Today in Politics, Bulletin 69. 2/11/25 Ron Filipkowski Feb 12 ∙    … Elon Musk was in the Oval Office today having a press conference while Trump had to sit there quietly on babysitting duty. … Trump did get one question about judges ruling against his Admin to block most of Musk’s moves: “It seems hard to believe that judges want to try and stop us from looking for corruption. So maybe we have to look at the judges, because I think it's a very serious violation.” Spoken like a true mob boss. … But the real story was Trump sitting there looking very annoyed as he sat at the resolute desk while Elon’s kid picked his nose and held court, laughing it up while gesticulating weirdly, taking question after question from the press. Trump looked thrilled as Musk basked in the attention. … Rep. Eli Crane says he’s going after the judge who ruled against DOGE: “I’m drafting articles of impeachment for US District Judge Paul Engelmayer. Partisan judges abusing their positions is a threat to democracy. The left has done irreparable harm to this country. Trump and his team at DOGE are trying to fix it. This is obviously judicial overreach. Judge Engelmayer is attempting to stop WH employees from accessing the very systems they oversee.” … Trump’s senior WH legal advisor Alina Habba missed a few too many constitutional law classes: “There’s a separation of powers for a reason. The executive branch is the ultimate authority on federal issues.” … James Madison just rolled over in his grave. … Musk reposted a Laura Loomer tweet this morning to his 200+ million followers which contained the name and employment information about Judge’s daughter, who apparently works for the Department of Education if it is correct. Last week he threatened a WSJ reporter with jail just for naming 6 of the people on his DOGE team. … Sen. Elizabeth Warren on MSNBC: "My view right now is the courts are where we are hanging on to our constitutional structure. They still have the power to hold everybody else in this country in contempt if they do not follow lawfully issued court orders." … Mother Jones: “In the 3 weeks since Trump took office, Elon Musk has posted on X at the pace of an iPad-addicted child. During a roughly two-hour stretch on Friday morning, Musk tweeted more than 40 times—about once every three minutes—on X. … Meanwhile, Musk changed his screen name on X for most of the day to ‘Harry Bolz’. He eventually changed it back - most likely after Cabinet secretaries, government officials, Senators and House members complained that it made it more difficult to retweet posts from ‘Harry Bolz’ out to their constituents. … HuffPost reports that a federal employee who works on intelligence matters told them that Musk's DOGE team was at the Defense Intelligence Agency over the weekend. After that visit, DIA leaders were asked to send a full list of personnel in the agency to OPM who may have been “DEI hires”. That list of personnel included intel officials who work undercover or are embedded in foreign countries. … AP reported ongoing govt investigations against Musk will now likely go way. These include crash investigations into Tesla’s self-driving vehicles; a DOJ criminal probe of whether Musk and Tesla have overstated their cars’ self-driving capabilities; and a govt mandate to report crash data. Missy Cummings, former senior safety advisor at NHTSA: “Musk wants to run the Dept of Transportation. I’ve lost count of the number of investigations that are underway with Tesla. They will all be gone.” … But it isn’t just Tesla. Several of Musks other businesses, including SpaceX and the social media platform X are also under federal investigations for various things. … Reporter Caleb Ecarma: “DOGE's Edward "Big Balls" Coristine launched a privacy-focused image-sharing site in 2021 that allowed users to create custom URLs. The URLs that redirected to Coristine's site referenced the sale of child sexual abuse material, racial slurs, and rape.” … Rep. Tim Burchett: “When I hear the Left run down a bunch of 19-20 year olds at DOGE, I think about my folks and the WWII generation that saved the world from tyranny destruction and evil.” I don’t. … Trump was asked by Fox if JD Vance has his support right now for president in 2028: “No, but he’s very capable. But I think you have a lot of very capable people. It’s too early. We’re just starting.” … While meeting earlier today with the King of Jordan and a visibly uncomfortable Sec of State Rubio, Trump changed his position from yesterday and said the US is not going to buy Gaza, we are just going to take it: “We’re gonna take it, we’re gonna hold it, we’re gonna cherish it.” … Trump was asked if Palestinians would ever be allowed to return to Gaza under his plan: "No, they wouldn't because they're going to have much better housing. In other words, I'm talking about building a permanent place for them.” So the ‘America First’ president is going to build free housing for Palestinians. Just what people voted for. … A reporter asked Trump what would happen if any Palestinians refuse to leave Gaza: “They're all gonna leave.” … Axios reports that Netanyahu met Saturday in DC with Jared Kushner to discuss Trump’s Gaza plan. For some reason. … Of course, everything Trump is now saying about Gaza directly contradicts what Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week, which is that Palestinians would only "temporarily" be moved out of Gaza until it is rebuilt, then they would be able to return. … Leavitt who opened her first day at Press Secretary by telling the press that she would never lie to them. … MMA fighter and Trump supporter Sean Strickland: “Man, if Trump keeps this bullshit up, I'm about to start waving a Palestinian flag. American cities are shitholes and you wanna go spend billions on this dumpster fire? Did we make a mistake?! This ain't America first.” … Trump is doing everything he possibly can to screw up the Gaza hostage exchanges that have been painstakingly negotiated for months. In addition to telling them he is going to seize their land, he now adds this: "As far as I'm concerned, if all of the hostages aren't returned by Saturday at 12:00, I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I'd say they ought to be returned by 12:00 Saturday and if they're not returned, all of them, not in drips and drabs, not 2 and 1 and 3 and 4 and 2." … Page Six reports that Kid Rock and Lauren Boebert were seen getting into a cab together in at 2:30 AM after attending the same party: “Our (rather tawdry!) source suggested the pair planned to, er, keep the inaugural balls swinging into the wee hours .. and said Lauren was totally transfixed by the rock star, yapping away, doing a little dance, and clapping like she was front row at his concert - basically giving Kid Rock all the hype he needed.” … Page Six asked Boebert’s press secretary if she wanted to comment: “I think we’ll pass.” … Border Czar Tom Homan has been getting an earful about deportation arrests being much lower than promised. NewsNation reported that a source close to Trump said he told Homan: “The numbers are too fucking low!” … When NewsNation asked Homan if Trump is happy with how the deportations were going so far, Homan responded: “I’m not. I’m not satisfied. There are more criminal aliens that need to be arrested, hundreds of thousands. Sanctuary cities are putting roadblocks up. We’ve got leaks.” … He told Newsmax he believes that a federal agent leaked their big raid in CA to the press, which made it another flop. He then referred to an LA Times report said agents are planning to carry out a “large scale” immigration enforcement action in LA in the next couple of weeks. They cited a fed law enforcement source who told them that agents with the FBI and the DEA’s LA field offices are being called in to assist: “They needed more bodies.” … Kristi Noem was furious about it also and said she is going to hunt down the person who spoke to the Times: “The FBI is so corrupt. We will work with any and every agency to stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law.” … Homan told Fox he is going to make the source pay: “Secretary Noem is correct. Some of the information we are receiving tends to lead towards the FBI. I talked to the Dep AG and they’ve opened up a criminal investigation. They promised that not only will this person lose their job and their pension, they will go to jail.” … Homan also explained why many of the people they are arresting and deporting don’t have criminal records: "We'll find the bad guy, but if he's with others - others that aren't a criminal priority but are in the country illegally - they're gonna go too. So sanctuary cities are gonna get exactly what they don't want - more agents in the neighborhoods and more non-criminals being arrested." … Latin Times reported that men dressed in hoodies descended on a taco truck in Memphis and arrested several workers. The company TACOnganas Memphis posted a video of the incident and released a statement. "Earlier today, individuals entered one of our trucks and took away several of our employees. We do not know what prompted this. We have heard from the employees. They've been told they're being detained by ICE. … “You'll see they have no uniforms, do not show any badge or ID, and did not leave any identifying information or paperwork. If not for our security cameras, we would not even know this happened. We've contacted legal aid organizations to help the employees, and we're gathering any information we have to share with their families. Our company complies with federal and local immigration laws, and we know everyone is dealing with situations like this. We know our community is scared.” … An interesting battle between House and Senate Republicans has unfolded, as members of the House Freedom Caucus have teamed up with Lindsey Graham and Senate Republicans to undermine Speaker Mike Johnson. … Part of the issue is Homan yelling and screaming about needing more money urgently, and using that as his excuse for deportations being low. Republicans in the House and Senate want to give it to him, but Trump and Johnson want to package that into one “big beautiful bill” with their massive tax cuts and other agenda items. The reason is because they know their paltry spending cuts combined with tax cuts are going to infuriate deficit hawks, and figure the only way to get them on board is to force them to have to also vote against border funding in the same bill. … Fox reported that Trump Budget Director Russ Vought told Republican Senators today at a luncheon that $175 billion is urgently needed for border security and immigration enforcement, as funds are beginning to run out. … This is what Lindsey Graham has been saying for a week while Mike Johnson has steadfastly disagreed with him saying there is no rush. It appears Vought is siding with the Senate’s plan of a faster more limited bill for now which doesn’t include the Trump tax cuts. … But those deficit hawks in the House Freedom Caucus see the trap and figure that the Senate’s package is a way for them to wiggle out of it so they can force deeper spending cuts in the second bill. That is because the Senate package primarily only addresses border and deportation funding. But the cuts those hawks want are likely to involve Medicaid and Social Security, which most moderate Republicans do not want to touch. … The House Freedom Caucus account posted this on X: “President Trump needs more resources for border security and immigration enforcement NOW. Freedom Caucus continues to have the only plan in the House to get this funding ASAP. We cannot wait months to do this.” Just a reminder that there is no Bulletin tomorrow since I do my live podcast ‘Uncovered’ every Wednesday at 4:00 ET. I do a deep dive on the top 10-12 news items of the week with a lot more context and commentary. I will post the link as usual on Substack tomorrow, but you can watch it any time. … But Punchbowl reports that Johnson told his Leadership Committee that he would not bring up Lindsey's budget resolution if it passed the Senate because he insists on doing everything in one package. So it appears Republicans are in a standoff with each other. I’m sure they will find a way to blame Democrats somehow. … Meanwhile, Democrats sit back and let Republicans fight it out amongst themselves, trying to pass things with a 2-seat majority when they have never been able to agree with each other on anything. … AOC said if Johnson wants help from Dems, it “should not come cheap, whatsoever. We should be very clear with the American people that the House is governed by a Republican majority, the Senate is governed by a Republican majority, and the WH has a Republican president. And if they want to pass their agenda, Republicans need to conjure up the votes for them to pass their own bills.” … Military.com reports that the Army has canceled plans for a recruiting event at a prestigious Black engineering event this week because of Trump and Pete Hegseth’s hostility to DEI: “Army Recruiting Command had a long-standing public partnership with the Black Engineer of the Year Awards, an annual conference that draws students, academics and professionals in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM.” … “The event has historically been a key venue for the Pentagon to recruit talent, including awarding ROTC scholarships and pitching military service to rising engineers. Past BEYA events have included the Army chief of staff and the defense secretary. ‘This is one of the most talent-dense events we do,’ one Army recruiter told Military.com. ‘Our footprint there has always been significant. We need the talent.’” … An Army General currently on active duty told Military.com: "It's fucking racist. For the Army now, it's 'Blacks need not apply' and it breaks my heart." … Military Times reports that the Army and Navy have taken down web pages that highlight the history and myriad contributions of female soldiers and sailors. The Army’s link to its “Women in Army History” page was taken down. Last week, a page devoted to women’s service in the Navy, as well as a page entitled ‘Navy Women of Courage and Intelligence,’ was removed by the Navy. … Navy Spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Lauren Chatmas said that things will be back online once they make sure everything complies with Trump’s anti-DEI executive order: “Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) is in the process of reviewing and updating their online content to ensure compliance with directives outlined in Executive Orders issued by the President.” … Hegseth announced Monday he was changing the name of Fort Liberty in NC back to the controversial Fort Bragg, but there is a twist. Hegseth says it is now not named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg, the original namesake, but rather for a decorated WWII PFC named Roland Bragg. … Hegseth: "We're not done there. There are other bases that have been renamed that erodes that very same legacy. There's a reason I said Bragg and Benning when I walked into the Pentagon on day one, but it's not just Bragg and Benning." … Right-wing propaganda filmmaker and author Dinesh D’Souza: “It would be fun to rename all the forts after Confederate generals, not because we like Confederate generals, but just to piss off the Left.” Honoring traitors to own the libs is peak MAGA. … Trump’s DOJ instructed the US Attorney in NY to drop all charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams. The NYT reports that it will likely be dropped “without prejudice.” That means that the charges could be reinstated later if Adams ever crosses Trump on anything. A real mobster move. … The memo from DOJ attempted to justify dropping the charges by claiming that Adams was only being prosecuted in the first place because he spoke out against Biden’s border policy. However, the US Attorney made it clear previously that they had overwhelming evidence that Adams solicited many bribes from foreign entities. … So now Trump owns the Mayor of NYC. Because at any time he can have the charges reinstated that would send Adams to prison. … Rep. Velazquez (D-NY) to Fox: “Adams was cozying up to Donald Trump, and opened up the gates for ICE to violate due process from immigrants in NYC. And he got compensated for that yesterday.” … Rep. Earl Carter (R-GA) introduced a bill to allow Trump to acquire Greenland and renaming it ‘Red, White, and Blueland’: “America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland. President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal.” … CBS reports that JD Vance will meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky this Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Vance refused to meet with Zelensky during a congressional delegation trip to Europe last Fall. Now he apparently is unable to avoid him any longer and the coward has to come face to face with the hero he’s spent the last three years trashing on social media. … CNN reports that the Commerce Department office charged with overseeing the buildout of American semiconductor chip factories and training the workforce is now using a list of dozens of key words to search to track down people who may have been hired or giving contracts because of diversity goals. … This is part of a broader effort by the Trump Admin to require career government workers to hunt for these trigger words in billions of dollars worth of federal contracts with American companies that boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing, raising concerns among staff that the contracts could modified or voided. They are paying special attention to contracts awarded under Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act. … A sampling of the words they were directed to search for: immigrant, undocumented, foreign assistance, Green New Deal, climate change, diversity, equity, racism, discrimination, transgender, LGBT, abortion, pregnant, birth control and fetus." … CBS reports that $500 million in food aid is at risk of spoilage as it sits in ports, ships and warehouses after funding for the USAID was paused by Musk’s DOGE. This was food bought directly from U.S. farmers, who provide about 40% of international food assistance. An additional 500,000 metric tons of food is currently on ships or ready to be shipped abroad. … Politico reports that China is already looking to take advantage of the US’s withdrawal from the world after USAID is shut down by Musk. Former USAID China Policy director Francisco Benscosme: “China is already reaching out to partners. They will fill in the void in places like Cambodia and Nepal - those are just the places we know about.” … “China is quickly making moves to fill in gaps left behind by the Trump administration’s abrupt moves to almost entirely halt and wind down USAID operations worldwide, from the Indo-Pacific to South America. As USAID retreats, China pounces - In Nepal, Beijing is signaling it's willing to step in to replace the void. In the Cook Islands, warnings that the vacuum will give an opening for China. In Colombia, China is already interested in filling the NGO gap.” … In addition to renaming Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America pursuant to Trump’s edict, Google has now decided to remove several observances from its Google Calendar app. They will now remove Pride Month, Black History Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jewish Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and Indigenous People Month from user’s calendars. They claim it has nothing to do with Trump. … Trump says he doesn’t believe in remote work because people will just hang out at their country clubs and get nothing done: "I don't think you can work from a home. Nobody is gonna work from home. They are gonna be going out, they're gonna play tennis, they're gonna play golf, they're gonna do a lot of things. They're not working." … Trump posted on Truth Social that he is making showers great again: “I am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders, which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standards and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc., and to likewise go back to the common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS, that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe.” … EU Chief Ursula von der Leyey said today that they will retaliate against Trump’s tariffs on their steel and aluminum: “The EU will act to safeguard its economic interests. Tariffs are taxes - bad for business, worse for consumers. Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered - they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures.” … Bernd Lange, Chair European Parliament's trade committee: “We will, of course, immediately reinstate our countermeasures. Motorcycles, jeans, peanut butter, bourbon, whiskey and a whole range of products that of course also affect American exporters." … Ukraine’s Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko: “We have made every effort to keep Ukrainian steel out of the 25% US tariffs. The US decision to impose tariffs on our steel on March 12 will naturally affect the steel industry, which has suffered from the Russian war. However, we are determined to actively work with partners to find the optimal solution until March 12.” … OK’s Republican Gov Kevin Stitt has finally had enough watching state schools chief Ryan Walters wreck their flailing education system with his MAGA culture wars, which included mandatory Bible study in every public school classroom. Walters even bought Trump Bibles for public schools using taxpayer funds. He appointed three new board members to rein in Walters. … Stitt - “Nothing is more important than ensuring OK kids have the best education possible. After months of headlines followed by disappointing NAEP scores this month, it’s clear that our education infrastructure has fallen prey to needless political drama. If we want to be the best state for business, we need to make sure our kids have a path to success. It’s time for some fresh eyes and a renewed focus on our top ten goals.” … Democrat Deb Haaland: “I’m running for Governor of NM. In Congress and as Secretary of the Interior, I’ve fought for our state. I helped NM businesses open their doors, secured clean energy jobs, and worked to bring water and infrastructure projects to rural communities. Now, it's time to tackle our biggest challenges with the fierceness only New Mexicans know. I'm ready to make govt work for us – lower costs, better schools, and ensuring every family feels safe and supported. Join me.” … Bloomberg reports that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman rejected Elon Musk’s $97.4 billion offer to buy his company: “I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor. I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there’s been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this.” … Altman said he thinks Musk is a disturbed individual: “Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity - I feel for the guy. I don’t think he is a happy person. But OpenAI is not for sale. The OpenAI mission is not for sale.” … Musk posted a video from actor Jon Voight, who is also the father of Angelina Jolie: “Elon Musk is a man of dignity, truth, honor. He’s a kind soul. The media is a disgrace, they’re disgusting. They turn things around. As God is my witness, Elon Musk is being targeted for no reason. Elon’s goodwill for the Jews and for the USA will be stronger than this evil. Elon is humble and he will make this nation stronger with his love.” See you Thursday night with the next Bulletin!

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… Elon Musk was in the Oval Office today having a press conference while Trump had to sit there quietly on babysitting duty.

… Trump did get one question about judges ruling against his Admin to block most of Musk’s moves: “It seems hard to believe that judges want to try and stop us from looking for corruption. So maybe we have to look at the judges, because I think it's a very serious violation.” Spoken like a true mob boss.

… But the real story was Trump sitting there looking very annoyed as he sat at the resolute desk while Elon’s kid picked his nose and held court, laughing it up while gesticulating weirdly, taking question after question from the press. Trump looked thrilled as Musk basked in the attention.

… Rep. Eli Crane says he’s going after the judge who ruled against DOGE: “I’m drafting articles of impeachment for US District Judge Paul Engelmayer. Partisan judges abusing their positions is a threat to democracy. The left has done irreparable harm to this country. Trump and his team at DOGE are trying to fix it. This is obviously judicial overreach. Judge Engelmayer is attempting to stop WH employees from accessing the very systems they oversee.”

… Trump’s senior WH legal advisor Alina Habba missed a few too many constitutional law classes: “There’s a separation of powers for a reason. The executive branch is the ultimate authority on federal issues.”

… James Madison just rolled over in his grave.

… Musk reposted a Laura Loomer tweet this morning to his 200+ million followers which contained the name and employment information about Judge’s daughter, who apparently works for the Department of Education if it is correct. Last week he threatened a WSJ reporter with jail just for naming 6 of the people on his DOGE team.

… Sen. Elizabeth Warren on MSNBC: "My view right now is the courts are where we are hanging on to our constitutional structure. They still have the power to hold everybody else in this country in contempt if they do not follow lawfully issued court orders."

… Mother Jones: “In the 3 weeks since Trump took office, Elon Musk has posted on X at the pace of an iPad-addicted child. During a roughly two-hour stretch on Friday morning, Musk tweeted more than 40 times—about once every three minutes—on X.

… Meanwhile, Musk changed his screen name on X for most of the day to ‘Harry Bolz’. He eventually changed it back - most likely after Cabinet secretaries, government officials, Senators and House members complained that it made it more difficult to retweet posts from ‘Harry Bolz’ out to their constituents.

… HuffPost reports that a federal employee who works on intelligence matters told them that Musk's DOGE team was at the Defense Intelligence Agency over the weekend. After that visit, DIA leaders were asked to send a full list of personnel in the agency to OPM who may have been “DEI hires”. That list of personnel included intel officials who work undercover or are embedded in foreign countries.

… AP reported ongoing govt investigations against Musk will now likely go way. These include crash investigations into Tesla’s self-driving vehicles; a DOJ criminal probe of whether Musk and Tesla have overstated their cars’ self-driving capabilities; and a govt mandate to report crash data. Missy Cummings, former senior safety advisor at NHTSA: “Musk wants to run the Dept of Transportation. I’ve lost count of the number of investigations that are underway with Tesla. They will all be gone.”

… But it isn’t just Tesla. Several of Musks other businesses, including SpaceX and the social media platform X are also under federal investigations for various things.

… Reporter Caleb Ecarma: “DOGE's Edward "Big Balls" Coristine launched a privacy-focused image-sharing site in 2021 that allowed users to create custom URLs. The URLs that redirected to Coristine's site referenced the sale of child sexual abuse material, racial slurs, and rape.”

… Rep. Tim Burchett: “When I hear the Left run down a bunch of 19-20 year olds at DOGE, I think about my folks and the WWII generation that saved the world from tyranny destruction and evil.” I don’t.

… Trump was asked by Fox if JD Vance has his support right now for president in 2028: “No, but he’s very capable. But I think you have a lot of very capable people. It’s too early. We’re just starting.”

… While meeting earlier today with the King of Jordan and a visibly uncomfortable Sec of State Rubio, Trump changed his position from yesterday and said the US is not going to buy Gaza, we are just going to take it: “We’re gonna take it, we’re gonna hold it, we’re gonna cherish it.”

… Trump was asked if Palestinians would ever be allowed to return to Gaza under his plan: "No, they wouldn't because they're going to have much better housing. In other words, I'm talking about building a permanent place for them.” So the ‘America First’ president is going to build free housing for Palestinians. Just what people voted for.

… A reporter asked Trump what would happen if any Palestinians refuse to leave Gaza: “They're all gonna leave.”

… Axios reports that Netanyahu met Saturday in DC with Jared Kushner to discuss Trump’s Gaza plan. For some reason.

… Of course, everything Trump is now saying about Gaza directly contradicts what Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week, which is that Palestinians would only "temporarily" be moved out of Gaza until it is rebuilt, then they would be able to return.

… Leavitt who opened her first day at Press Secretary by telling the press that she would never lie to them.

… MMA fighter and Trump supporter Sean Strickland: “Man, if Trump keeps this bullshit up, I'm about to start waving a Palestinian flag. American cities are shitholes and you wanna go spend billions on this dumpster fire? Did we make a mistake?! This ain't America first.”

… Trump is doing everything he possibly can to screw up the Gaza hostage exchanges that have been painstakingly negotiated for months. In addition to telling them he is going to seize their land, he now adds this: "As far as I'm concerned, if all of the hostages aren't returned by Saturday at 12:00, I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I'd say they ought to be returned by 12:00 Saturday and if they're not returned, all of them, not in drips and drabs, not 2 and 1 and 3 and 4 and 2."

… Page Six reports that Kid Rock and Lauren Boebert were seen getting into a cab together in at 2:30 AM after attending the same party: “Our (rather tawdry!) source suggested the pair planned to, er, keep the inaugural balls swinging into the wee hours .. and said Lauren was totally transfixed by the rock star, yapping away, doing a little dance, and clapping like she was front row at his concert - basically giving Kid Rock all the hype he needed.”

… Page Six asked Boebert’s press secretary if she wanted to comment: “I think we’ll pass.”

… Border Czar Tom Homan has been getting an earful about deportation arrests being much lower than promised. NewsNation reported that a source close to Trump said he told Homan: “The numbers are too fucking low!”

… When NewsNation asked Homan if Trump is happy with how the deportations were going so far, Homan responded: “I’m not. I’m not satisfied. There are more criminal aliens that need to be arrested, hundreds of thousands. Sanctuary cities are putting roadblocks up. We’ve got leaks.”

… He told Newsmax he believes that a federal agent leaked their big raid in CA to the press, which made it another flop. He then referred to an LA Times report said agents are planning to carry out a “large scale” immigration enforcement action in LA in the next couple of weeks. They cited a fed law enforcement source who told them that agents with the FBI and the DEA’s LA field offices are being called in to assist: “They needed more bodies.”

… Kristi Noem was furious about it also and said she is going to hunt down the person who spoke to the Times: “The FBI is so corrupt. We will work with any and every agency to stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law.”

… Homan told Fox he is going to make the source pay: “Secretary Noem is correct. Some of the information we are receiving tends to lead towards the FBI. I talked to the Dep AG and they’ve opened up a criminal investigation. They promised that not only will this person lose their job and their pension, they will go to jail.”

… Homan also explained why many of the people they are arresting and deporting don’t have criminal records: "We'll find the bad guy, but if he's with others - others that aren't a criminal priority but are in the country illegally - they're gonna go too. So sanctuary cities are gonna get exactly what they don't want - more agents in the neighborhoods and more non-criminals being arrested."

… Latin Times reported that men dressed in hoodies descended on a taco truck in Memphis and arrested several workers. The company TACOnganas Memphis posted a video of the incident and released a statement. "Earlier today, individuals entered one of our trucks and took away several of our employees. We do not know what prompted this. We have heard from the employees. They've been told they're being detained by ICE.

… “You'll see they have no uniforms, do not show any badge or ID, and did not leave any identifying information or paperwork. If not for our security cameras, we would not even know this happened. We've contacted legal aid organizations to help the employees, and we're gathering any information we have to share with their families. Our company complies with federal and local immigration laws, and we know everyone is dealing with situations like this. We know our community is scared.”

… An interesting battle between House and Senate Republicans has unfolded, as members of the House Freedom Caucus have teamed up with Lindsey Graham and Senate Republicans to undermine Speaker Mike Johnson.

… Part of the issue is Homan yelling and screaming about needing more money urgently, and using that as his excuse for deportations being low. Republicans in the House and Senate want to give it to him, but Trump and Johnson want to package that into one “big beautiful bill” with their massive tax cuts and other agenda items. The reason is because they know their paltry spending cuts combined with tax cuts are going to infuriate deficit hawks, and figure the only way to get them on board is to force them to have to also vote against border funding in the same bill.

… Fox reported that Trump Budget Director Russ Vought told Republican Senators today at a luncheon that $175 billion is urgently needed for border security and immigration enforcement, as funds are beginning to run out.

… This is what Lindsey Graham has been saying for a week while Mike Johnson has steadfastly disagreed with him saying there is no rush. It appears Vought is siding with the Senate’s plan of a faster more limited bill for now which doesn’t include the Trump tax cuts.

… But those deficit hawks in the House Freedom Caucus see the trap and figure that the Senate’s package is a way for them to wiggle out of it so they can force deeper spending cuts in the second bill. That is because the Senate package primarily only addresses border and deportation funding. But the cuts those hawks want are likely to involve Medicaid and Social Security, which most moderate Republicans do not want to touch.

… The House Freedom Caucus account posted this on X: “President Trump needs more resources for border security and immigration enforcement NOW. Freedom Caucus continues to have the only plan in the House to get this funding ASAP. We cannot wait months to do this.”

Just a reminder that there is no Bulletin tomorrow since I do my live podcast ‘Uncovered’ every Wednesday at 4:00 ET. I do a deep dive on the top 10-12 news items of the week with a lot more context and commentary. I will post the link as usual on Substack tomorrow, but you can watch it any time.

… But Punchbowl reports that Johnson told his Leadership Committee that he would not bring up Lindsey's budget resolution if it passed the Senate because he insists on doing everything in one package. So it appears Republicans are in a standoff with

each other. I’m sure they will find a way to blame Democrats somehow.

… Meanwhile, Democrats sit back and let Republicans fight it out amongst themselves, trying to pass things with a 2-seat majority when they have never been able to agree with each other on anything.

… AOC said if Johnson wants help from Dems, it “should not come cheap, whatsoever. We should be very clear with the American people that the House is governed by a Republican majority, the Senate is governed by a Republican majority, and the WH has a Republican president. And if they want to pass their agenda, Republicans need to conjure up the votes for them to pass their own bills.”

… Military.com reports that the Army has canceled plans for a recruiting event at a prestigious Black engineering event this week because of Trump and Pete Hegseth’s hostility to DEI: “Army Recruiting Command had a long-standing public partnership with the Black Engineer of the Year Awards, an annual conference that draws students, academics and professionals in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM.”

… “The event has historically been a key venue for the Pentagon to recruit talent, including awarding ROTC scholarships and pitching military service to rising engineers. Past BEYA events have included the Army chief of staff and the defense secretary. ‘This is one of the most talent-dense events we do,’ one Army recruiter told Military.com. ‘Our footprint there has always been significant. We need the talent.’”

… An Army General currently on active duty told Military.com: "It's fucking racist. For the Army now, it's 'Blacks need not apply' and it breaks my heart."

… Military Times reports that the Army and Navy have taken down web pages that highlight the history and myriad contributions of female soldiers and sailors. The Army’s link to its “Women in Army History” page was taken down. Last week, a page devoted to women’s service in the Navy, as well as a page entitled ‘Navy Women of Courage and Intelligence,’ was removed by the Navy.

… Navy Spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Lauren Chatmas said that things will be back online once they make sure everything complies with Trump’s anti-DEI executive order: “Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) is in the process of reviewing and updating their online content to ensure compliance with directives outlined in Executive Orders issued by the President.”

… Hegseth announced Monday he was changing the name of Fort Liberty in NC back to the controversial Fort Bragg, but there is a twist. Hegseth says it is now not named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg, the original namesake, but rather for a decorated WWII PFC named Roland Bragg.

… Hegseth: "We're not done there. There are other bases that have been renamed that erodes that very same legacy. There's a reason I said Bragg and Benning when I walked into the Pentagon on day one, but it's not just Bragg and Benning."

… Right-wing propaganda filmmaker and author Dinesh D’Souza: “It would be fun to rename all the forts after Confederate generals, not because we like Confederate generals, but just to piss off the Left.” Honoring traitors to own the libs is peak MAGA.

… Trump’s DOJ instructed the US Attorney in NY to drop all charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams. The NYT reports that it will likely be dropped “without prejudice.” That means that the charges could be reinstated later if Adams ever crosses Trump on anything. A real mobster move.

… The memo from DOJ attempted to justify dropping the charges by claiming that Adams was only being prosecuted in the first place because he spoke out against Biden’s border policy. However, the US Attorney made it clear previously that they had overwhelming evidence that Adams solicited many bribes from foreign entities.

… So now Trump owns the Mayor of NYC. Because at any time he can have the charges reinstated that would send Adams to prison.

… Rep. Velazquez (D-NY) to Fox: “Adams was cozying up to Donald Trump, and opened up the gates for ICE to violate due process from immigrants in NYC. And he got compensated for that yesterday.”

… Rep. Earl Carter (R-GA) introduced a bill to allow Trump to acquire Greenland and renaming it ‘Red, White, and Blueland’: “America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland. President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal.”

… CBS reports that JD Vance will meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky this Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Vance refused to meet with Zelensky during a congressional delegation trip to Europe last Fall. Now he apparently is unable to avoid him any longer and the coward has to come face to face with the hero he’s spent the last three years trashing on social media.

… CNN reports that the Commerce Department office charged with overseeing the buildout of American semiconductor chip factories and training the workforce is now using a list of dozens of key words to search to track down people who may have been hired or giving contracts because of diversity goals.

… This is part of a broader effort by the Trump Admin to require career government workers to hunt for these trigger words in billions of dollars worth of federal contracts with American companies that boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing, raising concerns among staff that the contracts could modified or voided. They are paying special attention to contracts awarded under Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act.

… A sampling of the words they were directed to search for: immigrant, undocumented, foreign assistance, Green New Deal, climate change, diversity, equity, racism, discrimination, transgender, LGBT, abortion, pregnant, birth control and fetus."

… CBS reports that $500 million in food aid is at risk of spoilage as it sits in ports, ships and warehouses after funding for the USAID was paused by Musk’s DOGE. This was food bought directly from U.S. farmers, who provide about 40% of international food assistance. An additional 500,000 metric tons of food is currently on ships or ready to be shipped abroad.

… Politico reports that China is already looking to take advantage of the US’s withdrawal from the world after USAID is shut down by Musk. Former USAID China Policy director Francisco Benscosme: “China is already reaching out to partners. They will fill in the void in places like Cambodia and Nepal - those are just the places we know about.”

… “China is quickly making moves to fill in gaps left behind by the Trump administration’s abrupt moves to almost entirely halt and wind down USAID operations worldwide, from the Indo-Pacific to South America. As USAID retreats, China pounces - In Nepal, Beijing is signaling it's willing to step in to replace the void. In the Cook Islands, warnings that the vacuum will give an opening for China. In Colombia, China is already interested in filling the NGO gap.”

… In addition to renaming Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America pursuant to Trump’s edict, Google has now decided to remove several observances from its Google Calendar app. They will now remove Pride Month, Black History Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jewish Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and Indigenous People Month from user’s calendars. They claim it has nothing to do with Trump.

… Trump says he doesn’t believe in remote work because people will just hang out at their country clubs and get nothing done: "I don't think you can work from a home. Nobody is gonna work from home. They are gonna be going out, they're gonna play tennis, they're gonna play golf, they're gonna do a lot of things. They're not working."

… Trump posted on Truth Social that he is making showers great again: “I am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders, which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standards and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc., and to likewise go back to the common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS, that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe.”

… EU Chief Ursula von der Leyey said today that they will retaliate against Trump’s tariffs on their steel and aluminum: “The EU will act to safeguard its economic interests. Tariffs are taxes - bad for business, worse for consumers. Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered - they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures.”

… Bernd Lange, Chair European Parliament's trade committee: “We will, of course, immediately reinstate our countermeasures. Motorcycles, jeans, peanut butter, bourbon, whiskey and a whole range of products that of course also affect American exporters."

… Ukraine’s Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko: “We have made every effort to keep Ukrainian steel out of the 25% US tariffs. The US decision to impose tariffs on our steel on March 12 will naturally affect the steel industry, which has suffered from the Russian war. However, we are determined to actively work with partners to find the optimal solution until March 12.”

… OK’s Republican Gov Kevin Stitt has finally had enough watching state schools chief Ryan Walters wreck their flailing education system with his MAGA culture wars, which included mandatory Bible study in every public school classroom. Walters even bought Trump Bibles for public schools using taxpayer funds. He appointed three new board members to rein in Walters.

… Stitt - “Nothing is more important than ensuring OK kids have the best education possible. After months of headlines followed by disappointing NAEP scores this month, it’s clear that our education infrastructure has fallen prey to needless political drama. If we want to be the best state for business, we need to make sure our kids have a path to success. It’s time for some fresh eyes and a renewed focus on our top ten goals.”

… Democrat Deb Haaland: “I’m running for Governor of NM. In Congress and as Secretary of the Interior, I’ve fought for our state. I helped NM businesses open their doors, secured clean energy jobs, and worked to bring water and infrastructure projects to rural communities. Now, it's time to tackle our biggest challenges with the fierceness only New Mexicans know. I'm ready to make govt work for us – lower costs, better schools, and ensuring every family feels safe and supported. Join me.”

… Bloomberg reports that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman rejected Elon Musk’s $97.4 billion offer to buy his company: “I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor. I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there’s been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this.”

… Altman said he thinks Musk is a disturbed individual: “Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity - I feel for the guy. I don’t think he is a happy person. But OpenAI is not for sale. The OpenAI mission is not for sale.”

… Musk posted a video from actor Jon Voight, who is also the father of Angelina Jolie: “Elon Musk is a man of dignity, truth, honor. He’s a kind soul. The media is a disgrace, they’re disgusting. They turn things around. As God is my witness, Elon Musk is being targeted for no reason. Elon’s goodwill for the Jews and for the USA will be stronger than this evil. Elon is humble and he will make this nation stronger with his love.”

See you Thursday night with the next Bulletin!