Between free Qatari planes, self-deportation, and RFK’s medical advice (or lack thereof), it has been quite a chaotic news cycle. Hold onto your hats, y’all, because we’re going for a ride.
Standard and new reminders apply: we may be starting my ninth year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a tariff!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. We’re still playing around with formatting and frequency as I navigate two healing ribs and all of the everything. And, of course, for the law things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!
Spills in Aisle 47:
- To Hell in a ‘Waste’ Basket (cont). Yet more vital services were cut this cycle, as the administration particularly gutted the arts and the military (two great tastes that taste great together). On the military side, Secretary Hegseth moved to cut 20% of four-star military officials as well as 10% of officials more across the board. Prior NSA head Mike Walz, who you may remember from messaging app fame, has been moved to the UN while current Secretary of State Marco Rubio was given the position as his literal third job. Additionally, several more military personnel were forced out when the Supreme Court permitted Trump’s ban of trans military service members to go forward. On the arts side of things, the National Endowment of the Arts withdrew millions in grants shortly before Trump proposed eliminating the endowment entirely. The administration has also removed the head of FEMA as well as several Democrats on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, And, of course, we’re still cutting things in the health sphere, as the National Cancer Institute starts to face cuts and a new report estimates that NIH grant cancelations total more than $1.8B.
- Tariff Tug-of-War and Qatari ‘Gifts’.* In economic news, Trump announced that he wants to put tariffs on foreign films while the Senate rejected a bipartisan attempt to say Enough with the Tariffs Already. Then, in a fit of Opposite Day, he announced he wants to tax the rich more (yes, really). He was also in the news over the past cycle for planning to accept a personal Qatari luxury jet, on the stated grounds that only “stupid people” refuse gifts. This flagrant corruption appears to be a step too far even for the GOP, who I’m sure will spend at least five seconds considering a strongly-worded speech in the mirror.
The Latest Spring Fashy:
- Inhumane Immigration Actions (cont). I know I keep saying “this is an awful time for immigration,” but it just keeps being true. This cycle’s deportation horror shows included 1) offering to pay people to self-deport; 2) trying to deport Asian immigrants to Libya for God-only-knows what reason; 3) prepping to end deportation protections for folks from Afghanistan; and 4) yet more illegally moving detainees so that they can be deported more easily. Speaking of illegally moving detainees, an appeals court also ordered the transfer of Rumeysa Ozturk back to Vermont, where she was ordered released. They also ordered that dozens of Afrikaners be treated as refugees, at a time when almost no one is being treated as refugees, Most concerningly, the administration also made noises this cycle about suspending writs of habeas corpus, which would allow them to skip the due process part before deporting people, because they are blocked from using the Alien Enemies Act — but more on that below.
- From the Department of Health and Human Sacrifices (cont). If you’re like me, you spent a lot of this cycle carefully tracking the reconciliation budget saga, because the proposed bill would make pretty catastrophic cuts to Medicaid (even by our 2025 standards) if passed. Thankfully, the past week ended in a fit of gleeful schadenfreude, as five GOP members of the House Budget Committee tanked their own resolution after the House leader watered down the Medicaid cuts. I doubt this is the last we will hear about it, but the more extreme the final version coming out of the House is, the more likely that the more moderate Senate will balk at it–and both houses need to agree on the same resolution for it to pass. In other crappy health news, our illustrious Health Secretary stated that Americans shouldn’t take his health advice this week (well, at least he knows it). He said this shortly after announcing he is reinstating placebo tests for vaccine adjustment trials–a wildly unethical order when testing existing vaccines. And, of course, that announcement was shortly after he announced (and then partially walked back) that he wants to create an autism registry.
Silver Linings:
- Recent Judicial Resilience. As is becoming the norm, we had several favorable court cases this cycle as well. As mentioned above, one of Trump’s own District Court appointees held that he can’t use the Alien Enemies Act to deport people without due process. A different District Court judge, meanwhile, granted a temporary restraining order saying the administration needed to pause its firing seven zillion more government workers. (It will expire in a few weeks, but the Trump administration is appealing anyway.)
So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this legal weasel and a less corrupt government. I’ll be back next time with more and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me new types of herbal tea!
National News Roundup 