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Reposted by Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 13h

New, from me:
Trump's 3 step plan to create a military omniforce
1. Purge - those deemed disloyal
2. Merge - different parts of law enforcement/military
3. Surge - impose the omniforce on Dem cities; instigate unrest; assert dominance; silence dissent
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...

Purge, Merge, and Surge

Trump is creating a omniforce of armed loyalists to establish his police state

donmoynihan.substack.com

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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 12h

Sens. Schumer, Merkley, Murray, and Peters are calling for the resignation of OMB Director Russell Vought.

"By impounding billions of dollars … and aggressively pursuing the illegal use of pocket rescissions, Vought has done everything in his power to gut the federal government piece by piece."

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 13h

You probably haven’t heard about these demands

And Democrats aren’t really talking about them

But after last week’s news, they’re more important than ever open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

The OTHER Democratic Demand for Reopening the Government

It’s about stopping Donald Trump and Russ Vought—and it can’t happen soon enough.

open.substack.com

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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Some of the layoffs at CDC are being REVERSED.
Here is my updated story.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

More than 1,000 CDC staff receive layoff notices during government shutdown

Another round of mass layoffs has struck CDC. The agency had already been cut during a reorganization this year, and more employees are now being shed amid the government shutdown.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 1d

Beautiful assessment and tribute from @sonnybunch.bsky.social

www.thebulwark.com/p/diane-keat...

Diane Keaton, 1946–2025

The leading lady of the 1970s.

www.thebulwark.com

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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 1d

The CDC official who was leading the measles response and was RIFd has more than 28 yrs experience as the senior USG official leading outbreaks on Ebola, Marburg virus, and mpox. 2/4

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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 1d

Sorry Tigers fans 😢

Was a great game -- and a great season too

(Despite the late collapse)

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 2d

Wow

Just.... wow

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 2d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, pure evil

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2d

JB Pritzker has also been emphatically placing Trump's mental decline squarely on the agenda. On our pod, he adds a new element: People around Trump are using his decline to manipulate him, so they're less likely to intervene. More Dems should say this. 1/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 4d

I wrote legal editorials for the Post for a hot minute many years ago, and I was constantly anxious about making sure I got the details right. This editorial is just humiliating for everyone involved

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 4d

I spent more than a decade at The Post. It was good to me and I was proud to work there. I’ve largely refrained from being critical since I left. But this framing of the special counsel probe is embarrassing and flatly wrong. Stunning, but not. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Jack Smith’s lawfare and James Comey’s arraignment on pathetically weak charges

Good people will be deterred from public service if they see a meaningful risk of winding up in jail afterward.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 4d

I learned by senior year never to schedule classes before noon

Helped a bit

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Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 4d

NEW: In this important new piece, our @adriancarrasquillo.bsky.social looks inside the new Trump propaganda machine—which uses embedded MAGA influencers to create viral videos of ICE agents and actions, videos the government then packages and promotes.
www.thebulwark.com/p/ice-propag...

The ICE Propaganda Campaign Goes Into Overdrive

MAGA commentators are stepping up as soldiers in Trump’s culture war to provoke confrontations against “Antifa” with the backing of DHS.

www.thebulwark.com

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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 4d

This administration is flooding the zone so furiously that people have largely lost track of the lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean, the gov’t shutdown, the economy, failed release of the Epstein files & so much else. It’s a tactic of would-be strongmen.

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HuffPost @huffpost.com · 4d

HuffPost's Arthur Delaney caught an exceptionally heated discussion between Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Arizona's Democrat Senators Mark Kelly and Reuben Gallego.

Dems & GOP Heated On Shutdown

HuffPost's Arthur Delaney caught an exceptionally heated discussion between Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Arizona's Democrat Senators Mark Kelly and Reuben Gallego.

www.huffpost.com

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Paul Kelleher 🎃 @paulkelleher.net · 4d

I wondered whether he's comparing Medicaid reimbursement rates (for the "pregnant woman citizen") with ACA exchange plan reimbursement rates (for the undocumented immigrant that the GOP claims---falsely---will get ACA subsidies under Dem-demanded changes to OBBB.)

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 4d

Huh - interesting

That’s quite a tortured path

Maybe that’s it!

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 4d

And in a telling twist, Republicans can't make up their minds what to say about "Obamacare"

They're divided between those with scars from previous fights and those who are relative newcomers

All laid out here by my colleague @cheetah.bsky.social (8) www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...

The Obamacare Repeal Movement Is Dead. Long Live Obamacare Repeal.

“It’s probably gonna happen after the midterms.”

www.thebulwark.com

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 4d

This is @saletan.bsky.social on why Republicans are making this argument

I recommended it yesterday

Recommending again because it really captures what's going on (7) www.thebulwark.com/p/when-in-do...

When in Doubt, Blame the Immigrants

No. You’re not experiencing déjà vu. The current Republican government shutdown talking point is the same one they’ve trotted out before.

www.thebulwark.com

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 4d

Here's last week's newsletter on why -- whatever the veracity of this latest claim from Speaker Johnson -- the gist of the GOP argument on health care is a lie (6) www.thebulwark.com/p/republican...

The Republican Shutdown Argument is a Giant Lie

No, Democrats aren’t trying to fund health care for “illegal aliens.”

www.thebulwark.com

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 4d

Guessing some aide/analyst has a theory on why Johnson's claim is true -- unless he's truly making up stuff or (more likely) garbling something he was told

Will update if the Speaker's office answers my queries

Meantime, here's my newsletter (5) www.thebulwark.com/p/democrats-...

Democrats Are Winning the Shutdown Fight

Turns out Republicans still haven’t figured out the politics of health care.

www.thebulwark.com

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 4d

I didn't reach out to @larrylevitt.bsky.social -- though I frequently do, because there may not be a person on the planet who knows more about health care

I see from his latest post he's just as befuddled as I am (4) bsky.app/profile/larr...

Larry Levitt @larrylevitt.bsky.social · 4d

Medicaid pays hospitals for treating low-income undocumented immigrants for emergency care the hospitals have to provide. The Republican spending cuts reduce how much the federal government provides to states for that care. That has nothing to do with how much hospitals get paid.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Mike Johnson: "If you're a young, pregnant American citizen women who shows up in an ER and you get treated and they pay the hospital less for treating you than some illegal rabble rouser who came in from some South American country to do us harm, that is wrong."

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 4d

Next up: @edwincpark.bsky.social

He also has decades of experience working on Medicaid, in and out of government

He said this www.thebulwark.com/p/democrats-... (3)

Just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything, I checked with another Medicaid expert, Georgetown professor Edwin Park. “The reimbursement rate itself for the emergency services provided by the hospital will be the same irrespective of eligibility group or matching rate,” he told me.

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Citizen Cohn / Jonathan Cohn @citizencohn.bsky.social · 4d

Medicaid financing is sufficiently complex that I thought maybe I was missing something

I asked two of the people who know the program best

Andy Schneider, who spent half a century studying (and writing parts of) Medicaid law, told me this (2) www.thebulwark.com/p/democrats-...

Johnson appears to have been invoking a popular but highly dubious conservative argument, which is about how the federal government (which supplies the majority of Medicaid funding) pays more for people who get Medicaid through Obamacare’s expansion than through the older, previous criteria.5 But that’s an argument about how money gets from the federal government to states, not to hospitals—as Georgetown University research professor Andy Schneider confirmed to me this week.

“What a state (or a managed care organization on the state’s behalf) pays a hospital for emergency care can get complicated, and there are often variations in rates from hospital to hospital, but those variations are not tied to eligibility pathways,” said Schneider, who spent literally half a century working on Medicaid as a congressional staffer, federal employee, and independent contractor

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