'People will die': Dan Rather rails into Trump’s budget for ‘putting a noose around the US government'

Famed journalist Dan Rather on Thursday slammed Donald Trump’s 2018 budget proposal, calling it “cruel and unusual” and insisting it “confirms the worst existential fears” of those who are concerned about his presidency.

Trump proposed a $54 billion increase in defense spending, which is to be offset by massive cuts to funding for arts and sciences, including National Endowment for the Arts, the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In a Facebook post, Rather argued the philosophy put forth through the budget proposal will hurt the very people who voted for the president.

“If anyone had any doubt about the hollowness of his words, this philosophy is all the evidence one would need,” Rather said.

“This is a philosophy that doesn't believe in helping the poor, rural or urban, or the power of diplomacy or the importance of science,” Rather wrote. “It is a philosophy that doesn't want to protect the environment. It doesn't believe in the arts. This is about putting a noose around much of the United States federal government and hanging it until it shakes with life no more.”

Rather accused Trump’s philosophy of “[pounding] its chest with false bravado.”

“People will die because of this budget,” Rather 5said. “People will suffer. Diseases will spread, and cures will not be found (really? slash science research?) Our nation will be darker and more dangerous.”

Still, Rather found a silver lining in Trump’s proposal: “It will be a rallying cry for a reverse philosophy"

“Those who champion an empathetic America, an America prepared for the challenges of the modern world, will have plenty of evidence to point to,” Rather wrote.

“Mr. Trump's philosophy is an opening salvo in a battle for the soul of America that is only beginning,” he continued. “This will be a battle fought trench by trench. But I think it is winnable and America will reconfirm a governing philosophy that is hopeful, compassionate, and wise about the role of government in making our world a safer, fairer, and more just place to live.”

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