WTFJHT

Recently one of my comments was included in a compilation of responses to an editor's note/request on the WTFJHT newsletter's May 27, 2025 edition, linked here. The Pinboard is only available in the emailed newsletter, not on the website, so I have pasted the responses to the editor's note at the bottom of this post.

WTFJHT (WTF Just Happened Today?) is "A political newsletter for normal people."

Author Matt Kiser's tagline for his newsletter is "a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific."

My comment, in response to Kiser's request, is printed below in crimson font.

Editor Matt Kaiser's note: At the bottom of today’s edition are some of your anonymous reactions to the House passing Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” by a single vote to expand corporate tax breaks, repeal clean energy credits, cut Medicaid and food aid, and add $2.3 trillion to the debt. The responses are raw, urgent, and deeply personal. And, they tell the story not of politics, but of people facing real consequences of these policies.

The Pinboard, May 27, 2025

"I am afraid and frankly angry that our future as a society looks like poverty and desperation." –Anonymous

"As a nurse who spent the first couple decades of my career taking care of vulnerable kids who relied on both Medicare and Medicaid to cope with the results of extreme prematurity, complex congenital cardiac diagnoses and heart transplants, I can’t imagine what will happen to these kids and families." –Anonymous

"Don't Republicans want a better world for their children? What good is it to hand your children a pile of gold and a mansion if you live in a world akin to the setting of Mad Max? In a broken world, money can only buy security for so long." –BTS

"All I can say is I wonder if this is how the Germans felt watching their country being taken over by lunatics and sycophants..." –Anonymous

"As a teen father whose son is on state healthcare losing Medicaid would be a heavy blow to me and my family. Having to pay insane premiums or not having health insurance at all could drive us well into the ground. I don’t know what to do." –Anonymous

"Prior to the Affordable Care Act, healthcare was inaccessible to me. I was a single mother, with next to no resources, raising a small child. Because of my epilepsy, the best plan I could get was going to be $1000/month. It was out of the question. The choice before me was life-saving meds or food for my child. As I’ve aged and developed new conditions, Medicaid has saved me from bankruptcy and homelessness. What’s heartbreaking is that this story isn’t unique. This is the American dream?" –Anonymous

"I am supposed to get a kidney transplant this fall which would save my life, but that is now in dire jeopardy because of cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and rural health support of all sorts. This may literally cost me my life. That pisses me off." –Anonymous

"I was diagnosed with cancer in May [...] and I nearly died at the end of January. The good news is that the cancer is gone. The bad news is that I have to have an MRI and colonoscopy every six months for at least two years. My medical bills have been astronomical, but fortunately I have 'only’ had to pay out 20k. So, now, I have a serious pre-existing condition and if Medicaid is cut, my health insurance will be in peril. I am terrified." –Anonymous

"This whole thing just feels like a death march to the end of democracy and the vast majority of the population is distracted by the shiny object over there instead of the guillotine straight ahead." –Anonymous

"What's happening now is deliberate deconstruction of every piece of physical, intellectual and social infrastructure that makes a country viable, growing and competitive in a global economy." –Anonymous

"I work in in-home caregiving and 90% of our clients are Medicaid funded. This bill is going to leave millions of people without care. It’s absolutely disgusting and stomach-churning, because I know what happens when those people aren't supported – they die." –Anonymous

"I’m terrified that my as-yet-unborn children won’t ever have the chance to afford living on their own, and they won’t know what the world was like before climate change destroyed every single country. Someday they might see an old map of what the world looks like today and I don’t know if they’ll recognize it." –Anonymous

"What future are we building? There is no future vision for us, just a desire for power and wealth for a few, and a march to dystopia for the rest." –Anonymous

"Life is far too short to spend it living in fear. To get through this, we will all need to learn how to be brave, bold, and beautiful. Don’t forget who you are out of fear of being who they hate. The better world that we will build together will be built in the ashes of this crumbling empire - and I promise that better days are ahead." –Anonymous

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