That’s the question that I asked last night on Deadline White House with Nicolle Wallace.
This week, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from cutting $233 million in counterterrorism grant funds for Democratic‑led states that opposed him in the 2024 election. Eleven states sued, arguing the cuts were retaliatory and violated the law. The judge just issued a temporary restraining order, preventing the diversion of funds until the case is resolved.
“It begs the question, Nicolle: is your life worth less because you live in a blue state?” I said on air. “Donald Trump seems to be saying again and again … your life is worth less to him if you live in a blue state.”
The action is so manifestly corrupt and wrong that it hardly requires an essay of condemnation. Taking public-safety dollars away from people because they didn’t vote for you? It’s hard to think of a more un-American and unpresidential act.
But we should talk about it. Because there are at least three, glaring hypocrisies here.
1. Donald Trump said he was pro‑police. But now he’s cutting the lifeline police rely on.
He ran as the “law and order” president. But these counterterrorism grants are some of the most important assistance police departments receive from Washington. I know firsthand because I used to oversee their disbursement at DHS. They fund anti‑violence programs, intelligence sharing, and training that keeps police officers safe on the street and citizens safe from violent criminals. Pulling them back, as I said last night, “puts lives in blue states at greater risk.”
“I know that because I briefed him on it,” I reminded Nicolle. “We saved lives. If this money is pulled back, we will lose lives. People will die by pulling back this money.”
2. Donald Trump called Democratic cities ‘crime‑infested.’ But now he’s taking away their ability to fight crime.
Trump has spent years painting Democratic‑run cities as hellscapes of crime and chaos. If he actually believed that, you’d expect him to double their support for crime prevention and law enforcement. Instead, he’s doing the opposite. He’s gutting the very programs that prevent attacks like the ISIS‑inspired truck massacre in New York City in 2017 — the first terrorist attack Trump faced as president and which we responded to, in part, by leveraging the power of these grants to protect other cities against copycat attacks. This is self‑sabotage because it makes the entire country less safe.
3. Donald Trump said he’d end “weaponization” of government. But now he’s perfecting it.
The most brazen hypocrisy of all is that he accused his opponents of “weaponizing” executive power. With these cuts though, he’s perpetrating one of the most brazen, immoral, and reprehensible misuses of presidential power in modern history — by literally putting his own citizens in danger, unless they voted for him. There aren’t words for how sick that is.
And it’s actually worse than all of that.
The Trump administration is taking away money that protects Democratic states against terrorist attacks, which is bad enough. But it is ALSO now saying that they are the terrorists. No exaggeration is needed here. White House homeland security advisor Stephen Miller put it plainly enough:
“The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization.”
His words have been followed by presidential action. Within the past week, the administration has rolled out an apparatus to start designating left‑leaning groups in America as “domestic terrorist organizations,” and as I wrote about yesterday, the White House has made it easier to add Americans to the U.S. government’s terrorist watchlist, even for non-violent activity and minor infractions.
Do you see the bigger picture? Taken together, these moves are designed for the monitoring, harassment, and punishment of the political opposition. This is Trump’s revenge agenda in action. And it won’t stop here.
The analogy that I gave years ago was that, if he returned to power, Donald Trump would treat the government like a corrupt 911 call center. You dial in for support and instead of hearing, “911, what is your emergency?” you hear, “911, who did you vote for?” Whether it’s FEMA aid for wildfire victims or national crime prevention programs, Trump wants to make you beg for help if you didn’t vote for him.
There’s no reason to think they won’t start politicizing other essential services like tax enforcement and refunds, social security and welfare, education grants, public health programs, transportation and infrastructure projects, and even the postal service. In fact, they’re already taking major steps in that direction.
It shouldn’t need to be said, but doing this is unconstitutional. Donald Trump’s entire approach here is a naked violation of the Fourteenth and the Fifth Amendments, which together say the government can’t discriminate against you because of your political views. But Trump is indifferent to the Constitution. Remember, this is the man who called for the “termination” of parts of that founding document on the campaign trail. Now we’re getting what we paid for.
There is a little bit of good news here. State and local leaders have sued the Trump administration over these counterterrorism cuts, and a federal judge ruled in their favor — for now. We know that the administration will do it, again and again. And we will sue them, again and again… and take to the streets, again and again… and call out every single one of these lawless actions, again and again.
I, for one, will not stop. If we falter, we will fail, and I’m not interested in leaving an America to my children that is a rotten shell of a republic. Our lives aren’t worth less because of where we live in America. So I’m going to keep sending a message to this guy — Sorry, pal, intimidation won’t work — and outlast him until he’s gone. I hope you’ll stay with me.
P.S. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON TREASON
Here’s what’s coming up:
Thursday (6p ET) - Thom Hartmann’s & his new book - I’ll have radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann on to talk about his new book, The Last American President. You can join here.
Friday (4p ET) - Barbara Starr is back! - We had technical issues the other week, but I’m delighted to say that former CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr will join me Friday to talk about everything from Portland to Trump’s meeting with military officials this week. You don’t want to miss it. You can join here.
Bonus - Two key governors races - If you missed by conversation with the leadership team at the Democratic Governors Association yesterday, you can find it here.
