The Conversation -- April 11, 2025

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “An immigration judge in Louisiana found on Friday that the Trump administration could deport Mahmoud Khalil, granting the government an early victory in its efforts to crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on U.S. college campuses. The ruling is far from the final word on whether Mr. Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident, will be deported. His lawyers will continue their fight in Louisiana and New Jersey, arguing that he has been targeted for constitutionally protected speech. The constitutional issues at the heart of the case will most likely get a fuller hearing in federal court in New Jersey than they did in Louisiana on Friday. For the time being, the decision by the judge there, Jamee E. Comans, affirmed the extraordinary power that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has asserted to target any noncitizen for deportation.... Judge Comans found that the government had met the burden of evidence that the law requires, which effectively amounted to a letter from Mr. Rubio declaring that Mr. Khalil’s presence in the country enabled antisemitism. The Homeland Security Department appears not to have submitted any other concrete evidence substantiating the claim, although it has not publicly released the documents it has filed in his case....

“Immigration judges are employees of the executive branch, not the judiciary, and often approve the Homeland Security Department’s deportation efforts. It would be unusual for such a judge, serving the U.S. Attorney General, to grapple with the constitutional questions raised by Mr. Khalil’s case. She would also run the risk of being fired by an administration that has targeted dissenters.” MB: IOW, this dippy judge found it more important to keep her job than to protect Mr. Khalil's First Amendment rights. That, apparently, is not her problem.

Constitutinal Crisis: ✓. Kyle Cheney of Politico: “An exasperated federal judge commanded the Trump administration Friday to begin providing 'daily updates' on whether it is doing anything to comply with her order to return a Maryland man — illegally deported to El Salvador last month — back to the United States. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis scolded the administration for refusing to provide even 'basic' details about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s location, despite her demand for an update by Friday morning.... The administration’s stonewalling, which Xinis described as 'extremely troubling,' raised the specter that it is defying the order that the judge issued last week and that the Supreme Court largely upheld Thursday. Xinis, an Obama appointee, said that without any information — or even an acknowledgment that the administration had done anything at all — she could only conclude that the administration had 'done nothing to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia.'... Xinis’ new directive requires the daily updates to come from an administration official with 'personal knowledge' of efforts to return Abrego Garcia to the United States. But Justice Department officials said they may not be prepared to comply with her demands until at least Monday.”

Robbie Gramer & Nahal Toosi of Politico: “The Trump administration has ordered State Department employees to report on any instances of coworkers displaying 'anti-Christian bias' as part of its effort to implement a sweeping new executive order on supporting employees of Christian faith working in the federal government. The department, according to a copy of an internal cable obtained by Politico, will work with an administration-wide task force to collect information 'involving anti-religious bias during the last presidential administration' and will collect examples of anti-Christian bias through anonymous employee report forms.... The cable encourages State Department employees to report on one another.... The cable was sent out to embassies around the world under Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s name. The instructions also were released in a department-wide notice.... 'It’s very ‘Handmaid’s Tale'-esque,' said one State Department official....” MB: Little Marco is so much creepier than I realized.

Jason Douglas, et al., of the Wall Street Journal: “In jacking up his tariffs on China — and pausing steep duties on dozens of other nations — ... [Donald] Trump is pushing the world’s two biggest economic powers into a battle that will leave neither unscathed and risks tanking the global economy.  ​The total tariffs imposed on China in Trump’s second term now add up to 145%, the White House said Thursday, while China’s blanket tariff on American goods will rise to 125% on Saturday after the latest round of retaliation. The tariffs could eventually be walked back, but already, there are signs that a portion of the $582 billion in goods trading between the two countries is grinding to a halt.... While Trump says any pain in the U.S. from tariffs will be offset by long-term gains in jobs and investment, in the near term, investment bank JPMorgan said Wednesday it is 'more likely than not' that the U.S. economy will shrink later this year.” The link appears to be a gift link, from Scott Lemieux in LG&$.

Linda Qiu of the New York Times: “... across Mr. Trump’s political career, his case for tariffs has remained consistent, relying on a number of false and misleading claims to describe a global trade system that is “unfair” to the United States. Although Mr. Trump abruptly announced on Wednesday that he would pause steep reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, a 10 percent 'base line tariff remains in place for most imports. Here’s a guide to some of his most cited claims[.]” A useful guide to Trump Tariff Porkies.

He Has an Article II. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has taken steps and made claims that clash with legal opinions issued by a traditionally powerful agency that is part of the Justice Department, the Office of Legal Counsel. The office has typically had an influential role in shaping internal government legal deliberations, and its court-like opinions are supposed to bind the executive branch unless the attorney general or the president overrides them or the office itself revokes them. The disregard for its precedents is part of a broader pattern in which the clout and influence of the agency have eroded in the opening months of the administration. Here are some examples that show that disconnect.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

I have spent the better part of my career listening to loud men talk tough to disguise their weakness. -- Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine), in response to an insult from Donald Trump, 2020 ~~~

~~~ No Curtsies to the Would-be King. Jenna Russell of the New York Times: “While [Maine Gov. Janet Mills] has stood firm [re: a Maine anti-discrimination law on transgender youth which Donald Trump has criticized], the federal government has barraged the state with investigations, declared its education system to be in violation of federal law and frozen some of its funding. The Department of Education has set Friday as a final deadline for Maine to comply with the president’s order. If it does not, the agency plans to hand the matter over to the Department of Justice for enforcement.... Maine sued the Trump administration on Monday, doubling down on its defiance as it began the legal fight that Ms. Mills promised at the White House.”

Ellen Barry of the New York Times profiles “Kseniia Petrova, a [30-year-old Harvard] scientist who [is ensnared in Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, and who had] fled Russia after protesting its invasion of Ukraine []. She fears arrest if she is deported there. On Feb. 16, customs officials detained her at Logan International Airport in Boston for failing to declare samples of frog embryos she had carried from France at the request of her boss at Harvard.” The federal government has incarcerated her in a Louisiana detention center. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I once carried in a small bag of peanuts from France at the request of my husband at New York University. An adorable customs beagle sniffed them out, and a Customs official pleasantly told me he would have to confiscate them. He was very pleasant & didn't even ask my name or require I provide any ID. That was then.

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Abha Bhattarai, et al., of the Washington Post: “An escalating trade war with China sent stocks tumbling Thursday, even as ... Donald Trump downplayed the sell-off, saying he’s 'very, very happy with the way the country is running.' Whipsawing tariff policies — including temporarily lowering dozens of countries’ rates, but dramatically raising levies on Chinese imports — have sent markets seesawing in the past 48 hours. The S&P 500 on Wednesday posted its biggest one-day jump since 2008, but by Thursday afternoon about a third of those gains had been reversed. The S&P 500 fell more than 3.44 percent and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 4.26 percent, while the more narrow Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.54 percent. The slide picked up momentum shortly after 11 a.m., when the White House said Chinese imports would face tariffs of 145 percent, not 125 percent as Trump previously touted. All three major indexes are down significantly from the beginning of the year, and both the S&P and the Nasdaq have fallen by double digits.” (Also linked yesterday.)

From CNBC's live updates yesterday: "The U.S. tariff rate on Chinese imports now effectively totals 145%, a White House official confirmed to CNBC. Trump’s latest executive order hikes tariffs on Beijing to 125% from 84%. But that comes on top of a 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump previously imposed on China." (Also linked yesterday.) So .... ~~~

~~~ The pinned item (at 5:30 am ET) of a New York Times liveblog: “China responded to ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs on Friday, raising its own tariffs on American goods to 125 percent, as the world’s two biggest economies extended a fast-moving tit-for-tat that has seen the cost of trade soar and fueled concerns over a global recession. The announcement came after Trump administration officials clarified that China was now facing a minimum tariff rate of 145 percent on all exports to the United States. China said its new tariffs, which raise the tax on American imports from 84 percent, would take effect on Saturday. Stock markets shuddered in response to the latest salvo in the trade war, which came after markets in Asia closed. Stocks in Germany, whose export-driven economy is exposed to global tensions, dropped more than 1 percent. U.S. stocks were set to open about half a percent lower.”

Chris Cameron & Emiliano Mega of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Thursday threatened additional tariffs and other sanctions against Mexico over a long-running water dispute in a potential escalation of tensions with one of America’s biggest trading partners. In a social media post, Mr. Trump accused Mexico of failing to provide 1.3 million acre-feet of water — or more than 420 billion gallons — under a 1944 treaty mediating the distribution of water from three rivers, the Rio Grande, the Colorado and the Tijuana. 'Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas farmers,' Mr. Trump said, adding that 'we will keep escalating consequences, including TARIFFS and, maybe even SANCTIONS, until Mexico honors the Treaty, and GIVES TEXAS THE WATER THEY ARE OWED!' Responding to Mr. Trump’s post, Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, acknowledged that her country had fallen short of its treaty commitments, saying that a yearslong drought had significantly hindered its ability to provide the full amount of water the agreement called for. She said that her government had sent 'a comprehensive proposal' to U.S. diplomats to deliver water to Texas and find a solution satisfactory to both countries.”

Daisuke Wakabayashi, et al., of the New York Times: “A dizzying escalation of tariffs has unraveled a trade relationship between the United States and China forged over decades, jeopardizing the fate of two superpowers and threatening to drag down the world economy.... As hard as Mr. Trump has pushed [raising tariff rates on China to 125 145 percent], China has refused to back down. China has elevated its tariffs on goods imported from America to 84 percent.... At risk is a relationship that shaped the global economy in the 21st century. For years, both sides benefited. American companies’ extensive use of China’s factories kept prices in check for American consumers and padded the profits of the country’s biggest companies. China got jobs and investment that lifted millions of Chinese families out of poverty. And as China’s spending power grew, it opened up a giant and lucrative market for American brands.... The looming disruption to the flow of billions of dollars worth of goods between China and the United States, as well as the trade that often passes through other countries, will have a devastating impact on both economies and their trading partners.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The underlying problem is, as Krugman writes (also linked yesterday), "Trump Is Stupid, Erratic and Weak." And the "stupid" part includes Trump's inability to understand that -- with careful trade planning, policy & negotiation -- U.S.-China trade can be largely "win-win." Being an ignorant bully, Trump understands only a "zero sum game": I win only if you lose.

One More Way Trump Has Made the U.S. a Banana Republic. Paul Krugman: "The combination of interest rates soaring amid a slump and the currency plunging despite rising interest rates isn’t what we normally expect for advanced countries, let alone the owner of the world’s leading reserve currency. It is, however, what we often see in emerging-market economies. That is, investors have started treating the United States like a third-world economy. Did I see this coming? No, not really. Unlike the sanewashers, I knew that Trump’s policies would be irresponsible and destructive. However, even I didn’t expect him to destroy credibility accumulated over 80 years in less than three months. But he has. And even if Trump were to backtrack on everything he’s done, we wouldn’t get the lost credibility back. The whole world, sanewashers aside, now knows that America is run by a mad king, surrounded by enablers, who can’t be trusted to behave rationally."

In a New York Times column titled "Who Needs Free Trade When You Can Raise Your Own Chickens?" David French contrasts the left's and right's versions of back-to-the-land. He writes, “I feel a degree of moral kinship with critics of free markets on the left and the right. I share many of their cultural values and cultural concerns. I do not, however, share their belief that the government should limit my economic opportunities for my own good.” MB: That, I think is the crux of it. It's great if I want to grow my own Romaine & watch my kids plant pumpkin seeds in our homemade compost-rich soil. But I should not encourage the government to make avocados too costly for you to buy at the supermarket. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Thursday instructed the government to take steps to return a Salvadoran migrant it had wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. In an unsigned order, the court stopped short of ordering the return of the migrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, indicating that courts may not have the power to require the executive branch to do so. But the court endorsed part of a trial judge’s order that had required the government to 'facilitate and effectuate the return' of Mr. Abrego Garcia. 'The order properly requires the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,' the Supreme Court’s ruling said. 'The intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the district court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the district court’s authority.' The case will now return to the trial court, and it is not clear whether and when Mr. Abrego Garcia will be returned to the United States.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bear in mind that any other court would be more definitive in their order. Rachel Maddow called reminiscent of "Kafka mixed with Bozo the Clown." And any other administration would forthwith call up El Savadoran President Bukele and tell him, "We're coming to get Mr. Abrego & take him back to his family." Expect the Trumpies to continue to pretend there's no way they can get Mr. Abrego out of jail. The moral bankruptcy of this lot is breathtaking. ~~~

     ~~~ You think it can't happen to you? Lawrence O'Donnell last night pointed to Justice Sonia Sotomayor's statement attached to the Court's order (linked in the body of the NYT story & not firewalled). Justices Kagan & Jackson joined Sotomayor's addendum. Here's the money quote: "The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene." That's right. According to the Trump administration, it's A-okay to pull you out of your vehicle with your child watching & scurry you off to a dangerous prison in El Savador -- for the rest of your life -- without any form of due process, just as they did to Mr. Abrego. And that empty apology he received? Fageddaboudit. Our illustrious attorney general and her deputy Todd Blanche fired the lawyer who apologized to the court. She fired his supervisor, too.

They Got Nuthin'. Jake Offenhartz of the AP: “Facing a deadline from an immigration judge to turn over evidence for its attempted deportation of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, the federal government has instead submitted a brief memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, citing the Trump administration’s authority to expel noncitizens whose presence in the country damages U.S. foreign policy interests. The two-page memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press, does not allege any criminal conduct by Khalil, a legal permanent U.S. resident and graduate student who served as spokesperson for campus activists last year during large demonstrations against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the war in Gaza. Rather, Rubio wrote Khalil could be expelled for his beliefs. He said that while Khalil’s activities were 'otherwise lawful,' letting him remain in the country would undermine 'U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.'...

“Attorneys for Khalil said the memo proved the Trump administration was 'targeting Mahmoud’s free speech rights about Palestine.... After a month of hiding the ball since Mahmoud’s late-night unjust arrest in New York and taking him away to a remote detention center in Louisiana, immigration authorities have finally admitted that they have no case whatsoever against him, the attorneys, Marc Van Der Hout and Johnny Sinodis, said in a joint statement.” Immigration Judge Jamee Comans will hold a hearing on the matter today.

Alexandra Berzon, et al., of the New York Times: “... the [Trump] administration is taking drastic steps to pressure some ... immigrants and others who had legal status to 'self-deport' by effectively canceling the Social Security numbers they had lawfully obtained.... The goal is to cut those people off from using crucial financial services like bank accounts and credit cards, along with their access to government benefits. The effort hinges on a surprising new tactic: repurposing Social Security’s 'death master file,' which for years has been used to track dead people who should no longer receive benefits, to include the names of living people who the government believes should be treated as if they are dead. As a result of being added to the death database, they would be blacklisted from a coveted form of identity that allows them to make and spend money. The initial names are limited to people the administration says are convicted criminals and 'suspected terrorists,' the documents show. But officials said the effort could broaden to include others in the country without authorization.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Lisa Rein, et al., of the Washington Post: “Among the people being targeted are immigrants who have bona fide Social Security numbers but have lost their legal status in the U.S., such as those who entered under one of the Biden administration’s temporary work programs that have since ended.... The immigrants’ names were placed in the database following two memorandums of agreement signed Monday by [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi] Noem and Leland Dudek, the acting Social Security commissioner.... Some current and former Social Security officials questioned the legality of the practice, saying that adding names of people that the agency knows have not died to the death database violates privacy laws that no longer apply when someone has actually died.... 'If you want to know what DOGE is doing at Social Security, this is it,' [a] White House official said....” The AP report os here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I see the sinister visage of Stephen Miller looming over the "death master file." But let us not hold him wholly accountable. The cruelty of the entire Trump mob is a reproof of humanity. Decent people would resign. These are not decent people. ~~~

~~~ Marianne LeVine, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Department of Homeland Security has enlisted the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in recent weeks to conduct welfare checks on children and young people who came to the United States without their parents, alarming advocates who worry it’s an effort to target them for deportation or scare them.... Donald Trump has long accused his predecessor of losing more than 300,000 migrant children, claiming that they are now 'slaves, sex slaves or dead,' though many also arrived during the president’s first term. Immigration experts have said that most of those children have been safely reunited with their parents or relatives in the United States. Trump administration officials confirmed they are doing the welfare checks....”

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: “During the weeks after the [2020] election, [Donald Trump] embraced a wide variety of false and debunked assertions about how he’d been the victim of a left-wing plot to deny him a second term.... Among the claims he and his allies elevated was that electronic voting machines had been tampered with. [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) chief Chris] Krebs, tasked with ensuring that this wouldn’t happen, put out a statement assuring Americans that election systems had not been manipulated.... Within hours, [Trump] announced Krebs’s firing on Twitter.... Wednesday ... Trump announced that he was removing Krebs’s security clearance and calling for the Justice Department to launch a fishing expedition [of Krebs' actions].... There remains no evidence at all that CISA or Krebs engaged in any systematic effort to violate the law.... Targeting Krebs is in part about punishing perceived disloyalty and in part about overhauling reality. It is unquestionably also about leveraging the power of the state against a someone who had the temerity to insist that the truth was true. Calling for an investigation of Krebs is flatly authoritarian, perhaps more so than any other example of Trump going after his enemies. It is a statement from the most powerful person in the country that the federal government will be deployed to monitor compliance with his worldview.”

More Cynical, Greedy, Chickenpoopy Lawyers. Or So Says King Donald. Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump is planning to announce new deals with several of the nation’s top law firms requiring them to offer legal support for some of his favored causes, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr. Trump said four or five firms, which he did not name, would reach deals with the administration, each committing to do $125 million worth of legal work on issues he supports. That amount would eclipse the amount of pro bono work other firms agreed to provide under earlier agreements.” A derivative Raw Story report is here.

Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: Donald Trump is trying "to fix the Iran nuclear deal he broke" in his first term. He sent his real estate pal Steve Witkoff off to meet with Iranian officials in Oman. Meanwhile, Iran "is now theoretically far closer to building a nuclear weapon than it was before the collapse of the" deal.

Hassan Kanu of Politico: “... Donald Trump has instructed federal agencies and their assigned DOGE teams to repeal any existing regulations that are inconsistent with his priorities without providing advance notice or going through the traditional public input process. The move accelerates the White House’s sprawling efforts to dismantle the federal regulatory machine, although Trump’s directive to skip the notice-and-comment process will likely face legal challenges.... Trump’s Wednesday presidential memo ... [cites] 10 recent Supreme Court rulings to assert that ... The normal 'notice-and-comment proceedings are “unnecessary”...' Trump wrote. The White House directive appears to claim that the high court’s 2024 ruling known as Loper Bright applies retroactively, although the court’s conservative justices held explicitly that the decision is forward-looking.... The legal advocacy group Democracy Forward said in a statement that Trump’s actions are unlawful and harmful to the public.”

Low Expectations. David Fahrenthold & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “While stumping for Donald J. Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign, Elon Musk said he could cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. After Mr. Trump took office and placed Mr. Musk in charge of the budget-slashing so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Mr. Musk lowered that projection by half, to $1 trillion in the upcoming fiscal year. In a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr. Musk appeared to set his group’s goal lower still. 'I’m excited to announce that we anticipate savings in ’26 from reduction of waste and fraud by $150 billion,' Mr. Musk told Mr. Trump, referring to the fiscal year, which runs from the beginning of October 2025 to the end of September 2026. Mr. Musk’s group has slashed budgets and fired thousands of workers around Washington, but so far the DOGE website indicates that it remains far from reaching his goal of $1 trillion in savings next year. As of Thursday, the site claimed $150 billion in savings, with an itemized list of some of the purported cuts. It was unclear if Mr. Musk meant to say that the $150 billion was merely what his team had found so far — meaning that $1 trillion in savings was still possible — or if that $150 billion was all it expected to find.” MB: On the other hand, though DOGE did not meet Elon's great expectations, it did wreak great havoc.

Perry Stein & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department is building a roster of lawyers willing to defend in court the most controversial parts of ... Donald Trump’s agenda, firing career attorneys whom leaders view as standing in their way and hiring dozens of political appointees to carry out the president’s agenda.... Meanwhile, many longtime attorneys are fleeing in frustration with Trump’s policies and a new culture within the department that does not permit dissent, some of the current and former agency officials said. Trump has issued an executive order calling for many longtime senior career staff positions that are considered 'policy-influencing' to be flipped to political appointments. That could allow him and his allies to install loyalists in key positions without going through the hiring process required for staffers in the civil service.” ~~~

~~~ Ann Marimow of the Washington Post (April 9): “At least half of the front-line lawyers in the elite Justice Department office that represents the Trump administration at the Supreme Court are preparing to leave or have already announced their departures — an unusually high amount of turnover at a time of intense litigation involving the president’s initiatives.... Many are uncomfortable or turned off by directives from Justice Department leaders, including Attorney General Pam Bondi’s demand for 'zealous advocacy' of ... Donald Trump’s agenda, these people said.... Attrition from the office also coincides with an abrupt restructuring in leadership following the arrival of Solicitor General D. John Sauer, who was confirmed by the Senate last week along party lines. Sauer successfully represented Trump at the Supreme Court last year in his case seeking broad presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts while in office.”

Qasim Nauman of the New York Times: “The U.S. military announced on Thursday that it had removed the commander of its Pituffik base in Greenland, adding that it would not tolerate any actions that go against ... [Donald] Trump’s agenda. The decision to remove Col. Susannah Meyers was announced in a statement by the U.S. Space Force that was posted on social media by Sean Parnell, the chief spokesman for the Pentagon. While the statement didn’t cite a specific reason for her removal, Mr. Parnell said that 'actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert ... [Donald] Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated.' Mr. Parnell’s post contained a link to an article by Military.com, an independent news organization, that said Colonel Meyers had sent an email to base staff distancing herself from Vice President JD Vance’s visit on March 28.... On March 31, Colonel Meyers emailed the staff at Pituffik saying that the concerns of the Trump administration as expressed by Mr. Vance did not reflect the views of the base leadership....” Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management abruptly withdrew her nomination Thursday morning, just as her confirmation hearing was about to begin. Kathleen Sgamma, who heads a Denver-based oil and gas industry trade group called the Western Energy Alliance, has 'withdrawn from consideration,' Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) said at the outset of the hearing. The reason for Sgamma’s decision was unclear. But it comes after the investigative group Documented on Tuesday released a 2021 letter in which Sgamma wrote that she was 'disgusted' by Trump 'spreading misinformation' about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.”

You May Not Want to Take a Cruise Any Time Soon. Alexander Tin of CBS News: "All of the full-time employees in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program are now off the job, multiple officials tell CBS News, gutting the agency's ability to investigate outbreaks and conduct health inspections on cruise ships. A smaller group of 12 U.S. Public Health Service officers will remain. The steep cuts to the program's inspectors baffled CDC officials since the small team's staff is not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Fees from cruise ships companies pay for the program, which is supposed to inspect large vessels at least twice a year.”

Rebecca Schoenkopf of Wonkette has some thoughts on Today in Trumpsylvania, and bless her heart, she is not overly polite about it. An excellent roundup with just the right 'tude.

Bad News. But It Ain't Over Till the Fat Man Sings. Marianna Sotomayor & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: “Republicans in Congress approved an agreement Thursday to begin implementing ... Donald Trump’s legislative agenda on taxes and immigration — a deal that could add trillions of dollars to the national debt. The House in a 216 to 214 vote adopted a budget that allows Congress’s GOP majorities to use the reconciliation process, which permits conservatives to bypass a Democratic Senate filibuster so long as the two chambers work in lockstep drafting the policies. Major portions of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire at the end of the year, and Republicans aim to pair renewing them — at a cost of $5.5 trillion — with new business tax breaks and major new spending to power the White House’s mass deportation campaign. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) signaled an agreement shortly before the vote to cut at least $1.5 trillion in spending. But the chambers remain sharply divided over how to arrive at that figure — and if it will truly reduce the federal deficit, as House hard-liners have demanded.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Rachel Leingang of the Guardian: “The US House approved a bill on Thursday that would require people to prove they are citizens when they register to vote, which opponents claim could disenfranchise millions of Americans. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the Save Act, which was approved on a 220-208 vote, is aimed at eliminating rare instances of noncitizens voting in US elections based on the false belief that large numbers of noncitizens are voting. The bill, sponsored by the Texas Republican Chip Roy, calls for people who register to vote or update their registration to show documentary proof of citizenship, which could be a passport or birth certificate.... The Save Act comes after the US president signed an executive order on 25 March calling for a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to be added to federal voter registration forms.... Some potential voters no longer have their birth certificates, or their birth certificates do not match their current names if they changed their names in marriage or for other reasons, Democrats have pointed out.”

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: “The Senate confirmed early Friday Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, the former National Guardsman and fighter pilot, to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Caine is replacing another Air Force fighter pilot, Gen. Charles Brown, known as C.Q., whom ... [Donald] Trump abruptly fired in February. The Senate’s lopsided 60-25 vote approving General Caine, who is retired, was expected. While Democrats had expressed concerns about the rash of firings at the Pentagon in Mr. Trump’s second term, General Caine garnered little opposition because the majority of them appeared to view him as perhaps the best possible option, given the circumstances.”

The Conversation -- April 10, 2025

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Thursday instructed the government to take steps to return a Salvadoran migrant it had wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. In an unsigned order, the court stopped short of ordering the return of the migrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, indicating that courts may not have the power to require the executive branch to do so. But the court endorsed part of a trial judge’s order that had required the government to 'facilitate and effectuate the return' of Mr. Abrego Garcia. 'The order properly requires the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,' the Supreme Court’s ruling said. 'The intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the district court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the district court’s authority.' The case will now return to the trial court, and it is not clear whether and when Mr. Abrego Garcia will be returned to the United States.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bear in mind that any other court would be more definitive in their order. Rachel Maddow called reminiscent of "Kafka mixed with Bozo the Clown." And any other administration would forthwith call up El Savadoran President Bukele and tell him, "We're coming to get Mr. Abrego & take him back to his family." Expect the Trumpies to continue to pretend there's no way they can get Mr. Abrego out of jail.

Alexandra Berzon, et al., of the New York Times: “... the [Trump] administration is taking drastic steps to pressure some ... immigrants and others who had legal status to 'self-deport' by effectively canceling the Social Security numbers they had lawfully obtained, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with six people familiar with the plans. The goal is to cut those people off from using crucial financial services like bank accounts and credit cards, along with their access to government benefits. The effort hinges on a surprising new tactic: repurposing Social Security’s 'death master file,' which for years has been used to track dead people who should no longer receive benefits, to include the names of living people who the government believes should be treated as if they are dead. As a result of being added to the death database, they would be blacklisted from a coveted form of identity that allows them to make and spend money. The initial names are limited to people the administration says are convicted criminals and 'suspected terrorists,' the documents show. But officials said the effort could broaden to include others in the country without authorization.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I see the sinister visage of Stephen Miller looming over the "death master file." But let us not hold him wholly accountable. The cruelty of the entire Trump mob is a reproof of humanity. Decent people would step away. These are not decent people.

Abha Bhattarai, et al., of the Washington Post: “An escalating trade war with China sent stocks tumbling Thursday, even as ... Donald Trump downplayed the sell-off, saying he’s 'very, very happy with the way the country is running.' Whipsawing tariff policies — including temporarily lowering dozens of countries’ rates, but dramatically raising levies on Chinese imports — have sent markets seesawing in the past 48 hours. The S&P 500 on Wednesday posted its biggest one-day jump since 2008, but by Thursday afternoon about a third of those gains had been reversed. The S&P 500 fell more than 3.44 percent and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 4.26 percent, while the more narrow Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.54 percent. The slide picked up momentum shortly after 11 a.m., when the White House said Chinese imports would face tariffs of 145 percent, not 125 percent as Trump previously touted. All three major indexes are down significantly from the beginning of the year, and both the S&P and the Nasdaq have fallen by double digits.”

Bad News. But It Ain't Over Till the Fat Man Sings. Marianna Sotomayor & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: “Republicans in Congress approved an agreement Thursday to begin implementing ... Donald Trump’s legislative agenda on taxes and immigration — a deal that could add trillions of dollars to the national debt. The House in a 216 to 214 vote adopted a budget that allows Congress’s GOP majorities to use the reconciliation process, which permits conservatives to bypass a Democratic Senate filibuster so long as the two chambers work in lockstep drafting the policies. Major portions of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire at the end of the year, and Republicans aim to pair renewing them — at a cost of $5.5 trillion — with new business tax breaks and major new spending to power the White House’s mass deportation campaign. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) signaled an agreement shortly before the vote to cut at least $1.5 trillion in spending. But the chambers remain sharply divided over how to arrive at that figure — and if it will truly reduce the federal deficit, as House hard-liners have demanded.”

Hakyung Kim & Sean Conlon of CNBC: "Stocks fell Thursday, giving back half of the gains from the historic rally seen in the previous session after ... Donald Trump announced a 90-day reprieve on some of his “reciprocal” tariffs. Investors worried that even with the short reprieve on some of the duties, economic activity will be slowed by Trump’s singling out of China with a much higher rate. The S&P 500  sold off 4.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite  slid 5.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average  dropped 1,542 points, or 3.8%."

From CNBC's live updates: "The U.S. tariff rate on Chinese imports now effectively totals 145%, a White House official confirmed to CNBC. Trump’s latest executive order hikes tariffs on Beijing to 125% from 84%. But that comes on top of a 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump previously imposed on China."

Daisuke Wakabayashi, et al., of the New York Times: “A dizzying escalation of tariffs has unraveled a trade relationship between the United States and China forged over decades, jeopardizing the fate of two superpowers and threatening to drag down the world economy.... As hard as Mr. Trump has pushed [raising tariff rates on China to 125 145 percent], China has refused to back down. China has elevated its tariffs on goods imported from America to 84 percent.... At risk is a relationship that shaped the global economy in the 21st century. For years, both sides benefited. American companies’ extensive use of China’s factories kept prices in check for American consumers and padded the profits of the country’s biggest companies. China got jobs and investment that lifted millions of Chinese families out of poverty. And as China’s spending power grew, it opened up a giant and lucrative market for American brands.... The looming disruption to the flow of billions of dollars worth of goods between China and the United States, as well as the trade that often passes through other countries, will have a devastating impact on both economies and their trading partners.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The underlying problem is, as Krugman writes (also linked below), "Trump Is Stupid, Erratic and Weak." And the "stupid" part includes Trump's inability to understand that -- with careful trade planning, policy & negotiation -- U.S.-China trade can be largely "win-win." Being an ignorant bully, Trump understands only a "zero sum game": I win only if you lose.

In a New York Times column titled "Who Needs Free Trade When You Can Raise Your Own Chickens?" David French contrasts the left's and right's versions of back-to-the-land. He writes, “I feel a degree of moral kinship with critics of free markets on the left and the right. I share many of their cultural values and cultural concerns. I do not, however, share their belief that the government should limit my economic opportunities for my own good.” MB: That, I think is the crux of it. It's great if I want to grow my own Romaine & watch my kids plant pumpkin seeds in our homemade compost-rich soil. But I should not encourage the government to make avocados too costly for you to buy at the supermarket.

Marie: I embed these late-night monologues, in general, because we need the laughs. But I also sometimes embed them because the comedians cover particulars in more depth than news articles do. So, for instance, in his monologue last night, Jimmy Kimmel went into remarks Trump made at an NRCC dinner Tuesday evening. And what Kimmel riffed on did a lot to make the case of what a narcissistic moron Trump is:

The other day, Rachel Maddow went looking for waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Kinda her own Deputy Doge project. Right away, she was successful! ~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

Blinkity Blink Blink. Ana Swanson & Tony Romm of the New York Times: “Just hours after he put punishing levies into place on nearly 60 countries, the president said he would pause them for 90 days. But Mr. Trump did not extend that pause to China, opting instead to raise tariffs again on all Chinese imports, bringing those taxes to a whopping 125 percent.... Nearly every U.S. trading partner now faces a 10 percent blanket tariff, on top of 25 percent tariffs that Mr. Trump has imposed on cars, steel and aluminum.... Mr. Trump, who for days had insisted he was not concerned about the market rout, acknowledged on Wednesday that the downturn had fed into his decision.... Mr. Trump’s change in course came amid a sharp sell-off in U.S. government bond markets and the dollar, which are typically seen as the safest corner for investors during times of turmoil. Asked Wednesday if the bond market reaction had caught his attention, Mr. Trump said he noticed over the weekend that investors were getting 'queasy.'... Slumping markets quickly rallied after Mr. Trump’s post. The S&P 500 climbed several percentage points in a matter of minutes and closed with a rise of more than 9 percent, sharply reversing days of losses. Wednesday was the best day for the S&P 500 since the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis....

“Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump had told Americans to 'BE COOL!' and quickly followed up with a post saying 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! That prompted some Democrats to suggest that Mr. Trump was intentionally manipulating stock markets. In a hearing in the House of Representatives Wednesday, several Democrats questioned Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, about the president’s aim.” ~~~

The shock to confidence could potentially have an even larger effect on the economy than the tariffs themselves. -- Neel Kashkari, Minneapolis Federal Reserve president, this week ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Patterson in a New York Times op-ed: “In financial markets, the most important place to check for damage is the market for U.S. Treasuries. The U.S. government bond market is by far the world’s largest. Treasury yields serve as an anchor for borrowing costs for American households and companies and for governments overseas. Hints of distress in Treasuries can quickly create contagion around the world and amplify investor worries about global growth back at home. Not surprisingly, then, when the U.S. 30-year Treasury bond yield briefly rose above 5 percent before the tariff pause — its sharpest increase since 2020, according to Bloomberg — bond markets beyond America's borders reacted as well.... Even if American tariff levels settle at a lower level than what was proposed on April 2, questions about what’s next, as well as the impact of the remaining tariffs, could keep growth and inflation uncertainty alive.... [A number of Trump's] moves could reduce foreign demand for U.S. Treasuries, the bedrock of American finance.” MB: You will notice that Patterson makes the common mistake of assuming Trump acts rationally. ~~~

~~~ Maybe stick with Paul Krugman, whose headline is, "Trump Is Stupid, Erratic and Weak": "We’re in a hardly better place than we were before Donald Trump announced a tariff pause (in a Truth Social post, of course.) In fact, we may be in a worse place. Let me make four points about Trump’s post-pause tariff regime. 1. Even the post-pause tariff rates represent a huge protectionist shock[.] 2. Destructive uncertainty about future policy has increased[.] 3. We’re still at risk of a major financial crisis[.] 4. The world now knows that Trump is weak as well as erratic[.]" ~~~

~~~ Jorge Liboreiro of Euro News: “The European Union has temporarily paused its counter-tariffs against the United States to further pursue talks with Donald Trump's administration on how to resolve what, until a few hours ago, was shaping up to be an all-out trade war. The suspension will remain in place for at least 90 days. The counter-tariffs, imposed in reaction to Trump's duties on steel and aluminum, were approved on Wednesday by member states, targeting almost €21 billion in American products, such as soybeans, copper, iron, motorbikes, boats and orange juice.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: My first thought upon reading about Trump's partial reversal was what fun he was having messing with billions of people around the world. My second was, "insider trading." How much did Bessent, Lutnick, Musk & other insiders make in the markets Wednesday when they learned -- before the rest of us -- that Trump was about to announce a partial reversal of his stupid tariffs? I was glad to see that Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal & Adam Schiff raise the issue of insider trading, too. Blumenthal noted that the Trump administration was full of grifters. ~~~

     ~~~ Nick Popli of Time: "Senator Adam Schiff on Wednesday called on Congress to investigate whether ... Donald Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation when he abruptly paused a sweeping set of tariffs, a move that sent stock prices skyrocketing. 'I’m going to do my best to find out,' Schiff, a California Democrat, tells Time. 'Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves.' Schiff’s comments regarding a formal inquiry, which has not been previously reported, came soon after the S&P 500 surged more than 9% Wednesday afternoon after Trump announced the tariff pause. 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!' Trump posted on Truth Social minutes after the market opened on Wednesday, along with the letters 'DJT,' which stands for both his initials and the ticker for his media company.... Schiff is the first Senator to openly call for a congressional investigation into potential insider trading by the Trump Administration.... Still, the timing of Trump’s announcement — and the market rally that followed — has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. 'When my own barber asks me whether Donald Trump is selling short or doing this to try to make money for himself, it shows that a lot of people are pretty suspicious about what’s going on,' Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, tells Time.” A related Mother Jones story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ AND. Bernard Condon of the AP: When Trump wrote on social media Wednesday at 9:37 am ET, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” “it was a prescient call by the president. Maybe too prescient. 'He’s loving this, this control over markets, but he better be careful,' said Trump critic and former White House ethics lawyer, Richard Painter, noting that securities law prohibits trading on insider information or helping others do so. 'The people who bought when they saw that post made a lot of money.'... Asked about when he arrived at his decision, Trump gave a muddled answer. 'I would say this morning,' he said. 'Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it.' He then added, 'Fairly early this morning.'... Another curiosity of the posting was Trump’s signoff with his initials. DJT is also the stock symbol for Trump Media and Technology Group.... The ambiguity about what Trump meant didn’t stop people from pouring money into that stock. Trump Media closed up 22.67%, soaring twice as much as the broader market, a stunning performance by a company that lost $400 million last year and is seemingly unaffected by whether tariffs would be imposed or paused.... Trump Media was bested, albeit by only two-hundreds of a percentage point, by another Trump administration stock pick — Elon Musk’s Tesla.... 'He’s sending the message that he can effectively and with impunity manipulate the market, [Kathleen Clark of Washington University Law] said, 'As in: Watch this space for future stock tips.'” A Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I believe I see some evidence of insider trading there. ~~~

Tyler Pager, et al., of the New York Times: “The economic turmoil, particularly a rapid rise in government bond yields, caused Mr. Trump to blink on Wednesday afternoon and pause his 'reciprocal' tariffs for most countries for the next 90 days, according to four people with direct knowledge of the president’s decision.... Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others on the president’s team, including Vice President JD Vance, had been pushing for a more structured approach to the trade conflict that would focus on isolating China as the worst actor while still sending a broader message that Mr. Trump was serious about cracking down on trade imbalances. After his reversal on social media, Mr. Trump’s team was put in the unenviable position of trying to spin the media that this was the plan all along.... Mr. Bessent went so far as to deny that the bond market had driven the change.... Mr. Bessent played a significant role in steering the president toward the pause. But the real credit, Mr. Trump’s advisers admit privately, should go to the bond markets. Mr. Trump’s decision was driven by fear that his tariffs gamble could quickly turn into a financial crisis. And unlike the two previous crashes of the past 20 years — the global financial crisis of 2008 and the pandemic of 2020 — this crisis would have been directly attributable to only one man.” ~~~

I guess they say it was the biggest day in financial history. -- Donald Trump, yesterday, after his post that upended his tariff policy ~~~

      ~~~ Michael Birnbaum, et al., of the Washington Post: “Washington woke up Wednesday to the highest tariffs on foreign goods in a century and to bond markets flashing warning signs that ... Donald Trump’s bid to remake global trade could spark a far bigger crisis. Trump’s advisers were still projecting confidence that his effort to restructure the world’s economy and sweep away generations of globalization was foolproof despite the S&P 500 wiping away 12 percent of its value in a week.... But hours later, Trump partially backed down — escalating his trade war with China but lowering many of the tariffs he had just imposed on the rest of the world. Stock markets soared.... From Tuesday evening to Wednesday afternoon, Trump and his trade advisers spoke to several Republican lawmakers and top foreign leaders who raised concerns about the faltering global markets and the growing concerns of a worldwide recession, urging him to do something.” The reporters relate various people who they say may have influenced Trump, including, for instance, Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter.

Bonds, U.S. Bonds. Trumpity-Doo-Dah. Eshe Nelson, et al., of the New York Times: “Stocks surged on Wednesday afternoon, ripping higher after ... [Donald] Trump said he would back down on tariffs for most of the world for the next 90 days, citing new talks with foreign nations. The S&P 500 climbed over 7 percent in a matter of minutes after Mr. Trump posted the decision on Truth Social, sharply reversing days of losses. But Mr. Trump said that the pause did not extend to China and that he would instead raise tariffs on its exports to 125 percent after Beijing announced a new round of retaliation.... Earlier in the day, when stocks were still oscillating between small gains and losses, Mr. Trump posted ]BE COOL' on his Truth Social platform, before adding, 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: He really gets a kick out of jerking everybody around, doesn't he? This is the dominance game Bouie is writing about here: ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “There is no grand plan or strategic vision [to Donald Trump's obsession with tariffs] ... — only the impulsive actions of a mad king, untethered from any responsibility to the nation or its people.... Trump’s tariffs are not a policy as we traditionally understand it. What they are is an instantiation of his psyche: a concrete expression of his zero-sum worldview. The fundamental truth of Donald Trump is that he apparently cannot conceive of any relationship between individuals, peoples or states as anything other than a status game, a competition for dominance.... Trump’s ... obsession with territorial conquest ... is an obvious product of his predatory approach to human interaction. His authoritarian attempts to cow and coerce key institutions of civil society into compliance with his agenda and obedience to his will are, likewise, a kind of dominance game.... He even said as much during an event on Tuesday, when he bragged about the law firms 'signing up with Trump' and said that 'they give me a lot of money, considering they’ve done nothing wrong.'... If we view the president’s actions in light of his psychological need to dominate, it is almost certainly true that his flagrant abuse of the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and foreign-born students in the United States ... is just the beginning.... There is no point at which he can be satisfied.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Daniel Gilbert of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is pledging to target the pharmaceutical industry with tariffs even while pausing many of his global levies for 90 days, threatening to disrupt international supply chains and raising the prospect of a clash between drugmakers and insurers that could determine whether patients are hit with higher costs. Trump said Tuesday that his administration will 'be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals,' a bid to force companies to make more of their medicines in the United States. On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a 90-day pause Trump announced on most of his country-specific 'reciprocal' tariffs would not apply to sector-specific tariffs such as pharmaceuticals.” An ABC News report is here.

RAS found a recommendation that every invoice should include a line breaking out the Trump Tariff Surcharge to show the consumer how Trump's tariffs figure into what he has to pay for a product. Seems like an excellent idea.

Yan Zhuang of the New York Times: “Much of the world was focused at that moment on his trade war, but Mr. Trump wanted to talk about showers.... 'I like to take a nice shower to take care of my beautiful hair,' [he] ... said on Wednesday in the Oval Office. 'I stand under the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.'... He offered this insight while signing an executive order to loosen restrictions on water flow from American shower heads. The order directs Energy Secretary Chris Wright to rescind a definition of shower heads first implemented by President Barack Obama. It is the second time that Mr. Trump as president has attempted to redefine a shower head. A rule he introduced in his first term drastically increased the amount of water that showers with multiple nozzles could use. The Biden administration later reversed that change.” ~~~ 

     ~~~ Marie: If I'm not mistaken, shower manufacturers, probably because of dueling executive orders, merely put a small metal gizmo in shower heads that reduces the water flow. The gizmo is easily removed. (I vaguely recall having removed one myself.) So Trump's plumbers probably despise him and enjoy saying, “I'm sorry, sir. There's nothing I can do.” And, as Zhuang writes, “If your water pressure is weak, according to the Appliances Standard Awareness Project, it’s probably because of your home plumbing or because of lime scale buildup on the shower head, rather than anything to do with the flow rate.”

Perhaps because of the Trump Tariffs that remain, we can honestly sing, "Yes, We Have No Bananas." But we are nevertheless residents of the world's largest banana republic. ~~~

~~~ Welcome to Our New, Official Tinpot Dictatorship. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Wednesday signed executive orders punishing two officials from his first administration and an elite law firm, continuing a campaign of retribution that he has gleefully carried out since his inauguration. Two executive orders targeted Christopher Krebs, who as a senior cybersecurity official oversaw the securing of the 2020 presidential election, and Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Mr. Trump’s first term and anonymously wrote a high-profile opinion article for The New York Times in 2018. Among other measures, the orders directed Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, to investigate the former officials and report their findings to the White House. A third order targeted the law firm Susman Godfrey with many of the same sanctions that Mr. Trump has applied to other law firms that had taken on cases or causes he did not like. In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to resolve a defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s promotion of misinformation about the 2020 election. Susman Godfrey represented Dominion, a manufacturer of voting machines that lawyers allied with Mr. Trump attacked with outlandish claims about widespread voting fraud.” ~~~

     ~~~ Adam Cancryn & Maggie Miller of Politico: “A president ordering investigations of specific individuals whom he considers to be his political enemies is a remarkable breach of the traditional wall of separation between the White House and the Justice Department. Under that norm of separation, criminal investigations are supposed to be insulated from political pressure, but Trump has repeatedly scorned the notion of DOJ independence. Making Wednesday’s action even more remarkable, and perhaps unprecedented, is that Trump used the formal power of executive orders to effectively brand two individuals as subjects of criminal investigations.” ~~~

It was somebody that went out and wrote a book and said all sorts of terrible things or all lies. And it was like he was this gentleman or that gentleman, like I dealt with him all the time. I had no idea who this guy was. I said, “Who the hell is Miles Taylor?” And he made a living on going on CNN talking about the president. And I think what he did, he wrote a book, Anonymous, said all sorts of lies, bad things. And I think it’s like a traitor. It’s like spying, he walks into the office, he’s supposed to be sitting here. A lot of people, you know, I’ll be here and there’ll be 20 people standing in the room, there’ll oftentimes be young people in the office. I assume he was one of them at least. -- Donald Trump, commenting on his reason for ordering an investigation of Miles Taylor ~~~

     ~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: “Trump went so far as to accuse [Miles] Taylor of committing treason, a capital offense, for writing about what he saw during Trump’s first term.” MB: Do read Trump's entire monologue; it's another fine example of Trump's very good brain doing its ingenious “weave.” ~~~

~~~ Charlie Nash of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump shocked conservatives and liberals alike on Wednesday after he ordered an investigation into his former cybersecurity appointee Chris Krebs for 'falsely and baselessly' denying 'that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen.'... Trump’s memo received backlash on Wednesday from social media users who called the review 'Stalinesque' and pointed out that it was Trump who appointed Krebs in the first place.” MB: The comments Nash reports are well-worth reading. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I was a little troubled by the peremptory pardons President Biden gave to some family members and other high-profile people who had displeased Trump. Biden was right. Of course if Pam & Kristi had any integrity, they would refuse to carry out these unconstitutional orders. But they are not. Pam will come up with some rude, tough-gal public response (see Berman-Roebuck story linked below) before cracking down on Krebs & Taylor, & Kristi is pondering what costume she should wear to the interrogations (see Rachel Maddow's segment, embedded here yesterday afternoon). To be clear, this does not happen in a democracy. When a former president secretly did something similar, he was forced to resign. (Yes, it appears Trump caused some illegal tax audits to be conducted, but that has not been proved.) ~~~

~~~ Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: “The leader of the pro bono practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is resigning from the law firm, within weeks of the elite firm striking a deal with ... [Donald] Trump to lift an executive order that had threatened its ability to represent clients with business before the federal government. Steven Banks, a former New York City social services commissioner, said in a statement he was leaving his post at Paul Weiss, where he has served as special counsel for the past three years, in order to return to ... work for the rights of the homeless by providing legal services to the Coalition for the Homeless and The Legal Aid Society.” ~~~

~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “The Justice Department on Wednesday barred its lawyers from attending any American Bar Association events, escalating the Trump administration’s battle with the legal profession over who lawyers should take on as clients. In a memo, the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, said that the bar association was 'free to litigate in support of activist causes' but that the department’s employees 'must conduct themselves in a manner that does not undermine or appear to undermine the department’s core mission of administering justice in a fair, effective, and evenhanded manner.' The department, Mr. Blanche wrote, 'will no longer use taxpayer funds to pay for any travel to or engagement with A.B.A. events.' Any department employees who work in policy-related positions also may not 'speak at, attend, or otherwise participate in' the association’s events in their official capacity, the memo continued, adding that those employees may not hold positions in the association or renew their memberships. Mr. Blanche also barred those employees from writing or publishing material in 'A.B.A.-sponsored media' without his specific approval.”

In case you were hoping that inspectors general or other government watchdogs could put a stop to some of Trump & Co.'s illegal and/or unconstitutinal moves, Chief Supreme Johnnie says, Not now." ~~~

~~~ Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to temporarily remove a pair of independent regulators while the full Supreme Court decides how to proceed with their cases that have broad implications for at least two dozen other agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board. The brief administrative order from Roberts, which does not address the merits of the cases, came less than three hours after the administration asked the court to quickly schedule argument in the matter for May.... Donald Trump has moved aggressively to seize greater control of the bureaucracy, ousting independent watchdogs and removing the two Democrats on the Federal Trade Commission, which protects consumers from deceptive practices and monopoly power. The cases before the Supreme Court involve Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees laws protecting workers’ rights, and Cathy A. Harris of the Merit Systems Protection Board, which protects federal government workers from partisan practices — as well as a 90-year-old court precedent the Trump administration said it will seek to overturn.”

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is once again free to fire probationary employees. For now. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in a 2-to-1 decision, sided with the government on Wednesday to block a lower-court ruling in Maryland that had led to the reinstatement of thousands of federal workers who had been fired in February. The purge of the employees had marked one of the first stages of ... [Donald] Trump’s plan to rapidly downsize the civil service and overhaul or eliminate entire offices and programs. Since then, the status of the workers has been tied up in legal battles over whether the firings had been carried out lawfully. The Wednesday appeals court decision came a day after the Supreme Court blocked a similar ruling in California reining in the government in a separate case. There is now no court order in place to stop the government from firing probationary employees. Both courts ruled on narrow issues of standing: whether the probationary firings harmed the plaintiffs so much that they had the right to sue in district court.” 

Everything Is Going Very Smoothly: Patel Fired as Acting ATF Director. Alanna Richer & Lolita Baldor of the AP: “FBI Director Kash Patel has been removed as the acting chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and has been replaced with the Army secretary.... It was not immediately clear why Patel was replaced by Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll to lead the Justice Department agency that’s responsible for enforcing the nation’s gun laws. One person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel move, said Patel was removed at the end of February, just days after he was sworn in. But that was never publicly announced. Patel on Wednesday afternoon remained on the agency’s website and was identified as the acting director in an April 7 press release. In March, he posted on social media a note he sent to the ATF workforce that read 'special message from the acting director.' And senior ATF leaders were only informed Wednesday of the change.... Driscoll will remain secretary of the Army, according to a defense official. This puts a defense leader — with an already large job — in charge of a domestic law enforcement agency. U.S. defense officials have historically tried to maintain a strict divide between military forces and law enforcement.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Just more evidence that the administration doesn't know what it's doing. According to the headline in the Daily Beast (firewalled), Patel was dismissed for not showing up for weeks at his ATF office. the answer to "Who knows?" is "Nobody knows for certain." The incompetence of this administration is remarkable. 

Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: “Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday was forced to delay a vote on the Republican budget blueprint to unlock ... [Donald] Trump’s domestic agenda, after conservatives balked at a plan that they said would add too much to the nation’s debt. In a dramatic scene on Capitol Hill that laid bare Republican divisions, Mr. Johnson huddled with the holdouts in a room off the House floor for over an hour before the vote was scheduled to begin, grinding activity in the chamber to a halt....” MB: The report doesn't specifically say so, but MSNBC contributors -- as well as Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee -- made clear that what the holdouts objected to was that the budget resolution did not cut enough from social safety net programs like Medicaid. The AP report, by Lisa Mascaro & Kevin Freking, does a better job of it.

Oops!? Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “Federal prosecutors have abruptly abandoned the criminal case against a Virginia man portrayed by the Justice Department as a major leader of the brutal Central American gang MS-13. Authorities moved Wednesday to dismiss their prosecution of Henrry Villatoro Santos, whose arrest was celebrated by ... Donald Trump, the attorney general and head of the FBI. Instead, the Trump administration seems poised to seek Villatoro’s quick deportation, despite holding up his arrest as a triumph for the president’s crackdown on violent transnational gangs. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin all appeared before TV cameras during a rare press conference at the FBI’s Manassas, Virginia, office last month to tout the arrest of Villatoro, who officials described as one of the gang’s most senior bosses in the U.S.... Muhammad Elsayed, his attorney, in a self-described 'unusual' motion, asked the magistrate judge who locked up Villatoro not to let the government drop the criminal case yet. Doing so, the lawyer said, might result in a quick deportation of the kind the Trump administration deployed against hundreds of Venezuelan nationals last month, devoid of the due process....”

Jacob Rosen & Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "Federal judges in both New York and Texas have blocked the deportations of Venezuelan men likely to be deported under the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, again stopping the White House's attempts to remove alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang after the Supreme Court cleared the way for their deportations this week. In one case filed in Manhattan, attorneys for two Venezuelan men who are currently being detained in Orange County, New York, successfully argued to block their clients' deportations and movement outside of the state and the United States. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton, granted the temporary relief. After their arrests, both men were first transferred to an ICE detention center in Texas before being moved to New York. One man, who is 21, came to the U.S. to escape Tren de Aragua violence, and the other, who is 32, actively protested the regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, their attorneys wrote. The new case in Texas was brought on behalf of the same Venezuelans who challenged their potential deportation in Washington, D.C., where the initial block of the deportations was entered by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg before it was lifted by the Supreme Court on Monday in a 5-4 decision. The Texas judge overseeing the petition, Fernando Rodriguez Jr., was appointed to the federal bench by President Trump during his first term." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report is here.

Mark Berman & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “Attorney General Pam Bondi this week complied with a federal judge’s orders in a court case — and made clear she didn’t like doing it.... The judge required Bondi and Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to notify other federal agencies that they must refrain from implementing parts of Trump’s order ... punishing the law firm Jenner & Block.... In her memo, which was submitted in court Tuesday and also attributed to Vought, Bondi bluntly signaled she was begrudgingly following a court order. Bondi also referred to what she called 'an unelected' judge who 'invaded the policy-making and free speech prerogatives of the executive branch' by making demands beyond his jurisdiction.... In a separate filing on Tuesday, the Justice Department also argued for dismissing Jenner & Block’s lawsuit. The department said Trump’s order is lawful and that his actions are all within the bounds of his power.”

DOGE Caves. Hannah Natanson & Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: “Elon Musk’s cost-cutting operation, the U.S. DOGE Service, set off a panic in March among elderly and disabled people after proposing that the Social Security Administration scrap many of its claims services over the phone in an effort to end alleged identity fraud. Beneficiaries began lining up at field offices across the country, clutching driver’s licenses and asking if they must prove who they were in person. Phone wait times ballooned and the agency’s website started crashing almost daily under a crush of panicked callers and visitors. Besieged by angry constituents, lawmakers demanded that the acting commissioner end the chaos. Now, after nearly a month of chaos and backlash, the DOGE plans are dead. According to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post, plans to force people awarded retirement, disability and Medicare benefits to set up direct-deposit payments online or in person have been canceled after the agency concluded it could vet these transactions for fraud by phone.” The Hill's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Rachel Maddow has pointed out several times that this is no way to run a government: (1) destroy a service; (2) wait for mass protests, outrage and/or panic; (3) reinstate service (or say you will).

Michael Gold of the New York Times: “The House passed legislation on Wednesday that would bar federal district judges from issuing nationwide injunctions, part of an escalating Republican campaign to take aim at judges who have moved to halt some of ... [Donald] Trump’s executive orders. The bill, approved mostly along party lines on a vote of 219 to 213, would largely limit district court judges to issuing narrow orders that pertain to parties involved in a specific lawsuit, rather than broader ones that can block a policy or action from being enforced throughout the country. It would make an exception in cases that were brought by multiple states, which would need to be heard by a three-judge panel. It faces a slim chance of becoming law because of the obstacles it faces in the Senate, where seven Democrats would have to join Republicans to allow it to advance. So far, similar bills have not been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: “Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday was forced to delay a vote on the Republican budget blueprint to unlock ... [Donald] Trump’s domestic agenda, after conservatives balked at a plan that they said would add too much to the nation’s debt. In a dramatic scene on Capitol Hill that laid bare Republican divisions, Mr. Johnson huddled with the holdouts in a room off the House floor for over an hour before the vote was scheduled to begin, grinding activity in the chamber to a halt....” MB: The report doesn't specifically say so, but MSNBC contributors -- as well as Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee -- made clear that what the holdouts objected to was that the budget resolution did not cut enough from social safety net programs like Medicaid. The AP report, by Lisa Mascaro & Kevin Freking, does a better job of it.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Maddie Lauria of NPR: "A Delaware judge, once again, has found that a conservative news outlet broadcast false and defamatory claims about the role a voting technology company played in the 2020 presidential election. This time, that network is Newsmax, Fox News' upstart rival, which is fresh off a successful initial public offering. Following Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump that November, Trump's allies and supporters took to right-wing media to accuse Dominion Voting Systems of rigging the vote to help Biden. In his opinion, Judge Eric M. Davis says Dominion 'presents clear and convincing evidence' that shows Newsmax broadcast segments with inaccurate information that 'would likely cause reasonable viewers to think significantly less favorably about Dominion than if the viewers knew the truth.'... If the lawsuit heads to trial as scheduled later this month, the jury will be asked to decide whether to award damages and how much, and whether the broadcasts were aired with 'actual malice,' which means knowledge of falsity or disregard for the truth."

News Lede

New York Times: “At least four people died when a helicopter tumbled out of the sky and plunged into the Hudson River just off Jersey City, N.J., across from the West Village in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, according to people briefed on the rescue efforts and video footage of the crash. At least two adults and three children — all believed to be members of a family of Spanish tourists — were pulled from the helicopter or from the frigid river and taken to hospitals in New Jersey, officials briefed on the crash said. A sixth person, believed to be the pilot, was unaccounted for. The helicopter went down in the river near a ventilation building above the Holland Tunnel, at about 3:15 p.m. Here is what else we know:

• “Witness and video accounts: Video of the crash shows the helicopter tumbling end over end and hitting the water at a high speed. One witness, Mandy Bowlin, said she was on a Circle Line tour boat, heard a boom behind her and saw the helicopter plummeting. Its rotor flew off and the craft nose-dived into the water, sending debris flying toward the boat.

• “The route: It is not known where the helicopter took off from or where it was headed. Tourist helicopters routinely fly over the river, carrying sightseers from heliports in Lower Manhattan and New Jersey. The typical temperature of the river this time of year is about 45 degrees, according to a government site.” This is a liveblog. In an update, Gov. Kathy Hochul has put the number of those who died in the accident as six.

     ~~~ Update. The New York Times' full story is here. The AP story is here.

The Conversation -- April 9, 2025

Trumpity-Doo-Dah. Eshe Nelson, et al., of the New York Times: “Stocks surged on Wednesday afternoon, ripping higher after ... [Donald] Trump said he would back down on tariffs for most of the world for the next 90 days, citing new talks with foreign nations. The S&P 500 climbed over 7 percent in a matter of minutes after Mr. Trump posted the decision on Truth Social, sharply reversing days of losses. But Mr. Trump said that the pause did not extend to China and that he would instead raise tariffs on its exports to 125 percent after Beijing announced a new round of retaliation.... Earlier in the day, when stocks were still oscillating between small gains and losses, Mr. Trump posted ]BE COOL' on his Truth Social platform, before adding, 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: He really gets a kick out of jerking everybody around, doesn't he? This is the dominance game Bouie is writing about here: ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “There is no grand plan or strategic vision [to Donald Trump's obsession with tariffs] ... — only the impulsive actions of a mad king, untethered from any responsibility to the nation or its people.... Trump’s tariffs are not a policy as we traditionally understand it. What they are is an instantiation of his psyche: a concrete expression of his zero-sum worldview. The fundamental truth of Donald Trump is that he apparently cannot conceive of any relationship between individuals, peoples or states as anything other than a status game, a competition for dominance.... Trump’s ... obsession with territorial conquest ... is an obvious product of his predatory approach to human interaction. His authoritarian attempts to cow and coerce key institutions of civil society into compliance with his agenda and obedience to his will are, likewise, a kind of dominance game.... He even said as much during an event on Tuesday, when he bragged about the law firms 'signing up with Trump' and said that 'they give me a lot of money, considering they’ve done nothing wrong.'... If we view the president’s actions in light of his psychological need to dominate, it is almost certainly true that his flagrant abuse of the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and foreign-born students in the United States ... is just the beginning.... There is no point at which he can be satisfied.”

Rachel Maddow does a number on ICE fashion model Kristi Noem: ~~~

Jacob Rosen & Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "Federal judges in both New York and Texas have blocked the deportations of Venezuelan men likely to be deported under the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, again stopping the White House's attempts to remove alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang after the Supreme Court cleared the way for their deportations this week. In one case filed in Manhattan, attorneys for two Venezuelan men who are currently being detained in Orange County, New York, successfully argued to block their clients' deportations and movement outside of the state and the United States. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton, granted the temporary relief. After their arrests, both men were first transferred to an ICE detention center in Texas before being moved to New York. One man, who is 21, came to the U.S. to escape Tren de Aragua violence, and the other, who is 32, actively protested the regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, their attorneys wrote. The new case in Texas was brought on behalf of the same Venezuelans who challenged their potential deportation in Washington, D.C., where the initial block of the deportations was entered by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg before it was lifted by the Supreme Court on Monday in a 5-4 decision. The Texas judge overseeing the petition, Fernando Rodriguez Jr., was appointed to the federal bench by President Trump during his first term."

~~~~~~~~~~

Lily Kuo of the Washington Post: “Trump’s 'Liberation Day' tariffs on 86 countries came into effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, with successive increases taking the duty on all Chinese goods to 104 percent. Beijing, which on Friday announced it would impose a 34 percent tariff on all American goods in return, did not immediately announce any further retaliatory measures Wednesday. But China’s State Council, its equivalent of the cabinet, stressed the importance of the U.S.-China trade relationship and said that differences should be resolved 'through dialogue and consultation.'... At the same time, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said China would 'continue to take firm and forceful measures to safeguard its own interests.' Before the tariffs took effect, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt suggested Tuesday that Trump was open to talking — as long as Beijing made the first move.... The mixed signals and the introduction of the tariffs led to another day of significant volatility in Asia, after a day of wild gyrations in U.S. markets.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What??? Trump creates an international crisis, then insists one of his victims call him first? Is this "High School Dating Game"? ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here: “After ... [Donald] Trump imposed a 104 percent tariff on Chinese goods, Beijing announced a levy on U.S. goods of 84 percent. Stocks and bonds slumped as Europe also prepared to retaliate against the United States.”

Joe Rennison, et al., of the New York Times: “Another chaotic day of trading on Wall Street ended with a late slide in stock prices, with little letup in the escalating trade tensions and economic anxiety caused by ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs. The S&P 500 had posted a big gain at the start of trading, rising as much as 4 percent, but the rally faded and stocks slumped in late trading, ending 1.6 percent lower for the day and adding to a string of losses since Mr. Trump announced sweeping tariffs ... last week. Those tariffs are scheduled to take effect at midnight Wednesday, the White House reaffirmed on Tuesday, including raising the tax on goods from China to at least 104 percent. Tuesday’s drop put the benchmark index on the verge of a bear market, defined as a drop of 20 percent or more from its last high. After Tuesday’s drop, the index sits 18.9 percent below its mid-February record, having tumbled more than 12 percent just in the days since Mr. Trump announced his new tariffs.” The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

It seems that even when a country's representatives do stroke Trump's insatiable ego by calling him first, it does no good: ~~~

     ~~~ Ari Hawkins, et al., of Politico: “... Donald Trump and his top trade officials say they are negotiating with trading partners to reduce the steep tariffs scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday. But many foreign governments who want to talk are still waiting by the phone.... On top of that, Trump officials have not spelled out exactly what concessions the administration is seeking that could pave the way for a negotiated solution. It’s a sign that even as the administration tries to reassure financial markets, business leaders and fellow Republicans that they have an end game for the market-shaking duties, the White House is still very far from reaching any substantive trade deals with major foreign partners. Rapid progress will be even harder because now the administration is trying to negotiate bilateral deals with nearly 100 countries simultaneously to achieve a murky set of goals.”

David Pierson & Barry Wang of the New York Times: “For years, the world’s two biggest powers have flirted with the idea of an economic decoupling as tensions between them have risen. The acceleration this week, in both actions and words, of their trade relationship’s deterioration has made the prospect of such a divorce seem closer than ever.... With China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and Mr. Trump locked in a game of chicken — each unwilling to risk looking weak by making a concession — the trade fight could spiral out of control, inflaming tensions over other areas of competition like technology and the fate of Taiwan, the self-governing island claimed by Beijing.”

Back to the Nineteenth Century ~~~

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “Behind ... [Donald] Trump’s decision to hit some of America’s largest trading partners with stiff tariffs is his fixation on the trade deficit that the United States runs with other nations. But many economists say that is a poor metric for judging the quality of a trade relationship. The steep tariffs, which went into effect on nearly 60 trading partners on Wednesday, were calculated based on bilateral trade deficits, or the gap between what the United States sells to each country and what [that country buys from the U.S]. Mr. Trump has long viewed that gap as evidence that America is being 'ripped off' by other countries....

“But ... bilateral trade deficits crop up for many reasons beyond unfair practices.... [For instance,] the United States ... has substantial trade surpluses with the Netherlands and Singapore.... But that’s ... because those countries are home to major ports that import American goods. The Netherlands unloads U.S. goods in its ports and sends them throughout Europe to other consumers, while Singapore does something similar for Asia. But a trade deficit is calculated based on the country the good reaches first, not its ultimate destination.... [Economists] say that, if Mr. Trump’s tariffs do reduce the overall trade deficit, it will more likely be because they tanked the U.S. economy or drove investors away from the United States by sapping the world’s confidence in the U.S. dollar and its markets.”

Chris Velazco, et al., of the Washington Post: “The iPhone is in many ways the ultimate symbol of the age of globalized supply chains.... Trump has declared an 'economic revolution' that seeks to wipe away that system. Instead, he wants those supply chains and parts suppliers to be inside the U.S., employing American workers. 'The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America,' Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a TV appearance on CBS News on Sunday.... No matter where those devices are assembled, components such as processors, screens, cameras, memory chips and modems flow from around the world to form finished products. In the case of the iPhone 16 Pro, the total cost of those parts works out to about $507 — just over half of the device’s retail cost, according to data from Counterpoint Research.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Lutnick's statement was garbled -- after claiming "millions of Americans" soon (within "days or weeks") would have the good fortune to spend their days in sweatshops screwing tiny screws into iPhones, he seemed to imply that, no, no, the millions of Americans would be servicing the robots who did the turnings of the screws. Jon Stewart (segment embedded yesterday) made sport of Lutnick's confused predictions. Stewart was not alone, as RAS highlighted in yesterday's Comments. ~~~

     ~~~ Jason Koebler of 404 Media: “The idea of a Made-in-the-USA iPhone has been an obsession for politicians for years, a kind of shorthand goalpost that would signal 'American manufacturing is back' that is nonetheless nowhere close to being a reality and would require a nearly impossible-to-fathom restructuring of the global supply chains that make the iPhone possible in the first place. Over the years, economists and manufacturing experts have attempted to calculate how much an American-made iPhone would cost. In recent days a Quora answer from 2018 that suggests an American iPhone would cost $30,000 has gone repeatedly viral.... [Such] articles are good exercises but they are also total fantasy. There is no universe in which Apple snaps its fingers and begins making the iPhone in the United States overnight. It could theoretically begin assembling them here, but even that is a years-long process made infinitely harder by the fact that, in Trump’s ideal world, every company would be reshoring American manufacturing at the same time, leading to supply chain issues, factory building issues, and exacerbating the already lacking American talent pool for high-tech manufacturing.”

Blink, Blink? Ana Swanson & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: “The Trump administration signaled on Tuesday that it was ready to negotiate deals with countries targeted by sweeping tariffs, saying that 70 governments had approached the United States to try to roll the levies back and that officials would begin talks with Japan, South Korea and other nations. But ... [Donald] Trump and his advisers have been clear that these entreaties will not stop the next round of tariffs from going into effect just after midnight Wednesday, including another 50 percent duty on China. As a result, tariffs on Chinese goods will be at least 104 percent. In a social media post on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he had 'a great call' with South Korea’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, about trade and tariffs, and that South Korean officials were heading to the United States for talks. He also expressed optimism that a trade war with China could be averted. 'China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'We are waiting for their call. It will happen!'” (Also linked yesterday.)

Tyler Pager of the New York Times: “Elon Musk slammed ... [Donald] Trump’s top trade adviser [Peter Navarro] as 'dumber than a sack of bricks' on Tuesday, exposing a remarkable rift in the president’s inner circle over the wide-ranging tariffs that have upended the global economy.... The squabble escalated on Monday when Mr. Navarro said on CNBC that Mr. Musk was not a 'car manufacturer' but a 'car assembler' because Tesla, Mr. Musk’s electric vehicle company, relied on parts from around the world. Mr. Musk fired back on Tuesday, calling Mr. Navarro a 'moron' and 'dumber than a sack of bricks' in a post on X.... Later in the day, Mr. Musk doubled down, posting that he wanted to 'apologize to bricks.'... He also used a slur to refer to Mr. Navarro, calling him 'Peter Retarrdo.' The feud between Mr. Musk and [Mr.] Navarro, who has been the architect of many of Mr. Trump’s trade plans, has been simmering for days as the administration’s new tariffs have caused huge losses across global financial markets.... Mr. Musk’s words — though aimed at Mr. Navarro — were a rare criticism of Mr. Trump’s policies from one of his most influential advisers. Mr. Musk ... is estimated to have lost roughly $31 billion since Mr. Trump announced sweeping tariffs on foreign countries on April 2....” An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If Navarro is a moron & dumber than a sack of bricks because of the tariff policies he has recommended to Trump, it follows that Trump -- who took the dumb advice -- must be a moron, too. Dunnit?

Rob Copeland, et al., of the New York Times: “Wall Street billionaires are not used to being on the outside looking in. But that is where they find themselves after ... [Donald] Trump ignored their appeals to call off his tariff plans which they fear could endanger the economy. With the backdrop of rapidly mounting stock market losses, corporate titans have worked every angle — phone calls, social media and even a typically staid shareholder letter — to try to change Mr. Trump’s mind. The day after the president announced his most sweeping round of tariffs last week, chief executives from major banks, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, had a private meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick organized by a lobbying group in Washington. But Mr. Lutnick was not persuaded to reverse course, three people briefed on the sit-down said. Over the weekend, megadonors to Mr. Trump’s re-election effort tried a different tack, pleading their case in calls to Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, people familiar with the calls said. Those efforts also came up empty. By Monday, hedge fund billionaires — many of whom had been loud and proud boosters of Mr. Trump’s second term — were going public with their cries.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Aris Folley & Sylvan Lane of the Hill: “Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) expressed deep frustration with ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs during a Tuesday hearing featuring the top White House trade negotiator. 'Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?' Tillis asked U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during his appearance before the Senate Finance Committee. Tillis, a critic of tariffs and protectionist policies, questioned whether the Trump administration had a coherent strategy to rebalance trade after announcing roughly $600 billion in new import taxes last week.... Tillis is one of seven Republican senators who signed on to a bill from Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that would cut back the president’s authority to unilaterally impose tariffs.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Donald Trump has launched a global economic war without any allies. That is why — unlike previous economic crises in this century — there is no one coming to save the global economy if the situation starts to unravel. -- John Lipsky of the Atlantic Council ~~~

~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: “As the breadth of the Trump revolution has spread across Washington in recent weeks, its most defining feature is a burn-it-down-first, figure-out-the-consequences-later recklessness. The costs of that approach are now becoming clear. Administration officials knew the markets would dive and other nations would retaliate when ... [Donald] Trump announced his long-promised 'reciprocal' tariffs. But when pressed, several senior officials conceded that they had spent only a few days considering how the economic earthquake might have second-order effects. And officials have yet to describe the strategy for managing a global system of astounding complexity after the initial shock wears off, other than endless threats and negotiations between the leader of the world’s largest economy and everyone else.... The global trading system is only one example of the Trump administration tearing something apart, only to reveal it has no plan for how to replace it.” Sanger gives a number of examples.

Adam Cancryn & Maya Ward of Politico: “During the first two turbulent months of ... Donald Trump’s term, the White House has shrugged off scrutiny of its most controversial policies with a simple assertion: The American people voted for this. Now, Trump allies and GOP voters spooked by the tariff-induced market crash are beginning to respond en masse: No, we didn’t. Trump won in November because many voters saw him as an antidote to their economic malaise; as a candidate, he frequently promised to lower Americans’ everyday prices. But as president, he has chosen instead to plunge the country into fresh financial chaos, while insisting the market losses as a result of his tariffs are 'medicine' Americans need to take. 'Trump was elected in part to lower inflation and juice the economy,' said GOP pollster Whit Ayres. 'Higher prices and slower growth are exactly the opposite of what Americans voted for.'” (Also linked yesterday.)

Happy Birthday to ??? Jenny Gathright of the Washington Post: “Plans are in motion for a massive event on the National Mall in June to celebrate the Army’s 250th anniversary with live music, fireworks, parachuters landing on the Ellipse — and perhaps the military parade ... Donald Trump has been dreaming about for years.... The news of a potential military parade in D.C. — initially reported by Washington City Paper over the weekend — comes after Trump intended to host one during his first term but backed off amid pushback from the Army and D.C. officials over exorbitant costs and the damage tanks might cause to city roads. Tanks or no tanks, the city can prepare for some kind of massive birthday bash for the Army on June 14, the anniversary of the Continental Congress’s vote to officially create the force.... (That date also happens to be Trump’s birthday.)” Emphasis added. ~~~

Marie: So is this costly bash going to be more about celebrating what George Washington & the Continental Army made possible or commemorating Donald Trump's destruction of all that? See Akhilleus's commentary below.

Yes, It Is "The Dating Game." Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: “The Trump administration formally barred federal workers from listing their preferred pronouns in email signatures, calling it a symptom of a misguided 'gender ideology.' Some White House officials are taking a similar approach with the journalists who cover them. On at least three recent occasions, senior Trump press aides have refused to engage with reporters’ questions because the journalists listed identifying pronouns in their email signatures. 'As a matter of policy, we do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios,' Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, wrote to a New York Times reporter who had inquired about the potential closing of a famed climate research observatory.” MB: I don't know how these people can get more stupid or petty or childish or unserious, but I have every confidence they will find multiple ways to do so.

Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to help homeland security officials find immigrants they are trying to deport, according to court records, committing to sharing information in what would be a fundamental change in how the tax collector uses its tightly regulated records. In a court filing, the Trump administration said that the I.R.S. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had reached the agreement on Monday and that the two agencies had not yet shared any information. Under the terms of the deal, a partially redacted version of which was submitted in the case, ICE officials can ask the I.R.S. for information about people who have been ordered to leave the United States or whom they are otherwise investigating. Federal law tightly controls taxpayer information, protecting home addresses, earnings and other data from disclosure even to other agencies within the government. I.R.S. officials have for weeks warned that the Trump administration’s plan to use the I.R.S. to help with deportations could be illegal. The top I.R.S. lawyer was demoted as the agreement came together, and was replaced by a former Trump nominee.” The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story has been updated. New Lede: “Several top Internal Revenue Service officials, including the acting commissioner, are preparing to quit after the Trump administration pushed the agency to use its protected tax records to help homeland security officials deport immigrants, according to people familiar with the matter.... The deal has fueled further turmoil at the top of the agency, which had already been rocked by mass layoffs and several leadership changes during its busiest period of the year.... Among those leaving is Melanie Krause, the acting leader of the I.R.S., who is expected to take the administration’s latest deferred resignation offer....” ~~~

~~~ Josh Marshall's column is firewalled, but Scott Lemieux has a good chunk of it on LG&$ here: “We know that DOGE is in the process of gutting the IRS. According to internal IRS estimates reviewed by The Washington Post, this internal sabotage is already estimated to have cost the U.S. Treasury more than $500 billion in revenues that otherwise would have been raised by April 15th. But it doesn’t stop at the IRS. DOGE is also in the process of essentially closing down the Tax Division at the Department of Justice. Since the Tax Division is a statutory creation, it can’t literally be shuttered.... What they plan to do is essentially 'reform' and 'reorganize' the Tax Division out of existence.... When you combine this with the gutting of the IRS itself, it basically means a radical diminution of tax enforcement in the United States. If you make more than, say, a million dollars a year, paying taxes is probably going to be voluntary going forward. It’s a new feature of billionairedom.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm not sure how much that will matter for the 2025 tax year. If Trump keeps his tariff program going, we will have fewer billionaires & multi-millionaires, and nearly all of the has-beens probably will be taking whopping legal deductions for the huge Trump Income Losses. One ingenious way to eliminate tax cheats is to strip away everybody's income.

Michael Bender & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell and $790 million for Northwestern amid civil rights investigations into both schools, two U.S. officials said. The funding pause involves mostly grants from and contracts with the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education and Health and Human Services, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the unannounced decision. The moves are the latest and largest in a rapidly escalating campaign against elite American universities that has resulted in billions in federal funds being suspended or put under review in just over a month. Other schools that have had funds threatened include Brown, Columbia, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton. Cornell and Northwestern are both facing investigations into allegations of antisemitism and into accusations of racial discrimination stemming from their efforts to promote diversity.”

Erwin Chemerinsky & Lawrence Tribe in a New York Times op-ed: “Of all the lawless acts by the Trump administration in its first two and a half months, none are more frightening than its dumping of human beings who have not had their day in court into an infamous maximum-security prison in El Salvador — and then contending that no federal court has the authority to right these brazen wrongs. In an astounding brief filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, the solicitor general of the United States argued that even when the government concedes that it has mistakenly deported someone to El Salvador and had him imprisoned there, the federal courts are powerless to do anything about it. The Supreme Court must immediately and emphatically reject this unwarranted claim of unlimited power to deprive people of their liberty without due process.... Why hasn’t the Trump administration acted to secure [Kilmar] Abrego Garcia’s release?... The answer can only be that it is using this case to establish a truly chilling proposition: that no one can stop the Trump administration from imprisoning anyone it wants anywhere else in the world.”

Gaya Gupta & Angie Hernandez of the Washington Post: “When Amir Makled, a civil rights lawyer representing a pro-Palestinian activist, handed over his passport for review at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Sunday, he was immediately flagged and led to an interview room for further questioning. The federal border officers told Makled, a U.S. citizen, that they knew he was a lawyer with prominent cases, the Dearborn-based attorney recounted in an interview with The Washington Post. The officers told him he could either hand over his phone and passcode, or they would confiscate it and return the device back to him later. Makled refused, and after nearly two hours, he said, he was allowed to leave with his phone. But Makled and other legal experts said they believe that his questioning is part of an alarming pattern of American lawyers facing retribution for representing clients whose interests conflict with ... Donald Trump’s agenda.”

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a ruling from a federal judge in California that had ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of fired federal workers who had been on probationary status. The court’s brief order said the nonprofit groups that had sued to challenge the dismissals had not suffered the sort of injury that gave them standing to sue. The practical consequences of the ruling may be limited, as another trial judge’s ruling requiring the reinstatement of many of the same workers remains in place. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, but she gave no reasons. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the court should not have ruled on such an important issue in the context of an emergency application. The order was the latest administration victory in the Supreme Court in a case arising from ... [Donald] Trump’s recent blitz of executive orders. Like others, though, it was technical and tentative. The justices said their order would remain in place while the case moved forward.” The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Chicken Supreme Tops the Menu at Johnny's Cafe. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. over the last two decades has not been known for its modesty or caution. Its signature move has been bold assertions of power backed by sweeping claims about the meaning of the Constitution.... But as the first wave of challenges to ... [Donald] Trump’s blitz of executive orders has reached the justices, a very different portrait of the court is emerging. It has issued a series of narrow and legalistic rulings that seem calculated to avoid the larger issues presented by a president rapidly working to expand power and reshape government.... The justices’ new approach appears to have multiple goals: to stay out of the political fray, to maintain their legitimacy and, perhaps most important, to avoid a showdown with a president who has relentlessly challenged the legitimacy of the courts.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Washington rejected the White House’s effort to keep The Associated Press from routinely covering ... [Donald] Trump, siding with the wire service and finding that it had faced political retaliation over its editorial decisions.... [The White House had] cited the wire service’s refusal to adopt the administration’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.... The order dealt a blow to Mr. Trump, who, in a departure from decades of tradition, has moved to leverage access to White House events as a way of asserting more direct control over coverage of his administration. The dispute has raised profound questions about the independent news media’s role in shaping public opinion and the lasting implications of the president’s effort to determine how he is portrayed. Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the Federal District Court for the District of Washington wrote in his opinion that the Trump administration must 'immediately rescind their viewpoint-based denial' of The Associated Press from the White House press corps.” The CBS News report is here. MB: Trump appointed McFadden. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Once again, raspberries to all of the White House press corps for failing to support the AP by boycotting the briefing room. Special shout-out to the reporter who asked, as the first question of Trump the Tariff Terrorist on AF1 Sunday, "How was your golf tournament today?" (See Jon Stewart video, embedded Tuesday.)

Rachel Weiner & Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: “Three air traffic control managers with responsibility for Reagan National Airport have been pushed out of their roles in the wake of a violent altercation in the tower, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Tuesday. The changes come a week after a supervisor in the tower was arrested and accused of punching another controller in the face over a minor dispute about work, and they follow efforts by the FAA to reduce stress among staff still grappling with January’s catastrophic midair collision of a passenger plane and a military helicopter. The district manager and two assistant managers were offered reassignment elsewhere.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: “Under the stained glass and towering arch ceilings of Washington National Cathedral, hundreds of Secret Service members paid their respects Tuesday to an agent who came to symbolize the elite agency’s commitment to bravery and sacrifice in the face of danger. Secret Service agent Clint Hill had hurled himself atop President John F. Kennedy’s uncovered limousine when Lee Harvey Oswald opened fire on the presidential motorcade in Dallas in November 1963. His attempts to shield Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy from the shots that killed the president inspired thousands of Secret Service agents who came after him, while the experience left Hill, who died Feb. 21 at his home in Belvedere, California, at age 93, with a deep guilt that haunted him late into his life.”

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Montana. Erin Reed of Erin in the Morning: "On Tuesday, Montana’s House considered Senate Bill 164, legislation that would classify gender-affirming care for transgender youth as felony child endangerment. The bill would not only target doctors and nurses, but also parents — including those merely passing through the state. Though the vote was expected to be close, a powerful floor speech from Representative SJ Howell prompted a wave of Republican defections. The bill was defeated 40–58, becoming one of several anti-trans proposals to fail this year following strong speeches by Montana’s transgender and nonbinary lawmakers.... The victories in Montana stand in stark contrast to the handful of Democrats and pundits suggesting that transgender people are a political liability.... Montana’s trans and nonbinary legislators only underscore the point—defending transgender people is not just morally right, it is politically possible." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe somebody should tell that to White House press secretary & self-righteous pouty girl Miss Karoline Leavitt, who "as a matter of policy" will not even respond to reporters' inquiries when the reporters specify a pronoun. A pronoun. Or, I beg your pardon; I should not have specified a pronoun.