Things Musk (and Trump) Did... Day 41 | Blog#42
The Russia-MAGA cabinet speaks...
Yesterday’s post
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Treat: musical interlude way at the end of this post.
Yesterday’s news worth repeating
Renowned geneticist Francis Collins retires from NIH, urging ‘respect’ for embattled workers
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Francis Collins, a renowned geneticist and former longtime director of the National Institutes of Health, announced Saturday that he has retired, leaving an agency being upended by budget cuts and layoffs.
Collins — a guitar-playing researcher and evangelical Christian known for finding common ground between religion and science — gave no reason for his abrupt departure. He issued a statement that he’d been honored with a long career at an agency “rightfully called the crown jewel of the federal government for decades.”
He came to the NIH in 1993 to lead the Human Genome Project, which in 2003 completed mapping the human DNA instruction book — two years ahead of schedule and $400 million under budget, Collins noted in his statement Saturday.
Collins, 74, was the NIH’s director for 12 years and under three presidents — Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Note from Rima: We, collectively, owe Drs. Collins and Fauci a huge debt of gratitude for keeping us informed and safe all throughout the COVID pandemic.
NAACP leader Hazel Dukes dies at 92
She was a longtime New York civil rights advocate.
Hazel Dukes, the president of the New York State chapter of the NAACP and lifelong civil rights advocate, died Saturday at the age of 92.
Dukes peacefully passed away in her New York City home surrounded by family, her son, Ronald Dukes, said in a statement.
Dukes, who led the New York State NAACP for nearly five decades, fought tirelessly for voting rights, economic development, fair housing and education through her career. Even in her 90s, she spoke out against police brutality and for adequate health care in underserved neighborhoods, the NAACP’s New York State chapter said in a statement.
In 2023, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Dukes with the NAACP’s highest honor — the Spingarn Medal.
Continue reading at Politico
With student test scores flailing, DOGE cuts to Nation’s Report Card raise red flags
Cuts to the Department of Education are hitting the highly valued Nation’s Report Card even as sirens blare on student test scores.
The 12th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was recently canceled, and the top official in charge of it was put on leave, leading advocates to doubt a promise from the Department of Education that NAEP would not be affected by the cuts from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“NAEP provides the only consistent, cross-state picture of student learning; the data is vital for understanding the effectiveness of education policies and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are invested in strategies that lead to improvement in teaching and learning outcomes,” said Auditi Chakravarty, CEO of the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund.
NAEP is the most comprehensive of such U.S. educational assessments, comparing scores across states and among decades of data
Continue reading at The Hill
5 storylines to watch for ahead of this November’s elections
Virginia and New Jersey could serve as some of the first bellwethers over voters’ attitudes toward President Trump’s policies, Elon Musk and his slashing of the federal bureaucracy, and the salience of key issues this November.
Voters will head to the polls in both states to elect their next governor and weigh in on important state legislative elections. While there will certainly be local issues at play, the elections will also take place nearly a year into Trump’s second term, during which he, Musk and members of his administration are quickly shaking up Washington.
Meanwhile, a separate election will be playing out in New York City as Mayor Eric Adams, who’s been embroiled in a corruption probe, faces a tough road ahead to reelection.
Here are five storylines to look out for ahead of this November’s elections:
Continue reading at The Hill
‘Sanctuary city’ mayors hope to avoid an embarrassing spectacle in Congress
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is working with former Biden lawyer Dana Remus as the city prepares to gather — and redact — documents that might expose municipal employees to political attacks for helping migrants.
Democratic mayors of four cities with sanctuary policies to protect migrants are consulting with advisers, hiring lawyers and preparing to redact documents ahead of a grilling by House Republicans — hoping to avoid the kind of Capitol Hill spectacle that embarrassed three Ivy League presidents a little over a year ago.
These mayors are also furiously conferring with anyone they know who can offer insight and counsel about how to handle the kind of scrutiny that resulted in the ouster of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill following the late 2023 congressional hearing on antisemitism at elite colleges.
Just as Republicans hammered Magill and others for what they saw as condoning alleged threats to Jewish students and faculty, Republican members of Congress will on Wednesday ask the mayors of New York, Chicago, Boston and Denver to defend their more permissive immigration policies against high-profile, if isolated, episodes of violent crime by undocumented immigrants.
“I just want to make sure that people understand that [this is] a city that has been established by immigrants and migrants who were formerly enslaved,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters about the message he hopes to relay to Congress. “It’s the global capital of the world, and we’re going to continue to show up at our very best.”
Continue reading at Politico
Russia celebrates US foreign policy that now ‘coincides’ with Moscow’s worldview
Moscow hopes to take advantage of a growing rift between the U.S. and Ukraine, and Europe more broadly.
The Kremlin on Sunday cheered the shift in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump, saying the American view now “largely coincides” with Russia’s take on geopolitics.
Trump has upended U.S. policy on Ukraine in recent weeks and sought a more conciliatory approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin, echoing Moscow’s talking points and recently accusing Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy of obstructing efforts to resolve the conflict started by Putin’s unprovoked invasion. In contrast, former U.S. President Joe Biden led efforts to support Kyiv against the Russian forces attacking Ukraine.
“The new [U.S.] administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely coincides with our vision,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday in a video published on Telegram.
His comments come as European leaders are trying to mend a growing rift between Kyiv and Washington after a meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in the White House spiraled into a tense row on Friday.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
‘Europe is on its own’ after Trump-Zelenskyy clash, EPP’s Weber says
After Donald Trump’s explosive fallout with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the conservative leader Weber is urging Europe to take its security into its own hands.
BERLIN — European People’s Party (EPP) leader Manfred Weber has issued a stark warning following the explosive Oval Office meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling for urgent steps toward an independent European defense policy.
“Anyone looking at Washington must understand: Europe is on its own, and we must now arm ourselves independently,” Weber told German media group Funke on Sunday. “We also need to take the first steps toward a European army. Too much time has already been wasted.”
The dramatic falling-out between Trump and Zelenskyy — culminating in the abrupt cancellation of the planned signing of a minerals deal and Trump’s refusal to reaffirm U.S. military aid — has raised alarms across Europe. EU leaders fear Washington’s shifting priorities could leave Ukraine exposed and could weaken NATO’s strategic posture on the continent.
The White House meeting on Friday, meant to reinforce U.S.-Ukraine ties, devolved into a public confrontation when Trump accused Zelenskyy of failing to engage in peace talks with Russia and “gambling with World War III.”
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Britain and France step in to heal Trump-Zelenskyy rift
Starmer pushes plan for “coalition of the willing” to offer security guarantees to Ukraine ahead of Sunday’s summit in London.
The United Kingdom and France will work on a Ukraine peace plan and mediate between Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump, after a meeting between the two spiralled into a row in the White House, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday.
“We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States,” Starmer said in an interview with the BBC.
European leaders are scrambling to find a way forward after Friday's disastrous meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump in the Oval Office. European and Canadian leaders are set to meet in London later Sunday for a security summit on Ukraine, which Zelenskyy will join.
Under the plan outlined by Starmer, France and the U.K. would lead talks on building a "coalition of the willing" to offer security guarantees to Ukraine in case a cease-fire is reached. The two countries have for weeks been involved in building a proposal to deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine after a hoped-for truce has been negotiated with Russia.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Why this year's hottest election is for a Wisconsin court seat
The battle over a single state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin is on track to be among the most expensive judicial races in history, fueled by donations from big fundraising names such as Elon Musk and George Soros.
Why it matters: Democrats and Republicans alike see the Wisconsin race as having outsized importance in politics, stretching far beyond the Dairy State.
The April 1 election will determine the tilt of an ideologically divided bench in a purple state where state-level decisions carry national implications for abortion rights, legislative redistricting and election laws.
State Supreme Court races historically have been under-the-radar affairs. But they've risen to national prominence recently, accelerated by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn the federal right to abortion. States now determine whether to allow the procedure.
Driving the news: Although technically nonpartisan, the Wisconsin race — between Brad Schimel, a judge in Waukesha County and former GOP attorney general, and Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge — has become a proxy for national party figures seeking to exert their influence in a high-profile, off-year election.
Roughly $30 million already has been spent on the race, which appears on pace to break — or at least rival — the record-breaking $50 million that was spent on the state's Supreme Court race in 2023.
Continue reading at Axios
UK, France and Ukraine agree to work on ceasefire plan for Russia’s war in Ukraine
LONDON (AP) — Britain, France and Ukraine have agreed to work on a ceasefire plan to present to the United States, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday as he prepared to host a summit of European leaders to discuss ending the war.
The summit has been overshadowed by the extraordinary scolding by U.S. President Donald Trump of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday for being ungrateful for U.S. support in Ukraine’s battle against the invasion by Russia.
But Starmer said he’s focused on being a bridge to restore peace talks and he used the collapse of those talks as an opportunity to re-engage with Trump and Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron rather than “ramp up the rhetoric.”
“We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States,” Starmer told the BBC. Starmer and Macron have both spoken to Trump since Friday.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Pennsylvania Republicans who narrowly won their House seats feel the heat of early votes back home
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Newly minted U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan swore he wouldn’t support gutting government benefits such as Medicaid that residents of his northeastern Pennsylvania district rely on.
Then the first-term Republican voted for a bill that could do just that.
Bresnahan and two other Pennsylvania Republicans won in November by some of the smallest margins in all of Congress, prevailing in a critical battleground state that not only helped decide the presidency but also aided the GOP in taking control of the U.S. House.
Bresnahan, fellow newcomer Ryan Mackenzie and seven-term Rep. Scott Perry now find themselves navigating the delicate politics of a divided electorate once again, this time during the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term as he makes economy-altering decisions.
Those include imposing tariffs on raw materials such as steel and aluminum, firing federal workers, shedding federal office space and, most recently, pushing for votes on budget legislation that appear likely to require major cuts to Medicaid and other programs people in Pennsylvania might care about.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Business groups quietly push back on Trump's immigration raids
Business groups are quietly urging the Trump administration to ease up on its plans for immigration raids in workplaces, but the White House is resisting.
Why it matters: So far, the pace of workplace raids doesn't appear to have increased under President Trump compared to the Biden administration's efforts. But aggressive shows of enforcement are key to Trump's plans to crackdown on illegal immigration.
Zoom in: Just the threat of more raids has rattled several industries — such as construction and agriculture — that rely on immigrant labor, not all of it legal.
"Rumors of raids are having more impact at this point than raids themselves," said Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and workforce for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).
Two agriculture industry group leaders echoed that sentiment. Concerns about raids have led some workers to walk off job sites early or not show up at all, they said.
"It's a question of, where are we being prioritized" in the immigration crackdown, said one of the agriculture industry group leaders, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the immigration issue. "I think there's a lot of uncertainty" about that.
Continue reading at Axios
Zelensky to meet King Charles and European leaders in UK after nightmare Trump meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet European leaders at a vital summit in London on Sunday, after his extraordinary argument with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office left Western allies reeling and threw the future of the Russia-Ukraine war into deep uncertainty.
Zelensky enjoyed a heartfelt welcome from Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday that could not be more different than the reception he endured at the White House. King Charles has also accepted an invitation to meet Zelensky on Sunday, the Ukrainian leader said.
But between niceties, a crucial day of diplomacy looms. The West hopes Sunday’s summit will revive momentum towards an acceptable peace deal that had appeared to be slowly building this week, only to come crashing down in a nasty few minutes on Friday.
Starmer told the BBC on Sunday morning that he will work with France, Ukraine and “possibly one or two others” on a plan to stop the fighting, which he will then present to the US.
That strategy seems destined to rival the negotiation process that Trump’s administration opened with Russia last month, and suggests a tacit acceptance that getting Trump and Zelensky to come to the negotiating table together will be a challenge.
Already, Ukraine’s leader will return to Kyiv with something tangible: on Saturday, he and Starmer signed an agreement to accelerate $2.8 billion worth of loans to Ukraine. The first tranche of funding is expected to be disbursed next week, according to the UK government.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Crowds rally across Europe to show support for Ukraine
Demonstrators took to the street across European cities Saturday after the public row between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In Berlin, thousands marched alongside Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, to demand an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Watch the video at France 24
White House clash with Ukraine raises stakes for EU defence summit in London
A defence summit on Ukraine hosted by the UK on Sunday has become even more critical following a dramatic confrontation by US President Donald Trump with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is determined to forge "a just and lasting peace in Ukraine".
It was supposed to cap a week of whirlwind diplomacy advancing the prospect of peace in Ukraine.
But a summit of European leaders on Sunday has been overshadowed by the extraordinary scolding by US President Donald Trump of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday for being ungrateful for US support. The London meeting has now taken on greater importance in defending the war-torn ally and shoring up the continent's defences.
“There's a real problem for European leaders to pick up the pieces and try and move forward,” Peter Ricketts, the former British national security adviser, told BBC radio on Saturday. "It’s going to be a damage limitation exercise. It’s going to have to be an exercise in where do we go from here?”
Continue reading at France 24
Eighty years after her death, Anne Frank still lives on through her diary
Who hasn’t read Anne Frank’s diary? Translated into 70 languages and having sold more than 30 million copies, the book has become an international bestseller. The diary’s author, a Jewish German teenager, died 80 years ago in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. We don’t know the exact day she died. The Red Cross reported that Anne and her older sister Margot died of typhus sometime between the beginning and the end of March 1945.
It wasn’t until July that year that Otto Frank, the two girls’ father, received confirmation of his daughters’ deaths. Otto was the only member of his family to survive the Nazi’s death camps. The same year, his former colleague Miep Gies gave him the personal diary of his youngest daughter. During the war, Gies had helped the Frank family hide themselves in a secret annex on the grounds of Otto’s business in Amsterdam. After the family’s arrest in August 1944, she managed to keep Anne’s writings safe.
Continue reading at France 24
The US Solar Power Industry Is Trying to Rebrand as MAGA-Friendly
As Donald Trump rages against renewable energy, solar power is being reimagined as a symbol of American “energy dominance.”
Seamus Fitzgerald hears a lot of opinions about solar power. As the associate director of real estate at OneEnergy Renewables, a solar energy developer, he approaches farmers and other landowners across the Midwest with proposals to lease their properties for solar projects. Some landowners are excited about being part of the shift to clean energy. Others are hostile to the idea of putting rows of gleaming panels on their land.
Fitzgerald manages to convince many farmers by explaining the simple economics of leasing their land for solar power. “At the end of the day, the financial payments from these types of projects are generally higher than what folks can pull off of their ground through other types of crops,” he said. To sell solar power to people who might have hesitations, he often talks about how the technology was invented in America. “When you install a solar project, you’re collecting an American resource here in America,” Fitzgerald said.
It echoes the way that President Donald Trump talks about energy, though he’s usually heaping praise on American oil and gas, not renewables. Still, the Solar Energy Industries Association, the industry’s primary lobbying group, has found plenty of ways to align its work with the administration’s talking points. Now splayed across its site, next to an image of an American flag hovering over solar panels, is a new slogan: “American Energy DOMINANCE.” Earlier this month, the association participated in a lobbying blitz in Washington, DC, urging lawmakers to keep tax credits for clean energy projects in place.
Solar provided almost 6 percent of total US electricity generation last year, but it’s been growing fast and is expected to supply “almost all growth” in electricity generation this year, according to the pre-Trump Energy Information Administration. Many are hoping that the technology—which is broadly popular among Americans, with 78 percent supporting developing more solar farms—can manage to stay out of Trump’s culture wars over climate change. More so than wind power with its towering turbines, solar energy has an ability to bridge ideological divides, appealing to environmentalists and “don’t-tread-on-me” libertarians alike.
Continue reading at Wired
On This Day
The North African country of Morocco, situated directly across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain, proclaimed independence from France this day in 1956, the sultan Muhammad V having formed its first government.
Continue reading at Britanica.com
America's college chaos
Colleges have been a conservative target for years. Under President Trump, it's total warfare on all aspects of higher education — from student life to hiring to athletics.
Why it matters: Universities are scrambling to steel themselves for an onslaught of investigations. Even if some cuts are undone by future administrations or some directives don't hold up in the courts, many colleges are rushing to make changes they won't be able to undo easily.
"The federal government is coming for higher education," says Jeremy Young, the Freedom to Learn program director for PEN America. "And if you are one of America's 4,000 college presidents, and you stick your neck out, it's going to get cut off."
Driving the news: In a letter to schools last month, the Education Department said they could lose funding if they have policies related to race and diversity. And though the letter doesn't have the force of law, many institutions are acting quickly to comply — with moves big and small.
Colorado State University is shifting employee roles, tweaking HR policies and scrubbing websites, Axios Denver's Alayna Alvarez reports.
The University of Pennsylvania has edited websites — or removed them altogether, notes Axios Philadelphia's Mike D'Onofrio. Penn's medical school is looking at cutting programs that help diversify its student body, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The Ohio State University is shutting down two campus offices focused on DEI and cutting more than a dozen staff positions. It's renaming the Office of Institutional Equity to the Office of Civil Rights Compliance.
Continue reading at Axios
CNN Poll: Public remains negative on Trump ahead of address to Congress
The American public’s view of Donald Trump’s presidency and the direction he’s leading the country is more negative than positive just ahead of his first formal address to Congress since returning to office, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
The survey finds that across three basic measures of Trump’s performance on the job – his approval rating, whether he has the right priorities and whether his policies are taking the country in the right direction – the negative side outpaces the positive.
Overall, 52% disapprove of Trump’s performance in office, with 48% approving, about the same as in a CNN poll in mid-February. The poll was completed before Friday’s angry exchange in the Oval Office between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and does not reflect public opinion on that event.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Americans say Trump changing how government works, but divide over Musk, workforce cuts — CBS News poll
There's at least one thing Americans widely agree on about President Donald Trump: they think he's changing the way the government works.
But they're more split on whether that's for the better or worse.
His approach to immigration and deportation continues to receive positive marks, and his border policies are seen as effective. A large majority agree there is some waste in the federal government.
DOGE and Elon Musk's efforts divide the nation, though, as Americans foresee an impact from dismissing federal workers. Half the country thinks this will cut their services and remove essential people. Half think it'll save money.
Either way, it isn't the main issue they want Mr. Trump focused on. They overwhelmingly say he should prioritize inflation and the economy, and far fewer think he actually is.
Continue reading at CBS.com
What if we didn’t ‘spring forward’ when daylight saving time begins?
In short time, most Americans will lose an hour of sleep as our clocks jump forward to daylight saving time.
But what if the clocks didn’t change?
Most federal and state efforts to end the observance of seasonal daylight saving time have been focused on locking the clocks on permanent daylight saving time. That would mean springing ahead an hour in March and not falling back an hour in November.
However, some states are looking to remain on permanent standard time, a move sleep and health experts largely agree with.
Unlike permanent daylight saving time, there are already parts of the U.S. observing permanent standard time: Hawaii and most of Arizona.
Continue reading at The Hill
Republicans once maligned Medicaid. Now some see a program too big to touch
Every time a baby is born in Louisiana, where Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson handily won reelection last year, there’s more than a 60% chance taxpayers will finance the birth through Medicaid.
In Republican Rep. David Valadao ’s central California district, 6 out of 10 people use Medicaid to pay for doctor visits and emergency room trips.
And one-third of the population is covered by Medicaid in GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Alaska, one of the nation’s costliest corners for health care.
Each of these Republicans — and some of their conservative colleagues — lined up last week to defend Medicaid, in a departure from long-held GOP policies. Republicans, who already have ruled out massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare, are turning their attention to siphoning as much as $880 billion from Medicaid over the next decade to help finance $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Trump’s next first speech to Congress is bound to have little resemblance to his last first one
The nation will hear a new president sing a far different tune in his prime-time address before Congress on Tuesday night. Some Americans will lustily sing along. Others will plug their ears.
The old tune is out – the one where a president declares “we strongly support NATO,” “I believe strongly in free trade” and Washington must do more to promote clean air, clean water, women’s health and civil rights.
That was Donald Trump in 2017.
That was back when gestures of bipartisanship and appeals to national unity were still in the mix on the night the president comes before Congress to hold forth on the state of the union. Trump, then new at the job, was just getting his footing in the halls of power and not ready to stomp on everything.
It would be three more years before Americans would see Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, then the House speaker and his State of the Union host in the chamber, performatively rip up a copy of Trump’s speech in disgust over its contents.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
GOP pushes ahead with citizenship voting bill. Some state election officials say it’s problematic
The centerpiece election legislation from congressional Republicans would require voters to prove their citizenship when registering, raising concerns among state election officials about how it would be implemented and who would pay for it.
In recent interviews, secretaries of state from both parties said they were wary of federal lawmakers creating state election rules and of costly new procedures that would come with them, including collecting and storing sensitive documents. They also criticized a provision that would allow for civil or criminal penalties against any election official who registers someone without evidence of citizenship.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said there is no federal database that states can use to confirm a person’s citizenship status. Election officials described databases maintained by the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security as unreliable.
“Reasonable people can agree that only citizens should be voting in our elections,” said Bellows, a Democrat. “If they want us to prove citizenship, then they need to build the infrastructure for that to happen.”
Continue reading at the Associated Press
UK defence summit: Greater 'sense of urgency' than Munich talks, analyst says
There is a greater sense of urgency at Sunday's defence summit held in London than the Munich Security Conference last month after the blowout between the US and Ukraine Friday, said Olena Prokopenko, Senior follow at the German Marshall Fund. “We saw that the US might be finalising its shift towards Russia unfortunately in terms of the peace talks and the position that it’s taking”, Prokopenko said, adding that Europe has an important role to play in "mediating between Ukraine and the US".
‘Can’t defy gravity forever’: Trump-linked assets take a hit in Wall Street’s tumble
The declines underscore the shift that has rocked the U.S. financial markets in recent weeks.
Wall Street is caught in a deepening decline that is sparing no risky asset. Not even those tied to President Donald Trump.
Publicly traded investments linked to the Trump empire — from the president’s majority stake in Trump Media & Technology Group to his and First Lady Melania Trump’s memecoins — have plunged in value since Inauguration Day, as part of a broader selloff in the more speculative corners of the markets.
Shares of Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, have fallen 36 percent. The $TRUMP memecoin, a cryptocurrency token that the president and his team launched just days before he was sworn in, has dropped 64 percent. And the $MELANIA memecoin has crashed from its high of more than $13. It’s now trading for less than $1.
“Trump was an amazing catalyst for all of the Trump names,” Tuttle Capital Management CEO Matthew Tuttle said. “But what happens is all this stuff becomes a bubble looking for a pin, and eventually, the bubble always finds the pin. These things can’t defy gravity forever.”
Continue reading at Politico
EU needs ‘hundreds of billions’ in defense spending as US pivots away, Macron says
French president’s urging comes ahead of Thursday’s special EU summit focused on defense, as Trump signals a friendlier approach to Moscow and disengagement from Europe.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday urged EU member states to agree on "massive, common funding" to unlock investments of hundreds of billions of euros for European defense and security.
"We will give a mandate to the European Commission to define our capacity needs for a common defense," Macron said in an interview published in several French newspapers on Sunday. "This massive funding probably reaches hundreds of billions of euros," he said.
His comments come ahead of a special EU summit set for Thursday that will be focused on defense.
The French president has long argued that Europe needs more strategic autonomy, less dependency on the U.S. and more investments in its own industrial defense base. Macron said on Sunday that the need to make the shift had become even more urgent as the U.S. pivots away from Europe.
"It's quarter to the midnight," Macron said. "As there are doubts over the support of the Americans towards Europe over time, we need to mobilize hundreds of billions of euros. It is Europe's strategic wake-up moment," the French daily Le Parisien quoted him as saying.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Starmer says Europe faces a ‘once in a generation moment’ as leaders discuss ending war in Ukraine
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told leaders gathered Sunday for a summit on the war in Ukraine that they need to step up and continue to support Kyiv and meet a “once in a generation moment” for the security of Europe.
“Even while Russia talks about peace, they are continuing their relentless aggression,” Starmer said at the opening of the meeting.
Starmer, flanked by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron, said the three of them had agreed to work on a plan to stop the fighting, and take that to the U.S., which has discussed brokering a peace deal.
“We need to agree what steps come out of this meeting to deliver peace through strength for the benefit of all,” he said. “So, let’s get started.”
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Johnson: US ‘not abandoning Ukraine,’ but Zelensky’s priorities ‘in the wrong place’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stated that the U.S. is not “abandoning Ukraine” but that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s priorities are not in the right place following a heated exchange between the Ukrainian leader and President Trump.
When NBC’s “Meet The Press” host Kristen Welker asked if Trump is aligning the U.S. with Russia, Johnson said that the president “is trying to get these two parties to a point of peace.”
“You have two parties who, to this point, have not shown any interest, apparently, in getting to peace,” he said. “What President Zelensky did in the White House was effectively signal to us that he’s not ready for that yet, and I think that’s a grave disappointment.”
“You’ve got to bring an end to this war,” he continued. “And for Zelensky to come in and make demands that he wasn’t even making a year ago, I think, shows that his priorities are in the wrong place, and I certainly hope that he will come back to his senses.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Johnson floats stopgap funding bill, says GOP should codify DOGE cuts later
Johnson’s comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press” may help lower the risk of a shutdown that looms after a March 14 funding deadline.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he wants to pass a clean government funding extension to avoid a shutdown through September and then work toward incorporating cuts devised by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative in legislation for fiscal year 2026.
Johnson’s comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press” may help lower the risk of a shutdown that looms after a March 14 funding deadline. Republicans had previously floated codifying DOGE cuts in an appropriations bill right away, which would force a standoff with Democrats.
“We’re looking to pass a clean [continuing resolution] to freeze funding at current levels to make sure that the government can stay open while we begin to incorporate all these savings that we’re finding through the DOGE effort and these other sources of revenue,” Johnson said, according to a transcript of the NBC interview.
“And then for FY26, for the next fiscal year, you’re going to see a very different process and a lot more efficient and effective spending for the people,” Johnson added.
Continue reading at Politico
Johnson says Putin ‘not to be trusted,’ ‘dangerous’
“What is your view of Vladimir Putin?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Johnson on “State of the Union.”
“I think Vladimir Putin is an old-school communist, a former KGB agent, and he’s not to be trusted and he is dangerous,” Johnson responded. “The way I view this is that China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are engaged in a new Axis — Axis powers, and they are not on America’s side. Let’s be crystal clear about that.”
Johnson’s comments follow a tense Oval Office meeting with President Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vice President Vance on Friday, which featured shouting and finger-pointing. The president and Zelensky argued over U.S. support for Ukraine.
Continue reading at The Hill
Will They Come for PubMed Next?
— Here's what we lose if the administration takes away this invaluable resource
by Katie Suleta, DHSc, MPH, MS
PubMed is the backbone of biomedical research in the U.S. That's not an exaggeration. It's housed under the NIH and is essentially our national library for public health and medical research information. "PubMed comprisesopens in a new tab or window more than 37 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites." It's literally where research begins.
I work in graduate medical education as a non-clinical faculty member overseeing research activities. I teach new physicians how to read and conduct research, and I use PubMed every single day. I am in good company. PubMed averages over 3.5 million usersopens in a new tab or window each weekday. According to Statista, it's the second most visited government websiteopens in a new tab or window after the U.S. Postal Service.
Physicians, researchers, students, journalists, and curious citizens alike are all free to query the enormous wealth of information housed by the federal government -- and therein lies the rub. Until recently, PubMed was a stalwart resource to us all. However, there are reasons to be extremely concerned about its continued existence.
NIH and Research
In 2022, the Biden administration created a new policyopens in a new tab or window requiring that all tax-payer funded research be publicly accessible by 2025; no paywalls to read papers that were generated by NIH grants. Those papers are housed at -- you guessed it -- PubMed.
Continue reading at MedPageToday
Politico Playbook: Democrats in despair
As President Donald Trump, VP JD Vance and their Republican allies were remaking the world order, Democrats were busy face-planting on social media.
On Friday, the DNC’s X account posted a 32-point list of “WHAT DEMOCRATS DID IN FEBRUARY,” seemingly mimicking Elon Musk’s five-things email tactic. It included such relatively small-bore items as “Democrat Ken Jenkins won a special election for Westchester County Executive, soundly defeating his Trump-backed opponent.”
By yesterday afternoon, the post had been so roundly mocked and ratioed that DNC chief marketing officer Shelby Cole felt compelled to respond that the “template always used to bang for us,” before conceding “the internet thinks we are morons this time.”
As focus turns this week to Trump’s first joint address to Congress on Tuesday, and Democrats’ response, the episode was an apt encapsulation of the larger moment unfolding in Washington.
If Trump’s first term energized the party’s progressives, there are early signs his second term is doing the same for Democratic moderates.
For starters, the party chose the battleground-state moderate Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan to deliver its response to Trump. Slotkin outperformed former VP Kamala Harris by more than a full percentage point in all but 28 of the state’s 83 counties, according to a Detroit News analysis.
There are other indications the party’s most immediate answers might come from its moderate wing.
In early February, a group of moderate Democratic consultants, campaign staffers, elected officials and party leaders gathered in Loudoun County, Virginia, for a day-and-a-half retreat where they plotted their party’s comeback.
The gathering — organized by Third Way, the centrist Democratic think tank, and operated by Chatham House Rules — resulted in five pages of takeaways, a document Playbook obtained from one of the participants. (Not all attendees endorsed each point.)
Continue reading at Politico Playbook newsletter
Note from Rima: This newsletter contains far more than the quote provided above. I urge you to click through
GOP divisions emerge in upcoming marquee races
Divisions between different factions of the GOP are beginning to take shape in key states ahead of the 2025 and 2026 elections.
In Florida, first lady Casey DeSantis mulling a gubernatorial bid as Rep. Byron Donalds launches his campaign with the support of President Trump. In Arizona, a full-fledged primary battle could play out in that state’s governor’s race between Trump-backed Karrin Taylor Robson and former House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Biggs. And in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton is giving serious indications that he will challenge incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the state’s Senate primary.
These emerging dynamics could lead to expensive and bruising primaries as the party seeks to maintain its grip on power even red states throughout the Trump administration.
One common denominator in Florida and Arizona is the impact of Trump’s endorsement. The coveted backing has given past GOP primary candidates access to resources and a boost in name ID.
Continue reading at The Hill
James Lankford says Zelenskyy stepping down would ‘spiral Ukraine into chaos’
The Oklahoma Republican disagreed with those calling on Ukraine’s president to resign.
Sen. James Lankford rebuked Republican calls for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to resign, which were sparked by Friday’s heated Oval Office argument between Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“I don’t agree. … I’m not interested in calling on the resignation of other world leaders,” Lankford (R-Okla.) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Quite frankly, I think that would spiral Ukraine into chaos right now — trying to find who is the negotiator to bring an issue to peace.”
Lankford’s remarks counter those made by Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday, who on “Meet the Press” prior to Lankford’s interview. Johnson said that Zelenskyy “either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that.” The remarks came two days after the on-camera sparring between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vance.
Continue reading at Politico
The only thing that matters is getting Putin to negotiate, Marco Rubio says
“The point that we’re at now is, we’re trying to get the man to a table, the Russians,” he said.
In a sometimes combative interview Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posited that the thing that matters most when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine war is getting Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table — and everything else is just noise.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Rubio said: “The only way it ends is if Vladimir Putin comes to a negotiating table. And right now President Trump is the only person on Earth who has any chance whatsoever of bringing him to a table to see what it is he would be willing to end the war on.”
Rubio, who was present at Friday’s ugly White House meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said to host George Stephanopoulos that the issue was not how well Trump and Vice President JD Vance treated Zelenskyy — something that drew widespread criticism nationally and internationally.
He said that the cause of peace would not have been advanced if Trump were to have spent Friday’s meeting joining Zelenskyy in saying how untrustworthy Putin is.
Continue reading at Politico
British ambassador calls on US and Ukraine to meet again
United Kingdom ambassador to the U.S., Lord Peter Mandelson, said he believes the U.S. and Ukraine need to meet again to kickstart negotiations.
Mandelson joined ABC News’s “This Week” on Sunday to discuss the failure of a meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which ended in shouting.
“My response is that we need a very radical reset,” he said, adding “And the reset has to consist of the United States and Ukraine getting back on the same page.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Rubio's MAGA matrimony prompts two senators to regret their vote
Democratic senators who crossed the aisle to back their former colleague Marco Rubio for Secretary of State now say they regret it.
The big picture: Rubio easily swept through the Senate with bipartisan backing. But as the early days of Trump 2.0 bring historic shifts in American foreign policy, some Democrats now see the former Florida senator in a different light.
Rubio was in the Oval Office on Friday for the jaw-dropping argument between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Trump and Vice President Vance.
And after, he was one of the leaders who asked the Ukrainian president to leave, casting the minerals deal officials had gathered to sign into uncertainty.
Driving the news: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that voting to approve Rubio's nomination in January was "a mistake."
Continue reading at Axios
GOP piles on Trump's Zelensky hostility
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and others in the GOP chided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday following a heated Oval Office meeting with President Trump and Vice President Vance on Friday.
The big picture: The tense exchange between the three leaders has further soured an already strained relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine and led to at least one GOP member — South Carolina's Lindsey Graham — to suggest Zelensky leave office.
Driving the news: Johnson said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that Zelensky needs to "come to his senses" and return to the negotiating table "in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that."
Asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin also needed to step down, Johnson said he'd like to see him "defeated."
He argued the U.S. is not abandoning Ukraine but criticized the country's leader for appearing "rather stiff-necked in the Oval Office instead of being gracious and saying, 'Thank you,' and looking for a way out of this mess."
Reality check: Zelensky was accused by Vance of not saying "thank you" during the Oval Office showdown, but the Ukrainian leader has thanked the U.S. — and both Presidents Biden and Trump — for its support dozens of times.
Continue reading at Axios
UK pledges export financing for air defense as world leaders discuss ending war in Ukraine
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the U.K. will use 1.6 billion pounds ($2 billion) in export financing to supply 5,000 air defense missiles for Ukraine.
Starmer wrapped up a security summit in London with other European leaders by saying Europe had to do the heavy lifting in defending itself.
The meeting comes two days after U.S. support for Ukraine appeared in greater jeopardy after President Donald Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said he wasn’t grateful enough for U.S. support.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Sanders says it’s a ‘horrible suggestion’ for Zelensky to step down
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said it’s a “horrible suggestion” for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to step down after the disastrous meeting with President Trump.
Sanders joined NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” where host Kristen Welker asked him about the various calls for Zelensky to step aside to pave the way for a ceasefire with Russia.
“I think that is a horrific suggestion,” Sanders said. “Zelensky is leading a country, trying to defend a democracy against an authoritarian dictator, Putin, who invaded his country.”
Sanders argued that “millions of Americans” were embarrassed that the rare mineral deal with Zelensky had ended with Trump and Vice President Vance shouting. The argument came just days after Trump called the Ukrainian leader a dictator and has appeared to side with Russia over the matter.
Continue reading at The Hill
Republican governors tried to slash state budgets. They have advice for Elon Musk.
Mitch Daniels called the $2 trillion spending reduction target “preposterous.”
Before Elon Musk and his chainsaw, there was Mitch Daniels “the Blade.”
The former Indiana governor and Office of Management and Budget director under President George W. Bush, Daniels established a reputation in the early 2000s as a knife to government. As governor, he shrunk the size of his state’s workforce by 18 percent and turned a $700 million deficit into a $2 billion surplus.
Daniels even doled out refund checks to Hoosier taxpayers on the backs of the cuts.
Now, he and a crop of like-minded former GOP governors are looking at Musk and President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency with a bit of nostalgia, uncertainty and — in Daniels’ case — caution.
“I certainly would have cautioned against throwing out a number that’s just preposterous,” Daniels told POLITICO of the $2 trillion Musk has set as a benchmark for DOGE savings. “There’s a real value in an effort like this because they illuminate the fact that the government does a lot of very silly or unnecessary or even counterproductive things, but I would have urged that they go achieve some real success first and then talk. Talk less, do more.”
Continue reading at Politico
Hegseth calls for DOD civilian employees to comply with OPM email directive
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Sunday he is now directing all department civilian employees to respond to emails from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) asking for a recap of what they did the week prior.
“I am now directing each member of the department’s civilian workforce — just civilian — to provide those five bullets on what they accomplished in their specific jobs last week,” Hegseth said in a video posted to social media. “To reply to that email and CC their immediate supervisor.”
“It’s a simple task, really, as Elon [Musk] said, as the president recognized in our first Cabinet meeting, just a pulse check — ‘Are you there out?’ — to DOD civilians,” Hegseth continued.
Continue reading at The Hill
Gabbard: Zelensky’s ‘immediate escalation’ during White House meeting created ‘huge rift’ in relationship
“I can tell you, there were a lot of conversations that were happening through different emissaries both for Zelensky and for President Trump, leading up to his visit there to the Oval Office, and President Zelensky’s immediate escalation there was … frankly quite a surprise,” Gabbard said. “This has created a huge rift in the relationship.”
Gabbard slammed Zelensky for how he handled the situation with Trump. She argued that Zelensky would only accept a deal that led to “what he views as Ukraine’s victory,” no matter if it led to a third world war.
“President Trump is committed to peace and to freedom,” she said. “We’re seeing this big divergence here between his position and his commitment to these values and the interests of the American people and the interests of President Zelensky and these European leaders.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Gabbard: ‘Big divergence’ between Trump’s, Zelensky’s interests
Gabbard joined “Fox News Sunday,” where she weighed in on international relations after Zelensky and Trump’s meeting had a fiery ending.
“President Trump recognizes the urgent need to end this war after three long, bloody years and has proven that he is the only person that can do this,” Gabbard said. “President Zelensky has different aims in mind.”
Gabbard argued that Zelensky will only accept a deal that leads to “what he views as Ukraine’s victory,” no matter if it leads to a third world war.
“President Trump is committed to peace and to freedom,” she said. “We’re seeing this big divergence here between his position and his commitment to these values and the interests of the American people and the interests of President Zelensky and these European leaders.”
Continue reading at The Hill
House budget resolution is ‘screw America bill,’ House Democrat says
“It’s the screw America bill, and let me tell you why,” Horsford said on “The Hill Sunday” with NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt.
“Let me tell you why,” the Nevada Democrat added. “They are cutting $2 trillion on the backs of everyday Americans, seniors, those who are disabled, women, pregnant women, newborn children, to do what? To give tax breaks to the very wealthy, to big corporations, to tech tycoons. And they’re very clear and deliberate about how they’re going about it.”
The House budget resolution was approved via a 217-215 vote on Tuesday night. Senate Republicans expressed their disagreements with the House measure, saying it wouldn’t result in the Trump tax cuts from eight years ago being permanent. They also have been worried about cuts to Medicaid needed to finance it.
Continue reading at The Hill
Rounds calls Russia ‘aggressor,’ says someone must ‘find a middle ground’ in Ukraine war
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) on Sunday called Russia an “aggressor” in the war in Ukraine and said someone must “stand in the middle” to “find a middle ground” in the conflict.
“Russia is the aggressor. Clearly, they’re the adversary in this particular case, but somebody has to stand in the middle and try to find a middle ground to get to a ceasefire to stop the killing,” Rounds told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday.” “I think that’s where the president wants to be in this case.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Measles outbreak continues to spike with nearly 150 reported cases
The measles outbreak in Texas continues to grow, with nearly 150 reported cases, and more could be exposed.
The outbreak in West Texas has killed one person, a child, making it the first U.S. measles death in a decade.
State and local health officials say hundreds of thousands of people in San Antonio could have been exposed over Valentine’s Day weekend. A person visiting the area for the weekend later tested positive, KSAT12 reported.
“It’s very possible that this person could have come in contact with, if not hundreds, thousands of our community residents, as well as visitors,” Antia Kurian, the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District Deputy Director of Communicable disease said, per NBC News. “We are a destination city. We have real great concern of potential large community wide exposures at these public sites.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Centrist Dem group rails against leftist identity politics and purity tests
Centrist Democrats produced a five-page document of takeaways at a retreat organized by Third Way.
The group of moderate Democratic consultants, campaign staffers, elected officials and party leaders who gathered in Loudoun County, Virginia for a day-and-a-half retreat, where they plotted their party’s comeback, searched for why the party lost in November — and what to do about it. Much of what they focused their ire on centered on the kind of identity politics that they believed lost them races up and down the ballot.
One of the key ways to win back the trust of the working class, some gathered there argued, was to “reduce far-left influence and infrastructure” on the party, according to the takeaways document. That included building a more moderate campaign infrastructure and talent pipeline, pushing “back against far-left staffers and groups that exert a disproportionate influence on policy and messaging,” and refusing to participate in “far-left candidate questionnaires” and “forums that create ideological purity tests.”
The gathering resulted in five pages of takeaways, a document POLITICO obtained from one of the participants. (Not all attendees endorsed each point, and the document — and Third Way — kept the identities of participants private.)
“In the wake of this election, where it became so evident that the things that the left was doing and saying deeply hurt [Kamala] Harris and down-ballot Democrats, a lot of people are looking to us, not just Third Way, but the moderates in the party, and saying, ‘We got to do it your way, because the other way ain’t working,’” said Third Way’s Matt Bennett, who helped organize the February retreat.
Continue reading at Politico
‘Democrats have been playing dead for too many years’
Bernie Sanders rejects a strategist’s advice to Democrats to make “strategic political retreat.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday sharply rejected veteran Democratic strategist James Carville’s suggestions for the Democratic Party to make a “strategic political retreat,” asserting that Democrats have spent too long in a passive political stance.
“Democrats have been playing dead for too many years,” Sanders said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in response to Carville’s aggressive advice to Democrats, which was outlined in a New York Times guest essay published last week.
Sanders — a two-time presidential candidate — countered Carville’s take, decrying the influence of billionaires like Elon Musk and saying that Democrats need to stand firm on positioning themselves as a clear opposition to the Trump administration’s agenda.
“I think you stand up for the working class of this country and make the point that right now, the Trump administration is clearly an administration designed to represent the interests of the Musks of the world.”
Continue reading at Politico
Economic agreement with Ukraine off the table for now, Bessent says
“President Zelenskyy has thrown off the sequencing,” Bessent said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said the prospect of an economic deal with Kyiv is not on the table at the moment after an Oval Office press conference involving President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went off the rails Friday
“President Trump’s idea for this economic arrangement was to further intertwine the American people and Ukrainian people and show no daylight,” Bessent told Margaret Brennan on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “To show the Russian leadership that there was no daylight, and President Zelenskyy came into the Oval Office and tried to relitigate in front of the world the deal.”
Bessent has been a key figure in the White House push to get Ukraine on board with an economic agreement, and personally flew to Kyiv to present Zelenskyy with the administration’s first draft of a deal in mid-February. An economic commitment, he told reporters in Kyiv, “will provide a long-term security shield for all Ukrainians.”
Continue reading at Politico
Crowds protest JD Vance at Vermont ski resort
The vice president was set for a family vacation.
WAITSFIELD, Vermont— Crowds protesting Vice President JD Vance the day after an Oval Office blowout over Ukraine lined roadways Saturday near a Vermont ski resort where he planned a weekend vacation with his family.
Many of the hundreds of demonstrators held signs in support of Ukraine, while other anti-war protesters waved Palestinian flags or signs in support of immigrant rights. Protesters showed up at several locations in the area, including both sides of Route 100 in Waitsfield.
Though demonstrations were planned days in advance, they were energized Saturday morning by a heated Oval Office exchange a day earlier between Vance, President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Vance berated Zelenskyy for challenging Trump’s assertions that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be trusted.
Continue reading at Politico
The Gilded Age Is Back — And That Should Worry Conservatives
Corporate dominance over politics brought power, wealth — and backlash.
At his second inauguration, as President Donald Trump promised to usher America into a new “golden age,” he was surrounded in the Capitol Rotunda by a handful of tech billionaires whose companies account for roughly one-fifth of the market cap of U.S. public equities. It was a not-so-subtle sign that the second Trump administration will be staffed, advised and led by titans of wealth. Which means that Trump’s golden age looks an awful lot like a new Gilded Age.
The Gilded Age was the era in the late 19th century when business and industry dominated American life as never before or since. It was a period of unprecedented economic growth and technological progress, but also of economic consolidation and growing wealth inequality. Titans of industry enjoyed enormous control over political institutions, while everyday Americans buckled under the strain of change. As the gap between the haves and the have-nots widened, political culture ultimately grew coarse — and violent.
Then as now, growing income and wealth inequality opened a rift in American society, with a small group of elites amassing substantial power and influence. In the Gilded Age, industrial magnates like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie dominated public life, while today, tech CEOs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos hold sway. Political corruption and patronage were rampant then, presaging concerns over corporate influence in politics now. Both periods witnessed intense political polarization and social upheaval, reflecting deep divisions within American society.
Continue reading at Politico Magazine
Major storm to test newly-depleted Weather Service
Why it matters: This will be the first test of whether the loss of expertise from the cuts and early retirements last week will affect forecast and warning accuracy.
Threat level: Lawmakers and meteorologists inside and outside of NOAA have warned that the cuts could compromise public safety and potentially lead to fatalities from extreme weather events.
The staff reductions came as climate change is making certain types of extreme weather events, such as heat waves and heavy precipitation events, more frequent and intense.
The big picture: Computer model guidance shows the potential for a significant severe thunderstorm outbreak featuring strong, damaging winds and tornadoes across the Mississippi Valley on Tuesday.
Continue reading at Axios
GOP chairmen urge leader to battle House on budget, spending strategy
They said the Senate should stand firm, not just on the budget bill that will be used to move President Trump’s agenda, but also on preventing a shutdown and not accepting a year-long government funding resolution that would trigger cuts to defense spending.
“It’s the desire of the Senate to legislate,” said one Senate Republican source who said Thune and the GOP committee chairs discussed their desire to make major changes to the House-passed budget plan, which would not make the Trump tax cuts permanent, as well as to avoid a year-long continuing resolution.
“The conversation on reconciliation was that the Senate still has a role to play here and we can’t be dominated,” the source added. “As much as anything, it’s frustration” over how the House budget was crafted.
Continue reading at The Hill
Americans largely split on who should have birthright citizenship: Survey
Americans are largely split on which groups of children they think should automatically become citizens, according to a new YouGov survey.
The survey, released Friday, includes 51 percent of respondents who support the view that “all children born in the U.S. should automatically become citizens.”
Meanwhile, 39 percent of respondents align with the view that “children born in the U.S. should automatically become citizens only if their parents are citizens,” and another 9 percent say they are not sure.
The results reveal a slight partisan divide. Those who say all children born in the U.S. should become citizens include 76 percent of Democrats, 54 percent of independents, and 26 percent of Republicans.
Continue reading at The Hill
Former NATO commander says war in Ukraine ‘a long way from being over’
Former NATO Supreme Allied Cmdr. Wesley Clark said on Sunday that the war in Ukraine is “a long way from being over.”
“[The] war’s a long way from being over,” Clark told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday.” “It’s [hard] to look at Russia through Russian eyes. Most of us look at Russia, we say, ‘The economy’s in trouble, forces aren’t going very far very fast, they’re taking a lot of casualties.’”
“But, you have to look at Russia through Russian history, Russian culture and Russian current mechanisms. Putin’s building a war machine. Military industrial complex in Russia going 24/7, getting a lot of support from China, Iran, North Korea. He hasn’t really tapped all of his manpower reserves. He’s trying to do this on the cheap,” he added.
Continue reading at The Hill
Defense promises but scant detail as Europe enters decisive week
A Thursday summit in Brussels will follow Sunday’s top-level diplomacy in London, with Europe’s leaders still facing important questions over military spending.
LONDON — Europe enters a pivotal week for the future of its security after a summit in London that delivered plenty of promises but few concrete answers.
A group of world leaders — including Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine but not U.S. President Donald Trump — spent Sunday afternoon in the palatial surroundings of the U.K. capital's Lancaster House chewing over the history-changing question of whether America is still at the heart of the western defense alliance.
“There was a renewed sense of urgency” to safeguard the continent’s collective security after the shocking scenes witnessed in Washington on Friday, according to one European diplomat close to the discussions.
That was a reference to Trump’s vicious verbal assault on Zelenskyy at the White House, which left European leaders wondering whether the U.S. still sees itself as an ally. Shortly after the stunning 15-minute scolding, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas even suggested that America no longer led the "free world;" and while the temperature cooled over the weekend, the nagging doubts haven't gone away.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
More governments pledge to join UK and France in sending peacekeepers to Ukraine
“We are at a crossroads in history,” says U.K.’s Starmer as some European leaders vow to increase defense spending.
Speaking to reporters after a summit of European and world leaders in London on Sunday, the United Kingdom's prime minister insisted the “coalition of the willing” plan must have United States backing. Donald Trump's America was a “reliable ally,” he said.
“A number of countries” agreed to commit troops to a peacekeeping force during the summit, Starmer said, but he added that he would leave it to individual nations to announce their participation.
It reflected a similar statement on defense spending made after the summit by NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Rutte said he heard “new announcements” around the table for more European countries vowing to “ramp up defense spending.” But he would not be drawn on further details.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Russia gloats about shift in U.S. relations with Ukraine
Moscow is welcoming the apparent shift in U.S. relations with Ukraine following last week's tense Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Trump and Vice President Vance.
The big picture: Kremlin officials commended the U.S. on Sunday, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying the United States' "rapidly changing" foreign policy configurations "largely coincides with our vision."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also praised Trump for his "common sense," even if the U.S. and Russia are not aligned on everything.
A spokesperson for Russia's foreign ministry said after the Oval Office meeting that it was a "miracle of restraint" that Trump and Vance didn't hit Zelensky.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's security council, crowed that "the insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office."
Continue reading at Axios
France, UK working on one-month Ukraine truce, says Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said the UK and France were working on a one-month truce in Ukraine “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure,” in an interview with a French daily. His comments came after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ended a London security summit with a call for Europe to “do the heavy lifting” in Ukraine. Read our liveblog for the latest developments.
Continue reading at France 24
Trudeau to bring up Trump’s threat to annex Canada in meeting with King Charles
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with King Charles III, the country’s head of state, on Monday where he will discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state.
The king has come under criticism in Canada for being silent about Trump’s threats to annex Canada.
Trudeau said in London on Sunday he will discuss matters of importance to Canadians with Charles and said “nothing seems more important to Canadians right now than standing up for our sovereignty and our independence as a nation.”
Charles is the head of state in Canada, which is a member of the British Commonwealth of former colonies.
Overall, the antiroyal movement in Canada is small, but the silence of the monarch on Trump’s threats have spurred talk in recent days.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
The Trump administration may exclude government spending from GDP, obscuring the impact of DOGE cuts
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that government spending could be separated from gross domestic product reports in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn.
“You know, that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.”
Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the U.S. economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because changes in taxes, spending, deficits and regulations by the government can impact the path of overall growth. GDP reports already include extensive details on government spending, offering a level of transparency for economists.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Only 4 percent of Americans back Russia in war, but 44 percent don’t back Ukraine either: Poll
Only 4 percent of surveyed Americans said they are backing Russia in the war in Ukraine, but 44 percent said they also don’t back Ukraine in a CBS News/YouGov poll.
In the poll, which took place between Feb. 26 and 28, 4 percent of the respondents said they “personally support” Russia when it comes to the war. Fifty-two percent said they personally support Ukraine, while 44 percent said “neither.”
The poll’s survey period ended the same day as a recent tense Oval Office meeting between President Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vice President Vance. In the meeting, Zelensky and Trump clashed over U.S. support of Ukraine.
Continue reading at The Hill
RFK Jr. urges people to get vaccinated amid deadly Texas outbreak
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advocated for the MMR vaccine on Sunday in response to a growing measles outbreak in Texas.
Why it matters: Kennedy has a long record of sowing skepticism about vaccines and last week appeared to downplay the situation in Texas when he described such outbreaks as "not unusual."
He has previously repeated debunked claims about vaccines and provided elusive answers to senators on his stance on vaccinations ahead of being confirmed.
Driving the news: In a Fox News op-ed that had the subheading "MMR vaccine is crucial to avoiding potentially deadly disease," Kennedy wrote that before the introduction of the MMR vaccine in the 1960s, "virtually every child in the United States contracted measles."
He noted that from 1953 to 1962, "on average there were 530,217 confirmed cases and 440 deaths," with a fatality rate of 1 in 1,205 cases.
"Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons," wrote Kennedy, who emphasized that the decision to vaccinate is "a personal one."
Continue reading at Axios
Rubio says Trump would be ‘on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize’ if he were a Democrat
Secretary of State Marco Rubio fiercely defended President Trump’s approach to negotiating a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia on Sunday, saying the media public would be praising his efforts if he were a Democrat.
“Shouldn’t we all be happy that we have a president who’s trying to stop wars and prevent them instead of start them?” Rubio said in an interview on ABC News’s “This Week,” amid a tense exchange with George Stephanopoulos over Trump’s peace-deal efforts.
“I just don’t get it. I really don’t, other than the fact that it’s Donald J. Trump,” he continued.
“If this was a Democrat that was doing this, everyone would be saying, ‘Well, he’s on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize,’” Rubio added. “This is absurd.”
Continue reading at The Hill
US aircraft carrier arrives in South Korea after North Korea test-fired missiles
The appearance of the USS Carl Vinson was meant to display American support for South Korea.
SEOUL, South Korea — A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea on Sunday in a show of force, days after North Korea test-launched cruise missiles to demonstrate its counterattack capabilities.
The arrival of the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group at the South Korean port of Busan was meant to display a solid U.S-South Korean military alliance in the face of persistent North Korean threats, and boost interoperability of the allies’ combined assets, the South Korean navy said in a statement.
Continue reading at Politico
Pardoned anti-abortion activists plan next steps
Trump’s FBI and DOJ dropped several ongoing investigations into threats against abortion clinics and issued a new memo signaling reduced enforcement going forward against such acts.
At a recent online event by the anti-abortion group LiveAction, several of the activists released from federal prison said they will resume efforts in the coming months to shut down remaining clinics in America, and they urged fellow abortion opponents to join them.
“Get out there, whether it’s outside the clinic or inside, or wherever you need to be to actually prevent unborn children’s lives from being taken,” said Herb Geraghty, a Pittsburgh-based anti-abortion activist who entered a Washington abortion clinic in 2020 to disrupt its operations and implore patients to not terminate their pregnancies.
On the heels of the pardons, Trump’s FBI and DOJ dropped several ongoing investigations into threats against abortion clinics and issued a new memo signaling reduced enforcement going forward against such acts. Those developments — along with a new push in Congress to repeal the law Geraghty and others violated — indicate that clinics will reemerge as a front in the battle over abortion access, and a focus of a president who called himself “the most pro-life” in history.
Geraghty, who served 17 months of a 27-month sentence before receiving a pardon he attempted to reject, told POLITICO that despite being “traumatized” by prison, his incarceration was worth it and he remains “committed to nonviolent direct action in service of the pro-life cause.”
Continue reading at Politico
States target fired federal workers in recruitment drives
New York is from midnight Monday launching a job recruitment ad campaign targeting fired federal workers.
The big picture: Gov. Kathy Hochul's (D) "you're hired" campaign to fill 7,000 public sector roles follows similar jobs initiatives in other states aimed at people who were laid off in the Trump administration's federal government overhaul, driven by DOGE, which billionaire Elon Musk is the face of.
Driving the news: N.Y. has opened a portal with resources for job-seekers and recruitment ads will be displayed on digital directory displays throughout New York City's Union Station from midnight, per an emailed statement Sunday from Sam Spokony, a spokesperson for the governor.
"There is a wide array of different types of jobs available, spanning all aspects of public service and government operations," Spokony said later in a text message.
Continue reading at Axios
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Free Speech and... a Muzzle | Blog#42
An email for the circular file, Part II?
Musical break
Another live performance from the band, Goose, last night in Grand Rapids, Michigan