r/anticapitalism • u/FreeHugs23 • 4h ago
Hegseth Is Demanding US Households Pay $5,000 More Per Year to Fund the Pentagon, Economist Says | “Secretary Hegseth, you are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can’t feed their families,” said one Democratic senator.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/pete-hegseth-budget-request70
u/FoogYllis 4h ago
Trump added 39% or 7.9 trillion dollars to the debt in his first term. We’ll have to wait for the end of this term.
Source: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20250205/117856/HHRG-119-GO00-20250205-SD008.pdf
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u/Redwolfdc 59m ago
He’s fast track ruining this country in every way. You don’t have to be political to realize this. I don’t think I can ever forgive my fellow Americans who voted again for him in 2024
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u/FreeHugs23 4h ago
Critics lit into US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after he demanded on Tuesday that Congress pass President Donald Trump’s plan for a $1.5 trillion military budget.
While testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hegseth once again made a pitch for the president’s massive defense spending proposal, going so far as to say that “not funding [the US Department of Defense] at $1.5 trillion is the greatest threat that our nation faces.”
In a social media post, economist Dean Baker put Trump’s proposed budget into context by noting that the additional requested defense spending “is a bit less than $5,000 per household.”
Baker also pointed out that the US already has a massive defense budget, writing that “before Bozo the president came in, we did fine on $860 billion,” a total that is larger than the combined military budgets of China, Russia, Germany, India, and the UK.
Some Democratic lawmakers signaled their opposition to the $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget request, which would represent an increase of more than 50% of what the US spent on its military in 2025.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) slammed Hegseth to his face during the hearing and pointed out that the unprecedented defense spending request was coming at a time when many Americans are struggling to afford gasoline and groceries.
“Secretary Hegseth, you are asking for unlimited money for bombs,” Gillibrand said, “when people can’t feed their families.”
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u/cyanescens_burn 4h ago
That $5k per household figure really drives it home.
What’s the odds that Fox, OAN, and the dozens of podcasts/blogs/youtubers/etc maga folks now will only consume will put the figure out there? They are all about low taxes, and this is a beast of a new tax.
What I am afraid will happen though is they’ll rally around the admin on this, and the admin will cut an absolute fuck ton of very important federal programs so that the average person doesn’t see a huge tax increase.
They’ll see a decline in quality of life and government services though, but that will be either blamed on Dems or used to say, “see government programs don’t meet people’s needs” as justification to further cut them and let private business come in and take over that niche (costing people that need that service much more than the public version did in taxes).
Man. At this point I’m wondering if we end up with privatized fire departments again. Where you need to pay a subscription fee to ensure they will put your place out if it’s in fire (yes, this was a thing in the past).
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u/trey_wolfe 3h ago
Fittingly enough, in ancient Rome itself. I bet the fire brigades would operate the same way too...
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u/invisable_burt 4h ago edited 4h ago
Let Trump pay for his own illegal war. He called for strikes and started it without congress input.
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u/Giltar 4h ago
This is Hands Down the worst administration in my lifetime (I’m 73).
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u/Affectionate_Sir9020 4h ago
Just a reminder that the GOP controlled house and senate could put a stop to all this yesterday.
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u/JayGabVersionTrex 3h ago
The American people isn't doing anything about it why would they get off the corruption gravy train
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u/dawg-goneit 4h ago
MAGA is going to bankrupt our country. Their stupidity is beyond comprehension.
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u/Sad_Jaguar_5912 4h ago
Well, many of us don’t have that money. What will they do then?
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u/cyanescens_burn 4h ago
Cut more vital federal gov services and money given to states for various infrastructure and services.
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u/LAFAYETTE-LAFAYETTE 4h ago
Maybe they shouldn't have given ICE a kajillion dollars in that big bastardly bill....
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u/Rocky0354 4h ago
Have you notice they don’t ask their rich billionaire friends? Yet their friends are the ones making the money off the American people
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u/Infamous_7001 4h ago
This fool fails on several factors of the Principles of War concept. It includes mass, which is supposed to be using your numbers for a short and set period of time. There's the principle of economy of force, which includes proper implementation of what you have and knowing where and how to move them. Finally, there is the principle of security which is supposed to limit the opportunities for counters and surprise attacks from the opposition. This includes observing and acquiring knowledge on the opposition's tactics and create an appropriate counterattack to them. This fool is throwing a shitload of resources and demanding more with no timeline or concrete plan outside of throwing more forces and hope for the best. Pyrrhic victories are not a viable strategy all the time.
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u/Long-Tradition6399 4h ago
Hell no !! I think each household should get back $5,000 or more due to the inept leadership of Hegseth. Shouldn't get one red cent more until that useless bastard is thrown out and someone competent is put in place.
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u/AkimahenkaCat 4h ago
Cool. Release the Epstein Files and take that money you need from the Trump crypto grift fund.
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u/SatisfactionOnly2247 4h ago
Just laugh at him. I wonder where those funds will come from. I don't have it, no ones going to pay us that much extra, maybe he's looking for a handout.
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u/stay-sick- 4h ago
We don’t need that much for the pentagon. This is just an uptick in their greed for tax payer money. This like almost everything else is to make the rich richer.
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u/Fur_King_L 4h ago
How else are they going to be able to loot more money for Trump's kids and all their billionaire buddies? Be realistic.
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u/Sergeant_Stretch 3h ago
Ask Musk for money. He wanted to pay TSA employees, isn’t the military more important?
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u/GavsGotty 4h ago
The biggest reminder as well, is none of this money will get passed down to the troops.
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u/Ultraworld-Traveler 4h ago
And they’ll probably cut more programs for veterans to boot.
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u/SolonEunomia 4h ago
Dean Baker apparently doesn't understand monetary sovereignty. The US government doesn't need or use taxes to pay for anything. It creates every US dollar it spends and destroys every US dollar it collects in taxes upon receipt.
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u/ScholarOfTwilight 4h ago
How about taxing the military contractors and their benefactors to pay for the wars they're profiting from at our expense.
It what world does it make sense for the middle class to fund these wars?
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u/SentenceKindly 3h ago
In no world. But the middle and lower classes have funded EVERY war in blood and treasure (taxes) since forever.
Fortunate Son has entered the chat.
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u/Imaginary-Use914 4h ago
Enough of my money is going to something I don’t agree with or want. Blood from a stone there Kegsbreath
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u/PlateNo4868 4h ago
The cost of the Iran war is is almost to the same level of a single year of Afghanistan, which was far bigger scale.
It's like when you use all our expensive weapons to blow up small speed boats and other things. You tend to burn through lots of money...
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u/Pinku_Dva 4h ago
Try downsizing your insanely bloated military first like you have with everything else.
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u/SpaceOhSpace 4h ago
Elon just said he’d put up 100m to make a movie. They better call him and call up theil and Karp and all their other little pay pigs while they’re at it
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u/PanicAttackInAPack 4h ago
In context, this would be 4.5x more than what China spends and 7x more than Russia. It's an insane proposition and would only make the US look weak and corrupt through inefficiency.
Trump's financial talking heads keep blathering on about more tax breaks too so I don't know where they think they're going to get the money for this. Just keep axing those health services and social programs I guess and we can still watch the deficit soar.
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u/Rocky0354 4h ago
Trump and his rich friends can fund the war, they’re the ones making money off of it. Before the maga cancer calls me names, I just want to say you know I’m right!
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u/Mister-Ferret 3h ago
We should demand that the Pentagon pass an audit before they get a penny more. But I know that won't happen since a lot of the money is "missing".
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u/Meowscles_dad 3h ago
That’s a little over half what it’s thought universal healthcare would cost per person.
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u/Initial_Row_6400 3h ago
Absolutely fucking insane. This whole administration needs to get fucked and get real.
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u/loudlittle 3h ago
Hasn't the Pentagon failed every audit for the last like, 20+ years? Why should we trust them with even more money?
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u/SuperSchmyd 2h ago
There’s something wrong when you have the worlds largest military budget, over the next top 3 combined, and you still can’t afford to keep up with the enemies you’re creating.
Just so I’m clear, we want 1.5 trillion budget and to merge our military with Israel?
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u/Either-Carrot-2685 2h ago
Hate trickles down. Ignorance trickles down. Taxes trickle down. Debt trickles down. Wealth somehow travels uphill.
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u/Ok_Blacksmith_3030 4h ago
The billionaires aren't going to pay anymore. They don't have taxable income because they don't sell their stock to trigger a taxable event - capital gains. They live off bank loans that aren't a taxable event.
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u/Iwasbanished 4h ago
Why dont the billionaires that support this war pay for it?
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u/Careless-Comedian859 3h ago
How about we just dont have any wars... redirect our foreign subsidies to rebuilding our infrastructure and helping the poorest in our country get their lives and finances on a better track...
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u/FrostnJack 3h ago
That's right around the annual rent increase in SoCal. So, Kegsbreath, you want your rich-guy passive income from rents investment properties, or do you want to pad your wallet bombs?
OTOH I hear $200 drones are cheaper than $8m super wicked cool missiles. Or, there's always rocks. I hear tough guys can chunk rocks with remarkable accuracy...
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u/Quiteuselessatstart 3h ago
What would Rambo do? Give Hegseth the gun and drop him off and Iran, if he can't do it nobody can!
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u/ConkerPrime 3h ago
Conservatives: “The money will go to the rich right? Not something stupid like paying soldiers more. If it goes to the rich, it should be way more than $5000.”
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u/Available_Rub9939 3h ago
What we SHOULD do is put all these sex trafficking child raping republicans on an iceberg and push them out to sea. In the Caribbean. Directly in front of a cat 5 hurricane.
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u/Equivalent_Net_8983 3h ago
Congress better not authorize any more of our money to throw down this money pit.
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u/Euphoric_Anxiety_162 3h ago
May soon only have $5k a year to live on at the rate we are going. They're living on their pedestals.
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u/bowtiesrcool86 3h ago
I’m demanding these a-hats be thrown from office and chucked into the prison cells that they so clearly belong in
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u/financewiz 3h ago
“Secretary Hegseth, you are asking for Republican things when not everyone is a Republican,” said one guy - nobody of any importance.
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u/adumblittlebaby 3h ago
And conservatives will clap because they’re desperately trying to outrun the bad governance of the past year. It’ll just get worse until they can’t run anymore, then it will become everybody else’s fault for seditiously not believing hard enough.
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u/JrSoftDev 3h ago
Let's gooooooooo!
But why not $10.000 more, though? Just play it safer.
Aktxually, why not $20.000 more? Just give pianos and seafood and lobster to all personnel, they deserve some consolation before getting killed in the forever wars.
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u/Shenloanne 3h ago
Yeah he is.
Now, Mr or Mrs democratic senator.... What the fuck are you gonna do shout this. How are you gonna manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of political Victory this time.
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u/wellanticipated 2h ago
It feels very much like the confidence and tone of Jim Breuer's character in Half Baked, "Who's comin' with me?!"
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u/TiredOldLadySays 2h ago
Is he fucking serious right now? My furnace was broken for 2 years, I finally saved up enough money to get it fixed. I dont have an extra $50 let alone $5,000 and if I did the last thing I would spend it one is war. Like wtf.
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u/mrtrololo27 2h ago
Let's demand universal healthcare and end the military industrial complex instead. Fuck all this bullshit. The counter revolution will be bloodless so long as the right allows it.
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u/RevisedPerspective 2h ago
5000 a year almost pays to have a PFC guardsman to be assigned to your home, personally.
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u/thenewbigR 2h ago
I did not vote for this spending! So, little penis Pete can fuck all the way off!
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u/MidnightPrevious4473 2h ago
Since SCOTUS declared that money is free speech ala campaign donations, and I vehemently oppose my tax dollars being used to blow up civilians (really anyone, tbf), I should be able to avoid paying taxes since this is their proposed use. I want to use my "free speech dollars" to feed the hungry and fund efforts to mitigate climate change, instead.
Totally fine when corporations do this shit, but the IRS would be all up my ass if I acted in this manner.
Great representation for my taxation. Nice job Federal government. Real gold star behavior
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u/InvictusFrags 2h ago
If it’s so important get the billionaires to fund it. Elon should be fined 500 billion for his election fraud.
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u/Consistent_Turn_42 2h ago
Republicans love raising our taxes while giving tax breaks for the rich.
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u/WhoIsYerWan 2h ago
"Said one Senator."
Said Senator Kristin Gillbrand. Why was that so hard? Don't want to give dem senators good name ID?
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u/nitrostx 2h ago
Sorry kegsbreath, maybe your boss trumpleshitspants can donate a few million, and his donors can supply the rest.
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u/BobcatOk7492 2h ago
Someone needs to cut him off, and send him home- Go away, Petey-youre drunk (again)...
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u/Historical-Finish564 2h ago
“Feeding families does not show the rest of the world who has the biggest military dick” – Trump problem
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u/CharmingMechanic2473 2h ago
The oligarchs want expensive shit right now. The average taxpayer middle class will be so screwed.
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u/PowerResponsibility 2h ago
Not only instead of feeding their families, but the bombs' only real purpose is to be leveraged by Trump toward his own personal benefit. These wars and conflicts everywhere aren't in the interest of Americans at all. They only benefit Trump.
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u/Flyersfan502gritty 1h ago
Fine deal Kegsbreath come keep up with at the gym and if you can out lift me and my buddies. I’ll personally give you 5k check. If you can’t you resign.
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u/oneWeek2024 1h ago
the entire defense budget ought to require it being offset by taxes. and automatically be distributed from a top down perspective.
republicans will never be able to hurt black people or poor people enough to offset 1.5 trillion in military spending, and over 1 trillion in debt servicing.
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u/OnedayitwilI 1h ago
Make the people that benefit from this war pay for it, the extreme wealth disparity and insistence on bombing another nation into compliance to standards a world away is disgusting baring stopping executions and the like.
I watched the session, the DOD has to pay for the war obviously, but just refuse to admit they have to pay for the war? Like all the missles and bullets and equipment, and hundred million dollar radar planes, still have to be replaced. The insistence to not be truthful makes republican congressmen look like the bad guy. A just war presented to Congress would have never not been supported. This is ridiculous corruption and ego preservation over even our own soldiers lives.
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u/speaker4the-dead 1h ago
I ALREADY MAKE MY COFFEE AT HOME, AND HAVE STOPPED EATING AVACADO TOAST PETE. WHAT MORE DO YOU FUCKING WANT
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u/Happy-Kitty-22 1h ago
They spend and spend without any fiscal responsibility. They have no budget, not plan, and can’t tell you how the money is spent. I 💯 support the military. But we’re just throwing our taxpayer money away when we don’t require accountability.
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u/Green-Inkling 1h ago
Why is he even asking? We all know he's gonna steal from us whether we say yes or no
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u/RangerNo8107 1h ago
As a republican voter, i am over the moon right now. Big thanks to all the idiots who didnt vote for kamalaa bc of palastine, you sure showed us lmaooo 🥳
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u/cudenlynx 1h ago
Fuck Hegseth and fuck this fascist Trump regime. They are traitors to the constitution and the American people.
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u/BrocoliAssassin 1h ago
Now that we've completely sold out to Zionism which managed to only take 60 years, we can expect more nonsense like this now that Israel controls our military.
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u/ShadowZepplin 1h ago
Maybe stop giving money to countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia and we’d be richer
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u/Baelenciagaa 1h ago
You know where that money will go? Straight into the AI companies to continue building their mass surveillance state infrastructure (flock etc).
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u/CMGCookie 1h ago
But don't worry folks. Cuba and Mali are next, while Republicans are building themselves a brand new ballroom.
Right Repubs?
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u/tiny_chaotic_evil 1h ago
I'd tell Whiskey Pete to go fuck himself but I think that's what he would really want
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u/LingonberryHot8521 58m ago
Given the increasing rhetoric from the regime, those bombs are likely to land in U.S. cities so fewer people will have the problem of being unable to feed their families.
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u/uhnotaraccoon 58m ago
I could go to supply and walk out with new coveralls, boots and goggles almost whenever I wanted. There's plenty of money, it just isn't spread out.
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u/Weltall8000 51m ago
I don't want to bomb and kill random brown civilians on the opposite side of the globe. And I certainly don't want to pay for it, as well as doing this in the first place, makes my life materially worse.
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u/8pinjay 36m ago
While the sitting president is gaming the market and rug pulling his crypto yes let the American people hand over their wallets for a war we didn’t want. I’m done with this admin. The people are tired and the ones who aren’t, can’t be bothered to actually pay attention to what is going on.
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u/angrytortilla 33m ago
Trump raking in 5B this year and they're still stealing from struggling families. What a corrupt shithole.
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u/DirkSvenson 29m ago
The same Pentagon that failed 8 audits last year without consequence? Ok, Drunky McWarCriminal.
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u/XavierScorpionIkari 29m ago
Mr. Secretary, with all due disrespect, go fuck yourself with an open, sideways, coated in cayenne pepper, pinecone. One of those big spiky ones. Repeatedly.
That’s how you’re fucking us.
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u/gbobcat 28m ago
The Pentagon notoriously "loses" funds and they want more? It's like a bottomless pit. Here's an idea Pete, maybe stop spending so much on personal luxuries.
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u/HashRunner 24m ago
Remember when BoThSiDeS was the talking point?
Get ready to pay through the nose because of sipshits that believed that.
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u/coppernaut1080 19m ago
They're clearly rigging the elections, cause nobody would vote for a party that suggests such a thing.
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u/Outside-Car2889 15m ago
We Americans are struggling and they want us to pay more! Our adult children are moving home because their rent is so high, they can’t afford to live on their own. The costs of food, gas and electric is killing a lot of us! TAX THE RICH! So tired of welfare for the rich while we regular Americans are told to f*ck off.
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u/Reddit_2_2024 5m ago
Senator Murray made an excellent point recently calling out Hegseth for the additional appropriation of National Guardsmen to serve on active duty orders in Washington D.C. We all saw the pictures of these Soldiers being used to cut grass and clean up parks. A real waste of taxpayer money and misuse of National Guard in Washington D.C.
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u/Sorry_Comparison_787 5m ago
That pedophile better come lock me up soon don't think I'ma sit and get raped by these pedophiles much longer.... eventually even I am going to fight back like bro full fuck off you kid fuckers.
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u/DBearDevon 4h ago
Maybe they should start taxing the wealthy their fair share if they want such things?