Today in Politics, Bulletin 314. 2/23/26

… Kash Patel’s taxpayer-funded trip to the Olympics has led to widespread condemnation, followed by politicization of the men’s hockey team, as the inebriated FBI Director crashed the locker room after their gold medal game and put Trump on speaker phone, where the president made a denigrating comment about the women’s team as Patel slammed beers and yelled profanities.

… MS NOW: “Kash Patel, during what his spokesman said was an official trip to Milan for security meetings, was filmed guzzling from a beer bottle and celebrating in the locker room with US Olympic hockey players Sunday after they won the gold-medal game.”

… “Several videos emerged on social media showing Patel in the locker room after the game, but one in particular drew outrage from current and former FBI agents. It depicted Patel pouring what appeared to be beer down his throat, spraying some of it in the air and screaming in celebration as a player put a gold medal around his neck. 8 former FBI and DOJ officials said it was drawing outrage as it rocketed around FBI and DOJ circles.”

… Trump on speaker phone to the team: “We’re giving the SOTU speech on Tues night, I can send a military plane if you want to - it’s the biggest speech. The military will get you guys there - you don’t have to worry about the weather. I must tell you, we are going to have to bring the women’s team - you do know that. If I didn’t do that I would probably be impeached.”

… Kash responded: “I got it boss, I’m on it. I’m fucking on it!”

… Trump then posted an AI video on Truth Social which depicted himself playing on the US team, beating up a Canadian player, and scoring the winning goal.

… After the video of him partying went viral, Kash posted this: “For the very concerned media - yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys- Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth.”

… I’m sure they are his “friends” and “invited him” in. Right. I’m sure if he wasn’t FBI Director he would be in there partying with his “friends.”

… Fox: “Speaker Mike Johnson says he expects both the men’s and women’s gold medal winning hockey teams to attend State of the Union tomorrow night.”

… But the women’s team politely declined. A spokesperson for the US women's hockey team said the players are unable to attend "due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments."

… Expect the men’s team to be there. Also expect Trump to take credit for their win while using them as political props. Many of them appear to be Trump supporters, so they probably won’t care.

… After intense backlash from his former MAHA followers on glyphosate, RFK Jr. attempted to defend himself on social media: “Pesticides and herbicides are toxic by design, engineered to kill living organisms. When we apply them across millions of acres and allow them into our food system, we put Americans at risk. Chemical manufacturers have paid tens of billions of dollars to settle cancer claims linked to their products, and many agricultural communities report elevated cancer rates and chronic disease.”

… “Unfortunately, our agricultural system depends heavily on these chemicals. If these inputs disappeared overnight, crop yields would fall, food prices would surge, and America would experience a massive loss of farms even beyond what we are witnessing today. The consequences would be disastrous. I support Trump’s Executive Order to bring agricultural chemical production back to the US.”

… Dr. Pradheep Shanker, who writes for the conservative National Review: “This is the perfect RFK moment. He has to choose between his own personal political and career benefit, and a cause that he himself has declared for decades to supposedly be killing millions. And he chose himself over those millions. This is exactly what MAHA is.”

… MAHA activist Tara: “They wouldn’t even let him say the word glyphosate that’s how much they’re protecting it. I have been telling y’all since August of 2024 that this man had sold his soul for position, proximity, and possibly protection from being blackmailed when he endorsed Trump. If this doesn’t convince you, nothing will wake you from your deep denial.”

… MAHA activist Mike Adams: “RFK Jr. says Big Ag is essentially ‘too big to fail’ so we can't stop the mass poisoning of the crops. Disappointing. Glyphosate is completely banned in Vietnam, Togo, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. Using glyphosate as a desiccant (drying agent) is illegal in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Denmark, the Czech Republic and the entire EU!”

… “Yet somehow all those countries still manage to produce food for all their citizens. How is that possible if glyphosate, as we are told by propagandists, is ‘necessary to grow food!’? Turns out they are just lying. You don't need glyphosate to grow food. You need carbon dioxide, sunlight, water and healthy soils, plus minerals, nitrogen, warmth and time.”

… Martha Bueno: “Dear RFK Jr, Thank you for standing for poisoning… *checks notes* to protect the industry. Silly me. I guess I never imagined the poison being sprayed our food was for our own benefit. In the end, you sold out pretty quickly. I hope it was worth it.”

… Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY): “Some wheat is sprayed with glyphosate just before harvest to help dry the crop. The weed killer is applied to wheat intended for human consumption. The EU banned this use. Some claim glyphosate is used for desiccation on only 3% of US wheat crops. We should end this practice.”

… Zen Honeycutt, a MAHA activist who serves as executive director of Moms Across America: “The implications of this executive order are irreversible. Not only has Trump gone back on his word to go after pesticides, destroying the delicate trust that was being built by the MAHA movement with the govt, but he paved the path for glyphosate to continue destroying farmland, fertility, and our families’ health for generations to come.”

… Iowa-based right-wing talk show host Steve Deace: “Wanna lose absolutely everything in the midterms? And I mean absolutely everything it is possible to lose? Demoralizing MAHA is the painful Find Out portion of this equation.”

… Former Newsmax host and right-wing podcaster Emerald Robinson: “Congrats to the WH for alienating all the MAHA voters over glyphosate just before the midterms. Great job, everybody.”

… Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC): “Pesticide makers should not get immunity.”

… Dr. Nisha Patel: “So you’re telling me MAHA isn’t banning glyphosate or taking real regulatory action on pesticides and food dyes? The MAHA moms must be pissed. Because those were their rallying cries. If the promise was a sweeping transformation of America’s health, this feels… underwhelming.”

… Telegraph: “Jeffrey Epstein hid computers and photographs from US authorities in secret storage lockers across the country. Documents uncovered by this newspaper show the paedophile paid private detectives to remove equipment from his FL home in an apparent attempt to prevent investigators from finding it. The documents also show that he rented 6 storage units across the US and used them to house items from his properties, including computers from Little Saint James, his private island in the Caribbean.”

… “He leased at least one unit from 2003, when he was part of a FL social set that included Trump. Credit card receipts show regular storage payments continued until 2019, the year of his death. Search warrants suggest US authorities never raided the lockers, raising the possibility that they may contain unseen evidence relating to Epstein and his associates.”

… “While Epstein has long been suspected of collecting compromising material on his associates, relatively few such photographs or videos have emerged. That has fuelled claims that DOJ is seeking to shield powerful figures from scrutiny. The emails DOJ released, along with the financial records The Telegraph has unearthed revealing the secret storage units, raise the possibility that they housed compromising material.”

… “Epstein owned 5 sprawling properties across the US and France at the time of his death. Photographs of the properties taken when US authorities raided them after his arrest in 2019 showed that many contained large storage areas and empty basements, so it is unclear why Epstein would need to rent external lock-ups.”

… “The documents show that Epstein instructed private detectives to move computers into another lock-up after apparently being tipped off about a police raid on his home in the mid-2000s. Private investigators were also asked to open a secret storage unit in NY on his behalf, while being paid tens of thousands of dollars for their work.”

… “Separately, Epstein’s staff discussed moving computers and CDs from his private island in the US Virgin Islands into hidden lock-ups. Material held in these units could pre-date the earliest tranche of Epstein’s emails released by the US govt. The Telegraph approached Epstein’s former private detectives in FL about the storage lockers. They declined to comment, saying their work for Epstein was confidential. The FBI refused to say whether any storage units had ever been raided.”

… WSJ: “The Pentagon has received no orders to deploy any US Navy vessels to Greenland, according to US officials, despite President Trump’s claim that a hospital ship is ‘on its way’ to the self-governing Danish territory.”

… 3 Republican women called for Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) to resign after more revelations about his affair with a married staffer which led to her suicide. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL): “Every single other Member of Congress, should be condemning a sitting Member asking for explicit photos of their staff. As a woman, this is really disgusting to see. Not to mention, it brings dishonor on the House. I am so sick of people not calling this crap out. Again, like I’ve said before, this is not the only case of this crap up here. Tony Gonzales, shame on you.”

… Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC): These text messages are disgusting and inexcusable. A Member of Congress. Harassing his own staffer in the middle of the night. Asking for explicit photos. Pressing her on sexual positions. Regina Santos-Aviles told him he was going too far. He did not care. He kept going. She is gone now. Her son is growing up without his mother. And Tony Gonzales is campaigning like nothing happened.”

… “We have ZERO tolerance for those who abuse their power over others. Zero. It does not matter what party you are in, what title you hold, or how powerful you think you are. You do not get a free pass. Tony Gonzales should resign immediately and be held fully accountable for what he’s done. She and her family deserved better. And Texans deserve a congressman who does not prey on women.

(I mean, she has tolerance for Trump doing it though)

… Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) also called for his resignation. When a follower responded that she should “do the math” on it because it would put Republicans’ slim majority in jeopardy, she responded: “A mother is DEAD. Do that math.”

… But all Mike Johnson cares about when it comes to Gonzales is the math: “I told him he has to address that with his constituents. You have to allow investigations to play out. If the accusation of something is the litmus test you’d have a lot of people who would have to resign.”

… New CNN Poll has devastating numbers for Trump with Independents. Approve of Trump’s Job as President:

• Now 26%

• Jan. 29%

• Oct. ‘25 28%

• July ‘25 32%

• April ‘25 31%

• March ‘25 35%

• Feb. ‘25 43%

… CNN pollster Harry Enten: “Trump’s net approval rating. Look at the pre-SOTU polls. Look at that - negative 27 points! My goodness gracious. Compare that to where he was in 2020, 2019, and 2017 - minus 10, way lower now. The bottom line is Trump has never been weaker going into a State of the Union.”

… Enten: “It’s the weakest Trump has ever been with independents. Look at this drop! At this point a year ago Donald Trump was at -13. Look at this - minus 47 points among independents! The lowest Trump has ever been in either of his two terms.”

… WaPo poll: Approve of Trump’s tariffs - 34%; Disapprove - 64%.

… Trump was whining about it today: “It just amazes me that there is not more support out there. We actually have a silent support.”

… “Fake polls - I got one today. I saw one today that I’m at 40%. I’m not at 40%. I’m at much higher than that. I’d love to run against anybody. The real polls say ‘you’d kill everybody, it wouldn’t even be close.’”

… “I got probably 85 million votes. They say 78 million, 79 million. They cheated in this election too. It was just too big to rig. They cheated like hell ... a Democrats will get 3, 4, 5, 6, and even 7 ballots, and then we’re supposed to win. They’re professional cheaters.”

… "It was a rigged election. By millions and millions of votes. A guy who never left his basement, it was all run by crooked people. Covid was a little bit of a shield. We had a lot of things going on. But it was rigged by millions of votes. We did great in that election."

… By the way, the event he was speaking at was for families of crime victims and was supposed to be honoring them for their loss. But naturally Trump made it all about himself and his list of personal grievances.

… Trump today on his State of the Union speech tomorrow: “It’s going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about.”

… But it seems like a lot of Democrats will be boycotting Trump’s SOTU. These are just some who have announced they aren’t going:

… Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL): “My respect for the office of the President of the US cannot abide the disrespect that Trump shows to that office every day. As such, while I will watch the State of the Union elsewhere, I will not attend in person, as I am not interested in being used as a prop for his theatrics.”

… Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) said she will be joining the People’s SOTU hosted by Meidas and MoveOn with many others: “I’ve been to Trump’s SOTUs before and really don’t need to go again. He uses his speeches to pillory his political enemies and spread lies – not to mention they’re long and boring. Instead, I’ll be on the National Mall where we’ll heave a far more truthful discussion about how this Admin is making it harder for Americans to afford their lives and feel safe in their neighborhoods.”

… Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) also announced today he will be attending our People’s SOTU rather than Trump’s.

But I get to suffer through another Trump SOTU speech tomorrow. Can’t wait. Well, I know many of you aren’t going to be watching it (lucky) so I am going to have to in order to report on it. I know it’s going to be the same old lies and drivel, but I am interested to see if he personally attacks the SCOTUS justices. If he does that, then that will be the headline and it would not be good for him. I just don’t see how he can resist not doing it.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin recapping the weekend, you can find it here.

… No president has ever attacked Justices during a SOTU with them sitting right in front of him. But that seems especially likely since Trump hasn’t stopped ranting and raving about their tariff decisions since it was released. He made these 3 deranged posts in succession this morning:

“The supreme court (will be using lower case letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect!) of the United States accidentally and unwittingly gave me, as President of the United States, far more powers and strength than I had prior to their ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling. For one thing, I can use Licenses to do absolutely “terrible” things to foreign countries, especially those