Week 68 - The Return
Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you'll remember.
This week Trump went into his State of the Union down in the polls, with 7 in 10 Americans saying he was not focused on the right things, and after a stunning Supreme Court defeat to his tariffs, which were the centerpiece not only of his economic agenda, but also his foreign policy. The speech was an opportunity to right the ship, offer solutions and a new path forward. Instead, in the longest SOTU on record, Trump held what amounted to a campaign rally filled with partisan attacks, and an endless stream of false and misleading statements, but almost no policy or solutions. As the WSJ Editorial Board put it, “The main political news is that the GOP Congress won’t do much this year.”
In the never ending fire hose of news, two items stood out this week: Trump’s Justice Department removed Epstein files about Trump’s possible sexual assault of a teenager, who was interviewed by the FBI four times; and the Pentagon’s efforts to intimidate artificial intelligence company Anthropic into letting the regime use its intelligence model Claude for surveillance of the American people. Both storylines deserve a lot more attention than they received this week, in the ceaseless and exhausting chaos.
Whistleblowers came forward this week to address Congress on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s pared-down and “deficient, defective and broken” training curriculum, as well as FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal use of government planes, and its role in delaying investigations. The Justice Department hung a huge banner of Trump at its headquarters, a startling breakdown of the traditional boundaries between the DOJ and White House. The Department of Health of Human Services continues to be in disarray and decline.
This week had more cruel, heartbreaking stories about ICE, as well as the regime lawyers who have taken to blatantly disregarding court orders. Also, more stories of the quid pro quo by Trump and his regime. Another long list that I encourage you to read in full, and to not normalize any of it!
On Wednesday, FCC Chair Brendan Carr dismissed the uproar over CBS not airing an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on Colbert’s show, calling it a “hoax,” and claiming “there was a clear path forward” for airing the interview.
Carr also confirmed that the FCC had launched an investigation of ABC’s “The View” for airing an interview with Talarico.
The Department of Justice hung a large banner of Trump, with a lower border saying “Make America Safe Again” in capital letters, at its headquarters, another sign of how Trump had eroded the separation between the DOJ and the White House.
A newly released Federal Election Commission report showed billionaire Matt Moroun donated $1 million to Trump’s super PAC MAGA Inc. less than a month before Trump threatened to block the opening of a span of bridge between Detroit and Canada in Week 66.
On Wednesday, members of the Georgia State Elections Board issued just a reprimand to Elon Musk for his America PAC violating the state’s election law in 2024, that prohibits sending absentee ballot applications which are prefilled with the elector’s required information.
On Wednesday, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC the authors of the New York Fed’s tariff study, which found 90% of the cost of tariffs were being passed on to consumers and companies, should be “disciplined,” calling it the “worst paper” in history.
On Friday, a federal judge rebuked DOJ lawyers for failing to tell him a search warrant was for a WAPO reporter’s home. At first, a DOJ lawyer said the decision had been made by higher-level officials in the DOJ. U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg then apologized.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr. told CNBC at a crypto event held at Mar-a-Lago by World Liberty Financial that the Trumps got into crypto “out of necessity,” claiming traditional banking was a “Ponzi scheme” and had “de-banked” the family, forcing them into crypto.
According to Cryptorank, an industry research platform, $TRUMP and $MELANIA tokens collapsed 92% and 99% from their all-time highs. While insiders cashed out over $600M in fees and token sales, retail holders’ losses exceeded $4.3 billion across nearly two million wallets.
On Friday, in a court filing, JPMorgan Chase for the first time admitted that it had closed the bank accounts of Trump and several of his businesses after the Jan. 6 insurrection, after Trump sued the bank and its chief executive over debanking.
On Friday, federal judges in the Eastern District of Virginia unanimously appointed James Hundley to serve as interim U.S. attorney. Shortly after, Deputy AG Todd Blanche posted on X, “EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does. James Hundley, you’re fired!”
On Wednesday, Irish band U2 became the latest high-powered musical group to condemn ICE tactics in a six-song “Days of Ash” EP on Ash Wednesday, which included a tribute to Renee Good titled “American Obituary,” saying, “America will rise against the people of the lie.”
