• NPR News Now A roundup of the day's top stories in under five minutes. New podcast episodes each weekday. (Bookmark that, to return to for later roundups.)
• Trump-Musk news (ongoing links to stories, Washington Post) Keep this link open so you can follow stories as they appear.
• Spotlight on President Trump Ongoing news, New York Times.
• Section on Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine (many sources)
---The Shame of It (Robert Reich).
Reich's tips on How to help the people in Ukraine. Here's the practical part:
"Europe and all free people around the world must rally at this time of American emergency. If the United States won’t seize Russia’s frozen assets and put them into an account for Ukraine to pay for further arms, Europeans must do this and let Ukraine buy from European defense contractors.
"If you yourself want to help Ukrainians, you might consider United 24 (the Ukrainian state platform for donations, including many important projects); RAZOM (an American NGO, tax-deductible for U.S. citizens, that cooperates with Ukrainian NGOs to support civilians); Documenting Ukraine (an initiative that helps give Ukrainians a voice, also tax-deductible for Americans); and Come Back Alive (a Ukrainian NGO that supports soldiers on the battlefield and veterans)."
TRUMP, ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. AND VACCINATIONS
• ‘Deadly consequences’: Health agencies reel from thousands of job cuts while critical research grants remain on hold (Meg Tirrell, CNN,2-26-25) A March meeting of outside advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration to discuss the composition of flu vaccines for this fall’s flu season has been canceled, a member of the advisory committee told CNN.
---Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Prohibits Federal Funding for COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools (The White House, 2-14-25) President Trump is dedicated to ensuring that American students are not forced to choose between their education and their medical freedom. President Trump is fulfilling his campaign promise: “I will not allow schools to impose COVID vaccine mandates…”
"In President Trump’s first week in office, he reinstated service members who were dismissed for refusing the COVID vaccine, with full back pay and benefits.”
"President Trump is as a staunch advocate for parental rights, ensuring families have the primary role in shaping their children’s educational journey, free from undue bureaucratic mandates.”
---I’ll Never Forget What Kennedy Did During Samoa’s Measles Outbreak (Brian Deer, NY Times, 11-25-24)
"In November 2019, when an epidemic of measles was killing children and babies in Samoa, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who in recent days became Donald Trump’s pick to lead the department of Health and Human Services — sent the prime minister of Samoa a four-page letter. In it, he suggested the measles vaccine itself may have caused the outbreak.
"He claimed that the vaccine might have “failed to produce antibodies” in vaccinated mothers sufficient to provide infants with immunity, that it perhaps provoked “the evolution of more virulent measles strains” and that children who received the vaccine may have inadvertently spread the virus to other children. “Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance,” he added, writing in his role as the chairman of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group. At the time of his letter, 16 people, many of them younger than 2, were already reported dead.
---Trump administration yanks CDC flu vaccine campaign (Will Stone, NPR, 2-19-25) The move comes during Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s first full week on the job as head of HHS. The "Wild to Mild" flu vaccination campaign sought to encourage people to get the flu vaccine. In particular, the campaign aimed to communicate that flu vaccination can lessen symptoms and the chance of getting severely ill, even if it doesn't prevent someone from catching the flu.
"The Trump administration's decision to pull the campaign comes in the midst of a brutal flu season that's still raging. More than 50,000 patients were admitted to hospitals for influenza during the week ending Feb. 8, the highest level in 15 years."
• White House will decide which journalists get access to it in an unprecedented step (Justine McDaniel, Politics, WaPo, 2-25-25) The Trump administration will determine which journalists participate in the White House press pool, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday, breaking with nearly a century of practice in which the independent White House Correspondents’ Association has overseen the rotating group of news outlets that cover the president in Washington and on travels. Journalists and media critics warned that White House control of the press pool threatens the foundations of a free press
---White House Correspondents' Association Statement on White House Announcement on Press Pool (2-25-25)
“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps....
“Since its founding in 1914, the WHCA has sought to ensure that the reporters, photographers, producers and technicians who actually do the work – 365 days of every year – decide amongst themselves how these rotations are operated, so as to ensure consistent professional standards and fairness in access on behalf of all readers, viewers and listeners.
“To be clear, the White House did not give the WHCA board a heads up or have any discussions about today’s announcements. But the WHCA will never stop advocating for comprehensive access, full transparency and the right of the American public to read, listen to and watch reports from the White House, delivered without fear or favor.”
• No one crowned Donald Trump king (Svante Myrick, The Hill, 2-24-25)
Last week, Trump posted a fake Time magazine cover picturing himself wearing a crown and a smug grin with the proclamation, 'LONG LIVE THE KING!'
"The Founding Fathers 'went to war to free Americans from the rule of kings. But Trump and the MAGA movement have basically abandoned any commitment to constitutional democracy. They have cheered as he has brazenly broken the law and undermined our national security by allowing Elon Musk and his wrecking crew to pillage crucial computer systems and access Americans’ most sensitive private information.
"Some of Trump’s actions have been put on hold by federal courts, which is fueling the Trump team’s resentment at having to follow the law. When judges started questioning flagrant lawbreaking overseen by Musk, Vice President JD Vance took to X to claim, 'Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.' Vance may have skipped some constitutional law classes, because he is missing a keystone of our constitutional system of checks and balances."
• Trump humiliated again on the world stage by British PM Starmer after France's Macron Interrupted Him (YouTube video, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell)
"Well, Donald Trump was humiliated once again today in the Oval Office sitting in exactly the same chair where he was humiliated in this same week on Monday. Donald Trump made history on Monday by being the first president of the United States to lie publicly about America's oldest ally, France, with the president of France sitting right beside him. That created the historic humiliation touch seen around the world. President Emmanuel Macron of France actually reached across to put his hand on Donald Trump to stop Donald Trump from lying about France. Donald Trump said that Europe contributed less aid to Ukraine than the United States did. That's a lie. Europe has contributed more than the United States has. Donald Trump once again told the lie that American aid to Ukraine was a donation, but European aid to Ukraine was a loan, and Ukraine was required to pay back France and all the other European countries that invaded Ukraine. And that was a lie that President Macron could not abide. And that is when President Macron had to interrupt him and stop him from continuing to tell that lie.
Because Donald Trump is not now and never has been educable.
"Imagine my joy when Donald Trump made the mistake of choosing Andrew Feinberg for the first question in the press conference. A word here about the White House Press Corps. You're heard more criticism of the White House Press Corps on this program over the years than anywhere else on television and so when the White House Press Corps gets it right, I want to be the first to honor that, and Andrew Feinberg got it right today as he has in the past, which is why Andrew Feinberg will be joining us on this program tonight.
When Donald Trump made the mistake of calling on Andrew Feinberg for the first question of the press conference, he heard the best questions asked by a White House reporter this year. Thank you, Mr. President. Earlier today, uh, yyou told me that you believe that foreign countries pay tariffs, but Americans who are concerned about higher prices believe, as most people do,that they are paid by consumers and importers when they import things into this country, and that was a lie.
Three days later, Donald Trump walks into exactly the same humiliation trap in the Oval Office, today with the British prime minister sitting beside him. You know they get their money back. By giving money, we don't get the money back. Biden made a deal. He put in $350 billion and I thought it was a very unfair situation. We're not getting all of ours. I mean, quite a bit of ours was gifted. It was given. There were some liens, but mainly it was gifted actually.
Did you see that, the left hand--that's the interruption hand that the French president used. The British minister's left hand goes toward Donald Trump, but he's British. He's British. He's not touchy feely. He's not gonna touch him. But he does interrupt him, just like the French president did. Once again Donald Trump told the deranged lie that the aid supplied to Ukraine by the British will have to be paid back by Ukraine. And that is the only thing Donald Trump said today.
That forced the British prime minister to actually interrupt him. The British prime minister did not see it as his role to correct Donald Trump for lying about the amount of American aid supplied to Ukraine. Donald Trump more than doubles the real number when he accuses Joe Biden of providing $350 billion in aid to Ukraine, when in fact it was $119 billion. It's the kind of Trump lie that everyone has grown accustomered to, especially the White House press corps. Of course Donald Trump will lie about the numbers, he always does."
And so it goes on...You can listen to it here, resuming at Minute 3:20 and ending about thirteen minutes later.
• What the Trump-Musk carnival act fails to realize about federal workers (WaPo, 2-19-25)
Someday, Elon Musk will understand what public servants do all day long: They keep us safe.
---Trump administration plans for sharp FEMA cuts fuel worries for some Republicans, state officials (Annie Grayer, CNN, 2-21-25) A developing Trump administration plan for deep staff cuts and drastic changes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency is raising alarm among some state officials and even Republican lawmakers, who worry that it will weaken responses to future disasters. FEMA is just the latest agency on DOGE’s chopping block – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters has been shut down, orders to terminate the Department of Education have been drafted and the US Agency for International Development has had its aid work around the world largely brought to a standstill.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana told CNN that the emergency services that the federal agency provides is critical and cannot be discarded. “Whether FEMA exists or not, there needs to be an agency that provides emergency management services when catastrophes are too big for the state and local community to handle,” he said. “Could there be reforms in FEMA? Absolutely.”
---Trump and Elon Musk are floating 'DOGE dividends.' (NBC News) Low-income Americans might not get the benefits. (The president recently touted the idea, which came to a 30-year-old investor in a dream and caught the attention of Elon Musk on X.
---How NIH research funding works, and why universities are worried ( Susan Svrluga and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, WaPo, 2-11-25) What the Trump administration’s decision to cut overhead funding for biomedical research means for universities across the country. Scientists say the reduced federal support could have a devastating effect on critical research, shutting down clinical trials, labs and experiments, and preventing lifesaving breakthroughs in medicine. But critics argue the new NIH policy would bring sanity to a funding system rife with costs that should be absorbed by institutions.
• A Trump outrage that stands apart (David Ignatius, WaPo, 2-19-25)
The president blames Ukraine for its own brutalization.
Tuesday was a dark day for the United States. President Donald Trump and his administration embraced Russia as a peace partner without demanding that it pay any price for its illegal invasion of Ukraine. And then, in a statement that turned morality upside down, the president blamed Ukraine for causing the war.
• How the Trump-Zelensky Oval Office meeting spiraled into chaos (video transcription, Michael Birnbaum, Natalie Allison, Matt Viser, and Jacqueline Alemany, WaPo, 3-1-25)
White House officials were expecting a positive meeting and said they had little reason to anticipate animosity before things deteriorated.
“This is going to be great television,” Trump declared. “I will say that.”
Waltz said that he told Zelensky, “Look, Mr. President, time is not on your side here. Time is not on your side on the battlefield. Time is not on your side in terms of the world situation and most importantly, U.S. aid and the taxpayers, tolerance is not unlimited.”
The national security adviser said that Zelensky “has not gotten the memo that this is a new sheriff in town.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who just last year rebuked Vance’s position on Ukraine and urged the then-senator to take a trip to the war-torn country before taking a position, said during a Fox News interview on Friday after the spat that Zelensky would have to “fundamentally change or go.” But Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was the rare GOP official who denounced Trump in a post on X for “walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.”
Tuesday was a dark day for the United States. President Donald Trump and his administration embraced Russia as a peace partner without demanding that it pay any price for its illegal invasion of Ukraine. And then, in a statement that turned morality upside down, the president blamed Ukraine for causing the war.
• Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE (Associated Press, via WTOP, 2-21-25) More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”
The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump’s administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them.
“These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services,” the resignation letter states. “Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and American’s data less safe.”
• ‘They Were Careless People’: Taking Moments to Tear Down What Has Taken Lifetimes to Create. (James Fallows, 2-25-25) The zealots of Doge and Project 2025 are out to ‘cut waste.’ They will certainly cost lives: An example from aviation. Aviation as a ‘marker species’: Systems that work only when many other systems are working too. Everyone complains about US airlines. But the system as a whole, especially its safety record, has been a phenomenal achievement.
"I’m talking about the sudden attack on part of the invisible infrastructure that has kept air travelers so safe in the skies. Reminder: before last month’s helicopter-airliner collision over the Potomac, the US had gone nearly 16 years without a major airline crash. Through those years, US airlines conducted well over 10 billion passenger-journeys. A total of two people died in airline accidents through that time. ... in the spasm of Executive Orders that Donald Trump glanced at, signed, and held up for the camera in his first days back behind the Resolute Desk.
• The Trump Administration Trashes Europe and NATO (Dexter Filkins, The Lede, New Yorker, 2-20-25) Speeches delivered by J. D. Vance and Pete Hegseth were not just verbal lashings of America’s allies but a wholesale rejection of eighty years of U.S. foreign policy.
• Something is shifting. Scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder posted on Bluesky yesterday. (Heather Cox Richardson, 2-23-25)
“They are still breaking things and stealing things. And they will keep trying to break and to steal. But the propaganda magic around the oligarchical coup is fading. Nervous Musk, Trump, Vance have all been outclassed in public arguments these last few days. Government failure, stock market crash, and dictatorial alliances are not popular. People are starting to realize that there is no truth here beyond the desire for personal wealth and power.”
"Rather than backing down on their unpopular programs, Trump and the MAGA Republicans are intensifying their behavior as if trying to grab power before it slips away.
"Trump’s blanket pardons of the people convicted for violent behavior in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol were highly unpopular, with 83% of Americans opposed to those pardons. Even those who identify as Republican-leaning oppose those pardons 70 to 27 percent. And yet, on February 20, the Trump Justice Department expanded those pardons to cover gun and drug charges against two former January 6 defendants that were turned up during Federal Bureau of Investigation searches related to the January 6 attack."
• Authors Guild Condemns Trump Administration’s Threats to Prosecute Journalists Reporting on Facts (Authors Guild). Trump administration ignoring the First Amendment and "freedom of the press".
• Trump and Musk praise each other, promise ‘hundreds of billions’ in cuts during Fox interview (WaPo, 2-18-25)
• After U.S.-Russian Talks, Trump Blames Invasion On Ukraine (YouTube video)
See more on Ukraine below.
• How COVID Pushed a Generation of Young People to the Right (Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, 2-18-25) Research suggests that pandemics are more likely to reduce rather than build trust in scientific and political authorities
• Anxiety Mounts Among Social Security Recipients as DOGE Troops Settle In (Eli Hager, ProPublica, 2-22-25) “Social Security will not be touched,” Trump said, echoing a promise he has been making for years. Despite his eagerness to explode treaties, shutter entire government agencies and abandon decades-old ways of doing things, the president understands that Social Security benefits for seniors are sacrosanct. Yet Elon Musk’s team has descended on an already understaffed Social Security Administration, which now faces further workforce cuts and closures of vital local offices. The consequences could be significant for millions of the most vulnerable Americans.
---Protesters at Republican Event Told 'Your Voice Is Meaningless' (Natalie Venegas, Newsweek, 2-23-25) rotesters at an Idaho town hall hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) were told on Saturday that their "voice is meaningless" as concerns remain by some over President Donald Trump's administration and political agenda.
Saturday's protest comes as Trump has made several policy decisions including the creation of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an unofficial agency established through executive order operating as a White House task force, which has pursued an aggressive initiative to cut the size and scope of the federal government. The president has also signed several executive orders enacting his conservative agenda, quickly fulfilling campaign promises with several immigration-related orders, ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, and orders related to the economy and energy production.
• State Dept. orders cancellation of news subscriptions around the world (Washington Post, 3-18-25) Embassies and consulates were told to terminate subscriptions to the New York Times, the Associated Press and others.
• USAID update, with Dr. Atul Gawande and Dr. Jeremy Faust. (Inside Medicine, 2-25-24. Listen or read the transcript.)
An in-depth and up-to-date deep-dive on where things really stand in the Trump administration's assault on USAID, which has long been one of the United States' greatest assets.
When Elon Musk said, hey, we can take $2 trillion out of $7 trillion, budget and it'll all be, you know, waste and efficiency. He was happy to buy into that. Why is he looking for the savings, President Trump? Because he wants to he wants to sustain the 2017 tax cuts and there is no revenue... President Trump came in very clear that he wanted to embrace a theory described in Project 2025 of dismantling significant parts of government. He's long been bought into the view that you can dramatically shrink the government....
"Mad men are doing surgery on USAID with a chainsaw. And it is predictably now near death. Marco Rubio has not been able to stop it. He is both beset from within and outside and has decided to go along with it just in the same way that he's decided to 100% reverse his position on Ukraine and now side with the idea that Russia is the is the party that the U.S. needs to be most aligned with.
"This is the test kitchen or the tools that Doge and President Trump have used to decimate an independent agency and are bringing to other independent agencies.... Our system of independent agencies has meant that when NIH makes discoveries, when FDA evaluates products,when CDC issues guidance, when USAID puts feet on the ground to solve polio eradication, those are done with the best technical people and shielded from political interference at the ground level of good decision making. What's happening across the US government is dismantling of a system of independence, allowing political interference in something where that whole ecosystem has enabled a doubling of the human lifespan. This is dangerous. I cannot tell you how dangerous this is."
• The Trump administration is putting USAID staffers on leave worldwide and firing at least 1,600 (AP, WTOP, 2-23-25)
“As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” according to the notices sent to USAID workers that were viewed by The Associated Press.
At the same time, the agency said in the notices to staffers that it was beginning a firing process called reduction in force that would eliminate 2,000 U.S.-based jobs. A version of the notice posted later on USAID’s website put the number of positions to be eliminated lower, at 1,600.
• The Trump Administration Said These Aid Programs Saved Lives. It Canceled Them Anyway.
(Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 3-1-25)
The administration conceded that many programs prevent immediate death and should remain online: field hospitals in Gaza, an HIV drug supplier for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syrian refugee food programs, health clinics that combat Ebola in Uganda and most of the landmark President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR.
However, Rubio and Marocco completely ended nearly 10,000 aid programs in one fell swoop — including those they had granted waivers just days earlier — saying the programs did not align with Trump’s agenda. The move consigns untold numbers of the world’s poorest children, refugees and other vulnerable people to death, according to several senior federal officials. Local authorities have already begun estimating a death toll in the hundreds of thousands. Documents and interviews reveal that the State Department appears to have made the cuts without the careful review it described in court.
• The Strategy Behind Trump’s Defiance of the Law (Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker, 2-13-25)
His violations follow an old playbook—trigger lawsuits, giving the Supreme Court a chance to declare statutes unconstitutional.
• Here’s how Trump’s vengeance machine works (Robert Reich, 1-24-25) He’s the mob boss who keeps his hands clean while others do his dirty work.
• The Great Resegregation (Adam Serwer, The Atlantic 2-22-25) The Trump administration’s attacks on DEI are aimed at reversing the civil-rights movement.
• Trump Targets a Growing List of Those He Sees as Disloyal (Luke Broadwater, NY Times, 2-17-25) "In his first month in office, the president has carried out a campaign of retribution that has little analogue in history. He has pulled protective details from former colleagues facing death threats from Iran. He has revoked or threatened to revoke the security clearances of President Biden, members of his administration and dozens of others. His administration has taken steps to target members of the media seen as unfriendly, taken the hatchet to entire agencies perceived as too liberal and fired or investigated government workers deemed disloyal.
"The lawyer Mark Zaid has represented a wide array of whistle-blowers, both Republicans and Democrats, during multiple administrations. But it was his involvement with the whistle-blower at the center of the first impeachment case against President Trump that drew the president’s ire. “It is more than obvious that Trump is fulfilling the promises that he made and campaigned on, that he would retaliate against those who did him wrong,” he added. Mr. Zaid is on what has become an ever-growing list of President Trump’s perceived enemies. Through the first month of his administration, Mr. Trump and his allies have carried out a campaign of revenge and retribution that has little analogue in American history."
• Trump Is the Weakest and the Whiniest, with Adam Kinzinger (Really American Media)
• Trump begins firings of FAA staff just weeks after fatal DC plane crash (Tara Copp, AP News, 2-17-2025)
---Family files 1st legal claim in deadly midair collision near Reagan National Airport for $250 million
• What you need to know about impoundment and how Trump vows to use it (PBS, 2-6-25)
Before winning reelection, President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise to shake things up in Washington. In his first two weeks in office, that shakeup has included orders to freeze nearly all foreign aid and, for a chaotic 24 hours or so, all federal grants and loans.
"While two judges have hit pause on Trump’s federal spending freeze, his administration has signaled the matter is far from resolved. The brewing showdown is over a centuries-old process called “impoundment” in which the president — whose administration is tasked with distributing funds — doesn’t allow congressionally appropriated funding to be spent."
• Trump picks Project 2025 architect Russell Vought to return as top budget official (Fatima Hussein, Chris Rugaber, Josh Boak, and Chris Megerian, Associated Press, on PBS Newshour, 3-23-24) Russell Vought, a Project 2025 architect, likely in line for high-ranking post if Trump wins 2nd term. Trump said Vought, who is known as a Republican hardliner on budget and cultural issues, “knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State and end Weaponized Government.”
UKRAINE, ZELENSKY, AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
How you spell the Ukrainian President’s last name matters (CNN, 3-17-22) Have you noticed the discrepancy in how different media outlets spell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s/Zelenskyy's name? 'CNN uses the single “y” spelling for “Zelensky,” while Fox and MSNBC go with a double “y” for “Zelenskyy.” The New York Times and The Washington Post are both single “y” organizations. The Associated Press is a double “y” outlet. Reuters goes in a completely different direction, spelling his last name “Zelenskiy.” The issue is primarily one of transliteration – from the Cyrillic alphabet used in Ukraine to the Latin alphabet we use in America.
'Zelensky himself has it spelled “Zelenskyy” on his passport. In May 2019 his administration said he preferred that spelling when his name was transliterated from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet.... In the early days of Zelensky’s time in office, his own administration had his name spelled differently on different official releases.'
• Putin’s Three Years of Humiliation (Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 2-24-25) Out of all the ugly and dishonest things that Donald Trump said about Volodymyr Zelensky last week, the ugliest was not dishonest at all. “I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards,” Trump said of Zelensky. “He has no cards. And you get sick of it.”
"Sick of it. Stop and think about that phrase. Trump inserted it into a stream of falsehoods, produced over several days, many of which he must have known to be untrue. He [Trump] has been lying about the origins of the war, about Zelensky’s popular support, about the levels of U.S. funding for Ukraine, about the extent of European funding, about the status of previous negotiations. But sick of it—that, at least, has the ring of truth. Trump is genuinely bored of the war. He doesn’t understand it. He doesn’t know why it started. He doesn’t know how to stop it. He wants to change the channel and watch something else."
"But Trump is wrong. Zelensky might not have money, and he might not be a brutal dictator like Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping. Yet he does have other kinds of power. He leads a society that organizes itself, with local leaders who have legitimacy and a tech sector dedicated to victory—a society that has come, around the world, to symbolize bravery. He has a message that moves people to act instead of just scaring them into silence."
• Watch tense Oval Office argument between Zelensky, Trump and Vance (CNN, 2-28-25) President Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky devolved into a shouting match, with the US president telling Ukraine’s leader “make a deal or we’re out” during an angry exchange about the nature of US support, and whether Zelensky had demonstrated enough gratitude.
• Trump Administration Live Updates: European Leaders Line Up to Support Ukraine After Blowup With Trump (Jeanna Smialek and Stephen Castle, NY Times, 3-1-25) President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is meeting with Keir Starmer, the British leader, in London and plans to visit King Charles III and other European leaders on Sunday.
• A Trump outrage that stands apart (David Ignatius, WaPo, 2-19-25) The president blames Ukraine for its own brutalization.
• After U.S.-Russian Talks, Trump Blames Invasion On Ukraine (YouTube, NPR News Now, 2-19-25)
• Trump Says Call With Putin Is Beginning of Ukraine Peace Negotiations (Maggie Haberman,Zolan Kanno-Youngs, and Anton Troianovski, NY Times, 2-12-25)
• Trump says Ukraine started the war that’s killing its citizens. What are the facts? (Justin Spike, AP New, 2-19-25).
• When did the Russia-Ukraine War begin? (written and fact-checked by Brittanica) "The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, 2022, was the expansion of a war between the two countries that had begun in February 2014, when disguised Russian troops covertly invaded and took control of the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea. In the following months, Russian troops and local proxies seized territory in Ukraine’s Donbas region, resulting in ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine that killed more than 14,000 people prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion."
---Why did Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine in 2022? (Brittanica)
"Vladimir Putin's invasion followed years of tension between Russia and Ukraine as Ukraine moved toward closer ties with the West, which Putin viewed as a threat to Russia's influence. Between October and November 2021, he amassed troops and military equipment along Russia's border with Ukraine and made various demands that were rejected, including de facto veto power over NATO expansion. On February 21, 2022, Putin recognized the independence of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and ordered Russian troops into Ukrainian territory as "peacekeepers," and on February 24 he launched a full-scale invasion that he called a "special military operation."
"Putin's stated reasons for the invasion included the false claim that Ukraine was committing genocide against Russian speakers in the Donbas. Putin's reasons were widely discredited internationally, and his invasion was instead seen as an attempt to reassert Russian influence over Ukraine and prevent its further integration with the European Union and NATO."
---The Trump Administration Trashes Europe and NATO (Dexter Filkins, The Lede, New Yorker, 2-20-25) Speeches delivered by J. D. Vance and Pete Hegseth were not just verbal lashings of America’s allies but a wholesale rejection of eighty years of U.S. foreign policy. Vance’s speech represented an astonishing rebuke of America’s closest and most enduring friends, most of them members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Indeed, it seemed to turn European reality on its head. Filkins writes about how NATO came to be.
ELON MUSK'S TAKEOVER
Associates of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have spread out across the federal government, alarming many career employees. DOGE broadens sweep of federal agencies, gains access to health payment systems.
• DOGE’s Only Public Ledger Is Riddled With Mistakes (Aatish Bhatia, Emily Badger, David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Katz, Margot Sanger-Katz, and Ethan Singer, NY Times, 2-21-25) The figures from Elon Musk’s team of outsiders represent billions in government cuts. They are also full of accounting errors, outdated data and other miscalculations.
• A comprehensive look at DOGE’s firings and layoffs so far (AP, 2-21-25) It is affecting more than just the national capital region, home to about 20% of the 2.4 million members of the civilian federal workforce, which does not include military personnel and postal workers. More than 80% of that workforce lives outside the Washington area. An overview of where the cuts are.
• Judge upholds ban on DOGE accessing sensitive Treasury information, for now (AP/WTOP, 2-21-25) Judge Vargas said DOGE’s efforts to modernize Treasury payment systems were not undercut by the delay, which she said was meant to ensure the security of sensitive personal data for millions of Americans.
• Musk’s cost-cutting team is laying off workers at the auto safety agency overseeing his car company (AP/WTOP, 2-22-25) In addition to investigations into Tesla’s partially automated vehicles, NHTSA has mandated that Tesla and other automakers using self-driving technology report crash data on vehicles, a requirement that Tesla has criticized and that watchdogs fear could be eliminated.
• Is DOGE ignoring the biggest chunk of missing federal money? (Kassidy Perkins, WTOP, 2-22-25)
Many of the programs in its crosshairs are related to foreign aid or “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives.
The IRS reported that Americans failed to pay an estimated $688 billion in taxes in 2023 alone. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates around $100 billion is lost every year to Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
“Ironically, the Republicans in the last several congresses have refused to increase the number of investigators at the IRS.” Trump paused the hiring of new IRS agents on his first day in office.
The Associated Press has reported that the IRS has plans to lay off 7,000 probationary workers this week. Elaine Kamarck, who led a Clinton-era initiative that trimmed $136 billion, is not opposed to eliminating fraud and waste. But she is skeptical of DOGE’s strategy. For rooting out wasteful spending within the agencies themselves, Kamarck said, “You have to cut government with a scalpel, not an ax.”
• The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover (Vittoria Elliott, Wired, 2-2-25) Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.
• Elon Musk Is Running the Twitter Playbook on the Federal Government
(Zoe Schifferm Wired, 1-28-25) The US Office of Personnel Management is telling federal workers to get in line—or get out.
• Elon Musk Has Fired Twitter’s ‘Ethical AI’ Team (Will Knight, Business, Wired, 11-4-22) As part of a wave of layoffs, the new CEO disbanded a group working to make Twitter’s algorithms more transparent and fair.
AMERICA'S SOFT SPOTS
• Frankly, a hard look at America's soft spots A new podcast with former FBI Counterterrorism Director Frank Figluzzi, hosted by Chip Franklin on the Really American Media network.
• Trump says states should manage disasters and weighs shuttering FEMA. (Christopher Flavelle NY Times, 1-24-25
---Trump Visits L.A. and Tours Fire Damage After Suggesting FEMA Be Eliminated (NY Times, 1-24-25)
• Senate confirms Kash Patel as Trump’s FBI director (Clare Foran and Morgan Rimmer, CNN, 2-20-25) Concerns over his fitness to lead the FBI were reflected in the narrow margin of his confirmation vote (51 to 49). His three immediate predecessors—Christopher Wray, James Comey and Robert Mueller—all received at least 92 votes. As a Republican congressional aide and Trump national security staffer, Patel fought to declassify and release documents to try to undercut the FBI’s investigation into connections between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. During his confirmation hearing, Democrats focused in on Patel’s record of calling for punishments against the people he believes are part of the “deep state” that has attempted to undermine Trump. They raised concerns about what they called an “enemies list,” from Patel’s 2023 book, “Government Gangsters.”
• Trump Visits L.A. and Tours Fire Damage After Suggesting FEMA Be Eliminated (Chris Cameron, NY Times, 1-24-25) Mayor Karen Bass and President Trump are sparring over how quickly they can begin rebuilding in the aftermath of the Palisades fire disaster. Bass said that more cleanup is necessary in areas, as well as “getting rid of the hazardous waste.” Trump replied: “What’s hazardous waste? I mean, you’re going to have to define that.”
• Maryland Workers Impacted by Recent Federal Actions Resource website for Maryland public servants
• Really American Media
• Here's the Extent of the Fallout From Trump's HHS Purge (Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today, 2-19-25) "This is exactly the way not to do it," one expert says.
• Trump's negotiating style (Facebook Reels) An enlightening piece:
"The best, most cogent and elegantly simple explanation into the inexplicably destructive negotiating processes of the president, by Prof. David Honig of Indiana University.
Distributive bargaining always has a winner and a loser. It happens when there is a fixed quantity of something and two sides are fighting over how it gets distributed.
"In integrative bargaining the two sides don't have a complete conflict of interest, and it is possible to reach mutually beneficial agreements. Think of it, not a single pie to be divided by two hungry people, but as a baker and a caterer negotiating over how many pies will be baked at what prices, and the nature of their ongoing relationship after this one gig is over.
"The problem with Trump is that he sees only distributive bargaining in an international world that requires integrative bargaining. He can raise tariffs, but so can other countries. He can't demand they not respond. One of the risks of distributive bargaining is bad will. So when you approach international negotiation, in a world as complex as ours, with integrated economies and multiple buyers and sellers, you simply must approach them through integrative bargaining.
"Trump sees every negotiation as distributive...China saw [one particular negotiation] as integrative, and integrated Russia and its soybean purchase orders into a far more complex negotiation ecosystem."
"Trump is utterly convinced that his experience in a closely held real estate company has prepared him to run a nation, and therefore he rejects the advice of people who spent entire careers studying the nuances of international negotiations and diplomacy."
"From a professional negotiation point of view, Trump isn't even bringing checkers to a chess match. He's bringing a quarter that he insists of flipping for heads or tails, while everybody else is studying the chess board to decide whether it's better to open with Najdorf or Grünfeld.”
• Covering Trump’s proposed tariffs? Here are 4 things you need to know (Clark Merrefield, Journalist's Resource, 1-28-25)
The Journalist's Resource and Econofact recently hosted a webinar featuring two trade economists and an NPR producer whose reporting teams have covered tariffs. Watch the recording and read key takeaways. Here are 4 things to know if you’re reporting on tariffs.
1. Know the history of U.S. tariffs.
2. Know who pays for tariffs in the short and long run.
3. Know the price and employment effects of tariffs.
4. Know that there are stories to be told about how businesses ‘contort themselves’ to get around tariffs.
• Rising Import Tariffs, Falling Exports: When Modern Supply Chains Meet Old-Style Protectionism (Kyle Handley, Fariha Kamal,and Ryan Monarch, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, January 2025). "We examine the impacts of the 2018–2019 US import tariff increases on US exports through the lens of supply chain linkages. Using 2016 confidential firm-trade linked data, we identify exporters who were importing products that eventually faced tariff increases to construct product-level exposure to import tariffs. We find that the most exposed products had lower exports in 2018–2019, with the largest effects in 2019. The decline in exports in 2019 is equivalent to an ad valorem tariff on US exports of 2 percent to 4 percent."
• Trump Administration Live Updates: No Last-Minute Deal for Canada and Mexico to Avoid Tariffs, Trump Says (NY Times, 3-3-25) Sweeping 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico will start tomorrow, President Trump said in White House remarks. Products from China will face an additional 10 percent tariff.
---What’s Behind Trump’s Love-Hate Relationship With Canada (Alan Rappeport and Ian Austen, NY Times, 3-3-25) Canada is one of the United States’ largest trading partners, but President Trump wants to either take it or leave it. As Mr. Trump prepares to push ahead with a new round of tariffs, he has expressed a special brand of loathing for Canada. There is the theory that President Trump is still bitter about his Canadian hotel ventures that went bust. And then there is the transactional view, that Mr. Trump sees the acquisition of Canada as the 51st state as the ultimate real estate deal that would seal his presidential legacy. Intrigue abounds in Canada about why Mr. Trump has repeatedly belittled a neighbor and threatened to destabilize its economy with tariffs, a process that has brought relations between the two countries to a low point not seen in decades.
Additional blog posts with roundups of Trump and Musk activities:
---Trump, January 6, opinions vs. facts, indictment, trials, political positions, and second presidency (Writers and Editors blog, 10-12-24)
---Highlights of Trump's first term (blog post highlighting points in NY Times opinion piece, 7-19-24) 4)
---Trump Stinks. Let me count the ways. (blog post, 4-5-22)