— One commenter after Lionsgate changed Ryan Gosling’s look in the La La Land movie poster. It’s getting at least one thumbs down.
Politics
Blue State, Red Tape
What’s going on: President Donald Trump hasn’t been shy about butting heads with Democratic-led states. But, in lieu of sending troops, administration officials are trying another strategy: withholding federal funds in the name of suspected fraud. And it looks like California is a prime target. On Tuesday, Health and Human Services (HHS) head RFK Jr. froze more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota, saying they need to "provide documentation that these payments are legitimate." The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is pushing the Golden State to turn over its voter rolls, with DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin threatening fines and prison if state election officials don’t comply. To which Governor Gavin Newsom responded, “try us.” Meanwhile, federal agencies confirmed they screened University of California research grants to weed out those that used keywords like "diversity" and "vaccines," denying nearly $2 billion in funding.
The fraud of it all: This is far from the first time a presidential administration has used public funding as leverage to pressure a state to comply with its political vision. These recent moves indicate the playbook that the Trump administration will likely continue to lead with, and it’s invoking fraud on everything from SNAP disbursements to Medicaid to voting –– which is encouraging public mistrust in election results just months ahead of the midterms. California is pushing back, but it’s not just Trump they’re fighting: It’s the agencies that he oversees, and a Supreme Court that has a track record of ruling in favor of his agenda.
