That sort of provocation isn’t limited to Oregon. Yesterday in Chicago, “dozens of armed federal immigration agents” patrolled the downtown area in a “show of force,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
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Tectonic Shifts and the Epicenter
“Feeling more anxious? More unsure? Unless you’re heavily sedated, you should be: We’ve never witnessed so many population-wide shifts simultaneously in our lifetime,” Axios reports.
“Three titanic tectonic plates are shifting at once: our technology, our governing and our reality-shaping. Washington, D.C., is the epicenter of all three.”
“You can’t navigate business, politics, social media or life generally without understanding the speed, consequence and interconnectedness of these shifts.”
Democrats Fear Trump Will Prosecute Them Next
“Some congressional Democrats are going so far as to check their own personal finances after the indictment of James Comey,” Axios reports.
“With President Trump calling for Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) to be prosecuted for mortgage fraud, members fear that a loose thread could provide an opening to go after them next.”
FEMA Is Paralyzed
Wall Street Journal: “Many of FEMA’s core functions related to preparing for natural disasters and leading recovery efforts after they strike have ground to a halt as the Trump administration redefines the agency.”
“Crucial contracts and grants haven’t been approved, caught up in layers of new bureaucracy. A wave of senior staff departed the agency when Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency offered buyouts, taking decades of experience with them. Around 400 FEMA employees have been detailed to work at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as that agency rapidly expands. And the administration has started dismantling the agency’s disaster-response infrastructure, which was strengthened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.”
Shutdown Nears as Both Sides Remain Divided
“The Senate is returning to Washington on Monday with no clear path to avoid a federal shutdown, as both parties continue to blame the other for lawmakers’ failure to keep the government funded,” the Washington Post reports.
“If Congress fails to approve a funding extension by the end of Tuesday, spending laws will expire and the U.S. government will become a bare-bones operation, only continuing functions that are necessary to protect life or public property.”
Punchbowl News: “During a virtual Senate Democratic Caucus meeting on Sunday, there was no noticeable shift in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s strategy, according to two senators on the call. It wasn’t contentious, added another senator, signaling that Democrats remain willing — at least for now — to shut down the government to get what they want.”
Politico: Shutdown staring contest heads to the Oval Office.
Trump Sets a Precedent That Could Haunt His Allies
“The indictment of the former FBI director James Comey demanded by President Trump sent a shiver of fear through others on the so-called enemies list of the current FBI director Kash Patel. But one other person who might have reason for concern is Kash Patel himself,” the New York Times reports.
“There will, presumably, come a time when the Republican Party is no longer in control. A precedent has now been set for prosecuting a former FBI director disfavored by the current administration for allegedly lying to Congress. Democrats already are accusing Mr. Patel of having lied to Congress in his confirmation hearings when he promised not to engage in political retaliation.”
“Mr. Trump’s campaign to imprison, fire or otherwise punish his political foes and use government power to crack down on free speech he does not like has broken norms that stood for generations. But it has also established new standards for what a president can do that even some conservatives worry may come back to bite them.”
The Rise and Fall of Eric Adams
New York Times: “Questions arose early on about his character, job performance and decision-making. He was caught lying about what he ate and with whom he owned real estate. And investigations plagued his administration, finally landing at the mayor’s door.”
The Man Behind the Push for an All-Powerful Presidency
New York Times: “Mr. Vought, who also directed the White House Office of Management and Budget in President Trump’s first term, had spent four years in exile from power. He worked through Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidency from an old rowhouse near the Capitol, where he complained of pigeons infesting his ceiling and coordinated with other Trump loyalists to draw up sweeping, detailed plans for a comeback.”
“He had carefully analyzed mistakes from the first term. And he had laid out steps to achieve the long-sought conservative goal of a president with dramatically expanded authority over the executive branch, including the power to cut off spending, fire employees, control independent agencies and deregulate the economy.”
Pentagon Pushes to Double Missile Production
“The Pentagon, alarmed at the low weapons stockpiles the U.S. would have on hand for a potential future conflict with China, is urging its missile suppliers to double or even quadruple production rates on a breakneck schedule,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The push to speed production of the critical weapons in the highest demand has played out through a series of high-level meetings between Pentagon leaders and senior representatives from several U.S. missile makers.”
Trump Threatens Permanent Cuts If Shutdown Happens
President Trump warned Sunday of widespread layoffs if the federal government shuts down this week, telling NBC News that “we are going to cut a lot of the people that … we’re able to cut on a permanent basis.”
Said Trump: “I’d rather not do that.”
There Will Never Be Another Eric Adams
New York Times: “In many ways, Mr. Adams’s choice to end his flailing re-election campaign was the most conventional thing he had done in some time. He was acceding, for once, to the laws of political gravity as he weighed how best to position himself for a post-mayoral future.”
“That set of options, like much of his last year, is already shadowed by the more brazen gambit he has long appeared to embrace amid federal corruption charges and the wholesale collapse of his inner circle: becoming a MAGA-amenable mayor of America’s signature big blue city and seeing where that might take him.”
Netanyahu to Meet Trump
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold a crucial White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday amid assertions from Washington that an ambitious plan to end the war in Gaza is nearly complete, Bloomberg reports.
Trump Shares Wild Conspiracy Theory
President Trump posted a video purporting to be a segment on Fox News (it wasn’t) in which an A.I.-generated, deep-faked version of himself sat in the White House and promised that “every American will soon receive their own MedBed card” that will grant them access to new “MedBed hospitals,” Politico reports.
If you’re unfamiliar with the “MedBed” conspiracy theory, it’s a belief that there are certain hospital beds “loaded with futuristic technology” that can “reverse any disease, regenerate limbs, and de-age people.”
The video has since been deleted.
Eric Adams Abandons Re-election Bid
“Mayor Eric Adams of New York City announced on Sunday that he would abandon his foundering campaign for a second term, upending the race to lead the nation’s largest city just five weeks before Election Day,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Adams had publicly insisted that he would see his campaign through despite dismal poll numbers. But behind the scenes, he was exploring potential exit ramps to avoid an embarrassing finish, with his advisers at one point engaging in negotiations with President Trump’s about an ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia.”
“Those talks fell apart, and on Sunday, Mr. Adams called it quits in a nearly nine-minute video message posted to social media. He gave no indication that he had a specific job lined up after he leaves office.”
Trump Says Gaza Peace Deal Is Near
President Trump told Axios in an interview Sunday that negotiations over his plan to end the war in Gaza are “at their final stages” and contended a deal could open the way for wider peace in the Middle East.
Bill Maher’s Grand Bargain
Bill Maher: “Let’s make a deal… the left will quash all their loony woke shit, and the right will stop the slide into autocracy.”
Five Types of Independents
CNN: “Among independents, there is a subset that rejects party labels but aligns closely with one of the two major parties on many issues, which we’re calling Democratic Lookalikes and Republican Lookalikes. The poll also identifies two groups that remix the definition of a traditional swing voter — the Disappointed Middle and the Upbeat Outsiders. A fifth group — The Checked Out — is largely uninterested in politics.”
Trump Spewed Falsehoods About Public Health
“President Donald Trump’s Monday comments about autism and public health were filled with misinformation that left many doctors aghast – and not just about Tylenol,” CNN reports.
“Most of the media coverage of Trump’s press conference centered around his repeated advice to pregnant Americans to try to avoid taking Tylenol, which he based on a supposed link to autism that has not been proven. But the president also made a series of additional comments about autism, vaccines, and hepatitis B that ranged from unproven to misleading to false.”
