- Heather Cox Richardson – Letters from an American – March 6, 2025
This morning, Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke of Reuters reported that the Trump administration is preparing to deport the 240,000 Ukrainians who fled Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and have temporary legal status in the United States. Foreign affairs journalist Olga Nesterova reminded Americans that “these people had to be completely financially independent, pay tax, pay all fees (around $2K) and have an affidavit from an American person to even come here.”“This has nothing to do with strategic necessity or geopolitics,” Russia specialist Tom Nichols posted. “This is just cruelty to show [Russian president Vladimir] Putin he has a new American ally.”
The Trump administration’s turn away from traditional European alliances and toward Russia will have profound effects on U.S. standing in the world
- More reasons for modest optimism
- The courts are stepping up their fight against the regime.
- Musk and Trump Republicans are seen to be targeting Social Security.
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The reason I include this as a reason for optimism is that Social Security is also the most popular of all government programs. By demeaning and threatening Social Security, Musk is touching the proverbial “third rail” of American politics. - DOGE’s credibility is shot.
- Republicans lawmakers are forcing Trump to reduce Musk’s power.
- Republicans are hiding from their constituents.
- The economy is taking a nosedive.
I’m including this among reasons to be optimistic because a growing number of Trump voters are suffering buyer’s remorse. They voted for him because they thought he’d fix the economy. Instead, the economy is taking a nosedive. - The stock market’s slide has forced Trump to back down on his tariffs.
- Trump and Republicans are accepting a continuation of Biden’s spending levels.
- Europe is coming together.
- Democrats are finally showing some spine.
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Asking bar associations to investigate Trump nominees is a good means of circumventing Trump’s Republican lackeys in holding people responsible. (It worked with Rudy Giuliani.)
- How Democrats Can Win This Shutdown Fight
The party may be out of power, but it is not powerless. Here are a few suggestions for what to do about government funding. - No. 2 at DOJ directs fed’l prosecutors to focus on Trump immigration enforcement policies
Deputy A.G. Todd Blanche changed priorities of long-running programs Thursday and threatened to reassign Main Justice attorneys to border states if “require[d].”
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The “Operation Take Back America” memo announces Blanche’s directive changing the priorities of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), which begin in 1982 and DOJ describes as “the largest anti-crime task force in the country,” and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which began in 2001 and DOJ describes as a program intended to “to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.”Per Blanche’s order:
This memorandum establishes a single initiative, called “Operation Take Back America,” that will use OCDETF and PSN resources to implement core policy objectives established by President Trump and the Attorney General.
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Notably, “Operation Take Back America” seems to directly conflict with the existing goals of PSN, which DOJ details as follows:
PSN is customized to account for local violent crime problems and resources. Across all districts, PSN follows four key design elements of successful violent crime reduction initiatives: community engagement, prevention and intervention, focused and strategic enforcement, and accountability.
- When Civility and Decorum Don’t Cut It
Let Congressman Al Green’s cane-waving defiance remind us that the Trump regime will exploit the civility and silence of the opposition. - Trump’s “Crypto Reserve” is a world historical grift
Corruption doesn’t get much more blatant than this. - ‘Hamilton’ Won’t Play Trump’s Kennedy Center, How Intolerant!
Kennedy Center to Replace “Hamilton” with New Musical, “Burr”
- Pete Hegseth Banned Images of ‘Enola Gay’ Plane in DEI Crackdown
A photo of the historic B-29 bomber was flagged for deletion on the Defense Department websiteWar heroes and military firsts are among 26,000 images flagged for removal in Pentagon’s DEI purge
- Undaunted: Senator Elissa Slotkin
“America wants change. But there is a responsible way to make change, and a reckless way.” - Antisemitism in the Oval Office
A confrontation seen with a historian’s eyeThe attempt to humiliate Volodymyr Zelens’kyi in the Oval Office a week ago was an American strategic collapse. It heralded a new constellation of disorderly powers, obsessed with resources, seizing what they can. Inside that new disaster is something old and familiar that we might prefer not to see: antisemitism. The encounter in the White House was antisemitic.
I am historian of the Holocaust. I was trained by a survivor. Jerzy Jedlicki was nine years old when the Germans invaded, and fourteen when he emerged from hiding in Warsaw, and a prominent Polish historian by the time we met. He talked to me about antisemitism for decades, from the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union until his death in 2018. The way that I reacted to the scene in the Oval Office, and how I have pondered and considered it since, have to do with my research, but also with him.
- We Live in the Dumbest Times
Plus, a defense of Al Green.
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Don’t Chastise Al Green—Channel Him
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Some Democratic members and liberal commentators were unhappy with Green. It was inappropriate! It was disrespectful! In any case it was politically unwise and counter-productive! What would those sensitive swing voters think?Really? Was it that inappropriate, given all that Trump has been doing? Would Al Green truly cost Democrats a single swing voter twenty months from now? I’m doubtful.
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I don’t think Green will be or should be the dominant voice or the future leader of the Democratic party. But I couldn’t help being impressed that he did what he did. I couldn’t help admiring him for what he did. I couldn’t help being moved watching the video of him and his colleagues singing.And I couldn’t help thinking, We shall overcome this, someday.
- The Trump revolution is being slowed by its own political debris field
- It’s Kind of Fitting That Musk Now Wants to Cook the Books on GDP
With each passing day, this White House seems to have more in common with its crypto-scammer allies. - Remember the Greatest Generation? Today’s GOP Is the Worst Generation
Republican pols, I listened to you prattle on for years about fascism and freedom. You were lying the whole time. - A Secret Weapon to Fight Mass Deportation
By reviving the use of the private bill, lawmakers of conscience can strike a blow against the Trump administration’s most grotesque plan. - Trump’s Lifeline to Putin: Cutting Ukraine’s Aid Amid Russia’s Collapse
- The Next Generation of Immigration Activists Is Growing Impatient
They’re turning to social media—and building major audiences there—in hopes of rallying more folks against Trump. - Cliff Asness: The New ‘Crypto Fort Knox’ Is as Dumb as It Sounds
to create a sovereign wealth fund dedicated to something five times or more as volatile as straight-up stocks is an awful idea. - Trump’s Tariffs Are No ‘Emergency’
The President invokes a law that doesn’t give him power to impose sweeping tariffs. Someone should sue. - Thrust into unemployment, axed federal workers face relatives who celebrate their firing
- U.S. ends collective bargaining for 50,000 TSA officers
- Trump-like Hotel Developer Lobbies U.S. to Become Next Gaza Leader
Epstein associate and Iran-Contra arms dealer registers to represent him - Russia’s Long Record of Broken Pledges and Treaty Violations
Why Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking security guarantees as part of any peace deal. - New DOGE Staffer Has Ties to a Sanctioned Russian Oligarch
Sam Corcos, a new member of Elon Musk’s DOGE team, reportedly showed up at the IRS demanding detailed info about American taxpayers to hunt for fraud - Trump: “You’re not supposed to be asking that question … that’s enough”
Inside the Explosive Meeting Where Trump Officials Clashed With Elon Musk
Simmering anger at the billionaire’s unchecked power spilled out in a remarkable Cabinet Room meeting. The president quickly moved to rein in Mr. Musk. - The Democracy Index
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Congress’s next biggest test may be Trump’s expected Executive Order to end the Department of Education, which has been threatened this week. If Congress cedes its Article I power to allow the agency to fold, the Republican Party will be fully clearing the path for Trump to adopt the very monarchical power grab the Framers sought to prevent. - I woke up as an angry veteran yesterday
The debacle at the Department of Veterans Affairs shows just how truly rotten the DOGE debacle is being executed across the governmentWhat gives the whole game away at VA and other departments is that they have already decided the number they are going to cut before doing that “detailed review and analysis” to determine the right structure. You don’t set a number you are firing before deciding what is the best way to serve veterans or reorganize.
- The new Republican political correctness
Remember when Republicans opposed political correctness, because it inhibited free speech?“Political correctness is just absolutely killing us as a country,” Donald Trump said on the campaign trail in 2015, during his first run for the White House. “You can’t say anything. Anything you say today, they’ll find a reason why it’s not good.”
But in his second term, President Trump and his minions are establishing their own form of political correctness. They have found reasons why some speech isn’t good, and they are absolutely trying to kill it. In short, the GOP has gone full-on PC.
Witness Trump’s executive orders requiring federal agencies to remove terms like “diversity,” “gender,” and “inclusion” from their documents. Or his decision to bar Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office and Air Force One, because their employer refuses to use the new name that Trump assigned to the Gulf of Mexico.