Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn

CMS Weaponizes Fraud Against Medicaid in Minnesota: Part 2 At a White House press conference last Wednesday, Vice President J.D. Vance, newly tasked with leading a war on fraud, announced that “we have decided to temporarily halt” $259 million in federal matc...

As promised my colleague Andy Schneider with a *must read* blog taking a deep dive into the Trump Admin's latest unprecedented effort to block federal #Medicaid funding in order to punish Minnesota. A few key takeaways to follow (1/x): ccf.georgetown.edu/2026/03/02/c...

It really is crazy how exceptionally disordered this whole thing is. This is what happens when you have a mentally deteriorating old man as president that can be easily manipulated by those around him

You cannot talk like this about any other minority in America.

And if it was any other president’s adviser who said something like this about any other minority, it’d be the instant end of their presidency.

No, Trump Didn’t Make Historic Progress on Drug Prices Go ahead and guess which president did.

Trump wants to make his prescription drug deals a focus of the midterms

Here's what he's not telling you about them

NEW at @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/no-trump-d...

Yep. Funding is about a year late for a post doc program that was supporting one of my fellows. An award already made, but no dollars released. Also hearing similar things from faculty about R01s.

This story from @michaeldgreen.phd is way too common at the Trump/Bhattacharya NIH. Program staff can't give grantees clear answers; they don't have them. That is the MO: provide intentionally ambiguous guidance under threat of retaliation, creating an environment where staff over-comply out of fear

"She's got two degrees from Stanford. She knows what the studies say. But she's close with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and would be working for him." Which one do you think would win out?

@citizencohn.bsky.social on the Casey Means hearing

Behind the MAHA Veil It's not about transparency or choice. It's not even about "natural health." It's about making everyone else take their quack cures.

Some 🔥🔥🔥 for MAHA from @jvl.bsky.social

www.thebulwark.com/p/behind-the...

The Trump ‘Affordability’ Pivot That Never Came In his record-breakingly-long SOTU, the president spent more time talking about Venezuela than prices.

No, you didn't miss the affordability pivot

Latest from @crampell.bsky.social www.thebulwark.com/p/the-trump-...

“There is really good reason to think that any savings from rolling back all of these pollution limits would be more than offset by the higher cost of medical bills and lost productivity from people getting sicker and dying earlier.” RFK Jr. is on board with it, too.

An Ignominious Bill Passed By an Inglorious Body Millions will lose health insurance, but at least all those struggling Americans in the top 1 percent will get a big tax break.

Tonight Trump bragged about the OBBB

That legislation included the largest Medicaid cut in history

10 million expected to lose insurance

A refresher: www.thebulwark.com/p/an-ignomin...

Fears of polio resurgence as US vaccine adviser questions need for childhood shots Survivors say US healthcare system not ready for new cases – ‘the only thing to fix polio is the polio vaccine’

Every time I write about measles, experts warn that polio is next.

But it's been so long since we had polio outbreaks, there are very few doctors who even know how to treat its long-term health issues. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Spanberger has substance and gravity. Light years from Katie Britt in her kitchen, remember that?

The stock market and TrumpRx Trump's SOTU address will tout his big wins on lowering drug prices. Don't believe it.

Pretty you’re going to hear Trump boast that he’s made massive progress on drug prices

Here’s the real story, from @gooznews.bsky.social — who literally wrote the book on that subject gooznews.substack.com/p/the-stock-...

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: @petebuttigieg.bsky.social is joining us on tonight's SOTU livestream with @timmiller.bsky.social to react to Trump's speech

Oh lord, it's happening again. But this time you can watch it live with us.

Join Sam, Tim and a host of special guests as we livestream Trump's State of the Union.

Tune in at 8:50 PM ET on YouTube and Substack.

American Women Dominated the Winter Olympics Mikaela Shiffrin. Alysa Liu. The U.S. women's hockey team. And that's just the start.

The female stars of Team USA were the story of the 2026 Games. slate.trib.al/BrWaYXx

Like I said, I haven't gone deep enough on the substance to trust my opinion

But I've known @mikegrunwald.bsky.social a long time and, well, he's usually right

Also you should buy his book www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Are...

Inside the Church That Preaches ‘Wives Need to Be Led with a Firm Hand’ Evangelical pastor Douglas Wilson wrote that men “conquer” and women “surrender.” Christ Church survivors are starting to speak out.

In the midst of the Epstein files revelations, this is the guy who Trump's defense secretary invites in to the Pentagon for an official U.S. government-endorsed religious service:

(warning that story contains details of child sexual abuse and rape)

www.vice.com/en/article/i...

Very interesting story here -->

The MAHA Meltdown Why Donald Trump may rue the day he pissed off the MAHA moms.

Don't think MAHA leaders will abandon either Trump or RFK Jr., despite some threats to do so

But the intensity of their support matters because of the singular role they play in shaping views of their supporters and followers -- i.e., the people who vote (7/x) www.thebulwark.com/p/maha-meltd...

The MAHA Meltdown Why Donald Trump may rue the day he pissed off the MAHA moms.

What about RFK Jr.? Good question!

He’s plenty focused on attacking vaccines, has time to make workout videos w/Kid Rock

Not a peep about the mercury, even though previously he’d crusaded for tighter limits (6/x) www.thebulwark.com/p/maha-meltd...

E.P.A. Weakens Limits on Mercury From Coal Plants

But there's no question the Trump administration is taking steps favorable to industry -- and hazardous to public health -- in precisely the way some in MAHA fear

Example: Rolling back limits on mercury emissions, which EPA classifies as a “potent neurotoxin” (5/x) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/c...

‘Frustrating and Demoralizing’: The Measles Comeback Gets Worse The disease is exploding in South Carolina, we’re about to lose elimination status, and RFK Jr.’s team says it’s just the “cost of doing business.”

And some of the MAHA anger is over perceptions that the Trump administration has not done enough to roll back support for vaccination

As my followers know, I think the administration has done plenty -- and that it's putting our health at risk (4/x) www.thebulwark.com/p/measles-co...

Opinion | Spraying Roundup on Crops Is Fine. Really.

Whether the weed-killer is hazardous for humans has been the subject debate & litigation, and I don't feel qualified to judge

But to get a different perspective than you've probably heard, here is @mikegrunwald.bsky.social making the case that it's fine (3/x) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/o...

The MAHA Meltdown Why Donald Trump may rue the day he pissed off the MAHA moms.

The spark was an executive order on a widely-used, controversial weed-killer that MAHA (along with many others) has been fighting

The executive order is designed to boost production (2/x) www.thebulwark.com/p/maha-meltd...

The MAHA Meltdown Why Donald Trump may rue the day he pissed off the MAHA moms.

NEW at @thebulwark.com

Trump pissed off a big chunk of MAHA last week

I wrote about how -- and why it's important (1/x)

www.thebulwark.com/p/maha-meltd...

Special Saturday Triad: What I Saw at the Battle of Minneapolis The national media has moved on. Minnesota is still under siege.

"This is not an arrangement between a democratic government and its citizens. It is what happens in war."

"However alarmed you are, it’s not enough."

Must-read @jvl.bsky.social dispatch from Minnesota www.thebulwark.com/p/what-i-saw...

Will Hassett respond with an actual rebuttal of the data and analysis? Of course not. That would be something a real economist does. Threatening people's jobs for providing uncongenial information is what a Trump apparatchik does.

This is why expertise needs to be protected, in the Fed & elsewhere.

Now that’s a headline. 🤡

@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/c39d...