Listen: Trump Feeds Fat Cats While Working Class Gets hosed

Macy’s shutters its doors in Brooklyn: Is Trump the 21st Century Hoover?

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By Bob Hennelly

Across the country and here in our region local and state governments are scrambling to assess the damage from the passage of President Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful" bill. The new budget bill strips 17 million Americans of their healthcare and shrinks the vital food stamp program—all to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers and corporations while exponentially increasing spending to execute Trump's mass deportation program by making Immigration and Customs Enforcement the nation's largest law enforcement agency. 

The unprecedented rollback of the federal government's support of local, county and state governments was already well underway with the Trump administration unilaterally and illegally impounding billions in previously appropriated loans and grants by the Biden administration and the Congress.

In this episode of "What’s Going On?” we take a look at the regional fallout on both sides of the Hudson River with subject matter experts from both New Jersey and New York weighing in. What's ahead and what can be done to limit the damage to everything from weather forecasting to public health?

We also get an update from New York State Assembly Member Susan Lee about what ICE agents are still doing to people showing up for required appointments at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan—where New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was also detained last month. 

All of that plus our start-the-week panel with Yale Global Justice Fellow Jim Henry and Dr. Joe Wilson—union consultant and biographer of iconic civil rights leader A. Phillip Randolph.

Eric Benson, campaign director of For the Many, and Laura Waddell, program director for NJ Citizen Action Health Care, also talk about how hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents will lose their healthcare coverage as a consequence of that “Big, Beautiful” bill. 

Nathan Gusdorf, executive director Fiscal Policy Institute,  further projects the Trump budget will strip 1.5 million New Yorkers of their health insurance, cause the loss of 200,000 jobs and threaten the solvency of more than half of all of New York state’s hospitals—all to fund tax cuts for the super rich.

We close this week’s show with a wide-ranging interview with Brandon Mancilla, UAW 9A director who discusses his union’s early pick of 33-year-old Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani for New York City Mayor.  

What does this mean for the Democratic Party here in our region and nationally? 

Brandon also updates listeners on the UAW’s latest organizing efforts at Harvard University. 

Listen to the entire show below: