Things Musk (and Trump) Did... Day 34 | Blog#42
A shadow president, a sycophantic cabinet and no First Lady
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CNN’s Harry Enten breaks down latest polls on Trump’s net approval rating
CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten breaks down the latest polls on President Donald Trump’s net approval ratings.
Fact check: Trump lies at CPAC about the 2024 election he won
President Donald Trump keeps lying not only about the 2020 election he lost but the 2024 election he won.
In a Saturday speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump correctly noted that he earned 77 million votes in 2024 — then falsely said his vote total was “actually much more than that,” since unspecified people “cheated like hell.”
There’s no basis for this claim. Trump’s official vote total is his actual vote total, and there is no evidence of unsuccessful cheating by vote counters or by his Democratic foes.
Trump made the claim less than two weeks after he baselessly cast doubt upon the legitimacy of the vote total of his 2024 opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, who received more than 75 million votes.
Trump made various other false claims at CPAC, most of which have been debunked before. Here is a fact check of some of them.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Germany election live updates: Voters head to the polls to elect a new parliament
German voters are heading to polls to elect a new parliament that will determine how the country is run for the next four years.
Here’s what to know:
What happens on election day? Polling stations open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (0700 GMT-1700 GMT). Germans can also vote by postal ballot, but their ballot must arrive by the time polling stations close on election day to be counted.
When will we know the winner? Vote-counting will begin immediately after voting ends, and the general picture of the outcome should be clear very quickly thanks to exit polls. A final official result is expected early Monday.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Pope Francis rested during a peaceful night following respiratory crisis and blood transfusion
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni’s one-line statement didn’t mention if Francis was up or eating breakfast.
The brief update came after doctors said the 88-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, was in critical condition. On Saturday morning, he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection.
The pope received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
States threaten fines and jail time for local officials who resist Trump’s immigration crackdown
ATLANTA (AP) — Republican state lawmakers seeking to aid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration are threatening local officials who resist with lawsuits, fines and even potential jail time.
Lawmakers in more than 20 states this year have filed legislation targeting so-called sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural.
Some of those states already ban sanctuary policies but are now proposing to punish mayors, council members and other government officials who violate the prohibition.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Cuts drain federal government of technical expertise
Employee buyouts, terminations and uncertainty at multiple federal agencies are sparking warnings about an erosion of scientific and technical expertise at a crucial moment.
Why it matters: No one country now dominates in every scientific field. The U.S. is in a tight competition with China for science and tech leadership as innovation amasses more economic value and geopolitical tensions rise.
"It doesn't just impact federal employees," said a former National Science Foundation employee who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It will reduce our ability to maintain any leadership in the international landscape."
The big picture: By purging workers as well as enticing people to quit via early retirement, the federal government has cast aside specialists needed to help agencies fulfill their missions.
Rocket scientists, ecologists, climate scientists, AI experts, chemists and other highly skilled workers have been affected.
The scientists who remain at agencies are trying to do more with less, while in many cases anxiously awaiting more cuts.
Continue reading at Axios
What Elon Musk Got Wrong About Why Federal Retirement Is Still Managed out of a Limestone Mine
The massive underground facility, which has been used to store archives since the 1960s, remains a crucial but convoluted hub for US government records.
Elon Musk asserted last week that before any US federal employee can retire, their paper records have to be processed more than 200 feet underground in an old limestone mine located in rural Pennsylvania, which he said often takes months. “And then the speed—the limiting factor is the speed—at which the mine-shaft elevator can move determines how many people can retire from the federal government,” Musk said, standing next to a seated President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. “And the elevator breaks down sometimes, and then nobody can retire—doesn’t that sound crazy?”
[…]
Six years ago, the Government Accountability Office reported that the OPM’s retirement system was still plagued by a “continuing reliance on paper-based applications and manual processing.” The agency's average retirement file processing time was about 60 days in 2019, which is only a modest decrease from 1981, when it took 98 days, but the agency processed almost twice as many applications.
But David Carmicheal, who recently retired as state archivist of Pennsylvania and has corresponded with staff at the Boyers facility, tells WIRED it’s a mistake to only view OPM’s process as “woefully outdated.”
“Much of the work that goes on at Boyers, as I understand it, is digital, so the idea of people trundling piles of paper through dark mine shafts is absurd,” Carmicheal says. “In fact, these facilities are meant to protect you and me by protecting the records that safeguard our legal rights, our public benefits.”
Continue reading at Wired
The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians
A handful of gifted young tech people set out to save the world. For years, WIRED has been tracking each twist and turn of their alleged descent into mayhem and death.
I know this is unconventional, but I’m going to start by telling you the ending. Or at least, the ending as it stands today. Most of the people involved in this story wind up either dead, maimed, spending months in a mental hospital, languishing in jail, or gone underground. It's a tragedy from almost any angle, especially because, at the outset, most of these people were idealists committed to doing as much good as possible in a world they saw as beset by existential threats. In spite of those aims, or perhaps in pursuit of them, over the course of this story their lives will devolve into senseless violence. And by the time we reach the present, six people will be killed, two others presumed dead by suicide, and at least two in hiding. Countless friends and family members will find themselves bereft. I feel it's only fair to warn you that, in this story, justice and redemption have so far proven hard to come by.
How did so much go so wrong? When did it begin to fall apart? Trying to answer these questions—as I’ve done for the past two years—is not unlike querying a chatbot powered by a large language model. The responses you receive depend on the prompts you compose. Ask the question one way, and you might elicit a set of facts adhering to one reality: The emergence of the world’s first AI-inflected death cult, whose obsessions over the prospect of a machine superintelligence eventually sent them spiraling into destruction. Tweak the prompt, and you may produce an entirely different story: of a charismatic, deranged leader spreading a carefully engineered mania to followers seeking purpose in life. Try again, and you could get the tale of a vulnerable minority, driven to act at the extremes of their convictions by a society that rejects them.
Continue reading at Wired
Melania Trump returns to Washington after four-week absence
Since her husband took the oath of office on January 20, she has not spent significant time at the White House, according to sources with direct knowledge of her schedule. Melania Trump was an active presence during the first days of the president’s second term, but after joining her husband for a January 24 trip to natural disaster-ravaged North Carolina and California, hadn’t returned to Washington until Saturday.
The first lady was expected to spend a majority of her time between New York, where son Barron is attending college, and Florida, CNN reported during the presidential transition. Sources familiar with her thinking insisted at the time that she would still be present for major events, including Saturday’s ball, and would have her own platform and priorities as first lady.
But the past month suggests her time in Washington may be even more limited than expected, signaling a remarkable, if unsurprising, break in precedent for a first family.
A spokesperson for the office of the first lady declined to comment on her whereabouts.
Continue reading at CNN.com
DOGE cuts at health agencies prompt ‘brain drain’ fears
Termination letters hit the inboxes of thousands of workers across health agencies in just the past week as the administration took a sledgehammer to the federal government.
The employees worked on projects including studying infectious diseases, medical device safety, food safety, lowering health costs and improving maternal health outcomes. All of them are now out of a job.
“The federal government has a huge footprint. [These layoffs] will interrupt all fields of research. Every phase of our scientific endeavor has been interrupted, including that research that is essential for our national security,” said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
Continue reading at The Hill
Hochul ratchets up fight with Trump amid competitive reelection bid
Hochul’s approval rating has been underwater for months as she surpasses the midpoint of her first full term in office and seems likely to have a serious primary battle on the horizon from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who has become one of her sharpest critics. Presuming she gets past Torres, popular GOP Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) seems equally likely to run and could give Republicans their best shot at winning New York’s gubernatorial race in years.
Meanwhile, Hochul may be set to take on an increasingly national profile as she faces off with Trump on key issues to her constituents.
“It is certainly something that New Yorkers have been looking for, and have been looking for, particularly from Washington, in the past two and a half months,” said one New York Democratic strategist. “But that was one flash. Can she sustain that type of war footing? I think is a serious question.”
Continue reading at The Hill
College student groups based on race, ethnicity could be in jeopardy under Trump
At her Senate confirmation hearing last week, Education Secretary-nominee Linda McMahon, who saw her nomination advance on Thursday, would not say if race-based groups — such as Yale University’s Black Student Alliance or the Latino Business Association at the University of California at Santa Barbara — would be safe under her department.
“There is legitimate concern that the new administration may seek to restrict student organizations, including registered student organizations, and perhaps even fraternities and sororities with a nondiscriminatory focus on race, ethnicity, gender, religion and other cultural identities that the DOE determines are prohibited,” said Paulette Granberry Russell, CEO and president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE).
During McMahon’s confirmation hearing, she would not directly answer a question from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) regarding if President Trump’s order to ban DEI at publicly funded universities would affect student clubs.
Continue reading at The Hill
These lawmakers first were elected to check Trump. Now they want to do it again as governors.
New Jersey and Virginia will be some of the first opportunities for Democrats to see if they can rely on an anti-Trump sentiment to notch some wins.
The freshman class of House Democrats in 2018 was swept into Washington on a wave of anti-Trump energy, brought to power to check the whims of the White House.
Now, three of those members — and possibly more to come — have launched gubernatorial bids, arguing that the forefront of the fight against President Donald Trump this time around will be waged in the states.
These Democratic women running for governor include Rep. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in New Mexico. All three of them are making the case that as governor, they would be best positioned to punch back against Trump, who they say is hurting Americans with decisions like downsizing government, embarking on another trade war and failing to enact his promises to lower costs.
“The reality is that state government is going to be really the tip of the spear in trying to protect people; to have some continuity on health care and consumer protection in a world where Trump is dismantling them,” said former Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, another member of the class of 2018 who is mulling a bid for California governor, barring a run from former Vice President Kamala Harris. “This is one of the reasons that you’re seeing some of these amazing people with such bright trajectories, like Deb and Abigail and Mikie, look to gubernatorial races.”
Continue reading at Politico
Musk: Federal workers who gave ‘good responses’ to new policy deserve promotion consideration
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said he’s encouraged by the “good responses” he’s received so far to an email asking federal employees to detail their recent work efforts and suggested those employees be considered for promotion.
“A large number of good responses have been received already. These are the people who should be considered for promotion,” Musk, a special advisor to President Trump, said in a post on X early Sunday.
His post came in response to an earlier social media message, in which he wrote, “Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.”
“Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” he added.
Continue reading at The Hill
Agencies, unions tell fed workers: Don't answer Musk's threat email
Multiple agencies and unions have reportedly told federal workers not to respond to a new email demanding that they account for their work over the last week — despite Elon Musk's threat they'll lose their jobs if they don't.
Why it matters: As much as Musk's DOGE effort has disrupted the federal government so far, there's been relatively little tangible internal pushback — until now.
The high-stakes stand-off could reshape the federal workforce over the next couple of days and will test the depth of President Trump's support for Musk's slash-and-burn campaign.
Catch up quick: Musk posted to X on Saturday afternoon that all federal employees would get an email asking them to explain what they'd accomplished this week.
Failure to respond, he said, would be tantamount to resignation. It followed a Trump post to Truth Social early Saturday calling on Musk to get more aggressive with his DOGE project.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent the email Saturday afternoon, telling people they had until 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday to respond. (The email did not include Musk's or-else threat.)
Continue reading at Axios
GOP rep calls US-Ukraine resource deal ‘victim extortion’
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said on Sunday that forcing Ukraine to agree to a resource deal with the U.S., in exchange for the possibility of support against Russia, is akin to “victim extortion.”
The moderate Republican said Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the invasion of Ukraine three years ago, should be the one forced to pay.
“Putin, and Putin alone, should bear the economic costs of Putin’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Fitzpatrick said in a post on X.
“To force Ukraine to pay these costs is the epitome of victim-blaming and victim extortion.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Jeffries says Trump trying to ‘disorient’ with talk of third term, being king
“Donald Trump made repeated comments this week about possibly serving a third term, calling himself a king in a social media post. Do you take that seriously, or do you think he’s just trolling people trying to get them upset?” CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Jeffries on “State of the Union.”
Jeffries responded that the president “is intentionally unleashing extremism and outrageous things on the American people to try to disorient everyday Americans,”
“Donald Trump is not a king. We will never bend the knee. Not now, not ever. And we’ll continue to point out that he’s focused on the wrong things,” he added.
Continue reading at The Hill
Leavitt says media has been ‘blinded’ by ‘anti-Trump bias’
In an interview on the premiere episode of Fox News’s “My View with Lara Trump,” the president’s daughter-in-law asked Leavitt how she prepares to enter the briefing room when “you know you’re going to face some hostile media,” and “you know they’re coming for you.”
“Well, first of all, I look forward to it,” Leavitt told Lara Trump. “And I relish the opportunity to bring the truth and the facts to the podium.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Beware of text messages about unpaid tolls, FBI and state authorities warn
Drivers should be on the lookout for scam text messages warning of an unpaid road toll bill, according to recent warnings from authorities.
The text messages name the local toll service, such as FasTrak in California, and have a link that takes the victim to a convincingly-duped version of the collection operator’s website.
“The texts claim the recipient owes money for unpaid tolls and contain almost identical language,” according to the FBI. “The ‘outstanding toll amount’ is similar among the complaints reported to the IC3 (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center). However, the link provided within the text is created to impersonate the state’s toll service name, and phone numbers appear to change between states.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Zelensky says he is ‘ready’ to resign as Ukraine president if it brought peace
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that he was “ready” to resign as leader if it meant peace in his country, suggesting he could swap it for NATO membership.
Asked at a press conference if he was ready to quit if it ensures peace for Ukraine, Zelensky said: “If [it guarantees] peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to resign, I am ready. I can exchange it for NATO.”
Continue reading at CNN.com
Zelenskyy offers to resign in exchange for peace, NATO
“If you need me to leave this chair, I am ready to do that; and I also can exchange it for NATO membership for Ukraine,” Ukrainian president says.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he is ready to resign from his post in exchange for peace or for NATO membership for Ukraine.
“Yes, I am happy, if it is for the peace of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said when asked if he would give up the presidency in exchange for peace.
“If you need me to leave this chair, I am ready to do that; and I also can exchange it for NATO membership for Ukraine,” he added while speaking to reporters during the "Ukraine. Year 2025" conference in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy's comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump called him a “dictator without elections” last week, and falsely claimed Zelenskyy had a 4 percent approval rating.
The remarks also followed the largest Russian drone attack on Ukraine since the start of President Vladimir Putin's all-out invasion of the country, one day before the third anniversary of the war.
The Ukrainian leader also said at the Sunday conference that the option of Ukraine's joining NATO was “still on the table."
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Russia unleashes biggest drone attack of Ukraine war on eve of anniversary
Moscow launched 267 attack drones against Ukraine the day before the third anniversary of Putin’s full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy says.
Russia launched the largest drone attack against Ukraine since the start of the war, one day before the third anniversary of Moscow’s all-out invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday.
"On the eve of the third anniversary of the full-scale war, Russia launched 267 attack drones against Ukraine — the largest attack since Iranian drones began striking Ukrainian cities and villages," Zelenskyy said in a post on X. He condemned the “aerial terror" from Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces.
The Ukrainian air force said in a statement that 138 drones were shot down, while another 119 disappeared from radars after being jammed by electronic warfare. Russia also launched three ballistic missiles, with damage reported in five regions, it said.
Zelenskyy said that, during the past week, Russia has sent nearly 1,150 attack drones, more than 1,400 guided aerial bombs and 35 missiles of various types against Ukraine.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Trump puts Ukraine in a vise
Three years after Russia invaded Ukraine, Washington is shifting its pressure from Moscow to Kyiv as the Trump administration tries to end the war.
Why it matters: President Trump's dramatic change in U.S. policy toward Russia shocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and is fueling fears among U.S. allies that the Trump administration will side with Moscow as it tries to negotiate an end to the conflict.
At any other time in the past 80 years, it would have been unimaginable that the U.S. president would be pressing for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin while calling Zelensky a dictator.
Trump's approach stands in stark contrast to that of his predecessor former President Joe Biden who he claims was "played like a fiddle" by Zelensky and allowed the war to start and continue for so long.
Driving the news: Trump has been pressing Zelensky in recent days to sign an agreement that would give the U.S. and Ukraine equal shares of revenue from mining minerals and other natural resources in Ukraine.
Continue reading at Axios
Witkoff declines to blame Russia for starting war in Ukraine
The Trump-appointed special envoy called Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO “a threat to the Russians.”
Special envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russia should not necessarily be blamed for sparking the war in Ukraine — a position that aligns with President Donald Trump’s recent strikes against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the three-year anniversary of the fighting looms.
“The war didn’t need to happen — it was provoked. It doesn’t necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians,” Witkoff said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Continue reading at Politico
The New Bloomberg? Daniel Lurie Tries to Buff Up San Francisco
There’s decades-low crime, but outsiders remain skeptical about the city by the bay.
SAN FRANCISCO — Daniel Lurie began the morning of his inauguration as this city’s new mayor last month at a soup kitchen before walking with his young family through the rugged Tenderloin district to hop a cable car that would take them to Ghirardelli Square and one of the most arresting views in the world.
“It’s not too bad,” Lurie said to me, gesturing with his arm out toward Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. “Sixty degrees in January, snowstorm back east.”
He didn’t have to belabor the point: Yes, we have our problems here, but we still have a reliable attraction. And I chuckled at his salesmanship before he was even sworn in.
That morning lingered, though, and not just because it neatly symbolized the duality of San Francisco.
The two versions of the city also captured the task ahead for the mayor, who just turned 48. Until now, Lurie, whose defeat of incumbent London Breed last fall came in his first bid for any office, has been mostly known for his link to the Levi Strauss fortune. That will soon change. And soon the country will find out if a Michael Bloomberg-style technocrat but without the business background can make San Francisco great again.
Continue reading at Politico Magazine
At CPAC, the World’s Populists Parrot the Leader Who Inspired Them
Nationalists from abroad came to pay tribute to Trump and parrot his MAGA rhetoric.
The best way to think of CPAC now is MAGA’s United Nations.
The far-right confab held every year outside Washington, D.C., has long been a gathering for American conservatives. Launched with a keynote speech by Ronald Reagan in the aftermath of Watergate in 1974, it has morphed subtly through the Bush era and the advent of the Tea Party. But it has become a fully Trumpist event in recent years, less a forum of ideas than a celebration of one individual’s takeover of the Republican Party. CPAC is no longer a conference of the American right — indeed many avowed conservatives shun the event now. Instead, it has turned into a kind of MAGA Comintern, gathering right-leaning populists from around the world who come to pay tribute to the American leader who inspires them and whose rhetoric they imitate.
Walking the halls of the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center, where CPAC was held this year, the number of languages spoken made it feel more like a ramble through Miami Beach than a Maryland suburb. The biggest difference was that attendees wore merchandise commemorating their participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in lieu of swimsuits. There were buttons handed out with joint pictures of Donald Trump and Viktor Orban labeled “the Age of Patriots” and there were speakers from nearly 20 countries around the world, including heads of government from Argentina, Italy, Slovakia and North Macedonia.
Continue reading at Politico Magazine
Americans with disabilities warn protections are vanishing in Trump's DEI rollback
People with disabilities say President Trump's DEI purge is eroding health care, education and legal protections they've only won in recent decades.
Why it matters: The Trump administration has taken actions that undermine accessibility measures — critical for leveling the playing field for people with disabilities — as part of its efforts targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
"It's very clear that there is an orchestrated attack by conservatives to dismantle the rights of people with disabilities," said Shawn Murinko, a Washington resident who has cerebral palsy.
State of play: Trump last month ordered an end to all federal programs that mandate or invoke accessibility, alongside diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Department of Justice said it will penalize programs that promote accessibility.
Trump has pledged to close the Department of Education, which enforces protections for students with disabilities in school.
Continue reading at Axios
MSNBC will lean into its progressive roots in Trump era
State of play: The programming shifts, which will impact dayside, weekend and primetime programming, include moving former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, currently the host of the weekend show, "Inside with Jen Psaki," to anchor one of the primetime hours during the week.
Psaki could be named anchor of MSNBC's 9 p.m. hour, which Rachel Maddow currently helms, sources told Axios. Maddow has returned to the anchor chair five times per week during the first 100 days of the Trump administration. She plans to return to anchoring just once per week on Mondays after that.
Alex Wagner, who had been anchoring MSNBC's 9 p.m. hour Tuesday-Fridays since 2022, will remain with the network as a correspondent, sources said.
Pskai, who joined the network in 2022, served in the Obama and Biden administrations. Her show has become the network's most-watched weekend program.
Zoom in: Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez, the trio of co-hosts that currently anchor MSNBC's weekend program "The Weekend," will move to anchor a weekday program in the 7 p.m. hour, sources added.
Continue reading at Axios
Playbook: Will anything slow Trump down?
FORWARD MARCH: One month into his blitzkrieg of a second term, President Donald Trump has faced little meaningful opposition from any quarter, whether from Democrats, Congress, the courts or voters.
This week, some indications of pushback began to emerge. It showed itself in crowded town halls as Republican and Democratic House members returned back home to meet with constituents. Warning lights blinked in some polling, too, even though Trump’s approval has been largely rosy given the polarized climate.
All told, Trump is mostly romping through his second term largely unscathed. Even after one White House official signaled to POLITICO that mass firings could slow, Trump yesterday posted to Truth Social that when it comes to Elon Musk, he “WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE.”
Not long after — in a move that may ultimately prove illegal, and that FBI Director Kash Patel brushed off — Musk posted on X that federal employees would be receiving an email asking that they detail “what they got done last week.” A lack of response, Musk said, “will be taken as a resignation.” The email arrived in inboxes in short order.
Can anything slow Trump down? Playbook assembled some of our top reporters on everything from the economy to politics to the courts to shine a light down the path forward, illuminating any obstacles for Trump they saw coming.
CONGRESS: Of course, the greatest mid- to long-term threat to Trump is a Democratic takeover of the House and the oversight it would bring.
But our Capitol bureau chief and senior Washington columnist Rachael Bade is skeptical members will feel the heat on DOGE anytime soon.
“There’s been a lot of media and Dem speculation that the DOGE cuts could be the beginning of the end of the House GOP majority, given the blowback we are seeing at some town halls,” she tells Playbook. “I think this is vastly overstated by our industry, however, and am not yet convinced Americans care about him laying off a bunch of federal workers, even if they don’t love the chaos. Rather, the majority will be won and lost over what happens to Americans’ benefits and prices.”
The graver danger for Trump, she says, is on potential steep cuts to Medicaid that Republicans are eyeing, despite the president’s stated opposition: “This is gonna antagonize not just the left but a bunch of voters who pulled the lever for Trump but who are on the program as well.”
Continue reading Politico Playbook newsletter
DOGE cuts pose potential liability for GOP in Virginia elections
Virginia is home to roughly 145,000 federal employees, along with large swaths of government contractors. Additionally, the state is home to a massive military population.
In a sign of the potential political liability for the GOP, several Democratic candidates are already trying to use the cuts under the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as a weapon ahead of November. Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) has called the shakeup “a kitchen table issue” in the state, while Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D) has launched “the Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Regulations.”
“What we thought they would do is at least aim first before they started shooting indiscriminately and they did not,” Scott said in an interview with The Hill. “They decided to come in with a sledgehammer to the government and cause a lot of angst.”
Late on Friday, Democrats in Virginia’s General Assembly filed a resolution to expand the scope of the special session in progress to address federal workforce cuts.
Continue reading at The Hill
‘Ultimate d‑‑‑ boss move’: Democratic senator rips Musk email
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) slammed tech billionaire Elon Musk over an email sent to federal employees requesting information on “what you accomplished last week.”
“This is the ultimate d‑‑‑ boss move from Musk – except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a d‑‑‑,” the Minnesota senator said in the first post of a thread on the social platform X after Musk on Saturday warned federal employees about a new policy requiring them to detail their work in an email.
“I bet a lot of people have had an experience like this with a bad boss – there’s an email in your inbox on Saturday night saying, ‘Prove to me your worthiness by Monday or else,’” Smith continued in a second post. “I’m on the side of the workers, not the billionaire a‑‑hole bosses.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Musk says federal worker email meant to spot ‘outright fraud’
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Sunday the email to federal employees asking them to report back on their weekly accomplishments is meant to spot “outright fraud” from people on the payroll who aren’t working at all.
“The reason this matters is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!” Musk wrote on the social platform X, responding to a post about the email.
“In some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used to collect paychecks,” Musk continued. “In other words, there is outright fraud.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump uses merch to monetize agenda
President Trump's political operation is profiting from his flurry of executive orders by hawking gear such as "Make Greenland Great Again," "Gulf of America" and "DOGE" T-shirts, along with the black "dark MAGA" caps worn by Elon Musk.
Why it matters: Trump's team is capitalizing on his loyalists' support for his early moves to help build a $500 million war chest, which will be used to promote his agenda, back favored midterm candidates and potentially help Trump engage in politics for years to come.
Zoom in: Trump's operation has been cashing in on MAGA-themed merchandise since his 2016 campaign. But this fundraising effort is the latest reminder that for Trump, the campaign never ends.
The black "Make America Great Again" caps that Musk frequently wears have become the Trump team's second-best selling item ever — behind only the red and white MAGA hat, according to a person with direct knowledge of the sales.
Trump's team has sold $1.6 million worth of black MAGA caps since the election, nearly twice as much as its red counterpart. Musk and his DOGE team are under fire for pushing huge cuts in the federal workforce, but the hats keep selling in Trump's world.
Continue reading at Axios
White House envoy to travel to the Middle East in effort to extend Gaza deal
White House envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to the Middle East on Wednesday to discuss with Israel, Qatar and Egypt the possibility of extending the first phase of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Why it matters: The first phase of the hostage deal is expected to end on Saturday. Under the Gaza deal, the ceasefire will continue as long as second phase negotiations are taking place.
Israel and the U.S. want to try to extend the first phase of the deal by releasing more hostages in exchange for another week or two of ceasefire.
It is unclear whether Hamas agrees. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's Saturday decision to delay the release of 600 Palestinian prisoners could sabotage negotiations on extending the deal.
If the first phase of the deal ends, the war in Gaza is likely to resume.
What they're saying: "We're hopeful that we have the proper time to finish off -- to begin phase two and finish it off and get more hostages released and move the discussion forward," Witkoff said in a Sunday interview on CNN's "State of the Union."
Continue reading at Axios
Merz declares victory in German election
Far right comes second, getting best result in a postwar national vote in Germany, sending shock waves across Europe.
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz’s conservative alliance has won Germany’s national parliamentary election, while the far right has recorded its highest-ever showing.
The conservatives, consisting of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), look set to finish far ahead of all other parties with 29 percent, according to a projection based on the first results counted.
Merz declared victory a few minutes after these figures were released at 6:30 p.m. in Berlin.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
German elections: CDU’s Merz looks set to be next chancellor as far-right AfD surges
• Friedrich Merz is likely to become the next German chancellor after his conservative CDU topped the vote in elections, exit polls project. The stuttering economy and immigration were major voter concerns.
• The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) almost doubled its vote share and surged into second place. But it is likely to be frozen out of power as other parties are refusing to work with it.
• SPD, the party of the current Chancellor Olaf Scholtz slumped to third place, with just 16% of the vote – its worst showing since the end of World War II.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Bessent says US-Ukraine deal has ‘implicit’ economic security guarantee
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a U.S.-Ukraine deal featuring “strategic minerals, energy and state-owned enterprises” has an “implicit” economic security guarantee.
“This deal is part of President Trump’s long-arc negotiating strategy for peace between Ukraine and Russia, and … let the Ukrainians get back … to … a peaceful existence,” Bessent told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“So, the first part of this is a partnership between Ukraine and the U.S. that involves strategic minerals, energy and state-owned enterprises where we set up a partnership and we are only looking forward,” he continued.
Bessent added later that the deal features “an implicit guarantee that if the United States of America is heavily invested in the economic future … I call it an economic security guarantee.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Note from Rima: Deals are contracts. No good contract has implicit anything it it.
Hegseth responds to blowback over Friday night Pentagon purge
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Hegseth sought to play down the extraordinary move, saying, “There is civilian control of the military. Nothing about this is unprecedented.”
“The president deserves to pick his key national security and military advisory team. There are lots of presidents who’ve made changes, from FDR to Eisenhower to H.W. Bush to Barack Obama,” he said, adding, “This is a reflection of the president wanting the right people around him to execute the national security approach we want to take.”
Hegseth said Brown was “not the right man for the moment” and praised venture capitalist and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, whom President Trump has said he will nominate in Brown’s stead.
“I have a lot of respect for CQ Brown. I got to know him over the course of a month. He’s an honorable man. Not the right man for the moment,” Hegseth said. “And ultimately, the president made that call, and Dan Razin Caine is going to be a fantastic chairman. I look forward to working with him.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Note from Rima: This discussion from two days ago highlights the process for picking a chairman of the Joint Chiefs
EU leaders to hold special meeting on defense and Ukraine on March 6
“We are living a defining moment for Ukraine and European security,” António Costa said.
European Council President António Costa on Sunday announced a special meeting of European leaders on March 6.
“We are living a defining moment for Ukraine and European security,” Costa said in a social media post announcing his decision to convene the special European Council.
“In my consultations with European leaders, I’ve heard a shared commitment to meet those challenges at EU level: strengthening European Defence and contributing decisively to peace on our continent and long-term security of Ukraine,” he added.
Costa’s announcement comes at a critical time in the Russia-Ukraine war, as recent high-level meetings between officials from Russia and the United States have raised concerns about potential agreements being made without Ukrainian involvement.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Republican senator urges Musk to show ‘compassion’ toward workers
Sen. John Curtis said: ‘These are real people. These are real lives.”
Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) pushed back on Elon Musk’s approach to downsizing the federal workforce on Sunday, saying the efforts of DOGE, Musk’s initiative, need to include “compassion” for the workers.
“If I could say one thing to Elon Musk it’s: Please put a dose of compassion in this,” Curtis said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages. It’s a false narrative to say we have to cut and be cruel to do it as well.”
Continue reading at Politico
Patel tells FBI employees to pause any responses to DOGE email
FBI Director Kash Patel told employees to hold off on responding to an email, sent at tech billionaire Elon Musk’s direction, asking federal workers to list their accomplishments during the previous week.
In a memo obtained by NewsNation, Patel said the bureau would handle future responses to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) inquiries.
“FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information,” Patel wrote in his message. “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures.”
“When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses,” Patel continued. “For now, please pause any responses.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Some agencies tell employees to hold off responding to latest Musk email
Management across multiple agencies have begun informing their staff that they are waiting on further guidance and, in some cases, telling them to hold off replying, according to multiple sources.
Those agencies include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Energy.
The Pentagon has also instructed civilian employees to wait for legal guidance before responding.
Some law enforcement agencies -- including the FBI -- have also instructed employees to "pause" any responses to the OPM email.
In an email to all NOAA staff obtained by ABC News, Rear Adm. Chad Cary stated that the message "came as a surprise to all departments, and NOAA leadership is seeking guidance."
Cary also recommended not submitting anything until late Monday in case additional guidance is provided.
Continue reading at ABC 6 Action News, Philadelphia
Mullin says Trump ‘joked’ about running a third time
“First of all, he joked. And so I think we need to take that as a joke, not being literal,” Mullin said when asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether he would support changing the Constitution to allow Trump to seek a third term.
Anchor Kristen Welker noted that some of Trump’s allies “say they are deadly serious” about a third term and asked Mullin whether he would support that.
“No. I’m not changing the Constitution, first of all, unless the American people chose to do that,” Mullin said.
“I will say, just as what you said in the beginning, it was a joke, and people need to take it as a joke,” Mullin continued.
Continue reading at The Hill
Ukraine is too powerful to be sold out, Polish official says
“It’s Ukraine that decides whether she wants to fight or not,” Radek Sikorski said.
Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski of Poland said that Ukraine is too strong to be sold out by foreign powers.
“The best guarantee for Ukraine is the almost million-man army, which is manning the foxholes and heroically resisting Russian aggression,” he said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” in an interview that aired Sunday.
Talking to Zakaria, Sikorski referred to what is often described as the worst diplomatic sellout in history, the decision by Britain and France to accede to Adolf Hitler’s territorial demands on Czechoslovakia in Munich in 1938.
That deal is often referenced when people want to describe what they consider to be an act of appeasement, sometimes accompanied by a photo of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain holding up the agreement of the deal that was supposed to bring “peace in our time.” War started a year later with Germany’s invasion of Poland.
Sikorski told Zakaria he was not worried about a similar sellout of Ukraine by American negotiators or anyone else.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
As Trump turns on Ukraine, Trudeau tells Zelenskyy: ‘Your fight is our fight’
The outgoing Canadian leader has maintained strong support for Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, but the relationship his successor will have with the country remains to be seen.
OTTAWA — When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy first met in 2019, they had to exchange jokes through a translator.
On Thursday afternoon, as they have done since the start of the war, they got on the phone and spoke directly — no simultaneous interpretation required.
Trudeau has been one of Zelenskyy’s most vocal defenders on the world stage since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Now, the three-term prime minister is weeks away from the end of his political life. And his staunch advocacy for Ukraine on the world stage — even when it puts him at odds with U.S. President Donald Trump — will also come to an abrupt end.
Trudeau, the longest-serving leader in the G7, will leave office when his successor as Liberal leader is elected by party supporters next month, and his exit comes at a pivotal time in the war. As the Trump administration convenes peace talks with Russians, and with the president labeling Zelenskyy a “dictator,” Europeans have scrambled to salvage allied support for the war effort.
The outgoing Canadian leader isn’t budging on his country’s full-throated support for Ukraine determining its own fate.
Continue reading at Politico
Merz won the German election. Here’s what it means for Europe.
POLITICO breaks down what the conservatives’ victory means for EU policy and cooperation ― from nuclear weapons to cannabis.
BRUSSELS ― Conservative leader Friedrich Merz won the German election Sunday and is on track to take the reins of the EU’s largest economy.
It’s not yet clear exactly what the new German government will look like — or how far Merz will be able to reshape German politics as he sees fit. It’s likely to be weeks before coalition talks between Merz’s Christian Democratic alliance (CDU/CSU) and other parties reach an agreement and Merz becomes chancellor.
Still, one thing looks certain: Merz will take Germany in a different direction from that of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It may not even look like the Germany that Angela Merkel, also of the CDU, led for 16 years, until 2021.
Last month, Merz (unsuccessfully) pushed the German parliament for new migration measures with the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany party. It marked a clear departure from Merkel’s “Wir schaffen das” pledge to take in refugees.
And there’s more. From a potential U-turn in Germany’s long-standing policy on nuclear energy and a more hawkish line on China, to plans to reboot the German-French axis to bolster EU trade, Merz could shake up the political landscape of Germany and, in one fell swoop, that of the European Union as a whole.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
New immigration enforcement operations underway in Los Angeles area
US immigration officials launched a new round of enforcement operations in the Los Angeles area Sunday, according to two people familiar with the effort.
The new effort in Southern California follows recent operations ordered by the Trump administration to apprehend individuals unlawfully residing in places such as Chicago and New York.
Video posted on social media by community activists appeared to show federal agents gathered outside one residence east of downtown Los Angeles. In the video, activists can be seen and heard using megaphones to speak with residents inside the home.
“There’s presence of ICE here so don’t open your door. They are not allowed to go in unless they have a judicial warrant signed by a judge,” one activist can be heard saying over a megaphone.
The video captures the incident for about 20 minutes before the vehicles with the apparent federal agents drive away.
It is unclear how many individuals have been detained as part of Sunday’s operations. CNN has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Status Alert: Inside MSNBC Chief Rebecca Kutler’s Tense Meeting With Joy Reid’s Staff
MSNBC will announce its programming changes on Monday: Kutler said that the cancelation of Reid's show is only "one piece of a broader slate of programming changes that will be laid out tomorrow." Replacing Reid's show will be a panel program hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez. The three currently host "The Weekend." In addition to the cancelation of Reid’s program, Wagner is also losing her 9pm show, which she has anchored Tuesday through Friday. (Wagner will remain on MSNBC as a correspondent.) Kutler said the changes will go into effect in April. Until then, she is hoping the current staff of ‘The Reidout’ will produce the 7pm hour, which will feature rotating hosts.
Continue reading at Status News by Oliver Darcy (Paywall after free period)
Note from Rima: The reference is to Alex Wagner, who also lost her show.
MSNBC cancels Joy Reid show in major shake-up
MSNBC is canceling Joy Reid’s evening news show as part of the network’s overhaul under the new presidential administration.
Reid’s final show is planned for sometime this week, a source familiar with the changes said.
She’s hosted “The ReidOut” on MSNBC since 2020, discussing political news and events. Reid has also anchored “The Reid Report” and “AM Joy” for the network in the past.
Continue reading at The Hill
Democrats struggle to reverse Trump’s gains with Latinos
While a majority of Latino voters cast their ballots for former Vice President Kamala Harris in November, the share supporting Trump climbed roughly 8 points between 2020 and 2024, according to data from AP VoteCast. Latino men shifted to Trump by double digits, even as the president was criticized along the campaign trail for anti-immigrant rhetoric and controversial deportation plans.
“The Biden campaign and then, by connection, the Kamala Harris campaign, had a lot of work to do with all of the groups, but I was surprised that so many Latino men were so disillusioned with Joe Biden and what happened in the last four years that they were willing to go to Donald Trump even with all of the crazy, xenophobic anti-immigrant rhetoric,” Democratic political strategist Maria Cardona said.
Continue reading at The Hill
Retired general says Trump Pentagon firings ‘extremely destabilizing’
Retired Gen. George Casey said Sunday that recent Pentagon firings by President Trump are “extremely destabilizing” to the military.
“That’s extremely destabilizing at — at a time that’s a lot going on domestically and a lot going on abroad,” Casey told ABC News’s Martha Raddatz on “This Week.”
“When you remove so many senior leaders, especially without justifying … [and] giving due cause, it creates huge uncertainty in the ranks. And it just isn’t a good thing for the military at a very difficult time,” Casey added.
Continue reading at The Hill
2,000 USAID staff to be cut, others put on administrative leave
The Trump administration is putting all civil servants employed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on administrative leave beginning on Monday at midnight, according to a notice reviewed by The Hill.
At the same time, 2,000 staff are expected to be cut from the agency in the U.S., part of a “Reduction-in-Force,” reads the notice delivered from the Office of the Administrator. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the acting USAID administrator, but no name is on the order.
The notice comes following a federal judge on Friday refusing to renew a temporary block against the Trump administration and its intent to fire or place on “administrative leave” thousands of employees.
Following the order, hundreds of employees contracted to work with USAID were fired. In one bureau providing life-saving humanitarian assistance, one USAID official estimated the firing of contractors cut staff by between 40 and 60 percent.
“There is no one left to do any work,” the USAID official said, requesting anonymity to protect against retaliation.
Continue reading at The Hill
Before he became Trump’s bulldog at DOJ, Emil Bove was nearly demoted for a bellicose management style
When Bove worked in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, some colleagues saw his conduct as abusive, prompting office leaders to open an internal inquiry.
NEW YORK — When Emil Bove, now the acting deputy attorney general, was a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, he developed a reputation as a quiet, diligent worker — but one with a temper.
He belittled the work of his subordinates. He was unusually tough on law-enforcement agents. After one blow-up with a fellow prosecutor, he refused to speak with that person for years and declined to make eye contact even if the two were alone in an elevator.
His management style was so harsh that leaders of the U.S. attorney’s office conducted an internal inquiry into his leadership of the terrorism and international narcotics unit, according to four people familiar with the matter. They initially concluded that Bove should be demoted from his position as co-chief of the unit, though they never followed through with the demotion.
Continue reading at Politico Magazine
Trump congratulates Germany’s election winners — and himself
U.S. president’s praise for Friedrich Merz’s ‘conservatives’ offers a glimmer of hope after the White House’s brutal criticism of Europe.
BERLIN — Donald Trump clearly likes to keep his opponents on their toes.
After spending the past two weeks trashing European politicians and ripping up America’s commitments to the continent’s security, the president of the United States offered warm congratulations to Germany’s election winners on Sunday.
And somehow, he also managed to claim some credit for himself.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Musk and DOGE underwater with some voters in recent polling
Majorities of Americans disapprove of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency-driven upheaval of the federal workforce, several recent polls show.
The big picture: While Republican lawmakers have contended voters wanted drastic change, new polling suggests the Trump administration may be taking their chainsaw-wielding executive reach too far for some.
President Trump's approval ratings also took a slight hit in recently released polling, after his initial numbers were some of the highest of his political career, though weaker than other modern presidents at the start of their terms — other than himself in 2017.
Driving the news: Trump's approval ratings dropped into more "normal territory" for him, as described in a Washington Post analysis of recent polling, which could spell trouble for the administration as their billionaire budget buster also slips underwater.
Continue reading at Axios
GOP’s Lawler breaks with Trump on Zelensky, advises against public spat
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) broke with President Trump over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and advised against a public spat between the two leaders.
“Are you disturbed at all by the rhetoric coming from the Trump administration about Zelensky?” ABC News’s Martha Raddatz asked Lawler on “This Week.”
“I did not agree with the president’s rhetoric about … Zelensky. What I would say is this, it is not — it does not behoove either side to have this public back-and-forth,” Lawler responded.
Continue reading at The Hill
Note from Rima: But then again…
Murkowski knocks Musk over ‘absurd weekend email’
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) slammed Elon Musk over an “absurd weekend email” sent to federal employees requiring they send the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) a list of what they accomplished in the past week.
“Our public workforce deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for the unheralded jobs they perform,” Murkowski wrote on the social platform X. “The absurd weekend email to justify their existence wasn’t it.”
The Alaska senator criticized Musk and the work done by his Department of Government Efficiency as it looks to slash federal spending and is examining various departments’ abilities to serve President Trump’s agenda.
“If Elon Musk truly wants to understand what federal workers accomplished over the past week, he should get to know each department and agency, and learn about the jobs he’s trying to cut,” Murkowski said.
Continue reading at The Hill
Agencies, unions tell fed workers: Don't answer Musk's threat email
Zoom in: Beyond the unions, a number of federal departments and agencies also appear to have told employees not to respond.
The Department of Defense told its employees that only the department is responsible for "reviewing the performance of its personnel" and it will undertake employee reviews "in accordance with its own procedures." Employees were told to disregard the OPM email.
NBC reported that new FBI director Kash Patel told employees not to answer the email.
Government Executive reported that NOAA and NSA employees were told the same.
The New York Times reported that State Department employees were also told not to respond.
For the record: An OPM spokesperson reiterated that the office was making the request, but said agencies will determine any next steps.
Continue reading at Axios
Key federal agencies refuse to comply with Musk’s latest demand in his cost-cutting crusade
The pushback from appointees of President Donald Trump marked a new level of chaos and confusion within the beleaguered federal workforce, just a month after Trump returned to the White House and quickly began fulfilling campaign promises to shrink the government.
Administration officials scrambled throughout the weekend to interpret Musk’s unusual mandate, which apparently has Trump’s backing despite some lawmakers arguing it is illegal. Unions want the administration to rescind the request and apologize to workers, and are threatening to sue.
Some officials are resisting. Others are encouraging their workers to comply. At some agencies, there was conflicting guidance.
One message on Sunday morning from the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., instructed its roughly 80,000 employees to comply. That was shortly after the acting general counsel, Sean Keveney, had instructed some not to. And by Sunday evening, agency leadership issued new instructions that employees should “pause activities” related to the request until noon on Monday.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
The latest on Trump’s presidency as Musk threatens more cuts to federal workforce
CNN’s running coverage of the layoffs
USAID to place most personnel on leave, lay off at least 1,600
A federal judge cleared the move Friday after a two-week hold
The Trump administration will place most employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development on administrative leave Sunday night and start laying off at least 1,600 of them as it continues dismantling the agency, which has been in charge of disbursing billions in foreign aid.
Except for some people responsible for “mission-critical” issues, core leadership and specially designated programs, all USAID direct-hire personnel will be placed on leave globally as of Sunday at 11:59 p.m. EST, said an email from the office of the USAID administrator sent to staff Sunday afternoon, seen by POLITICO. The email said that about 2,000 employees would be impacted. However, a version posted on USAID’s website placed that number at 1,600.
Continue reading at Politico
Germany’s Merz vows ‘independence’ from Trump’s America, warning NATO may soon be dead
Election winner likens the Trump administration to Putin’s Russia as he bids to take Europe in a new direction.
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany's election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe's 80-year alliance with the United States to the past.
The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany's new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.
[…]
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” Germany's chancellor-in-waiting said. “I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program. But after Donald Trump's statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Trump names right-wing commentator Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director
US President Donald Trump has appointed right-wing commentator Dan Bongino as deputy director of the FBI.
Trump posted on social media that Bongino was "a man of incredible love and passion for our Country" and would serve under newly confirmed FBI director Kash Patel.
Bongino, 50, is ex-NYPD and Secret Service and also worked as presidential protection for two presidents - George W Bush and Barack Obama.
He hosts a self-titled podcast whose Facebook posts often attract more attention than those of Fox News and CNN combined.
"Thank you Mr President, Attorney General Bondi, and Director Patel," Bongino wrote on X in a post after Trump's announcement.
Trump said in his social media announcement on Sunday that Bongino is "willing and prepared to give up" the podcast "in order to serve".
Continue reading at the BBC
Fact check: Eight ways Elon Musk has misled Americans about government spending
Elon Musk has repeatedly misled the public about federal spending while playing a leading role in President Donald Trump’s effort to cut that spending.
When Musk was asked earlier this month about one of the inaccurate statements he had promoted, he conceded that “some of the things that I say will be incorrect, and should be corrected.” But “some” might be an understatement. The billionaire businessman has made or amplified numerous false or misleading assertions in the past month alone, largely on the X social media platform he owns.
Here are eight examples.
This list doesn’t include erroneous cost-savings claims on the website of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. And it doesn’t include the many vague Musk assertions that he hasn’t corroborated but that also can’t be definitively debunked at this time.
The White House didn’t respond to CNN requests for comment last week.
Promoting a phony video about USAID and celebrities
As the Trump administration worked to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Musk shared an X user’s post that claimed “USAID spent your tax dollars to fund celebrity trips to Ukraine, all to boost Zelensky’s popularity among Americans.” The post included a video, made to look as though it was from entertainment outlet E! News, that listed large sums various celebrities were supposedly paid for visits to Ukraine.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Most USAID workers to be fired or placed on leave by late Sunday
The Trump administration moved Sunday to fire some 2,000 U.S. Agency for International Development workers and place most others on administrative leave, according to an email the agency sent to staff.
The big picture: The action that's set to take effect on Sunday just before midnight comes days after a federal judge permitted the administration to move ahead with the mass firings and continue the DOGE-led dismantling of the large-scale operation at what was the world's largest humanitarian aid organization.
Driving the news: "As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally," per the email to staff that was obtained by outlets including Axios.
"Concurrently, USAID is beginning to implement a Reduction-in-Force that will affect approximately 1,600 USAID personnel with duty stations in the United States," added the email that's now posted on USAID's website.
Continue reading at Axios
Government-forced internet disruptions hit record high
What they're saying: "Authorities and warring parties wielded an unprecedented number of internet shutdowns as a weapon of war and a tool for collective punishment — hurling communities into digital darkness, and concealing grave human rights abuses," Felicia Anthonio, manager of Access Now's #KeepItOn campaign, said in a statement.
"As internet access becomes consistently weaponized, restricted, and precarious, we are seeing pervasive patterns of crushing censorship and an urgent need for greater accountability."
By the numbers: Seven countries joined the first-time offenders list, including El Salvador, France, Malaysia and Thailand.
For the first time since 2018, Myanmar overtook India as the worst offender, imposing 85 shutdowns—one more than India.
The majority of internet shutdowns came from four countries: India, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Russia, which accounted for a combined 210 shutdowns, or more than 70% of the global total.
Continue reading at Axios
‘Dark MAGA’ spreads as conservatives embrace Musk’s influence on Trump
OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — At an annual gathering of conservative activists, the signature red “ Make America Great Again ” hats popularized by President Donald Trump were interspersed with a noticeable number of the black “Dark MAGA” hats made popular by Elon Musk.
It was just one sign of Musk’s emerging influence and how the world’s wealthiest man — who once backed Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden — has become a conservative power center in his own right due to his connections to Trump.
“He is an authentic and unique individual. I am glad he is on the team,” said Whitney Mason, a 62-year-old real estate agent who was traveling from Seattle.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Macron meets Trump, Europeans head to Kyiv in two-pronged effort to save Ukraine
European leaders hope to reverse Trump’s retreat from Europe and Ukraine’s dire prospects.
WASHINGTON — European leaders will seek to salvage what’s left of their traditional alliances on Monday with a two-pronged strategy aimed at keeping U.S. President Donald Trump on their side and saving Ukraine from being sacrificed to Vladimir Putin.
After a week spent reeling from one shock statement after another from the U.S. administration, European governments are trying to regain the initiative.
French President Emmanuel Macron is in Washington for talks with Trump on Monday, where he will argue that letting President Putin win in Ukraine would be “a huge strategic mistake,” he said in comments ahead of the trip.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to follow with a White House meeting on Thursday, after saying the U.K. would be “ready and willing” to put U.K. troops on the ground in Ukraine as a security guarantee in a peace deal.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Ukraine’s EU trade future in limbo as Trump turns hostile
With Ukraine’s privileged access to the EU market expiring soon, Kyiv pleads for clarity — while Brussels hesitates and Washington’s backing disintegrates.
BRUSSELS — When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Union leaders roll into Kyiv on Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine will be looking for answers — on military aid, political backing and a critical economic question: trade.
At risk of losing its privileged access to the EU market this June, Ukraine is scrambling to get an extension of tariff suspensions that have helped keep its economy afloat in wartime. But as Kyiv presses for clarity, European leaders are stalling, caught between pledging continued solidarity, the shifting stance of United States President Donald Trump, and appeasing antsy farmers at home.
Trump’s return to the White House has rattled Kyiv. In his first month on the job, he has signaled that U.S. support for Ukraine is no longer assured, refused to take calls from von der Leyen, and suggested that Kyiv should cede territory to Russia to end the war. His latest remarks — falsely blaming Ukraine for “starting” the war and branding President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” — have heightened concerns that Washington could pull its support.
“If Washington forces a peace on Moscow’s terms, we’ll need Europe more than ever,” a Ukrainian official told POLITICO, granted anonymity like others interviewed in this story due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
US pressures Ukraine to nix its UN resolution demanding Russian forces withdraw
The U.S. has pressured Ukraine to withdraw its European-backed U.N. resolution demanding an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine in favor of an American proposal that does not mention Moscow’s invasion, a U.S. official and a European diplomat said Sunday.
But Ukraine refused to pull its draft resolution, and the U.N. General Assembly will vote on it Monday, the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two European diplomats said.
The 193-nation General Assembly then is expected to vote on the U.S. draft resolution, according to the diplomats and the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because private negotiations are still ongoing.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Zelenskyy says progress made on reaching an agreement with the US on rare minerals deal
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv has been taken off the table, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, indicating a more equitable deal is in the works.
Zelenskyy had earlier declined a U.S. draft agreement on exploitation of his country’s valuable minerals such as lithium used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries because it did not contain security guarantees and came with the $500 billion price tag.
“The question of $500 billion is no longer there,” Zelenskyy told a news conference at a forum of government officials in Kyiv marking the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader said considering aid as a debt to be repaid would be a “Pandora’s box” that would set a precedent requiring Kyiv to reimburse all its backers.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Jane Fonda supplies SAG Awards with moment of fiery political resistance
“We are going to need a big tent to resist what’s coming at us,” the 87-year-old actress said.
The 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards featured a fiery moment of political resistance from Jane Fonda on Sunday.
“We are in our documentary moment,” said Fonda. “This is it. And it’s not a rehearsal.”
Fonda added that “woke just means you give a damn about other people.”
“A whole lot of people are going to be hurt by what’s happening, by what’s coming our way,” said Fonda. “We are going to need a big tent to resist what’s coming at us.”
Continue reading at Politico
Email starts power clash between Musk and agency leaders — even the Trump loyalists
The response to Elon Musk’s “What did you do last week?” threat is the first sign that even staunch White House allies are beginning to flex their political muscle against him.
It’s the latest episode of Musk’s “move fast and break things” philosophy clashing with the layers of rules and laws that fortify the bureaucracy he hopes to hobble. And it’s the first sign that even staunch Trump loyalists are beginning to flex their political muscle against Musk, an unelected “special government employee,” whose power stems primarily from his proximity to the president.
“Elon Musk has no authority. He’s not in the chain of command of these employees, so getting a direct order to do something or lose your job in some capacity when he had no authority to do that is something these agency heads are basically wising up to,” said Mark Maxin, an attorney with nearly four decades of experience in federal employment law, who served as counsel for labor relations at the Department of Labor under Democratic and Republican administrations.
Continue reading at Politico
The Ketamine-Fueled ‘Psychedelic Slumber Parties’ That Get Tech Execs Back on Track
Can stuffed animals, rose petals, and injections of an Elon Musk–approved dissociative drug help Silicon Valley leaders out of a rut? These women say yes.
“Ketamine is helpful for getting one out of the negative frame of mind,” Elon Musk told an interviewer last year. The unelected man currently gutting US federal programs isn’t the only one who thinks so. Ketamine, approved decades ago as a surgical anesthetic and long used as a party drug, is the off-label mental-health treatment of the moment. It induces a “trancelike” state of “sensory isolation,” researchers say, and may temporarily boost the brain’s neuroplasticity—which, in theory, makes mental ruts easier to escape. At the same time, ketamine abuse can be deadly, and the drug remains illegal to use without a prescription. (Musk says he has one from “an actual, real doctor.”)
WIRED spoke to the cofounders of an organization that offers ketamine-assisted leadership coaching in the San Francisco Bay Area. The two speakers are identified by pseudonyms, which they selected for themselves. Aria Stone has a doctorate in psychology. Shuang Shuang is a spiritual coach. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Economics
Economist Paul Krugman
Economist Dean Baker
Economist Jared Bernstein
Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality cross-posted a post from Jared’s Substack
Brad DeLongFeb 23 · Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality
What does a truly fair economy look like? In this piece, Jared Bernstein dismantles the empty promises of faux populism and argues that the real solutions—rebuilding worker bargaining power, progressive taxation, a public sector that works for working Americans, and smart harvesting of our share of the enormous benefits from global economic integration—are hiding in plain sight. If we in the opposition party can articulate and implement these ideas, we stand to build a powerful and durable political-economic coalition.
Economist Brad DeLong
Brad DeLong is an economics professor. He posts various things, including the slides for his lectures. This one, we can all learn from
Financial journalist Felix Salmon
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