What did Donald Trump do today?

He staged a scene for "great television."

The major news story of the day was Trump's treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had come to the White House to sign a deal in which the United States would receive some of Ukraine's mineral wealth in exchange for continued military support. But in what appears to have been a literal made-for-TV moment, Trump and other members of his cabinet publicly berated Zelenskyy, to the delight of the Putin regime in Russia.

A transcript of the debacle is available here.

It is difficult to overstate how far out of line Trump has gotten with American public opinion. Polls show Americans across the political spectrum showing support for Ukraine and hostility towards Russia. In a recent survey, only 9% of Americans shared Trump's opinion that Vladimir Putin could be trusted.

Trump is also facing withering criticism from his fellow Republicans in ways that hearken back to his humiliating encounter with Putin at a summit in Finland in 2018. While Trump is unquestionably in control of the Republican party, very few of its members share his allegiance to the Putin regime, and some of them made their opinions known today.

• Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE): [This was] a bad day for America's foreign policy. Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom.
  
  A reminder: Putin’s rivals always end up murdered. Putin despises the West and our values. We should have 100% moral clarity who this murdering dictator really is.

• Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY): As someone who fundamentally believes that Russia, China and Iran are not our friends or allies and continues to believe it is important to support Ukraine, it was extremely short-sighted to engage in that type of exchange in front of the US and international press as you work towards an agreement. Sadly, the only winner of today is Vladimir Putin. Diplomacy is tough and often times there are serious differences of opinion and heated exchanges behind closed doors. Having this spill out into public view was a disaster—especially for Ukraine.

• Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA): The enemy is on the inside. There’s so much fear, but we need to overcome that fear now, and the rational, the sane—those who care more about this country than securing mineral rights for their oligarch friends—might be the way we need to go now. This is America. This isn't Russia lite. 
  
  They're specifically trying to make Putin happy. It's interesting that the most powerful country in the world is bending the knee to a bare-chested horse rider. This is absolutely unconscionable, and, because of his insanity, he should be removed on the 25th Amendment.

• GOP Strategist Karl Rove: The only winner out of today is Vladimir Putin. …It was a mistake for [Trump and Vance] to be so public in their comments. This was not the moment that should have been televised. They should have had those conversations out of camera sight and I'm confident then that they would have been able to find a way to move forward. But it's really hard when you've had the kind of coverage of this moment that we've now had.

The Putin regime made clear that it agreed with Bacon and Rove that this worked in its favor:

• Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev: The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. And @realDonaldTrump is right: The Kiev regime is "gambling with WWIII."
  
  
• Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova: I think Zelensky's biggest lie of all his lies was his assertion in the White House that the Kyiv regime in 2022 was alone, without support. How Trump and Vance held back from hitting that scumbag is a miracle of restraint.

Meanwhile, essentially every military ally the United States has left immediately moved to pledge the support Trump was only willing to sell. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had only just returned from a visit to the White House in which he was at pains to appease Trump, quickly pledged "unwavering support" for Ukraine. This is a sampling of social media posts from other world leaders:

• Emmanuel Macron, President of France:  There is an aggressor: Russia.
  
  There is a victim: Ukraine.
  
  We were right to help Ukraine and sanction Russia three years ago—and to keep doing so.
  
  By “we,” I mean the Americans, the Europeans, the Canadians, the Japanese, and many others.
  
  Thank you to all who have helped and continue to do so. And respect to those who have been fighting since the beginning—because they are fighting for their dignity, their independence, their children, and the security of Europe.

• Stephen Gethins, Scottish National Party foreign affairs spokesperson: President Zelenskyy himself has provided strong leadership and a lesson in personal courage.
  
  His appalling treatment in the White House today is grotesque and outrageous. Ukraine is fighting for democracy and defending us all.
  
  This bullying performance in the Oval Office outlines yet again that Europe can no longer rely on the USA and must do more for its own security and to support Ukraine. The security of us all depends on it.
  
  Today's events put the tone of the Prime Minister's visit to the White House in a new light. It is vital that the UK government reaffirms its commitment to stand by Ukraine and work with our European partners to ensure a strong and united position in support.

• Donald Tusk, President of Poland: Dear [Volodymyr Zelenskyy], dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone.

• Annalena Baerbock, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs: Germany together with our European allies stands united alongside #Ukraine — and against the Russian aggression. Ukraine can build on unwavering support from Germany, Europe, and beyond. Their defence of democracy and their quest for peace & security is ours.

• Petr Fiala, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic: We stand with Ukraine and on the side of the free world!

• Nataša Pirc Musar, President of Slovenia: Slovenia upholds the principles and respect of international law and internationl relations. What we witnessed in the Oval Office today undermines those values and the foundation of diplomace. We stand firmly in support of Ukraine's sovereignty. We repeat, Russia is the aggressor. It is imperative that we nurture and protect democratic ideals, ensuring they are reflected in our actions and interactions on the global stage.

• Alexander Schallenberg, Acting Chancellor of Austria (quote-tweeting Austria's foreign affairs ministry): Russia is the aggressor and we share Ukraine's commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace!

• Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany: Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians do. Therefore we are working on a common path to a lasting and just peace. Ukrainians can rely on Germany—and on Europe.

• Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain: Ukraine, Spain stands with you.

• Caspar Veldkamp, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Netherlands: Just spoke to my dear Ukrainian friend and colleague Andreii Sybiha [Ukrainian Foreign Minister]. I reiterated my full support for #Ukraine, whatever it takes, for as long as it takes.

• Luis Montenegro, Prime Minister of Portugal: Ukraine can always count on Portugal.

• Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia: Croatia knows from its own experience that only a just peace can last. The Croatian Government stands firm in its believe that Ukraine needs such a peace—a peace that means sovereignty, territorial integrity, and a secure Europe.

• Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minster of Denmark: Dear [Volodymyr Zelenskyy], Denmark proudly stands with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

• Mélanie Joly, Canadian Minster of Foreign Affairs: Canada remains committed to providing the necessary assistance to ensure Ukraine's security, sovereignty, and resilience.

• Gitanas Nausėda, President of Lithuania: Ukraine, you'll never walk alone.

• Evika Siliņa, Prime Minister of Latvia: Latvia stands with Ukraine.

• Edgars Rinkēvičs, President of Latvia: Ukraine is a victim of the Russian aggression. It fights the war with the help from may friends and partners. We need to spare no effort for the just and lasting peace. Diplomacy sometimes is the art of the impossible in difficult circumstances.

• Elina Valtonen, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland: Finland stands with the people and the people's right to choose. In Ukraine, people have chosen freedom.
  
  We stand by Ukraine.

• Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada: Russia illegally and unjustifiably invaded Ukraine.
  
  For three years now, Ukrainians have fought with courage and resilience. Their fight for democracy, freedom, and sovereignty is a fight that matters to us all.
  
  Canada will continue to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians in achieving a just and lasting peace.

• Margus Tsahkna, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia: I just had a call with my friend and colleague Andreii Sybiha [Ukrainian Foreign Minister] where I reassured Estonia's support to Ukraine whatever it takes.

• Maia Sandu, President of Moldova: The truth is simple. 
  
  Russia invaded Ukriane. Russia is the aggressor.
  
  Ukraine defends its freedom—and ours.

• Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of Norway: We stand by Ukraine in their fair struggle for a just and lasting peace.

• Dick Schoof, Prime Minister of the Netherlands: The Netherlands continues to support Ukraine, especially now. We want lasting peace and an end to the war of aggression that Russia has started, for all its inhabitants and for Europe.

• Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland: Iceland stands with Ukraine. You are not alone. We wholeheartedly support Ukraine in their quest for just and lasting peace against the unprovoked and unlawful Russian aggression.

• Bart De Wever, Prime Minister of Belgium: We stand behind Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in their historic fight to defend themselves against an unprovoked Russian aggression. Their fight is our fight. United we are strong.
   

Why does this matter?

• There's no way for a country to betray one ally without risking every alliance.

• There's no practical difference between a president who is controlled by a hostile foreign power and one that simply makes the same decisions as if he were.

• The presidency is not a reality show.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He succeeded in helping accused rapists and sex traffickers flee from justice.

Andrew Tate is a social media influencer whose brand revolves around ultra-right-wing politics, attacks on women and Jews, and multi-level marketing scams. Tate built his audience using shock-jock techniques, proudly adopting the label "misogynist" and telling his young male audience that women are responsible if they are raped. 

In 2023, Tate and his brother Tristan were charged by Romanian authorities with rape and human trafficking. Prosecutors there described how the brothers lured women from several countries to Romania, then used intimidation and control over their finances to rape them and force them to appear in pornography. Most of what is contained in the charges are acts that the Tates had already admitted to on social media.

Some of their victims were children.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has been lobbying the Romanian government to allow the Tate brothers to travel outside of the European Union pending the start of their trial—and, in all likelihood, to permanently flee the charges. Trump's diplomatic pressure succeeded in getting the Romanian government to return their passports. This morning, Andrew and Tristan Tate boarded a plane for Florida.

The White House has refused to comment on why the full weight of American diplomacy was put in service to helping someone accused of sex trafficking children, although the political implications are clear enough—something that even some of Trump's staunchest supporters expressed disgust over today.

Trump, himself a convicted felon, was found liable for rape in a recent civil trial. 

Why does this matter?

• Being politically useful to the president shouldn't get you off the hook for sex trafficking of minors.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He got history wrong as well as economics.

Trump has already threatened to impose 25% tariffs on the United States' two biggest trading partners, Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% on the third largest, China. Today, he made a similar threat against fourth largest trading partner, the European Union.

In explaining the move, Trump insisted that "the European Union was formed to screw the United States—that's the purpose of it and they've done a good job of it."

In reality, the European Union was formed in the late 1940s at the behest of the United States to "screw" the Soviet Union, which was forming its own equivalent economic union in Warsaw Pact countries. Its original organization, the OECC, was stood up with Marshall Plan funds from the United States. One of its primary purposes was to strengthen the coal and steel production of US-allied nations, because those industries were critical for defense purposes.

Unlike every other Democratic and Republican president since Harry Truman, Trump is not particularly interested in defending European allies, and few Americans with any political power have ever been as favorably disposed towards the Putin regime. 

This is not the only historical error Trump has made on tariffs recently. Trump has been increasingly insistent that tariffs could fund the government, which would solve the awkward political problem of how much his proposed tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans would cost. He's cited the example of the federal government in the 1890s, when the taxes American consumers paid on imported goods really did account for a substantial fraction of government income. Tariffs are less than 2% of total revenues now.

As economists—and, increasingly, nervous investors—have pointed out, there are just a few problems with assuming that Gilded Age economics will work today. Trump, for his part, appears to genuinely believe that the country was "at its richest" at a time of widespread food insecurity and desperate, grinding poverty for tens of millions of Americans. That may be because tariffs are a consumption tax, meaning that people spending every penny of their income on food and necessities were being taxed on 100% of their income, while those few at the other extreme of wealth paid almost no tax at all—something Trump can deeply relate to.

Why does this matter?

• Presidents who can't tell allies from enemies aren't fit to serve.

• Neither are presidents who can't or won't understand basic economic concepts like "tariffs are taxes paid by American consumers."

What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to pardon a Jan. 6 rioter for unrelated crimes without anyone noticing.

Jeremy Brown was awaiting trial on two federal charges for his actions during the January 6 riots when Trump issued a blanket pardon for all involved, breaking promises made by his transition team that he would not grant pardons to those who committed acts of violence. The specific language of the pardon makes clear that it "applies only to convictions for offenses related to events that occurred at or near the Capitol on January 6, 2021."

In the course of bringing Brown to trial, federal prosecutors uncovered evidence that he possessed illegal weapons—grenades stolen during his time in the Army, and a sawed-off shotgun. Brown also possessed a rifle that he was not allowed to possess because, like many January 6 defendants, he had previously been convicted of unrelated felonies. Investigators also found that Brown had also stolen a classified document from the Army. He was charged for these offenses separately. In a court filing today, Trump DOJ attorneys argued that Trump's pardon applied to these crimes as well. 

In other words, the Trump administration is now arguing that the crime of possessing hand grenades Brown had stolen from the Army long before January 6, and which he did not take to the Capitol, was "related to events that occurred at or near the Capitol on January 6."

Trump could pardon Brown for these crimes separately. He's made a point of pardoning people who committed crimes he's been accused of in the past, and he and Brown both stole classified documents.

However, given the sheer number of Capitol rioters who have been rearrested, committed new offenses, or remanded to state custody to serve sentences for every kind of offense from child sexual abuse and domestic violence to conspiracy to murder the FBI agents who arrested them, Trump may not want to call attention to this latest legal maneuver.

Why does this matter?

• People who commit serious crimes shouldn't go unpunished just so a president won't be embarrassed.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He switched sides in the middle of a war.

Today, the United Nations voted to condemn Russia's unlawful invasion of eastern Ukraine. It is the third anniversary of the start of the Putin regime's latest attempt to re-annex Ukraine, which had formerly been a part of the Soviet Union, and in recent years had been under the control of a Russian-dominated puppet government.

On Trump's instructions, the United States voted against the resolution, which passed.

Trump was impeached during his first term after trying to blackmail Ukraine into manufacturing a scandal about his 2020 rival Joe Biden. He sought and received help from Russia during the 2016 election. Since taking office again, he has been openly allying himself with Russia. Trump has personally (and falsely) attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a "dictator," and pressured Ukraine to settle on terms favorable to Russia. Trump even accused Ukraine of starting the war, which is a bit like saying the United States attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor. 

The United States was joined in its "no" vote by Russia, as well as authoritarian-led countries in Russia's sphere of influence like Belarus, Sudan, and North Korea.

Pushback was swift from Democrats, but also from Republicans—most of whom do not share Trump's personal loyalty to the Putin regime. For example, Ohio Governor Mike Dewine, a staunch conservative who endorsed Trump, pointedly signed a proclamation acknowledging Russia's role as the aggressor and posted it on social media.

Trump's stance means that, for practical purposes, the American government has switched its allegiance from one side of a war to the other—the first time the United States has ever done this.

Why does this matter?

• It's not right to abandon allies, and it's not good for national security, either.

• There is no reason to think Donald Trump feels free to act in the country's best interests where Russia is concerned.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He touted a "conservative" win in German elections, while the winners trashed his Putin-style election interference.

Germany held elections yesterday, and the result was a victory for the center-right CDU/CSU alliance. It gained enough seats that it will be able to control a governing coalition of smaller parties and elect Friedrich Merz as the new Chancellor. 

By American standards, the Catholic-influenced CDU/CSU would be a centrist party with a number of liberal or even left-wing positions on specific social issues. The CDU/CSU energy policy is more or less the same as the current government's, and is arguably more progressive than the fabled "Green New Deal" that Trump rails about.

Today, Trump posted this on his boutique social network:

LOOKS LIKE THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN GERMANY HAS WON THE VERY BIG AND HIGHLY ANTICIPATED ELECTION. MUCH LIKE THE USA, THE PEOPLE OF GERMANY GOT TIRED OF THE NO COMMON SENSE AGENDA, ESPECIALLY ON ENERGY AND IMMIGRATION, THAT HAS PREVAILED FOR SO MANY YEARS. THIS IS A GREAT DAY FOR GERMANY, AND FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF A GENTLEMAN NAMED DONALD J. TRUMP. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL — MANY MORE VICTORIES TO FOLLOW!!!

The problem with this statement is that CDU/CSU was not the party that the Trump Administration was supporting. It was the ultra-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which presumptive Chancellor Merz explicitly and preemptively rejected as a coalition partner. AfD has refused to expel open Nazi sympathizers. They also welcomed the campaign efforts of Elon Musk, who encouraged them to "move past guilt" over Germany's Nazi past and—in an echo of that past—to embrace a nationalist "German culture" and reject "multiculturalism."

In fact, even before the election—and thus before Trump's post congratulating the "conservative party" on the victory he felt they shared with him—Merz denounced the Trump administration as being as bad as the Putin regime in terms of its attempts to interfere in the election. Given the tone of Merz's comments, it now seems likely that the main foreign policy goal of the incoming German government will be to distance itself from the United States.

Trump has not responded to Merz's actual comments, and the White House has not as yet explained Trump's post.

Why does this matter?

• Either Trump doesn't know which side of a major ally's election he was interfering in, or he thinks Americans are too stupid to notice.

• Trying to put a thumb on the scale of an ally's elections is not much better than inviting hostile nations to do it for you.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He spammed the federal government.

Today, government employees across a wide range of agencies—including some that are not in any way part of the executive branch—received an e-mail from hr@opm.gov. It read:

SUBJECT: What did you do last week?

Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.

Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments.

Deadline is this Monday at 11:59pmEST.

The e-mail apparently came at the behest of Trump's financial backer Elon Musk, to whom he has delegated an apparently unlimited suite of presidential powers. Musk tweeted about them shortly before workers started getting them, and threatened (in the tweet) that any employee that failed to respond would be deemed to have resigned.

Resignations don't work that way, but as Josh Marshall reported tonight, even Trump's own agencies are specifically instructing their employees to ignore the message. These include the Defense Department, the FBI, the State Department, the Veterans' Administration, and the Department of the Navy. Labor unions were recommending the same.

It's not clear what Musk hoped to accomplish. All federal employees (except Musk himself) already report to supervisors. Many who received the e-mail are on paid leave, as the "efficiency" office Musk is notionally in charge of seems to have no clear idea of who it can actually get fired and what portions of the government it can or should shut down. Others—for example, postal workers—have jobs where giving an explanation like "delivered the mail" seems ridiculous. 

Musk has tried to portray himself as an omniscient micromanager before. After buying Twitter, he famously demanded, to the amusement of people who knew anything about software, that its engineers screenshot the code they had worked on over the past six months and send it to him—a process a little like asking auto mechanics to make an oil painting of each part of a transmission to prove that they'd replaced it. 

Even so, it's not clear who this was meant to impress. Musk is even less popular these days than Trump, while Trump himself often seems to find out what Musk is doing only when reporters ask him about it. 

Musk himself is a federal employee. During the week ending Saturday, he:

• waved a chainsaw on stage at a political convention

• dodged desperate public attempts by two of the mothers of his children begging him to get in touch on urgent matters related to the children he'd fathered

• gave a slurred, stumbling interview that convinced many who watched it that he was once again abusing drugs

• successfully dodged the question of on exactly what authority he was doing anything in government, and

• deployed his own private employees to from his rocket company to "learn" about the inner workings of the agency that regulates it.

Why does this matter?

• Wasting workers' time like this isn't exactly a stirring example of "government efficiency."

• Presidents are responsible for the actions of entire executive branch, even if they don't seem to know what's happening in it or why.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, for no reason—at best.

Trump announced today that he was firing Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest position in the United States Armed Forces. Brown is the second Black officer to serve in that role or its equivalent in the history of the United States.

Trump gave no reason for the firing, but his new Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, had said before he was confirmed that "you gotta fire" Brown because, according to Hegseth, there was no way to know if Brown was actually qualified to serve.

Brown went through ROTC, then was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force in 1985 after receiving a degree in engineering aeronautical engineering from Texas Tech. He later earned a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from Embry-Riddle University. He was an F-16 pilot and instructor, logging more than 2,900 hours and 130 in combat. He qualified on sixteen different aircraft in total. Brown served in a variety of senior staff roles in the Air Force: he was the second to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the director of the unit reporting to the Secretary of the Air Force, and deputy director of operations and later deputy commander of CENTCOM. Prior to becoming a general officer, he commanded fighter squadrons and fighter wings, and has been deployed to commands in Asia, Africa, and Europe. His first role as a brigadier general was command of a fighter wing at Aviano Air Base in Italy, and he subsequently served as director of operations, strategic deterrence, and nuclear integration for the Air Force's European command. After his tour at CENTCOM, he took command of the United States Pacific Air Forces. Trump himself appointed Brown Chief of Staff of the Air Force in 2020, and he was confirmed 98-0. 

Hegseth is a former Fox News weekend host. He served in the Minnesota Army National Guard at irregular intervals. He volunteered for active duty in Iraq in 2005, after Baghdad had come fully under American occupation, and served as a public relations officer. He also worked for, and was fired from, two different veterans' organizations.

It is rare for a Joint Chiefs chair to be fired, much less for no stated reason. Normally, the role would pass to the next officer in line, in this case Navy Admiral Christopher Grady. Trump instead appointed an officer who, under the relevant law, has none of the required experience, and had to be issued a waiver. Trump didn't explain this either, but he has made clear that he will be vetting officers for personal loyalty to him.

UPDATE:  Shortly after the Brown announcement, Hegseth also fired the Navy's top officer, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, again without explanation. 

Trump also purged the top legal officials in three branches of the military. Judge Advocates General (JAGs) "serve as a conscience of the military and a moral guide as to what’s right and wrong."

According to two members of his own staff, Trump places such a premium on personal loyalty above all else that during his first term he complained he didn't have "the kind of generals Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders."

Why does this matter?

• United States military officers take an oath to defend the Constitution, not to personally serve the president, which normally doesn't worry presidents.

• Replacing a Black officer with a white one who is literally, by law, unqualified, is not the best way to show that you are only worried about qualifications and not race.

• If Dan Hegseth can't tell whether CQ Brown had an outstanding career because Brown isn't white, he's even less qualified to run the Defense Department than he looks.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He made sure it would be easier to cheat on taxes on his watch.

Today, Trump—or someone using his authority as President—began firing as many as 7,000 IRS employees. He used the same loophole he's used to get around civil service job protections at other agencies, including the FAA, the National Parks Service, and the agency that builds and maintains the United States nuclear weapons stockpile.

The firings are expected to have two main effects. First, it will delay refunds and limit filing assistance for the vast majority of Americans who follow the law and file their taxes. Second, it will cost the federal government money as tax cheats—especially individuals at the very top of the income ladder—will be more likely to avoid paying their fair share, and more likely to try to hide assets.

Trump has claimed that the reason he wants to decimate the federal workforce is to save taxpayer money. The IRS, of course, generates taxpayer money—particularly when it enforces the law on people like Trump.

It's difficult to summarize all the various ways that Trump himself has bent or broken tax laws, before and during his presidency. He is known to have used tax-dodging schemes to illegally take about $413 million from his father. His company, the Trump Organization, was convicted of tax fraud in 2022. He famously refused to release his tax returns during his 2016 campaign, a usually routine step. When they were finally released to the public over Trump's objections after he'd left office, it was revealed that he'd lied about being under IRS audit during his term. (The IRS is required to audit presidents every year, and always has, with the specific exception of the years Donald Trump was president.) For ten out of 15 years ending in 2015, the self-described billionaire paid no income tax at all, and in 2016 and 2017 he paid $750—apparently so that he could say he paid taxes without technically lying. But he hasn't always shied away from his ability to pay less tax than a part-time minimum-wage worker: in a 2016 presidential debate, he boasted that not paying his taxes "means I'm smart." He has "paid" family members like his daughter Ivanka lavish "consulting fees" for unspecified business work, allowing him to deduct the amount from his business taxes while avoiding gift taxes. His fraudulent "charity," the Trump Foundation, was shut down by the state of New York in part because he used its tax-exempt status to hide wealth he controlled. He also deducted $70,000 in haircuts, claimed (and received) $72.9 million in refunds he wasn't entitled to, and paid hundreds of millions of dollars less than someone of his supposed wealth typically would.

The IRS is also a frontline agency for national security aims Trump might approve of (like disrupting the flow of money to Hamas and ISIL) and those he certainly would't (like enforcing sanctions against Russian oligarchs).

Why does this matter?

• Americans who don't cheat on their taxes don't usually like people who do.

• Donald Trump is not above the law, including the law that says he has to pay a tiny amount of his wealth as his fair share of taxes.

• A president who cared about efficiency or the budget deficit would make it easier for the government to collect the money it's legally owed, not more difficult.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He called himself a king.

New York City recently implemented a $9 once-daily fee to drive into lower Manhattan. This kind of toll, known as a "congestion charge," is designed to reduce traffic jams and gridlock that often cripple urban centers. Similar charges exist in London, Stockholm, Milan, and Singapore. 

New York's adoption of congestion pricing was controversial—until it went into effect, when it immediately became popular. It dramatically improved traffic conditions in Manhattan, as well as the highways passing through New York which are not subject to the charge.

Today, Trump announced out of the blue that the program was "DEAD." He then immediately called himself a "king" on his private social media site, then posted to the official White House Twitter account a fake Time Magazine cover depicting him in royal robes and a crown. 

Contrary to his statement that it was already "dead," congestion pricing will continue indefinitely. It's not clear Trump has any legal authority to stop the charge, which applies exclusively within the City of New York.

In reality, Trump is the president of the United States, which is neither a king nor a dictator, but an elected official who is subject to its laws.

Trump, who was born in Queens and travels only in a motorcade, recently ordered his Justice Department to drop bribery and corruption charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams, because—as Trump administration officials have openly admitted—it allows Trump to control Adams with the threat of bringing the charges back. Eight career prosecutors have resigned as a result. Normally a routine affair, that motion to dismiss is now being closely scrutinized by the supervising federal judge.

Why does this matter?

• No matter how many times he says otherwise, no matter how much he believes it, Trump is not a king and not above the law.

• Trump is not joking.

• Americans don't need to be "saved" from government programs they like.

• The kind of "king" Trump is pretending to be doesn't have to lie about how much power he has.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He gave every conceivable answer on what Elon Musk's role in government is.

Trump has let his political funder and Twitter booster Elon Musk take extraordinary liberties with executive power. Musk has even been allowed to upstage Trump in Oval Office events. Exactly what authority Musk has is something that Trump and his staff has tried to avoid speaking to. But between yesterday and today, they gave all possible answers to that question, in three very different venues.

In a court filing yesterday, a Trump administration official stated under oath that while Musk was a "special government employee," a status that allows him to be exempt from most oversight and ethics rules, he was not a "DOGE" employee or its head.

Today, press secretary Karolina Leavitt said the opposite, asserting that Musk was in de facto control of DOGE: "Elon Musk has been tasked with overseeing DOGE on behalf of the president and DOGE employees." She did not answer when asked who the actual administrator of DOGE is.

And in an unusual joint interview that aired on Fox News today, Trump sat next to Musk and said that, in effect, there were no limits on Musk's authority and Trump trusted him to simply "do what's right." Presidents virtually never give interviews alongside "subordinates," for fear of looking weakened or dependent on them. Even interviews with their own vice-presidents are rare. 

TRUMP: If he's got a conflict, I mean, look, he's, he's in certain areas, I mean—I see this morning, I [laughs] I didn't know, but I said "do the right thing," where they're cutting way back on—the electric vehicle, uh… subsidies.

MUSK: Yeah.

TRUMP: They're cutting back! Not only cutting back—

MUSK: Correct.

TRUMP: Yeah. Now, I wouldn't tell you—

MUSK: Well—

TRUMP: He's probably not that happy with it, but that would have been one thing he would have come to me and said, "Listen, you gotta do me a favor, this is crazy," but this was in the—the tax bill, they're cutting back on the subsidies. I didn't—I wasn't involved in it. I said, "Do what's right, and you can—" and they're coming up with the tax where it's just preliminary. But— I mean— if he were involved, wouldn't you think he'd probably do that? Now maybe he does better if you cut back on the subsidies, who knows, cause, he figures, he does think differently. He thinks he has a better product—

MUSK: Yeah.

TRUMP: And as long as he has a level playing field, he doesn't care what you do. He's told me that!

MUSK: Yeah.

In other words: Trump is telling courts that Musk is a mere advisor, the press that Musk is running DOGE, and Fox News viewers that he's not even really bothering to look over Musk's shoulder.

It's not constitutional for Trump to delegate real authority to Musk while hiding behind the fig leaf that he is "just an advisor." Actual officers of the United States—none of whom in American history have ever wielded the kind of president-by-proxy power that Musk does—are subject to ethics laws, divestment requirements, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, security checks, heightened tax scrutiny, impeachment, and criminal prosecution for abuse of office.

Why does this matter?

• A president who gives three mutually exclusive answers to the same question is lying at least twice.

• Trump may genuinely not know what Musk is doing or how to stop him.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He sent employees of a private company owned by Elon Musk to "help" gut the agency that regulates them, while firing its workers.

Over the weekend, Trump extended his purge of federal employees to include FAA workers charged with keeping the country's aviation infrastructure working. As with other purges, Trump is not firing FAA workers based on poor performance or redundancy, but simply because of loopholes in the law that make it easier to fire any employees who have been hired or promoted in the last few years.

Nobody, including the Trump administration, seems entirely sure how many aviation safety workers were just fired, but the number appears to be at least several hundred. The FAA was already understaffed prior to Trump taking office, something exacerbated by a hiring freeze Trump instituted on his second day in office with an executive order titled "Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation."

Employees of SpaceX, a company owned by Trump's patron Elon Musk, visited FAA headquarters today on orders from Musk and Trump. It's not clear whether they they were going as official government employees, or whether any of them had any experience in aviation or the relevant computer systems. But a press release from Trump's transportation secretary, former reality TV contestant Sean Duffy, suggested that they would be going to "get a firsthand look at the current system" and "learn" how it might be improved.

Musk is the CEO of SpaceX, but has no experience in aviation except as a passenger. However, the FAA did temporarily ground his rockets after one of them blew up over commercial airspace. Musk retaliated by having Trump force the resignation of the previous FAA director. The federal government is SpaceX's main source of income.

Why does this matter?

• The FAA needs its own experienced workers more than it needs "help" from a company owned by a private citizen who hates it.

• Even if it's legal, firing workers in critical safety roles at random is stupid.

• The FAA's mission is to keep American skies safe, not maximize Elon Musk's profits.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He said he didn't care if American farmers lost part of a $13.2 billion market.

The European Union has been debating whether to close a loophole in its own rules that allows for the importation of agricultural products grown with pesticides that are illegal within the EU. 

Asked about this today, Trump—seemingly unaware of the reason—interpreted it as part of the worldwide trade war he wants to provoke and shrugged.

REPORTER: The European Union is talking about banning food imports from the U.S. 

TRUMP: Why is that? Why? That's okay. I don't mind. I don't mind. Let them do it. They're just hurting if they do that. I can't imagine it but—doesn't matter. We're having reciprocal tariffs. Whatever they charge, we charge. It's very simple.

Trump did not address why he "didn't mind" if American farmers were crippled in the European market. In 2022, farms in the United States exported $13.2 billion worth of food to Europe.

Normally, this would be worked out at a diplomatic level—though it's difficult to see how, if Trump doesn't understand that the EU is talking about banning imports rather than taxing them. Ironically, if Trump follows his own stated trade policy, the ban would be treated as a tariff to be matched by the United States. That would mean American consumers would pay a great deal more for European imports, while American farms would be unable to sell the banned products at all.

American farmers were the biggest casualties in Trump's first-term trade war, both in terms of economic damage and literal deaths.

Why does this matter?

• A president who doesn't know the basic facts of something of critical importance to the U.S. agricultural sector isn't doing his job.

• A president who doesn't care about how his policies affect American farmers isn't fit to do the job.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He posted this:

This is a saying attributed to Napoleon. It is a watchword among right-wing figures from posters on the neo-Nazi site Stormfront to Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador who calls himself "the world's coolest dictator."

It was also quoted in the manifesto written by Anders Breivik, the Norwegian neo-Nazi who killed 76 people in what he said was an attempt to promote his ideas.

The popularity among Nazis likely derives from the fact that Adolf Hitler himself said essentially the same thing—"I am the law"—after consolidating his power by purging what he considered to be insufficiently loyal government officials.

It's not clear where Trump—or whoever is posting in his name—heard about it, but one likely avenue is his patron Elon Musk, who immediately posted it on Twitter.

Why does this matter?

• No matter how many times he claims otherwise, while the United States is still a democracy, Donald Trump is not above the law.

• "L'etat, c'est moi" doesn't work out well even when the ruler is competent and popular.

• A president who doesn't know or care that he's parroting neo-Nazi mass murderers and self-identified dictators isn't fit for office.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He crippled a lot of federal agencies dealing with Americans' health.

Trump—or those acting on his authority—has been systematically firing federal workers by the thousands during the past week. Most of the workers targeted are "probationary" workers, who have not worked in their current position for the required 2-3 years needed to gain civil service protection. That means they can be fired at a whim without severance, even if they uprooted their lives to take a job that had been offered in good faith.

However, in many cases, these are not new hires—experienced federal employees also take probationary status when they are promoted or switch departments, and they have been targeted by these purges too. Military veterans, in particular, are heavily represented in this class of federal employees.

Several of the agencies targeted today are charged with keeping Americans healthy and safe from disease outbreaks. Employees, postdoctoral fellows, and students at the Epidemic Intelligence Service, the branch of the CDC that trains public health officials to fight infectious disease outbreaks, were told to expect their firing today. Experts call the program the "crown jewel" of the world defense against outbreaks of diseases like ebola, dengue fever, and biowarfare threats like anthrax or smallpox. The CDC as a whole is losing approximately 1,300 workers, and the National Institutes for Health about 1,500. That includes 300 workers at the National Cancer Institute. Those numbers do not include the nearly 1,000 physicians and health care workers of the Indian Health Service who were fired today. Those workers form the backbone of health services for many Native American tribal communities. The United States has treaty obligations that require it to provide that medical care.

Trump campaigned on a promise to "come up with the cure" for cancer if he were re-elected.

The federal workforce did add a few "new" employees today, though. The Department of Energy fired several hundred nuclear experts at the National Nuclear Safety Administration yesterday, only to scramble to try to hire them back today. Trump—or whoever is acting in his name—didn't realize that work requiring expertise in nuclear engineering and a security clearance to deal with the secrets of the United States' nuclear arsenal couldn't simply be shuffled onto the remaining staff. 

It's not clear how many of the fired NNSA workers have agreed to come back, or on what terms.

Why does this matter?

• If your plan to make government more efficient is exactly what an enemy saboteur would do if they could, it's a bad plan.

• Government needs the people whose job it is to tell elected officials how to fight disease outbreaks with something more effective than drinking bleach.

• No president should ever do anything that makes health care or disease prevention harder to get and more expensive for Americans.

• Even by Trump standards, firing the people who keep the nation's nuclear arsenal safe and ready with no plan to replace them is boneheaded.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He forced the resignation of six federal prosecutors over his attempt to strike a corrupt bargain with indicted NYC Mayor Eric Adams.

Eric Adams, a Democrat and mayor of New York City, had been under investigation by the Biden administration for bribery. This culminated in federal grand jury indictments in September. Publicly reported details were lurid, with Adams's staffers joking with Turkish officials about how best to conceal the bribery by charging token amounts for airline tickets costing $15,000, or how Adams's name could be kept off of luxury hotel reservations.

After the election, Adams began publicly courting Trump for a pardon. He ordered staff not to publicly criticize Trump, and to cooperate with ICE raids even when they interfered with city business. 

Earlier this week, in a virtually unprecedented departure from normal practice, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered prosecutors in the Southern District of New York to dismiss the charges against Adams. The reason given was that the Adams was the victim of political persecution by the (Democratic) Biden administration, and that he is a candidate for office. (Trump insisted during the 2024 campaign that it was improper for him to have to be put on trial for the same reasons.) Bove's order also forbade federal prosecutors from conducting any investigation into Adams going forward—in essence, declaring him off-limits for any federal law enforcement.

Bove's order also claimed that prosecuting Adams would prevent him from implementing Trump's immigration agenda at the local level—which, the New York Times is now reporting, is an argument that Bove's team coached Adams's lawyers to make.

Bove was one of Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyers in the New York trial last year that saw Trump convicted of 34 felonies. Alex Spiro, who represents Adams, is also Trump patron Elon Musk's lawyer.

In a letter dated yesterday, Acting United States Attorney Danielle Sassoon refused to drop the charges, and offered to resign if Bove was unwilling to retract the order. Bove fired her today and threatened to investigate her instead. (Sassoon was made AUSA only days ago and was not part of the Adams investigaiton.)

Sassoon is a Trump appointee, a member of the conservative Federalist Society, and a former clerk for arch-conservative former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. Like other people in acting roles, she was hand-picked by the Trump transition team precisely because of her political loyalties.

Five other prosecutors involved in the Adams case announced their resignations in quick succession today. 

Sassoon's letter says in unambiguous language that she witnessed an explicit quid pro quo between Bove and Adams's defense team, in which Adams would support Trump's immigration policies in exchange for the dismissal of charges. She also notes that Bove yelled at a DOJ lawyer who was taking notes on the procedure.

According to NBC News, a seventh official was prepared to resign, but had not made it official as they were currently giving birth.

One of the precipitating events of Richard Nixon's resignation was the so-called "Saturday Night Massacre," in which his attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned rather than follow Nixon's illegal order to fire the special prosecutor investigating him. The reaction to this purge was so negative that Robert Bork, the official who did eventually carry out Nixon's order, failed to win Senate confirmation when he was nominated for a Supreme Court seat in part because he lost Republican votes due to his involvement.

Why does this matter?

• There's corruption, and then there's corruption so obvious that even hand-picked loyalists will destroy their careers rather than participate in.

• Politicians who commit crimes should be prosecuted for those crimes, not blackmailed into using their office to do what prosecutors want.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He "brought charges" against New York and various Democratic state officials.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced today that the Trump Administration was "bringing charges" against the state of New York, its governor Kathy Hochul, its attorney general Letitia James, and Mark Schroeder, the commissioner of the state Department of Motor Vehicles. At issue is a state law that restricts federal access to DMV databases without a warrant.

Bondi's very public announcement was calculated to make it seem as though she was bringing criminal charges against the state officials: she mentioned "prosecutions" several times. But in fact, she is simply filing a lawsuit, and against a law that has been upheld by federal courts in the past. The first Trump administration threatened the state over the same law in 2020, briefly barring citizens of New York from federal "trusted traveler programs" like TSA Pre-Check, before backing down.

State governments cannot be compelled to enforce federal law. Likewise, under the Tenth Amendment, states retain sovereignty over matters not explicitly delegated to the federal government. 

Bondi's flashy announcement reflects the political motives at work. She was Trump's personal defense lawyer and impeachment counsel before becoming Attorney General—and so are the next two highest-ranking DOJ officials. When she was Florida's attorney general, she dropped the state from a lawsuit against Trump's fake university after receiving an illegal $25,000 campaign donation from his equally fake "charity." (The Trump Foundation was shut down by legal action, but while it operated as a non-profit, it was illegal for it to give to political candidates.) 

Letitia James brought a successful civil suit against Trump's business empire, winning $355 million in fines after proving that it had engaged in massive business fraud and tax fraud at Trump's instruction. James's office also aided in the successful criminal prosecution of the Trump Organization and several of its officers.

Gov. Hochul released a statement on the matter this afternoon:

Earlier today, Attorney General Pam Bondi marched in front of the television cameras for a dramatic media briefing to announce she was filing charges against New York State related to our immigration laws. Hours later, when legal papers were shared with reporters, we learned this was smoke and mirrors: the Department of Justice was filing a routine civil action about a law passed in 2019 that has been upheld by the courts time and again.

Here are the facts: our current laws allow federal immigration officials to access any DMV database with a judicial warrant. That's a common-sense approach that most New Yorkers support. But there's no way I'm letting federal agents, or Elon Musk's shadowy DOGE operation, get unfettered access to the personal data of any New Yorker in the DMV system like 16-year-old kids learning to drive and other vulnerable people.

New York is proud that immigrants from across the globe come here searching for a better life — people like my grandparents who left Ireland looking for the American dream. We welcome law-abiding individuals who want to work, pay taxes and contribute to our communities, while at the same time protecting the public safety of all New Yorkers by cracking down on violent criminals.

We expect Pam Bondi's worthless, publicity-driven lawsuit to be a total failure, just like all the others. Let me be clear: New York is not backing down. 

 

Why does this matter?

• Immigration policy should be about what's best for the country, not getting personal revenge.

• DOJ officials who do the President's personal bidding are not working on behalf of the American people.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to punish people who said things he didn't like.

The Associated Press, one of the oldest and largest news agencies in the country, was banned from an Oval Office event this afternoon because they referred to the body of water bordered by the land mass stretching from the Yucatán Peninsula to Florida as the Gulf of Mexico. This is the name it has been known by since the mid-1500s. Trump recently declared that he wanted it to be called the "Gulf of America," and has strong-armed some tech companies into using that name on internet maps within the United States.

The AP released a brief statement on the matter:

As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world every day with factual, nonpartisan journalism.

Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.

It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment. 

 
He also fired the Inspector General of the United States Agency for International Development, a day after he released a report identifying dangerous and counterproductive consequences to Trump's attempts to cripple the agency. USAID, which Trump is trying to unilaterally shut down in defiance of law and court orders, is one of the most effective means of exercising "soft power" in parts of the world where the United States has little commercial or military presence. 

Martin's report noted that the chaos unleashed by Trump's actions were directly benefiting anti-American terror groups and endangering American aid workers on the ground. He also pointed out that the unprecedented freeze means that some $500 million in food aid that would already have been delivered is about to spoil.

The sabotage of USAID also benefits China and Russia by creating an opportunity for them to replace the United States as a trustworthy source of aid during humanitarian disasters—and because, on occasion, USAID missions have allowed for crucial intelligence gathering that could not have been done any other way. Protecting that extremely sensitive information is why USAID officials resisted efforts to turn over their classified files to "DOGE" employees, some of whom are obvious security risks themselves.

Trump had previously fired about twenty other Inspectors General, in violation of a law requiring notice and cause. Some of these firings appear to have been done in order to disable any internal objections to his plans in advance. Others, like the firing of USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong, were retaliation for her investigation of Trump patron Elon Musk's company Neuralink. That company saw mass deaths of monkeys it used as its test subjects, often in gruesome fashion, that were brought to light by the USDA and other agencies. (Neuralink claims its products are safe for testing in humans.)

Why does this matter?

• If you cannot stand to be contradicted in any way, you're too emotionally unstable to be president.

• Governments composed entirely of people who can't or won't tell the leader "no" can't govern.

• Forcing political orthodoxy by making up new words for things and policing who has to use them is so obviously authoritarian they made a classic dystopian novel about it. 

What did Donald Trump do today?

He said, via a surrogate, that he wants Americans to feel they can't afford to buy the things they want.

In an interview this morning on CNBC, White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett said that Trump's plan to fight inflation was to "increase supply [of labor] and reduce aggregate demand."

There are a few things to note here. First, Trump is beginning his term having inherited very low inflation, in spite of his campaign claims that inflation was out of control. His trade policies are inflationary—Americans will spend more money for foreign goods once Trump's taxes are added in to the price—but for the moment there isn't really very much excess inflation to fight.

Hassett said that Trump's plan to "increase the supply of labor" would come by slashing the payroll taxes that pay for Social Security. This would save money for employers and theoretically encourage them to hire more workers—although they could also simply take it as profit. Trump has claimed, falsely, that Social Security is insolvent—but shutting down the money it takes in from existing workers really would mean that it would go bust in the near term. 

"Reducing aggregate demand" for goods and services is even harder to sugar-coat. Virtually by definition, that means deliberately causing a recession. This really would lower inflation—prices come down when fewer people can afford what they need. 

Large companies tend to do relatively well during recessions, as they have the resources to weather it, and to buy up smaller competitors who can't. The same is true for wealthy individuals. But for the vast majority of Americans, "reducing aggregate demand" would mean trading a situation where they can buy the goods and services they want at 3% inflation for one where they didn't have the money they needed at 2% inflation.

Hassett did not elaborate on why Trump thought businesses would increase hiring while demand for their goods dropped.

Why does this matter?

• "Let's intentionally cause a recession" is a Bond villain plan, not what a president should be saying.

• The government should focus on fixing problems that exist rather than ones that don't.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He gave an interview, which—according to him—should be grounds for someone to file a $20 billion lawsuit.

Trump gave an interview with Fox News today, which aired ahead of the Super Bowl. It was pre-taped, and—as is common practice, and virtually mandatory to fit into broadcast schedules—was subtly but clearly edited before it aired.

Kamala Harris sat for an interview with the CBS news program 60 Minutes in October. CBS edited that interview too, as it always does for clarity, to fit segments in between commercial breaks, and to avoid wasting time airing its subjects drinking water or clearing their throats.

Trump is suing the parent company of CBS for $20 billion dollars because, he claims, it is "unfair" for a news organization to do such editing. It's not clear why Trump believes he was damaged or is entitled to money. He's also forced the Federal Communications Commission—which reports to him as president—to investigate.

Trump has a long, long history of filing lawsuits he knows have no merit in order to punish enemies who can't afford the cost of a trial, or to force the other party to endure years of delay before the case is finally resolved in their favor. In this case, the real motive appears to be to force CBS to cover him more favorably, because he will ultimately decide whether its owners can merge with another media company.

Fox News (which is not suspected of deceptively editing Trump) has not released the unedited footage, nor has Trump's FCC begun an investigation.

Other things that happened in the interview:

• Trump predicted that the Kansas City Chiefs would win, on the strength of "the quarterback" whose name he could not appear to recall. Patrick Mahomes is an outstanding quarterback, but Kansas City was blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-22. (Earlier this week, Trump remembered Mahomes' name, but told an odd rambling story about how now-Sen. Tommy Tuberville said that Mahomes had made him into a great coach when they were at Texas Tech. As Mahomes confirmed, he and Tuberville have never met, much less been part of the same team.)
  

• He insisted, without giving details, that he is in control of Elon Musk's unlimited authority over government agencies, and that he disagreed with the results of lawsuits temporarily blocking him from undertaking every headline-grabbing action he's taken since returning to office. Trump has dispatched underlings like Vice-President JD Vance to argue that courts "aren't allowed" to restrain Trump.

• He declared today "Gulf of America" Day, the name he thinks people should call the body of water that has been known as the Gulf of Mexico since 1550.

Why does this matter?

• It's bad to file frivolous lawsuits, and it's worse if Donald Trump really believes he needs 248.100 times the average American household income in emotional support money because someone interviewed a different presidential candidate.

• It's okay if a president isn't a big football fan or picks the wrong team to win, but it's less okay if he can't tell when he's getting confused about the basic facts or his memories.

• In a democracy, nobody is above the law and court rulings aren't optional.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He got told by South Africa's "oppressed" "refugee" white minority that they were neither oppressed nor refugees.

Although apartheid rule ended thirty years ago, there are still massive racial imbalances in South African society. White South Africans make up about 7% of the population, but they own 70% of the nation's farmland, virtually all of which was stripped from Black landowners under apartheid. Recently, the government passed reform laws aimed at making sure that arable land was actually being used, and at redressing historical land seizures from Black citizens. Much like the eminent domain clause in the United States constitution, the new law defines a legal process through which the state can claim privately owned land in exchange for "just and equitable" compensation.

Trump, who has rarely shown any interest in South Africa, has suddenly become outspoken on their land reform debate. He signed an executive order yesterday barring foreign aid to South Africa, forbade his own Secretary of State from attending the G20 summit being held in Johannesburg, and offered to resettle the white Afrikaners displaced by the law in the United States.

(This may be the first and only time Trump has ever spoken positively of immigration from Africa, which he has previously referred to as "shithole countries.")

But as representatives of pro-Afrikaner advocacy groups pointed out today, there aren't any such displaced white landholders, and they don't want Trump's help—or to be cast as a downtrodden, helpless group when in fact they exercise enormous influence in South African politics.

There have been conspiracy theories and false reports of a genocide against white South Africans, and Trump has been fooled by them in the past. But more recently, he seems to be acting at the direction of his patron Elon Musk, whose family fortune dates back to the apartheid regime.

Trump, who has resumed his previous practice of taking long weekends at his golf resorts in Florida, did not comment on the matter today.

Why does this matter?

• American foreign policy should serve American interests, not settle political scores for wealthy individuals.

• It's embarrassing if both sides of a debate in another country's have to tell an American president he doesn't know what he's talking about.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He purged the board of the Kennedy Center and appointed himself personally in charge of it.

Today, Trump posted to his private blogging site that he was appointing himself chair of the board of the Kennedy Center for the Arts, a performing arts center established by Congress in 1958 and operated as a public-private partnership. It is funded almost entirely by private ticket sales and donations.

It's not clear what, if anything, Trump meant by his reference to drag shows. Trump himself performed in a "drag show" when he appeared with then-NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani in a sketch that aired during the 2000 Inner Circle Press Dinner. In that clip, Trump attempted to kiss "Rudia" and bury his face in her (fake) breasts.

Trump also recently announced that the 2026 National Endowment for the Arts grants would be restricted to art celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Why does this matter?

• The President of the United States probably ought to have more important things to do than pick and choose an arts center's seasonal lineup.

• Purges of "degenerate" art in favor of art that glorifies the state is where the Nazis started, for obvious reasons.