The Conversation -- February 17, 2025

Quite a good overview of This Month with Donald and Elon: ~~~

     ~~~ A.R. Moxon takes a similar view here and here and covers much of the same territory. Thanks to RAS for the link.

New York. William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: “Four top New York City officials are expected to resign in the coming days, after the outgoing U.S. attorney for Manhattan accused the mayor of trading cooperation with President Trump’s mass deportation agenda for a dismissal of his criminal indictment, according to three people with knowledge of their plans. The four officials — Maria Torres-Springer, the first deputy mayor, and Meera Joshi, Anne Williams-Isom and Chauncey Parker, all also deputy mayors — oversee much of New York City government, and their departure is poised to blow a devastating hole in the already wounded administration of Mayor Eric Adams. Mr. Adams, a Democrat, is resisting growing calls to resign. Gov. Kathy Hochul is also under increasing pressure to remove him from office.”

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One Good Way to Mark Presidents' Day. Chandelis Duster of NPR: "Protests are set to take place in several major cities across the U.S. on Monday, the Presidents Day holiday, according to activists. These demonstrations are being organized by the 50501 Movement, which stands for '50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement.' The protests are a response to what organizers describe as 'the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration.' This marks the second nationwide protest by the group, following an event held on Feb. 5."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “In the first case to reach the Supreme Court arising from the blitz of actions taken in the early weeks of the new administration, lawyers for ... [Donald] Trump asked the justices on Sunday to let him fire a government lawyer who leads a watchdog agency. The administration’s emergency application asked the court to vacate a federal trial judge’s order temporarily reinstating Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel. Mr. Dellinger leads an independent agency charged with safeguarding government whistle-blowers and enforcing certain ethics laws.... The court is expected to act in the coming days. The filing amounts to a challenge to a foundational precedent that said Congress can limit the president’s power to fire leaders of independent agencies.... The statute that created the job now filled by Mr. Dellinger, who was confirmed by the Senate in 2024, provides for a five-year term and says the special counsel 'may be removed by the president only for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.' But a one-sentence email to Mr. Dellinger on Feb. 7 gave no reasons for terminating him, effective immediately. He sued, and Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the Federal District Court in Washington entered a temporary restraining order.... The court’s conservative majority may be receptive to the argument that presidents have unlimited power to remove leaders of independent agencies.” A CBS News report is here.

Alan Rappeport, et al., of the New York Times: “The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to give a team member working with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to sensitive taxpayer data, people familiar with the matter said. The systems at the I.R.S. contain the private financial data tied to millions of Americans, including their tax returns, Social Security numbers, addresses, banking details and employment information.... [Donald] Trump has long been a critic of the I.R.S., often complaining that it was overly aggressive in its audits of his finances.... 'Are you sick of being targeted and harassed by the I.R.S.?' Mr. Trump asked [in a fundraising email Saturday]. 'Well maybe it’s time that somebody audited them for a change!'” ~~~

     ~~~ Jacob Bogage & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: “... taxpayers who have had their information wrongfully disclosed or even inspected are entitled by law to monetary damages — and the request for DOGE access has raised deep concern within the IRS.... It’s highly unusual to grant political appointees access to personal taxpayer data, or even programs adjacent to that data, experts say.... A security clearance is not a sufficient credential for access to taxpayer systems, according to IRS procedures.... [DOGE software engineer Gavin] Kliger arrived unannounced at IRS headquarters on Thursday and was named senior adviser to the acting commissioner.... A White House official said Sunday ... that DOGE personnel at the IRS were full agency employees and not contractors.” An ABC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ He Seems Nice. Amethyst Martinez of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News Feb. 7: DOGE "staffer Gavin Kliger, 25, was caught reposting white supremacist Nick Fuentes and self-labeled misogynist Andrew Tate on X. He also expressed controversial views about immigrants in posts dating from October to January, Reuters first reported.... He also has a Substack, where he has praised disgraced politician Matt Gaetz, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth." ~~~

     ~~~ Julianne McShane & Jacob Rosenberg of Mother Jones: “In a since-deleted Substack post..., [Gavin Kliger] wrote about his radicalization, noting a key influence was an essay by Ron Unz — an infamous figure who has written about race science; donated money to the white nationalist website VDare, which according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a hate group; and has been accused by the Anti-Defamation League of 'hardcore antisemitism,' including Holocaust denial.... The post was published Friday and was still available online Sunday morning around 9:30 a.m. ET. It was deleted on Sunday.”

Robbie Gramer & Paul McLeary of Politico: “Ukrainian officials reacted with a mixture of shock and confusion to the news that top Trump administration officials are traveling to Saudi Arabia to kickstart peace talks with Russia in the coming days — and that Ukrainians were also apparently coming.... 'I saw that someone said that there would be a meeting in Saudi Arabia. I do not know what it is,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. On the prospect of talks without Ukraine at the table, he said: 'Well, this is not a serious conversation, it seems to me.'... And back in Kyiv, Mykhailo Podolyak, a top Zelenskyy adviser..., [said,] 'There is nothing on the negotiating table that would be worth discussing.... Russia is not ready for negotiations.'”

~~~ ⭐David Sanger & Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: “Many critical issues were left uncertain — including the fate of Ukraine — at the end of Europe’s first encounter with an angry and impatient Trump administration. But one thing was clear: An epochal breach appears to be opening in the Western alliance.... European officials who emerged from a meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said they now expect that tens of thousands of American troops will be pulled out of Europe — the only question is how many, and how fast. And they fear that in one-on-one negotiations with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Trump is on his way to agreeing to terms that could ultimately put Moscow in a position to own a fifth of Ukraine and to prepare to take the rest in a few years’ time. Mr. Putin’s ultimate goal, they believe, is to break up the NATO alliance. Those fears spilled out on the stage of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday morning, when President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that 'Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs.'...

“President Emmanuel Macron of France has asked 'the main European countries' to come to Paris on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine and European security.... The Élysée Palace said on Sunday in a statement that the meeting would be informal and involve the heads of government from Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark. The presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, as well as the NATO chief, would also attend.” This is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Since no one has complained, I'm assuming these gift links are working. I am limited in the number and can make, and I can offer them only to a few NYT & WashPo articles. ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: “Vice President JD Vance and other top administration officials made their European debut last week, slashing their way through a continent of allies as they embraced far-right leaders, demanded access to mineral wealth and offered sympathy to the views of Russian President Vladimir Putin. By the end of the week, European leaders found themselves potentially cut out of peace talks with Russia, facing down a trade war with Washington and scrambling to answer U.S. requests about how many troops they can marshal to Ukraine to guarantee a truce negotiated without their input.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Nahal Toosi of Politico: “Russian leader Vladimir Putin is eyeing NATO countries for future invasion even as he talks with the Trump administration about ending the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukraine’s president [Volodymyr Zelenskyy] warns... in an interview with NBC’s 'Meet the Press.'... Putin has grandiose ambitions, a hostility toward NATO, and an awareness of the Trump administration’s skepticism of the military alliance. The Russian leader may calculate the time is ripe to make moves, at least against former Soviet states now in the alliance, Zelenskyy said.... He also said he warned Trump that Putin is not trustworthy. 'I said to him, “No, he’s a liar. He doesn’t want any peace,”’ Zelenskyy said.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Trump Bullying, Ctd. Emma Burrows of the AP has more on the "deal" the Trump administration offered Ukraine. (NYT story by Constant Meheut linked yesterday) Ukraine turned down the deal, largely because it was "You give us half your critical minerals/we give you nothing." (Also linked yesterday.)

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the New York Times take a look at the two prosecutors who eventually signed off on acting deputy AG Emil Bove's very dodgy demand that someone dismiss the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. One, “Ed Sullivan, a longtime prosecutor in the section, offered to sign Mr. Bove’s motion. Doing so would protect the other lawyers, he believed.... [The other, Antoinette] Bacon, had joined the administration to run the criminal division — an appointment that had been initially greeted with relief by career officials. But as the standoff between Mr. Bove and the career prosecutors persisted last week, many who report to Ms. Bacon came to see her as unquestioningly following Mr. Bove’s instructions, despite her years of experience as a corruption prosecutor. Ms. Bacon’s former supervisor in Ohio, Ann Rowland, expressed disbelief at her actions.... The current conflict, some in the department believe, is even worse [than Richard Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre]. When senior leaders resigned in 1973, they were in essence standing up to the White House, even as political appointees. But now the department’s leaders are taking aim at their own lower ranks....” ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: “The confrontation between Mr. Trump’s lieutenants at the Justice Department — led by his former personal defense lawyer, Emil Bove III — and Manhattan’s interim U.S. attorney, Danielle R. Sassoon, and her colleagues is the clearest example yet of this administration’s efforts to bake quid pro quo deal making, coercive tactics, loyalty tests and other dishonorable practices into American government and warp its long-held principle of equal justice before the law.... What is so alarming about the Trump Justice Department’s actions is that the nation’s top law enforcement officials are bent not just on turning an intentionally blind eye to their peers alleging illegal actions and exploiting the misconduct of a desperate lackey like [Mayor Eric] Adams for their own purposes, but on corrupting the prosecutors and civil servants in the department itself.... The damage and destabilization now resulting from this devil’s bargain between the mayor and the Justice Department make it only more urgent that Mr. Adams step down.” Related story linked below under “New York.”

Adam Cancryn, et al., of Politico: “The Trump administration carried out more mass firings across the Health and Human Services Department this weekend, continuing a chaotic purge of the federal workforce that career officials and lawmakers warned would hurt key programs and impair efforts to track threats to public health. The cuts hit staffers at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.... The administration also terminated some staff at the office responsible for emergency preparedness and response.... Trump officials on Friday cast the layoffs imposed by billionaire Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency as methodical decisions meant to spare HHS’ core functions. Yet those inside the agencies disputed that portrayal..., describing deep cuts that at times seemed indiscriminate — with even some Trump political appointees unaware which of their employees were being fired or why.” ~~~

~~~ Brandy Zadrony & Nnamdi Egwuonwu of NBC News: “The Trump administration on Saturday terminated hundreds of employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including fellows responsible for key public health roles.... Among them were about two dozen workers who made up the Laboratory Leadership Service, or LLS, a group responsible for training public health laboratory staffers and supporting outbreak response efforts.... Termination emails, which were sent to LLS staff members Saturday evening, cited poor performance as the reason for the firings, even though most of the dismissed employees have 'excellent' performance reviews, a midlevel CDC official said.... The termination process has been marked by chaos and a lack of transparency.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Obviously, smearing these employees for "poor performance" is the administration's attempt to protect itself from charges of indiscriminately firing essential workers. So now these employees, who have done "excellent" work, are not only losing their jobs for no reason but also will find it very difficult to obtain new jobs because their records will reflect their fake "poor performances." I expect a number of these people went into debt to get college degrees in order to qualify to work for the public good. And this is what they get. It's infuriating. And apparently it's happening elsewhere, as well. ~~~

~~~ Allan Smith of NBC News: “Letters went out to dozens of probationary employees in at least one section of the Department of Transportation that said part of the reason they were being fired was for poor performance, according to a copy of the letter obtained by NBC News. But as a source familiar and a secondary document viewed by NBC News laid out, most of those employees were rated as being “exceptional” performers by their supervisors.... 'These letters that we’re sending these employees, I feel so bad because they’re lying,' [a] person familiar said. 'All of them, pretty much, were exceptional performers. It’s just crazy to me.'... Federal ... regulations state that 'information in the notice as to why the employee is being terminated shall, as a minimum, consist of the agency’s conclusions as to the inadequacies of his performance or conduct.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, yes. The supposed reason for firing “excellent” and “exceptional” employees is a defamatory lie AND a violation of the law. But it's all okay. Because, as Smith reminds us at the end of his report, Trump sez, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”

Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: “The acting archivist of the United States and several senior staff members at the National Archives and Records Administration have resigned, marking the latest departures at a typically nonpolitical agency that has been the target of ... Donald Trump’s ire since its attempts to recover presidential documents from his Florida home. A source familiar with the situation said that the acting archivist, William J. Bosanko, and the agency’s inspector general, Brett M. Baker, decided to retire and that several other senior officials resigned after Trump officials made it clear they wanted to remove the agency’s leadership team and install loyalists.”

Heather Cox Richardson writes a history lesson on how we got from FDR to Trump. Not surprisingly, racism plays the most prominent role (tho that's not exactly how Richardson puts it). But now, Richardson speculates, the Trump/Musk administration is doing something that could put the brakes on the anti-government trend: "For forty years, Republican politicians could win elections by insisting that government spending redistributed wealth from hardworking taxpayers to the undeserving because they did not entirely purge the federal programs that their own voters liked. Now Trump, Musk, and the Republicans are purging funds for cancer research, family farms, national parks, food, nuclear security, and medical care — all programs his supporters care about — and threatening to throw the country into an economic tailspin that will badly hurt Republican-dominated states.... Forty years of ideology is under pressure now from reality, and the outcome remains uncertain." (Also linked yesterday.)

Annals of “Journalism,” Ctd. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “The Washington Post this week backed out of a 'Fire Elon Musk' advertising order that was to run as a wrap on some of its Tuesday editions, according to the advocacy group Common Cause. The group said it signed a $115,000 agreement with The Post to run the ad that would have covered the front and back page of the Tuesday paper as well as a full-page ad with the same theme inside the paper.... Common Cause President Virginia Kase Solomón said The Post’s advertising sales representative was informed of the nature of the ad and seemed confident that running it over the paper wouldn’t be a problem.... She said The Post did not provide an explanation for why it decided not to run the wrap ad.” MB: Do you think the “reason” could be spelled B-E-Z-O-S?

Third Act Texas: "A U.S. Economic Blackout — a  nationwide economic protest — is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. On this day, participants are encouraged to refrain from making any purchases, both online and in-store, from large corporations. The aim is to demonstrate the collective power of consumers and to advocate for economic change. Essential purchases, such as paying bills and buying necessities, are generally considered acceptable, but the emphasis will be on minimizing non-essential spending to make a significant economic impact." Thanks to Hannah'sOtherSister for the link. MB: I'll be participating.

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New York. Emma Fitzsimmons & Sean Piccoli of the New York Times: Mayor Eric “Adams, a New York City Democrat who is running for re-election, made clear that he would not leave office on his own after the Justice Department’s push last week to drop the corruption case against him, which raised concerns that he is now beholden to ... [Donald] Trump. 'People are dancing on my grave,' the mayor said on Sunday, but he predicted that he would rise from the dead like the biblical figure Lazarus. 'I’ve got a mission to finish,' he said at Maranatha Baptist Church in Queens, adding: 'I am going nowhere.' The mayor was greeted warmly at the two Queens churches he visited, and their pastors gave him effusive introductions.”

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We discussed Trump’s bold vision for Gaza’s future and will work to ensure that vision becomes a reality.... We have a common strategy, and we can’t always share the details of this strategy with the public. -- Benjamin Netanyahu, to reporters ~~~

~~~ Israel/Palestine, et al. Jullian Borger of the Guardian: “Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government is working closely with the US to implement Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, which involves US ownership of the coastal strip, the removal of more than 2 million Palestinians and the redevelopment of the occupied territory as a resort. The Israeli prime minister was speaking after a meeting in Jerusalem with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who defended the Trump plan as bold and visionary. Rubio and Netanyahu blamed Iran for the violence in the Middle East and insisted Tehran would be stopped from developing nuclear weapons. Trump’s shock proposal earlier this month for a 'Riviera of the Middle East' has been condemned around the world as a blueprint for ethnic cleansing, but Rubio and Netanyahu insisted it would proceed.”

The Emperor Trump

He who saves his Country does not violate any Law. -- Donald Trump on Truth Social and X, Saturday

He who saves a nation violates no law. -- Napoleon I, from the script of "Waterloo," 1970

~~~ Marie: Notice, first, the difference in the two remarks. Trump can't even copy a citation properly. The line attributed to Napoleon here has poetic meter. It's succinct. It's memorable. It's, well, quotable. Trump messes with the meter, for no discernible reason, and garbles it. He reminds me of my son when he was three years old. My son heard Don McLean's "American Pie" on the radio and sang the chorus. But he had a little trouble with the lyrics: "Bye-bye, Miss American Pie. Drove my Chevy to the levee ... 'Cause my horse was dead." When a three-year-old does it, it's pretty cute. Trump's misquote: stupid.

Second, only an aspiring dictator would want to emulate a real one. So using a citation attributed to a notorious dictator to justify your own lawlessness is appalling.

Third, the citation is fake. It's a scripted device, a way to examine the soul of a very flawed character. Here is the Emperor Napoleon, played by Rod Steiger in the 1970 Dino De Laurentiis epic film "Waterloo." He is dictating a letter to a Prince Alexis. Alexis is a fictional device, as is the letter. But listen to it anyway.

Fourth, in the story, Napoleon dictates the letter shortly after he overthrew a more-or-less legitimate constitutional monarch (Louis XVIII) and not long before before he will meet his Waterloo.

Fifth, Napoleon did not save his nation. Waterloo effectively ended of the French empire. The coalition that defeated Napoleon imposed a harsh treaty on France.

Most important, though, is the irony in the assertion Trump copied. The Napoleon character contends that the ends justify the means. He has saved his country, and that excuses his breaking its laws. But the 20th-century viewer watching "Waterloo" knows Napoleon ruined his nation rather than saved it. The viewer knows that both the character's assumption and his conclusion are false. Trump doesn't understand that. He completely misses the point of the scriptwriter's "letter to Alexis." The purpose is not to demonstrate that Napoleon's lawlessness was warranted. Rather, the viewer watching the scene sees that Napoleon is delusional. The viewer hears it in Steiger's tone, sees it in Steiger's dramatic expression.

And we see it in Trump. The very premise of Trump's assertion is antithetical to the American ethos. What "makes America great" is not the unfettered rule of one individual but the efforts we make together to adhere to a written Constitution, to uphold that Constitution's Amendments -- particularly those that ensure equal protections -- and to follow a rule of law consistent with the Constitution and normative values.

If we did not already know that Trump, like Steiger's Napoleon, was delusional; if we did not already know Trump is ruining out country, not saving it; if we did not already know that Trump's lawlessness is unjustified -- then his clumsy adoption of this borrowed dictum would prove it all.

Alex Woodward of the Independent: “Donald Trump appeared to quote Napoleon Bonaparte by way of Rod Steiger on Saturday afternoon after his blitzkrieg of executive actions and threats to federal agencies under Elon Musk were challenged in courts across the country, raising alarms that his administration is preparing to shred court orders and ignite a constitutional crisis.... The president ... invoked a quote often attributed to Napoleon, who justified his despotic regime as the will of the people of France.... Within his first month in office, Trump’s allies have baselessly argued Trump’s supreme authority as president, immune from checks and balances, as his executive orders and Musk’s access to the levers of government face an avalanche of lawsuits and restraining orders....

“Comments [by Musk & other Trump supporters] are raising alarms among constitutional scholars and legal analysts for an impending constitutional crisis — which the White House blames on the judges, not the president’s spurious legal actions and the administration’s baseless insistence that he should not be subject to checks and balances in the courts. The New York Times’s Jamelle Bouie called Trump’s latest statement 'the single most un-American and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an American president.'”

Update. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: “By late afternoon, Mr. Trump had pinned the statement to the top of his Truth Social feed, making it clear it was not a passing thought but one he wanted people to absorb. The official White House account on X posted his message in the evening.” ~~~

     ~~~ Despite acknowledging how important it is to Trump to impress his message upon the public, the Times writers treat it as if it's no big deal, nothing more than “an expansive version of the so-called unitary executive theory, a legal ideology....” It's just Trump explaining a legal theory to the great unwashed. I do realize that Haberman retains her valuable access to Trump and the Talking Trumpettes by maintaining a deadpan style of writing and speaking about Donald. But after years on the Trump beat, Haberman has a bit of a case of Stockholm syndrome, and her impassive voice sometimes smacks of acceptance of outrageous behavior.

Thanks to RAS for getting me started.

The Conversation -- February 16, 2025

⭐David Sanger & Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: “Many critical issues were left uncertain — including the fate of Ukraine — at the end of Europe’s first encounter with an angry and impatient Trump administration. But one thing was clear: An epochal breach appears to be opening in the Western alliance.... European officials who emerged from a meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said they now expect that tens of thousands of American troops will be pulled out of Europe — the only question is how many, and how fast. And they fear that in one-on-one negotiations with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Trump is on his way to agreeing to terms that could ultimately put Moscow in a position to own a fifth of Ukraine and to prepare to take the rest in a few years’ time. Mr. Putin’s ultimate goal, they believe, is to break up the NATO alliance. Those fears spilled out on the stage of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday morning, when President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that 'Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs.'...

“President Emmanuel Macron of France has asked 'the main European countries' to come to Paris on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine and European security.... The Élysée Palace said on Sunday in a statement that the meeting would be informal and involve the heads of government from Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark. The presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, as well as the NATO chief, would also attend.” This is a gift link.

Marie: Since no one has complained, I'm assuming these gift links are working. I am limited in the number and can make, and I can offer them only to a few NYT & WashPo articles. ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: “Vice President JD Vance and other top administration officials made their European debut last week, slashing their way through a continent of allies as they embraced far-right leaders, demanded access to mineral wealth and offered sympathy to the views of Russian President Vladimir Putin. By the end of the week, European leaders found themselves potentially cut out of peace talks with Russia, facing down a trade war with Washington and scrambling to answer U.S. requests about how many troops they can marshal to Ukraine to guarantee a truce negotiated without their input.” ~~~

~~~ Nahal Toosi of Politico: “Russian leader Vladimir Putin is eyeing NATO countries for future invasion even as he talks with the Trump administration about ending the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukraine’s president [Volodymyr Zelenskyy] warns... in an interview with NBC’s 'Meet the Press.'... Putin has grandiose ambitions, a hostility toward NATO, and an awareness of the Trump administration’s skepticism of the military alliance. The Russian leader may calculate the time is ripe to make moves, at least against former Soviet states now in the alliance, Zelenskyy said.... He also said he warned Trump that Putin is not trustworthy. 'I said to him, “No, he’s a liar. He doesn’t want any peace,”’ Zelenskyy said.”

Heather Cox Richardson writes a history lesson on how we got from FDR to Trump. Not surprisingly, racism plays the most prominent role (tho that's not exactly how Richardson puts it). But now, Richardson speculates, the Trump/Musk administration is doing something that could put the brakes on the anti-government trend: "For forty years, Republican politicians could win elections by insisting that government spending redistributed wealth from hardworking taxpayers to the undeserving because they did not entirely purge the federal programs that their own voters liked. Now Trump, Musk, and the Republicans are purging funds for cancer research, family farms, national parks, food, nuclear security, and medical care — all programs his supporters care about — and threatening to throw the country into an economic tailspin that will badly hurt Republican-dominated states.... Forty years of ideology is under pressure now from reality, and the outcome remains uncertain."

Trump Bullying, Ctd. Emma Burrows of the AP has more on the "deal" the Trump administration offered Ukraine. (NYT story by Constant Meheut linked below) Ukraine turned down the deal, largely because it was "You give us half your critical minerals/we give you nothing."

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After viewing the classic 1953 film “Shane,” which presents post-World War II American values literally in black and white, evil and good, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times writes that once upon a time, “Law and order wasn’t a cliché or a passé principle that could be kicked aside if it interfered with baser ambitions.... So it’s disorienting to have the men running America, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, relish bullying people who can’t fight back and blurring lines between good and bad.... Our heroes preserved the Union and liberated Europe from the Nazis. We’re supposed to be the shining city on the hill. It feels as if we’re turning our country into a crass, commercial product, making it cruel, as we maximize profits.”

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “At every step in his second term, Mr. Trump is demonstrating how unbound he is from prior restraints, dramatically remaking both domestic and foreign policy at a scale that has little parallel. His swift moves in his first month back in office underscore the confidence of an administration with a much firmer grip on the levers of government than during Mr. Trump’s last stint in the White House.... The blitz of policy changes Mr. Trump has undertaken during his first month in office have little precedent, historians say. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a similar flurry of activity during his first 100 days in office, but those measures aimed to build up American institutions, not tear them down.... So far, the upheaval caused by Mr. Trump’s early moves has not appeared to have brought a large shift in public opinion against him....” ~~~

~~~ Julia Ainsley, et al., of NBC News: “The Department of Justice fired multiple immigration judges on Friday.... Five midlevel assistant chief immigration judges and 13 candidates to become new judges received termination notices on Friday.... A union representing immigration judges said that since the start of the Trump administration, more than two dozen immigration judges, managers and new hires have been fired.... 'This firing occurred despite the fact that the Immigration Court currently has in the neighborhood of 3.5 MILLION pending cases and DOJ is asking Congress for more money to hire more people at EOIR!”... Kerry Doyle, a recently appointed immigration judge ... said in a statement on LinkedIn, referring to the Executive Office of Immigration Review. Doyle alleged that the 'firing was political,' noting that she and colleagues who were fired had been hired during the Biden administration.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: These firings could be the work of the Clueless Muskovites, but more likely the administration targeted these judges because Trump wants to replace them with judges who will guarantee they are comfortable tossing out most or all of the applicants for asylum and others whose cases might inspire fair-minded judges to grant them relief. I wonder from time to time if Musk himself is really as ignorant as Trump or if he just lies to bolster rationales for his bigotry. Or it could be both: perhaps he makes mistakes & jumps to stupid conclusions because he is a bigot. Here's an example of Musk's stupidity AND/OR mendacity. (Oh, and it also demonstrates that, like Trump, Musk can't handle criticism): ~~~

     ~~~ Will Oremus & Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: “The actor and director Ron Howard posted Wednesday on X an article by the news agency Reuters headlined, 'Musk’s DOGE cuts based more on political ideology than real cost savings so far.' An hour later, Elon Musk posted a reply: 'I wonder how much money Reuters is getting from the government? Let’s find out.' Before the night’s end..., [Musk] was touting ... a screenshot of a U.S. government webpage showing a contract between the Defense Department and Thomson Reuters Special Services for 'Active Social Engineering Defense' and Large Scale Social Deception.' 'Reuters was paid millions of dollars by the US government for “large scale social deception,’” Musk proclaimed in an X post that has racked up more than 76,000 shares and 35 million views. 'They’re a total scam. Just wow.' A slightly closer look would have revealed that the contract, signed during ... Donald Trump’s first term, was for help defending against cyberattacks — that is, combating deception, not fueling it. And it went to a separate division of the company, not the news agency.... The Reuters brouhaha was the latest example of what is quickly becoming a familiar playbook as Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service sweeps through federal agencies for evidence of waste, fraud and corruption.... Musk has repeatedly misrepresented facts on X to bolster unfounded claims of wrongdoing.”

Edward Wong of the New York Times: “Three top foreign policy aides in the Trump administration plan to meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia next week to discuss a path to ending the war in Ukraine, the first substantial talks between the superpowers on the conflict. The meeting would come less than a week after ... [Donald] Trump spoke on the phone with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Mr. Trump told reporters afterward that talks on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine would take place in Saudi Arabia.... The meeting [in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,] will most likely draw criticism from some top Ukrainian officials. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said Thursday that his country must be involved in any talks over its own fate, a statement he made after learning about the Trump-Putin call.... The top American officials who plan to attend are Marco Rubio, the secretary of state; Mike Waltz, the national security adviser; and Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy who also works on Ukraine-Russia issues, the person familiar with the schedule said.” As Trump would say, this is “disgraceful.” MB: The only upside I see is that Rubio, Waltz & Witkoff are probably the most capable people in Trump's stable of horribles. He could have sent Tipsy Pete and Tulsi Gabbard. ~~~

~~~ Constant Meheut, et al., of the New York Times: “President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support, according to five people briefed on the proposal or with direct knowledge of the talks.... Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury secretary, who presented the deal to Ukraine, said Sunday that the United States wanted the minerals 'as payback for the aid we’ve given them' — leaving unclear whether the deal would cover future military and financial assistance. A Ukrainian official and an energy expert briefed on the proposal said that the Trump administration sought not only Ukraine’s minerals but additional natural resources, including oil and gas. The proposal, they said, would entitle the United States to half of Ukraine’s resource earnings — funds that are today mostly invested in the country’s military and defense production.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Trying to horse-trade away a nation's territory, sovereignty, freedom & democratic institutions is equally “disgraceful.” Trump's “offer” is akin to the “perfect call” that led to Trump's impeachment, except this is bigger. It's not about putting “America First,” either; it's more about completely undermining the U.S.'s standing in the world. ~~~

[Pete Hegseth] made a rookie mistake in Brussels.... I don’t know who wrote the speech — it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool. -- Sen. Roger Wicker, (R-Miss.), Chair of the Armed Services Committee ~~~

~~~ Eric Schmitt & John Ismay of the New York Times: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has had a rocky trip to Europe this week. In his debut on the world stage, Mr. Hegseth told NATO and Ukrainian ministers in Brussels on Wednesday that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was 'an unrealistic objective' and ruled out NATO membership for Kyiv.... [His remarks] stunned officials in Washington, as well in Kyiv and European capitals.... A few hours later..., [Donald] Trump backed him up while announcing a phone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to begin peace negotiations. Facing fierce blowback the next day from European allies and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, Mr. Hegseth backpedaled, denying that either he or Mr. Trump had sold out Ukraine or taken bargaining chips with Russia off the table.... Mr. Hegseth sought to recover on Friday, saying in Warsaw that his goal had simply been to 'introduce realism into the expectations of our NATO allies.'... Former Pentagon officials said it was highly unlikely that Mr. Hegseth’s prepared remarks had not been cleared and coordinated with the White House’s National Security Council before delivery....  [Later o]n Friday, when Mr. Hegseth visited Poland, he appeared to tack yet again, this time closer to his original remarks on Wednesday....”

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: A day after visiting the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, Germany, JD Vance gave a speech in Munich lecturing Europeans that they must invite extremists into the political process. “Eighty years after American soldiers liberated Dachau, top German officials this weekend all-but accused Mr. Vance — and by extension..., [Donald] Trump — of boosting a political party that many Germans consider to be dangerously descended from Nazism.... Decades of German law and political practice have revolved around the belief that to prevent another Hitler from coming to power, the government must ban hate speech and shun political parties deemed extreme.... Mr. Vance, like ... Elon Musk, has parachuted into the country’s parliamentary elections, criticizing that approach. Mr. Musk has publicly endorsed the [right-wing Alternative for Germany, a Nazi-sympathetic party], telling party members last month that Germans have 'too much of a focus on past guilt.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Lest we suspect JayDee was freelancing, shortly after his Munich speech, reporters asked Trump what he thought about it in view of the fact that it had horrified our European allies. Trump said, "I heard his speech and he talked about freedom of speech. And I think it's true in Europe, it's losing, they're losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech...."

Edward Wong, et al., of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio was meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as political chaos rippled across the Middle East over ... [Donald] Trump’s insistent proposals to seize the devastated Gaza Strip and force out its Palestinian residents.... Mr. Rubio, a former Florida senator with a far more conventional worldview and style than the president, has more than once suggested that Mr. Trump’s idea is mainly a negotiating tactic meant to provoke Arab leaders into taking more responsibility for the Palestinians.”

Scott Lemieux in LG&$ republishes a portion of a New Republic article. From the NR: “A new internal memo circulating inside the U.S. Agency for International Development ... warns USAID employees not to communicate with the press about the shocking disruptions in humanitarian assistance that are being caused by the Trump-Musk attack on the agency, which are already producing horrific consequences. The memo said this transgression might be met with 'dismissal.' The memo claims to be correcting a 'false narrative in the press' about the disruptions.... This is highly disingenuous at best and mostly nonsense at worst. As The New York Times reports, some senior USAID officials recently received an email explicitly directing them to hold off on approving some of this assistance, pending more directives from on high. What’s more, according to the Times, while some of this assistance did continue due to [a waiver issued by Marco Rubio to allow for 'livesaving humanitarian assistance,’] much of it has encountered serious obstacles.” Do read on. ~~~

     ~~~ Lemieux also cites this WashPo article ~~~

     ~~~ Ben Brasch & Anumita Kaur of the Washington Post: “Jan. 28 began as a normal day for 'Marcus Doe,' an employee of the U.S. Agency for International Development stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.... Within hours, everything changed. Violent political demonstrations erupted and protesters attacked the U.S. Embassy. By the end of the day, most staff were told to evacuate. But ... the White House had frozen foreign aid spending about a week earlier and put senior USAID leaders on leave. The agency had stopped paying for employee travel.... When he finally made it to Washington after a harrowing journey by boat and plane, Marcus was put on administrative leave. The account is one of more than a dozen from U.S. employees stationed overseas, along with others who work with USAID, included in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by unions representing USAID staff and U.S. Foreign Service officers. They are asking the court for a temporary restraining order directing the White House 'to reverse these unlawful actions and to halt any further steps to dissolve the agency.'”

Nick Miroff & Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump has launched an all-of-government immigration crackdown with the urgency of a wartime effort, a mobilization comparable in scope to the responses to the 9/11 attacks and the coronavirus pandemic. But despite the rapid infusion of resources, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling to arrest higher numbers of immigrants and falling far short of the administration’s goals.... ICE arrests have sagged so far this month, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security, declining from about 800 per day in late January after Trump took office to fewer than 600 during the first 13 days of February. The administration has stopped publishing daily numbers.... The top two enforcement officials at ICE were removed from their jobs this week and reassigned due to what Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said was a lack of 'results.'” Trump wants another $175 billion to boost border security, “an amount would have been unthinkable during Trump’s first term....”

Ali Bianco of Politico: “Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the Department of Education put state education departments on notice Friday, threatening to revoke federal funding for public schools and universities unless they remove all 'diversity, equity and inclusion' programming within 14 days.... 'The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent,' acting Secretary Craig Trainor wrote in a letter DOGE said went to every state education department.... The Education Department has shown a willingness to target public schools over the policy already, having launched an investigation into Denver Public Schools in late January for converting a female restroom into an all-gender facility at a local high school. Just this week, the Department slashed 70 DEI training grants, according to DOGE on X. Democratic lawmakers denounced the letter as illegal on Friday. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) ... said in a press release..., '... there is simply no authority or basis for Trump to impose such a mandate,” Murray said in a press release.”

Trump Tariffs Will Raise Housing Prices. Ronda Kaysen of the New York Times: “On Thursday, Mr. Trump announced sweeping plans for reciprocal tariffs that could upend global trade, and the home building industry is bracing for the impact. Some builders and developers say they are beginning to feel the squeeze: They have received contracts with escalation clauses to account for increased costs; waited as their suppliers delay updated price sheets for imported goods; and received bids that are only good for two weeks when typically they would hold for two or three months.... 'If they increase an extra 30 percent or 60 percent like what the president said before, that will be trouble,' said [builder Bentley] Zhao, who develops mostly moderately-priced condos throughout [New York City and has contributed to Trump's campaigns].... A house that is more expensive to build becomes more expensive to buy. Add in the risk of inflation from tariffs, and interest rates could rise in response, driving up costs even more, said Gregg Colburn ... of the University of Washington.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Just think about that. Trump, who has been in the real estate business -- in one way or another -- all of his working life, doesn't seem to know his tariffs will have a negative effect on real estate developers and on the real estate market in general.

~~~~~~~~~~

New York. Maia Coleman of the New York Times: “Mayor Eric Adams intends to sue the Trump administration by the end of next week over its clawback of $80 million in federal funding meant to cover the cost of housing migrants in New York City, according to a letter from City Hall. The letter, which was sent to the city comptroller on Friday, said the Law Department was in the process of 'drafting litigation papers' in an effort to reverse the administration’s clawback of the funds, which were transferred to New York by the Federal Emergency Management Agency this month.... The decision by Mr. Adams to take a legal stand against the Trump administration on an immigration-related issue comes at a critical moment for the mayor, who this week faced mounting calls to resign after Manhattan’s acting U.S. attorney, Danielle R. Sassoon, accused him of trading concessions on immigration policy for the dismissal of the corruption charges against him.”