The Trump administration is preparing to cancel a large swath of federal funding for California, an effort that could begin as soon as Friday, according to multiple sources.

Agencies are being told to start identifying grants the administration can withhold from California. Sources said the administration is specifically considering a full termination of federal grant funding for the University of California and California State University systems.

Singling out one state for massive cuts would be an unusual move, but Donald Trump has long made Democratic-led California a target.

  • N0t_5ure@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    That would break the bank. California is 4th largest economy in the world, after the U.S., China, and Germany. It would probably cause Trump to declare martial law and send troops to California.

    • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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      7 hours ago

      Sign me up for Cali’s defense. Better to fight Trump and his kind, than to live with them for the rest of my life.

    • miguel@fedia.io
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      1 day ago

      I mean, good luck? CA is also obscenely well defended, since most of its modern wealth came from it being considered a battleground vs Japan and Russia, so there’s loads of bases.

      Most likely, this will just yet again be a defeat in court. That dude is just throwing shit against the wall and hoping some of it will stick.

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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        9 hours ago

        Why are people still convinced that the courts have any meaningful power anymore? The orangeboi regime has already flagrantly ignored a ton of court rulings; they’ll continue to ignore more court rulings. They don’t care. It’s not “who’s gonna let me”; it’s “who’s gonna stop me”. Orangeboi et al have inserted their own loyalist flunkies into the leadership of all the organizations that can effectively function as the enforcement of court decisions. There are no guardrails anymore. “Checks and balances” is and always was a gentlemen’s agreement, and it’s no longer being honored.

      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        8 hours ago

        That and the geography is an absolute mf for logistics. There’s like three good roads that cross the Sierra Nevada.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        so there’s loads of bases

        Staffed with federal employees. Fort Hunter isn’t going to protect Californians from the Pentagon. It is the Pentagon.

        Also, and this is a much bigger deal, Gavin Newsome is a cowardly little parasite. He’s not going to side with Californians on this. He’s going to grovel on his belly and lick Trump’s shoes hoping he can convince The Donald to relent.

        Most likely, this will just yet again be a defeat in court.

        So long as DOGE runs the US Treasury, it hardly matters. If Trump starts cancelling payments and reversing transactions at a California scale, he’ll drag the whole country into recession overnight. Courts can issue orders, but only the Treasury has the power to authorize payments.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        You’re assuming Trump wouldn’t also fuck over troops stationed here in California. Remember military personnel are reliant on local infrastructure in a lot of areas and if Trump starts fucking with it again the military may be caught in the crossfire.

        • miguel@fedia.io
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          23 hours ago

          I’m assuming the comment “declaring martial law” would require nat guard (natives) and stationed troops (federal) to attempt to impose order. Not sure what that has to do with local infra, but the last time they tried that (LA Riots) it didn’t go great. Doing it for a strictly political reason would likely result in some very hard decisions for a lot of nat guard and some federal career military. The Nat Guard and federales couldn’t even restore order in South Central when most of the state was in their corner, it’d be madness to think they could handle the whole state when it was over a pissing match.

          California gets roughly $162.9 billion from the fed. California pays roughly $692 billion to the fed in taxes.

          It’d be pretty easy to see them choosing to just withhold whatever Trump decided to deny them and say “fine, then we’ll just make up the offset, suck it”, and then things would get interesting indeed.

          • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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            23 hours ago

            I thought ya meant that because of how militarized the state was it’d be hard for the state to respond. I was just stating you could cut water and electricity as a response to that.

            But yeah you are right on the fact the response would at best be a mess, honestly if they were told to occupy the state they’d probably just sit around getting heat stroke and doing nothing.

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 day ago

      Yeah but how the fuck would he pay the troops without, you know, California’s money?

      I maintain the quickest way for military and LEOs to drop support for Trump is realizing they aren’t gonna get paid or that their money has become essentially worthless. Either scenario will pit them against him. If they can’t feed their families they will turn, considering it’s an all volunteer military. He would have to instate a harsh draft first to avoid that.

      • N0t_5ure@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        realizing they aren’t gonna get paid or that their money has become essentially worthless.

        If California’s taxes suddenly evaporated, it would create a massive budget deficit that would have to be plugged by printing money, would debase the currency and likely cause hyperinflation.

        • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 day ago

          Which would render the US dollar essentially worthless, resulting in soldiers and LEOs essentially being “unpaid” and no longer willing to support Trump.

          • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            Ya’ll gotta understand that california doesn’t just hand over big bags of money once a year, the mechanisms of payment are numerous and vastly complex, often overseen directly by the IRS in concert with interstate banking groups which california has no authority over. Add to that, the federal budget is a budget. The feds already have payroll secured for the forseeable future, certainly long enough to roll in and arrest Newsom (et. al.) for sedition. The conservative hate machine has, as well, been painting “Commiefornia” as the enemy for years. Troops have been fantasizing about rolling tanks down sunset boulevard and pacifying those uppity libs for decades now, it’s not like that sentiment can’t or won’t be exploited by the trump admin.

            There’s just no feasible scenario in which this would end well for california.

          • N0t_5ure@lemmy.world
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            24 hours ago

            Maybe, maybe not. What you have to consider is that when you are in the military, the federal government owns you like livestock. They feed you, house you, and can send you to your death. You don’t necessarily need money, especially in the short term. Moreover, there are rules that prevent active duty military from being ejected from housing. You might not be happy about dollar devaluation, but the blame will be focused on the “bad” people of California and you’re there to make it right. It would take a lot for the U.S. military machine to grind to a halt, and a lot of damage can be done while it is happening.

            Another common idea is that the good folks in the military aren’t going to shoot civilians, and would rebel if ordered to. While there might be some isolated rebellion, most people in the military are conditioned to follow orders, and will do so, even if such orders are illegal. People will do what they have to to keep the pressure off themselves.

            • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              21 hours ago

              I assure you, you can be both active duty and broke shitless. Its heavily subsidized food, lodging, and bare necessities; and the current government is trying to slash even those benefits. There’s also only so long you can keep people happy without disposable income.

            • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              24 hours ago

              You don’t necessarily need money, especially in the short term.

              If you have kids, you do. Plenty of people in the military with spouses and children.

              • xylol@leminal.space
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                23 hours ago

                the trick is to have them shoot their kids especially if they live in california with them then they wont feel bad for not getting paid to shoot their kids

      • N0t_5ure@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Yes. The U.S. GDP is around $30 trillion. China is around $19 trillion. California is around $4 trillion.