this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025
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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.

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Then California should cancel sending money to the federal government.

California should secede

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Yep. California pays more than it gets back, so this is a win for California.

[–] ghostlychonk@lemm.ee 328 points 1 week ago (25 children)

Sounds like California should cancel the taxes it would normally send to the fed.

[–] N0t_5ure@lemmy.world 151 points 1 week ago (7 children)

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.

[–] miguel@fedia.io 127 points 1 week ago (4 children)

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.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 39 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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 46 points 1 week ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 41 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

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 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

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

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[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 43 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (8 children)

Remember, the state doesn’t pay taxes, individual citizens do by filling out their annual federal income taxes.

So, if “California” were to stop giving money to the federal government, the governor would basically need to convince individual citizens not to file their 1040.

And all of those people would have to clinch their assholes and hope Trump didn’t sick the IRS on them.

[–] VampirePenguin@midwest.social 23 points 1 week ago (6 children)

If Californians (Or everyone) just filed for extensions en masse, that alone would fuck shit up and would be totally legal.

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[–] match@pawb.social 16 points 1 week ago

Presumably California would declare that they wouldn't comply with IRS investigations but those people would be vulnerable if they travel or have assets outside California

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[–] Skyrmir@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (4 children)

That's the problem California doesn't send taxes to the Federal government. People and businesses pay directly to the government. There's no mechanism to even stop it on a state level if a governor wanted to.

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[–] foggy@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago

No taxation without representation.

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[–] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 158 points 1 week ago (18 children)

If the federal government isn't going to give California back the federal taxes paid by its citizens then it should stop paying federal taxes.

[–] Tilgare@lemmy.world 67 points 1 week ago (5 children)
[–] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 40 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I'm going to be fucking shook if Gavin actually does it. So far, the only people I've seen him meaningfully stand up to are bay area NIMBYs and homeless people.

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[–] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

Taco Don doesn't understand how anything works.

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[–] who@feddit.org 71 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I don't know all the ins and outs of this, but somehow I doubt that Trump has as much financial leverage against the fourth largest economy in the world as he apparently thinks he does.

[–] Xaphanos@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Add NY, MA, AND NJ and you have a block that is on quite solid ground.

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[–] Eddbopkins@lemmy.world 59 points 1 week ago (1 children)

if state funding is being canceled, that state should leave the union. why be apart of the united states government if trump is dismantling and destroying the united states government.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (11 children)

The American thing to do is fight for America.

The people who want California to just leave are the ones who want to dismantle the country.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 35 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (9 children)

I’m Californian. The federal government, for my entire life, has just taken and taken and taken from me. I have received nothing in return. I don’t need your shitty union of thugs and mouth breathers, and I don’t need your bullshit military colonizing waste of time and money.

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Correct. But what you may have implied and got wrong is that this is somehow a bad idea. America is long overdue for a federal collapse. This cultural infighting is unsustainable.

As a new Yorker I am sick of having my tax dollars go to subsidize hicks in the deep south and Midwest that ultimately vote against my rights. I am more than happy to see the bridges that unite us burn because the concept of "unity" in a melting pot is a ticking time bomb, as it always has been.

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[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 55 points 1 week ago (4 children)

So Americans need to switch it off and on again. Gather up new founding fathers and mothers, write up a new constitution and declaration of independence - write up documents for a new federation between states...

Create a back up United States. Declare the old one null and void. Stop interacting with the old one. Start interacting with the new one.

Call all this something benign sounding. Try not to go to war about it. But yeah, you all need to switch this shit off and on again.

[–] Absaroka@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I agree. Time for a good old constitutional convention.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

I can't wait to be the United Coca-Cola States of Unilever America.

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 54 points 1 week ago

California should cancel state funding for the federal government.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 38 points 1 week ago

How about California cancelling paying federal taxes in turn? This would probably lead to a big loss for the federal budget, wouldn't it?

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 37 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If the Federal Government boycotts California, then California should close every Federal agency, prohibit all Federal employees from working, and confiscate all Federal property, then make it illegal to pay Federal income taxes in California. Instead, Federal income taxes will be collected by the state, and used to provide free health care and college for all California citizens.

They should also form a state pact with Oregon and Washington, then form an alliance with Canada and Mexico. That would surround about 3/4 of the USA

That would allow them to cut off MAGA access to the west coast ports, and charge exorbitant taxes and fees to get shipments from Asia, or be forced to ship them through the Panama Canal to the East Coast.

[–] slingstone@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (4 children)

The war that would result would be like nothing any of us have ever experienced, except for our veterans, perhaps, though they would never have had to fight their own people before. The only people who would truly know ahead of time what to expect would be those who came to this country from war-torn regions that had experienced civil war.

California is powerful economically, but do they have the military might to withstand the hell that the US Army can unleash? If other states join them, it'll be utter chaos, and who knows how it ends, but that might turn the tide for the rebels as the military would likely fracture as many might follow their states to the exit.

Aside from utter dissolution of the Union, the only way I can see California standing up to the USA would be to have a nuclear deterrent available immediately upon independence, which would likely mean seizing as many federal nuclear weapons as they could. Whether the California National Guard would be up to that is beyond my ken.

God help us all if Trump continues on this path.

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[–] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago (1 children)

He's still mad that Schwarzenegger took over The Celebrity Apprentice

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[–] ddplf@szmer.info 30 points 1 week ago (14 children)

Is California secession still a thing?

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 24 points 1 week ago

Sounds like is sure could be. Also sounds like the basis for a court case.

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[–] pleasegoaway@lemm.ee 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The University of California is the largest employer in the state.

In most other states, Walmart is the biggest employer.

Talk about giving higher education the middle finger!

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[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (5 children)

California should confiscate Trump National golf course.

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[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 25 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

anti-science funding. the threat to fascists states are usually intellectual and science so they are often the first to be persecuted before minorities are. most of the people in the industries are smart enough to leave the country before sht hits the fan.

[–] RabbitBBQ@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago (5 children)

The ICE raids are meant to cause the response we are seeing, and eventually an even more powerful response. The White House has already been throwing around the word insurrection, which implies the insurrection act. If the natural escalation that they expect takes place, it could create the conditions where the insurrection act can be invoked. Since the Federal level is under control of the Trump Administration, that leaves the National Guard, state police, county sheriffs, and local police departments. The only one of these capable of standing up to the Feds would be the National Guard. If things turn ugly over the next few weeks during continued raids in places like L.A., it could force the Governor to deploy the national guard given the numbers of people involved. Some of these communities are well armed and they are already fighting back. If the goal is to cause the conditions to invoke the insurrection act, it would take away the ablity of the California Governor to direct his national guard. They can be forced to follow the orders of the President, which is one of the reasons for using the Insurrection Act in the first place.

In a place like L.A., this leaves just the LAPD and Sherrifs department and they do not have the power to stop both the Feds and a national guard under White House control. L.A. seems to be heavily targeted by the Trump administration in many different ways. They are looking at bribery and corruption in many areas like LA Homeless Agency. The ICE raids targeted the Fashion District are meant as an economic attack, as many of those people worked in shops and factories. Other ICE raids targeted companies involved in agriculture. The Trump admin is also looking at other Federal funding to take away from California.

All of this combined could mean that the state Government, state and local police cannot protect these communities from what is being sent after them, partially as an overall form of economic warfare against California generally. You have the wildfire funds, the tariffs attacking the shipping areas of coastal California, and it's obvious that it is a well planned operation. Behind this too is a hostile DOJ and FBI, not to mention DHS, ICE, and everyone else. They are being hunted.

The State Government can't protect anyone either, they have been totally outmanuvered at every stage, because they are just coasting until 2026. The one advantage people have is their numbers. Peaceful protest is the way forward, it just takes a lot more people knowing about the raids and being present to protest them. If the Trump admin wants a Kent state or Tiananmen Square type situation on their hands, that will be on them...

[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 19 points 1 week ago (4 children)

"The takeover will be bloodless if the left allows it to be."

There's your choice, America.

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[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 week ago

And just like they did in Maine, California will sue him and win.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (2 children)

california doesnt even need federal funding. california funds everyone else.

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[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 week ago

Looks like a class action lawsuit involving the people of California and the Feds.

[–] tomkatt@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago
[–] LonstedBrowryBased@lemm.ee 16 points 1 week ago

Raging war on the greatest state within the country that he rules. What a fucking sack of shit.

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