The Trump Budget: Coming to a Democratic Attack Ad Near You

Our most recent book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. The second Trump administration has been full of ominous developments -- now including a war in the Middle East.

In early February, a YouGov poll found majorities of Americans supported increasing government spending on veterans (74%), Social Security (69%), Medicare (67%), aid to the poor (64%), Medicaid (59%), and the environment (52%).   Only 34% wanted to increase defense spending --and that was before the Iran war, which is unpopular.  Last week, Pew found 61% disapproved of Trump's handling of the war, and 59% said that the US made the wrong decision to use military force in Iran.

 

Trump: "Don't send any money for daycare because the U.S. can't take care of daycare…It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can't do it on a federal." pic.twitter.com/TTZqVVSKKj

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) April 1, 2026

Morgan Phillips at Fox:

The White House on Friday proposed a sweeping fiscal year 2027 budget that would dramatically increase military spending to roughly $1.5 trillion while cutting billions from domestic programs, marking a sharp shift in federal priorities toward national security and border enforcement.

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Several major agencies would see significant reductions under the plan, including: NASA, cut by about $5.6 billion, or 23%, State Department and international programs, down roughly $15.5 billion, or 30%, Environmental Protection Agency, cut by more than half, Department of Labor, reduced by about $3.5 billion and Department of Housing and Urban Development, down $10.7 billion.