The Conversation -- May 22, 2025
Marie: I should have linked this earlier. Kimmel does a nice job knocking Trump. Especially apt: when Trump complained that NBC News was fake news because Peter Alexander interrupted Trump while Trump was spouting fake stories about South Africa: ~~~
Michael Schmidt & Michael Bender of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Thursday halted Harvard University's ability to enroll international students, taking aim at a crucial funding source for the nation's oldest and wealthiest college in a major escalation in the administration's efforts to pressure the elite school to fall in line with the president's agenda. The administration notified Harvard about the decision after a back-and-forth in recent days over the legality of a sprawling records request as part of the Department of Homeland Security's investigation.... The latest move is likely to prompt a second legal challenge from Harvard...." MB: This is pure harassment. Not only that, the letter comes from Kristi Noem, who should be begging Harvard to let her audit a Constitutional law class instead of badgering the university.
Michael Bender of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday blocked ... [Donald] Trump's executive order aimed at dismantling the Education Department and ordered officials to reinstate thousands of fired employees in a ruling that marked at least a temporary setback for the president.... The decision from Judge Myong J. Joun of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts was a preliminary injunction.... The injunction was requested by a pair of school districts in Massachusetts, the American Federation of Teachers and 21 Democratic state attorneys general who sued Mr. Trump in March to block his executive order and reverse a massive round of layoffs. Judge Joun agreed with their argument that the actions equated to an illegal shutdown of the agency, which only Congress can abolish. 'The record abundantly reveals that defendants' true intention is to effectively dismantle the department without an authorizing statute,' Judge Joun wrote in his order."
Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "The Senate voted Thursday to block California from enforcing a rule that would ban sales of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035, a move that could have far-reaching implications for auto sales in a dozen states. The vote marks Republicans' latest effort to curtail state-level efforts to tackle climate change, even as ... Donald Trump and congressional leaders have empowered states to set their own education policies and abortion laws.... The House already passed the [auto] resolution, which now heads to Trump, who has indicated he will sign the measure into law."
Fatima Hussein & Alan Suderman of the AP: "The U.S. Mint has made its final order of penny blanks and plans to stop producing the coin when those run out, a Treasury Department official confirmed Thursday. This move comes as the cost of making pennies has increased markedly, by upward of 20% in 2024, according to the Treasury. By stopping the penny's production, the Treasury expects an immediate annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the news. In February..., Donald Trump announced that he had ordered his administration to cease production of the 1-cent coin.... Jay Zagorsky [of] Boston University said that while he supports the move to end penny production, Congress must include language in any proposed legislation to require rounding up in pricing, which will eliminate the demand for pennies."
Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "A divided Supreme Court rejected a plan on Thursday to allow Oklahoma to use government money to run the nation's first religious charter school, which would teach a curriculum infused by Catholic doctrine. The court split 4 to 4 over the Oklahoma plan, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing herself from the case, and the decision provided no reasoning. That deadlock means that an earlier ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court will be allowed to stand. The state court blocked a proposal for the Oklahoma school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which was to be operated by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, and aimed to incorporate Catholic teachings into every aspect of its activities. Because there was no majority in the case, the court's decision sets no nationwide precedent on the larger question of whether the First Amendment permits states to sponsor and finance religious charter schools, which are public schools with substantial autonomy.... Legal experts speculated that the 4-to-4 tie likely resulted from the chief justice joining Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson." Thanks to Ken W. for the heads-up.
Risky Business. Colby Smith & Joe Rennison of the New York Times: "The market for U.S. government bonds, the bedrock of the global financial system, continued to shudder on Thursday, as ... [Donald] Trump's bill to extend expensive tax cuts and create new ones without significantly slashing spending passed through the House of Representatives. The bill has unnerved investors, deepening worries that the country's debt is becoming unmanageable. Yields on U.S. bonds, which underpin consumer and business interest rates around the world, from mortgages to corporate loans, have been rising in recent weeks. Yields rise as prices fall, and the higher the yields, the more risk investors perceive in to lending to the government." ~~~
~~~ Marie: So after Trump imposed irresponsible tariffs, he strongarmed House Republicans into passing an irresponsible budget bill (which, admittedly, they always do), thus proving Trump is bad for business in nearly every way a country's "leader" can be bad for business. But I expect businesspeople will get over reality soon and go back to believing that the anti-regulatory party is their friend.
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Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Two young Israeli Embassy aides were shot and killed outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington on Wednesday night by a man who shouted pro-Palestinian slogans after he was detained, according to law enforcement officials. The close-range shooting occurred shortly after 9 p.m. on a street outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting a reception for young diplomats. The area is the heart of official Washington, packed with federal buildings, embassies and museums. The Capitol, the F.B.I.'s Washington field office and the headquarters of the Justice Department are all near the museum. The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, was detained shortly after the shooting and there was no ongoing threat to public safety, law enforcement officials said. Pamela A. Smith, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters at a news conference that Mr. Rodriguez exclaimed, 'Free, free Palestine,' after he was in custody." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's story is here. The AP report is here.
Marie: I know Trump and his GOP sycophants are destroying this country in what is the Great American Tragedy, not unimagined and certainly foretold in world history. Still, our great tragedy is playing out in such buffoonish displays (as no doubt earlier ones did, too) that it can seem more like comedy than tragedy. Just yesterday, our thoroughly racist president* -- one who aspires to an orange hue but is pasty-whitey-white -- showed off his racism in an Oval Office extravaganza complete with a video show-and-tell -- which he narrated -- and printed exhibits full of false claims of black-on-white persecution in the country whose president he was hosting. At the same event, our thoroughly corrupt president* admitted -- without shame -- that he was accepting a multi-million-dollar bribe from the leaders of another country.
Trump Uses Oval Office to Embarrass U.S. Again. Erica Green & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "In an astonishing confrontation in the Oval Office on Wednesday..., [Donald] Trump lectured President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa with false claims about a genocide against white Afrikaner farmers, even dimming the lights to show what he said was video evidence of their persecution.... By the end, with the stunned South African president looking on, Mr. Trump began flipping through a stack of papers, apparently showing white victims of violence in South Africa: 'Death, death, death,' he said. The meeting had been expected to be tense, given that Mr. Trump has suspended all aid to the country and created an exception to his refugee ban for Afrikaners, fast-tracking their path to citizenship even as he keeps thousands of other people out. But the meeting quickly became a stark demonstration of Mr. Trump's belief that the world has aligned against white people, and that Black people and minorities have received preferential treatment. In the case of South Africa, that belief has ballooned into claims of genocide.... The meeting with Mr. Ramaphosa on Wednesday was also striking because of the ways in which Mr. Trump dismissed attempts to push back on his fringe claims by those who knew most about them." The NBC News story is here. Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Riley Mellen & Eric Toler of the New York Times: "In a White House meeting on Wednesday..., [Donald] Trump showed President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa a social media video of a rural road lined with white crosses and hundreds of vehicles. Mr. Trump told Mr. Ramaphosa that the footage showed 'burial sites' of 'over 1,000' white farmers in South Africa. A New York Times analysis found that the footage instead showed a memorial procession on Sept. 5, 2020, near Newcastle, South Africa. The event, according to a local news website, was for a white farming couple in the area who the police said had been murdered in late August of that year. The crosses were planted in the days ahead of the event and were later removed. The misrepresentation of the footage took place during a stunning meeting in which Mr. Trump made false claims about a genocide against white farmers.... As the clip played, Mr. Trump said: 'These are burial sites right here. Burial sites. Over a thousand of white farmers.'
"Contrary to Mr. Trump's statements, the crosses are not gravesites for farmers and were not permanently placed along the road. Footage posted to social media before the remembrance event, in early September 2020, shows people setting up the white crosses, and Google Street View images from 2023 indicate they have since been taken down.... South Africa has an exceptionally high murder rate, but police statistics do not show that white South Africans or farmers are more vulnerable to violent crime than other people.... Elon Musk -- who is originally from South Africa and is one of Mr. Trump's advisers [MB: and was at the Oval Office meeting yesterday] -- had posted the video on the social media site X at least twice before today's meeting." ~~~
~~~ Bill McCarthy of AFP: "... Donald Trump brandished a stack of printed articles at the White House Wednesday that he claimed documented a genocide taking place against white people in South Africa. Mixed into the deck of papers he unveiled before South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa, however, was a months-old blog post featuring a photo from the Democratic Republic of Congo.... [Trump] held up a February article about tribalism in Africa from a little-known [MB: right-wing] website called 'American Thinker.' It featured a blown-up image showing Red Cross workers in protective gear handling body bags. 'Look, here's burial sites all over the place,' said Trump. 'These are all white farmers that are being buried.' But the image is a screengrab from a February YouTube video of Red Cross workers responding after women were raped and burned alive during a mass jailbreak in the Congolese city of Goma, according to its caption." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ At the end of yesterday's thread, RAS expressed continued amazement at Trump's stupidity (and his staff's): "[Trump is] literally showing pictures with captions from another country while complaining of made up white people problems in a country he probably cannot pick out on a map, even though it is all there in the name." ~~~
~~~ Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "In the Oval Office on Wednesday..., [Donald] Trump positioned himself as the savior of white South Africans. Sitting alongside Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, Mr. Trump said white people were 'being executed.' He referred over and over again to 'dead white people.' He dressed down Mr. Ramaphosa, who helped his country cast off the racist policies of apartheid, and questioned why he was not doing more when white people were being killed. 'I don't know how you explain that,' Mr. Trump said. 'How do you explain that?' The American president was not much interested in the answer, which is that police statistics do not show that white people are more vulnerable to violent crime than other people in South Africa. The confrontation provided a vivid demonstration of Mr. Trump's views on race, which have animated his political life going back years. After rising to power in part by framing himself as a protector of white America, Mr. Trump has used his platform, in this case the Oval Office, to elevate claims of white grievance. or Mr. Trump, white people are the true victims; Black people and minorities have received an unfair advantage in the United States. And when Mr. Trump looks to South Africa, a majority-Black country emerging from a legacy of apartheid and colonialism, he sees white people who need sanctuary in the United States." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Kudos to Kanno-Youngs for writing this article and to the NYT editors for publishing it. ~~~
~~~ Gaya Gupta of the Washington Post provides a brief historical account of the situation for White farmers in South Africa.
⭐Eric Lipton & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The United States has accepted a 747 jetliner as a gift from the government of Qatar, and the Air Force has been asked to figure out a way to rapidly upgrade it so it can be put into use as a new Air Force One for ... [Donald] Trump, a Defense Department spokesman confirmed Wednesday.... The plane, which industry executives estimated is worth about $200 million, will require extensive work before it can be considered secure enough to carry Mr. Trump, Pentagon officials have acknowledged.... Maintaining the staff and equipment for three planes [-- i.e., this gift-bribe plane plus the two currently used as AF1] is extraordinarily expensive, an estimated $135 million a year for each plane, according to the Pentagon. And it could cost $1 billion or more to retrofit the Qatari plane to get it ready for use as Air Force One, a process that former Air Force officials said could take longer than finishing the job Boeing is already doing to deliver the replacements for the current two planes....
"Congress typically reviews and approves spending on any new major Pentagon programs.... The Senate majority leader, John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, said this month that Congress would be asking questions about any possible use of the Qatari plane as Air Force One.... Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic minority leader, tried and failed on Wednesday to pass a bill in the Senate that would ban the use of a foreign jet as Air Force One. 'This is about ensuring our national security, and about not wasting taxpayer dollars on an utterly senseless deal,' Mr. Schumer said, calling the deal 'the largest foreign bribe in modern history.'... Congress has not yet taken any formal vote to accept the plane as a gift from Qatar. The Constitution requires that Congress sign off on any large gift to the president" The CBS News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Besides all the other excellent reasons not to accept this gift-bribe, I find it damned embarrassing that in a mere four months we have gone from being a powerful nation to one that is so poor and needy it has to go begging to a postage-stamp-sized country to please, please give us an old hand-me-down plane so our stupid, philistine president* can ride the friendly skies in one he thinks is fancier than the old junkers he already has.
Gibberish Deleted: White House Removes Trump Transcripts. Peter Nicholas, et al., of NBC News: "The White House has removed official transcripts of ... Donald Trump's public remarks from its government website, replacing them with selected videos of his public appearances. As recently as Sunday, transcripts of Trump's speeches and comments were still showing up in the 'Remarks' section of WhiteHouse.gov. The next day, they were gone.... The only transcript appearing now is of Trump's inaugural address on Jan. 20. Government stenographers are still recording and transcribing Trump's remarks, a White House official said. But in an internal policy change in recent days, the White House took down the transcripts in favor of audio and video of his appearances.... Though some videos of Trump's appearances are available on the White House's website, many are not.... This month, the White House website has posted [video of] ... less [fewer!] than half of the Q&A sessions with the media and other events Trump has participated in so far.... The real motivation may be that Trump's frequent digressions -- which he calls 'the weave' -- can come off as gibberish in written form, critics said.... Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance's office continues to make public transcripts of his remarks, sending them out to the media."
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "It's fitting that a political movement whose slogan is the backward-looking 'Make America Great Again' -- and whose tribune, Donald Trump, appears to live in an eternal 1990 of his own mind -- is waging war on the American future. This war has four theaters of conflict.... [1] Trump is waging war on constitutional government, with a full-spectrum attack on the idea of the United States as a nation of laws and not men....[2] The MAGA movement is waging war on the nation's economic future, rejecting two generations of integration and interdependency with the rest of the world in favor of American autarky.... [3] The White House is also fighting a pitched battle against a sustainable climate future.... [4] [The movement is] an assault on the nation's capacity to produce scientific, technological and medical breakthroughs." Looks like a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Thom Hartmann argues that governments, for better or for worse, are moral projects and that the U.S. government was formed to ensure certain moral principles. Today's Republicans have tossed that moral framework and replaced with the sort of "illiberal democracy" of dictatorships. Thanks to RAS for the link.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. More Media Self-Censorship. Carl Gibson of AlterNet, republished in the Raw Story: "Hosts for one of the most-watched daytime news shows were recently asked to back off from criticizing ... Donald Trump, according to a new report. The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that both ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic and Disney CEO Bob Iger communicated to the hosts of 'The View' that their political coverage should be toned down in favor of softer, more celebrity-focused segments. The Beast cited unnamed sources who confided that the hosts didn't take kindly to the suggestion, with co-host Ana Navarro pointing out that a major sector of their audience watches them for political analysis."
Marie: Yesterday I posted video of Rep. Jamie Raskin's rant on the arrest of Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.). Thanks to Patrick for the link. Hearing Raskin's takedown of the arrest is well-worth your time.
Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Boston said on Wednesday that the Trump administration had violated an order he issued last month barring officials from deporting people to countries not their own without first giving them sufficient time to object. The finding by the judge, Brian E. Murphy, was one of the strongest judicial rebukes the administration has faced so far in a series of contentious cases arising from its sprawling deportation agenda. It was not immediately clear what punishment, if any, Judge Murphy intended to mete out..., but he asked for a list of names of everyone involved so he can notify them that they might all face criminal contempt penalties. The judge's decision came at a hearing in Federal District Court in Boston to consider an emergency motion filed by lawyers for a group of men who they said were deported after being told they were being sent to South Sudan.... While much of the discussion at the court hearing took place under seal, Judge Murphy said that the government had given the deported men little more than 24 hours' notice that they were being removed from the United States -- a time frame that he described as 'plainly insufficient.'" Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Ry Rivard of Politico: "The 'hasty arrest' and swift dismissal of a trespassing charge against Mayor Ras Baraka 'suggests a worrisome misstep' by interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, a federal judge said Wednesday afternoon. U.S. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa granted what he called the 'embarrassing retraction' of the misdemeanor charge following a May 9 incident at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark that unfolded in a tussle between federal authorities and three members of Congress and resulted in the arrest of the city's Democratic mayor, who is also running for governor.... 'Your office must operate with a higher standard than that,' he said." The Washington Post's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Cruelty Is the Point. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "On Wednesday evening, hours before the latest immigration hearing in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, the Trump administration was in the midst of pitched battle to prevent Mr. Khalil from holding his 1-month-old son.... On Wednesday, a New Jersey judge, Michael E. Farbiarz, ordered the administration to allow Mr. Khalil to hold a single joint meeting with his wife and his lawyers. But it was unclear whether the judge's order would permit Mr. Khalil to meet his son, given Trump officials' reluctance to allow such a visit. 'Granting Khalil this relief of family visitation would effectively grant him a privilege that no other detainee receives,' Justice Department officials wrote in a court filing on Wednesday. 'Allowing Dr. Abdalla and a newborn to attend a legal meeting would turn a legal visitation into a family one.'"
Backstory: the Official Trumpy CYA Lies about Abrego Garcia. Hamed Aleaziz & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The Trump administration had deported a Maryland man named Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador, even though a judge had issued a ruling expressly prohibiting that from happening. But ... the news ... set off a dayslong scramble and clashes among officials in three different agencies over how to deal with what everyone knew had been an error. As it became clear that keeping it quiet was not an option, D.H.S. officials floated a series of ideas to control the story that raised alarms among Justice Department lawyers on the case.... D.H.S. officials discussed trying to portray Mr. Abrego Garcia as a 'leader' of the violent street gang MS-13, even though they could find no evidence to support the claim. They considered ways to nullify the original order that barred his deportation to El Salvador. They sought to downplay the danger he might face in one of that country's most notorious prisons. And in the end, a senior Justice Department lawyer, Erez Reuveni, who counseled bringing Mr. Abrego Garcia back to the United States, was fired for what Attorney General Pam Bondi said was a failure to 'zealously advocate on behalf of the United States.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Cabinet officlals are still lying; they are lying and being defiant under oath and in other public statements. Memos the Times found prove these officials planned the lies. Whether they're stupid like Kristi Noem or cunning like Marco Rubio, they know their public statements are propaganda, not facts.
Nick Judin of the Mississippi Free Press: Kasper Eriksen, an immigrant from Denmark who is a husband and father of four American-born children, went to an immigration office meeting last month to finalize his application for U.S. citizenship. Instead, officials detained him and sent him to the LaSalle Detention Center, in Jena, Louisiana. Eriksen has no criminal record and is not suspected of any criminal behavior. As far as he can tell, he has been slated for deportation because ten years ago, he failed to fill out one required immigration form. "He corresponded with immigration officials numerous times over the next 10 years, and says agents never warned him that a critical document was missing." For instance, he received a message dated Sept. 12, 2024: "We are actively reviewing your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization.... Our records showed nothing is outstanding at this time." Judin writes, "Though stories like Kasper Eriksen's may make up a significant portion of new growth in detentions, they bear little resemblance to the horror stories of criminal invaders that the Trump administration has pushed to justify its crackdown on immigrants." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm confused by Judin's reporting, but it seems Eriksen has been in the U.S. for at least 16 years, and possibly two decades. I guess we're meant to be delighted that among its thousands of detainees, ICE found a Nordic fellow to deport.
Ashley Wu & Albert Sun of the New York Times: "The Trump administration has taken a flurry of actions to drive up deportation numbers as part of its large-scale immigration crackdown. These efforts include expanding the group of people who can be targeted for removal, speeding up the deportation process for others and, in some cases, tightening the rules for legal immigrants. Below is an explanation of those efforts and an accounting of the millions of immigrants who may be affected." This is a gift link. MB: Trump doesn't just want to take the U.S. back in time; he wants to take it to another place: like Nazi Germany. If you don't belong to the master race, get out! If you don't worship him, get out! (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ And if the cops profile you, or arrest you without cause, or beat up on you, or kill you -- tough! ~~~
~~~ Jacey Fortin, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration moved on Wednesday to scrap proposed agreements for federal oversight of police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville, Ky., as part of a broader abandonment of efforts by previous administrations to overhaul local law enforcement across the United States. Justice Department officials said they planned to drop cases filed after incidents of police violence against Black people in Minneapolis and Louisville, and to close investigations into departments in Memphis; Phoenix; Oklahoma City; Trenton, N.J.; and Mount Vernon, N.Y., as well as a case against the Louisiana State Police. In those cities and states, Justice Department officials said, they were retracting Biden-era findings that police departments had violated the constitutional rights of residents and were declaring those findings to be misguided." (Also linked yesterday.)
We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed -- for President Trump, thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land. -- Christian Evangelical Pastor Brooks Potteiger, at a Pentagon prayer service ~~~
~~~ John Ismay of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led a Christian prayer service in the Pentagon's auditorium on Wednesday morning, during working hours, in which ... [Donald] Trump was praised as a divinely appointed leader. The event, billed as the 'Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer & Worship Service,' was standing room only and ran for about 30 minutes, with Brooks Potteiger, the pastor of Mr. Hegseth's church in Tennessee, as the main speaker. Mr. Hegseth said he intended that the prayer service become a monthly event.... The service is part of an increasing infusion of overt Christian evangelization in official government events during Mr. Trump's second term.... Mr. Trump has long dismissed concerns that his words and actions as president may violate the First Amendment's prohibition of establishing a state religion."
Sarah Ellison & Clara Morse of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk ... is shifting away from his strong political advocacy and deep government involvement to return to his role as a tech evangelist for his businesses. That shift has been forecast in Musk's social media activity on X over the past three months, according to a Washington Post analysis. Since he purchased the platform ... in October 2022, Musk has used it as an idea generator and a bully pulpit for his views on MAGA politics, government policy and Donald Trump. Now that he has pulled back from his full-time government role, Musk posts about space travel, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence. He rarely mentions Trump." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm not sure how voluntary Elon's departure from Washington was. As a special government employee (SGE), he was required by law to get outta DOGE after 130 days, but this is not an administration that puts any truck in laws that don't suit them. He could have stayed, IMO, if Trump had wanted him to. Michael Scherer & Ashley Parker, now of the Atlantic, claim that Trump is still fond of Elon, but they begin their article with "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" -- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's exclamation to Elon within earshot of the Oval. This seems to be a sentiment other Trump Cabinet members share, according to the writers. Musk's DOGE cuts were not only unpopular with department leaders, they were remarkably underwhelming and careless. Read Scherer & Parker's Atlantic article via this gift link from laura h.
⭐Breaking at 7:00 am ET. Mike Can Count. Jacob Bogage, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Republicans approved ... Donald Trump's sprawling tax and immigration agenda Thursday morning, sending to the Senate legislation that the GOP hopes will transform the federal government and the economy and power the White House's drive to deport immigrants and build up the military.... The legislation ... passed 215-214-1.... The final vote came just before 7 a.m. Thursday, wrapping up a more than 24-hour session that started in committee at 1 a.m. Wednesday.... The House legislation ... was a product of Trump's creation -- and execution. Many of the proposals were ripped directly from the president's campaign rallies.... And when the legislation on numerous occasions appeared doomed because of Republican divisions, Trump himself stepped in as the closer.... Republicans are attempting to pass the measure through what is known as the budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to bypass a Democratic Senate filibuster. But that maneuver comes with its own complicated rules that could still threaten the bill's path to becoming law." Politico's report is here. ~~~
~~~ In the Middle of the Night. Catie Edmondson & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "The House voted early Thursday morning to begin debating Republicans' sweeping domestic policy bill, as party leaders raced to unify their fractious ranks and lock down enough votes to pass the main elements of ... [Donald] Trump's agenda over unified Democratic opposition. Speaker Mike Johnson and his deputies waged an intensive effort to win over holdouts with concessions and a final pressure campaign by Mr. Trump. But several G.O.P. lawmakers were still expressing dissatisfaction with the sprawling tax and spending cut package ahead of a vote expected around dawn.... Mr. Johnson ... spent Wednesday evening briefing lawmakers on a list of changes he had negotiated with a wide spectrum of [GOP] factions.... They included speeding up new work requirements for Medicaid, increasing the state and local tax deduction, expanding a rollback of clean energy tax credits created by the Biden administration in the Inflation Reduction Act, and providing additional money to reimburse states for immigration enforcement efforts....
"The legislation is projected to cause around 10 million Americans to become uninsured, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.... In a preliminary analysis of an earlier version of the bill, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the legislation would add roughly $2.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade. In a separate analysis requested by Democrats, the budget office found that the legislation would leave the poorest Americans worse off while providing a lift to the richest." ~~~
~~~ Marie: AND, as Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, told Chris Hayes, the CBO reported late yesterday that because the legislation so drastically raises the federal deficit, by law it would also force a $500BB cut to Medicare. "That represents the biggest cut to Medicare in ... history on top of what we already knew was in the bill, and that is the biggest cuts to Medicaid in history as well as substantial cuts to the Affordable Care Act," Boyle said. The effects of the Medicare cut, he said, would be felt beginning next year, but he did not explain how those cuts would affect individual Medicare recipients. Trump promised again and again during his campaign that he wouldn't sign a bill that would cut Medicare. Well, his Big, Beautiful Bill will do just that ~~~
~~~ Update. Jacob Bogage & Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump and congressional Republicans' mammoth tax and immigration bill would add so much to the national debt that it could force nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare beginning in 2026, Congress's nonpartisan bookkeeper reported late Tuesday. Trump and the GOP's budget reconciliation package ... would add $2.3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office projected, forcing budget officials to mandate across-the-board spending cuts over that window that would hit the federal health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities. When legislation significantly adds to the national debt, which already exceeds $36.2 trillion, it triggers 'sequestration,' or compulsory budgetary reductions." The Hill's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The reporters conflate the national debt with the national deficit -- they are not the same thing -- so it isn't clear which measure is applied to trigger Medicare cuts. Based on this explanation of the 2010 PAYGO law, it's the deficit, not the debt -- though adding to the debt increases the deficit. Got that? BTW, if you're concerned about Medicare cuts, you may wonder about Social Security. By law, Social Security is exempt from the mandatory cuts. ~~~
~~~ One Big Suck-up Bill. Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Republicans made a last-minute change to the $1,000-per-baby MAGA Accounts in their sweeping tax bill: Calling them 'Trump Accounts' instead.... It's the latest in a series of attempts by congressional Republicans to display their loyalty to the president through legislation.... House Republicans have introduced bills to put Trump on the $100 bill, rename Dulles International Airport after him and allow him to run for a third term. Republicans have also pushed to codify his proposed land-grabs with bills allowing him to negotiate the purchases of Greenland and the Panama Canal. One proposed renaming Greenland to 'Red, White and Blueland.'... House Republicans tucked the renaming into an 11th-hour amendment to their 'One, Big Beautiful Bill' -- a hulking fiscal package to extend the Trump tax cuts and cut $1.5 trillion in spending."
Here is the Washington Post's obituary for Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who died today. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jenna Portnoy, et al., of the Washington Post: "Friends and colleagues mourned Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia) on Wednesday, remembering the 75-year-old Democrat as a steward of civic improvements in Fairfax County and a fiery champion of federal workers.... Members held a moment of silence in the House Rules Committee on Wednesday and later renamed the Esophageal Cancer Awareness Act in his memory. In doing so, Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (Massachusetts), acting as the leading Democrat in Oversight, called Connolly 'the epitome of a public servant' with more federal employees in his district than any other.... Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who according to Virginia state law can call a special election to fill the congressional vacancy, did not share a timeline for the election. He must give candidates at least 60 days to prepare, or he could schedule an election to coincide with the gubernatorial race in November."
Marie: Thank you to those who responded to my inquiry yesterday about whether what I thought were gift links to NYT articles actually worked. Those who responded said the links did work. I'll still write "looks like a gift link" if it isn't one coming directly from me, but I'm glad to know they seem to be giving readers access to some firewalled articles.
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Missouri. Mark Walker of the New York Times: "... before a tornado descended on St. Louis ... -- killing five people and injuring dozens -- ... the city's sirens ... were never activated by the City Emergency Management Agency, and a backup to activate the mechanism that is operated by the Fire Department was broken. Mayor Cara Spencer has placed the city's emergency manager, Sarah Russell, on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted into a series of failure.... According to the mayor's office, Ms. Russell was not at the emergency management office -- where the button to activate the tornado warning alarms sits -- but blocks away at a training session when the storm hit, despite earlier forecasts that warned of severe weather."
New Hampshire. Kyle Melnick of the Washington Post: "Students at a high school near [Sean] Young's [Conway,] New Hampshire bakery created the mural above the shop's front door in June 2022. But the town of Conway told Young the painting wasn't a mural, it was a sign that exceeded the town's legal size limit and would need to be taken down. Young left the mural up, and sued the town the following year, claiming its ordinance violates the First Amendment. On Monday..., a judge wrote in an order that Conway's enforcement of its ordinance against the painting is 'unconstitutional' and 'operationally illogical,' ruling that the mural can remain in front of the shop, Leavitt's Country Bakery." MB: Conway is at the east end of "The Kank," a/k/a the Kancamagus Highway, a 34.5-mile National Scenic Byway that I sometimes drive in the fall to enjoy its magnificent surfeit of fall foliage. I don't usually eat doughnuts, but the next time I land at the end of the Kank, I'll stop at Young's shop & purchase a few.
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Israel, et al. Abbie Cheeseman, et al., of the Washington Post: "About 90 trucks carrying flour, baby food and nutritional supplements entered the Gaza Strip late Wednesday, local officials and the U.N. humanitarian affairs agency said, the first tranche of aid to reach the besieged territory in more than two months. The trucks finally departed the Kerem Shalom crossing after a days-long delay, which the United Nations said was the result of insecurity along the single route Israel had approved for distribution.... According to the deputy head of Gaza's local transport union, Jihad Isleem, two of the trucks were intercepted by looters. And in one video, a group of men are shown tearing into bags of flour. After an 11-week blockade of the territory, Israel announced abruptly Sunday that it would allow a minimal amount of food into Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing the move as one he was forced to make to placate allies that are worried about mass starvation. Hunger experts have said that Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, is at risk of famine."
Ukraine/Russia, et al. Kateryna Denisova of the Kyiv Independent: "... Donald Trump told European leaders this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not ready for peace in Ukraine because he believes he is winning the war, the Wall Street Journal reported on May 22, citing three undisclosed sources. Trump's reported statement marked the first time he acknowledged to European leaders what they and Kyiv have long maintained -- the Kremlin has no intention of ending its full-scale war against Ukraine. The conversation on May 19 reportedly included President Volodymyr Zelensky, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President Antonio Costa." -51-
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