Trump Preened As A Strongman For Presidents Day
INSIDE: Dale Ho ... Elon Musk ... JD Vance
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
So Much Has Happened
Since last we convened on Friday, President Trump’s rampage against the rule of law at home and the international order abroad has intensified in alarming and unprecedented ways.
It is impossible to step away from the news for a holiday weekend and still keep track of Trump’s myriad angles of attack on the law and the real-world effects on the ground. So rather than attempt to shove every last development into a bloated Morning Memo, I’m going to focus on three main categories: the rule of law violations, the purges, abandoning Europe.
‘He Who Saves His Country Does Not Violate Any Law’
In an unapologetic social media post over the Presidents Day weekend that reinforced the grave peril we’re in, President Trump adopted a quote generally attributed to Napoleon in declaring himself above and beyond the reach of the law.
In giving himself a free pass on his constitutional obligation to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” Trump blessed in retrospect his renegade first month in office and warned of what is yet to come.
But it was in Trump’s preening as a strongman, the callback to the little dictator, that we were reminded that the assault on the rule of law is personal to him, his petty grievances, his simplistic understanding of the way the world works, and his addled perceptions of strength and weakness.
The Valentine’s Eve Massacre
With the mass resignations of top prosecutors in DC and Manhattan over the Trump DOJ’s politicized handling of the prosecution of NYC Mayor Eric Adams, the crisis atmosphere at the Justice Department has never been as acute.
After acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove implicitly threatened to can DOJ’s entire Public Integrity Section if no one would file his corrupt motion to dismiss the case against Adams, a veteran prosecutor stepped forward to do the dirty deed and spare his colleagues further repercussions. The wisdom of that decision was dubious, but here we are.
The focus shifts now to U.S. District Judge Dale Ho in Manhattan, who this morning set a hearing for Wednesday afternoon to begin considering DOJ’s motion to dismiss. It does not appear that this will be the dispositive hearing on the motion because Ho wants to use it discuss the procedure for resolving the motion. Ho also ordered the Justice Department to provide proof of its claim that Adams has consented in writing to the dismissal of his case without prejudice, meaning the charges can be refiled at a later date. If there was any doubt that leaving the case hanging over Adams’ head would be a lever for Trump, this unsettling scene played out on national TV.
As I wrote Friday, the combination of the Adams case, the purges of prosecutors and FBI agents, and the dropping of all of the Jan. 6 and Trump cases has brought the Justice Department to the lowest point in its history. As former U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, herself a victim of the 2006-07 U.S. attorneys scandal, writes: “this Justice Department isn’t even pretending to be apolitical anymore.”
And yet … for all that has happened in the first month to tear the Justice Department loose from its moorings, it’s what it will now do as a weaponized arm of the White House that inspires the most dread. Here’s a taste: a Trump White House official asking the Justice Department to investigate a Democratic member of Congress.
Trump’s announcement that he will nominate acting DC U.S. Attorney Ed Martin for the permanent position is a sign of the quality of people we can expect to do the Trump White House’s bidding using the full might and power of the federal government unrestrained by the law.
The Purges
The most sweeping phase of the mass purges of federal workers ramped up Friday and into the weekend against some 200,000 probationary employees, who enjoy lesser levels of civil service protection. The WaPo obtained internal documents that map out an expanding purge over the next six months. Among the reported purge targets:
NIH and other HHS agencies and components;
a key office handling bird flu response;
In an sign of the chaos and haphazard nature of the purges, the Trump administration raced to try to recall fired nuclear safety workers but was struggling to figure out how to reach them.
The Resignations
Alongside the purges are forced resignations or resignations under duress, among them:
Social Security Administration: Michelle King, the acting commissioner who was handpicked by the Trump administration last month, resigned after Elon Musk’s DOGE sought access to American’s sensitive personal data.
National Archives: The acting archivist of the United States and several senior staff members have resigned.
FDA: A top official resigned over the widespread cuts across the agency.
ICYMI
One of the Eric Adams prosecutors in NYC penned a resignation letter for the ages to acting DAG Emil Bove.
White House Claims Elon Musk Does Not Run DOGE
In an overnight filing, the Trump administration has made the incredulous claim to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in DC that Elon Musk is not running DOGE. It doesn’t take much to find contrary evidence:
Chutkan, who held an emergency hearing on Monday, a federal holiday when the courts are usually closed, did not seem inclined to grant a temporary restraining order to rein in DOGE, but did ask for details on the firings of government workers thus far. The Trump DOJ declined to provide that information even after Chutkan asked for it.
DOGE Runs Amok At IRS
TPM’s Hunter Walker: Inside The ‘Bizarre’ Meeting Where DOGE Requested ‘Extensive System Access’ At IRS
WaPo: Musk’s DOGE seeks access to personal taxpayer data, raising alarm at IRS
NYT: Musk Team Seeks Access to I.R.S. System With Taxpayers’ Records
Who Is Pete Marocco?
TPM’s Josh Kovensky: Two Jan. 6 Boosters Are Now Trump Appointees Strangling USAID From The Inside
ProPublica: Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad In Defiance Of US Policy
NYT: In Trump’s War on Foreign Aid, a Loyal Soldier Returns to Battle
Trump Abandons Europe And Embraces Its Far Right
Of all the grim things to happen over the Presidents Day weekend, none will probably have the historical reverberation of America’s abandonment of the international order anchored in Europe:
Vice President JD Vance scolded European leaders and met with the leader of Germany’s far-right party, while declining to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In a neo-colonial move, President Trump tried to strong-arm Ukraine into signing over its mineral wealth as payback for U.S. support against the Russian invasion.
The Trump administration began talks with Russia over Ukraine without the involvement of Ukraine itself or the rest of Europe.
Want better media? Support a better media company!
TPM is reader-funded, unionized, and mission-driven. Read our mission.
Like you, not this content.
Thank you for your courage.
".....a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage." (MacBeth, Act 5, Scene 5)
But so very apropos to Trump's pathetic performances, which are clearly designed to make him look strong--while being weak as used dishwater.