A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
The Most Memorable Moment Of Trump’s Speech
It wasn’t Rep. Al Green (D-TX) being escorted out of the House chamber after his disruptive protest, and it wasn’t the long list of Trump absurdities cobbled together into an endless speech. Nope, it was Trump rubbing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ face in their mutual corruption:
“Thank you again. Thank you again. Won’t forget it,” Trump says while shaking the hand of Supreme Court Justice John Roberts after the State of the Union.
— Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Let’s stipulate that we’re reasonable people who can see this for what it is: a reference to the Supreme Court’s disastrous ahistoric discovery of vast presidential immunity from criminal prosecution that saved Trump from going to jail.
Trump’s mob boss mentality has led to other moments like this, where he extravagantly highlights the moral and ethical compromises that a sycophant has made on his behalf as a way of demonstrating that they really are no better than he is and of lashing them even more firmly to his side. If they resist, he calls them out for being hypocrites, pointing to their compromised behavior and mocking their previous pretensions to ethical behavior.
But this time Trump did it to the sitting Supreme Court chief justice in public on the floor of the House. Whatever high regard John Roberts still held himself in has been directly challenged in the most excruciating and a dignity-robbing way. Trump has a way of doing that to everyone who comes in contact with him. Roberts had it coming. No pity for him.
If you needed a moment that singularly captured the rot that has subsumed the Republican Party, Trump’s otherwise forgettable speech provided it.
Big Decision
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras of Washington, D.C. permanently reinstated Cathy Harris to the Merit Systems Protection Board, calling President Trump’s firing of her without cause “unlawful” in an important ruling in the context of Trump’s mass purges of civil service workers.
Trump’s two-front attack on civil service protections – unlawfully firing civil service workers and unlawfully dismantling the agency that would hear their complaints – is one of the most serious transgressions of the rule of law in his first six weeks in office.
The Trump administration didn’t even try to argue that it had complied with the law and fired Harris for cause. Rather, it considers the law an unconstitutional infringement by Congress on the powers of the unitary executive. Contreras’ decision was the obviously right one under current Supreme Court precedent, but the Trump administration wants the high court to overrule its own precedent, which it seems more favorably disposed to do than ever before.
Not Good
Greg Sargent gets ahold of a new Justice Department memo: “The Trump administration is effectively declaring that the nation’s roughly 700 immigration judges can no longer count on civil service rules that safeguard their independence by protecting them from arbitrary removal, according to a Department of Justice memo that was sent to the judges.”
The Purges
- IRS: The Trump administration is drafting plans to cut the 90,000-person IRS workforce by as much as half.
- OPM: Under court order, the Office of Personnel Management rescinded its previous guidance on terminating probationary federal workers and emphasized that agencies not OPM have ultimate authority in personnel matters.
- CDC: Dozens of purged CDC scientists were reinstated – at least for now.
- Fired government workers with top security clearances were not given the usual exit briefings after being terminated, Reuters reports.
The Destruction
- Federal Buildings: The General Services Administration first posted online a list of federal buildings for sale, including DOJ, DOL, and Census Bureau headquarters before revising the list and then ultimately removing it from the GSA website.
- Universities: Trump threatened to withhold federal funding for universities over “illegal protests,” an apparent reference to pro-Palestinian campus protests. Columbia University is already in the crosshairs of a joint probe by HHS, DoE, and GSA.
- Clean Air: The Trump administration has effectively shut down a global air quality monitoring program.
- Vaccines: “As a measles outbreak expands in West Texas, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, on Tuesday cheered several unconventional treatments, including cod liver oil, but again did not urge Americans to get vaccinated,” the NYT reported.
- NIH: NIH reels with fear and uncertainty about the future of scientific research
The Corruption
- Wired: People are paying millions of dollars to dine with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago, with the destination of the proceeds unclear but reportedly going to his future presidential library.
- WSJ: The Justice Department has put on hold the trial of two former corporate executives in an alleged foreign bribery scheme after President Trump’s executive order undermining enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Funny Math Is Going To Be A Trump II Theme
The Trump administration has disbanded two expert committees that advised the Commerce Department on producing accurate economic statistics, the WSJ reports.
Federal Judge Blocks Trump Anti-Trans Executive Orders
U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson of Maryland entered a nationwide injunction keeping the Trump administration from withholding federal funds from hospitals unless the stop providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth.
“The Court cannot fathom discrimination more direct than the plain pronouncement of a policy resting on the premise that the group to which the policy is directed does not exist,” the judge ruled.
Trump DOJ Will Abandon Idaho Abortion Case
The Trump Justice Department is poised to drop the Biden-era challenge to Idaho’s abortion ban as a violation of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, meaning abortions in Idaho will become unavailable in nearly all circumstances.
Ed Martin Runs Out Time On Corrupt Probe Of Schumer
The statute of limitations ran out Tuesday before acting D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin could consummate his corrupt investigation of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Black Lives No Longer Matter
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser is poised to cave to a threat from Hill Republicans to deny the District of Columbia at least $185 million in transportation funding if it doesn’t paint over a Black Lives Matter mural and change the name of Black Lives Matter Plaza to Liberty Plaza.
House GOP Leaders Nix Public Town Halls
House Republicans are running scared from angry constituents.
Trump’s Ukraine Travesty
President Trump’s repugnant withdrawal of American support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion continues apace, even if America can’t bring itself to believe that it’s cutting and running:
- Trump has now cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine, the Financial Times reports.
- Trump’s cessation of U.S. military aid leaves Ukraine vulnerable to Russian air attacks.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought a limited rapprochement with Trump after being ambushed in the Oval Office.
- Vice President JD Vance sparked fury in Britain fury by calling it a “random country” and mocking its Ukraine peacekeeping plan.
- For the second time in two weeks, Trump nominees to the Pentagon deflected when asking during their Senate confirmation hearings whether Russia had invaded Ukraine.
Thread Of The Day
Trump highlights the danger of two categories of decision-making mistakes.
The first is the one made by US partners in being too dependent on the US. AUKUS comes to mind, as it backtracked on a deal that would’ve diversifyied Aus’ security portfolio. Those Scorpenes probably don’t seem so bad now.
— Judah Grunstein (@judah-grunstein.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 4:24 AM
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