Trump roundup: Five days

A snapshot of the administration's full-frontal assault on democracy

The first six weeks of this administration have felt like a year. Every day brings a firehose of brazen corruption, mad power grabs and jaw-dropping idiocy.

And that of course is the point. Trump aides and allies like Russ Vought, Stephen Miller, and Steve Bannon have said for months that their plan is to overwhelm the press, public, and critics with so much activity that no one can possibly keep up.

This roundup is a snapshot of what we saw over just a single five-day period — February 21 - 25. Incredibly, includes a weekend!

Not long ago, more than half of these bullet points would have been enough to bring down an administration. Instead, many weren’t news for more than a couple hours.

(Related: Here’s a gift link to a piece I recently wrote for Rolling Stone about the harm Kash Patel could do at the FBI.)

It’s going to be a long four years.

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Incompetence and executive power

• A federal judge again ordered the administration to pay what the federal government owes to USAID contractors for the work they’ve already done. This comes after the administration appears to have ignored an order from the same judge two weeks ago to make those payments. The Supreme Court will now rule on whether Trump can run the U.S. government like he runs his companies. Incidentally, Trump’s new head of USAID has previously been ousted by from the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and State. He was also photographed inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

• The National Institutes of Health also appears to be directly defying a court order to resume funding of scientific research. And earlier this month, the administration was found to have defied a court order to release grants related to clean energy and transportation projects.

• An Oregon judge who received the longest suspension in state history over a series of ethical violations . . . has just been appointed to a top position at the Justice Department.

• Elon Musk plans to use his own AI to facilitate his mass firing of federal workers.

• Meanwhile, despite that Trump, other Republicans, and Musk himself have made clear that Musk has been calling the shots at DOGE, the administration has been claiming in court that they have no idea who is in charge of the legally dubious entity. When finally prodded by federal judges, the woman they claimed to be running the operation was on vacation in Mexico, and seemed surprised to learn of her position.

• The new head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is an election denier who thinks the CIA stole the 2020 race for Joe Biden.

• The U.S. Secret Service has deputized Elon Musk’s private security detail, which affords them “certain rights and protections of federal law enforcement agents.” Again, Musk has not been elected or appointed to any position in the federal government.

• After a federal judge questioned the Trump administration’s attempt to purge transgender people from the military, DOJ attorneys responded with an ethics complaint against that judge.

• The administration has purged agencies and personnel in the federal government tasked with fighting foreign interference in U.S. elections.

• A mid-ranking federal employee was under investigation for giving Elon Musk’s team unauthorized access to sensitive Social Security information. Trump ended that investigation and made that employee head of the Social Security Administration.

• Six senior-level officials at the Bureau of Prisons announced they’ll be leaving the agency, making an already-dire leadership shortage there a lot worse.

• The DOGE kids are making unilateral decisions about funding cuts, including decisions that directly contradict senior administration officials.

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Immigration

• A group of Trump supporters including ex-Blackwater CEO Eric Prince have “pitched the Trump White House on a proposal to carry out mass deportations through a network of ‘processing camps’ on military bases, a private fleet of 100 planes, and a ‘small army’ of private citizens empowered to make arrests.” No sign yet whether the administration is entertaining the proposal. Let’s hope not.

• Despite assertions from Trump officials that the undocumented immigrants they’re sending to Guantanamo are the “worst of the worst,” about 2 of every 5 people sent there so far were deemed to be a “low threat” by Trump’s own administration. Some were guilty only of violating immigration laws. Some didn’t even do that — they came here legally and followed the proper procedures to request asylum.

• Outside of Guantanamo, the administration is also preparing to house immigrants at military bases around the country. You might call them “camps” where immigrants will be “concentrated.”

• There are also other reports that ICE is detaining for people who have no criminal history for deportation, including some who legally came to the U.S. to seek asylum. They’re being detained as they comply with requirements to “check in” with ICE. So they’re quite literally being deported for complying with the law. As one immigration advocate put it, “You can’t win. You don’t go, and what is the potential outcome? Then they come with a warrant to your house. Then when you do go, you can quickly be detained.”

• In upstate New York, the administration is threatened to criminally prosecute a sheriff for failing to comply with an ICE retainer on an inmate in the county jail. Because immigration violations are a civil violation, not criminal, it’s actually unconstitutional for sheriffs to detain people who have no other pending charges. They can — and some have — been sued for it.

• On Tuesday Trump announced a new program that will let wealthy foreigners purchase U.S. citizenship for $5 million. He specifically invites “Russian oligarchs” to participate in the program. Just so we’re clear — Trump has closed the country to refugees and those seeking asylum from political persecution. He has revoked protected status for people from places like Haiti, Ukraine, and Venezuela who have lived here peacefully and productively for years. Meanwhile, the only groups to whom Trump extended invitations to immigrate here are wealthy oligarchs and wealthy, white South African landowners (who have made it clear they don’t want to come to the U.S.).

• The administration is trying to circumvent the fact that being in the country illegally is not a criminal offense by forcing immigrants to submit to a “registry,” and by making failure to register a crime. Of course, if you’re undocumented and you register, you also open yourself up to possible deportation.

• The Florida Sheriffs Association announced that all sheriffs in the state will now assist ICE with deportation efforts.

• The administration is reportedly now prioritizing the deportation of thousands of children who came to the U.S. alone.

• They’re also now bringing criminal charges against businesses that hire undocumented workers, which has rarely been done in the past.

• An ICE attorney in Dallas was revealed to authored racist and white supremacist posts on social media under an assumed name, including bangers like “America is a white country, founded by whites,” and “Migrants’ are all criminals.” As I write this, he is still employed by ICE.

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The First Amendment

• Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin sent a letter to Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia threatening him a criminal investigation for calling Elon Musk a “dick,” and for uttering the phrase, “what Americans want is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight.” This is the same Ed Martin who threatened to prosecute journalists and others for revealing the names of the DOGE employees who had accessed databases filled with Americans’ financial information.

• Martin has also threatened Sen. Chuck Schumer for publicly stating to two U.S. Supreme Court Justices, “you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price.” Schumer made that statement five years ago. Martin is a political hack with no prosecutorial experience. He defended January 6th rioters, is a 2020 election denier, and was himself in the mob outside the Capitol. The head of the criminal division in Martin’s office has already resigned after Martin ordered her to carry out actions she believed to be illegal.

• The Wall Street Journal reports that lawyers for X have been citing Elon Musk’s unprecedented influence in the Trump administration to threaten companies into spending money to advertise on the social media site, suggesting that failing to give Musk their money could result in unfavorable regulatory action.

• Florida’s Trumpist, far-right attorney general is suing Target, claiming — incredibly — that the store’s celebration of diversity and social justice did harm to investors when right-wing groups boycotted over those initiatives.

• Four house Republicans sent a letter to AG Pam Bondi urging her to criminally prosecute politicians and activist groups who “obstruct” deportations by informing immigrants of their rights.

• Trump’s Federal Trade Commission is preparing to target social media sites for moderating content. In other words, it’s preparing to violate those platforms’ First Amendment rights under the guise of protecting users’ First Amendment rights. Something tells me they won’t be targeting X.

• The White House announced that it will now pick which journalists will serve as the pool reporters for the White House Correspondents Association. Previously designated pool reporters were chosen by WHCA members. This is a pretty direct attack on the free press, as it allows the administration to choose sympathetic reporters to provide the only press coverage of certain events — and to punish outlets who cover the administration unflatteringly.

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Weaponization of government

• On Friday, Trump and Pete Hegseth fired Joint Chiefs Chairman CQ Brown, for alleged “DEI-related” reasons. Brown, who is black, is eminently qualified — far more qualified than Hegseth for any military position. The NY Times reported that Trump’s anger at Brown stems from a personal, four-minute video Brown made after the murder of George Floyd.

• Trump replaced Brown with retried Air Force Lt. Gen. John Caine, a man whose lack of qualifications for the position required Trump to waive a prerequisite required by federal law. But Caine, who is white, has the only qualification necessary in this administration: He apparently once told Trump, “I love you, sir. I think you’re great, sir. I’ll kill for you, sir.”

• Trump and Hegseth also fired all of the military’s Judge Advocates General, or JAG officers. These are the legal officers who ensure that the military follows the Constitution and the Uniform Code of Military Conduct. That’s keeping with the stated goal of Trump and his top aides to purge the federal government of officials who might let pesky impediments like the law or Constitution get in the way of Trump’s goals. And many of his goals involve improper use of the military.

  Hegseth said the firings was necessary to make sure the JAG oficers “don’t exist to be roadblocks to anything that happens.”

• Trump and Hegseth also fired other senior military officers across multiple branches. In fact, he appears to have fired every non-white man in the role chief of staff, vice chief of staff, or JAG.

• On Thursday, the U.S. Senate confirmed QAnon sympathizer, champion of the January 6 rioters, and avowed Trump retributionist Kash Patel to lead the FBI.

• Trump then also named Patel — who is the least qualified person ever to be nominated to lead a federal law enforcement agency — to also be acting director of the ATF. Putting the most feverish loyalists in charge of the most well-armed agencies in government is a time-honored tactic of aspiring authoritarians.

• Trump also picked far-right edgelord, podcaster, conspiracy theorist, and election denier Don Bongino to be the FBI’s second highest-ranking official. Here’s a sampling of the output from the man who will now be second in command at the country’s most prestigious law enforcement agency.

• Insiders say that under Patel, the FBI is expected to focus its counterterrorism efforts on “things Like Black Lives Matter and Antifa.”

• The Trump administration claims it has the power to fire administrative law judges at will, despite Congress passing specific protections for those judges.

• Trump has also revoked all security clearances for attorneys at the prestigious law firm Covington & Burling. He’s also threatening to cancel federal contracts with the firm. Covington provided legal assistance to special prosecutor Jack Smith’s investigations of Trump. This is about as brazen and clear-cut as government retribution gets.

• Trump also removed the general counsel at the ATF. This is part of a larger pattern of removing careerist general counsels from federal agencies. Trump aides like Russ Vought consider their knowledge of federal laws and regulations to be impediments to the administration’s plans to violate those laws and regulations.

• At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last weekend, AGPam Bondi was asked about criminally prosecuting Joe Biden. The crowd cheered.

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Memory holing

• The Trump administration has deleted the database of misconduct by federal law enforcement officers.

• They also deleted reams of data about children and disability at the Social Security Administration, climate data at the Department of Agriculture, and information about grants for hydroponic growing in urban areas.

• So far, the Trump administration has removed at least 3,400 datasets from government websites.

• The National Academies of Science has been deleting terms like “health equity,” “marginalized populations,” and “restorative justice” from pending reports in order to appease the new administration.

• The administration also removed information about the flu vaccine from HHS websites. We’re currently in the midst of the worst flu season in decades.

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Foreign policy

• The Trump administration has indicated that it will abandon the international effort to prosecute Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine.

• The U.S. also joined Russia, China, and North Korea in voting against a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

• The American right is too extreme even for Europe’s far right.

• The bizarre, destructive attacks on Canada from Trump and his minions continue, as Elon Musk recently tweeted that Canada “isn’t a real country,” and Trump aide Peter Navarro threatened to remove the country from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. This is apparently retaliation for Canada refusing Trump’s offer to annex the country and it make it “the 51st state.” Just an utter embarassment.

• It isn’t just his endorsement of the Nazi-linked AfD party in Germany. Here’s a summary of Elon Musk’s support for far-right political parties around the world.

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Political violence

• Proud Boys leader and Trump clemency beneficiary Enrique Tarrio was arrested outside the Capitol for assaulting a woman. Tarrio vowed retribution against his prosecutors pretty much immediately after his release last month. He was also seen stalking and taunting the Capitol police officers who held off the rioters.

• Also at the CPAC gathering over the weekend, Trump ally and one-time senior advisor Steven Bannon and at least one other speaker performed Nazi salutes. The event was also apparently crawling with both Nazis and pardoned January 6 rioters.

• Neo-Nazi groups are apparently excited by the recruiting potential during Trump’s second term — possibly because Trump and Musk keep giving their ideological brethren positions in the administration.

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The Trump Cult

• Commerce Secretary Ron Lutnick: “I'd like to thank you President Trump. It is the greatest honor to work for you, to be with you, to carry your name, your leadership, and your flag throughout the world ... I know him as the smartest, most thoughtful, and most intuitive person I've ever met.”

• DHS Sec. Kristi Noem says Trump told her to spend $200 million in public money ads thanking Trump for “closing the border.”

• Transportation secretary and reality TV guy Sean Duffy: "This whole movement is potentially gonna make people go, 'I'm gonna come to work earlier. I'm gonna stay later. I'm gonna look at what Donald Trump wants me to accomplish because he won the election, and I'm gonna fight and work to make sure I help him accomplish that ... I work for POTUS.’”

• At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Bannon (again) floated the idea of Trump remaining in office beyond in 2028.

• Trump posts a deranged video of his vision for the “Gaza Riviera,” which features a voice singing, “Donald’s coming to set you free. Trump Gaza shining bright. Golden future, a brand-new light. Feast and dance. The deed is done,” a golden statute of Trump, and “a child holding a golden ballon in the shape of Trump’s head, and Elon Musk dancing on a beach under a shower of US dollars.

• South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson says he’ll introduce a bill to create a $250 bill featuring Trump’s photo. Other Republicans have already introduced bills to name the Dulles and Nashville airports after Trump, to carve Trump’s face into Mt. Rushmore, to make Trump’s birthday a national holiday, and to allow Trump to run for a third term.

• Weirdo fascist creep and MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec says Trump can’t violate the Constitution because “Trump is the living embodiment of the American Constitution.”

• One more, from D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin:

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Corruption

• In addition to Musk, many other “special government employees” Trump has appointed continue to hold private sector jobs, including in the very areas in which they’re affecting public policy.

• The Trump administration just gave Musk’s SpaceX a contract to manage U.S. airspace. This comes after Musk fired hundreds of FAA employees who . . . managed U.S. airspace. It also appears that for this to happen, the administration will need to break an existing contract with Verizon. It doesn’t inspire confidence that Musk doesn’t seem to understand how airplane routes work.

• The Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs Trump’s Truth Social platform, continues to be a massive grift. Last year, Donald Trump, Jr. received over $800,000 to serve on the board, despite attending just two of five board meetings.

• Meanwhile, the CEO of the company, Devin Nunes, made $47 million last year, even as the company lost over $400 million. But hey, at least he wasn’t a “DEI hire”!

• After D.C. police responded to a domestic violence incident involving Republican Rep. Corey Mills, they found the allegations credible enough to obtain a warrant for Mills’s arrest, which they then forwarded to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Ed Martin refused to sign the warrant. This comes on the heels of Trump’s DOJ dropping other criminal investigations of loyal Republican politicians.

• Despite limited relevant experience, Donald Trump, Jr.’s hunting buddy has been appointed to a high-ranking position at the FDA, where he’ll be responsible for “ensuring the safety of roughly 80% of the nation’s food supply.” When a Vanity Fair journalist asked about the appointment, a spokesman for Trump, Jr. replied, “You people are a bunch of retards.”

• Congressional Democrats send a letter to Pam Bondi about the administration’s hollowing out of anti-corruption measures across the federal government.

• Democrats also criticized deputy AG Emil Bove’s decision to sideline DOJ’s careerist ethics official, instead leaving final decisions over financial disclosures, whistleblower complaints, and potential conflicts of interest to two Trump political appointees.

• Members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys convicted for January 6th crimes now plan to sue the federal government over their prosecutions. And of course, the man they intended to illegally keep in office with their crimes now oversees the Justice Department charged with fighting those lawsuits in court.

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