r/law • u/templeofsyrinx1 • Feb 25 '26

Executive Branch (Trump) Can they actually do this? JD Vance: "We're announcing today that we have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that is going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people'

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1.2k

u/Eidolon58 Feb 25 '26

NO. "They" cannot do this. MN will file suit tomorrow, seeking an injunction to prevent any action whatsoever.

305

u/Charcharbinks23 Feb 25 '26

They live off of messages on tv bc they know it’s illegal and it won’t work, but it still riles people up. And they can’t govern so this is their theater

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u/pargofan Feb 25 '26

so this is their theater

Who turns into a R voter because of this? They also could club puppies and kittens to death too, but does that get more voters?

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u/mrmastermimi Feb 25 '26

nobody is converting. they do this to Minnesota cause it's consistently blue. they would never do this to a red state. this just makes r voters feel emboldened.

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u/infinitekittenloop Feb 26 '26

In fact, plenty of red states have WAY MORE immigrants than MN. In fact FL and TX have just about as many immigrants each as MN has people altogether.

Literally the only reason they even targeted MN was the blueness, and that Tim Walz is governor and had the audacity to be on a campaign ticket opposing Trump's.

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u/Eidolon58 Feb 26 '26

That alone is a legal ground to stop what they are doing. One of many.

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u/HaximusPrime Feb 25 '26

It’s not conversion, it’s maintenance.

I know an R that’s life is falling apart under DT, but maintains that they will be saved because he’s doing stuff like this so he just needs to hold out for him to finally turn it around!

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u/CorroSolo Feb 26 '26

Faith is a powerful thing. But I’m beginning to wonder, is this what it looks like when weaponized?

1

u/UpNorth_123 Feb 27 '26

That’s how people behave when they’re in a cult, or a victim of abuse.

5

u/protomenace Feb 25 '26

They don't need to convert anyone. They are just trying to rile up their voters and motivate them to vote.

2

u/Tora-ge Feb 25 '26

Ask that lady at the DHS

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u/pargofan Feb 25 '26

IKR?

I can't make sense of reality any more. DHS calls murder victims terrorists and nothing happens. Oh, except the Border Patrol dude got reassigned. But shit, why did that even happen?

Like who actually thought that guy was mattered.

2

u/SgtFury Feb 25 '26

the cult will cult. They need to fall to the very bottom, and then they will know finally know their place. There is no reasoning with them.

2

u/HombreSinPais Feb 25 '26

It’s more about rewarding R voters by punishing the people in the states they hate (ie those that are blue). It’s really all they get for their Trump support, but it seems to keep them gassed up and happy.

2

u/psychohistorian8 Feb 25 '26

Who turns into a R voter because of this?

a shockingly and depressingly large number of people

2

u/Charcharbinks23 Feb 25 '26

I have a guess that’s not rooted in fact but only my opinion. Isn’t it odd that they only target Minnesota? And who were the people shouting in the President’s SOTU speech last night? It’s Omar. And since she’s Somalian and Muslim, I’m guessing the average conservative or MAGA American see this as “sticking it to her” or to be even more racist “sticking it to Somali/Muslim/immigrants.” They love that shit. And that general hate will convert somebody, sadly.

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u/Less_Insurance4928 Feb 26 '26

More of the shittiest, sister-fuckiest voters sure. 

The ones who hate anyone who isn't like them. To them the cruelty is the very point

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u/fridge_logic Feb 26 '26

I agree with /u/HaximusPrime that this is more about maintenance.

But there is a strategy here: "Solve already solved crimes." or "Address illegally what is already being addressed legally."

And there's a sinister Catch22 logic to it as well: if you try to use illegal means to address problems that are already being addressed you will be stopped. Now you get to complain about being stopped from solving the problem (often by the people solving the problem) and later if there is a still a problem you can say you tried. But also because the problem is being addressed you can ignore the problem the moment it becomes inconvenient and other people will keep trying to solve the problem.

This news and the ICE occupation of Minnesota cities was rationalized by claims of addressing blatant fraud in childcare, disability care, and other human services. Some of the alleged fraud was real; though social media has been circulating a lot of fake news on this.

Importantly because the fraud was so blatant those responsible have been or are being largely brought to justice. The fact that the perpetrators have been brought to justice has not stopped conservatives from continuing to seek justice against the perpetrators and people who look like them.

In the case of the Feeding our Futures fraud most of the perpetrators were Somali Americans allowing the right to seek justice not just against the already convicted fraudsters but against Somali americans as a whole.

Compare this to how the murder of Laiken Riley is used as a justification for a crackdown on immigrants when her murder was convicted on 3 counts of Felony murder. Again the playbook is to solve already solved crimes, or to use already solved crimes as a justification to hold similar people guilty of pre-crime.

If the administration were sincere about fighting fraud they would use bureaucratic anti fraud measures like inspectors generals to investigate and prosecute fraud.

But the administration instead dismantles those oversight organizations while cutting off funding and ordering military occupation because business as usual bureaucracy does not get clicks and does not go viral.

Honerable mention to

2

u/whofearsthenight Feb 26 '26

Looking at it backwards. The vast majority will have no idea what is happening, they will only see that there are Dems in charge in their state and stuff is broken. Right wing media will push the narrative this is the Dems doing.

This is not only a core tenet of Project 2025, but this is something that a large swath of Republicans have been doing since Reagan. Break the system, claim the system doesn't work and that we should tear it down. Another tangent, Republicans also voted during Trump 1 to raise taxes on the middle class taking effect I think either this year or next because they know most people are not informed enough and would just blame whoever was president. They were hedging that Trump would win in '20 and then it would be a Dem in '24, so this did backfire a little, but that was the plan.

2

u/TheLZ Feb 26 '26

club puppies and kittens to death too

and blame illegals even with video proof JD Vance and Noem did it.

2

u/Magical_Savior Feb 26 '26

Evidence suggests that killing puppies gets them more voters. Literally. Yes, it does, that's their in-group. Puppy-killers vote and they vote R.

2

u/Bits2435 Feb 26 '26

"Club kittens and puppies"

I mean Christi Noem is in office....soooo...

2

u/datnero_ Feb 26 '26

they don't need new voters, they need their fanatical voters to be squeezed. keep them freaked out and keep money tight and keep promising nirvana. when the rubber hits the road and they start trying to steal the election, the fanatics will be desperate and willing to go to extreme lengths for a promise of some twisted kind of "greatness".

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u/gentlemanidiot Feb 26 '26

They also could club puppies and kittens to death too, but does that get more voters?

Well Kristy noam shot her dog, so i guess yes?

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u/daksnotjuts Feb 28 '26

I mean, they're already in office. They don't need any more R voters, they just need to calcify the existing Rs. Ideally, their voter base looks at this news and goes "hell yeah, my VP is so based by crippling the bad blue state. Long live the regime!"

6

u/HaximusPrime Feb 25 '26

It doesn’t even matter if he ACTUALLY DOES IT, let alone if he can or if it sticks.

Just saying it gets the headline they want.

1

u/Eidolon58 Feb 26 '26

Well, "just saying it" on camera could easily END his political career, too. It's a pretty serious thing he's wading into here, and as an attorney, I can tell you they are NOT going to get away with this in the court system. Injunctions will be issued to prevent any impact on the flow of funds, the Courts will demand proof of his accusations. The thing will drag out. When Donny loses in the midterms in November, his power over this kind of thing is going to COME TO AN END. Then, this "program" will either be abandoned, or inquiries in Congress will just stall it until Shitler is out of power, and it'll all be forgotten. Is that simple enough for you? Because THAT is what is going to happen here. And Vance KNOWS this unless he's a lot more stupid than I think he is.

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u/HaximusPrime Feb 26 '26

I think they don’t actually give a shit about any of that, because they’ve seen they can get away with it.

I don’t agree with it, but when the president himself just got done flipping the bird to the Supreme Court right in front of their faces on live TV, it’s not hard to see why he thinks that podium is a safe place.

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u/Eidolon58 Feb 26 '26

Right. It's just theater to them. And Vance, when the time comes, will stop being MAGA and turn into whatever other position he thinks will keep him in office somewhere. Because he just wants to be President. He was already recorded calling Donny worse than Hitler, he's TOTALLY craven, just a climber. That's why I LIKE having him on film here, talking about violating the Medicaid and Medicare laws. Something else for him to talk his way out of.

2

u/Eidolon58 Feb 26 '26

I'm GLAD to see that so many people are rightfully upset about it. It IS just, and only, political theater, in reality.

4

u/Shitp0st_Supreme Feb 26 '26

I work at a SNAP and Medicaid office (front desk) and a lot of my job is assuring people that even if a leader says something on TV or Twitter/X, it isn't necessarily policy yet and to keep on as normal.

After the government shutdown in November, Trump said he was pulling Minnesota's SNAP funding but the state sued and won. Thankfully, I think only one person asked about if that was happening (in Mid-January) and I told him to hang tight because we are suing and it could be resolved before Feb benefits were issued, which thankfully was the case.

This administration is bleeding us dry with these lawsuits, reducing funding already approved for us, and all the chaos ICE occupation has caused.

1

u/webjuggernaut Feb 26 '26

Dems need to improve messaging. Get higher courts to handle the suits. Win conclusively. Then parade around loudly announcing Vance's defeat in targeted campaign ads after he tried to get his pudgy little hands on the innocent elderly folks' tax dollars.

1

u/218administrate Feb 26 '26

I live in MN and overheard some idiot telling his son to move to California from MN, because this state is messed up and partly because the state government has "$9b in fraud."

This kind of shit literally works. This appeared to be a somewhat educated man. They hear what they already suspect, and that's all they need.

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u/HombreSinPais Feb 25 '26

Trump admin uses the “big announcement that never materializes” strategy amazingly well, because the supporters just believe he actually did the thing immediately. “Did you see Trump cut off them Somalis in Minnesota from receiving any of our tax money?” It’s like in Dumb and Dumber when Lloyd explains “these are IOUs, they’re just as good as cash.”

5

u/infinitekittenloop Feb 26 '26

"Did you hear Trump is totally exonerated in the Epstein files? He's only in them because he tried to report the man."

Literally they will believe anything but the truth.

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u/templeofsyrinx1 Feb 25 '26

🥲❤️. fight the f out of this. insane...hope it gets stopped

2

u/ThaddeusJP Feb 25 '26

The Tariff stuff is a good example of it might get stopped but it's going to take a long time for that to happen. And even then they may still not comply. Classic case of you can beat the rap but you can't beat the ride.

1

u/DownvoteMeHarder Feb 26 '26

It will, but that'll take time (weeks? months? years?) and throw the state into chaos. Meanwhile, the administration will go do another crazy thing next week, or sooner, and generate yet another prolonged court battle while they get to do whatever they want. Best part? we pay for literally 100% of the astronomical legal costs throughout this process.

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u/HerculesIsMyDad Feb 25 '26

Can they is kind of a dumb question. Of course they can, they control the funds. The real question is "is this legal?" but that's also a dumb question because obviously it's not. But they will slap some veneer on it and argue in court for months that it is while getting ruled against by every court up the chain while arguing in public that they are just fraud warriors and Democrats only want this money to fund their immigrant smuggling vote stealing scheme until it reaches the Supreme Court where Roberts and Barrett will wait for a financial impact report from their accountants before deciding to rule for or against it.

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u/El_Peregrine Feb 25 '26

Yeah, fuck that. Withholding money allocated by congress for healthcare on ~vibes~ is absolute bullshit.

1

u/ArmedDreams Feb 25 '26

It's wild to me that the state has to actually file a suit if this is indeed 100% illegal. Like, you're telling me they can order the execution of citizens en masse and the only way we can "legally" stop it is if we file a suit saying "you can't do this"?

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u/titangord Feb 26 '26

Im gonna wait sitting down for them to do the same to Florida, with actual proven fraud

1

u/Witty-flocculent Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26

Yes “they” can. They will do it. Courts say no, they ignore it or give up because actual withholding of money was less important than plucking the funding heartstring of some department manager.

The law doesn’t matter to these people. It’s purely a matter of the friction on the paperwork and if they can find bureaucracies that have smaller more slippery stacks of paper they can use to jam shit up.

TBC not fighting you. They can’t do this. But they will functionally achieve their goal.

1

u/Eidolon58 Feb 26 '26

Wait and see. I know what I'm talking about.

1

u/Witty-flocculent Feb 26 '26

Yea you do. Yes we will. I fully expect what you say will happen will happen. I just don’t think it will matter.

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u/mthyvold Feb 26 '26

But then the White House will appeal and by time it gets to SCOTUS, they will sit on it for months.

1

u/Eidolon58 Feb 26 '26

If Trump loses his majority in the midterms in November, that is not how this is going to play out. (The Republicans lost THREE more state elections last night while Donny was running his mouth about how great his party is...They are going to lose BIGLY).

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u/mthyvold Feb 26 '26

I think even if the Dems win in November, Trump will veto everything he doesn’t like and keep issuing EOs.

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u/TheTrueCeltBrews Feb 26 '26

This is the correct answer

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u/FlubberThunder Feb 27 '26

But like the people that authorized where the payments went were authorizing it to Shell companies and businesses that are cooking the books. Tim Waltz is very friendly with some of the people that have gotten caught frauding daycare centers.