“When unrest erupted around the country in 2020, President Trump’s then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper drew a line in the sand: active-duty military troops should rarely be deployed on American streets to quell protests,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Five years later, Trump second-term Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appears to have no such qualms.”

“Nearly five months into his second term, Trump has surrounded himself with senior advisers and cabinet officials who are largely in lockstep with his hard-charging approach to the presidency. While his team frequently put up roadblocks to his plans in his first four years in office, the loyalists he has assembled this time around are eager to implement—and sometimes expand on—his political priorities.”

“Amid the fireworks of his spectacular breakup with Elon Musk last week was a striking admission by President Trump that once could have led to subpoenas,” the New York Times reports.

“As he lashed out at Mr. Musk for disloyalty, Mr. Trump threatened to cut off the billionaire’s federal contracts in retaliation, effectively acknowledging what his critics have long said, that he looks at the government as his personal instrument for dispensing favors to friends and penalizing those who cross him.”

“In the old days, that might have been cause for a corruption investigation. In the modern era, it’s just another Thursday. Mr. Trump has long since abandoned the kinds of rules and traditions that would constrain a president from employing the power of his office to personally steer federal contracts to allies and away from enemies. And even more remarkable, he has no hesitation about saying it out loud.”

For members: The Big Takeaway from the Trump-Musk Feud

Tom Nichols: “President Donald Trump is about to launch yet another assault on democracy, the Constitution, and American traditions of civil-military relations, this time in Los Angeles. Under a dubious legal rationale, he is activating 2,000 members of the National Guard to confront protests against actions by ICE, the immigration police who have used thuggish tactics against citizens and foreigners alike in the United States.”

“By militarizing the situation in L.A., Trump is goading Americans more generally to take him on in the streets of their own cities, thus enabling his attacks on their constitutional freedoms. As I’ve listened to him and his advisers over the past several days, they seem almost eager for public violence that would justify the use of armed force against Americans.”

“Don’t kid yourself they know they are absolutely getting cooked politically with their terrible bill and rising prices, and they want to create a violent spectacle to feed their content machine. It’s time for the mainstream media to describe this authoritarian madness accurately.”

— Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), reacting to President Trump sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles.

“President Trump said he assumes his relationship with Elon Musk has ended and that he has no desire to repair it after the pair publicly fell out last week,” Axios reports.

Said Trump: “I think it’s a shame that he’s so depressed and so heartbroken.”

“In the aftermath of President Trump’s epic falling out with Elon Musk, staffers within the Department of Government Efficiency face an ironic position after spending months paring back jobs and spending: They now fear being DOGE’d,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The White House is publicly standing behind its work with DOGE. Nonetheless, the public feud between Trump and Musk has rattled rank-and-file DOGE employees, who worry the government-cutting effort—and their jobs—could be in jeopardy.”

“The future of DOGE, Trump and Musk’s joint project to reshape the federal government, is one of the major looming questions in the aftermath of this past week’s high-profile rupture between the U.S. president and the world’s richest man, whose falling out was prompted by disagreements over the president’s tax-and-spending package.”

“The relationship between President Donald Trump and billionaire and self-styled “first buddy” Elon Musk ruptured this week, with the former allies trading insults and threats on social media. It’s not the first time Musk has fallen out with his associates,” the Washington Post reports.