Trump II’s North Star
The Trump administration has been using the president’s cruel mass deportation visions as a vehicle to, also, crack down on the residents of blue cities across the U.S. who did not vote for him. It’s a pattern we’ve seen play out almost daily, whether via selective National Guard occupations or ICE raids, since the start of his second term.
But administration officials have increasingly also found more mundane and creative ways to make retribution against Democrats the primary focus of Trump’s second term.
His Office of Budget and Management Director Russ Vought used the historically lengthy government shutdown last year — during which Democrats withheld their votes to fund the government to demand Republicans help them come up with a solution for the Obamacare subsidies that, at the time, were set to expire (they’ve since expired) — to freeze billions in federal funding for key infrastructure projects in New York and clean energy funds for 16 other Democratic-run states (a federal judge just ordered the clean energy money reinstated this month).
Most recently, the retribution crusade against civilians and elected officials who dare oppose his presidency has gotten even more experimental and disjointed. At the start of the year, Trump administration officials seized on ongoing, legitimate social service fraud investigations in Minnesota as justification for unleashing thousands of ICE agents there, terrorizing immigrant families and clashing with protesters while claiming to be cracking down on undocumented violent criminals and scammers. Trump officials are currently in the process of creating a new executive branch fraud enforcement arm that will be run out of the White House, which is expected to investigate supposed fraud in blue states’ use of federal funding.
Earlier this month, Trump declared in a speech that any states that have sanctuary policies or jurisdictions — communities that provide safe spaces and resources for undocumented immigrants who are working their way through the immigration legal system — will lose federal funding. The Department of Health and Human Services also announced this month that it was freezing $10 billion in social services funding for five blue states, also under the guise of rooting out supposed fraud. (After the states sued, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, which has allowed the states to continue to receive funds, for now.)
Things escalated further on Thursday. RealClearPolitics and CNN were first to report that Trump’s Office of Management and Budget has ordered all federal departments and agencies, except the Defense Department and the VA, to review federal funding for 13 blue states and Washington, D.C. The states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state and then also D.C.
The Office of Management and Budget memo, which was reviewed by CNN, requests detailed spending information to “facilitate efforts to reduce the improper and fraudulent use of those funds.” Notably, the effort “does not involve withholding funds,” the memo says and is “part of a “data-gathering exercise.”
…
The memo directs agencies to include in their spending reports all grants, loans, contracts, subcontracts and “other monetary awards” provided to 13 states and Washington, DC. All of the states voted for Democratic nominee and former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and 12 of the 13 states have Democratic governors. A fourteenth Democratic-led state has since been included in the review, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The crackdown on dissent continues to be Trump II’s raison d’être.
— Nicole LaFond
Jack Smith Expects To Be Indicted
During his first public defense of his Jan. 6 prosecution of President Trump, former special counsel Jack Smith said he believes he will eventually face the same treatment as Trump’s other political enemies. When asked during a congressional hearing whether he thinks the Trump DOJ will “find some way” to indict him, he said, yes.
“I believe they will do everything in their power to do that because they have been ordered to by the president,” Smith said.
“I think the statements are meant to intimidate me,” he continued, referencing Trump’s social media attacks. “I will not be intimidated. I think these statements are also made as a warning to others — what will happen if they stand up.”
“We followed the facts and we followed the law and that process resulted in proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed serious crimes,” he said. “I’m not going to pretend that didn’t happen because he’s threatening me.”
— Nicole LaFond
Maryland Could Be Closer to Redistricting
In what might soon be another blow to the Trump administration’s nationwide gerrymandering pressure campaign to help Republicans keep the U.S. House, Maryland’s Redistricting Advisory Commission voted on Tuesday to recommend a new congressional map. If approved, the new map would likely flip the state’s only Republican district into a Democratic-leaning one.
“At a moment when other states are moving aggressively to redraw maps, and when fundamental voting rights protections face renewed threats, Maryland has a responsibility to lead with urgency,” U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), who is the chair of the commission, said in a statement.
“Our goal is to ensure our congressional delegation reflects the will of the people, protects representation for historically underrepresented communities, and gives Marylanders a Congress that can serve as a real check on this President,” she added.
Democratic Gov. Wes Moore announced the creation of the five-person Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission in November. The proposal will now go to the Democratic-controlled state legislature for a vote.
The initiative, like Dem-led redistricting efforts in Virginia and California, was launched as a way to offset the damage of Trump’s months-long gerrymandering blitz in red states throughout the country.
The fate of Maryland’s proposal remains unclear, as the initiative continues to face opposition in the state Senate despite Democrats having the majority. In a letter from October, first reported by Politico, Senate president Bill Ferguson acknowledged that “redistricting is at the core of this fight because of President Trump’s actions,” but he said that redistricting could also be “catastrophic” for the state.
“Despite deeply shared frustrations about the state of our country, mid-cycle redistricting for Maryland presents a reality where the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined,” he wrote.
— Khaya Himmelman
In Case You Missed It
Still no tariffs ruling: What Does It Mean That SCOTUS Hasn’t Ruled on IEEPA Tariffs? Nothing, Experts Said.
Morning Memo: Secret Internal Memo Exposes the Scale of ICE’s Lawlessness
How ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Avoided Prison, Thanks to One of the ‘Friends of Trump’
Where Things Stand: House Dems Rally Against DHS Funding Bill, But the Senate Is Where the Real Fight Happens
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Kavanaugh: Trump’s Position Would ‘Weaken If Not Shatter The Independence Of The Federal Reserve’
What We Are Reading
An Anonymous DC National Guardsman Tells All
A Government Of Influencers, By Influencers, For Influencers
Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez assured US of cooperation before Maduro’s capture
