Contemporaneous reporting from: 2025/01/20 to Present Day.

>> JUMP TO LATEST DEVELOPMENTS (May-3) >>

EVERYTHING THAT SOUNDED GOOD — first day in office — a swamp: Trump launched an agenda by signing roughly 200 executive orders, CBS News (Jan-20) reported. The Washington Post (Jan-20) added, Trump claimed there was party unity, even though headlines repeated (e.g. USA Today, Politico, Al Jazeera, and Local 3 Chattanooga TN) that the Republican Party was more divided than ever: X] typical Republican politicians, Y] MAGA Nationalists, Z] Neo-MAGA Oligarchs. Trump's second administration (struggling with the reins to point the elephant in the right direction) was bringing back memories and echoing the chaos/disorganization of his first administration.

"President Trump began his second term Monday with a sweeping order aimed at reversing dozens of former President Biden’s top priorities, from regulations aimed at lowering health care costs, to coronavirus outreach, Affordable Care Act expansions, and protections against gender-based discrimination," STAT (Jan-20) reported.

President-elect Donald Trump (Jan-19) held (video) a pre-inauguration rally. "The purpose of the rally was intended to be clear, but the music suggested a far messier — and still unresolved — truth underneath," New York Times had noticed contradictions. Trump spoke, "...and he (Elon) knows those computers better than anybody. All those computers, those vote-counting computers... And we ended up winning..."

CBS News (Jan-20) shared (video & transcript) from President Donald Trump's inaugural speech. "...Trump said he was declaring a national emergency at the southern border and deploying troops to control immigration... At other times, Trump and his campaign officials have announced plans to activate the National Guard and local police forces to assist with immigration enforcement," The Conversation (Jan-20) relayed. Politico (Jan-20) said, "National Guard troops worry Trump will deploy them for mass deportations... ...in the center of a political tussle between red state governors and blue state attorneys general over Donald Trump’s expected crackdown on undocumented immigrants." From threats, grievances, and promises to make America great again, Trump wasn't too clear. Subtle intimidation was under the cover of wildfires as he said they were, "affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country, some of whom are sitting here right now. They don't have a home any longer. That's interesting... Everyone is unable to do anything about it... Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback. But as you see today, here I..." After the address (video from 30 minutes 53 seconds), instead of music from Carrie Underwood, silence. "...dark..." YouTube/CBS anchors (Jan-20) noted (video from 32 minutes 26 seconds). Wall Street Journal (Jan-20) shared (video, start from 2 hours 19 minutes 3 seconds) full coverage. From 2:19:49 to 2:20:20, Biden and Underwood communicated lack of surprise. They looked at Trump. Twenty seconds later, some kind of "pin-drop" could be heard (video). The New Republic (Jan-20) reported, "Donald Trump gave a dark, rambling speech after his official (and very dark) inaugural address." Wall Street Journal (Jan-20) shared (video, start from 2 hours 59 minutes 40 seconds).

President Trump's White House (Jan-20) announced, "The United States Digital Service is hereby publicly renamed as the United States DOGE Service (USDS) and shall be established in the Executive Office of the President."

"Claiming DOGE violates federal law because of its structure and secrecy... ...Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency were hit with three different lawsuits over the legal status of the effort to find federal regulations to eliminate and federal employees to fire," The Intercept (Jan-20) wrote. CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) (Jan-20) said (PDF), "Currently, DOGE is operating unchecked, without authorization or funding from Congress and is led by unelected billionaires who are not representative of ordinary Americans... ...communication is allegedly taking place on Signal, a messaging app known for its auto-delete features." The Intercept continued, "Another lawsuit was filed by National Security Counselors (PDF), a nonprofit law firm. The third lawsuit came courtesy of Public Citizen (PDF), a consumer protection group, and the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union for federal workers."

Announcing the, "Stargate for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investment," President Donald Trump (Jan-21) outlined (video), $500 billion dollars for The Stargate Project, "a new American company," named after a secret cancelled/declassified remote viewing/surveillance U.S. Army program (PDF) from the 1970s-1990s. In a Texas-based joint-venture, executives from OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle were, "expected to commit $500 billion into Stargate over the next four years," CBS (Jan-21) reported.

X/Pop Base (Jan-20) shared, "Pope Francis [slammed] Donald Trump for his plan to conduct large-scale deportation raids: If it is true, it will be a disgrace, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay the unpaid bill. It won’t do. This is not the way to solve things."

CNN (Jan-21) reported, Manhattan University Campus Minister Rev. Edward Beck critiqued President Trump's theology after his criticism of the prayers at his inauguration. Beck said most the prayers from within the Capitol were, "partisan screed and it wasn't prayer at all. It was histrionic performance, with the exception of Cardinal Dolan..." — "God, of our father, you sent man to govern your creatures, to govern in holiness and justice, to render justice with integrity. Give our leader wisdom, for he is your servant. If wisdom if comes not with you be not with him, he shall be sent in no esteem. He may know your designs. Please, God bless America."

Trump's eternal gimmick promised how "great" America was going to be, however; "great" was easily double-talk/sarcasm. Therefore, he sure made America "great." What a great person he was. Oh great! President Donald J. Trump entered into agreement and proclaimed, "I was saved by God, to make America great again," The Palm Beach Post (Jan-20) reported (video). "...we lift our hearts in gratitude for the beloved parents of President Trump. Without Mary and Fred Trump, this day would never be the miracle (of "saving" Trump) that has just begun. From their place in heaven. May they shield their son from all harm by their loving protection, and give him the strength to guide our nation along the path that will make America great again,... Watch Father Frank Mann's prayer for President Donald Trump during his swearing-in ceremony," WTVRCBS6 (Jan-20) shared (video).

Female — "Trump [sneaked] dangerous rights for fetuses into executive order..." that defined sex/gender at conception. The New Republic (Jan-21) wrote that Trump and his official authors seemed to misunderstand, "all fetuses have phenotypically female genitalia until they reach six to seven weeks of gestation, at which point some fetuses can start to be visually differentiated as male," according to the National Institutes of Health.

Propagandizing opinions/ideas and/or definitions of "common sense," "potential," and "harmful," as an absolute, was similar to saying, "fair," "safe," or "prosperous," and who was included regarding, "united," or even terms for, "peace." The White House (Jan-20) shared an executive order listing, "initial rescissions of harmful executive orders and actions... To commence the policies that will make our Nation united, fair, safe, and prosperous again, it is the policy of the United States to restore common sense to the Federal Government and unleash the potential of the American citizen."

"Donald Trump [rolled] back Biden-Harris rule to lower drug costs for millions of Americans," Democrats.org (Jan-20) shared.

Faster! Work harder, or else! The White House (Jan-21) revoked existing civil-rights laws, including: President Lyndon B. Johnson's Executive Order 11246 (On Affirmative Action) of September 24, 1965 (Equal Employment Opportunity), claiming they, "[threatened] the safety of American men, women, and children across the Nation by diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination." The executive order was titled, "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," National Law Review (Jan-22) reported.

X/California Attorney General Rob Bonta (Jan-21) announced (PDF), "suing President Trump over his unconstitutional, un-American executive order ending birthright citizenship." MSNBC (Jan-22) discovered (video), "22 states had sued Trump over (his) immigration order..." MSNBC's Ari Melber (Jan-22) delivered a special report, "Powerless: Trump flails with order overruled by Constitution’s citizenship clause."

"An admission of guilt..." Following Trump's pardons for January 6 offenders, DC police officer Daniel Hodges and others (including members of the January 6 investigative committee) worried that a "Trumped up" judge could help the newly elected president get "revenge" and imprison those who accepted a pre-emptive pardon from Former President Biden, CNN (Jan-21) reported (video). Michael Fanone, a former DC police officer who was attacked during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol said, "People like the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, these violent anti-government groups who Donald Trump has brought into his inner circle. It says go out there and assault my detractors. Go out there and silence those that would stand up against me. And I will make sure that you are never held to account. The rule of law in this country is dead. Criminal justice in this country is dead, and people like myself cannot turn to the institutions traditionally charged with protecting American citizens from violent attacks just like this. Because the Department of Justice is not the independent body that we have all come to know and respect. The Department of Justice is Donald Trump's Department of Justice. The FBI is Donald Trump's FBI, local law enforcement is Donald Trump's local law enforcement. Make no mistake about it, these police departments, they will fall in line with Donald Trump and his orders. You will not see the mass resignations that so many people have speculated would occur when Donald Trump comes in and tears up the Constitution and starts doing whatever the hell he wants to do... I believe that the election was in part, a referendum on January 6th and that most Americans, they don't care, because the characteristics that many of us have come to associate with ourselves as Americans. Things like honor, courage, integrity are all bullshit. They've been replaced by things like selfishness, self-centeredness, and cowardice. And that's how we came to have Donald Trump as our president," CNN (Jan-22) reported (audio).

"President Trump's near-total pardon of Jan. 6 rioters was denounced by the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the U.S., and the International Association of Chiefs of Police," Axios (Jan-22) shared.

CNN (Jan-22) reported (video), "Trump calls Jan. 6 rioters hostages in front of woman held hostage by Hamas."

"Trump just said: F -k it: Release 'em all," an adviser familiar with the discussions (Jan-21) told Axios. "Trying to rewrite history: Boise woman guilty in Capitol riot rejects Trump pardon," Idaho Statesman (Jan-22) reported, "On his first day in office after four years away from the White House, President Donald Trump granted clemency to more than 1,500 people charged with crimes in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building staged by his supporters... 71-year-old Boise resident Pamela Hemphill, once nicknamed the MAGA Granny, rejected her pardon..." She told the Idaho Statesman, "Accepting the pardon would be an insult to the Capitol Police officers, to the rule of law, to our nation The J6 (January 6) criminals are trying to rewrite history by saying that it was not a riot; it wasn’t an insurrection. I don’t want to be a part of their trying to rewrite what happened that day... " The crowd trampled her, "They stepped on me, threw me down, cut my knee, broke my glasses, stepped on my head, pulled out my shoulder... The officers pulled me up and put me behind them... They were the heroes that day." Hemphill added that she and her attorney had made plans to file a letter rejecting the pardon. She explained how politics of Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights Network consumed her and, "She now thinks of herself as having been in a cult."

"It’s like a community... It starts becoming like a little family, people you can talk to about the government and the policies and the new laws they want to bring in. We were standing up for the nation because the Democrats want to turn it into a communist nation. I’m laughing now. I mean, it’s ridiculous. But that scared me... They started talking about supporting people that had actually been violent, and I wasn’t happy about that..." She started seeing through other rioters spreading misinformation and lies, "I got my critical thinking back and started doing my own research, which I’m guilty of not doing back then because they gaslight you so much... It’s really weird when you come out of a cult. It’s like you look back and you go, what was I thinking?"

"Climate science deniers from a US-based thinktank have been working with rightwing politicians in Europe to campaign against environmental policies," The Guardian (Jan-22) could reveal; "The Heartland Institute, which has links to the Trump administration and has drawn on funding from companies including ExxonMobil and wealthy US Republican donors, has seized on a time when rightwing anti-climate action sentiment has been surging, and has set up a new European base in London."

With extensive rambling leading to mixed reactions, President Trump (Jan-23) gave (video), "...virtual remarks to World Economic Forum."

Politico (Jan-23) reported, "I don’t know what he means by that, said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), of Trump’s suggestion to broker a joint venture in which the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok... Congress [found] Trump's TikTok sale scheme confusing, possibly illegal... I don't understand what the president is doing, said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee."

"The worst, most radical, most right wing people you can imagine are running the show over there. And Donald Trump is happy to play along. As long as he's viewed as the big, strong president," The David Pakman Show's Brittany Page (Jan-24) summarized (video).

Department of Education resumed book bans for controversial library books, "restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education." Opponents said removing such books, "may violate civil rights laws," U.S. Department of Education (Jan-24) announced.

"State Department suspends nearly all U.S. foreign aid for 3 months... ...a few exceptions: foreign military financing for Israel and Egypt and emergency food assistance around the world," PBS News Hour (Jan-24) reported. BBC News (Jan-24) added, "Afghan refugees feel betrayed by Trump order blocking move to US. (Abdullah) now a paratrooper for the US military... ...worries he can't help his sister and her husband escape too, because of President Donald Trump's executive order suspending a resettlement programme."

TIME (Jan-24) reported, "Trump’s early actions mirror Project 2025, the blueprint he once dismissed... An analysis by TIME found that nearly two-thirds of the executive actions Trump has issued so far mirror or partially mirror proposals from the 900-page document, ranging from sweeping deregulation measures to aggressive immigration reform."

President Trump traveled to states hit by disasters, "to air grievances about FEMA and to threaten to impose conditions on federal aid..." MSNBC (Jan-24) reported, "Trump has falsely claimed (video) that the state’s efforts to protect wildlife have hindered water access in Southern California, and he has blamed the fires on Democratic lawmakers’ incompetence. In an interview with Fox News (video) on Wednesday, Trump suggested withholding federal aid to California, until they let the water run down." "Enjoy the water, California!!! Trump says military turned on the water in California. State officials say that's false. The military did not enter California, said the state's Department of Water Resources," USA Today (Jan-28) reported.

"U.S. Air Force reportedly reversed course Sunday on its decision to remove the videos following President Donald Trump’s executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across the federal government... Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Sunday said the removal of Tuskegee Airmen videos and curriculum about the Tuskegee Airmen from its military instruction curriculum has been immediately reversed... ...in response to concerns from U.S. Sen. Katie Britt about malicious compliance we’ve seen in recent days," Advance Local (Jan-26) shared.

"...a database detailing the vast array of criminal charges and successful convictions of January 6 rioters was removed from the Department of Justice’s website," CNN Politics (Jan-26) reported.

"Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen insisted Greenland was not for sale in a fiery phone call with the president last week... Trump says he believes US will get Greenland... ...he believes the US will gain control of Greenland, after showing renewed interest in acquiring the autonomous Danish territory... I think we're going to have it, he told reporters on Air Force One," BBC News (Jan-26) reported. Reuters (Jan-29) reported, "Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose becoming part of the United States, poll shows... 85% of Greenlanders oppose joining the U.S... 45% of Greenlanders see Trump's interest as a threat."

AP News (Jan-27) relayed, "President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Egypt and Jordan take in Palestinians from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip was met with a hard No Sunday from the two U.S. allies along with the Palestinians themselves, who fear Israel would never allow them to return..." "Trump mulls plan to clean out Gaza," France24 (Jan-26) pointed out, "Sounds like ethnic cleansing to a lot of ears..." "Israel’s Failed Attempt to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza picked up by Trump," Al Jazeera (Jan-26) had reported.

Reporters were getting overwhelmed and news was unfolding too fast, MSNBC's Jen Psaki (Jan-27) acknowledged, "too many stories..." "Flooding the zone" had been a Republican motto for overwhelming the media. Steve Bannon (in 2019) had given away the secret. On Frontline PBS, he said, "All we have to do is: flood the zone every day. We hit them with three things. They'll bite on one and we'll get all of our stuff done. Bang. Bang, bang. These guys will never, will never be able to recover." MSNBC's Jen Psaki (Jan-27) confirmed from The Washington Post (Jan-25), "Four years later, that's still the strategy. And guess what? Bannon says it's going great... (quote) It's working. It's just stunning to me. What they're doing and it's not getting covered, because it's too much. They're overwhelming the system... So yeah, they're going to keep flooding the zone..." The executive orders were, with obscured language, and increasingly more difficult/confusing to read (examples: The White House (Jan-27) shared, "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness," and (Jan-27), "The Iron Dome for America"). CNN (Jan-27) reported Trump, "had signed four executive orders that will reshape the military, including banning transgender service members from serving in the US armed forces; gutting the military’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs; and reinstating with back pay service members who were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated from Covid-19."

"Fresh off a controversy over a gesture many saw as a Nazi salute, tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared virtually at a campaign event for a far-right German political party on Saturday, where he urged listeners not to be ashamed of their country's history," NPR (Jan-27) reported; "As debate over Musk's movements and intentions ensued last week, he responded with a series of Nazi-themed puns in a post on X. He's now facing a fresh round of criticism from Jewish leaders and Western politicians for his comments..." "Tens of thousands of people protested across Germany against the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Saturday, the same day that tech entrepreneur Elon Musk gave a speech to members of the far-right party," Newsweek (Jan-27) shared. The White House (Jan-27) recognized, "National Day of Remembrance of the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, 2025."

"(A) trade war between the US and Colombia appears to have been averted after the Colombian government agreed to allow US military flights carrying deported migrants to land..." BBC News (Jan-27) shared that Trump's administration threatened, "to slap punitive tariffs on Colombian exports to the US." The Times of India (Jan-24) had echoed that India volunteered, "to facilitate the return of undocumented Indian nationals, provided their nationality is verified."

After, "the Trump administration's Interior Department said on Friday it had officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and the Alaskan peak Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, to Mount McKinley," Reuters (Jan-27 & 28) announced, "Google Maps will change the name of Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America once it is officially updated in the U.S. Geographic Names System, Google said in an X post on Monday. The change will be visible in the U.S., but the name will remain Gulf of Mexico in Mexico. Outside of the two countries, users will see both names on Google Maps..." "Google [reclassified] U.S. as sensitive country alongside China, Russia... ...a designation it reserves for states with strict governments and border disputes," CNBC (Jan-28) reported learning.

"The Trump administration has fired about 17 independent inspectors general at government agencies, a sweeping action to remove oversight of his new administration that some members of Congress are suggesting violated federal oversight laws," AP News (Jan-25) reported (video). They added the inspectors' general role served, "as an independent check against mismanagement and abuse of power. Though inspectors general are presidential appointees, some serve presidents of both parties. All are expected to be nonpartisan." Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee said in a statement, "I’d like further explanation from President Trump. Regardless, the 30 day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress." Arise News (Jan-25) relayed that X/Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), "strongly criticized Trump’s actions, describing them as a purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night... President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption."

"Sleepwalking into nuclear disaster: The Doomsday Clock ticks forward... The symbolic clock now reads 89 seconds to midnight after advancing one second since last year's reset... It is now the closest to midnight since the introduction of the clock in 1947," USA Today (Jan-28) reported.

Outrage and serious legal peril — "The White House budget office had ordered the pause on federal grants and loans, according to an internal memorandum sent Monday... A federal judge on Tuesday afternoon temporarily blocked (through at least 5 p.m. ET Monday, February 3), part of the Trump administration’s plans to freeze all federal aid, a policy that unleashed confusion and worry," CNN (Jan-28) reported. Confirming "sweeping effects," at a press conference alongside Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (Jan-28) spoke (transcript): "Last night, President Trump plunged the country into chaos without a shred of warning. The Trump Administration announced a halt to virtually all federal funds across the country. In an instant, Donald Trump has shut off billions, perhaps trillions of dollars that directly support states, cities, towns, schools, hospitals, small businesses, and most of all, American families. This is a dagger at the heart of the average American family in red states, in blue states, in cities, in suburbs, in rural areas. It is just outrageous. Funds for things like disaster assistance, local law enforcement, rural hospitals, aid to the elderly. Food for people in need. All are on the chopping block in this new Administration... Why? They need tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. And these cuts, they think, will fund them. Every one of our offices has been deluged with calls from people who are in panic. What is this going to mean?"

"This is congress' power, not his (Trump)," MSNBC’s Ari Melber reported (video). Schumer continued, "And just like the January 6th pardons, this decision is lawless, dangerous, destructive, cruel. It's illegal. It's unconstitutional. I spoke to my Attorney General [Letitia James] this morning. She's head of the state attorneys general association. They're going to court right away on this horror. This, plain and simple, this is Project 2025. Project 2025 by another name." Melber suggested that President Trump was setting himself up for another legal defeat, "Lower courts and perhaps ultimately the Supreme Court will have to decide, are they going to let this president rewrite the constitution itself? Congress in both parties certainly would not like the idea of having some random politician seize 200 plus years of the spending power precedent... The stakes are big... The result for his administration could be making him look very little. He's drawing attention to one of the powers that the Constitution in writing very clearly gives to Congress. he's drawing attention to his powerlessness... Is it flooding the zone, or is it a mix of things: where someone who has gotten in the habit of telling everyone he never wants to hear, No." Trump's loyalists were pressured into following unrealistic orders.

"Donald Trump's administration is lying to you," JB Pritzker, Governor of Illinois (Jan-28) told reporters (video), "This morning along with all 50 states across the country we discovered that our ability to access critical Federal funding had been cut off and now the administration would like us to believe that these were just coincidental website outages... Donald Trump and his administration have not earned the benefit of the doubt. They are either lying to us or they are critically incompetent. This is what happens when you staff the federal government full of Project 2025 contributors that don't have any experience governing and don't think that the laws apply to them. The consequences of their actions are not hypothetical. They are not numbers on a spreadsheet these are real people... This is a demonstration of cruelty against people who depend on us... Prices have gone up, not down. Let me say this, in no uncertain terms: what the president is trying to do is illegal. Let me say that again. What the president is trying to do is illegal. I know these are challenging times and the Trump Administration is trying to confuse the American people. That's why it's so important that we speak plainly."

"(A psalm by David for the music leader.)
The Wonders of God and the Goodness of His Law
¹The heavens keep telling
the wonders of God,
and the skies declare
what he has done.
²Each day informs
the following day;
each night announces
to the next.
³They don't speak a word,
and there is never
the sound of a voice.
⁴Yet their message reaches
all the earth,
and it travels
around the world.
In the heavens a tent
is set up for the sun..."
(Psalm 19:1-4 CEV 📜)

NBC News (Jan-28) reported, "Following President Donald Trump's return to office, immigration enforcement operations have started to sweep through major U.S. cities... U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it arrested 956 people on Sunday..." They added that some were, "...nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally. Being undocumented is considered a civil offense, not a crime."

"If you didn't think you were voting to cut firefighting, if you didn't think you were voting to cut meat inspections, if you didn't think you were voting to cut air traffic control, well, it's all becoming very, very clear right now," MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (Jan-28) summarized Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate and Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz (video), "I think this is a case of that this is a trial balloon, to see how much tolerance we had, and what we pulled back. I make this analogy. It's like you caught someone and they stole everything out of your house. You caught them and you told them to put it back. And when you start looking, some of it's still gone. What they're going to see is, Oh, they didn't raise a stink about meteorologist or our folks who are monitoring PFAs in our water. So let's just go on with that, or people that... ...don't... ...have a voice, that we want to marginalize and demonize... You know they are going to get this."

The Telegraph (Jan-29) reported, "Reply resign to this email or face loyalty test, White House tells two million federal workers... ...they can resign via email in exchange for a payout... ...Donald Trump aims to shrink, purge and remould US federal government... The plan immediately drew criticism from Democrats and unions representing federal workers, who said such a vast reduction would create chaos for Americans who rely on government services." "Backfiring... Donald Trump’s ultimatum to federal workers [seemed] to be having the opposite effect... Federal workers [weren't] taking this lying down," The New Republic (Jan-29) reported from countless federal employees that the ultimatum was, "(motivating) them vow to stay in their positions out of sheer spite."

President Donald Trump's White House "rescinded an order freezing spending on federal grants (OMB Memorandum M-25-13), less than two days after it sparked widespread confusion and legal challenges across the country." AP/WTOP News (Jan-29) reported, "This is an important victory for the American people whose voices were heard after massive pressure from every corner of this country—real people made a difference by speaking out," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "Still, the Trump administration—through a combination of sheer incompetence, cruel intentions, and a willful disregard of the law—caused real harm and chaos for millions over the span of the last 48 hours which is still ongoing."

X/White House Press Secretary (Jan-29) announced, "This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo... The President's EO's on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented." "An unforced error..." Democratic Attorney Marc Elias explained that The White House Press Secretary created confusion about rescinding the federal funding freeze, causing a second/another judge to restrain the executive order. "This was supposed to be the more competent Administration... This is just an utter mess... ...everything about this was amateur hour. If it was not so deadly serious for the American public, you know you would just think this was a put up to laugh about." He added, "...the press secretary, you know, fresh off of, I guess yesterday, she was lying about condoms in Gaza, saying that part of this freeze was to prevent $50 million worth of condoms from being allocated to Gaza," Democracy Watch's Brian Tyler Cohen (Jan-29) shared (video).

WASHINGTON, D.C., Reagan National Airport — "All 67 passengers on board the American Airlines regional jet and US Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided midair Wednesday night are presumed dead – a grim tragedy that has left a heartbreaking trail of mourning families in its wake. The somber day will be remembered as the deadliest aviation disaster in the US since 2001," CNN (Jan-30) reported.

Not white enough? "...they actually came out with a directive: too white and uh we want the people that are competent," Republican President Trump (Jan-30) blamed Democratic leaders' air traffic controller diversity policies and politics, "Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen, because this was the lowest level, their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse... I signed something last week that was an executive order, very powerful, on restoring the higher standards of air traffic controllers and others... ...my Administration will set the highest possible bar for Aviation safety. We have to have our smartest people; it doesn't matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are, it matters: intellect. Talent, the word talent, they have to be talented, naturally talented — geniuses. You can't have regular people doing that job; they won't be able to do it, but we'll restore Faith in American Air Travel... ...it's all under investigation." A reporter pressed, "...that's why I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash..." Trump said, "because I have common sense, okay? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't."

"Something the president said that I think bears re-emphasizing which is that when you don't have the best standards in who you're hiring, it means: on the one hand, you're not getting the best people in government," Vice President JD Vance (Jan-30) seemed (video) to half-agree, but actually disagreed with Trump, "On the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there, and I think that is a core part of what president Trump is going to bring and has already brought to Washington DC."

"No one was in charge of the Federal Aviation Administration last night when a commercial flight collided with a helicopter as it was about to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., killing everyone aboard," Yahoo!/HuffPost (Jan-30) shared. "Mike Whitaker, the previous FAA administrator, stepped down on Inauguration Day after just over a year on the job. He’d repeatedly clashed with Elon Musk — now in charge of a group tasked with slashing the government’s headcount."

Investigation found that tightening restrictions for air traffic controllers would stress the ATC teams even more: NBC News (2024-Feb) shared (video), "Inside look at FAA's air traffic control academy... With a critical shortage of air traffic controllers as passenger levels surge, the FAA is working hard to bring a new generation of controllers into the system." "In the last year, there were over 500 near-misses by major commercial airlines. We talked to air traffic controllers and found out the reason is simple: controllers are working 10 hour shifts, 6 days a week, with mandatory overtime," More Perfect Union (2024-Feb) shared (video). More than the best: more air traffic controllers already were needed, Business Insider (2020) found, "To become a fully qualified controller, it can take up to five years of classroom, simulator, and on-the-job training... Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport... ...five runways... It takes a rotating staff of 58 traffic controllers to keep the airport running." "The air traffic control tower at Reagan National Airport (three runways), as of September 2023, had 19 fully certified controllers when the targets set by the FAA and controllers' union called for 30, per the (NY) Times," NBC 4 Washington (Jan-30) investigated. PEOPLE (Jan-30) added that a, "preliminary FAA report (obtained by NY Times) [stated] that staffing at the Ronald Reagan National Airport’s air traffic control tower was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic. ...the control tower usually has two control officers, with helicopters and airplanes working with separate officers. But on Wednesday night, there was only one officer."

"Air traffic controllers were initially offered buyouts and told to consider leaving government... ...a day before a deadly midair collision at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., employees at the Federal Aviation Administration were sent an offer to resign with eight months’ pay... The union for air traffic controllers recommended to its members that they not accept..." AP News (Jan-31) reported.

"US President Donald Trump has said he will follow through with his threat to hit imports from Canada and Mexico with 25% border taxes, known as tariffs, on 1 February," BBC News (Jan-31) reported. "The president also suggested that he was still planning to impose new tariffs on China, which he said earlier this month would be 10%... With China," Trump said he's, "also thinking about something, because they're sending fentanyl into our country, and because of that, they're causing us hundreds of thousands of deaths... So China is going to end up paying a tariff also for that, and we're in the process of doing that."

"HIV, transgender care, climate change and other federal websites go dark... Researchers were scrambling to collect and archive as much data as possible..." Axios (Jan-31) reported.

Trump's White House's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled-down against DEI policies and blamed the previous administration for current problems. AP News (Jan-31) shared (video), "White House press briefing." "...the Trump administration made big moves to realign federal law enforcement in this country — purging top leaders at the FBI and multiple federal prosecutors at the DOJ," MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle for The 11th Hour Nightcap (Jan-31) reported (video). MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (Jan-31) added (video), "...to not only rewrite the history of his January 6 insurrection, but to exact revenge on the agents and lawyers who worked to hold him and his rioting supporters accountable."

"Trump [fired] the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," ABC News (Feb-1) reported.

The New York Times (Jan-31) had said, "If the administration follows through, it would be a singular moment in the F.B.I.’s history, and fly in the face of decades worth of civil service laws that are meant to protect the integrity and professionalism of the government work force."

The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (Feb-3) wrote (PDF) a joint letter to both Driscoll and Acting Attorney General James McHenry: "We have grave concerns about the removal or reassignment across the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of senior career civil servants who have served honorably under multiple administrations, regardless of the President’s party."

"California Secession Has 'No Credibility'—But the Anger Is Real," Newsweek (Feb-1) reported.

To proclaim the start of Black History Month, the White House (Feb-1) issued a statement honoring, "the achievements of American greats like Tiger Woods, who have pushed the boundaries of excellence," next to, "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." The statement text had these lowercase/capitalized words/phrases: "our Nation," "a historic Golden Age," "my Administration," and, "black Americans."

"Pentagon [swapped] desk for New York Times reporters for New York Post..." The Guardian (Feb-1) also announced, "The conservative-leaning One America News Network will replace NBC News, Breitbart will be given space held by National Public Radio (NPR)... ...and HuffPost will replace Politico.. ... in what the Pentagon calls a new annual media rotation program."

"China’s public security ministry has spoken out against the US decision to place a 10 per cent duty on all Chinese imports – along with larger tariffs for Canada and Mexico – warning that it will be detrimental to bilateral cooperation on fentanyl control..." China's public security ministry said, "The root cause of the fentanyl crisis in the US lies in itself... Simply shifting the blame to other countries will not help to truly solve the problem and will also seriously damage the cooperation and trust between China and the US in the field of drug control... China urges the US to correct its wrong practices, maintain the hard-won conducive atmosphere in China-US anti-drug cooperation, and promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US relations... [It is] actually a political manipulation to divert domestic tensions... It is not only contrary to the facts and will not be a credible threat. It will only backfire on the US’ own economic interests and global drug control cooperation," South China Morning Post (Feb-2) shared. Additionally, the SCMP reported that CCTV commentary also noted that "according to US judicial statistics, 86 per cent of those convicted of fentanyl trafficking in fiscal year 2023 were US citizens."

"(As-if) people (Americans) [understood] that" — "Trump [said] Americans could feel some pain from tariffs as he [threatened] more import taxes," AP News (Feb-2) shared. The Wall Street Journal (Feb-3) said, "The Ultimate Goal Remains Unclear. The president’s trade assault, which makes no distinction between ally and adversary, is an assertion of U.S. dominance with significant risks."

Canada returned with retaliatory tariffs on US products, urging Canadians to buy Canadian; leaders emphasized to avoid "red state" U.S. companies, Canada's CBC News (Feb-2) announced. Donald Trump turned back his focus toward potential tariffs for the European Union: bullying, begging to claim, and repeating his cries about how other countries treated us very badly, Forbes (Jan-31) shared (video) as Trump said, "The European Union has treated us so terribly... If you can believe it... ...they don't take our farm products, they don't take our cars, they don't take almost anything, but we take the cars; we have millions of cars coming and we don't charge them tariffs. They make it impossible to sell cars in the European Union and they make it very difficult;" a Fox News correspondent (Feb-4) said (video), "There is a broader strategy at play and it has to do with resetting the table with regard to how America is treated." Trump also threatened to cut off foreign-aid to South Africa, accusing them of confiscating land, CNN (Feb-3) reported. Punishing its allies wasn't leading to better treatment. AP News (Feb-3) reported (video) that for NHL and NBA games between US and Canada teams, it was quickly becoming a trend for home-team Canadians to "boo" during the U.S. National Anthem.

"That was fast! Flailing Trump 'folds' immediately in failed tariff clash (Economist Krugman x MSNBC)," MSNBC (Feb-3) shared (video). Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said, "We're kind of in a situation where we're all in a position to inflict a lot of damage... ...we've become mutually dependent... ...components may have crossed the border 7 or 8 times, which means that even just the US imposing tariffs is imposing a lot of costs on our own industry." Trump delayed tariffs for Canada and Mexico after Mexico announced they would maintain 10,000 troops along the US-Mexico border.

"Creating chaos and taking credit: Trump's tariff message is incoherent,..." Political communications correspondent Tim Miller (Feb-3) told MSNBC (video), "this is about NATO contributions now? I thought it was about fentanyl... ...but then the president is saying it's not about either of those things: it's about how we need the tariffs for economic purposes. Like they don't— they're not even explaining it. It's completely incoherent." Under all of the sane washing and spin, it could have went smoother. The results: long-time U.S. allies, Mexico and Canada had committed forces for their U.S. border.

With MSNBC's Ari Melber, Economist and former Times Journalist Paul Krugman (Feb-3) said (video), "I depend on the reporting from other news organizations, but there's definitely sane washing that goes on: definitely an unwillingness to just flatly report the... ...crazy stuff that was true during the campaigns, even more-so now... I'm happy to be now free to, you know... ...to talk about this stuff without trying to sound moderate and sensible, because these are not moderate and sensible times. (Sane washing) mostly it takes the form of a sort-of flattening, that everything becomes... You don't get the full sense. You don't. You just don't. I mean, did you — if you read about Elon. Musk's attack on USAID, the critical agency, did you read that he called it evil, that he said all of the staff are left-wing Marxists who hate America? I think you probably may not have seen that; or if it was downplayed, it was in paragraph 19. And that's what I think — the media aren't adequately conveying about what's happening now."

"US to again withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council," Politico (Feb-3) reported.

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (Feb-3) shared (video) with an NBC News (Feb-3) report: Musk shook up the agency's leadership and threatened its existence; following an apparent physical altercation, "Secretary of State Marco Rubio [empowered] (January 6 rioter) Pete Morocco to run USAID." Outside the Washington, D.C. headquarters of USAID, along with fellow Democratic legislators, federal workers, and outraged Americans, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD) — Sen. Brian Schatz (HI) protested, "you cannot waive away an agency that you don't like or that you disagree with by executive order, or by literally storming into the building and taking over the servers. That is not how the American system of government works." Other than, "[notified] essential personnel," NPR (Feb-4) updated that the Trump administration announced, "putting all staff at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on administrative leave... The note ended with the words, Thank you for your service."

"The career Treasury official who has served under every Republican and every Democratic president over the last 30 years, David Liebreich, resigned from the Treasury after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed him out of his position and handed the keys to the Treasury to Elon Musk," O'Donnell (Feb-3) shared (video). "Trump's war against his own government..." — MSNBC's Ayman Mohyeldin (Feb-3) summarized (video) that Senator Ron Wyden said, "Musk now has access to the social security numbers, government contract payments, including those that compete with his own companies. What he doesn't have is a security clearance or the right to access that information." "Information warfare: Musk grabs plenty of power without any pesky transparency;" MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle on The 11th Hour Nightcap (Feb-3) reported (video): Jacqueline Alemany mentioned, "Flooding the zone," and Sam Stein added, "Look, this is fine when it goes at warp speed, which is what Elon Musk is doing right now, but eventually reality does set in." Axios/The Guardian (Feb-4) added that Musk also, "reportedly entered the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Department of Commerce in Washington DC... " Former Noaa official who is now a fellow at the University of New Hampshire, Andrew Rosenberg told reporters, "They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: Get out of my way, and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies... They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information."

Extra: Elon Musk "attempted to conjure," a far-right MEGA movement, like MAGA except for Europe, Gizmodo (Feb-3) reported; "Tesla sales in Europe plummet amidst Elon’s stupid meddling."

All across the country and around the world, the Trump administration continued its peace-disturbing shake-up. Donald Trump and his allies used the media to think for them; reporting woke them for their next target. Informing the right people without informing the wrong people was an essential skill.

"I was just outside the Treasury Department where Elon Musk has launched a full scale authoritarian takeover. My message to Musk is simple: get your hands off our money and get the hell out," Senator Ron Wyden (Feb-4) Bsky/said (PDF).

"El Salvador [offered] to house violent US criminals and deportees of any nationality in unprecedented deal," CNN (Feb-3) reported. "Worst of the worst..." CNN's David Culver (2024-Dec) shared (video), "exclusive access inside El Salvador’s Cecot prison, where some of the country’s most notorious gang members are held, isolated from the rest of society..." El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele (Feb-3) X/said, "We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system. We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee. The fee would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable."

State-owned companies — "President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order that outlines plans for a government-run sovereign wealth fund to serve as an economic development tool and perhaps be used to buy TikTok," NBC News (Feb-3) shared.

AP News (Feb-4) reported, "China countered President Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs on Chinese products with tariffs on select U.S. imports Tuesday, as well as announcing an antitrust investigation into Google and other trade measures." The Guardian (Feb-4) added that after announcing the antitrust investigation, "China’s finance ministry also announced 15% tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas, and 10% on crude oil, farm equipment, large-displacement vehicles and pickup trucks from the US... China’s commerce ministry and its customs administration said on Tuesday that to safeguard national security interests the country was imposing export controls on a raft of critical minerals: tungsten, tellurium, ruthenium, molybdenum and ruthenium-related items... The commerce ministry also said it was adding the US companies PVH Group (Tommy Hilfiger & Calvin Klein) and Illumina Inc (biotech [genomic sequencing] & Nvidia partner) to its unreliable entity list.."

Lawsuits were filed as details for over 5,000 civil servant FBI agents assigned to the January 6th cases were added to lists for a possible mass purge termination, MSNBC (Feb-4) shared (video). "Upon returning to the Presidency, Mr. Trump has ordered the DOJ to conduct a review and purge of FBI personnel involved in these investigations and prosecutions. This directive is unlawful and retaliatory, and violates the Civil Service Reform Act 5 U.S.C. §§2301 and 2303," Attorney Glenn Kirschner (Feb-4) referenced (video) an anonymously filed lawsuit (PDF) by the FBIAA (Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association). Newsweek (Feb-4) added, "(A class-action) lawsuit (PDF) —brought by nine anonymous agents—was filed as thousands of agency personnel have been ordered to fill out questionnaires (PDF) about their involvement in cases related to the deadly Capitol riot."

"Fuzzy legal status" — "1st migrant flight lands at Guantanamo Bay, carrying worst of the worst," ABC News (Feb-4) shared (video). CBS News (Feb-4) reported (video), "Mr. Trump instructed his administration to dramatically expand detention space inside the naval base to detain as many as 30,000 high-priority unauthorized immigrants with criminal records. Since then, officials from across the government, including the Departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security, have scrambled to implement the president's directive." ABC (Jan-31) continued, Karen Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law, (Jan-29) told (video) ABC News' Phil Lipof, "the base has repeatedly held refugees and migrants, including in the Biden administration, though in much smaller numbers."

"And I don't want to be cute. I don't want to be a wiseguy. But the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be." — from the Trump-Netanyahu press conference, Forbes (Feb-4) reported (full video); Trump suggested the U.S. would take Gaza and send its 1.8 Palestinians to a different site, "this can be paid for neighboring countries of great wealth; it could be: 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 12 — it could be numerous sites, or it could be one large site..." The Guardian (Feb-4) said, "...US president announced his intention to take over the Gaza Strip, move Palestinians to neighbouring countries and redevelop the territory for occupation by the world’s people." Reuters (Feb-5) relayed, "Trump's plan [drew] international condemnation..."

Scripture circulated...

"I know how much you suffer and how poor you are, but you are rich. I also know the cruel things being said about you by people who claim to be God's people. But they are not really God's people. They are a group that belongs to Satan."
(Revelation 2:9 CEV 📜)

"Now you will see what I will do with those people who belong to Satan's group. They claim to be God's people, but they are liars. I will make them come and kneel down at your feet. Then they will know that I love you."
(Revelation 3:9 CEV 📜)

Continuing/extending the Trump administration's, "massive makeover of the U.S. government... ...which has fired and sidelined hundreds of civil servants in first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists... The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offered buyouts to almost all of its workforce..." WSJ/USA Today (Feb-5) announced.

"Trump [banned] transgender athletes from competing in women's sports... The timing coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and the order [was] the latest in a string of executive actions from Trump aimed at transgender people," ESPN (Feb-5) reported.

"Since the inauguration of Donald Trump in January, tens of thousands of people... ...downloaded the Simple Sabotage Field Manual, a guide written by a US intelligence agent in 1944 to help the allied resistance during World War II. Its newfound popularity [came] amid an emerging grassroots opposition to waves of executive orders from the new president.... The Simple Sabotage Field Manual was produced in 1944 by the US Office of Strategic Service (OSS) – predecessor to the CIA – and on February 1 became the most popular book on Project Gutenberg (the world’s biggest platform for downloading open-source free and public domain ebooks)... American spies used the manual when they were on the ground in Europe towards the end of World War II," France24 (Feb-5) shared. Project Gutenberg (Feb-11) updated: "300524 downloads in the last 30 days."

"Protesters in Philadelphia and at state capitols in California, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and beyond waved signs denouncing President Donald Trump; billionaire Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency; and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society," AP News (Feb-5) reported.

Bill Gates (Feb-5) told CNN's Anderson Cooper (video) USAID's contribution, "overall.. ....saves millions of lives and helps... ...strengthen relationships for the United States... It was kept separate so the idea of helping the poorest, you'd have a real priority for that in mind... Having all of those people not come into work and characterizing the whole thing in a negative way: I'm a little disappointed in that... ...support these programs. I spend a lot of time to make sure that money is very well-spent; that was a strong message that I gave him and I am hopeful that he will see the moral and strategic value to keep this strong... ...I thought the argument would be about like: could we cut 10% over the next several years... " Gates also said he was surprised that Musk had been supporting far-right wing political parties, "I'm surprised; the number of things he states opinions on... I've always had friends around me who make sure I don't... " He also questioned Musk's methodologies: "If you were really smart about using technology or updating the goals, you could save 10% here, 10% there, which adds up to a lot... ...but going in very quickly and saying these people run a criminal organization; that's not quite as subtle as you'd hope to see. Musk's apparent move fast and break things strategy was also criticized as a reckless public sector strategy: "we count on the federal government for the safety net and we're not supposed to have agencies go bankrupt. In the private sector, it's great that companies disappear and other companies take their place, but when you are counting on a department to enforce safety rules... ...you can't take as many risks as you do in the private sector."

"The MAGA master plan: Project 2025 architect confirmed as Trump budget chief... Russell Vought..." MSNBC's Chris Hayes (Feb-6) reported (video). 4Washington (Feb-8) said, "Spending bill talks [bogged] down after Trump's efforts to slash government... The current stopgap measure [would last] through March 14. After that, without congressional action, there would be a partial government shutdown."

Research journalists acknowledged it was too difficult and time-consuming to report every lie.

Another lie: "Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Fox News, Republican lawmakers, and countless prominent right-wing commentators across social media were... ...pushing a ridiculous lie about the Biden administration funding the media (e.g. Politico). It started on Tuesday when... (read the full (Feb-6) Rolling Stone article)." "In a real sense, US democracy has died: ...they are copying the path taken by other would-be dictators like Viktor Orbán (Hungary)," according to The Guardian (Feb-7), Chris Murphy (D-CT) said, "You have a move towards state-controlled media. You have a judiciary and law enforcement that seems poised to prioritise the prosecution of political opponents. You have the executive seizure of spending power so the leader and only the leader gets to dictate who gets money."

BBC News (Feb-6) headlined, "People seem dumbstruck - Inside Musk's race to upend government."

"Elon Musk [said] DOGE staffer who resigned for racist X posts [would] be brought back," NBC News (Feb-7) wrote. "I think the broad story is that Elon Musk and his acolytes are on an authoritarian rampage through the government... I think for Elon Musk it's fair to say he views this all as a kind of fun video game that he's going to play for a little while then walk away. It's been reported that the White House doesn't actually know what Musk is doing in detail, but is fine; they have a — of plausible deniability... We are really in a dangerous time we're going to have to rely at first on the courts to restrain this," Public Citizen's Robert Weissman (Feb-8) told (video) via Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.

"Trump [said] he’s ending Biden’s classified intelligence briefings in payback move," AP News (Feb-7) announced.

"Elon Musk’s unceasing attempts to access the data and information systems of the federal government range so widely, and are so unprecedented and unpredictable, that government computing experts believe the effort has spun out of control," federal-government IT professionals (Feb-8) told The Atlantic; "even if the president of the United States, the head of the executive branch, supports (and, importantly, understands) these efforts by DOGE, these experts told us, they would still consider Musk’s campaign to be a reckless and dangerous breach of the complex systems that keep America running." Gizmodo (Feb-8) wrote, "...it increasingly looks like Musk’s DOGE activities represent breaches of federal law and, therefore, may be construed as rampant criminal behavior. On Tuesday, the Washington Post noted that officials at half a dozen federal agencies had raised concerns over whether what Musk was doing was illegal. Those agencies included the Treasury Department, the Education Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the White House budget office, among others." Elon Musk was a Trump administration special employee; Trump appeared to be giving Musk permission to mobilize DHS police (Department of Homeland Security) for his DOGE raids and standoffs, MSNBC's Michael Steele (Feb-8) reported (video). "Defense currently comprises approximately 16% of our budget, yet nobody's looking at it. Department of Education is less than 1%; it literally doesn't even register. When we talk about USAID, it's 1.1%... So, they're over here playing with you... ...trying to say go look at this Penny over here and ignore the other 99 pennies that we got over here and that's what I want the American people to wake up and see," Rep. Jasmine Crockett (Feb-10) told MSNBC's Jen Psaki (video).

"...US Attorney for DC, Ed Martin, ...said he would pursue legal action against anyone who threatens any DOGE employees. After a referral from Elon Musk, who apparently now, in addition to wielding the power afforded to Congress in the Constitution, also has the power to order federal criminal investigations. Martin wrote directly to Elon. We will investigate them, and we will chase them to the end of the Earth to hold them accountable. We will not rest or cease in this... No one should abuse American taxpayer dollars, nor American taxpayer workers. Are these American taxpayer workers?" MSNBC — The ReidOut's Joy Reid (Feb-8) reported.

"Trump's executive actions are getting challenged as arbitrary... Everything executive agencies do to implement the president's agenda must follow the APA (Administrative Procedure Act)..." NPR (Feb-8) reported; Georgetown Law professor David Super told NPR's Morning Edition, "Our Constitution says the president shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed... (It's) important to preserving the meaning of U.S. laws... It's fine if I decide that your business should be suspended because you're selling dangerous foods, but it's not fine if I say your business should be suspended because I don't like you."

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) called (video) himself a member of the DOGE committee for oversight and accountability (apparently merging the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with Elon Musk's DOGE), while boldly admitting to cooperating with Trump's political agenda, rather than actually doing oversight to hold them accountable, Jessica Dean on CNN News (Feb-8) reported (video). Chairman James Comer (R-KY) (Feb-5) had pushed to formalize the same concept, blurring lines of oversight, to overlook accountability for DOGE: "...the House Oversight Committee remains committed to identifying waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government and intends to continue working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on solutions to make federal operations more efficient and effective for all Americans." Burchett also (Feb-8) announced (video) they would get the Department of Education to, "...squeal like a pig..."

During an Air Force One press gaggle, Trump (Feb-9) confirmed (video) to reporters that he, "[thought] Congress [had] failed to do their oversight..." Trump interrupted, "Yeah. I think everybody failed; I think everybody failed."

"Iran’s supreme leader says that negotiations with America are not intelligent, wise or honorable after President Donald Trump floated nuclear talks with Tehran," ABC News (Feb-9) reported; "The Americans sit, redrawing the map of the world — but only on paper, as it has no basis in reality," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.

Rapper Kanye West said he loved Hitler and accused Elon Musk of stealing his "Nazi swag" in explosive social media rant, Economic Times of India (Feb-8) wrote. The Independent (Feb-8) added from actor David Schwimmer, "I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that he identifies as a Nazi (which implies he wants to exterminate ALL marginalized communities including his own) or the fact that there is not sufficient OUTRAGE to remove and ban him from all social media at this point... Silence is complicity."

"Federal Financial Watchdog Ordered to Cease Activity" — The New York Times (Feb-8) reported, "Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were instructed to cease all supervision and examination activity and all stakeholder engagement, effectively stopping the agency’s operations, in an email from the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought."

The courts flooded Trump's zone — Democracy Now! (Feb-8) continued (video), "Legal challenges have also reversed the Trump administration's executive order to freeze trillions in federal funding, delayed a buyout offer sent to most of the federal workforce to encourage mass resignations, and at least partially blocked Musk from accessing the Treasury Department's payment system." CNN (Feb-8) reported, "Trump and Musk have upended the federal workforce in their quest to shrink the government, sparking chaos, fear, anger — and multiple lawsuits that have prompted judicial action... A federal judge, citing a risk of irreparable harm, has temporarily restricted Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing... ...a sensitive payment system that distributes Americans’ tax returns, Social Security benefits, disability payments and federal employees’ salaries."

"Federal workers [debated] the legitimacy of financial incentives to quit as the deadline [neared]," AP News (Feb-7) shared (audio) "It’s a scam and not a buyout, said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees." "Even as the program was stayed, more than 60,000 federal employees [had] already accepted the buyout offer," a White House source (Feb-6) had told Reuters. Those who took the resignation buyout offer had to wonder if they would actually receive their promised wages or if the offer was still even happening. A judge had temporarily paused the federal employee buyout program and another judged hinted at criminal contempt for violations, however; it was unclear and if court orders would actually get followed and/or if not: to what extent, be enforced.

After Driscoll handed over the names of thousands of FBI employees with connections to January 6 investigations, the DOJ said they would give people 48 hours notice before releasing their names, The Washington Examiner (Feb-8) claimed — "The Justice Department and FBI employees reached an agreement..."

White House correspondent, PBS NewsHour's Laura Barrón-López (Feb-10) reported (video), "A federal judge said that President Trump [had] violated his order to lift a blanket freeze on federal spending and again directed the administration to release the funds. That comes as top prosecutors in nearly half the country sued the administration for withholding medical research funding." "Our democracy is under siege:" NY Times Op-Ed/MediaIte (Feb-10) reported, "Five former Treasury Secretaries issued a stark warning calling out President Donald Trump’s latest moves at the Treasury as a direct threat to American democracy’s financial backbone in a show of rising alarm."

The modern Republican party had previously promoted, "that government intrudes as little as possible in the lives of the people; ...that was a very modern, contemporary, pretty recent definition of limited government," MSNBC's Ari Melber (Feb-10) outlined (video), "Checks and balances: ...federalism and the Founders' efforts to prevent authoritarian rule, emphasizing states' rights as a check on federal overreach."

CNN (Feb-10) claimed, Hamas (early Monday, Feb-10) accused Israel, "of breaking the ceasefire deal... Hamas threatened to postpone the next hostage release scheduled to take place on Saturday until further notice..." "President Donald Trump (Monday, Feb-10) urged Israel to cancel its ceasefire deal with Hamas and let all hell break out if Hamas does not return hostages still being held in Gaza by noon on Saturday.

The New Yorker editor David Remnick and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart (Feb-10) discussed (video) the instinct to disconnect from politics... "I'm not watching it. I have to, you know, protect myself... I understand it (the instinct), but while you're doing that-- --Trump keeps going. Politics keeps going. The world keeps happening. And you may choose to protect yourself, but then you're part of the problem, I'm afraid... Action is the antidote for that anxiety," Remnick said.

CBC News (Feb-10) reported (video), "The Canadian and American economies are deeply integrated, and with $20 billion worth of steel traded between the two countries every year, experts say the 25 per cent tariffs ordered Monday by U.S. President Donald Trump will hurt people on both sides of the border." President and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association Catherine Cobden (Feb-10) told CBC (video), "Time to act (in wake of Trump tariffs)." The Trump administration halted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), Forbes (Feb-10) reported (video). AP News (Feb-11) said, "EU [vowed] countermeasures to US tariffs."

"Horrific... Transparent corruption..." The Big Apple and its mayor — under Trump's control; MSNBC's The Reidout (Feb-11) reported, "...the Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to drop the bribery and fraud charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams... The dismissal is without prejudice... meaning: the charges could be filed in the future, which essentially means that Donald Trump now owns Eric Adams, because those charges could come at him anytime. (News from PIX11), Mayor Adams instructed his top officials in a very tense meeting not to criticize Donald Trump. If they have any issues with the president, keep it to themselves. This man is now the property, in a sense, of Donald Trump."

"...a 57-page indictment had been handed down for... really alarming political corruption by Mayor Adams... And there was a trial date coming up in April...And Donald Trump's DOJ leadership (Emil Bove)— this is almost too much to imagine, told the US attorney in New York: You're going to dismiss the case, not because there is a deficiency in the evidence, but because we want Mayor Adams to be in a position to help the Trump Administration with its priorities and its policies... I mean, this is corruption in the harsh light of day; dismissing a pending criminal case against a high government official so that person could help Donald Trump and his goals, and priorities... And US attorney Sassoon said (characterization), Hell no. ...when she resigned rather than do Emil Bove's unethical task, here's what Emil Bove said... ...(Sassoon) and the prosecutors who worked on the case (the Eric Adams case), were being placed on administrative leave and would be investigated by the attorney general and the Justice Department's internal investigative arm... ...both bodies would also evaluate her conduct... I wonder how they will feel about one of their own members; she's a member of the (conservative) Federalist Society... ...this kind of conduct by Donald Trump and his top officials at the Department of Justice will turn individuals and organizations and public opinion against Trump and Company, because this is no way to run a Department of Justice;" BTC/Legal Breakdown's, Attorney. Glenn Kirschner (Feb-13) explained (video) more resignations, "...the two top officials in the public Integrity section in Washington DC also (resigned)... One after another after another... ...the good career prosecutors who take their oath of office seriously, who understand their responsibility to prosecute: without fear, without favor, and most importantly without politics... ...they're taking a public stance; they're saying: We will not do what a corrupt president (or the corrupt officials he is installing at the top of the Department of Justice) are telling us to do! We will not do it... It's the message that they are sending by standing up to... ...this attempt to weaponize, yes, I'm going to go there, (an attempt to) weaponize the Department of Justice... This is the word that has to get out." BBC News (Feb-14) had reported: "Flurry of resignations..." CNN (Feb-14) announced, "...the seventh person to resign over the calamitous effort to dismiss charges against Adams... Hagan Scotten..." Scotten emailed (PDF), "...any assistant U.S. attorney would know... ...our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way. If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me... No system of ordered liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives."

After a difficult Senate confirmation, during Tulsi Gabbard's official swearing-in as Director of National Intelligence, Gabbard (Feb-12) claimed (video) that people's uncertainty was, "largely because they've seen the weaponization and politicization of an entity that is supposed to be purely focused on ensuring our national security..." She attacked the integrity of the intelligence community and established greater public distrust, but it didn't matter: the Senate had the power to confirm her; it betrayed everyday Americans. "The vote was 52-48 mostly along party lines, though Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined Democrats in opposing the confirmation," CNN (Feb-12) reported.

Believers in democracy were negatively stereotyped as "far-left, liberal" Democrats, or even more cringe-worthy, "DEI woke;" whilst, compromised and angry Republicans were fooled by oligarchic propaganda. Actual Americans needed to get better at working together. Final Call Editor-in-Chief Naba’a Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan (2024-Oct-22) said, "Disaster, Discord, Distrust: The Unraveling of a Great Nation... The problem was a distrust of government combined with growing division, increasingly bitter political, social discord and even hatred in the United States... There’s a verse in the Qur’an, it’s in the 16th surah, the 92nd verse and it says, Be not like her who unravels her yarn, disintegrating it into pieces, after she has spun it strongly... That’s what’s happening to America as we speak... How can a country fraught with evil and these internal divisions and enmities survive? ...alongside a deep lack of faith and intense skepticism about government and other bedrock institutions, such as Congress and the media?"

Reporting DOGE's findings, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (Feb-12) mentioned (video), "...receipts..." Reporters scrutinized DOGE's ethics, "Are all those things you just mentioned fraud or are they waste or are they just contrary to the president's policies?" Leavitt said that they were wasteful, fraudulent, abusive, and "...uh this is not what the government should be spending money on..." It was confusing if she was referring to the frivolous/insignificant line items (so-called receipt: "Dei contract $36,000 for US citizenship and immigration services..." Was that even fraud, waste, or abuse? Why take the time to complain about that?), or if the press team/secretary was intimidated, and hinting/calling out a rogue DOGE department or the entire administration; she said, "If anybody in here wants to argue that the Federal government is not fraudulent in some capacity, be my guest, because I think the American people watching at home would beg to differ..." Like Jeffries said, "...they were phony..."

"The real significant national security geopolitical story... ...the Trump administration [was] chaos..." Fmr. Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) (Feb-12) told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace (video), "Tulsi Gabbard [was] confirmed, while Pete Hegseth [was] addressing NATO, saying Ukraine has to give up their sovereign territory to Russia, while Donald Trump is on the phone with Vladimir Putin engaging in a prisoner swap, but also saying we're going to reach some type of peace agreement... and have two summits, we're going to have state—State visits by Putin and Trump. Today was the day. Not surprising, right? We knew all this was happening. This is part of where MAGA is... ...a pivot in American foreign policy. And... ...(Republican) senators (except McConnell)... ...they just collapsed and fell in line. But in terms of our own national security and in terms of pivoting America's posture on the world stage, today was a heavy, heavy day."

"This is what you voted for:"

• a power-grab saying used by President Donald Trump's regime to do whatever they want.
• a powerless saying blaming those who did not vote for Fmr. Vice President Kamala Harris.

ECONOMIC FORECAST: The AAII Investor Sentiment Survey (Feb-12) released terrible new numbers, "28.4% bullish," which was a new low. Stock market confidence had been free-falling all month, ever since Trump took office: (Jan-22): 43.4%, (Jan-29): 41.0%, (Feb-5): 33.3%, (Feb-12): 28.4%. YCharts (Feb-13) added, "compared to... 49.03% last year. This is lower than the long term average of 37.71%." BBC News (Feb-12) announced, "US inflation unexpectedly [increased]..." Inflation rose to 3% in January, its highest rate for six months, and above the 2.9% expected by economists... Attempting to curb the inflation, "the US central bank decided to hold interest rates, saying there was significant uncertainty about where the economy might be headed." "That [echoed] the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment survey for February, which fell for the second consecutive month and also saw a 12% drop in those saying it was a good time to buy durable goods that could be affected by tariffs, U.S. News' (Feb-13) echoing continued; "The NFIB small business optimism index fell by 2.3 points and the uncertainty index rose by 14 points to its third-highest level since the monthly surveys began in 1986. The percentage of small businesses planning capital expenditures over the next six months fell 7 points from the month prior."

To a panel of Ways and Means Committee experts, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) (Feb-12) asked (video), "...if they knew what Elon Musk was doing in the government. What kind of access does Mr. Musk and his team have? What kind of changes have they been making to the computer programs? How many of those changes to computer programs are permanent? And how will that affect people going forward? Mr. Dublois (FGA), what's he doing? Uhh... I don't know what he's doing-- You don't know? Ok. Mr. Sepp (NTUF), do you know what he's doing? No. Mr. Ladwa (SAP), do you know what he's doing? It would be inappropriate (of) me for comment. Ms. Kociolek (GAO), do you know what he's doing? We have not looked at that. Miss Olson (Center for Taxpayer Rights)? No. Does anybody here know what they're doing? ... Does anybody know what their backgrounds are? Does anybody know what they're doing with the information that they have and how they're using it? ... No one in the room could answer any of those questions," MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (Feb-12) reported (video).

When an Oval Office reporter (Feb-13) asked why Russia wouldn't simply end the war by giving Ukraine back its territory, Trump: (1) deflected/changed the subject, (2) contradicted himself, and (3) attacked the reporter; "¹This should have been done by Biden years ago. ²This should have never been allowed to happen. ³I know he's a friend of yours, but couldn't. He's a friend of CNN. That's why nobody watches CNN anymore, because they have no, no credibility." Trump casually answered that he trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin, "Yeah..." When asked, "How much money do you think you'll raise from tariffs on an annual basis?" Trump had no idea, "That's the most interesting question. I think it'll be a staggering amount. Um, it will be the external— I call it the external Revenue Service, that was the name: External Revenue Service. That was the name that was devised by a few of us. But it's- I think it's going to be a staggering amount." They pressed, "...the number 1 trillion... is that a number to you?" Trump said, "I don't know," LiveNOW from FOX (Feb-13) reported (video).

During his second speech to NATO, Pete Hegseth (Jan-13) gave (video) a disclaimer: "¹...it's not my job as a Secretary of Defense to define the parameters of the President of the United States... ...by no means, is anything that I state here, even though we- we lead the most powerful military in the world, hemming in the Commander-in-chief in his negotiations to ultimately decide where it goes or does not go... Oh, he's got all the cards he would like..." To the international community, he vaguely, confusingly, and derogatorily attacked the legacy media as a, "conventional status quo mindset," (a.k.a. common sense), "...the interesting part is, often times, while the conventional status quo mindset, or the Legacy Media, wants to ²play checkers, the same checkers game we've been playing for decades, President Trump... ...finds a way to play chess..." Hegseth apparently suggested to U.S.' NATO allies: (1) don't listen to him and (2) don't trust them.

Words lost meanings as the administration's motivations and counterproductive metaphors did not align with simple American common sense (examples: "checkers/chess" — meaning? Or, "disappointing, unfair" — for who? Or, "unbelievable, staggering" — extremely good, extremely bad, or sarcasm?) It all meant nothing. Also: poll results were incredibly skewed, because most people avoided polls.

CONFUSION and CHAOS in the COMMUNITY at the MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE: "By taking aim at America’s closest allies in his keynote Munich address, Trump’s vice president has made clear his country’s global security priorities – and that Europe should no longer consider the US to be a staunch ally," The Independent's Sam Kiley (Feb-14) reported, "The only people applauding JD Vance’s blathering are the far-right – and Russia." "World leaders expected clarity on Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine. Instead, JD Vance scolded them on immigration and lectured them about censorship," Fortune (Feb-14) added. Reuters (Feb-14) relayed from The European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, "Listening to Vance speech felt like United States was trying to pick fight with us." Earlier in the week, at the AI summit in Paris, Forbes (Feb-11) reported (video), Vance attacked "efforts by the European Union to regulate artificial intelligence."

Busy enjoying attention and making a reality show out of the government, Trump along with his regime, flooded. Operating on rumor and hearsay, they bypassed established norms and legal procedures. "Everybody in this administration seems to be taking the approach that they should just say whatever pops into their head and try cleaning it up later," MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (Feb-14) said (video); Fmr. U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul (Feb-14) added (video), "He (Vance) could have devoted his speech to saying what the United States' position is, what the Trump administration official position is, to try to clean it up. But instead, he gave a speech about how democracy is failing in Europe." Rather than carefully crafting well-thought official statements and orders, they were greatly limiting their own effectiveness and efficiency for their entire agenda. Reducing their own government agencies and people, only to operate with a severely narrow-sighted type of tunnel vision, brought corruption and further questions — about the intelligence and legitimacy of DOGE's efforts. The federal workers who normally maintained the systems were at a standstill. DOGE appeared to be (1) hyper-focused on the wrong agencies and (2) delivering minimum unimpressive/insignificant findings that could have been fabricated and/or misinterpreted.

ON THE STORY — MSNBC (Feb-14) reported (video): "Rachel Maddow [looked] at a series of unforced errors by Elon Musk and the DOGE team that [called] into question the accuracy of their tech genius image and whether they have the competence to tinker with the systems that run the federal government." Maddow cited a (Feb-14) 404 Media report, "The doge.gov website that was spun up to track Elon Musk’s cuts to the federal government is insecure and pulls from a database that can be edited by anyone, according to two separate people who found the vulnerability..." After classified intelligence was posted, Maddow/Huff Post (Feb-14) echoed an anonymous Defense Intelligence Agency employee, "people [were] scrambling to check if their info has been accessed." Maddow continued, "The combination of the smash and grab by the supposedly high tech team, and the mass firing of people who actually do know what they're doing, means real material harm is being done to our country..."

"Workers across the country responded with anger and confusion Friday as they grappled with the Trump administration's aggressive effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce by ordering agencies to lay off probationary employees who [had] yet to qualify for civil service protections," AP News (Feb-14) reported; "According to government data maintained by OPM, 220,000 workers had less than a year on the job as of March 2024. ...the voluntary buyout - was accepted by only 75,000 workers."

As Trump signed executive orders, Forbes/White House spokesperson (Feb-14) announced (video), "...any schools that require students to be vaccinated with Covid-19 shot, then there's no more federal funding..." Trump initially acted unfazed, but then he said, "Europe has to be careful" — in response to backlash from the EU regarding Vance's and Hegseth's speeches' statements.

"The termination letters for some NNSA (National Nuclear Security Administration) probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel," officials wrote in a letter NBC News (Feb-15) obtained/shared.

"The federal workers need to stay in very close touch with their unions and with the litigation that's going on, because we are winning in almost every case... ...we need to be supporting the lawyers and the people who are willing to take Trump to court, because we are winning," (D-MD) Rep. Jamie Raskin (Feb-15) told BTC/No Lie (video).

Veterans are 30% of the federal workforce, Washington Observer (Feb-16) X/shared (video): Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine via Fox News echoed an OPM (2021) study (PDF), "Employment of Veterans in the Federal Executive Branch."

LOCAL TRAFFIC REPORT — PORTLAND (OR): Director Millicent Williams had told the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, "This year... ...looks nothing like previous shortfalls..." Williams also spoke briefly of PBOT money that’s tied up in federal grants, and therefore could be threatened by President Donald Trump’s ever-evolving list of executive orders that cast intense scrutiny on federal funding that flows to cities and states. Some $115 million of PBOT’s grant money, Williams said, flows from the state and is therefore "in suspense... We will not be the same bureau, and we will fall even further behind... Cuts at this scale are truly unprecedented for PBOT. If they go through, we are deeply concerned about our ability to deliver even the most basic transportation services," Willamette Week (Feb-16) said.

"He used the constitution to shatter the constitution..." The Atlantic (2025-Jan-8) had documented: "How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days."

"Advent of Trump was a wake-up call for Europe" — CNBC (Feb-15) reported (video); Finnish President Stubb stated, "...if we go towards the Yalta world where the big powers of spheres of Interest, say—you know, Russia, China, and the US carves up, then I think Europe has to basically huddle up and regionalize and focus on itself. But if we go more towards a multilateral order, our job is to convince the United States that if it wants to maintain its status as a superpower, it needs allies and the closest allies, both interest and value based, actually come from Europe. I think the world is in a flux, now; it's our 1918, 1945, or 1989 moment. So, we know the world order balance and dynamics are basically changing and I think it'll take about 10 years for them to settle. And I think it's very important for Europe and the United States to stick together, even though there are (right now) differences of opinion." BBC News (Feb-15) added (video), "Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky [had] called for the creation of an army of Europe to guard against Russia as he suggested the US may no longer come to the continent's aid."

ANGER FROM VANCE'S SPEECH... CONTINUED — "...in private, the Republicans that I was with at the conference were embarrassed... They're very scared of Trump, so they're reluctant to say anything in public. I did hear Senator Wicker notably say some things publicly, which was good to hear, but what happened in the meetings to follow were Democrats and Republicans from the congressional delegation, (U.S.) House and Senate, sitting with European leaders and trying to reassure them. And trying to say: Congress here is united in a bipartisan way with Ukraine. We stand with Ukraine. We do not approve of the administration's moves to negotiate just with Russia," Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) (Feb-17) told MSNBC's Ali Vitali (video); "this administration just kicked the AP out of the Pentagon and is censoring dozens of words from government publications, keeping Americans in the dark while they take reams of data off the internet. So, the utter hypocrisy was met with a room full of hundreds of people, a couple hundred people, and about five of them applauded. I think four of them were Chinese. It was only the Chinese and the Russians who liked the speech. The Russian foreign minister actually came out and praised the speech. That's the only praise you've heard about what the VP Vance had to say." German leaders told other countries to not interfere with their politics. Moulton added, "after the speech, Vice President Vance went to the old Nazi party headquarters in Munich to meet with the leader of the modern day Neo Nazi party in Germany... What was bad at Munich could actually get worse. This is a very, very dangerous administration. I think our European allies are just coming to terms with it. The Republicans in Congress have yet to find the courage to do something about it back here at home..."

"Trump falsely [blamed] Ukraine for starting war with Russia... After top US and Russian officials began peace talks without Ukrainians at the negotiating table, President Donald Trump criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and continued to repeat Russia’s talking points about the war." CNN (Feb-18) shared (video). BBC News (Feb-18) reported, "Donald Trump has blamed Ukraine for Russia’s invasion of its neighbour... US President told Ukraine: You should have never started it, you could have made a deal … I could have made a deal that would have given them almost all of the land." Zelensky said, "I am convinced that for Ukraine and for our region—for Europe, that it is critical, that any negotiations to end the war are not happening behind the backs of the key parties affected by the Russian aggression." Reuters (Feb-19) shared (video), "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hit back at Donald Trump's suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, saying the US president was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble."

The Bulwark's Tim Miller (Feb-18) shared a quote from Ukranian Journalist Anna Murlykina: "When you live in a world that is crumbling under your feet, the only thing that helps you survive is to believe in guidelines and civilized democratic countries that uphold values. When countries like the United States cease to be pillars, there is nothing to hope for." "...the flip side of that is that if Putin is not willing to meet Trump at least some way... ...Trump can then turn around and say well look, I tried, I gave all these options, the Russians still aren't willing and therefore we'll have to double down on support for Ukraine; that is the club he's holding behind his back," Times Radio (Feb-19) shared (audio).

CREW/Citizens for Ethics (Feb-18) wrote, "...President Trump has stretched government power to its limits in beginning to carry out his promised retribution campaign—even going so far as to politicize security agencies like the Secret Service and the U.S. Marshals Service. This politicization is a grave mistake and poses a real threat to our democracy by undermining the independence of government officials..."

"Fired FAA employee who was working on missile defense... Spizer-Stadtlander says Americans should be scared in the wake of several hundred FAA firings," CNN (Feb-19) shared (video).

"The White House [was] sending mixed signals about who [was] running the Department of Government Efficiency. A (Feb-18) court filing (PDF) revealed late Monday night that Elon Musk [was] technically not a part of the (DOGE) group and instead [served] as a senior adviser to President Trump." CBS News (Feb-18) reported (video); CBS News' DOJ reporter Jake Rosen suggested, "...the way that Elon Musk has essentially conveyed his role, in this entire situation, is that he is the one personally responsible for these layoffs." CNN (Feb-20) announced, "The US Marshals Service has deputized members of Elon Musk’s private security detail, giving them certain rights and protections of federal law enforcement agents... Some people close to Trump’s White House have been taken aback by the scale of security that has surrounded Musk..." LegalEagle (Feb-21) investigated (video), "What is DOGE? ...with every thread I pull, things just unravel more. It's an advisory committee. No, it's a White House Office. No, it's a department. No, not that one, the other one..."

The Hill (Feb-19) reported, "Democrat lawmakers and former national security leaders [were] furious over President Trump’s Friday night massacre of top Pentagon leadership, which they warned was a dangerous polarization of the military at a time of major geopolitical turmoil."

Fourteen states were to return with a revised petition after a federal judge rejected temporary restraining order to pause DOGE from accessing federal data systems. The judge had noted that, "DOGE’s unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion for Plaintiffs and many of their agencies and residents. But she said the possibility that the defendants may take actions that irreparably harm the plaintiffs [wasn't] enough for a restraining order... It remains ‘uncertain’ when and how the catalog of state programs that Plaintiffs identify will suffer. A plaintiff must demonstrate a clear and present need for extraordinary equitable relief to prevent harm. (cited examples)... If a party fails to make a sufficient showing of irreparable injury, a court may deny a motion for injunctive relief," NBC News (Feb-19) wrote.

"This is not a case about 'immigration'... It is about citizenship rights, that: the Fourteenth Amendment and federal statute — intentionally and explicitly place beyond the President’s authority to condition or deny... Deciding important substantive issues on one week’s notice turns our usual decision-making process on its head... We should not undertake this task unless the circumstances dictate that we must. They do not here. An appeals court [would] not allow the Trump administration to end birthright citizenship for certain children of immigrants... ...setting up Supreme Court showdown... (The court) declined an emergency Justice Department request that it lift the hold a Seattle judge had placed blocking implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order, after concluding the order ran afoul of the Constitution," CNN (Feb-19) wrote.

In the FII PRIORITY Summit, President Trump (Feb-19) participated (video), "On my first day in office... I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency and put a man named Elon Musk in charge."

Reuters (Feb-20) announced: "...a federal judge on Thursday ordered Trump administration officials to comply with his earlier order that they lift a freeze of nearly all foreign aid, though he stopped short of holding them in contempt of court."

TRUMP'S ECONOMY SOURING, (NOT SOARING): "The University of Michigan’s latest survey, released Friday, showed that US consumer sentiment declined in February for the second consecutive month, according to a final reading, down by a steep 10% from January. That was double the decline initially reported earlier this month; ...no matter who Trump blames for inflation, America’s economic mood is now souring — and Trump is getting the heat for it," CNN Business (Feb-20) announced. POLL AFTER POLL: approval ratings dropped for Trump and his policies, along with Musk and others, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (Feb-20) shared (video).

"Elon Musk and his dark money groups [had] poured more than $1 million to back the Republican candidate in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. But Judge Susan Crawford, the candidate endorsed by Democrats, [was] fighting back," MSNBC's Jen Psaki (Feb-21) reported (video).

"Federal employees told to justify jobs in email or Musk says they face dismissal" — CNN (Feb-22) reported, "The email came from the Office of Personnel Management’s new HR email address but had no signature. The subject line [read]: What did you do last week? Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments..."

People seemed to support parts of the waste-cutting concept, but not the way DOGE was operating, CNN (Feb-23) suggested (video).

"Some of the most high-profile federal agencies ended up bucking Musk’s demands, with the Justice Department, State Department, Pentagon, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy all telling staff not to respond to the email," CNN (Feb-25) reported.

Government debt was at an all-time high; interest payments continued to dilute U.S. earnings, crack its foundations, and deliver compound blows to American consumers (for example: underfunded city, state, and federal transportation services would hurt a range of economies and industries, impacting the bottom line worse than better/proper funding).

ASCENDENTS.NET NEWS' PERSPECTIVE — One main reason why people supported cutting government costs, was because they assumed that government expenses were somehow connected to the affordability of groceries:

Believing,
"less costs = costs less" — vs THE REALITY: THINK ABOUT IT (Q&A), WHY —

Q: With less regulations and less government effort to protect consumers, why would that magically make everything more affordable? A: It wouldn't. "Federal agencies don't control food prices, but may indirectly affect them... Many factors influencing the food supply chain can affect retail food prices, such as global trade issues, pandemics, animal and plant disease outbreaks, and war," Government Accountability Office (2023-Mar-28) shared, "Food Prices: Information on Trends, Factors, and Federal Roles."

Cutting government programs wouldn't lead to the fueling of Main St.'s economy or solve the affordability problems. However, THE REAL PROBLEM: The distribution of wealth — with too much debt-diluted money invested by the wealthy on Wall St., nothing was left for the middle class on Main St., and interest rates couldn't go low enough to get money into Main St.'s hands (no consumer buying/spending power, without causing severe inflation). The wealthiest were accumulating billions at incredible rates and tightening their grips on all of the money. At the same time, more and more Americans were stretched — surviving from paycheck to paycheck.

"THE THING ABOUT POPULISM IS you have to be popular. The moment you lose touch with the public mood, you lose the ability to set your agenda without friction... Trump has set himself up as the only person in the government who matters, so every national problem falls on his head. Since he’s done nothing to address those inflation concerns, voters are already starting to assign blame. ...the real question about Trump’s second term was always whether he would bully the country into an effective monarchy, or fall prey to the laws of political gravity," The American Prospect's David Dayen (Feb-24) shared, "The Coup Has Failed: Trump’s falling approval ratings reveal an out-of-touch presidency, and have given space for allies to turn against him."

While the corruption was devastating, they seemed really bad at it... Voices echoed, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (Feb-25) shared (video), "No idea what he's doing: Series of bumbles and mistakes makes clear Musk is in over his head..." Stephen Colbert (Feb-25) said (video), "...even at this early stage, it is clear that he is hellbent on dismantling our federal government and ending our 80-yearlong Western Alliance. But on the bright side, these people clearly don't have a clue what they're doing."

The Guardian (Feb-25) headlined: "Outcry as White House [started] dictating which journalists [could] access Trump... The Trump administration announced it [would] take control of the White House press pool, stripping the independent White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) of its longstanding role in deciding which journalists have access to the president in intimate settings... (and) which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States."

"U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Russian oligarchs would possibly be able to apply for a $5 million gold card via a new scheme that grants a pathway to American citizenship to wealthy foreigners," Politico (Feb-26) reported President Trump said he knew, "some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people... They are not as wealthy as they used to be; I think they can afford $5 million..."

"SHAMEFUL House budget bill will shred public services. Let’s fight back. Let’s GO" — the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) (Feb-26) announced, "The House plan seeks to cut $2 trillion in federal spending to pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for billionaires and wealthy corporations. It also calls for raising the federal debt limit by $4 trillion." "Republicans will need to tread carefully on reforms to popular programs like Medicaid, food assistance and Pell grants — concerns that nearly sunk the budget plan," CNN (Feb-25) said. Democracy Watch's Bryan Tyler Cohen (Feb-25) said (video), "Republicans are trying to be clever about this: they didn't put the cuts themselves in the budget, they merely instructed the Committees to make these cuts so that they can preserve some plausible deniability about what they're doing..."

"...so focused on secrecy, despite saying that they're being very transparent," Political Analyst Maggie Haberman (Feb-26) told CNN's Anderson Cooper (video).

THE SANE-WASHING CONTINUED...

CNN (Feb-26) shared an OMB/OPM memo (PDF), "Trump memo [told] federal agencies how to conduct mass layoffs. ...a significant reduction: ...by eliminating positions that are not needed and reducing federal property holdings and budget..."

ECONOMIC FORECAST: AAII (Feb-26) released new Sentiment Survey numbers. For the fourth consecutive week, investor confidence fell, to only 19.4% bullish... Meanwhile, a 1-year record number for negative sentiment rose to 60.6% bearish. YCharts (Feb-27) added that the long-term average was 37.69% and 1 year ago, investor confidence was 44.28%. EXTRA: The Department of Labor (Feb-27) reported (PDF) for the week of Feb-22: 242,000 (22,000 more jobless claims than the 220,000 projected). Associated Press/Inc (Feb-28) reported, "US consumers cut spending in January more drastically than at any point in the last four years."

"Who's that good for?": MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (Mar-1) connected (video), "...the dots on Donald Trump's behavior toward Russia... ...Maddow [looked] at a string of peculiar behavior by Donald Trump and Trump administration policies that [didn't] seem to have the welfare of the United States as their goal, and [wondered] who those policies [were] good for if they [weren't] good for the U.S."

"It feels like we’re watching reality TV — it feels like every time we hit the bottom of this pit, somebody finds a new kind of shovel. And so, I'm not sure where the bottom is," Former White House Speechwriter (for President Obama) Jesse Moore (Mar-1) told MSNBC (video).

The Record (Feb-28) announced, "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia..." Politico (Mar-3) added, "Cyber Command is the U.S. Department of Defense's section conducting cyberattacks and cyberdefensive operations... French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot voiced his confusion (via French public radio), I have a bit of trouble understanding [Hegseth's decision]. The French minister said European Union countries [were] constantly the targets of Russian cyberattacks."

The Guardian (Mar-2) reported from a retired senior colonel of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA); "Zhou Bo (in Beijing) said that Trump was damaging the US’s reputation more than all of his predecessors combined... ...(and) creating opportunities for China, particularly with regards to Taiwan."

GREATEST HOPES & GREATEST EXPECTATIONS — There was an afternoon rush to be ready for Trump's 9:00 pm EST Joint Address to Congress/State of The Union speech. C-SPAN/NOTUS reporter Jasmine Wright (Mar-4) shared (video) from a survey that the majority of Americans wanted to hear about: tariffs and DOGE efforts, more than his partisan position for: border security and/or the War in Ukraine.

TRUMP'S JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS — MARCH 4, 2025 "Some Like It Hot Cake Scene Coloured (For He's A Jolly Good Fellow)" Niyazi Kan shared (video). ASCENDENTS.NET NEWS STYLE GUIDELINE — To protect judicial integrity, judges are typically referenced without names and without bias, because they should administer justice without bias. When judges are in a group, all judges act as a group in concert, not as individuals. The same concept might be applied to law enforcement personnel, lawyers, and others in official positions where the story isn't directly about them as individuals, their names, or their personal lives. During President Trump's Joint Address to Congress, out of the nine Supreme Court justices: 5 of 9 attended. Trump and the judges exchanged casual appreciation. EXAGGERATED TRUTHS & ELABORATED LIES — The presidential speaking event started with claps from the right-wing politicians, following a swarm of left-wing boos and interruptions. Trump got frustrated and After a warning, Speaker Johnson sounded upset, "Finding that members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum, the chair now directs the sergeant at arms to restore order. Remove this gentleman from the chamber." Rep. Al Green (D-TX) was removed from the House Chamber. Occasional boos followed. Democrats held non-charismatic protest signs. Projectiles flew out of Trump's mouth. He echoed Musk's claims that tens of millions of people were receiving Social Security, however; that would suggest a lot more waste than they had added up. Trump also had claimed, "We have hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have not been showing up to work... Any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed from office immediately — because we are draining the swamp..." "AND OUR COUNTRY WILL BE WOKE NO LONGER," Trump dictated. "Woke" had become a confusing connotated term for: something bad, something wrong, something that needed to be eliminated. "Wokeness" was obscure, so truly trying to define what was and wasn't woke, could never really be expressed with full confidence, therefore condemning the term felt like empowerment, however; attacking new ways of thinking, set back forward-thinking and social progress. Trump attacked arbitrary "wokeness" to depress/dig into people's insecurities. Then, he teased relief by calling for: "no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security..." Republicans applauded. "President Trump [Addressed] Joint Session of Congress" C-SPAN (Mar-4) shared (video and transcript) of Donald Trump's fifth State of the Union address. "President Trump... (1:18:20)... Michigan freshman Senator Elissa Slotkin gave the Democratic Response (3:09:27)." Politico (Mar-4) reported that Biden was blamed/mentioned at least 16 times... Trump also heavily leaned into tragic/sad stories, attempting to command sympathy from his opponents. Laken Riley was mentioned eight times. FOREIGN POLICY Trump announced they would reclaim the Panama Canal. "We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back... Good luck Marco we know who to blame if anything goes wrong..." TAG24 (Mar-13) reported, "Panama [responded] to alarming reports that Trump ordered Pentagon to explore military options... ...aimed at reclaiming the strategic waterway... ...it (Panama) would remain firm in defending its sovereignty and the Panama Canal." Regarding Greenland, Trump said, "We need it really for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it," ABC News (Mar-5) reported. Fox News (Mar-15) shared, that Greenland responded in protest, "We — all the party leaders — cannot accept the repeated statements regarding annexation and control of Greenland... We find this behavior toward friends and allies in a defense alliance unacceptable." Trump also heckled the southern African country of Lesotho, "...eliciting laughter from some US lawmakers... Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of," BBC News (Mar-5) reported; "Lesotho's Foreign Affairs Minister Lejone Mpotjoane said it was shocking to hear a head of state refer to another sovereign state in that manner... To my surprise, the country that nobody has heard of is the country where the US has a permanent mission." Listening to Donald Trump's speech was tiring. By 11:00 pm EST, many viewers had stopped watching. Wall Street Journal (Mar-5) stated it was, "the longest speech ever delivered in a joint address... According to the American Presidency Project, which tracks the length of speeches that presidents have delivered to Congress... The speech was about 1 hour and 39 minutes long (~99 minutes)." The New Yorker/Crouch (Mar-5) wrote, "Even an unhinged Trump speech can be boring."

Forbes/Sen. Bernie Sanders (Mar-4) responded (video), "You heard tonight, President Trump has been very effective in creating what I would call a parallel universe for his supporters; a set of ideas that either have no basis in reality, or in the great scheme of things, are nowhere near the most important concerns of the American people. And one way that he does that, is through the concept of the big lie — and boy, did we hear that tonight... You say something, something that is grossly false... Say it over and over again... And have right-wing social media blasted out endless times... ...until people actually believe it... ...rather than address the real issues facing the American people... At this particular moment in history: Despair is not an option... Giving up is not acceptable, and... None of us have the privilege of hiding under the covers... ...the stakes are just too high. Let us never forget, real change only occurs: when ordinary people stand up by the millions, against oppression and injustice, and fight back."

FACTS MATTER — if Congress cancelled the wealthy's $4.5T tax cut, it seemed like the way to balance the budget (as Trump was professing during his Joint Address to Congress, "We’re going to balance it"). Keeping the tax cut basically proved that the Republicans were not serious about fiscal responsibility or considering everyday Americans.

The Bulwark's Tim Miller and JVL (Mar-5) exchanged views (video), "Are you telling me that: if then, if Russia decided to go take that prop, that territory with the rare earth, that Trump wouldn't... just, like — make the deal for it with Putin? ...we're really going to go to battle? ...we're going to send troops? ...these guys are going to send troops in to defend the [*censored*] Ukrainians? Rare Earth minerals... ludicrous... The whole thing is ludicrous, like — everybody can see... Speaking of, they like talking about the cards... ...everyone can see Trump's cards, like — he's playing it, he's playing poker with his cards backwards... We know what they are what they're willing to do... This idea that he's some crazy man and you'll never know what he's going to do; it's like, no, it's — he's the most predictable person in the world... He's not going to send troops into Ukraine... Putin can do whatever the [ __ ] he wants." Miller and JVL continued, "Eventually he (Trump) turns on [*censored*] everybody. Like— he's turned, on everybody... Zelenskyy has gone out of his way to have a good relationship with Trump... Yeah, it's like the Kier Starmer thing— I guess my point is that Kier does everything that people say you should do, as you point out, and then a week later, Trump's like: You're not allowed to our intel... So, [*censored*] him, that's my point."

"Will be hell to pay if Hamas doesn't release hostages, Trump [said] in last warning... Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD," wrote Trump on Truth Social/Deccan Herald (Mar-5) reported.

Rep. Al Green was censured by Congress for interrupting Trump's State of the Union speech. The congressman remarked, "the president of the United States at a joint session of Congress, called members of Congress, lunatics; that was an act of incivility... There comes a time when you cannot allow the president's incivility to take advantage of our civility and that's what's happening in this country — his incivility is overwhelming our civility: we cannot allow this; that act of incivility was in direct response to the president's incivility. Mr. President, you sir, you were wrong when you pointed to the members of Congress and called them lunatics. The president hasn't been sanctioned; (the) president hasn't been reprimanded. ...no censure of the president; the president is above the law... ...to certain things, but not as it relate to all things, not all. He is still subject to the norms of society. The decorum that you expect from me, you have to respect, and expect from the president. Why would we allow him to use his incivility and expect me to continue to engage in civility as it relates to his incivility? Mr. President, there are some of us who are going to stand against your incivility. We have reached a point in our history where we have to hearken back to that which got us to this point..." Forbes (Mar-6) reported (video).

"President Donald Trump's decision to establish official government cryptocurrency reserves in the US [had] drawn criticism from industry watchers..." BBC News (Mar-7) reported; "(White House AI and crypto tsar David Sacks) ...ordered a full accounting of the federal government's existing crypto reserves, which he estimated at 200,000 Bitcoin alone. That's worth $17.5bn (£13.6bn) at today's (2025-Mar) prices..." The White House's (Mar-6) Executive Order Fact Sheet said, "Currently, no clear policy exists for managing these assets, leading to a lack of accountability and inadequate exploration of options to centralize, secure, or maximize their value." Coinbase (Mar-8) reported 19,833,831 BTC out of 21,000,000 are in global circulation. According to Sacks' estimate, the U.S. Government only owns about 1-percent of the digital assets.

BTC No Lie's Cohen (Mar-9) announced (video) bringing 50 content creators for a D.C. meeting, with 160 Democratic members of Congress, to discuss CHORUS, an effort to mobilize thousands and level the politics in cyberspace.

NPR News (Mar-11) announced, "The United States [would] resume sending military aid and intelligence to Ukraine after Ukraine agreed to a Trump administration proposal for a monthlong ceasefire... It was the first high-level meeting between Ukraine and the U.S. since the Trump administration froze military aid and intelligence sharing for Ukraine in the wake of a televised blowup between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in late February... We're going to tell them (Russia) this is what's on the table: Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking. And now it'll be up to them to say yes or no, Rubio said. I hope they're going to say yes. And if they do, then I think we've made great progress. If they say no, then we'll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here."

TRUMP'S COMPETITION: — Donald Trump's tariffs charged Americans more for foreign products, instead of negotiating for a discount (as it is common sense, basic knowledge in sales: to get greater deals — most buyers would hope to get a discount, not to pay extra). A discount would essentially save Americans money and give them more spending power, basically negative tariffs: that would have made more sense... If he convinced Canada to sell lumber to the U.S. for 25% less, that would have been great! Instead, Trump got tricky and basically said, "Buy American or else: I want, not a—25%-discount/off the top, 25% greater, on top of whatever the price was!" Inflation was triggered; everything already was too expensive, and the entire economy slowed. Trump's empire was likely part of his strategy. 🔭🔬 LOCAL SCOPE: A shop brought in weekend bikini girls and charged 25% extra on Friday-Saturday-Sunday (that they kept as tips). Regular customers who didn't feel like paying the extra 25% (because the cashier was wearing a bikini); those regular customers quit shopping there, even on weekdays. Trump was charging tariffs; he wasn't even wearing a bikini, but maybe that was part of the deal. YOUR VOICE MATTERS: Would you rather wake up to the U.S. economy seeing Donald Trump: A] wearing a bikini, or B] not wearing a bikini?

"...Trump's mind [was] gone. It [was] shattered..." MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell (Mar-13) furiously explained (video), "Trump's vile, antisemitic attack on Schumer: (and) ...the problem with reporters learning not to be outraged by anything Trump [said]... In the Oval Office today, Donald Trump used Palestinian as a slur and said the highest-ranking Jewish elected official, Chuck Schumer, [was] not Jewish. Those comments went unchallenged by the reporters in the room."

ECONOMIC REPORT: AAII (Mar-12) released (chart) new Sentiment Survey numbers. For the sixth consecutive week, investor confidence fell, to only 19.1% bullish. "Nothing he is doing is actually making our industry more competitive. If anything, if he raises steel tariffs to 50% on canada, as he has threatened, it would probably become cheaper to make cars anywhere else in the world (besides the United States)," Washington Post's Catherine Rampell (Mar-13) said (video) MSNBC's Katy Tur replied (video), "Do the people in his administration not know what they're doing?" CBS News (Mar-14) wrote, "U.S. consumer sentiment swooned in March to a more than two-year low, with a preliminary gauge released by the University of Michigan proving far weaker than economists had expected." "Expectations for the future deteriorated across multiple facets of the economy, including personal finances, labor markets, inflation, business conditions, and stock markets. Many consumers cited the high level of uncertainty around policy and other economic factors," U-M Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu (Mar-14) noted. CNN (Mar-14) shared (video); former Treasury secretary under President Clinton, Larry Summers said, "There was a CEO survey this week at Yale (audio)¹ that showed, probably, if anything, even more anxiety than consumers are showing. Perhaps that news, will reach the administration." Yale School of Management senior associate dean for leadership studies Professor Jeff Sonnenfeld (Mar-14) told (video) CNBC's Squawk Box.

"While CEOs, investors and regular people [freaked] out, Trump spent his day annoyed and emotional about the trade war he started," MSNBC's Chris Hayes (Mar-14) wrote; "Angry and erratic: Trump Cabinet official [admitted] the president [was] acting on emotion."

"Vladimir Putin [had] endorsed US plans for a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine – but has insisted he will do so only on his terms," The Independent (Mar-13) reported; "Vitaly Shevchenko, Russia editor for BBC Monitoring, said Mr Putin’s response to the ceasefire plan was a ‘no’ disguised as a ‘yes’... Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said, Putin often does this – he does not say no directly, but he does it in such a way that practically everything only delays and makes normal decisions impossible. We believe that this is all just another Russian manipulation."

"Donald Trump, in DOJ speech, [called] CNN and MSNBC Illegal for reporting negatively on him," Deadline (Mar-14) wrote. Rep. Raskin (Mar-15) said (video), "No other president in American history has stood at the Department of Justice to Proclaim an agenda of criminal prosecution and retaliation against his political foes." Also during his speech, Trump/Roll Call-factba.se (Mar-13) recorded (transcript), "Red for republican, not for communist. Red for Republican. They would like it to turn red for communist, but it didn't work out that way."

"Ten Senate Democrats joined with the Republican majority in voting to move forward with a stopgap spending bill Friday — clearing the path to avoid a government shutdown... (Sen. Catherine) Cortez Masto told reporters before the vote that a shutdown would give Trump and Musk more authority to cherry-pick which agencies to close and would cost the economy billions of dollars," Axios (Mar-15) reported.

APPROVAL KEPT DROPPING — President Donald Trump's net favorability (% points) was in the negative and continued to fall, The Economist (Mar-16) updated (charts).

"And again, it's just this is what happens when you put a 78 year old toddler in the White House," Former Republican Congressman and January 6 Select Committee member Adam Kinzinger (Mar-17) told CNN (video).

"Donald Trump ran as a fake populist, and he is there for the unmasking. He has no clothes. I mean, don't—" Senator Chris Murphy (Mar-17) told Jon Stewart on the Daily Show (video), "They are handing us the opportunity... ...to rebrand the Democratic Party as the true populist party... We are the party that actually has ideas that transfer power from the powerful to the powerless."

THANK [___] or [___] YOU — "I am surprised, just how quickly they have created a climate of fear. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but by going after universities, they're intimidating other universities. By going after certain press organizations, they're causing others to self censor. By going after certain law firms, they're causing other lawyers to not want to take cases, if they think it will be retaliated against by the administration. Companies, you know, towing a Trumpian line, because they're worried about losing government contracts: I would not have thought it possible to, so quickly, create that climate of fear. And: we have to band together; we have to speak out; we have to push back; we have to show courage (to) the dictator wannabes. This is part of their playbook and the only way to defeat it, is by standing strong, and saying basically, screw you I won't be intimidated!," California Senator Adam Schiff (Mar-21) told Jimmy Kimmel (video).

"State department [turned] down special request to supply city of Tijuana in drought-affected north for first time ever," The Guardian (Mar-20) reported.

"It sounds strange, doesn’t it? Department of Education. We’re going to eliminate it, Trump said in the East Room of the White House at a ceremony where he was flanked by children seated at school desks. Before he signed the order, Trump turned to the children and asked, Should I do this?" NBC News (Mar-20) announced; "Trump [signed] executive order to dismantle the Education Department." Meidas/Rep. (D-OR) Janelle Bynum (Mar-22) said (video), "What they're trying to do is keep people suspicious of education and keep people undereducated. An educated populace can challenge its government and they don't want that." MSNBC's Ali Velshi (Mar-22) spoke (video) about the First Amendment and free speech: "It's the beating heart of a free and democratic society. People who are free to speak are free to challenge authority. They're free to share ideas and organize, all of which undermine tyranny. This is why a true measure of a nation's freedom can be seen in how much dissent it is willing to tolerate. And in a vibrant democracy, dissent is valued, not simply tolerated. In the 1700s... Benjamin franklin observed, Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech, a thing terrible to public traitors. It's no wonder, then, that the Trump aministration has set its sights on America's universities, institutions that serve as major centers of deliberation and free inquiry."

New York Daily News (Mar-23) announced, "Columbia [caved] to Trump..." "Columbia University agreed to comply with a series of demands from the Trump administration about how it will handle protests, antisemitism and academic departments. The university faced a deadline to either comply or risk losing $400 million in federal funding," PBS News (Mar-23) shared; "Using funding to force concessions threatens institutions, Princeton president [said]." The New York Times (Mar-22) had mentioned, "Decades ago, Columbia refused to pay Trump $400 million... A quarter-century ago, the university was looking to expand. It considered, and rejected, property owned by Donald Trump. He did not forget it."

"The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans... U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling. The Atlantic (Mar-24) reported. "...after being added to a Signal chat called Houthi PC small group by a user named Michael Waltz, the name of President Trump's national security adviser," Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg (Mar-25) told NPR's All Thing Considered, "It was a chilling thing to realize that I've inadvertently discovered a massive security breach in the national security system of the United States." NPR continued, "experts [said] sensitive government communications normally [occured] via official devices and through elaborate security measures, not by using open-source software... Any one of us that served in the military or serve in the military would be in Leavenworth if we did this, (said) former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who served as a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard... The meetings of the Principals Committee are (usually) held in the White House Situation Room..." "I take full responsibility. I built the group," Waltz said on "The Ingraham Angle." "It's embarrassing. We're going to get to the bottom of it," USA Today (Mar-25) added; "Others in the chat included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Rafcliffe... Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt each said no classified information was shared in the chat. But after Goldberg’s report described the types of weapons to be used and the timing of the strikes." Politico (Mar-26) confirmed, "Hegseth and the White House [had] denied sharing classified information or war plans... This information was clearly taken from the real time order of battle sequence of an ongoing operation, said Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant Defense secretary under the first Trump administration. It [was] highly classified and protected." USA Today also had said, "Democrats called for Hegseth and Waltz to resign over the security breach." Fortune (Mar-25) added, "Vance apparently said (via Signal) he wasn’t sure the president [was] aware how inconsistent this [was] with his message on Europe..." The Guardian (Mar-25) wrote, "Trump [dismissed] Signal security failure as the only glitch in two months." SIGNALGATE — "A colossal f--- up!:" MSNBC's Jen Psaki (Mar-26) interviewed Sen. Adam Schiff (video), "who [was] demanding answers from Trump aides involved in the leak of attack plans to a journalist on the app Signal... What else may have been compromised? Sen. Schiff (was) running out of adjectives and expletives for Trump team leak." MSNBC (Mar-26) relayed (video), "Der Spiegel reporters were able to find phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top U.S. officials—including Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, and Mike Waltz..." MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace (Apr-1) echoed The Washington Post (video), "Mike Waltz, staff used Gmail to discuss sensitive military positions and weapons systems." Politico (Apr-2) added, "Waltz’s team set up at least 20 Signal group chats for crises across the world."

ECONOMIC REPORT: For over twelve weeks, AAII continued reporting (survey), "Bullish sentiment [was] unusually low and is below its historical average of 37.5%." Respondents said, "A higher-than-typical chance: 50.4%... ...of a recession occurring before the end of the year." "The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® (Mar-25) fell by 7.2 points in March to 92.9 (1985=100). The Present Situation Index—based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions—decreased 3.6 points to 134.5. The Expectations Index—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions—dropped 9.6 points to 65.2, the lowest level in 12 years and well below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession ahead... Consumer confidence declined for a fourth consecutive month in March, falling below the relatively narrow range that had prevailed since 2022, said Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist, Global Indicators at The Conference Board."

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas (Mar-26) reported (video), "...as a very safe +15 Trump State Senate Seat in Pennsylvania flipped to blue as Democrat James Malone pulled off a stunning upset." "Democrat Josh Weil is within five points of defeating Republican Randy Fine to flip National Security Advisor Mike Waltz's old seat in the House of Representatives... ...the solidly Republican seat voted for President Donald Trump by 30 points in the 2024 presidential race," NewsWeek (Mar-26) reported.

"Dow [closed] 700 points lower as inflation and tariff fears [worsened]," CBNC (Mar-28) reported.

"U.S. officials went door-to-door in Greenland to find anyone who wanted to be visited by the Vances. They found no one," Yahoo/The Independent (Mar-28) shared. Politico (Mar-28) added, "After Vance visit, Denmark tells US: Stop treating us like dirt... This is not how you speak to your close allies, Denmark’s top diplomat said." Vance had told Greenlanders they would, "fare better coming under the United States security umbrella than you have been under Denmark’s security umbrella."

Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator, has resigned," NBC News (Mar-29) reported (video); "In his resignation letter, Marks criticized Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr... It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies."

"Nearly a dozen known students and faculty members at colleges across the country [had] been detained by federal agents amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration..." CNN (Mar-31) reported.

A NEW RECORD — "Senator Cory Booker [held] marathon speech taking aim at the Trump administration... The Democratic senator from New Jersey showed no signs of slowing down after speaking for more than 22 hours. The longest Senate speech on record [was] 24 hours and 18 minutes," NBC News (Apr-1) reported. NPR (Apr-2) wrote, "The 55-year-old Democrat from New Jersey kept talking and talking — through the night and into the next day — for 25 hours and 5 minutes."

From Federalist Paper 51, Cory Booker quoted "Father of the Constitution" James Madison, "It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices [checks and balances] should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary." Booker also quoted from Learned Hand's "The Spirit of Liberty" (1944): "What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the mind of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned but never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest."

"Democrats clinched a landslide victory in Wisconsin and made inroads in two deep-red Florida districts, spelling trouble for Republicans," Politico (Apr-2) reported; "I’m honestly shocked. I thought we had it in the bag, said Pam Van Handel, chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s Outagamie County. I thought [Musk] was going to be an asset for this race. People love Trump, but maybe they don’t love everybody he supports. Maybe I have blinders on." The news outlet continued, "Musk and groups he backed, including his America PAC, funneled $20 million into the election through splashy and controversial tactics, including doling out $1 million checks to Republican voters and paying people $100 each to sign a petition to quell activist judges." Musk had backtracked on his messaging after illegally offering people money to vote, Milwaukee's FOX6 (Mar-28) reported.

Before its sell-off, "Newsmax had about the same market value as United Airlines and about half the total market cap of General Motors," The Bulwark (Apr-3) noted. "The stock's spiral sent Newsmax's market cap down to $4.7 billion, just a fraction of its roughly $21 billion value at Tuesday's close... Newsmax [had been] a conservative cable news outlet and Fox News alternative that was founded in 1998 by CEO Christopher Ruddy, a media mogul and friend of US President Trump. The company... ...raised $75 million in its IPO Friday, with shares priced at $10. Newsmax had previously raised $225 million in a private offering in February," Yahoo! Finance (Apr-2) reported.

"A judge in Boston [held] a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in contempt after he detained a suspect while the man was on trial... ICE agent Brian Sullivan detained Wilson Martell-Lebron last week as he was leaving court. But a Boston Municipal Court judge issued a ruling Monday against Sullivan, arguing that he had deprived Martell-Lebron of his rights to due process and a fair trial by taking him into custody," AP News (Apr-2) reported.

The Wall Street Journal (Mar-27) announced, "Trump warned U.S. automakers not to raise prices in response to tariffs," however; the foreign components in American vehicles raised the production costs, which crippled American auto manufacturers' abilities to afford the production of their vehicles. Additionally he was forcing American companies to sell its limited resources for less than desired margins. Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro (Apr-2) told MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle (video) that Trump had the wrong idea and that jobs were, "not going to come as a result of this approach to tariffs... It's dumb to have this across the board tariff; we're raising taxes on the American people and companies. And it's even dumber to kind of hollow out our system so we can't compete in the future. So, Trump is coming at this in the exact wrong way..." Gov. Shapiro also said, "if you want to be able to grow economically in this country: don't hollow out our science and technology systems; don't hollow out our education systems."

Senate Republicans joined the Democrats to reverse Trump's tariffs against Canada, CBS News (Apr-3) shared (video). The effort wasn't even expected to reach the floor in the House of Representatives, however; bipartisan lawmakers united in a greater attempt for Congress to take control of America's tariff/trade policies. CBS News (Apr-3) added (video), "Sen. (R-KY) Rand Paul [suggested] Trump tariffs [were] unconstitutional... ...our Constitution was written: taxes originate in Congress and more specifically they originate in the House. So, there is nothing about this that is consistent with our constitutional republic."

"Denmark and Greenland [showed] united front against US annexation threats," BBC News (Apr-3) reported; Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, "offered closer collaboration on security but told the US president: You can't annex other countries."

"Lithuanians [bid] farewell to 4 US soldiers who died during training exercise..." AP News (Apr-3) reported. "Trump [skipped] honoring soldiers killed in Lithuania to watch golf," Rolling Stone (Apr-4) said; "The president [was] hiding on the green as markets [reacted] to his tariff regime, and four fallen soldiers [were] returned to the United States."

"Dow's 1675-point drop led by losses in Nike, Boeing stocks," MarketWatch (Apr-3) reported. "Stocks [kept] falling," The New York Times (Apr-4) announced. "China imposes 34% reciprocal tariffs on imports of US goods in retaliation for Trump’s trade war," CNN (Apr-4) reported; they added, "Dow [plunged] 2,200 points as tariff tumult rocks markets." TruthSocial/Trump (Apr-4) suggested, "CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED - THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!"

"Tariffs highly likely to increase inflation" — CNN (Apr-4) shared (video), "Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was taken aback by the scope of the tariffs President Donald Trump put in place."

The New Jersey Business & Industry Association (Apr-4) shared from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, "U.S. employers added 228,000 jobs in March, but the national unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% to 4.2%....The BLS report noted that federal employees who have lost their jobs and are still collecting severance pay are not yet counted among the unemployed." "The federal government lost 4,000, a sign that Elon Musk’s purge of the federal workforce may only be starting to show up in the data," PBS News (Apr-4) said. "...forecasters said a rebound was likely following the adverse effects of frigid weather and worker strikes on payrolls in January and February," USA Today (Apr-4) reported. TruthSocial/Trump (Apr-4) suggested, "GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANG TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!"

Recent update (2025/05/03)

"The Age Of America is OVER — if we're not the world's reserve currency. Can we run budget deficits, because— are other countries willing to buy up our debt? No. Right? I mean, this is— this is a massive reordering of America's place in the world and what strikes me, is that in America... hardly anybody has their heads around this and the entire rest of the world sees it," The Bulwark's JVL (Apr-6) said; Tim Miller replied (video), "Yeah... (characterization)...we can't— we can't rely on on those people, if one of the two parties in a two-party system is— is totally lawless!"

"The biggest threat to the world economy is Mr. Trump’s tariffs," The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board (Apr-10) suggested.

"Government bonds [had] been selling off while stocks [had] plunged. That’s unusual, and it's raising concerns that global investors [were] losing some of their long-standing confidence in America. Stocks [were] generally seen as a risky type of asset, while bonds [were] known as a safe haven, with the two typically moving in opposite directions," NBC News (Apr-11) reported.

The Harvard Gazette (Apr-14) announced from Harvard President Alan Garber, "Harvard won’t comply with demands from Trump administration (PDF)... The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights...". Within hours of Harvard's announcement, "The Trump administration announced late Monday that it was moving to freeze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University," Harvard T.H. Chan - School of Public Health (Apr-14) reported. To MSNBC's José Díaz-Balart, Harvard Law School Professor Andrew Manuel Crespo (Apr-15) said (video), "Our partnership between Congress, the federal government and research universities has been something that has been so beneficial for the American people. That's the partnership that President Trump is now trying to unilaterally end. He's doing it against the will of Congress, which appropriated these funds and which put in place an entire statutory scheme in the civil rights act of 1964, that says how these funds are to be regulated. President Trump is disregarding all of that. He's ignoring Congress' statutes. He's ignoring Congress' will. He's ignoring the will of the American people. Our constitutional democracy depends on having universities that are not just leading the way in research, but that are helping us understand the core aspects of our democracy. I teach at a law school. we're talking about the rule of law. Donald Trump is threatened by schools that talk about the rule of law because he is a threat to the rule of law. When we have these types of programs and institutions threatened, it's a danger to the country."

"Trump admin [faced] insider trading investigation over stock market surge," Newsweek (Apr-10) shared. "US president posted it was a great time to buy on social media just hours before pausing tariff impositions..." The Guardian (Apr-10) added. "Trump stock manipulation evidence [grew] stronger," MeidasTouch (Apr-13) said (video). ABC News (Apr-28) reported, "Democratic lawmakers were urgently calling for the White House to issue a full disclosure of financial transactions leading up to President Donald Trump's sudden pause on a sweeping set of tariffs..."

MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace (Apr-16) echoed (video) The New York Times' Patricia Cohen: "Consumer and business confidence [had] plunged. Uncertainty [was] paralyzing purchases, from a new home or car to a new factory. Investors [had] signaled their lack of faith in the U.S. economy by selling off Treasury bonds, the traditional haven when the outlook darkens..."

"US economic output [hit] 16-month low in April, expectations [cratered]," Yahoo! Finance (Apr-23) reported. "...EMPTY SHELVES WARNING, MARKET SLUMP..." Axios sources (Apr-23) relayed, "The CEOs of three of the nation's biggest retailers — Walmart, Target and Home Depot — privately warned him (Trump) that his tariff and trade policy could disrupt supply chains, raise prices, and empty shelves... Trump disruptions could become noticeable in two weeks."

"Trump eroding US brand, [had] made the country 20% poorer (in four weeks), Citadel chief (Griffin) [said]... There’s no great opportunity when the pie is rapidly shrinking... All you’re trying to do is tread water and not drown," Semafor (Apr-23) shared.

"Trump 100 days: delusions of monarchy coupled with fundamental ineptitude," The Guardian (Apr-29) wrote; "Trump [had] wasted no time in trying to remake the US in his image – with results that [were] sweeping, vengeful and chaotic."

"May Day demonstrations [spanned] coast to coast in 50501 anti-Trump protests," CNN (May-1) reported.

"Moody’s Ratings downgraded the United States’ debt on Friday, stripping the country of its last perfect credit rating. The move could rattle financial markets and push up interest rates, potentially creating an additional financial burden for Americans already struggling with tariffs and inflation," CNN (May-16) reported.

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