“Two groups representing Harvard professors sued the Trump administration on Friday, saying that its threat to cut billions in federal funding for the university violates free speech and other First Amendment rights,” the New York Times reports.
Homeland Security Staffers Given Lie Detector Tests
“The Department of Homeland Security has administered lie detector tests to about 50 staffers in recent weeks, including FEMA’s acting administrator and roughly a dozen officials at the disaster relief agency, as part of an intensifying effort to root out what the department alleges are leaks of national security information,” CNN reports.
Trump Couldn’t Remember Details of Cognitive Test
“President Donald Trump was unable to recall the details of the cognitive test he took as part of his physical Friday—but he assured reporters that he got all the answers right,” the Daily Beast reports.
Bernie Sanders Eyes New Recruits
Washington Post: “As he makes stops in red House districts in Utah, Idaho, Montana and several of the most competitive California districts over the next few days, Sanders will be meeting with potential candidates who share his vision and ideology — both independents and Democrats — as they weigh runs for office up and down the ballot in 2026. Sanders’s latest organizing effort is still taking shape, building off the energy that the independent Vermont senator has generated in rallies since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.”
“But at a moment when the Democratic Party is still trying to chart a clear direction after its 2024 losses, some moderate and establishment Democrats are watching Sanders warily. Many are trying to determine whether he will limit his recruiting efforts to safe red or blue districts and local offices — or whether he could build a machine backing independent candidates in more competitive districts, potentially setting up a collision course with the Democratic Party establishment.”
Kamala Harris Looks for a Way Back In
New York Times: “Friends, former aides and advisers say Ms. Harris still thinks she would have beaten Mr. Trump if she’d had more than 107 days to campaign — the implication being that former President Joe Biden should have quit the race earlier.”
“Yet some of her closest allies say she is leaning against another White House run in 2028 and, instead, toward a campaign for governor of California in 2026. Her political choice is binary, she has told people: She can run for governor or president, but not both.”
The Global Financial Order Is Trembling
Axios: “The last ten days have thrown into doubt the role of the United States at the core of the global economic and financial system.”
“After generations in which the U.S. dollar and its government securities have been the world’s bedrock safe haven assets, global investors woke up this week to the possibility that they are not particularly safe, and not at all a haven.”
Far-Right Republicans Tease Rebellion But Fall in Line
Paul Kane: “First, they threatened to block House Speaker Mike Johnson’s path to claiming the gavel in early January. Then they threatened to block a funding bill to keep federal agencies open in mid-March.”
“Then, in recent days, they threatened to block a resolution that would unlock the process to push ahead with President Donald Trump’s tax-and-border agenda.”
“Each threat from leaders of the House Freedom Caucus ended with the same result: capitulation. After caving on each round of threats, these far-right conservatives vowed that the next time would be different — if their demands were not met precisely as they sought.”
Trump Pushes to Deport 1 Million Immigrants
Washington Post: “Deporting 1 million immigrants in one year would ostensibly surpass previous statistics, as the highest number thus far was more than 400,000 a year when Barack Obama was president.”
“But officials aren’t revealing how they are counting the numbers, and analysts say the available statistics make that target appear unrealistic, if not impossible, given funding, staffing levels and the fact that most immigrants have the right to a court hearing before being removed from the country.”
Law Firms Pledge $1 Billion in Free Legal Work for Trump
“America’s most prestigious law firms have agreed to provide almost $1 billion worth of legal work to President Trump — and that total will likely grow,” Axios reports.
“As more firms have capitulated, Trump has been able to extract significantly bigger concessions using significantly less leverage, even from firms with which he had no personal grievance.”
Trump’s Poll Numbers Are Terrible
Navigator Research: “After last week’s tariff announcement, Trump’s economic approval has dropped precipitously, now tied for his worst ever in Navigator tracking since 2018. His overall job approval rating has also declined.”
“The broad tariffs last week brought this feeling to a boiling point, with 58% of Americans saying Trump’s policies are contributing to high costs and 72% saying they are contributing to volatility in the stock market.”
The Founders Separated Powers for a Reason
Anne Applebaum: “The Republicans who lead Congress have refused to use the power of the legislative branch to stop him or moderate him, in this or almost any other matter. The Cabinet is composed of sycophants and loyalists who are willing to defend contradictory policies, even if doing so makes them look like fools. The courts haven’t decisively intervened yet either.”
“No one, apparently, is willing to prevent a single man from destroying the world economy, wrecking financial markets, forcing this country and other countries into recession if that’s what he feels like doing when he gets up tomorrow morning.”
“This is what arbitrary, absolute power looks like. And this is why the men who wrote the Constitution never wanted anyone to have it. In that famously hot, stuffy room in Philadelphia, windows closed for the sake of secrecy, they sweated and argued about how to limit the powers of the American executive. They arrived at the idea of dividing power between different branches of government.”
The Opposite of America
Andrew Sullivan: “Once you grasp Trump as an elected monarch, his full rebuke to the very idea of America comes into clearer view. He is precisely — almost uncannily — what this country was founded to oppose: an arbitrary, corrupt, mendacious, and utterly incompetent king.”
Trump’s Retribution Sends a Chilling Message to Dissenters
CNN: “The president took the unusual step this week of issuing official proclamations ordering the federal investigations of people who worked in his first administration.”
“He’s demanding free work from law firms who represented his perceived enemies, threatening to impeach judges, deporting campus protesters and so much more.”
“The underlying message, for anyone who hasn’t put all these things together, is that dissent will not be tolerated under Trump 2.0.”
For members: The Retribution Is Here
How the GOP Fell in Love With Putin’s Russia
New York Times: “It’s almost impossible to overstate the magnitude of this pivot.”
Said Sasha Havlicek, the chief executive of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue: “If, in fact, we are witnessing a total ideological shift of America away from its post-World War II role as guarantor of the international order and an alignment with Putin and other authoritarian nationalists against the old allies that constituted the liberal world order, there couldn’t be anything more dramatic than that.”
“I Should Have Seen This Coming’
David Brooks: “When I joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left. The reactionary fringe has won.”
Canadians Freeze Visits to the U.S.
Politico: “Travel from Canada is expected to plummet 20 percent this year, costing the United States $3.4 billion in lost revenue relative to last year, analytics firm Tourism Economics projects. In New York’s North Country, which shares hundreds of miles of border with Canada, 66 percent of businesses are already experiencing a dip in Canadian bookings for the year, a recent survey found.”
“There’s no sign that U.S.-Canadian relations will thaw anytime soon, either. The century-plus alliance has veered into hostility after Trump’s threat to annex Canada and his tariff whiplash, which included the president levying a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods not covered by an existing trade deal. Also concerning, travel advisers said, is the possibility tourists could be detained at the border by U.S. Customs officials, a prospect bolstered by reports of Europeans and Canadians held at northern and southern crossings.”
One of the Wildest Weeks in Market History
Wall Street Journal: “The biggest one-day rally since the financial crisis. The most volatile stretch since the Covid meltdown. A bond selloff that sent yields surging. A steep slide in the dollar. And rattled investors driving gold to new records.”
“Yet one of the most tumultuous weeks in years for financial markets ended with all three major U.S. indexes up 5% or more.”
“For Wall Street, it was a bruising run. Traders described scenes of tension, where the rapid surges and dives made it difficult to determine the prices of various investments. And the sheer violence of the moves left many exhausted and bracing for more trouble ahead.”
The Crypto Industry’s Political Spending Is Paying Off
New York Times: “Federal lawmakers who benefited from crypto largess in the 2024 election are speedily advancing the industry’s agenda.”
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