Today in Politics, Bulletin 102. 3/31/25

Ron Filipkowski

Mar 31

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… Some House Republicans put up ‘Wanted’ posters outside their offices with the faces of federal judges on them who have made rulings against the Trump Admin. Rep. Jamie Raskin angrily condemned it in a committee hearing: “I call on my colleagues to take down the wanted posters with judge’s faces on them outside of offices. Temper their discourse when it comes to judges who are just doing their jobs.”

… Rep. Jim McGovern: “This was in front of Rep. Ogles office. Wanted poster of judges. It says, ‘Known Get-Trump Judicial Activists Wanted’. This is the kind of stuff we are asking that there be universal condemnation about. This is threatening to these judges. Can we get some agreement that members should have to take these down?”

… Elon Musk held a big rally for his paid voters for WI Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel. It was his usual nonsense of whining about being a victim, how evil Democrats are, and hyperbolic rants about how human civilization will end if his candidate doesn’t win.

… Musk was heckled and booed by protesters at the beginning of his speech, and he claimed that George Soros paid them to be there: “It was inevitable at least a few Soros operatives would be in the audience. Give my regards to George. Say hi to George for me.”

… Ironic considering every single person in the audience was paid $100 by Elon to be there.

… It turns out that the first recipient of Musk’s $1 million vote buying scam just so happened to be the President of the Wisconsin College Republicans. But Musk claims the winners are chosen totally at random by lottery. Although nobody is present when this supposedly random lottery takes place.

… Musk was asked by an attendee when those DOGE checks are going to be sent out to taxpayers from all the money he is saving the government uncovering fraud: “It’s up to the congress and the president, you know, as to whether specific checks are cut.”

… Go figure. People in the audience who have all been paid $100 for their vote now want government checks from Musk. Musk is starting his own new MAGA welfare program.

… Rep. Jasmine Crockett: “MAGA: Million dollar give aways in elections - that sounds good! ALSO MAGA: don’t give water to people standing in long lines in the heat - that’s election fraud. Maybe if the water is worth millions, that will be acceptable. Go vote, WISCONSIN!!!!”

… Musk: “When the US was formed, there were only secretary of state, secretary of war, secretary of the treasury and attorney general. That was it. If it were up to me, I would say let's make it like that again.”

… Musk on the WI judicial election: “l feel like it's one of those things that may not seem like it will affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will. This might decide the future of America and Western Civilization."

… At 3:25 AM this morning, Musk rolled out a new scam: “Easiest money you ever made! You don’t even need to be from Wisconsin, you just need to get people in the state to hold a picture of Brad Schimel (can be on a phone/device or paper) in one hand and go thumbs up with the other hand. Every time you do that you get $20 and they get $20. You could make over $1000 in one day just by getting out the vote in Wisconsin!”

… Musk’s 4th baby-momma Ashley St. Claire was interviewed by the Daily Mail at a dealership as she was selling her Tesla. “I’m selling it because I need to make up for the 60% cut that Elon made to our son’s child support. That’s his modus operandi when women speak out.”

… Musk posted a response to the video: “I don’t know if the child is mine or not, but am not against finding out. No court order is needed. Despite not knowing for sure, I have given Ashley $2.5M and am sending her $500k/year.”

… My nominee for Father of the Year.

… Tesla stock finished with their worst quarter since 2022, down 36% in Q1 of 2025.

… Trump was asked how long he expects Musk to be working in his Admin: “I think he's amazing but he has a big company to run. At some point he'll be going back.”

… Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) was asked about Trump’s comments yesterday that there may be a way for him to run for a 3rd term: "As a Republican, I and many others would not be open to the idea of Barack Obama running for a third term. So I think folks have to be careful here."

… Fox’s Pete Doocy to Trump today: If you were allowed for some reason to run for a third term, there is a thought Democrats would try to run Obama against you. Trump: “I would love that.”

… Trump: “Someone said to me the other day who doesn’t know me very well, ‘you’re such a kind person.’ I said, ‘I’ve never heard that before.’ It was a weird statement. I been called a lot of things - but different kind of words.

… Sen. Maj. Leader John Thune to CNN on Trump running again: “He’s probably just having some fun with it, messing with you.”

… France’s right-wing leader Marine Le Pen was convicted of illegally diverting $4.4 million Euros allocated for staff salaries at the EU to representatives of her political party operation. Le Pen was sentenced to 4 years in prison and barred from running for president for 5 years. Even though she will appeal she is still prevented from running for office pending appeal, which is likely to take years.

… Musk responded to the court’s verdict on Le Pen: “When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents. This is their standard playbook throughout the world.”

… Macron beat Le Pen in the last election 59-41%.

… Trump was asked last night if the tariffs he will announce on Wednesday are aimed at 10-15 specific countries that he has previously mentioned at various times: “No, all countries. You would start with all countries.”

… He was asked today if it was going to be a universal tariff for all countries and products, or different tariff rates on individual countries: “Well you're gonna see in two days.”

… Reuters reported that two of our most important trading partners for the past 80 years - Japan and South Korea - have been driven into the arms of China due to uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariff threats. All three countries announced that they agreed to jointly respond to US tariffs in a coordinated way. The 3 countries have not had a formal economic conference in 5 years until now.

… Japan and South Korea are going to import semiconductor raw materials from China, and China will buy chip products from Japan and South Korea. They also agreed to strengthen supply chain cooperation and to "closely cooperate for comprehensive and high-level" talks on a South Korea-Japan-China free trade agreement deal to promote "regional and global trade."

… A global realignment is happening in Europe and Asia on international trade as countries seek to establish new relationships with each other to replace the US. The impact of this will be felt in the US for many years to come.

… Former Rep. Tom Malinowski: “Another example of what happens when you deliberately break the US govt: A massive earthquake hits Burma, and we can longer deploy people and supplies to help. But China already has over 100 rescuers on the ground. Lives and US influence are lost. We'll be feeling this in so many ways at home, as systems we take for granted start breaking down - tax refunds late, no one picking up the phone at Social Security, national parks unattended. And the money saved will only partly pay for the billionaire tax cut these guys want.”

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

… Sen. Mark Kelly on Trump saying he doesn’t care if car prices go up from his tariffs: “When you spend half your time driving around in the Presidential limousine and the other half in a golf cart, of course you don’t care about rising car prices. But most Americans do.”

… Trump was asked if he was worried about stagflation (stagnant growth with inflation): “I haven’t heard that term in years. I don’t know anything about it. This country is going to boom. We’re going to have boomtown. We’re going to boom.”

… I have watched the press conferences and announcements of every single new company, product, and business venture Trump has rolled out since 1980. He said exactly the same thing every single time - it will be the best ever, huge success, everyone is going to make millions, etc. Meanwhile, virtually all of them went out of business as huge failures with everyone losing money except Trump.

… Fox host to Karoline Leavitt: Our new Fox News polling shows that people perhaps are concerned with how things are going. Is the president doing enough on the economy and lowering prices? Leavitt: “The president is working on this every single day.”

… Except for the 19 days he was golfing in Florida in the last 2 months.

… Fox host Larry Kudlow: “I mean, it’s not Trump’s economy until he gets his whole package through. That’s the deal. First quarter is certainly not his economy.”

… Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): “It’s gonna to work but it’s gonna be a slow pain first before we get the gain.”

Today marks the 6 months anniversary of this column, which I started one month before the election. I had hoped when I started this that a big chunk of this March 31 column would be dedicated to Trump’s meals, visitors, and new friends in prison, but alas we are here with all this muck instead. I can still dream that maybe someday, somehow …

… HuffPost reported that Senate Democrats sent a letter to Thune warning of dire consequences if they move forward trying to use an accounting gimmick to show that Trump’s $4 trillion tax cuts having $0 impact on the deficit: “If you and conference go down this road, you will be destroying the last vestige of fiscal discipline left in the reconciliation process. No longer would new tax cuts or spending programs ever need to be offset. The lasting consequences to our national debt will be severe.”

… Polish PM Donald Tusk posted a video message to Trump: “You have friends and trusted allies in Europe - from Portugal to Poland, from Denmark to Greece. Our common European-American interest are a strong US, a strong EU, and a strong NATO - not weaker. Think about it, Mr. President and dear American friends before you decide to impose tariffs against your closest allies. Cooperation is always better than confrontation.”

… Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss Head of Mission, who represents US interests in Tehran, to deliver a warning to the US after Trump’s recent threat to bomb them worse than they have ever been bombed before if they don’t end their nuke program: “Iran will respond decisively and immediately to any threat.” Switzerland has represented the US in Iran since 1979.

… Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said Trump asked him in their recent meeting if Putin could be trusted: "I replied that he couldn't. Trump is quite impatient with Russia's actions, this kind of scheming and delaying regarding the ceasefire. I tried to explain that this is completely normal Russian behavior. First, we negotiate something – and then the conditions are changed once again."

… Trump announced that he has agreed to have a private dinner with Bill Maher after Kid Rock lobbied him to do it: “I really didn’t like the idea much, and don’t like it much now, but thought it would be interesting. The problem is, no matter how much he likes your Favorite President, ME, he will publicly proclaim what a terrible guy I am, very much like the Democrats at my recent Address to the Joint Session of Congress, where I stated, correctly, that no matter what I said or did, they wouldn’t stand, they wouldn’t applaud, they wouldn’t smile or laugh and, certainly, they wouldn’t be in any way ‘nice.’ Who knows, though, maybe I’ll be proven wrong? In any event, I’m doing a favor for a friend.”

… Trump superfan Laura Loomer is pissed: “I will be in LA this Friday for my deposition of Bill Maher. As many of you know, I sued Maher after he falsely accused me of having sex with President Trump. Kid Rock, are you aware that Maher falsely accused me of having sex with POTUS? Maher has refused to issue a retraction. So, I’ll be seeing Bill this Friday in LA. Is Maher going to apologize to President Trump, Melania, and myself? This is outrageous.”

… Loomer’s attorney Larry Klayman says this is a calculated move by Maher to try and get Trump to persuade Loomer to drop her lawsuit: “Bill Maher is to be deposed by me this Friday in Laura Loomer's defamation case, where on HBO he published falsely that Ms. Loomer had ‘fucked’ President Trump. To try to blunt this he wants to meet with Trump in the White House.”

… Musician Ben Folds, who quit the Kennedy Center after Trump took over, says new Chair Ric Grenell is destroying the institution by making it more about politics than art: “I never saw anything like this. Let’s say I get in an artist that has different views than the president. Do they feel safe being themselves? Do they feel safe saying what they believe? They’re not political shows, but you can express what you’d like to. There is an instinct, an authoritarian instinct, that is true in all authoritarian times in history: Take control of the culture, take control of the arts early on.”

… Trump said today that he is considering Grenell as a possible replacement for Elise Stefanik as US Ambassador.

… NY Post reported that Melissa Holyoak, a key Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission, has been working remotely from her home state of Utah, where she continues to live with her husband and 4 children. This comes despite the Trump Admin order that terminated remote work for all fed employees.

… Holyoak has a large office at the FTC’s HQ on Pennsylvania Ave. in DC, but is hardly ever there. One former FTC official: “I would never see her in the office. She would only fly in for the holiday parties.” Another: “I’ve never heard of a commissioner living on the other side of the country. I think it was a weird situation. Most of the staff expected she was going to move to DC. This is a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed position. For someone at that level to phone it in was surprising.”

… Sen. Jon Ossoff is the only Democrat in the Senate running for reelection in 2026 in a state Trump won. That makes him the top target of Republicans. CNN asked him how he feels about his chances: “I have never seen opposition energy like this, from dyed-in-the-wool Democrats to moderate Republicans. I think the president is turning off swing voters by acting so recklessly, by abusing his power.”

… The big question is whether GA Gov Brian Kemp is going to run against him, which would make things even more difficult. Ossoff declined to talk about Kemp but continues to taunt Marge Greene, who has talked about running: “Trump has said that he would back Marjorie Taylor Green to run for Senate. I don't think that she's got the guts to do it.”

… Ossoff would obviously love to run against Greene rather than Kemp, with good reason. But he thinks 2026 will be a great cycle for Dems across the country: “The energy and opposition, I believe, is building toward a landslide victory in 2026. A landslide victory for Democrats across the country.”

… Greene to AJC last month: “Of course I’m considering all possibilities. No decisions have been made, but I would be telling a lie if I didn’t say I wasn’t considering it.”

… SecDef Pete Hegseth, who assured Sen. Joni Ernst that he changed his mind despite repeatedly making statements that women should not have combat roles in the military: “For far too long, we allowed standards to slip and different standards for men and women in combat arms MOSs and jobs. That’s not acceptable. We need to have the same standards for men or women in our combat roles.”

… The thing to watch here is the details. Is Hegseth going to set up these new standards as a pretext to exclude the vast majority of women who serve in combat roles - standards which do not necessarily equate to job performance? We will soon find out. I suspect that is exactly what he is going to do.

… Adelita Grijalva, the daughter of recently deceased Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), announced she is running in the special election to succeed her father.

… Republican nominee Randy Fine to Fox on his closing argument before tomorrow’s special election to replace Mike Waltz: “We're reminding people that President Trump is who asked me to run. We talked about his endorsement. It's the crux of our campaign to make people understand that the Trump agenda is on the line.”

… Fine knows people in his district personally hate him - including Republicans - so he has to argue that they should vote for him anyway because he will be Trump’s proxy in Congress.

… Fine just put $600,000 of his own money into his campaign account as the race has tightened in what Republicans thought would be an easy win in the R+30 district. Fine will still outspend Democrat Josh Weil 4-1 on TV thanks to 3rd party PACs set up to support his campaign.

… Ron Desantis, who hates Fine with a passion, said if the race is much closer than expected people will blame Trump for it, but claims the real problem is Fine: “They’re going to try to lay this at the feet of President Trump. That is not a reflection of President Trump. It is a reflection of the specific candidate running in that race.”

… But Trump recruited Fine to run and endorsed him.

… Desantis also blamed migrants for FL having the highest car insurance rates in the country: “Illegals don’t drive very well.”

… Judge Boasberg set a hearing for this Thursday to determine whether the Trump Admin previously violated his court orders by continuing deportations of people with no due process.

… Reuters reported that the union representing 150,000 govt employees filed a lawsuit to block Trump’s executive order which banned their ability to collectively bargain with government agencies through their unions.

… Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) subpoenaed Director and conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone to testify at her hearing tomorrow on the JFK assassination. She’s always laser focused on the needs of her constituents.

… Luna also resigned from the right-wing House Freedom Caucus today with a lengthy letter stating that she was upset they will not help get her bill passed which would allow 6 weeks of proxy voting for women who have given birth.

… MSNBC reported that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will be in DC on Thursday for a "major speech ... laying out her vision to work with both parties and federal officials to build America's manufacturing might and protect our national defense." Consider this the first speech of her not-yet-announced presidential campaign.

… Russian news agency Interfax reported that Putin has ordered another 160,000 18-30 year old men to be drafted into the military to fight in Ukraine. Russia doesn’t publicly report causualties, but a recent report from a reliable global agency puts Russian soldiers killed at 120,000 with another 180,000 injuries for a total of 300,000 casualties.

… WH Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about the progress of the internal WH investigation of the Signal scandal: “This case has been closed here at the White House as far as we are concerned.”

… Very thorough investigation conducted by Mike Waltz of Mike Waltz.

… Leavitt was just interviewed by the Christian Broadcasting Network: "I certainly believe in spiritual warfare. And I think I saw it firsthand, especially throughout the campaign trail with President Trump. And I think there certainly were evil forces. And I think that the president was saved by the grace of God on July 13th in Butler, PA, and he's in this moment for a reason."

… Trump WH Faith Director Paula White-Cain responded to Leavitt’s statement: “We must pray! Evil hates when God is moving and good is happening.”

… The Christian Post reported that White-Cain is getting some criticism for posting a video on YouTube last week offering people “supernatural blessings” for $1,000 each: "I believe that when you honor God on Passover, you can receive these 7 supernatural blessings for you and your house. God will assign an angel to you. He'll be an enemy to your enemies. He'll give you prosperity. He'll take sickness away from you. He will give you long life. He'll bring increase in inheritance, and He'll give a special year of blessing."

… White-Cain concluded: "You're not doing this to get something, but you're doing it in honor to God - realizing what you can receive for your special Passover offering of $1,000. Or more, as the Holy Spirit leads you."

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