News of the Week for February 9th, 2025
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Three Months After Missouri Voted to Make Abortion Legal, Access Is Still Being Blocked
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week.
Searches for ‘abortion’ on CDC website prompt suggestion to look up ‘adoption’
Users who search for abortion information on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website are now directed to try searching for the word “adoption.”
Their 15-week abortion bill has been withdrawn, but N.H. lawmakers are still weighing other proposals
Some pending bills would require public high schools to have students watch videos produced by an anti-abortion group
Gun Rights
Second Amendment Doesn’t Extend to Certain Gun Parts, Court Says
The Second Amendment applies only to gun parts that are integral to their operation, and a suppressor is just a gun accessory, Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod said Thursday for the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Maryland lawmaker, governor eyes nuclear power to tackle energy gaps amid green shift
Two bills before the Maryland General Assembly could fast-track nuclear power plant construction to address the state’s energy generation shortfalls caused by accelerated green energy priorities.
UK to Allow Nuclear Power Plants to Be Built in More Places
There are currently only eight designated sites for reactors. UK government is encouraging energy investment to spur growth.
Swiss Vote Rejects Placing Ecology At Heart Of Constitution
Swiss voters on Sunday firmly rejected a referendum proposal put forward by green politicians to enshrine respect for the planet’s natural resources into the constitution.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Will We Starve Dementia Patients in Slow Motion?
Moves are afoot in bioethics to require caregivers to withhold food and water by mouth from a patient made incompetent by dementia if that patient, while compos mentis, has signed such a request — and even if the patient willingly eats, enjoys meals, or asks for food. It is sometimes called “voluntary stop eating and drinking [VSED] by advance directive,” in the parlance.
RFK Jr.’s Belief in Race-Based Vaccination Schedules
No serious medical institution has called for race-based vaccination schedules.
US health expert flying ‘absolutely blind’ as federal health data vanishes
President Donald Trump’s end of diversity, equity and inclusion language in federal agencies has caused U.S. health data to be removed or not be updated. Medical experts warn that the losses, even in areas like flu and COVID tracking where DEI isn’t central, make it harder to manage outbreaks and fix health disparities.
Montana Senate Passes Bill That Would Make Physician-Assisted Suicide Illegal
Pro-assisted-suicide activists like to say the unethical act it is legal in Montana. Strictly speaking, that isn’t true. Some years ago, a muddled Montana supreme court ruling refused to create a state constitutional right to assisted suicide as requested by activists because the Montana constitution’s legislative history made it clear that the court couldn’t. But wanting to legalize it anyway, the judges declared somehow that assisted suicide wasn’t against public policy of the state and that consent to such an act was a defense to a criminal charge.
Katie Britt vows to work with RFK Jr. after NIH funding cuts cause concern in Alabama
Alabama’s junior U.S. senator said she will work with President Donald ‘health secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to “ensure our nation remains at the forefront” of innovation, research and care after funding cuts announced Friday night by the National Institutes of Health.
War & Terror
The Wars That Could Define The Donald Trump Presidency
Almost every president since the end of the Cold War had his foreign policy legacy defined by a war no one could have foreseen. For George H.W. Bush, it was Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Bill Clinton sought to deflect Bush’s 90 percent popularity after the successful 100-hour ground war by focusing on bread-and-butter issues. In 1992, Clinton campaign consultant James Carville summarized the strategy with the famous quip, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Clinton genuinely hoped to focus on the economy. He extricated U.S. forces from Somalia following the “Black Hawk Down” incident but found himself drawn first into Bosnia and then more reluctantly into Kosovo. George W. Bush, too, sought to be a domestic president but, after the 9/11 attacks, ordered U.S. forces into Afghanistan and, more controversially, into Iraq. Barack Obama pledged to end “dumb war[s],” but not only remained in Afghanistan and returned to Iraq but then involved the United States in Syria and Libya.
Now They Tell Us
It increasingly seems like each of America’s most committed geopolitical adversaries — China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia — are working as “a cohesive unit” to overturn the U.S.-led world order. Indeed, save for their hostility toward liberal democratic norms and the primacy of individual rights, their mutual suspicion of the geostrategic status quo is about all they these powers have in common.
See How Russia Is Winning the Race to Dominate the Arctic
Moscow is growing its footprint at the top of the world, working with China—and leaving the U.S. behind
China announces counter tariffs on numerous U.S. products with U.S. levies due to take effect
China said Tuesday it would counter President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products with tariffs of its own on multiple U.S. imports. It also announced an antitrust investigation into Google and other trade measures aimed at the U.S., ratcheting up trade tensions between the two economic heavyweights.
Trump says US will take ‘take over’ Gaza: ‘We’ll own it’
He said the U.S. would “level the site” and create “an economic development.”
Trump’s Gaza Bombshell
President Trump has developed a reputation for zigging when everybody else says it’s time to zag. But when it comes to the plan he just outlined for Gaza, it’s more like one side is zigging, another is zagging, and he just busted into the White House East Room and shouted “hippopotamus!”
ROK Marines were America’s Toughest Allies in the Vietnam War
Of all the military forces that fought against the communists in Vietnam, the ROK Marines had the most fearsome reputation.
CIA Offers Buyout to Entire Workforce as Part of Trump Makeover
Spy agency’s workforce receives buyout-style offer
Trump Is Turning Out To Be a Very Pro-China President
From tariffs on allies to gutting aid programs to mocking the rule of law, the president’s moves could be a dream come true for the Chinese.
Trump Announces Big Plans for Mar-a-Gaza
On the menu today: Just when you thought the U.S. government under President Trump was out of the foreign-aid business, he announces that the U.S. will “take over the Gaza Strip,” and “take a long-term ownership position” as well as being “responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” and if necessary, the U.S. will send military forces to secure the Gaza Strip.
Pete Hegseth’s Venmo: Defense Contractors, UnitedHealth Execs, Fox, and Friends
The VA may be the next government agency to go dark, if Pete Hegseth’s digital Rolodex is anything to go by.
Researchers link DeepSeek’s blockbuster chatbot to Chinese telecom banned from doing business in US
The website of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, whose chatbot became the most downloaded app in the United States, has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company that has been barred from operating in the United States, security researchers say.
A Silly Question with a Serious Answer
That raises an existential question: “Are you more worried that the Chinese are spying on us and propagandizing us,” he asked, “or are you more worried that the CIA is spying on us and propagandizing us?”
CIA sends White House an unclassified email with names of recent hires
The CIA sent the White House an unclassified email listing all employees hired by the spy agency over the past two years to comply with an executive order to shrink the federal workforce, in a move that former officials say risked the list leaking to adversaries.
‘Trump peace plan for Ukraine’ is ‘leaked’: Talks with Putin, ceasefire by Easter and an end to Zelensky’s NATO dream among details in report
US president Donald Trump will try to force Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to a ceasefire with Russia by Easter under a peace plan, according to a report.
Rand Paul Slams Trump’s Gaza Plan After Opposing Tariffs: ‘I Thought We Voted America First’
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) slammed President Donald Trump’s plans for Gaza, accusing him of steering away from his “America first” policies.
Dreams of Gaza, &c.
On a proposed new adventure; Orwell in Syria; indecency in the State Department; the late basso Paul Plishka; and more
SemiAnalysis says DeepSeek spent more than it claims
Chinese tech company estimated to have 50,000 Nvidia Hopper GPUs
Why are so many North Koreans dying on the battlefields of Ukraine?
Outdated tactics, coupled with inadequate Russian support, have left thousands of them vulnerable to modern warfare
Mystery seed packages from China return to Texas, prompting alarm
The state of Texas is urging residents to report unsolicited packages of seeds or liquid that arrive in the mail, warning they might be harmful.
Russia begins withdrawal of air defense units from occupied Crimea, says guerrilla group
“The decision is driven not only by Ukrainian Defense Forces’ strikes on oil depots and military infrastructure but also by internal public pressure within Russia,” Atesh said.
National
Some migrants arrested in Trump’s immigration crackdown have been released back into the U.S.
Space constraints and court orders have led ICE to release migrants on monitoring programs after they’re arrested.
House Democrats’ Main Super PAC Dedicates $50 Million to Working Class Voter Outreach in 2026
The House Majority PAC (HMP), a spending group aligned with House Democratic leaders, announced on Monday the creation of a $50 million “Win Them Back Fund” aimed at pulling working-class voters back into the Democratic fold in 2026.
How the Fair Housing Act Gave Us Emotional Support Parrots
The right to a reasonable accommodation has produced some absurd results.
Graham says he is fighting a ‘growing isolationist movement’ within GOP
Speaking at an Orthodox Union Advocacy Center conference, Sen. Lindsey Graham warned: ‘There is an element of our party that’s saying, We don’t want to get sucked into endless war because of Israel’
Why the water Trump ordered released in California won’t help Los Angeles firefighting
Following the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles in January, President Trump ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release billions of gallons of water from two reservoirs in California’s Central Valley, more than 100 miles away from the fire zones.
El Salvador’s millennial dictator offers to hold American criminals in mega prisons
Nayib Bukele meets with US secretary of state Marco Rubio as Trump attempts to deport large numbers of ‘dangerous’ offenders
El Salvador offers to lock up US criminals in its mega-jail
El Salvador has offered to take in criminals deported from the US, including those with US citizenship, and house them in its mega-jail.
Fight Club’s Chuck Palahniuk: ‘Today, cults are the big thing. Secretive cults’
The novelist on transgressive literature, the ‘exhausting’ appeal of Elon Musk – and why Netflix would never accept his shocking TV pitch
2.2 billion gallons of water flowed out of two Central California reservoirs because of Trump’s order to open dams
The US Army Corps of Engineers opened two dams on Friday in Central California and let roughly 2.2 billion gallons of water flow out of reservoirs, after President Donald Trump ordered the release with the misguided intent to send water to fire-ravaged Southern California.
Ann Arbor is getting a new fire truck, but it will take 4 years and cost $2.4M
Ann Arbor Fire Department Chief Mike Kennedy jokingly told City Council there’s a technical term to describe the price of new fire trucks.
Republican Senators Say They’re Fine Handing Their Power to Elon Musk
Musk’s actions may be unconstitutional but “nobody should bellyache about that,” Sen. Thom Tillis said.
FBI Agents File Class Action Challenging “Retaliatory Firing”
While FBI agents may be at-will employees who can, generally speaking, be fired for “any reason or no reason,” they can’t be fired for an unconstitutional reason, or as punishment for the exercise of their constitutional rights (e.g. he can’t fire all the African-American agents, or all the agents registered as Democrats).
Scientists Discover First Henipavirus in North America, Raising Pandemic Fears
Scientists have identified the Camp Hill virus, a henipavirus, in shrews in Alabama, marking its first detection in North America.
Police accuse Las Vegas attorney of recruiting felons to kill former client
Las Vegas police allege that attorney Gary Guymon conspired with two felons to kill a client while Guymon was under investigation in a sex trafficking case.
DOGE Employees Ordered to Stop Using Slack While Agency Transitions to a Records System Not Subject to FOIA
Employees working for the agency now known as DOGE have been ordered to stop using Slack while government lawyers attempt to transition the agency to one that is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, 404 Media has learned.
Trump Plays a Dangerous Game with the Abraham Accords
The regional actors he needs to attract to the coalition were drawn by its focus on Iran at the expense of the Palestinian issue. So much for that.
En Banc Review of Eleventh Circuit Panel’s Sex-Change Confusion
Back in May 2024, I highlighted an addled ruling by an Eleventh Circuit panel majority (in Lange v. Houston County) that held that Title VII requires that an employer provide health insurance for “sex change surgery” if it provides health insurance for other “medically necessary” services.
What Rubio told U.S. diplomats about the future of foreign aid, as most programs paused
The United States does not plan to stop distributing foreign aid around the world but needs to do a better job explaining and defending programs receiving assistance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. diplomats behind closed doors Wednesday.
A Massachusetts School District Rolled Back Advanced Classes. Teachers Are Starting To Revolt.
A group of parents tried to resist the changes years ago but say they were smeared as racists.
Passenger Plane With 10 People on Board Goes Missing in Alaska
The Coast Guard, Air Force and National Guard are involved in a search for the plane, which went missing over the Bering Sea
FCC Investigates SF Radio Station for ICE Reporting, Sparking Press Freedom Fears
The Federal Communications Commission is investigating San Francisco-based KCBS for its coverage of immigration enforcement actions in San José last month, sparking concerns from press freedom advocates and drawing right-wing backlash to the radio station.
‘High calling’: How Trump’s HUD secretary plans to tackle the housing crisis
President Donald Trump’s just-confirmed secretary of housing and urban development is perhaps best known for the nine seasons he spent playing cornerback in the NFL, more than double the length of his career in the Texas legislature, but he told the Washington Examiner that lessons he has learned both on the gridiron and in government will be essential for tackling one of the nation’s most pressing issues: the housing crisis.
Liking Post That Contains Porn Deepfake Can Lead to Liability, Court Says in Megan Thee Stallion Lawsuit
Under Section 836.13, Florida Statutes, a plaintiff may bring a civil action against anyone who ‘willfully and maliciously promotes’ an ‘altered sexual depiction’ of her without her consent. The statute defines ‘promote’ broadly, covering actions like publishing, distributing, exhibiting, or presenting the altered content.”
The heist of 100,000 eggs in Pennsylvania becomes a whodunit that police have yet to crack
The heist of 100,000 eggs from the back of a trailer in Pennsylvania has become a whodunit that police have yet to crack.
Unfair Labor Practice Charge: Union Bosses illegally threatening strike fine against nonmember worker
Portland-area Fred Meyer grocery store employee Robert Wendelschafer has filed federal charges against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 555. The charges state that union officials broke federal law by ignoring his request to resign union membership during a union strike and are unlawfully retaliating against the employee by demanding nearly $1000 from him because he exercised his right to rebuff union boss strike orders and go to work.
USAID Paying for Politico Is a Nontroversy
There are many legitimate criticisms of both USAID and Politico; this is not one of them.
Wisconsin Supreme Court rules embattled elections chief can stay in post
A unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that the swing state’s nonpartisan top elections official, who has been targeted for removal by Republican lawmakers over the 2020 presidential election, can remain in her post despite not being reappointed and confirmed by the state Senate.
NASA and General Atomics test nuclear fuel for future moon and Mars missions
Rockets propelled by nuclear reactors could slash the time it takes us to get to Mars.
Economy & Taxes
Trump’s Tariff Folly
After months of uncertainty, the White House has finally announced tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. The uncertainty since the election and especially the lack of clear communication in the past several days have caused apprehension in the stock market, which is likely part of the reason why these measures were announced on a Saturday, when the markets are closed — always a sign of confidence that an economic policy decision is the right one.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman says he will move management company out of Delaware
Some corporations are turning against Delaware, historically considered a business-friendly state.
AFBF: New Tariffs Will Impact America’s Farmers
American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall today expressed alarm about potential harm to farmers resulting from the order signed by President Trump imposing stiff tariffs on the United States’ top three agricultural markets by value. An economic emergency was declared to put duties of 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada, with limited exceptions, as well as 10% on all imports from China. Canada and Mexico both announced they would impose retaliatory measures.
The U.S. Does Not Need a Sovereign Wealth Fund
Donald Trump signed an executive order to study the creation of a sovereign wealth fund for the United States. It’s a bad idea that shouldn’t go anywhere.
Trump Is a Cheap Date
So, the huge breakthrough that Trump’s supposedly genius negotiating skills accomplished is not a breakthrough at all, and Trump already ran this same playbook with this same issue two and a half months ago.
The North American Trade War Begins
On the menu today: In normal times, “controversial trade issues” would refer to the fact that Luka Doncic is now a Los Angeles Laker. Instead, President Trump’s new 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico, and 10 percent tariff on China, are slated to go into effect Tuesday, and those countries are pulling U.S. goods off the store shelves in retaliation. A trade war has begun, and you’re going to see the effect in prices at the store quite soon. Elsewhere, we get a form of proof of life from our most recent former president.
The North American Trade War Gets Postponed, for Now
The great North American Trade War of 2025 gets postponed for at least a month; laying out all the things USAID does besides the nonsense programs you’ve probably heard about; Vox belatedly notices an axis of anti-Western powers cooperating more frequently; and how ’80s rock bands influence our understanding of Central America.
Trump Is All Over the Place on Tariffs
It wasn’t diplomacy. It wasn’t economic policy. It wasn’t even hardball. It was caprice. By threatening Canada and Mexico as he did, Trump didn’t teach the world a lesson in focused statecraft; he ran around naked in a diner waving his arms in the air, and decided after the fact to call the performance “Art.”
There Is Still No Union Resurgence
Despite another year of wall-to-wall positive media coverage for organized labor, the union membership rate ticked down in 2024.
While Sean O’Brien Attacks Credit Card Companies, Teamsters Make Millions from High-Interest Card
Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) is teaming up with Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) to introduce legislation capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent. A political ally of both senators is Teamsters union president Sean O’Brien. While praising Hawley for going after credit card companies, O’Brien said on his podcast Better Bad Ideas, “You’ve got a lot of our members, our constituents, who are paying 28, 29 percent on credit cards that they’ll never be able to pay off.”
Store closings may accelerate as retailers face problems far beyond tariffs
Brick-and-mortar retail had a tough year last year, and it’s only going to get harder in 2025, experts say.
US trade deficit widens sharply in December as imports hit record high
The U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in December as imports surged to a record high against the backdrop of tariff threats.
High Interest Rates Can Be Good for Consumers, Actually
“Two senators plan to introduce a bill on Tuesday to impose a tight cap on credit card interest rates, reviving a proposal that is sure to draw howls from banks and other lenders.”
Which Taxes Count?
If you call a tail a leg, Lincoln asked, how many legs does a calf have? The correct answer is four, because calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one.
Temu steers users to ‘local’ products after Trump shuts tax loophole
Temu is promoting items shipped from U.S. warehouses more prominently in its app after President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke a popular trade provision called de minimis.
Trump’s tariff whiplash
Six reactions to the new administration’s aggressive trade diplomacy.
Trump considering allowing sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel
President Trump is considering allowing Japan’s Nippon Steel to complete its $14.1 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, according to multiple sources.
Trump pauses de minimis repeal as packages pile up at US customs
U.S. President Donald Trump paused his administration’s repeal of duty-free treatment of low-cost packages from China on Friday, giving the Commerce Department time to make the order workable, after the rapid change caused chaos at customs, postal services, and online retailers.
Trump official’s directive tying transportation grants to birth rates could hinder blue states
Shortly after he was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy circulated a memo that instructed his department to prioritize families by, among other things, giving preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average when awarding grants.
International
At least 700 killed in DR Congo fighting since Sunday
The UN says at least 700 people have been killed in intense fighting in Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, since Sunday.
Canada’s Pierre Poilievre: In What ‘Strategic Mindset’ Do Trump’s Tariffs Make Sense?
Pierre Poilievre is the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, and likely the next prime minister after the general elections later this year.
Drug gangs in Ecuador turn to “death saint” for protection — and allegedly human sacrifices
Sporting gloves and a red ribbon to ward off evil, Ecuadoran police raiding a drug den apprehensively inspect an altar to Santa Muerte — a Mexican “death saint” adopted by local gangs as their own talisman.
University adds 200 trigger warnings including ‘extreme weather’ and ‘mourning’ to Shakespeare
Students also receive alerts over use of ‘knives’ and ‘popping of balloons’ in several of the playwright’s top works
The International Criminal Court Has Put Itself at Trump’s Mercy
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof reportedly said of the new Trump sanctions on the International Criminal Court: “We don’t know the exact impact yet, but it could make the court’s work very hard and possibly impossible in certain areas.”
Opinion
The American Exception
You’ve heard it before: American democracy is dying. Our 237-year-old Constitution is out of date. The U.S. Senate and the Electoral College are bulwarks of white supremacy. The legislative filibuster thwarts reform. The two-party system is stifling. Our political institutions are broken beyond repair. There’s no saving this corrupt polity. Only radical change will do the trick.
The Tradwife Dilemma
Last year, on social-media accounts with names like Ballerina Farm, and in online magazines such as Evie, a new type of woman emerged to bedevil cultural observers: the “tradwife.” Depending on your sensibility, she was either a welcome example of women embracing traditional feminine roles in the household, or proof that the patriarchy had finally triumphed and forced countless women back into the kitchen to serve the needs of men and children.
MAGA Declares Victory and Retreats
It’s odd that Joe Biden managed to secure the same commitment from Mexico without imposing crippling uncertainty on the continent — uncertainty that persists and that businesses bake into their forecasts, bearing out the proven downward pressure that insecurity puts on commercial expansion and investment. And those commitments were clearly just cosmetic gestures, which the pro-Trump Right saw right through at the time. They were correct to note that it was a fig leaf, devoting their attention instead to the “migrant caravans” that somehow evaded Mexico’s newly vigorous scrutiny.
Trump Fights on Every Front at Once
“So long as the common man can get a hearing, such elementary rules as not fighting all your enemies simultaneously are less likely to be violated.” — George Orwell on the strategic folly of Nazi Germany going to war against the Soviet Union and the United States before it had even subdued Britain. Orwell’s dictum is usually correct. But Donald Trump is pushing the envelope.
Trump Is a Cheap Date
He had already begun to threaten tariffs on Mexico before that. What happened today was basically a rerun of that same conversation from November, just as president rather than as president-elect.
The ‘3.5% rule’: How a small minority can change the world
Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.
A Little Pain
The unfolding Madisonian disaster.
Why They Hate Churchill
As regular readers will recall, I’ve written occasionally about a faction of the right which operates in a manner increasingly resembling the Woke Left. There is much debate about me labelling this group the “Woke Right”, with plenty of agreement and disagreement from people I like and respect. Mainly, these arguments stem from what one understands wokeness to mean. If being woke is about being an extreme leftist obsessed with pronouns and open borders, the term “Woke Right” is nonsense. But, to me at least, wokeness was never about policy positions, it was about the philosophy and methodology behind the movement. And it is this— the identity politics, grievance mongering and cancel culture— that is now being replicated on the fringes of the right.
Hair of the Dog — Politics are Dominated by Hypocrisy
Nearly 200 new Executive Orders? If I do nothing else I can still blog for weeks just going through the list.
Trump Is a Cheap Date: Canada Edition
I noted earlier today that Trump extracted nothing new from Mexico in exchange for suspending his threat of tariffs against the country. It’s a similar story now with Canada.
Trump Pays Lip Service to Thomas Sowell but Ignores His Wisdom
In his proclamation for Black History Month, which is this month, President Trump said, “American heroes such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Thomas Sowell, Justice Clarence Thomas, and countless others represent what is best in America and her citizens.”
What is Going Wrong With the Anti-Woke?
Part 1 of 2: We are not a homogenous group.
The Non-Tariff Costs to Trump’s Reckless Tariff Policy
Yesterday, I wrote two posts about Trump’s tariff threats, one on Mexico and one on Canada, that did not contain any economic arguments. My point in both of them was to take the claim that Trump was using tariffs to negotiate and show that he actually got approximately nothing for the U.S. despite his claims to victory.
Strange Bedfellows
Uniting the political extremes against the center is producing some baffling results.
‘Strongman’ leaders of Europe don’t look so strong anymore
So-called “strongman” leaders in Eastern Europe — allied with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and often rejecting directives from the European Union — have arguably seen their positions wane in recent years, analysts say. Forthcoming elections mean anti-EU populist leaders could face their biggest challenge yet. The leaders of Hungary and Slovakia are often put in the same genre of nationalist, right-wing and “strongman” leadership typified by the likes of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
The Two Competing Democratic Parties
The off-ramp is clear. It’s a wonder that more Democrats don’t just take it.
Never Again Is Now
How in the world did people become Nazis? How could it have happened? These are questions we grew up with and, maybe, always hoped against hope we wouldn’t be able to answer. There’s a comfort in them remaining mysterious, but in that comfort we’re vulnerable. How can we possibly make good on “Never Again” if we do not know how it happened? Sadly, today we’re threatened with the same menace. Sadly, today, we’re learning not how it could have happened, but exactly how it happened because it’s happening again around us. More and more of us know, with our stomachs sunken, that it is now time to speak up, but that raises another question: how?
A Rule of Thumb for the Executive Power Debates
A few weeks into Donald Trump’s second presidency, it is clear we will all have to think a lot about executive power in the next four years. The new administration means to flex its muscles, and the results will raise some complicated questions.
Trump, USAID and the Rule of Law
The president doesn’t have legal authority to close the agency without Congress.
A New Word for Trump’s Foreign Policy
‘Sovereigntism’ gets at the core of America First overseas.
Why Does Trump Threaten America’s Allies? Hint: It Starts in 1919.
When President Trump started talking about regaining control of the Panama Canal, colleagues and friends barraged me with questions. Where did this seemingly out-of-the-blue interest in a long-since-yielded area of control come from? How did a fit of pique about tolls and China grow into a threat to force Panama to cede its territory to the United States? Was there some kind of larger rationale that might explain it?
The Democrats Confront True Powerlessness
On the menu today: After examining the joys of annexing Gaza, the on-again, off-again trade wars with Canada and Mexico, the likely next secretary of health and human services’ belief that whites and blacks need different vaccine schedules and lack of interest in Medicaid and Medicare, and the chameleon-like ideological transformations of the woman likely to become the next director of national intelligence, it’s time to turn our attention to that other party in Washington, although you’re forgiven if you’ve forgotten the Democrats exist. Life in the minority was always going to be tough, but right now the Democratic Party in Washington is a Superfund site, with a dearth of leadership that makes the Republicans’ recent times in the wilderness feel like a comfortable stroll.
The Wilderness Democrats
Is there a single Democrat — active politician or senior statesmen — that rank-and-file members of the party can count on to carry their flag?
D.C. Download: Why all Nevada Democrats voted to advance House GOP immigration bill
The Laken Riley Act would require the detention of undocumented immigrants who have been charged with nonviolent crimes.
U.S. Blindsides Panama, Saying American Government Ships Will Get Free Canal Passage
No formal deal has been agreed to as President Trump threatens takeover
Birthright Citizenship: The Supreme Court Precedents Loom Large
Trump can only win his case by getting the Supreme Court to overrule its own precedent or reject its reasoning.
Don’t Squander the Promise of DOGE, Elon
Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that 25-year-old DOGE staffer Marko Elez was, in fact, a “special government employee” and could access U.S. Treasury Department payment systems. Later that day, Elez resigned. In the intervening hours, a fracas had erupted around the revelation that Elez had posted a variety of racially hostile messages on social media — supporting, for example, “eugenic immigration policy” and insisting that “You could not pay me to marry outside my ethnicity,” among other missives. Even despite the DOGE team’s tolerance for controversy, this was too much.
Trump’s Power Grab Defies G.O.P. Orthodoxy on Local Control
New York City traffic. California water rules. Middle school sports. Few local policies are outside the reach of Donald J. Trump’s federal government.
In Defense of Ben Sasse
Tentative audit findings fail to back up the barrage of media attacks the former university president and senator has faced over expenses.
The Democrats’ Dilemma
Their problems run deeper than messaging.
History Warns Us About Cabinet Members Like RFK Jr.
If RFK is confirmed, he is likely to fail for reasons similar to past political choices for the cabinet.
Red light cameras will not help public safety
There are few people who would disagree with the assertion that Las Vegas drivers are among the worst in the nation. Using Big Brother surveillance tactics to issue those reckless drivers a slew of citations, however, won’t make our streets any safer.
Roy Moore Is Not the Cure for Judicial Supremacy
One of the arguments made by serious conservatives in favor of Roy Moore — at least before his campaign was consumed by stories of sexual impropriety — has been that Moore is an enemy of judicial supremacy. While I’m sympathetic to the cause, Moore was never a good messenger for it.
Moral Responsibility for Backlash
Is it a thing? Should it be?
History Warns Us About Cabinet Members Like RFK Jr.
If RFK is confirmed, he is likely to fail for reasons similar to past political choices for the cabinet.
The Democrats’ Dilemma
Their problems run deeper than messaging.
