Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome
3rd February 2025
Elon Musk says he and Trump are shutting down USAID (NBC News)
Elon Musk said Donald Trump agreed USAID needs to be ‘shut down’ (CNN) Perhaps the era of passing out taxpayer dollars to ungrateful foreigners is finally over.
Musk’s DOGE takes aim at ‘viper’s nest’ federal agency with global footprint (Fox News)
Rubio says Panama must reduce Chinese influence around the canal or face possible US action (Associated Press)
Trump reiterates threat to retake Panama Canal ‘or something very powerful’ will happen (CNN)
Rubio demands Panama ‘reduce China influence’ over canal (BBC)
Three things to know about Rubio’s first international trip (NPR) Come git yer Narrative, right here.
Agents ‘have started to pack up their desks’ as fear of FBI mass firings swirls (NBC News)
Turmoil inside USAID: DOGE reps take over offices, senior officials placed on leave (ABC News)
Paxton weighs Cornyn challenge as Texas GOP rift deepens (Jared Gans/The Hill) I’d vote for Paxton over Cornyn. Hell, I’d vote for a Democrat over Cornyn.
Musk Says DOGE Halting Treasury Payments to US Contractors (Bloomberg)
Trump Tariffs Threaten to Upend Global Economic Order (Alan Rappeport/New York Times) Trump specializes in kicking over the game board.
Trump administration taps controversial conservative journalist for top job (ABC News)
MAGA intellectual Darren Beattie will fill key State Department role (Ben Smith/Semafor) MAGA is the New Nigger.
FBI agents, officials asked to detail their work on Jan. 6 cases (Politico)
Trump to cut off all future funding to South Africa (Reuters) Reuters has to put the proglodyte trope “without evidence” in their report so that their readers will know what to think.
Trump Vows to Punish South Africa Over Law to Expropriate Land (Bloomberg)
Illegal Migrant Protests Ramp Up In US Cities In Response To Trump Deportations Great! That tells ICE who to deport first.
Musk Moves With Lightning Speed to Exert Control Over the Government (Wall Street Journal)
How Trump’s Dismantling Of USAID Marks A Seismic, Historic Shift In America’s Role In The World
GOP rep says he supports ‘purging’ of State Department (Lauren Irwin/The Hill)
CNN’s Bolduan Cues Up Latina Congresswoman to Gripe About ‘Terrorizing’ ICE Raids
Trump Election Boosted Hamas-Held Hostages’ Spirits
More USAID Staff Ousted as Trump Administration Dismantles Aid Agency
Trump used fentanyl to justify tariffs, but the crisis was already easing (Brian Mann/NPR)
NY lawmakers scramble to respond to Trump’s rapid fire of executive orders
Two weeks in, Donald Trump can’t stop talking about Joe Biden (Matt Viser/Washington Post) Reminding people of the Bad Old Days.
Key Trump Cabinet members refuse to acknowledge Trump lost in 2020 (Washington Post) Gee, I wonder why….
Trump’s Foreign Policy: What to Expect From MAGA 2.0
Playbook: Some unholy (trade) war (Jack Blanchard/Politico)
Trump, Musk wage two-front war as donor does president’s ‘dirty work’ (Washington Post)
Trump’s mobster media shakedowns (Lisa Needham/Public Notice) Just like a Democrat!
China Reportedly Preparing Trade Talks With Trump After Weekend Tariff Shock Got their attention.
USAID workers at Washington HQ told to stay home on Monday in unexpected, early-morning email (Lauren Kent/CNN) Feel free to stick your head in the oven if you feel like it.
Federal Workers Block Doors of Admin Building Over Elon Musk Data Breach (John Zangas/DCMediaGroup)
Trade war begins, as Trump leaves the world guessing (Felix Salmon/Axios)
Are America’s four main adversaries really in cahoots? (Joshua Keating/Vox) Doesn’t matter.
LA Times owner boosts RFK Jr. online, as writer says paper cut his critique (David Folkenflik/NPR)
Kash Patel Is a Warning Shot (David French/New York Times)
Celebrities Take Veiled Swipes at Trump During 67th Grammys That’s progress — they used to be blunt and obvious.
Trump Administration Closes USAID Headquarters (Wall Street Journal)
Musk On DOGE Cuts: “USAID A Ball Of Worms, No Apple. Must Get Rid Of Whole Thing”
What’s at risk when the federal government also is (Philip Bump/Washington Post) Philip Bump loses his shit.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Sounds ‘Five Alarm Fire’ Over Latest Elon Musk News (Lee Moran/HuffPost)
Democrats fume over weak early response to Trump (The Hill)
Behind DOGE’s Standoff at USAID: Desk Searches and Elon Musk Calling (Bloomberg)
Dem Sens Demand RFK Jr. Recusal From Vaccine Matters if Confirmed
Elon Musk Wants to Get Operational Control of the Treasury’s Payment System. This Could Not Possibly Be More Dangerous (Notes on the Crises) No, he just wants the truth about where the money is going.
McConnell: Trump pardons a ‘mistake,’ Jan. 6 ‘an insurrection’ (Sarah Fortinsky/The Hill) The Deep State speaks.
Musk Aides Lock Govt HR Workers Out of Computer Systems
Canada’s tariff list targets Republican states, Trump allies (Mickey Djuric/Politico)
The GOP Still Has No Legislative Plan (David Dayen/American Prospect) The plan is not to make more laws, but to get rid of the stupid ones we already have.
‘Trump will screw up’: Schumer plots the Democratic comeback (Burgess Everett/Semafor)
MSNBC’s Phang Accuses Trump of ‘Indiscriminate’ Arresting ‘Brown’ Immigrants
Trump Effect: US Manufacturing Surveys Signal ‘Expansion’ For First Time In 16 Months
Trump plans to invoke obscure 18th century wartime law in bid for mass deportations (Reuters) There’s a law for that….
Elon Musk Is Permanently Deleting Government Agencies (Andrew Perez/Rolling Stone)
Trump halts tariffs on Mexico as it rushes troops to border (Mary Beth Sheridan/Washington Post)
CEO Of Canada’s 2nd Largest Company Supports Trump Tariffs, Slams Trudeau
Live Updates: Mexico Reaches Deal With U.S. to Delay Trump Tariffs (New York Times)
Trump To Suspend Funding To South Africa Over Land Expropriation
Live updates: Trump pauses tariffs on Mexico, plans to speak later to Canadian leader (Washington Post) All it takes is a bit of firmness. New sheriff in town.
More Dangerous than Watergate – In case you missed it–or if you don’t subscribe to The Triad … (William Kristol/The Bulwark) Carl Bernstein must be on vacation.
Trump is sowing the seeds of an anti-American alliance (Gideon Rachman/Financial Times)
Hakeem Jeffries wants funding freeze ‘choked off’ in spending deal (Nicholas Wu/Politico)
Canada’s Auto Industry Faces Shutdown Threat Amid Tariff Shock
Trump Pauses Mexico Tariffs to ‘Achieve a Deal’
Secretary of State Rubio Made Acting Administrator of USAID
I’m a Federal Worker. Elon Musk’s Government Data Heist Is the Entire Ballgame. (Denise Cana/Slate)
Protest in downtown Los Angeles over ICE raids blocks 101 Freeway (CBS News)
Bill Kristol Admits The Quiet Part Out Loud: “The Deep State Is Far Preferable To The Trump State”
Musk: I’m Closing Entire Federal Agency Down Right Now (Matt Young/The Daily Beast)
NPR and PBS first target in MTG’s DOGE crosshairs (Katherine Tully-McManus/Politico)
Trump backs down on Mexico tariffs after Mexican president pledges border troops (David Edwards/Raw Story) ‘Backs down’ is a curious way to say ‘won’.
US to again withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, stop UNRWA funding (Megan Messerly/Politico) The wins just keep on comin’.
From Pardons to Purges: Pressing Questions that Bondi and Patel Must Answer Now (Mary B. McCord/Just Security) MUST! THEY MUST! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? MUST!
Amid Trump Crackdown, University of Minnesota Becomes Latest School To Start ‘Reassessing’ DEI
Judge Considers Injunction for Trump Funding Freeze
‘Filled With Unmitigated Terror’ (David Dayen/American Prospect) Good, good….
The illegal alien criminals weren’t so hard to find after all
Elon Musk’s Attempt to Control the Treasury Payment System Is Incredibly Dangerous (Nathan Tankus/Rolling Stone) To the spenders….
Kinzinger to House Dems: ‘Get out there and do something’ about Musk (Tara Suter/The Hill)
CFPB halts work after Trump appoints Bessent as acting head (Tony Romm/Washington Post) Another win.
Trump admin zeros in on school choice, dismantling DEI (Rebecca Carballo/Politico)
Judge signals plan to further block Trump spending freeze (Politico)
Pronouns Are Being Forcibly Removed From Government Email Signatures (Dell Cameron/Wired)
Elon Musk is officially an employee of the US government – but he’s not getting a paycheck (Bryan Metzger/Business Insider) Hell, he’d probably pay for the privilege.
Ending USAID climate programs could increase security risks (Andrew Freedman/Axios)
Trump Advisers Weigh Plan to Dismantle Education Department (Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s hiring freeze creates ‘scary time’ at National Park Service (Heather Richards/Politico)
Trump To Withdraw US From UN Agencies That Whitewash ‘Horrific Human Rights Violations’
ACLU Sues Over Trump Ban on Asylum at US-Mexico Border
Dozens of Ed Dept Workers Put on Leave Over Trump’s Anti-DEI Order
Texas Gov. OKs National Guard to Arrest Immigrants More accurately, illegal immigrants.
E.P.A. Tells More Than 1,000 They Could Be Fired ‘Immediately’ (Lisa Friedman/New York Times)