Week 21 — The Return

This week’s common thread through many of the stories is the involvement of Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency. He seems to be omnipresent, in a way that almost overshadows Trump. It is notable that as we discussed last week with Trump making Secretary of State Marco Rubio the face of his regime’s lawless and controversial move to deport migrant Venezuelans to El Salvador, this week Trump is distancing himself from Musk and his DOGE efforts. Remember from the first Trump regime that it is never his fault, and he is always preparing for fall guys and gals to take the brunt of the blame when things go wrong, like in this case of what has become highly unpopular mass firings and haphazard cuts to federal grants and funding.

I wrote about why I believe we are in the 7th inning of Musk, maybe even the 8th inning after last night’s rebuke of Trump and Musk in Wisconsin. In a highly contested Wisconsin Supreme Court special election, in a state where elections are typically won by one to three points, the Democrat won by 10 points. This despite Musk plowing $25 million in spending, including offering $1 million prizes, $100 to sign his petition, and $50 prizes on election day for photos of voters, into what was the most expensive judicial race in history. The next day, Tesla announced plunging first quarter sales, well below expectations, as protests at Tesla showrooms continue throughout the country and world. Musk has made himself the receptacle of the country’s ire — which works for Trump, because the economy is faltering and his approval with it, so it helps to have someone to blame and cast off when needed.

Of note this week is the increasingly frightening and broadening ways that the Trump regime is carrying out deportations. He had campaigned on deporting criminal illegal migrants, which quickly devolved to any illegal migrant, then college students or professors who protested, now randomly picking up any Black or brown students who have anything on their record, including this week a DUI. The autocratic and careless tactics of arrest, and the lack of due process, is also a troubling sign, that as revealed in this week’s broken norms, is only getting worse.

This week Trump continued his effort to bully law firms and universities into submission. He is also continuing lawless acts and testing the bounds of the judicial system, which he, his regime, and some in the Republican Party are actively seeking to undermine and discredit. A new world order continues to form, as former U.S. allies draw new alliances without us, and Trump threatens a “Liberation Day” on April 2 with new tariffs after the markets close. His on-again, off-again tariffs, and the uncertainty they have created, resulted in the worst month for the stock market in years, as well as plummeting consumer confidence.

On a positive note, the pushback by citizens is increasing in size and scope. Republicans have largely eschewed town halls and other public appearances, but when they do, they are hearing vocal displeasure, and not just from Democrats. Protests have sprung up around the country, against Tesla, against closing Social Security offices, or in many places, just organically taking to the streets with signs. The courts continue to rule against many of Trump’s and his regime’s lawless acts, slowing his roll. And at long last, we saw an elected Democrat make a symbolic gesture: Sen. Cory Booker stood on the Senate floor for more than 25 hours, condemning Trump’s policies, in the longest speech ever on the Senate floor, breaking the record held by Strom Thurmond’s filibuster of a civil rights bill in 1957.

1. At the start of this week, Trump had signed 104 executive orders in his first 64 days, on his way to surpass the record of 106 signed by FDR in 1941 in his first 100 days. Trump’s orders have targeted DOGE (17), trade (16), energy and climate (10), and immigration (9).
2. On Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem visited the El Salvador prison where Venezuelans migrants have been deported to, posting a disturbing promotional video afterwards showing her standing in front of a crowded cell of tattooed, shirtless prisoners, with multi-level bunks.
3. Noem threatened in the video to send more immigrants to the El Salvador prison, saying, “If you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face,” adding, “This facility is one of the tools in our tool kit.”
4. Noem drew criticism from human rights groups for what appeared to be “political theater.” Also noted was her attire, wearing a baseball cap and a gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona that retails for $50,000.
5. WPTV reported on “inhumane” conditions at ICE’s Krome Detention Center in Florida, where there have been three deaths in the past month. An immigration attorney reported vast overcrowding where detainees could not move, and said they were screaming for help.
6. On Saturday, hundreds protested outside the Krome Detention Center, holding signs like “We are not Nazi Germany,” and demanding better conditions. ICE claimed the overcrowding was due to an increase in arrests under Trump’s mass deportations.
7. On Wednesday, Sens. Roger Wicker and Jack Reed, chairman and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, requested an expedited investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general of the Signal group chat.
8. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the Signal chat a “team update” meant to “provide updates in real time, general updates in real time.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “There were no war plans on there,” but admitted it was a “mistake” to let a journalist on the chat.
9. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the focus on his regime’s sharing of military plans on Signal was a “witch hunt” and there was “no harm done.” Trump also falsely claimed, “I think Signal could be defective, to be honest with you.”
10. Also, after his regime claimed for two days that the content of the chat was not classified, Trump backtracked when asked if it was classified, saying, “That’s what I’ve heard. I don’t know. I’m not sure, you have to ask the various people involved.”
11. On Wednesday, the Federal Judiciary said in a memo to federal judges that it would create a new Judicial Security and Independence Task Force to consider how to respond to “current risks” of threats made to judges by Trump and his allies.
12. On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected the Trump regime’s effort to overturn Judge James Boasberg’s block on deporting Venezuelans based on the Alien Enemies Act, saying the Trump regime had denied them of due process.
13. On Thursday, Judge Boasberg was assigned to the Signal chat related lawsuit. Trump called it “disgraceful,” falsely claiming, “‘Judge’ James Boasberg has just been given a fourth ‘Trump Case,’ something which is, statistically, IMPOSSIBLE.”
14. On Thursday, Boasberg ordered top regime officials in the chat, including NSA Michael Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance to preserve messages exchanged between March 11 and 15.
15. Later on Fox News, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Boasberg needed to be removed from the case and other Trump related cases, and added, “Many judges need to be removed,” falsely claiming, “these judges obviously cannot be impartial.”
16. On Friday, the Trump regime asked the Supreme Court to urgently lift Boasberg’s order, saying, “Only this Court can stop rule-by-TRO from further upending the separation of powers — the sooner, the better.”
17. On Wednesday, the Trump regime asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a lower ruling that blocked it from canceling up to $65 million in grants for teacher training and professional development.
18. On Monday, Trump allies who lead committees in the House and Senate planned to hold hearings on the federal judiciary, with the House expected to vote on a bill that would bar courts from issuing nationwide injunctions. This is viewed as a mostly symbolic move to please Trump.
19. On Thursday, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, two Democratic commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission fired by Trump, sued Trump alleging an illegal overreach of executive power.
20. On Thursday, the day after a House hearing at which Trump allies grilled PBS and NPR, Trump posted on Truth Social at 1:31 am, demanding that Congress “‘IMMEDIATELY’ defund” the networks, claiming they are “horrible and completely biased.”
21. On Wednesday, NYT reported Musk’s Tesla could get a big leg up on rivals from Trump’s announced 25% tariff on automakers, as the company makes all the cars that it sells in the U.S. in Texas. Tesla had been losing market share to EVs made by General Motors and Ford.
22. South Korea, Japan, Germany, Mexico, and Canada were impacted by the tariffs. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the U.S. is “no longer a reliable partner” on trade. Trump vowed further retaliation “if the European Union works with Canada” as a block to harm the U.S.
23. WSJ reported Trump warned U.S. automakers in a call in early March not to raise the price of their cars in response to his tariffs. It was unclear how Trump would target automotive companies who did not comply, but automakers do count on approvals from federal regulators.
24. On Thursday, Rubio said the State Department has revoked at least 300 student visas, telling reporters, “We do it every day,” and “every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas.”
25. NYT reported that Rubio also instructed U.S. diplomats to closely scrutinize the social media accounts of student visa applicants to check for those “suspected of having terrorist ties or sympathies” for Palestinians during the Gaza War with Israel.
26. The Guardian reported Jason Stanley, a Yale professor who studies fascism, is leaving the U.S. to work at a Canadian university. Stanley said his grandmother and father fled Berlin in 1939, and the U.S. may become a “fascist dictatorship.” Columbia’s capitulation was his last straw.
27. On Friday, a federal judge ruled Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk cannot be deported without a court order. A shocking surveillance video of her arrest surfaced, showing a group of plain-clothed ICE agents wearing masks surrounding and arresting her on a street.
28. On Friday, Columbia University interim president Katrina Armstrong stepped down, a week after striking a controversial deal with the Trump regime.
29. On Sunday, Dogukan Gunaydin, a University of Minnesota graduate student from Turkey who was detained by ICE and had his student visa revoked, challenged the legality of his arrest. DHS cited a 2023 DUI case as the basis, raising a new front for Trump regime deportations.
30. On Monday, the president of Cornell University said, “Cornell is not a business,” adding, “despite rapidly escalating political, legal and financial risks,” universities “cannot afford to cede the space of public discourse and the free exchange of ideas.”
31. He added, “In a democracy, universities serve to guard and promote the expertise, knowledge and democratic norms that advance societies, and on which universities themselves rely for their continued existence,” adding, “we cannot let our caution overtake our purpose.”
32. On Monday, the Trump regime said it was reviewing $9 billion of federal funding to Harvard University, citing the school’s tepid response to antisemitism. Harvard’s president said if the funding were canceled it would “halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.”
33. On Tuesday, Princeton University’s president said the Trump regime has suspended funding of “several dozen” research grants, making it the fourth Ivy League to be targeted.
34. NYT reported that economists warn that deep funding cuts threaten the U.S.’s place as the leader in scientific research and advancement, and competitiveness in emerging areas like artificial intelligence, leaving America poorer, less healthy, and less productive in coming decades.
35. Much innovation comes from universities, where Trump is cutting billions of funding. Scientists warn that the U.S. is losing its place as a leader in cutting-edge research, and its ability to attract top scientific minds from around the world.
36. On Monday, WAPO reported Silicon Valley technology companies are warning employees in the U.S. on visas not to leave the country, for fear they might not be allowed back in.
37. On Wednesday, ahead of a Trump delegation visit to Greenland, Trump said in an interview that his team would “let them know that we need Greenland for international safety and security,” adding, “we have to have it,” his clearest indication yet of the purpose of the trip.
38. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed Trump’s push to take over Greenland to “advance its geo-strategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic.” Trump’s move to do so would help legitimize Putin’s explanation of his invasion of Ukraine.
39. On Friday, while visiting American service members in Greenland, Vance said, “I think we do have to be more serious about the security of Greenland,” adding, “We cannot just ignore the president’s desires,” and claiming, “Denmark hasn’t done a good job at keeping Greenland safe.”
40. On Saturday, in an interview with NBC News, Trump said, “We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100 percent,” adding there is a “good possibility that we could do it without military force,” and “I don’t take anything off the table.”
41. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who was sworn in the day prior, posted on social media, “Let me be clear: The United States will not get it. We do not belong to anyone else. We decide our own future.”
42. On Tuesday, WAPO reported that the White House budget staff is preparing an estimate of what it would cost for the U.S. to control Greenland as a territory.
43. On Wednesday, Russell Vought, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sought to undo a settlement with Townstone Financial, a small mortgage lender which paid $105,000 to settle a racial discrimination case, and give back the money.
44. On Friday, Trump pardoned Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, the three co-founders of BitMEX crypto exchange, who pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges related to money laundering and failure to police the exchange.
45. Trump also pardoned Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corporation, from a conviction of federal crimes for defrauding investors, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $695 million in restitution. Milton will not have to pay restitution.
46. Trump also pardoned Carlos Watson, founder of Ozy Media, just before he was set to report to prison to serve a sentence of nearly a decade for several crimes related to his business, including securities fraud.
47. On Wednesday, NYT reported an internal National Institute of Health document showed the Trump regime is seeking to cancel funding for dozens of studies of new treatments and vaccines for Covid-19 and priority pathogens that could give rise to future pandemics.
48. On Thursday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement the agency would cut 10,000 jobs, including 3,500 at the Food and Drug Administration, 2,400 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 1,200 at the National Institutes of Health.
49. As part of the cuts, 10 regional offices will be pared back to five, and 28 divisions will be consolidated into 15. Among other impacts, experts say cuts will delay drug and medical device application reviews, and affect government service.
50. On Friday, the FDA’s top vaccine official, Dr. Peter Marks, resigned, citing Kennedy’s undermining vaccines, and pushing unproven alternative treatments, amid a measles outbreak, saying Kennedy wants “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”
51. Marks, who was given the choice to resign or be fired, wrote, “Undermining confidence in well-established vaccines” is “irresponsible, detrimental to public health, and a clear danger to our nation’s health, safety, and security,”
52. On Saturday, the House Committee on Oversight sent a letter to Kennedy seeking records and actions related to “endangering the nation’s public health by undermining routine vaccinations,” and asking the FDA to reinstate grants on vaccine hesitancy.
53. On Monday, in an unusual note, analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald, formerly headed by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, said Kennedy “is steering this country into dangerous territory based on his own whims and invalidated beliefs,” and asked the regime to re-evaluate his role.
54. On Saturday, the World Health Organization said in a memo that it will need to slash its workforce by just over one fifth, due to the impact of Trump funding cuts. Kennedy pushed to move HHS toward combating chronic diseases, rather than infectious ones.
55. On Tuesday, thousands of HHS employees were laid off, haphazardly. Some were notified by a 5 a.m. email, while others went to the office only to find they were fired when their security passes no longer worked. In total, roughly 25% of HHS staffers have been eliminated.
56. The HHS mass firings were delayed amid a battle between Musk and his DOGE agents and the leadership at HHS, who felt left out of the decision making process.
57. On Tuesday, ABC News reported the Texas measles outbreak hit 422 cases, with 22 in the past five days alone. At least 42 have been hospitalized so far. The outbreak has spread to 19 states, with at least 483 confirmed cases recorded by the CDC.
58. NYT reported that Musk’s DOGE cuts to FEMA have already resulted in disrupted payments to states, local governments, and nonprofits in communities hit by past disasters in Florida, Michigan, Hawaii, and North Carolina.
59. On Thursday, Sen. Susan Collins, chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, along with ranking member Sen. Patty Murray said in a letter to the White House that Trump had violated the six-month spending law approved weeks ago by withholding spending.
60. They cited a letter from Trump to Congress saying only a portion of the $12.4 billion designated as emergency funding in the legislation would actually be spent, denying funding in 11 areas in need, and saying Trump does not have the power to “pick and choose” what to fund.
61. NYT reported that some Republicans are directly lobbying Musk, or calling him after he gave them his cellphone number, when cuts impact their district. The trend highlights how Republicans have ceded their control over appropriations to Trump and the executive branch.
62. On Wednesday, the Social Security Administration backed off on a plan to cut phone services for disabled and elderly Americans applying for benefits, amid an uproar from advocates saying the move would make it impossible for those with limited mobility or computer skills to apply.
63. On Thursday, Musk and several members of DOGE went on Fox News, for what one Republican representative dubbed a “rehab tour.” The group falsely claimed they took a “careful” approach to government cuts and is focused on “treating everyone with dignity and respect.”
64. NYT reported Musk has made misleading claims about fraud in Social Security, Medicaid, the Small Business Administration, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, and the Interior Department — none of which is true.
65. On Thursday, WAPO reported an internal White House memo details a plan for 22 agencies to cut between 8% and 50% of their staff, including massive cuts at some agencies. Agency heads were required to submit planned cuts to the Office of Personnel Management by early March.
66. On Thursday, Musk posted on X that he would hold a rally in Wisconsin on Sunday, and “personally hand over” $1 million checks to two voters who had already cast their ballots in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. The post drew pushback for violating the law. Musk deleted it.
67. Musk clarified, “entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges.” Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul sued Musk, asking the court to issue an emergency injunction. The county court and court of appeals denied the request on Saturday.
68. On Sunday, the state’s Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit. Spending on the race exceeded $90 million, of which $25 million came from Musk and groups affiliated with him, making it the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history.
69. On Thursday, Trump issued an executive order to reshape the Smithsonian Institution, calling for the elimination of so-called “anti-American ideology,” and claiming over the past decade there was “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history.”
70. The order also called on the Smithsonian to restore “monuments, memorials, statues, markers” that have been removed over the past five years. The order also directed Vance to eliminate what he finds “improper” in museums, education, and research centers.
71. The Smithsonian has operated independently as a public-private partnership since it was created by an act of Congress in 1846. Trump’s effort to reshape the institution is unprecedented, and appeared to be part of his effort to reshape culture.
72. On Monday, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin shuttered the National Environment Museum, which was inside the agency’s D.C. headquarters, and was established in 2016. Zeldin described it as a “one-room, little-trafficked museum.”
73. On Thursday, school officials in Maine said they would not comply with a proposed order from the Trump regime that would ban transgender athletes from participating in girls sports, saying it is “bound by the law, including the Maine Human Rights Act.”
74. On Friday, Trump’s Federal Trade Commission said in a letter to Walt Disney Company and its ABC unit that it is opening an investigation into whether they are violating Trump’s anti-DEI executive order “by promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
75. On Saturday, the American Embassy in France sent a terse letter to executives at French companies, saying Trump’s executive order calling for the elimination of DEI policies would apply to any firm doing business with the U.S. government. The letter drew rebuke.
76. Bloomberg reported that anti-American sentiment is on the rise across Europe, as favorability toward the U.S. is plunging due to anger fueled by Trump, with no country above half approving. Groups in several countries are organizing boycotts of U.S. products.
77. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order ending the right of collective bargaining with federal unions, a move that impacts protections of hundreds of thousands of federal workers. Trump denounced the unions as “hostile.”
78. Trump’s order comes as federal unions were preparing to file lawsuits to fight cuts made by Musk’s DOGE. NYT reported the move comes as part of Trump’s efforts to weaken perceived enemies, as he views groups representing civil servants as part of the “deep state” he is targeting.
79. On Friday, a federal appeals court ruled with the Trump regime, saying he could fire the heads of two independent boards, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the National Labor Relations Board, an expansion of executive power.
80. On Thursday, Trump issued an executive order targeting law firm WilmerHale, targeted due to its connection to Robert Mueller, who led what Trump claimed was “one of the most partisan investigations in American history.”
81. Trump also signed an executive order earlier in the week targeting Jenner & Block, targeting Andrew Weissmann, a longtime deputy to Robert Mueller. After serving in the Trump-Russia investigation, Weissmann spent years as a television pundit criticizing Trump.
82. Late Thursday, Trump announced “essentially a settlement” with law firm Skadden, Arps, under which the firm agreed to provide $100 million in pro bono work on issues that he supports, and agreed to represent conservatives and their causes.
83. Trump bragged to reporters the day before on his ability to cow law firms to settle, saying, “They’re all bending and saying, ‘Sir, thank you very much,’” adding, “‘Where do I sign? Where do I sign?’”
84. On Friday, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale filed separate suits against the Trump regime, both alleging the regime engaged in unconstitutional retaliation that violates the First Amendment.
85. Later Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, blocking Trump’s executive order targeting Jenner & Block, and calling Trump’s order “disturbing” and “troubling” for criticizing pro bono work. Trump could however suspend security clearances.
86. Shortly after, a second federal judge also issued a temporary restraining order against much of Trump’s executive order against WilmerHale. Again, the judge allowed Trump to suspend security clearances.
87. Experts said Trump’s intention was to discourage and intimidate law firms from representing cases that he dislikes, or cases against him. The moves could also have a chilling effect on pro bono work for migrants and other clients at odds with Trump.
88. NYT reported the White House fired two longtime career assistant U.S. attorneys, one in Los Angeles and one in Memphis, in what former DOJ officials called a highly unusual and alarming exercise of power. Both received one sentence emails saying they were fired with no reason given.
89. Prosecutor Adam Schleifer was working on a fraud case against Andrew Wiederhorn, the founder of Fatburger. Wiederhorn has donated to PACs supporting Trump. An hour before he was fired, far-right influencer Laura Loomer posted on social media that Schleifer was a “Biden holdover.”
90. The day before, Reagan Fondren, the acting U.S. attorney in the Memphis office, also received a one sentence email from the White House firing her without explanation. Fondren is a Black woman.
91. On Tuesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Willkie Farr, the law firm where Doug Emhoff is a partner, agreed to provide $100 million in pro bono work on causes of Trump’s choosing, including veterans and antisemitism. Emhoff disagreed with the firm’s decision to seek a deal.
92. On Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary block of the Trump regime’s shutdown of Voice of America, and said the regime must rehire more than 1,200 Voice of America journalists and other employees while the litigation continues.
93. NYT reported that Trump would be handing China a strategic victory by shuttering Voice of America, a broadcast network consumed by generations of Chinese as a source of uncensored and factual reporting on countries like China which lack a free press.
94. On Saturday, the White House Correspondents’ Association board announced “we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year” for the correspondents’ dinner, amid tensions with the White House, canceling a planned performance by Amber Ruffin.
95. On Sunday, Axios reported the White House plans to take over the briefing room seating chart, a role traditionally played by reporters through the White House Correspondents’ Association.
96. On Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump regime’s efforts to dismantle the CFPB, and ordered the regime to reinstate probationary employees and other staff fired last month as part of the effort to shutter the bureau.
97. On Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary order requiring the Trump regime to give migrants a chance to contest their removal to a third country, citing a federal law limiting deportation when “life or freedom would be threatened,” and a UN treaty against torture.
98.  On Friday, the Trump regime moved to formally abolish the US Agency for International Development, which has been at the forefront of Musk’s DOGE targets. Rubio said USAID will be folded into the State Department. The agency was established by an act of Congress in 1961.
99. NYT reported as part of shuttering USAID, the Trump regime cut aid for contraception, ending access for nearly 50 million women in 31 developing countries. The U.S. had provided roughly $600 million in 2023 to fund 40% of the contract costs.
100. On Friday, the Trump regime took six actions targeting the state of California in 24 hours. It was unclear why. Actions included areas such as protecting transgender students, including undocumented students in certain programs, and investigations in affirmative action.
101. On Friday, Reuters reported that Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana drew boos and jeers at a packed two-hour town hall. Spartz held the town hall despite warnings by House Speaker Mike Johnson not to host public events.
102. On Friday, in a late night notice, nearly all of the 300 staffers of the US Institute of Peace, a government-funded independent nonprofit, were fired. The move comes after in Week 19, Musk’s DOGE gained access to the institute in a dramatic showdown.
103. On Monday, the Trump regime said in a court filing that two board members of the Institute of Peace had authorized putting DOGE agent Nate Cavanaugh, 28, in a role as temporary president, replacing George Moose, a career diplomat who joined the foreign service in 1967.
104. Reuters reported Christopher Stanley, 33, a DOGE agent at the DOJ, has bragged about hacking and distributing pirated software, according to archived copies of his former website.
105. On Friday, in a court filing, the US Naval Academy said it had ended its use of affirmative action in admissions. Hegseth’s office has also ordered the Naval Academy to identify and remove all books with a DEI theme from its library.
106. On Friday, Hegseth signed a memo to further reduce the Defense Department’s civilian workforce by 5% to 8%, suggesting the cuts could impact as many as 76,000 people.
107. On Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating a near crash, when four Air Force jets came close to a Delta Air Lines plane that was taking off from Ronald Reagan National Airport. The incident comes two months after the fatal collision there.
108. On Sunday, Hegseth ordered the Defense Department to eliminate lower physical fitness standards for women in combat by October, saying standards should be “sex neutral,” a move that will likely hurt recruitment and retention of women in combat roles.
109. On Saturday, in an NBC interview, Trump said he would not rule out seeking a third term, saying “there are methods” to do so without elaborating, claiming “a lot of people want me to do it,” and added, “I’m not joking.”
110. Asked if he has been presented with plans for a third term, Trump said, “There are methods which you could do it.” Asked about a scenario where Vance would run, then pass the role to him, Trump responded that “that’s one” method, adding, “But there are others, too.”
111. Asked about his 25% tariff on imported cars and auto parts, Trump said that “tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented,” and asked if he was concerned about the impact on consumers, said that, “No, I couldn’t care less.”
112. Trump also continued to downplay what had become known as ‘Signalgate,’ saying he had confidence still in Hegseth and Waltz, adding, “I don’t fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts.”
113. On Tuesday, WAPO reported members of Trump’s National Security Council, including Waltz, conducted government business using their personal Gmail accounts, a form of communication even less secure than Signal.
114. On Saturday, protests took place at all 277 Tesla showrooms and service centers in the U.S., and locations in Europe and Canada. One of Tesla’s most bullish stock analysts wrote, “This continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to navigate this brand tornado crisis moment.”
115. WSJ reported that Musk has moved to take over control of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, pushing Trump to install his friend Jared Isaacman to lead the agency, as Musk looks to advance his personal agenda of sending people to Mars.
116. Musk is further installing other loyalists at NASA, to help reallocate priorities to Mars. He has worked to convince Trump to back the move, telling him it would shine his legacy as a “president of firsts.” SpaceX officials say NASA resources will be reallocated towards Mars efforts.
117. On Monday, Politico reported after weeks of discussions, the Trump regime is close to finalizing a data-sharing agreement between the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will help the regime boost deportations in the short-term.
118. However, policy experts warned that the significant policy shift would push undocumented immigrants into hiding, and stop them from paying taxes, a loss of nearly $100 billion annual tax revenue.
119. On Monday, NYT reported that over the weekend DOGE gained access to the Federal Personnel and Payroll System, a federal payment system housed at the Interior Department that processes the salaries for about 276,000 government officials across dozens of agencies.
120. DOGE agents tried to access the system for about two weeks, but were rebuffed by senior career IT officials, who feared it could compromise highly sensitive government personnel information, including Social Security numbers, and make it more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
121. Federal employees asked DOGE to get Interior Department Sec. Doug Burgum to sign off on the legal risks of compromising highly sensitive government personnel information. Instead Tyler Hassan, a DOGE agent who was made an acting assistant secretary, put them on leave.
122. On Monday, NYT reported after Trump ordered federal workers to return to the office, there was no planning for preparing the buildings, including issues of no place to sit and cramped conditions, unclean conditions, shortages of toilet paper, and safety issues.
123. The chaos with the return to office has led to plummeting morale and inefficiency. Trump publicly said, “We think a very substantial number of people will not show up to work,” saying he hopes employees will choose to resign.
124. On Monday, Trump commuted the 189-month prison sentence and $162 million due in forfeitures and restitution of Jason Galanis, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, who testified in two House Republican committee investigations from a federal prison in Alabama.
125. On Monday, Trump pardoned Thomas Caldwell, a Jan. 6 insurrectionist, after previously commuting his sentence. Caldwell stood trial in 2022 alongside Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes for seditious conspiracy. Prosecutors said he had called for civil war.
126. On Monday, Trump nominated Anthony D’Esposito as Labor Department inspector general. While in Congress, D’Esposito gave jobs to his lover and his fiancée’s daughter, raising concerns of House ethics rule violations. He had low marks for labor and union related policies.
127. On Monday, Democratic groups, including the Democratic National Committee, Senatorial and Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Governors Association sued the Trump regime over his executive order on elections, saying it is unconstitutional.
128. On Monday, a federal judge blocked the Trump regime from rescinding Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Venezuelans, who sought refuge in the U.S. and were about to lose their work permits, and said the Trump regime’s actions “smacks of racism.”
129. On Monday, Rubio announced the Trump regime had sent 17 Venezuelans, who he claimed were “violent criminals,” including “murderers and rapists” with gang affiliations, to El Salvador, citing regular U.S. immigration law, not the Aliens Enemies Act.
130. On Monday, in a court filing, lawyers for Venezuelans deported to El Salvador said the Trump regime based their classification of migrants on “insignia, logos, notations, drawings, or dress” as well as tattoos as criteria to designate the men as members of Tren de Aragua.
131. The lawyers offered evidence that several men who were deported on that basis had no gang affiliation. They also challenged the Trump regime’s use of the so-called state secrets privilege, citing Trump amplified a post on social media with the airplane’s tail numbers.
132. On Monday, the Trump regime said the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland since 2019 with his wife and child under temporary protected status, to El Salvador was an “administrative error,” but said federal courts have no jurisdiction.
133. On Monday, a federal judge blocked the Central Intelligence Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence from firing 17 employees who had worked in DEI roles eliminated by the regime, saying they should be given the chance to vie for open positions.
134. On Tuesday, Musk attacked judges who blocked Trump’s policies on Fox News, calling them “fake,” and saying they “should be ashamed of themselves. Stephen Miller called them “communist” judges. Trump posted that they were “in complete violation” of the Constitution.
135. Late Tuesday, a federal judge paused federal firings of probationary workers in several states, and added the Office of Personnel Management and Defense Department to the list of agencies who he said had broken the law in the mass firings.
136. On Tuesday, Musk’s super PAC posted on X that it would pay “$50 for every picture with a Wisconsin resident outside of a voting location” adding, “they’ll get $50 too.”
137. On Friday, the University of Michigan’s survey of consumer sentiment for March came in at 57.0, down 11.9% from February and 28.2% from a year ago.
138. On Monday, the last day of March, the S&P 500 recorded its worst month since 2022, falling 5.8%, amid uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs, concerns about inflation, and falling consumer spending and confidence.
139. Tesla stock plunged 36% in the first quarter, its worst performance since 2022. In addition to U.S. protests and U.S. consumers seeking to trade in their cars, there were also reports of vandalism of showrooms and cars in Sweden, Italy, and Germany this week.
140. A Quinnipiac poll found 60% of voters disapprove of Musk and DOGE’s handling of federal workforce, while 36 percent approve. For Trump, 55% disapprove, while 40% approve. Approval was split across party lines.
141. On Monday, Trump signaled Musk and DOGE may soon be coming to an end, telling reporters, “I think he’s amazing but I also think he’s got a big company to run and so at some point he’s going to be going back,” adding, “He wants to. I’d keep him as long as I could keep him.”
142. On Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, calling it “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination.” Mangione has yet to be indicted federally.
143. On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Cory Booker condemned Trump’s policies in the longest speech ever given on the Senate floor, lasting more than 25 hours, breaking the record held by Strom Thurmond’s filibuster of a civil rights bill in 1957.
144. On Wednesday, a federal judge dismissed the criminal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams after he lobbied Trump to have his DOJ drop charges. The charges were dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning the regime will not be able to hold the case over Adam’s head.
145. On Wednesday, WSJ reported that Trump attorney Boris Epshteyn is exploring way for Trump to serve a third term, telling associates he has studied the law and believes there are ways. One way floated is to have Vance or someone else run in 2028 and step aside, or through Republican legislation altering the 22nd Amendment.