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Trump and Musk are building a new spoils system — A basic democratic norm is that laws are implemented as they are written. Another norm is that the implementation of the law be even-handed, applied equally to all groups. The idea that some groups would become less eligible for public support …
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Politico
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Democrats divided on whether to shut down government or vote with GOP — Senate Democrats are weighing whether to use a rare point of congressional leverage and risk taking blame for a shutdown. — Just now — President Donald Trump needs Senate Democrats' votes to keep the government funded and open this week.
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USA Today, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Punchbowl News, American Prospect, Townhall, Reuters, Blaze Media, NPR, The Hill, The Daily Signal, GovExec.com, Scripps News, Ace of Spades HQ, Deadline, New Jersey Globe, Raw Story, Daily Caller News Foundation, Washington Examiner, New York Times and The Daily Caller

Senate Democrats take stock of their shutdown pickle — Senate Democrats are grappling with whether or not to support a House GOP funding patch less than three days before a possible government shutdown. With 52 Republicans expected to back the House-passed stopgap, eight Democrats would need …
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HotAir, Bloomberg, CNN, New Republic, IJR, Fox News, Blaze Media, Voice of America, Washington Times, The Daily Signal, Washington Examiner and Daily Mail

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Democrat, Won't Run Again in 2026 — Ms. Shaheen's retirement will set off a high-stakes fight for an open seat in a state where she has been a leading political figure for decades. — Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire will not run for re-election in 2026 …

Republicans Quietly Move to Relinquish Power to Undo Trump's Tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China — House G.O.P. leaders tucked the provision into a procedural measure needed to pass a government spending bill. — House Republican leaders on Tuesday quietly moved to shield their members …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Here Are the Arguments for Why Senate Ds Should Vote Yes and Why They're Wrong
Here Are the Arguments for Why Senate Ds Should Vote Yes and Why They're Wrong
Discussion:
Press Herald
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate Democrats appear ready to back down in government shutdown fight
Senate Democrats appear ready to back down in government shutdown fight
Discussion:
NOTUS, CBS News, Competitive Enterprise …, New York Daily News, HuffPost, Associated Press, NBC News, Politico and Washington Post
Jude Joffe-Block / NPR:
A Republican-backed bill would upend voter registration. Here are 8 things to know
A Republican-backed bill would upend voter registration. Here are 8 things to know
Discussion:
The 19th

How Do You Like the Trade War Now? — Trump is furious that Canada won't take his tariffs lying down. — President Trump wanted a trade war with the world, and Americans are getting it, good and hard. Stock prices continued to decline on Tuesday amid the latest Canada-U.S. tariff tit-for-tat.
Discussion:
CNN, CBS News, The City and Cafe Hayek
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EU retaliates against Trump's trade moves and hits beef, whiskey, motorcycles with targeted tariffs — The European Union on Wednesday announced retaliatory trade action with new duties on U.S. industrial and farm products, responding within hours to the Trump administration's increase …
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Reuters, Washington Examiner, Axios, Associated Press, The Guardian, The Hill, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Daily Caller News Foundation, Washington Times, USA Today, Bloomberg, CBS News, Foreign Policy, WTOP News, World News, RTÉ, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, The Independent, eutoday.net, New Republic and Fox Business
Rob Wile / NBC News:
Canada announces retaliatory tariffs on $21 billion of U.S. goods in response to Trump's steel and aluminum duties
Canada announces retaliatory tariffs on $21 billion of U.S. goods in response to Trump's steel and aluminum duties
Discussion:
Fox Business, Tangle, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, IJR, Townhall, 19FortyFive, Forbes, USA Today, Al Jazeera, Reuters, ABC News, New York Times and Semafor
Isabella Kwai / New York Times:
Live Updates: Europe Retaliates After Trump's Metals Tariffs Take Effect
Live Updates: Europe Retaliates After Trump's Metals Tariffs Take Effect
Discussion:
European Commission, Politico, Scripps News, The Guardian, Fortune, Melanie Phillips, Associated Press, The Kyiv Independent, CNBC, USA Today and CBS News
Ellen Francis / Washington Post:
European Union retaliates against Trump's tariffs as trade war escalates
European Union retaliates against Trump's tariffs as trade war escalates
Discussion:
European Commission, Associated Press, New York Times and Bloomberg
William Vaillancourt / The Daily Beast:
CNBC Reporter Shreds Trump's ‘Insane’ Tariff Moves
CNBC Reporter Shreds Trump's ‘Insane’ Tariff Moves
Discussion:
The Hill, New York Post, Crooks and Liars, Mediaite, CBS News, Voice of America and Grabien
Eli Hager / ProPublica:
“The President Wanted It and I Did It”: Recording Reveals Head of Social Security's Thoughts on DOGE and Trump — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — Since the arrival of a team …
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The Independent and Bloomberg
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Social Security, facing pressure from DOGE, weighs big cuts to phone service — Agency considers ending phone program that helps with claims processing and is used by millions of elderly and disabled Americans. — Just now — Under pressure from the U.S. DOGE Service team to root out alleged fraud …
Discussion:
ABC News, USA Today and Slow Boring
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
Trump, Musk fuel fears of Social Security cuts with ‘fraud’ talk
Trump, Musk fuel fears of Social Security cuts with ‘fraud’ talk
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Washington Post, American Greatness, Washington Examiner, Coeur d'Alene Press, New York Times, Deseret News, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Townhall, Washington Times, Democrats, Forbes, The Post Millennial, Fox Business, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, CNN and Associated Press

Why I Left the Washington Post — Owner Jeff Bezos wants to transform the Opinions section of the paper, where I worked for forty years. After the publisher killed my column disagreeing with that move—it appears here in full—I decided to quit. — I walked into the Washington Post building …
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Independent and Associated Press, more at Mediagazer »

New CNN poll: Americans are negative on Trump's handling of economy — Americans are not impressed with President Donald Trump's stewardship of the economy, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, putting him underwater on the nation's top issue even as he sees ratings among the best …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Plain Dealer, Forbes, Mediaite, WTOP News, Billboard, masslive.com, Raw Story, The Hill and Emerson Polling
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The public is losing patience with Trump — it's time for Democrats to pounce
Discussion:
Washington Times and NRCC
Michael Luciano / Mediaite:
Hannity Edits Trump Spokesperson's Response To Omit Stunningly Erroneous Claims, Insists She Dominated Reporter
Hannity Edits Trump Spokesperson's Response To Omit Stunningly Erroneous Claims, Insists She Dominated Reporter
Discussion:
Bloomberg, MeidasTouch News, HuffPost, The Wrap, The Independent, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, The Post Millennial, Deadline and Grabien
Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
56 percent disapprove of Trump handling of economy: Survey
56 percent disapprove of Trump handling of economy: Survey
Discussion:
Washington Post and Washington Times

Rahm Emanuel Is Gearing Up to Run for President — The former Chicago mayor is already on the hustings, finding new ways to attack Trumpism from the center. — Rahm Wants to Run. — Yes, that Rahm. And, yes, for that office — the presidency. — “I've only been back two months …
Discussion:
The Post Millennial, Mock Paper Scissors, The National Pulse and IJR
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Texas measles outbreak grows, while New York and California report new cases — Counties in California, New York and Maryland detected their first measles cases of the year. The CDC has warned travelers to be vigilant as spring break begins. — Los Angeles County in California …
Discussion:
CNN, STAT, Health Department, ABC News, Ars Technica, UPI, Associated Press, Forbes and Fox News
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RFK Jr.: It Would Be Better if ‘Everybody Got Measles’
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The Boston Globe, The Hill, Raw Story, eutoday.net, Bloomberg, Fox News, New Republic and Daily Kos
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
Our Brave President Goes to War with [Checks Notes] Ontario
Our Brave President Goes to War with [Checks Notes] Ontario
Discussion:
Reuters, The Hill, Axios and The Daily Wire

‘I feel utter anger’: From Canada to Europe, a movement to boycott US goods is spreading — Tesla sales are falling and apps and online groups are springing up to help consumers choose non-US items — The renowned German classical violinist Christian Tetzlaff was blunt in explaining …

Trump official tasked with defending DOGE cuts posted fashion influencer videos from her office — As the Office of Personnel Management oversaw the layoffs of thousands of federal workers and pressed others to justify their positions, the agency's chief spokesperson repeatedly used her office …
Discussion:
Mediaite, New York Times, The Independent and Raw Story

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Lose — Especially when you're running a country — A note to subscribers: I've taken my weekend primer on Social Security out from behind the paywall, partly in response to popular demand but also because it's relevant to today's post. — This will, I hope, be a fairly short post.

The 200+ Sites an ICE Surveillance Contractor is Monitoring — A contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and many other U.S. government agencies has developed a tool that lets analysts more easily pull a target individual's publicly available data from a wide array of sites …

Greenlanders say no to Trump as rare earths loom over coalition talks — Election throws up surprise result as independence from Denmark remains tough to define. — Greenland had a message for Donald Trump as islanders went to the polls this week: thanks, but no thanks.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Reuters, Washington Times, Breitbart, New Republic, Blaze Media, RedState, Associated Press, RTÉ, Raw Story, Forbes, The Guardian, Deseret News, NPR, WTOP News and Al Jazeera

House spending bill would lead to $1B in D.C. cuts. Here's what that means. — The bill, also known as a continuing resolution, now moves to the Senate, where D.C. officials hope Democrats will help them defeat the measure. — The House stopgap funding bill passed Tuesday night …
Discussion:
The 51st

Effort to deport Columbia student rests solely on Rubio determination — A government document that details the civil charges against Mahmoud Khalil does not include written evidence from immigration officers. — NEW YORK — A determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio is so far …
Discussion:
Fox News

Turns out DOGE can't beat FOIA by shouting NOT AN AGENCY — 🚘 💨 🛣️ With corporate outlets obeying in advance, supporting independent political media is more important right now than ever. Public Notice is possible thanks to paid subscribers.
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Business Insider, GovExec.com, The Intercept, The Verge, E&E News, USA Today, Washington Times, RTÉ, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill and New Republic

Johns Hopkins Plans Staff Layoffs After $800 Million Grant Cuts — Local and international health research efforts are already winding down as the university braces for even more potential cuts — The Trump administration has terminated $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University …

Trump, Perkins Coie and John Adams — The President breaks a bedrock legal principle by targeting the law firm for representing clients he doesn't like. — Tap For Sound — As he campaigned for a second term, Donald Trump often said his retribution against opponents would be “success.”
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Times, ABC News, Raw Story, Above the Law, Techdirt and The Hill

University of Maine System's USDA funding ‘temporarily’ paused — ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine System (UMS) learned Monday that its funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been temporarily paused. — An email forwarded to the University of Maine that appears …

DOGE Privacy Act Requests — U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin is encouraging all U.S. citizens to join him this week in filing formal demands for access to their personal data obtained by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk. — The U.S. District Court for the District …
Discussion:
Ways and Means

Amazon forest felled to build road for climate summit — A new four-lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém. — It aims to ease traffic to the city …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Metro.co.uk, Gizmodo, Breitbart, Blaze Media and The Daily Sceptic

Trump's Economic Messaging Is Spooking Some of His Own Advisers — The president's team has received a flood of calls from business executives concerned about the mixed messaging on tariffs — WASHINGTON—President Trump's stop-and-start trade policy and uneven economic messaging have rattled …
Discussion:
Politico, Raw Story, New Republic, The Hill and Washington Post

Introducing: The Musk Watch DOGE Tracker — New tool reveals Musk has overstated verified DOGE savings by at least 92% — Elon Musk claims that the U.S. DOGE Service (DOGE) — a small group of Musk associates embedded in virtually every department of the federal government — have already saved taxpayers over $100 billion.
Discussion:
Fox Business