Today in Politics, Bulletin 83. 3/3/25.

… Sen. Rick Scott said AOC “should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” for posting videos on social media advising people what their rights are if ICE agents come to their door: “We took an oath - we’re supposed to uphold the constitution, not tell people how to evade the constitution. It sure seems like she’s violating the law.”

… Scott pled the 5th 75 different times when his hospitals were investigated for Medicaid fraud in 1997. The company was fined $1.7 billion.

… Border Czar Tom Homan has referred AOC to DOJ and AG Pam Bondi to be criminally investigated for obstruction of justice. Bondi has not commented on the progress of the investigation.

… Bloomberg reports that there has been 8,200 migrant detentions over the past two weeks, which is down from 10,000 for the two weeks prior to that. Homan has blamed AOC, other elected officials, and media for the much lower than expected numbers, alleging they are tipping people off about imminent ICE raids.

… Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins told Fox that the solution to high egg prices is for people to raise chickens in their backyards: “The silver lining in all of this is how do all of us - we’ve got chickens in our back yard - how to we solve something like this? People are looking around and saying, ‘How can I get a chicken in my back yard?’ It’s awesome!”

… Problem solved.

… Trump reiterated today from the WH that his 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico will be going into effect tomorrow. Investors on Wall Street, who had been in denial thinking that Trump would do another last minute “pause”, were probably jumping out of windows. Trump said there is no way he will change his mind and they will begin tomorrow. This is what happened:

… Bloomberg reported that the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are likely to make US car prices rise by as much as $12,000, since so many parts and pieces of vehicles are manufactured at plants in those countries. In his remarks today, Trump said the manufacturers are just going to have to move all their plants to the US.

… Auto industry analyst Anderson Economic Group said a large SUV with “significant” content from Mexico would see a nearly $9,000 increase, while a pickup would see an $8,000 increase: “Tariffs on the scale that President Trump has threatened would have a sharp negative effect on auto sales.”

… Popular vehicles who will rise dramatically from the tariff would be Ford Maverick truck, Bronco Sport, Mustang Mach, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram pickups. Ford CEO Jim Farley: “It will blow a hole in the US industry that we have never seen. You’ll see some model and trim types just disappear.”

… A few days ago, Eric Trump started making strange posts on social media telling investors in crypto to hold onto what they had even though all of them are way down from previous highs. He even told people to put more money in: “Buy the dips!”

… We just learned why. His daddy posted on Truth Social: “My Executive Order on Digital Assets directed the Presidential Working Group to move forward on a Crypto Strategic Reserve that includes XRP, SOL, and ADA. I will make sure the US is the Crypto Capital of the World. And, obviously, BTC and ETH, as other valuable Cryptocurrencies, will be the heart of the Reserve. I also love Bitcoin and Ethereum!”

… Trump has no idea what any of that is. He just knows he’s potentially making billions off this scam.

… One crypto commentator on X: “In 20 years of investing, this is the most corrupt thing I've ever seen in financial markets. Eric Trump is not even trying to hide the fact that his Dad, the President, is deliberately pumping crypto coins, of which they own huge amounts. Well, now we know what Eric meant. His Dad gave him the insider trading information, and he was low-key passing it on to the public. I bet you Wall Street takes him a lot more seriously from now on. Whatever he says now will absolutely move markets.”

… Former Rep. Tom Malinowski: “Just so everyone is clear - this is using your taxpayer money to buy up crypto currency so that the price goes up for those holding it.”

… Which is the entire Trump family. Trump launched his own crypto coin shortly before taking office. Melania launched hers the day before the inauguration. Eric and Junior also have their own coins going. All of them are down big since their were first announced and surged, but Trump having the US govt go all-in on crypto might revive the market.

… One crypto analyst posted on X: “Trump’s ‘Crypto Czar’ David Sacks is up there among the biggest pieces of shit in the US. He literally cried for the government to save his bags when Silicon Valley Bank collapsed - now did it again with his crypto fund. He’s a shit stain on America. The day he finally ends up in jail should become a national holiday.”

… Ben Norton, Editor of Geopolitical Economy Report, on Sacks: “Jaw-dropping corruption in the US: Trump's billionaire crypto czar is heavily invested in a fund whose top 5 holdings are the 5 in the proposed US govt Crypto Strategic Reserve. Mere hours before Trump announced it, someone bought $200 million in Ethereum & Bitcoin on 50X LEVERAGE. I'll say it again: The blatant corruption and looting in the US today is like what was done to Russia in the 1990s - but this time, the USA is doing it to itself. The US govt was always run on behalf of oligarchs, but now the oligarchs are directly in charge. It's pillage!”

… A disillusioned MAGA influencer on X: “As an enthusiastic supporter of 2016 MAGA, I admit I was fooled by Trump's empty campaign promises. But at least we OGs didn’t support sex traffickers, crypto scams, and alienating all of our allies. MAGA 1.0 was naive. MAGA 2.0 is disgusting, corrupt and dangerous.”

… The (UK) Telegraph reported that SecDef Pete Hegseth ordered Cyber Command chief Gen. Timothy Haugh to halt all work to counter cyber threats from Russia, and focus instead on China and Iran. US officials said Russia launched a major ransomware effort right after Trump took office attempting to penetrate US hospitals, infrastructure and municipal networks.

… One official told CNN that this is “a major blow” to national security because it will make the US more vulnerable to cyberattacks from Russia, which has a formidable cadre of hackers capable of disrupting US critical infrastructure and collecting sensitive intelligence. The official said Russia and the US are in a constant battle in cyberspace, and the Kremlin sees that it has an asymmetric advantage in cyberspace to burrow into US critical infrastructure and try to influence US elections.

… Guardian reports that person familiar with the matter said analysts at the agency were verbally informed that they were not to follow or report on Russian threats, even though this had previously been a main focus for the agency: “Russia and China are our biggest adversaries. With all the cuts being made to different agencies, a lot of cybersecurity personnel have been fired. Our systems are not going to be protected and our adversaries know this. People are saying Russia is winning. Putin is on the inside now.”

… Another person who previously worked on US joint task forces tracking Russian cyber threats: “It’s truly shocking. There are thousands of US govt employees and military working daily on the massive threat Russia poses as possibly the most significant nation state threat actor. There are dozens of discrete Russia state-sponsored hacker teams dedicated to either producing damage to US govt infrastructure and commercial interests or conducting information theft with a key goal of maintaining persistent access to computer systems.”

… Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) seemed surprised to learn about Hegseth’s new cyber security directive on Fox: "I don't know why he's doing that, the Russians are attacking us every single day. I don’t think you signal to the Russians that we are going to unilaterally withdraw from this space. I really don’t understand where that’s coming from. This is a mistake.”

… Fox Business host Stuart Varney responded: “It looks like we are moving to Russia’s side.”

… Trump posted on Truth Social: “We should spend less time worrying about Putin.”

… Conan O’Brien at the Oscars last night: “You know, Anora is having a good night. That's great news. Two wins already. I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.”

… Newsmax host Todd Starnes was outraged that the Dennis Quaid biopic ‘Reagan’ didn’t get any Oscar nominations. He says it was because of DEI. Starnes posted a quote from the screenwriter: “We didn’t seriously expect to be nominated for anything by Hollywood in this cultural climate."

… Sen. Chris Murphy to CNN: "Everyone who signs up to work for Trump is signing up for one single project, and that is the transition of American democracy to a kind of kleptocratic oligarchy in which the billionaires rule and get to steal from regular Americans. And if that's the domestic project, the way you normalize that kind of govt is to associate yourself with similar governments abroad, like the Kremlin."

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can read it here.

… Melania Trump was the guest of Ted Cruz today, where she was in the Senate advocating for Ted’s bill to make it a crime to create AI deepfake porn and nudes of people and post them online. She read this statement: “The widespread abusive behavior in the digital domain affects the daily lives of our children, families, and communities. My commitment to the Be Best initiative underscores the importance of online safety.”

… There are lots of nudes that have floated around the internet of Melania for many years. Some are real, some are obviously not, some it is hard to tell. The Trumps never