Looking at some survey data here. Trump/Elon cutting off all cancer cure research is the issue that freaks voters out more than any other, also the one they've heard the least about. Important for voters to hear more about this.
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What do you think is the best way to actually get voters to hear more about it? Seems like elected Dems talking doesn't actually break thru to the public bc it doesn't lead to sustained coverage in media or a boost from algorithms controlled by CEOs who were celebrating w Trump/Elon at inauguration
These things require repetition. It's as simple as that. Big press doesn't like focusing on it too much because they're afraid of being accused of bias. But repitition works. Every statement from a Dem has to hit it.
“Big press doesn't like focusing on it too much because they're afraid of being accused of bias.”
No amount of Democrat “messaging” will overcome this,
the primary reason why we have a demented, corrupt sundowning fascist leading our government today.
I'm seeing people on facebook that I know voted Trump complaining about all the political posts they see - being vocal by itself will help. They've been living in a Fox News bubble and thinking that the silence from everyone else means they're in the majority, so I'm done being silent.
I've been thinking about this for weeks now! Because it is a way those of us not in the US could help by pitching you a few dollars for paper/printer ink. I just haven't been sure where to suggest it!
That used to be true. Is it still? Social media is 100x bigger than "big press" in terms of reach and those partisan tech CEOs have a finger on the scale to stop the repetition from turning into a "narrative" that actually reaches the majority of voters who get almost all of their news on socials
It might be worth looking at ACT UP's actions to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS. They did some major stunts that stayed in people's memories (in mine in any case).
Dems suck so hard at being an opposition party. They fight with one hand tied behind their back by the desire to govern responsibly -to the point that they might "help" Republicans "govern" by passing appropriations even while the Republican President ignores the law & tries to establish autocracy.
Besides fighting for my special needs son this is the issue that is close to me as well. I am a Stage 4 esophageal cancer survivor going on seven years since diagnosis. Because of luck and medicine I am still here to fight. I will not let the delusions of a few take away hope for millions.
I have a multi cancer-causing genetic mutation. Researchers have been working on developing a vaccine specifically for it, plus some great treatments are were (?) on the horizon. That’s the pep talk I’ve been giving my kids who all need genetic testing. Everything is so upsetting and stupid now
I think closing social security offices and cutting Medicaid will run a close second. Would love to see the list these respondents were given to see what means less to them
Not surprising considering we are in an age where 1 in 2 people will get cancer, and treatment bankrupts thousands of Americans every year. Nobody can say cancer hasn't affected their family in some way.
My representative has Multiple Myeloma. He supports everything tRUMP wants. Even when it’s against his best interest. He’s shortening his own projected lifespan. 🤷🏻♀️
Adding, there’s no cure and prognosis isn’t the best. It hasn’t changed much in the last 15 years or so as a dear friend died 5 years after diagnosis in 2011. Current prognosis: Five-year survival rate 54% / life expectancy 6 years in the US. 🤷🏻♀️
Ted Cruz said he’d found $2 billion in “woke” science grants, but his team used keyword searches that flagged things out of context, like a grant to develop a device to treat severe bleeding that mentioned “victims” and “trauma.”
If that's the case, it's only because they haven't considered what happens when the funding for nursing home care for 2/3 of nursing home residents vanishes.
Think of how many nursing homes will go bankrupt as a result. Meaning there won't be nursing home care even for those who AREN'T on Medicaid.
Doing THIS gives cover to looting the science and transferring it to PRIVATE CANCER RESEARCH FIRMS for PROFIT. No one to stop it or report it on a whistleblower site.
When Trump was elected I thought it would be like slowly boiling the frog: immigrants and trans people suffer while they chip away at the social safety net and everyone else carries on. The one plus side is that they are hurting every sector of America all at once and are going to crash the economy.
They don’t want to cure cancer. Insurance companies make too much money on sick people. Imagine if there is no cancer. There is no money. They have too much invested in making money.
All their actions signal nothing else. When you take a chainsaw to services required by the sick, disabled, poor and elderly, the outcome will be the death of many. They are being disposed of.
Can you share link to the survey data if you have it? I’d love to…
I was going to say mine it for insights but I was instead hit with an image of desperately tearing apart a stack of papers to find the right messaging to save the country I love.
I'm a fed contractor in environmental toxicology (cancer-causing potential of chemicals contaminating our environment) and our contracts are right now undergoing the 30 day DOGE review for potential cancellation. It would be a travesty.
Not the biggest fan of the Pod Save bros, but they have been pretty consistent over the years that raising salience of healthcare moves voters towards Democrats.
Literally just google NIH cuts and there’s a plethora of articles which are both anecdotal and also have the data on how the NIH money is used by universities
Here’s one about humans
Also these cuts would probably impact funds for hospice and not a word about it.
Not having the help of hospice care at the end of a loved one’s life will be tragic for all families!
Do you have any poignant, concise, easy-to-understand data from credible sources on cancer research cuts that we can all share to reach those who might be swayed by this information?
I think rural voters are already feeling the effects of the cuts. The National Cancer Institute’s SEER program doesn’t just track cancer patients, treatments, and results. The funding also supports networks that permit rural hospitals to provide specialized care.
Wouldn't it be nice if there were MSM left that report factual, non-biased news. Fox is still the most watched, & that's just a Trump propaganda entertainment show.
Here's hoping that the entire Trump/President Musk cabinet all get some form of cancer.
As a pediatric neuro-oncologist this is not surprising. While I sincerely hope no one is ever in a situation to need a physician like me, I wish people would understand it may not be them today, but it could be them tomorrow.
It would help if there were a clearly written article about it, which I think is part of the challenge - it's not yet clear precisely what's happening so articles are caveated such that people are able to think, "I'm sure this will get worked out."
Yes, they have to make a spectacle. Press releases won’t cut it. Ignore MSM to start. They can go local (radio, podcasts, local media), they can go SM (have a staffer hold the dang iPhone and start talking and then upload it in all SM platforms), they can lead a protest. MSM will pick it up after.
Also they have to all say it, over and over and over again. When interviewed by MSM, say no matter what the question was. Then say it again. This is comms 101. Most Dem electeds act like they’re too good to do this but it works.
I appreciate you keeping track. What, then, is our recourse? I'm informed on as much I can stomach at a time. My own Democratic members of Congress are sounding all the sirens already. And are these surveys done by the same pollsters who recorded the chances of us having a President Harris?
Someone else smarter than me said it’s the result of American exceptionalism. We can’t believe things will get that bad here because we’re “the greatest country in the world”. Meanwhile TFG is tearing apart the structure that made us “great”.
In 🇨🇦 many will be happy to get over the sense of inferiority created by the years of US nationalist rhetoric. Constant “city on a hill” “greatest nation on earth” and the outright “American exceptionalism” stuff has made 🇺🇸 insular, uncritical, and ungrateful for the gifts of your geography.
Some of us get it and appreciate it, but we’re not the vocal minority getting all the air time 😕
We also understand that 🇨🇦 has been a faithful ally and quite literally has had our backs. Californians especially are grateful
I'm in the midst of chemo. Dr said that 15 -20 years ago my C would've been a death sentence. The drug I was going to take was a "game changer." We're on the verge of a breakthrough on pancreatic cancer. This is just the real elite willing to let people die rather than help them. #Expendable
Please tell your nephew thank you for all the hard work he has been able to do thus far. I truly hope he is able to get back to work on this very soon.
Billionaires spent tons of money to deflect people's anger from them and toward the "elites" aka the brightest of the country. Scientists do their job because they want to make a difference. Physician-scientists are literally trying to save lives by coming up with new therapies
Reminds me of how Steve Jobs didn't get treatment for pancreatic cancer soon enough because he was afraid yo be vulnerable and convinced his body couldn't fail him like normal people.
They can't bear to think the best medicine might be something that a normal person with good health insurance can get. That despite having billions, cancer can kill them just as dead with bad luck. Instead of trying to improve this for everyone they want to burn it down so they can now get the best
He could have at least raised awareness for pancreatic cancer... helped research. Instead he went all natural healing and died when he had better odds than most everyone with the diagnosis
He did alternative woo stuff just for a few months, he then did traditional treatments and even got a live transplant, plus continued with the woo. 9 years post Dx is better survival than his diagnosis usually sees.
The treatments for my cancer, CLL, are so new that the 10 year survival rate is only now starting to go up. Those treatments are the result of decades’ worth of research, each aha moment building on the last. If we halt research now, we break the chains of incremental improvements.
I work in medical research at a Big Ten University. We do research on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Our work will grind to a complete halt if they remove the competitive funding from NIH that we already secured. All awarded grants go through a rigorous peer review process.
Hannity (a ghoul, should be beaten in the street) telling a parent concerned about their kid "300$ million of cancer research won't be your answer" is probably not gonna help anything though
BUT when it comes to cutting programs that help low and middle class income folks, and giving massive tax cuts to the billionaires, it's all about needed short-term pain for long-term gain. I guess this is what it's like to live in a corrupt oligarchy.
Again with the republicons it's always about what's in it for me. Hannity et al won't acknowledge the value of investing that $300 million in cancer research because someone else in the future will see the benefits of, not me right now.
This current administration trying to stick it to Biden with this cutting of cancer research is a true representation of what cretinous shit bags they are.
There was very little student debt relief compared to the overall problem. People rightly do not give Biden credit for it, because 95% of borrowers got nothing.
Pretty devastating,I qualified, had my approval and then bam, tied up in court. And then the email saying, sorry struck down. Then another program was created that would have helped significantly and that is tied up in courts currently. And everyone blames Biden, not Repubs and the courts
Oh we absolutely would have gotten much help, Biden was going to forgive 25k for most of us. GOP and the courts shot that down. People conveniently forget that, I still have my letter telling me it was approved only to be put on hold and then rescinded. And no one gives his credit for that
Biden was against student loan forgiveness and had to have enormous pressure to push him into supporting it. And when he did he kept proposing small cuts that left out the vast majority of borrowers.
He was never going to significantly cut student loan debt.
It should have been written as legislation, it was a progressive priority that wouldn't have ( and didn't! ) pass the House or Senate and it wasn't popular with non-college educated voters.
43 million people qualified for his plan, with half of them having their debt entirely wiped out. But sure, not significant at all. The plan covered roughly 20% of all outstanding student loan debt
Can confirm anecdotally. The majority of my family are pickled brain-MAGA. I’m a cancer survivor and this is the one issue that when I bring it up they are very concerned.
A friend was interviewing for a PhD program at Penn in cancer biology and was told they are doing an across-the-board 35% cut, and that includes slots for future cancer researchers.
As is MIT, Pitt is on a hold for all grads, NYU reviewing pulling some acceptances, I’ve heard Penn is too. Einstein doesn’t have funding to bring accepted students to campus, JHU is reducing… this is first hand from a candidate applying for cancer bio PhD programs
I would love to see some version of a day of simultaneous televised town halls across the country featuring researchers and people participating in the studies speaking about the impact - professional and personal. Cancer, Alzheimer's, infectious diseases, job costs to ea. state - all of it.
There’s an unbelievable amount of cognitive dissonance among Magites. Many are on some sort of government support—Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare, veteran benefits, etc.—yet will call you a Commie for suggesting that the current wholesale slashing of programs will be bad for people like them.
REALLY need abled anti-Trumpers to start caring about the disabled & poor that will LITERALLY die without Medicaid.
Instead of pointing out stats about the right statistically using these programs more, acting like this is team sports & theoreticals, why is no one ACTING to protect disabled lives?
This isn’t just the “people like them” issue that everyone is trying to make it out as.
Abled Dems and Libs are so busy lowering themselves to the level of trying to “own MAGA” that you’re leaving the disabled and poor that *did not* vote for this out in the cold, or pretending we don’t exist.
We've seen how Musk wants to replace Verizon at the FAA with Starlink. Is there a similar move to privatize cancer research completely? Is there something waiting in the wings that we aren't seeing?
The amount of times I've seen someone say "Elon could cure cancer and Democrats would still hate him" without realizing that Elon is sincerely doing the complete opposite of curing cancer is terrifying
The damn universities should be leading the way. They are hoping the courts will save them, and if not, that playing nice in public will get them crumbs from the King.
U of M, UVa, etc should be running ads *now* w simple "Here's what we developed in last 8 years. That's at risk. Call your rep."
Absolutely. The fact that Trump and Musk are gutting cancer research should be a national outrage. Voters need to know, they’re prioritizing billionaire tax cuts over life-saving treatments. It's not policy; it’s life and death. Spread the word. We fight for science. We fight for survival!
Because literally every person I know has been touched by cancer. Weather is someone they loved, a friend, or an aquantince. We've all had to watch someone go through chemo and everything that comes with it. And often we lose them.
More typing but I use Trump Musk MAGA these days and we’ve hit to consistently give them all credit and accountability for the ongoing destruction of our democracy and country.
40 years ago more than 60% of children diagnosed with cancer would have died within 5 years of diagnosis. Today there is a 90% survival rate. We should not put progress like that in danger
Given how many massive breakthroughs have happened in medicine over the last few years, this sort of thing plus other health-related cuts seem like a huge risk to their support w/ older voters (which has already been in decline since 2020)
Local media has been detailing the impact of lost cancer and Alzheimers funding on university labs and how it's ending research and affecting the next generation of researchers. But the ppl who need to hear are listening to Spotify and sports or streaming their shows and don't follow news on social.
Most of the noise thus far has been made by academic labs (where the bulk of NIH grants go). However, the NIH also awards many small business grants (through SBIR/STTR). But these are also paused, which means drugs and treatments will go undiscovered and undeveloped and companies will go under
I’d like to see Democrats explain the economic impact of these cuts to state economies. Iowa City, Columbus, Madison, Ann Arbor, and every college town generates thousands of jobs.
Only cancer? Not health insurance being cut(medicaid) which could affect the rural area hospitals shutting down. Can't get cancer treatment without insurance geez wrong priorities in America
I can’t tell you how many family members keep telling me, “that’s not true,” or, “they won’t let that happen.” I’m tired from shouting into the universe.
I wish I was wrong. Maybe we’ll be lucky they’re destroying our government so quickly. Maybe what monsters they are supporting will finally be obvious to the cult.
The scientific professional societies are putting out mostly tepid statements or nothing. Certainly they aren't making it clear US science faces a devastating crisis. Grant freezes, firing staff, cancelling panels - it's unprecedented yet the response from scientists is tepid.
The science policy apparatus is used to a normal boring appropriations cycle where they gently prod congress - they seem dumbfounded by the DOGE-led illegal freezes and firings and don't understand to stop it means to mobilize public opinion. Where are protests @ NIH/NSF to get media attention?
Apparently in Afrikaans the word efficiency means to burn something to the ground with no backup plan then walk away from the ashes whistling a merry tune.
I really hate pitting one disease against another, because the problem is much bigger than just “cancer” but yes: people fear cancer. And fear moves opinion.
Everyone loves something who's been touched by cancer. Not just knows them, like a coworker or church acquaintance or neighbor or fellow mom/dad in the car pool lane, but actually cares for them on a personal level. So of course it freaks them out, it hits all of us
This is the message Trump/Musk are sending at USAID. When is someone going to start posting signs tracking the number of children dead bc of cutoff in aid? They like metrics? Let’s give em metrics!!
The problem is that cuts to cancer research don't have an immediate impact. The research being done right now doesn't save lives right now. It's going to save lives ten, twenty years from now. It's just not tangible.
There's no point to any of this. If they were religious goons who stopped abortion and forced prayer into schools it would at least make thematic sense. This is just wanton destruction. I don't think a POTUS *has* this power. Where's the bloody lawyers?
Seriously. I use FB to share this kind of information. Promote Rotary events. Promote small local business. And to keep in touch with my family and friends.
Sounds good. I've seen some people requesting information on TikTok etc instead of going to Google or a newspaper. Of course, News is so slanted now you don't know who to trust for neutral news. What a mess.
Any place money moves in the federal government is a place they can insert themselves and redirect it into their own pockets and the pockets of their supporters. Disrupt the money flow, then divert it.
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(Not on @bsky.app it appears. Will someone that still visits The Hellckscape please check there and report back?)
#ACS, talk about a wasted - trusted!! - megaphone that you've been building for, what, 30-40 years. Let's go!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWSWqn7UHYM&t=1s
No amount of Democrat “messaging” will overcome this,
the primary reason why we have a demented, corrupt sundowning fascist leading our government today.
We do have the benefit of having facts and the truth on our side.
Basically, “GOP killed this, but how can we band together to help our sick neighbors now…”
‘Community rallies to help…’ stories break through more on local news.
2. Why is there so much deafening silence from the Dems on this?
@marymcnamara.bsky.social @housedemocrats.bsky.social
We need to find the points of leverage - like this - and apply pressure. That's where we'll get the most bang of our buck (so to speak)
Think of how many nursing homes will go bankrupt as a result. Meaning there won't be nursing home care even for those who AREN'T on Medicaid.
I was going to say mine it for insights but I was instead hit with an image of desperately tearing apart a stack of papers to find the right messaging to save the country I love.
Here’s one about humans
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/28/nx-s1-5312108/trump-budget-cuts-nih-cdc-cancer-iowa
Yes I’d like that too
GOP Plan
Kill Cancer Research
Kill Social Security
Reward the Rich
Stock goes down!
Ummmm.
How about:
HEY, HEY, WHAT DO YOU SAY?
He thinks he bought the USA!
No?
Chants are hard.
Not having the help of hospice care at the end of a loved one’s life will be tragic for all families!
Here's House Democrats talking about the funding. I believe them
https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/trump-team-dismantles-efforts-find-cure-cancer-and-other-deadly-disorders-and
99% of the drugs people take to keep them from dying were discovered thru NIH funding
So impacting patients right now.
Here's hoping that the entire Trump/President Musk cabinet all get some form of cancer.
easy peasy to find.
https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/trump-team-dismantles-efforts-find-cure-cancer-and-other-deadly-disorders-and
https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/trump-team-dismantles-efforts-find-cure-cancer-and-other-deadly-disorders-and
Well, JB Pritzger isn't all that young and he seems to get it.
We also understand that 🇨🇦 has been a faithful ally and quite literally has had our backs. Californians especially are grateful
https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/people-are-calling-right-wing-radio-shows-voice-frustrations-trump-administration
When the private sector announces a drug- it’s on the back- and brains- of researchers who are paid from grants thru the NIH.
I loathe them, too, because only their wish lists mattered.
1) ignoring the failure of progressives to write a bill to address the issue
2) Ignoring Biden v Nebraska https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/06/supreme-court-strikes-down-biden-student-loan-forgiveness-program/
3) Ensuring that future Dem presidents don't touch the issue at all.
He was never going to significantly cut student loan debt.
Even people who have degrees were conflicted
Progressives did a poor job of winning consensus.
But most of y’all aren’t ready to have that discussion. Treatable condition where you can still traditionally work, fine.
But an awful lot of you are totally okay with those too disabled to work being sentenced to death.
Instead of pointing out stats about the right statistically using these programs more, acting like this is team sports & theoreticals, why is no one ACTING to protect disabled lives?
Abled Dems and Libs are so busy lowering themselves to the level of trying to “own MAGA” that you’re leaving the disabled and poor that *did not* vote for this out in the cold, or pretending we don’t exist.
U of M, UVa, etc should be running ads *now* w simple "Here's what we developed in last 8 years. That's at risk. Call your rep."
I'd love to see Dems adding the Republican Party writ large into their messaging about all these assaults on our national "invisible infrastructure."
She's also MAGA.
Not sure how she lives in the dissonance.
https://bsky.app/profile/mollymckew.bsky.social/post/3lj4qeiyqsc2a
Maybe it’s a faint hope, but Elissa Slotkin could mention this during her SOTU response.
who are advertising in REPUBLICAN districts on the impacts of DOGE CUTS in those districts?
The NIH/NSF cuts for example? The impact on jobs alone. Factual, specific to the local impact. Target the GOP, alert the Republicans on the ground!!!