“North Korean ballistic missiles fired at Ukraine by Russian forces since late December have been far more precise than salvos of the weapons launched over the past year,” Reuters reports.
“At a time when Moscow’s burgeoning ties with Pyongyang are causing alarm from Washington to Seoul, the increase in accuracy – to within 50-100m of the intended target – suggests North Korea is successfully using the battlefield to test its missile technology.”
“Israel’s defense minister said Thursday that he had instructed his military to prepare a plan to allow Palestinians to voluntarily leave the Gaza Strip, after his country’s leadership embraced President Donald Trump’s widely condemned remarks in which he said the United States may seek ownership of the territory,” NBC News reports.
Meanwhile, Trump doubled down on his proposal in a Truth Social post, suggesting that Palestinians could be “resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities,” and that the U.S. would work with global “development teams” to build a site.
Karen Tumulty: “To say that what is happening now is a constitutional crisis is to put it too mildly. Let’s call it what it is: a constitutional collapse.”
“Congress’s abdication of its constitutional powers and responsibilities to an executive branch run amok — or, you might say, run-a-Musk — would surely have horrified the Founders…”
“The framers clearly never envisioned a Congress that would be so supine in the face of such a barrage. Or a Senate majority that would, rather than advise, merely consent to such preposterously unqualified Cabinet choices as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Department of Health and Human Services, Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to run the Pentagon.”
“A second federal judge blocked President Trump’s executive order that would restrict birthright citizenship, harshly condemning the administration for attempting to do so at a Thursday hearing,” The Hill reports.
Said U.S. District Judge John Coughenour: “It has become ever more apparent that, to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals. The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain.”
“The White House is working on an executive order to fire thousands of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workers,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Under the order, the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies would have to cut a certain percentage of employees.”
“A federal judge in Massachusetts suspended a deadline for federal workers to apply for a delayed resignation offer until at least Monday afternoon, when a hearing will be held,” the New York Times reports.
“The offer, which had been set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, is part of President Trump’s campaign to drastically cut the size of the federal government.”
“There was no nursery rhyme reciting nor phone book reading. No cots wheeled out for senators to catch naps in between speechifying,” the New York Times reports.
“But one by one on Wednesday night and into Thursday, Senate Democrats flocked to the floor for an all-night talkathon to protest the confirmation of Russell Vought, President Trump’s nominee to lead the White House budget office and an architect of his ultraconservative Project 2025 policy agenda.”
In addition to being the Secretary of State and the acting director of USAID, Marco Rubio was also appointed the acting archivist of the United States, ABC News reports.
“Last month, Trump said he wanted to replace former archivist Colleen Shogan, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden. The president believes the National Archives provided information to the Department of Justice on the classified documents case against him.”
“President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed his administration will create a ‘great computerized system’ for air traffic control that, had it been in place, could have prevented the recent midair crash involving a passenger jet and a helicopter that killed 67 people,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “It would have never happened if we had the right equipment.”
He added: “We’re all gonna sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers. Brand new. Not pieced together, obsolete, like it is, land-based.”
Timothy Ryback: “They helped him in pursuit of profit. Many ended up in concentration camps.”
“Representatives from Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service have fed sensitive data from across the Education Department into artificial intelligence software to probe the agency’s programs and spending,” the Washington Post reports.
“The AI probe includes data with personally identifiable information for people who manage grants, as well as sensitive internal financial data.”
“The Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which officials have said is intended to rein in wasteful spending, has left American workers in limbo and threatens billions of dollars the agency spends on American businesses and organizations,” the Washington Post reports.
“USAID oversees projects such as food aid, disaster relief and health programs in over 100 countries with a staff of more than 10,000 and a budget of around $40 billion. Billions of those dollars flowed back into the American economy until President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day freeze on foreign-aid spending last month.”
NBC News: Lawsuits imminent over Trump’s dismantling of USAID.
Cook Political Report: “While President Donald Trump moves at breakneck speed to reshape the federal government, crack down on illegal immigration and impose tariffs, Democrats remain in recovery mode. They’re divided over how to respond to a chaotic start to the new administration and what their own agenda should look like, and polls show that a majority of voters have an unfavorable view of the party writ-large.”
“But they have one obvious bright spot: Republicans have an incredibly tenuous hold on the House, and Democrats will only need to pick up three seats to secure a majority in 2026. If history repeats itself, voters will be looking for an opportunity to put a check on the party in power next November.”
At the outset, there are 213 races that at least Lean Republican, 204 that at least lean Democrat and there are 18 Toss Ups.
“The Justice Department sued the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago on Thursday, accusing them of impeding the Trump administration’s immigration policies,” the Washington Post reports.
“The department seeks a court order to bar protections for immigrants that exist at the state and local level.”
David Axelrod told Politico that Democrats should not try to save the United States Agency for International Development from its illegal gutting at the hands of Elon Musk.
Said Axelrod: “My heart is with the people out on the street outside USAID, but my head tells me: ‘Man, Trump will be well satisfied to have this fight.’ When you talk about cuts, the first thing people say is: Cut foreign aid.”
President Trump on Thursday suggested “60 Minutes” be taken off the air after the program released a transcript of an interview it aired last fall with Kamala Harris amid a federal investigation into the broadcast, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “CBS and 60 Minutes defrauded the public by doing something which has never, to this extent, been seen before. They 100% removed Kamala’s horrible election changing answers to questions, and replaced them with completely different, and far better, answers, taken from another part of the interview.”
President Trump announced plans to establish a task force and a presidential commission to protect Christians from religious discrimination, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “While I’m in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals and in our public squares. And we will bring our country back together as one nation under God.”
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.
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