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February 16, 2025
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
1) It's been 499 days since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on Simchat Torah and murdered 1,200 people (including 44 Americans). More Jews were murdered on that day than on any day since the Holocaust. Hamas wounded 3,300 and took 251 hostage during a day of brutal savagery and sexual violence.
2) Sagui Dekel-Chen, an American citizen, was released yesterday, along with Sasha Trufanov and Yair Horn. The 73 remaining hostages include five Americans. Edan Alexander is the only remaining American believed to be alive. Hamas holds the bodies of Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Judi Weinstein Haggai, and Gad Haggai.
3) Democrats condemned Trump's "illegal and immoral" Gaza proposal.
4) Senate confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence is a boost for Trump's Make Russia Great Again foreign policy.
5) JD Vance made a performative visit to Dachau and then, having learned nothing, met with the leader of Germany's far-right political party--the same party that Musk urged Germans to support in their upcoming election.
6) The U.S. is on the path toward authoritarianism and half the country doesn't care. But we do, and we cannot accept this as inevitable.
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Hi Steve,
Hamas released three more hostages yesterday: Sagui Dekel-Chen, an American citizen, Sasha Trufanov, and Iair Horn.
In January, Trump warned that “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if Hamas did not release the hostages in Gaza by the time he was inaugurated. January 20 came and went.
Last week, Trump said that if the all hostages were not returned by yesterday at noon he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and letting “all hell break loose.” Hamas holds 73 hostages in Gaza today.
The only "hell" is the one that the remaining hostages are living: severe torture at the hands of Hamas.
Trump talks a good game. It means nothing unless he follows through on the groundwork laid by the Biden-Harris administration to achieve the current phase of hostage releases and win the freedom of all of the hostages.
If he does, we will give him the credit he deserves. If he doesn't, then we'll know that his manipulative rhetoric was nothing more than a ploy to distract us from the damage he is doing to our country and our world.
Trump should take his idiotic Gaza real estate deal off the table and heed the advice of more than two-thirds of the Democratic House members, who wrote in a letter to Trump spearheaded by Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) that Trump should retract his comments and "rather than pursue the illegal and immoral path you have proposed ... work with Israel, as well as regional and global partners, to uphold the ceasefire agreement and bring all of the hostages home."
Or maybe these members of Congress should have addressed their letter to Unelected Acting President Musk. Remember when we all voted for him?
Trump's Make Russia Great Again foreign policy got a boost with the confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard. Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, shares Putin's views on Ukraine. Israeli officials previously raised concerns that Trump shared highly classified Israeli intelligence with Russia during his first term. Let's hope Gabbard does not do the same.
Every Republican except Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted to confirm her last week. Every Democrat voted against her. So much for Republicans as the party of national security. So much for Republicans as a pro-Israel party. So much for the Republican Party as a party our allies can count on.
JD Vance made a performative visit to Dachau. Before his visit, Nexus Project head Jonathan Jacoby said in a statement to Vance, "in the name of my mother, who survived the concentration camps, until you condemn the many connections to neo-Nazis in your new administration, please stay off of the sacred ground upon which our parents and grandparents were slaughtered."
After Vance visited Dachau, Joel Swanson wrote a powerful piece that applies to any bigot who visits Holocaust sites: "A trip to Auschwitz or Dachau isn’t some instant cure for antisemitism. It does not wipe away years of bigotry and far-right sympathies in some blinding flash of moral enlightenment."
As if to prove that Jacoby and Swanson were right, Vance then met with the head of Germany's AfD party, which Musk urged German voters to support in the upcoming election.
According to the ADL, the Alternative for Germany party is "an extremist, anti-immigrant party whose aim is 'to eliminate the free democratic basic order,' according to a 2023 report by the German Institute for Human Rights. AfD leaders have made antisemitic, anti-Muslim and anti-democratic statements."
That's who Vance met with and who Musk urged German voters to support. I can't imagine why.
Does democracy in America stand a chance? Half the country, like our cousins in the primate world, couldn't care less about democracy as long as their bellies are full. A strong ruler who takes care of them and protects them, or more accurately, who leads them to believe that they are taking care of them and protecting them, is all they want. They'd rather spend their time watching videos or thinking about sports than worrying about who to vote for.
With the confirmation of anti-vaxxer RFK Jr., disease and mortality rates will go up. Trump supporters won't blame Trump, nor will they blame him for anything else that he and Musk break. That's not how cults work. If the state-controlled media they consume tells them what's happening, they'll blame anyone but Trump. They'll say it was Biden's fault or they'll say it has to get worse before it gets better.
We are on the path toward American authoritarianism but what did you think of the Super Bowl halftime show?
Trump is losing in court. What will happen when some of these cases get to the Supreme Court, which is packed with partisan hacks loyal to Trump, not the Constitution? What if Trump ignores court rulings?
Vice President JD Vance said, “When the courts stop you, stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say, ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’”
That's not what Jackson said, but more importantly, Vance is wrong about how our country was designed to work. When a right-wing influencer asked on social media, "Since when does a judge have the power to override the President?" Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) gave the right answer, the answer every American should know: Since February 24, 1803.
What you can do now is make calls. Call your representative in the House and call your senators. If they are Democrats, tell them you want opposition, not making nice. Tell them it's not their job to make Republicans' job easier by bailing them out of a budget crisis that they can't solve within their caucus. It's their job to hold firm until Republicans summon the courage to represent the people, not Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
If they are Republicans, tell them to read the oath they swore when they took office. Ask if they see "Trump" or "Musk" anywhere in that oath. Remind them that they work for you, not Trump, Musk, or Putin. Some Republicans privately say that they know what Trump is doing is wrong. They need our support and encouragement to do what they know is right.
But what happens if Trump disregards judicial decisions? The Republican-controlled Congress will not impeach him, let alone convict him. No one knows. It's the shriek of the fox, writes David Rothkopf.
In the meantime, we have to do all we can within the rules of the game to stop Trump and Musk before they throw out all the rules. If we lose hope, we lose everything. E.J. Dionne Jr. has some good ideas.
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention. In last week's newsletter I omitted a word that would have made a sentence clearer and I referred to James Bouie instead of Jamelle Bouie.
In Case You Missed It:
1) Ilan Goldenberg: What the horrible hostage release videos say about an important Israeli failure. If you don't know who Ilan Goldenberg is, read this--all of it--and you'll see why I cite him so often.
2) Frank Bruni recaps how Susan Collins and her cowardly GOP caucus bowed down to Trump on his unqualified nominees. Ruth Marcus writes that as Trump grabs power, GOP lawmakers are sitting on their hands.
3) Anne Applebaum shows that the tactics Trump and Musk are using mirror regime changes in other former democracies.
4) Timothy Snyder writes that "Trump is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. The wolves can tell the difference. Russians will naturally think that they can get still more."
5) Fact Check: Trump says DOGE found "tens of billions" in savings. Not even close.
6) David Litt on reaching out to RFK Jr., supporters--how and why Democrats must do it.
7) This patriotism: Read Hagan Scotten's resignation letter. Read about Hagan Scotten.
Social Post of the Week. Randall Munroe.
Thread of the Week. Stuart Stevens on why it's unfair to compare Republican politicians to the politicians who ushered in Hitler. Trump might be selling out Ukraine to Putin, but as David Frum writes, don't compare Trump to Neville Chamberlain.
Video Clip of the Week. In honor of Vance's visit to Germany, Norm Macdonald.
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. You Wear It Well.
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I periodically update my posts on why Democrats are better than Republicans on Israel and antisemitism and on the IHRA definition of antisemitism. My definition of "pro-Israel" is here (it's a work in progress, as am I).
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