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LESSON for MARCH THIRTEENTH, 2025 – “A MANIAC’S MAD SCAM: GREENLAND?... and CANADA?” PART TWO: THE SPEECHER and the SPEAKER!

When last we left the SPEECHER, he was putting finis to his protracted discourse on the most dominant civilization ever to exist on the face of this Earth, promising to stand up and we fight, fight, fight for the new Golden Age during which we... Don Jones and Donald Trump... will conquer the vast frontiers of science, lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars, and even far beyond.

After ninety nine minutes of rhetoric, more than a few dissenting Democrats... and perhaps even a sleeping elephant or two... could be forgiven if their thoughts towards the Speecher involved planting a flag (American or other, even just the pole) on Uranus. The address writ down in History’s envelope, sealed and placed in a lock box (if one still remains on the street) to be posted to progeny any and everwhere... and now it was time for critics to begin their carping, barnacles to affix praises and the media to begin fishing for the platitudes as would define the day (or night, as it had, indeed, been a very long speech)!

And as the Speecher bowed and waved and kissed the rooters on his half of the Capitol chamber... and not a single ass among those!... the Speaker, whose body was present at the explication, was undoubtedly letting his mind wander back to those tasks an Almighty Lord and Unforgiving angels of expectation were pressing in upon him – specifically, the necessity of finding and pushing through a Federal budget as would satisfy enough of his base to prevent the total and uttermost collapse of the United States of America; howsoever secretly so many of his colleagues entertained fantasies of apocalypse.

These vectors of transactionalism (and not a little pure, unrefined hate) would have their say over the next week and some of them are here, so let us return to the Speech Itself, Attachment “A” (without commentary) in last week’s Lesson, in other words, and Lo! and Behold!... digging little moles at the Cable News Network (CNN) unearthed and published their own... perhaps biased, perhaps not... fact-checking results right beneath the pertinent paragraphs

This document (and whether or not one agrees with their commentary, it was a lot for work for the Messrs. Wolf and Merrill to cobble together over a hard day’s night) we have included as Attachment “B”.

A somewhat lesser anthology of fact-checks, if even more impressive owing to its publication only two hours after the closing of the Address, was also created by the nice (or nasty) government workers at NPR... an entity that is high on the list of candidates for closure as the Trump/Musk efficiencies take hold. NPR’s various reporters, checkers and historiacs broke THE SPEECH down into ten categories, some containing a few more sub-categories, and were able to throw them out across the nation while it was still Tuesday. You can read these as Attachment “C”.

And Attachment “D”, unsurprisingly, consists of the Democratic response to the Speech, which was delivered by freshman Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan wherein she counseled Americans who are not partisans of Trump 2.0 to become engaged, not necessarily enraged, like the volatile Al Green.

“We all know that our country is going through something right now,” Slotkin said, “(w)e’re not sure what the next day is going to hold, let alone the next decade.” Had she waited a few days, she might have appended this to the next hour, even the next minute, but the time has come, the deed’s been done.

And the noise from the shelf is now coming from a plethora of pundits... more critical, a few cheering the President on. We’ll take these on... sometimes chronologically, sometimes by issue with, as above, the Speaker’s specters of administrative chainsaw chaos and the looming March Fourteenth destination date. From the short takes, takeoffs and takeaways provided for the week by the New York Times (E) and for Wednesday through Friday by Al Jazeera (Attachments F, G and H) and a few gaps are patched, holes in the wall boarded over to trap the rats.

“Swift and unrelenting action.” That’s how US President Donald Trump described the first forty-three days of his second term during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. In the longest presidential joint session speech in history, Trump touted his global tariff plans, spoke of “reclaiming” the Panama Canal with new US investments, promised to “wage war” on Mexican drug cartels, invited Greenland to join the United States, and pushed hard for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. The Atlantic Council reached out to its experts for insight on the global implications of Trump’s remarks – and collected the following excerpts from ten experts. (Attachment One)

Josh Lipsky: Attention world—Trump is serious about tariffs

Matthew Kroenig: Trump’s promising shipbuilding proposal deserves more attention

The United States can only produce 1.3 submarines per year—far short of the Navy’s target of three. As a member of Congress, Mike Waltz introduced legislation to revitalize the United States’ shipbuilding capability. Now that he is national security advisor, it is reassuring to know that he will carry this important priority with him to the White House.

John Herbst: Trump signals an end to his sparring with Zelenskyy

Leslie Shedd: Zelenskyy’s overtures to Trump should extend to congressional Republicans

The general consensus is that even though the minerals deal was not announced Tuesday night during the speech, it will be announced in the coming days. This deal creates an economic incentive—on top of the already existing moral incentive and national security incentive—for the United States to remain fully committed to a Ukraine free from long-term Russian aggression.

Torrey Taussig: Trump needles Europe and portrays himself as neutral on Ukraine

He first signaled his support for Greenland’s self-determination before threatening to seize it, stating “one way or the other, we’re going to get it.” These comments are sure to raise alarm bells in Greenland and Denmark. While Trump appeared to be lowering the temperature of his public feud with Zelenskyy, he missed an opportunity to announce a restart of US military assistance to Ukraine.

Graham Brookie: Trump shouldn’t reject bipartisan wins such as the CHIPS Act

The Trump administration announced this week that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—the world’s largest maker of advanced semiconductors—will invest one hundred billion dollars in further fabrication capability in the United States. The United States has a generational opportunity to continue building on a popular agenda to maintain the United States’ technical edge, but it will require working together across party lines and industry segments.

Landon Derentz: Trump’s praise for Japan and South Korea reveals an energy playbook for US allies

Even though the US trade deficit with Japan and South Korea collectively exceeds $120 billion, the two countries have nonetheless found themselves on the right side of an assertive Trump administration tariff regime. It’s a testament to other allies and partners that US economic pressure can be allayed through investment in the United States that lowers trade deficits and bolsters alliances against China.

Thomas S. Warrick: Trump is right that border crossings are low today—but they are going to go up

There is a danger in believing too much in your own press clippings. Trump took pride in the low number of “illegal border crossings” in February, which he attributed to declaring a national emergency on the southern border and deploying the US military to help the Border Patrol. The Border Patrol would keep working during a shutdown, but the expansion of the capacity to deport millions of people would be delayed. Trump’s divisive language Tuesday night may discourage Democratic cooperation unless Trump agrees to fund other programs to attract Democratic votes.

Alex Plitsas: With his counterterrorism surprise, Trump shows that US-Pakistan cooperation continues

Trump revealed Tuesday night that the United States had apprehended Mohammad Sharifullah, the “top terrorist responsible” for the Abbey Gate suicide bombing at the Kabul airport during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021... speak(ing) to the importance of liaising with foreign intelligence services and continued cooperation with Pakistan despite a recent announcement that the United States would increase military sales to India by “many billions” and a pathway to India acquiring F-35 fighter jets.

Daniel Fried: The highs and the lows of Trump’s power plays

High: BlackRock, purchased key ports at either end of the canal from a Hong Kong company (which) suggests that rather than invade Panama to seize the canal, Trump might call it a win if key canal-related infrastructure were in US hands rather than Chinese hands.

Low: at his worst, (Trump) prefers to speak of and threaten raw power. If implemented, that is the nineteenth-century great power way, and it is Putin’s way. The way the United States rose to global leadership in the “American century” was different—exceptional, actually—and it served the United States and the free world well. Trump seems to have little patience for that approach.

CNN only utilized eight reporters to cover the “divisive agenda” of his speech... the tariff war with Canada, Al Green and rebutter Slotkin’s contention that Trump’s economic plan will only help billionaires and cost average Americans. (Attachment Two)

Carolyn Debuque, a retired Air National Guard probation officer from Quakertown, said Trump’s speech was “very positive.” A Republican who voted for Trump, she said the new tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico “should have been done a long time ago.”

“I think now we’re taking back things that never should have been given away,” she said.

Democrats, though, were sharply critical.

“There wasn’t very much that was positive to me about the speech,” said Dr. Imogene Taylor-Kelly, a Democrat and Harris voter from Doylestown. “It’s more of a divisive method, that he tries to pit us against each other, whether it’s racially or economically or where we live.”

The BBC (Attachment Three) chose six takeaways as exemplary of the “rowdy primetime address.”

Trump predicts a bumpy ride ahead on tariffs

US and Ukraine could be mending relations

Greenland is in his sights, Lesotho isn't

He stood by Musk despite protests over cuts

Democratic pushback was loud and it was pink

Congressman Al Green ejected from chamber after disrupting Trump speech

He's betting on energy to bring down inflation

And the Brits, noting that the soaring cost of eggs has been headline news in recent weeks, said Trump had made clear who he felt was responsible.

"Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control - and we are working hard to get it back down," he added.

Further complementing some reports, confounding others, Al Jazeera, on Tuesday before their exhaustive three reports later that week, teased readers with seven takeaways (Attachment Four... the DJI found only six) in the wake of the Speech... some of which were somewhat harsher than those chosen by the BBC

Return to nativist themes and attacks on immigrants

Ukraine and Gaza get brief mention

Democrats struggle to muster a response

Trump continues his love affair with ‘beautiful’ tariffs

Trump claims he is tackling inflation

US has caught person behind 2021 Kabul airport bombing

On the American left, the Huffington Post chose its five takeaways (Attachment Five) with an eye towards the legal ramifications of Trump 2.0’s “viciously partisan” address,

“In touting the work of billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump thanked Musk and declared that the agency is “headed by Elon Musk.” That is going to be a major problem for Trump, Musk and DOGE,” the Huffies puffed, “as Musk’s position and many of the actions taken by DOGE are challenged in numerous lawsuits as illegal due to Musk exercising power that he should not legally have.”

Trump’s declaration to the whole nation that DOGE is “headed up by Elon Musk” undermines ostensible Amy Gleason’s alleged appointment and the arguments Trump’s Justice Department is making in court.

Plaintiffs in one case challenging DOGE’s actions and Musk’s appointment filed a notice of new evidence highlighting Trump’s comment after his speech concluded.

Oops!

The other four takeaways...

Social Security Appears To Be In Trump’s Sights

The “Little Disturbance,” Trump Says While Touting Tariffs

“Protecting” Women As A Justification For GOP Goals

And, as with the others...

Democrat Al Green Becomes First Member Ejected During A Presidential Address

Time (Attachment Six) selected its “biggest moments” from the address as being when...

Trump point(ed) the finger at Biden

Democrats (including Green) shouted, walked out, held up signs and wore pink (except for the few Ukrainian supporters who wore blue and yellow), while a few others, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a handful of Senators, chose not to attend the speech. None of the donkeys clapped, despite Trump’s dare. (It was not disclosed whether or not Rep. Jeffries or Sen. Fetterman wore pink.)

Trump pushed for more border security funding

Trump defended his tariffs amid trade war

Elon Musk got a warm welcome from Republicans

Trump warned federal workers who resist ‘will be removed’

Trump criticized transgender athletes

Trump defended approach to Ukraine

Trump makes Abbey Gate announcement

Trump still wants Greenland

And even the left-center (now) biweekly had to applaud the fighting spirit of D. J. Daniel - diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018 – who dreams of becoming a police officer. The President directed his newly appointed director of the U.S. Secret Service, Sean Curran, to officially make DJ an honorary Secret Service agent whereupon both halves of the chamber erupted in cheers as DJ was handed his badge, and lawmakers chanted “DJ! DJ!” in celebration.

A sampling of media reports in the days following the speech revealed many mentions of the issues of the day (as had been reported by NPR’s fact-checkers... Attachment Two, above) with many, many more coming from the takeaways and timelines of the Times (New York, not Washington) and Al Jazeera.

In the topical order as the NPR designated them, now, those issues who garnered at least one full or largely full article were attached, after which excerpts from the summarizers were added, designated in a tropical green for those as enjoy following notes through the spiderweb.

IMMIGRATION

Trump pushes for more border security funding

Time (Attachment Seven) expanded its (third) biggest moment of The Speech to encompass the “grim picture of the state of the U.S. border” and blaming... natch!... Old Goneaway Joe for what he described as “less safe” immigration policy with a tip of the toupe to President Dwight D. Eisenhower—“a moderate man but someone who believed very strongly in borders,” Trump said.

In attendance in the chamber as guests of the First Lady were the families of two young women who were murdered by Venezuelan immigrants in the U.S. unlawfully that had been previously apprehended and released by authorities.

Trump can genuinely take a victory lap on the border. The CNN fact-checkers look a little ridiculous when Trump claims, “Illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded. Ever,” and the CNN team “corrects” that claim by pointing out, “There were fewer Border Patrol encounters with migrants at the southwest border in some of the months of the early 1960s.”

Ah! So it’s merely the lowest number of attempts to cross the southern border since John F. Kennedy was chasing 19-year-old interns,” wisecracked Buckley boy Jim Geraghty in Tuesday’s National Review (ATTACHMENT EIGHT ).

And USA Today (ATTACHMENT NINE, below) editorialized that, when it comes to the border, “Trump’s immediate steps to reduce illegal entry into the U.S. are already paying off big time.” One of Trump's standout lines during his speech was when he said, "It turned out that all we really needed was a new president" in response to how former President Joe Biden and Democrats complained they needed legislation to tackle soaring illegal immigration.

Last month, the Border Patrol recorded 8,450 migrants who crossed the southern border illegally – the lowest level in at least 25 years. For perspective, most months during the Biden administration had well over 100,000 border encounters.

During his speech, Trump paid tribute to the mother and sister (who were in attendance) of Laken Riley, the young woman who was murdered by an illegal immigrant and who inspired a recent law to help keep criminal migrants off the streets.

It was a heartbreaking and heartfelt moment – and one of several that the President employed to show that the Biden years had been lucrative for criminals... terrifying for everybody else.

CRIME

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are asking the group that governs the legal bar in the District of Columbia to investigate Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney in the capital, saying that he had “abused” prosecutorial power by threatening his political opponents.

In a letter to the D.C. Bar’s disciplinary counsel on Thursday, the senators, led by Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the committee’s top Democrat, also accused Mr. Martin of violating professional standards by refusing to recuse himself from a case involving a Capitol rioter he privately represented and dismissing charges against the man.

Mr. Martin, a Missouri Republican who has used social media to threaten critics of President Trump and Elon Musk, has upended one of the most important U.S. attorney’s offices in the country. He has purged nonpolitical career staff involved in the investigations of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and at times directly interceded in prosecutorial decision-making.

This week, Mr. Martin took yet another provocative step — sending a letter to the dean of Georgetown University’s law school threatening to investigate the school if it did not scrub its policies and curriculum of diversity and inclusion initiatives, a move made public on Thursday after the Democrats’ letter was sent.

(NYT, March 6^th)

ECONOMY

The eldest of the Old Right rags raged against both Trump and his speech and the ghost of Old Joe – calling the former “economically shaky”. (ATTACHMENT EIGHT)

“Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country.”

On the “swift and unrelenting action” part, fact-check: True. The “greatest and most successful era in the history of our country” part is murkier.

“The president really wants you and everyone else to believe that the economy is roaring.”

Time’s resident Opinionator Philip Elliott discoursed often and at length upon various issues raised in the President’s speech... not the least of which was that Wall Street was already “exhausted” six weeks into Trump 2.0 (March 8, ATTACHMENT NINE )... contending that “even in a truly head-spinning week in this new era in Washington”, one Trump remark stood out in how utterly unbelievable it was.

“I’m not even looking at the market,” the President said Thursday in a fib that left even his defenders with little response save the anonymous elephant from Trump 1.0 who now believes that Djonald UnEarthed has perhaps “fallen into a parallel universe.”

“Undergirding much of this market turmoil is Trump’s capricious nature,” Elliott opined, inasmuch as that there is nothing investors despise so much as uncertainty.

Wall Street is decidedly not adjusting to the Reconstruction. “It truly has become an hour-to-hour crisis; market-moving decisions can come between phone calls, and then revert back soon after.”

INFLATION

Despite a campaign pledge to bring grocery prices down “on day one” of Donnie’s new administration, “the price of eggs has continued to rise dramatically under his presidency due primarily to the slaughter of millions of chickens to stem the spread of bird flu. (Yahoo News, ATTACHMENT TEN)

"Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg price is out of control, and we’re working hard to get it back down,” Trump said. “[Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins] inherited a total mess from the previous administration.”

“Are the American people ready to get the country back on track and do what it takes to make that happen? Absolutely. . . . It’s going to affect a lot of companies. We’re going to have to adjust some prices for it, but the president is tired of people taking advantage of our country.”

Asked if his constituents are ready to pay higher prices, Mullin said: “I think our constituents are going to do what it takes to get America back on track. We’re tired of countries taking advantage of us.” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Ok)

The Yale University Budget Lab has estimated that the tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico would increase inflation by a full percentage point, cut growth by half a percentage point and cost the average household about $1,600 in disposable income. (Time, 3/6)

ENERGY

“We don’t need trees from Canada,” Mr. Trump said Thursday. “We don’t need cars from Canada. We don’t need energy from Canada.”

“So where we can be self-sustaining, which is in most things, if we have more oil and gas than anybody — our forests are massive, massive forests,” he continued. “We’re just not allowed to use it because of the environmental lunatics that stopped us.” (NYT 3/6)

CULTURE

“Woke” is dead, U.S. News proclaimed; DEI is vanquished. Joe Biden was “the worst president in American history” according to his predecessor (and successor... and it’s his fault that eggs are pricey). “Murderous immigrants, here illegally, have overrun America. Trading partners have taken advantage of the U.S., but now we will retaliate.” (ATTACHMENT ELEVEN )

On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump gave his first speech to Congress since the electorate returned him to the White House. “He was combative, derisive toward Democrats and focused heavily on the kinds of culture war issues that helped him win in 2024.”

A U.S. News editorial from a different perspective charged the minority (Executive, Legislative and Judicial) party still embracing identity politics and losing cultural issues: relating to...

GOD

Salon’s Amanda Marcott fingered one of the middlest deepfakers salting Trump’s cabinet of furiosities and Christian Nationalist proponents as none other than Elon Musk!... and, further, made her accusations on Valentine’s Day!!! (Attachment ATTACHMENT TWELVE)

“Mother Jones” excused the melon, writing that, while people's approval of Musk is sinking the more they see of him, his clownishness and personal success “probably soften people's willingness to see him as the threat he is,” Marcott believes. Russell Vought, an admitted and proud ChriNat appointed to head the Office of Management and the budget is however, “every inch a type most Americans know well and loathe: the creepy religious fanatic.” If one looks away from Musk to other Trump officials who have legal appointments, the Christian nationalist agenda that Musk is assisting becomes more obvious. Another example in Marcott’s prosecutorial parade of horribles included Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner, who announced the suspension of rules barring discrimination against LGBTQ people in low-income housing and even homeless shelters. The move will especially affect queer teenagers, who are often homeless after being kicked out by right-wing parents and then Marcott shot straight to the heart of the heap by asserting that Turner justified putting teenagers on the street by declaring, in his official statement, that this is what "the Lord established from the beginning."

Neither he, HUD nor Salon specified whether the Lord of Lands was THAT Lord, or the one in the White House – but Don Jones can glean a sort of a meaning from the perp walk described here.

ABORTION

At the confirmation hearing for Dr. Marty Makary, the nominee to run the F.D.A., the subject of the abortion pill has come up again. Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, said she is concerned that Makary is “going to unilaterally overrule the data that currently exists for political purposes and for political reasons.” (NYT 3/6)

MINORITIES (Racial)

After the vote, as the resolution required of him, Green stood in the well of the House chamber while Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., read the censure resolution to him.

Dozens of Democrats, including many fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus, surrounded Green in the well and sang "We Shall Overcome" in a show of solidarity as the speaker repeatedly told them to stop and clear the well.

Republicans in the chamber yelled, "Order! Order!" And two CBC members, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, shot back: “Shame on you!" (NBC 3/6)

About 40 of the more than 700 immigration judges in place when Mr. Trump took office have now been fired or agreed to leave.

A loss of immigration judges is likely to undercut Mr. Trump’s efforts to deport millions of immigrants, since delays in adjudicating immigration claims contribute to the number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States while waiting for their cases to be resolved.

“Donald Trump ran for office promising to boost deportations, but as president, his administration’s policies are actually decreasing the number of immigration judges and judge teams who hold deportation hearings,” Matthew Biggs, the president of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, said in a statement on Thursday. (NYT 3/6)

In his executive order in January setting in motion the restoration and expansion of travel bans, Mr. Trump said he was acting to protect American citizens “from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.” (NYT 3/6)

MINORITIES (Sexual)

USA’s editorial by Jacques continued that, in addition to the economy and the border, voters in November stood against some of the Democrats’ most extreme views. Top among those is the belief that biological males belong in women’s sports and that gender identity should trump biological sex.

It’s a deeply unpopular issue, and Trump was smart to campaign on it. He’s followed through with executive orders protecting women and girls.

On Monday, though, Senate Democrats – all 45 of them who showed up – voted against advancing a bill that would offer the same protections in women’s sports.

In contrast, Trump invited Payton McNabb as a guest to his speech. She is a former high school volleyball player who suffered a severe injury playing against a transgender athlete.

A34@

SELF-PITY

After calling Democrats “radical left lunatics” and comparing himself to teenage victims of revenge porn... in and of itself a grisly, if imaginary, spectacle, the Speecher whined: “Nobody gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody!”

SPENDING AND TAX CUTS

ENTITLEMENTS

What remains open during a shutdown?

Agencies that have already received funding approval or operate on a permanent funding basis would continue to operate as usual. Veterans Affairs benefits, including pensions and disability checks, would also continue as normal under a shutdown.

SOCIAL SECURITY

For instance, the Postal Service and entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, would continue to run during a shutdown because they are funded by permanent appropriations that do not need to be renewed every year.

Some of Mr. Trump’s allies have privately pointed out that his own voters are part of the federal work force, including veterans. And some of his most loyal supporters depend on Social Security benefits.

TRUMP’S CABINET of CURIOSITIES

DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY (DOGE)

Named for an Internet joke according to the Democrat & Chronicle of Rochester, New York (ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN), Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” has already cancelled government contracts, laid off thousands of workers (with millions more facing eviction and evisceration over the coming weeks) – all as part of a wider effort to overhaul the federal bureaucracy. “The president and his allies have touted it as a long-overdue measure to cut down on inefficiencies and fraud in government.”

Trump celebrated arbitrary federal spending cuts by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, “who with the blessing of congressional Republicans has taken over Congress’ constitutional prerogative to fund or abolish federal programs.” (Yahoo, ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN) – not cheering on the performance of the queasy quasi-Cabinet creature as yet.

“DOGE has repeatedly identified cuts only to roll them back when staff either realize they’ve cut essential federal personnel (nuclear safety staff, for example) or misidentified or inflated the actual size of the savings.”

ELON MUSK

Yahoo’s unkind cut also revealed that Elon wasn’t even the top dog at DOGE... that position being relegated to one Amy Gleason, formerly of the U.S. Digital Service.

FEDERAL BUREAUCRACIES

With so many Federal agencies being trimmed or terminated there are not... in addition to the millions now unemployed with debts to pay and American children to feed... numerous empty gumment buildings standing ripe for squatters and vandals, as well as many, many more cancelled leases (many of these headed to court)... 700 in all so far according to the Rochester D&C (above) inasmuch as Buffalo and New York City have seen the most lease cancelations so far with four-a-piece. (See a list of the New York leases cancelled, with details, in the Attachment.)

TRADE AND TARIFFS

Media mouseketeers, MAGA or not, have been reacting to the bouncy bouncy “roller coaster ride” of Trump tariffs... on again, off again, on and multiplied by 1000% or, then, maybe “carved out” for certain FOPs (Friends of the President)

On Thursday, the President postponed the 25% tariffs he had promised on most goods from Mexico during his speech for a month “amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war.” (Time, ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN)

“After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," Trump said on Truth Social. “I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border.”

Sheinbaum said she and Trump “had an excellent and respectful call in which we agreed that our work and collaboration have yielded unprecedented results,” on a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Inasmuch as Trumpthings have asserted the tariffs on Mexico (and Canada, too!) are all about a War on Drugs (specifically fentanyl, but also cocaine, marijuana and... maybe if the trade wars escalate... tequila), not a War on Trade, the Mexicans quickly crawled on their knees to crack down on cartels... sort of... sent troops to the U.S. border and delivered 29 top cartel bosses long chased by American authorities to the Trump administration in a span of weeks.

Included among these reprobates was @ whose cozy comfort with police and politicians apparently came to an end.

Up North a ways, Canada x77 - fentanyl

“Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it is happening, and it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance, but we are okay with that.” Trump’s dismissal of higher prices as “a little disturbance” that all Americans, collectively, are “okay” with reminded NatReview’s Geraghty (above) of a statement from GOP Representative Mark Alford of Missouri:

REP. MARK ALFORD (R-MO): We all have a role to play in this to right- size our government. And if I have to pay a little bit more for something, I’m all for it to get America right again, to start whittling down this $36.5 billion or trillion worth of debt that we have that’s unsustainable.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You think that a lot of your constituents feel the same way, they’re willing to pay a little bit more?

ALFORD: Well, I think so.

“And this perspective from Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma who, asked if his constituents were ready to pay higher prices, said: “I think our constituents are going to do what it takes to get America back on track. We’re tired of countries taking advantage of us.”

“Do you remember the Trump or Republican campaign message on inflation last year being, “If I have to pay a little bit more for something, I’m all for it”? Geraghty asked? “No, I don’t, either.”

U.S. News warned that the President’s threat to expand the trade war to agricultural products was expected to bring more disruptions; Trump, in his first term, having to throw billions of federal dollars at farmers hurt by Beijing’s retaliation for a suite of tariffs he imposed.

Trump admitted the agricultural sector might be in for “a little bit of an adjustment period” but wished farmers would “have a lot of fun.”

PIVOTS

Nonetheless, the tax on imports from both Mexico (1440 ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN) and Canada (ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN)was quickly reversed by President Trump, extending until April 2 a 25% tax on goods coming to the US. The decision comes less than 48 hours after levies were placed on goods coming from both countries.

DRUG WAR

FOREIGN RELATIONS

WAR – UKRAINE

The Yahoo takeaways (below) also highlighted a pivot... this time by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy after Trump announced he was cutting off military provisions to Kyev... including the anti-drone-and-missile drones and missiles, without which Bad Vlad Putin’s attacks on civilians would be markedly more effective and, perhaps, complete conquest could be achieved – followed by whatever Moscow wanted,,, Moldova, the Baltics, Poland and on and on west...

Despite a contentious White House meeting last week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that resulted in accusations that Trump had sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said Tuesday that a deal to end the war was still possible. (Attachment Eighteen)

“Earlier today I received an important letter from President Zelensky of Ukraine,” Trump said. “The letter reads, ‘Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians,’”

“I appreciate that he sent this letter,” Trump said, adding that his administration had been conducting simultaneous negotiations with Russia and has received strong signals that they are ready for peace.

TAKEOVERS

The Yahoo takeaways (ATTACHMENT NINETEEN) included commentary on the President’s Speechist promise to take over the Panama Canal, Greenland and Canada.

“The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others, but others could use it. But it was built at tremendous cost of American blood and treasure. Thirty-eight thousand workers died building the Panama Canal,” Trump said, adding, “We’re taking it back.”

“We have Marco Rubio in charge. Good luck, Marco,” he continued.

Trump then moved on to his next already-spoken-for conquest: Greenland.

“We need Greenland for national security and even international security and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it.”

“I think we’re going to get it,” Trump channeled Blondie: “one way or the other we’re going to get it,” he said, “getchit, getchit, getchit, getchit!”

And then turn east to Canada, beginning with the Maritimes, then headed west (Montreal may be somewhat of a problem, due to the Speecher’s intent to make America an English-only country.

But he’ll make them submit – right?

AMBIENCE

By Thursday, however, nobody seemed to care much about the issues – great groundswells of vile vapors were swirling up concerning Rep. Al Green (D-Tx), his golden headed cane and his interruption of the President’s speech, shouting “You have no mandate!" (GUK, ATTACHMENT TWENTY)

Republicans across the aisle, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Nancy Mace of South Carolina, jeered and booed. The usually even-tempered Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., screamed at Green: "Sit down!"

Johnson banged the gavel and gave several warnings to Green, but the congressman refused to sit down or be quiet – so Speaker Mike called in the Sergeant-at-Arms and Capitol police (themselves under attack from the MAGAmob four years earlier).

Green did not resist and walked out of the room as Republicans chanted in unison, "Na-nah, na-na-nah-na ... goodbye!” The donkeys did not bray or sing back “Let’s Stay Together” but some members of the Congressional Black Caucus preferred to further disrupt the censure by warbling “We Shall Overcome”.

Ten Democrats joined Republicans in voting to censure the loudmouth; Green himself voted "present," along with first-term Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala. The backstabbing donkeys were Reps. Ami Bera, D-Calif.; Ed Case, D-Hawaii; Jim Costa, D-Calif.; Laura Gillen, D-N.Y.; Jim Himes, D-Conn.; Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.; and Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.

Republican support was unanimous... the resolution by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wa), prevailing over competing censure proponent Troy Nehls (R-Tx). Newhouse told Fox News Digital after the vote: "President Trump’s address to Congress was not a debate or a forum; he was invited by the speaker to outline his agenda for the American people. The actions by my colleague from Texas broke the rules of decorum in the House, and he must be held accountable.”

"Despite my repeated warnings, he refused to cease his antics, and I was forced to remove him from the chamber," Johnson posted on X. "He deliberately violated House rules, and an expeditious vote of censure is an appropriate remedy. Any Democrat who is concerned about regaining the trust and respect of the American people should join House Republicans in this effort."

Green, who shook Newhouse's hand before speaking out during debate on his own censure, stood by his actions on Wednesday.

"I heard the speaker when he said that I should cease. I did not, and I did not with intentionality. It was not done out of a burst of emotion," Green said.

"I think that on some questions, questions of conscience, you have to be willing to suffer the consequences. And I have said I will. I will suffer whatever the consequences are, because I don't believe that in the richest country in the world, people should be without good healthcare."

In fact, there are no consequences to censure except as an expression of disapproval which the censured often wear as a badge of honor.

After the vote, as the resolution required of him, Green stood in the well of the House chamber while Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., read the censure resolution to him.

On Wednesday, House Republicans said they would vote on a resolution sponsored by Rep. Dan Newhouse to censure Green for his outbursts. (NBC ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE)

While the CBC was singing "We Shall Overcome", Republicans in the chamber yelled, "Order! Order!" while two CBC members, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, shot back: “Shame on you!"

Democrats ignored the speaker's request, and Johnson then recessed the House.

Dissatisfied with their weak revenge and retribution against the censurecrat, the far-right House Freedom Caucus, who had been racing to introduce their own resolution to censure Green, said after the vote its members plan to roll out another resolution seeking to remove Green from the House Financial Services Committee. The group said on X it expects Johnson to bring the resolution to the floor next week.

The last two House members to be censured, NBC noted, were another progressive Black Caucus member, then-Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y who, on Dec. 7, 2023, was censured for pulling a fire alarm and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian from Michigan censured for comments she made about the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.

The last Republican censured was Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar in 2021 after he posted an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and attacking President Joe Biden.

While Republicans were united in their outrage, Fox contended that Green’s interruption only deepened the division between moderate Democrats “a part of leadership or more aligned with the establishment” (Fox, ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO) and progressives.

Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y., told Axios he believed the outbursts were "inappropriate."

"When a president — my president, your president — is speaking, we don't interrupt, we don't pull those stunts," he said... but did not vote for censure.

"People are pissed at leadership too," one senior House Democrat told Axios. "Everyone is mad at everyone."

Instead of shouting down the President, many of the disloyal opposition simply held up signs on paddles or wore statementslike-ish clothes.

On the Senatorial side, an increasingly Trumpish Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., took to X to condemn the "sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance."

"It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained," he wrote of the Democrats' outbursts. "We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to – and it may not be the winning message."

"I don't think that's the way forward," Fetterman added to Axios.

Fox (Thursday, ATTACHMENT ) interviewed "Jesse Watters Primetime" producer Johnny Belisario, who traveled to Capitol Hill to track down Democratic lawmakers and ask why they refused to stand and clap for the nonpartisan moments in the address.

"You didn't stand up for anything," Belisario noted to New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

"The president got before the American people and didn’t talk about how he could drive down grocery prices," Booker responded.

When Foxie Madison Colonbo asked why she didn’t applaud for certain guests at the speech, including the mother of slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren refused to answer.

"I did clap, when he said that the United States has supported Ukraine," Warren said.

However, when pressed on why she did not clap for Riley’s mother, she declined to respond.

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman acknowledged that some Democratic protests during the speech may not have been well-received.

"I don’t think that was the best look for our party last night," he admitted.

Even late-night host Stephen Colbert, whose show often aligns with liberal viewpoints, mocked the paddle protest, holding up his own sign that read, "Try doing something."

GUK’s Robert Tait reported that the Democratic resistance was chaotic and as diverse as a gathering at Columbia University... walkouts, costumes, placards that were disparagingly compared to bingo signs by one normally sympathetic commentator, Symne Sanders-Townsend, a host on the MSNBC channel. (ATTACHMENT TWENTY)

“Why are democrats just sitting there? The signs are not landing. It is giving bingo! Sigh,” she posted on X.

“Why are we fighting with Greenland?” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, (D-Tx), asked Adam Mockler of the progressive MeidasTouch Network. “We’re fighting with Canada, we’re fighting with Mexico, yet we’re in love with Putin? What is happening? This is not America. This is a terrible nightmare. Somebody slap me and wake me the fuck up because I’m ready to get on with it.” (ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE)

While Crockett called Trump “psychotic”, Time’s Elliott (sort of) hailed Donnie as a fighter for humanity against the living dead (i.e. old people) – citing the Presidential premise for making cuts to Social Security, a program he cast as “ripe with fraudulent payments to zombies.” (Attachment Twenty Two)

“Over 130,000 people, according to the Social Security databases, are aged over 160 years old,” Trump asserted. He then added there are 1,041 people over the age of 220. The claims have been thoroughly debunked, with even his own Social Security chief explaining it is a misreading of an ancient federal database, one that could cost $9 million to update, and none of those “people” were getting monthly checks.

But facts were not the point in the speech. This was a night entirely about feelings, and many of Trump’s promises sounded good to his ear with him at the center of the circus.

There is strategy lurking beneath the weirdness. If cruelty was the point of the first Trump term, then chaos is the thesis of the second. “For the last six weeks,” Elliott opined, “Americans have been yanked and ghosted, lurched and launched with a merciless urgency.

“Nothing has been beyond Trump’s boorish reach,” he added, “not even a Kennedy Center musical about a shark who befriends would-be prey or, briefly, the building that houses the American Red Cross.”

And the weirdness dances on, onwards into spring.

Yahoo (Attachment Twenty Three) contributed five takeaways from the speech – one of which, on Greenland, channeled Blondie as he promised “I think we’re going to get it — one way or the other we’re going to get it” (getchit getchit getchit)

Three little things from CNN unloaded a trailer of takeaways (Attachment Twenty Four) as covered DOGE, Army recruiting and, of course, immigration, tariffs and Al Green. The weirdness broke through the ceiling with partisanship (as divided the House into reverse left and right sides – scowling Democrats and MAGANUTS weirdly chanting and cheering as the speech “pulsated with flaming rhetoric, falsehoods and demagoguery.”

And a festive Fox reported that post-speech snap polls hailed Trump and failed Green (Attachment Twenty Five) although some critics noted that the Left had largely either refused the pollsters or hadn’t even watched the full speech.

The weirdness rolled further on after the Trumpist after-party when House Speaker Mike Johnson's chief of staff, Hayden Haynes, was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence after President Trump’s address.

Asked to confirm the report, U.S. Capitol Police said a driver backed into a parked vehicle near the Capitol around 11:40 p.m. and was taken into custody.

"We responded and arrested them for DUI," police said in a statement, which did not identify the driver. (CBS, Attachment Twenty Six)

Haynes has been a longtime aide to Johnson, serving as his chief of staff since 2017 and as his campaign manager in 2016. "The Speaker is aware of the encounter that occurred last night involving his Chief of Staff and the Capitol Police,” spaketh spokesperson Taylor Haulsee. “The Speaker has known and worked closely with Hayden for nearly a decade and trusted him to serve as his Chief of Staff for his entire tenure in Congress.”

But perhaps not to drive him home from a Trump after-party.

Shortly before the speech, Trump adviser Alina Habba set the stage for carping and cruelty when she told reporters squatting and squirreling round the White House lawn that veterans who were let go from their federal jobs "perhaps" are "not fit to have a job at this moment or are not willing to come to work."

"We are going to care for them in the right way,” she told the media. “But perhaps they're not fit to have a job at this moment or are not willing to come to work. And we can't — you know, I wouldn't take money from you and pay somebody and say, 'Sorry, you know, they're not gonna come to work.' It's just not acceptable."

More

Trump’s speech was so toxic that Worse former Houston mayor and newly sworn-in Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Tx)... was taken to the hospital after enduring the speech and collapsing. He was later released, but, reported the Wall Street Journal (ATTACHMENT 28) died at his home early Wednesday morning from “enduring health complications,” giving new meaning to Ms. Jacques contention that “Trump slays Democrats” or rebutter-er Slotkin’s perhaps unknowing remark that the speech has former President Reagan “rolling in his grave”. (NBC Attachment Twenty Nine)

-30 get ? move habba?

- 31 insert al jazz 7

32 ny post

33 nyp

34 huff post

35 “

36 nat review

37 fox green censure

38 nbc same

39 fox moved to 22@

THE PARTISANS REACT in VOICE, PRINT and PIXELS

Democrats

X62 X62 FROM NBC a29 dupe

Even as Sen. Elissa Slotkin was winding up her rebuttal to THE SPEECH (See “ATTACHMENT D”), NBC was profiling the rebutter-er as “one of the Democratic Party’s few bright spots last year” — a moderate, opposed to the progressive left, who won an open seat by less than a percentage point in Michigan, a state that Kamala Harris lost who could both criticize Trump for “trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends” while also alleging that Ronald Reagan would be “rolling in his grave” over 47’s preference for Putin over the Ukrainians.

“As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s,” she declaimed. “Trump would have lost us the Cold War.”

Republicans

60 cbs habba before 5:49 PM

As the Muskmelons were slashing at veterans’ services and benefits up to and including commencement of the SPEECH, Counselor to the president Alina Habba on Tuesday said veterans who were let go from their federal jobs "perhaps" are "not fit to have a job at this moment or are not willing to come to work."

“(T)he president has always cared about (a)nybody in blue, anybody that serves this country,” Habba said. (CBS, ATTACHMENT 27) “But at the same time, we have taxpayer dollars, we have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work."

Perhaps, she added, “they're not fit to have a job at this moment or are not willing to come to work. And we can't — you know, I wouldn't take money from you and pay somebody and say, 'Sorry, you know, they're not gonna come to work.' It's just not acceptable."

For Mr. Trump's joint address to Congress, Democratic Rep. Eric Sorenson of Illinois invited James Diaz, a disabled veteran who was laid off in February as a fuel compliance officer at the IRS.

"I've given my life to this country, and to be laid off without warning or respect is disheartening," Diaz said in a statement. "My notice of termination cited performance, and I know my performance was documented as excellent, yet we were treated like garbage. I understand the need to trim the fat, but you can't treat people this way."

THE MEDIA

RED LETTER DAZE

The Trumpaholic media was pounding the presses on Tuesday midnight, even before Slotkin finished her rebuttal and the partisan nightly news ghosts cheered their favorites and boo’ed their enemies.

At 10:52 AM (Attachment ATTACHMENT ), the 10:52 PM, three (New York) Post Toasties wrapped a rap on Djonald – blasting Dems for never applauding him even if he cures ‘devastating’ disease, roasting Biden on failed prosecutions and asking: ‘How’d that work out?’

The gladrag reported Trump’s complaints that there’s “absolutely nothing” he could do to get Democrats to applaud his addresses to Congress during his Tuesday night speech — and then lashed out at his predecessor Joe Biden for the Justice Department’s criminal prosecutions against him.

“This is my fifth such speech to Congress, and once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud,” he said.

(Well, resign, maybe... but that would leave America with President Vance. And beyond him, Speaker Mike, ol’ Chuck Grassley then, from the Cabinet, Rubio, Bessent and on and down to, finally, Kristi Noem.)

“I can find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations, or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history,” he continued, “or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded and these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.”

Including, even, promoting the first American mission to Mars.

“We’ve ended weaponized government where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent like me,” Trump said before asking rhetorically, “How did that work out?”

And then, on the other side of midnight, another Post ghostwritten editorial by what was represented as the Entire Editorial Board (!!!) called THE SPEECH a tour de force; putting a “coherent and reassuring” frame on his insanely busy first weeks in office :even as he made viewers laugh and cry — finishing up with an inspiring crescendo from the successes of America’s past and present to his promised new Golden Age.” (12:24 AM, Attachment ATTACHMENT )

All speech long, Trump offered common sense — two genders; hiring and promotion on merit; DOGE shutting down utter nonsense; a border closed without the bill that Democrats had insisted all year was the only possible solution; real prospects for peace with honor in Ukraine.

Democrats, on the other hand, “came off as hopelessly churlish, from Rep. Al Green’s indecorous ranting before his ejection to the pathetic round protest signs they held up all speech long to their insistence on sitting on their hands even for the most uplifting moments.”

“It was one speech on one night still early in his term, but Donald Trump did his cause and the nation’s as much good as he possibly could,” assuring America that “for all the sound, fury and (for many) confusion of the early going, he’s in total command and he has Americans dreaming”... not just dozing in their chairs.

X58 X58 FROM FOX

Eleven minutes earlier, a couple of Foxes waxed astronomical by contending that 47 “has been moving at warp speed since his Jan. 20 inauguration”, and using his Tuesday speech “to deliver a full-throated defense of his avalanche of activity.”

Snap polls from CNN (69% positive or very positive) and CBS (see Attachment ATTACHMENT ) both showed a high favorability rating for the President’s proposals... but carpers carped that the intended and affected audience would naturally have favored a preponderance of loyalists “because speech-watchers represent a small portion of the public, and they are usually much more likely to be from the president's own party, which is reflected in the poll results.”

CNN found disapproval of Al Green’s interruption reached 80%

Among the media, partisans more or less stuck to their guns on the process and policies of the speech... although the usually-centrist USA Today ran an editorial by Ingrid Jacques, who hailed Djonald UnChained as being “in control and confident”, and “slaying” (presumably figuratively except as above) the Democrats “who came off as unhinged and pathetic.” (USA Today ATTACHMENT )

The liberal Guardian U.K. called the speech “a sordid campaign rally” but did acknowledge that the President “didn’t give a Nazi salute, declare war on Canada or pull the plug on NATO,” sneered David Smith early Wednesday morning (ATTACHMENT ) before tolling off a litany of lesser, but still capital, sins,

“But this was a Trump rally with a difference, putting all the tensions and faultlines and sickness of the American body politic on full display. Half the chamber was made up of Democrats, forced to sit and have their noses rubbed in the dirt like Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at last week’s Oval Office shakedown.

“They looked grim, they looked glum, they looked as if they were reliving the 5 November election nightmare all over again. More than a dozen Democratic women wore pink in protest.” When Trump entered, the Democrat Melanie Stansbury held up a sign that said, “This is NOT Normal,” until the Republican Lance Gooden grabbed the sign out of her hand and tossed it in the air.

Rarely has the divide across the aisle been so bitter and glaring. It was hard to believe that, when Trump first stood on this spot eight years ago, he repeatedly called for unity, proclaiming: “We all bleed the same blood. We all salute the same great American flag. And we all are made by the same God.”

There was none of that in 2025. These are the days of miracles and thunder, of owning the libs and perhaps owning chunks of the world too. Trump described his own presidency as the most successful in history, beating George Washington into second, and Biden’s as the worst ever.

Then he whined: “I look at the Democrats in front of me and I realise there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud – nothing I can do... these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.”

Poor unloved, unappreciated Donald! But as Speaker Johnson and vice-president JD Vance giggled like mischievous schoolboys, Republicans again stood to applaud and Democrats remained riveted to their seats in silence.

“Still Trump kept going, delivering a speech that somehow managed to be both menacing and boring at the same time, spending less than two minutes on inflation and prices, the issue that was arguably central to his election. At one point there was even a yawn on the Republican side from congresswoman Nancy Mace. People have been primaried for less.”

When it was over, however, Mace went up to him and gushed: “Best speech ever!” Greene was not far behind with: “Mr President, that was a great speech!” Other voices chimed in: “Home run!”, “Slam dunk!”, “You rocked it, Mr President.”

WHITE KNIGHTS

“All fascist regimes seek to control women’s bodies,” contended Rebecca Donner in The Nation (Attachment @) in her explication of why Trump is... if not exactly Hitler yet... flying swiftly in that direction (not in Air Force One, nor an Islamist carpet but upon a flying book, the 922 page Republican “Project 2025” manifesto).

Four months after Hitler took power, women lost their reproductive rights. Abortion, which had been decriminalized in 1927—an era when pregnancy commonly endangered a woman’s life—was completely banned. The Nazi government reinstated an 1871 law that criminalized abortion.

Women’s clinics—which provided abortion services and birth control—were shut down.

Nineteen thousand women who held positions in regional and local government offices were abruptly fired. Women lawyers were barred from serving as judges or public prosecutors. Women physicians could no longer receive compensation from government-sponsored insurance plans. A new quota restricted the number of women who could attend a German university. In 1932—the year before Hitler took power—18,315 women were enrolled in German universities; in 1938 there were 5,447. The high school curriculum for girls was revamped to focus on cooking, cleaning, and mending. Kindersegen—women blessed with children—were celebrated as national heroines.

While comparisons between Nazi Germany and the United States can yield facile and decidedly false analogies, there is sufficient reason for alarm. Fringe neofascists and mainstream Republicans share the belief that women should not have sovereignty over their own bodies. So does Project 2025’s coalition of 100 conservative organizations, which have united to support a massive expansion of presidential power. Trump brags that he will gut the Constitution if he is reelected president, and what was once unimaginable is very much upon us.

Columnist Bill Press declaimed, in The Hill, Attachment ATTACHMENT that, while Donnie’s told a lot of fibs, “none of them tops the lie that’s most relevant today: that he knew nothing about Project 2025. That lie alone is worthy of four Pinocchios.”

Project 2025 is the 922-page blueprint for a second Trump administration prepared by the conservative Heritage Foundation and published in April 2023. As soon as it was made public, however, then-candidate Sgt. Schultz... uh, rather, President Trump... tried to distance himself from it. “I know nothing about Project 2025,” he wrote in a post on his Truth Social network last July. “I have no idea who is behind it.”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” Press replied stating that Trump’s professed innocence is manifestly false. “He was in on Project 2025 from the start. At a 2022 Heritage Foundation dinner, Trump thanked the organization for preparing the report, saying it was “going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do…when the American people give us a colossal mandate.” And he knew well the people behind it.

CNN identified at least 140 authors and contributors to Project 2025 who had worked in the first Trump administration, including six of his Cabinet secretaries. Overall, Trump’s actions have followed the three most important recommendations of Project 2025. First, that a new president must move fast; in his first month, Trump signed close to 100 executive orders. Second, that a president must expand the powers of the presidency; Trump declared that Article Two of the Constitution gives him “the right to do whatever I want as president.” Three, that a president must have the “boldness to break the bureaucracy” by firing career civil servants who are not MAGA loyalists; as of Feb. 25, Trump had already fired about 30,000 federal employees.

Trump hit the ground running — but only. Press concluded, “because the Project 2025 team wrote it all out for him.” And Democrats can only sigh and say: “I told you so.”

BLUE MOVIES

After the SPEECH came the party, the pressbites and boastings. “We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started,” he said, with Vice President JD Vance and House speaker Mike Johnson behind him on the dais, and his near-constant companion and adviser Elon Musk in the gallery above. (Huffington Post, March 5^th, ATTACHMENT Attachment @)

Posties allege that Trump lied about the state of the economy on the day of his return to office: “We inherited from the previous administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”

He blamed the current price of eggs on the former president, lied about absurdly old people on the Social Security rolls: “1.3 million people from ages 150 to 159” and all those new auto plants as are “opening up all over the place.”

He lied about how the United States has spent $350 billion to support Ukraine to fight Russia compared to $100 million from western Europe, even though the actual numbers are $204 billion from Europe and $183 billion from the United States -

An hour later, the Post (Huffy) singled out Five Takeaways from the President’s joint speech to congress

Trump broke the record for the longest such speech in history, clocking in at 1 hour and 40 minutes. To be fair, though, it only felt like 15 hours and, an hour after Attachment ATTACHMENT , the Huffers cited a few of the other important things he said that, in another world, would be full news cycles of their own.

DONALD TRUMP, HIMSELF

Let’s tiptoe through a few other important tulips: he said that, in another world, would be full news cycles of their own...

ELON MUSK

HOWARD LUTNICK

RICHARD HUDSON

“EAGLE” ED MARTIN

TROLLER-IN-CHIEF

When Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, he assumed one of his favorite roles: Troller in Chief. (Time, Attachment ATTACHMENT )

He was twisting the knife into a Democratic Party that has struggled to find its footing in Trump 2.0. “America is back!” he said at the beginning. “We’re just getting started.” To half the chamber, it surely sounded like a threat.

Throughout the evening, Trump needled Democrats on everything from his first six weeks in office to his electoral victory in November. He spoke of his “swift and unrelenting action” since taking office, including imposing stiff tariffs, signing boundary-pushing executive orders, cutting off aid to Ukraine, and letting billionaire Elon Musk loose to slash government spending. Trump berated his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for the woes bedeviling the country. He openly mocked his rivals, calling Sen. Elizabeth Warren “Pocahantas.” And he relished reclaiming the White House in the face of four criminal indictments. “How did that work out?” he asked Democrats.

It was both a form of ridicule and strategy. Trump, still smarting from the resistance he faced in his first term, plainly likes to taunt his adversaries, especially after vanquishing them. But Trump’s rhetoric was also an attempt to depict the Democrats as obstructionists, signalling to the nation that he’s confronting them on behalf of his agenda.

Democrats helped make his point – Green, of course, but the placards and fashions also drew contempt from liberals opposed to the Carvillian “roll over and play dead” because these creatures – well, they weren’t playing.

POLLERS-in-CHIEF

A CBS News survey found that 76% of viewers, who were primarily Republican, approved of Trump’s speech, citing his focus on reducing government waste, imposing tariffs, and securing the border.

When asked about the survey results, Schiff remained skeptical.

"I don’t know what speech they were watching…it really wasn’t worth watching," he said.

Begin excerpts (before ny

@ See, also, these (New York) Timepieces from Thursday *reverse)

March 6, 2025, 10:50 p.m. ETMarch 6, 2025

Eileen Sullivan

Reporting from Washington

Immigration judges and court staff take payout offers to leave.

March 6, 2025, 9:56 p.m. ETMarch 6, 2025

Chris Cameron and Rebecca Davis O’Brien

A judge reinstated a labor board member fired by Trump.

March 6, 2025, 8:58 p.m. ETMarch 6, 2025

David Yaffe-Bellany

Trump signs an order to create a ‘crypto reserve.’

President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to create a national stockpile of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, an audacious idea that has been widely criticized as a scheme to enrich crypto investors.

Trump’s tariffs by whim are keeping allies and markets off balance.

On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went on Fox Business to reassure nervous allies and even more twitchy investors that the Trump administration was negotiating a deal to avoid tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, and that the president is “gonna work something out with them.”

Elon Musk proposed privatizing Amtrak, calling it ‘sad.’

Almost since Amtrak’s creation in 1971, the 21,000-mile U.S. intercity passenger rail service has been fighting calls that it should be privatized.

Now it may have met one of its most aggressive and powerful skeptics yet.

Strange praise from a strange quarter

While I can't say much for how Democrats behaved during Trump's speech, scoffed USA Today’s right-wing editorialist Ingrid Jacques (ATTACHMENT above), Democratic congressional leaders were smart to choose newly elected Sen. Elissa Slotkin from Michigan to give the rebuttal to Trump.

Slotkin narrowly defeated Republican candidate former Rep. Mike Rogers by outperforming Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris. “She has an ability to appeal to a broad base of voters and comes across as a moderate, and that's what she did following Trump's speech.”

“I personally think that identity politics needs to go the way of the dodo,” Slotkin told NBC News after her victory last year. “People need to be looked at as independent Americans.”

I’m not sure how independent Slotkin actually is in practice, Jacques opined, but it’s still a refreshing message “and one that her fellow Democrats should take to heart, especially given their petty performance Tuesday night.”

@organize excerpts

1 text

2 npr

B CNN edit

C pbs

D slot

E nyt

f aj 1

g aj 2

h aj 3

Our Lesson: March 3 through March 9, 2025

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Dow: 43,239.60

President Trump procures a panoply of pivots – postponing tariffs on autos, first, then other things from Canada and Mexico until April 2^nd. He does not admit influence from investors, saying “I’m not looking at the markets.

While he eases off, DOGE keeps on trucking; cutting employees at the VA and NIH despite objections from lawyers, even some Republicans – next: privatizing the post office and Amtrack. When issues arise between Doge and the cabinet, Djonald comes down on the side of his cabinet, warning Elon that the cuts should be made with a scalpel, not a chainsaw. More guff for Musk: personality polls put him in the red at 34 to 49% and the latest Space X rocket explodes.

Rockfans who missed the Fyre Festival (featuring no shows and putting the organizer in prison for fraud) get another chance as Fyre Two is announced. Octomom’s octuplets finally meet the press. Mom says “I wanted one more, not eight.”

Friday, March 7, 2025

Dow: 43,840.91

With tariffs on hold, Trump turns his attention to revenge and retribution against Hillary’s law firm and drawing up lists of consulates to be closed. He collects a few more pocket clowns – Go. Newsome (D-Ca) joins in his war on trannies by banning male athletes in women’s sports.

More of his tariffs and personnel firings ride the roller coaster as Trump now wants to put a 250% tariff on Canadian imports and the lawyers are gathering. On the private side, Idaho killer Kohberger says he wants to claim autism as a defense, Adnan Syed released after 20 years for killing girlfriend and cellies Diddy and Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly enjoying bromance.

Coroners determine that Gene Hackman wandered about for a week after his wife died of hantivirus (caused by mice) until he died in the Mud Room. Dolly Parton’s tribute to her late husband is “If You Hadn’t been There” while Lady Gaga releases a new album “Mayhem” and goes on SNL while Ringo will do a country concert in Nashville. Harry Styles will do 35 shows at the Sphere in Vegas.

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Dow: Closed

Labor divides over tariffs. UAW Shawn Fain, a big Harris supporter, switches to Trump because tariffs on foreign automakers will increase domestic sales, and jobs. But Canadian lumber tariffs are crushing the construction industry, builders say housing prices will go up. Fed Chair Powell says the U.S. economy is still “in a good place.”

Parents and experts say that closing the Dept. of Education will cut school budgets being devolved to the states with cuts of as high as 14%. Especially impacted will students with disabilities, the poor and homeless and non-English speakers.

Florida police declare war on spring breakers despite complaints from bartenders – mass arrests for drinking on the beach and violating curfews. Gov. DeSantis says “we cannot have chaos, madness and mayhem. Lady Gaga objects.

Daylight Savings begins at 2 AM Sunday and objections are rising. Politicians promote a “Sunshine Protection Act to lock the clocks... doctors say the change will disrupt sleep and kill people.

Sunday, March 9, 2025

Dow: Closed

Wildfires spring up in the ritzy Hamptons on Long Island as those in California are contained.

Talkshows feature maverick Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa) who says that Democratic opposition to Trump speech is “a cavalcade of petulance”.

Trump cabinet curiosities @ Lutnick and @ Hassett explicate on tariffs with moderate Lutnick predicting more carve-outs while loyal Hasett... bearing a resemblance to the Jardiance turtle... says that the tariffs are not about a trade war but about a drug war. Canada only contributed forty pounds of fentanyl across the border (all year!) but no matter... the Drug War is on. Democrat Schiff says that the tariffs are chaotic and destructive while ABC host Jonathan Karl shows a video of Clintonian “Snake” Carville saying the best things that Dems can do is “roll over and play dead” and let Trump 2.0 self-destruct.

Among the Round Tablers, Faiz Shafur compares Trump/Musk to Homer Simpson while former RNC chair Reince suggests that elephants should “act like ninjas”. Former DNC chair Brazile says the battle is already in the courts, while opinionator Sara Isgur says that Trump may lose a few key hard-right basers because he’s not cutting entitlements fast enough.

Kristi Noem calls Canada her dog for having to appoint a fentanyl czar and praises Donnie for deporting 70 terrorists and 280 gang members.

Monday, March 10, 2025

Dow: 41,911.71

National Sleep Week begins and the Dow dreams of better days – losing nine hundred points while NASDAQ drops four percent after China begins its retaliatory tariffs on American farmers and President Trump declines to rule out a recession. The 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum begin tomorrow and ahead... a shutdown? Mark Zandi of Moody’s says that if they last, “recession is unavoidable.”

Canada’s liberal party chooses Mark Carney to replace Trudau – he’s a banker who foresees “dark days” ahead.

Roman doctors say the Pope is out of danger and the Long Island wildfires are contained, but the toxic smoke remains. More toxicity occurs as a Portuguese ship carrying alcohol and cyanide crashes into a US Navy jet fuel carrier, creating a massive fire on the coast off Grimsby Fish Market. A strange affair, that!

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Dow: 42,520.99

Stocks continue falling – Tesla is down 15% as Musk calls entitlements the key to solvency. Trump promises to help him out by buying a brand new Tesla. Musk calls Sen. Kelly (D-Az) a traitor for supporting Ukraine as vandals start hitting dealership and even random cars on the street.

Ukraine launches its own drone strikes on Russia closing three airports in Moscow as Uke and US representatives rassle in Saudi Arabia. SecState Marco says Russia should get territory in any deal (and the slaves that live on the conquered territory).

To fend off confiscation, Tik Tok rolls out new apps for parental control of kids’ social media use. There are now four competitors ready to buy it for a price estimated at $100 - $200 billion.

FDA races to ban generic weight loss drugs whose profits are soaring... consumers are blaming Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are accused of gouging customers and killing patients.

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Dow: 41,350.93

It’s National Girl Scout Day.

American contractors and manufacturers, the intended beneficiaries of Trump’s tariff wars, toss their cookies after the President’s new tariffs on steel, aluminum and other metals begin, atop retaliatory tariffs from Canada, Mexico, the EU, UK and Asia take effect. As the Dow crashes, Don predicts some people will make a lot of money buying cheaper stocks and bonds and, with Tesla losing billions, promises to buy a big red electric vehicle, despite his prior contempt. S&P coes into “correction mode” after losing 10% in Feb. 27 countries in Europe tariff Harley Davidsons, bluejeans and bourbon, so Trump promises more reciprocal for reciprocal tariffs in April.

Musk, despite his money losses, continues slashing Federal agencies, laying off half the Education Dept. staff while teachers say that poor and disabled children will pay the price after $1B in school food aid is eliminated. Let the li’l bastards starve! Democrats, meanwhile, fight each other on who will be blamed for shutting down the government.

SecState Rubio endorses Zelenskyy proposal for 30 day cease fire and US returns arms deliveries and intelligence sharing. Not present nor commenting: Mad Vlad.

The Dow and Don both lost big... NASDAQ was even put on warning while Trump waffled on recession. Still the cuts continue... only the start of record job losses (direct from gumment and collateral from businesses folding under tariffs). But the base holds firm and grows angrier at the people Trump says really caused the crash – Joe Biden and the Democrats. Get ready for a summer of riots.

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

Gains in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a further explanation of categories HERE

ECONOMIC INDICES		(60%)
CATEGORY	VALUE	BASE	RESULTS by PERCENTAGE			SCORE		OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS
INCOME	(24%)	6/17/13 revised 1/1/22	LAST	CHANGE	NEXT	LAST WEEK	THIS WEEK	THE WEEK’S CLOSING STATS...
Wages (hrly. Per cap)	9%	1350 points	2/27/25	+0.18%	3/25	1,558.65	1,561.18	https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages 30.84 .89
Median Inc. (yearly)	4%	600	2/27/25	+0.064%	3/13/25	740.12	740.42	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 43,459 484
Unempl. (BLS – in mi)	4%	600	2/27/25	+2.44%	3/25	570.29	556.38	http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/ 4.0 .1
Official (DC – in mi)	2%	300	2/27/25	+3.85%	3/13/25	230.65	221.77	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 6,990 7,270
Unofficl. (DC – in mi)	2%	300	2/27/25	+15.15%	3/13/25	251.18	213.12	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 12,794 15,079
Workforce Participation Number Percent	2%	300	2/27/25	+1.006% -0.0134%	3/13/25	299.34	298.94	In 161,759 3,387 Out 101,190 2,565 Total: 262,949 265,952 61.435 61.517
WP % (ycharts)*	1%	150	2/27/25	-0.32%	4/25	151.19	150.71	https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 62.60 .40
OUTGO	(15%)
Total Inflation	7%	1050	2/27/25	+0.2%	4/25	944.32	942.43	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.5 .2
Food	2%	300	2/27/25	+0.2%	4/25	268.64	268.10	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.4 .2
Gasoline	2%	300	2/27/25	- 1.0%	4/25	236.15	238.51	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +1.8 -1.0
Medical Costs	2%	300	2/27/25	-0.3%	4/25	284.53	283.68	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.0 .3
Shelter	2%	300	2/27/25	+0.3%	4/25	256.38	255.61	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.4 .3
WEALTH
*Dow* Jones Index	2%	300	2/27/25	-3.85%	3/13/25	354.59	321.71	https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 43,006.59 1,350.93
Home (Sales) (Valuation)	1% 1%	150 150	2/27/25	-3.77% -1.85%	3/25	123.25 281.21	123.25 281.21	https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics Sales (M): 4.08 Valuations (K): 396.9
Debt (Personal)	2%	300	2/27/25	+0.044%	3/13/25	265.39	265.51	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 75,613 130

GOVERNMENT	(10%)
Revenue (trilns.)	2%	300	2/27/25	+0.14%	3/13/25	430.24	430.84	debtclock.org/ 5,048 055
Expenditures (tr.)	2%	300	2/27/25	+0.11%	3/13/25	292.85	292.53	debtclock.org/ 7,053 061
National Debt tr.)	3%	450	2/27/25	+0.08%	3/13/25	367.69	367.40	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 36,563 592
Aggregate Debt (tr.)	3%	450	2/27/25	+0.14%	3/13/25	387.18	386.64	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 102,331 2,474

TRADE	(5%)
Foreign Debt (tr.)	2%	300	2/27/25	-1.10%	3/13/25	277.30	280.35	http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 8,724 629
Exports (in billions)	1%	150	2/27/25	-1.22%	3/25	167.51	167.51	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 269.8
Imports (in billions))	1%	150	2/27/25	+9.05%	“	135.93	135.93	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 401.2
Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.)	1%	150	2/27/25	-25.11%	“	160.62	160.62	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 131.4

SOCIAL INDICES		(40%)
ACTS of MAN	(12%)
World Affairs	3%	450	2/27/25	-0.1%	3/13/25	475.46	474.98	Incoming Canadian candidate Carney says tariffs wars were like hockey: Canada will win. Syrian pro-Hamas regime cuts deal with Kurds to join in fighting Assad loyalists.
War and terrorism	2%	300	2/27/25	-0.1%	3/13/25	289.03	288.74	Israelis cut off electricity and water to Gaza as Hamas dithers on Phase Two. Ukraine reciprocates by launching drone attacks on Moscow.
Politics	3%	450	2/27/25	-0.2%	3/13/25	474.70	473.75	Trump shows his support of Musk by buying a new, red Tesla. Musk calls Sen. Kelly (R-Az) a traitor for supporting Ukraine.
Economics	3%	450	2/27/25	-0.5%	3/13/25	441.86	439.65	Mark Zandi of Moody’s says tariffs will lead to recession. Atlanta Fed reports GDP is down 2.8%. Investors say they are used to uncertainty “but this is a mess.”
Crime	1%	150	2/27/25	-0.1%	3/13/25	217.72	217.50	New York fires 2,000 striking prison guards – mayhem ensues. InfoWars reporter killed in Austin.
ACTS of GOD	(6%)
Environment/Weather	3%	450	2/27/25	-0.1%	3/13/25	370.47	370.10	*Deadly storms cause chaos in Midwest; South heats up and Hamptons really* heats up.**
Disasters	3%	450	2/27/25	-0.2%	3/13/25	414.06	413.23	Plane crashes in retirement home parking lot, no fatalities. Indiana woman survives six days after crashing into ravine. School bus crash injures fifteen in New Jersey. Woman drowned in Georgia lake, another missing on Dominican beach. Long Island fires contained, investigators say it was caused by people cooking Smores.
LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX		(15%)
Science, Tech, Education	4%	600	2/27/25	-0.1%	3/13/25	615.85	615.23	NTSB and FAA quarrelling over ban on helicopters near some airports like Chicago O’Hare. INS rounding up Palestinians who demonstrate at Columbia U. Tik Tok rolls out new apps to extend parental control of kids and fend off prohibition.
Equality (econ/social)	4%	600	2/27/25	-0.1%	3/13/25	659.16	658.50	Rump’s DEI police ban use of the word Enola Gay to describe WW2 nuke plane.
Health	4%	600	2/27/25	-0.2%	3/13/25	436.82	435.95	TV docs say Slushies KILL, so drink Smoothies. Roman doctors say that the Pope is out of danger. FDA moves to ben generic weight loss drugs so poor people have to remain fat. PBMs (Pharmacy Benefit Managers) accused of gouging sick people.
Freedom and Justice	3%	450	2/27/25	nc	3/13/25	483.08	483.08	International Criminal Court indicts ex-Philippine Pres. Duterte. Tupac killer says he was framed. South Carolina executes killer by firing squad, New California DA says Menendez Bros. must stay in jail.
CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS			(6%)
Cultural incidents	3%	450	2/27/25	+0.1%	3/13/25	553.04	553.59	“Mickey 17” tops box office but still loses money. Rapper DoeChii named Billboard’s Woman of the Year. NCAA conference finales feature buzzer beaters and upsets – next up comes March Madness. RIP: NBS star and billionaire Junior Bridgeman
Misc. incidents	4%	450	2/27/25	+0.1%	3/13/25	535.04	535.58	It’s National Sleep Week and Wednesday is National Girl Scout Day. King Charles names his favorite musicians: Bob Marley and Beyonce. Danish art exhibition’s starving pigs stolen – for animal rights, or bacon.

The Don Jones Index for the week of March 6^th through March 12^th, 2025 was DOWN 58.28 points

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.

ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL

“SWIFT AND UNRELENTING ACTION”

That’s how US President Donald Trump described the first forty-three days of his second term during an address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. In the longest presidential joint session speech in history, Trump touted his global tariff plans, spoke of “reclaiming” the Panama Canal with new US investments, promised to “wage war” on Mexican drug cartels, invited Greenland to join the United States, and pushed hard for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. We reached out to our experts for insight on the global implications of Trump’s remarks.

Click to jump to an expert analysis:

Josh Lipsky: Attention world—Trump is serious about tariffs

Matthew Kroenig: Trump’s promising shipbuilding proposal deserves more attention

John Herbst: Trump signals an end to his sparring with Zelenskyy

Leslie Shedd: Zelenskyy’s overtures to Trump should extend to congressional Republicans

Torrey Taussig: Trump needles Europe and portrays himself as neutral on Ukraine

Graham Brookie: Trump shouldn’t reject bipartisan wins such as the CHIPS Act

Landon Derentz: Trump’s praise for Japan and South Korea reveals an energy playbook for US allies

Thomas S. Warrick: Trump is right that border crossings are low today—but they are going to go up

Alex Plitsas: With his counterterrorism surprise, Trump shows that US-Pakistan cooperation continues

Daniel Fried: The highs and the lows of Trump’s power plays

Attention world—Trump is serious about tariffs

The most significant line on trade in the president’s address wasn’t about steel, aluminum, or farming. It was when Trump said tariffs are “about protecting the soul of our country.” These seven words should put the whole world on notice that Trump is serious about tariffs. To him, they are not just a negotiating tool. It is possible that, within the next several months, we could be facing a global trade war.

On Tuesday night, we heard more details—and more commitments—than ever before regarding the administration’s plans to shock the global trading system. It starts with the administration’s implementation earlier in the day of across-the-board tariffs on Mexico and Canada. It will continue next week (seemingly) with steel and aluminum tariffs on a range of “friends and foes” alike, as the president said—including the European Union.

But the biggest move—the one that will rip up the rules that have governed trade since the signing of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1947—is the promise to levy reciprocal tariffs on every country in the world. Will Trump follow through? Will the markets react so strongly that he has to back off? That will be the question every country will be asking between now and April 2, the date when Trump said these reciprocal tariffs will go into effect. After tonight’s speech, the honest assessment is that you can’t afford to bet that what he previewed is just a negotiating position. Trump made clear: This is about more than economics.

—Josh Lipsky is the senior director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center and a former adviser to the International Monetary Fund.

Trump’s promising shipbuilding proposal deserves more attention

In the realm of defense and security, Trump reviewed several long-term priorities and early successes, including building a “Golden Dome” missile-defense shield for the United States, taking back the Panama Canal, and attempting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

What was less noticed, but highly important, was the announcement of a new office of shipbuilding at the White House. The United States has long had the world’s most dominant navy, but the United States’ ability to produce naval vessels has atrophied greatly since the end of the Cold War and now pales in comparison to that of China—the United States’ foremost military rival. Indeed, the United States can only produce 1.3 submarines per year—far short of the Navy’s target of three. As a member of Congress, Mike Waltz introduced legislation to revitalize the United States’ shipbuilding capability. Now that he is national security advisor, it is reassuring to know that he will carry this important priority with him to the White House.

—Matthew Kroenig is vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. He previously served in the Department of Defense and the intelligence community during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations.

Trump signals an end to his sparring with Zelenskyy

Trump’s speech was preceded by expectations that he would use the moment to discuss his approach toward Ukraine and policy to end Moscow’s war of aggression against the country, given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s sharp public exchange with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office on February 28, the White House’s strategically problematic decision to pause military aid to Ukraine, and Zelenskyy’s social media post on Tuesday expressing regret for the miscommunication in the Oval Office. On Tuesday night, Trump did not disappoint.

Trump started by noting that the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan may have persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin that his moment to strike against Ukraine had come. This was an indirect way of saying that Putin was responsible for starting the war on Ukraine and for Russia’s huge escalation in February 2022—a welcome improvement from his peculiar accusation earlier this month that Zelenskyy was somehow responsible for this war.

Trump noted that he had received a letter on Tuesday from Zelenskyy expressing Ukraine’s readiness to join negotiations with Russia under Trump’s leadership—and to sign the mutually beneficial critical minerals agreement. Trump expressed gratitude for the letter and noted that he is convinced from his contact with Putin that Russia too is eager for peace, even though there is no public evidence that Moscow is ready to make the compromises necessary for a stable peace. Trump did mention his successful effort to bring home Marc Fogel, an American prisoner in Russia, who was in the gallery. Putin made a clever decision to release Fogel at the start of the new administration in an effort to encourage Trump to approach Russia with kid gloves in peace negotiations. But Trump’s warm description of the Zelenskyy letter suggests that the sparring with the Ukrainian leader is behind us. The pause on US military aid to Ukraine likely will not be with us long. If the pause lingers, then Trump’s stated intent to broker a stable peace will look questionable.

—John E. Herbst is the senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and a former US ambassador to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy’s overtures to Trump should extend to congressional Republicans

There is still strong bipartisan, bicameral support for Ukraine in the US Congress. But that support has taken a hit over the last week in the wake of the disastrous Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy. There is growing frustration even among Ukraine’s most ardent Republican supporters over Zelenskyy’s inability to keep his temper in check during the meeting and his failure to quickly and explicitly apologize for how the meeting devolved. His latest overtures to Trump, including a social media post on Tuesday afternoon expressing his regret and a letter he sent to the president ahead of his joint address to Congress, thankfully seem to have helped mend the relationship.

But more needs to be done to mend Zelenskyy’s relationship with Republicans on Capitol Hill. Republicans have risked their own political capital with the Republican base and with some people inside the White House to support Ukraine over the last three years. Many now feel spurned by Zelenskyy. These are his biggest champions who helped to get the supplemental spending package across the finish line last year. The Oval Office meeting had repercussions for their credibility. Now is the time for Zelenskyy to reach out to those members and make sure they know he is committed to finding a solution that ensures continued US support for the sake of his people and the security of the world.

I don’t judge the level of support for an issue based on who was clapping at which lines in the president’s speech on Tuesday night. What matters is who is with Ukraine when it really counts. Like almost every issue in Washington over time, Ukraine has become politicized. But at the end of the day, I agree with the assessment of Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), who said last month that there remains an “outcome-determinative number of Members of the United States Congress, from both parties and in both Chambers, who are ready, willing, and able to do whatever it takes” to ensure Putin does not benefit from his brutal war of aggression. If Democrats truly care about helping Ukraine and not politicizing this issue for their own personal gain, they will encourage Ukraine to sign the minerals deal and get on board with Trump’s plan for peace. That is the only game in town right now. Furthering the notion that Ukraine is a Republican-versus-Democrat issue only hurts Ukraine.

—Leslie Shedd is a nonresident fellow at the Eurasia Center and former senior advisor to members of the US Congress, and US senatorial and presidential candidates.

Trump needles Europe and portrays himself as neutral on Ukraine

Trump didn’t raise Europe or the war in Ukraine until over ninety minutes into his speech. When he did get to the region, his comments were short but sharp. He first signaled his support for Greenland’s self-determination before threatening to seize it, stating “one way or the other, we’re going to get it.” These comments are sure to raise alarm bells in Greenland and Denmark.

The president then repeated his known criticisms of Europe, including not taking its own defense seriously and passing the burden of the Ukraine crisis onto the United States. In this critique, he restated inaccurate figures of US and European support for Ukraine. Otherwise, Europe—as the United States’ largest trading partner, largest investor, and largest network of allies—was largely ignored (likely to the relief of many European officials).

In addressing the war in Ukraine, the president looked to portray himself as a peacemaker and a neutral arbiter. Trump read verbatim a letter he received earlier that day from Zelenskyy indicating Ukraine’s readiness to commence negotiations with Russia and to sign the critical minerals agreement with the United States. While Trump appeared to be lowering the temperature of his public feud with Zelenskyy, he missed an opportunity to announce a restart of US military assistance to Ukraine.

—Torrey Taussig is a director and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Previously, she was a director for European affairs on the National Security Council.

Trump shouldn’t reject bipartisan wins such as the CHIPS Act

To compete effectively in an era of increasing geopolitical competition and rapid technological change, long-term planning and building on bipartisan accomplishments is essential.

For example, the Trump administration announced this week that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—the world’s largest maker of advanced semiconductors—will invest one hundred billion dollars in further fabrication capability in the United States. This effort began in the first Trump administration, which lobbied TSMC to build more in the United States to ensure supply-chain resilience that has enabled the booming artificial-intelligence economy. The Biden administration built on that work by passing the bipartisan CHIPS Act, which—among many other things—paved the way for an initial $65 billion investment by TSMC to begin building manufacturing capability in the United States, including plants that are already producing 4 nanometer chips reportedly for companies such as Apple, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm.

The facts of US policy on semiconductors show a story of continuity and building momentum. Trump could tell that real success story. But he instead used his address to Congress to disparage his predecessor’s policy, which built on his own, by calling the CHIPS Act a “horrible, horrible thing.” The United States has a generational opportunity to continue building on a popular agenda to maintain the United States’ technical edge, but it will require working together across party lines and industry segments.

—Graham Brookie is the Atlantic Council’s vice president for technology programs and strategy. He previously served in various positions at the White House and National Security Council.

Trump’s praise for Japan and South Korea reveals an energy playbook for US allies

Trump’s brief reflections on energy policy in his remarks to Congress on Tuesday night reinforced his administration’s domestic ambition for leveraging US energy resources to drive economic growth, while also outlining a framework for constructive engagement with foreign partners. Though cloaked in antipathy for the policies of the prior administration, Trump’s emphasis on new oil and gas leases, pipeline construction, and the economic viability of power plants underscore that mobilizing private sector investment in energy infrastructure is a mainstay of the administration’s broader economic strategy, including efforts to lower inflation.

In highlighting his executive order declaring a national energy emergency from January, Trump is signaling his intent to supercharge the traditional Republican focus on deregulation in pursuit of an energy landscape that reinforces US autonomy and strengthens US geopolitical influence through energy exports.

That Trump conveyed this perspective in the context of Japan and South Korea’s interest in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Alaska demonstrates that there is room for partners and allies to join in the president’s plans for expanding domestic oil, gas, and mineral production across an ambitious list of projects. Even though the US trade deficit with Japan and South Korea collectively exceeds $120 billion, the two countries have nonetheless found themselves on the right side of an assertive Trump administration tariff regime. It’s a testament to other allies and partners that US economic pressure can be allayed through investment in the United States that lowers trade deficits and bolsters alliances against China.

—Landon Derentz is senior director and Morningstar Chair for Global Energy Security at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center. He previously served as director for energy at the White House.

Trump is right that border crossings are low today—but they are going to go up

There is a danger in believing too much in your own press clippings. Trump took pride in the low number of “illegal border crossings” in February, which he attributed to declaring a national emergency on the southern border and deploying the US military to help the Border Patrol. The Border Patrol apprehended 8,326 people on the US side of the southwest border in February. That is a record low monthly total since these statistics were first recorded in 2000, but the number is all but certain to go up. Here is a prediction: After a few months of relatively low numbers at the southwest border, apprehensions will increase later this year.

The cartels that control human smuggling across the Mexico-US border can throttle the numbers up and down. When the United States changes its policy, as happened in May 2023 when the US government formally ended the COVID-19 pandemic, numbers went down in June only to go back up the next month. Moreover, February is often, but not always, a relatively slow month for unauthorized border crossings—and numbers vary wildly from month to month, as shown in this graph from Axios using official Customs and Border Protection data.

Mexico’s policy decisions also make a big difference. Mexican cooperation can drive down unauthorized border crossings, as was the case in June 2024 during the Biden administration. Trump’s tariffs on Mexico could incentivize Mexico to keep numbers down—but it could have the opposite effect. Trump’s implicit threat to use the US military against the cartels is another potential flashpoint that could affect Mexico’s cooperation.

With a government shutdown possible in two weeks, Trump asked Congress Tuesday night for billions of dollars to carry out his mass deportation program and further discourage migrants from making the journey north. Border Patrol would keep working during a shutdown, but the expansion of the capacity to deport millions of people would be delayed. Trump’s divisive language Tuesday night may discourage Democratic cooperation unless Trump agrees to fund other programs to attract Democratic votes.

In the Democratic response on Tuesday night, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) struck a bipartisan tone. It was Slotkin, not Trump, who invoked former President Ronald Reagan’s vision that “required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity.” Slotkin speaks for national security Democrats in arguing that while border security is important, so is fixing the United States’ broken immigration and asylum system. This contrast between the parties is likely to become clearer in the next few months.

—Thomas S. Warrick is the director of the Future of DHS project at the Atlantic Council Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. He previously served as deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism policy at the US Department of Homeland Security.

With his counterterrorism surprise, Trump shows that US-Pakistan cooperation continues

Trump and his administration have been very vocal and public about efforts to designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations and to disrupt their human and narcotics smuggling operations into the United States, which have had deadly consequences. By comparison, the president has been very circumspect about other areas of counterterrorism, particularly when it comes to Central Asia, where there have been reports of a resurgence of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and transnational terrorist groups operating in the region.

However, Trump revealed Tuesday night that the United States had apprehended Mohammad Sharifullah, the “top terrorist responsible” for the Abbey Gate suicide bombing at the Kabul airport during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. That attack killed thirteen American service members and injured many more along with nearly two hundred Afghan civilians. This was important for a few reasons.

First, it sends a message to terrorist groups who may have thought they would have more freedom of movement, due to Trump’s desire to withdraw from Afghanistan and his “America first” foreign policy, that they will be targeted or apprehended. Second, it speaks to the importance of liaising with foreign intelligence services and continued cooperation with Pakistan, which the president thanked publicly during his speech and with which the Central Intelligence Agency is said to have conducted a joint raid. Third, it underscores Pakistan’s willingness to work with the Trump administration despite a recent announcement that the United States would increase military sales to India by “many billions” and a pathway to India acquiring F-35 fighter jets.

—Alex Plitsas is a nonresident senior fellow with the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, the head of the Atlantic Council’s Counterterrorism Project, and a former chief of sensitive activities for special operations and combating terrorism in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

The highs and the lows of Trump’s power plays

First, good news but with a hitch: Trump’s March 4 address to a joint session of Congress included words of reconciliation with Zelenskyy, who hours before had offered a statement of support for Trump’s efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and of regret for the blowup in the Oval Office the previous Friday. The Trump administration should have followed by resuming military assistance and intelligence cooperation, both of which the United States suspended to put pressure on Zelenskyy. That would clear the way for the United States to work with Ukraine and Europe to deal with the real obstacle to ending the war: Putin, who appears to have been enjoying the spectacle of the United States quarreling with its friends and allies. Instead, however, the administration has reportedly said it will continue to withhold this support until a date is set for talks with the Russians, a move that gives the Kremlin every incentive to slow walk the process. Hopefully, the manifest weakness of this position will generate a rethink and reversal.

In another sort-of positive gesture, Trump boasted that US efforts to “reclaim” the Panama Canal were advancing by means of a US company (BlackRock, though Trump did not name it) purchasing key ports at either end of the canal from a Hong Kong company. That’s hopeful because it suggests that rather than invade Panama to seize the canal, Trump might call it a win if key canal-related infrastructure were in US hands rather than Chinese hands. That may be a rough way to achieve a good deal.

Other Trump foreign policy moves in the speech are more questionable or downright bad. His threat to impose worldwide retaliatory tariffs could in practice mean tough bargaining, leading to some set of deals. But it also could easily lead to a trade war, with retaliation disrupting supply chains, fueling inflation, and slowing investment into the United States. Trump’s April 2 deadline may be a negotiating ploy, but the threat of economic nationalism may be a brake on growth when the US economy is already showing signs of slowing. Trump is often more apt to threaten than follow through and deal with the consequences. But bad consequences may follow, given the tariffs imposed already on Canada and Mexico.

Shamefully and tellingly, Trump repeated his threat to seize Greenland. He tried to show regard for the views of Greenlanders themselves. (“If you [Greenlanders] choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.”) But he quickly followed with “We need it [Greenland] … and one way or the other, we’re going to get it.” The threat, with its nineteenth-century imperial style, advances no US interest. Denmark, responsible for Greenland’s foreign policy, has made clear that it would be glad to accommodate the United States’ military or commercial interests in Greenland. In fact, the United States has made no concrete requests about Greenland.

Therein lies the tell: Trump has exhibited scant regard for the US-led system of alliances and partnerships rooted in common values that smooth the advance of US interests in ways that benefit both sides. The United States could obtain what it says it wants in Greenland by, well, asking. But that is not Trump’s way: at his worst, he prefers to speak of and threaten raw power. If implemented, that is the nineteenth-century great power way, and it is Putin’s way. The way the United States rose to global leadership in the “American century” was different—exceptional, actually—and it served the United States and the free world well. Trump seems to have little patience for that approach.

Trump’s address to Congress did not mark a final US commitment to act as a typical great power bully. It is possible that Trump will use bullying tactics to achieve specific goals but not push a destructive agenda or in the end make a bad deal with Putin over Ukraine. But the absence of an overarching international vision based on values, and the apparent default to simple power and zero-sum thinking, warns of strife with friends and bad deals with adversaries. The address to Congress was not all bad. But it was a warning of a problematic strategy that would ill serve the country and the free world.

—Daniel Fried is the Weiser Family distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council and former US assistant secretary of state for Europe.

ATTACHMENT TWO – FROM CNN

Trump digs in on divisive agenda in speech to Congress

By Antoinette Radford, Maureen Chowdhury, Aditi Sangal, Betsy Klein, Elise Hammond, Tori B. Powell, Kit Maher and Michael Williams, CNN

Updated 5:16 AM EST, Wed March 5, 2025

CNN's Daniel Dale fact-checks Trump’s address to Congress

04:10

What we covered here

• Trump hails record: President Donald Trump tonight repeated debunked claims about wasteful spending, touted divisive executive actions and said he’s “just getting started.” His speech was the longest first address to a joint session of Congress or State of the Union speech. Here are takeaways and fact checks of his address.

• Tariff agenda: The president doubled down on his tariff agenda, which has sent stocks sinking, businesses scrambling and consumer confidence plunging. Trump is scheduled to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tomorrow morning, a source told CNN, a day after the two leaders engaged in an extraordinary back-and-forth over a brewing trade war.

• Disruption in the chamber: Shortly after he began speaking, Trump was interrupted by Democratic lawmakers, leading to Speaker Mike Johnson directing the House sergeant at arms to remove Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas. Several other House Democrats walked out while wearing “Resist” T-shirts.

• Democratic rebuttal: Freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan criticized Elon Musk during her party’s rebuttal, saying the country didn’t need the chaos of his DOGE-led cuts. She also said Trump’s economic plan will only help billionaires and cost average Americans.

The major themes of Trump's speech

From CNN's Kaanita Iyer, Matt Stiles and Jhasua Razo

President Donald Trump gave his first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to power, covering topics from domestic policy to foreign affairs.

In the longest annual address in modern history, Trump focused on the economy — digging in on trade and tariffs and promising to provide “relief to working families” amid high inflation.

Immigration was also a key focus, with Trump stressing crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants and calling for stricter border security. He also touted his 2024 election victory and critiqued the Biden administration in a divisive speech that drew protests from Democratic lawmakers.

16 hr 17 min ago

Analysis: Trump's big night deepens America's bitter internal schisms

From CNN's Stephen Collinson

Modern America’s political chasm never looked so bleak.

President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night adopted the customs of a familiar annual political observance. But they failed to bridge the chasm of misunderstanding and contempt cleaving the country down the middle.

“Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States” roared the House sergeant at arms in his fabled refrain before Trump entered the House of Representatives.

It was one of the only normal moments on a night that exemplified broken national unity as the president embarks on a second term that millions believe will usher in a new American golden age and millions more fear will destroy the country they love.

On Trump’s left were his adoring, raucous followers, who leapt to their feet repeatedly, cheering “USA, USA, USA,” and “Trump, Trump, Trump,” on the benches of the Republican Party he has transformed beyond all recognition into a personal political movement.

His speech was indistinguishable from his campaign rallies, which pulsated with flaming rhetoric, falsehoods and demagoguery.

But the trinity of the president, Vice President JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson on the House dais spoke of unbridled GOP power, as Senate Majority leader John Thune and conservative Supreme Court justices looked on from below.

Read Collinson’s full analysis.

16 hr 20 min ago

Pennsylvania voters split on Trump's speech in CNN focus group

From CNN's Eric Bradner

President Donald Trump’s speech Tuesday night was well-received by those who backed him against Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, but alienated Democratic voters who oppose his agenda, a CNN focus group in the Philadelphia suburbs found.

Speaking to CNN’s Boris Sanchez, a group of Bucks County voters weighed in on Trump’s address. Last year, he became the first Republican to win the political battleground in a presidential race since 1988 with his 291-vote victory out of about 400,000 cast.

“I think now we’re taking back things that never should have been given away,” she said.

Democrats, though, were sharply critical.

16 hr 36 min ago

Fact Check: Military recruitment began rising even before Trump was elected

From CNN’s Haley Britzky

President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that the US military is having “among the best recruiting results ever in the history of our services,” and that the Army had its “single-best recruiting month in 15 years” in January.

He added that “just a few months ago” the US “couldn’t recruit anywhere.”

This needs context. According to the Defense Department, military recruitment was already up over 10% in fiscal year 2024 compared with the year prior, and the delayed entry program for the active-duty military was up 10% in fiscal year 2025.

The delayed entry program is a way for recruits to join the military but not ship out until a later date.

And looking specifically at the Army’s recruitment, former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who served until January 20, told Fox News that the uptick started before Trump was elected — and that the Army in fact started seeing increased numbers in February 2024.

16 hr 35 min ago

CNN poll: Trump's address changed few viewers' minds

President Donald Trump’s address to Congress did little to change opinions of his policies among those who tuned in, according to a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

In a survey conducted prior to the speech, 61% said they believed his policies would move the country in the right direction, with 38% saying they would take the country in the wrong direction. Afterward, the results shifted to 66% and 34% respectively.

The viewership of Trump’s speech also leaned Republican – continuing the pattern of highly partisan audiences seen during his first term as president. About 60% of viewers said they approved of Trump’s handling of the presidency overall – though his broader approval rating with the American public has plummeted, a CNN poll released Sunday found.

Disapproval of disruption: Eight in 10 of those who watched said they felt that Democratic Rep. Al Green’s interruption of Trump’s speech in protest was inappropriate, with 20% calling it an appropriate reaction.

04:10

What we covered here

Enter your email to subscribe to the CNN What Matters Newsletter.

The major themes of Trump's speech

From CNN's Kaanita Iyer, Matt Stiles and Jhasua Razo

President Donald Trump gave his first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to power, covering topics from domestic policy to foreign affairs.

In the longest annual address in modern history, Trump focused on the economy — digging in on trade and tariffs and promising to provide “relief to working families” amid high inflation.

16 hr 18 min ago

Analysis: Trump's big night deepens America's bitter internal schisms

From CNN's Stephen Collinson

Modern America’s political chasm never looked so bleak.

“Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States” roared the House sergeant at arms in his fabled refrain before Trump entered the House of Representatives.

His speech was indistinguishable from his campaign rallies, which pulsated with flaming rhetoric, falsehoods and demagoguery.

Read Collinson’s full analysis.

16 hr 21 min ago

Pennsylvania voters split on Trump's speech in CNN focus group

From CNN's Eric Bradner

“I think now we’re taking back things that never should have been given away,” she said.

Democrats, though, were sharply critical.

16 hr 37 min ago

Fact Check: Military recruitment began rising even before Trump was elected

From CNN’s Haley Britzky

He added that “just a few months ago” the US “couldn’t recruit anywhere.”

The delayed entry program is a way for recruits to join the military but not ship out until a later date.

16 hr 36 min ago

CNN poll: Trump's address changed few viewers' minds

From CNN's Ariel Edwards-Levy

President Donald Trump’s address to Congress did little to change opinions of his policies among those who tuned in, according to a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

ATTACHMENT THREE – FROM

X63 FROM BBC

Six takeaways from Trump's big speech

By Jude Sheerin

US President Donald Trump declared "the American Dream is unstoppable" as he addressed a raucous joint session of Congress for the first time since he returned to power.

In the longest presidential speech to lawmakers on record, he outlined his vision for his second term, as Republicans applauded a high-octane six weeks that has reshaped domestic and foreign policy.

Trump was heckled by Democrats and he goaded them in turn during the rowdy primetime address, during which he said his administration was "just getting started".

The Republican president has moved to slash the federal workforce and crack down on immigration, while imposing tariffs on the US's biggest trading partners and shaking up the transatlantic alliance over the war in Ukraine.

Here are six of the key takeaways.

Trump predicts a bumpy ride ahead on tariffs

Following a second day of market turbulence, Trump played down the potential economic fallout from a trade war he ignited this week, including 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% on Chinese imports.

But in contrast with the ovations that greeted his other policy objectives, many Republicans remained seated, a sign of how Trump's import taxes have divided his party.

"Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again," he said.

"And it's happening. And it will happen rather quickly. There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't be much."

Trump added that reciprocal tariffs tailored to US trading partners would "kick in" on 2 April.

Earlier in the day, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox Business that Trump could announce a trade deal with Mexico and Canada as soon as Wednesday.

· Trump will 'probably' cut tariffs, says commerce chief

· What are tariffs, and why is Trump using them?

US and Ukraine could be mending relations

Trump said he had received an "important letter" from Ukraine's leader earlier in the day, which appeared to match what Volodymyr Zelensky posted publicly on social media.

Ukraine's president had said he was now ready to work under Trump's "strong leadership" to end the war and "come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer".

"I appreciate that he sent this letter," Trump told lawmakers.

Zelensky offered the olive branch a day after Trump paused all military aid to the beleaguered US ally.

It followed an acrimonious Oval Office meeting last week when the two leaders argued in front of TV cameras, before cancelling plans to sign a minerals deal that would allow the US to profit from an economic partnership involving Ukraine's natural resources.

Trump was reportedly hoping to announce during his speech to Congress that the deal had finally been sealed. But it did not materialise.

· Live updates: Trump 'appreciates' Zelensky's message

· Trump and Zelensky's fraying relationship, in their own words

Greenland is in his sights, Lesotho isn't

Despite most of his 99-minute speech focusing on domestic issues, Trump's worldview also came more sharply into focus.

There are places in the world he wants to expand US influence and others where he wants to withdraw.

Repeating his desire for the US to acquire Greenland, he vowed "we're going to get it - one way or the other". And he said his administration would "reclaim" the Panama Canal.

There were several mentions of African countries when he rattled through a long list of aid programmes funded by US taxpayers that he portrayed as ridiculous.

Liberia, Mali, Mozambique and Uganda were all places where he suggested money had been wasted.

But his most pointed remark was about Lesotho, which he said was a country "nobody has ever heard of" despite receiving $8m (£6.2m) to promote LGBT rights.

The government there quickly responded.

"To my surprise, 'the country that nobody has heard of' is the country where the US has a permanent mission," Foreign Affairs Minister Lejone Mpotjoane told the BBC.

· Nine things to know about Lesotho

· Why does Trump want Greenland and what do its people think?

He stood by Musk despite protests over cuts

Early on, Trump name-checked his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who was watching from the gallery.

The tech mogul's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) taskforce has moved to fire tens of thousands of federal workers, cut billions of dollars in foreign aid and slash programmes across the US government.

The SpaceX and Tesla boss, wearing a dark suit with a blue tie, stood and acknowledged the cheers from the crowd.

"Thank you, Elon," the 78-year-old president said. "He's working very hard. He didn't need this."

Musk's cuts have sparked some angry scenes at town hall meetings and his instructions to federal employees have at times been overruled by members of Trump's cabinet.

In the chamber, Democratic lawmakers held up signs saying "Musk steals" and "false".

Doge claims to have d $105bn already, but that figure can't be independently verified. Receipts have been published for $18.6bn worth of savings, but accounting errors have been reported by US media outlets that have analysed the figures.

· Young Republicans cheer Trump on from Texas watch party

Democratic pushback was loud and it was pink

Congressman Al Green ejected from chamber after disrupting Trump speech

Within the first five minutes of the address, Al Green of Texas was escorted out of the chamber by the sergeant-at-arms after refusing to comply with the House Speaker's demands that he stop heckling the president and take his seat.

As Trump spoke, other Democrats held up signs saying: "This is a lie."

With Republicans in control of the White House, House of Representatives and Senate, Democrats have been largely leaderless as they work to hone their message and counter the blitz of activity from the Trump administration.

Many Democratic women arrived in the House chamber wearing pink pantsuits in protest. Dozens from their party - some of them wearing the words "Resist" printed on the backs of their shirts - exited the chamber during the speech.

"There is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy," Trump said, appearing to revel in the partisan rancour.

Democratic leadership chose Elissa Slotkin of Michigan - a first-term senator elected in a battleground state that Trump won in November - to deliver the party's official response.

She accused Trump of an "unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends" and warned that "he could walk us right into a recession".

He's betting on energy to bring down inflation

Trump pledged to voters that he would beat inflation on his return to office and he used the speech to say his focus would be to reduce the cost of energy, by opening up the country to new oil and gas drilling.

"We have more liquid gold under our feet than any nation on earth, and by far, and now I fully authorize the most talented team ever assembled to go and get it. It's called drill, baby, drill."

The soaring cost of eggs has been headline news in recent weeks, and Trump made clear who he felt was responsible.

"Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control - and we are working hard to get it back down," he added.

Egg prices rose as the Biden administration directed millions of egg-laying birds to be culled last year amid a bird flu outbreak, though prices have continued rising during the early stages of Trump's second presidency.

Inflation was slightly elevated at 3% last month, but way down from its peak of 9.1% in 2022.

Only one in three Americans approve of Trump's handling of cost of living, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey on Tuesday.

ATTACHMENT FOUR – FROM

AL JAZEERA

Seven takeaways from Donald Trump’s speech to US Congress

By Al Jazeera Staff Published On 5 Mar 20255 Mar 2025

In a lengthy speech before both houses of the United States Congress, President Donald Trump claimed that his return to office marked the “most successful era in the history of our country”.

Addressing the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday, Trump said his administration had “accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in four years or eight years”.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy appeals to Trump after US suspends military aid

How will Trump’s tariffs impact Mexico and Canada’s exports?

Trump memo calls on US federal agencies to prepare for mass layoffs

“And we are just getting started,” he said.

His remarks touched on many familiar themes: calls for a massive crackdown on undocumented immigrants, whom he attacked as criminals and rapists, praise of “beautiful” tariffs that Trump says will bring balance to US trade relations, and attacks on transgender people and diversity initiatives.

Here are a few of the main takeaways from Trump’s address, which drew loud cheers from supportive Republicans and protests from some Democrats, pointing to the deep political divisions in the country.

Many of his administration’s most ambitious claims about unearthing wasteful projects have been quietly rolled back or debunked later on, but Trump used a series of data points and projects to paint a picture of a federal bureaucracy fixated on diversity initiatives and misguided projects in foreign nations.

Wasteful spending in agencies more aligned with Trump’s political priorities, such as immigration enforcement and the massive US military, has largely evaded similar scrutiny.

Return to nativist themes and attacks on immigrants

As he has frequently done in the past, Trump leaned into rhetoric that portrays immigrants as vectors for crime, disease and disorder, as he pushed Congress for a massive spending package that will help facilitate his mass deportation campaign.

On several occasions, he addressed guests in the audience — family members of several people killed by immigrants in the US without authorisation — to portray a country under siege by dangerous foreigners, although immigrants, undocumented and otherwise, commit violent crimes at a lower rate than native-born people in the US.

Ukraine and Gaza get brief mention

Trump promised to end a series of wars and conflicts around the world during his time on the campaign trail, and his first few weeks in office have seen him upend longstanding partnerships, injecting tension into ties with Europe, neighbours Canada and Mexico, and Ukraine.

But on Tuesday night, he touched on events in Ukraine and the Middle East relatively briefly.

After a fiery exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House last week that shocked European allies, Trump said he wanted to see the war brought to an end and that Zelenskyy had sent him a letter underscoring his desire for peace.

On Israel and Gaza, Trump praised the Abraham Accords — a series of agreements where Arab countries normalised ties with Israel, often in return for generous concessions or aid packages from the US — and said he hoped to secure further agreements.

He said he had helped secure the release of US citizens held captive by Hamas in Gaza, but the suffering and futures of millions of Palestinians who have returned home to neighbourhoods turned to rubble by Israel’s devastating bombing campaign were not mentioned.

Trump, however, said he hoped to build an Israel-style missile defence shield over the US and repeated his desire to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Democrats struggle to muster a response

While the early minutes of Trump’s speech were met with a chorus of boos from Democratic members of Congress and the expulsion of Democratic Representative Al Green, the opposition’s response was mostly tepid.

Most Democrat members remained seated for the duration of the speech, declining to stand and applaud and sometimes holding up placards calling Trump’s statements false or reading “Musk steals”.

But a sense remains that the Democrats, still stinging from their loss in the 2024 election, have yet to coalesce around a message that could take the fight to Trump.

In a social media post, the conservative commentator Laura Ingraham quipped that Democrats holding signs while sitting down looked like they were “bidding at an auction”.

Trump continues his love affair with ‘beautiful’ tariffs

One of Trump’s most longstanding political beliefs is that the US has been taken advantage of in its economic relations with other countries, and he has promised to use tariffs to bring “balance” to foreign trade and bend countries to his will on a series of other issues.

In his speech on Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his faith in what he previously called “the most beautiful word in the English language: tariff”. This, even as new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China that came into effect on Tuesday, attracted retaliatory measures, drawing the US deeper into trade wars with neighbours and rivals alike.

“Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them. Whatever they tax us, we tax them,” Trump said. He sought to ease concerns about price increases as a result of tariffs, saying, “There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.”

Trump promised to bring manufacturing operations for everything from cars to ships to semiconductors to the US through the use of tariffs.

“If you don’t make your product in America … you will pay a tariff and, in some cases, a rather large one. Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other countries,” Trump said.

Trump claims he is tackling inflation

Trump said one of his top priorities was to fix the economy and help working families. He promised to cut costs on eggs and energy by reorganising the federal government, blaming former President Joe Biden for the problem.

“Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg prices [are] out of control, and we’re working hard to get it back down,” Trump said.

Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told The Wall Street Journal in late February that the administration was planning to invest $1bn in trying to control egg prices — using a combination of payouts to struggling farmers, increased egg imports, and no scientific research into avian flu to better tackle its effects.

Egg prices started soaring amid the mass culling of chickens in recent years because of avian flu. That practice has continued under Trump, and egg prices have continued to rise under the current administration.

In late February, eggs on average cost $4.95 a dozen — double what they cost a year ago under Biden, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.

US has caught person behind 2021 Kabul airport bombing

Trump announced that the US has captured “the top terrorist responsible” for the suicide bombing that killed 13 soldiers during the 2021 withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.

“Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity,” Trump said during his address. “And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.”

The White House said the man, identified as Muhammed Sharifullah, was being brought to the US.

ATTACHMENT FIVE – FROM

THE HUFFINGTON POST

Five Takeaways From Trump’s Joint Speech To Congress

President Donald Trump screwed one of his potential legal arguments during a viciously partisan speech excoriating Democrats as the enemy of the country.

By Paul Blumenthal, Arthur Delaney, and Lilli Petersen

Mar 5, 2025, 12:47 AM EST

During a viciously partisan and seemingly never-ending speech littered with attacks on Democrats as the enemy of the country and lies about government spending, President Donald Trump accidentally screwed himself in court.

In touting the work of billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump thanked Musk and declared that the agency is “headed by Elon Musk.” That is going to be a major problem for Trump, Musk and DOGE as Musk’s position and many of the actions taken by DOGE are challenged in numerous lawsuits as illegal due to Musk exercising power that he should not legally have.

DOGE faces numerous legal challenges where this statement will now play a major role. One lawsuit directly challenges Musk’s position as illegal under the Appointments Act for exercising powers that can only be exercised by a Senate confirmed appointee. Others challenge DOGE’s access to payment systems for being illegally authorized due to Musk’s improper appointment.

The Trump administration has sought to obfuscate Musk’s position in government by, first, refusing to state in court who heads DOGE and, then, naming Amy Gleason as its administrator. But now Trump’s declaration to the whole nation that DOGE is “headed up by Elon Musk” undermines Gleason’s alleged appointment and the arguments Trump’s Justice Department is making in court.

Plaintiffs in one case challenging DOGE’s actions and Musk’s appointment filed a notice of new evidence highlighting Trump’s comment after his speech concluded.

Oops.

Here are four more takeaways:

Social Security Appears To Be In Trump’s Sights

Trump went on at great length about the supposed scourge of the Social Security Administration wrongly paying retirement benefits to people listed in the agency’s system as well over 100 years old.

“A lot of money is paid out to people because it just keeps getting paid and paid and nobody ― it really hurts Social Security and hurts our country,” Trump said. “1.3 million people from ages 150 to 159 and over 130,000 people, according to the Social Security databases, are over 160 years old. We have a healthier country than I thought.”

The super elderly Social Security recipients myth got heavily debunked last month after Elon Musk misread a chart, prompting even Trump’s acting Social Security commissioner to say, “These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits” in a statement on the SSA’s website.

The fact that Trump still plowed ahead with the bogus story in his address to Congress and said Social Security is full of “probable fraud” could be a bad sign for the popular retirement program, which Trump has usually said he would never touch even as he calls for massive cuts to much of the rest of the government.

“There May Be A Little Disturbance,” Trump Says While Touting Tariffs

Where Trump’s callout of praise for Elon Musk may wind up playing a big role in court, it was another statement he made while engaging in further self-gratification that may wind up playing a role in the midterm elections.

“There may be a little disturbance,” Trump admitted while touting the benefits that will flow from his tariffs on foreign goods.

That “little disturbance” is already being felt after Trump put 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico and 10% on goods from China on Tuesday. The S&P 500 wiped out all of the gains posted since Trump’s election in November in just two days. The Federal Reserve’s economic uncertainty index is now higher than at any point during the Great Recession. Inflation expectations are spiking and consumer confidence is down.

The country could slip into a recession due to the uncertainty around Trump’s trade policy and his efforts to gut the federal government.

“There may be a little disturbance,” is not the clip you want running on repeat if you’re a Republican up for election in 2026 if the president’s policies sink the country into a recession.

“Protecting” Women As A Justification For GOP Goals

Trump took multiple opportunities to justify right-wing goals — specifically, attempts at barring trans women from participating in sports and deporting immigrants from the United States — by portraying them as necessary to protect American women, including those in the audience.

Among the guests of first lady Melania Trump were several women with stories of being harmed by trans individuals or immigrants. They included Payton McNabb, a former high school athlete who was seriously injured during a volleyball match when she was hit by a ball spiked by a trans player on the opposing team. Trump referenced McNabb’s story to explain the executive order he signed to ban trans women in sports: “When her girls’ volleyball match was invaded by a male, he smashed the ball so hard in Payton’s face, causing traumatic brain injury.”

Also present was the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl who was assaulted and murdered by two undocumented immigrants; and the mother and sister of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant while jogging last year and has since become the namesake of a law to detain undocumented immigrants accused of crimes.

“Laken was viciously attacked, assaulted, beaten, brutalized, and horrifically murdered,” Trump described the crime, as Riley’s family looked on. “Laken was stolen from us by a savage illegal alien, gang member, who was arrested while trespassing across Biden’s open southern border and then set loose into the United States.”

Conservatives have often used the notion that they are acting out of concern for women as a rationale to push culture war policies like anti-trans actions, or Republican agenda priorities like immigration restrictions. One of Trump’s executive orders from January, which is titled in part “Defending women from gender ideology,” claims that men are identifying as women to “gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities ― and the president has claimed that immigration restrictions are necessary to prevent assaults on and sex trafficking of women.

Democrat Al Green Becomes First Member Ejected During A Presidential Address

Democrats pulled several stunts during Trump’s address ― none more dramatic than Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) getting thrown out by security.

Minutes into Trump’s speech, Green stood and yelled that Trump had no electoral mandate to cut Medicaid, the health care program for more than 70 million low-income Americans.

Republicans loudly yelled at Green and chanted “USA” as the Texas Democrat remained standing, saying, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.”

Trump tried to keep the speech going but couldn’t be heard over the commotion. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) then ordered the House sergeant-at-arms, the chamber’s chief law enforcement officer, to remove Green from the room.

“I’m willing to suffer whatever punishment is available to me,” Green said afterward, adding it was worth it to show that there are people willing to stand up to Trump.

Other Democrats help up signs proclaiming Trump’s statements as “false,” and “Musk steals,” in reference to Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump has deputized to slash federal bureaucracies. At one point, several progressive House Democrats stood and turned their backs on Trump before leaving. By the end of Trump’s speech, even a group of more moderate Senate Democrats had walked out.

ISSUES

Umbrella iSSUES

ATTACHMENT SIX – FROM

X54 FROM TIME

Updated: Mar 5, 2025 1:15 AM ET

The Biggest Moments From Trump’s Address to Congress

By Nik Popli / Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday delivered his first joint address to Congress since returning to power, telling lawmakers that “America is back” and touting the flurry of actions he has taken over the first six weeks of his second term, including the deportations of migrants and imposing tariffs against major trading partners.

Throughout the 100-minute speech, the longest in at least 60 years, Trump repeatedly assailed the Biden Administration and blamed his predecessor for high prices and illegal border crossings. He also praised the work of billionaire Elon Musk, who was tapped to slash federal spending with his Department of Government Efficiency and was in attendance at the Capitol.

But Trump’s speech will perhaps best be remembered for the numerous disruptions that underscored the deep partisan tensions in the chamber, as Democratic lawmakers vocally protested, some ultimately being removed or walking out in defiance. Shortly after Trump began, he was interrupted by Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas, who was sitting only a few rows in front of the dais. Green shouted: “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid,” a reference to a budget resolution adopted by House Republicans and endorsed by Trump that could jeopardize the health insurance coverage of millions who rely on the program. House Speaker Mike Johnson asked the sergeant at arms to eject Green from the floor.

Trump’s speech largely covered the same themes of his campaign: economic revitalization, a crackdown on illegal immigration, and a shift in America’s foreign policy posture. The speech was a moment for Trump to solidify his agenda and push back against any potential resistance within his party. With Republicans holding slim majorities in the House and Senate, Trump framed the speech as an opportunity to rally his party behind his policies, even as tensions simmered within GOP ranks over recent moves on trade and foreign aid.

“My fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future, because the golden age of America has only just begun. It will be like nothing that has ever been seen before,” he vowed, repeating a line that was also a common theme of his inaugural address.

These are the key moments from Trump’s 2025 Joint Address to Congress.

Trump points the finger at Biden

Trump repeatedly name-checked former President Joe Biden, calling him “the worst president in American history” and claiming that Biden used his office to “viciously” prosecute him. Rarely do Presidents mention their political opponents by name during joint sessions of Congress.

He went on to blame his predecessor for the uptick in prices of everyday goods, which Trump promised to lower on his first day in office. “Joe Biden especially let the prices of eggs get out of control,” he said, prompting boos from Democrats. “The egg prices are out of control and we’re working hard to get it down. Secretary [Brooke Rollins], do a good job on that.”

Trump’s assertion was clearly aimed at exploiting the frustration many voters feel about rising prices. Inflation accelerated last month as the cost of groceries, gasoline and rents rose, and polling shows inflation and high prices remain the top issue for voters. A recent Reuters-Ipsos poll found that 52% of respondents don’t think Trump is doing enough to bring down prices.

Trump also blamed Biden for illegal border crossings and violent incidents involving migrants, including the death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old student from Georgia who was killed by a Venezuelan immigrant who was unlawfully in the U.S. and had been previously apprehended and released by authorities. “Laken was stolen from us by a savage illegal alien gang member who was arrested while trespassing across Biden’s open southern border and then set loose into the United States under the heartless policies of that failed administration,” Trump said.

Trump also railed against the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, a sweeping Biden Administration-era law that sought to boost domestic semiconductor production. “Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump said before many of the lawmakers who passed it. “We give hundreds of billions of dollars (to semiconductor manufacturers) and it doesn’t mean a thing. They take our money and they don’t spend it,” he said, claiming that overseas chip manufacturers didn’t want to pay tariffs.

“You should get rid of the CHIPS Act and whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to,” Trump added.

Democrats shout, walk out, hold signs

More than a half dozen Democrats walked out of Trump’s speech, while others held up signs and wore t-shirts in protest of his aggressive actions since returning to power. When Trump called Biden the “worst president in American history,” Democrats made a flurry of audible comments: “Lie after lie after lie after lie,” one said. “Tell the truth,” another shouted.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, held up a whiteboard that she wrote messages on throughout the speech. At one point, it read “No King!” Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat, walked off the floor after he stood up in a black t-shirt that said, “No Kings Live Here.”

During one viral moment, Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas shouted that Trump has “no mandate” to cut Medicaid, before he was expelled from the floor. Green told the White House press pool afterwards that he doesn’t know whether he will face any formal punishment. “It’s worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up” to Trump, he said.

Prior to the speech, the House Freedom Caucus, a group of far-right Republicans, said it would censure any Democrats who disrupted Trump’s remarks. “Our colleagues are on notice that the heckler’s veto will not be tolerated. You will be censured,” the group posted on X, a sharp reversal after some Republicans repeatedly heckled Biden during his State of the Union addresses.

It was unclear how Democrats would respond to Trump’s address. Several Democratic congresswomen were dressed in pink to protest Trump’s policies that “are negatively impacting women and families,” as TIME first reported. Others wore blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine’s flag. But the interruptions and pointed displays of discontent signaled a broader, if fragmented, resistance to Trump’s rhetoric and policies among Democrats. Several Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a handful of Senators, chose not to attend the speech.

Trump later addressed his detractors head on: “I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do,” Trump said. “These people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.”

Trump pushes for more border security funding

Trump once again painted a grim picture of the state of the U.S. border, blaming the Biden Administration for what he described as “less safe” immigration policy. He called on Congress to increase border security funding, particularly for his mass deportations agenda—a campaign promise that remains at the forefront of his policy goals.

“I have sent Congress a detailed funding request laying out exactly how we will eliminate these threats, protect our Homeland, and complete the largest deportation operation in American history, larger even than current record holder President Dwight D. Eisenhower—a moderate man but someone who believed very strongly in borders,” Trump said.

Trump defends his tariffs amid trade war

Trump vowed to impose reciprocal tariffs on the nation’s trading partners, arguing that countries such as China, India, and South Korea have long imposed unfair trade barriers on American goods.

He said the new levies—set to take effect on April 2—would match the tariffs and trade restrictions other nations place on U.S. exports, marking a sharp escalation in his protectionist trade agenda. “Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it’s our turn,” he declared.

“Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them,” he added. “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening, and it will happen rather quickly. There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that. It won’t be much.”

The announcement follows a directive Trump issued last month ordering federal agencies to study the feasibility of the plan. It also comes after Trump imposed controversial tariffs against three of the nation’s biggest trading partners, which amounted to 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports and 20% on Chinese products. The measure launched a trade war as China retaliated with tariffs of up to 15% on U.S. farm exports and Canada announced it would plaster tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods in the next three weeks.

Elon Musk gets a warm welcome from Republicans

During his speech, Trump singled out the billionaire SpaceX founder who has become a central figure in the Administration’s effort to reshape the federal government.

“DOGE—perhaps you've heard of it,” Trump said as he touted the Department of Government Efficiency. “Thank you, Elon. You’re working very hard. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need this. We appreciate it,” the President added. He then gestured to the Democratic side of the chamber and said: “Everybody here, even this side, appreciates it, I believe. They just don’t want to admit that.”

Musk had a prominent seat in the House gallery near the First Lady, even as some Democratic lawmakers brought guests who were directly impacted by his DOGE initiatives, including fired federal workers and others who have felt the effects of a government funding freeze. Several Democrats held up signs that read “Elon Steals.”

Trump referencing Musk during the first high-profile speech of his second term underscored the billionaire’s outsize influence in the Administration, despite conflicting statements about his official role. While the White House has maintained that Amy Gleason is the acting administrator of DOGE, Trump appeared to suggest otherwise, telling lawmakers it is “headed by Elon Musk.”

Trump warns federal workers who resist ‘will be removed’

Trump delivered a warning to federal workers: those who resist his administration’s policies will be removed immediately. Framing his second term as a mandate for sweeping reform, Trump railed against bureaucratic delays and regulatory hurdles, defending the work of DOGE, which has rapidly slashed spending and cut staff at federal agencies.

Trump also took aim at what he called widespread absenteeism in the federal workforce, claiming that “hundreds of thousands” of employees have failed to return to the office following the rollback of pandemic-era remote work policies. His push to bring workers back has been fraught with logistical challenges, with reports of agencies struggling to accommodate the shift. Nevertheless, Trump signaled his intent to press forward, declaring that his administration would reclaim power from what he described as an unaccountable bureaucracy. “The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over,” he proclaimed, as Democrats scoffed and pointed to Musk.

Trump criticizes transgender athletes

The President used part of his speech to spotlight Payton McNabb, a former high school volleyball player whose athletic career was derailed after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a match against a team that included a transgender woman. Invited as a guest of First Lady Melania Trump, McNabb’s presence underscored one of Trump’s key policy initiatives—his recent executive action banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

“It’s demeaning for women and it’s very bad for our country,” Trump said of transgender athletes, reiterated his longstanding promise to “get men out of women’s sports”, a message that resonated strongly with his base. The issue, a staple of Trump’s campaign rhetoric, drew some of the night’s loudest applause.

Trump makes 13-year old with brain cancer an honorary Secret Service agent

In a heartwarming moment, Trump introduced 13-year-old DJ Daniel, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018 and given only five months to live. Despite the grim prognosis, DJ defied the odds and, over six years later, is still fighting. Trump d DJ’s dream of becoming a police officer and revealed that, in honor of his perseverance, DJ had been sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer.

Trump then directed the newly appointed director of the U.S. Secret Service, Sean Curran, to officially make DJ an agent. The chamber erupted in cheers as DJ was handed his badge, and lawmakers chanted “DJ! DJ!” in celebration.

Later, Trump highlighted the story of Jason Hartley, a high school senior who wants to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point like his father. Trump revealed that Hartley’s application has been accepted and he will be joining the corps of cadets.

Trump defends approach to Ukraine

After a heated Oval Office confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, Trump signaled that he is “working tirelessly to end the savage conflict” between Ukraine and Russia.

“Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict, with no end in sight,” Trump said. “The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense, with no security, with no anything.”

He added: “When [Russian President Vladimir] Putin saw what happened, I guess he said, ‘Well, maybe this is my chance.’ That’s how bad it was. Should have never happened. Grossly incompetent people,” Trump said of the Biden Administration.

As a result, Trump recently paused aid to Ukraine, which has sparked a fierce debate in Congress. Some conservatives who were formerly staunch supporters of aid to Ukraine began praising Trump’s more isolationist stance after the meeting last week. During that meeting, Trump told Zelensky that “you don’t have the cards right now” while Vice President J.D. Vance insisted Ukraine should express more gratitude for U.S. support and agree to a ceasefire with Russia, even without clear security guarantees from the U.S.

Trump suggested that the minerals deal between the two countries is still a possibility, despite the fallout between the two leaders. Trump said he got a letter from Zelensky that said Ukraine was ready to sign a minerals deal with the U.S. and come to the negotiating table. “I appreciate that he sent this letter—just got it a little while ago,” Trump said.

“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you,” he said Zelensky wrote.

Trump still wants Greenland

Trump reiterated his desire to take control of Greenland and escalated his rhetoric towards the self-governing Danish territory. “One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” Trump declared. “We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.”

Trump has long been fixated on the glacier, viewing it as strategically important for national security. Officials in Denmark and Greenland have said that the island is not for sale.

However, Trump added that it would be Greenland’s choice: “We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America. We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it, but we need it really for international world security, and I think we’re going to get it,” Trump said.

Trump makes Abbey Gate announcement

Trump announced that the U.S. has apprehended a key figure involved in the 2021 bombing at Kabul’s Abbey Gate, which claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan under the Biden Administration.

The individual, identified as Mohammad Sharifullah, is facing charges of providing material support for terrorism, including his role in the deadly attack during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. According to Trump, Sharifullah was a member of ISIS-K, a branch of the terrorist group ISIS, and he had been involved in planning and executing multiple lethal attacks for the organization.

IMMIGRATION

ATTACHMENT SEVEN – FROM TIME

X54 Trump pushes for more border security funding

ECONOMY

ATTACHMENT EIGHT – FROM

X69 FROM NATIONAL REVIEW

Trump Spikes the Football After the Opening Drive

By Jim Geraghty March 5, 2025 10:17 AM

On the menu today: Good news for those of you who are tired of this political newsletter gallivanting around dangerous countries and telling you what brain nuggets taste like; I’m back in the United States, and the news of the morning is Donald Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress, smashing all records for length and delivered with all of the modesty and humility of the World Series winning team spraying each other with champagne in the locker room. I’m surprised Trump didn’t change his entrance theme from “Hail to the Chief” to Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” Trump is in an ebullient mood, and when looking at the issue of illegal immigration, you can’t blame him. But there are some seriously ominous rattles coming from the American economic engine, and it’s a spectacularly early dire sign to see congressional Republicans insisting that their constituents will be just fine with paying higher prices because they so fervently believe in Trump’s tariff agenda. Read on.

An Economically Shaky Address

Eh, does Trump ever give another kind of speech these days? Think back to his convention speech in Milwaukee or the inauguration address in January. This is who he is at age 78, there’s no sign he has the interest or the will to change his tone, and he likely sees last year’s election victory as the ultimate cosmic vindication. I think my colleague Luther Ray Abel is correct that last year’s assassination attempts gave Trump a sense of his own mortality and the sense of a ticking clock. He’s a man in a hurry and holding nothing back. If he doesn’t feel like doing something, he won’t do it. If he feels like speaking for an hour and 40 minutes to Congress, he’s going to do that.

Trump began, “Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country.”

On the “swift and unrelenting action” part, fact-check: True. The “greatest and most successful era in the history of our country” part is murkier.

Ah! So it’s merely the lowest number of attempts to cross the southern border since John F. Kennedy was chasing 19-year-old interns. You know, fellas, I’m willing to give Trump this one. The line on that Customs and Border Protection chart is going down so steeply, you would think it was the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s projection of next quarter’s U.S. GDP.

(I doubt I’ll ever write a sentence that infuriates Trump fans and Trump critics as simultaneously as that one.)

The president really wants you and everyone else to believe that the economy is roaring. Eh, the post-Election Day stock market gains disappeared in sudden a puff of smoke on Tuesday, because the markets do not like tariffs or uncertainty, and the only thing that Trump is certain to deliver is an enthusiasm for tariffs that are apparently always on the verge of being canceled or postponed at the last minute.

On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on Fox Business Network and suggested a possible deal with Canada and Mexico that could roll back the tariffs was imminent: “It’s not gonna be a pause. None of that pause stuff. But I think he’s going to figure out, you do more, and I’ll meet you in the middle someway. We’re going to probably be announcing that tomorrow.”

But last night, Trump did not sound like he was anywhere near a deal with our North American neighbors:

Much has been said over the last three months about Mexico and Canada. But we have very large deficits with both of them. But even more importantly, they have allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens and many very young, beautiful people, destroying families. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. They are in effect receiving subsidies of hundreds of billions of dollars. We pay subsidies to Canada and to Mexico of hundreds of billions of dollars. And the United States will not be doing that any longer. We are not going to do it any longer.

One of the problems with the “take him seriously, but not literally” philosophy — or vice versa, or both, or neither — is that it’s increasingly difficult to sort out which presidential statement is just a negotiating tactic, which part is the usual bluster, which part the president actually means, and which part is just off-the-cuff stream-of-consciousness. The easiest thing for Trump fans to do is to throw up their hands and insist it’s all seven-level chess that we mere mortals cannot understand. President Trump works in mysterious ways.

But American businesses with supply chains that rely on parts from Canada or Mexico — roughly $900 billion worth, as of 2024 — need a bit more clarity on how much everything is going to cost next month and beyond. You might think your local burger or burrito joint isn’t going to be affected by Trump’s new 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States that would go into effect March 12. Unless your local restaurant is one of the customers of the $1.5 billion in imported aluminum foil.

Trump insisted, “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it is happening, and it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance, but we are okay with that.” Trump’s dismissal of higher prices as “a little disturbance” that all Americans, collectively, are “okay” with reminded me of these statements from GOP Representative Mark Alford of Missouri:

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You think that a lot of your constituents feel the same way, they’re willing to pay a little bit more?

ALFORD: Well, I think so.

And this perspective from Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma:

Sen. Markwayne Mullin told me “of course” he’s worried tariffs could impact his state but argued that his constituents are willing to “do what it takes” to support the president’s policy.

Do you remember the Trump or Republican campaign message on inflation last year being, “If I have to pay a little bit more for something, I’m all for it”? No, I don’t, either.

Remember, Americans, as you see higher prices in stores and at gas stations in the coming months — or to use the senator’s preferred euphemism, “adjust some prices” — it’s up to you to “do what it takes” to support the president’s policy.

If Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ever served up a justification like this, the (justified!) purple-faced neck-vein-bulging outrage reaction from Republicans would remind astronomers of a sun going supernova.

But it’s Trump, so everything’s hunky-dory. Hey, it’s not like inflation and higher prices were a big deal in the fate of the Biden administration, right?

ADDENDUM: Speaking of domestic politics, if you haven’t checked out my epic-length review and fact-checking of Bill Clinton’s post-presidential memoir Citizen in the latest issue of the print magazine, please do so:

In keeping with the pattern whereby nearly everyone Clinton encounters praises him for what an excellent job he did, a black pastor in Marietta, Ohio, whose grandfather knew Clinton’s grandfather in Hope, Ark., tells Clinton that he was a great president and that his grandfather would be proud. A woman in Ghana runs to him on the airport tarmac to tell him that because of a foreign aid bill he signed, she has a good job making shirts. Two Americans unjustly imprisoned by the North Korean regime burst into tears when Clinton embraces them, and one cries with relief, “I knew you’d come for us.”

As far as I can tell, no one else has bothered to go through Citizen and fact-check it. Everyone knows he is, as the late New York Times columnist William Safire diagnosed Hillary Clinton, a congenital liar. Everyone has heard all his excuses and unconvincing explanations and lies — and they’ve faded into history, even if they may get short shrift in the history books. These days, if you make an “it depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is” joke, the Millennials and Gen Z folk around you might not even recognize the reference.

The sun is setting on Bill Clinton and his legacy, and he’s going out whining about how unfair everyone was to him.

ATTACHMENT NINE – FROM

X81 FROM TIME

‘We Are Exhausted, and It’s Still Q1’: Wall Street Is Losing Patience With Trump

BY PHILIP ELLIOTT March 08, 2025

It’s been a week of searing reversals coming out of the White House, making it difficult to take anything it says at face value. The most conspicuous example of this was the nebulous state of President Donald Trump's tariffs with Canada and Mexico, which seesawed over a matter of days from being unequivocally on, to mostly off, and then maybe, sort of, on again. Amid all that, the President boasted of Elon Musk's free hand to fire thousands of government workers in a speech to Congress that was rife with obfuscations and fabrications. Two days later, after a hastily called Cabinet meeting, Trump announced some new restraints on his fellow billionaire.

But even in a truly head-spinning week in this new era in Washington, one Trump remark stands out in how utterly unbelievable it was. “I’m not even looking at the market,” the President said Thursday in a fib that left even his defenders with little response.

One top aide in Republican Leadership perhaps summed up all of D.C.’s reaction best when he messaged me back on an encrypted app with an eye-roll emoji. A second Republican who worked in Trump’s first administration suggested we had perhaps fallen into a parallel universe: “We are on Earth 10,000.”

This is, after all, a President who spent most of his first term using Wall Street as a proxy for not only the economy’s health, but his overall success as the nation’s leader. “That big Stock Market increase must be credited to me,” Trump insisted in what was then called a tweet in 2019. “If Hillary won - a Big Crash!”

So despite what Trump claimed on Thursday when asked about the impact of his confusing tariff policies, this is an administration that lives by the markets and dies by them, and right now that barometer is falling fast.

Friday’s jobs report had been expected to help Wall Street recover, after its gains since Trump’s election in November evaporated in short order. Since reaching a peak on Dec. 16, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is now down 10% from its high-record mark that Trump once promoted. The broader Dow is down more than 5%. A panicked investor-class selloff put the markets on pace for the worst week since September. As one political adviser to the financial services sector, here in town for a conference of credit union execs, told me in an exasperated clip: “We are exhausted, and it’s still Q1.”

The news in Friday’s jobs report was seen as a decidedly mixed bag. The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs but unemployment ticked up to 4.1%. The numbers were slightly below expectations, but the real fear came in what wasn’t counted: the bulk of mass firings and downsizing of federal workers that had not yet shown up on the ledger. And the report wasn’t strong enough to mitigate all the tariff turmoil, which is zapping confidence that investments today will be worth more down the line.

It’s not especially clever, but it is nonetheless accurate: the so-called “Trump Bump” after he won a second, non-consecutive term in power has become a “Trump Slump.” A whopping $3 trillion in wealth created since Election Day disappeared just this week.

The length of that slump is an open question. Friday’s jobs report was just the latest brick in a monument to Trump’s second-term economic record. Whether it’s a dour subbasement or a glass-and-steel office tower is still T.B.D.

But investors are losing patience with the ways in which no one in Trump’s orbit can be counted on to know what they’re talking about. Billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a business broadcast that the tariffs would stick, only to be humiliated days later by his boss, who said they were going to be booted down the calendar. Then, on Friday, Trump resurrected the tariffs and threatened a 250% tariff on Canadian dairy and timber.

Undergirding much of this market turmoil is Trump’s capricious nature, and those he has empowered like Musk. It’s why so many government contractors are spending their days refreshing Musk’s DOGE account to see if they will be paid for work already approved and completed.

More to the point, Washington may be slowly adjusting to the on-again-off-again nature of so many things emanating from this White House, but Wall Street is decidedly not. It truly has become an hour-to-hour crisis; market-moving decisions can come between phone calls, and then revert back soon after. And we haven’t yet seen an official jobs report that reflects the cutting across federal agencies, or the way in which the potential degradation of services like food safety inspections or weather forecasting might ripple across the U.S. or world economy. We are all on this merry-go-round watching as the mechanics who keep it lubricated are evicted.

INFLATION

ATTACHMENT TEN – FROM

No details on how to lower the price of eggs

Despite a campaign pledge to bring grocery prices down “on day one” of his administration, the price of eggs has continued to rise dramatically under his presidency due primarily to the slaughter of millions of chickens to stem the spread of bird flu.

"Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg price is out of control, and we’re working hard to get it back down,” Trump said. “[Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins], do a good job on that. You inherited a total mess from the previous administration.”

The agency that Rollins runs estimates that egg prices could rise by more than 40% in 2025.

While Trump repeatedly went after those Democrats who attended his speech, saying there was nothing he could do to make them happy, notable moments of protest emerged.

Rep. Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, stood early in the speech and heckled the president. That led to a rebuke from House Speaker Mike Johnson, but Green continued to shout Trump down.

“You have no mandate!” he yelled.

Johnson then instructed the House sergeant at arms to remove him from the chamber as Trump’s Republican backers chanted “USA! USA!”

Some Democrats held signs up during Trump’s remarks, some with the word “Lies” printed on them, others read “ Medicare,” and many members of the party saw fit to exit the speech before it was finished.

“In just half an hour, he spewed ignorance on everything from diversity, immigration and trans kids to DOGE cuts and the cost of eggs,” Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey said in a statement after walking out on the speech.

On Wednesday, House Republicans said they would vote on a resolution sponsored by Rep. Dan Newhouse to censure Green for his outbursts.

CULTURE

ATTACHMENT ELEVEN – FROM

X51 from US NEWS

Trump Goes Heavy on Culture,
Light on Inflation

“Woke” is dead. DEI is vanquished. Joe Biden was “the worst president in American history” (and it’s his fault that eggs are pricey). Murderous immigrants, here illegally, have overrun America. Trading partners have taken advantage of the U.S., but now we will retaliate.

· On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump gave his first speech to Congress since the electorate returned him to the White House. He was combative, derisive toward Democrats and focused heavily on the kinds of culture war issues that helped him win in 2024.

Gone were the appeals to “all Americans” that had punctuated the same post-inauguration speech in 2017. His first attack on Democrats was scripted and came at the top of his remarks – the implicit message being that they, not he, were to blame for the speech’s partisan nature.

· “I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do,” he said.

The Economy

If you were listening for a plan to lower the price of consumer goods, you got nothing new. Trump blamed Biden for the cost of eggs, and repeated past promises that increasing energy production and cutting government spending would help solve the problem.

Speaking just hours after his tariffs on major trade partners sent stocks plunging and deepened already serious worries about the U.S. economy, Trump not only defiantly defended those taxes on goods but promised to turn them into a global strategy come April 2.

· “We've been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth, and we will not let that happen any longer,” he said.

Trump’s new tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico threaten to fuel inflation. Markets had slumped even on the prospect that the president would impose duties on imports from those three countries, America’s three largest individual trading partners.

His threat to expand the trade war to agricultural products is expected to bring more disruptions. In his first term, he tapped into billions of federal dollars to bail out farmers hurt by Beijing’s retaliation for a suite of tariffs he imposed.

Trump admitted the agricultural sector might be in for “a little bit of an adjustment period” but wished farmers would “have a lot of fun.”

The Hits

He called Democrats “radical left lunatics” and compared himself to teenage victims of revenge porn. “Nobody gets treated worse than I do online,” he said. “Nobody.”

The president also went back to some of the foreign policy hits that excited supporters during the campaign and in the weeks after his election, playing in the uniquely Trumpian “Is he joking or is he serious?” register that stymies critics and lets his fans wave off proposals that would have seen voters send other politicians packing.

Trump has previously indicated he would consider using military force to take over the Panama Canal and force Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States. He carved out a section of his 100-minute speech on Tuesday to return to the topic.

Democrats hold protest signs during President Donald Trump's speech to Congress.
(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

He said he had “a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland: We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.”

· “One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” he added.

In the Southern Hemisphere, meanwhile, “My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we've already started doing it.” A Hong Kong-based conglomerate that controls ports on either side of the canal has agreed to sell its stake to a consortium that includes U.S.-based BlackRock. Trump has repeatedly complained that Beijing controls the canal.

· “We didn't give it to China,” he said. “We gave it to Panama, and we're taking it back.”

Trump also celebrated arbitrary federal spending cuts by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, who with the blessing of congressional Republicans has taken over Congress’ constitutional prerogative to fund or abolish federal programs.

DOGE has repeatedly identified cuts only to roll them back when staff either realize they’ve cut essential federal personnel (nuclear safety staff, for example) or misidentified or inflated the actual size of the savings.

The Guests

Trump made the best use of guests I think I’ve ever seen at this type of speech, treating them as antidotes to criticisms of his policies and past actions and trapping Democrats.

· Angry about the prospect of deep, generational cuts to scientific research and medical care, which threaten to hollow out America’s edge and lead to preventable deaths? Nervous about an anti-vaccine activist now leading the nation’s health department? Here’s a plucky 13-year-old stricken with cancer likely caused by a chemical. We’re making him an honorary Secret Service agent. I dare Democrats not to clap. (They didn’t.)

· Asking yourself about all the veterans pushed onto the unemployment rolls by cuts to federal agencies? Well, how about this? I’m surprising a young man in the audience by revealing he’s been admitted to West Point. (Democrats sit on their hands.)

And so it went all night, with the opposition party often sullenly silent in a way that must have delighted GOP ad-makers.

Trump went big on one of Musk’s most prominent whoppers: the idea that there’s a large community of Americans over 90, over 100 or even older who are getting Social Security checks.

Finally, the president predicted that peace in Ukraine was nearly at hand, citing a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after their Oval Office blowup last week, as well as “strong signals (from the Russians) that they are ready for peace.”

· “Wouldn't that be beautiful?” he asked.

GOD

ATTACHMENT TWELVE – FROM SALON

"What the Lord established": Elon Musk is camouflaging a Christian nationalist takeover

Project 2025 was clear: First, purge federal workers. Then replace them with theocrats and fanatics

By Amanda Marcotte

Senior Writer

Published February 14, 2025 5:59AM (EST)

Elon Musk does not read to most people as a religious man. The tech billionaire who is attempting to take over the entire federal government through his "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) was once even regarded as an atheist. In 2013, Musk scoffed at the idea "that there's some superconsciousness watching over our every movement." He argued that evolutionary theory was better than a supernatural explanation for making sense of our world. As he ransacks the federal government, trying to push out federal employees and lay waste to the ability of regulatory agencies to do their work, the last thing most people will assume motivates him is Christian fervor.

Over the summer, Musk told Jordan Peterson during an interview that while he's not "a particularly religious person," he would say, "I’m probably a cultural Christian."

For Musk personally, it probably doesn't. But his efforts to evacuate the federal government of the every day, non-political employees nonetheless serve a Christian nationalist agenda, which Musk is no doubt aware of. The secular-seeming brand of DOGE serves a useful propagandistic purpose by concealing how much Musk is following the Project 2025 playbook developed by Christian nationalists for the explicit purpose of remaking America in the fundamentalist image. Musk is the obnoxious, trolling face of the operation, but he works hand-in-glove with the Project 2025 author who called for an "army" of people with a "Biblical worldview" to replace the existing federal workforce. The explicit plan is to replace federal workers who Musk forces out with people who pass "ideological purity tests," largely based on their eagerness to make America something very much like a theocracy.

While Musk is snagging most headlines with his loud-mouthed antics, his partner in the federal purge operation is Russ Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist who Trump appointed to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Vought has developed the justification for ignoring the clear language of the Constitution, arguing this is a "post-constitutional" moment, in which law-breaking is justified to impose his theocratic vision on the country. Having Musk cover for Vought is savvy. Polls may show people's approval of Musk sinking the more they see of him, but his clownishness and personal success probably soften people's willingness to see him as the threat he is. Vought, however, is every inch a type most Americans know well and loathe: the creepy religious fanatic.

Project 2025 was clear that its primary goal was to "use government power" to "restore the American family," which is defined strictly in terms of male-dominated heterosexual couples with children. In its list of alleged threats to the "family," the playbook lists phrases like "sexual orientation," "gender equality" and "reproductive health." The document goes into elaborate detail about how federal offices can be used to implement this compulsory and narrow heterosexuality, from abortion bans to replacing reproductive health services with abstinence-only lectures to even reimagining child support programs to bully women into remarrying ex-husbands.

The secular-seeming brand of DOGE serves a useful propagandistic purpose by concealing how much Musk is following the Project 2025 playbook developed by Christian nationalists for the explicit purpose of remaking America in the fundamentalist image.

If one looks away from Musk to Trump officials who have legal appointments, the Christian nationalist agenda that Musk is assisting becomes more obvious. Last week, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner announced the suspension of rules barring discrimination against LGBTQ people in low-income housing and even homeless shelters. The move will especially affect queer teenagers, who are often homeless after being kicked out by right-wing parents. Turner justified putting teenagers on the street by declaring, in his official statement, that this is what "the Lord established from the beginning." Project 2025 called for HUD to end "corrosive progressive ideologies across the department’s programs." Drastically reducing the existing HUD workforce so MAGA apparatchiks could control people's housing access — based no doubt on their prejudices — is outlined in this vision.

The purge at the Department of Justice (DOJ) has largely been covered as part of Donald Trump's "revenge" tour against everyone who tried to hold him accountable for alleged crimes during and after his first term in office. That is absolutely part of it, of course, but it also helps lay the groundwork for the Project 2025 goal of using DOJ powers to force the Christian right's agenda on normal people. Trump's new attorney general, Pam Bondi, has already been hinting in public that she is open to using federal prosecutors to prosecute doctors who mail abortion pills to women in states where clinics have been forcibly shut down. Louisiana is queuing up her first opportunity, by demanding the extradition of a New York-based doctor to their state, where they plan to put her on trial for providing abortion pills to a Louisiana teenager.

If Bondi bites, as legal experts Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo explained at Rewire News, that opens the door for a broad Christian nationalist agenda outlined in Project 2025 to terrorize people for providing birth control, sex toys, or even sex education materials. The document argues that prosecutors can revive the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that criminalized the mailing of "obscene" materials, which were broadly defined to cover all of these items. Project 2025 does not hold back from characterizing even basic sex education in this way, defining obscenity so broadly that even providing a "how to use a condom" manual — online or in a paper pamphlet — would be enough to be charged with a crime. Flushing the DOJ of good lawyers, so that they can be replaced with far-right hacks who hate birth control and queer people, is a first step to making this theocratic vision a reality.

If that sounds preposterous, it's worth noting that demonizing contraception and sex ed was central to Musk's illegal efforts to end USAID. He and Trump both repeatedly attacked a program in Mozambique that provided $5 million in contraceptives, though they inflated the number exponentially to make it $100 million and falsely claimed it was going to "Hamas" instead of young women in Africa. They've also suspended HIV-prevention drugs from being distributed overseas to anyone who isn't a pregnant or breastfeeding woman, who are at risk of transmitting the virus to babies. Anyone who isn't a baby is clearly considered deserving of death, because Christian fundamentalists believe you only get the virus through "sin."

Musk's past atheism and tendency to sleep with many different women hasn't stopped him from warming to the Christian right's loathing of sexual freedom. He's started echoing Christian right propaganda that paints the birth control pill as dangerous and unnatural. His friend, fellow tech billionaire Peter Thiel, has heavily invested in publications that promote the far-right Christian view that sex is only for marriage, and within marriage, it's only for procreation. (Thiel exempts himself from following his own prescriptions, as he's married to a man.)

Musk isn't ready to say he believes in God, but this shift to the right on sexual health issues is part of his larger embrace of Christian nationalism. Over the summer, he told Jordan Peterson during an interview that while he's not "a particularly religious person," he would say, "I’m probably a cultural Christian." He tried to frame this as a positive thing, with vague claims to believe in "the teachings of Jesus," but as Victor Tangermann of Futurism pointed out, this is ridiculous. Pointing to Musk's "long track record" of treating other people like dirt, hoarding wealth, and stoking discord, Tangermann writes, has nothing to do with the Jesus "who deeply opposed wealth inequality and supported the poor and outcasts." As David French at the New York Times pointed out, the illegal cuts to USAID have taken money from "Christian organizations, including evangelical organizations, that serve poor and marginalized people at home and abroad."

But Musk has indeed embraced the cultural mores of Christian nationalists, whose faith is less about Jesus and more about using power to enforce their racist, sexist, and anti-queer views on the rest of Americans. Musk is obsessed with raising the birth rate and has explicitly noted, "the more religious, the less educated, and the poorer, the higher the birth rate." It's not much of a leap to see what his conclusion is: that to drive up birth rates, he needs to make ordinary people poorer, less educated, and more religious. He may not believe in God, but he certainly finds it useful to force right-wing Christianity on others as a means of control.

CABINET

Overview @get

X81 dupe

DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY (DOGE)

X56 ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN – FROM

THE DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE (ROCHESTER, NY)

Trump administration cancels leases for 18 federal offices in NY

Leases for 18 federal offices and a vacant space in New York have been canceled by the Trump administration, according to a government data portal detailing the president's efforts to downsize the federal government. Buffalo and New York City have seen the most lease cancelations so far with four-a-piece, White Plains has two and several other municipalities throughout the state have one each.

Named for an Internet joke, Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” effort has cancelled government contracts and laid off thousands of workers as part of a wider effort to overhaul the federal bureaucracy. The president and his allies have touted it as a long-overdue measure to cut down on inefficiencies and fraud in government.

In total, the Trump administration says it has cancelled more than 700 leases nationwide, which is roughly one in 10 of the federal government's active commercial real estate leases, according to a review by the industry analytics firm CoStar.

Here is a list of all 19 leases in New York that the Trump administration reports it has cancelled, including the federal office affected, and the location, square footage, and annual cost of each lease:

· Social Security Administration, White Plains: 16,632 sq. ft., $511,908. The lease will terminate on May 31, 2025.

· DHS United States Secret Service, New York City: 250 sq. ft., $63,000. The office has already closed.

· U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, New York City: 0 sq. ft., $1,786,302. The office has already closed.

· U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, New York City: 0 sq. ft., $1,834,070. The office has already closed.

· Defense Contract Management Agency, Buffalo: 18,163 sq. ft., $548,896. The office has been consolidated.

· National Labor Relations Board, Buffalo: 37,644 sq. ft., $1,020,916. The office has been consolidated.

· Social Security Administration, Horseheads: 11,400 sq. ft., $311,690. There is no longer a need for the space.

· Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Buffalo: 2,178 sq. ft., $44,352. Its term has been ended.

· Social Security Administration, Poughkeepsie: 14,000 sq. ft., $359,135. The end of its term has been planned for Aug. 31, 2025.

· Employment Standards Administration, Buffalo: 2,168 sq. ft., $63,475. It's been terminated.

· Indian Health Service - Nashville, Manlius: 2,105 sq. ft., $37,648. It's been terminated.

· Employment Standards Administration, Forest Hills: 5,070 sq. ft., $308,437. It's been terminated.

· Internal Revenue Service National Office, New Windsor: 12,034 sq. ft., $314,988. It's been terminated.

· International Trade Administration, White Plains: 2,071 sq. ft., $67,169. It's been terminated.

· Mine Safety and Health Administration, Geneva: 4,046 sq. ft., $52,194. It's been terminated.

· Mine Safety and Health Administration, Albany: 4,454 sq. ft., $97,789. It's been terminated.

· Natural Resources Conservation Service, Syracuse: 33,548 sq. ft., $543,571. It's been terminated.

· Office of Inspector General, New York City: 10,651 sq. ft., $639,690. It's been terminated.

· A 115 sq. ft. vacant space in Rensselaer with an annual lease of $2,500 has also been bought out, according to the database.

ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN – FROM YAHOO NEWS

Here are five key takeaways from Tuesday’s speech.

Boasting of executive orders and praise for Elon Musk

“Over the past six weeks, I have signed nearly 100 executive orders and taken more than 400 executive actions to restore common sense, safety, optimism and wealth all across our wonderful land,” Trump said.

Those have included a freeze on all U.S. foreign aid, the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, the rescinding of electric vehicle incentives passed under former President Joe Biden as part of the Inflation Reduction Act and the implementation of sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.

Trump said a major goal of his administration was “ending the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“To that end, I have created the brand new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, perhaps you’ve heard of it, which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight,” he added.

Musk’s role may be news to a federal judge hearing cases regarding the mass firings of government workers who demanded to know who was in charge of DOGE and were told that person was Amy Gleason, who previously worked at the U.S. Digital Service.

Trump proceeded to reel off a list of "appalling waste” Musk and his team had identified, though none of that could be immediately verified and past claims of uncovering fraud have turned out to be overstated.

@begin att. 3

TRADE AND TARIFFS

ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN – FROM

X76 FROM TIME

Trump Changes Course and Delays Tariffs on Mexico, But They Remain for Canada

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Mar 6, 2025 1:08 PM ET

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday postponed 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico for a month amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war.

Trump's announcement comes after his Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, said earlier Thursday that tariffs on both Canada and Mexico would “likely" be delayed. No change was announced regarding new tariffs imposed on Canada, another major trading partner.

It is the second time Trump has postponed tariffs since he first unveiled the import taxes in early February. The reprieve would apply to goods from Mexico that are compliant with the trade agreement Trump negotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term— which will likely cover the vast majority of imports.

No details were released Thursday as to what led to the temporary lifting of tariffs on Mexico, but not Canada.

Trudeau on Thursday said Lutnick's comments were a “promising sign,” but it also “means that the tariffs remain in place and therefore our response will remain in place.” He also indicated that he expects his country will be in a trade war with the United States for the foreseeable future.

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. Lutnick emphasized that reciprocal tariffs, in which the United States applies import taxes on countries that tariff U.S. exports, will still be implemented April 2.

Major U.S. stock markets bounced off lows after Lutnick spoke, but only briefly. Significant declines already seen this week resumed within an hour. The S&P 500 stock index has fallen below where it was before Trump was elected.

Mexico has cracked down on cartels, sent troops to the U.S. border and delivered 29 top cartel bosses long chased by American authorities to the Trump administration in a span of weeks.

At a press conference, Sheinbaum elaborated on her call with Trump Thursday, saying that she told the president that Mexico was making great strides in fulfilling his security demands.

“I told him we’re getting results,” Sheinbaum said. But the U.S. imposed the tariffs, so she asked Trump “how are we going to continue cooperating, collaborating with something that hurts the people of Mexico?”

She added that “practically all of the trade” between the U.S. and Mexico will be exempt from tariffs until April 2.

She said the two countries will continue to work together on migration and security, and to cut back on fentanyl trafficking to the U.S.

From January to February, the amount of fentanyl seized at the border dropped more than 41%, according to Sheinbaum, citing data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She cited the dip as meeting a commitment made to Trump.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the leader of Canada’s most populous province, said that starting Monday the province will charge 25% more for electricity shipped to 1.5 million Americans in response to Trump’s tariff plan. Ontario provides electricity to Minnesota, New York and Michigan.

“This whole thing with President Trump is a mess,” Ford said Thursday. “This reprieve, we’ve went down this road before. He still threatens the tariffs on April 2.”

Ford’s office said that the tariff would remain in place even if there’s a one month reprieve from the Americans. Ford has said that so long as the threat of tariffs continue, Ontario’s position will not change.

She added that Trump said he would crack down on the flow of American weapons trafficked into Mexico, which has fueled cartel warfare in the Latin American country, though Trump has not elaborated on what his government has done to address the weapons trafficking.

Sheinbaum has been able to navigate the complex relationship with Trump and rallied Mexican nationalism with her message of Mexican sovereignty, which has generated soaring approval ratings. While tensions between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have simmered, Sheinbaum has assumed a stern tone but has appeared to build a relatively amicable relationship with the American president.

Lutnick said both Canada and Mexico “have done a good job offering us ever more work” on stopping fentanyl at the border, a key demand that Trump has made in return for permanently lifting the tariffs. Trump has also offered many other reasons for his tariffs, including raising revenue for the federal government, returning manufacturing to the United States, and reducing the trade surpluses both countries have with the U.S.

Yet Lutnick said that he will be watching fentanyl overdose deaths in the U.S. as a key “metric” he will focus on when evaluating Canada and Mexico's efforts to combat the synthetic opioid.

In his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, Trump portrayed tariffs — which he has has also levied on China — as a source of increasing wealth and power for the United States.

Yet most economists expect the import duties to send prices higher, slow the economy, and potentially cost jobs.

Trump appeared to acknowledge Tuesday night that there could be some pain: “There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that. It won’t be much.”

—Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Rob Gillies, and Megan Janetsky contributed to this report. Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Gillies reported from Toronto.

X77 ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN – FROM

@77GET CANADA

ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN – FROM

1440

Tariffs (Temporarily) Reversed

A broad tax on imports from Canada and Mexico was reversed yesterday by President Donald Trump, extending until April 2 a 25% tax on goods coming to the US. The decision comes less than 48 hours after levies were placed on goods coming from both countries.

US officials have framed the tariffs as leverage to compel both partners to enforce border security, crack down on the flow of illegal drugs like fentanyl, and more. Critics have argued the rapid changing of taxes on a wide range of goods prevents long-term planning by manufacturers. Total trade between the three countries is roughly $1.8T, with $680B in 2022 coming from US goods exported to other countries (see details).

See 1440's breakdown of what tariffs are and how they work here.

FOREIGN POLICY

WARS

Ukraine

ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN – FROM

Ukraine peace deal not dead?

MidEast

TAKEOVERS

ATTACHMENT NINETEEN – FROM

Eyeing Greenland and Panama

Trump continued to press his plan to expand U.S. territorial holdings.

“We have Marco Rubio in charge. Good luck, Marco,” he continued. The canal is currently managed and operated by the Panamanian-government-owned Panama Canal Authority.

Trump then moved on to his next already-spoken-for conquest: Greenland.

“I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland. We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America. We need Greenland for national security and even international security and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it.”

Despite the fact that Greenland is a territory of Denmark whose prime minister has repeatedly stated that the island is not for sale, Trump assured his audience otherwise.

“I think we’re going to get it — one way or the other we’re going to get it,” he said.

AMBIENCE

Al Green

ATTACHMENT TWENTY – FROM

X52 FROM GUK

‘Somebody slap me and wake me up’: Democrats react to Trump’s speech

Sign waving in the chamber and a fiery outburst was followed by more forceful statements after the speech

By Robert Tait Wed 5 Mar 2025 07.54 EST

Democrats panned Donald Trump’s first prime-time speech to Congress since returning to the White House as reaction to the address revealed a country still deeply split on political lines and an opposition party unsure of how to deal with his radical agenda.

The Democrats’ exclusion from the corridors of powers – Democrats are in the minority in both the Senate and House of Representatives – has left them with limited options on how to effectively respond to Trump’s hardline 1hr 40min oration that amounted to a celebration of his purported achievements during his six weeks back in office.

‘Resist’ shirts and ‘a little disturbance’: key takeaways from Trump’s Congress speech

Some of the party’s rising stars, including Chris Murphy, a vocal senator from Connecticut, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive representative from New York, protested by staying away.

Those who attended showed their displeasure by turning their backs on Trump as he spoke and holding up placards with messages like “No kings”, “ Medicaid” and “Musk steals” in reference to the leading government cost-cutting role being played by the billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.

The protest was disparagingly compared to bingo signs by one normally sympathetic commentator, Symne Sanders-Townsend, a host on the MSNBC channel.

“Why are democrats just sitting there? The signs are not landing. It is giving bingo! Sigh,” she posted on X.

The audience of silent, grim-faced Democrats – some of them holding Ukrainian flags or wearing garments in the country’s colours – provided Trump with the perfect prop to troll them in real time.

“I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do,” Trump said. “These people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.”

But Democrat displeasure was not all passive.

Some members shouted “January 6” – in reference to the 2021 Trump-inspired attack by a violent mob on the US Capitol – when the president vowed to impose “law and order” and extolled the police.

The most assertive act of resistance came from Al Green, a member of Congress from Texas, who was escorted from the chamber on the order of the House speaker, Mike Johnson, after loudly heckling Trump and telling him he had no mandate.

Afterwards, Green, 77, who is preparing articles of impeachment against Trump, told reporters that his expulsion was “worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up”.

A more measured Democratic reaction came from Elissa Slotkin, a senator from Michigan who was chosen to deliver the party’s official response, having won her seat last November in a traditional election battleground state where Trump narrowly defeated Kamala Harris, the Democrat presidential candidate.

Slotkin, a former CIA officer, lambasted Trump’s apparent betrayal of Ukraine, and said Ronald Reagan, a Republican predecessor, would be “rolling in his grave” at the president’s deference to Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader.

“President Trump loves to promise ‘peace through strength’,” she said in a televised address delivered from her Michigan home town of Wyandotte. That’s actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. But let me tell you, after the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling over in his grave.

“We all want an end to the war in Ukraine, but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity.

“As a cold war kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the cold war.”

Slotkin also attempted to rouse her Democratic colleagues against depressed apathy in the face of Trump’s aggressive agenda, while inspiring citizens fearful for the future of US democracy.

“I’ve lived and worked in many countries. I’ve seen democracies flicker out. I’ve seen what life is like when a government is rigged,” she said. “Don’t for one moment fool yourself that democracy isn’t precious and worth saving.”

Advising to resist a seemingly unrestrained Trump, she continued: “Don’t tune out. America needs you now more than ever. If previous generations had not fought for democracy, where would we be today? We all know that our country is going through something right now. We’re not sure what the next day is going to hold, let alone the next decade.

Trump turns Congress speech into a sordid campaign rally, igniting a Democrat fightback

“But this isn’t the first time we’ve experienced significant and tumultuous change as a country. Every single time, we’ve only gotten through those moments because of two things: engaged citizens and principled leaders.”

Jasmine Crocket, a Democratic member of Congress from Texas, had earthier language while promising to take the fight to Trump, whom she called “really psychotic” for his stated desire during his speech to take over Greenland.

“Why are we fighting with Greenland?’ she asked Adam Mockler of the progressive MeidasTouch Network. “We’re fighting with Canada, we’re fighting with Mexico, yet we’re in love with Putin? What is happening? This is not America. This is a terrible nightmare. Somebody slap me and wake me the fuck up because I’m ready to get on with it.”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE – FROM

Rep. Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, stood early in the speech and heckled the president. That led to a rebuke from House Speaker Mike Johnson, but Green continued to shout Trump down.

“You have no mandate!” he yelled.

Johnson then instructed the House sergeant at arms to remove him from the chamber as Trump’s Republican backers chanted “USA! USA!”

On Wednesday, House Republicans said they would vote on a resolution sponsored by Rep. Dan Newhouse to censure Green for his outbursts.

WEIRDNESS

ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO – FROM TIME

March 05, 2025

Trump Uses Big Speech to Spin Alternate Reality of 'Astronomical Achievements'

BY PHILIP ELLIOTT
Senior Correspondent, TIME

Perhaps the clearest distillation of President Donald Trump’s sprawling first address to the new Congress came Tuesday night when he laid the premise for making cuts to Social Security, a program he cast as ripe with fraudulent payments to zombies. It was as disingenuous as it might prove persuasive to those Americans who are cheering for Trump’s race through Washington, torching all he touches.

But facts were not the point in the speech. This was a night entirely about feelings, and many of Trump’s promises sounded good to his ear with him at the center of the circus.

Car loans’ interest payments to become tax deductible, but only made-in-America vehicles? Sounds good, until you realize auto production supply chains make that designation almost impossible.

A citizenship-for-sale scheme for super-rich foreigners? That’s not something a President can do unilaterally.

Automatic death penalties for those convicted of murdering law enforcement? His existing executive order only instructs the Justice Department to pursue them, but Congress and the courts are going to have something to say about such instant sentencing.

If everything about this feels overwhelming, that is because it is, and by design. For the last six weeks, Americans have been yanked and ghosted, lurched and launched with a merciless urgency. “Swift and unrelenting action” is how Trump pumped up his record. It was one of the rare completely unspun statements of the evening.

If the cruelty was the point of the first Trump term, then the chaos is the thesis of the second. As TIME’s Eric Cortellessa reported going into the evening, Trump’s team was more interested in staging moments to go viral than presenting an operating argument for actually governing. He did not leave the Capitol empty handed. There were plenty of headlines, made-for-TV moments, and memes that partisans of all stripes can exploit.

So much of Washington has been spiraling since Trump returned to town. Every day seems to bring new developments, reversals, and initiatives, each more brazen than the last. Democrats in Congress have watched with confusion, fear, and outrage as Trump has taken steps that have canned tens of thousands of federal workers, shut down offices that feed the world’s poor and track weather systems, and upended decades of international norms. Nothing has been beyond Trump’s boorish reach, not even a Kennedy Center musical about a shark who befriends would-be prey or, briefly, the building that houses the American Red Cross.

So as Trump stood under the klieg lights of Congress on Tuesday night and before millions of Americans, he took the next logical step toward a more disunified national agenda. With his pronouncements, Trump made pledges to purge and criminalize revenge porn, expand foster care programs, and pursue debunked theories about autism. He returned to a missile defense shield for the U.S., right after informing one student he was heading to West Point and a child with brain cancer he had just been made an honorary Secret Service agent. He suggested the United States had succeeded in reclaiming the Panama Canal, hinted that Greenland would become part of the United States “one way or another,” and would relaunch shipbuilding as a major domestic industry.

It was impossible to keep track of what was practical and what was purely political messaging, which is entirely how Trump has been lashing D.C. since Jan. 20. It has left everyone just doing their best to keep up.

When Rep. Al Green of Texas, a Democratic lawmaker who is often a step afield from his party, stood in protest of Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered him removed by the security staff. Democrats stayed in their seats holding signs declaring “Musk Steals,” their minor attempt at expressing disapproval of Elon Musk’s rampage through government. Within the first half hour of a record-breaking 100-minute speech, Democratic lawmakers began to stream out of the chamber in disgust with Trump’s constant blaming of former President Joe Biden for all that came before. Toward the end, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts clapped in defiance when Trump singled her out as “Pocahantas.”

All the while, Republicans stood and cheered on command, including one of the biggest eruptions for Musk. With very few exceptions, Trump’s party has allowed him to ditch career professionals that run the mundane, day-to-day cogs of government. Few objected when he remade maps and sought naked retribution against any who refused to call it The Gulf of America. Even as the stock market took a pounding as Trump’s trade war rippled from Wall Street to Main Street to farm fields, none dared to confront Trump over his ill-informed plan to levy tariffs on some of America’s most reliable and deep-pocketed economic partners. The answer, per guidance from GOP House Leadership, was just to stop holding town halls where lawmakers could face a grilling from rightly angry constituents who were promised a more orderly Trump 2.0.

Trump rightly expected no serious threat to his hold over Washington. While senior GOP Senators had deep reservations bordering on hostility toward some of Trump’s Cabinet picks, he ultimately lost only one. (That was disgraced former House Rep. Matt Gaetz, who withdrew before his paperwork was even sent to the Senate.) Trump barrelled his way into his first Cabinet meeting—complete with Musk in a baseball cap and T-shirt—on Feb. 26 and then into the House Chamber a week later. (On Tuesday, Musk wore a suit.) As one very smart insider observed to me last week, a whole lot of bad choices made by many Americans with varying degrees of real or imagined power led to this moment. Once a power is abdicated, it seldom comes back easily or with as much strength as before. For Republican lawmakers, the atrophy has been as severe as it has been rapid.

So as Trump arrived at the Capitol, his GOP friends had little choice but to fall in line in a speech that was more rallying cry than policy proposals. When he called “Joe Biden the worst President in American history,” his party went along with it. When he devoted time in his first joint address to this Congress to boast about his electoral win last year, he got plenty of cover from his base in the room. The cheers continued for his denigrating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that he ended. And when he complained he wasn’t getting sufficiently praised, there were sympathetic cheers. “These people, sitting right here, will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements. They won’t do it, no matter what,” Trump said. Everyone knew the script even if no one bothered to read it.

That’s not to say there aren’t reasons for Trump’s circle to be worried. The trade war is objectively bad politics; in the last two days, the tariff tiff erased the entire gains Wall Street posted since Trump won in November. The undefined goals of the tit-for-tat escalation with some of the United States’ most important partners has left markets reeling and businesses baffled as to how this ends. It was, put plainly, a huge risk with really poor odds for an American win. It drew the most tepid reaction from Republicans of the evening, even if Trump was not taking the hint.

“Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening, and it will happen rather quickly. There may be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much,” Trump promised, downplaying the risk that has investors freaking out.

All the while, the deep cuts to government are starting to become more clear to voters. His feud with Ukrainian leaders was out of step with the hawks in the GOP, and huge portions of the American public. The culture-war spat over transgender rights, “wokeness,” and English as a national language does zero to offset the economic devastation of his unpredictable trade efforts. And there is a sense that his grievance-driven agenda is starting to feel like the grind of a reality show that goes a few seasons too long.

None of this seemed to rattle Trump, who treated the evening as an opportunity to rewrite the history to his liking, one in which he alone has power in Washington.

"We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in 4 years or 8 years. And we are just getting started,” Trump said.

He may well be correct. More than 400 executive actions are on the books and he is closing in on 100 executive orders. But much of it may not track with what Trump is selling. The details are not the point. The chaotic flurry of activity is. And Trump is completely aware that he is Washington’s pacecar.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE– FROM

YAHOO NEWS

5 takeaways from Trump's record-setting speech to Congress

The president again pressed for the U.S. to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.

By David Knowles Wed, March 5, 2025 at 3:01 PM EST

President Trump delivered his first joint address of his second term to a sharply divided Congress on Tuesday, using a combative speech to boast about a slew of executive orders he has signed in a bid to reshape the federal government and to lay out the legislative priorities he hopes to pass with aid of the Republicans who applauded his every line.

“Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America,” Trump said in what turned out to be the longest joint session speech in U.S. history by any president. “From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country. We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years, eight years — and we are just getting started.”

Here are five key takeaways from Tuesday’s speech.

Boasting of executive orders and praise for Elon Musk

of his second as historic and efficient.

Trump said a major goal of his administration was “ending the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“To that end, I have created the brand new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, perhaps you’ve heard of it, which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight,” he added.

Musk’s role may be news to a federal judge hearing cases regarding the mass firings of government workers who demanded to know who was in charge of DOGE and were told that person was Amy Gleason, who previously worked at the U.S. Digital Service.

Trump proceeded to reel off a list of "appalling waste” Musk and his team had identified, though none of that could be immediately verified and past claims of uncovering fraud have turned out to be overstated.

No details on how to lower the price of eggs

Despite a campaign pledge to bring grocery prices down “on day one” of his administration, the price of eggs has continued to rise dramatically under his presidency due primarily to the slaughter of millions of chickens to stem the spread of bird flu.

"Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg price is out of control, and we’re working hard to get it back down,” Trump said. “[Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins], do a good job on that. You inherited a total mess from the previous administration.”

The agency that Rollins runs estimates that egg prices could rise by more than 40% in 2025.

While Trump repeatedly went after those Democrats who attended his speech, saying there was nothing he could do to make them happy, notable moments of protest emerged.

Rep. Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, stood early in the speech and heckled the president. That led to a rebuke from House Speaker Mike Johnson, but Green continued to shout Trump down.

“You have no mandate!” he yelled.

Johnson then instructed the House sergeant at arms to remove him from the chamber as Trump’s Republican backers chanted “USA! USA!”

On Wednesday, House Republicans said they would vote on a resolution sponsored by Rep. Dan Newhouse to censure Green for his outbursts.

Eyeing Greenland and Panama

Trump continued to press his plan to expand U.S. territorial holdings.

“We have Marco Rubio in charge. Good luck, Marco,” he continued. The canal is currently managed and operated by the Panamanian-government-owned Panama Canal Authority.

Trump then moved on to his next already-spoken-for conquest: Greenland.

Despite the fact that Greenland is a territory of Denmark whose prime minister has repeatedly stated that the island is not for sale, Trump assured his audience otherwise.

“I think we’re going to get it — one way or the other we’re going to get it,” he said.

Ukraine peace deal not dead?

X57 ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR – FROM

CNN

Trump digs in on divisive agenda in speech to Congress

By Antoinette Radford, Maureen Chowdhury, Aditi Sangal, Betsy Klein, Elise Hammond, Tori B. Powell, Kit Maher and Michael Williams, CNN

Updated 5:16 AM EST, Wed March 5, 2025

What we covered here

• Trump hails record: President Donald Trump tonight repeated debunked claims about wasteful spending, touted divisive executive actions and said he’s “just getting started.” His speech was the longest first address to a joint session of Congress or State of the Union speech. Here are takeaways and fact checks of his address.

• Tariff agenda: The president doubled down on his tariff agenda, which has sent stocks sinking, businesses scrambling and consumer confidence plunging. Trump is scheduled to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tomorrow morning, a source told CNN, a day after the two leaders engaged in an extraordinary back-and-forth over a brewing trade war.

• Disruption in the chamber: Shortly after he began speaking, Trump was interrupted by Democratic lawmakers, leading to Speaker Mike Johnson directing the House sergeant at arms to remove Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas. Several other House Democrats walked out while wearing “Resist” T-shirts.

• Democratic rebuttal: Freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan criticized Elon Musk during her party’s rebuttal, saying the country didn’t need the chaos of his DOGE-led cuts. She also said Trump’s economic plan will only help billionaires and cost average Americans.

The major themes of Trump's speech

From CNN's Kaanita Iyer, Matt Stiles and Jhasua Razo

President Donald Trump gave his first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to power, covering topics from domestic policy to foreign affairs.

In the longest annual address in modern history, Trump focused on the economy — digging in on trade and tariffs and promising to provide “relief to working families” amid high inflation.

16 hr 17 min ago

Analysis: Trump's big night deepens America's bitter internal schisms

From CNN's Stephen Collinson

Modern America’s political chasm never looked so bleak.

“Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States” roared the House sergeant at arms in his fabled refrain before Trump entered the House of Representatives.

His speech was indistinguishable from his campaign rallies, which pulsated with flaming rhetoric, falsehoods and demagoguery.

Read Collinson’s full analysis.

16 hr 20 min ago

Pennsylvania voters split on Trump's speech in CNN focus group

From CNN's Eric Bradner

President Donald Trump’s speech Tuesday night was well-received by those who backed him against Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, but alienated Democratic voters who oppose his agenda, a CNN focus group in the Philadelphia suburbs found.

Carolyn Debuque, a retired Air National Guard probation officer from Quakertown, said Trump’s speech was “very positive.” A Republican who voted for Trump, she said the new tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico “should have been done a long time ago.”

“I think now we’re taking back things that never should have been given away,” she said.

Democrats, though, were sharply critical.

16 hr 36 min ago

Fact Check: Military recruitment began rising even before Trump was elected

From CNN’s Haley Britzky

He added that “just a few months ago” the US “couldn’t recruit anywhere.”

This needs context. According to the Defense Department, military recruitment was already up over 10% in fiscal year 2024 compared with the year prior, and the delayed entry program for the active-duty military was up 10% in fiscal year 2025.

The delayed entry program is a way for recruits to join the military but not ship out until a later date.

And looking specifically at the Army’s recruitment, former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who served until January 20, told Fox News that the uptick started before Trump was elected — and that the Army in fact started seeing increased numbers in February 2024.

16 hr 35 min ago

CNN poll: Trump's address changed few viewers' minds

President Donald Trump’s address to Congress did little to change opinions of his policies among those who tuned in, according to a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

Disapproval of disruption: Eight in 10 of those who watched said they felt that Democratic Rep. Al Green’s interruption of Trump’s speech in protest was inappropriate, with 20% calling it an appropriate reaction.

04:10

What we covered here

The major themes of Trump's speech

From CNN's Kaanita Iyer, Matt Stiles and Jhasua Razo

President Donald Trump gave his first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to power, covering topics from domestic policy to foreign affairs.

In the longest annual address in modern history, Trump focused on the economy — digging in on trade and tariffs and promising to provide “relief to working families” amid high inflation.

16 hr 18 min ago

Analysis: Trump's big night deepens America's bitter internal schisms

From CNN's Stephen Collinson

Modern America’s political chasm never looked so bleak.

“Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States” roared the House sergeant at arms in his fabled refrain before Trump entered the House of Representatives.

His speech was indistinguishable from his campaign rallies, which pulsated with flaming rhetoric, falsehoods and demagoguery.

Read Collinson’s full analysis.

16 hr 21 min ago

Pennsylvania voters split on Trump's speech in CNN focus group

From CNN's Eric Bradner

“I think now we’re taking back things that never should have been given away,” she said.

Democrats, though, were sharply critical.

16 hr 37 min ago

Fact Check: Military recruitment began rising even before Trump was elected

From CNN’s Haley Britzky

He added that “just a few months ago” the US “couldn’t recruit anywhere.”

The delayed entry program is a way for recruits to join the military but not ship out until a later date.

16 hr 36 min ago

CNN poll: Trump's address changed few viewers' minds

From CNN's Ariel Edwards-Levy

President Donald Trump’s address to Congress did little to change opinions of his policies among those who tuned in, according to a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

Paid Content Recommendations

X58 ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE – FROM

FOX

Trump earns largely positive speech reaction, but ejected Dem's behavior widely deemed inappropriate: CNN poll

Rep Al Green was kicked out of the chamber during President Donald Trump's address

By Alex Nitzberg , Paul Steinhauser Published March 5, 2025 12:13pm EST

Most people who watched President Donald Trump's primetime address to a joint session of Congress had a positive opinion of what he spelled out in his speech, according to snap polls.

Trump has been moving at warp speed since his Jan. 20 inauguration, and he used his Tuesday speech to deliver a full-throated defense of his avalanche of activity, while repeatedly targeting former President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats.

According to a CNN instant poll, nearly seven in 10 respondents viewed Trump's speech as positive {44% said very positive and 25% said somewhat positive), while 31% offered that they had a negative reaction (15% somewhat negative and 16% very negative).

There was a similar response in a snap survey conducted for CBS News on the speech, which lasted more than 90 minutes and was the longest address to a joint session of Congress or a State of the Union address in 60 years.

Instant polls of State of the Union addresses or speeches to joint sessions of Congress are often favorable to the presidents delivering those speeches. That is because speech-watchers represent a small portion of the public, and they are usually much more likely to be from the president's own party, which is reflected in the poll results.

WATCH TRUMP'S FULL ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

The CNN poll noted that "a total of 431 adults nationwide were surveyed via text message."

"Among the entire sample, 21% described themselves as Democrats, 44% described themselves as Republicans, and 35% described themselves as independents or members of another party," CNN explained. "The margin of sampling error for total respondents is +/-5.3 at the 95% confidence level."

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who was removed from the event for being disruptive, did not fare well in the court of public opinion.

CONSERVATIVES ERUPT WITH PRAISE ON SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER TRUMP'S SPEECH TO CONGRESS: ‘RUN THROUGH A WALL’

A whopping 80% found Green's behavior to be inappropriate, while just 20% felt it was appropriate, according to the CNN poll.

Trump's address came less than two months into his second term in office.

TRUMP DECLARES ‘AMERICA IS BACK' IN SPEECH BEFORE CONGRESS

However, while he is still chipping away at the early days of his new term, the president is a well-known figure who has been on the political scene for years.

He is now the second U.S. president to serve non-consecutive terms — the first was Grover Cleveland in the 19th century.

CNN noted that the 44% who had a very positive view of Trump's speech is lower than the 57% who felt the same way in their instant poll of Trump's address to Congress eight years ago, near the start of his first administration. Additionally, they pointed out that it was also four points lower than the 48% who gave Biden a big thumbs up in his initial address to Congress in 2021, at the start of his single term in the White House.

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

X59 ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX – FROM

CBS

Politics

House Speaker Mike Johnson's chief of staff arrested for DUI after Trump speech

Washington — House Speaker Mike Johnson's chief of staff, Hayden Haynes, was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence after President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress.

NBC News first reported details of the arrest, saying Haynes was given a citation to appear in court. Asked to confirm the report, U.S. Capitol Police said a driver backed into a parked vehicle near the Capitol around 11:40 p.m. and was taken into custody.

"We responded and arrested them for DUI," police said in a statement, which did not identify the driver.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters on Capitol Hill that he was standing by his top aide. His spokesperson Taylor Haulsee reiterated that in a statement.

"The Speaker is aware of the encounter that occurred last night involving his Chief of Staff and the Capitol Police. The Speaker has known and worked closely with Hayden for nearly a decade and trusted him to serve as his Chief of Staff for his entire tenure in Congress. Because of this and Hayden's esteemed reputation among Members and staff alike, the Speaker has full faith and confidence in Hayden's ability to lead the Speaker's office," Haulsee said.

Haynes has been a longtime aide to Johnson, serving as his chief of staff since 2017 and as his campaign manager in 2016.

X60 ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN – FROM CBS

Politics

Trump adviser Alina Habba says ousted veterans may not be "fit to have a job at this moment"

By Kathryn Watson, Caitlin Yilek, Sara Cook

Updated on: March 4, 2025 / 5:49 PM EST / CBS News

Counselor to the president Alina Habba on Tuesday said veterans who were let go from their federal jobs "perhaps" are "not fit to have a job at this moment or are not willing to come to work."

Habba, who served as President Trump's personal attorney during his court cases and now works as a top adviser in the White House, made the comments during an exchange with reporters on the White House lawn Tuesday morning.

A reporter pointed out that some Democrats are bringing ousted federal workers to the president's joint address to Congress Tuesday night, including veterans who were let go from their jobs. The reporter asked if Mr. Trump is considering what the administration can do to help those veterans salvage their lives.

"Well, as you know, we care about veterans tremendously," Habba responded. "I mean, that's something the president has always cared about. Anybody in blue, anybody that serves this country. But at the same time, we have taxpayer dollars, we have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work."

"That doesn't mean that we forget our veterans, by any means," Habba continued. "We are going to care for them in the right way. But perhaps they're not fit to have a job at this moment or are not willing to come to work. And we can't — you know, I wouldn't take money from you and pay somebody and say, 'Sorry, you know, they're not gonna come to work.' It's just not acceptable."

More

The number of veterans affected by the Trump administration's cuts to the federal workforce isn't yet clear. As of fiscal year 2021, about 30% of civil service employees were veterans, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

For Mr. Trump's joint address to Congress, Democratic Rep. Eric Sorenson of Illinois invited James Diaz, a disabled veteran who was laid off in February as a fuel compliance officer at the IRS. Diaz supports many of Mr. Trump's policies, according to Sorenson's office, but has been disappointed in how federal workers, especially veterans, have been treated during the president's overhaul of the government.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT – FROM

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner Dies Following Trump Speech

Former Houston mayor had just taken office in January

By Olivia Beavers and Katy Stech Ferek Updated March 5, 2025 3:55 pm ET

WASHINGTON—Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Texas Democrat who was just sworn into the House in January after previously serving as mayor of Houston, died Wednesday.

Turner, 70 years old, sat in the House chamber Tuesday night for President Trump’s speech to the joint session of Congress. His family, in a statement reported by Houston media, said Turner was taken to the hospital after the speech and was later released. Then, early Wednesday morning, he died at his home from “enduring health complications.” The statement didn’t provide further details.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE – FROM

NBC

Ronald Reagan is 'rolling in his grave,' Sen. Elissa Slotkin says in Democratic response to Trump

Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan also had harsh words for Elon Musk and warned that Trump's policies "could walk us right into a recession."

March 4, 2025, 11:55 PM EST / Updated March 5, 2025, 9:07 AM EST

By Henry J. Gomez

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., lit into President Donald Trump on Tuesday night, suggesting that President Ronald Reagan — whose “peace through strength” mantra Trump has adopted — would be appalled by his approach to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“After the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling in his grave,” Slotkin, referring to Trump’s unexpectedly contentious meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, said in her response to the joint address to Congress.

“As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s,” she added. “Trump would have lost us the Cold War.”

Slotkin, who addressed the nation from Wyandotte, Michigan, framed her speech as a pitch for “responsible” governing over “reckless” leadership, arguing that Trump’s agenda could spell economic doom for the country.

“If he’s not careful,” she said, “he could walk us right into a recession.”

Slotkin posited that Trump’s policies, as well as the sweeping cuts he has empowered billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk to oversee as part of a government efficiency initiative, would be destructive to most Americans.

“The president talked a big game on the economy, but it’s always important to read the fine print,” she said. “So do his plans actually help Americans get ahead? Not even close. President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends.

Congress Musk and Republicans discuss package to vote on DOGE cuts as shutdown looms

Middle East Conflict Trump warns that death awaits Hamas leaders and Gazans if hostages aren't immediately released

“He’s on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America, and to do that, he’s going to make you pay in every part of your life. Grocery and home prices are going up, not down, and he hasn’t laid out a credible plan to deal with either of those. His tariffs on allies like Canada will raise prices on energy, lumber and cars and start a trade war that will hurt manufacturing and farmers.”

Slotkin also had harsh words for Musk.

“Is there anyone in America,” she asked, “who is comfortable with him and his gang of 20-year-olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information and your bank accounts?

“We need a more efficient government,” she added. “You want to cut waste? I’ll help you do it. But change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe.”

Slotkin was one of the Democratic Party’s few bright spots last year — a successful candidate for an open Senate seat in Michigan who outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris in the battleground state. A former House member who positioned herself as a more moderate voice in a party tilting left on cultural issues, Slotkin narrowly beat former Rep. Mike Rogers. Her victory has been held up in some corners of the party as a template for Democrats.

“President Trump and I both won here in November,” Slotkin said of Wyandotte. “It might not seem like it, but plenty of places like this still exist across the United States, places where people believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you should do well and your kids should do better. It reminds me of how I grew up. My dad was a lifelong Republican, my mom a lifelong Democrat, but it was never a big deal because we had d values that were bigger than any one party.”

Slotkin also has emerged as one of the sharpest critics of Democratic messaging, telling reporters after last fall’s election that Democrats would be wise to focus more on “issues that keep people up at night,” like their bank accounts.

“It’s not rocket science, but talking about those issues plainly, not from the faculty lounge but from the assembly line, is, I think, a very important message,” Slotkin said then. “It’s not just what you’re saying but from what place you are talking about those issues. … I personally think that identity politics needs to go the way of the dodo.”

On Tuesday night, Slotkin warned of an American democracy “at risk when the president pits Americans against each other, when he demonizes those who are different and tells certain people they shouldn’t be included.”

She closed her speech with a call to action.

“First: Don’t tune out. It’s easy to be exhausted, but America needs you now more than ever,” Slotkin said. “Second: Hold your elected officials, including me, accountable. Watch how they’re voting. Go to town halls and demand and take action. That’s as American as apple pie.

“Third: Organize. Pick just one issue you’re passionate about and engage, and doom-scrolling doesn’t count," she added. "Join a group that cares about your issue and act.”

ATTACHMENT THIRTY – FROM

@dupe of #3BBC

ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE – FROM

AL JAZEERA

Seven takeaways from Donald Trump’s speech to US Congress

By Al Jazeera Staff Published On 5 Mar 20255 Mar 2025

In a lengthy speech before both houses of the United States Congress, President Donald Trump claimed that his return to office marked the “most successful era in the history of our country”.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy appeals to Trump after US suspends military aid

How will Trump’s tariffs impact Mexico and Canada’s exports?

Trump memo calls on US federal agencies to prepare for mass layoffs

“And we are just getting started,” he said.

His remarks touched on many familiar themes: calls for a massive crackdown on undocumented immigrants, whom he attacked as criminals and rapists, praise of “beautiful” tariffs that Trump says will bring balance to US trade relations, and attacks on transgender people and diversity initiatives.

Many of his administration’s most ambitious claims about unearthing wasteful projects have been quietly rolled back or debunked later on, but Trump used a series of data points and projects to paint a picture of a federal bureaucracy fixated on diversity initiatives and misguided projects in foreign nations.

Wasteful spending in agencies more aligned with Trump’s political priorities, such as immigration enforcement and the massive US military, has largely evaded similar scrutiny.

Return to nativist themes and attacks on immigrants

Ukraine and Gaza get brief mention

But on Tuesday night, he touched on events in Ukraine and the Middle East relatively briefly.

He said he had helped secure the release of US citizens held captive by Hamas in Gaza, but the suffering and futures of millions of Palestinians who have returned home to neighbourhoods turned to rubble by Israel’s devastating bombing campaign were not mentioned.

Trump, however, said he hoped to build an Israel-style missile defence shield over the US and repeated his desire to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Democrats struggle to muster a response

Most Democrat members remained seated for the duration of the speech, declining to stand and applaud and sometimes holding up placards calling Trump’s statements false or reading “Musk steals”.

But a sense remains that the Democrats, still stinging from their loss in the 2024 election, have yet to coalesce around a message that could take the fight to Trump.

In a social media post, the conservative commentator Laura Ingraham quipped that Democrats holding signs while sitting down looked like they were “bidding at an auction”.

Trump continues his love affair with ‘beautiful’ tariffs

One of Trump’s most longstanding political beliefs is that the US has been taken advantage of in its economic relations with other countries, and he has promised to use tariffs to bring “balance” to foreign trade and bend countries to his will on a series of other issues.

Trump promised to bring manufacturing operations for everything from cars to ships to semiconductors to the US through the use of tariffs.

Trump claims he is tackling inflation

“Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg prices [are] out of control, and we’re working hard to get it back down,” Trump said.

In late February, eggs on average cost $4.95 a dozen — double what they cost a year ago under Biden, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.

US has caught person behind 2021 Kabul airport bombing

Trump announced that the US has captured “the top terrorist responsible” for the suicide bombing that killed 13 soldiers during the 2021 withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.

The White House said the man, identified as Muhammed Sharifullah, was being brought to the US.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY TWO – FROM

THE NEW YORK POST

Trump’s speech has Americans dreaming — leaving Dems reeling

By Post Editorial Board

Published March 5, 2025, 12:24 a.m. ET

It set a record as the longest-ever presidential address to Congress, but it never lagged: President Trump delivered a tour de force Tuesday night, putting a coherent and reassuring frame on his insanely busy first weeks in office even as he made viewers laugh and cry — finishing up with an inspiring crescendo from the successes of America’s past and present to his promised new Golden Age.

Trump is beyond comfortable at the podium, shifting readily from casual and comical to formal and profound; he used all his talent to deliver a genuine barnburner — fundamentally reaffirming that he’s on top of his game and revelling in his work.

Democrats came off as hopelessly churlish, from Rep. Al Green’s indecorous ranting before his ejection to the pathetic round protest signs they held up all speech long to their insistence on sitting on their hands even for the most uplifting moments.

Moments like young cancer survivor D.J. Daniel learning he’d just been made an honorary Secret Service agent, or high-schooler Jason Hartley finding out he’d been accepted to West Point — with DJ rushing over in the gallery to shake his hand in congratulations.

New presidents do such joint addresses in lieu of an official State of the Union speech, but this had none of the dry lists ticking off trivia of those affairs, even though the president didn’t shy from telling details to make a point.

He listed promises made and promises kept, with more promise-keeping well in motion; he joked and inspired, assured his base and baited the opposition; he spoke to the country and he owned the room. It was one speech on one night still early in his term, but Donald Trump did his cause and the nation’s as much good as he possibly could, assuring America that for all the sound, fury and (for many) confusion of the early going, he’s in total command and he has Americans dreaming.

X66 ATTACHMENT THIRTY THREE – ALSO FROM THE NEW YORK POST

Trump blasts Dems for never applauding him even if he cures ‘devastating’ disease, roasts Biden on failed prosecutions: ‘How’d that work out?’

By Josh Christenson, Victor Nava and David Propper Published March 4, 2025

Updated March 4, 2025, 10:52 p.m. ET

President Trump complained there’s “absolutely nothing” he could do to get Democrats to applaud his addresses to Congress during his Tuesday night speech — and then lashed out at his predecessor Joe Biden for the Justice Department’s criminal prosecutions against him.

President Trump criticized Democrats for never applauding him throughout his address to Congress Tuesday night.via REUTERS

Trump, dating back to his first term in office, has appeared in front of Congress five times – and each time has been met with a frosty reception from Dems.

“It’s very sad,” the commander in chief said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says US is 'prepared' to go to war with China over tariff threats

Frantic search for body after fiancée of '80s rocker falls overboard after argument

MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow blasted for politicizing Trump's honor of 13-year-old cancer survivor

“And it just shouldn’t be this way.”

Later in the speech, Trump referenced Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and again noted that the Dems weren’t clapping for the Kennedy scion.

Trump also took aim at Biden for the DOJ’s two failed prosecutions against him – including a case accusing him of illegally retaining national security documents and seeking to reverse the 2020 election results.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was referenced in the President’s speech and took note that Dems did not clap for the Kennedy scion.via REUTERS

Trump also called out President Joe Biden and his administration for the Justice Department’s prosecutions against him.AP

Democrats in attendance also held up multiple signs, which included the phrases “ Medicaid” and “Musk Steals,” in reference to Elon Musk.via REUTERS

The line led to a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers in the US Capitol.

The cases were brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith, but were dropped after he beat Vice President Kamala Harris last November.

Democrats didn’t just stay silent for Trump on Tuesday, they also held up signs against the 47th president including “ Medicaid” and “Musk Steals,” in reference to Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk.

Liberal House Rep. Al Green, who represents the Houston area, was even booted after repeatedly interrupting Trump’s speech at the start of the address as he waved his cane and shouted at the president.

Trump tried to speak over him, but the 77-year-old rabble rouse kept shouting, “You don’t have a mandate,” in an apparent reference to a budget resolution that narrowly passed the House last week.

He was eventually booted by Sergeant-at-Arms at the request of House Speaker Mike Johnson.

A handful of Democrats later left the House chamber on their own as Trump announced cost savings within the federal government.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FOUR – FROM

THE HUFFINGTON POST

Five Takeaways From Trump’s Joint Speech To Congress

President Donald Trump screwed one of his potential legal arguments during a viciously partisan speech excoriating Democrats as the enemy of the country.

By Paul Blumenthal, Arthur Delaney, and Lilli Petersen

Mar 5, 2025, 12:47 AM EST

During a viciously partisan and seemingly never-ending speech littered with attacks on Democrats as the enemy of the country and lies about government spending, President Donald Trump accidentally screwed himself in court.

Plaintiffs in one case challenging DOGE’s actions and Musk’s appointment filed a notice of new evidence highlighting Trump’s comment after his speech concluded.

Oops.

Here are four more takeaways:

Social Security Appears To Be In Trump’s Sights

Trump went on at great length about the supposed scourge of the Social Security Administration wrongly paying retirement benefits to people listed in the agency’s system as well over 100 years old.

“There May Be A Little Disturbance,” Trump Says While Touting Tariffs

“There may be a little disturbance,” Trump admitted while touting the benefits that will flow from his tariffs on foreign goods.

That “little disturbance” is already being felt after Trump put 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico and 10% on goods from China on Tuesday. The S&P 500 wiped out all of the gains posted since Trump’s election in November in just two days. The Federal Reserve’s economic uncertainty index is now higher than at any point during the Great Recession. Inflation expectations are spiking and consumer confidence is down.

The country could slip into a recession due to the uncertainty around Trump’s trade policy and his efforts to gut the federal government.

“There may be a little disturbance,” is not the clip you want running on repeat if you’re a Republican up for election in 2026 if the president’s policies sink the country into a recession.

“Protecting” Women As A Justification For GOP Goals

Among the guests of first lady Melania Trump were several women with stories of being harmed by trans individuals or immigrants. They included Payton McNabb, a former high school athlete who was seriously injured during a volleyball match when she was hit by a ball spiked by a trans player on the opposing team. Trump referenced McNabb’s story to explain the executive order he signed to ban trans women in sports: “When her girls’ volleyball match was invaded by a male, he smashed the ball so hard in Payton’s face, causing traumatic brain injury.”

Also present was the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl who was assaulted and murdered by two undocumented immigrants; and the mother and sister of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant while jogging last year and has since become the namesake of a law to detain undocumented immigrants accused of crimes.

Conservatives have often used the notion that they are acting out of concern for women as a rationale to push culture war policies like anti-trans actions, or Republican agenda priorities like immigration restrictions. One of Trump’s executive orders from January, which is titled in part “Defending women from gender ideology,” claims that men are identifying as women to “gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities ― and the president has claimed that immigration restrictions are necessary to prevent assaults on and sex trafficking of women.

Democrat Al Green Becomes First Member Ejected During A Presidential Address

Democrats pulled several stunts during Trump’s address ― none more dramatic than Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) getting thrown out by security.

Minutes into Trump’s speech, Green stood and yelled that Trump had no electoral mandate to cut Medicaid, the health care program for more than 70 million low-income Americans.

Republicans loudly yelled at Green and chanted “USA” as the Texas Democrat remained standing, saying, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.”

“I’m willing to suffer whatever punishment is available to me,” Green said afterward, adding it was worth it to show that there are people willing to stand up to Trump.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FIVE – FROM

THE HUFFINGTON POST

Trump Delivers Gloating, Grievance-Filled Speech Hours After Sending Economy Reeling

The joint address to Congress was packed with the lies and grievances of his rally speeches, and barely acknowledged the economic chaos he is causing.

By S.V. Date Mar 4, 2025, 11:44 PM EST

WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump made his triumphal return to the House chambers Tuesday with an angry campaign-style speech packed with lies and personal grievances, vilifying his predecessor in the White House and Democratic members of Congress, all while downplaying threats to the economy his policies are already creating.

“We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started,” he said, with Vice President JD Vance and House speaker Mike Johnson behind him on the dais, and his near-constant companion and adviser Elon Musk in the gallery above.

On a day that his new 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada sent the markets reeling, Trump barely acknowledged the concerns.

“There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that,” he said. “It won’t be much.”

He lied about the state of the economy on the day of his return to office: “We inherited from the previous administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”

He blamed the current price of eggs on the former president: “Joe Biden, especially, let the price of eggs get out of control.”

He went through his familiar litany of absurdly old people on the Social Security rolls: “1.3 million people from ages 150 to 159.”

In fact, Biden’s economy was enjoying steady growth and inflation had come down to under 3% annually ― a “soft landing” from the pandemic that many economists thought would be impossible.

Egg prices have spiked since Trump took office, largely because of the spread of bird flu infecting chicken flocks.

And the statistics about Social Security, while eroding confidence in the national retirement and disability system, are entirely inaccurate ― the result of Musk’s young aides, who have been rampaging through the federal agencies’ computer systems, not understanding the Social Security Administration’s rolls.

He falsely claimed that new auto plants are “opening up all over the place.” He, yet again, lied about how tariffs work, claiming that “trillions” would come in from other countries when, in reality, tariffs are collected by American importers and passed along to American consumers.

Trump then turned to foreign policy, where he repeated his imperialist threats of annexing territory belonging to other countries. “We’re taking it back,” he said, regarding the Panama Canal. And about Greenland, which belongs to NATO ally Denmark, he said, “One way or another we’re going to get it.”

He once more repeated his lie that the United States has spent $350 billion to support Ukraine to fight Russia compared to $100 million from western Europe, even though the actual numbers are $204 billion from Europe and $183 billion from the United States. The vast majority of the American aid, further, was in the form of old military stock that is now being replaced by American workers in American factories.

Trump also did not acknowledge that dictator Vladimir Putin started the war with his invasion three years ago. Nor did he mention that Putin has targeted residential buildings with missiles and drones while his troops have raped and murdered civilians in areas they seized ― both actions that experts describe as war crimes.

Dwarfing the amount of time Trump spent on the economy or foreign policy, though, was how much of the speech Trump spent attacking trans women participating in women’s sports, DEI efforts in government, and industry and “culture war” issues generally.

“Our country will be woke no longer,” he said.

Trump also took the opportunity to complain, yet again, about the prosecutions against him after he left office in 2021. “We have ended weaponization of government, where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent, like me,” he said.

In truth, Trump was investigated and charged by federal prosecutors for his actions leading up to and on his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt, and his refusal to turn over secret documents he took with him to his South Florida country club.

He was also charged by Georgia prosecutors for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state. And his one prosecution that ended in a felony conviction was for his falsification of business records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to a porn star ahead of his 2016 election.

Trump’s last address before Congress came in February 2020, the day before the Republican-led Senate chose not to remove him from office after his impeachment for having tried to extort Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy into announcing an investigation into then-Democratic challenger Joe Biden, and just before a month before the COVID pandemic shut down the country. That speech was relatively muted in tone, but still packed with lies, and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded by tearing up the copy of the speech Trump had presented to her before he began.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SIX – FROM THE NA

NATIONAL REVIEW

Trump Spikes the Football After the Opening Drive

By Jim Geraghty March 5, 2025 10:17 AM

On the menu today: Good news for those of you who are tired of this political newsletter gallivanting around dangerous countries and telling you what brain nuggets taste like; I’m back in the United States, and the news of the morning is Donald Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress, smashing all records for length and delivered with all of the modesty and humility of the World Series winning team spraying each other with champagne in the locker room. I’m surprised Trump didn’t change his entrance theme from “Hail to the Chief” to Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” Trump is in an ebullient mood, and when looking at the issue of illegal immigration, you can’t blame him. But there are some seriously ominous rattles coming from the American economic engine, and it’s a spectacularly early dire sign to see congressional Republicans insisting that their constituents will be just fine with paying higher prices because they so fervently believe in Trump’s tariff agenda. Read on.

An Economically Shaky Address

Eh, does Trump ever give another kind of speech these days? Think back to his convention speech in Milwaukee or the inauguration address in January. This is who he is at age 78, there’s no sign he has the interest or the will to change his tone, and he likely sees last year’s election victory as the ultimate cosmic vindication. I think my colleague Luther Ray Abel is correct that last year’s assassination attempts gave Trump a sense of his own mortality and the sense of a ticking clock. He’s a man in a hurry and holding nothing back. If he doesn’t feel like doing something, he won’t do it. If he feels like speaking for an hour and 40 minutes to Congress, he’s going to do that.

On the “swift and unrelenting action” part, fact-check: True. The “greatest and most successful era in the history of our country” part is murkier.

Trump can genuinely take a victory lap on the border. The CNN fact-checkers look a little ridiculous when Trump claims, “Illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded. Ever,” and the CNN team “corrects” that claim by pointing out, “There were fewer Border Patrol encounters with migrants at the southwest border in some of the months of the early 1960s.”

Ah! So it’s merely the lowest number of attempts to cross the southern border since John F. Kennedy was chasing 19-year-old interns. You know, fellas, I’m willing to give Trump this one. The line on that Customs and Border Protection chart is going down so steeply, you would think it was the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s projection of next quarter’s U.S. GDP.

(I doubt I’ll ever write a sentence that infuriates Trump fans and Trump critics as simultaneously as that one.)

The president really wants you and everyone else to believe that the economy is roaring. Eh, the post-Election Day stock market gains disappeared in sudden a puff of smoke on Tuesday, because the markets do not like tariffs or uncertainty, and the only thing that Trump is certain to deliver is an enthusiasm for tariffs that are apparently always on the verge of being canceled or postponed at the last minute.

On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on Fox Business Network and suggested a possible deal with Canada and Mexico that could roll back the tariffs was imminent: “It’s not gonna be a pause. None of that pause stuff. But I think he’s going to figure out, you do more, and I’ll meet you in the middle someway. We’re going to probably be announcing that tomorrow.”

But last night, Trump did not sound like he was anywhere near a deal with our North American neighbors:

One of the problems with the “take him seriously, but not literally” philosophy — or vice versa, or both, or neither — is that it’s increasingly difficult to sort out which presidential statement is just a negotiating tactic, which part is the usual bluster, which part the president actually means, and which part is just off-the-cuff stream-of-consciousness. The easiest thing for Trump fans to do is to throw up their hands and insist it’s all seven-level chess that we mere mortals cannot understand. President Trump works in mysterious ways.

But American businesses with supply chains that rely on parts from Canada or Mexico — roughly $900 billion worth, as of 2024 — need a bit more clarity on how much everything is going to cost next month and beyond. You might think your local burger or burrito joint isn’t going to be affected by Trump’s new 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States that would go into effect March 12. Unless your local restaurant is one of the customers of the $1.5 billion in imported aluminum foil.

Trump insisted, “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it is happening, and it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance, but we are okay with that.” Trump’s dismissal of higher prices as “a little disturbance” that all Americans, collectively, are “okay” with reminded me of these statements from GOP Representative Mark Alford of Missouri:

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You think that a lot of your constituents feel the same way, they’re willing to pay a little bit more?

ALFORD: Well, I think so.

And this perspective from Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma:

Sen. Markwayne Mullin told me “of course” he’s worried tariffs could impact his state but argued that his constituents are willing to “do what it takes” to support the president’s policy.

Do you remember the Trump or Republican campaign message on inflation last year being, “If I have to pay a little bit more for something, I’m all for it”? No, I don’t, either.

But it’s Trump, so everything’s hunky-dory. Hey, it’s not like inflation and higher prices were a big deal in the fate of the Biden administration, right?

ADDENDUM: Speaking of domestic politics, if you haven’t checked out my epic-length review and fact-checking of Bill Clinton’s post-presidential memoir Citizen in the latest issue of the print magazine, please do so:

The sun is setting on Bill Clinton and his legacy, and he’s going out whining about how unfair everyone was to him.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SEVEN – FROM

FOX

Dems throw House into chaos after 10 moderates join GOP to punish Al Green

Green stood by his actions during Trump's speech to Congress, which he said were taken with 'intentionality'

By Elizabeth Elkind , Ryan Schmelz Fox News

Published March 6, 2025 10:31am EST

House lawmakers have voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, after he was thrown out of President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

Ten Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the measure. Green himself voted "present," along with first-term Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala.

"Al Green's childish outburst exposed the chaos and dysfunction within the Democrat party since President Trump's overwhelming win in November and his success in office thus far. It is not surprising 198 Democrats refused to support Green's censure given their history of radical, inflammatory rhetoric fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome," House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital.

Before the formal censure could be read out to Green, however, Democrats upended House floor proceedings by gathering with the Texas Democrat and singing "We Shall Overcome." Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was forced to call the House into a recess after failing multiple times to quell the protest.

Decorum eroded further afterward, with several Democrats, including "Squad" member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., engaging in a heated exchange with Republicans, including first-term Rep. Ryan MacKenzie, R-Pa.

The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green are Reps. Ami Bera, D-Calif.; Ed Case, D-Hawaii; Jim Costa, D-Calif.; Laura Gillen, D-N.Y.; Jim Himes, D-Conn.; Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.; and Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.

Republicans raced to introduce competing resolutions to censure Green on Wednesday, with three separate texts being drafted within hours of each other.

Fox News Digital was told that Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., whose resolution got a vote on the House floor Thursday morning, had reached out to Johnson about a censure resolution immediately after Trump's speech ended on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the House Freedom Caucus had aimed to make good on a threat to censure any Democrats who protested Trump's speech, and Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, crafted his own censure resolution against Green that got more than 30 House GOP co-sponsors.

But Newhouse took to the House floor on Wednesday afternoon to deem his resolution "privileged," a maneuver forcing House leaders to take up a bill within two legislative days.

Newhouse told Fox News Digital after the vote, "President Trump’s address to Congress was not a debate or a forum; he was invited by the speaker to outline his agenda for the American people. The actions by my colleague from Texas broke the rules of decorum in the House, and he must be held accountable."

A bid by House Democrats to block the resolution from getting a vote failed on Wednesday. Green himself voted "present."

The 77-year-old Democrat was removed from Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday night after repeatedly disrupting the beginning of the president's speech.

He shouted, "You have no mandate!" at Trump as he touted Republican victories in the House, Senate and White House.

Johnson had Green removed by the U.S. Sergeant-at-Arms.

It was part of a larger issue with Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday night, with many engaging in both silent and vocal acts of protest against Trump. Democrats were also chided for not standing up to clap when Trump designated a 13-year-old boy an honorary Secret Service agent.

The House speaker publicly challenged Democrats to vote with Republicans in favor of the censure on Thursday.

Green, who shook Newhouse's hand before speaking out during debate on his own censure, stood by his actions on Wednesday.

"I heard the speaker when he said that I should cease. I did not, and I did not with intentionality. It was not done out of a burst of emotion," Green said.

Other recent lawmakers censured on the House floor have been Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

ATTACHMENT THIRTY EIGHT – FROM

NBC

House votes to censure Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump's speech to Congress

The vote was 224-198, with 10 Democrats joining all Republicans in approving the resolution.

March 6, 2025, 10:33 AM EST / Updated March 6, 2025, 12:43 PM EST

By Kyle Stewart and Scott Wong

WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday.

The vote was 224-198, with 10 Democrats joining all Republicans in approving the censure resolution. Green and freshman Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., voted present. As the vote proceeded, Green sat by himself along the center aisle.

After the vote, as the resolution required of him, Green stood in the well of the House chamber while Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., read the censure resolution to him.

Republicans in the chamber yelled, "Order! Order!" And two CBC members, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, shot back: “Shame on you!"

Democrats ignored the speaker's request, and Johnson then recessed the House.

The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green are all moderates: Reps. Ami Bera and Jim Costa, both of California; Ed Case of Hawaii; Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi, both of New York; Jim Himes of Connecticut; Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania; Marcy Kaptur of Ohio; Jared Moskowitz of Florida; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state.

Green, 77, a former local president of the NAACP, is a fixture in the House, where he has served for 20 years. Starting in Trump's first term, the outspoken progressive has repeatedly introduced resolutions to impeach Trump, and has threatened to do so again this year.

The censure against Green was introduced by Rep. Dan Newhouse R-Wash. A Democratic effort to table the censure resolution was rejected Wednesday in a 209-211 vote.

A censure is a formal way for the House to express disapproval of a member’s conduct. A censured member does not lose any rights or privileges as a House member.

The matter, however, might not be closed. The far-right House Freedom Caucus, who had been racing to introduce their own resolution to censure Green, said after the vote its members plan to roll out another resolution seeking to remove Green from the House Financial Services Committee. The group said on X it expects Johnson to bring the resolution to the floor next week.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was removed from the House chamber after disrupting President Donald Trump's speech to Congress.Win McNamee / Getty Images

While Democrats engaged in both silent and sometimes vocal protests of Trump during his long address to a joint session of Congress this week, Green took things a step further.

He rose from his seat toward the front of the chamber Tuesday night, shook his cane toward Trump and repeated shouted that the president had "no mandate to cut Medicaid ... no mandate" — after Trump had said in his speech that voters in the 2024 election had handed him a mandate to slash the federal government.

Johnson banged the gavel and gave several warnings to Green, but the congressman refused to sit down or be quiet. Johnson then instructed the sergeant-at-arms to remove Green from the chamber.

He did not resist and walked out of the room as Republicans chanted in unison, "Na-nah, na-na-nah-na ... goodbye!"

Green said Wednesday that he had the "privilege of going to jail" with the late Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, the civil rights icon who Green said taught him the importance of peaceful protest.

"So I’m not angry with the speaker. I’m not angry with the officers. I’m not upset with the members who are going to bring the motions or resolution to sanction. I will suffer the consequences," Green said. "But I must add this, what I did was from my heart. People are suffering and I was talking about Medicaid. I didn’t just say you don’t have a mandate. I said you don’t have a mandate to cut Medicaid."

"I did it from my heart and I will suffer whatever the consequences are," he added. "But truthfully, I would do it again."

Article I of the Constitution gives both the House and Senate the authority to determine how to “punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour.” The House first censured a representative in 1832 for insulting the House speaker. In the decades since, members have been censured for offenses such as using unparliamentary language in floor debate, corruption and even committing assault on the House floor.

Green is the 28th member of the House to be censured.

The last House member to be censured was another progressive Black Caucus member, then-Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., on Dec. 7, 2023. He was censured for pulling a fire alarm in a Capitol office building when there was no fire or other emergency; Bowman was ousted last year in the Democratic primary and has insisted pulling the alarm was an accident.

A month earlier, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the first Palestinian American woman elected to Congress, was censured for comments she made about the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.

The last Republican censured was Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar in 2021 after he posted an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and attacking President Joe Biden.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY NINE – FROM

FOX

Democrats turn on each other over Trump address stunts

Democratic establishment, progressives clash on party direction, messaging after Trump's congressional address

By Danielle Wallace Published March 6, 2025 8:18am EST

Democrats displayed their internal party divisions in the wake of President Donald Trump's first address to Congress.

Democrats who are a part of leadership or more aligned with the establishment are clashing with progressives, many of whom heckled Trump throughout his more than 90-minute speech on Tuesday. The party is facing pressure from grassroots organizations to take a more combative approach – in lieu of decorum – to the Trump administration's dismantling of the federal bureaucracy.

While moderate Democrats are frustrated over the progressives' disruptions, progressives complained about a lack of direction and clear strategy ahead of Trump's first joint session address to Congress since he began his second term.

"People are pissed at leadership too," one senior House Democrat told Axios. "Everyone is mad at everyone."

Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y., told Axios he believed the outbursts were "inappropriate."

"When a president — my president, your president — is speaking, we don't interrupt, we don't pull those stunts," he said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, escorted out of the chamber after the Democrat repeatedly jeered at Trump, waving his cane during the speech. Some Democrats had warned their colleagues against protesting Trump, with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying they should let him "stew in his own juice."

Democrats protested nonetheless, including remaining seated as Trump celebrated his policies, and held up signs reading "false," "lies," "Musk steals," and " Medicaid." Some female Democratic lawmakers wore pink suits in protest of policies they claim are anti-woman, while other Democrats were heard jeering Trump throughout the speech.

A centrist, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, told Axios, "I didn't take that approach myself, so obviously I don't condone it."

"If anyone is thinking that it was an effective strategy, they're probably in an echo chamber," Golden added. "My take is that the average American thought the optics were pretty bad.

"I think it was a big mistake," Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., told Axios of the disruptions. "I'm an old school traditional type guy, I think we should be treating the president with deference. So I think it was inappropriate."

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., took to X to condemn the "sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance."

'HE'S BACK': TRUMP'S JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS TO BE BLANKETED WITH 6-FIGURE AD BUY TOUTING TAX PLAN

"I don't think that's the way forward," Fetterman added to Axios.

DJ Daniel, a 13-year-old boy who survived cancer, stole the show Tuesday evening when Trump introduced him to the audience and officially swore him in as a member of the Secret Service. Daniel received a standing ovation from a majority of the crowd, although some Democrats were seen sitting at various times while Trump was speaking about the 13-year-old.

"Not standing for Trump would have been a fine strategy, but you need to separate him from the kid with cancer," another centrist House Democrat told Axios, condemning his party's messaging.

Democratic members of Congress hold up signs reading " Medicaid" and "Protect Veterans" as President Donald Trump speaks on March 4, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

"It would be a compliment to call it a strategy," the lawmaker added, noting the progressives' signs were edited online to read "TDS," referring to the term known as "Trump Derangement Syndrome."

Progressives, meanwhile, argued that a lack of direction from leadership forced them to develop their own approach.

"There was definitely frustration about lack of guidance [or a] plan," one progressive member of Congress told Axios.

"People are super pissed that we didn't get more direction from leadership," another progressive added.

ATTACHMENT FORTY – FROM

NPR

Democracy-promoting organization sues the Trump administration over withheld funds

Frank Langfitt March 6, 20253:06 PM ET

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is suing the Trump administration for denying it access to nearly $240 million in congressionally approved funding. The suit, which was filed Wednesday night in federal district court in the District of the Columbia, is the latest in which an organization has sued the government for refusing to release money already approved by Congress.

The NED supports everything from democracy activists in Hong Kong to independent press coverage of Iran.

NED officials say the halt in funding has created a "devastating" cash flow crisis that has forced it to furlough 75% of its staff and threatens its existence.

Trump funding freeze halts decades of U.S. democracy work around the world

"NED is a venture capital fund for democracy, with 83% of its resources going directly to support people fighting for freedom of speech, thought, and religion," said former Republican congressman and current NED Chair Peter Roskam in a statement. "The sudden withholding of our funds endangers that mission and cripples a force multiplier for America's national interest."

The suit names the State and Treasury departments as defendants as well as their leaders, Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent, in their official capacities. Those departments have yet to file a response in court. The State Department said it does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation.

Rubio is a former board member of the International Republican Institute, which receives funding from the NED. In 2017, Rubio thanked the Endowment for its work to "advance the cause of freedom and carry out the vision President Reagan articulated those many years ago."

Treasury has not yet responded to requests for comment from NPR.

The suit also names the White House Office of Management and Budget and its director, Russell Vought, in his official capacity.

Bipartisan history

Congress created the National Endowment for Democracy in 1983 to support democracy, extend American soft power and counter Soviet influence. Support was bipartisan. President Ronald Reagan laid the rhetorical foundations for the initiative in a 1982 speech to the British Parliament.

"If the rest of this century is to witness the gradual growth of freedom and democratic ideals, we must take actions to assist the campaign for democracy," Reagan said. "The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy."

By holding up funding for the NED and the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Trump administration is now making moves that would dismantle that infrastructure.

Criticism at home and abroad

While the NED has enjoyed decades of support on both sides of the aisle, it does have critics.

The Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank previously run by Vought, has called the NED a "partisan political weapon" that meddles in the internal affairs of other countries and creates turmoil. Chinese Communist Party leaders have accused the NED of trying to destabilize the country by supporting Tibetan, Uyghur and Hong Kong human rights activists.

Roskam, the NED chair, says the biggest beneficiaries from the Trump administration's funding halt are authoritarian leaders from Moscow to Havana.

"The best way to challenge tyrants is to empower their citizens," Roskam wrote in the National Review. "That's exactly what NED does."

ATTACHMENT FORTY ONE – FROM

USA TODAY

Trump slays Democrats in speech: 'All we really needed was a new president' Opinion

President Donald Trump was in control and confident in contrast with Democrats in the chamber, who came off as unhinged and pathetic.

By Ingrid Jacques

In a social media post ahead of his joint address to Congress, President Donald Trump proclaimed in his characteristic all-caps, “I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!”

And for the most part, he did Tuesday night.

Trump delivered one of the best speeches I’ve heard him give. He stayed on message and was in control and confident the whole time. That served as a direct contrast with Democrats in the chamber, who came off as unhinged and pathetic.

One member, Rep. Al Green of Texas, was removed early on for continually interrupting the president’s speech while waving his cane. Other Democrats waved little black paddles with various anti-Trump messages. It just made them look silly.

Trump’s speech – not a typical State of the Union, since he started a second nonconsecutive term only in January – focused on the “unlimited promise of the American dream.”

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

“We’re just getting started,” Trump said, touting his “swift and unrelenting action.”

Indeed, Trump has not wasted time moving on his agenda this time around, and he laid out what he sees as his top accomplishments. The president so far has taken action largely through executive orders, and Trump now needs to get Congress on board with bigger priorities, from extending tax cuts to passing additional border security funding.

As Trump has acknowledged, voters chose him in November because they believed he was the best choice to address their top concerns: securing the border and lowering prices.

When it comes to the border, Trump’s immediate steps to reduce illegal entry into the U.S. are already paying off big time. One of Trump's standout lines during his speech was when he said, "It turned out that all we really needed was a new president" in response to how former President Joe Biden and Democrats complained they needed legislation to tackle soaring illegal immigration.

Last month, the Border Patrol recorded 8,450 migrants who crossed the southern border illegally – the lowest level in at least 25 years. For perspective, most months during the Biden administration had well over 100,000 border encounters.

During his speech, Trump paid tribute to the mother and sister (who were in attendance) of Laken Riley, the young woman who was murdered by an illegal immigrant and who inspired a recent law to help keep criminal migrants off the streets.

It was a heartbreaking and heartfelt moment.

Biden bungled the economy; Trump makes a gamble on tariffs

With the economy, Trump is on slightly shakier ground. On the campaign trail last year, he promised lower prices on “Day 1,” which was a promise he should never have made.

The mess Biden made of the economy and the soaring inflation that ensued cannot be solved overnight. Many of Trump’s ideas for fixing it, from lowering taxes to reducing regulations on businesses, are exactly what he should do.

The new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, which took effect right before his speech, are harder to defend. The American people are increasingly concerned about the consequences that these taxes on imported goods will have – and for good reason.

To Trump’s credit, however, he did campaign openly on using tariffs to keep more jobs in the U.S. and level the playing field when it comes to trade, so voters knew what they were supporting. Trump also uses tariffs as a negotiating tool, so it’s possible some of the new ones won’t last long.

Regardless, with high prices already top of mind for many Americans, this seems like a bad time to gamble with the rollout of tariffs.

Opinion: Trump is waging war against DEI in schools. New incidents show why he's right.

Democrats still embrace identity politics and losing cultural issues

In addition to the economy and the border, voters in November stood against some of the Democrats’ most extreme views. Top among those is the belief that biological males belong in women’s sports and that gender identity should trump biological sex.

It’s a deeply unpopular issue, and Trump was smart to campaign on it. He’s followed through with executive orders protecting women and girls.

On Monday, though, Senate Democrats – all 45 of them who showed up – voted against advancing a bill that would offer the same protections in women’s sports.

In contrast, Trump invited Payton McNabb as a guest to his speech. She is a former high school volleyball player who suffered a severe injury playing against a transgender athlete.

Opinion: Trump is winning for women and girls by preserving Title IX's original intent

Meanwhile, Democrats in attendance proved their continued fealty to identity politics. Many in the Democratic Women’s Caucus showed up wearing pink, in “protest” of Trump.

While I can't say much for how Democrats behaved during Trump's speech, Democratic congressional leaders were smart to choose newly elected Sen. Elissa Slotkin from Michigan to give the rebuttal to Trump.

Slotkin narrowly defeated Republican candidate former Rep. Mike Rogers by outperforming Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris. She has an ability to appeal to a broad base of voters and comes across as a moderate, and that's what she did following Trump's speech.

“I personally think that identity politics needs to go the way of the dodo,” Slotkin told NBC News after her victory last year. “People need to be looked at as independent Americans.”

I’m not sure how independent Slotkin actually is in practice, but it’s still a refreshing message and one that her fellow Democrats should take to heart, especially given their petty performance Tuesday night.

Trump, meanwhile, looked like a leader the entirety of his nearly two-hour speech.

“We will never let anything happen to our beloved country,” he said. “Get ready for an incredible future.”

I’m with him 100% on that.

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TIME

Trump Changes Course and Delays Tariffs on Mexico, But They Remain for Canada

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Mar 6, 2025 1:08 PM ET

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday postponed 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico for a month amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war.

No details were released Thursday as to what led to the temporary lifting of tariffs on Mexico, but not Canada.

Mexico has cracked down on cartels, sent troops to the U.S. border and delivered 29 top cartel bosses long chased by American authorities to the Trump administration in a span of weeks.

At a press conference, Sheinbaum elaborated on her call with Trump Thursday, saying that she told the president that Mexico was making great strides in fulfilling his security demands.

She added that “practically all of the trade” between the U.S. and Mexico will be exempt from tariffs until April 2.

She said the two countries will continue to work together on migration and security, and to cut back on fentanyl trafficking to the U.S.

“This whole thing with President Trump is a mess,” Ford said Thursday. “This reprieve, we’ve went down this road before. He still threatens the tariffs on April 2.”

Yet Lutnick said that he will be watching fentanyl overdose deaths in the U.S. as a key “metric” he will focus on when evaluating Canada and Mexico's efforts to combat the synthetic opioid.

In his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, Trump portrayed tariffs — which he has has also levied on China — as a source of increasing wealth and power for the United States.

Yet most economists expect the import duties to send prices higher, slow the economy, and potentially cost jobs.

Trump appeared to acknowledge Tuesday night that there could be some pain: “There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that. It won’t be much.”

—Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Rob Gillies, and Megan Janetsky contributed to this report. Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Gillies reported from Toronto.

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NY TIMES

Opinion

An Angry Little Boy on a Great White Horse

David Brooks March 6, 2025, 5:00 p.m. ET

I have a friend who worked in the first Trump administration who really admired the ancient virtue magnanimity (which is different than the modern definition, generosity). I thought that was odd since she is a devout Catholic whereas through most of the past 2,400 years magnanimity has been seen as a pagan virtue that directly contradicts the Christian ones. But especially after Tuesday night’s presidential address I could understand her interest. I walked away thinking that ancient magnanimity is the organizing principle of Donald Trump’s life — or at least a third rate, schoolboy version of magnanimity.

What is classical magnanimity? The magnanimous man is a certain social type who down through the centuries has fascinated people like Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas and Nietzsche. The magnanimous man accurately believes he is great and seeks to win triumphs that will bring glory and greatness to his country. Noble versions of magnanimity include Pericles, who led Athens through some of the Peloponnesian War, and more recently Charles de Gaulle, who reclaimed France from the Nazis. Third-rate versions include Trump, who dreams of conquest over Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal.

The magnanimous man does not believe in equality. In his view, some people are great-souled; they lead, live in splendor and strive for eternal fame. Other people are small-souled; they follow and are grateful to be led. The great-souled man displays courage and seeks honor and power. He has contempt for the small-souled man, whose humility, charity and compassion seem to him forms of weakness.

The quintessential magnanimous man is aloof. He doesn’t really have friends. Historically, he has rivals from whom he extracts tribute (like trying to seize Ukraine’s mineral wealth), and he has acolytes on whom he bestows gifts. He gives gifts to others not out of generosity but to display his own superiority. On Tuesday night, Trump told a grieving mother he was naming a wildlife preserve after her murdered daughter. He gave a student the gift of admission to West Point. Trump glowed at the sight of his own noblesse oblige.

The magnanimous man is charismatic. Whatever you think of the man, Trump’s speech on Tuesday night was a political triumph. He made himself look dominating, energetic and in control, while the Democrats looked pathetic and weak. His followers loved it. Populations that feel betrayed and disrespected naturally go for leaders who radiate status, power and vitality.

Of course one problem for Trump is that he is not the admirable version of the magnanimous man; he is a made-for-TV simulacrum of one. A truly magnanimous man — whether Pericles, Alexander the Great, de Gaulle, George Washington, George Patton or Winston Churchill — has earned his self-estimation. He has made himself wise, courageous, prudent and virtuous through hard study and a life of service. Trump, by contrast, has merely swooped up his hair.

Unlike the truly magnanimous, Trump is a leader who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He believes that there are tens of thousands of 160-year-olds getting Social Security benefits, but that’s fictional. He says South Korea is protectionist toward the United States, but we signed free trade deals in 2007 and 2012. He said that he would lift tariffs on Canada when opioid death rates fell, but they were already falling sharply. A truly magnanimous leader would be embarrassed to be so ignorant, not proud of it.

Magnanimity tends to be prideful, and pride, especially in a puffed-up man, tends to be fragile. This kind of magnanimous man seeks godlike self-sufficiency. But he also needs to be admired, and that admiration can come only from the masses, whom he privately holds in contempt. His addiction to approval is voracious and he refuses criticism, even when it is meant to be helpful, from his own supporters. Such a man lives with the secret fear that he might in fact be ordinary or insignificant.

The magnanimous man is a poor fit for democracy. Democracy is built on the idea of human equality, precisely the notion that magnanimity rejects. Democracy is built on the compromise between ideas and factions, which the great man also rejects.

As Jonathan Rauch noted recently in The Atlantic, democracy is built upon institutions, agencies and Constitutions that transcend one person. But Trump practices “patrimonialism.” He acts as if he is the nation’s all-powerful father. The state is an extended household. He treats government as his own personal property, his own family business. Everything revolves around him.

All magnanimous men have large and healthy egos, but Trump’s narcissism is the elephantiasis of egotism. It takes the form of “I alone can fix it.” Before Trump came on the scene, I didn’t appreciate the fact that the flip side of narcissism is isolationism. Trump first campaigned with the promise to build a wall. On Tuesday night he promised wall after wall. A tariff wall against Canada. A wall against Europe. A wall against the starving recipients of foreign aid. A wall down the middle of the chamber between Democrats and Republicans. Over the next four years, I predict, Trump will build a wall between everybody else and himself.

Trump lives for perpetual conflict and endless domination games. In an essay collection titled “Magnanimity and Statesmanship” the political theorist Peter Augustine Lawler observed that the circumstances that make magnanimous people happy — war and revolution — make most people miserable.

How does a nation overcome the seductions of the magnanimous leader? Abraham Lincoln offers a model. When he was 28, he gave a speech in which he warned that if the American system toppled, it would be because of homegrown men of overweening ambition. Historians have surmised that Lincoln was conscious of his own unchecked ambition as a political threat.

Lincoln argued that we can counter this kind of ambitious tyrant by cultivating a “political religion” based on reverence for law. He also confronted and regulated his own personal ambition by cultivating the virtues that stand in contrast to it — humility, kindness, respect for the equal dignity of all human beings. Lincoln emerged, by his 50s, as a man who reconciled power and humility.

It’s worth noting that our civilization has mostly rejected the pagan virtues and embraced the Abrahamic virtues. These virtues enable diverse people to live in friendship with one another, not amid permanent dominance games.

Friendship stands as a powerful rebuke to the magnanimous man, a better way to live. Lincoln ended up practicing a different and superior form of politics to the one Trump aspires to. Lincoln believed that you succeed in a democracy when you treat others as friends and not as enemies: “If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great high road to his reason.”

There was very little of that spirit out of Trump’s mouth on Tuesday night.

X59 ATTACHMENT FORTY FIVE – FROM

CBS

Politics

House Speaker Mike Johnson's chief of staff arrested for DUI after Trump speech

Washington — House Speaker Mike Johnson's chief of staff, Hayden Haynes, was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence after President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress.

NBC News first reported details of the arrest, saying Haynes was given a citation to appear in court. Asked to confirm the report, U.S. Capitol Police said a driver backed into a parked vehicle near the Capitol around 11:40 p.m. and was taken into custody.

"We responded and arrested them for DUI," police said in a statement, which did not identify the driver.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters on Capitol Hill that he was standing by his top aide. His spokesperson Taylor Haulsee reiterated that in a statement.

Haynes has been a longtime aide to Johnson, serving as his chief of staff since 2017 and as his campaign manager in 2016.

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ATTACHMENT FORTY SIX – FROM

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner Dies Following Trump Speech

Former Houston mayor had just taken office in January

By Olivia Beavers and Katy Stech Ferek Updated March 5, 2025 3:55 pm ET

WASHINGTON—Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Texas Democrat who was just sworn into the House in January after previously serving as mayor of Houston, died Wednesday.

Turner, 70 years old, sat in the House chamber Tuesday night for President Trump’s speech to the joint session of Congress. His family, in a statement reported by Houston media, said Turner was taken to the hospital after the speech and was later released. Then, early Wednesday morning, he died at his home from “enduring health complications.” The statement didn’t provide further details.

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Dem. politicians

ATTACHMENT FORTY SEVEN– FROM NBC

@dupe of 29?
Ronald Reagan is 'rolling in his grave,' Sen. Elissa Slotkin says in Democratic response to Trump

Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan also had harsh words for Elon Musk and warned that Trump's policies "could walk us right into a recession."

March 4, 2025, 11:55 PM EST / Updated March 5, 2025, 9:07 AM EST

By Henry J. Gomez

“After the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling in his grave,” Slotkin, referring to Trump’s unexpectedly contentious meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, said in her response to the joint address to Congress.

“As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s,” she added. “Trump would have lost us the Cold War.”

“If he’s not careful,” she said, “he could walk us right into a recession.”

Congress Musk and Republicans discuss package to vote on DOGE cuts as shutdown looms

Middle East Conflict Trump warns that death awaits Hamas leaders and Gazans if hostages aren't immediately released

Slotkin also had harsh words for Musk.

“We need a more efficient government,” she added. “You want to cut waste? I’ll help you do it. But change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe.”

She closed her speech with a call to action.

“Third: Organize. Pick just one issue you’re passionate about and engage, and doom-scrolling doesn’t count," she added. "Join a group that cares about your issue and act.”

Rep. politicians

ATTACHMENT FORTY EIGHT – FROM FOX

Trump earns largely positive speech reaction, but ejected Dem's behavior widely deemed inappropriate: CNN poll

Rep Al Green was kicked out of the chamber during President Donald Trump's address

By Alex Nitzberg , Paul Steinhauser Published March 5, 2025 12:13pm EST

Most people who watched President Donald Trump's primetime address to a joint session of Congress had a positive opinion of what he spelled out in his speech, according to snap polls.

Trump has been moving at warp speed since his Jan. 20 inauguration, and he used his Tuesday speech to deliver a full-throated defense of his avalanche of activity, while repeatedly targeting former President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats.

WATCH TRUMP'S FULL ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

The CNN poll noted that "a total of 431 adults nationwide were surveyed via text message."

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who was removed from the event for being disruptive, did not fare well in the court of public opinion.

CONSERVATIVES ERUPT WITH PRAISE ON SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER TRUMP'S SPEECH TO CONGRESS: ‘RUN THROUGH A WALL’

A whopping 80% found Green's behavior to be inappropriate, while just 20% felt it was appropriate, according to the CNN poll.

Trump's address came less than two months into his second term in office.

TRUMP DECLARES ‘AMERICA IS BACK' IN SPEECH BEFORE CONGRESS

However, while he is still chipping away at the early days of his new term, the president is a well-known figure who has been on the political scene for years.

He is now the second U.S. president to serve non-consecutive terms — the first was Grover Cleveland in the 19th century.

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

ATTACHMENT FORTY NINE – FROM CBS

Trump adviser Alina Habba says ousted veterans may not be "fit to have a job at this moment"

By Kathryn Watson, Caitlin Yilek, Sara Cook

Updated on: March 4, 2025 / 5:49 PM EST / CBS News

Counselor to the president Alina Habba on Tuesday said veterans who were let go from their federal jobs "perhaps" are "not fit to have a job at this moment or are not willing to come to work."

A reporter pointed out that some Democrats are bringing ousted federal workers to the president's joint address to Congress Tuesday night, including veterans who were let go from their jobs. The reporter asked if Mr. Trump is considering what the administration can do to help those veterans salvage their lives.

The number of veterans affected by the Trump administration's cuts to the federal workforce isn't yet clear. As of fiscal year 2021, about 30% of civil service employees were veterans, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

For Mr. Trump's joint address to Congress, Democratic Rep. Eric Sorenson of Illinois invited James Diaz, a disabled veteran who was laid off in February as a fuel compliance officer at the IRS. Diaz supports many of Mr. Trump's policies, according to Sorenson's office, but has been disappointed in how federal workers, especially veterans, have been treated during the president's overhaul of the government.

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ATTACHMENT FIFTY – FROM

ALSO FROM THE NEW YORK POST

Trump blasts Dems for never applauding him even if he cures ‘devastating’ disease, roasts Biden on failed prosecutions: ‘How’d that work out?’

By Josh Christenson, Victor Nava and David Propper Published March 4, 2025

Updated March 4, 2025, 10:52 p.m. ET

President Trump complained there’s “absolutely nothing” he could do to get Democrats to applaud his addresses to Congress during his Tuesday night speech — and then lashed out at his predecessor Joe Biden for the Justice Department’s criminal prosecutions against him.

President Trump criticized Democrats for never applauding him throughout his address to Congress Tuesday night.via REUTERS

Trump, dating back to his first term in office, has appeared in front of Congress five times – and each time has been met with a frosty reception from Dems.

“It’s very sad,” the commander in chief said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says US is 'prepared' to go to war with China over tariff threats

Frantic search for body after fiancée of '80s rocker falls overboard after argument

MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow blasted for politicizing Trump's honor of 13-year-old cancer survivor

“And it just shouldn’t be this way.”

Later in the speech, Trump referenced Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and again noted that the Dems weren’t clapping for the Kennedy scion.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was referenced in the President’s speech and took note that Dems did not clap for the Kennedy scion.via REUTERS

Trump also called out President Joe Biden and his administration for the Justice Department’s prosecutions against him.AP

Democrats in attendance also held up multiple signs, which included the phrases “ Medicaid” and “Musk Steals,” in reference to Elon Musk.via REUTERS

The line led to a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers in the US Capitol.

The cases were brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith, but were dropped after he beat Vice President Kamala Harris last November.

Liberal House Rep. Al Green, who represents the Houston area, was even booted after repeatedly interrupting Trump’s speech at the start of the address as he waved his cane and shouted at the president.

He was eventually booted by Sergeant-at-Arms at the request of House Speaker Mike Johnson.

A handful of Democrats later left the House chamber on their own as Trump announced cost savings within the federal government.

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Media

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ATTACHMENT FIFTY ONE – FROM

FROM THE NEW YORK POST

Trump’s speech has Americans dreaming — leaving Dems reeling

By Post Editorial Board

Published March 5, 2025, 12:24 a.m. ET

906 Comments

It set a record as the longest-ever presidential address to Congress, but it never lagged: President Trump delivered a tour de force Tuesday night, putting a coherent and reassuring frame on his insanely busy first weeks in office even as he made viewers laugh and cry — finishing up with an inspiring crescendo from the successes of America’s past and present to his promised new Golden Age.

Democrats came off as hopelessly churlish, from Rep. Al Green’s indecorous ranting before his ejection to the pathetic round protest signs they held up all speech long to their insistence on sitting on their hands even for the most uplifting moments.

Moments like young cancer survivor D.J. Daniel learning he’d just been made an honorary Secret Service agent, or high-schooler Jason Hartley finding out he’d been accepted to West Point — with DJ rushing over in the gallery to shake his hand in congratulations.

ATTACHMENT FIFTY TWO – FROM USA TODAY

Trump slays Democrats in speech: 'All we really needed was a new president' Opinion

President Donald Trump was in control and confident in contrast with Democrats in the chamber, who came off as unhinged and pathetic.

By Ingrid Jacques

In a social media post ahead of his joint address to Congress, President Donald Trump proclaimed in his characteristic all-caps, “I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!”

And for the most part, he did Tuesday night.

One member, Rep. Al Green of Texas, was removed early on for continually interrupting the president’s speech while waving his cane. Other Democrats waved little black paddles with various anti-Trump messages. It just made them look silly.

Trump’s speech – not a typical State of the Union, since he started a second nonconsecutive term only in January – focused on the “unlimited promise of the American dream.”

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

“We’re just getting started,” Trump said, touting his “swift and unrelenting action.”

Indeed, Trump has not wasted time moving on his agenda this time around, and he laid out what he sees as his top accomplishments. The president so far has taken action largely through executive orders, and Trump now needs to get Congress on board with bigger priorities, from extending tax cuts to passing additional border security funding.

As Trump has acknowledged, voters chose him in November because they believed he was the best choice to address their top concerns: securing the border and lowering prices.

When it comes to the border, Trump’s immediate steps to reduce illegal entry into the U.S. are already paying off big time. One of Trump's standout lines during his speech was when he said, "It turned out that all we really needed was a new president" in response to how former President Joe Biden and Democrats complained they needed legislation to tackle soaring illegal immigration.

It was a heartbreaking and heartfelt moment.

Biden bungled the economy; Trump makes a gamble on tariffs

With the economy, Trump is on slightly shakier ground. On the campaign trail last year, he promised lower prices on “Day 1,” which was a promise he should never have made.

The new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, which took effect right before his speech, are harder to defend. The American people are increasingly concerned about the consequences that these taxes on imported goods will have – and for good reason.

To Trump’s credit, however, he did campaign openly on using tariffs to keep more jobs in the U.S. and level the playing field when it comes to trade, so voters knew what they were supporting. Trump also uses tariffs as a negotiating tool, so it’s possible some of the new ones won’t last long.

Regardless, with high prices already top of mind for many Americans, this seems like a bad time to gamble with the rollout of tariffs.

Opinion: Trump is waging war against DEI in schools. New incidents show why he's right.

Democrats still embrace identity politics and losing cultural issues

It’s a deeply unpopular issue, and Trump was smart to campaign on it. He’s followed through with executive orders protecting women and girls.

On Monday, though, Senate Democrats – all 45 of them who showed up – voted against advancing a bill that would offer the same protections in women’s sports.

In contrast, Trump invited Payton McNabb as a guest to his speech. She is a former high school volleyball player who suffered a severe injury playing against a transgender athlete.

Opinion: Trump is winning for women and girls by preserving Title IX's original intent

Meanwhile, Democrats in attendance proved their continued fealty to identity politics. Many in the Democratic Women’s Caucus showed up wearing pink, in “protest” of Trump.

Slotkin narrowly defeated Republican candidate former Rep. Mike Rogers by outperforming Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris. She has an ability to appeal to a broad base of voters and comes across as a moderate, and that's what she did following Trump's speech.

“I personally think that identity politics needs to go the way of the dodo,” Slotkin told NBC News after her victory last year. “People need to be looked at as independent Americans.”

Trump, meanwhile, looked like a leader the entirety of his nearly two-hour speech.

“We will never let anything happen to our beloved country,” he said. “Get ready for an incredible future.”

I’m with him 100% on that.

ATTACHMENT FIFTY THREE – FROM

FOX

Democrats confronted over refusal to cheer during Trump address: 'Why didn't you stand?'

“Jesse Watters Primetime" tracks down Elizabeth Warren, Adam Schiff, Ilhan Omar and others on Capitol Hill

By Madison Colombo Published March 8, 2025 5:00am EST

Johnny tracks down Democrats on Capitol Hill: What can Trump do to make you clap?

'Jesse Watters Primetime' catches up with Democrats to ask about President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress.

Democratic lawmakers faced criticism this week for their behavior during President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress. Their protests, refusal to clap at key moments, and subsequent comments drew criticism from Republicans and from some in their own party.

"Jesse Watters Primetime" producer Johnny Belisario traveled to Capitol Hill to track down Democratic lawmakers and ask why they refused to stand and clap for the nonpartisan moments in the address.

"You didn't stand up for anything," Belisario noted to New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

"The president got before the American people and didn’t talk about how he could drive down grocery prices," Booker responded.

Other Democratic lawmakers expressed frustration that Trump failed to address issues they felt were important.

When asked why she didn’t applaud for certain guests at the speech, including the mother of slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren refused to answer.

"I did clap, when he said that the United States has supported Ukraine," Warren said.

However, when pressed on why she did not clap for Riley’s mother, she declined to respond.

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman acknowledged that some Democratic protests during the speech may not have been well-received.

"I don’t think that was the best look for our party last night," he admitted.

In addition to Riley's family, Trump also honored a 13-year-old brain cancer survivor with a Secret Service badge, applauded first lady Melania Trump's work against deepfake and revenge porn and announced a high school student's acceptance into West Point. The moments did not trigger standing ovations from Democrats.

MODERATES REVEAL WHY THEY DIDN'T JOIN FELLOW DEMS TO CENSURE AL GREEN

One of the most notable moments of the evening came when Texas Congressman Al Green was removed from the chamber following an outburst on the House floor. His actions led to a censure by House lawmakers, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans to vote for the punishment.

Belisario went to Green's office, but said he was "shooed away" by staff. He also could not locate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., but added a note to her office door.

Beyond vocal protests, some Democrats engaged in more subtle forms of dissent during the speech. Lawmakers held up paddles with messages criticizing Trump’s policies, including signs reading " Medicaid" and "Musk Steals."

Even late-night host Stephen Colbert, whose show often aligns with liberal viewpoints, mocked the paddle protest, holding up his own sign that read, "Try doing something."

DEMOCRATS PRIVATELY REBUKE PARTY MEMBERS WHO JEERED TRUMP DURING SPEECH TO CONGRESS: REPORT

California Rep. Adam Schiff dismissed the president’s speech entirely, declining to comment on the lack of applause for Riley's mother.

"There was nothing the president had to say that was either factual or truthful," Schiff said.

Meanwhile, a CBS News survey found that 76% of viewers, who were primarily Republican, approved of Trump’s speech, citing his focus on reducing government waste, imposing tariffs, and securing the border.

When asked about the survey results, Schiff remained skeptical.

"I don’t know what speech they were watching…it really wasn’t worth watching," he said.

Belisario tracked down Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as she walked to an elevator.

"You need to get away from me," the congresswoman told him, as the door shut.

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ATTACHMENT FIFTY FOUR – FROM GUK

Trump turns Congress speech into a sordid campaign rally, igniting a Democrat fightback

In a long and menacing – but also boring – speech to Congress, Trump mocked his opponents. Across the aisle the resistance was stirring

By David Smith in Washington Wed 5 Mar 2025 01.55 EST

Well, at least he didn’t give a Nazi salute, declare war on Canada or pull the plug on Nato. You never know these days. But this was the night that Donald Trump finally turned the once reverential occasion of a speech to Congress into just another sordid campaign rally.

Deigning to address the branch of government he has so comprehensively sidelined in his first six weeks in office, Trump went off script and went long (a record 100 minutes). He lied, he weaved, demonised immigrants, he sold his economy as the greatest ever, he played the victim, he praised Elon Musk, he lambasted Joe Biden, he repeated himself and he lied some more.

And how Republican senators and representatives lapped it all up. They leaped to their feet countless times, clapping and cheering, shouting, “Yes!” and “Thank you!”, chanting, “USA! USA! USA!” and “Trump! Trump! Trump!” and “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Among them was congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, sporting a red “Trump was right about everything” cap and clutching a mini-Stars and Stripes as if listening to him in a sports arena on the campaign trail.

Trump declares administration ‘just getting started’ in address to Congress

But this was a Trump rally with a difference, putting all the tensions and faultlines and sickness of the American body politic on full display. Half the chamber was made up of Democrats, forced to sit and have their noses rubbed in the dirt like Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at last week’s Oval Office shakedown.

They looked grim, they looked glum, they looked as if they were reliving the 5 November election nightmare all over again. More than a dozen Democratic women wore pink in protest. When Trump entered, the Democrat Melanie Stansbury held up a sign that said, “This is NOT Normal,” until the Republican Lance Gooden grabbed the sign out of her hand and tossed it in the air.

Once Trump got going, several Democrats held up round black signs that said, “Protect veterans”, “ Medicaid” and “Musk steals”, and when flipped around, the signs said “False” on the back, so they could factcheck Trump instantly (those arms must have got tired).

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib began with a piece of paper on which “That’s a lie” was handwritten but later upgraded to a mini-white board that said at various points: “That’s a lie!”, “You cut cancer research”, “What about the immigrants that worked for you?”, and “Cut Elon, NOT Social Security.”

Congressman Al Green removed from Trump address after heckling president

Most spectacularly, when Trump began his speech by declaring that the presidential election of 5 November “was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades,”Republicans quickly jumped to their feet with chants of “USA! USA!”, while congressman Al Green rose, cane aloft, and shouted, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!”, prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson to order the House serjeant at arms to escort him from the chamber. Republicans cheered and shouted “Get out!” and “Na na na na ... goodbye!”

‘It’s a lie!’ shout Democrats

Then he whined: “I look at the Democrats in front of me and I realise there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud – nothing I can do.

“I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history, or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded, and these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.”

Democratic senator says democracy ‘at risk’ in rebuttal to Trump address

Poor unloved, unappreciated Donald. But Speaker Johnson and vice-president JD Vance giggled like mischievous schoolboys. Republicans again stood to applaud and Democrats remain riveted to their seats in silence.

The president went on to trumpet his “department of government efficiency” and all heads turned to look at Elon Musk, wearing a suit, in the public gallery. Republicans again hollered in praise as Musk, nodding and saluting, milked it for all it was worth.

But later, when Trump declared that “the days of being ruled by unelected bureaucrats is over”, some Democrats laughed, stood up and pointed at the tech oligarch who is taking a chainsaw to the federal government.

Just as at a rally, Trump did the weave, talking at length about illegal immigration and transgender children, then circling back later to do it all again. Congressman Jamie Raskin could be seen making a looping gesture as if to say: this is getting repetitive.

An exultant, ego-driven Trump boasted: “The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation, we must have legislation to secure the border. But it turned that all we really needed was a new president.”

Among the senators, Chuck Schumer stared down at his phone. Dick Durbin looked bewildered. Amy Klobuchar grimaced. Cory Booker seemed crestfallen – his belief in the better angels of our nature had been mugged by reality.

As the night wore on, several Democrats walked out in protest, some revealing shirts that read “Resist” on the back. One shirt said, “No kings live here”; another said, “President Musk”.

The clashes continued. When Trump repeated a false claim that millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving social security payments, Democrats shouted, “It’s a lie!”

When Trump admitted “there will be a little disturbance” from tariffs but “we’re OK with that”, a Democrat objected: “No, we’re not!” A Republican retorted loudly: “We’re good, we’re good.”

When Trump declared “we are also once again giving our police officers the support, protection and respect they so dearly deserve”, several Democrats yelled back, “January 6!”

When Trump said the US needs Greenland for national security, adding that “One way or the other, we’re gonna get it,” a Democrat shouted, “Not a king!”

But when, with British ambassador Peter Mandelson looking on, the president remarked on how the US had sent billions of military aid to Ukraine, it was Democrats who started clapping, while the party of cold war warrior Ronald Reagan sat on its hands.

Trump asked sarcastically: “You want to keep it going another five years?” Then he spotted Senator Elizabeth Warren and said mockingly, “Yeah, Pocahontas says yes.” Warren fought hard to retain a cold smile as she continued to applaud.

Yet still Trump kept going, delivering a speech that somehow managed to be both menacing and boring at the same time, spending less than two minutes on inflation and prices, the issue that was arguably central to his election. At one point there was even a yawn on the Republican side from congresswoman Nancy Mace. People have been primaried for less.

By then the Democrats had bolted for the door, having metaphorically done what Nancy Pelosi did five years ago when she tore up Trump’s speech in this chamber. They had given hope to the resistance and shown the world what they are against. Now can they show the world what they are for?

ATTACHMENT FIFTY FIVE – FROM

THE NATION

Project 2025 in the Original German

Project 2025 in the Original German: How Nazi family policies seem to be the model for Trump's abortion playbook.

By REBECCA DONNER Oct 30, 2024

Halloween eve!

All fascist regimes seek to control women’s bodies.

As we careen toward the 2024 presidential election, let’s focus on one irrefutable fact: 13 states have banned abortion. This trend shows no sign of slowing down. Women who are victims of incest or rape can’t get an abortion in nine states. The Heritage Foundation supports even more extensive restrictions in Project 2025. Of course, control of reproductive choices was a central tenet of authoritarian regimes, including Mussolini’s Italy and Stalin’s Soviet Union. It was also one of the first pages of the Nazi playbook, constituting a conservative backlash to the significant gains women in Germany had made in education, employment, and sexual independence over the previous decade.

Women’s clinics—which provided abortion services and birth control—were shut down.

In an impassioned speech, Hitler criticized “women’s emancipation”: “We do not think it proper for woman to invade the world of man, to enter his territory; instead, we think it natural for these worlds to remain separate.” Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels echoed this idea in a speech of his own: “The first, best, and most suitable place for the woman is in the family, and her most glorious duty is to bear children.”

Nazi policies encouraged a return to traditional gender roles by incentivizing women to abandon their careers. Under the terms of the 1933 Law for the Encouragement of Marriage, couples could receive a government loan of 1,000 Reichsmark if an employed wife quit her job. If she bore no children, the couple was required to pay back the full amount. If she gave birth to one baby, the couple received a credit of 250 Reichsmark; if she gave birth to two babies, 500 Reichsmark; if she gave birth to three, 750 Reichsmark. The entire loan was forgiven the day she had her fourth baby. Nazi propaganda fetishized the farmer’s wife as the feminine ideal. Images of young, blond women in peasant garb cradling babies proliferated in posters, magazines, and newspapers. “German men want real German women again,” asserted a 1933 Nazi handbook.

Abortion legislation in Nazi Germany unquestionably reflected a deeply misogynistic ideology. The pronatalist agenda underpinning the legislation was also unquestionably racist. Alarmed by the declining birth rate in Germany, Hitler and his lackeys believed that only “racially pure” women belonging to the so-called Aryan race should have babies. Abortion was permitted for Jews.

Project 2025 calls for the implementation of a national surveillance program overseen by the US Department of Health and Human Services to track women in all 50 states who seek abortions. “HHS should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method.” Every state would also be required to submit data on spontaneous miscarriages, stillbirths, and induced abortions and “ensure that statistics are separated by category.” This language is alarmingly reminiscent of a mandate implemented by the Nazi regime in 1935, which required hospitals to submit detailed reports of every premature birth, miscarriage, and pregnancy termination. Gestapo files bulged with the names, addresses, and occupations of women suspected of aborting their fetuses, the dates of their procedures, and the instruments used to perform them.

In 1940, SS chief Heinrich Himmler was dismayed by a report that an estimated 600,000 illegal abortions were performed in Germany annually. Surveillance efforts intensified. Prison sentences lengthened. The 1943 Law on Protection of Marriage, Family, and Motherhood instituted the death penalty for doctors and anyone else who dared to perform an abortion. Still, women continued to terminate their pregnancies.

The same holds true in the United States today. In spite of abortion bans across the country, over 1 million abortions were performed in 2023, an increase of 11 percent since 2020.

ATTACHMENT FIFTY SIX – FROM

THE HILL

Project 2025: You can’t say Trump didn’t warn us

by Bill Press, opinion contributor - 03/11/25 7:30 AM ET

Someday presidential historians will have a field day trying to decide what was the biggest lie Donald Trump told during his romp across the American political landscape. Their challenge will be to decide, out of tens of thousands of lies — 30,573 in his first term alone, according to the Washington Post — which was the biggest whopper?

Among the front-runners: He would have won the popular vote in 2016 if illegal votes hadn’t been counted. He didn’t know anything about Russian interference in the 2016 election. He didn’t know that fixer Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money. The crowd at his first inaugural was the biggest ever. His first-term marked the best economy in history. Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. And, of course, he won the 2020 election.

None of which is true. But none of them tops the lie that’s most relevant today: that he knew nothing about Project 2025. That lie alone is worthy of four Pinocchios.

Project 2025 is the 922-page blueprint for a second Trump administration prepared by the conservative Heritage Foundation and published in April 2023. As soon as it was made public, however, then-candidate Trump tried to distance himself from it. “I know nothing about Project 2025,” he wrote in a post on his Truth Social network last July. “I have no idea who is behind it.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire! Trump’s professed innocence is manifestly false. He was in on Project 2025 from the start. At a 2022 Heritage Foundation dinner, Trump thanked the organization for preparing the report, saying it was “going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do…when the American people give us a colossal mandate.” And he knew well the people behind it.

CNN identified at least 140 authors and contributors to Project 2025 who had worked in the first Trump administration, including six of his Cabinet secretaries. Christopher Miller, acting Defense secretary for the last month of Trump’s first term, wrote the report’s chapter on defense. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn, former OMB director Russ Vought and top Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli, among others, wrote chapters. In essence, Project 2025 consisted of officials of Trump One, with Trump’s full blessing, laying out the road map for Trump Two.

And that’s exactly what we’re seeing today. The moment Trump was sworn in, Project 2025 kicked into high gear. Time magazine reported that two-thirds of the executive orders signed by Trump in his first week mirrored or partially mirrored proposals from Project 2025. Not only that, but Trump has also facilitated Project 2025’s implementation by naming scores of its contributors to top positions in his administration, including OMB Director Russell Vought, FCC Chair Brendan Carr, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

They wrote Project 2025. Now they and President Trump are carrying it out. In fact, I’d bet that somewhere near the Oval Office there’s a white board with a list of all the recommendations contained in Project 2025 — and every time President Trump signs another executive order, Stephen Miller picks up his Sharpie and adds another checkmark on the board. He’s been busy so far.

In the last month, actions taken or proposed by President Trump right out of the pages of Project 2025 include: Sending troops to the border. Check. Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization. Check. Shutting down the Department of Education. Check. Gutting the Environmental Protection Agency. Check. Getting rid of any program promoting diversity, equality or inclusion. Check. Eliminating the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Check. Imposing tariffs on major trading partners. Check.

Overall, Trump’s actions have followed the three most important recommendations of Project 2025. First, that a new president must move fast; in his first month, Trump signed close to 100 executive orders. Second, that a president must expand the powers of the presidency; Trump declared that Article Two of the Constitution gives him “the right to do whatever I want as president.” Three, that a president must have the “boldness to break the bureaucracy” by firing career civil servants who are not MAGA loyalists; as of Feb. 25, Trump had already fired about 30,000 federal employees.

Trump hit the ground running — but only because the Project 2025 team wrote it all out for him. And Democrats can only sigh and say: “I told you so.”

ATTACHMENT FIFTY SEVEN – FROM

THE HUFFINGTON POST

Trump Delivers Gloating, Grievance-Filled Speech Hours After Sending Economy Reeling

The joint address to Congress was packed with the lies and grievances of his rally speeches, and barely acknowledged the economic chaos he is causing.

By S.V. Date Mar 4, 2025, 11:44 PM EST

WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump made his triumphal return to the House chambers Tuesday with an angry campaign-style speech packed with lies and personal grievances, vilifying his predecessor in the White House and Democratic members of Congress, all while downplaying threats to the economy his policies are already creating.

On a day that his new 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada sent the markets reeling, Trump barely acknowledged the concerns.

“There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that,” he said. “It won’t be much.”

He lied about the state of the economy on the day of his return to office: “We inherited from the previous administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”

He blamed the current price of eggs on the former president: “Joe Biden, especially, let the price of eggs get out of control.”

He went through his familiar litany of absurdly old people on the Social Security rolls: “1.3 million people from ages 150 to 159.”

In fact, Biden’s economy was enjoying steady growth and inflation had come down to under 3% annually ― a “soft landing” from the pandemic that many economists thought would be impossible.

Egg prices have spiked since Trump took office, largely because of the spread of bird flu infecting chicken flocks.

He once more repeated his lie that the United States has spent $350 billion to support Ukraine to fight Russia compared to $100 million from western Europe, even though the actual numbers are $204 billion from Europe and $183 billion from the United States. The vast majority of the American aid, further, was in the form of old military stock that is now being replaced by American workers in American factories.

“Our country will be woke no longer,” he said.

In truth, Trump was investigated and charged by federal prosecutors for his actions leading up to and on his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt, and his refusal to turn over secret documents he took with him to his South Florida country club.

Trump’s last address before Congress came in February 2020, the day before the Republican-led Senate chose not to remove him from office after his impeachment for having tried to extort Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy into announcing an investigation into then-Democratic challenger Joe Biden, and just before a month before the COVID pandemic shut down the country. That speech was relatively muted in tone, but still packed with lies, and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded by tearing up the copy of the speech Trump had presented to her before he began.

ATTACHMENT FIFTY EIGHT – FROM

NY TIMES

Opinion

An Angry Little Boy on a Great White Horse

David Brooks March 6, 2025, 5:00 p.m. ET

As Jonathan Rauch noted recently in The Atlantic, democracy is built upon institutions, agencies and Constitutions that transcend one person. But Trump practices “patrimonialism.” He acts as if he is the nation’s all-powerful father. The state is an extended household. He treats government as his own personal property, his own family business. Everything revolves around him.

There was very little of that spirit out of Trump’s mouth on Tuesday night.

Polls

ATTACHMENT FIFTY NINE – FROM

THE DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE (ROCHESTER, NY)

Donald Trump’s approval ratings after speech to Congress: Here's what the latest polls say

Victoria E. Freile

President Donald Trump's approval ratings held steady during his first month in office, despite the chaotic start that included mass firings of federal workers, a flurry of executive actions, confrontation with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and rising tariffs that went into effect before Tuesday's address to Congress.

But how has Trump fared after his first presidential address before lawmakers in his second term in office?

An ABC News project 538 poll found that Trump's approval rating nudged down slightly from 47.8% on Monday to 47.6% on Tuesday, according to its update as of 11:56 p.m. Tuesday. In the same poll, Vice President JD Vance's approval rating held steady at 40.8%

Americans' views on Congress showed an increased approval from 27.8% to 28.6% and disapproval rating edging from 54.4% to 54.1%, according to the ABC News project 538 poll.

What did the CNN, CBS polls say on Trump’s speech? See several findings

A CNN poll was conducted on Tuesday by SSRS, an independent research company.

Among what the CNN poll found was:

· 69% of those surveyed had a positive reaction to Trump’s speech

· 66% said that Trump's proposed policies will move the country in the right direction.

· 76% said that Trump's proposed on immigration will move the country in the right direction.

· 56% said that Trump's proposed on tariffs will move the country in the right direction.

Here are some of the findings of the CBS News poll following Tuesday's speech, noting that viewership was heavily Republican (historically, the president's party draws more viewers):

· 58% said they strongly approved of the president’s speech.

· 68% said they think Trump has a clear plan to deal with inflation, regardless of whether they agree with it or not.

· 65% said they liked Trump’s tariff plans in his speech, while 77% said they liked the president’s plans for immigration, the border, and government spending waste.

Donald Trump's approval rating so far

According to the most recent Gallup poll, Trump's job approval rating was averaging 46% since he returned to the White House in January. His first term overall average yielded a 41% approval rating. Thus far in his two terms, Trump's approval ratings have ranged between 34% and 49%.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll reported that 44% of those surveyed gave President Trump a favorable approval rating of his first month performance in office. There's also reporting that public approval of his current job so far has remained higher than his first term in office and higher than former President Joe Biden overall.

The Reuters poll broke down a 47% favorability rating on his approach over immigration, compared to 42% that did not support his immigration policy.

What goes into a president’s approval rating?

A president’s approval rating reflects the percentage of Americans who approve of their job performance. Factors influencing approval include legislation, executive actions, and elections. According to ABC News, approval ratings not only gauge public sentiment but can also impact election outcomes and a president’s ability to push policies through Congress.

Future

Dems

ATTACHMENT SIXTY – FROM

FOX

Democrats turn on each other over Trump address stunts

Democratic establishment, progressives clash on party direction, messaging after Trump's congressional address

By Danielle Wallace Published March 6, 2025 8:18am EST

Democrats displayed their internal party divisions in the wake of President Donald Trump's first address to Congress.

"People are pissed at leadership too," one senior House Democrat told Axios. "Everyone is mad at everyone."

Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y., told Axios he believed the outbursts were "inappropriate."

"When a president — my president, your president — is speaking, we don't interrupt, we don't pull those stunts," he said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, escorted out of the chamber after the Democrat repeatedly jeered at Trump, waving his cane during the speech. Some Democrats had warned their colleagues against protesting Trump, with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying they should let him "stew in his own juice."

A centrist, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, told Axios, "I didn't take that approach myself, so obviously I don't condone it."

"If anyone is thinking that it was an effective strategy, they're probably in an echo chamber," Golden added. "My take is that the average American thought the optics were pretty bad.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., took to X to condemn the "sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance."

'HE'S BACK': TRUMP'S JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS TO BE BLANKETED WITH 6-FIGURE AD BUY TOUTING TAX PLAN

"I don't think that's the way forward," Fetterman added to Axios.

"Not standing for Trump would have been a fine strategy, but you need to separate him from the kid with cancer," another centrist House Democrat told Axios, condemning his party's messaging.

Democratic members of Congress hold up signs reading " Medicaid" and "Protect Veterans" as President Donald Trump speaks on March 4, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

"It would be a compliment to call it a strategy," the lawmaker added, noting the progressives' signs were edited online to read "TDS," referring to the term known as "Trump Derangement Syndrome."

Progressives, meanwhile, argued that a lack of direction from leadership forced them to develop their own approach.

"There was definitely frustration about lack of guidance [or a] plan," one progressive member of Congress told Axios.

"People are super pissed that we didn't get more direction from leadership," another progressive added.

Reps

Lawyers

ATTACHMENT SIXTY ONE – FROM

NPR @moved

ATTACHMENT SIXTY TWO – FROM

FOX

Dems throw House into chaos after 10 moderates join GOP to punish Al Green

Green stood by his actions during Trump's speech to Congress, which he said were taken with 'intentionality'

By Elizabeth Elkind , Ryan Schmelz Fox News

Published March 6, 2025 10:31am EST

House lawmakers have voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, after he was thrown out of President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

Ten Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the measure. Green himself voted "present," along with first-term Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala.

Republicans raced to introduce competing resolutions to censure Green on Wednesday, with three separate texts being drafted within hours of each other.

But Newhouse took to the House floor on Wednesday afternoon to deem his resolution "privileged," a maneuver forcing House leaders to take up a bill within two legislative days.

A bid by House Democrats to block the resolution from getting a vote failed on Wednesday. Green himself voted "present."

The 77-year-old Democrat was removed from Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday night after repeatedly disrupting the beginning of the president's speech.

He shouted, "You have no mandate!" at Trump as he touted Republican victories in the House, Senate and White House.

Johnson had Green removed by the U.S. Sergeant-at-Arms.

The House speaker publicly challenged Democrats to vote with Republicans in favor of the censure on Thursday.

Green, who shook Newhouse's hand before speaking out during debate on his own censure, stood by his actions on Wednesday.

"I heard the speaker when he said that I should cease. I did not, and I did not with intentionality. It was not done out of a burst of emotion," Green said.

Other recent lawmakers censured on the House floor have been Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

ATTACHMENT SIXTY THREE – FROM

NBC

House votes to censure Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump's speech to Congress

The vote was 224-198, with 10 Democrats joining all Republicans in approving the resolution.

March 6, 2025, 10:33 AM EST / Updated March 6, 2025, 12:43 PM EST

By Kyle Stewart and Scott Wong

WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday.

After the vote, as the resolution required of him, Green stood in the well of the House chamber while Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., read the censure resolution to him.

Republicans in the chamber yelled, "Order! Order!" And two CBC members, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, shot back: “Shame on you!"

Democrats ignored the speaker's request, and Johnson then recessed the House.

The censure against Green was introduced by Rep. Dan Newhouse R-Wash. A Democratic effort to table the censure resolution was rejected Wednesday in a 209-211 vote.

A censure is a formal way for the House to express disapproval of a member’s conduct. A censured member does not lose any rights or privileges as a House member.

The matter, however, might not be closed. The far-right House Freedom Caucus, who had been racing to introduce their own resolution to censure Green, said after the vote its members plan to roll out another resolution seeking to remove Green from the House Financial Services Committee. The group said on X it expects Johnson to bring the resolution to the floor next week.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was removed from the House chamber after disrupting President Donald Trump's speech to Congress.Win McNamee / Getty Images

While Democrats engaged in both silent and sometimes vocal protests of Trump during his long address to a joint session of Congress this week, Green took things a step further.

Johnson banged the gavel and gave several warnings to Green, but the congressman refused to sit down or be quiet. Johnson then instructed the sergeant-at-arms to remove Green from the chamber.

He did not resist and walked out of the room as Republicans chanted in unison, "Na-nah, na-na-nah-na ... goodbye!"

Green said Wednesday that he had the "privilege of going to jail" with the late Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, the civil rights icon who Green said taught him the importance of peaceful protest.

"I did it from my heart and I will suffer whatever the consequences are," he added. "But truthfully, I would do it again."

Article I of the Constitution gives both the House and Senate the authority to determine how to “punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour.” The House first censured a representative in 1832 for insulting the House speaker. In the decades since, members have been censured for offenses such as using unparliamentary language in floor debate, corruption and even committing assault on the House floor.

Green is the 28th member of the House to be censured.

The last House member to be censured was another progressive Black Caucus member, then-Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., on Dec. 7, 2023. He was censured for pulling a fire alarm in a Capitol office building when there was no fire or other emergency; Bowman was ousted last year in the Democratic primary and has insisted pulling the alarm was an accident.

A month earlier, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the first Palestinian American woman elected to Congress, was censured for comments she made about the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.

The last Republican censured was Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar in 2021 after he posted an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and attacking President Joe Biden.

X76 dupe

ATTACHMENT SIXTY FOUR – FROM

TIME