Key Point: “Trump, at a campaign stop an hour and a half south of her, had promised to make IVF free. … And she had believed him. She also believed him when he said that Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for the next Republican administration that suggested mass cuts to the federal workforce, was not his plan. So Cooper filled in the bubble next to his name, thinking of the daughter she wanted. … Getting fired [from the U.S. Forest Service] meant she would no longer have health insurance, including the 12 weeks of paid maternity leave that was a guaranteed benefit of her federal service. Also gone would be the promotion that would allow her to plan for the kids she so badly wanted to have.”

Washington Post: She hoped Trump’s victory would change her life, but not like this

By Emily Davies

• It was the second Thursday in February, and a historic White House purge aimed at federal workers like Cooper was sweeping the country. But the headlines felt far away from her life in rural mid-Michigan. She figured her job, with paychecks totaling about $40,000 a year, would be safe from the cost-cutting campaign led by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.

• Besides, motherhood was her most pressing concern. Cooper, 24, and her husband were trying to get pregnant, but the doctor said that IVF might be their best chance. Trump had promised to make it free. That is what she thought about in the voting booth.

• Now she was staring at her phone, learning that probationary workers in the Forest Service were the next to be fired by his administration. Cooper would likely be one of them, her union head told her.

• Getting fired meant she would no longer have health insurance, including the 12 weeks of paid maternity leave that was a guaranteed benefit of her federal service. Also gone would be the promotion that would allow her to plan for the kids she so badly wanted to have.

• Trump, at a campaign stop an hour and a half south of her, had promised to make IVF free. She knew that from a video clip she saw on TikTok. And she had believed him.

• She also believed him when he said that Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for the next Republican administration that suggested mass cuts to the federal workforce, was not his plan.

• So Cooper filled in the bubble next to his name, thinking of the daughter she wanted. She planned to name her Charlotte.

• Four days after Trump fired her, Cooper was in bed with her husband. She picked up her phone and saw the news.

• “Delivering on promises for American families,” read the White House’s announcement.
  
• “That’s bulls—”, she recalled thinking, and put down her phone.