Today in Politics, Bulletin 73. 2/17/25

… The President of the NYU Young Republicans was forced to resign after calling Barron Trump “an oddity on campus.” The College Republicans: “We have been made aware of a statement made by the NYU chapter president that does not align with the values and principles of our organization. Though Vanity Fair unfairly framed what was said, we still found it to be inappropriate.”

… The CRs then invited Barron to have a social life: “Barron Trump represents the future of the conservative movement, and we would be honored to have him join College Republicans of America. Strong leadership is built on resilience, courage, and the humility to rise above petty hostility - qualities that Barron has demonstrated.”

… None of these people have ever even heard Barron speak, or seen him accomplish anything at all, but they already have him as the next George Washington. A weird cult.

… Musk reposted a random account today that showed a picture purporting to show migrants storming a hospital with axes and knives. The photo turned out to a screen shot from the movie The Dark Knight Rises.

… Musk also reposted a QAnon account today that said Tom Hanks is a pedophile.

… Free Speech Absolutist Musk was upset about the 60 Minutes segment about him wiping out USAID: “60 Minutes are the biggest liars in the world! They deserve a long prison sentence.”

… Maybe he was upset about this line in the 60 Minutes segment: “The world’s richest man cut off aid for the world’s poorest people.”

… Rep. Mike Haridopolos on Fox: “I really applaud the president for creating the DOGE and using a mastermind like Elon Musk, who understands computers and technology to root out this corruption.”

… AP reports that criminal charges have been filed by attorneys against Trump-loving Argentine President Javier Melei, who is now being investigated by a judge for a crypto scam. Melei promoted a crypto coin on his good friend Elon Musk’s platform, which caused many investors to go in big. Then he withdrew his support hours later in a classic “rug pull”, which caused the coin to plummet in value with investors losing $4 billion in just hours.

… Breitbart’s editor reports that the Trump admin is now ready to work on lowering egg prices: “USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins told me regarding record high egg prices that she and Trump and other top White House officials have spoken about it. ROLLINS: “We’re on it.’”

… After every disaster - whether it was a train derailment or storm - Trump and right-wing media immediately hammered Joe Biden on why he didn’t immediately rush into the scene and “do something” or show how much he cared. Then Trump would typically visit the site a week later and soak up all the optics while continuing to denounce Biden and lie that FEMA wasn’t helping.

… With the major storm hitting TN, KY and other states this weekend resulting in at least 9 fatalities with thousands of homes and businesses devastated, Trump attended the Daytona 500 on Sunday and played golf in Florida on Monday. He also made dozens of posts on Truth Social about himself. He did not say a single word about the disaster.

… But with a few stray exceptions, Democrats didn’t say anything about Trump ignoring it because they choose not to play the game that way, or maybe they were busy or something. I kept checking and waiting. It was crickets.

As Joe Walsh once sang, “Lucky I’m sane after all I’ve been through … I can’t complain but sometimes I still do.”

… Trump arrived early before the race started, then did his little ride around the track while his photo op stunt ended up delaying the start of the race, which then pushed the race into a storm causing it to be stopped until it blew over, and he left before the race started and didn’t watch any of it.

… Commerce Secretary Doug Burgum on Fox & Friends: "Watching President Trump in the Beast, leading the pace car, leading the field of the most talented drivers in the world, kicking off the entire NASCAR season for America, when he was doing that it reminded me of how he's actually leading the world right now. He was courageous during his first term, but this time he's fearless. He's operating at a next level. He's at a different gear. His ideas are brilliant, and they're powerful, and they're simple."

… It’s a cult.

… Crazy Rep. Clay Higgins had a meltdown last night, posting a deranged video where he was fuming at the Postal Service. MailboxGate started because Clay’s custom mailbox that looks like a brick pizza oven didn’t have a door: “They’re not gonna deliver my mail anymore because my box don’t have a door. I grew up in the country. This is the nicest mailbox I’ve ever had. If they’re not gonna deliver mail to THIS mailbox, what are they gonna do to country folk!”

… Country folk … that don’t have … nice mailboxes … without doors … like Clay.

… Rand Paul told Fox he would like to “audit” the gold in Ft Knox: “I've been trying to go down and see the gold and make sure it's all there for about 10 years. During the first Trump admin, I got permission. You have to get permission all the way up to the Sec of Treasury. And then he said, ‘well, I want to go down there, too. I want to go down there when the eclipse is coming through KY, too, so I can see the eclipse and the gold at the same time.’ But they came when I wasn't there, so I didn't get to go down, but the Sec of the Treasury and McConnell did go down and attest that they believe they saw the gold down there.”

… This, of course, got the right-wing conspiracy theorists cranked up into high gear. Elon Musk: “Who is confirming that gold wasn’t stolen from Ft. Knox? Maybe it’s there, maybe it’s not. That gold is owned by the American public! We want to know if it’s still there. It would be cool to do a live video walkthrough of Fort Knox!”

… Then the big storm hit Kentucky, which got the “Dems control the weather” people going. One right-winger posted: “All this talk of auditing Fort Knox and all of a sudden that area is completely FLOODED. IF only I were a conspiracy theorist …”

… Georgia GOP elected official and flat-earther Kandiss Taylor said the Deep Staters who tried to cover up the Fort Knox gold audit who caused this storm are responsible for the deaths: “Whoever did this has the blood of a 7 year old child on their hands.”

… The FAA has fired hundreds of employees that help with the installation, maintenance, and inspection of air traffic control communications and computer systems in the US.

… Pete Buttigieg: “The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?”

… Trump lawyer Alina Habba claimed on Fox that the conservative Republican federal prosecutors handling the Eric Adams public corruption case were only going after him because Adams opposed sanctuary cities: “This man was prosecuted because he was anti-sanctuary city policies. He wanted NY to be safe. And then all of the sudden, ‘Wow, he’s prosecuted!’”

… Not the bribes Adams solicited from foreign entities. It was the sanctuary cities thing.

… Habba, who said on a podcast during the campaign, “I’d rather be pretty than smart,” also posted photos of herself on IG getting prepped backstage for her big Fox appearance.

… Trump nominated ‘Stop The Steal’ leader Ed Martin, who also represented multiple J6 defendants, to serve as DC US Attorney. Martin was appointed on an interim basis when Trump took office, but obviously his threats to prosecute anyone who bothers Musk’s DOGE team members got him the gig full-time.

… Rep. Claudia Tenney has introduced a bill to make Trump’s birthday a national holiday: “No modern president has been more pivotal for our country than Donald J. Trump. Today, I introduced legislation to designate Trump's Birthday as a federal holiday, ensuring President Trump's contributions to American greatness are forever enshrined into law.”

… WaPo’s Josh Rogin reports that JD Vance’s support of the far-right AfD during his visit to Germany may have actually hurt the party a week before their election: “In Munich, a minority of officials and experts posited that anti-Americanism in Germany was high enough that Vance’s endorsement might hurt AfD more than help them. Early data seems to support this theory. Let’s see where the numbers end up.”

… A bizarre report from Financial Times that Trump Special Envoy Ric Grenell met with and pressured Romania’s foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu to ease travel restrictions on Andrew Tate, who is charged with human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, and money laundering.

… If there’s really weird stuff going on behind the scene in Trump World, there’s a pretty good chance Grenell is involved somehow.

… Democrats held protests across the country to demonstrate outside congressional offices and Tesla dealerships against Elon Musk’s draconian and illegal budget cuts using his DOGE committee. Sen. Bernie Sanders and new DNC Chair Ken Martin were two of the main organizers, with many grass roots organizations also involved.

… MoveOn targeted Republicans in swing districts. Executive Director Rahna Epting: “We are seeing a true resurgence in energy opposing what Trump, Musk and Republicans are doing to our country. People are mad as hell.”

… 9News Colorado’s Marc Sallinger: “Thousands of protesters have now taken to the streets of Denver protesting President Donald Trump on President’s Day. This is the largest single protest in Denver I can remember since the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.”

… Trump was asked about the deadline he gave for noon on Saturday for Hamas to return all the hostages or else “all hell” will rain down on them, which they ignored: “I told him, Bibi, you do whatever you want.” Student protestors might be missing