The Conversation -- March 7, 2025
Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: go inside Thursday's hastily-called Cabinet meeting, where not all was well. Musk must got into it with Marco Rubio, who said Musk was not truthful and with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, whom Musk said was lying. Musk "aggressively defended himself, reminding the cabinet secretaries that he had built multiple billion-dollar companies from the ground up and knew something about hiring good people."
(~~~ Marie: Musk's defense is that he is guy who got rich by investing in big companies that hire people. See Paul Krugman, linked below, on this. Dr. Burns' diagnosis: Musk is just screaming that he is suffering from a type of Dunning-Kruger syndrome sometimes called "ultracrepidarianism." Second opinions welcomed. But he definitely needs help. I'd recommend complete rest in an isolated location with no means of communicating with the outside world.)
Marie: Say, you know who retweeted the "We Are Canadian" ad embedded below: The science explainer who can say this. Definitely not the science explainer who says this: "You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things." This guy. Not this guy.
From the Washington Post's live updates of something Trumpy comes a surprise: "... Donald Trump said Friday that he is considering imposing 'large scale' sanctions on Russia to pressure the country into a ceasefire and peace deal with Ukraine. Trump's warning in a social media post followed Russia's first major missile attack against Ukraine since the Trump administration paused intelligence-sharing with the embattled country. The post marked a shift in rhetoric for Trump, who has been more sympathetic in recent weeks to Russia as he seeks to end the war." MB: Yes, and it's probably just that: rhetoric.
Trump Further Weakens U.S. Edward Wong & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Senior State Department officials have drawn up plans to close a dozen consulates overseas by this summer and are considering shutting down many more missions, in what could be a blow to the U.S. government's efforts to build partnerships and gather intelligence, American officials say. The department also plans to lay off many local citizens who work for its hundreds of missions. Those workers make up two-thirds of the agency's work force, and in many countries they form the foundation of U.S. diplomats' knowledge of their environments. The shrinking is part of both President Trump's larger slashing of the federal government and his 'America First' foreign policy, in which the United States ends or curtails once-important ways of exercising global influence, including through democracy, human rights and aid work. The moves come at a time when China, the main rival of America, has overtaken the United States in number of global diplomatic posts....
"Any broad shutdowns of missions, especially entire embassies, would hinder the work of large parts of the federal government and potentially compromise U.S. national security. Embassies house officers from the military, intelligence, law enforcement, health, commerce, trade, treasury and other agencies, all of whom monitor developments in the host nation and work with local officials counter everything from terrorism to infectious disease to collapsing currencies."
Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The Trump administration has eased security requirements for some of the Boeing staff working on building new Air Force One jets, as part of an effort pushed by ... [Donald] Trump and Elon Musk to hasten the delayed project. The change means that certain mechanics and others working on less sensitive parts of the planes or their components will not be required to get a special high-level security clearance, a process that has slowed Boeing's ability to hire required staff for the job. Those working on the Air Force One project will still be required to get security clearance, but some will no longer need to have the so-called Yankee White clearance, which applies to White House staff members who often come in close contact with the president."
A president who touts an image of himself as a 'king' or a 'dictator,' perhaps as his vision of effective leadership, fundamentally misapprehends the role under Article II of the U.S. Constitution. -- Judge Beryl Howell, in a ruling rebuking Donald Trump for firing a member of the NLRB ~~~
~~~ Chris Cameron & Rebecca O'Brien of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday reinstated Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board, declaring that ... [Donald] Trump's attempt to fire her was unlawful. The ruling, which the Trump administration immediately moved to appeal, was a rebuke of Mr. Trump's expansive view of executive power and his efforts to establish presidential control over agencies designed by Congress to be independent from the White House. Judge Beryl A. Howell, appointed to the Federal District Court in Washington by President Barack Obama, excoriated Mr. Trump's vision of unchecked authority in her ... ruling...."
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Marie: There is more news, most of it bad or terrible, but I've had enough for this morning. Maybe later, maybe more.
Ben Casselman & Colby Smith of the New York Times: Donald "Trump inherited an economy that was, by most conventional measures, firing on all cylinders. Wages, consumer spending and corporate profits were rising. Unemployment was low. The inflation rate, though higher than normal, was falling. Just weeks into Mr. Trump's term, the outlook is gloomier. Measures of business and consumer confidence have plunged. The stock market has been on a roller-coaster ride. Layoffs are picking up, according to some data. And forecasters are cutting their estimates for economic growth this year, with some even predicting that the U.S. gross domestic product could shrink in the first quarter. Some commentators have gone further, arguing that the economy could be headed for a recession, a sharp rebound in inflation or even the dreaded combination of the two, 'stagflation.'...
"The sudden deterioration in the outlook is striking, especially because it is almost entirely a result of Mr. Trump's policies and the resulting uncertainty. Tariffs, and the inevitable retaliation from trading partners, will increase prices and slow down growth. Federal job cuts will push up unemployment, and could lead government employees and contractors to pull back on spending while they wait to learn their fate. Deportations could drive up costs for industries like construction and hospitality that depend on immigrant labor.... The Trump administration's approach to economic policy has been characterized more by chaos -- tariffs that are announced and then delayed, government workers who are fired and rehired -- than by careful planning." Emphasis added.
~~~ Marie: It's amazing that a president* could destabilize the country's -- as well as some other nations' -- economic outlooks in just six short weeks. Normally, government policies take months or even years to have even small effects on the economy. That's why I put some economic news in the right-hand column: because whether or not the jobs report, say, is up or down, usually has little to do with what politicians have done recently.
Joe Rennison of the New York Times: "Stocks tumbled on Thursday, adding to a string of recent losses, even after the Trump administration offered a reprieve on tariffs on Canada and Mexico. The S&P 500 dropped 1.8 percent, taking the slide for the index this week to 3.6 percent and putting it on course for its worst week since a banking crisis two years ago that felled some of the country's small lenders." Ah, but it turns out that nothing, NOTHING, is ever Trump's fault: ~~~
~~~ Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "Major stock indices dropped sharply this week, as rattled investors struggled to get a handle on ... Donald Trump's sweeping and shifting tariff policies. But when asked in the Oval Office on Thursday whether he thought it was his tariffs that were scaring the markets, Trump pinned the blame elsewhere. 'Well, a lot of them are globalist countries and companies that won't be doing as well,' Trump replied, 'Because we're taking back things that have been taken from us many years ago.' Trump did not elaborate on what those things were. 'We've been treated very unfairly as a country,' he continued. 'We protect everybody. We do everything for all these countries, and a lot of these are globalist in nature.' It was not clear what was globalist in nature.... Later in the same press event, Trump again blamed 'globalists' for the market downturn. 'I think it's globalists that see how rich our country's going to be, and they don't like it.' Over the course of an hour, Trump used 'globalist' to describe people, companies and countries, making it difficult to pin down specifically what he was talking about." MB: Because he knows the market downturn is his fault, he's pointing everywhere but at himself.
Cowardly Liar Retreats Again. Again. Mary Beth Sheridan, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Thursday postponed for one more month imposing tariffs on Mexican products that comply with the North American free-trade treaty -- the latest swerve in the roller-coaster relations between the United States and its top trading partners. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she persuaded Trump to push off the penalties in a phone call Thursday morning. Trump had initially threatened to impose tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian goods in early February, citing what he called the countries' failure to stem illegal migration and fentanyl trafficking, but he delayed them for a month as the countries scrambled to strengthen border security. They took effect Tuesday. Trump said Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he suspended the tariffs on Mexico until April 2 'as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl.'
"He made the announcement a day after granting a narrower exemption to carmakers.... At a morning news conference, Sheinbaum noted that she had sent 10,000 national guard troops to the U.S. border after Trump threatened tariffs in early February. She also transferred 29 high-level drug operatives to the United States, a dramatic move that legal scholars said violated Mexican law." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Oh, gosh. This story has been updated. New Lede: "... Donald Trump on Thursday postponed for another month imposing tariffs on certain Mexican and Canadian products that comply with the North American free-trade treaty -- the latest swerve in the roller coaster of U.S. trade relations roiling financial markets for a third straight day.... About 50 percent of goods from Mexico and 62 percent from Canada, including computers, will still face the tariffs implemented this week, a White House official said Thursday. Canadian energy and potash, a key component of fertilizer, will be taxed at a lower rate of 10 percent."
~~~ Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. Akhilleus tells us the video is a riff on this 25-year-old Molson ad. Same actor, BTW.
Vjosa Isai & Ian Austen of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, [Donald Trump's Canadian] tariffs briefly went into effect, and American spirits and wine were boxed up and hidden away in much of Canada. Television broadcasts were filled with footage of employees packing up glass bottles and leaving behind barren shelves.... On Thursday, the United States announced it would grant Canada a second reprieve, until April 2, on most exports, throwing the two countries' economic and political relations into more upheaval. It's not yet clear what, if anything, the delay will mean for American alcohol and the Canadian drinkers hoping to consume it. But boycotting American products has become part of the country's national pride, uniting Canadians in online forums and grocery aisles.
"In the prelude to Tuesday's tariffs, Premier Doug Ford of Ontario, the country's most populous province, warned that provincially owned liquor stores would pull about 3,600 American products from sale. Every other province has since announced it will follow suit. Manitoba did so with theatrical flair, with Premier Wab Kinew sharing a social media video in which he imitates Mr. Trump signing an executive order. 'This order, it's a wonderful order, it's a beautiful order,' Mr. Kinew said. 'This order is pulling American booze off the liquor market shelves.' The staff members behind him erupted in applause."
Joe Hernandez of NPR: "The Trump administration's recent attacks on its northern neighbor have been met with confusion, frustration and anger by many Canadians, some of whom are now abandoning their trips south and boycotting travel to the U.S. in protest. Tourism industry leaders say that could pose a major threat to the U.S. travel sector, which relies heavily on Canadian visitors. According to the U.S. Travel Association, Canadians are the largest group of foreign visitors to the U.S. annually and accounted for $20.5 billion in spending last year alone." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: How stupid is Trump? He owns or has licensing agreements with quite a few hotels & "resorts" around the world, so he's in the tourist business. A number of these facilities lost business during his first presidency* because he made people sick. So why didn't it occur to him that imposing tariffs would hurt the U.S. tourist industry? ~~~
~~~ Washington Post Editors: "Markets have plummeted since Trump announced new levies on Canada, Mexico and China, erasing nearly all gains since his election. The president might think that 'trade wars are good, and easy to win,' but investors disagree.... 'Regime uncertainty' is the economic term for worries [Trump has engendered]. Investments take time to pay off, and when government policy constantly shifts, companies have a hard time telling whether an investment will be worth it.... By slowing investment and innovation, regime uncertainty stifles the economy and makes it harder to attract foreign investment.... The president's frequent shifts in policy stand to have a chilling effect. In the past month alone, tariffs have been imposed, delayed, reimposed, and now -- at least for some categories of goods -- delayed for another month. Adding to the unease are the administration's attacks on the justice system.... Signaling that America's trade policies could change at any time, and that its justice system is vulnerable to political influence, risks the country's position as a global destination for securities issuance and investment capital."
If you've been asking, "Well, just what's wrong with having a Cabinet full of billionaires & multi-millionaires, billionaire Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is here to (a) give you an example of why a billionaire should not be running Treasury, and (b) make me want to punch him in the mouth: ~~~
~~~ Sam Sutton of Politico: "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday defended ... Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies and appeared to double down on Trump's warning that the enactment of new tariffs may cause disruptions. 'Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American Dream,' Bessent said during a speech at the Economic Club of New York." MB: See, Scotty, you smug bastid, the mom who's shopping for clothes at GoodWill because she can't afford Target prices for kids' clothes, the dad who takes the bus to work & walks home from his second, late-nite job because he can't afford to drive even a beater -- these people are average, hardworking Americans who are not grasping for the gold ring but are trying to just make the frayed ends meet. ~~~
~~~ digby says of Bessent, "He seems nice. He's also stupid. He seems to think that being an erratic, unstable thug toward our friends and allies is a successful economic strategy and it is not. Trump is nuts, true, and everyone knows it including him. He just thinks they can get through this, tell Trump he's a genius and give him a parade and everything will be ok." Her whole post is worth reading as she covers a lot of ground. She links a post by ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman: "Trump has just imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico that are substantially more extreme and damaging -- to our own economy as well as theirs -- than anything he suggested during the campaign. By explicitly linking his tariffs to an attack on Canada's sovereignty -- repeatedly referring to Canada's leader as 'Governor Trudeau' is both childish and deeply offensive -- he has guaranteed that there will be large-scale retaliation. I mean, it takes real effort to make Canadians fiercely anti-American, but Trump is pulling it off. And don't imagine that Mexico, which the U.S. actually has invaded in the past, has failed to notice Trump administration threats of military action. You can expect large-scale retaliation from Mexico too....
"One thing that really struck me ... is that big businessmen think Elon Musk is doing a good job. I guess this is one of those cases where power and privilege make you blind to things that are obvious to everyone else. What those of us not cocooned in our corner offices see is that Musk let a bunch of Dunning-Kruger kids -- too incompetent to realize that they're incompetent -- loose on federal agencies, where they began firing workers without trying to understand what these workers do or why it might be important." MB: I particularly liked the Dunning-Kruger reference, a reminder, alas, that we have the most Dunning-Kruger-debilitated president* in history.
David Yaffe-Bellany of the New York Times: Donald "Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to create a national stockpile of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, an adviser said, an audacious idea that has been widely criticized as a scheme to enrich crypto investors. The basis of the stockpile will be a stash of Bitcoin, estimated to be worth as much as $17 billion, that the United States has seized in legal cases over the years, according to a summary of the order posted on social media by David Sacks, the White House's crypto and A.I. policy czar. The order also calls for federal agencies to develop 'budget-neutral strategies' to buy more Bitcoin, the most popular digital currency, as long as those purchases do not generate extra costs for taxpayers. 'This Executive Order underscores President Trump's commitment to making the U.S. the 'crypto capital of the world,'" Mr. Sacks wrote in his post. He said the United States would not sell any Bitcoin in the reserve, which he likened to 'a digital Fort Knox.'" ~~~
~~~ That's funny. Rachel Maddow likened it more to a digital Beanie Baby stash: ~~~
~~~ Corrupt? Nah. Rachel sez Trump's own crypto company just this week bought $20MM of two of the five cryptocurrencies in his Beanie Baby crypto reserve. ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman: "... last month hackers looted Ethereum coins worth $1.5 billion from Bybit, a Dubai-based crypto exchange -- apparently the most money anyone has ever stolen in a single caper. The FBI believes that the North Korean regime was behind the hack. Most of the coins have already been laundered into Bitcoin, and will eventually be turned into real money that will be used to sustain Kim Jong Un's brutal dictatorship.... Small investors continue to lose large sums in crypto scams, like 'rug-pulls.' And the biggest rug-pull yet is underway: Donald Trump's plan for a 'strategic crypto reserve.'... A a 'strategic crypto reserve' ... would consist of nothing but a hackable string of ones and zeroes on servers.... [Scammers have] hacked into the Trump Administration, inducing the president and those around him to announce a plan to use US tax revenue to buy huge amounts of cryptocurrencies with no discernible strategic value.... If the crypto strategic reserve does happen, the price of crypto will skyrocket. Then, if history is any guide, insiders will sell out.... It's more obvious every day that we now have government of, by and for crooks." (Also linked yesterday.)
Perry Stein & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Thursday targeted another elite law firm that has represented clients he considers his political enemies, sending a forceful message that he is willing to punish firms who work for people or groups that oppose his administration's agenda. In an Oval Office ceremony, the president signed an executive order hitting the large international law firm Perkins Coie with a sweeping directive that bans the federal government from hiring it, or from using contractors who work with it, except in limited circumstances. The order also bars Perkins Coie employees from entering federal buildings and suspends their security clearances. The firm represented Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential race, and it also contracted with the research firm that produced the now-discredited opposition dossier that alleged extensive contacts between Trump and Russia." The AP report is here.
RAS linked this story in Wednesday's Comments, and I forgot to link it on the page. It's kinda perfect: ~~~
~~~ EJ Montini of the Arizona Republic: "According to the AI chatbot called Grok, which was developed by Elon Musk's company xAI, there is a '75-85% likelihood' that the person who delivered the State of the Union address on Tuesday night is a 'Putin-compromised' Russian asset. In describing Grok, by the way, Musk said it is a maximally truth-seeking AI, even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically-correct.'... 'Weighing [evidence from the 1990s & 2000s], the financial ties (decades-long, opaque, and substantial), intelligence suggesting Russian intent, and Trump's unwavering refusal to criticize Putin despite attacking allies tilt the scale.'... Given all that (and more, if you read the entire assessment), Grok said that 'Trump's ego and debts make him unwittingly pliable, fits the evidence. Adjusting for uncertainty and alternative explanations (e.g., ideological alignment or naivety), I estimate a 75-85% likelihood Trump is a Putin-compromised asset, leaning toward the higher end due to the consistency of his behavior and the depth of historical ties.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ This possibility has occurred to Sen. Jeff Merkeley (D-Oregon), too. Anthony Robinson of the Yorkshire (England) Bylines: "The US Senate Intelligence Committee recently [March 3??] questioned Trump's nominees as Nato representatives and asked outright if ... Trump was a Russian asset. If not, Senator Jeff Merkley (Democrat, Oregon) wanted to know what a Russian asset embedded as POTUS would do, other than what Trump is already doing. They struggled to answer, as this YouTube video shows [the video of a confirmation hearing is embedded].... Nobody seems to believe [Trump is] a Russian agent, but he is certainly an asset, although Trump has always denied it. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that the famously incurious and narcissistic 47th president of the USA is too stupid to realise he is being used by the Kremlin." (Also linked yesterday.)
Dasha Burns & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver a message: You're in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk. According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room. The meeting followed a series of mass firings and threats to government workers from the billionaire Tesla founder, who helms the Department of Government Efficiency, that created broad uncertainty across the federal government and its workforce. DOGE's actions have faced ferocious resistance in court and criticism from Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans. The president's message represents the first significant move to narrow Musk's mandate.... The timing of the meeting was influenced by recent comments from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), who said on CNN Tuesday that Cabinet secretaries should retain the full power to hire and fire.... The official said Trump has been flooded with similar concerns from other lawmakers and Cabinet secretaries." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's what I said yesterday: "Wait a minute. So all it takes to get the Cowardly Liar to back off some monumentally stupid -- and, BTW, unconstitutional -- edict is to get on the teevee and object? Could it be that all those cowering GOP politicians are a little bit too askeert of Trump." Oops! Guess I was wrong about that. ~~~
~~~ Update. Well, I misread that. Kyle Cheney was on Chris Hayes' show Thursday night, and the two agreed that this was a CYA move to convince the courts that Elon really had no power. As the report notes, Trump later told reporters, "If they [i.e., the Cabinet members] can cut, it's better. And if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting." That completely contradicts the premise that the the department heads are in charge. ~~~
~~~ Update 2. Here's how Emily Davies, et al., of the Washington Post put it: "... Donald Trump directed Cabinet members Thursday to be more involved in deciding which government workers are shed, rather than waiting for directives from Elon Musk, a subtle but important shift in the overhaul of the federal workforce that he and his billionaire adviser have championed.... The president emerged [from his Cabinet meeting] saying he wanted his Cabinet members to 'go first,' keeping those they deemed effective at their jobs and firing others, while warning that Musk still held significant authority.... Trump's messaging is the latest in a series of moves that signals a tactical shift, as his administration seeks to guard against possible legal challenges in its next round of federal workforce cuts -- emphasizing that agency leaders have broad latitude to interpret his sweeping proclamations targeting federal workers, at least on paper."
Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "In 2019, GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida spoke at an elegant event celebrating the work of the Ronald Reagan-founded International Republican Institute, saying he was 'so proud' to support the group.... But as secretary of state, Rubio did not spare the group from ... Donald Trump's freeze on foreign aid and dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.... The group's power-packed GOP board, which included Rubio until two months ago, was not enough to spare the IRI the U.S. DOGE Service's chainsaw.... With its funds frozen, the IRI has furloughed most of its staff and started shuttering its overseas offices. It's a turn of events that has shocked IRI staff and called into question the future of bipartisan aid work."
Brianna Tucker of the Washington Post: "Employees of the U.S. DOGE Service ... successfully gained access to the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) headquarters in downtown Washington on Thursday, a day after the small aid agency blocked the group from entering.... Pete Marocco -- director of the State Department's Office of Foreign Assistance and acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) -- arrived with five U.S. Marshals and a handful of DOGE employees, according to several USADF staffers outside and video obtained by The Washington Post. The show of force by Trump administration officials and federal law enforcement resulted in a frantic and 'traumatizing' scene, the USADF officials told The Post, and triggered a federal lawsuit filed by the aid organization's leader against President Donald Trump, Marocco and DOGE officials, claiming they are unauthorized to represent the agency and requesting an immediate intervention by the court.... A federal judge imposed a pause Thursday evening barring the Trump administration, Marocco and DOGE employees from removing USADF President and CEO Ward Brehm." Brehm is a prominent conservative Minnesota Republican. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It is not clear whether or not the marshals were armed, but Rachel Maddow said last night that her team was inquiring about that.
Zach Montague of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday extended an order that prevented the Trump administration from freezing billions in congressionally approved funds to 22 states and the District of Columbia. The judge found that the administration had overstepped in trying to stop the agencies from using money appropriated by Congress. The ruling, which builds on the judge's temporary order instructing the government to keep dispersing the funds, sets up a broader clash between Democratic states over the Trump administration's efforts to align spending with the president's agenda. In an opinion handed down on Thursday morning, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the Federal District Court for the District of Rhode Island, said the case amounted to executive overreach. 'Here, the executive put itself above Congress,' he wrote. 'It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress's authority to control spending.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
It takes at least a year to recruit, hire, train and conduct a background check on a new [immigration] judge. -- Matthew Biggs, President of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers ~~~
~~~ Elon Cuts off Donald's Nose to Spite His Orange Face. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "A number of immigration judges have accepted government payout offers to leave, a union official said on Thursday, further depleting an overwhelmed system that President Trump had promised to fortify. A total of 85 employees, including 18 judges, at the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review accepted the government's deferred resignation offer or early retirement. The Trump administration previously fired 29 others from that office, according to the union official, including the office's top leaders. About 40 of the more than 700 immigration judges in place when Mr. Trump took office have now been fired or agreed to leave.... Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to hire more of them to address a growing backlog that can make cases stretch for years. A loss of immigration judges is likely to undercut Mr. Trump's efforts to deport millions of immigrants, since delays in adjudicating immigration claims contribute to the number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States while waiting for their cases to be resolved."
Tara Copp, et al., of the AP: "References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press. The database ... includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be [as high as 100,000]. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given the military until Wednesday to remove content that highlights diversity efforts in its ranks following ... Donald Trump's executive order ending those programs across the federal government. The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities, including notable milestones made in the military. And it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months -- such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women.... In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word 'gay,' including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan...." ~~~
~~~ Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. See also his commentary below. Despite the humor inherent in this ham-fisted attempt to purge American history from a federal database, the very fact that the Pentagon is purging American history from its database is alarming. These photos and posts have historical meaning, and Hegseth/Trump are deleting them to literally whitewash American history. Never mind the military's past discriminatory practices. Never mind that the military was, in some cases, a U.S. pioneer in curtailing or removing those discriminatory practices. Within a database that's obviously rich in historical documents, Pete and Don want to pretend there's nothing to see here.
Andrea Sachs & Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is seeking to cancel the leases for 34 National Park Service buildings, including visitor centers, law enforcement offices and museums that house millions of artifacts. The General Services Administration has proposed terminating most of the leases within a year, saying the decision could save taxpayers millions of dollars.... If the GSA moves forward with the proposal, eight visitor centers would close without alternative locations in place, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group. And several climate-controlled museums would shutter without a plan for sending their rare artifacts to equivalent facilities."
Elon Is a Dangerous, Careless Person. Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "Starship -- the huge spacecraft that Elon Musk says will one day take people to Mars -- failed during its latest test flight on Thursday when its upper stage exploded in space, raining debris and disrupting air traffic at airports from Florida to Pennsylvania. It was the second consecutive test flight of the most powerful rocket ever built where the upper-stage spacecraft malfunctioned. It started spinning out of control after several engines went out and then lost contact with mission control.... The falling debris disrupted flights at airports in Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, and as far away as Philadelphia International Airport.... Shortly after the spacecraft broke up, the Federal Aviation Administration issued ground stoppage orders for the airports. It cited 'space launch debris' as the reasons in each of the cases.... The F.A.A. said it was grounding Starship until SpaceX completed an investigation of Thursday's incident.... The F.A.A. is trying to work around conflicts of interest with Mr. Musk and SpaceX."
Maya Miller of the New York Times: "The House on Thursday officially rebuked Representative Al Green of Texas, the Democrat who Republicans ejected from the chamber on Tuesday night for standing and heckling ... [Donald] Trump during his address to a joint session of Congress. A resolution of censure passed 224 to 198, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans in support of the punishment. Mr. Green and Representative Shomari Figures, a first-term Democrat from Alabama, both voted 'present.' But when Mr. Green stepped into the well of the House to receive his official scolding for a 'breach of proper conduct,' the floor devolved into a scene of chaos. The Texas Democrat led a crowd of his colleagues in singing the gospel anthem 'We Shall Overcome' as Speaker Mike Johnson raised his voice and finished reading out the censure....
"The Democrats who voted to censure Mr. Green were: Representatives Ami Bera of California, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Laura Gillen of New York, Jim Himes of Connecticut, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Tom Suozzi of New York. The progressive activist group Indivisible called the defections 'cowardly and unacceptable' and condemned Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, for not holding his caucus together against the censure." (Also linked yesterday.)
MAGA Targets Justice Barrett. Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court's closely divided decision this week to reject the Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid unleashed a torrent of vitriol from the president's supporters largely aimed at a single justice -- Amy Coney Barrett. On podcasts and social media, conservative allies of ... Donald Trump called the former law professor and appeals court judge 'evil,' a 'closet Democrat' and a 'DEI hire.' Barrett and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the court's three liberals in backing a federal judge's order that requires the administration to begin repaying global health groups nearly $2 billion for completed work.... 'She's a rattled law professor with her head up her a--,' Mike Davis, a former law clerk to another Trump nominee, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, said on Stephen K. Bannon's podcast on Wednesday." MB: Maybe that tells us what Gorsuch thinks of Barrett.
News Lede
CNBC: "Job growth was stronger than expected in October despite Federal Reserve interest rate increases aimed at slowing what is still a strong labor market. Nonfarm payrolls grew by 261,000 for the month while the unemployment rate moved higher to 3.7%, the Labor Department reported Friday. Those payroll numbers were better than the Dow Jones estimate for 205,000 more jobs, but worse than the 3.5% estimate for the unemployment rate. Average hourly earnings grew 4.7% from a year ago and 0.4% for the month, indicating that wage growth is still likely to pressure inflation."
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Fearful drunk takes action!
Pete (‘nother round) Hegseth proves himself the bobble head imbecilic bigot we always knew he was.
In a fearful effort to purge all possible remnants of what an imbecilic bigot would consider DEI, this moron has tagged tens of thousands of historic images in the Pentagon database for DELETION!
Included are images of one of the most famous and iconic planes in military history: the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the Hiroshima bomb.
Why?
It has GAY in its name. Ooooohhh! Scary!
Also tagged for deletion, any mention of the Tuskegee Airmen: black! Must go! I’m
Likewise historic images of women, black and brown skinned warriors. It doesn’t matter if none of these images were in any way connected to DEI programs. Even if your name was Gay, your contributions to the defense of America are being erased.
No one but white males are considered for the historic record.
This is way beyond ridiculous. This is a criminal rewriting of American history. By a drunken TV schmoe.
Trump’s Amerika.
ANOTHER MuskRat rocket blows up.
And you can tell the FAA isn’t totally being run by his Hitler Youth—yet—because that agency canceled flights in South Florida while Musk debris was zinging around the airways.
Had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Nazis been running the show, they wouldn’t know enough to do that, or worse, would think it would be cool to see if pilots could avoid having their planes full of passengers avoid deadly debris. It would be like a test of their flying skills.
“Dude, I could have totally avoided all that stuff. I do it in my “Killers in the Skies” video game all the time. That Delta plane that got hit and crashed in the ocean? Get that pilot’s name. He’s fired!”
And not for nothin’, but are we really turning over control of the FAA to a delusional druggie whose own airborne creations blow up?
We are CANADIAN!
Gotta watch this.
This is a takeoff (with the same guy) of a famous Molson beer as from 25 years ago (you can check out the original spot).
The gist is “We are not the 51st ANYTHING!”
It’s a nice FU to FH.
Waldman again.
https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/trump-goes-to-war-against-his-own
Thought particularly trenchant Waldman's account of how tariffs open the door to more of the Pretender's special interest and special talent: Corruption.
Not enough people visit here at Reality Chex
Michelle Goldberg, in The New York Times on Trump Derangement Syndrome - Republicans who still excuse his words and actions as chess moves.
"The right invented the term Trump Derangement Syndrome to dismiss analysis of Trump’s autocratic tendencies, compulsive lying and generally detestable character as liberal hysteria. For conservatives who don’t want to engage with substantive criticism of their leader, it functions as a thought-terminating cliché, a term often used by people who study cults to describe ideological formulations that short-circuit critical thinking. Trump Derangement Syndrome implies that if someone tells you something about Trump that you don’t want to hear, that person must be crazy."
Randy Rainbow in a new parody sings Defying Gravity
Oligarch Merit Badges
Insider Trading
"Trading Volume In This Nasdaq-Listed Firm Soared Before Don Jr. And Eric Trump Were Announced As Board Members—‘Suspicious,’ Experts Say"
Watch Your Words
"Secretary of State Marco Rubio is launching an AI-fueled “Catch and Revoke” effort to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups, senior State Department officials tell Axios.
The effort — which includes AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders’ social media accounts — marks a dramatic escalation in the U.S. government’s policing of foreign nationals’ conduct and speech."
I left out the link from Shayla Love's story in The Atlantic when writing a comment yesterday. Its here: What ketamine does to elon's brain
The nub of the matter:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/opinion/trump-courts-judges.html
One commenter says civil penalties with do the trick...but I don't think the Pretender bothers to pay them. He just appeals...and...appeals...
@laura hunter: I have been of the opinion that one had to be particularly susceptible to fantasies and conspiracy theories to believe Trump and that religious fundamentalists would be easy marks; that these were the people who accused us of suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Now I see that I've been only partially correct. Krugman, for instance, points out, in one of his posts linked above, that business executives "cocooned in ... corner offices" were uniquely obliviously to Musk, et al.'s Dunning-Kruger-type incompetence. I'm going to presume, at least for argument's sake, that folks who have found their ways into corner offices on Wall Street are not really dimwits & dullards in the usual sense. Some of them were graduated from top universities with top grades. Most of them are probably quite cunning. Unless you're a legacy, you don't get a corner office for stupid.
So what is it that causes them to think Elon is very, very bright? Two things: one is the prejudice that he is not only one of them, he is the best of them because he's the Richest Man of the World (unless Putin is). He's more successful than even they are.
Two is that their ignorance is wilful. It suits them (at least for now) to think that Elon and even Donnie the Dimwit know what they're doing. They want to believe, for instance, that Social Security, as Elon claims, is a Ponzi scheme, because those deductions from their paychecks are sort of an annoyance for part of the year & they figure that at best, Social Security will be a drop in the bucket of their own retirement portfolios. They prefer to think that the relatively tiny bit of aid we give to needy foreigners is a waste of their money. It sure as hell pleases them that Trump & Musk are going to be firing half the IRS workforce. No. More. Audits. And so on.
How much the usual suspects are wilfully ignorant and deliberately gullible, I'm not sure. But people who have the raw intelligence and real-world experience to know better certainly have to work at burying their well-coifed heads in the sand.
@Ken Winkes: I'm not going to read thru the comments to Chemerinsky's op-ed, but I can't imagine what kind of "civil penalties" the commenter is talking about. Trump is not liable for any sort of civil penalties (or really any other penalties except impeachment) for anything he does as part of his job. Likely a department head/Cabinet officer also would be immune from such penalties in almost any case. If an agency or the administration has to pay a civil penalty for some instance of lawbreaking, that just means that you and I pay the penalty for the Trump administration's mistakes.
Presumably, most federal judges know this, so it's unlikely any would try to impose civil penalties on Trump. So no appeals necessary.
HuffPost
Cheaper and more convenient, not Fat Hitler's America."Trump Administration Forces Maine Parents To Visit Social Security Offices To Register Newborns
The Social Security Administration canceled contracts that allowed Maine parents to sign up newborns for Social Security numbers at the hospital."
And speaking of Elon, Flaming Teslas, and the supposed superiority of private enterprise over everything else:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/06/science/starship-launch-test-flight-8/index.html
Reminds me of those old Vanguard days.....back when we were so delicate (it was after all the INTERNATIONAL Geophysical Year) we didn't want the military directly involved in our early efforts to launch a satellite, but after successive Vanguard failures, we gave Werner Von Braun the go-ahead to use the tested Jupiter...a direct descendent of those V-2 he (thanks to Tom Lehrer) rained on old London Town.
One of the commenters to the Paul Waldman substack linked to Jess Piper's substack, who writes, from her front row seat in rural Missouri about
The new Gilded Age. Make America desperate again.
"Why in the world would anyone want to destroy rural America either by creating conditions to hurt small farmers or close rural schools? Because they want to sell off rural parts to the highest bidder. Because if they can drive people out of rural spaces, or make them so desperate that they’ll accept any job at any pay rate, they can bring in large corporate farms and there is no one to protest the environmental impacts or force them to pay their fair share in taxes."
Trump Cycle
How would you like your coffee, eh?
Of course the talk of sanctions imposed on Russia is just noise...er rhetoric..
By already signaling (repeatedly and for years) that he is a Putin bootlicker if not a Russian asset, the Pretender has no bargaining power at all.
It's possible tho' he will work out an arrangement with his boss that will make him look more powerful than he really is. I could see Putin approving that ruse.
All for MAGA consumption of course. So those who want to believe, can.
This bit of knee-slapping stoopidity may have already been covered here on RC. It’s just there’s so much stoopid, it’s hard to stay on top of it all.
So…the other night in his Bund rally speech that approached Soviet politburo screed lengths, the First Idiot (or is Musk the First Idiot? I guess they take turns) blathered on about how he killed an $8 million grant to study “transgender mice” (cue appropriate giggles from the craven courtiers) . “This is real” he sniggers in his best “I’m so superior” tone.
Yes, yes, yes. Fat Hitler has “all the bst wirds”, just not on this planet.
That grant was to study transgenic mice. There is no such thing as transgender mice, unless Mickey and Minnie trade sexes.
Transgenic research uses genetically adapted mice to study cancer treatments.
So in fact, this fucking moron killed a grant to help keep people alive.
But good going, you fat blob of boobery, get your applause line. But at some point, learn to read.
Idiot.
Not the the Right wants to open this can of worms...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/03/07/trump-columbia-university-federal-grants-canceled/?
"Under federal law, universities that discriminate on the basis of shared national ancestry — such as Jewish heritage — are not eligible for federal funding."
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the student protests against the Gaza War, since universities don't allow all applicants into their ivied halls in the first place, on what basis are they to discriminate (as in choose)?
Are we talking SAT scores and high school grades only? If so, lotsa white Christian kids will be discriminated against.
Marie - I had to look it up.
--------
ultracrepidarianism
noun
a person who criticizes, judges, or gives advice outside their area of expertise.
---------
From what we know, definitely ^ fits him to a T.
A condition probably also enhanced by the ketamine usage.
--------
btw, I posted a comment yesterday from The Atlantic on what long-term use of ketamine does, but left out the " from the end of the link so it cant be clicked. Strange, I can't repost that link - the comment never appears although no error message is displayed.
One interesting point from the piece:
"the drug is reportedly popular among Silicon Valley’s tech elite, and a feature at some wellness retreats, including those for leadership development, corporate team building, or couples counseling."
Suggesting that could be a problem with Peter Thiel and other billionaires besides elon who are bent on reshaping our government
Laura,
Thanks for the Randy Rainbow clip. He’s outdone himself with this one.
Gee, the SSA administrator reversed the decision to make Maine parents visit SS offices to obtain SS numbers for newborn babies.
Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of the federal agency, apologized Friday for the decision. “In retrospect, I realize that ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine, which was not the intent,” Dudek said. “For that, I apologize and have directed that both contracts be immediately reinstated.”
The Trump administration’s reversal on the order was first reported by the Portland Press Herald.
The cancellation of the contracts would have required parents of newborns to travel in person to the agency’s offices with their infants to fill out paper applications to have Social Security numbers assigned to them.
I'm sure the original decision had nothing to do with Trumps hissy fit with Governor Mills.
What is that out the window? Musk is going to make this the new normal.
This one should send a few shivers up corporate America's spine.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-3/rights-of-nature-laws-take-root-in-the-west/?utm
More Boycotts, this next week for Amazon's umbrella and Lent for Target.
"In addition to not buying anything off of Amazon, the group is calling on people to refuse to spend any money on Amazon or on any company owned by Amazon, including ShopBop, Audible, Washington Post, Amazon Alexa, IMDb, Prime Video, Ring, Twitch, Whole Foods and Zappos.
The Target boycott (or Target Fast, as it is being called by organizers), however, is set to last a bit longer — 40 days, all the way through Lent. That started on Wednesday and is being led by Atlanta pastor Jamal Bryant of the New Birth Missionary Baptist megachurch, in protest of the company’s move away from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion laws."
I think I missed the part where this recommendation speaks to the facts as alleged of Mr. Adam's conduct.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/07/us/clement-brief.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/07/trump-russia-sanctions-threat/
I believe these five Pretender words are absolutely true: "I don't quite get it."
Thought to highlight the rarity.
Putin's puppet:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/world/us-ukraine-satellite-imagery.html