Rep. Salud Carbajal on Thursday scoffed at Donald Trump’s attempt to pin the federal government shutdown on Democrats, pointing to the Republicans’ monopoly on power as he assailed the White House occupant as a “fascist.”
In an interview with Newsmakers TV, Santa Barbara’s man in Washington amplified his party’s central argument in the shutdown, now in its ninth day, saying that 10,000 people on the Central Coast would lose their health care if the Republican version of legislation to fund the government, which has stalled in the Senate, is passed.
Carbajal wielded his most scathing rhetoric to date as he also attacked Trump for provoking violence in Democratic cities through reckless and brutal immigration operations — and then dispatching military troops to quell protest and resistance activities that federal agents had themselves triggered — an overall strategy aimed at punishing his political enemies.
“We have an administration, a president, that is running amok, off the guardrails, and is outright acting like a fascist,” Carbajal told Newsmakers.
“He is fabricating emergencies and reasons to deploy our military in domestic settings, but the law is against it,” he added. “He is clearly establishing an environment of tension and provoking communities so that he could then say, ‘look, they’re really doing terrible things,’ although (protesters) are not doing in the states anything that (local) law enforcement cannot contain.”
Sounding the alarm
Carbajal is an innately cautious politician who began Trump’s term in January expressing confidence in the strength of Constitutional restraints, like checks and balances and the rule of law, to contain the excesses of the reality TV president. Now, however, he said he is “sounding the alarm” as Trump disregards and destroys every democratic norm that has governed the nation for 250 years.
“I had hoped that a lot of these things that we are seeing now with this president, extreme things, I really thought that they would not end up the way we are seeing,” the congressman said. “I had better hope for our institutions, for the courts. I had more optimism that this would not be transpiring.”
The unceasing and expanding aggression of Trump’s authoritarian project has led to a change, however.
“This is at a point where it’s extremely perilous,” Carbajal said in the interview. “Call me naive. I maybe was overly optimistic that we wouldn’t get to this point.”
“The more I think about it, he’s trying to create an environment where he can send the military out in the future and create a crisis, like in our upcoming (2026) elections,” he said. “I’m very, very alarmed that, being as unhinged as he is, he could do some really crazy stuff.
“So I’m sounding the alarm to all our citizens across the country, and here on the Central Coast — we have a president that is going amok and acting like a fascist,” Carbajal added. “And I’m very concerned for what the future holds for our country.”
Shutdown politics
On a party-line vote, Republicans last month used their slight majority in the House of Representatives to pass what is called a “continuing resolution” to keep the government operating, legislation that most often historically has been approved as a matter of routine.
But the measure has failed passage in the Senate. Republicans also narrowly control that chamber, but the legislation requires 60 votes; with only a few exceptions, Democrats have refused to vote for it, unless the GOP leadership agrees to amend it to protect federal health care subsidies for millions of people covered under Obamacare, which otherwise will end in December.
As a practical matter, the impasse so far has not directly affected the day-to-day lives of most Americans, although its impact has been felt most notably in long delays at a number of the nation’s airports, caused in part by the refusal of some air traffic controllers to work without pay.
Underpinning the conflict is Trump’s inveterate bad faith in dealing with any and all policy matters, most markedly in his disregard for the constitutional powers of Congress regarding the budget, and his repeated use of so-called “rescissions” to cancel carefully-negotiated fiscal packages, one part of his sweeping and ever-expanding drive to amass more and more power in the executive branch.
“Republicans control the White House, Republicans control the House of Representatives, Republicans control the Senate,” Carbajal said. “They are the ones who have the decisions, the ability and responsibility to keep this government open.
“They can’t seem to muster their votes, they can’t seem to muster themselves to be able to do this. And it seems that they need Democrat votes,” he added. “So the whole responsibility and burden of keeping the government opens falls on their shoulders.”
The crux of the fight: health care
The congressman said that, across the country, people insured under the Affordable Care Act already are receiving notices that their insurance costs will spike, because federal subsidies for Obamacare are about to expire.
Given that Republicans earlier passed a tax cut bill that cut Medicaid benefits for millions of people, Carbajal said that Democrats want the Obamacare subsidies continued as a condition of approving the continuing resolution.
“Medicaid has already been decimated (and) that’s going to result in 30,000 people on the Central Coast likely to lose their healthcare at this point,” he said. “We’re just saying, stop the erosion, stop the (health insurance) crisis from getting worse.
“We are saying you can’t let these (Affordable Care Act) tax credits and healthcare be taken away from more Americans,” he added. “You’ve done enough damage. You’ve already created a crisis for Americans. We are not going to allow you to continue doing that. You have to extend the tax credits. You can’t decimate healthcare for the American people.”
As a political matter, Carbajal said, refusing to approve legislation that would end the health insurance subsidies is an effective strategy for opposing at least some of Trump’s extremist right-wing agenda, at a time when Democrats are shut out of power in Washington.
“We have very, very limited leverage and this is the one-time leverage that we have,” he said, “and we need to focus on something that the American people are experiencing right now. They are getting (health insurance) notices, they’ve started getting notices right now.”
Who owns the shutdown
He believes that a majority of Americans blame Trump and his congressional allies for the shutdown, given that they hold all the power.
“I think if you look at public opinion, at least what I’ve seen, I think they’re blaming the Republicans,” Carbajal told us. “They are seeing an president that is unhinged with tariffs, tariffs that are raising prices for our farmers and our business people, taking healthcare away, and food assistance for the most vulnerable.
“They just see an erratic, dysfunctional, crazy person and his administration running amok,” he added. “They see this as them owning this shutdown. It’s their crisis that they’ve created. And I think Democrats are in a good place fighting for healthcare to stop from it being further decimated and taken away from more Americans.”
Check out our full interview with Rep. Salud Carbajal via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, or on Soundcloud here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 5 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
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Is Mark McIntire one of the resident MAGA trolls here? I’ve seen his unhinged rants on Ed’s and KEYT’s Facebook posts and always wondered if he was one of a few choice racists we have here?
Does it bother you that someone has a differing view?
Hitler had a differing view … it was legitimately a source of bother. But not for you.
Zips – no, but being a hard core racist isn’t a “different view,” it’s being a terrible person.
Dear Salud: The main headline on CNN.com today reads: “Government shutdown on track to extend into next week as White House says federal firings have begun”
Get to work. Make a deal. Continuing to play the Blame Game isn’t cutting it. Inaction is NOT action! Lastly, when you attend the “No Kings Day” on October 18th, just remember that “Reclaiming Democracy, Rejecting Authoritarianism” isn’t going to help those who have lost and will lose their jobs. Trump truly has the “keys to the kingdom.” Do s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g to stop the nightmare!
BEES – he and the other leaders of my party ARE doing something. They’re doing the slightest, tiniest bit they physically and legally can to stand up for ALL Americans, even cowards like you and liars like the MAGAts here: trying to protect your healthcare.
You should be on your knees thanking them for fighting with what very little leverage they have to protect ALL americans, whether they deserve it or not.
Why aren’t you calling on your party to accept the terms they keep proposing and YOUR SIDE keeps rejecting?
This is all in Trump’s hands. He is responsible for this and so are people like you.
Sacjon: “This is all in Trump’s hands.” EXACTLY what is meant by him being handed the “keys to the kingdom.” When someone says things like “your side” and “your party” and “you, you, you,” it comes across as trite finger-pointing negativity. Nothing against you or anyone else, but as the hands down most-prolific commenter on this board, it would be better to take a helpful approach (positive…yes, good) and not an unhelpful approach (negative…no, not good).
BEES – dream all you want, but we are not a unified country thanks to people like you who support what’s happening.
Did you not understand my comment? I DID take a helpful approach – I said your party should accept the Dems’ terms so we can get our government back open.
Why are you ignoring my solution just to complain about me pointing out that there are 2 sides to this problem?
Time to climb down out of fantasy land.
BeesKnees. Please just stop. You voted to repeal and replace Obamacare. Your team broke the ACA but did not replace it. There will be tens of thousands of Americans, Republican and Democrat, that will suffer 75% rate increases. Call Mike Johnson, he voted to recess and let it go another week to hide the administration’s involvement and cover up of the Epstein files. Democrat are showing their back bone, Republicans don’t have one.
GeneralTree:
1) You voted to repeal and replace Obamacare.
– Wrong and wrong.
2) Your team broke the ACA but did not replace it.
– True, but not “my” team (LOL)
3) There will be tens of thousands of Americans, Republican and Democrat, that will suffer 75% rate increases.
– True
4) Call Mike Johnson, he voted to recess and let it go another week….
– True
….to hide the administration’s involvement and cover up of the Epstein files.
– True, in part, but certainly the non-release of the complete files have created a diversion, which has cause many to not pay attention to what is going on. Epstein’s death was in 2019 (August)…you have to wonder why Biden did not release the files during the four years when he was large and in charge. Didn’t even leak any negative info on Trump… hmmmm… Makes me wonder why neither Biden or Trump did not and have not released them.
5) Democrat are showing their back bone…
– True, but they are also showing their backs to the country.
….Republicans don’t have one.
– Would not agree with that entirely, but will say that they certainly have made a mess of things.
BEES – “you have to wonder why Biden did not release the files during the four years when he was large and in charge.”
Just stop it. Anyone who cares about facts and actually cares about justice for child rapists (definitely not BASIC), knows that the court didn’t unseal them until Jan of 2024.
Biden couldn’t have done anything so just stop it. No one has to “wonder” anything unless they’re uninformed.
BeesKnees, per the usual, your arguments are mal formed and intellectually dishonest. Your president could do this now. But what is he hiding? His hand picked DOJ head said they’re were files then flip flopped. As did Trump’s hand picked FBI head. What is Trump hiding? Here are facts about what democrats did to gain information:
https://wassermanschultz.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3412
Sacjon/GeneralTree: Don’t fall for Trump’s diversion tactics. While he’s removing that small piece of lint from the front of your shirt he’s simultaneously removing your wallet, keys, cellphone, etc. from your pockets…and you didn’t even notice. Just remember the old P.T. Barnum saying and look in the mirror. With blind rage, people become completely irrational and forget everything they’ve learned. Do. Not. Fall. For. It. Each. And. Every. Time.
> While he’s removing that small piece of lint from the front of your shirt he’s simultaneously removing your wallet, keys, cellphone, etc. from your pockets…and you didn’t even notice.
We notice how extraordinarily intellectually dishonest you are to make this charge against us.
> you have to wonder why Biden did not release the files during the four years when he was large and in charge
I know you’re not MAGA (contrary to GT and sac) but you sure do repeat oft-refuted MAGA talking points. Those files were sealed under court order, dufus.
Marcel – Now do you know BeesOnKnees is not MAGA? All I see is someone very weak with the Force and really bad at MAGA mind tricks.
Let’s just say that the case wasn’t sealed and Biden didn’t go after Epstein because Bill Clinton was a frequent flyer on Epstein Airlines. He should have gone after the child molestation cabal and its customers- and it’s not too late.
No, Luke, let’s not just lie.
LUKE – Wait what? Your blaming Biden for not doing something he couldn’t have done because you made up a scenario where he could?
I might not have had my full cup of coffee yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s absurd.
“and it’s not too late?” WTF LOL? Yeah, it IS a little “late” for Biden to do something right now. Know why? Well, despite what Trump (and apparently many of his followers) thinks, HE IS PRESIDENT RIGHT NOW. Not Biden. Nope, Biden wasn’t to blame for Jan 6 and he sure as shift isn’t to blame for billionaire child rapists walking free and easy right now.
You guys need to grow up.
As usual “Bend those Knees!”
LOL, I go away for a while and come back and it’s the same ridiculous foolishness.
You don’t negotiate with terrorists. Someone wants to rob your house and punch you run the face you don’t respond with, “How about we make a deal and you just punch me in the face.”
Nah. See you in a month or so.
Of course BendsKnees stupidly and ignorantly tells Salud to bend the knee to Trump.
” isn’t going to help those who have lost and will lose their jobs”
Nor will bending the knee … it just emboldens the fascists.
“Do s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g to stop the nightmare!”
Tell that to the people of Russia, Hungary, and other authoritarian states. There was something people here could do: vote for the Democrats in 2016 and 2020. Too late now.
Salud is falling right into the Dem hole of calling people in a different political party FASCISTS, left and right. Good luck with that. It’s a bad play.
Remember the great Eagles song…”Desperado”? It’s a good one.
If it walks, talks, smells, and acts like a fascist regime, it’s a fascist regime.
Look up the definition. It fits perfectly.
And boy oh boy does fascism stink. Maybe that’s why they all wear masks? They can even stand the smell the $*1te they’re covered in?
Partisan clowns will say just about anything.
Certainly partisan clowns (Z. the pinhead literally wears a clown costume) of your persuasion will.
Democrats caused the shutdown. He just looks stupid suggesting otherwise.
ZIPs – who controls the entire government? Not the Democrats.
More importantly, who are the ones refusing to sign the Dem backed legislation to reopen the government? Hint: not the Democrats.
The pinhead lies as always.
Does it bother you that someone has a differing view?
https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/how-americans-feel-about-government-shutdown
Zippit – I claim you to be a Russian AI bot. Prove you’re not!
PRELIM – an AI bot would sound WAY more intelligent, even a Russian one.
Salud please quit calling ½ the country fascists. Name calling is divisive. We are one nation.
Hey MAX – you should read the article maybe. Salud never once said “half the country” is fascist. He is talking about the administration which is by textbook definition acting fascist. Look up the term if you don’t believe me.
Another thing, MAX – do you read/watch/listen to the news at all? You support a “man” who declared to our top military that we are at “war” with an “enemy within.” He has also declared “war” on blue cities. He has also called liberals “scum,” “parasites,” “vermin” and much worse in an effort to dehumanize his opposition (Democrats) much like another guy did about 85 years ago. You might remember learning about that guy.
So it’s rather funny to me to see you and others complain about “divisiveness” when you vote for, vocally support and mirror the racist, hateful and cruel language of America’s first and only dictator.
Funny how you never say this to Trump or any other Republican, Max.
Salud obviously didn’t grow up in Germany or Italy back in the War. But hey, he’s mouthing the party line. We’re used to it. Yawn….
Does your cool black uniform with the red and white accents still fit from those days?
If it were a Fascist regime, he would not be allowed to say so. Nor would any of you be able to negatively comment on it. Stop saying hateful claims which do not help, but inflame the political climate. Your causing violence.
CHUNT and BASIC – Fascism doesn’t start instantly with people being killed by the government for speaking out.
You two should learn elementary history. It’s insane how little you understand about what you talk about.
Chalf is saying that Obama didn’t institute Sharia law.
Some interesting numbers —
The ACA marketplaces cover about 7% of the total U.S. population (~7.6% of the insured). Of those enrollees, ~92–93% receive some subsidy; under the temporary ARP/IRA rules, the benchmark Silver plan is capped so people don’t pay more than 8.5% of income.
Medicaid: Covers ~17.6% of the population.
Everyone else: About 8% are uninsured; the remainder are covered through employer plans, Medicare, TRICARE/VA, or other sources.
Given that, I find it striking that the shutdown could hinge on subsidies for roughly 7% of Americans (those using the ACA and getting assistance).
Looking at the numbers, it may be more straightforward to expand Medicaid and wind down the ACA marketplaces—perhaps an extra bureaucracy we do not need.
CITIZEN – do you have cites for that 7% figure? Not sure that is accurate. Even if it is, that’s MILLIONS of Americans who will suffer. Is that acceptable? Not to me.
You all should be thanking leaders like Salud for standing up for you even if you don’t agree with his politics. That’s something the right doesn’t do.
Yes it is millions — 24.2M out of a population of 340.1M — 7%
Today a third of people on the ACA pay zero. Prior to the 2020 people using the ACA had to pay something.
When people pay 0 they often do not even cancel when they get something else like employer paid insurance.
To me the ACA looks like a good idea that has failed. We really need to address the issue of ever rising healthcare cost, not just more government subsidies. Yes, talking to Salud – Fix the problem do not just keep pouring money on it.
Having spent many years in the military, I think I have a good idea of what socialized medicine is like. It is not as good as what we have through private insurance but perhaps a good starting point that is more affordable.
Again, CITIZEN, cite?
From what I’ve seen it’s closer to 44 million.
Here you go — the government website
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/over-24-million-consumers-selected-affordable-health-coverage-aca-marketplace-2025?utm_source=chatgpt.com
@sacjon
You might not agree with me — but I do try to use facts. I might make mistakes from time to time and happy to be corrected when I do.
Another couple of fact –U.S. spends $13,432 in 2023/person/year vs average of other wealthy countries of $7,393 (about 2× as much). Switzerland was next-highest at ~$9,963.
The U.S. spends 17.6% of GDP in 2023. Most large Western European systems cluster around 10–12%; e.g., Germany ~12.7% with France, the UK, Netherlands, Sweden, etc., generally just over 10%.
This is the problem we need our representatives to solve. How do we reduce the cost of healthcare for all Americans?
Single payer. It’s what the civilized world does.
I’d support single-payer if it actually brought costs down—but we have a lot more work to do on cost control. Administrative outlays are about 7.6–8% of total U.S. health spending—roughly 2× the comparable-country average (~3.8%). Yet only about 0.5% of total spending is insurer profit; trimming that helps, but it won’t move us far toward reducing our overall spend from 17.6% of GDP to even Germany’s ~12.7%.
Drugs are the obvious lever: about 9.2% of U.S. health spending goes to retail prescriptions, and U.S. prices run roughly 3× peer OECD levels—yet we’ve struggled to enact meaningful across-the-board price reductions.
Switzerland shows you don’t need “socialized medicine” to spend less: it mandates private basic insurance with standardized benefits and regulated prices, and still lands well below U.S. costs.
The U.S. also spends a much larger share on inpatient/outpatient care (≈ 62% of total vs ~46% in peers). Many countries constrain high-ticket procedures—like joint replacements—through tighter appropriateness criteria, budgeting, and pricing.
Bottom line: we need targeted reforms across hospital prices, drug pricing, administrative complexity, and physician payments—with concrete laws and enforcement—to bend the cost curve, regardless of whether the coverage model is single-payer or multi-payer. Some of the items like limiting inpatient/outpatient care and the type of drugs you can get will not be popular but required to get our cost under control.
Can our representatives do the work here?
I should add that the drug “deals” Trump is striking with pharmaceutical companies aren’t sufficient. They mostly address cash prices paid directly by consumers, which leaves the bulk of spending untouched. It is more for show than cost savings, with savings expected to be minimal.
We need comprehensive price negotiation across all channels—Medicare, Medicaid, ACA marketplaces, private insurers, and military/veterans programs—so that every payer benefits from lower prices, not just people paying out of pocket.
So please stop call me a republican – I am Independent and will not blindly following any politician.
You are aware that insurance company profit does not capture all the money paid out to the company? Each company encompasses a huge bureaucracy. Those large expenses are duplicative, across multiple companies, and are immensely inefficient. Single payer solves those problems, and also provides excellent leverage to keep pharmaceutical prices down.
Yes, that is why I quoted total admin cost — but that includes health insurance, hospital, doctor office, government (medicare and medical, military). We are over about 4% including .5% profit compared to other counties but it pales in comparison to to drug and inpatient/outpatient cost.
I haven’t researched how much of the 4% health insurance admin (other than the .5% profit) or how much could be attributed to insurance companies. I am hopeful our government representatives will take on this task.
I have my own job.
Thanks for the cite.
I find your intellectual dishonesty striking.
Watched the video interview as long as I could. So much ranting and whining. That’s all you guys got? Good luck. Start working towards new policies libs. You out yourselves into a very tough spot. Salud, you need to rally your party to get its act together and stop being a whiner.
“Ranting and whining” coming from the biggest snowflake crybaby here LOL!
Of course you didn’t watch the video and you don’t know anything about what’s going on with this. This whole shutdown is “rallying the party” and us liberals are very happy with that. Someone is FINALLY doing something and taking the tiniest bit of leverage they have against a completely corrupt and hate-dominated MAGA Congress, USSC and White House to try to do something good for ALL Americans, even the pudding headed simpletons who are crying about watching us fight for America.
You may laugh, cry, and all around piss and moan about everything the “libs” do, but don’t forget the facts: We are fighting for your healthcare too.
The feelings and thought police man has arrived to be the arbiter of free speech. Please continue supporting RFK – that Tylenol and circumcision culture is the real dilemma in the country according to MAGAcrats. But let’s downplay affordable healthcare instead.
The gaslighting is pathetic and deplorable.
With your attention span, Dok, that must have been about four seconds worth.