Today in Politics, Bulletin 76. 2/21/25

… WSJ reports that Trump has fired interim ICE Director Caleb Vitello because he is not happy with the deportation numbers so far. The WH told them he will remain with the agency in a different role.

… The Associated Press has filed a lawsuit against the Trump Admin since they are banned from government events and functions because they exercised their Freedom of the Press and speech rights under the 1st Amendment to call the Gulf of Mexico by its proper name.

… After dooming the KC Chiefs in the Super Bowl by picking them to win before they lost big, Trump was back at it last night before the US national hockey team’s game against Canada, giving them a pep talk before their game: “I’ll be calling our GREAT American Hockey Team this morning to spur them on towards victory tonight against Canada, which with FAR LOWER TAXES AND MUCH STRONGER SECURITY, will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important, Fifty First State.”

… Canada won 3-2.

… After the game, PM Justin Trudeau posted on X: “You can’t take our country - and you can’t take our game.”

… Canadians in the crowd didn’t seem like they were interested in becoming our 51st state either.

… US consumer confidence dropped significantly for the second straight month, according to the U of Michigan’s new survey today. It was down another 10% from January, which is double the amount from last month. The main concern expressed from those surveyed was Trump’s tariffs.

… A new CNN poll shows that 62% Americans think that Trump’s isn’t doing enough to address inflation. Trump promised to “bring down prices, starting on Day One,” but consumer prices over the last month rose more than any month since August 2023.

… Bloomberg reports that Hooters is about to file for bankruptcy. Trump even killed Hooters.

… We now have the answer on why Louis DeJoy resigned earlier this week less than halfway through his 10-year term as Postmaster General. WSJ reports that Trump is planning to disband the governing board that oversees USPS by executive order this week so he can take it over himself. Trump is expected to announce that the USPS will be placed under control of his Commerce Secretary.

… Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA): “The Constitution gives Congress power to establish the US Postal Service. Which it did, by law, during George Washington’s admin. Its status as an independent agency was also established by Congress in law. The US Postal Service is wildly popular with the American people and its service is essential and irreplaceable. Nobody voted for this. It is brazenly illegal, unconstitutional, and corrupt.”

… Mark Dimonstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union with over 200,000 members: “Firing the Postal Service’s Board of Governors and transferring control is an outrageous and unlawful hostile takeover, essentially a raid on an independently operated public institution.”

… Trump has long talked about privatizing the Post Office, and there is no shortage of oligarchs who would love to get their hands on it.

… James Carville was on Sean Hannity’s show last night: “The Republican party is against minimum wage, stands for more tax cuts for people making over $400,000 a year, wants to get rid of women's right to choose, wants to destroy Medicaid, would like to get rid of Medicare, supports Putin, and is weak when it comes to communist China. But the key issue is that in this century under Democratic presidents, 50 million jobs have been created and only one million jobs were created under Republicans.

… Trump was not happy about Carville’s rant on his favorite show. He posted this on Truth Social after: “The Democrats, run by broken down losers like James Carville, whose weak of mind and body, are going crazy, and just don’t know what to do. They have lost their confidence and spirit - They have lost their minds!”

… Sen. Chris Murphy today: “It’s 4AM. We are still debating the Republicans’ billionaire tax giveaway. We offered an amendment to say no tax cut for those making over $10 million a year. Every Republican voted no. So we tried $100 million. Every Republican voted no. So we tried $500 million! Every Republican a no. See what’s going on?”

… Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was booed out of the building last night when he explained his decision to review cutting the high speed rail project between LA and SF. The project employs 14,000 people with strong wages. It has cleared every environmental hurdle and track is already being laid. Of the $13 billion spent, $10.5 billion has come from the State of CA and $2.5 billion has come from the federal govt.

… Duffy was booed and heckled by outraged workers and citizens as he repeatedly lied about the project and claimed it was costing the federal govt “hundreds of billions of dollars.”

… Republican Rep. Rich McCormick was also continuously booed and heckled by mostly older, white constituents in his GA district. One woman said she is a descendant of Patrick Henry, and wanted to know why he wasn’t doing anything to stop Trump’s “tyranny.” McCormick then complained that his senior citizen constituents were behaving like J6ers - “yelling just as loud.”

… AJC reporter Patricia Murphy: “I covered so many Tea Party town halls in 2010 that I feel like this Georgia town hall is a complete replay. Voter reaction is a real thing, even if you just won an election.”

… Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said that he and Jared Kushner have had discussions to bring together real-estate executives to develop Gaza: “We talked about convening people together from all parts of the world, master planners and developers and architects, talking about ideas and so forth.”

… Aside from everything else wrong with this, just having serious public discussions about this is going to get a lot of Americans killed at some point. Not that Trump or Kushner care about that.

… Trump said he is also serious about seizing the Panama Canal: “We have to take back the Panama Canal. It’s the most profitable thing ever built. Casinos are peanuts compared to this.”

… CNN reports that the US Marshals Service has been ordered to deputize members of Elon Musk’s private security detail, despite not being trained or screened for the job. As a result of this unprecedented move, Musk’s security guards will now have the right to carry weapons on federal property and in federal buildings.

… Musk also continued his feud with the astronauts who called him out for lying about Biden leaving them stranded in space. The guy is a habitual liar - every single person involved in this - the astronauts themselves, the ISS Commander - all said he is lying. Former Astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly responded to Elon: “Hey Elon Musk, when you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship, come talk to the three of us.”

… Musk really should be on his own inaugural Mars flight. After all, he should stand by his product and have confidence that it will work and be safe. Only fair.

… Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman: “I spent some time pouring over the National Republican Campaign Committee's numbers: The committee has its lowest Jan off-year cash-on-hand total since 2015. They are saddled with $13.75M in debt - their 2nd largest debt total for January of an off-year since 2011. (They had $14M in 2023). They raised $4M less than the DCCC and have half as much as the DCCC in the bank.”

… The NRCC’s primary role is to raise money to be strategically targeted and distributed to key House races around the country. Kevin McCarthy’s main strength is that he was a prodigious fundraiser, while Mike Johnson has always been one of the worst fundraisers historically during his time in Congress.

… France's far-right party leader Jordan Bardella cancelled his speech at CPAC in DC after Steve Bannon concluded his speech with an Elon Musk-style Nazi salute: "I had been invited to make a speech on the links between the US and France, as well as the recent electoral dynamic of patriot parties in Europe. Yesterday, while I was not present in the room, one of the speakers out of provocation allowed himself a gesture alluding to Nazi ideology. I therefore took the immediate decision to cancel my speech that had been scheduled this afternoon."

… Also Steve Bannon at CPAC: "The future of MAGA is Donald Trump! We want Trump in '28. A man like Trump comes along only once or twice in the country's history. We want Trump!”

… Trump: “They tell me I'm not allowed to run again. I'm not sure. Is that true? I'm not sure.”

… White nationalist AFPAC leader Nick Fuentes said MAGA is getting too fascist even for him lately: "Elon threw up a Roman salute. And then Bannon gets up there and says, 'I think Trump's gonna run in '28.' He goes, 'We want Trump,' and then he throws up a straight-up Roman salute. It's getting a little uncomfortable, even for me. Even I'm starting to feel like that guy in the picture that wouldn't hail Hitler."

… When you’ve lost Nick Fuentes …

… J6 defendants continue to get kicked out of CPAC by Chair Matt Schlapp with no reason given, and they are furious. Richard ‘Bigo’ Barnett, who put his feet up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk and stole items from her office, melted down at a security guard telling him to leave: “I went to prison for my country! CPAC every single day is kicking us out - disrespecting J6ers. I’m not the first J6er that was persecuted. And pardoned by Trump. Why would you kick J6ers out of CPAC of all places?”

…J6 defendant Isaac Thomas refused to leave CPAC and was physically dragged and thrown out the door by security.

… Yesterday, CPAC kicked out Oathkeepers leader Stewart Rhodes and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. Tarrio was then arrested today for assaulting someone who was protesting in DC.

This is a bit of a abbreviated Bulletin today because I decided to write a mini opinion column at the end of this one based on what I saw at events around the country yesterday. I really feel like over the past few days the tide has begun to turn and people are rising up. That is what I wrote about.

I am also attending a culinary festival tonight, which is why I had to get this out a little early. I believe in supporting local restaurants when I can, especially when you live in a tourist area and it is the off-season when they are struggling. I especially think doing those things are even more important right now.

The bulletin yesterday was one of my typical lengthy monsters. If you missed it, you can read it here.

… The guy Kristi Noem and Homan hired to film migrants being arrested and deported so they can post the clips on social media for MAGA to experience nirvana is named