🚨Trump RAGES As HORRIBLE NEW VIDEO Just WENT VIRAL

                                            

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Jan 18, 2026

Trump FREAKS as his WORST MAGA 'Losers' nasty party bus video gets EXPOSED!

 

Today in Politics, Bulletin 81. 2/28/25

Ron Filipkowski Mar 1 ∙

… Donald Trump and JD Vance put on the most disgraceful display in the Oval Office of any US president meeting with the leader of a foreign ally. They were hostile to Zelensky from the start, and expected him to beg, plead, kiss their rings, and sign over 50% of Ukraine’s mineral rights in exchange for a promise to try to negotiate with Putin on their behalf.

… As soon as Zelensky let them know he was going to defend his  country and pushed back on the Russian propaganda coming from Trump and Vance’s mouths, they flew into a rage and started yelling at him that they owned him and his country.

… It was clear their intent entering this meeting was to create a confrontation to justify pulling aid from Ukraine, and it was Vance’s job to be the instigator. When Zelensky tried to tell them how badly Ukrainian soldiers had been tortured when they returned from a prison exchange, Vance interrupted: “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems, you should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to his conflict.”

… Vance then said to Zelensky: “You have no men left in your country.” Zelensky responded: “Come and see.”

… Zelensky then suggested that Vance doesn’t feel the imminent threat of Putin because the US is so far away from Russia, Trump interrupted with a menacing tone: “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel because you’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good and very strong. You’re right now, not in a very good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.”

… Trump the Mob Boss: “The problem is, I've empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the US. Your people are very brave, but you're either going to make a deal or we're out, and if we're out, you'll fight it out. I don't think that’s going to be pretty. You’re in a much better position with us, but you’re not acting at all thankful, and that's not a nice thing. I'll be honest. That's not a nice thing.”

… Trump finished that tirade by yelling at Zelensky that he is “gambling with the lives of millions of people, you’re gambling with World War III - and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.”

… Trump predicted the entire 4 years of the Biden Admin that WW3 was about to break out any day.

… Reuters reported that a correspondent from the Russian state news agency TASS was present in the Oval Office to cover the meeting, while AP and Reuters were excluded. After people started complaining about that and the word got out, a WH official then removed the TASS reporter and claimed that he was not on the approved list of media.

… Even though Reuters and AP were banned from attending the event, Marge Greene’s boyfriend Brian Glenn was able to get in start things off by asking this question of Zelensky: “Why don’t you wear a suit? Do you own a suit?”

… The OAN reporter then asked a question that was basically just a tribute to how great Trump is.

… WaPo reported that after the meeting Trump is considering ending all ongoing shipments of military aid to Ukraine, according to a WH official. That is billions of dollars of radars, vehicles, ammunition and missiles awaiting shipment to Ukraine that was previously approved by Biden.

… Leaders of countries all over the world issued statements after the meeting expressing support for Ukraine and Zelensky, including virtually every country in Europe. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau: “Russia illegally and unjustifiably invaded Ukraine. For 3 years now, Ukrainians have fought with courage and resilience. Their fight for democracy, freedom, and sovereignty is a fight that matters to us all. Canada will continue to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians in achieving a just and lasting peace.”

… The EU Foreign Policy Chief issued a statement from Brussels that the bloc will increase aid to Ukraine to make up for any shortcomings from the US commitments, and said that the free world will no longer look to the US as their leader.

… Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement praising Trump for how he dealt with Zelensky. So the US now stands with Putin against the rest of the world. Elections certainly do have consequences.

… Republican Rep. Don Bacon: “A bad day for America’s foreign policy. Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom.”

… Trump then posted this on Truth Social: “It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelensky is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the US in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

… Zelensky took the high road after, posting this statement on X: “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”

… A short time later outside the WH, Trump said that he was upset that Zelensky said “negative things” about his good pal Putin during their meeting: “He doesn’t have to stand there and say ‘Putin this’, ‘Putin that’ - all negative things.”

… Zelensky then did his previously scheduled live interview with Bret Baier of Fox, who asked him if he owed Trump an apology. Zelensky said no: “No. I respect the president and the American people. But I think we have to be open and honest. I’m not sure we did something bad. There are things where they have to understand the position of Ukraine.”

… Two Trump advisors told Axios that he also considered it “disrespectful” that Zelensky didn’t wear a suit to their meeting, and said that they advised Zelensky before the meeting to wear a suit. Instead, he wore what he has always worn since his country has been at war.

… No word yet on whether Trump is equally offended by Elon Musk’s attire in the Oval Office. I’ll keep you posted on that.

… This was a dark day for America and freedom-loving democracies all over the world. There is simply no way to sugar coat this. Trump has now put his cards on the table for everyone to plainly see that he is pro-Putin. Maybe some pro-Ukraine Republicans in Congress (there are many) will finally see that and will begin to step up and challenge Trump on this and other issues that are unpopular in their districts. I’m not counting on that, but if you are looking for a microscopic silver lining, that is one.

… The other one is that the incoming German Chancellor Merz, as well as the rest of the leaders of Europe, are now very clear-eyed that it is up to them to support Ukraine and defend themselves from this point forward, and there is a sense of urgency about that which has not been seen in those countries since 1939. It is sad that it has come to this, but at least they now know conclusively where they stand and what they have to do.

… ProPublica reports that Mike Johnson has been living in the $3.7 million DC home of evangelical pastor Steve Berger, who has attacked the separation of church and state as “a delusional lie.” Berger has said it is his mission to minister to members of Congress so that what “they learn is then translated into policy.” He has apparently been living there since January.

… Berger also opposes homosexuality, watching pornography, and same-sex marriage, saying it “opens the door to all manner of sexual depravity and wickedness.”

… SF Chronicle reports that the International Pride Orchestra says it was “disinvited” from presenting a summer Pride Celebration Concert at the Kennedy Center the same day Trump fired the board and took it over. Trump posted that day on Truth Social: “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA.”

… Orchestra Director Roest: “We were heartbroken when we learned that our concert would no longer be welcome at the Kennedy Center.”

… Orchestra Conductor Christine Brandes: “Sadly, this is not surprising, but is in itself profoundly un-American and therefore disheartening. His actions further embolden us in our purpose.”

… Fallout continues from Trump envoy Ric Grenell reportedly lobbying Romania to allow alleged human sex trafficker Andrew Tate to fly to FL. MAGA podcaster Abby Libby made this post, which got 9.2 million views and 82,000 likes from her right-wing followers: “I voted for an administration that would stop human trafficking at our borders. I voted to get rapists and pedophiles off the streets. Trump's action in freeing the Tate brothers was a stunning betrayal of his mandate.”

… Sen. Josh Hawley doesn’t want to believe that his hero Trump had anything to do with freeing Tate: “I would hope our government wasn't involved in any way. My view is that charges against him are very serious. I don't think conservatives should be glorifying this guy at all. I certainly don't think that we should be using any influence in our government to try to get him out of what seemed to be extremely serious charges in Romania. So I would hope that we weren't involved in any way.”

… We were. In every way.

… AG Pam Bondi was getting crushed by MAGA supporters after the Epstein files debacle, so Bondi tried to blame FBI Director Kash Patel, sending him this letter: “I requested the full and complete files related to Jeffrey Epstein. In response to the request, I received approximately 200 pages of documents, which consisted primarily of flight logs, a list of Epstein’s contacts, and a list of victims’ names. I am directing you to conduct an immediate investigation to why my order to the FBI was not followed.”

… Bondi then demanded the full file by 8:00 AM this morning. No updates from Bondi on that as of yet.

It has been a long and difficult week. I know it is hard for many of you to read all of the stuff that is happening to our country right now. For every blurb in these bulletins, I read 100 more things that don’t make it in here - so I certainly consume more of it than just about anyone. But I think it is important for us to stay informed, tell the truth, and continue to fight.

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

Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

… After the Epstein Files release fiasco was going down, Jim Jordan’s ‘House Judiciary Committee’ X account posted a link that said it would take you to a copy of the Epstein files, but instead it sent you to the Rick Astley video for ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’.

Apparently, Jim thought that would be funny.

… One right-wing influencer with over a million followers: “This is the official X account for the House Judiciary Committee using the Epstein files as an occasion for a corny Rickroll joke. Just a stunning lack of judgment by the people responsible for this account. Truly mind boggling.”

… Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, perhaps unaware that her friend Jordan runs that account, then chimed in: “The amount of people hurt by Epstein is not a joke. Whoever posted this is going to get fired. Disgusting behavior.”

… Jordan then deleted it.

… Conspiracy theorist Rep. Andy Ogles thinks that the Deep State is covering up incriminating evidence on Democrats, so he is filing a bill about it: “The PEDO Act would fire FBI obstructionists who ‘delete, destroy, alter, or otherwise cause to be removed ANY record that is related to Jeffrey Epstein.’" The American people deserve transparency and the TRUTH.”

… AOC sent letter to Bondi demanding to know if she is under criminal investigation: “I write to request clarity on whether DOJ has yielded to political pressure and attempts to weaponize the agency against elected officials whose speech they disagree with. Over the past 2 weeks, ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan has gone on multiple forums threatening political prosecution against me. Homan’s repeated attempts to use your agency to politically intimidate elected officials are a textbook threat to the right to free speech. A govt that uses threats of DOJ investigations to suppress free speech is a threat to us all. Please respond by March 5.”

… It appears that Trump and Republicans have already thrown the towel and given up on their attempt to pass a budget reconciliation bill before the deadline next month. So, it looks like they are headed to another Continuing Resolution (CR) just as they have had to do for the last 2.5 years because they are incapable of passing their own budget.

… Yes, the US government continues to use the budget crafted by Nancy Pelosi in 2022, since Republicans cannot govern. Trump and Mike Johnson are now saying they want a CR passed to fund the government with Pelosi’s budget until Sept 2025.

… Trump, naturally, blamed Joe Biden for the inability of Republicans to pass a budget: “Biden left us a total MESS. The Budget from last YEAR is still not done. We are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding Bill (“CR”) to the end of September. Let’s get it done!”

… The Hill reports that JD Vance addressed the Catholic Prayer Breakfast, and told them that when the pandemic first happened in early 2020, “he went to Dicks and bought 900 rounds of ammunition and two bags of rice at Walmart to wait it out."

… Casey and Ron Desantis sent another signal this morning that she is going to run to succeed her husband as governor against Trump-endorsed Byron Donalds, which could set up a nasty Republican civil war in FL between MAGA and Desantinistas. When asked if she was running, Casey said, "To quote the great Yogi Berra, when you come to a fork in the road, take it."

… Ron Desantis then stepped up to the podium: "You guys can read into that whatever you like. I've had people coming up to me for years, begging to get her in the fray. She's passionate, articulate, smart, she's got rock solid values."

… She’s running.

… AP reported that 5 former Secretaries of Defense signed a letter imploring Congress to hold emergency hearings on Trump’s recent firings of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several other senior military leaders. The letter was signed by William Perry, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, Jim Mattis and Lloyd Austin.

… The letter said there was no justification for the firings because several of the officers had been nominated by Trump and had exemplary careers: “We, like many Americans, including many troops, are therefore left to conclude that these leaders are being fired for purely partisan reasons. We’re not asking members of Congress to do us a favor; we’re asking them to do their jobs.”

… The letter also asked Senators not to vote for any future Trump DOD nominees until hearings are held, including his Joint Chiefs Chair nominee Dan Caine: “The House and Senate should demand that the administration justify each firing and fully explain why it violated Congress’ legislative intent that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff complete a four-year term in office.”

… NBC reports that US District Judge John Bates has ordered an official from Elon Musk’s DOGE to testify and provide document in the lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Labor and other unions. This will be the first time someone with DOGE has been required to testify under oath about their activities.

… Judge Bates also ordered that 8 hours of depositions can be taken of 4 staffers at HHS, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Labor Department and DOGE. The court said the main issue in the case is whether people working for DOGE have the legal authority under the Privacy Act to view individual information of government employees.

… Sen. John Cornyn was asked by HuffPost about Musk’s demand that Republicans impeach federal judges who rule against DOGE: “The best recourse for somebody who's unhappy with what a judge decides is to appeal what that judge decides. That's the recourse that's available to everybody.”

… Meteorologist Matt Lanza briefly ended his boycott of X to post this statement: “NOAA, the parent agency of the National Weather Service, indiscriminately fired a number of employees yesterday. This makes the country less safe. Full stop. I am gravely concerned about tools breaking that are critical to observations, analysis, and forecasts as we head into severe weather & hurricane seasons. This will degrade forecasts in all areas.”

… Lanza: “If you live in a conservative county, go ask your local emergency manager about their relationship with NOAA/NWS and how it helps your community. I'm not being snarky, I'm being serious. Go ask and listen to what they tell you. You will be surprised. Arguably, the NWS provides an outsized benefit to rural, more conservative communities compared to larger cities.”

… Fallout continues from Trump envoy Ric Grenell reportedly lobbying Romania to allow alleged human sex trafficker Andrew Tate to fly to FL. MAGA podcaster Abby Libby made this post, which got 9.2 million views and 82,000 likes from her right-wing followers: “I voted for an administration that would stop human trafficking at our borders. I voted to get rapists and pedophiles off the streets. Trump's action in freeing the Tate brothers was a stunning betrayal of his mandate.”

… Sen. Josh Hawley doesn’t want to believe that his hero Trump had anything to do with freeing Tate: “I would hope our government wasn't involved in any way. My view is that charges against him are very serious. I don't think conservatives should be glorifying this guy at all. I certainly don't think that we should be using any influence in our government to try to get him out of what seemed to be extremely serious charges in Romania. So I would hope that we weren't involved in any way.”

… We were. In every way.

… Bloomberg reports that shares of Tesla are down 40% in just the last few months, with European car sales down almost 50%. The stock was down 17% just this week alone.

… Trump signed an executive order making English the official language of the US. I don’t know how we survived the previous 240 years without that one.

… Pardoned J6 defendant Matthew Huttle was shot and killed by a police officer in Indiana after he resisted arrest, ran to his car, and said he was going to shoot himself. A physical struggle ensued and Huttle was shot by the officer. He had a loaded pistol in his car.

… Sen. Chuck Schumer announced that Sen. Elissa Slotkin will give the Democratic response to Trump’s joint address to Congress next week.

… Puck reported Rep. Victoria Spartz, who vowed that she was “never” going to vote to Johnson’s budget framework, changed her mind hours later after Trump intimidated her. Trump called Spartz on the phone after the vote was cancelled and people nearby said they could hear Trump screaming at her from her phone, which was not on speaker. Trump yelled at her that she was a “fake Republican” who was “derailing his agenda.”

… When Spartz emerged from the cloakroom where she took the phone call from Trump, Mike Johnson was standing there waiting for her. Johnson patted Spartz on the back and told her: “You know what you have to do.”

… When she was later asked by reporters why she suddenly changed her mind, she told them that she had a “great conversation” with Trump, who was “on board to get some great things done on health care.” Right.

… CNBC reports that an untold part of the story about Trump’s Gold Card proposal for people to buy US citizenship for $5 million is that the wealthy foreigners are also going to get a big tax break as part of the deal. The proposal from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick grants a tax loophole that will not be available to American citizens.

… US citizens must pay income tax on their U.S. earnings as well as any income they earn overseas, including in their home country. But purchasers of the Trump Gold Card would not be subject to taxes on their overseas income, which makes it much more attractive to wealthy foreigners to avoid paying the same taxes that apply to current US citizens.

… China has by far the highest number of wealthy citizens who are likely to seek to buy US citizenship based on past behavior with similar (but much less expensive) citizenship programs in other countries. Taiwan, Vietnam and India are expected to have next highest number of takers.

… NYT reports that Trump mega-donor and Paramount board member Shari Redstone has urged the company to settle Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS because they edited their interview with Kamala Harris. Because of course she did.

… Semafor reports that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who is facing a tough reelection battle in 2026, is worried that Trump’s tariffs and mass government firings is going to hurt him and others in key races: “The tariff regimen has to be right, or it’s going to be inflationary,” which would make this “a very, very difficult cycle for us.”

… NPR reports that 75,000 WaPo subscribers cancelled their subscriptions this week after Jeff Bezos implemented his new policy on editorials.

… A day after Trump posted on Truth Social that Canadians should leave Wayne Gretzky alone despite his friendship with Trump, Wayne’s wife Janet made this post on Instagram, which she later deleted: “I have never met anyone who is more Proud to be a Canadian and it has broken his heart to read and see the mean comments.”

 

Today in Politics, Bulletin 80. 2/27/25.

Ron Filipkowski Feb 28 ∙

… Today was supposed to be MAGA’s Superbowl - the release of the secret Jeffrey Epstein files. This was the day that many prominent Democrats and half of Hollywood was going to go to prison after we learned about their Epstein associations. MAGA has believed for years that Deep State actors had Epstein killed in prison to cover up their crimes.

… Of course, the fact that their hero Donald Trump was a well-documented Epstein pal is irrelevant to them since Trump told them they only discussed business. Also, the fact that Epstein died in a prison while Trump was president would make it a lot easier for him to be involved in an Epstein murder than anyone else.

… They insisted during the campaign that Trump promise to release the files on Epstein, the JFK assassination, UFOs, and a host of other conspiracies. And Trump promised them he would. But last night, on the eve of the release to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s investigative committee, DOJ said it will not release the files yet but might do so soon.

… They all went nuts.

… Then, hours later, AG Pam Bondi reversed that and announced they would release “some of the files.” MAGA wasn’t thrilled about that, and seemed to smell a rat.

… So they waited today, and waited some more. And what happened? A motley crew of right-wing social media influencers emerged with a small binder in hand. So only a small amount of the files were released, and they were released only to a few MAGA influencers. The limited files were released by DOJ to ‘Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik, Collin Rugg, Rogan O’Handly, Jack Posobiec, Chad Prather, Mike Cernovich. In other words, a bunch of professional liars and propagandists.

… Don’t worry, MAGA. Chad Prather is now on the case:

… Rep. Luna wasn’t happy: “Neither I nor the task force were given or reviewed the Epstein documents being released today. A NY Post story just revealed that the documents will simply be Epstein's phonebook. THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR and a complete disappointment. GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!”

… They even lost Laura Loomer: “So when can I expect these big shot brilliant social media influencers to research and release their ‘exclusive binders’ full of the first batch of Epstein files? I guess we will be waiting here all week because something tells me some of the people who were invited don’t have the brain power to do original research. Thank God I worked so hard during the election season and ran cover for so many people’s intellectual deficiencies.”

… MAGA actor Kevin Sorbo at 6:55 AM: “The pedos in Hollywood are shaking right about now.

… MAGA actor Kevin Sorbo at 3:30 PM: “So, nothing new was released today. So much for government transparency.”

… Rep. Eric Swalwell did a little MAGA trolling on it:

… Meanwhile, after a lobbying effort from the Trump Admin, Romania lifted the travel restrictions on Andrew Tate to allow him to fly to the US. He arrived in Florida today on a private jet. Tate has a huge US right-wing social media following and is a big Trump supporter.

… Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba told Tate on Benny Johnson’s podcast a few weeks ago that she was “a big fan” of his. Tate is charged with human trafficking, sexual abuse, money laundering, and the case is still pending. Tate is charged with trafficking girls and women from multiple countries to himself, his brother and friends where they were abused and sexually assaulted.

… Ron DeSantis was fuming at Trump after learning that Tate was in FL: "Florida is not a place where you're welcome with that type of conduct. Our AG, James Uthmeier, is looking into what state hooks and jurisdictions we have to deal with this. I don't know how it came to this. We were not involved. We were not notified. I found out through the media."

… Barstool Sports founder and Trump supporter Dave Portnoy: “If I’m gonna be fair these questions need to be asked today: Why is the release of the Epstein list always a shit show? What’s the point of booting out illegals and criminals while somehow becoming a safe haven for the Tate brothers? Why is Crypto in the toilet if Trump is crypto king? How far does Tesla stock have to crash before Elon goes back to work?”

… Trump told the media that the US could bring in $50 trillion dollars on his Trump Gold Cards if they can sign up 10 million people to put up the $5 million price for US citizenship.

… Sen. Tommy Tuberville to Fox Business on the Trump Gold Card: “I played golf with Trump before. He comes up with a hundred ideas in 18 holes of golf. He always thinking about something to make things better. He’s a business guy!”

… David Horowitz, Editor of the right-wing publication The Blaze: “Trump Gold Card? This is worse than anything Mitt Romney and that era of globalists ever proposed. I'm hoping this is just a joke.”

… Mike Johnson is already trying to cook the books on his budget, which explodes the deficit so Republicans can give a massive tax cut to corporations and the highest earners. Johnson told Bloomberg after meeting with Trump that the “fraud” that Musk uncovers, Trump’s tariffs, and his now Trump Gold Visas selling citizenship for $5 million will take care of everything.

… Tuberville said there needs to be deeper cuts in the Pentagon budget: “We have to start in the Pentagon. We need to make a trigon, three sides instead of five sides in the Pentagon.”

… I think they call that a triangle.

… The coordinated right-wing social media influencer brigade blasted out to million of followers their latest talk point lie that Democrats voted against tax-free tips and overtime in the House budget proposal. Neither of those Trump campaign promises is going to happen and they aren’t in the bill. It was such an obvious lie that they couldn’t even get the usual suspects in Congress to run with it.

… But Lauren Boebert did: “No Tax On Tips has passed the House! Promises Made. Promises Kept. That’s how MAGA works!”

There was no Bulletin yesterday because of my podcast Uncovered, where I take a deep dive into the Top 10 stories of the week. If you want to check it out, it is here.

… And Anna Paulina Luna ran with the lie also, although she deleted her post after she was called out on it and got Community Noted on X. Boebert stuck by hers though - still up.

… Fox host Laura Ingraham said the House budget deal is a fiasco: “Apparently there is a majority of Republicans who are determined to have a budget deficit of $2 trillion/year until the markets shut them down. If the voters conclude that a Republican majority means that the budget deficit gets bigger every year, it’s catastrophic for the GOP.”

… “How do Republicans claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility when you’re passing a budget that racks up so much new debt? Congressional Republicans and Democrats are spending addicts. Big challenges ahead. Musk said budget deficit has to get down to about 3% of GDP. It’s about double that now. This is why the debt is exploding. Unconscionable.”

… Mike Johnson told CNN that the people yelling at his members in their districts are just paid operatives: “The videos you saw of the town halls were for paid protesters. They had Democrats come and fill the seats.”

… MAGA supporters were also dismayed about this new Trump statement: “I see so many things saying we don’t want China in this country, that’s not right. We want them to invest. We’ll invest in China.” So much for America First.

… Alina Habba got a bit snippy with Fox host Laura Ingraham about it. Ingraham: “A little murmuring in MAGA land about the comments on China today. Did MAGA vote for China to be able to buy up more American real estate or companies?” Habba: “Is that really the question? Is that what we’re doing here now? The spin?”

… Trump announced this morning on Truth Social that his 30 day tariff “pause” expires next week and they are going into effect. That means 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Trump also said he was increasing tariffs on China to 20% instead of 10% like he said previously.

… Trump: “The proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled. China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date. Thank you for your attention to this matter. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

… So where are we at? Trump will allow these huge tariffs to take effect, the stock market will tumble, prices and inflation will go up, people will lose their jobs, boycotts will ensue, and those countries will impose huge retaliatory tariffs on us. OR Trump will back down and do another pause, which makes him look a fool rattling his saber and making hollow threats.

… If I was to bet, I would say the trade war will be starting next week.

… Bloomberg reports that Canadians have had enough of the abuse and are boycotting American products. Canada purchased $349.4 billion in US goods in 2024 - almost as much as the entire EU. Canada sends more tourists to the US than any other country, who spent $20.5 billion in the US last year. But that is all over now - thanks to Trump.

… A survey of 3,310 Canadians by a Vancouver-based research firm found that 85% of people plan to replace US products with alternatives. Nearly half who planned to vacation in the US in 2025 are changing their travel plans.

… Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky has apparently been taking heat from his fellow Canadians because of his friendship with Trump, so Trump issued a lame statement that likely just make it worse for MAGA Wayne: “Wayne Gretzky is a fantastic guy! He could run for any political office in Canada, and win. Wayne is my friend, and he wants to make me happy, and is therefore somewhat ‘low key’ about Canada remaining a separate Country, rather than becoming a cherished and beautiful 51st State. Wayne and Janet love Canada, and they should only support Canada, and whatever else makes the Canadian People, and Governor Justin Trudeau, happy. He’s the Greatest Canadian of them all, and I am therefore making him a “free agent,” because I don’t want anyone in Canada to say anything bad about him.”

… Reuters reports that Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles pulled Musk aside two weeks ago and asked him to at least let her know in advance before he makes major policy decisions so they aren’t constantly scrambling to deal with the fallout. Musk started to inform Wiles for a while each day, but after Trump made a post on Truth Social saying that he wanted Musk to be “more aggressive”, Musk took that as a mandate to start ignoring Wiles again.

… Wiles also thought she reached an understanding that Musk would seek approval from cabinet secretaries before he used OPM, to send emails directly to federal workers. But Musk reneged on that agreement when he sent the email to 2.3 million civil-service workers in an email to detail their accomplishments, with a threat to fire them if they failed to comply.

… Trump and Wiles reportedly had no idea that the email was sent out and were completely blindsided, causing them to walk into the office to a firestorm on Monday morning created by Musk on Saturday.

… Musk says he might have screwed up a few things, but he’s getting better: "We will make mistakes. We won't be perfect. So for example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally canceled very briefly was Ebola prevention. But we reversed it.”

… Jeremy Konyndyk says Musk is lying: “So, I've actually led Ebola outbreak response at USAID . This is bunk from Elon. They have laid off most of the experts, they're bankrupting most of the partner organizations, have withdrawn from WHO, and muzzled CDC. What's left is a fig-leaf effort to cover their asses politically.”

… NYT reports that Musk did NOT reinstate Ebola prevention. Nidhi Bouri, who was in charge of the team until it was cut last month: “There have been no efforts to ‘turn on’ Ebola prevention.” She said her USAID team of 60 people has been cut to 6.

… Former Rep. Tom Malinowski: I doubt there is a single civil servant in our government, even the least competent, who has ever done anything in their whole career as stupidly bad as ‘accidentally’ stopping Ebola prevention. The biggest firing offenses are being committed by the guy doing the firing. Whoops, I accidentally cancelled Ebola prevention! Doh, I fired the the bird flu experts! Oops-a-daisy, I stopped the Lutheran Charities foster care and adoption services! My bad, I sacked the nuclear weapons workers! Now can I have access to your tax returns?”

… Kari Lake is upset that Musk now wants to eliminate Voice of America, right after Lake was named Director of VOA: “This is an 83 year old outlet that has been doing good work in many of those years.”

… WaPo reported on Trump voter and Forest Service employee Ryleigh Cooper from Michigan, who was fired as part of Musk’s purge. She thought her job would be safe because she only made $40K a year. She also lost her health insurance, and was losing hope of being able to get pregnant with her husband and was considering IVF.

… The Coopers couldn’t afford IVF, so when Trump promised that he would make IVF free, that convinced her to vote for him after voting for Biden in 2020. She said free IVF was her last thought before casting her vote for Trump. But now she’s been fired, lost her health insurance, lost paid 12 week maternity leave, and just learned that Trump is NOT making IVF free.

… After losing her job, Cooper read the WH statement that said IVF was only going to be ‘studied’. The WH statement concluded: “Delivering on promises for American families.” Cooper said her immediate reaction was, “That’s bullshit.”

… Rep. Ro Khanna to Meidas Touch: “We had all these veterans talking about their stories. They got notes on Valentine's Day that they were fired, many of them top performers. There's no rationale to it. It's not like they said, okay we're going to spend 6 months to find out what positions are redundant or to identify people who may not be working well. They just engaged in mass firing. I have warned Musk about this. He thinks it’s like Twitter. It’s not.”

… The Department of Labor issued the new jobs report, and it was dismal. First-time applications for unemployment benefits rose higher than expected with 242,000 jobless claims filed last week. That’s up 22,000 from the previous week.

… Bloomberg reports that inflation indicators are bad, which also means interest rates will likely not come down as expected: “The scope of reports indicating a resurgence in price pressures — spanning from input costs to wage growth to inflation expectations — underscores the Fed Reserve’s intent to keep interest rates on hold for the time being. Policymakers’ preferred gauge of underlying inflation probably picked up in Jan, ahead of data due Friday.”

… Lauren Saidel-Baker, economist at ITR Economics: “Our outlook is very much for inflation to be coming back. We’ve been saying second half of this year, but it seems like the pressures are already starting to build.”

… One major food manufacturer told them: “I have more uncertainty about the future business/consumer environment than ever before in my 40 years of operating businesses.”

… “Persistent price increases in areas like food, as well as other big expenses like housing, healthcare and car insurance, are hindering progress on broader inflation, even as costs of other things like furniture and appliances are largely declining.”

… Egg prices are highest in US history and are projected to only get worse in the near future. The US Dept of Agriculture estimates that egg prices will rise another 41% this year.

… WaPo reported that the FAA is about to cancel a $2.4 billion contract with Verizon to overhaul their communications system, so it can then award the contract to Elon Musk’s Starlink. The existing contract was awarded to Verizon in 2023. Musk on Monday: “The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk.”

… Verizon VP Joseph Russo said Tuesday that Verizon was offering the “reliability and performance” that the FAA needed, and its system was expected to be completed and fully operational soon.”

… Setting aside the insane, unprecedented, criminal conflict of interest for a second, we would also be terminating a contract that is almost competed and paid for so we can throw it away and pay Musk for a new one, which has never been used before by FAA with millions of lives at stake every day. What could go wrong?

… Sen. Tina Smith: “This is corruption in plain sight. Musk is getting sweetheart deals for his companies, DOGE is helping him do it, and the President is cheering him on. This isn’t about government efficiency, but making him richer.”

… CNN reports that Trump intends to be very involved in the 2026 midterm elections -likely endorsing challengers to House Republicans in primaries who he thinks are not sufficiently loyal to him, as well as using hundreds of millions in his PAC to help candidates in key races. But top Trump fundraiser Caroline Wren hopes he stays out of races in places where he isn’t popular: “We should give Susan Collins some space. She’s in a very blue state, so let’s just leave her alone.”

… WH Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair worries that Republican candidates have always done poorly in midterms because so many MAGA voters simply don’t show up and vote when Trump isn’t on the ballot: “It’ll be challenging, because if you look at the data … what carried President Trump in his elections is a group of voters who only vote when Trump is on the ballot.”

… RFK Jr was asked about the measles outbreak in Texas among an anti-vaccine community that resulted in at least 120 cases and one death: “It is not unusual, we have measles outbreaks every year.” He also claimed that the most of the hospitalizations were because of a quarantine, not because of serious cases. That is also a lie according to local health officials.

… Rep. Jake Auchincloss: “The last time a child in the U.S. died of measles was in 2003.”

… Sen. Bill Cassidy, who cast the key vote to confirm RFK Jr., responded to the measles outbreak: “Absolutely devastating news. I’m encouraging parents to make sure their child is up-to-date on their vaccines. The measles vaccine is safe and effective.”

… Thanks, Bill. For absolutely nothing.

… Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) is working hard for the people: “I’m grateful to announce that I am drafting legislation to direct the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to design a $250 bill featuring Donald J. Trump. Most valuable bill for most valuable President!

… Sen. Tammy Duckworth to CNN: "Donald Trump has fired more veterans than any other president in our recent history. This has to stop, because these are hard-working people."

… Rep. Pat Fallon told Fox that people on food stamps need to get back to work: "We have a message for those kind of folks: If you're able-bodied and you want to milk the taxpayer, those days are over. Get off the couch, stop eating the Cheetos, stop buying the medical marijuana and watching TV. You're actually gonna contribute now."

… AP has obtained the full list of 875 contracts to be cut from the VA’s budget by Musk, including a contract that supports disability ratings assessments; a contract to answer 24,000 requests for military records to help veterans with proving their toxic exposure and other conditions were connected to their time in service; the engineering needed to integrate VHA, DOD, VA and other agency datasets to assist with medical histories; calibrating radiation detection equipment, and many more.”

… Some new polling results from YouGov:

Trump should be King of the United States: No: 84% Yes: 7%

Trump's Birthday should be a Federal Holiday: No: 79% Yes: 10%

(Among Democrats) - Democrats need to be more (X) in their opposition to Trump's policies: Confrontational: 68% Civil: 19%

Departments That Should Be Eliminated: DOGE: 29% HUD: 4% NSF: 4% USPS: 4% DOE: 3% NASA: 3% HHS: 2% VA: 1%

… Lauren Boebert said that Trump stopped the wildfires in CA when he released water from the reservoirs in northern CA, which had zero impact on anything: “If it weren’t for President Trump opening up the spigot, maybe those homes would still be on fire.”

… The Editor of WaPo’s Opinion Page resigned in protest along with several writers after Jeff Bezos’s latest edict that he will decide the topics that are written about. Sen. Bernie Sanders: “This is what Oligarch ownership of the media looks like: The second-richest guy in the world, Bezos, owns WaPo. He has now declared that the editorial page of that paper is going Trump right-wing. Surprise, Mr. Musk agrees. We must support independent media.”

… AOC says she had near unanimous bipartisan support for one of her bills until Elon Musk got involved: “Why isn’t this moving? Republicans support it. Democrats support it. So what happened? On Dec 15th at 4:15 AM, Musk began firing off a barrage of social media posts opposing Pharmacy Benefit Manager reform. All of a sudden, something that had almost unanimous support fell apart. We had nearly 435 members on board with it—he tweets, and it kills drug pricing reform that would save people money on their insulin, asthma inhalers, and everything they need.

… “And to top it off, 5 days after he kills Pharmacy Benefit Manager reform, we get this tweet from Musk: “What is a pharmacy benefit manager?”

… AOC: “The problem here isn’t a substance issue or a process issue—it’s an oligarchy issue, a power issue. And this room is where the power of the people resides. Everyone here was elected to be accountable to the people—not to be governed by tweets, but to be governed by their duly elected representatives. So we can get this done; there are more of us than there are of him.”

… Rep. Tom Suozzi to Meidas Touch: “26% of the fed workforce are veterans. In society overall, only 5% of workers are veterans, but in the fed govt, it’s more than a quarter. And now we’re laying these people off? What about their lives? What about their service to this country? We encouraged them to apply for these jobs, and now we’re just taking away their livelihoods? That doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s not just chaotic, it’s not just cruel—it’s unconstitutional. The way they’re doing this is unconstitutional.”

… Transportation Sec Sean Duffy: “I’m on my way to the FAA Academy in Okla City to learn more about the training to become Air Traffic Controller and meet with students. Stay tuned for an announcement.”

… After mass firings at the FAA, Musk is now calling for people to come back out of retirement: “There is a shortage of top notch air traffic controllers. If you have retired, but are open to returning to work, please consider doing so.”

… Trump was asked if he still considers Zelensky a dictator: “Did I say that. I can’t believe I said that. Next question.”

… He said it in a Truth Social post, then he said it in his speech at CPAC.

… Axios reports that Tim Walz will not run for the senate seat that is coming open and is considering a run for 3rd term as Gov of MN.

… Republican commentator Ari Fleischer on Trump’s first cabinet meeting with Elon Musk: “This wasn’t a cabinet meeting. It’s a news conference with members of the cabinet as witnesses.”

… Sen. Elizabeth Warren to MeidasTouch: “Elon, stop being such a coward. You claim to be for maximum transparency—so get out of your bunker and come face real questions. Not from people who just suck up to you, but from those with serious concerns about what you’re doing, because you’re affecting millions of lives across this country in terrible ways.”

… Ben Meiselas: “You think they’re scared?” Warren: “Yeah. I think this is one of those things where they kind of build their alternative reality, and Elon spends all of his time with people who don't contradict him. You know, Elon, there's a whole real world out here, and the real world has some serious questions about what you're up to.”

… Daily Mail reports that despite several other prominent hosts being fired at MSNBC, Joe and Mika will keep their jobs despite ratings in the toilet. Morning Joe has lost 40% of their audience since Joe and Mika’s trip to kiss the ring at Mar-a-Lago. MSNBC spokesperson Richard Hudock: “Joe and Mika are categorically not going anywhere. Nothing here. Full stop.”

… Former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross is upset that Joy Reid was fired while J & M kept their jobs: “Don't believe the hype about the ratings. Her show was doing very well. You know whose ratings aren't doing well? Who ain't never got fired? Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough - They went to kiss the ring and they are still being elevated.”