Today in Politics, Bulletin 55. 1/23/25

… Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace had more bathroom drama today. Bloomberg’s Billy House with the latest from the House Bathroom Caucus: “I bear witness: Rep. Lauren Boebert bursting out of the House Women's restroom during this afternoon's vote series, complaining to security personnel stationed in the nearby Speaker’s Lobby of ‘a guy’ inside the bathroom. Intrigued, I stuck around to see who would emerge from the bathroom...and saw just 4 other people leave, all women.” Curious.

… He continued: “Within minutes, however, Boebert was storming back from the House floor into the restroom - reinforced by Rep. Nancy Mace in tow. Who would dare leave this scene now? Not me. Mace is author of the resolution prohibiting transgender women in the chamber from using the women’s restroom. But alas, just seconds after this duo entered the bathroom, they come back out -- and went back quietly to the floor. A bit of bathroom vigilantism?

… But that wasn’t the end of the story: “I later asked Boebert what this was all about, noting I had heard her complain there was ‘a guy’ in there. To her credit, she acknowledged it was a mistake. ‘There was a rumor there was, but it wasn't true,’ she told me.”

… Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) says that aliens have secret bases under our oceans: “I’ve talked to people who are sonar people. And the way they hide it from us, because they say, it’s our sonar I believe - I haven’t been briefed on this, it’s just from what I’m putting together, we have some secret sonar, but what’s so crazy about it, like, we’re hiding it from the Chinese. Well heck, the Chinese sold us some components for it. They tell me something’s moving at hundreds of miles an hour underwater and it was as large as a football field.”

… Burchett was then asked if he thought they had bases underwater: “I do. I’m not worried about them harming me. With their capabilities, they could have harmed us a long time ago if they wanted to.” I feel better.

… Trump granted pardons today for anti-abortion activists convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a law that protects doctors, nurses, staff and patients at clinics from violence, threats of violence, intimidation and harassment.

… 21 people have been convicted of crimes under the FACE Act, and 10 are still in prison. Trump’s pardon frees all of them.

… Josh Hawley this morning before Trump issued the pardons: “I have urged President Trump to pardon ALL of these pro-life prisoners unjustly persecuted by the corrupt Biden Administration.”

… Sen. Mike Lee then introduced a bill today to repeal the FACE Act, because he says it has “been weaponized against pro-life activists and people of faith.” He says even though Trump’s DOJ will never enforce the law, he wants to make sure no future DOJ can either.

… Rep. Barry Loudermilk was informed by a staffer with Mike Johnson’s office that if he subpoenaed Cassidy Hutchinson, they were concerned that she would reveal “sexual texts from members (of Congress) who were trying to engage in sexual favors” with her, according to a new report by WaPo. The report says that “multiple colleagues” expressed concern. Needless to say, if they were from Democrats they would have already been released.

… Loudermilk said his committee will be investigating the conduct of the J6 Committee, federal prosecutors, and law enforcement who investigated the insurrection. Presumably, now that this story has been made public, Democrats will insist that Hutchinson be subpoenaed to any future hearings.

… A federal judge in WA has issued a 14-day restraining order to block Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship. The lawsuit alleges that Trump’s order violates the 14th Amendment and previous court decisions.

… Lauren Boebert told CNN she looks forward to giving tours of the Capitol to recently released J6 insurrectionists. When asked how she could justify doing that, Boebert said, “The Capitol police officers who took down barricades and gates are here, and they’ve been here ever since.”

… Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) told CNN that Trump’s pardons to J6 defendants who attacked police were a "middle finger to law enforcement and to our judicial system. I just think it demeans and disrespects the work that people do around here to protect public safety, protect us and also people around the country. They just send the wrong message to law enforcement agencies, to the public, to our judicial system and to citizens."

… Newhouse is one of only two Republicans left who voted to impeach Trump for J6.

… Mike Johnson said it “isn’t my place” to question Trump’s J6 pardons. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA): “Not your place!?! Who the hell’s place is it? How about you stand with the officers who protected you and not a reality show wannabe dictator.”

… Trump demanded that Fed Chair Jerome Powell dramatically lower interest rates, which would make his inflation even worse if that was combined with his proposed tariffs: “I think I know interest rates much better than they do. And I think I know certainly much better than the one who's primarily in charge of making that decision.”

… Democratic State Sen. Bradford Blackmon (MS) introduced the ‘Contraception Begins at Erection Act’ to ban men from masturbating. The bill makes it illegal for “any person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo."

… Blackmon issued this statement: "All across the country, especially here in MS, the vast majority of bills relating to contraception and/or abortion focus on the woman’s role when men are 50% of the equation. This bill highlights that fact and brings the man’s role into the conversation. People can get up in arms and call it absurd but I can’t say that bothers me."

… The fine for the first time getting caught masturbating would be $1,000. It goes up to $5,000 for a second offense.

… Former Secret Service Agent and right-wing talk show host Dan Bongino, who began each day of Biden’s presidency with a post on X that he was the worst president in history, is not happy with Trump’s new hire Sean Curran as Secret Service Director. MAGA influencers were pushing for Bongino to get the gig, and he said publicly he would take the job if offered. But now he says that Trump never even spoke to him about it. Sad!

… After the announcement of Curran was made, Bongino posted: “Don’t blame me. I tried.” He then said on his radio show today: “I’m not sure this is the right pick for right now. Donald Trump won the presidency. He’s free to pick his own people. That job wasn’t for me, but I would have at least liked to have some input into stuff. They didn’t want it.”

… Republicans continue to rant and rave about Bishop Budde’s sermon. Mike Johnson: “Bishop Budde hijacked the National Prayer Service to promote her radical ideology. This was an opportunity to unify the country in prayer, but she used it to sow division. Even worse, she’s continued her political crusade in media interviews. Shameful.”

… Former Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo doesn’t like that she’s a female Bishop: “The Bible is very clear on who is supposed to lead the church.”

… Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) called on Trump to deport her. He didn’t specify a country.

… Bishop Budde was asked about Trump’s demand that she apologize: "I am not going to apologize to him. I don't hate President Trump. I strive not to hate anyone, and I dare say that I am not of the 'radical left' either."

… Trump addressed the EU by video during their meeting in Davos. He told them that other NATO members must now increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP, far more than the goals in the charter. The US spends 3.4% of GDP on defense. He did not say whether he intends to increase the US defense budget to 5%, which would massively increase the deficit.

… He was then asked about his promise to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours: “Mr. President, when you're back here in Davos next year, will there be then a peace agreement with Ukraine and Russia by then? Trump: Well, you're going to have to ask Russia.”

… He said it would be easy for him to end it in 24 hours. This is the 2017 health care and infrastructure plans 2.0.

… Trump also claimed to them that he was close to a deal to a deal during his last term with Putin to get rid of all nuclear weapons: “We were talking about denuclearization of our two countries, and China would have come along. And I will tell you that President Putin really liked the idea of cutting way back on nuclear.”

… Trump then directly addressed the Bank of America CEO: “I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business with the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America. They don't take conservative business. And I don't know if the regulators mandated that because of Biden or what, but I hope you're going to open your banks to conservatives because what you're doing is wrong.”

… Bank of America refused to do business with people arrested for the J6 insurrection. They have also de-banked a few right-wing internet scam artists and Nazis.

… Trump then latched onto Mark Zuckerberg’s complaint on Joe Rogan’s show about the EU hitting him with and other tech companies fines for insufficient content moderation: “They took court cases with Apple and they supposedly won a case that most people didn't think was much of a case. They won $15-16 billion from Apple. They won billions from Google. I think they're after Facebook for billions and billions. These are American companies, whether you like them or not. They're American companies and they shouldn't be doing that. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a form of taxation.”

… Zuck suggested Trump hit the EU with tariffs for insisting on content moderation. Of course, co-President Musk favors that as well, so Trump issues the mob threat to the EU for his billionaire backers.

… Trump is now threatening to completely abolish FEMA. On Fox: “FEMA is going to be a whole big discussion very shortly. Because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems. If they have a tornado someplace, let that state take care of it.”

… AOC: “What makes this go round with Trump so much more dangerous than the first time is that he is much more normalized this time around.”

… The Trump Admin is now sending 1,000 soldiers and 500 Marines to the southern border. The Marines will be moved from CA where they have been on standby to help deal with the threat of more wildfires. A senior Marine Corps official told Fox that they are preparing for a total of 2,500 Marines to be sent to the border, they are treating it the same as a deployment into a war zone, and they “will be armed and have magazines in their weapons, unlike during past border missions.”

… Immigration law expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “The Trump administration just sent 500 Marines on standby to help with California wildfires to the border instead, where border crossings are the lowest level they’ve been in over four years.”

… Also Reichlin-Melnick: “Right now, the Trump Admin is bragging about ICE carrying out 308 arrests on Tuesday. Do you know what the average daily number of ICE arrests was in Fiscal Year 2024 under Biden? 310.”

… Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), on Trump claiming that he has to mass deport migrants because of crime: “Donald Trump did not care a bit about safer communities when he released those who were convicted of beating the shit out of police officers. So, don’t come to us and talk about security and safer communities when you do that.”

… CBS is reporting that Trump’s VIP Candlelight Inaugural Dinner was a complete mess, with $250,000 a person tickets oversold. Super-wealthy megadonors were forced to wait outside in lines in 30 degree weather for nearly two hours - and these are people who aren’t used to waiting in lines. One attendee told them “it was a clusterfuck.” Another: “We were freezing our asses off.”

… Many of the people standing outside waiting in freezing cold were billionaires. One person who donated millions to Trump grumbled: “It didn’t matter who you were.”

… The seats inside the venue also got screwed up as many attendees moved the name cards to get closer to Trump’s table before others were able to get in, which resulted in some of Trump biggest donors with seats in the back of the room. Attendees said they were afraid to get out of their seats to dance or go to the bathroom because they worried someone else would grab it.

… Then the food. Some of the billionaires left at 10:30 PM to get dinner somewhere else because they still hadn’t been served their food. Tragic.

… A photo of Elon Musk was beamed onto the huge Tesla factory in Germany with the words “heil” and “boycott” in front of the Tesla logo. It was done by that country’s Centre for Political Beauty and Led by Donkeys from the UK. They also projected a video showing Mr Musk’s tweets supporting Germany’s far-Right Alternative für Deutschland party. It is Tesla’s only plant in Europe.

… Fox host Laura Ingraham says the whole Nazi salute thing is a misunderstanding: “We all know that Elon Musk is excited about the Trump agenda and that he is prone to sudden wild gesticulations.”

… Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the first Republican to announce she will vote against Pete Hegseth: “I cannot in good conscience support his nomination. Managing DOD requires vast experience and expertise as the department is one of the most complex and powerful organizations in the world, and Hegseth’s prior roles in his career do not demonstrate to me that he is prepared for such immense responsibility. His leadership of two veteran organizations was marked with accusations of financial mismanagement and problems with the workplace culture he fostered.”

… Murkowski also emphasized Hegseth’s statements about women: “I remain concerned about the message that confirming Hegseth sends to women currently serving and those aspiring to join. Women have served our nation with distinction, overcoming immense obstacles to excel in combat and leadership roles, and they deserve to know that their leader honors and values their commitment to our nation.”

… She concluded with a statement about his personal conduct: The past behaviors Hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces. These behaviors starkly contrast the values and discipline expected of service