The myth of the GOP's support for Veterans
The painful GOP dismantling of the VA and Veteran Disability Benefits
TAT readers,
I wasn’t going to write today however… while doing research on the dismantling of the VA by the Trump administration and drastic cuts to our VA healthcare and related benefits, I felt it a duty to raise the alarm for my fellow brothers and sisters-in-arms.
It is not just the VA issues either. As I have written often, Pete Hegseth on instructions from the Oval Office, enabled by the GOP-led congress and Project 2025 enforcer, Russel Vought, are not building, but rather undermining the finest military in the world. I will share links to the prior essays regarding the seemingly endless abuse of our military and veterans by this Republican administration, after this introduction to today’s essay.
Like my fellow vets I am deeply frustrated, so I will caution myself to keep this below the level of a rant. In the MAGA GOP era, the administration’s fake-patriots love to wear and wave swag about how much they love America and the military, but this is just a charade performed for their willfully uninformed and brainwashed base. Their intentions aren’t only anti-military but un-American, which denies them any status as a “patriot.” Pete Hegseth who is “whitewashing” our military, is as incompetent as he is a racist, misogynist and a drunk. Actions not words tell the truth about a person or an organization. Today’s GOP’s, actions are painfully un-American. Today I will discuss the GOP’s full-frontal assault on veterans via those aforementioned, administration “political Kommissars.”
As a disclaimer, I do want to first acknowledge that I am yet to meet any VA employee that wasn’t professional, kind, helpful and dedicated to serving Veterans. Many are Vets themselves. Before launching into today’s work, below are the promised links for those who care for more background reading.
President Bone Spurs' latest attack on us, "losers and suckers."
DOGE, Trump and the GOP, are wreaking havoc on the health of our Veterans, me included
Trump at Arlington, - by Paul Cobaugh
The overt dishonesty I have been watching from the administration’s VA and related officials, demands addressing. Anyone who has ever served our nation in uniform are familiar with some version of the saying, "when you join the military you write Uncle Sam a blank check," one which can be redeemed for any amount, up to and including making the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our nation.” When we raise our right hands and swear that sacred oath, “to protect and defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, we are vocally putting an exclamation mark after our signature on our enlistment contract. We keep to that contract scrupulously, while the Republican Party is taking a blowtorch to the US government’s end of the bargain.
So as we begin to expose the nefarious future for our Veterans, let’s start with the primary points in the graphic below. These are just the tip-of-the-iceberg as that there are countless, less understood assaults on our benefits.
The report above is much in line with that of the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute’s assessment. In their assessment we see the intention of the threat to Veterans by the administration and GOP, and which is based exclusively on their extreme-right wing and unconstitutional Project 2025. This is not first attempt to assault vets. He came after us in his first administration as well. They intended to hurt veterans from the very beginning and the willful ignorance of those who voted Republican and believed their lies, enabled them.
"Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have made clear that they want to privatize the Veterans Health Administration(VHA) , the health care system run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. And they have a detailed plan on how to do just that, courtesy of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a 920 page roadmap on how to dismantle the federal government and each and every one of its Departments. According to a report published by the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute, Project 2025 aims to dismantle one of the most vital institutions in the country when it comes to serving veterans." - Project 2025’s War on Veterans - Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute - U.S. Army veteran Julian LaRosa - October, 2025
Let’s talk a moment about some of the specifics regarding the GOP’s assault on Veterans. Despite the whining and combative outbursts by VA Secretary, Doug Collins, his leadership and adherence to the Project 2025 agenda, is according to the AFGE, Association of Federal and Government Employees, an attack on our benefits. They are now sounding the alarms as they watch Collins deprive of us of our benefits, and he is fully backed by the GOP side of the aisle. In fiscal year2025 alone, the VA was chopped by 40,000 employees, a dramatic cut, since that even Collins says the VA is understaffed. The problem with Collins, just like the GOP, is that he lies. I’ve seen him show up to hearings whining about being understaffed and in the next, discuss even more staff cuts.
Below are some of the specifics from the AFGE report.
"The staffing cuts have resulted in longer wait times for veterans seeking care – particularly for mental health services, where the average wait time to book a new appointment doubled from 17 days in May 2024 to 35 days currently. At one VA facility in California, the wait time has ballooned to 134 days after losing 7 out of 12 mental health providers." "What we are seeing is not normal. It’s not normal attrition. It’s not a normal trend line. It is the result of a constant policy, beginning with DOGE and sustained by the Trump administration, to discourage and deter employees, skilled professionals in health care and other areas, from continuing their work for our nation’s heroes and that is unacceptable.” "The staffing cuts have resulted in longer wait times for veterans seeking care – particularly for mental health services, where the average wait time to book a new appointment doubled from 17 days in May 2024 to 35 days currently. At one VA facility in California, the wait time has ballooned to 134 days after losing 7 out of 12 mental health providers." "Some members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, which hosted Wednesday’s hearing, expressed skepticism of Collins’ plan to slash the number of regional offices—known as Veterans Integrated Service Networks, or VISNs—from 18 to 5, suggesting it would centralize decision making away from the field in favor of the department’s headquarters." "During the press call, AFGE National VA Council President M.J. Burke said the union is hearing alarm bells from across the department that the administration’s policies are affecting veterans’ care. “By the end of 2026, most facilities will have lost 2 to 5 percent of their psychologists – hard-hit locations like Seattle, Buffalo, and Chillicothe are seeing double-digit attrition. Why? Because over the last year, VA leadership slashed jobs, stripped away flexible remote work, and forced staff into overcrowded spaces. These punishing policies haven’t just lowered morale – they end up compromising the quality of care we provide,” Burke said." - New Report Details How Trump’s Policies Are Harming Veterans, VA Workers - AFGE - January 26th, 2026
In the AFGE article is a link to the 52 page report from the SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS, and I recommend veterans read every word, but also caution that they may wish to do so sitting down, and with a strong adult beverage. The assault on Vets by this administration is beyond unconscionable. In the graphic below are some of the types of VA personnel and their numbers fired unceremoniously.
To make matters worse, in a time when Veteran suicide rates, tragically continue to climb faster than in the general public, cuts in staffing and administrative chaos dramatically increased wait times to see a therapist. Across the board, these cuts and mismanagement have sounded alarms at the APA, American Psychological Association as explained in an October 2025 article. This is a directly the result of not applying analysis to the DOGE cuts, and which were supported by the Secretary of the VA, Scott Collins. Russell Vought, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the GOP are forcing their restructuring and privatization plans for veteran healthcare, which by all honest analysis, puts our hard-earned benefits at risk. This restructuring is also part of the Project 2025 Plan.
This brings to another point of contention for veterans, the costs associated with their intended privatization, increases our budget by paying for-profit greedy healthcare corporations for outsourced veteran healthcare. With this current administration so overtly grifting by contracting with their billionaire buddies, evidence shows that we that taxpayers will pay for their increased profits, and of which the Trump family will also profit. Those who have served in uniform are very well acquainted with waste, fraud and abuse and the overwhelming majority of us, holding those who grift our tax dollars, in the utmost scorn. We’re a serious lot when it comes to honoring our oath and our collective integrity.
The last primary issue to call your attention to is one that has most of the veteran community up in arms, the proposed cuts to disability compensation for service related injuries and illness. This is especially true regarding older or elderly vets. A part of that contract we raised our right for when we began our time in service, is now being reneged on by the very government that issued that contract. The depth of betrayal on this issue hurts vets both deeply do to their betrayal. We did our part and now we expect the US government to do theirs. For some reason, today’s GOP is fine with breaking the contract, for those of us who “wrote that blank check” to the American people.
I have faith in the American people. The Trump regime might sell us out, but the American people won’t. The problem is that they don’t know because this is a veteran-centric issue, and our lives are often murky to those who have not worn the cloth of our nation. One of the primary purposes for this already too-long essay, is that if I have done my job and explained the issue properly, that you will share this with the veterans and veteran service organizations in your communities. Please stand with your veteran community against the ongoing betrayal by this administration. We only wish to have this administration and the Republican Congress that enables them, to honor their part of the contract, that we have faithfully honored with our oaths.
Thank you so kindly for bearing this long essay,
Paul