Cruelty is the Point: Veterans are the latest target

By Mary K. Canales, PhD, RN

When Adam Serwer first coined the phrase, “the cruelty is the point” in 2018 during Trump 1.0, it was difficult to imagine that it could be applied to veterans, one of the most exalted groups of Americans across the political spectrum. Yet that is where we are in the first year of the new old regime. 

In March 2025, when the first set of cuts to the Veterans Administration (VA) were announced, I submitted a Letter to the Editor to two local papers in Western Wisconsin where I live. I expressed my outrage and provided a sample of the cuts’ negative consequences:

“…staff for the Veterans Crisis Line, which provides support and services to suicidal veterans, were fired. In VA hospitals, operating rooms were closed, the number of available intensive care unit beds were reduced, inpatient mental health facilities experienced cuts, and mammography appointments were canceled due to staffing shortages. Researchers conducting scientific studies on veterans’ health issues, including clinical trials to treat advanced cancers and test new drugs, were also abruptly dismissed…

…Congressman Van Orden is a veteran, serves on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and according to his staff I spoke with, utilizes VA services for his own health care… Yet when a former Veterans Affairs staff member reached out to him about his firing, Rep. Van Orden angrily messaged him directly on LinkedIn and defended the president rather than supporting the veteran”. 

Unfortunately, neither paper printed the letter. The assistant editor for one emailed me, requesting “sources for some of the content”, which, as a former academic, I immediately provided. When there was no response, I followed up to see if the editors required more sources—again, no response. It’s likely that while the VA cuts outlined were significant, and more than adequately sourced, my decision to include the congressman’s disgusting public reaction to the veteran who contacted him posed too much of a risk for the paper. Subsequently, as the VA was being decimated, my local newspaper was purposely limiting the information being shared with the community (my full letter appears at the end of the blog for those interested).

Now, 8 months later, severe cuts and policy changes continue within the VA, with the cruelty raised to new heights. In June, The Guardian reported that VA hospitals removed politics and marital status from guidelines protecting patients from discrimination as well as removing explicit protections for VA doctors and other medical staff based on their marital status, political party affiliation, and union activity. 

In August, the VA’s inspector general found the agency faced "severe" staffing shortages at all its hospitals. Then in September, active and former Veterans Affairs healthcare providers, including physicians, psychologists, therapists, and researchers, sent a letter to Congress outlining their “urgent concerns” about recent budget cuts and their effect on veterans’ health care across the U.S. 

According to Senator Richard Blumenthal’s statement, the healthcare professionals’ letter was the first time VA physicians have collectively warned about the negative impact of the Trump Administration’s workforce cuts. In the letter, physicians reported that budget cuts have resulted in an additional 30,000 lost positions in September- including doctors, nurses, and social workers- which are on top of the 17,000 positions cut between January and June, “damaging the lives of all veterans.” 

The providers’ letter further outlines how the administration’s proposed $12 billion cuts to the Veterans Health Administration’s direct care budget will exacerbate an already critical situation; the risk to VA research independence from administrative interference; and most shockingly to me as a nurse, how healthcare decisions are being influenced by politics rather than guided by clinicians and evidence. What does this say about the world we live in, where healthcare providers are compelled to directly reach out to Congress, warning that privatization efforts within the VA are shifting healthcare decisions away from clinical guidance and the best available evidence to politics? A cruel world indeed.

And now, amid the longest government shutdown on record, veterans will soon suffer more. Prior to the shutdown, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities reported that 1 in 4 veterans live in a household receiving food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and/or health coverage from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. These numbers are jarring yet not surprising when one realizes that, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 1.5 million veterans live in poverty. Now, with the shutdown entering its second month, and SNAP benefits having expired on November 1, 2025, especially vulnerable veterans’ groups will be disproportionately affected as we know food insecurity tends to be higher among veterans who are disabled (33.6 percent), unemployed (20.0 percent), and female working-age veterans (13.5 percent). 

While politicians across the political spectrum claim to support veterans, Republicans especially have lauded their commitment to them. Yet it is Republicans who control both Congressional houses and the Presidency; they have the power to end the shutdown, restore staffing levels, and provide veterans with the dignity they deserve. But when cruelty is the point, and power is wielded to harm rather than support, veterans become another group of Americans to suffer under the current regime. 

Dr. Canales' original Letter to the Editor that was rejected:

Congressman Van Orden, Please speak out for Veterans

As a nurse, daughter, and sister of veterans, I am very upset about the recent cuts, firings, and hiring freeze at the Veterans Administration (VA). These abrupt and indiscriminate acts are directly and indirectly affecting veterans’ care across the country, including WI. For example, staff for the Veterans Crisis Line, which provides support and services to suicidal veterans, were fired. In VA hospitals, operating rooms were closed, the number of available intensive care unit beds were reduced, inpatient mental health facilities experienced cuts, and mammography appointments were canceled due to staffing shortages. 

Researchers conducting scientific studies on veterans’ health issues, including clinical trials to treat advanced cancers and test new drugs, were also abruptly dismissed. These are only a small sampling of the detrimental effects of the actions taken by the Trump Administration in recent weeks. Another fall-out is that many-approximately 35%- of fired federal employees are veterans themselves, including at the VA. Congressman Van Orden is a veteran, serves on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and according to his staff I spoke with, utilizes VA services for his own health care. So why is he not speaking out against the cuts and firings? Why is he asking Musk to spare veterans when he, as a member of Congress, controls appropriations? 

His staff, in many of the calls and a recent visit I made to his Eau Claire office, assured me he supports veterans. Yet when a former Veterans Affairs staff member reached out to him about his firing, Rep. Van Orden angrily messaged him directly on LinkedIn and defended the president rather than supporting the veteran. So, when he does speak out, it’s to bully a fellow veteran rather than support him.  Actions speak louder than words and right now, his words mean little while his action and inaction harm veterans.