amount to extorting an ally.

“To force Ukraine to pay these costs is the epitome of victim-blaming and victim extortion,” Fitzpatrick said.

And in between, he indicated that he would help marshal opposition to any deal that “rewarded” Putin “for his illegal invasion.” Fitzpatrick said there is an “outcome-determinative number” of members of both parties ready to thwart that.

“We will use every lever and every vote at our disposal, regardless of the personal or political consequences,” Fitzpatrick said. “This matter is that time-sensitive and it is that existential. It is legacy-defining.”

@Suzianne

Once you realize that Trump is working for Putin, everything he does makes sense.

A few Republicans are beginning to notice that there is something rotten, and not only in Denmark.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-who-still-oppose-trump-gather-at-principles-first-summit-in-search-of-a-path-to-oppose-him

As usual, they cannot agree on what to do about it though ....

@moonbus said
@Suzianne

Once you realize that Trump is working for Putin, everything he does makes sense.

A few Republicans are beginning to notice that there is something rotten, and not only in Denmark.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-who-still-oppose-trump-gather-at-principles-first-summit-in-search-of-a-path-to-oppose-him

As usual, they cannot agree on what to do about it though ....

@spruce112358 said
The Il dynasty has destroyed North Korea. The country is not strong. It’s incredibly weak. That’s what dictatorship does - it weakens countries. Look at Putin, he has weakened Russia unbelievably. 😆

Trump is weakening America. I don’t know why we refer to these people as ‘strongmen’ when they just weaken their country.

Trump is a weakman. 😆

@moonbus said
He brags and talks bluster -- that's it. Really, that's all he has. He sells well -- to the gullible.