President Trump called Democrats the party of “Hate, Evil, and Satan” amid the ongoing shutdown of the federal government.
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Apple Removes ICE Tracking Apps from App Store
“Apple on Thursday night said that it was removing ICEBlock and other apps from its App Store that can be used to anonymously report sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents,” CNBC reports.
“The move came after pressure on Apple from Attorney General Pam Bondi, and amid controversy over the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement of immigration law with ICE agents and other authorities.”
White House Senses Political Risk on Healthcare
“President Trump has projected unwavering confidence that he is winning the messaging war over the government shutdown. But behind the scenes, his team is increasingly concerned that the issue at the center of the debate will create political vulnerabilities for Republicans,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Advisers are worried that the GOP will take the blame for allowing healthcare subsidies to expire, raising costs for millions of Americans ahead of next year’s midterm elections, according to administration officials.”
Newsom Threatens Colleges That Sign Trump’s Compact
“Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to cut ‘billions’ in state funding, including to USC, from any California campus that signs a Trump administration compact to agree to sweeping and largely conservative campus policies in exchange for priority access to federal funding,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Donald Trump’s Shutdown Power Play
Susan Glasser: “During Donald Trump’s first term, the President’s demand that Congress fund his proposed wall on the Mexican border led to the longest shutdown in history—thirty-five days, from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019. In the end, Trump caved, agreeing to reopen the government even without the nearly six billion dollars in border-wall funding that he had demanded.”
“This capitulation was initially portrayed as a triumph for the new Democratic majority under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a stinging defeat for Trump… but it was not. It was, in fact, a moment of revelation in which he realized that he could do just about anything he wanted. In the end, Trump got his border-wall money. He simply went ahead and took it. The history of the Presidency may never be the same.”
Republican Trust in the News Media Craters
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Trump In Talks to Appear on 60 Minutes
Semafor: “The White House is in talks with 60 Minutes about conducting an upcoming interview with Trump, four people with knowledge of the discussions told Semafor. The White House communications team had initially considered scheduling the interview last Friday while Trump was in New York for a speech at the United Nations and the Ryder Cup.”
“CBS staff had already begun preparing for the sitdown, which would have been conducted by correspondent Bill Whitaker, but the timeline for the potential interview shifted because of Trump’s schedule.”
Thune Says Talking to Schumer Is a Dead End
“Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he doesn’t believe a potential Friday meeting with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will help break the shutdown logjam, saying any resolution to the crisis will likely have to come from rank-and-file Democratic senators,” Punchbowl News reports.
“Thune warned it could turn into a ‘show’ meeting or just a photo-op, and he continued to slam Schumer’s demands as unserious and unrealistic.”
Said Thune: “I just don’t know how he gets himself out of the position he’s in. My assumption is, to get this thing resolved, it’s going to take some of his rank-and-file members who are going to have to figure out how to resolve it.”
Big Majority Thinks Economy Is Getting Worse
A new CBS News poll finds 59% of Americans say the economy is “getting worse” and 52% describe the job market as “bad.”
Lawmakers Press Pentagon on Basis for Cartel Boat Strikes
“Senators on both sides of the aisle pressed the Pentagon’s top lawyer in a closed-door meeting to provide a better legal explanation for striking alleged Latin American drug boats in the Caribbean,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In a classified Senate Armed Services Committee briefing Wednesday, the Pentagon general counsel, Earl Matthews, detailed the legal basis for the military’s attacks ordered by President Trump.”
“Matthews repeatedly deferred to Trump’s designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations as granting the Defense Department unilateral authority to use military force against them… Matthews refused to provide a written justification for the strikes.”
Hamas Demands Changes to Trump’s Peace Plan
“Hamas will demand key revisions to Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal but is likely to accept the plan in coming days as a basis for renewed negotiations,” The Guardian reports.
FDA Approves Another Generic Abortion Pill
“Federal officials have approved another generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, a regulatory formality that quickly triggered pushback from anti-abortion groups and politicians aligned with the Trump administration,” the AP reports.
Washington Post: “The administration’s approval of the drug on Tuesday comes less than two weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary said the department was conducting a review of the safety of abortion pills, a decision that antiabortion activists welcomed.”
“Now, those same leaders are questioning the administration’s commitment to their cause, marking the first significant pushback Trump has received from his otherwise loyal base of socially conservative activists.”
Megachurch Pastor Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing Child
Robert Morris, the Texas megachurch pastor who built Gateway Church into one of the largest congregations in the country, pleaded guilty to charges that he sexually abused a girl in the 1980s, NBC News reports.
Americans Overwhelmingly Approve of Kimmel’s Return
By a more than two-to-one margin, Americans approve (58%) rather than disapprove (25%) of the decision by ABC and its parent company, Disney, to end Jimmy Kimmel’s recent suspension and let him return to TV, according to a new Yahoo/YouGov poll.
Trump Making Plans to Bail Out Farmers
“The Trump administration is planning to roll out the first tranche of bailout payments for farmers in the coming weeks using likely billions of dollars in funding from an internal USDA account,” Politico reports.
“But it won’t be enough: USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation fund — which President Donald Trump previously tapped to provide $28 billion in farm aid during his first-term trade war with China — has just $4 billion left in the account.”
“Trump officials, including those at the Treasury Department, are looking at how to tap tariff receipts or other funding to supplement the payments without triggering a messy fight in Congress.”
Trump Not Ruling Out Strikes Inside Venezuela
The Trump administration isn’t ruling out launching military strikes inside Venezuela as it continues its campaign against drug cartels, Semafor reports.
Mamdani’s Path Does Not Include Majority Support
If Zohran Mamdani wins the New York City mayoral race, he is poised to become the first New York City mayor without majority support, Politico reports.
“The front-runner has consistently polled at around 45% in the contentious general election, far short of anything that could be considered a mandate, even as he continues to best second-place contender Andrew Cuomo by double digits.”
“If Mamdani wins without even a simple majority, it will make it that much more difficult to construct coalitions to advance his agenda.”
MAGA Dreams
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) discussed President Trump’s plan to permanently layoff workers across the federal government telling Fox News that budget director Russ Vought “has been dreaming about this moment, preparing for this moment, since puberty.”
