LAGNIAPPE: The Fraud Right in Front of Us

The letter I sent to my US senators and representative about the harm this administration could do to my family--and millions of others.

LAGNIAPPE (pronounced lan-ˈyap) is a Cajun French term that means “a little something extra,” such as a few more hush puppies on a fried shrimp platter or, in this case, a bonus essay.

This week, I sent a long letter to my elected officials in Congress about my disabled parents and how the administration’s proposed actions could hurt my family­—and millions of others.

Both of my parents have Parkinson’s disease. The cause of my mother’s condition is unknown—could be genetic (although no one on her side of the family ever showed signs of it) or environmental. My father served in Vietnam and, along with rescuing fellow soldiers from the line of fire, was ordered to spray Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant that killed trees and plants so the North Vietnamese had nowhere to hide. Since 2010, the US government has officially recognized the link between Agent Orange and Parkinson’s disease.

My parents’ care is expensive. As in, this is how a middle-class family goes broke in a few years expensive. (When I tell friends how much just my mother’s caregiver costs are, their jaws drop.) Before the current president returned for another term, I had an expectation of how long we could hold on, but now it’s like waiting for a multi-car train wreck.

Any cuts to benefits and services—or economic downturns—will make things more difficult and could be devastating depending on what gets hit. They rely on Social Security, my father’s VA disability compensation, and retirement savings to pay their expenses. They get support from several Veterans Affairs programs ranging from caregivers who help with my father’s personal needs to a small stipend for my mother’s care. My father gets his health care through the VA and Medicare. My mother is in a hospice program, paid by Medicare. At some point, we’ll probably need Medicaid to cover a nursing home.

So, while I watch my parents who I love struggle with horrible pain, physical disability, and cognitive decline, I worry how my siblings and I are going to take care of them if and when this administration’s actions cause even more disruption and outright harm.

What follows is how I closed my letter. The whole thing was likely skimmed then ignored by a staffer, but I said what I had to say in brazen support of my parents and the people in this country.

Justify this: “The fiscal year 2025 spending plan would likely lead to about $800 billion in cuts from Medicaid over the next decade, part of about $2 trillion in overall spending cuts to help pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts plus boosts in defense and border spending.”(11) That’s…madness.

There’s a billionaire—literally the world’s richest person­—whose net worth could pay my disabled parents’ annual expenses for 1.1 million years—bull-in-a-china-shopping through the Oval Office and federal buildings, supposedly cutting the fat here, eliminating the fraud there—and the real fraud is right in front of us.

FRAUD [noun] a: deceit, trickery. specifically : intentional perversion of truth

Nothing needs to be cut. Not federal employees, not programs, not benefits, not taxes.

To say otherwise is a lie. Cruel. Immoral. Depraved. Anti-human.

The solution is plain­. TAX THE WEALTHY. Unhoard the billions. It’s a mindf*** to argue against this when it’s so obvious.

The president does not have a mandate for what he’s trying to do. He received 49.81 percent of the popular vote out of 155 million ballots cast. About 89 million Americans—more than a third of the voting population­­—didn’t vote at all.(12)

Regardless of how many votes he received, YOU were elected to represent the people in your state. You have your own vote in Congress. If you have a conscience telling you that what’s happening is wrong and you care to do something about it, you can uphold your oath to the Constitution, stand up for your constituents, and find colleagues who’ll work to support and care for this nation’s people.

You’re paying attention. You can read the room, the one growing crowded with millions who know they deserve much better. My parents sure do. Please, do your job for them and the rest of us.

Sincerely,
Ronlyn Domingue

11.https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/02/25/medicaid-cuts-threaten-a-key-house-vote-on-trumps-agenda-today-heres-why-the-gop-is-divided/

12. https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-11-15/how-many-people-didnt-vote-in-the-2024-election#google_vignette; https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/2024