Today in Politics, Bulletin 94. 3/18/25

Ron Filipkowski Mar 18 ∙

… MN State Sen. Justin Eichorn was arrested for soliciting a 16-year-old girl for sex, who turned out to be an undercover police officer. Eichorn is a Republican who is married with 4 children. He made national headlines earlier this week for being a sponsor of a bill that would declare ‘Trump derangement syndrome’ a mental illness.

… Now he’s making headlines in other ways.

… Amazing how this just keeps happening over and over and over.

… Trump had his big phone call with Putin today to try to allegedly persuade him to sign a ceasefire agreement as a precursor to a negotiated permanent peace agreement. Putin essentially said that if Ukraine and the US agree to all of his demands then he might consider signing a cease fire. Both sides also issued statements about the call that were different in some key details.

… From the White House readout of the call: “The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East. The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the US and Russia has huge upside. This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved."

… TASS reported that Putin told Trump that a complete end of US military aid to Kyiv is the key condition for resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

… TASS also reported that Trump agreed with Putin’s proposal to set up hockey games between Russia and the US.

… The two areas where Ukraine is hurting Russia the most are: (1) Drone strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure and oil production; (2) Strikes on the Russian navy and shipping in the Black Sea. And Putin demands that both of those things end before he will agree to a ceasefire.

… Garry Kasparov: “Russia's weakest point is Ukraine attacking its gas and oil facilities, so of course Putin wants Trump's help stopping it. Nothing on Russia murdering Ukrainian civilians. Add TASS mentioning US-Russia ‘working groups’ and fucking US-Russia hockey games to this most perfect call. The Black Sea is another area Ukraine was kicking Russia's ass, so one more item on Putin's wish list. And restoring US relations with a war criminal dictator who offers the US nothing.”

… “Every GOP Congressman needs to be asked if they support this switching of sides. Again, this partial ceasefire looks Made in Moscow to protect the one thing that could force Russia to stop its invasion and murder campaign in Ukraine - it's cash-producing energy infrastructure. Ukraine now has its own long-range missiles, so Putin needed Trump's help asap.”

… Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko: The Kremlin is essentially sticking to its optimal strategy—dragging things out indefinitely, saying ‘no’ without actually saying ‘no,’ drowning everything in meaningless demagogy, manipulating Trump by massaging his ego, tossing him silly trinkets like imaginary ‘thousands of Ukrainian soldiers lives spared only thanks to Trump’ and hockey games (!), all while continuing its full-scale war against Ukraine. And as long as Trump keeps indulging in his virtual ‘victories’ and tiptoeing around Putin, they have no reason to stop.”

… Trump’s former NSA John Bolton: “Trump is rushing to make a deal with Russia and Ukraine because in his mind this deal will earn him the Nobel Peace Prize, which he has long wanted.”

… So we get hockey games and “enormous economic deals” with Russia in exchange for selling out Ukraine.

… Art of the Deal.

… Two days after Director Lee Zeldin announced he was gutting the EPA, Trump announced we are going to fire up “clean coal” plants: “After years of being held captive by Environmental Extremists, Lunatics, Radicals, and Thugs, allowing other Countries, in particular China, to gain tremendous Economic advantage over us by opening up hundreds of all Coal Fire Power Plants, I am authorizing my Administration to immediately begin producing Energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL.”

… I didn’t know there was such a thing as clean coal. I learn something new from Trump every day.

… HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum jointly announced a plan to open up protected federal land around the country so housing could be constructed: “This will unlock federal lands for the benefit of all Americans.”

… Burgum also talked about opening up federal lands to mining: "Ukraine, Greenland, our allies around the world, and here at home on our incredible amount of federal land, our gigantic balance sheet that we have here - all of these are areas where we've gotta be more strategic in going after critical minerals."

… After postponing his book tour, Sen. Chuck Schumer launched a media tour on several shows to defend himself from backlash after his CR vote. On CBS: “I’m the best leader for the Senate. I am the best at winning Senate seats. We’re moving forward - Hakeem and I have a plan.”

… Schumer: "One of the Republican senators who knows said to us, 'you'll be in the shutdown for 6-9 months until we totally destroy the federal government.' So the shutdown was a much worse alternative."

… More from the Schumer Explanation Tour: “The Republicans would like to have some freedom from Trump, but they won’t until we bring him down in popularity. That happened with Bush in 2005. It happened with Trump in 2017. When it happens, I am hopeful that our Republican colleagues will resume working with us. And I talk to them. One of the places is in the gym. When you’re on that bike in your shorts, panting away next to a Republican, a lot of the inhibitions come off.”

… Schumer said that he was also confident that if Trump started to defy court orders, Republicans in the Senate would join him to oppose Trump if that happened.

… None of this made me feel better about the current leadership situation.

… And I could have done without the panting in shorts next to Republicans with the inhibitions off visual.

… Illinois Gov and likely presidential candidate JB Pritzker: “Look, he’s the elected leader. I disagree with what he did and vehemently so. But I also know that he has done good work as a Senate leader in other ways.”

… Trump called for Judge Boasberg to be impeached after he ruled against him on migrant flights: “This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President - He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY. I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”

… Radical Left Lunatic Judge James Boasberg was confirmed by the Senate 96-0.

… Chief Justice John Roberts took the highly unusual step of issuing a statement responding to Trump: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

… Rep. Lauren Boebert agreed with Trump though that they need to start impeaching judges: “With every executive order they are trying to shut any progress he is making down. It’s kind of like whack-a-mole right now. In the House, we need to do our due diligence and impeach these Soros-funded judges.”

… The sworn affidavit filed with Judge Boasberg by DOJ stated that ICE "carefully vetted" each of the migrants who were deported without due process. CBS reported that an ICE official said "many" of them deported as alleged gang members to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act do not have any criminal records at all.

… David Bier, Director of Immigration Issues at the CATO Institute: “Unreal. ICE implies that MOST of the Venezuelans sentenced to hard labor in a brutal Central American prison without charge or trial or so much as a cursory hearing had never been convicted or even charged with ANY CRIME whatsoever, not even a trivial one.”

… Gavin Newsom’s podcast guest Steve Bannon: “If there’s some innocent gardeners in there - hey, tough break.”

Reminder that tomorrow there is no Bulletin because that is the day I do my podcast Uncovered, where we do a deep dive into the Top 10 stories of the week and I try to provide a lot of detail and background on them that was not covered by legacy media, but should have been.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can read it here.

… The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 8.9 million Americans are now working more than one job, which is the highest number since April 2009.

… CNBC’s Fed Survey of fund managers/analysts raised the risk of recession (36% chance) to the highest level in 6 months, cut their growth forecast for 2025, and hiked their inflation outlook. Their outlook for the S&P 500 declined for the first time since Sept. Barry Knapp of Ironsides Macroeconomics: “We’ve had an abundance of discussions with investors who are increasingly concerned the Trump agenda has gone off the rails due to trade policy. Consequently, the economic risks of something more insidious than a soft patch are growing.”

… John Donaldson, director of fixed income at Haverford Trust: “The degree of policy volatility is unprecedented.″

… Fox host Maria Bartiromo unloaded on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over tariffs: "See, these are the things that people are really worried about. Because they first thought it was just about trade. Then they thought it was just about fentanyl. Then after that we talked about, 'well, maybe it's currency manipulation.' Now you're talking about food testing. And when I bring up the issue of clarity, that's what I'm talking about and that's what I'm hearing from corporate America, that we're not sure where this is going."

… My sense is that the more Wall Street analysts and economists predict a recession and inflation caused by tariffs, the more Trump will double and triple down on them - not the opposite. He loves the fact that everyone, including Republicans, are predicting this will not end well for the US economy. Trump believes he is smarter than all of them and is more likely to go full speed ahead to try and prove them wrong.

… ABC reports that while Tesla stock continues to plummet, Board members and executives with the company continue to sell off huge numbers of shares, which is making investors even more nervous about the direction of the company. SEC filings show that the top 4 officers in the company have sold over $100 million in shares over the last month.

… James Murdoch, son of Rupert, sold $13 million in shares on March 10. Elon’s brother Kimbal Musk sold $27 million last month. Chair of the Board Robyn Denholm sold $75 million over the past 5 weeks. Jay Ritter, professor of Finance at University of FL: "Whenever insiders, including directors, are selling shares, it's not a positive signal."

… Tesla shares were down ANOTHER 5.34% today.

… The Las Vegas Review Journal posted a video of several vehicles set on fire at a Tesla service center at 2:45 AM in Vegas.

… Musk responded to the video: “This level of violence is insane and deeply wrong. Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”

… A bizarre scene unfolded as goons with Elon Musk’s DOGE used the police to break into the offices of the US Institute for Peace, which monitors threats from countries like China to smaller nations that surround them. NYT reported that the Director refused for days to allow DOGE into their offices, which are not in a federal building, despite threats from the FBI. But police showed up yesterday and escorted all employees out of the building.

… The WH sent emails to 12 of 15 board members on Friday that they were fired. However, those members maintained Trump had no authority to remove them since the agency was created by Congress with the US Institute of Peace Act, which mandates that the board must have 12 other members confirmed the Senate, the board must be bipartisan, and members can only be removed under certain specific circumstances.

… USIP Director George Moose: “Our statute is very clear about the status of this building and this institute. So, what has happened here today is an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit corporation.”

… Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) on Fox: "What we're seeing from DOGE is a lot of it has just been reckless. Why do you want to eliminate people who work to oversee the nuclear stockpile? Why do you want to get rid of people who oversee the avian flu? Why do you want to get rid of people who oversee a measles outbreak in Texas?"

… Israel ended the ceasefire in Gaza with missile strikes, citing Hamas’s refusal to return all of the remaining hostages. AP reported that Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 404 people were killed in the strikes and more than 560 were wounded. The Trump Admin said that Netanyahu consulted with them prior to that attack and they fully supported what he was doing.

… DC US Attorney Ed Martin posted this warning to city residents: “Hit a cop, you’ll pay for it.” That apparently does not apply to Trump supporters on J6 though.

… Pardoned J6er Jake Lang, who beat officers with a bat, announced he is running for the US Senate seat vacated by Marco Rubio: “Today I am blessed by God to officially announce my candidacy for US Senate in the great State of FL! The story of the J6 Hostages isn’t over - it’s just begun!! The Golden Age of America is HERE WE ARE TAKING OVER THE CAPITOL AGAIN This time as America’s Public Servants & Elected Leaders!

… Lang’s official campaign slogan is ‘Take Back the Capitol’.

… Joe ‘Tiger King’ Exotic, who was the subject of a Netflix documentary and is currently serving a long prison sentence, says his husband will agree to self-deport himself if Trump pardons him: “You could deport him at some point, but if you let me go, we'll both go to Mexico, which will save you the cost of deporting him and allow you to take care of me. No matter what happens, he's my husband, and we'll never abandon each other. This bond is that strong.”

… Don Jr suggested to his dad in 2020 that he should pardon Joe Exotic. Could happen now that Joe offered up his Mexican husband for deportation. I rule out nothing these days.

… Sen. Chris Murphy on The Daily Show: “The Republican Party has paid for a permanent infrastructure around ideas and messaging. Democrats raise lots of money every two years, we blow it all on 30 second ads that disappear into the ether as soon as the election is done, instead of actually building our own permanent infrastructure where we can sell our ideas.”

… I could not agree with this more. The Consultant Class has its grips firmly in the leadership of the party, and they have a serious financial interest in playing the election game in this antiquated way. We raise gobs of money and waste it on carpet bombing areas with repetitive TV ads. The world has changed. The way to reach voters has changed. But we continue to listen to consultants who make tens of millions doing things the old and increasingly ineffective way.

… I love what Chris Murphy has been doing the last two months. Imagine if every Democrat in Congress was out there doing everything he has been doing. Many don’t even have a social media page that they personally operate, and never do podcasts or any new digital media. It isn’t only a problem of age - Bernie and a few others have adapted - but most are stuck in a mentality of the way things used to be long ago.

… Fox reported that Mitch McConnell will not make an endorsement in the KY Senate race to succeed him: “I will let the voters of Kentucky decide.”

… KY Gov and future Democratic presidential candidate Andy Beshear explained to Meidas Touch how he was able to win a state twice that is dominated by Republicans: “We need to explain why we make decisions, why we do these jobs despite everything we have to put up with, why we put our families through it. For me, it’s my faith. For instance, when I vetoed the nastiest anti-LGBTQ+ bill during my election year in KY, I explained why I did it. My faith teaches me that all children are children of God. I wanted those children, who were being hated on by their General Assembly, to know their governor cares for them and loves them. And my faith tells me that’s my job—to stand up for them.”

… AP reported that Denmark is leading the way on European boycotts of US products and Tesla. People in that country are even more upset that the EU generally since they were specifically targeted by Trump over Greenland. Bo Albertus: “When Trump went on TV and said he would by political force or military force take a piece of the Danish kingdom, it was just too much for me.” He is now an administrator of the Facebook page “Boykot varer fra USA” (Boycott goods from the US), which already has over 80,000 members.

… Electrician Jens Olsen: “Trump’s policies have brought the Danish Viking blood boiling. I’m 66 years old and I have never seen the Danes so upset before.”