This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 338.

… NYT: “In big cities and small towns across the world, protesters gathered for thousands of rallies against Trump and his policies and actions, with the self-stated goal of fighting dictatorship. Demonstrators, including elected officials and community leaders, chanted defiant messages and carried homemade signs that condemned the war in Iran, threats against voting rights and the WH’s mass deportation push, among other topics.”

… “Organized by a coalition of activist groups under the banner ‘No Kings,’ it was the third such countrywide protest in the past 10 months. No Kings organizers said 8 million people took part, one of the largest protests in recent history.”

… “One of the largest rallies took place outside the Minnesota Capitol, where the singer Bruce Springsteen performed ‘Streets of Minneapolis,’ which he wrote to protest the immigration crackdown that led to the fatal shootings of two American citizens by federal agents in Jan.”

… “In Washington, DC, some protesters marched to the military base where Stephen Miller has been residing. Some chanted, ‘Stephen Miller’s got to go,’ and ‘We’ve got the people outside your door.’”

… WH spokeswoman Abigail Jackson called the protests “Trump derangement therapy sessions.”

… Robert DeNiro at NYC No Kings: “There have been other presidents who have tested their constitutional limits of their power but none of them have been such an existential threat to our freedoms and security, except Trump. He must be stopped and he must be stopped now. It’s time to say no to kings, it’s time to say no to Trump, we’ve had enough. No King Trump, no unnecessary wars that rob our resources and sacrifice our brave service men and women and slaughter innocents.”

… “No corrupt leader enriching himself in the Epstein class buddies. No taking away healthcare from our most vulnerable neighbors, no unaffordable groceries, no unaffordable energy, no unaffordable housing and no inflation at it’s highest level since Covid. No govt masked thugs shooting down our neighbors in the streets. Trump has to be stopped!”

… “That’s what No Kings is all about because he can’t do all the fucked up things he’s being doing without the collusion of Congress and the goons in his admin. They’re bound to him by fear of losing their own jobs, their own power. It’s diabolical. Look at the power of the No Kings national uprising - afraid of Trump? Please! They should be afraid of us, because we still believe in the core American values of justice, equality, decency and kindness.”

… I posted the list of my Top 10 Signs from yesterday here.

… Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) insanely claimed on Fox that Democrats engaged in a conspiracy to get ICE protesters killed for political leverage: “Even more deviously, they trained activists to obstruct justice, encouraged them to put themselves in harm’s way, they got two martyrs, then they used their martyrs as their excuse to try to defund law enforcement.”

… Fox host Maria Bartiromo to Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI): “Some people look at this situation and they don’t understand. Republicans are in charge. You are running the House, Senate, and WH, and yet we have these fights and it’s obvious that you can’t get on the same page and it seems like Democrats are still winning. McClain: It’s extremely frustrating.”

… Tom Homan on CNN: Q - “If Trump had the power to pay TSA agents this whole time, why only start going it now? Homan: Look, I don’t understand - I’m a cop - I don’t understand the whole appropriations language, appropriations law.”

… Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) on CNN: “Homan did an excellent job dodging your question about why Trump didn’t start paying the TSA agents sooner if he had the authority all along. I know the answer to that, the American people know. It’s because he doesn’t care about them.”

… Speaker of the Iranian Parliament MB Ghalibaf posted some financial advice today: “Heads-up: Pre-market so-called ‘news’ or ‘Truth’ is often just a setup for profit-taking. Basically, it’s a reverse indicator. Do the opposite: If they pump it, short it. If they dump it, go long. See something tomorrow? You know the drill.”

… NYT: “The US is allowing Cuba to receive a major oil shipment from Russia. The tanker is about to enter Cuban waters, and the Coast Guard will not confront it. This breaks a monthslong US oil blockade. The tanker, which is carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of oil and is owned by the Russian govt, was expected to enter Cuban waters by Sunday evening.”

… “The Coast Guard has two cutters in the region that could have attempted to intercept the Russian tanker. Yet the Trump admin did not order those vessels to act. It was unclear why the WH did not issue orders to block the tanker or whether it would allow future Russian oil shipments to reach the island.”

… Whatever Putin has on Trump, it’s got to be pretty good.

… Politico: “Joseph Bolick feels betrayed by Trump. And it’s because of the war in Iran.The 30-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran voted for Trump in 2024. But at the annual CPAC gathering this week he sported a hat emblazoned with “America First” - a slogan Trump championed during his campaign, along with the promise not to start new wars in foreign countries.”

… Bolick: “He’s lied about everything. If you go into a war where there’s no end game, how is it going to end? There’s no clear objective.”

… “Bolick is part of a cohort of young MAGA loyalists who are increasingly frustrated with Trump over the war in Iran. While Trump’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran has rallied war hawks and his older supporters, it has alienated many of the young men who swung toward the GOP in 2024. That split is resonating among not only the rank-and-file, but also conservative media influencers and some corners of the WH.”

… “Some of the most prominent MAGA voices are opposed to the Iran war, like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, along with influential figures like Joe Rogan, who holds tremendous sway with young men. There’s even growing consternation among younger, more-right wing WH staffers.”

… Source: “They’re very frustrated. They didn’t love the war to start with, and since it began, the constantly contradictory messaging from the president himself, is just brutal, brutal for staff to deal with and making their life really hard. He puts his people in a really tough position, especially people who are public-facing.”

… Right-wing podcaster Alex Jones: “The Iran War is a disaster.”

… NYT: “Immigrant workers are the lifeblood of the O’Harrow farm, a 4-generation family enterprise with 1,600 cows in northeastern Wisconsin. But many of them will not travel to Mexico to see dying parents, or drive to nearby towns to visit siblings, or let journalists use their names in newspapers, because they are afraid of being swept up in the Trump admin’s immigration crackdown.”

… “That they need to hide strikes the O’Harrow family as morally wrong, but also as potentially bad for the country: These workers oversee America’s milk. By one estimate, dairies that employ immigrant workers produce 79% of the nation’s milk supply and the price of milk would double without them.”.

… “That has left the O’Harrows in an uncomfortable place - stuck between what they see as an obvious truth, that immigrants are essential to America’s food supply, and a national political mood hurtling in the other direction. And now, after generations of feeling at home in the Republican Party, the O’Harrows feel politically homeless.”

… “The dairy industry is one of the most dependent on undocumented workers. A 2023 study by the Univ. of Wisconsin found that more than 10,000 undocumented immigrants perform roughly 70% of the labor on the state’s dairy farms.”

… Tim O’Harrow: “I don’t know that I’m a Republican anymore. I don’t know what we are anymore.”

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… Ranking Dem on the House Intel Committee Jim Himes (D-CT) told CBS that Trump is “flat-out lying” about peace talks with Iran: “Last Sunday, he realized, ‘Oh my God, I've got a financial cataclysm on Monday,’ so he just made it up that they’re in negotiation with the Iranians. Underneath that statement, the Iranians have now realized they have the reins. They are controlling the Strait of Hormuz. Gas prices are up more than $1 a gallon.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “This is an important point. Behind the unforgivable lie - we were not in talks and Trump just made that up - is that the lie telegraphed to Iran that Trump is desperate and in a corner, which has the impact of making talks even less likely. Just national security malpractice.”

… WaPo: The US is preparing for a potential ground invasion into Iran that would last for up to 2 months. Any invasion would involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops. Discussions over the past month have touched upon the possible seizure of Kharg Island and raids into other coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz.”

… Former State Dept spokesperson Matthew Miller: “It has been 10 days since Hegseth and Caine last briefed on Iran. No CENTCOM briefing since March 10, and no Pentagon daily press briefing at all. We learn more of what the US military has been doing from bystander videos than DOD. Historic lack of transparency and accountability.”

… Pope Leo XIV today on during his Palm Sunday Mass in Saint Peter’s Square: “This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood’. (Is 1:15).”

… “In his wounds, we see the hurts of so many women and men today. In his last cry to the Father, we hear the weeping of those who are crushed, the painful groans of all those who are oppressed by violence and are victims of war. Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters!”

… NYT: “The Houthis, an Iranian-backed militant group in Yemen, entered the war by launching a ballistic missile at Israel on Sat, as an expeditionary force of 2,500 US Marines arrived in the Middle East. The Houthis said in a statement that they had conducted a second wave of attacks on Israel on Sat with a ‘barrage of cruise missiles and drones’ targeting key military sites. The Houthis have vowed to keep up the attacks.”

… NYT: “An Iranian strike injured 12 US troops in Saudi Arabia, two of them seriously, in an attack on Prince ​Sultan Air Base in Saudi ​Arabia. The combined missile and drone attack amounted to one of the most serious breaches of American air defenses in the course of the monthlong war with Iran. At least two KC-135 aerial refueling planes also suffered significant damage in the attack.”

… NBC: “Russia took satellite images of a US air base in Saudi Arabia 3 times in the days before Iran attacked the site and wounded American troops. President Zelensky shared with NBC a summary of the daily presidential briefing he receives from Ukraine’s spy agencies. The report stated that Russian satellites had taken images of the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on March 20, March 23 and March 25. On March 26, Iran attacked the base.”

… Zelensky: “I think that it’s in Russia’s interest to help Iranians. And I don’t believe - I know - that they share information. Do they help Iranians? Of course. 100%. We know that if they make images once, they are preparing. If they make images a second time, it’s like a simulation. The third time it means that in one or two days, they will attack.”

… WSJ correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov: “Considering that the E-3 AWACS plane seems to be on the taxiway at Prince Sultan base, and how precisely it was hit in the radar dome area, I am wondering whether Iran managed to pull off its own Spiderweb operation with remotely piloted FPV drones (perhaps using the Saudi cellphone network.) This strike also required a high level of satellite ISR that Iran probably can’t get on its own. Russia?”

… Trump on Fox refused Zelensky’s offer for Ukraine to help with Iranian drones: “We don’t need their help in drone defense. We know more about drones than anybody.”

… Daily Mail: “A vital US plane needed to hunt deadly drones has been destroyed in a missile strike which also left at least five American troops seriously injured. The E-3 Sentry aircraft was damaged during an attack by Iran at Prince Sultan Air Base. The control system aircraft is a critical eye in the sky which helps track drones, missiles and planes from hundreds of miles away. The Air Force only has 16 E-3 Sentry planes left.”

… Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) attempted to defend herself after backlash from her meeting with sanctioned Russian officials, which included a tour she gave them of the Capitol: “It appears there are some very angry, low-IQ members of Congress who seem to think the State Dept did not approve travel for peace talks regarding Russia.”

… Luna then repeated a favorite Russian propaganda lie: “Dems, to answer your question: while you were sending taxpayer dollars to fund Ukraine, who then turned around and sent that money to Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, this admin, and yes, members of Congress including myself, are working toward a peace deal.”

… Task and Purpose: “DOD is trying to quickly find vendors who are able to ship pre-made shelters to protect troops in the Middle East as the US’ war with Iran continues. The dept is looking for information from private contractors who can provide ‘prefabricated, transportable, hardened shelter systems designed to protect personnel from blast and fragmentation threats’, according to a new contract notice.”

… “The notice asks for companies to submit possible delivery timelines for 3 days, 15 days, and 30 days and include information about the ‘highest threat level’ that the bunkers could withstand, like blast force, fragmentation, or ballistic impact. The bunkers will be sent to the Aqaba Air Cargo Terminal at King Hussein Intl Airport in Aqaba, Jordan, according to the posting.”

… Marine veteran Rob Lee with the Foreign Policy Research Institute: “A war with Iran was an obvious scenario for CENTCOM and Iran’s ballistic missile and OWA UAS capabilities are well-known. The lack of underground command posts and hardened shelters - or even concrete barriers between tents, which were common at bases in Iraq and Afghanistan - at bases well within range of Iranian missiles and drones suggests a deeper problem about how the US military draws lessons.”

… “How many senior officers and DOD officials have traveled through these bases and didn’t ask about this? Are our bases in INDOPACOM similarly vulnerable? Congress should ask our defense leaders some hard questions.”

… Military aviation expert Tyler Rogoway: “Hopefully there will FINALLY be a real wake up call here on hardened infrastructure for air bases. DOD leadership have and are living in a fantasy land with this. It’s maddening. It’s easier to kill your most potent combat aircraft on the ground, where they sped the vast majority of their lives, often broken, than in the air. Overwhelming air defenses is just a math/procurement/tactical equation. This is Iran. China will be a bloodbath. The entire thing is bonkers.”

… CNBC: “The clock is ticking on the US-Israeli war in Iran. The emerging view from oil industry executives and analysts is that the economic and market fallout from the war could escalate sharply if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t reopened within roughly the next 1-3 weeks. Even then, enough damage may have been done already to leave energy and many other prices higher for longer.”

… “These risks haven’t been clearly reflected in some widely followed markets, including stocks broadly and the benchmark Brent crude price. Stopgap measures to soften the blow of the oil cutoff have kept crude prices relatively low in the US and European markets. But when those measures lose their effectiveness in early-to-mid April, analysts warn there will be little the US or other govts can do to keep energy prices from rising dramatically.”

… The 30-Year Treasury Yield just closed at 4.98%. It is now getting very close to the highest level since the run-up to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

… Fox congressional reporter Chad Pergram: “The DHS funding drama heads back to the Senate Monday morning after the House approved a two-month stopgap spending plan for all of DHS late Friday night. The Senate meets Monday at 10:30 AM in what was supposed to be a brief ‘pro forma’ session where the body simply gavels in and gavels out with a skeleton crew on hand.”

… “But that might not be what happens Monday. As soon as the Senate gets through the prayer a pledge, it’s likely a Republican senator seeks recognition from the chair.
If that happens, we anticipate the GOP senator to ask unanimous consent (meaning all 100 senators would agree) to take up the DHS bill passed by the House Friday.
The chair will then ask if there is an objection.”

… “If any senator - be they a Democrat or Republican - objects, the House bill is dead. That means that the House and Senate continue to be out of alignment on the DHS funding question. If there is no objection, the House and Senate are aligned and will have passed the same bill. Approval of the House bill by the Senate would end the DHS shutdown. But if there’s an objection, everything remains frozen.”

… “If the Senate blocks the House bill, it’s doubtful there’s any way to end the DHS shutdown until after both bodies return in mid-April after the Easter/Passover recess.”

… WaPo: “FBI Director Kash Patel is pressing to release a decade-old investigative file involving Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and a suspected Chinese intelligence operative, recently dispatching agents in the bureau’s SF office to quickly redact the files before they are released publicly despite no evidence of wrongdoing by Swalwell.”

… “The potential release is part of the Trump admin’s aggressive push to investigate Swalwell, a vocal critic of Trump and a leading Democratic candidate for CA governor. It is highly unusual for the FBI to release case files tied to a probe that did not result in criminal charges.”

… “As FBI director, Patel has focused on trying to bring a criminal case against the outspoken Democrat, reassigning multiple agents in SF to work on the matter. FBI leaders have even discussed sending agents to China to talk to the suspected intelligence operative, believing she could have damaging information about Swalwell.”

… The Chinese woman at issue is Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang, who reportedly courted Swalwell and other CA politicians in the US from 2011-2015. She helped with fundraising for Swalwell’s 2014 reelection campaign and even helped place an intern in his congressional office. When fed agents conveyed their concerns about Fang to Swalwell around 2015, he reportedly cut off ties with her and said he helped investigators.”

… “Swalwell was not accused of any wrongdoing when the FBI investigated his relationship with Fang a decade ago. In 2023, the Republican-led House Ethics Committee closed a 2-year investigation, deciding to ‘take no further action.’ Despite that, FBI leaders have recently suggested in internal discussions that the govt could try to arrange for Fang to get a US visa in exchange for speaking with FBI agents.”

… Semafor’s Dave Weigel: “Adam Schiff basically won his Senate seat when the House GOP censured him. Different details here but I bet releasing Swalwell's FBI file - if the takeaway, hinted at here, is that he did nothing wrong - would almost lock up a top-two slot for him” in the CA governor’s primary.

… International Business Times: “The Trump admin’s newly launched WH App is under scrutiny after a software developer claimed to have found embedded code that tracks users’ precise GPS coordinates every 4.5 minutes and automatically syncs them to a third-party server. This prompted questions about data collection practices in govt-operated applications.”

… “The post included what appeared to be decompiled source code from the app, revealing what the user described as OneSignal’s ‘full GPS pipeline compiled in.’ According to the post, the code showed the app ‘polling your location every 4.5 minutes, syncing your exact coordinates to a third-party server.’ The WH has not publicly responded to the specific technical claims.”

… New poll in the Alaska senate race has Democrat Mary Peltola up 52-47% against Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. This would be a MASSIVE pickup for Democrats if it happened that few thought was possible just a couple of months ago.