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If I have learned anything penning this daily column for the last six months, it’s that there are two things that elicit the most angry emails: any criticism of Zelensky and even the most tepid praise of Musk. People have really strong feelings about those two men.
Speaking of Elon, both the NYT and WSJ are reporting this morning that he has asked for, and been granted, a briefing on the top-secret U.S. military plans for war with China. The White House is pushing back hard on that story, which suggests it’s probably true. Why would he need to be briefed on that? Isn’t it a major conflict of interest given his extensive business interests in China? Let’s see how this plays out; he’s supposed to be at the Pentagon today.
Meanwhile, President Trump signed his long-awaited executive order to begin dismantling the Education Department (ED, not DoE as I previously abbreviated it). I have only so much outrage in me, and I am choosing not to use it for this. He can’t actually get rid of the ED without Congress and even if he did… what, are our tenth graders going to go from 37th in mathematics to 40th? If ever there were an entrenched system badly in need of Trumpian slash-and-burn disruption, it’s American public education. If it turns out the ED was holding together the entire public school system with spit and glue? Well, the next time a Democrat accidentally finds themselves in the White House, they can bring it back.
Here’s where I am getting increasingly outraged: the trampling of the First Amendment and due process rights by this administration when it comes to people who are not American citizens. This Mahmoud Khalil fellow is still in jail, and has still not been charged with a crime. We’re deporting suspected gang members based on nothing but their tattoos—and some of these guys are disappearing into that supermax hellhole in El Salvador, a country where they aren’t even from. I appreciate many of these people may actually be violent gang members, and once a judge determines as much—send ’em packing! But there is a growing body of reporting, including this must-read story from my colleague Jesus Mesa, suggesting non-criminals are being swept up in this, too.
The administration is also using a new AI tool to scrape social media to find non citizens “who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups.” Who appear to support Hamas. So if you’re here as a legal permanent resident and you dare to criticize Israel for its conduct in Gaza, you could be targeted for deportation under this flimsy-ass standard. Federal agents are going through people’s phones, going into homes without a warrant, under the fig leaf of this 230-year-old Alien Enemies Act. This stuff is right out of Minority Report. It is dystopian and, yes, anti-American. And for those of you who are going to write in today that Trump is “throwing out all the terrorists!”… you have totally lost the plot regarding a bedrock principle of what makes this country special.
These moves are coming from a party that pretends to be this great defender of free speech. Spare me, they’re the defenders of speech they agree with. The whole point, as we have discussed here, about free speech protections is that they protect even those you detest. Next time you see JD Vance lecturing some other country about censorship, remember he is part of an administration that is quite literally dismantling the 1A as it pertains to millions of people who live in the so-called “land of the free.” Have a good weekend.
As President Donald Trump seeks to assert U.S. influence across the globe by implementing stiff tariffs and threatening to seize the Panama Canal, his first economically motivated hot war looms in the turbulent seas off Yemen. With Trump now threatening Iran directly over its Yemeni ally’s actions, the conditions for the kind of conflict that the U.S. leader had vowed to avoid appear to be ripe. But it’s not a war that’s inevitable, nor, according to some observers, advisable, considering the level of resources it may expend for an uncertain outcome. Read more from Newsweek’s Tom O’Connor.
Also happening:
Education Department cuts: Sitting at a desk in front of over a dozen young students, President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Thursday to begin dismantling the Department of Education “once and for all.” The order would spare some programs deemed critical by the administration, though completely abolishing the DOE will require congressional approval. Read more.Is Tesla the new Bud Light?: A brand image tarnished, a customer base alienated and boycotts taking their toll on the car maker’s bottom line can be listed among Tesla’s current woes, but it isn’t the first company to navigate such a situation. Swapping low-calorie beer for electric vehicles, and “woke” social media promotions with a CEO’s full-throated endorsement of a Republican president, the stories of Tesla and Bud Light-owner Anheuser-Busch read largely the same. Read more.Trump’s directive to Roberts: President Donald Trump issued a firm directive to the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday over what he described as “unlawful nationwide injunctions by radical left judges.” The administration is contending with several significant legal setbacks that challenge its policy initiatives, including the recent deportation of more than 200 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador. Read more.Musk threatens Pentagon leakers: Elon Musk threatened Pentagon staff who leaked what he called “false information” to the New York Times over a story saying he will receive a briefing about highly sensitive American military plans for any potential war with China. Here’s what we know.Republicans’ next target—California: After making gains in almost every state in the 2024 elections, Republicans are now setting their sights on a new battleground: the Golden State. Amid the GOP’s recent success in the state, the California Republican Party is now seeking to capitalize on that momentum and break the Democratic supermajority, California Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones told Newsweek. Read more.
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