March 25, 2026

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “It appears that both the president and the White House expected token resistance [from Iran], followed by the collapse of the Iranian regime, the installation of a pro-American government — or at least one we could tolerate — and a return to the status quo ante: a replay, in essence, of the president’s first intervention of the year, in Venezuela.... The president ignored counsel that warned of something like the current situation.... Why can’t the White House see what others could easily predict?... [Because] Trump is famously indifferent to the concerns of those around him. He is a consummate narcissist, and he is, without question, the most solipsistic person ever to occupy the Oval Office. Over his decades on the public stage, we have seen little to no evidence that he believes in the existence of other minds.... By virtue of his position, Trump is a dangerous figure. But he is also a weak and deeply unpopular president. The upshot of his impenetrable egotism, for his opponents, is that there are plenty of opportunities to make him weaker and even more unpopular.”

From the pinned item in today's New York Times liveblog of the developments in the Iran war, also linked earlier today: “Iran on Wednesday publicly dismissed ... [Donald] Trump’s proposal for a cease-fire, with a military spokesman and a report in state media insisting that the conflict would end only on Tehran’s terms. But with Iranian officials nevertheless signaling privately that they are open to negotiations, raising the prospect of a cessation in hostilities, Israel moved to step up its offensive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a 48-hour push to destroy as much of Iran’s arms industry as possible.... Israeli leaders remain concerned that Mr. Trump might end the war before they achieved their goals of dismantling Iran’s ballistic missile program and blocking its ability to develop nuclear programs.”

Paul Waldman: “We have ourselves a Dunning-Kruger president, one who is supremely confident in his abilities on a range of topics where he is completely ignorant. And now he has taken us into a Dunning-Kruger war, defined by that fatal combination of ignorance and confidence.... When his ignorance is exposed, Trump claims that he couldn’t have known what he didn’t know, because nobody knew it. ... Earlier this week he said..., 'Look at the way they attacked unexpectedly all of those countries surrounding them,' he said. 'That was not supposed to- nobody was even thinking about it.'... Trump seemed to believe that Iran, upon being attacked by the U.S. and Israel, would do absolutely nothing in response.... [BUT] Of course [Iran] would attack U.S. allies in the region, and of course they would shut down traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.... All [Trump] had to do was consider the possibility that he didn’t already know everything. But that’s not something Trump is capable of, and now the whole world is paying the price.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

@Nisky Guy: Josh Johnson must mean this pose, which was used in promos one season. If you recall, Kevin Spacey's character Francis Underwood is a murderous, odious POS. I can see why Trump would choose this particular teevee character as a model. He thinks "'fictional odious POS' is very presidenty." I don't suppose Spacey, who is pretty much persona non grata now, figured he'd end up as the model for a U.S. coin. (See today's Comments for context.) ~~~

Here's our second chicken-or-egg conundrum of the day: which came first, Drunk Pete's retributive nature or Pete's introduction to a crazy, very un-Christian, retributive brand of Christianity? ~~~

~~~ Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: “The pastor from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s home church in Tennessee said last week on a podcast that he wants James Talarico to die, referring to the Texas Democratic state representative and Presbyterian seminarian who regularly discusses his Christian faith in his current bid for U.S. Senate. Brooks Potteiger, an evangelical pastor who has been described as Hegseth’s closest spiritual adviser, repeatedly attacked Talarico.... The show is hosted by Joshua Haymes, a former pastoral intern at Potteiger’s church.... 'First and foremost, we pray that a man like this would be cut to the heart,' Haymes said. He said he puts Talarico in the category of 'public enemies,' or those you 'are not called to love.'... 'I pray that God kills him,' Haymes continued. 'Ultimately, that means killing his heart and raising him up to new life in Christ.' Potteiger concurred.... 'We want him crucified with Christ.'”

Cecilia Kang, et al., of the New York Times: “The social media company Meta and the video streaming service YouTube harmed a young user with design features that were addictive and led to her mental health distress, a jury found on Wednesday, a landmark decision that could open social media companies to more lawsuits over users’ well-being. Meta and YouTube must pay $3 million in compensatory damages for pain and suffering and other financial burdens. Meta is responsible for 70 percent of that cost and YouTube for the remainder. The bellwether case, which was brought by a now 20-year-old woman identified as K.G.M., had accused social media companies of creating products as addictive as cigarettes or digital casinos.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I will now put on my Old Codger hat. Harumph! We didn't get a teevee until I was 11 years old. I might have watched it all day if my parents had let me. I might have become addicted. I might have begged my mother to buy Cocoa Puffs or whatever the hell the Lone Ranger ate. The ads were meant to get us to buy products we didn't need. The shows were meant to keep us coming back. Maybe they didn't have algorithms. But they had Mad Men to guide them. My parents made sure I survived. I didn't become addicted to teevee, and I don't think I've ever tasted Cocoa Puffs. That young woman's parents should have limited her reliance on social media. Any number of factors may have contributed to her "mental health distress," but I wouldn't put the tech bros at the top of the list. Okay, I'm done now. 

     ~~~ BTW, I find the algorithms more annoying than compelling. The minute I started looking at Sodastreams (actually, at their competitors), I started getting dozens of ads for carbonators on my teevee and on half the sites I visit on the Internet. I really don't appreciate the bombardment. 

Oklahoma, O.K.! Yunior Rivas of Democracy Docket: "Oklahoma announced Tuesday it agreed to turn over its full voter rolls to the Trump Justice Department — including sensitive personal data the state had previously refused to provide. Under a newly executed settlement, state officials will give the DOJ a complete copy of Oklahoma’s statewide voter registration database, including voters’ names, birth dates, residential addresses and identifying numbers, including driver’s license and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.... The agreement also allows the department to seek additional voter data in the future and requires Oklahoma to transmit the records through federal systems.... In exchange, the DOJ dismissed the lawsuit against Oklahoma — avoiding a court ruling on whether it has the legal authority to demand such records.... The [DOJ] has filed lawsuits against dozens of states seeking access to unredacted voter rolls — an effort that has drawn resistance from both Democratic and Republican officials and has already been rejected in several federal courts."

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Marie: There's more to do, but I need a break. I'll do more later today. 

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Iran war are here. From the pinned item at 4:20 am ET: “The Pentagon has ordered about 2,000 soldiers to deploy to the Middle East ... even as ... [Donald] Trump on Tuesday appeared to support Pakistan’s offer to broker talks between the United States and Iran. Mr. Trump shared a social media post in which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan said his country was ready to host the talks.... Trump ... said on Tuesday that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were joining Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the talks.... On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had launched a new wave of strikes targeting government infrastructure in Tehran, and that it was intercepting missiles launched by Iran toward Israel.” ~~~

Someone figured out why FH sent Vance on the war talks. -- RAS, in today's Comments

Trump thinks Vance is an experienced middle east negotiator because someone told him JD frequently has intercourse with Ottomans. -- Loukas Christodoulou, on Bluesky  

Dan Lamothe & Noah Robertson of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon on Tuesday ordered a couple thousand paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to deploy to the Middle East, U.S. officials said, as President Donald Trump weighs a significant escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and declines to rule out putting U.S. troops on Iranian soil.... It is not yet clear whether they will deploy to Iran itself, officials said. Many of the soldiers are with the division’s Immediate Response Force, a unit that is trained to deploy on 18 hours’ notice for missions as varied as seizing airfields and other critical infrastructure, reinforcing U.S. embassies and enabling emergency evacuations. The Army deployment comes as three warships carrying about 4,500 troops from the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group neared the Middle East. The group includes the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Okinawa, Japan — a specialized Marine Corps unit that includes about 2,200 personnel, including an infantry battalion of about 800. A similar unit, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, recently deployed early from San Diego but is weeks away from arriving in the Middle East.” Update: the link has been changed to a gift link.

As noted in the pinned item in the Times' liveblog linked above, "Mr. Trump has portrayed Iran as a nation so close to military defeat that it had little choice but to negotiate." Lawrence O'Donnell has a stunning reality chek on that, which is worth hearing:

~~~ MEANWHILE, Bret Stephens of the New York Times looks at the U.S. past bellicose misadventures abroad, and concludes that, by contrast, Trump's “war is going better than you think.” Always look on the bright side of life.

Adam Rasgon, et al., of the New York Times: “The United States has sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the war in the Middle East, according to two officials briefed on the diplomacy, reflecting the Trump administration’s eagerness to find an offramp from the conflict as it grapples with its economic fallout. It was unclear how widely the plan, delivered by way of Pakistan, had been shared among Iranian officials and whether Iran was likely to accept it as a basis for negotiations. Nor was it clear whether Israel, which has been bombing Iran together with the United States, was on board with the proposal. But the delivery of the plan showed that the administration was ramping up efforts to conclude a war, now in its fourth week, that has drawn in several other countries.... Officials ... shared some of [the plan's] broad outlines, saying that it addresses Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.”

Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: “Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey have taken the lead in efforts to broker a peace deal between the United States and Iran, serving as intermediaries in talks between Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to U.S. and foreign officials. In a flurry of phone calls that began over the weekend and continued through Tuesday, senior officials from all three mediating countries appealed to both sides to end the war following ... Donald Trump’s Saturday ultimatum giving Iran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure.... Officials from several governments knowledgeable about the diplomacy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive negotiations, said the conversations so far were indirect through the mediators. Iran publicly insisted there were no direct or indirect conversations and it was uninterested in having them.” (Also linked yesterday.)

In the midst of all this, Trump decides to play "Twenty Questions," a guessing game in which the contestants, a/k/a White House reporters, are supposed to figure out what big "prize" "gift" Iran gave him. Jen Psaki discusses this and a number of other fun games Trump is playing surrounding the very serious business of war: ~~~

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: “The White House’s relentless stream of meme videos has won millions of online views in a campaign that officials argue is inspiring patriotism and military pride. Yet as the war enters its fourth week, the Trump administration is facing increasing pushback from veterans’ groups that argue that the meme strategy makes a mockery of a serious conflict and obscures questions about its human costs. The videos have also fueled fierce backlash as they clash with real-world grief: On the same day earlier this month that an Air Force refueling plane crash killed six American service members, the White House posted a meme video interspersing explosions in Iran with celebrations from a sports game on the Nintendo Wii.... The White House videos, posted to its official Instagram, TikTok and X accounts, have featured jokes from popular movie, TV and gaming franchises such as 'Top Gun,' 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' and 'Dragon Ball Z,' and many feature comedic visual effects and rap music soundtracks. On March 9, a day after The Post and other media organizations reported on a video showing a U.S. Tomahawk missile killing dozens of children in an Iranian elementary school, the White House posted a missile strike video backed by the rapper Nelly’s 'Here Comes the Boom.'” Update: the link has been changed to a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's probably fair to assume that the creators of these videos are all incels who have grown up on violent video games, have never served in the military and are operating without adult supervision (because there are no adults in this administration). So naturally they are going to produce offensive, unserious content that ignores, undermines or even mocks the sacrifices of real soldiers & their families.

The Presidential* Bubble. Marie: There's a kind of chicken-and-egg question that arises from this next story: (a) is Trump too dumb to understand a real briefing, or (b) is Trump so ignorant because he doesn't get real briefings? It's also likely that the tactic in use is the result of Trump's penchant to kill the messenger; everybody is afraid to give him bad news. ~~~

~~~“Stuff Blowing Up.” Katherine Doyle, et al., of NBC News: “Each day since the start of the war in Iran, U.S. military officials compile a video update for ... Donald Trump that shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours, three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official said.... One described each daily video as a series of clips of 'stuff blowing up.' The highlight reel of U.S. Central Command bombing Iranian equipment and military sites isn’t the only briefing Trump gets about the war.... But the video briefing is fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of the war.... Officials ...said the videos are also driving Trump’s increasing frustration with news coverage of the war.... [He asks] aides why the news media doesn’t emphasize what he’s seeing....” Obviously, this is no way to run a war.

Sammy Westfall, et al., of the Washington Post: “... faith in Israel’s state-of-the-art air defenses has been shaken. In incidents about three hours apart on Saturday night, Iranian missiles directly hit two civilian neighborhoods in Arad and Dimona.... More than 115 people were injured, authorities said, including 11 seriously.... The strikes have raised questions about whether Israel may be running short of interceptors and revived concerns that the military may need to conserve expensive interceptors to defend vital targets over a sustained period.... Concern that Iran was amassing a missile stockpile capable of overwhelming Israeli defenses was a major factor in the push to renew strikes against Iran, senior Israeli security officials said.”

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: “Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been pushing ... [Donald] Trump to continue the war against Iran, arguing that the U.S.-Israeli military campaign presents a 'historic opportunity' to remake the Middle East.... In a series of conversations over the last week, Prince Mohammed has conveyed to Mr. Trump that he must press toward the destruction of Iran’s hard-line government, the people familiar with the conversations said. Prince Mohammed, the people familiar with the discussions said, has argued that Iran poses a long-term threat to the Gulf that can only be eliminated by getting rid of the government.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This makes it even less likely that Kush & Witless are in "productive" negotiations with a "top guy" in Iran to end the war. bin Salman is the guy, after all, who forced the Saudi wealth fund advisors to give Jared $2 billion dollars to play with & pays Jared millions of dollars annually to "manage" the $2BB. Jared is not going to give up that huge revenue stream for anything as ephemeral as, you know, world peace.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff & John Ismay of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s threat to 'obliterate' power stations in Iran if its leaders failed to open the Strait of Hormuz suggests that the United States is willing to violate international humanitarian law as part of its military campaign, according to current and former human rights officials.... The president’s threat appears to be part of his erratic messaging campaign, which is often construed as bluster or misdirection. 'Trump is openly threatening a war crime,' said Kenneth Roth, a former [head] of Human Rights Watch. 'And people aren’t saying anything because they’re numb to it.'... International law, specifically Article 52 of the first additional protocol of the Geneva Conventions, prohibits attacks on civilian objects.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Peter Eavis of the New York Times: “Iran has told the United Nations’ maritime organization that 'non-hostile' ships may pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that has been effectively closed to tankers since the U.S.-Israeli military campaign began last month. In a letter [dated March 22,] circulated to members of the International Maritime Organization on Tuesday, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs defined nonhostile vessels as those which 'neither participate in nor support acts of aggression against Iran' or belong to the United States or Israel.... It is not clear whether the letter will persuade many shipowners to once again travel through the strait.... Iran’s letter is intended to signal to the I.M.O. that Iran has not imposed a formal blockade of the strait, said Dimitris Ampatzidis, ... [of] Kpler, a maritime data firm. Around 800 tankers are idling on either side of the strait, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.”

Megan Mineiro of the New York Times: “For the third time since ... [Donald] Trump began the war against Iran, Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort by Democrats to terminate the offensive until he wins congressional authorization. The Senate voted 53 to 47 to block a resolution that would force the president to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress voted to approve [the war effort].... [Democrats] have threatened to continue forcing such votes, seizing floor time that Republicans would rather use to advance their legislative priorities, unless the majority agrees to call senior Trump administration officials to testify under oath on the war against Iran. The Pentagon and the State Department have so far only briefed lawmakers on the operations in a classified setting, and the G.O.P. chairmen of the committees that oversee national security and foreign affairs have yet to summon them for a public accounting. The vote was nearly on party lines, with Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to block the measure. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to support it.”

Was Trump Blowing Smoke or Does He Have Evidence? A Judge Wants to Know. Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: “The Army judge in the U.S.S. Cole bombing case ordered the prosecution on Monday to do its 'due diligence' in providing defense lawyers with any evidence the U.S. government might have 'regarding Iran’s role' in the attack off Yemen 25 years ago. The question arose this month when ... [Donald] Trump, announcing his justifications for attacking Iran, said that Iran knew about the attack and was 'probably' involved.... In all, 17 U.S. sailors were killed in the bombing by Al Qaeda on Oct. 12, 2000. Family members of Cole victims have sued Iran in federal court and won default judgments from a U.S. victims assistance fund because Iran never answered the civil complaint. Defense lawyers say they have seen no evidence of a link between Iran and the attack in hundreds of thousands of pages of documents provided to them in trial preparation.”

MEANWHILE, in Russia. Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar in a New York Times op-ed: There were signs in February that Vladimir Putin might be willing to cut a peace deal with Ukraine. “Then came the war in Iran. In one swoop, the conditions for conciliation were overturned. Amid buoyant oil prices, Western division and American overreach, the pressure on Mr. Putin to come to terms ebbed away. By a strange twist of history, the start of the war in Iran halted the prospect of ending the war in Ukraine — at the very moment when Mr. Putin appeared ready to consider it.... [Also,] for Mr. Putin, whose foreign policy has been built around cultivating disorder in the West, [a deepening divide between the U.S. and Europe] was welcome. Equally important is the absorption of America’s attention in the Middle East, pushing Ukraine far from mind. It’s not just attention that is being diverted: The United States is burning through weaponry and ammunition that could otherwise be sent to Ukraine.” See related report linked below under “Ukraine/Russia.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Zygar treats Trump's war in Iran as a lucky accident that befell Putin: a "strange twist of history." Given Trump's affinity for Putin, I suspect that among Trump's motivations for his attacks on Iran were his desire (a) to help out Putin and (b) to divert attention from the constant reminders that he had claimed he could settle the Russia/Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking the oath of office. There are "accidents of history"; I'm just not convinced this is one of them.

More Bellicose Misadventures Abroad. Luis Ferré-Sadurní, et al., of the New York Times: “As ... [Donald] Trump prepared to welcome conservative Latin American leaders to a summit in Florida in early March, U.S. officials released a video of a massive explosion — capturing the destruction of what they said was a drug trafficker’s training camp in rural Ecuador. The video was meant to show that the U.S. military ... was 'now bombing Narco Terrorists on land,' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. But a New York Times investigation ... [found that t]he military strike appears to have destroyed a cattle and dairy farm, not a drug trafficking compound.... And though the Pentagon said at the time that it had 'executed targeted action' against the site at Ecuador’s request, U.S. troops had no direct involvement in the strike shown in the video, according to four people with knowledge of the operation, three of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.” The entire operation was carried out by the Ecuadoran military; workers at the farm say soldiers beat and choked them and subjected them to electrical shocks. The military set the farm ablaze, then came back days later and dropped explosives on the charred remains. Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's the announcement on X, by Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, crediting Trump & Hegseth for "execut[ing the] targeted action" at Ecuador's request. I suppose Trump is too out-of-it to know what really went on, but surely Drunk Pete knew of -- and approved -- Parnell's lie. In a normal administration, journalists occasionally suss out some lies and coverups; in the Trump administration, this is a near-daily occurrence. 

Myah Ward of Politico: “... Donald Trump hasn’t yet publicly weighed in on a brewing deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but a White House official said Tuesday morning the yet-to-be-finalized bipartisan agreement 'seems to be an acceptable solution.' That official ... noted that 'conversations are ongoing' to finalize a deal with Democrats to fund DHS.... It would pair funding for most of the department, save for ICE enforcement operations, with a new GOP reconciliation effort to pass the left-behind funding plus parts of the GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Delta Gives Congress a Vote of No-Confidence. Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times: “Delta Air Lines said on Tuesday that it ⁠would suspend special services for members of Congress, citing the partial government shutdown that has hobbled travel across the country. The services include airport escorts and specialized customer service for lawmakers. The Capital Desk, a dedicated reservations line that helps members book trips at government rates, make last minute changes and reserve seats on multiple flights on the same day, will remain open, the company said in a statement. 'Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment,' the company said. Under the suspension, the company added, members of Congress would instead be treated like regular passengers based on their SkyMiles status, which refers to the airline’s customer loyalty program.... Last week, the executives of several airlines, including Delta, published an open letter to Congress in The Washington Post calling on lawmakers to pay T.S.A. officers during the shutdown.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Funny how Delta is too afraid of Trump to blame him for the fiasco, when even some Republicans admit he is currently entirely to blame for the impasse. Oh, and Albeck-Ripka doesn't mention that, either. So what percentage of Americans know that Trump is the problem? One percent? Maybe.

ICE, A Genuine Goon Squad. Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Mr. Trump has increasingly used ICE to try to achieve personal and political objectives, deploying a force with a quasi-military bearing around the country with a message that he intends to not just carry out his anti-immigration agenda but to also enforce his views on constituencies and states that have opposed him.... The deployment of ICE agents to airports also seemed to be a nod to another point: that the agency’s increasingly intimidating reputation has some upsides for the administration. In his initial announcement about the mobilization, Mr. Trump said ICE officers would also be on hand to arrest unauthorized immigrants at airports, raising the specter of people being asked to show their citizenship papers or handcuffed amid the spring break travel rush.... Mr. Trump has been open about his view that ICE can help him with goals that go far beyond immigration enforcement. In a June directive to ICE officers on social media, he indicated that aiming his mass deportation campaign at Democratic-led cities could help Republicans electorally.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Katie Baker & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: on the rise and fall of Gregory Bovino, formerly “the pugnacious face of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.... This week, Mr. Bovino is officially retiring.... Mr. Bovino’s actions left a trail of litigation, condemnations from local politicians and accusations of discrimination and unconstitutional conduct. And, yes, the Commander has a few regrets. But he ... thinks he did not go far enough.” MB: If you didn't like him for his actions, you'll despise him for his attitude. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kyle Cheney of Politico: “A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring back a woman abruptly deported to Mexico last month despite her active protections under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez arrived in the United States in 1998 as an undocumented 15-year-old. She was granted DACA protection in 2013 and lives in Sacramento with a 22-year-old U.S. citizen daughter. On Feb. 18, Estrada — with her daughter in tow — attended a hearing as part of the process to attain lawful permanent residency. There, federal immigration officers denied her application, informed her that she was the subject of a decades-old removal order and detained her. She was deported to Mexico the next morning.... In a Monday order, U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins called the deportation a 'flagrant violation' of DACA’s promise of protection to those who arrived in the country as minors, as well as a violation of Estrada’s constitutional due process rights.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Whatever You Say, Dear Great White King. Ann Marimow of the New York Times: “A majority of Supreme Court justices seemed sympathetic on Tuesday to the idea that the Trump administration should be able to turn away asylum seekers along the U.S.-Mexico border. If the court backs the administration, it will allow ... [Donald] Trump to revive a policy first used in 2016, in which the government stopped asylum seekers from setting foot on U.S. soil, where federal law would entitle them to try to claim asylum and receive protection from persecution.... President Barack Obama first began turning back some asylum seekers in 2016. The policy was dramatically expanded by [Mr.] Trump during his first term before it was rescinded by the Biden administration in 2021. Lower courts have repeatedly invalidated the policy after immigrant rights advocates and several asylum seekers from Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico sued in 2017.”

Wilful Ignorance. Hailey Fuchs of Politico: “Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn told House lawmakers they were never interviewed as part of formal federal investigations into their late client’s sex crimes, according to videos of their depositions released Tuesday. Their claims underscore the enormous gaps in the Justice Department’s efforts to hold Epstein and his inner circle accountable over multiple administrations of both parties.... Both Indyke and Kahn ... have denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes before the later allegations emerged. They also said their client told them, in the case of the 2008 sex crime conviction, he was unaware of his involvement with a minor.” Read on.

Witness for the Prosecution. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: “Marco Rubio and David Rivera charted a rise in [Miami’s] famously scrappy politics together.... But on Tuesday, the two longtime friends faced each other again in ... a federal courtroom. Rubio ... testified as a witness against his onetime confidant, who is accused of serving as an unregistered foreign agent for Venezuela’s socialist government.... The extraordinary testimony marked the first time in more than four decades that a sitting Cabinet secretary has served as a witness in a criminal trial.... Rubio’s role in the money-laundering trial spotlights his long-standing ties with Rivera, a scandal-plagued former congressman who has tried to leverage his ties on Capitol Hill — especially with Rubio — to lobby and cut deals in Washington. The relationship has long been seen as a political liability for Rubio and could reemerge as an issue if he runs for president in 2028.” (Also linked yesterday.)  

Elian Peltier of the New York Times: “Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government on Tuesday freed an American researcher, Dennis Walter Coyle, who had been held there for over a year, amid pressure from the Trump administration to release Americans who it says are being held without justification. Afghanistan’s leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, ordered Mr. Coyle’s release after his family wrote to Mr. Akhundzada asking for a pardon on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan, according to a statement from Afghanistan’s foreign ministry. Mr. Coyle, 64, who is from Colorado, had been held in Afghanistan since January 2025. He had worked there for over 20 years researching languages, according to his family. The Coyle family’s website said Mr. Coyle had not been charged with a crime but was being held 'in near-solitary conditions.' The State Department in June designated him as wrongfully detained.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Consolation Prize. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has picked Nick Adams, a right-wing influencer known for his machismo and professed love for steaks and the restaurant chain Hooters, to be a new diplomatic envoy for American tourism. According to the State Department, Mr. Adams has served as the 'special presidential envoy for American tourism, exceptionalism and values' since March 17. The new position is aimed at promoting U.S. tourist attractions, like national parks and other monuments, according to the White House. Mr. Trump had previously nominated Mr. Adams, who has a history of Islamophobic remarks, to be the ambassador to Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country of about 35 million people in Southeast Asia. Mr. Adams told The Sydney Morning Herald last month that his nomination had been pulled.... It is unclear if Mr. Adams’s position will be paid.” MB: I hope not.

Prosecutor to Judge: Actually, This Is Just a Malicious Prosecution. Salvador Rizzo & Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “A top deputy to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro acknowledged in a closed-door hearing this month that the Justice Department did not have evidence of wrongdoing in its criminal investigation of the Federal Reserve over the cost of its building renovations, according to a transcript of the court proceedings. The prosecutor’s admission, which has not been previously reported, undercuts ... Donald Trump’s claim that 'there is criminality' in the $2.5 billion overhaul of the Fed’s headquarters overlooking the National Mall.... G.A. Massucco-LaTaif, who was recently named chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C., said at the March 3 hearing that Justice Department lawyers 'do not know at this time' what evidence there is of fraud or criminal misconduct, arguing only that the project was $1.2 billion over budget and that 'it doesn’t seem right.'... Pressed by [District Judge James] Boasberg, Massucco-LaTaif also said 'we don’t know' what statements from Powell’s congressional testimony were false....” Judge Boasberg, who quashed the government subpoenas, was not amused.

Today, the fun stories come out of Mar-a-Lardo. First, there was the result of a state senate election (see stories linked under "Florida" below). Then there's this. It's just perfect. thanks, Carol! ~~~

It is now clear that DOJ is in possession of evidence that President Trump has already endangered national security to further the interests of Trump family businesses.... It is time for you to stop the cover-up and allow the American people to know what secrets he betrayed and how he may have cashed in on them. -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), letter to Pam Bondi ~~~ 

~~~ ⭐The Documents Heist: Prelude to a Grift. Carol Leonnig of MS NOW: “Special counsel Jack Smith gathered evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump took many top-secret documents that related to his worldwide business interests, and investigators considered this a likely motive for Trump concealing them at his Florida club after he left the White House, according to newly released case records. The special prosecutor also had evidence indicating that after leaving office Trump had shown a classified map to passengers on a private plane, including his future chief of staff Susie Wiles, and took at least one document that was so secret only six people had authority to review it, according to a memo reviewed by MS NOW and cited by the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Trump’s reason for taking hundreds of pages of classified documents when he left office in January 2021 — and then concealing them when the Justice Department subpoenaed him for their return in May 2022 — has been one of the larger mysteries of the case.” An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ A Vast Web of Conspirators. Hailey Fuchs & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “Former special counsel Jack Smith’s office sought to map a vast web of contacts between ... Donald Trump’s most vocal Republican allies in Congress and key players in his bid to subvert the results of the 2020 election, according to newly released records of the Smith-led investigation. Emails from January 2023 circulated among Smith’s deputies show how top GOP lawmakers communicated directly with individuals later identified by Smith as Trump’s co-conspirators in his election interference plot, including attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman. Those contacts became the Smith office’s justification for pursuing subpoenas of phone logs for more than a dozen Republican officials.... These Republicans and others are featured in the materials released Tuesday by Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, who has been leading a probe into Smith’s work.”

Jana Winter of the Independent: “A special counsel investigation into Kash Patel, the current FBI director but at the time a private citizen, began in 2022 and sought extensive personal data, including more than two years of phone records, text messages and financial information. This revelation comes from grand jury subpoenas and nondisclosure orders reviewed by Reuters. Former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team issued these subpoenas to Verizon Communications, targeting Patel’s communications. The demands were made as part of Smith’s broader inquiry into whether ... Donald Trump had interfered with the 2020 election and concealed classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The precise nature of Smith's investigation into Patel, and any specific allegations of wrongdoing, remains unclear, according to Reuters. These new documents concerning Patel were authorized for public release by Republican Senators Charles Grassley, Ron Johnson, and Ted Cruz.”

Anti-Vaxxer Quits in a Huff. Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: “Dr. Robert Malone, vice chair of the federal committee that recommends vaccines to Americans, angrily resigned his position on Tuesday. The panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is currently in judicial limbo. A federal judge ruled last week that the advisers, appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., did not have the expertise needed to make vaccine recommendations and prevented them from meeting as planned this month. The judge also blocked all of the committee’s actions to date, including decisions to rescind recommendations for some childhood vaccines. The Department of Health and Human Services has indicated that it will appeal the ruling.... Dr. Malone indicated that he would not rejoin the committee even if the ruling were to be overturned or if Mr. Kennedy announced a new slate of advisers. 'Hundreds of hours of uncompensated labor, incredible hate from many quarters, hostile press, internal bickering, weaponized leaking, sabotage,' he [said in a text message]. 'I have better things to do.'” The link may be a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you read through the article, you may be left with the impression that everything pisses off Doc Malone. 

To the Moon, Alice! Reuters, published by NBC News: "NASA is canceling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and ​will instead use its components to construct a $20 billion ‌base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years, its new chief Jared Isaacman said on Tuesday. Isaacman, who was sworn in at the agency ​in December, made the announcement at the opening of a ​day-long event at NASA’s Washington headquarters at which he ⁠outlined a raft of changes he is making to the agency’s ​flagship moon program Artemis.” Isaacson, who has close ties to Elon Musk, is a billionaire in his own right. RAS says of Moon Base Trump, “Really, it just taxpayers paying for billionaires' play toys.”

Cecilia Kang & Eli Tan of the New York Times: “Meta misled users about the safety of its platforms and enabled the sexual exploitation of young users, a New Mexico jury found on Tuesday, one of the first major child safety trial losses for the social media giant. The state’s attorney general, Raúl Torrez, sued Meta in 2023, accusing it of misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms.... The jury, in State District Court in Santa Fe, agreed, ordering Meta to pay $375 million in damages for violating state consumer protection laws.... Meta said it would appeal the decision.... The New Mexico verdict is the first loss for Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, in a series of trials slated for this year.... Mr. Torrez said he would ask the judge, Bryan Biedscheid, for additional financial penalties during a bench trial that is scheduled to start May 4. Mr. Torrez also plans to ask the court to force changes to Meta’s apps to make them safer for young users.”

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You know how Trump voted by mail in a state senate race even though he calls mail-in-voting "mail-in-cheating"? Well, he voted for the guy he endorsed in Trump's own home district -- a district Trump won by 11 points in 2024. How'd that go??? ~~~

~~~~ Florida State Senate Race. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: "Democrat Emily Gregory won a special election Tuesday for the Florida state House district that includes ... Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, flipping the seat from Republican control, The Associated Press projects. Gregory beat Republican Jon Maples, whom Trump endorsed, in the race for a seat that has been vacant since August, when Mike Caruso resigned from the Legislature and was appointed Palm Beach County clerk." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ David Chen of the New York Times: “Across the state, another Democrat, Brian Nathan, a Navy veteran and electrical workers union leader, was leading a tight West Tampa race for a state senate seat vacated by Florida’s newly appointed lieutenant governor.” Here's the Downballot's report.

New York. The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the investigation of the La Guardia ground crash that killed two pilots and injured numerous others. From the pinned item at 5:30 am ET Wednesday: “The preliminary investigation into the deadly runway collision at LaGuardia Airport in New York late Sunday night suggests it was caused by an overlapping series of failures that stemmed from problems with staffing and technology, officials from the National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday.... A fire truck that collided with an Air Canada jet did not have a transponder, unlike similar trucks at airports across the United States. That made it difficult for the airport’s early-warning systems to track its position. Investigators do not know if the truck drivers heard commands to stop their vehicle from air traffic controllers, which began roughly nine seconds before the accident. And the two controllers on duty on Sunday night were doing the duties that during busier hours most likely would have been distributed among more controllers. [N.T.S.B. chairwoman Jennifer] Homendy said such practice was common during night shifts at airports across the country, but that the N.T.S.B. had raised safety concerns about it many times.” ~~~

     ~~~ There are more New York Times stories on the crash here, here and here. ~~~

     ~~~ Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: “The cockpit voice recorder of an Air Canada Express jet captured how the air traffic control tower at New York’s LaGuardia Airport failed to recognize that it had granted permission for both the plane and an emergency vehicle to use the same runway before their deadly collision late Sunday, federal officials said.... The LaGuardia air traffic controller granted permission for an emergency vehicle to cross the runway, but about two minutes earlier, officials said, another controller had cleared the flight to land on the same runway. The controller instructed the emergency vehicle to stop at least twice, according to officials’ summary, but it was too late.” 

North Carolina State Senate Race. Another Trump-Endorsed Candidate Bites the Dust. Gary Robertson of the AP: “North Carolina government’s most influential politician, Republican state Senate leader Phil Berger, conceded the primary race for his seat to Sam Page on Tuesday, shaking the power structure in the ninth-largest state and likely soon ending Berger’s preeminence as the state’s top conservative architect. Berger trailed Page, the Rockingham County sheriff, in their March 3 primary by only 23 votes. He has been Senate leader since 2011 when Republicans took full control over the General Assembly for the first time in 140 years.... Donald Trump had endorsed Berger for reelection, praising him for his policy accomplishments.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Eduardo Medina of the New York Times explores why the powerful state senate leader Phil Berger lost. 

Oklahoma Senate Seat. Tim Balk of the New York Times: “Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma said on Tuesday that he had chosen an energy executive and fellow Republican, Alan S. Armstrong, to temporarily fill the Senate vacancy left by Markwayne Mullin, the new homeland security secretary. Mr. Armstrong, 63, is expected to be sworn in later Tuesday and is poised to play a caretaker role in the Senate until the end of the year. Oklahoma law requires Senate appointees to sign affidavits promising they will not seek election to a full term. President Trump has endorsed Representative Kevin Hern, who is running in the November election to serve in the next term. Mr. Armstrong led the board of directors at Williams Companies, a giant natural gas pipeline operator based in Tulsa, Okla., his hometown. He joined the company more than three decades ago and was its president from 2011 to 2025. The company says it gathers, processes and transports about a third of the natural gas used in the United States daily.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Wisconsin. He Broke the Law & the Law Won. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: “Conservative activist Harry Wait said he ordered ballots in the names of prominent local politicians four years ago to expose the risks of voter fraud. Prosecutors determined he was right that voter fraud was an issue — but they believed he was the culprit. On Tuesday night, a jury convicted Wait of one felony count of identity theft and two misdemeanor counts of election fraud.... The jury acquitted him on a second identity theft charge.... Wait ... is the president emeritus of a group in southeastern Wisconsin known as HOT Government, which Wait says pushes for honest, open and transparent leadership. Wait has spent years railing against the state-run website that allows Wisconsin voters to find their polling places and order mail ballots. He used that system in 2022 to request ballots in the names [two prominent politicians]....”

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Italy. Motoko Rich of the New York Times: “For more than three years, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy appeared politically invincible. After winning office in 2022 on a hard-right platform, Ms. Meloni emerged as an unexpectedly pragmatic leader, piloting one of Italy’s most stable governments since the end of World War II. She surprised critics by working with centrist leaders abroad and taking comparatively moderate positions at home — while placating her far-right base as she talked tough on issues like illegal migration. Now Ms. Meloni’s authority is suddenly in question. Voters on Monday rejected her plan to overhaul Italy’s judiciary — after a referendum race in which she had seemed so confident of victory that, until just weeks ago, she left most campaigning to allies. Italy’s disorganized opposition now senses a moment to regroup, while the national press describes a newly hobbled government.”

Ukraine/Russia. Cassandra Vinograd of the New York Times: “Russian forces on Tuesday unleashed one of the largest daytime assaults on Ukraine since the war began, launching more than 550 drones and striking city centers across the country. Several people were killed and at least 40 others wounded, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Apartment buildings, hospitals and a UNESCO World Heritage site all sustained damage, officials said. The unusual daytime strikes followed a more typical series of overnight attacks in which Russian forces launched 34 missiles and 392 attack drones. Those killed two people in the Poltava region, one in Zaporizhzhia and another on a passenger train in Kharkiv, according to the local authorities.”