Bracing for the impact of Donald Trump's "big, beautiful" tax bill, state Senator Benjie Wimberly (D-35) says he hopes those wearing "rose colored glasses" when it comes to the President and his agenda finally wake up and come to their senses.

According to NJ Spotlight News:

"As now written, state officials said the bill would reduce federal funding for New Jersey’s Medicaid program by $3.6 billion — nearly one-quarter of the $14.9 billion the state expected to get from Washington, D.C. — for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Gov. Phil Murphy’s $58.3 billion proposed budget, which state lawmakers must pass before the end of June, allocates a total of $24.3 billion to Medicaid programs, which includes that $14.9 billion."

Wimberly described the impact of the bill - which passed the House and now goes to the United States Senate - as devastating.

"I was talking to one of my formers teachers at a baseball game," said Wimberly, a legendary football and baseball coach in his home city of Paterson. "He said, 'I'm retired and if they get rid of Medicaid, my bills will be enormous.' This would be devastating not just to New Jersey but America."

Wimberly said the courts must fight the bill.

He also said it's time for his friends across the aisle to stop making excuses for the President.

"These cuts will impact Republicans," the senator told InsiderNJ. "Programs like SNAP and Medicaid impact across the aisle. Hopefully Republicans getting screamed at by their constituents will get the message, but midterm elections are around the corner, and this is going to be an ongoing fight. They have to exercise some commonsense here, and recognize that for many people, the implications of this bill will be payments going from zero to thousands of dollars for healthcare."

Wimberly called on his fellow Democrats, too, to aggressively fight back against a presidential agenda articulated with all the zany urgency of the old Crazy Eddie commercials.

But this is no joke.

"We've pointed out this guy's failure as a businessman and husband, the indictments, but this is truly a wakeup call now," said the senator. "Too many folks have drunk the Kool-Aid and put aside character and commonsense.

"Come back to character," WImberly urged. "Come back to commonsense. This is no longer president but a cult leader. Moderate Republicans, come back to the middle of the road.  We're talking about cuts that will impact people in rural New Jersey, places that are beyond poor. Understand, this is going to kill my mom and my grandmom."

In addition, Wimberly's colleague, state Senator John McKeon (D-27) issued an editorial challenge to Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Jack Ciattarelli on the Trump cuts.

From McKeon's NorthJersey.com piece:

"What this means for our state is starting to become clear: $3.6 billion in federal funding for NJ FamilyCare lost every year, and at least 360,000 people kicked off their coverage. And that might be just the beginning: NJ FamilyCare insures 1.8 million New Jersey residents.

"That’s what Trump has been up to lately. That, and endorsing Jack Ciattarelli to be our next governor; the same Ciattarelli who 'now says he is full-blown MAGA.'”