The Conversation -- April 6, 2025

digby has much more on the protests. Thanks to RAS for the link. Gotta love the West Virginia White lady with the sign that reads, "What Cory Said." It's hard to give up when you see that kind of spunk and solidarity.

"We'll Be the Ones Eating the Cats and the Dogs": ~~~

Erik Uebelacker of Courthouse News: “A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Trump administration had violated his order to halt sweeping freezes to federal funding by withholding Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to at least 19 states. It seemed to be a 'covert' effort to punish states with so-called sanctuary laws for immigrants, the judge said. In March, U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued a preliminary injunction in favor of 23 states that sued the government over its plan to implement a broad pause to state aid. The Barack Obama appointee ruled that the plan 'fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government,' and ordered the Trump administration to 'immediately end any funding pause' until further notice. But on Friday, McConnell found the Trump administration in breach of the court’s order. At least 19 states — all with Democratic attorney generals, and all of which had sued to stop the funding cuts — 'presented undisputed evidence' that they were not receiving congressionally approved FEMA funding from the federal government, the judge ruled.” Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Do bear in mind that the failure to follow the court's order is not just as oopsie! Rather, it's part of "a full-scale attack on democracy" and move toward autocracy, as Paul Blumenthal lays out in his HuffPost column linked below.

~~~~~~~~~

Shaila Dewan, et al., of the New York Times: “Demonstrators had no shortage of causes as they gathered in towns and cities across the country on Saturday to protest ... [Donald] Trump’s agenda. Rallies were planned in all 50 states, and images posted on social media showed dense crowds in places as diverse as St. Augustine, Fla.; Salt Lake City and rainy Frankfort, Ky.... While crowd sizes are difficult to estimate, organizers said that more than 600,000 people had signed up to participate and that events also took place in U.S. territories and a dozen locations across the globe. On Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the protest stretched for nearly 20 blocks. In Chicago, thousands flooded Daley Plaza and adjacent streets, while, in the nation’s capital, tens of thousands surrounded the Washington Monument. In Atlanta, the police estimated the crowd marching to the gold-domed statehouse at over 20,000. Mr. Trump, who was playing golf in Florida on Saturday, appeared to be largely ignoring the protests.” ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the Washington Post's story. The NPR report is here. The Guardian's story is here. The AP report is here. All reports include multiple photos. ~~~

     ~~~ Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: “You Can Stop Asking Where the Mass Opposition Is. It’s Everywhere.... You could meet a dozen people and hear at least a dozen different existential threats. Hands off Social Security. Hands off public health grants. Hands off student visas. Hands off women. Hands off trans people. Hands off our tax dollars. Hands off Greenland. Hands off books. Hands off 401ks. Hands off immigrants. Hands off Mahmoud Khalil. Hands off grocery prices. Hands off unions. I even talked to a woman clutching a sign that said 'Hands off Libby' — the popular e-reader for public library systems which is now in jeopardy thanks to massive cuts to the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. This barrage of grievances offered a snapshot of the new Trump administration’s multi-front war on modernity. But it also got at something essential about the current anti-Trump movement. People weren’t taking action just to protest what the president and his movement represented, but because of visceral fear ... of what he had already done, and that once impossible things were now very much possible.”

This is in my mind a culmination of what he has already started, which is a methodical effort to destabilize and undermine our democracy so that he can assume much greater power. A lot of people are not talking about it because it’s not the most pressing issue of that particular day. [But an attack on democracy] is actually in motion and people need to recognize that it is not hypothetical or speculative anymore. -- Rep. Daniel Goldman [D-N.Y.] & lead counsel during Trump’s first impeachment, in an interview. ~~~

Peter Baker of the New York Times: Donald Trump “is saying that he may try to hold onto power even after the Constitution stipulates that he must give it up, and ... he insists he is not joking.... The fact that Mr. Trump has inserted the idea into the national conversation illustrates the uncertainty about the future of America’s constitutional system, nearly 250 years after the country gained independence.... After all, Mr. Trump already tried once to hold onto power in defiance of the Constitution when he sought to overturn the 2020 election despite losing. He later called for 'termination' of the Constitution to return himself to the White House without a new election.... In the Trump era, the journey from unthinkable to reality has been remarkably short. Mr. Trump’s autocratic tendencies and disregard for constitutional norms are well documented. In this second term alone, he has already sought to overrule birthright citizenship embedded in the 14th Amendment, effectively co-opted the power of Congress to determine what money will be spent or agencies closed, purged the uniformed leadership of the armed forces to enforce greater personal loyalty and punished dissent in academia, the news media, the legal profession and the federal bureaucracy.”

Paul Blumenthal of the Huffington Post: “In his first 2 1/2 months in office..., Donald Trump has embraced sweeping arbitrary executive power in a manner not previously seen in American history. He is circumventing Congress, ignoring the courts and using the power of the state to crush any opposition to his agenda. This is a turn away from liberal democracy and toward autocracy.... This turn toward autocracy is not coming from the point of a gun ... but instead through assertions of law.... What we are seeing at the outset of the second Trump administration is a full-scale attack on democracy, liberal principles, and the rule of law that have been enshrined in legal precedents and the Constitution.... A peacetime assault of this scale and national scope directed from the White House has no historical analogue in this country.... From Hungary to Turkey to Poland to Russia to India, democracies collapse into autocracy not after a strongman seizes control of the military or through violent coups but through legal machinations that cement their control and neuter their opposition. They don’t necessarily end elections or entirely eliminate their opponents. Instead, they put their thumb on the scale to ensure elections go their way and that their opponents are weak.”

New York Times Editors: “... the most likely path to American autocracy depends on not only a power-hungry president but also the voluntary capitulation of a cowed civil society.... Anybody who has dealt with a schoolyard bully should recognize [that] the illusion of invincibility is often his greatest asset.... Taking on the president of the United States requires courage.... A crucial fact about ... agreements [lawfirms have made with Mr. Trump] is that they include no binding promises from the White House. Mr. Trump can threaten the firms again whenever he chooses and demand further concessions.... Their meekness is ultimately self-defeating.... The firms have just signaled their willingness to abandon clients that have fallen into disfavor with the federal government. That does not seem like a quality one would want in an attorney.... The three law firms that have filed suits to block Mr. Trump’s executive orders — Jenner & Block, Perkins Coie and WilmerHale — provide a model [of correct responses to Mr. Trump's bullying]. So far, they are winning in court... [Victory over the Trump autocracy] calls for solidarity, especially for institutions that Mr. Trump has not (yet) targeted.”

“A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH.” Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: “The financial market meltdown was underway when ... [Donald] Trump boarded Air Force One on his way to Florida on Thursday for a doubleheader of sorts: a Saudi-backed golf tournament at his family’s Miami resort and a weekend of fund-raisers attracting hundreds of donors to his Palm Beach club. It was a fresh reminder that in his second term, Mr. Trump has continued to find ways to drive business to his family-owned real-estate ventures, a practice he has sustained even when his work in Washington has caused worldwide financial turmoil.... The Trump family monetization weekend started Thursday night.... Every room at the 643-room Trump Doral, including the $13,000-a-night presidential suite, was sold out through the weekend. Not a seat could be found at the BLT Prime steakhouse bar, where a porterhouse steak cost $130. 'This is the perfect venue,' Eric Trump said as he strolled the golf course Friday.... The president spent much of Friday at yet another Trump family venue, Trump International Golf Club, not far from Mar-a-Lago, sending out social media messages during the day, including, 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE.'”

Trump's One-Two Punch on Older Americans' Financial Security. Pamela Herd & Don Moynihan on Substack: "Many Americans are watching their retirement savings melt away because of ... [Donald] Trump’s disastrous trade policies.... Social Security is also under attack. Think of it as a two-pronged assault on Americans’ financial stability." The writers go on to describe how Social Security is already beginning to crash under the Trumpian concentration on fake concern about barely-existent waste, fraud & abuse.

David Sanger & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “When ... [Donald] Trump abruptly fired the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command on Thursday, it was the latest in a series of moves that have torn away at the country’s cyberdefenses just as they are confronting the most sophisticated and sustained attacks in the nation’s history. The commander, General Timothy D. Haugh..., had been among the American officials most deeply involved in pushing back on Russia, dating to his work countering Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election. His dismissal came after weeks in which the Trump administration swept away nearly all of the government’s election-related cyberdefenses beyond the secure N.S.A. command centers at Fort Meade, Md. At the same time, the administration has shrunk much of the nation’s complex early-warning system for cyberattacks, a web through which tech firms work with the F.B.I. and intelligence agencies to protect the power grid, pipelines and telecommunications networks. Cybersecurity experts, election officials and lawmakers — mostly Democrats but a few Republicans — have begun to raise alarms that the United States is knocking down a system that, while still full of holes, has taken a decade to build. It has pushed out some of its most experienced cyberdefenders and fired younger talent brought in to design defenses against a wave of ransomware, Chinese intrusions and vulnerabilities created by artificial intelligence.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Julian Barnes of the New York Times: “General Haugh was ousted because Laura Loomer, a far-right wing conspiracy theorist and Trump adviser, had accused him and his deputy of disloyalty, according to U.S. officials and Ms. Loomer’s social media post early Friday. He was one of several national security officials fired this past week on her advice.... 'If decades of experience in uniform isn’t enough to lead the N.S.A. but amateur isolationists can hold senior policy jobs at the Pentagon, then what exactly are the criteria for working on this administration’s national security staff?' [Sen. Mitch] McConnell [R-Ky.] said.... 'I fear this is just the hourly installment in the Laura Loomer clown car aspect of this administration,' [Rep. James] Himes [D-Conn.] said.... 'In many cases [the administration is firing] some of our most valuable people. And this very directly makes us less safe.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post Editors: “If not for ... Donald Trump’s self-inflicted wounds from the tariffs he unveiled on Wednesday, the biggest White House story this past week might have been his purge of six National Security Council staffers and the top two officials at the National Security Agency.... Trump says he wants to be known as the most transparent president in U.S. history. In that case, he should explain to Americans why so many political appointees whom he placed in critical security jobs only three months ago needed to be fired so soon. [Far-right conspiracy theorist Laura] Loomer[, who took credit for the firings,] suggested there had been a 'vetting failure.'” Trump needs to answer how firing Gen. Timothy Haugh makes the U.S. safer.

Marie: The New York Times, which until this year hovered near the top of both-sider journalism purity, is finally doing its job. Since Trump took office, reporters -- both when doing straight reporting and when doing what the Times labels as "analysis" -- have called out Trump and his flunkies for their unwise, unlawful, unconstitutional, cruel and incompetent actions.

Oh My! Ben Berkowitz of Axios: "Elon Musk blasted top Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro and told an Italian political gathering he wants more free trade, not less.... The two-day rout in the stock market this week, after Trump announced sweeping new tariffs backed by Navarro, cost Musk nearly $18 billion just on his Tesla stock. By wading into the tariff debate, a subject he's mostly stayed away from, Musk could inject more uncertainty into U.S. efforts to re-order the global economy.... Friday morning, a user on Musk's social media platform X defended the controversial Navarro as a skilled voice on tariffs, citing his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. Musk, in a reply in the early hours of Saturday morning, disagreed. 'A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,' he wrote, suggesting it resulted in having more ego than brains. Another user stepped in to defend Navarro as right on trade, to which Musk replied 'He ain't built s--t.'" (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. More on Elon in Europe linked below.

⭐Anthony Ha of TechCrunch: "DOGE reportedly [is] planning a hackathon to build ‘mega API’ for IRS data. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to host a hackathon next week focused on the creation of a 'mega API' that will provide access to taxpayer data, according to Wired. Wired says the hackathon is being organized by two DOGE staffers at the Internal Revenue Service — Gavin Kliger and Sam Corcos, who’s also CEO at healthtech startup Levels. Corcos has reportedly been telling others at DOGE that his goal is to build 'one new API to rule them all.' This would make it easy for cloud providers to access IRS data including taxpayer names, addresses, social security numbers, tax returns, and employment information, which could all be exported to external systems. According to Wired, a third-party party vendor would manage parts of the project, with Palantir [MB: founded by Peter Thiel] 'consistently' brought up as a candidate.”

Edward Wong & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that he was revoking the visas of all South Sudan passport holders because the country’s transitional government had refused to accept in a 'timely manner' citizens who were being deported by the Trump administration. Mr. Rubio also said in a social media post that he would 'restrict any further issuance to prevent entry' of South Sudanese, blaming the 'failure of South Sudan’s transitional government' to accept the repatriations.... Mr. Rubio’s action is similar to one that ... [Donald] Trump announced in late January, when he threatened Colombian officials with revocation of their visas and tariffs on the country’s exports because they were refusing to accept U.S. military flights with Colombian deportees. In that case, Colombia reversed its decision quickly.” The AP's report is here.

Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: “Government attorneys slammed a judge’s order to return a Salvadoran immigrant to the United States, arguing in a Saturday filing that the judge’s directive was 'indefensible' and that the United States has 'no authority' to make a sovereign nation release the man. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis directed the administration to arrange the return of Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant married to a U.S. citizen, by no later than 11:59 p.m. Monday. The Justice Department’s response asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to step in and immediately pause Xinis’s order.... The appeal argues at length that the government has no power to return Abrego García because he is in the custody of the Salvadoran government, though the Trump administration says it is paying El Salvador about $6 million for the detention of deportees.” MB: Oh, let me think: how could the U.S. possibly persuade El Salvador to release one of the prisoners in its “custody”?

     ~~~ The AP report is here. MB: BTW, it's so embarrassing when a government lawyer does the right thing ~~~

~~~ Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “A senior Justice Department immigration lawyer was put on indefinite leave Saturday after questioning the Trump administration’s decision to deport a Maryland man to El Salvador — one day after representing the government in court. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche suspended Erez Reuveni, the acting deputy director of the department’s immigration litigation division, for failing to 'follow a directive from your superiors.'... Mr. Reuveni — who was praised as a 'top-notched' prosecutor by his superiors in an email announcing his promotion two weeks ago — is the latest career official to be suspended, demoted, transferred or fired for refusing to comply with a directive from ... [Donald] Trump’s appointees to take actions they deem improper or unethical.... 

“Under questioning by a federal judge on Friday, Mr. Reuveni conceded that the deportation last month of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who had a court order allowing him to stay in the United States, should never have taken place. Mr. Reuveni also said he had been frustrated when the case landed on his desk. Mr. Reuveni, a respected 15-year veteran of the immigration division, asked the judge for 24 hours to persuade his 'client,' the Trump administration, to begin the process of retrieving and repatriating Mr. Abrego Garcia. Less than 24 hours later, Mr. Blanche..., [Mr.] Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, accused Mr. Reuveni of 'engaging in conduct prejudicial to your client.' Mr. Blanche suspended Mr. Reuveni with pay, cut off access to his work email and blocked him from performing any duties related to his job.” ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: DOJ attorney Erez “Reuveni was noticeably unenthusiastic about the government’s position in the case, telling U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis that he had urged his 'clients' to take steps to bring Abrego Garcia back. The lawyer also said he’d been rebuffed in his attempts to get more information to offer the court about why officials deemed him to be a member of MS-13.... Toward the end of Friday’s hearing, Reuveni pleaded with Xinis to hold off her ruling for 24 hours so he could beseech the government to change its position.”

Unfuckingbelievable! Edward Wong & Hannah Beech of the New York Times: “Trump administration officials have fired workers for the main American aid agency who were sent to Myanmar to assess how the United States could help with earthquake relief efforts, three people with knowledge of the actions said. The firings, done Friday while the workers were in the rubble-strewn city of Mandalay, raise doubts about Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s stated commitment to continuing some humanitarian and crisis aid even as the aid organization, the U.S. Agency for International Development, is dismantled by the Trump administration.... Trump appointees continue to cut humanitarian aid contracts, say employees.... When asked by a reporter on Friday in Brussels about the inability of the United States to provide substantial aid to Myanmar, Mr. Rubio said that other large countries, including China and India, should step up in global foreign aid as the United States cuts back.... [He said] 'we already have people there.'” MB: Yeah, but he didn't say it was only three people and he just fired them. (Also linked yesterday.)

Lives are at risk. -- Mary Glackin, a top NOAA official during the Bush II & Obama administrations ~~~

~~~ Dan Diamond & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “... FDA inspectors['] ... jobs have been mostly preserved amid the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the federal government. But the people who help support those inspections haven’t fared so well. More than 150 people in the FDA’s Office of Inspections and Investigations — the staff responsible for purchasing supplies, managing trips and coordinating other administrative functions — were laid off last week.... So were staff dedicated to food-safety policies and regulations, including an entire office that partnered with foreign countries to handle food-related disease outbreaks. Meanwhile, the FDA’s top food safety official — a position created after the infant formula crisis — resigned in February, citing 'indiscriminate' staffing cuts to his office.... Across the government..., Donald Trump and his allies have sliced billions of dollars and tens of thousands of staff from agencies focused on health and safety, such as the FDA..., [FEMA and NOAA] — cuts that are hollowing out longtime federal offices, shedding expertise, and appear to go against Trump’s repeated campaign promises to make Americans healthier and safer.

“The chorus of experts issuing warnings about the cuts include career civil servants who worked under both GOP and Democratic presidents, Republican lawmakers and former Trump officials who held top positions in the president’s first term. Many said that the moves reflect a shifting of risk from the federal government to states and cities that have more limited resources to prepare for natural disasters, public health crises and other threats. They also predicted the cuts would place new burdens on average Americans....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As I wrote yesterday, the costs of covering the "savings" the Musk/Trump administration claims will have to come from somewhere else. Now I see experts are backing me up. BTW, in some cases, those "savings" could ultimately cost Americans much more than they saved in their federal tax payments; case on point: ~~~

~~~ Anna Phillips, et al., of the Washington Post: “As Trump’s second administration looks to slash federal spending, money given to states by the federal government after disasters strike could also be in jeopardy. The president has said he wants to eliminate FEMA and shift responsibility for disaster response to the states — which experts said are unprepared to respond to catastrophic disasters without federal assistance. The preparedness grant program, known as Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities [BRIC], had made more than $5 billion available since 2020 to help local projects that reduce the impact of disasters. The agency plans to review earlier grants and claw back funding for those that have not yet been paid out.... 'BRIC was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,' [a FEMA spokeswoman] said in a statement. 'It was more concerned with climate change than helping Americans effected by natural disasters.'” MB: Right: because it's much better to incur billions of dollars in natural disaster damage -- not to mention the heartbreak, loss of life and property destruction -- than to spend millions preventing disasters.

Time for Some Clear-cutting! Angie Hernandez of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration has removed environmental protections covering more than half of the land managed by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the president’s aim to significantly bolster the U.S. logging industry. In a memo issued Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said 'heavy-handed federal policies' have prevented the United States from making use of its 'abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs.' The directive ... comes a month after ... Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking changes to forest management to increase timber production by 25 percent. Rollins added that, of the land that fell under the directive, almost 67 million acres were determined to be at a 'very high' or 'high' wildfire risk, and almost 79 million acres were experiencing 'declining forest health' from insects and disease.... Rollins’s memo, which does not make a reference to climate change, instructed Forest Service field leadership to fast-track timber production by removing National Environmental Policy Act regulations....

“But forestry experts ... warned during similar efforts in Trump’s first term that you can’t log your way out of fire danger, The Washington Post reported. Removing large, fire-resistant trees also gives way to young trees that are more susceptible to fires.” MB: Huh. I guess the loggers aren't planning to sweep the forest floors while they're there. The AP's report is here.

Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: “Soon after the new administration arrived, things began to go missing from the White House website. They weren’t just the partisan policy platforms that typically disappear during a presidential transition. Informational pages about the Constitution and past presidents, up in various forms since President George W. Bush was in office, all vanished. Thousands of other government web pages had also been taken down or modified, including content about vaccines, hate crimes, low-income children, opioid addiction and veterans, before a court order temporarily blocked part of the sweeping erasure.... As data and resources are deleted or altered, something foundational is also at risk: Americans’ ability to access and evaluate their past, and with it, their already shaky trust in facts. 'This is not a cost-cutting mechanism,' said Kenny Evans ... [of] Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.... 'This slide toward secrecy and lack of transparency is an erosion of democratic norms.'

“The casualties are not just digital. The head of the National Archives..., 'the custodian of America’s collective memory,' was fired by Mr. Trump in February.... The Institute of Museum and Library Services, was named in an executive order calling for its elimination ... (its acting director said he planned to 'restore focus on patriotism').... As senior [U.S.A.I.D.] official told employees to shred or burn classified documents and personnel files.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Now, Here Is Some Whitewashing! Jon Swaine & Jeremy Merrill of the Washington Post: “For years, a National Park Service webpage introduced the Underground Railroad with a large photograph of its most famous 'conductor,' Harriet Tubman.... Tubman’s photograph is now gone. In its place are images of Postal Service stamps that highlight 'Black/White cooperation' in the secret network and that feature Tubman among abolitionists of both races.... 'The Underground Railroad — the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War — refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage,' the page [once] began.... The introductory sentence ... has been replaced by a line that makes no mention of slavery and that describes the Underground Railroad as 'one of the most significant expressions of the American civil rights movement.' The effort 'bridged the divides of race,' the page now says. The executive order that ... Donald Trump issued late last month directing the Smithsonian Institution to eliminate 'divisive narratives' stirred fears that the president aimed to whitewash the stories the nation tells about itself. But a Washington Post review of websites operated by the National Park Service ... found that edits on dozens of pages ... have already softened descriptions of some of the most shameful moments of the nation’s past.”

James Poniewozik of the New York Times: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's “social feed is one example of the administration’s turn to reality-TV tactics — slick, showy, sometimes cruel — as a means of government.... Since she took office in January, the secretary’s online video presence has been helping a media-minded administration broadcast images of unsparing domination with a telegenic face.... [Her] videos take care to make her look the part, dress the part and play the part against scenic backdrops.... As the face of [the administration's] immigration-enforcement project, she wears and is framed by accouterments of inviolable authority. She goes out with ICE, wearing a police vest and declaring, like Andy Sipowicz in 'NYPD Blue,' 'We are getting the dirt bags off these streets.'[Meanwhile,] The secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, a former Fox TV host, loads his X feed with images of himself working out in the gym and meeting with the mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, underscoring his feed’s recurrent theme of politicized hypermasculinity. The official White House account is rife with boasting and taunting posts, many drawing on meme formats from the dank corners of the internet.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: They really have no idea that they come across to normal people as the most foolish of cartoon villains. See Akhilleus' commentary in Saturday's thread.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Last March, when Rob Bresnahan, Jr., a wealthy business executive, was running to represent a competitive House district in northeastern Pennsylvania, he published a letter to the editor in a local newspaper demanding an end to stock trading by members of Congress.... If elected, Mr. Bresnahan told voters, he would co-sponsor legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress, a practice he said 'needs to come to an end immediately.' More than two months after being sworn in, Mr. Bresnahan, who defeated a Democratic incumbent last November in one of the most expensive House races in the country, has not introduced or co-sponsored such a bill. Over that time, he has emerged as one of the most active stock traders in the freshman class, according to Capitol Trades.... Since he took office in January, Mr. Bresnahan has reported 264 stock trades, according to the site. He has purchased up to $1.7 million in stock since taking office, according to his periodic transaction report, and has sold up to $3.03 million.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Congratulations, Rob! You made the front page of the New York Times! Putz.

~~~~~~~~~~

U.K. Bus Stop Ad: “Tesla. The Swasticar. Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds.” Michael Shear of the New York Times: “Across [London] and in several European cities, [Elon] Musk’s signature business has become the target of the same kind of political anger that has fueled vandalism of Tesla cars in the United States and sometimes violent protests at his dealerships. There have been some instances of unruly protests and vandalism in Europe. But much of the anti-Musk sentiment has taken the form of political satire, of the kind that has flourished in Britain since at least the 18th century.... 'Nobody who is that rich and powerful has behaved that outrageously,' [said] John Gorenfeld..., who helped start a London-based group called 'Takedown Tesla.' 'There’s something campy and ridiculous about Musk’s brand of toxicity. And it opens up a real space to ridicule.'... The small anti-Musk groups that have popped up around Europe have the same basic goal: Tank Tesla’s stock price and sales as a way of sending a message to Mr. Musk and other super-wealthy people who are thinking of promoting far-right politics around the world.”

The Conversation -- April 5, 2025

Unfuckingbelievable! Edward Wong & Hannah Beech of the New York Times: “Trump administration officials have fired workers for the main American aid agency who were sent to Myanmar to assess how the United States could help with earthquake relief efforts, three people with knowledge of the actions said. The firings, done Friday while the workers were in the rubble-strewn city of Mandalay, raise doubts about Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s stated commitment to continuing some humanitarian and crisis aid even as the aid organization, the U.S. Agency for International Development, is dismantled by the Trump administration.... Trump appointees continue to cut humanitarian aid contracts, say employees.... When asked by a reporter on Friday in Brussels about the inability of the United States to provide substantial aid to Myanmar, Mr. Rubio said that other large countries, including China and India, should step up in global foreign aid as the United States cuts back.... [He said] 'we already have people there.'” MB: Yeah, but he didn't say it was only three people and he just fired them.

Oh My! Ben Berkowitz of Axios: "Elon Musk blasted top Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro and told an Italian political gathering he wants more free trade, not less.... The two-day rout in the stock market this week, after Trump announced sweeping new tariffs backed by Navarro, cost Musk nearly $18 billion just on his Tesla stock. By wading into the tariff debate, a subject he's mostly stayed away from, Musk could inject more uncertainty into U.S. efforts to re-order the global economy.... Friday morning, a user on Musk's social media platform X defended the controversial Navarro as a skilled voice on tariffs, citing his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. Musk, in a reply in the early hours of Saturday morning, disagreed. 'A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,' he wrote, suggesting it resulted in having more ego than brains. Another user stepped in to defend Navarro as right on trade, to which Musk replied 'He ain't built s--t.'"

David Sanger & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “When ... [Donald] Trump abruptly fired the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command on Thursday, it was the latest in a series of moves that have torn away at the country’s cyberdefenses just as they are confronting the most sophisticated and sustained attacks in the nation’s history. The commander, General Timothy D. Haugh..., had been among the American officials most deeply involved in pushing back on Russia, dating to his work countering Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election. His dismissal came after weeks in which the Trump administration swept away nearly all of the government’s election-related cyberdefenses beyond the secure N.S.A. command centers at Fort Meade, Md. At the same time, the administration has shrunk much of the nation’s complex early-warning system for cyberattacks, a web through which tech firms work with the F.B.I. and intelligence agencies to protect the power grid, pipelines and telecommunications networks. Cybersecurity experts, election officials and lawmakers — mostly Democrats but a few Republicans — have begun to raise alarms that the United States is knocking down a system that, while still full of holes, has taken a decade to build. It has pushed out some of its most experienced cyberdefenders and fired younger talent brought in to design defenses against a wave of ransomware, Chinese intrusions and vulnerabilities created by artificial intelligence.” ~~~

     ~~~ Julian Barnes of the New York Times: “General Haugh was ousted because Laura Loomer, a far-right wing conspiracy theorist and Trump adviser, had accused him and his deputy of disloyalty, according to U.S. officials and Ms. Loomer’s social media post early Friday. He was one of several national security officials fired this past week on her advice.... 'If decades of experience in uniform isn’t enough to lead the N.S.A. but amateur isolationists can hold senior policy jobs at the Pentagon, then what exactly are the criteria for working on this administration’s national security staff?' [Sen. Mitch] McConnell [R-Ky.] said.... 'I fear this is just the hourly installment in the Laura Loomer clown car aspect of this administration,' [Rep. James] Himes [D-Conn.] said.... 'In many cases [the administration is firing] some of our most valuable people. And this very directly makes us less safe.'”

Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: “Soon after the new administration arrived, things began to go missing from the White House website. They weren’t just the partisan policy platforms that typically disappear during a presidential transition. Informational pages about the Constitution and past presidents, up in various forms since President George W. Bush was in office, all vanished. Thousands of other government web pages had also been taken down or modified, including content about vaccines, hate crimes, low-income children, opioid addiction and veterans, before a court order temporarily blocked part of the sweeping erasure.... As data and resources are deleted or altered, something foundational is also at risk: Americans’ ability to access and evaluate their past, and with it, their already shaky trust in facts. 'This is not a cost-cutting mechanism,' said Kenny Evans ... [of] Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.... 'This slide toward secrecy and lack of transparency is an erosion of democratic norms.'

“The casualties are not just digital. The head of the National Archives..., 'the custodian of America’s collective memory,' was fired by Mr. Trump in February.... The Institute of Museum and Library Services, was named in an executive order calling for its elimination ... (its acting director said he planned to 'restore focus on patriotism').... As senior [U.S.A.I.D.] official told employees to shred or burn classified documents and personnel files.”

James Poniewozik of the New York Times: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's “social feed is one example of the administration’s turn to reality-TV tactics — slick, showy, sometimes cruel — as a means of government.... Since she took office in January, the secretary’s online video presence has been helping a media-minded administration broadcast images of unsparing domination with a telegenic face.... [Her] videos take care to make her look the part, dress the part and play the part against scenic backdrops.... As the face of [the administration's] immigration-enforcement project, she wears and is framed by accouterments of inviolable authority. She goes out with ICE, wearing a police vest and declaring, like Andy Sipowicz in 'NYPD Blue,' 'We are getting the dirt bags off these streets.'[Meanwhile,] The secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, a former Fox TV host, loads his X feed with images of himself working out in the gym and meeting with the mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, underscoring his feed’s recurrent theme of politicized hypermasculinity. The official White House account is rife with boasting and taunting posts, many drawing on meme formats from the dank corners of the internet.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: They really have no idea that they come across to normal people as the most foolish of cartoon villains. See Akhilleus' commentary in Saturday's thread.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Last March, when Rob Bresnahan, Jr., a wealthy business executive, was running to represent a competitive House district in northeastern Pennsylvania, he published a letter to the editor in a local newspaper demanding an end to stock trading by members of Congress.... If elected, Mr. Bresnahan told voters, he would co-sponsor legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress, a practice he said 'needs to come to an end immediately.' More than two months after being sworn in, Mr. Bresnahan, who defeated a Democratic incumbent last November in one of the most expensive House races in the country, has not introduced or co-sponsored such a bill. Over that time, he has emerged as one of the most active stock traders in the freshman class, according to Capitol Trades.... Since he took office in January, Mr. Bresnahan has reported 264 stock trades, according to the site. He has purchased up to $1.7 million in stock since taking office, according to his periodic transaction report, and has sold up to $3.03 million.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Congratulations, Rob! You made the front page of the New York Times! Putz.

~~~~~~~~~~

⭐ If you're looking for a nice family activity to participate in today, get started at this HandsOff! page, which will guide you to protest events in your area. (Also linked yesterday.)

Brian Evans, et al., of CNBC: "The stock market was pounded for a second day Friday after China retaliated with new tariffs on U.S. goods, sparking fears ... Donald Trump has ignited a global trade war that will lead to a recession. Here’s a tally of the stock market damage: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2,100 points, or 5.5% on Friday, its biggest decline since June 2020 during the pandemic. This follows a 1,679 point decline on Thursday and brings the drawdown from its record to more than 14%. The S&P 500 nosedived 5.8%, also the biggest decline since June 2020. The benchmark shed 4.84% on Thursday and is now off 17% off its recent high. The Nasdaq Composite. home to many tech companies that sell to China and manufacture there as well, dropped 5.6%. this follows a nearly 6% drop on Thursday. The measure is 22% lower than its December record, a bear market in Wall Street terminology. The selling was broad with only 14 members of the S&P 500 higher on the day. Major market indexes closed at their lows of the session." (Also linked yesterday.) 

Tony Romm of the New York Times: “... Mr. Trump responded to the day of chaos by striking a defiant tone. Having decamped from Washington to Mar-a-Lago, his home in Florida, he declared on Truth Social: 'MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.' Instead, the president insisted in another post that his strategy was 'ALREADY WORKING,' as he held up a newly released and better-than-expected jobs report, which reflected that U.S. hiring increased in the month before the announcement of his tariffs. At one point, the president even circulated another user’s video that argued 'Trump is purposely CRASHING the market,' in a bid to force the Fed to lower interest rates. He later called on Mr. Powell to do just that, demanding that the independent chair of the central bank 'STOP PLAYING POLITICS.' And Mr. Trump eventually turned his attention to China, attacking the country for having 'PLAYED IT WRONG' by retaliating against the United States.”

Arden Farhi & Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "As stocks continued to slide..., [Donald] Trump is speaking at a $1 million dollar-a-person candlelight dinner Friday at Mar-a-Lago, according to an invitation reviewed by CBS News. The fundraiser is for MAGA Inc, a super PAC that supports Mr. Trump. MAGA Inc. can raise unlimited money but is barred from coordinating directly with Mr. Trump's campaign arm. The fine print for the Friday's invitation says the president is attending as a guest speaker and not soliciting donations. Another $1 million-a-head MAGA Inc. dinner is scheduled for April 24 in Washington, according to the invitation. Donors can 'co-host' that dinner for $2.5 million or become a 'host' for $5 million.... [Because he was busy playing golf game with Saudi princes and all, Trump also missed] Friday's midday dignified transfer of four U.S. soldiers who died in a training accident in Lithuania."

I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things. -- Donald Trump, March 2016

He’s at the peak of just not giving a fuck anymore. -- White House Official, speaking of Trump in April 2025 ~~~

~~~ You know that formula that Trump used to determine tariff rates? Well, guess whose idea it was? Wacky ex-con Peter Navarro's. And guess who chose it over a menu of other, more nuanced formulae? Yes, yes, the dullest tool in the shed, Donald Trump. ~~~

     ~~~ Natalie Allison, et al., of the Washington Post: “After its debut in the Rose Garden on Wednesday, the crude math drew mockery from economists as Trump’s new global trade war prompted a sharp drop in markets.... Inside and outside the White House, advisers say Trump is unbowed even as the world reels from the biggest increase in trade hostilities in a century. They say Trump is unperturbed by negative headlines or criticism from foreign leaders. He is determined to listen to a single voice — his own — to secure what he views as his political legacy.” The article examines the, uh, decision-making process that led to the tariff fiasco. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ For more on Peter Navarro's expertise and how he got to such an important position that he could persuade Donnie Dimwit to singlehandedly destroy the world's economy, here's Rachel Maddow. I've started the video 5-1/2 minutes in to get right to the Navarro bit, but that first 5:30 is an excellent summary of "where we're at," as the kids say, so you may want to back the video on up for that, too: ~~~

     ~~~ I, Marie Burns, will never tire of citing the expert opinions of Brian Remus, though occasionally I do rely on the compelling arguments of Erin Rumbas. (You may find a few of studies conducted by Erin's researcher Amber N. Ruis creeping into my denser works, although Amber's results are more apt to appear in the footnotes.) Anyhow, like Navarro, I use plenty of expert analyses to back up my theories. (This is a joke; you may have to watch the video to get it, unless you're a typoglycemiac.)

David Lynch of the Washington Post: “The tariff barrage that ... Donald Trump unleashed this week on the world economy marks a decisive end to an era of freewheeling globalization that was shaped by American policymakers, business executives and consumers. The United States is now abandoning the system that made it rich and powerful, gambling that it can become more prosperous by waging a global trade war on friend and foe alike. Trump’s new protectionism breaks with international economic policies that were pursued by more than a dozen American presidents as the nation grew into a superpower that boasted a $30 trillion economy, the world’s largest and most innovative.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Justin Wolfers in a New York Times op-ed: “These tariffs are going to hurt. A lot. By my calculations, this round of tariffs may be 50 times as painful as the ones Donald Trump instituted in his first term. That means they are going to reshape your life in much more fundamental ways.... Small tariffs create small problems. Big tariffs create huge ones. Take Mr. Trump’s 25 percent tariff on vehicles, which is expected to raise their prices by roughly $4,000. Many families, like mine, will probably decide not to buy a second car. That creates far bigger problems than an aging washer [would have caused a family because of Trump's 2018 tariffs on washing machines].... And it’s not just cars. These are across-the-board tariffs, so they will distort virtually every purchase you make.... Mr. Trump’s latest tariffs will lead folks to rethink not only whether to replace their washing machines — as they did in 2018 — but also their dryers, refrigerators, stoves, groceries, clothes, cars and even everyday essentials. [The effects of Trump's tariffs] multiply, which means their costs rise in the square of the tariff rate. That leads to some pretty painful arithmetic.”

Colby Smith of the New York Times: “Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, warned that ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs risk stoking even higher inflation and slower growth than initially expected, as he struck a more downbeat tone about the outlook, despite the economy so far remaining in a 'good place.'... Mr. Powell characterized the risks of that outcome, which he warned could include higher unemployment, as 'elevated.' 'While tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation, it is also possible that the effects could be more persistent,' he said in a speech at a conference in Arlington, Va., on Friday.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Meredith Hill of Politico: “Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon said he plans to introduce a companion bill to the bipartisan Senate legislation aimed at reclaiming Congress’ authority over tariffs, becoming the first House Republican to openly challenge the powers ... Donald Trump is using to launch a massive global trade war.... The Senate bill introduced Thursday by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) would limit a president’s power to impose tariffs, including allowing Congress to vote to end any tariff at any time. It would also require the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of imposing any duty and for Congress to explicitly approve any new tariffs within 60 days. Four additional Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors to that bill. Bacon’s move is a rare step in the deeply Trump-loyal House Republican conference. Speaker Mike Johnson has no plans to bring any legislation limiting Trump’s tariff authority to the House floor, and House Republicans voted for a measure several weeks ago that effectively barred any lawmaker from trying to force a vote to end the president’s emergency declaration he’s used to implement tariffs.”

Quelle Idiot! Roger Cohen of the New York Times: “'FREE MARINE LE PEN!' With this blunt call, a strange one in that the French far-right leader is walking the streets of Paris..., [Donald] Trump has waded into the politics of an ally, condemning her conviction this week on embezzlement charges and her disqualification from running for public office. The conviction was 'another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech,' Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. Elon Musk, his billionaire aide, drove home the point: 'Free Le Pen!' Mr. Musk echoed on his social media platform X. More than an extraordinary American intervention in French politics, the statements ignored the overwhelming evidence arrayed against Ms. Le Pen, who was convicted of helping orchestrate over many years a system to divert European taxpayers’ money illicitly to offset the acute financial difficulties of her National Rally party in France.” (Also linked yesterday.)

⭐Katie Mettler & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to ask the government of El Salvador to release a man U.S. immigration officers mistakenly deported to a mega-prison there last month, in an emergency ruling after his lawyers argued that the man was at imminent risk of death. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to return Kilmar Abrego García, the husband of a U.S. citizen and longtime Maryland resident, to the United States by no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday. As the judge issued her order, supporters outside the courtroom cheered.” This is a developing story. (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Let's see how forcefully the Trumpies make the ask. ~~~

     ~~~ The WashPo story has been updated. And it does now reflect just how hard the administration plans to offer a measure of justice to Abrego Garcia: “The Trump administration immediately appealed the ruling Friday. Officials have argued that they have no power to return Abrego García because he is in the custody of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.'We suggest the Judge contact President Bukele because we are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an email.” The best thing about Leavitt is that you wouldn't feel ashamed or sorry at all if you slapped her in her smug, petulant, mean-girl face.

Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: “A federal judge ordered Friday that the case to free Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts student from Turkey, from immigration detention should be moved to a court in Vermont, denying a government demand to hold the proceedings in Louisiana, where she is being held. Ms. Ozturk, a legal resident on a student visa, was swept up by the government as part of what the Trump administration has described as a campaign against antisemitic activists on campus. In a hearing on Thursday, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the government had stealthily transferred her from Massachusetts, where she was arrested, to Louisiana without informing her lawyers where she was. The lawyer, Adriana Lafaille, suggested the government was seeking a court that would favor its case. Louisiana has one of the most conservative appeals courts in the country.... In her ruling on Friday, Judge Denise Casper of U.S. District Court in Boston, said that Vermont was the proper venue because Ms. Ozturk was being held there overnight at the time that her lawyers — not knowing where she was — filed a petition for her release in Boston. Normally, a petition to free someone would be filed in the jurisdiction where the person was confined.”

Yes, They're Coming for Us. Maria Luisa Paul of the Washington Post: “... recent news reports of at least seven alleged cases have alarmed attorneys, civil rights advocates and immigration scholars who say they reveal the dangers of a system accelerating with few safeguards. As the Trump administration pushes for mass deportations, expands federal enforcement and shutters oversight offices, experts warn citizens are increasingly at risk of getting caught in the dragnet.... Investigations by media outlets, research institutes and oversight agencies have revealed that ICE has arrested, detained, deported and issued detainers — requests to local jails to hold a person in custody — for thousands of citizens since the agency was created in 2003. One 2011 study estimated that roughly 1 to 1.5 percent of deportees are U.S. citizens.” ~~~

~~~ Oops! Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration mistakenly sent an urgent notice this week to some Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion saying it was terminating their provisional legal status in seven days and ordering them to leave the United States 'immediately,' frightening immigrants and advocates across the country. 'A message was sent in error to some Ukrainians' who entered the United States under the Uniting for Ukraine program, said Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. She said the 'parole program has not been terminated.'... The notice, which advocates provided to The Washington Post, echoed rhetoric that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem has deployed on social media to target undocumented immigrants, ordering immigrants to leave, threatening to rescind their work permits and warning they could be criminally prosecuted or fined if they fail to depart.... Rabbi James Greene ...  of Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, which aids immigrants and refugees,” called the language of the email “shameful.”

Okey-doke. Now we have a better picture of Trump's immigration plan:

     ~~~ Scripps News Group: Donald "Trump on Thursday showed reporters an example of the gold card he has proposed that would give immigrants a pathway to citizenship in exchange for a $5 million purchase price. 'You know what that is?' Trump asked as he held up the card. 'It's the gold card, the Trump card.... For $5 million, this can be yours.' The card ... Trump showed to reporters bore his image and signature and the words 'The Trump Card.' It was marked with its $5 million purchase price. The cards are part of a program through which foreigners could fast-track a path to U.S. citizenship. Such a program would be similar to the existing EB-5 visa program, which the U.S. began in 1990 to encourage job creation by foreign investors. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said the 'gold card' system would replace the EB-5 visa program." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Marie: The competition is intense for the Trump Brownnoser of the Week, but kudos to the person who designed that "Trump card"; s/he might have won the prize. Update: RAS thinks it's a crap AI design.

Adam Liptak & Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Friday let the Trump administration temporarily suspend $65 million in teacher-training grants that the government contends would promote diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, an early victory for the administration in front of the justices. The court’s order was unsigned, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. The temporary pause will remain in effect while the case is appealed. The decision was 5 to 4, with five of the court’s conservatives — Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Brett M. Kavanaugh — in the majority. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. voted with the court’s three liberal justices in dissent.... The grants at issue in the case helped place teachers in poor and rural areas and aimed to recruit a diverse work force reflecting the communities it served.” Politico's story is here. MB: Evidently only white teachers can give kids of every race a proper patriotic American education.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has traditionally been a powerful guardrail in American government. It has issued interpretations of the law that bind agencies across the executive branch, decided which proposed policies were legally permissible or out of bounds and approved draft executive orders before they went to presidents to be signed. But in ... [Donald] Trump’s second term so far, the office has largely been sidelined. As Mr. Trump issues policy after policy pushing legal limits and asserting an expansive view of his power, the White House has undercut its role as a gatekeeper — delaying giving it senior leadership and weakening its ability to impose quality control over executive orders. Its diminished voice is shifting the balance of legal power in the executive branch toward the White House, speeding up Mr. Trump’s ability to act but creating mounting difficulties for the Justice Department lawyers who must defend the government in court.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “Attorney General Pam Bondi [on] Friday ... appeared to foreclose the possibility of a Justice Department investigation into the [top administration officials' use of Signal for sensitive discussions]. 'Those cases would have to be referred to me. They have not been referred to me,' Bondi said, speaking at an unrelated news conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She referred to reports Thursday that the Pentagon’s inspector general will launch his own internal review, and she repeated denials by top officials that the material at issue was classified.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I found this report confusing. The IGs report to their department heads, but according to their own FAQ page, the agency head can't prevent them from conducting an audit or an investigation. Therefore, Bondi has no control over the Pentagon IG's investigation nor indeed over any investigation the DOJ's IG might choose to conduct.

It turns out that RFKJ is as big a liar as his boss. Very impressive: ~~~

~~~ Adam Cancryn of Politico: “When HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Thursday that he planned to rehire 20 percent of the employees he’d just terminated, he insisted such a move was 'always the plan.' Turns out, it wasn’t the plan at all. HHS has no intention of reinstating any significant number of the staffers fired as part of a mass reduction-in-force on Tuesday, despite Kennedy’s assertion that some had been mistakenly cut, a person familiar with the department’s plans told Politico. The layoffs eliminated roughly 10,000 jobs across HHS, gutting several public health offices and purging prominent senior scientists from the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health. They came after the department had already jettisoned 10,000 people who took early retirement and voluntary separation offers encouraged by the Trump administration.... The chaos has deepened concerns about HHS’ ability to function under Kennedy’s leadership, prompting criticism from public health experts and industry officials and fueling fears that the cuts will weaken the nation’s defense against a range of health threats.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One thing nobody seems to mention is that the drastic cuts in services across the federal government will do very little (or nothing) to reduce costs to taxpayers (and others). First, of course, is the fact that employee salaries are a small part (less than 5 percent) of federal expenditures. But some of the services the feds have provided for decades are so important or necessary or popular that other entities will try to fill the gap. When those other entities are state or local governments, taxpayers will pay for them. And there's a good chance that it will cost more to start up these new local facilities, & to run multiple new agencies to do the same thing that the feds had mastered as a one-stop-shop. Private groups -- foundations, charities, churches -- may take up some of the slack, and somebody has to fund those groups and do that work. The Trump/Musk "efficiencies" and not at all a boon to the taxpayer; the only beneficiaries will be those like Trump & Musk and their cronies who corruptly benefit from the ruse.

Margot Sanger-Katz & Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Friday rejected a Biden plan that would have required Medicare and Medicaid to cover obesity drugs and expanded access for millions of people. Under the law that established Medicare’s Part D drug benefits, the program was forbidden from paying for drugs for 'weight loss.' But the Biden administration’s proposal last November had attempted to sidestep that ban by arguing that the drugs would be allowed to treat the disease of obesity and its related conditions. Expanding coverage of the drugs would have cost the federal government billions of dollars. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the federal expense would amount to about $35 billion over 10 years. The decision announced Friday was part of a larger 438-page regulation updating parts of Medicare’s Part D drug benefits and Medicare Advantage, the private insurance plans that about half of Medicare beneficiaries now use.”

Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge permanently barred the Trump administration on Friday from limiting funding from the National Institutes of Health that supports research at universities and academic medical centers, restoring billions of dollars in grant money but setting up an almost certain appeal. The ruling by Judge Angel Kelley, of the Federal District Court in Massachusetts, made an earlier temporary order by her permanent and was one of the first final decisions in the barrage of lawsuits against the Trump administration. But it came about in an unusual way: The government asked the court to enter that very verdict earlier on Friday so it could move ahead with an appeal. The decision nonetheless was an initial win for a diverse assortment of institutions that conduct medical research. After the Trump administration announced the policy change in February, scores of research hospitals and universities issued dire warnings that the proposal threatened to kneecap American scientific prowess and innovation, estimating that the change could force those institutions to collectively cover a nearly $4 billion shortfall.”

⭐Senate Passes Screw-You Budget Blueprint. Catie Edmondson & Maya Miller of the New York Times: “The Senate approved Republicans’ budget blueprint just after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday to clear the way for passing ... [Donald] Trump’s domestic agenda, after Democrats forced an overnight session to protest the G.O.P. push to deliver what the president has called 'one big beautiful bill' of spending and tax cuts. The 51-to-48 vote, mostly along party lines, was a crucial step in the Republican effort to fast-track budget legislation through Congress and shield it from a filibuster through a process known as reconciliation. Disagreements between Republicans in the House and the Senate about what should be in that bill had paralyzed them for weeks, but they have forged a fragile and complex compromise allowing them to move forward. Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine were the only Republicans who voted to oppose the measure. The budget blueprint goes next to the House, which must adopt it before lawmakers in both chambers can set to work drafting the legislation laying out the specific tax and spending cuts they want to enact.... The budget resolution itself leaves big questions unresolved.” ~~~

     ~~~ During the vote-a-rama that preceded passage of the blueprint, all of the Democrats' amendments failed. But “Senators did vote 51 to 48 to adopt an amendment offered by [Dan] Sullivan [R-Alaska]vowing to protect Medicare and Medicaid.” The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ The budget plan passed only because of a tremendous stunt Senate GOP leadership pulled: ~~~

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: “... as ... Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader..., maneuvers to push through ... [Donald] Trump’s domestic agenda, including a huge tax cut, he is making an end run around the filibuster through procedural sleight of hand, alarming members of both parties.... At issue is the Republican use of a complex process known as budget reconciliation to try to deliver trillions of dollars in tax cuts later this year.... It is the only way to shield major legislation from a filibuster....But the exception is intended to be narrow. In exchange for filibuster protection, lawmakers must follow a rigorous set of budgetary rules meant to ensure that the legislation in question will not add to the deficit.

“The Senate parliamentarian is in charge of interpreting and enforcing those rules, and ordering lawmakers to strip out any provisions that do not comply. But this year, Senate Republicans are saying they will rely on their own interpretation of the budget rules where it concerns their tax cut plans, sidestepping the parliamentarian altogether. They are doing so in order to claim that extending tax cuts enacted in 2017 and set to expire at the end of this year, a move estimated to cost about $4 trillion over a decade, would actually cost nothing because the tax cuts are already in place.” Emphasis added. ~~~

~~~ Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: describes the GOP attempt to hide the ball as “Orwellian”: “[Trump's tax] cuts are very expensive. Not only do they include extensions of the 2017 tax law provisions (set to expire this year), but they also lower corporate rates as well as carveouts for tips, auto loan payments and other goodies. In total, Trump’s preferred tax agenda could cost between $5 trillion and $11 trillion over the next decade.” Rampell puts the blame not on Thune but on Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Budget Committee and who claims to have magical super-arithmetic powers to determine the baseline budget.

Marie: Did you think big law firms might be headed by cynical, oneygrubbing, amoral cowards? You know, like the stereotypical ones you see on teevee? Well, yes, yes, they are. ~~~

~~~ The Bigger They Are, the Harder Their Hearts. Ben Protess of the New York Times: “More than 500 law firms on Friday threw their support behind some of their embattled peers, declaring that ... [Donald] Trump’s recent crackdown on the law firm industry poses 'a grave threat to our system of constitutional governance and to the rule of law itself.' The firms, 504 in all, signed a so-called friend of the court brief that was filed on behalf of Perkins Coie, the first firm to receive an executive order restricting its business. Perkins Coie sued the Trump administration, and a judge has temporarily blocked the president’s order, which jeopardized its ability to represent government contractors and limited its access to federal buildings.... Not a single top 20 firm by revenue, as ranked by American Lawyer, signed [the brief], including Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins or Gibson Dunn. Yet in recent days, a few large firms did add their signatures, including Covington & Burling, No. 28 in American Lawyer’s rankings; and Arnold & Porter, No. 47. Two other big firms that received executive orders and are also challenging them in court, WilmerHale and Jenner & Block, also signed. All told, nearly 10 firms in the top 100 signed the brief. Other friend of the court briefs were also filed in support of Perkins Coie, including one signed by both the A.C.L.U. and the Cato Institute, the Washington-based libertarian think tank.”

Vimal Patel of the New York Times: “Former President Barack Obama urged universities to resist attacks from the federal government that violate their academic freedom in a campus speech on Thursday. He also said schools and students should engage in self-reflection about speech environments on their campuses.... In his remarks on Thursday, Mr. Obama also called on law firms, which have also faced threats from the Trump administration, to stand for their principles, even if they risked losing business. Mr. Obama told the crowd, which included college students, that everyone should stand up for the rights of others to say wrong and hurtful things.” Here's a video of a portion of President Obama's remarks. MB: I am distressed by his elder-statesman caution. Measured tones are fine, but the message should be forceful.

Philip Marcelo of the AP: “Prosecutors are seeking more than seven years in prison for disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos after he pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity theft charges. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York argued in a court filing Friday that a significant sentence was warranted because the New York Republican’s 'unparalleled crimes' had 'made a mockery' of the country’s election system. 'From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives,' the office wrote. Prosecutors also argued that Santos had been 'unrepentant and defiant' for years, dismissing the prosecution as a 'witch hunt' and refusing to resign from Congress as his web of lies was debunked.... A federal judge on Long Island is scheduled to decide Santos’ sentence during a court hearing April 25.” MB: Won't Trump pardon this obvious mini-Trump replica doll?

~~~~~~~~~~

New York. He Seems Nice. Santul Nerkar & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: “A violent felon whose sentence was commuted by ... [Donald] Trump was arrested Friday and charged with violating the terms of his supervised release after he was accused of a string of crimes that included assaulting a 3-year-old child. The man, Jonathan Braun, was arraigned in Federal District Court in Brooklyn before Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto. Prosecutors asked Judge Matsumoto that Mr. Braun be held indefinitely without bail. The judge, noting the violent nature of Mr. Braun’s accused repeated offenses, ordered that he not be released.... Mr. Braun ... appeared agitated throughout the proceeding. He complained about his legal representation and gave the middle finger to people sitting in the courtroom.... It was the fifth time that Mr. Braun had been arrested since Mr. Trump commuted his 10-year sentence just before leaving office in 2021, which was among a raft of last-minute clemencies granted to those with ties to the president. Mr. Braun’s sentence was commuted after his family used a connection with Charles Kushner, the father of Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law who was a senior White House adviser, to get the matter before Mr. Trump....

[Besides making predatory loans that resulted in a $20 million FTC fine & a state ban from working in the cash-advance business,] Mr. Braun has also been accused of crimes that include swinging a pole that contained intravenous bags at a nurse; threatening a synagogue congregant who had asked him to stop talking during services; punching his wife and 75-year-old father-in-law; and grabbing a nanny’s breast as he touched himself.” MB: Poor Trump. The things he must do for the in-laws.

North Carolina. Eduardo Medina & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “In the prolonged legal battle over a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, a state appeals court panel ruled on Friday that tens of thousands of voters would need to promptly verify their eligibility or have their ballots thrown out. The decision could lead to the results of the November election being overturned. The ruling was a win for Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican who narrowly lost the election in November and challenged the result. His opponent, Justice Allison Riggs, is one of two Democrats on the seven-member Supreme Court. The case has tested the boundaries of post-election litigation and drawn wide criticism. Judge Griffin’s legal argument centers on a claim that some 65,000 people who voted early or by mail in the Supreme Court election did not provide required proof of identity — either the last four digits of a Social Security number or a driver’s license number — when they registered.” (Also linked yesterday.) The NBC News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Barring an act of consc[i]ence on the part of the Republican-controlled top North Carolina appellate court or the federal courts — LOL — this election will be outright stolen by retroactively changing the rules for one election held in North Carolina and none of the others."

~~~~~~~~~~

Ukraine, et al. Constant Méheut of the New York Times: “A Russian missile strike Friday on Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine [that is the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky], killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 50, local officials said. It was the latest in a series of Russian attacks on urban centers in recent days that have caused significant civilian casualties despite ongoing cease-fire talks. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih’s defense council, said on social media that five children were among the dead. He said the missile struck a residential neighborhood, with a playground nearby. Other officials warned the death toll could rise as rescuers continued to search the rubble for victims.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Russian War Crimes. Kim Barker of the New York Times: “In recent months, Ukrainian and international human-rights officials have accused Russian troops of executing Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered instead of taking them as prisoners of war, as required under the Geneva Conventions treaties that outline how nations should treat enemy forces and civilians during armed conflict. A recent U.N. report decried an 'alarming spike' in Russian executions of Ukrainian prisoners. In December, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman office announced that 177 Ukrainian prisoners of war had been executed on the battlefield since the beginning of the war; of those, 109 were killed in 2024 alone. Russians have killed at least 25 additional Ukrainian soldiers since then, according to Artem Starosiek, who runs Molfar, a Ukrainian consultancy that supports the war effort and analyzed videos to come up with that tally. The Times could not independently verify that count.... Five Ukrainian drone pilots said in interviews that they had watched as drone videos showed their fellow soldiers surrendering, only to be killed. On Telegram, such videos have become commonplace.” (Also linked yesterday.)

The Conversation -- April 4, 2025

Brian Evans, et al., of CNBC: "The stock market was pounded for a second day Friday after China retaliated with new tariffs on U.S. goods, sparking fears ... Donald Trump has ignited a global trade war that will lead to a recession. Here’s a tally of the stock market damage: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2,100 points, or 5.5% on Friday, its biggest decline since June 2020 during the pandemic. This follows a 1,679 point decline on Thursday and brings the drawdown from its record to more than 14%. The S&P 500 nosedived 5.8%, also the biggest decline since June 2020. The benchmark shed 4.84% on Thursday and is now off 17% off its recent high. The Nasdaq Composite. home to many tech companies that sell to China and manufacture there as well, dropped 5.6%. this follows a nearly 6% drop on Thursday. The measure is 22% lower than its December record, a bear market in Wall Street terminology. The selling was broad with only 14 members of the S&P 500 higher on the day. Major market indexes closed at their lows of the session."

⭐Katie Mettler & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to ask the government of El Salvador to release a man U.S. immigration officers mistakenly deported to a mega-prison there last month, in an emergency ruling after his lawyers argued that the man was at imminent risk of death. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to return Kilmar Abrego García, the husband of a U.S. citizen and longtime Maryland resident, to the United States by no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday. As the judge issued her order, supporters outside the courtroom cheered.” This is a developing story. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Let's see how forcefully the Trumpies make the ask. 

Okey-doke. Now we have a better picture of Trump's immigration plan:

     ~~~ Scripps News Group: Donald "Trump on Thursday showed reporters an example of the gold card he has proposed that would give immigrants a pathway to citizenship in exchange for a $5 million purchase price. 'You know what that is?' Trump asked as he held up the card. 'It's the gold card, the Trump card.... For $5 million, this can be yours.' The card ... Trump showed to reporters bore his image and signature and the words 'The Trump Card.' It was marked with its $5 million purchase price. The cards are part of a program through which foreigners could fast-track a path to U.S. citizenship. Such a program would be similar to the existing EB-5 visa program, which the U.S. began in 1990 to encourage job creation by foreign investors. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said the 'gold card' system would replace the EB-5 visa program." Thanks to RAS for the link.

     ~~~ Marie: The competition is intense for the Trump Brownnoser of the Week, but kudos to the person who designed that "Trump card"; s/he might have won the prize.

I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things. -- Donald Trump, March 2016

He’s at the peak of just not giving a fuck anymore. -- White House Official, speaking of Trump in April 2025 ~~~

~~~ You know that formula that Trump used to determine tariff rates? Well, guess whose idea it was? Wacky Peter Navarro's. And guess who chose it over a menu of other, more nuanced formulae? Yes, yes, the dullest tool in the shed, Donald Trump. ~~~

     ~~~ Natalie Allison, et al., of the Washington Post: “After its debut in the Rose Garden on Wednesday, the crude math drew mockery from economists as Trump’s new global trade war prompted a sharp drop in markets.... Inside and outside the White House, advisers say Trump is unbowed even as the world reels from the biggest increase in trade hostilities in a century. They say Trump is unperturbed by negative headlines or criticism from foreign leaders. He is determined to listen to a single voice — his own — to secure what he views as his political legacy.” The article examines the, uh, decision-making process that led to the tariff fiasco.

David Lynch of the Washington Post: “The tariff barrage that ... Donald Trump unleashed this week on the world economy marks a decisive end to an era of freewheeling globalization that was shaped by American policymakers, business executives and consumers. The United States is now abandoning the system that made it rich and powerful, gambling that it can become more prosperous by waging a global trade war on friend and foe alike. Trump’s new protectionism breaks with international economic policies that were pursued by more than a dozen American presidents as the nation grew into a superpower that boasted a $30 trillion economy, the world’s largest and most innovative.”

Colby Smith of the New York Times: “Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, warned that ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs risk stoking even higher inflation and slower growth than initially expected, as he struck a more downbeat tone about the outlook, despite the economy so far remaining in a 'good place.'... Mr. Powell characterized the risks of that outcome, which he warned could include higher unemployment, as 'elevated.' 'While tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation, it is also possible that the effects could be more persistent,' he said in a speech at a conference in Arlington, Va., on Friday.”

Quelle Idiot! Roger Cohen of the New York Times: “'FREE MARINE LE PEN!' With this blunt call, a strange one in that the French far-right leader is walking the streets of Paris..., [Donald] Trump has waded into the politics of an ally, condemning her conviction this week on embezzlement charges and her disqualification from running for public office. The conviction was 'another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech,' Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. Elon Musk, his billionaire aide, drove home the point: 'Free Le Pen!' Mr. Musk echoed on his social media platform X. More than an extraordinary American intervention in French politics, the statements ignored the overwhelming evidence arrayed against Ms. Le Pen, who was convicted of helping orchestrate over many years a system to divert European taxpayers’ money illicitly to offset the acute financial difficulties of her National Rally party in France.”

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has traditionally been a powerful guardrail in American government. It has issued interpretations of the law that bind agencies across the executive branch, decided which proposed policies were legally permissible or out of bounds and approved draft executive orders before they went to presidents to be signed. But in ... [Donald] Trump’s second term so far, the office has largely been sidelined. As Mr. Trump issues policy after policy pushing legal limits and asserting an expansive view of his power, the White House has undercut its role as a gatekeeper — delaying giving it senior leadership and weakening its ability to impose quality control over executive orders. Its diminished voice is shifting the balance of legal power in the executive branch toward the White House, speeding up Mr. Trump’s ability to act but creating mounting difficulties for the Justice Department lawyers who must defend the government in court.”

North Carolina. Eduardo Medina & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “In the prolonged legal battle over a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, a state appeals court panel ruled on Friday that tens of thousands of voters would need to promptly verify their eligibility or have their ballots thrown out. The decision could lead to the results of the November election being overturned. The ruling was a win for Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican who narrowly lost the election in November and challenged the result. His opponent, Justice Allison Riggs, is one of two Democrats on the seven-member Supreme Court. The case has tested the boundaries of post-election litigation and drawn wide criticism. Judge Griffin’s legal argument centers on a claim that some 65,000 people who voted early or by mail in the Supreme Court election did not provide required proof of identity — either the last four digits of a Social Security number or a driver’s license number — when they registered.”

Constant Méheut of the New York Times: “A Russian missile strike Friday on Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine [that is the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky], killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 50, local officials said. It was the latest in a series of Russian attacks on urban centers in recent days that have caused significant civilian casualties despite ongoing cease-fire talks. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih’s defense council, said on social media that five children were among the dead. He said the missile struck a residential neighborhood, with a playground nearby. Other officials warned the death toll could rise as rescuers continued to search the rubble for victims.”

Russian War Crimes. Kim Barker of the New York Times: “In recent months, Ukrainian and international human-rights officials have accused Russian troops of executing Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered instead of taking them as prisoners of war, as required under the Geneva Conventions treaties that outline how nations should treat enemy forces and civilians during armed conflict. A recent U.N. report decried an 'alarming spike' in Russian executions of Ukrainian prisoners. In December, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman office announced that 177 Ukrainian prisoners of war had been executed on the battlefield since the beginning of the war; of those, 109 were killed in 2024 alone. Russians have killed at least 25 additional Ukrainian soldiers since then, according to Artem Starosiek, who runs Molfar, a Ukrainian consultancy that supports the war effort and analyzed videos to come up with that tally. The Times could not independently verify that count.... Five Ukrainian drone pilots said in interviews that they had watched as drone videos showed their fellow soldiers surrendering, only to be killed. On Telegram, such videos have become commonplace.”

~~~~~~~~~~

If you're looking for a nice family activity to participate in Saturday, get started at this HandsOff! page, which will guide you to protest events in your area. (Also linked yesterday.)

⭐Heather Cox Richardson: “Today, before the stock market opened, Trump posted on his social media site: 'THE OPERATION IS OVER! THE PATIENT LIVED, AND IS HEALING. THE PROGNOSIS IS THAT THE PATIENT WILL BE FAR STRONGER, BIGGER, BETTER, AND MORE RESILIENT THAN EVER BEFORE. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!'... Trump justified the tariffs by declaring that the U.S. is in the midst of a national emergency, but this afternoon he left the White House for a long weekend in Florida, where his private Doral resort outside of Miami is holding the first domestic golf tournament of the season of LIV Golf, which is financed by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. Trump’s tariffs are not an economic policy. Tariffs are generally imposed on products, not on nations.... While Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CBS, 'You’re going to see employment leaping starting today,' in fact, both automaker Stellantis and appliance manufacturer Whirlpool announced layoffs because of the tariffs. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo points out that building and establishing a new plant in the U.S. will take a minimum of three to five years even if investors are inclined to support one, but Victoria Guida reported in Politico that corporate executives are saying they cannot invest in manufacturing until they can project costs, and Trump is far too unpredictable to enable them to do that with any confidence....”

     ~~~ Marie: Do read on. Richardson covers quite a few important points, the most salient, IMO, is this: "Ending systems of global free trade dovetails with the idea of getting rid of the international rules-based order created after World War II." That "rules-based order" "provide[s] ways in which countries could protect their sovereignty and work out their differences without going to war." Emphasis mine. (As for that golf outing with the Saudis ~~~

     ~~~ Erik De La Garza of the Raw Story: “... Donald Trump created an uproar Thursday evening after reports emerged that he would skip the dignified transfer of the four U.S. soldiers who died in Lithuania for a golf event.... 'Thousands of Lithuanians lined the streets with dignity and respect to honor the four lost American soldiers,' Matt McDermott posted on X. 'Trump prioritized golf over their dignified transfer.'”) ~~~

~~~ ⭐ Jonathan Last of the Bulwark takes an intensely bleak view of U.S. prospects: "It took just 71 days for Donald Trump to wreck the American economy, mortally wound NATO, and destroy the American-led world order. He did this with the enthusiastic support of the entire Republican party and conservative movement. He did it with the support of a plurality of American voters. He did not hide his intentions. He campaigned on them. He made them the central thrust of his election. He told Americans that he would betray our allies and give up our leadership position in the world.... Half of the electorate — the 77 million people who voted for Trump — as either fundamentally unserious, decadent, or weak. And no empire can survive the degeneration of its people.... There is no going back....

~We have a deeply stupid government — from our economically illiterate president to our craven and foolish secretary of state, from the freelancing billionaire dilettante who is gutting American soft power to the vaccine-denying health secretary who is firing as much talent as he can. From the senior economics advisor who thinks comic books are good investments, to the senators who voted to confirm this cabinet of hacks, to the representatives who stumble over themselves justifying each new inane MAGA pronouncement. But also, we have the government we deserve."

Brian Evans, et al., of CNBC: "Stocks plummeted Thursday, sending the S&P 500 back into correction territory for its biggest one-day loss since 2020, after ... Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs, raising the risk of a global trade war that plunges the economy into a recession. The broad market index dropped 4.84% and settled at 5,396.52, posting its worst day since June 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Tumbled 1,679.39 points, or 3.98%, to close at 40,545.93 and mark its worst session since June 2020. The Nasdaq Composite  plummeted 5.97% and ended at 16,550.61, registering its biggest decline since March 2020. The slide across equities was broad, with more than 400 of the S&P 500′s constituents posting losses. Thursday’s moves sent the S&P 500 to its lowest level since before Trump’s election win in November. The benchmark now sits about 12% from its record close touched in February. Shares of multinational companies tumbled." (Also linked yesterday.)

Christian Shepherd, et al., of the Washington Post: “China said Friday that it will impose a 34 percent tariff on U.S. goods, matching levies targeting China by ... Donald Trump that Beijing called 'inconsistent with international trade rules.' The announcement was made by China’s State Council, the country’s cabinet, which also condemned 'unilateral bullying' by the United States in a statement. China’s Ministry of Commerce also announced a slew of non-tariff measures Friday, including the suspension of export licenses for 16 U.S. firms over allegations of products having military applications, and adding 11 companies to its 'unreliable entities list.'... China’s measures came as stock markets in Asia and Europe fell sharply Friday....” Politico's story is here.

John Tasker of CBC News: "Liberal Leader [MB: and Prime Minister] Mark Carney said Thursday ... Donald Trump's move to levy tariffs on virtually every country will 'rupture the global economy,' torpedo economic growth and prompt devastating consequences for workers and businesses in this country and around the world. Carney said Trump's tariffs against Canadian goods are 'unjustified, unwarranted and, in our judgment, misguided,' and the country must hit back with what he called carefully calibrated and targeted countermeasures' to make it clear Canada will not stand for this sort of economic broadside. The Liberal leader said the government will levy a tariff on U.S.-made vehicles that are not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, to match what the Americans did to the Canadian auto industry Wednesday."

Max Boot of the Washington Post: “... assuming that Americans continue to buy as many imports as they did last year, [Donald Trump's] plan would amount to an $880 billion annual tax hike that will be paid not, as Trump insists, by foreigners but by U.S. businesses and consumers. That’s 2.9 percent of gross domestic product, which would make this the largest tax increase since 1942. And that’s not even counting the cost of the likely retaliation from affected nations — or the billions lost in the stock market in response to Trump’s announcement. If Trump were trying to implement an income tax hike of similar magnitude by executive order, it would be plainly unconstitutional. Everyone knows that only Congress can set tax rates. What’s different about tariffs? On its face, nothing. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution states: 'The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.' The McKinley Tariff that Trump has said he admires was not an executive order signed by President William McKinley; it was legislation sponsored by McKinley when he was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. So, too, the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act — which did much to worsen the Great Depression — was passed by Congress.” Read on. Boot explains why at least one expert calls Trump's imposition of tariffs under supposed emergencies to be abuses of power. (Also linked yesterday.)

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Trump “slapped some surprisingly high tariffs on key allies — including Israel and Vietnam — while sparing nations such as Russia, Cuba and North Korea altogether.... [Also not on the list: Vatican City, Burkina Faso, Seychelles, Somalia and Belarus.] The charts [he displayed (images linked here yesterday)] listed the percentages that the countries allegedly are taxing U.S. goods next to each country and territory under the heading 'Tariffs Charged to the U.S.A.,' with the following in smaller print: 'Including Currency Manipulation and Trade Barriers.' Trump then just charged most countries half of what they purportedly were charging us. But that’s not where the numbers appear to actually come from. As financial journalist James Surowiecki quickly figured out, the White House seems to have used a very simplistic formula: Our trade deficit with that country, divided by the country’s exports to us. That’s a measure of something, but it’s not, strictly speaking, about tariffs. It’s about a trade imbalance. The White House denied Surowiecki’s claim, pointing to a mathematical formula featuring Greek symbols. But when that formula is deconstructed, it appears as simple as he claimed.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hilarious. The White House dummkopfs think if you slap some Greek symbols onto a super-simple algebraic equation (X = A/B), it's suddenly higher mathematics that only an MIT professor can grasp.

Ben Leonard of Politico: “Sen. Chuck Grassley, a senior Republican lawmaker from the farm-heavy state of Iowa, is spearheading new legislation that would reassert Congress’ authority over tariffs amid ... Donald Trump’s trade war escalation. The measure, jointly introduced Thursday with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), would limit the president’s power to impose tariffs. It would require the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of such an imposition and for Congress to explicitly approve any new tariffs within 60 days. The bill also would allow Congress to end any tariff at any time. It’s highly unlikely this proposal will ever become law. Still, support from Grassley — who chairs the Judiciary Committee, sits on the Finance Committee and is third in line for the presidency as the Senate’s president pro tempore — sends a strong signal about the GOP’s growing unease with Trump’s actions and the party’s willingness to say something about it.” ~~~

~~~ Lie Down, Roll Over, Play Dead. Katherine Tully-McManus, et al., of Politico: “Meanwhile, Republicans on Capitol Hill — who could use their own votes to stop the new tariffs cold — made clear they had no intention of acting anytime soon.... In interview after interview Thursday, as the markets sunk deeper and deeper, senators made clear they would not be sticking their necks out on the issue.... One bipartisan proposal introduced Thursday by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) would limit presidential power on tariffs.... But only a handful of Senate Republicans expressed interest in that measure....” BUT ~~~

~~~ Sahil Kapur & Scott Wong of NBC News: “The fallout from ... Donald Trump's aggressive new tariffs has spurred Congress into action, with a growing number of Republicans joining Democrats to express interest in using their power to restrain him. After the GOP-led Senate delivered a rare rebuke to Trump on Wednesday by voting to undo his tariffs on Canada, lawmakers in both chambers are weighing additional steps to rein him in. Senators are eyeing other mechanisms to rescind Trump’s existing tariffs while limiting his ability to impose new ones. And Democrats in the House are exploring ways to force a vote to revoke Canadian tariffs, putting out feelers to attract support from Republicans. These efforts have a high bar for success as any resolution to undo Trump’s tariffs, or new law affecting his powers, would have to get around a presidential veto.”

This looks like a joke in which someone is supposed to ask, "How expensive ARE Easter Eggs?" But it's a real New York Times headline: "Easter Eggs Are So Expensive Americans Are Dyeing Potatoes."

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump fired six National Security Council officials after an extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office with the far-right activist Laura Loomer, who laid out a list of people she believed were disloyal to the president, U.S. officials said on Thursday.... The decision came after Ms. Loomer vilified the staff members by name during the meeting on Wednesday, when she walked into the White House with a sheaf of papers attacking the character and loyalty of numerous N.S.C. officials. Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, joined later in the meeting and briefly defended some of his staff, though it was clear he had little if any power to protect their jobs. It was a remarkable spectacle: Ms. Loomer, who has floated the baseless conspiracy theory that the Sept. 11 attacks were an 'inside job' and is viewed as extreme even by some of Mr. Trump’s far-right allies, was apparently wielding more influence over the staff of the National Security Council than Mr. Waltz, who runs the agency.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: “The head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command was removed from his job on Thursday, according to the top Democrats on the congressional intelligence committees. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut condemned the ouster of Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, who led both the spy agency and the military command.... A spokeswoman for Cyber Command said she could not confirm General Haugh’s removal, and referred questions to the Pentagon, which did not respond to a request for comment. A White House spokeswoman did not confirm the ouster. But a U.S. official briefed on the matter said Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and outside adviser to ... [Donald] Trump, called for General Haugh’s removal during her Oval Office meeting on Thursday. Mr. Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to fire General Haugh....

“'I have known General Haugh to be an honest and forthright leader who followed the law and put national security first — I fear those are precisely the qualities that could lead to his firing in this administration,' Mr. Himes said.... Current and former officials said General Haugh’s deputy at the National Security Agency, Wendy Noble, was also removed from her post, and potentially reassigned to another position at the Pentagon. Current and former officials said General Haugh’s deputy at the National Security Agency, Wendy Noble, was also removed from her post, and potentially reassigned to another position at the Pentagon.... [An] official] said neither General Haugh nor Ms. Noble was told why they were being removed, only that 'your services are no longer required.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: “The firings were advocated for by far-right activist Laura Loomer during a meeting with ... Donald Trump on Wednesday, she confirmed to The Washington Post on Thursday evening.... 'NSA Director Tim Haugh and his deputy Wendy Noble have been disloyal to President Trump,' Loomer said in a post on X early Friday. 'That is why they have been fired.' Loomer told The Post that she urged Trump to dismiss Haugh because he was 'handpicked' by Gen. Mark A. Milley, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2023 when Haugh was nominated to lead Cyber Command and the NSA. As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff..., Milley would have had a role in helping select the nominee for Cyber Command.... Noble was reassigned to a job within the Pentagon’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. The NSA is part of the department.” The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Got that? A crazy right-wing extremist and conspiracy theorist who hates Muslims and says 9/11 was an "inside job" is making personnel decisions for the National Security Agency and has fired -- among others -- the head of the agency, who is a decorated four-star Air Force general. BUT ...

     ~~~ Dan Nexon in LG&$: "Frankly, the explanation being leaked — that an unhinged conspiracy theorist talked Trump into removing Haugh and Noble — is the best-case scenario. As numerous people have pointed out, this is also what we’d expect to see if Haugh and Noble refused an illegal surveillance order."

Alex Horton & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon inspector general’s office said Thursday that it will scrutinize disclosures made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth using the unclassified messaging app Signal, as he and other top Trump administration officials coordinated a highly sensitive military operation last month in Yemen, complying with a request from Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Steven A. Stebbins, the Pentagon’s acting inspector general, said in a memo to Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg that the review will 'determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business.' It also will 'review compliance with classification and records retention requirements,' Stebbins wrote.”

Like Taking Candy from a Whiney Baby. Robyn Dixon & Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration has twice claimed major progress in peace talks over the war between Russia and Ukraine, with partial ceasefires on energy infrastructure and in the Black Sea, only to see all sides present wildly different interpretations on what had been agreed on as the fighting continues.... Critics contend that the U.S. negotiation team is no match for the hardened ex-Soviet officials with decades of negotiating experience and knowledge of Ukraine.... The U.S. team is not made up of experienced Russia experts, said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, while Trump’s main Russia envoy, Steve Witkoff, is a property developer and friend of the president.... 'The Russians expect that Trump may be the gift that keeps on giving to Russian foreign policy goals,' said Gabuev, including 'destroying transatlantic unity, which has been [a] Russian foreign policy goal for many years, if not centuries.'”

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Washington said on Thursday that there was a 'fair likelihood' that the Trump administration had violated an order he issued last month to stop deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th-century wartime law. Speaking at a hearing, the judge, James E. Boasberg, said that he was likely to wait until next week to issue a ruling about whether the White House was in contempt of court for having ignored his order. The announcement that he would delay a final decision came after he spent nearly an hour in a remarkable interrogation of a Justice Department lawyer [Drew Ensign].... Mr. Ensign often stumbled as he tried to respond to Judge Boasberg’s inquiries. He repeatedly said that he either did not know the answers or asserted that the information was protected by attorney-client privilege.... Justice Department lawyers have repeatedly stonewalled Judge Boasberg’s efforts to query them about what administration officials knew about his order stopping the flights and when they knew it.” Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There are many reasons I'm not a judge. One of them is that I would have thrown Ensign in jail right then and there to see if a nice time-out in solitary confinement would help refresh his memory as to who-all might have earned the privilege of joining him.

Kari Lake Defies Court Order. Minho Kim of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has failed to disburse congressionally approved funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the news network originally set up to counter Soviet propaganda during the Cold War, despite a judge’s order to keep it operating, according to court filings and officials at the news organization. The news group, known as RFE/RL, has not received nearly $12 million for its April funding from the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the federal entity overseeing it. The unusual delay in the disbursement has forced the news organization, which relies almost exclusively on congressional funding, to furlough some of its staff and cut parts of its programming.... The U.S. Agency for Global Media also canceled satellite contracts for RFE/RL on Thursday, potentially hampering the delivery of Russian-language programs from the news outlet.... Around 40 partner stations in Europe that broadcast Radio Free Europe’s live programs in Russian rely on satellites.... Kari Lake, a Trump-appointed special adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said in a statement on Thursday that the administration had not disbursed the funding in an effort to increase oversight and ensure accountability.”

Cheyenne Haslett of ABC News: "On the heels of terminating 10,000 jobs from the Department of Health and Human Services this week, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News some programs would soon be reinstated because they were mistakenly cut.... Kennedy's comments were in response to a question about a branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that monitors lead exposure levels among children and manages prevention across the country. The program was gutted on Tuesday. 'There were some programs that were cut that are being reinstated, and I believe that that's one,' Kennedy said. Kennedy did not provide details on what other programs might be reinstated, or when.... Despite calling some program cuts a 'mistake,' Kennedy has maintained that no 'essential services' or 'frontline' jobs would be impacted by HHS's massive restructuring. That was news to Erik Svendsen, the director of the division that oversaw the CDC's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention branch, who told ABC News in an interview that the work was completely stopped. Svendsen had not received any indication it would be reinstated or continued through another part of the CDC.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I make plenty of "mistakes" myself, but I think I'd figure out -- if I was slashing my way through the CDC -- that an office with the title "Lead Poisoning Prevention" was engaged in preventing lead-poisoning. And if had no idea whether or not lead-poisoning was a bad thing that should be, you know, prevented, I'd ask. Please don't tell us "mistakes were made." This has all been purposeful destruction of public services, most of which taxpayers anticipate will services they expect the government to provide. ~~~

     ~~~ Sophie Gardner of Politico lists some of the CDC services that Kennedy/DOGE have cut in their "restructuring" effort.

Anemona Hartocollis, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration intends to block $510 million in federal contracts and grants for Brown University, expanding its campaign to hold universities accountable for what it says is relentless antisemitism on campus, according to two White House officials familiar with the plans. Brown became the fifth university known to face a potentially dire loss of federal funding, leaving other universities that the administration has targeted wondering when their turn might come.”

Michael Bender & Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: “The Trump administration sent Harvard a list of demands on Thursday that would have to be met to end a government review of $9 billion the school receives in federal funding.... The conditions largely follow the playbook the Trump administration used to force Columbia University to comply with its demands last month, after canceling $400 million of that school’s federal grants and contracts. In both instances, the government asked Harvard and Columbia to impose bans, with few exemptions, on masking.... The Trump administration also pressured the universities to intensify efforts to hold student groups 'accountable,' cease admissions practices based on race, color or national origin and revamp policies on campus protests. Harvard would also be required to 'commit to full cooperation' with the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that enforces immigration policies, including deportations.” MB: I guess we can imagine what “full cooperation” with Homeland Security/ICE means.

Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: “Cultural groups across the country have received letters informing them that their grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities were canceled, stirring fears of great harm to museums, historical sites and community projects of many kinds. Starting late Wednesday night, state humanities councils and other grant recipients began receiving emails telling them their funding was ended immediately. Instead, they were told, the agency would be 'repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the president’s agenda.'”

Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: “A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order Thursday that stops the Trump administration from pulling back more than $11 billion in public health funding from state and local health departments.  Judge Mary McElroy of the federal district court in Rhode Island granted a 14-day restraining order to a group of 23 states and the District of Columbia that filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this week.” (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Everything Old Is New Again. Jill Lepore in a New York Times op-ed: “... I was ... struck at how little of what [Elon] Musk proposes is new and by how many of his ideas about politics, governance and economics resemble those championed by his grandfather Joshua Haldeman, a cowboy, chiropractor, conspiracy theorist and amateur aviator.... Mr. Musk’s grandfather was also a flamboyant leader of the political movement known as technocracy. Leading technocrats proposed replacing democratically elected officials and civil servants — indeed, all of government — with an army of scientists and engineers under what they called a technate. Some also wanted to annex Canada and Mexico.... Under the technate, humans would no longer have names; they would have numbers.... [An] army of technocrats would eliminate most government services.... Decades ago, in the desperate, darkest moment of the Depression, technocracy seemed, briefly, poised to prevail against democracy.... The chief reason for technocracy’s failure was democracy’s success. [President Franklin] Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4 and immediately began putting the New Deal in place while calming the nation with a series of fireside chats.” MB: I've made this a gift link. Lepore points out other things about Haldeman's career that Musk has emulated. The bright side of Lepore's op-ed: maybe the Musk/Trump phenomenon will be short-lived.

Lauren Weber of the Washington Post: “The Senate confirmed Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in a party line vote of 53-45 Thursday, placing him in charge of overseeing more than $1 trillion in annual spending. Cementing his turn from daytime TV star to D.C. bureaucrat, Oz leveraged his physician bona fides to waltz through the confirmation process and helm the agency that regulates health insurance for millions of Americans. The massive budget of Oz’s agency makes it a target for efforts to cut government spending. Oz dodged questions in his confirmation over whether he would oppose cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Sean Burch of the Wrap: “Another Washington Post staffer is ditching the paper over owner Jeff Bezos’ recent changes to its coverage. Eugene Robinson, the longtime political columnist, told staff on Thursday he is leaving WaPo after 45 years due to the 'significant shift' Bezos recently implemented, where the opinion section will focus on the 'two pillars' of personal liberties and free markets.” Interesting that one of the richest people in the world suffers from the Dunning-Kruger effect. No, Jeff, you're really not good at running a newspaper.

~~~~~~~~~~

Europe. Adam Satariano of the New York Times: “European Union regulators are preparing major penalties against Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, for breaking a landmark law to combat illicit content and disinformation.... The penalties are set to include a fine and demands for product changes.... These are expected to be announced this summer and would be the first issued under a new E.U. law intended to force social media companies to police their services.... European authorities have been weighing how large a fine to issue X as they consider the risks of further antagonizing Mr. Trump amid wider trans-Atlantic disputes over trade, tariffs and the war in Ukraine. The fine could surpass $1 billion, one person said, as regulators seek to make an example of X to deter other companies from violating the law, the Digital Services Act.... The investigation began in 2023, and regulators last year issued a preliminary ruling that X had violated the law.”

South Korea. Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: “South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office Friday, when the country’s Constitutional Court unanimously upheld a parliamentary vote to impeach him over his effort to impose martial law. The court said Yoon had undermined the authority of the National Assembly and other democratic institutions, and had 'gravely violated' his duties to the people and as commander in chief when he mobilized troops to try to seize political control of the legislature in December.... Yoon was not in court but in a statement after the resounding decision, he apologized for his 'shortcomings' and thanked the public.... The ruling was welcomed with cheers by the crowds outside the court, where those calling for Yoon’s removal were gathered, amid a heavy police presence.” The Guardian's story is here.

News Lede

CNBC: “Job growth was stronger than expected in March, providing at least temporary reassurance that the labor market is stable, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls increased 228,000 for the month, up from the revised 117,000 in February and better than the Dow Jones estimate for 140,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the unemployment rate moved up to 4.2%, higher than the 4.1% forecast as the labor force participation rate also increased.”