“President Trump told his cabinet secretaries that they should take the lead over billionaire Elon Musk in making personnel decisions related to their departments,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Trump: “If they can cut, it’s better. And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.”
Politico: Trump puts new limits on Musk.
“The Federal Communications Commission sent letters to 13 public radio stations asking them to compile materials detailing past sponsorships by March 31,“ Bloomberg reports.
“The request builds on FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s investigation into whether public TV and radio stations are airing advertisements, in violation of federal guidelines.”
“Senate Democrats have a fast-approaching dilemma: Vote for a spending bill unilaterally drafted by House Republicans or engage in the kind of shutdown brinkmanship they’ve long opposed,” Politico reports.
“It isn’t a decision they’ll be able to put off for much longer. House GOP leaders are poised early next week to send a bill to the floor that would largely hold current spending levels in place through the end of September. Democrats don’t like this approach, arguing it would only further empower President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to continue to act beyond their authority in clawing back congressionally approved dollars.”
Canadian Sen. Patrick Brazeau challenged Donald Trump Jr. to a charity boxing match over the “bogus” tariffs implemented this week by his father, President Trump, The Hill reports.
“The Supreme Court’s closely divided decision this week to reject the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid unleashed a torrent of vitriol from the president’s supporters largely aimed at a single justice — Amy Coney Barrett,” the Washington Post reports.
“On podcasts and social media, conservative allies of President Donald Trump called the former law professor and appeals court judge ‘evil,’ a ‘closet Democrat’ and a ‘DEI hire.’”
“Barrett and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the court’s three liberals in backing a federal judge’s order that requires the administration to begin repaying global health groups nearly $2 billion for completed work.”
“China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, on Friday vowed that Beijing would firmly retaliate against the United States if it escalated the trade war with more tariffs, striking a tough note despite the country’s economic challenges,” the New York Times reports.
“The House Freedom Caucus is planning to offer a resolution to strip Rep. Al Green (D-TX) of his committee assignments in the wake of his outburst during President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The House censured Green today in a bipartisan vote. Ten Democrats voted with all Republicans on the measure. Following the vote, Green and some of his House Democratic colleagues sang ‘We Shall Overcome’ in the well of the House. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA), a freshman, got into a screaming match with Democrats on the floor, repeatedly calling them embarrassing.”
“In a statement, HFC Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) said Green needs ‘real consequences to demonstrate that no one gets to disrupt the People’s business in lame attempts to derail President Trump’s agenda.’”
A federal judge reversed the firing of a National Labor Relations Board member by President Donald Trump, with a scathing ruling that said “an American president is not a king,” CNBC reports.
House Democratic leadership is privately confronting members who disrupted President Trump’s speech to Congress, Axios reports.
“Many progressives defied House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-N.Y.) request to avoid making themselves the story…”
“Trump’s speech was instead rocked by constant heckling. Democrats held up signs and other props, and Rep. Al Green (D-TX) was ejected.”
“President Donald Trump is considering a major change to the U.S.’ participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,“ NBC News reports.
“Trump has discussed with aides the possibility of calibrating America’s NATO engagement in a way that favors members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their gross domestic product on defense.”
“As part of the potential policy shift, the U.S. might not defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the defense spending threshold, the officials said. If Trump does make that change, it would mark a significant shift from a core tenet of the alliance known as Article 5, which says that an attack on any NATO country is an attack on all of them.”
“President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has postponed 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico for a month after a conversation with that country’s president,” the AP reports.
“Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs threats have roiled financial markets, lowered consumer confidence, and enveloped many businesses in an uncertain atmosphere that could delay hiring and investment.”
The Economist: “Trump’s tariff turbulence is worse than anyone imagined.”
“The U.S. State Department abruptly canceled foreign aid programs supporting opposition activists, political prisoners and religious groups in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, raising concerns about a shift in U.S. foreign policy,” the Miami Herald reports.
“Projects supporting political prisoners in Cuba, church groups opposing strongman Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and activists fighting a power grab by Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela were canceled after a State Department review concluded they are not in the ‘national interest’ of the United States.”
The House voted to censure Rep. Al Green (D-TX) for his outburst during President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress Tuesday night, Punchbowl News reports.
The vote was 224 to 198. Ten Democrats voted with all Republicans.
“About 36.6 million Americans watched President Trump live on television on Tuesday night, tuning in for his 100-minute speech to a joint session of Congress — the longest of its kind in the modern era,” the New York Times reports.
Matt Lewis: “Over the last six weeks, President Trump has been spending political capital like a drunk at a casino who insists he’s got ‘a system.’ If history is any predictor, his second term trajectory may already be set — right off a cliff, pedal to the floor.”
Anne Applebaum: “In just a few minutes, the behavior of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance created a brand new stereotype for America: not the quiet American, not the ugly American, but the brutal American. Whatever illusions Europeans ever had about Americans—whatever images lingered from old American movies, the ones where the good guys win, the bad guys lose, and honor defeats treachery—those are shattered. Whatever fond memories remain of the smiling GIs who marched into European cities in 1945, of the speeches that John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan made at the Berlin Wall, or of the crowds that once welcomed Barack Obama, those are also fading fast.”
“Quite apart from their politics, Trump and Vance are rude. They are cruel. They berated and mistreated a guest on camera, and then boasted about it afterward, as if their ugly behavior achieved some kind of macho ‘win’…”
“These are the actions not of the good guys in old Hollywood movies, but of the bad guys. If Reagan was a white-hatted cowboy, Trump and Vance are Mafia dons. The chorus of Republican political leaders defending them seems both sinister and surprising to Europeans too.”
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a pioneer for LGBTQ+ rights who decades ago upset leaders in his own party when he defied state law and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, suggested Democrats were in the wrong in allowing transgender athletes to participate in female college and youth sports,” Politico reports.
Said Newsom: “I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.