On the docket today: Trump cuts off military aid to Ukraine, sparks a trade war with our allies, prepares to address a gelded Congress, and hands out yet another massive grift to his cronies.
Happy Fat Tuesday.
Here’s a modest suggestion: why don’t we give up the insanity for Lent; and remember that we are not the crazy ones.
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On today’s “To The Contrary” Podcast, I’m joined by Susan Glasser, staff writer for the New Yorker, and author of the weekly column, “Letters from Trump’s Washington.” Frankly, nobody understands this stuff better than Susan, who was co-author with her husband, the NYT’s Peter Baker, of “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021.”
The jumping off point of our conversation was her most recent column in which she pondered the quiescent response to Trump’s tumult. We discussed last Friday’s Oval Office disaster and Trump’s embrace of Putin. But we also talk about James Carville’s advice in the Times that Democrats should “Roll over and play dead.” (His actual words.) Wrote Glasser:
Maybe the legendary strategist will once again prove his political genius with his advice to Democrats to do nothing and simply wait for Trump to screw everything up before, eventually, descending “like a pack of hyenas” and going for his “jugular.”
In the meantime, however, Carville’s call for “strategic political retreat” sure seems like something a lot closer to unilateral disarmament.
What’s the point of having two political parties in our democracy if one of them is no longer loyal to the Constitution and the other one is so weak and consumed by infighting that its response is to say, Never mind, we can’t get our act together. Sorry that Trump is ruining the country but we’ll be back next year in time for the midterms?
She also notes the “partisan cynicism” in the advice, which seems to accept the notion “that Trump’s second term isn’t really the fascist threat that Democrats warned about on the campaign trail but a regrettable interlude that must be waited out.”
Talk about a risky assumption, one that seems premised on the idea that the damage from Trump 2.0 can be undone in four years just as quickly as it’s being done.
Is this really the week to make that case?
Some highlights of our conversation
What happened in the Oval Office last Friday….
The delusion of Trump’s negotiating strategy…
American passivity…
Meanwhile…
The stock market dropped Monday as Trump announced massive new tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Tariffs for Mexico and Canada begin Tuesday, Trump confirms - The Washington Post…. China and Canada Retaliate Against Trump Tariffs, With Mexico to Counter on Sunday: Live Updates - The New York Times
DOGE continues to blunder through the federal government. Via the NYT: DOGE has been riddled with mistakes… and has now deleted hundreds of claimed savings, worth billions of dollars. DOGE Claims Credit for Killing Contracts That Were Already Dead - The New York Times
And what could possibly go wrong with this? “DOGE cuts could soon trigger Social Security system 'collapse'"
BONUS: “Elon Musk calls Social Security ‘the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time’.”
Springtime for Putin
Trump’s appeasement of his Kremlin comrade continues apace.
U.S. Suspends All Military Aid to Ukraine, Trump Official Says
This is not the first time Trump has cut off military aid to Zelensky and Ukraine. In July 2019, he had a phone call with Zelensky in which he said Zelensky should deliver to him information he could use against Joe Biden in return for unfreezing military aid. The White House had halted supplies to Ukraine, which had been fighting Russia and Russia-backed insurgents since 2014, and then resumed the aid months later after word of Trump’s pressure campaign leaked to the public. This episode resulted in the first impeachment trial of Trump by Congress….
The most immediate beneficiary is President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. If the suspension is lengthy, he can use the time to press for further territorial gains. And he may well decide to hold back from any negotiations at all, figuring that any prolonged dispute between Trump and Zelensky will only strengthen his position, either on the battlefield or when cease-fire talks take place.
Hegseth orders suspension of Pentagon's offensive cyberoperations against Russia
The Pentagon decision, which was first reported by The Record, comes as many national security and cybersecurity experts have urged greater investments in cyber defense and offense, particularly as China and Russia have sought to interfere with the nation's economy, elections and security.
Republican lawmakers and national security experts have all called for a greater offensive posture. During his Senate confirmation hearing this year, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said America’s rivals have shown that they believe cyberespionage — retrieving sensitive information and disrupting American business and infrastructure — to be an essential weapon of the modern arsenal.
Trump’s Great Crypto Grift
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Trump 2.0 continues to be a gigantic graft machine that benefits all manner of cronies, mountebanks, and charlatans. At taxpayer expense.
This week, Trump announced the creation of a “sovereign crypto fund,” which, explained Noah Smith, “is a new way to pay out regime cronies.”
What this means is that Trump wants to have the U.S. federal government buy large amounts of a few specific cryptocurrencies. This will require either raising taxes on the American people, or making the U.S. government go deeper into debt at a time when interest payments are already spiraling out of control. ..
So Trump wants to take your hard-earned money and give it to whoever owns Ripple, Solana, and Cardano. Understandably, some people are upset at this — including some people in Trump’s own political camp.
NYT’s DealBook notes that the blowback has been bipartisan (so far).
Critics of all political stripes decried the move. Some Republicans raised questions about spending taxpayer money on risky assets instead of paying down the national debt. Joe Lonsdale, a friend of Elon Musk’s, wrote on X: “It’s wrong to steal my money for grift on the left; it’s also wrong to tax me for crypto bro schemes.”
Some protested the seeming latest conflict of interest involving Trump and crypto, noting that Trump profited from promoting the so-called memecoin $Trump before his inauguration. (The S.E.C. last week said memecoins wouldn’t be subject to regulatory oversight.) “This is getting egregious,” the software developer Nikita Bier replied to Lonsdale’s post. “Every 2 weeks there is a kickback to the family. Completely delegitimizes all the work DOGE is doing.”
Others questioned whether David Sacks, the investor who is Trump’s crypto czar, also stands to benefit from such a reserve. Sacks wrote on X that he had sold his cryptocurrency holdings, but didn’t address any holdings his investment firm has in crypto start-ups.
BONUS from Jeff Maurer: “Trump’s Obviously Corrupt Plan to Use Taxpayer Money to Buy Shitcoins Is the Indefensible Thing That Republicans Must Defend Today.”
Finally….
Poll finds most think Trump is rushing change ahead of joint address : NPR
Majorities say the state of the union is not strong, that the country is headed in the wrong direction and President Trump is rushing to make changes without considering their impact, a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds.
There are some real warning signs for Trump, particularly with independents, who oppose his cuts to the federal government, as well as his approach to foreign policy and the economy.
Most respondents expect prices to go up. They also believe federal workers are essential to making the government function and are not huge fans of Elon Musk, who is shepherding Trump's government overhaul. They don't think Trump would follow court orders springing up from his slew of executive orders, and don't believe that the U.S. system of checks and balances is working well….
And the Trump Gaza Hotel scheme? Voters are not jazzed:
Tuesday dogs
Auggie and Eli are actually kind of pampered.
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