The Awkward Truth About Trump, Musk, and Kids With Cancer

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-awkward-truth-about-trump-musk-and-kids-with-cancer/

Before honoring a 13-year-old survivor in his address to Congress, President Trump joined Elon Musk in cutting funds for pediatric cancer research and treatment.

“Democrats reminded us they are the party of insanity and hate—they could not even clap for a child,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X following the address.

Afterwards, Democrats reminded everybody who questioned the decision that this was a president who had been joined by Musk in cutting funds for pediatric cancer research and treatment. And the Democrats did not forget that Trump had pardoned those who injured 138 cops on Jan. 6 while assaulting the very building where Trump now honored this brave youngster in a cut-to-size police uniform.

“That said, if the president is going to help kids with cancer, granting DJ Daniel an honorary Secret Service agent position is not going to do it.”

She suggested Trump could start by releasing and fully restoring the NIH research grants he had frozen, without cutting the provisions for necessary administrative costs.

“And he could stop talking about Medicaid cuts,” she continued. “Half of all kids in the United States are on Medicaid. It’s going to really hurt seriously ill children if we cut Medicaid.”

Trump’s Embrace of Putin Has Germany Thinking of Nuclear Weapons

 https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/germany-nuclear-weapons-trump-956f9d10

President Trump’s embrace of Russia is causing Europeans to rethink their security and giving currency to an idea the U.S. has long sought to avoid: a nuclear-armed Germany.

Friedrich Merz, who is poised to become Germany’s next chancellor, said Berlin should start talks about expanding the French and British nuclear deterrents to cover Europe, according to an interview the conservative politician did with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung weekly.

Netanyahu was not aware of US-Hamas talks

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not informed ahead of time that the US was holding direct talks with the Hamas terror group on the next stages in a potential deal, the Washington Post reported.

According to the report, Israel fumed at US President Donald Trump's decision, saying that holding direct talks with the terror group on the matter of the hostages' release violates the ethical code of conduct on the matter and harms Israel.

Diplomatic sources told the Post that Netanyahu was caught by surprise when he saw reports about the process, and that he was not updated through official channels before the talks took place.

Nuclear Warning for Donald Trump

 https://www.newsweek.com/nuclear-weapons-atomic-donald-trump-nato-russia-ukraine-iran-korea-war-2040910

Trump has said he wants denuclearization along with Russia and China, saying on Thursday "it would be great if everybody would get rid of their nuclear weapons."

But Europe has been shaken by the Trump administration's approach to security, with countries openly questioning the future of the U.S.-dominated North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that they had seen as their main protection for decades.

Not only has Trump become much closer to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and shown an apparent readiness for concessions to end the Ukraine war that European countries oppose, but his administration has also challenged them to increase their defense spending and appeared ready to reduce U.S. troop numbers in Europe. Then there have been his threats against Panama and his view that the United States should take over Greenland—if not make Canada the 51st state, too.

U.S. allies such as Japan in South Korea in Asia and also those in the Middle East are watching closely and questioning how far they can count on American power to defend them.

"You have discussion already in Europe and interest in nuclear options in countries like South Korea. I think most of them would hedge their bets and watch," said Lukasz Kulesa, director of Proliferation and Nuclear Policy at Britain's Royal United Services Institute think tank.

As Trump pivots to Russia, allies weigh sharing less intel with U.S.

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-pivots-russia-allies-weigh-sharing-less-intel-us-rcna194420

Members of the so-called Five Eyes spy alliance, as well as Israeli and Saudi officials, fear the identities of foreign assets could inadvertently be shared with Moscow.

The allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and members of the so-called Five Eyes spy alliance of English-speaking democracies, are examining how to possibly revise current protocols for sharing intelligence to take the Trump administration’s warming relations with Russia into account, the sources said.

Trump administration’s direct talks with Hamas break an old taboo

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/03/06/hamas-talks-trump-gaza-netanyahu/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not informed of the talks before they took place and was caught off guard, said an Israeli with knowledge of the matter.

Netanyahu was not informed of the talks through official channels before they took place and was caught off guard, said an Israeli with knowledge of the matter. Separately, an Israeli official said that if Trump were to secure the release of U.S. hostages but not Israeli citizens, the issue could cause embarrassment for the prime minister domestically. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.

“Any negotiation, mainly direct negotiation, provides Hamas with a broader layout or space of maneuver as well as legitimacy. Furthermore, it enables Hamas to manipulate and play between Israel and the U.S.,” said Kobi Michael, a former head of the Palestinian desk at Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs and now a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

America-Led Spy Network Risks Collapse Over Trump-Russia Fears

 https://www.newsweek.com/america-led-spy-network-risks-collapse-over-trump-russia-fears-2039941

This Anglophone intel-sharing arrangement, dubbed the Five Eyes, has seen its members through the many decades since, an elaborate web of intelligence capabilities pitted against threats they all agree pose a danger.

But in a matter of days, U.S. President Donald Trump and his top officials have shredded the order, and the consensus, that has dominated for 80 years. Upending U.S. foreign policy, slapping tariffs north of the border and splattering America's allies with disdain, the new administration quickly had those relying on Washington asking whether they can trust the U.S. to provide vital, and sensitive, capabilities.

Little is more sensitive than the Five Eyes, its gaze long fixed on Moscow and Beijing. It is, in short, the "most important intelligence sharing agreement in history," said Calder Walton, a historian specializing in national security and intelligence at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Some are now actively discussing reeling in the intelligence they share with the U.S. because of the administration's Russia stance, NBC reported on Thursday, citing four anonymous sources with knowledge of the debates.

As it stands, Putin "could not dream of doing better than having the Five Eyes alliance undermined and sabotaged from within," Walton said. "Whether Trump knows it or not, he's doing Putin's bidding for him."

Trump’s Tariffs Are No ‘Emergency’

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-tariffs-emergency-power-ieepa-trade-mexico-canada-33e2739a?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

The President invokes a law that doesn’t give him power to impose sweeping tariffs. Someone should sue.

President Trump delayed his Mexico-Canada tariffs again on Thursday—this time for another month. He’s treating the North American economy as a personal plaything, as markets gyrate with each presidential whim. It’s doubtful Mr. Trump even has the power to impose these tariffs, and we hope his afflatus gets a legal challenge.

The Constitution gives power over trade to Congress, which for most of U.S. history wrote tariff law. That changed after the catastrophe of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff, as Congress said stop us before we kill the economy again and ceded authority to the President to negotiate bilateral trade deals. It ceded more power after World War II.

Trump wildly exaggerates trade deficits with Canada, Mexico, China and the EU

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/06/politics/us-trade-tariffs-trump-fact-check/index.html

President Donald Trump has for years wildly exaggerated the size of US trade deficits with various other countries. Now, as Trump cites those trade deficits as a key justification for his tariff policies, newly released federal statistics show just how wrong Trump’s numbers are.

Trump, who on Tuesday imposed 25% tariffs on almost all imports from Canada (10% on energy), has repeatedly said this year that the US has a “$200 billion” trade deficit with Canada – sometimes making the claim explicitly and sometimes using vaguer language about a supposed $200 billion subsidy or loss to Canada.

Trump’s number is not even close to correct. The new federal statistics show the 2024 deficit with Canada in goods and services trade was $35.7 billion, down from $40.6 billion in 2023.

Pentagon official posted neo-Nazi talking point about Jewish lynching victim Leo Frank last year

 https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-844884

Kingsley Wilson, appointed in January to be deputy press secretary at the Pentagon, last year tweeted a neo-Nazi talking point about Jewish lynching victim Leo Frank.

The post came amid a flood of far-right social media content by the Trump administration appointee, who previously worked at an organization founded by the architect of Project 2025, the Christian conservative blueprint for a Trump White House. Many of Wilson’s posts, which remain online, reflect antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The one about Frank has resurged in recent years. Frank was a factory manager in Georgia who was convicted on thin evidence of killing a 13-year-old girl, Mary Phagan, and was sentenced to death.

Trump's refugee ban is keeping out 700 persecuted Iranian Jews

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-845061

Trump had said during his presidential campaign that he would end refugee resettlement on day one, so the executive order didn’t come as a surprise for HIAS. 

“We knew this was coming, so we tried very hard to promote exceptions, particularly for Iranian religious minorities,” Mark Hetfield, the president of HIAS, said in an interview, recalling the period preceding Trump’s inauguration. “We tried it through every channel we could. We reached out to people who had good relationships with the Trump team.”

Trump defends direct US-Hamas talks as Israel seethes, attempts to sabotage them

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-defends-direct-us-hamas-talks-as-israel-seethes-attempts-to-sabotage-them/

US President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his administration’s unprecedented direct negotiations with Hamas, saying they were being conducted for the benefit of Israel and in order to secure the release of Israeli hostages.

Jerusalem is not happy about the direct US-Hamas talks, though, a government official told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity. Accordingly, Israel was behind Wednesday’s media leak about the negotiations’ existence, the official said, confirming reporting in the Ynet news site.

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