In 2025, at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit, Sen. Lindsey Graham said, “I feel good about where we’re going as a nation. We are killing all the right people and we’re cutting your taxes.”
Cutting those taxes came about along with cutting SNAP benefits and health insurance subsidies. Graham’s statement and the party’s priorities make clear they don’t care about peace, safety, or whether children and families have enough to eat.
While other’s may not have spoken as bluntly as Graham, it appears that – except for a handful of legislators who are thinking about their constituents’ access to health insurance, food, and water – most of the party doesn’t think about their constituents at all unless they are the donor class.
They also don’t seem to be nearly as pro-life as they claim to be when they are courting evangelicals’ votes. If they cared as much for the life of a child as they claim, they wouldn’t have cut services that families depend on when they’re raising their children.
One of the great mysteries of American politics is why so many voters choose politicians who value tax cuts for the wealthy over programs that benefit the masses.
Imagine if Americans didn’t have to skip medical treatment because they couldn’t afford it. Imagine if there were no hungry children in your state. Imagine if the Stephen Millers and Donald Trumps of the world weren’t so intent on tearing families apart with their anti-immigrant actions. There would be no need for ICE if we hired enough people to vet migrants at the border and enough judges to handle the asylum claims.
Instead, too many in Congress are taking Graham’s stance, protecting the wealthy and ignoring the realities of the people who don’t have enough.
Is anyone else ashamed of what we’ve become? What can we do to salvage what this administration has wrecked?
We can start by being clear-eyed about those we vote for. We can also believe that Jesus meant it when he told us to love our neighbors, feed the hungry, and welcome the stranger. You don’t have to be an evangelical to understand that those are good policies.
It is the work of citizens that make this country great. And to make it great, we must do a better job of vetting the candidates for whom we vote.
