Friday Insights-February 6, 2025
Trump wondering into left field, but don't take comfort in that.
Nobody, including his Secretaries of State and Defense, saw President Trump’s announcement that the United States would take “an ownership interest” in Gaza. Trump made that announcement on February 4, and the world gasped. What is going on? The answer is that Donald Trump is drunk on power and daydreams in public. One of those daydreams, apparently, is a posh resort in the Middle East that would bring peace to Gaza by relocating two million Gazans to “other places” and create a handsome investment opportunity for real estate developers, likely including The Trump Organization, at the same time.
Arab nations were swift to reject Trump’s bizarre proposal. Saudi Arabian on X responded, in part:
Trump is now backing off the proposal, but the “clarifications” are contradicted by the words recorded on video during his press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Trump’s dream will not become reality, but he will not completely back away from it.
USAID (RIP)
The “termination” of USAID may be in the history books by the time you read this. (Technically, USAID is being merged into the Department of State.)
It is unclear (I would say unlikely) that the idea was his, but USAID offices in Washington have been padlocked, and USAID staff stationed worldwide have been directed to return home. Thus, US foreign aid has effectively been ended.
The consequences of Trump’s action cannot be overstated. Much of the “fraudulent” and “wasteful” aid that has been stopped was for food, medicine, and other support intended to avoid humanitarian crises. Trump doesn’t care.
To support ending USAID, the Trump administration has launched a campaign to destroy its reputation and credibility. The media will attempt to rebut false statements in the Trump propaganda, but will the right people be listening and reading?
Elon Musk is believed to be central in the effort to end USAID. Killing it has been described as “the low-hanging fruit.” Very disturbing.
Pam Bondi, Managing Partner of Trump’s law firm.
Former Florida AG Pam Bondi was confirmed as U.S. Attorney General on February 5. It did not take long for Bondi to get to work. She has created a “Weaponization Task Force” to review the prosecutions brought against Donald Trump by Jack Smith and New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The group will also investigate “improper investigations.” Bondi also issued a memo directing the Department to seek the death penalty in more cases. The memo also directed the Department to work with state prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the prisoners whose death sentences were commuted by President Biden in the waning days of his administration. Finally, Bondi directed Department officials to “vigorously defend Trump policies.”
At the swearing-in ceremony, Trump commented:
She’s going to be as impartial as you can possibly be. I know I’m supposed to say she’s going to be totally impartial with respect to Democrats—I think she will be as impartial as a person can be; I’m not sure there is a possibility of ‘totally.
This is an admission of Trump’s knowledge that Bondi will not be impartial. It also seems as though Bondi may have lied during her confirmation hearing when she told the Judiciary Committee: “The partisanship, the weaponization, will be gone. America will have one tier of justice for all. There will never be an enemy's list within the Department of Justice.”
Why is America sleeping?
In 1940, John F. Kennedy’s Why England Slept was published, a book documenting how the UK ignored signs of Hitler’s rise to power and failed to respond soon enough to avoid World War II. Today, Why America is Sleeping could be written. The tome would report on how Donald Trump, with help from Elon Musk and others, dismantled the federal government once in power to secure near-dictatorial power. The book would condemn not only the Republican party but also the Democrats, who, despite the disadvantage of being the opposition party, could not figure out how to stop Trump before it was too late.
The question of the week is whether Trump is trying to make himself into a dictator or, less provocatively stated, whether the “reforms” his administration is making to the federal government are needed. My opinion is no.
I don’t recall anyone except the far-right media talking about “terminating” the U.S. Department of Education or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) before Trump returned to power. Now, Elon Musk has chosen both agencies for execution despite laws calling for their existence and specifying their function.
Is terminating these two agencies “faithfully executing the laws of the United States?” I don’t think so. I expect a resolution calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump will be introduced shortly. It will, of course, have no future.
If all Republicans in Congress (both chambers) were replaced with robots designed and programmed by Elon Musk, the probability of an impeachment of Trump passing the House would not change. Similarly, the chance of the Senate convicting Trump on another impeachment is zero. Sad.
So that’s where we are. Many Members of Congress are not doing their jobs, and the American people are not, with rare exceptions, speaking up to protest Trump's policies.
Fortunately, protests have started against Trump's actions and proposals. (There are dozens to choose from.) These protests are encouraging. I worry, however, that Trump will soon respond to them as recommended in Project 2025—with police. I hope I am wrong.
New décor at the White House.
Was that a Golden Globe award on the credenza behind the president’s desk that I saw in an Oval Office photo this week? It looks like one he won for “The Apprentice.”
Presidential Commission to protect Christians from religious discrimination.
Yesterday, Donald Trump created a Presidential commission on protecting Christians from religious discrimination. He also created a task force to work on solutions. Later in the day, a Trump post on Truth Social reminded Americans of how fortunate we are to live in a land of religious liberty. Trump trumpeted his commitment to protect the Freedom of religion. Curious, given Trump’s past actions targeting Muslims.
Vote on Kash Patel nomination for FBI delayed in Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a rare instance of encouraging news, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) has agreed to hold a second confirmation hearing on the nomination of Kash Patel to serve as FBI Director. The action followed the receipt of a letter from Committee Democrats. In part, that letter reads:
During his nomination hearing last week, Mr. Patel confirmed that he was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury examining whether President Trump wrongfully retained national security secrets in the Mar-a-Lago case. He asserted his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, was granted limited immunity to testify before the grand jury and ultimately was compelled to testify under court order.
Democrats want more information on why Patel asserted his Fifth Amendment rights and was granted limited immunity to testify before the grand jury that later indicted Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
It remains likely that Patel will be confirmed, but maybe a few Republicans will get uncomfortable voting for an FBI Director who once protected himself from indictment by asserting the Fifth Amendment. I’m not holding my breath.
Thank you.
There is a lot more going on in Washington this week, including work on the budget reconciliation bill, which Republicans hope will enable the enactment of large parts of the Trump agenda. I hope to write about that in Sunday Issues.
Have a good weekend, and thank you for reading Dean’s Insights.
We need to wake everyone up. It is All Hands on Deck time.
thanks for all of that