On Wednesday, November 12th, 2025, I attended a breakfast at the Hilton Hotel on County Line Road. It was sponsored by the Jackson Greater Chamber with Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde Smith being the keynote speaker.
In her speech, the Senator gave her perspective about how she thought the President has been doing and gave the President a glowing review. However, she did share that on one occasion when they disagreed, afterward, the President gave her a nice pair of earrings, which she was wearing and showed the audience. There was no opportunity offered for question and answer afterward. However, the Senator and her state director, Umesh Sanjanwala, lingered afterward and spoke with individuals, including myself.
Keep in mind, this was during the time when the President was withholding SNAP benefits from hungry Americans, the government was shut down, and the threat of skyrocketing ACA premiums was looming on the horizon for 22 million Americans (and still is). And although she did not discuss any of this, she did touch on the fact that our farmers are under stress because of the tariffs.
As an 18 year survivor and ongoing blood cancer patient, I expressed my concern to the Senator about the severe cuts that have been made to the NIH (National Institute of Health).
The NIH is a subdivision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services responsible for conducting and supporting medical research to improve public health. The agency funds and conducts research in various fields of biomedical science, including the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. It also provides training for researchers and disseminates health information to the public. It was established in 1887.
In 2025, the NIH has faced significant funding cuts, resulting in approximately $3 billion in unspent funds and the termination or freezing of over 3,800 research grants. These cuts have disrupted various fields of science, particularly affecting research related to health disparities, CANCER, and vaccine initiatives. Cancer research alone has been cut by 24%.
I also shared with the Senator that as a patient with an incurable blood cancer, my life literally depends on new drugs staying in the pipeline, which requires constant research being done by the world's top scientists/researchers, lots of money, and time.
So, I asked her, "WHY ON EARTH WOULD FUNDING BE CUT FOR CANCER RESEARCH?" To which the Senator replied, "the research is being done somewhere else." When I asked her and her director, Umesh,"where is it is being done?", I was told they did not know but would find out and let me know. I have since inquired of that information from Umesh and have gotten no response ...
So, let's see, the President, whom our Senator solidly supports, has cut funding for medical research and SNAP benefits (i.e. food assistance for the poor); does not support ACA healthcare premium subsidies for 22 million Americans, wants to eliminate FEMA and the Department Of Education, has decimated the CDC and FDA, stripped funding for PBS, and has gutted Medicaid which will cause the closure of eight rural Mississippi hospitals, once implemented, and eliminated funding for U.S.AID, which has since caused thousands of deaths. And as I write this, they have just announced the elimination of 35,000 jobs at the VA which will include doctors and nurses.
And oh yes, let's not forget about the insane cost bore by American consumers and businesses that were created by the President's tariffs. An AI search reveals that to date, Americans have paid an average of $2,400 more per household annually due to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. And because of these tariffs, China, has turned to Brazil for soybeans, leaving our farmers with no market for their crop. So, now the President has decided to use some of the money HIS tariffs sucked out of OUR pockets to pay our farmers for crops they could have sold to China. It is utter madness.
The President doled out a $20 billion dollar financial aid package to Argentina to help stabilize it's economy but just can't find the money to keep ACA healthcare premiums from spiking for average Americans.
All this begs the question, where is all of this money going that is being "saved"? I'll tell you where ... tax cuts for the rich. The very structure of our government is being destroyed so that American oligarchs can get even richer thanks to the President and cowardly republican members of congress. A foreign enemy of America could not have inflicted as much damage to our country as the President and those who support him have done in just 12 months.
Senator Hyde-Smith will be asking for your vote again when she runs for re-election in November 2026. If, after verifying for yourself, the partial list I've shown above, you still cast your vote for the Senator, then you too, are complicit in the destruction of our government and democracy. Make America Great Again? What a hoax.
When history is written about this period in America, it will be the most shameful, immoral, and corrupt chapter our nation has ever known.
Camille Wright is a Northsider.
