NPR: “It has long been said that politics ‘makes strange bedfellows,’ but some such alliances are surely stranger than others.”
“Take, for example, the emerging collaboration of working-class voters with the very, very wealthy in America who have increasingly allied themselves with President Trump.”
“Large amounts of public information about HIV and the health of teens, transgender and LGBTQ+ people abruptly disappeared late Friday from the website of the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention as government agencies scramble to comply with directives from President Donald Trump,” Politico reports.
Wall Street Journal: “Trump came into office promising to transform the economy and challenge the global order—and he moved swiftly on that agenda as well. But his focus on DEI reflects his desire to put at the center of his presidency the culture wars that animate his conservative base.”
“Elon Musk spent at least $288 million to help elect President Donald Trump and other Republican candidates,” according to a Washington Post analysis of new Federal Election Commission filings.
“Friday’s FEC filings cement Musk’s status as the biggest political donor of the recent presidential cycle at a moment when he has amassed an extraordinary amount of power as a member of Trump’s inner circle — and decried by critics as a de facto, unelected co-president.”
“The Pentagon expects to send two flights of migrants to Guantanamo Bay this weekend, the first step in President Donald Trump’s plans to use the the base for detaining people swept up in his crackdown on illegal immigration,” Politico reports.
“House Republicans are uniting around a massive tax and spending bill to codify President Donald Trump’s campaign promises that will not require substantial spending reductions, because party leaders have decided to write off the multi-trillion-dollar cost of new tax cuts,” the Washington Post reports.
“GOP leadership earlier this week unveiled a plan to lawmakers that will cut $315 billion in spending over 10 years, but it will add another $325 billion in new spending on Trump’s national security and immigration crackdown.”
“Major portions of Trump’s 2017 tax cut — which lowered rates for businesses and all income brackets but concentrated benefits among the most wealthy — are set to expire at the end of the year. The House GOP plans to extend those provisions, plus add other business tax incentives, at a cost of $5.5 trillion over a decade. Because the legislation mainly aims to renew some expiring policies, Republicans will not factor in the cost of the tax cuts in the bill, though they will claim projected increases in federal revenue from much hoped-for private-sector growth.”
“President Donald Trump’s administration has launched a sweeping effort to fire a large number of FBI agents across the country who worked on investigations targeting the president and his supporters,” the Washington Post reports.
“It was not clear how many agents might ultimately be affected, but officials are working to identify potentially hundreds for possible termination, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private personnel plans.”
Trump Media this week gifted thousands of shares of company stock to President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, Donald Trump Jr. and the president’s pick for Education secretary, Linda McMahon, who all serve as Trump Media directors, CNBC reports.
“A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country,” NBC News reports.
“We’re gonna take it back… they’ve totally violated the agreement.”
— Donald Trump, in the Oval Office, on the Panama Canal.
“The Federal Communications Commission requested that Paramount Global hand over its footage and transcripts from an October “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris as part of its review of the company’s planned merger with Skydance Media,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The interview has prompted a personal lawsuit from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.”
“FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has made it clear to Paramount executives that the agency’s review of its merger with Skydance will be tough and has said that bias accusations against Paramount’s CBS News are fair game for the agency.”
“The Trump administration is seeking to grant U.S. immigration officers access to databases that contain the information on hundreds of thousands of immigrant teens and children who crossed into the United States without their parents,” the Washington Post reports.
“Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees,” Reuters reports.
Said one official: “We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems. That is creating great concern. There is no oversight. It creates real cybersecurity and hacking implications.”
“The Trump administration is set to expand a purge of career law enforcement officials, with dozens of FBI agents who worked on January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack and Trump-related investigations as well as some supervisors being evaluated for possible removal as soon as the end of Friday,” CNN reports.
“The changes highlight how the new administration has moved quickly to deliver on President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back at the Justice Department and FBI that he claims have been weaponized against him. Trump has falsely accused agents of abuse in their court-ordered search of his Mar-a-Lago home and of their treatment of Capitol rioters.”
“Federal prosecutors based in Nashville have withdrawn from the criminal investigation of Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), an unprecedented move that could signal plans by the Trump administration to drop the case against a Republican ally,” WTVF reports.
New York Times: “Some of the world’s most vulnerable populations are already feeling President Trump’s sudden cutoff of billions of dollars in American aid that helps fend off starvation, treats diseases and provides shelter for the displaced.”
“In a matter of days, Mr. Trump’s order to freeze nearly all U.S. foreign aid has intensified humanitarian crises and raised profound questions about America’s reliability and global standing.”
“At stake is not just the good will that the United States has built internationally, but also its work to promote America’s security interests.”
“In an apparent ending to weeks of intense speculation, the White House confirmed Friday that President Donald Trump will be leveling aggressive tariffs this weekend on major U.S. trading partners,” CNBC reports.
“Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Trump will be implementing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada as well as a 10% duty on China, in retaliation for ‘the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country.'”
However, Reuters reports the tariffs won’t begin until March 1.
“He’s a unique individual, but he’s a great asset to our caucus. We need voices like that.”
— Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), quoted by Punchbowl News, on Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) role as he tries to keep Senate Democrats unified.
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.