May 22, 2026

Oh my, Toady Todd had a very bad week: ~~~ 

⭐Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Friday dismissed the criminal case against the immigrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, ruling that the Trump administration had brought human smuggling charges against him as part of a vindictive effort to punish him for challenging his wrongful deportation to El Salvador last year. The ruling by the judge, Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., was a stinging rebuke of both the Justice Department and its top official, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general. Judge Crenshaw singled out Mr. Blanche for criticism in his 32-page opinion, pointing to statements he had made that prosecutors reawakened a dormant investigation into Mr. Abrego Garcia only after a different judge in Maryland questioned the administration’s decision to deport him — along with scores of other immigrants — to a notorious Salvadoran prison in March 2025. The decision, filed in Federal District Court in Nashville, marked the first time that a judge had dismissed a case brought by ... [Donald] Trump’s Justice Department for being rooted in vindictive motives.”

The Cruelty Is the Point. Madeleine Ngo & Albert Sun of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said on Friday that most foreigners seeking green cards will have to return to their home countries to apply, an extraordinary change that could make it more difficult for hundreds of thousands of people to obtain permanent residency. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that oversees the legal immigration system, said it would grant green cards to people inside the country only in 'extraordinary circumstances.' People applying for permanent residency will have to go through consular processing outside the country instead, according to a memo issued by the agency.” 

How to Quash an Investigation? Try Giving the Investigators $5 Million. Theodore Schleifer & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “Howard Lutnick..., [Donald] Trump’s secretary of commerce, made a $5 million donation last month to a committee supporting House Republicans, an unusually large contribution for a sitting cabinet secretary. The donation was made on April 1, four weeks after the House Oversight Committee arranged to interview Mr. Lutnick about his ties to the sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. The closed-door interview took place on May 6. Mr. Lutnick gave the money to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC behind House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson, according to a new filing made public on Thursday.... Lawmakers have been scrutinizing his ties to Mr. Epstein since January, when the government released millions of pages of records related to Mr. Epstein. Mr. Lutnick[’s] ... name appeared in more than 250 documents in the Epstein files....”  

He Really Doesn't Know What's Going On. Sadiba Hasan & Tammy LaGorce of the New York Times: “Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, married Bettina Anderson, a Palm Beach socialite and influencer, on Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla., according to Palm Beach County marriage records. The marriage certificate listed Brad McPherson, a real estate attorney who has worked with the Trump family and is married to Anderson’s sister, as the officiant. The couple was believed to be heading to a private island in the Bahamas, where a larger celebration was reportedly planned. Although ... [Donald] Trump[, Sr.] said he would not be attending the wedding celebrations, he offered the couple his blessing in a post on Truth Social on Friday. 'While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon-to-be wife, Bettina,' he wrote, 'circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Um, the kids got married on Thursday, and on Friday Pops -- a/k/a the POTUS* -- still doesn't know it? Why is that? 

⭐Warren Strobel of the Washington Post: “Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from the Trump administration, she said Friday, after her husband was diagnosed with an extremely rare bone cancer. Gabbard informed the White House that June 30 would be her last day as the U.S. intelligence czar. Her departure ends a stormy 15-month tenure in which the former Democratic congresswoman was largely excluded from ... Donald Trump’s inner national security circle, even as she pushed his political priorities on election security, declassification and Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential contest.” At 2:00 pm ET, this was a developing story. ~~~

     ~~~ From a New York Times liveblog. Tyler Pager: “In a post on Truth Social..., [Donald] Trump shared Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation letter and thanked her for her service in the administration as the director of national intelligence. 'Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,' he wrote. The president said Gabbard’s deputy, Aaron Lukas, will take over as the acting director.”  

Marie: Some of the people's representatives are pretty damned stupid. But some are also insane. Answering questions of reporters outside the Capitol on Thursday, Rep.  Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said, "January 6th was an issue that was made up in the first place.... That was a staged thing from day one.... There was a riot there, but it was a self-made riot by members [of the House] who hate Trump." The thing is, it appears that Norman was at the Capitol during the insurrection. He experienced it first-hand. And here's what he wrote about it that day. ~~~

     ~~~ digby points out that Rep. Norman had a much different perspective on January 6, 2021. Here's what he wrote in a two-part X post: "This is utterly unacceptable.... I condemn in the STRONGEST possible terms the actions of rioters who have breached the Capitol Building, attacked US Capitol Police, and in doing so, have jeopardized the safety and lives of everyone on Capitol Hill.... As the U.S. Capitol Police and other supporting law enforcement agencies get this situation under control, I cannot say enough about their bravery and heroism. Thank God for these men and women." He included a screenshot of a Fox "News" report that shows federal agents, their guns drawn, defending the doors of the House Chamber. Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ MB: digby attributes Norman's remarks yesterday to his membership in a Trump cult. Cult or not, I think Norman is insane. Maybe the experience of the insurrection was so traumatic it caused him to suffer a form of PTSD; maybe it's something else. But he's crazy. He is not fit for public office.

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Robert Kagan of the Atlantic: “The outlines of ... [Donald] Trump’s endgame in the Iran war are now emerging. In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [Wednesday], Trump reportedly explained that the United States was negotiating a 'letter of intent' with Iran that would 'formally end the war and launch a 30-day period of negotiations' on Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.... [That is], the United States is walking away from the crisis. Trump may launch another limited strike to look tough..., but it would be a performative gesture. Endgame in this case is a euphemism for 'surrender.'... For Trump to respond to [Iran's] defiance by now calling for another 30 days of cease-fire and talks is a tacit admission of defeat.... Trump no doubt hopes that he can slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat.... The Iran war may end up as the single most devastating blow to Israel’s security in its brief history.” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This sure strikes me as a lesson for Bibi on being careful what you wish for. For decades, Netanyahu has tried to find a U.S. president dumb enough to be talked into starting a war against Iran. He found that dumb sucker in Trump. The war they waged, not surprisingly, was as fraught with perils as military experts had warned it would be. And Trump the Erratic, the Fairweather Friend (at best) will now meander away in that zigzag gait of his that will take him on another adventure -- this time perhaps Cuba, as Kagan suggests.

He Really Doesn't Know What He's Doing. Eric Schmitt & Chris Cameron of the New York Times: Donald “Trump announced on Thursday that the United States would deploy 5,000 troops to Poland, despite the Pentagon’s decision a week ago to cancel the deployment of thousands of U.S. troops there. In a social media post that caught Pentagon officials by surprise, Mr. Trump suggested that he was making the move 'based on the successful election' of Karol Nawrocki, Poland’s conservative nationalist president whom Mr. Trump endorsed in his election — nearly a year ago. Mr. Trump’s apparent reversal of the Defense Department’s decision was the latest in series of head-snapping announcements that have stunned leaders of Poland, one of the administration’s staunchest allies in Europe, and drawn intense bipartisan criticism from lawmakers who said troop cuts in Eastern Europe would send the wrong signal to Russia....

“Last week, the Pentagon ... abruptly canceled the deployment of more than 4,000 troops to Poland, saying that those troops — some of whom had already arrived in the country with their equipment — would count against the announced drawdown in Germany[, precipitated by Trump's anger at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz].... The Pentagon said on Tuesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had spoken to his Polish counterpart, and that a planned troop reduction in Europe would result in only 'a temporary delay of the deployment of U.S. forces to Poland, which is a model U.S. ally.' That temporary delay appeared to come to a screeching halt on Thursday with Mr. Trump’s announcement on Truth Social.” Politico's story is here.

They Really Don't Know What They're Doing. Jake Spring of the Washington Post: “The U.S. coastline along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean ... acts as a [U.S. military] training zone, allowing troops to deploy from Virginia toward the Gulf, similar to how they would launch from bases in Japan.... There are hundreds of open miles for Tomahawk missiles and other weapons to be tested before they are used in combat. But ... military leaders and bipartisan lawmakers say a Trump administration plan to allow oil platforms in an empty expanse of the Gulf of Mexico and off of Southern California would obstruct some of the largest military operations areas in the country.... 'It’s almost strategically backwards,” said Rick Miller, a retired Navy captain and vice chair of the Florida Defense Alliance, a state advisory body. 'For a modest potential increase in oil production capacity, we’d be giving up a tremendous amount of national defense capability.' Last year, the Interior Department issued its draft plan for when and where it would auction offshore oil and gas leases, proposing to expand drilling into a part of the Gulf nearer to Florida in 2029 as well as the entire California coast in 2027, where no new drilling has taken place in more than 50 years.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Isn't it peculiar how when Trump wants to increase oil drilling, or to build an empire by taking over Greenland or Canada, or, say, to build a ballroom, it must be done because "national defense." But when national security really would be at risk because of Trump's enthusiasm for drilling, his administration doesn't even consider national defense.

They Really Don't Know What They're Doing. Jacob Wendler, et al., of Politico: “The White House abruptly delayed ... Donald Trump’s signing Thursday of an executive order on artificial intelligence — as the president publicly distanced himself from the AI policy his staff had crafted and readied for his approval. The abrupt delay came after companies and trade groups had already been briefed on the forthcoming order and AI company executives had been invited to attend the ceremony. 'I didn’t like certain aspects of it. I postponed it,' Trump told reporters during a Thursday morning event at the White House.... 'I think it gets in the way of — we’re leading China. We’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Sophia Cai, et al., of Politico: “Thursday’s abrupt postponement of ... Donald Trump’s much-awaited executive order on artificial intelligence came after former AI czar David Sacks voiced industry concerns about the measure to Trump, according to [three] people.... Sacks’11th hour intervention — and his arguments that the order could prove too onerous for the rapidly evolving AI industry — came even though he had been briefed about the directive in recent days.... The executive order ... would have set in motion a voluntary oversight system in which developers of advanced AI models could submit their products to a review by federal agencies before releasing them.... It was meant to address concerns that advanced AI products from companies like Anthropic could unleash devastating cyberattacks and other havoc if they fell into the wrong hands. But during a conversation with Trump, Sacks told the president that companies were already cooperating, and that having the federal government review models before their public release would slow down innovation and harm the U.S. in its AI race with China....”

The Empty Chair at the Wedding. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Sadly, Donald Trump may not make it to his eldest son's wedding to be held in the Bahamas this weekend. “'He’d like me to go,' the father of the groom said Thursday, 'but it’s going to be just a small little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it.... I’m in the midst — I said, “You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things,”’ he said.” Marie: I suppose the other things include a round of golf. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Ariana Baio of the Independent: “... Trump has spent at least five weekends since the start of the Iran war, at his golf club in Mar-a-Lago and at least three at his golf club in Doral, Florida. On at least seven of those occasions, the president played golf, according to TrumpGolfTrack. Yet Trump insisted it would be attending his son’s wedding that would earn him negative attention in the media. 'That’s one I can’t win on,' Trump said. 'If I do attend, I get killed. If I don’t attend, I get killed by the fake news, of course.'”

Toadies Approve Arc de Trump. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “The Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday approved ... [Donald] Trump’s plan to build a 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington, even after the president rejected the panel’s suggestion to remove the large statues of golden eagles and a winged angel atop the structure.... Mr. Trump did agree to accommodate some of the panel’s suggested changes, including removing the statues of gold lions that were positioned lower on the arch. The arts panel, which is filled with Mr. Trump’s appointees, has an advisory role on the design of the project, but no enforcement power. The same panel also fast-tracked approval of Mr. Trump’s $400 million ballroom.... The plans are scheduled to go next month before the National Capital Planning Commission, which is also controlled by allies of Mr. Trump. The project also faces a legal challenge.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP's report is here.

Trump Judge Really Doesn't Know What He's Doing. Zach Montague & David Fahrenthold of the New York Times: “A federal judge seemed hesitant on Thursday to order work on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool immediately halted and appeared eager to sort out how fundamentally the project — a top priority for ... [Donald] Trump — would alter the site. During a hearing in Washington, Judge Carl J. Nichols [-- a Trump appointee --] asked whether the work underway in the pool’s basin could be reversed or undone should he ultimately find that it had been undertaken illegally. The suit was brought by the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on preserving historical heritage sites.”

Dan Alexander of Forbes: The one-page document Todd Blanche signed “lands at a convenient moment. Donald Trump earned an estimated $1.4 billion from crypto and licensing ventures in 2025, as he turned his first year back in the White House into the most lucrative year of his life. If the president received an extension for his 2025 return, his preparers may be sorting through exactly how to present this year’s welter of income right now. Trump has never hidden the animating principle. When Hillary Clinton accused him of paying no taxes in the 2016 debates, he replied: 'That makes me smart.' Also much richer. If Trump is able to conjure up theories to avoid taxes for his 2025 income, he could save more than a half-billion dollars, according to Forbes estimates. The conflict-of-interest underpinning all of this is so obvious that even Trump has acknowledged it. ” Add to that the $100 billion in back taxes Trump is reportedly disputing, and his tax savings on the Blanche memo could amount to more than $600 million. Via Heather Cox Richardson.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “Under [Todd] Blanche, the pace of investigations against Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies has accelerated — most strikingly, the indictment of the former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, for posting on social media an image of seashells that prosecutors cast as threatening. Mr. Blanche has used his new perch to boost debunked election conspiracy theories promoted by the president. But the moves that most starkly illustrated Mr. Blanche’s evolving approach came this week. In announcing on Monday a $1.8 billion fund that would benefit those who claim they were targeted by the federal government, he effectively forged a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to Trump allies, among them supporters who ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.... Then came a stealthy stunner. The department inserted a supplement to the fund agreement that granted Mr. Trump, his family and their businesses immunity from ongoing inquiries into their taxes, an extraordinary move that could shield the president from significant financial liability — issued under Mr. Blanche’s signature.... The fund proposal has been under broad consideration for months, although not necessarily linked to the I.R.S. case.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Yesterday, some teevee pundit noted that it sure was odd that last week Trump was boasting about the impending deal to settle his frivolous lawsuit against you and me, and this week he suddenly "says that he 'wasn't involved' in a settlement that drops past tax inquiries into the president, his family, and his businesses." Well, yes, odd, but people -- even Donald Trump -- do things for a reason. Now we know his reason (or, shall we say, ulterior motive). Not only that, we know why that one-page letter promising never, ever in the history of Earth to question Trump and Co.'s tax returns was signed by only one person: Todd Blanche. None of this is an accident. It's all part of a well-coordinated, carefully-developed plan to defraud taxpayers for the benefit of Trump, his companies and his family members. ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s return to office has been an unforgiving crucible for the hidebound Internal Revenue Service. He and his aides have decimated its ranks, fired and replaced its leaders and made repeated attempts to enlist the agency in his quest for political retribution. Now, as part of an arrangement drawn up this week by Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, the I.R.S. faces its most profound legal and ethical test yet: a demand to drop any audits of Mr. Trump, his family members or their 'affiliates.'... The nine-page outline creating the $1.776 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund was agreed to and signed on Monday by Frank Bisignano, who leads the I.R.S. as its chief executive officer. The one-page addendum calling for the I.R.S. to drop any audits of Mr. Trump and his family members was released the next day and signed by only Mr. Blanche. That has raised the question of how, and if, the leader of the Justice Department can control decisions made at the I.R.S., which falls under the Treasury Department. 'There’s a genuine question as to whether the attorney general can do this,' said Daniel Hemel, a tax law professor at New York University....

“The I.R.S. has ... internal procedures [that] call for the mandatory audit of the president’s annual tax returns. And, unlike the Justice Department, the I.R.S. is subject to a federal law that bars the president, vice president or their aides from influencing or directing its investigations. I.R.S. agents can face prison time if they carry out a politically motivated audit or halt one at the direction of the White House. The prohibition includes an apparent carve-out for the attorney general, but I.R.S. officials may still be wary of heeding Mr. Blanche’s order if they wonder whether White House officials or other Trump aides were involved in crafting it.”

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, no one else could have signed the letter committing the IRS to forgive Trump's taxes. It is against the law for Trump to direct the scheme. If his lawyers had signed for him, they would have been implicated AND he would have to maintain his pretense that they acted without his knowledge -- that he "wasn't involved." If any IRS officials had signed the letter, they would be breaking federal law. The settlement, IMO, does not bind the president to "accept" the terms of the letter, AND, again IMO, I think it would be unlawful for him to do so. AND I think it would be illegal for the IRS to comply with terms that are (a) unlawful and (b) to which they were not a party. I think that little scrap of paper has no value whatsoever unless people are willing to break the law to comply with its terms. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Trump is going to have a hard time pretending he was “not involved” in the IRS scam. In a story on Blanche, Erica Orden of Politico writes, “On Wednesday, Blanche sought to quell backlash about the deal, telling CNN: 'The fact that the IRS is settling a case and not moving forward with an audit is not unusual.' Asked who proposed the audit addendum, Blanche attempted to distance himself. 'The president has outside counsel and there are counsel at the Department of Justice — not me — and there was negotiations and part of those negotiations included a discussion around any pending audits.'” Marie: Obviously, if “there was negotiations,” then “there wuz Trump's attorneys doing half the negotiations.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) in a New York Times op-ed: “The creation of this fund is a stupefying feat of self-dealing.... It will very likely result in an undeserved windfall to a legion of Jan. 6 rioters who have already unjustly received pardons from Mr. Trump. Every part of this farce is an affront to the Constitution. It usurps both the exclusive power of Congress to legislate programs and spend money and the power of the courts to decide specific cases and controversies. It is, quite simply, a scam.... This week, I introduced legislation to put a stop to this. It would bar the federal government from paying out monetary settlements to sitting presidents. It would also prohibit settlement payments for claims involving investigations or prosecutions related to Jan. 6 or foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election.” Definitely worth a read.

To be fair to the leaders of our Department of Justice, the fault, dear Blanchus, is not only in our stars, but also in our underlings. ~~~ 

~~~ Sophia Tareen of the AP: “Chicago’s top federal prosecutor abandoned a closely watched case Thursday against four activists who protested outside a federal building during last year’s immigration crackdown in the city, after a judge scrutinized allegations of grand jury misconduct by the prosecutor’s office. U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros..., who was appointed by the Trump administration last year..., announced the decision to dismiss the remaining charges in court following a closed-door meeting over redacted grand jury transcripts. He told U.S. District Judge April Perry he was unaware until recently of the alleged misconduct, including a prosecutor meeting with a grand juror outside proceedings and other jurors who disagreed with the case being dismissed prevented from participating. Boutros did not dispute the allegations, saying the conduct was upsetting and the reason the case was being dismissed.... The charges were dismissed with prejudice on Thursday, preventing them from being refiled. Perry also floated the idea of a separate hearing on possible sanctions for the U.S. Attorney’s Office over their actions.”

Sarah Kliff & Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: “The Justice Department announced charges on Thursday against 15 people for attempting to defraud Minnesota Medicaid and other social service programs in the state of more than $90 million. Top officials, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, and Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, appeared in Minneapolis to announce the charges. Among the defendants are an owner and an employee of autism clinics, who are charged with submitting $46.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicaid, the public health plan that covers low-income people. Additional defendants were charged with filing bogus claims to Medicaid for other services, including those that assist disabled people with obtaining housing and living independently.... The new Justice Department charges focus on two autism clinics, Smart Therapy in Minneapolis and Star Autism in St. Cloud, Minn.” ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's story is here. Not surprisingly, RFKJ was very excited: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy ... said the arrests were 'the largest autism fraud bust in American history.'”

Trouble in Trumpland. Possible Revolts in North AND South Sycophantia. 

Jordain Carney & Calen Razor of Politico: “Senate GOP leaders have canceled plans to vote this week on a party-line immigration enforcement bill.... Several Republican senators said action on the legislation would wait until after a weeklong Memorial Day recess — guaranteeing that Congress would blow a Trump-set June 1 deadline for the immigration funding.... House GOP leaders quickly followed suit and canceled plans for a Friday vote on the immigration package. Members will instead head home for the recess after votes wrap up Thursday night. The Senate’s decision was driven by fierce internal divides over a politically sensitive issue not related to the core purpose of the bill — pumping tens of billions of dollars into Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies. It came after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche struggled Thursday to quash GOP concerns over a newly announced $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund. Leaders had already concluded they would have to omit a $1 billion Secret Service funding line item that could have gone toward Trump’s White House ballroom due to internal dissension.” (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Gold of the New York Times: “... in an ornate room just off the Senate floor on Thursday morning, [there] was a two-hour blowup in which dozens of Republican senators vented their anger and concern ... at [Todd] Blanche. They questioned [the] legal basis [of a $1.775BB slush fund], whom it would pay and how the process would work. And they made it clear they wanted no part of the plan, the product of a deal struck between Mr. Trump’s lawyers and his own administration to use money that Congress does not control to pay off purported victims of government mistreatment, potentially including some of the rioters who violently assaulted their workplace during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.... According to people familiar with the session, Mr. Blanche came under withering questioning and criticism from the majority of Republicans about the fund. They were incredulous that they were just learning about it, and deeply dissatisfied with the acting attorney general’s answers to queries about how it would work.... By the end, Republicans were so livid that party leaders scrapped planned votes on the party’s top priority — a $72 billion immigration crackdown measure it had planned to muscle through before Memorial Day — punting action for fear of having to cast votes on the fund.” ~~~

So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong; take your pick. -- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a statement ~~~

     ~~~ Burgess Everett & Shelby Talcott of Semafor: “The most urgent reason for the delay is boiling anger among Senate Republicans at the president’s $1.8 billion fund of taxpayer money for people who allege they’ve been targeted by the government.... But the bill is slowing down for other reasons...: Trump is unsuccessfully pushing for security funding for his White House ballroom renovation, and his goodwill with GOP senators is at a second-term low as he seeks to defeat his second Republican incumbent in as many weeks [-- Bill Cassidy of Louisiana & John Cornyn of Texas].... Broadly speaking, Trump’s sway over the Senate GOP is lower than it’s been at any point in his second term..., Republican sources said — even as his influence in party primaries peaks.... The meeting [with Todd Blanche] was described as an 'absolute sh*tshow' by two people briefed on it.”

~~~ Megan Mineiro, et al., of the New York Times: “House Republicans on Thursday abruptly canceled a vote on a resolution directing ... [Donald] Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran or win approval from Congress to continue the war, after it became clear they lacked the votes to defeat the measure. The retreat was a striking setback that exposed fractures within the G.O.P. over the conflict at a moment when the party has begun pushing back forcefully on Mr. Trump and his agenda. It also marked the latest embarrassing blow to Speaker Mike Johnson, who has toiled to defeat efforts to challenge or limit the war in line with the president’s wishes, but is contending with growing wariness within his party as the midterm elections approach and the realities of his minuscule majority. The decision to shelve the war powers resolution came after Republicans had lost control of the floor during an earlier unrelated vote, with several of their members defecting and several more absent. As the House chamber descended into chaos, leaders wary of risking another public defeat on a far more politically consequential vote abruptly scrapped the Iran war measure.”&

Meredith Hill & Kelsey Brugger of Politico: “A bipartisan House effort is afoot to kill the $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund created by the Justice Department that could pay allies of ... Donald Trump.... Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) have drafted text and are taking steps to unveil the legislation soon, the people said.Speaker Mike Johnson raised the level of urgency to block the fund among some congressional skeptics when he refused to say Wednesday whether violent Jan. 6 convicts should have access to the taxpayer money.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Ha Ha. A Stopped Clock Is Right Twice a Day. (Well, Maybe Once a Day -- It's Trump.) Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Thursday evening applauded House Republicans for advancing legislation to enact year-round daylight saving time, saying that he would 'work very hard' to pass the bill and end the nation’s semiannual clock changes. 'It’s time that people can stop worrying about the “Clock,” not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. The Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier Thursday passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would end the practice of 'springing forward' and 'falling back' by permanently advancing the nation’s clocks by one hour. States would be able to opt out of the change.” MB: Of course Trump has to work a lie into every remark; he is not going to “work very hard” at anything, especially if it doesn't have a big payoff for him.

One Cost of Trump's War. Emmett Lindner & Rebecca Lieberman of the New York Times: “Since the war with Iran broke out... Feb. 28..., the amount of extra money Americans have collectively spent on gasoline and diesel ... is [a] staggering $44.1 billion[.]” BTW, you're paying a bigger part of this than you think you are: you're not only paying for your own gasoline, you're also paying for the cost of fuel that's added to the prices of goods you purchase. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There is no one who could care less about the "Iran gas tax" we're all paying than Donald Trump, who said just this week that he's "in no hurry" to end the Iran War. 

Marie: Just because Chief Justice John Roberts, et al., don't really wear white hoods or paste confederate flag decals to their pick-up truck windows doesn't mean they're not virulent racists. They are racists of the polite, "genteel" sort, and they are far more effective in suppressing minority rights and opportunities than are the loud-mouthed epithet-slingers. ~~~

~~~ Nikole Hannah-Jones of the New York Times: “The Voting Rights Act helped transform the South: In 1965, the region had not a single Black representative in the U.S. Congress; today, it has 31. Now, Black representation may once again disappear in the South, where more than half of Black Americans live. This could lead to the largest decimation of Black political power since the fall of Reconstruction. And just like then, what is at stake is no less than American democracy itself.... Today’s Supreme Court has thrown open the door for this, using the same logic as before — that efforts to ensure Black political representation illegally discriminate against white Americans.... Since the end of Barack Obama’s second term as the nation’s first Black president, the racial partisan divide has only intensified, with Southern white voters moving even more fully into the Republican Party. White conservative politicians deeply understand this, though the court treats it as incidental.”

Dan Merica & Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: “The Democratic National Committee released a long-awaited autopsy of the party’s failed 2024 presidential campaign on Thursday, but party leaders took the awkward position of asserting that the report itself 'does not meet our standards.' The report was released 'for full transparency,' according to DNC Chair Ken Martin, who has faced months of anger over his earlier decision to withhold it.... The draft report, which was prepared by Democratic strategist Paul Rivera, argues that the White House, under President Joe Biden, did not do enough to set Harris up for political success.... The autopsy goes beyond decisions made during the 2024 campaign, lamenting that in the years since Barack Obama’s landslide presidential victory in 2008, 'Democrats have lost ground at every level of government' and missed opportunities to invest in states and local officials. The report calls for greater focus on voters in 'Middle America' and the South who it laments have 'come to believe they are not included in the Democratic vision.' 'Harris wrote off rural America, assuming urban/suburban margins would compensate,' the report states.” (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Here's Politico's report, which is worth reading because its perspective is different from the WashPo's. You can read the report itself here, via the DNC. (Also linked yesterday.) Here is the AP's report. 

Trish Bendix of the New York Times: describes Stephen Colbert's last “Late Show” at CBS. “As the episode neared its end, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jon Stewart and Andy Cohen showed up to help Colbert through a wormhole portal that opened up to swallow his show, followed by his 'Strike Force Five' co-hosts — “Jimmy, Seth, John, Handsome Jimmy!” Colbert called them — who came by to see him off.... In the final moments, Colbert gave [Paul] McCartney the nod to cut the power from the control room. Once done, the wormhole turned the Ed Sullivan Theater into a miniature version of itself inside a musical snow globe playing the show’s theme song while being sniffed by one last celebrity, Colbert’s Boykin Spaniel, Benny.”

Chris Hacker, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump has long been critical of the late-night comedy shows that roast him daily. But his second term has been marked by his hostility toward late-night comics and his administration taking action against the networks that carry these shows. In some cases, networks made programming decisions that carried suspicions of political interference. So, how have the late-night hosts reacted?... They’ve turned up the heat, according to a Washington Post analysis of six late-night comedy shows critical of the president.... The proportion of late-night material with Trump as the target of the joke has steadily climbed, even amid the administration’s threats and criticism from top officials.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Paul Krugman: "Most of us, if we planned to spend almost an hour on national TV making pronouncements about taxes, would make at least some effort to get our facts right. [Jeff] Bezos didn’t. But Bezos obviously suffers from billionaire brain, which I defined last year as 'that special blend of ignorance and arrogance that occurs all too frequently in men who believe that their success in accumulating personal wealth means that they understand everything, no need to do any homework.'... It took Bezos only a couple of minutes to peddle a classic zombie lie about who pays taxes: 'We already have the most progressive tax system in the world. The top 1 percent of taxpayers pay 40 percent of all the tax revenue. The bottom half pay only 3 percent.' These numbers aren’t remotely right unless Bezos is referring solely to federal income taxes — which are only part of the overall tax system.... [As for Bezos himself,]  ProPublica found that between 2014 and 2018 ... [he paid] less than 1 percent of his true income."

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Tennessee. Sammy Westfall of the Washington Post: “A retired Tennessee police officer who spent five weeks in jail after posting an anti-Trump Facebook meme has been awarded $835,000 in a settlement that dismissed his lawsuit against county officials. Attorneys for Larry Bushart had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the sheriff and investigator involved in Bushart’s arrest, as well as Perry County, Tennessee, arguing that they violated his First and Fourth amendment rights.... After the September killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Bushart shared a meme that quoted Donald Trump saying after a school shooting in Perry, Iowa: 'We have to get over it.' Bushart posted the meme, which he did not make, as a comment on a post about a nearby vigil after Kirk’s death. The post included the phrase, 'This seems relevant today ….'”

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Cuba. Frances Robles of the New York Times: “A day after Raúl Castro, the Cuban government’s revolutionary hero and former president, was indicted in Miami for murder, officials and state-run media closed ranks, turning to social media to project an image of a nation rallying around a revered elder statesman. An avalanche of posts from state-run newspapers and high-ranking Cuban government officials showed photographs of Mr. Castro as a young soldier, greeting children, chuckling with his brother Fidel, waving the Cuban flag and meeting outdoors with teenagers. The posts included gushing messages about his honor and integrity. 'He’s like a father to me,' Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said in a video posted on X. Mr. Castro, who turns 95 in two weeks, was indicted Wednesday on four counts of murder for the shooting down in 1996 of two civilian aircraft that were in international airspace just north of the island. The charges levied by the United States are a major late-life test for the former guerrilla who served as defense minister for nearly 50 years. Although he is no longer head of state or leader of the armed forces, Mr. Castro remains a key figure in Cuba who wields considerable power.”