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9:35 PM ET, February 19, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
“They're Scared Shitless”: The Threat of Political Violence Informing Trump's Grip on Congress  —  With the president smashing norm after norm, even lawmakers within his party have feared for their personal safety, and at least one has told confidants that it has swayed his decision-making.
RELATED:
Raheem J. Kassam / The National Pulse:
EXCLUSIVE: VP J.D. Vance Warns Zelensky Over ‘Disgraceful’ Public Attacks on Trump, Confirms Ukrainian Elections Are Now U.S. Policy.  —  EXCLUSIVE: VP J.D. Vance Warns Zelensky Over ‘Disgraceful’ Public Attacks on Trump, Confirms Ukrainian Elections Are Now U.S. Policy.
Liz Goodwin / Washington Post:
After ceding power of the purse, GOP lawmakers beg Trump team for funds  —  Republican senators are asking Cabinet secretaries and other Trump officials to let money flow back into their states.  —  Republican senators find themselves in an unusual position these days …
NBC News:
Hegseth considering firing generals as early as this week
Discussion: ABC News, The Independent and NPR
Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
Goldman accuses Trump of ‘dozens of impeachable offenses’ in first days back in White House
Discussion: Scripps News
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Trump Issues Order to Expand His Power Over Agencies Congress Made Independent
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Republicans rebuke Trump on Ukraine — gently
NPR:
GOP senators fact check Trump's Ukraine rhetoric, while still backing his strategy
Steven Monacelli / The Texas Observer:
ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account  —  Fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids began to spread the day after President Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time.  Posts on social media and Reddit claimed that ICE had already been spotted …
Politico:
Trump's America is Putin's ally now  —  LONDON — The thing about a war is it forces people to pick a side.  And Donald Trump, it seems to many in Europe, is siding with Vladimir Putin.  —  Seven days of presidential interventions in the Russia-Ukraine conflict have made real the nightmares …
RELATED:
Anton Troianovski / New York Times:
Zelensky and Trump Trade Blows as Feud Escalates Over Peace Talks  —  President Trump called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” after the Ukrainian president took issue with his statements on the war with Russia.  — 2.3k  —  Constant Méheut and Anton Troianovski
Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
Incompetence Leavened With Malignity
Csongor Körömi / Politico:
Trump blaming Ukraine for Putin's war leaves Europe reeling
Justine Brent / KGUN-TV:
One confirmed dead in Marana Regional Airport crash Wednesday morning  —  KGUN 9 has a crew on scene  —  MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — A crash has occurred at Marana Regional Airport, 11700 W. Avra Valley Road, Wednesday morning, KGUN 9 has confirmed with airport personnel.
RELATED:
Quinnipiac University Poll:
Majority Say System Of Checks & Balances Not Working Well, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Congressional Job Approval: Democrats Hit All-Time Low, Republicans Hit Record High  —  mail_outline  —  Less than 4 in 10 voters think the system of checks and balances between the executive …
RELATED:
New York Post:
NYC congestion pricing axed as Trump pulls approval of hated toll  —  Congestion pricing, we hardly knew ye.  —  New York City's spectacularly unpopular congestion pricing scheme is on death row as the Trump administration will announce Wednesday it is pulling its approval of the toll …
RELATED:
GovExec.com:
IRS expected to fire 6,700 employees beginning Thursday  —  The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to conduct mass firings of 6,700 employees beginning Thursday, according to multiple employees notified of the plans.  —  Staff in their probationary periods—mostly recent hires …
Discussion: Frontpage Mag
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Trump administration orders Pentagon to plan for sweeping budget cuts  —  The directive, detailed in a memo dated Tuesday, exempts a handful of programs, including the president's expanded military mission along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Michael David Smith / NBCSports.com:
Ex-NFL punter Chris Kluwe arrested over protest at Huntington Beach City Council meeting  —  Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was arrested over a protest at a city council meeting in Huntington Beach, California on Tuesday.  —  Kluwe was protesting Huntington Beach's decision to display a plaque …
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Oops: Trump-Musk Cuts Just Wrecked an NIH Org Championed by GOPers  —  With co-Presidents Donald Trump and Elon Musk now inflicting deep cuts on federal agencies that sponsor medical research, thousands of scientists, researchers, and medical professionals are getting fired.
Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo
Dean Fioresi / CBS News:
Cal Fire captain found stabbed to death inside of her San Diego County home  —  A Cal Fire captain was found stabbed to death inside of her San Diego County home on Monday and authorities are still searching for the suspect.  —  Deputies were dispatched to a home in the 20200 block …
Discussion: Los Angeles Times and KFOR-TV
Makena Kelly / Wired:
USDS Engineering Director Resigns: ‘This Is Not the Mission I Came to Serve’  —  “I do not believe that DOGE can continue to deliver the work of USDS, based on their actions so far,” wrote Anne Marshall in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday.  —  The director of data science and engineering …
Adam Przeworski / Adam's Substack:
Diary  —  I decided to keep a record of my thoughts as events transpire, a diary.  I have read several reactions by Germans to the rise of Nazism and I was struck by their difficulty to understand where the daily events they lived through could or would lead.  In retrospect, we will know, analyze, and make sense.
Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
D.C. U.S. attorney probing Democrats over alleged threats, documents show  —  Analysts say Ed Martin's ‘Operation Whirlwind,’ which targets statements by Democrats and others about Elon Musk, justices and government workers, is meant to stifle criticism.  —  D.C.'s top prosecutor escalated …
RELATED:
Erica Orden / Politico:
Judge appears on track to let DOJ dismiss Eric Adams case
Voice of America:
US figures do not support Trump claims on Ukraine spending  —  President Donald Trump on Wednesday repeated a claim that the United States has spent $350 billion on Ukraine's war — a figure that far eclipses the amount recorded by the Department of Defense and the interagency oversight group that tracks U.S. appropriations to Ukraine.
Discussion: Politico
Allan Smith / NBC News:
Two more staffers quit John Fetterman's office as the senator carves his own lane with Trump  —  The imminent exit of two of Fetterman's longest-serving staffers continues a string of departures from the senator's office over the past year.  —  Two of Sen. John Fetterman's longest-serving staff members …
Discussion: Fox News, The Hill and The Intercept
New York Times:
A Frustrated Trump Wants His New Air Force One Planes Pronto  —  Among the ways being discussed to force faster delivery of two presidential planes are relaxing security clearances for Boeing workers and even purchasing a temporary luxury plane and retrofitting it.
Jason Lange / Reuters:
Trump's approval rating slips as Americans worry about the economy  —  U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked slightly lower in recent days as more Americans worried about the direction of the U.S. economy as the new leader threatens a host of countries with tariffs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Trump Team Finds Loophole to Defy Spirit of Court Orders Blocking Spending Freezes  —  Officials cite other legal authorities — not Mr. Trump's court-blocked directives — to keep withholding foreign aid and domestic grant money.  —  The Trump administration is systematically exploiting loopholes …
Discussion: Politico
The Atlantic:
DOGE Has ‘God Mode’ Access to Government Data  —  The president's special commission now has an unprecedented ability to view and manipulate information at many federal agencies.  —  If you have tips about the remaking of the federal government, you can contact Charlie, Ian …
Wired:
These Are the SpaceX Engineers Already Working Inside the FAA  —  SpaceX engineers were said to be simply touring the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday.  In fact, some were already being onboarded at the agency under a policy designed to increase “employment opportunities for people with disabilities.”
Discussion: CBS News and SpaceNews
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
Republicans in Hispanic-heavy districts push Johnson not to slash Medicaid or SNAP  —  Eight House Republicans who are members of the Hispanic conference or represent large Hispanic populations are publicly pressing Speaker Mike Johnson to not slash Medicaid, food assistance and Pell Grants in his budget plan.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Tierney Sneed / CNN:
Trump can't end birthright citizenship, appeals court says, setting up Supreme Court showdown
Katherine J. Wu / The Atlantic:
The NIH Memo That Undercut Universities Came Directly From Trump Officials
Kali Hays / The Guardian:
Mark Zuckerberg's charity guts DEI after assuring staff it would continue
Discussion: The Hill and TechCrunch
CNN:
Defense officials fear impending Pentagon firings could break law and hurt military readiness
David Goldman / CNN:
Trump acknowledges ‘inflation is back’ but blames Biden
Discussion: The Hill, Daily Kos and Roll Call
Reuters:
US aviation sector requests emergency funds after recent alarming crashes
Benjamin Wittes / Default:
The Situation: What America Stands For Now
 Earlier Items: 
Jennifer Scholtes / Politico:
Collins: Spending negotiations ‘not going well’ ahead of March shutdown cliff
Danny Nguyen / Politico:
State Department set to designate Latin American cartels, gangs as terrorist organizations
Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:
Trump Wanted ‘Millions’ for 15-Minute Meeting With Execs
Andre Tartar / Bloomberg:
DOGE Says It's Saved $55 Billion; Data Show Much Less
Dave Zirin / The Nation:
Why Democrats Won't Throw a Real Punch
Discussion: Mock Paper Scissors
Sam Stein / The Bulwark:
The DOGE Brain Drain Has Begun
 

 
From Techmeme:

Micah Lee / micahflee:
TeleMessage, a maker of modified versions of apps like Signal used by US officials including JD Vance, is hacked, leaking some user messages, contact info, more

Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
The biggest deepfake porn site on the internet, Mr. Deepfakes, says it is shutting down permanently because a “critical service provider” stopped serving it

Zack Abrams / The Block:
Several Senate Democrats, key to the passage of a landmark stablecoin bill, withdraw support for the bill “as it currently stands”

 
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