The Trump administration is not currently helping U.S. citizens make travel plans to evacuate the Middle East, despite urging Americans to “depart now” from 16 countries in the region as the war with Iran continues to escalate, NOTUS reports.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“If we don’t stop them or if we didn’t stop them or if we didn’t start, you would have had a nuclear war and they would have taken out many countries because you know what? They’re sick people. They’re angry, they’re sick.”
— President Trump, speaking to reporters about his decision to attack Iran.
Democrats Won’t Budge on Homeland Security Funding
“Republicans have sought to use the Trump administration’s attack on Iran to pressure Democrats to relent on their demands for funding the Department of Homeland Security,” NBC News reports.
“But Democrats are quickly rejecting that push, making clear they will continue to insist on changes to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as Customs and Border Protection, after federal agents killed two Americans in Minneapolis.”
Thom Tillis Is Furious with Kristi Noem
“Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) threatened Tuesday to use aggressive procedural measures to bring Senate work to a standstill if Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem fails to respond to his offices’ inquiries about an immigration crackdown in Charlotte, North Carolina,” Politico reports.
“An irate Tillis, who is retiring this year from the Senate, ripped into Noem during her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, saying that he would use his power as a senator to hold nominations and prevent bills from getting to the Senate floor.”
Said Tillis: “If I don’t get an answer that you’ve had a month to respond to, and the remaining ones … as of today, I’ll be informing leadership that I’m putting a hold on any en bloc nominations until I get a response, and in two weeks, if I don’t get a response, I’m going to deny quorum and markup in as many committees as I can until I get a response.”
All the President’s Portraits
New York Times: “Since moving back in, President Trump has significantly altered the ‘People’s House.’ East Wing: gone. Oval Office: maximalized. Rose Garden: Mar-a-lago-ified. And the art? Lots of Trump… never before has a sitting president displayed so much of his own image on the White House walls.”
Trump Suggests Killing Iran’s Leader Was Personal
President Trump for the first time acknowledged a personal dimension to his decision to attack Iran, citing the country’s efforts to assassinate him in 2024 as a factor in ordering the joint U.S.-Israeli operation that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “I got him before he got me. I got him first.”
Trump Denied Israel Forced Him Into War
President Trump explicitly rejected the notion that Israel dragged the U.S. into war with Iran, saying that, “if anything, I might’ve forced Israel’s hand,” National Review reports.
Said Trump: “No, I might have forced their hand. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first — they were going to attack if we didn’t do it. They were going to attack first, I felt strongly about that. We have great negotiators, great people, people that do this very successfully and have done it all their lives very successfully. And based on the way the negotiation was going, I thought that they were going to attack first. And I didn’t want that to happen.”
He added: “So if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand. But Israel was ready, and we were ready, and we’ve had a very very powerful impact.”
Trump Defeated on Congestion Pricing
“A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the federal government’s attempt to end New York’s congestion pricing toll was illegal, handing a major victory to the state in its defense of the first-in-the-nation traffic reduction plan, which the Trump administration had tried for more than a year to kill,” the New York Times reports.
Quote of the Day
“You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested in the appropriate time for training it and then you have the audacity to go and into a book and say it’s a leadership lesson!”
— Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), questioning Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Pete Buttigieg in the Wilderness
Graeme Wood: “He has a beard, a splitting maul, and a house in Michigan. Is that enough to convince America that he’s a man of the people?”
Senate Strikes Deal on Trump’s Housing Idea
“President Donald Trump is set to notch a win on housing as Congress moves forward with his proposal to shut institutional investors out of housing despite the sustained skepticism of some free-market Republicans,” Semafor reports.
“The White House threw its weight Monday behind a new proposal from Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., and the panel’s top Democrat, Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that combines their housing package with some elements of the House’s — plus language that would fine certain firms that own 350 or more single-family homes if they buy more two years after enactment. Though the firms could build new homes, they’d have to sell them to individuals within seven years.”
Trump Wants to Cut All Trade with Spain
President Trump said on Tuesday he wants “to cut all trade” with Spain after accusing Madrid of blocking U.S. access to Spanish military bases.
Trump Says It’s Sad to See U.S.-U.K. Relations Deteriorate
“President Donald Trump criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer for a second time this week, saying it was ‘sad to see’ the so-called special relationship deteriorate after Britain initially held off providing support for U.S. strikes on Iran,” Reuters reports.
Taking Time Out for the Important Stuff
President Trump took time away from waging a war to discuss his decorating ideas at the White House.
Said Trump: “See that nice drape? When that comes down right now you see a very very deep hole, but in about a year and half you’re gonna see a very very beautiful building. In fact, it looks so nice I think I’ll leave it and save money on the doors. I believe it will be the most beautiful ballroom.”
Joyce Carol Oates: “Fortunately U.S. didn’t elect a woman president to prattle on cluelessly about interior decorating in a time of war; if so, calls for her impeachment would be immediate.”
Trump Says It’s Too Late for Talks with Iran
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said it’s “too late” for talks with Iran and warned the U.S. has enough munitions to fight “forever,” ABC News reports.
Said Trump: “Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said ‘Too Late!'”
Trump Tries to Continue Fight Against Law Firms
“The Trump administration indicated on Tuesday that it planned to renew its defense of executive orders that it had leveled against law firms, a sharp reversal a day after indicating that it would drop that fight in court,” the New York Times reports.
“The situation remained fluid Tuesday morning. It was not immediately clear what legal strategy the administration would ultimately embrace or whether a court would allow the Justice Department to reverse course.”
Republicans Dismiss Energy Cost Concerns
“When the U.S. and Israel launched a wave of strikes on Iran over the weekend, some Democrats warned about the impact on energy costs. Now that those predictions have come to pass with an uptick in global prices for natural gas and crude oil, Democrats are pouncing — and Republicans are pushing back,” Politico reports.
“Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) started to set the tone for the GOP’s messaging Monday afternoon, saying he expected prices to return to prewar levels soon.”
Said Thune: “I think that there will be, hopefully, a cessation of this in the not-too-distant future, at which time my assumption is that that’ll stabilize a bit. Anything that happens in the Middle East seems to set off an increase in oil prices.”
Israel Bombs Council Choosing Next Iranian Leader
“The Israeli air force on Tuesday struck the building housing Iran’s Council of Experts in the holy city of Qom in an attempt to disrupt the process of appointing a new supreme leader,” Axios reports.
“The Council of Experts is the body within the Iranian regime with the authority to appoint a new supreme leader. The clerics on the council vote on a short list of candidates being drafted by a smaller secret committee.”
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