This looks like pretty sweet revenge for the Tucker Carlson-Nick Fuentes imbroglio: The Heritage Foundation has a released a report highly critical of Trump's deportation policy

"You tarnish us, we'll tarnish you. And after all we've done for you, too."

 

 ... Howell, a former Homeland Security official in the first Trump administration, criticizes the lack of data being shared by DHS to back up its claims that 600,000 deportations will be carried out by the end of the year. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the main agency responsible for these removals, has stopped publishing the monthly data to show this progress. There hasn't been a monthly release since Trump took office. "Without access to the data, it is impossible to ascertain how the DHS is supporting its varying claims of deportation and self-deportation numbers," the report says. ...

More.

Even at 600k per year, the Trump administration will fall short of removing 11 million illegal aliens by 8.6 million by the time it is over.

And they'll waste $85 billion while doing it.

"The American people voted for mass deportations. They're getting mass communications instead," the report's author Mike Howell tells Axios.

Sounds like the universal blowback against the Trump-Russia plan being jammed down Ukraine's throat has Trump and the administration trying to walk it back and failing miserably

Maybe AXIOS released the plan in the first place to sabotage the whole thing, to which I say Hurrah!

 

 Ukraine peace plan in chaos after Marco Rubio 'told senators Russia had authored proposal'

Marco Rubio was forced on the defensive last night after a bipartisan group of senators claimed he told them the US's peace plan for Ukraine was authored by Russia.

The US Secretary of State denied their account, with a spokesman calling it "blatantly false", but the dispute threatens to derail President Trump's push for a peace deal to be achieved this week.

Rubio took the extraordinary step of suggesting online that the senators were mistaken, even though they said he was their source for the information. 

The secretary of state doubled down on the assertion that Washington was responsible for a proposal, which has faced push back in Europe for being so favorable to Moscow.

The widely leaked 28-point US-backed peace plan was, according to the White House, the result of a month of work between Rubio and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff along with input from what it said was both Ukrainians and Russians. 

The plan accepts many Russian demands that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory. 

Trump says he wants Ukraine to accept the plan by late next week.

"This administration was not responsible for this release in its current form," said Republican Mike Rounds from South Dakota, speaking at a security conference in Canada. "They want to utilize it as a starting point."

Rounds said "it looked more like it was written in Russian to begin with." ...

Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesperson, said the senators' account was "blatantly false." ...

More:

U.S. senators say Rubio told them Trump’s Ukraine peace plan is Russia’s ‘wish list.’ Rubio denies it

 

There's nothing organic about Trump's stupid, offensive 28-point Ukraine peace plan, unless burying Ukraine to decompose it is the goal

Trump's stupid November 2016 Contract With The American Voter had 28 points, too, remember?

The first thing on that list was "impose term limits on all members of Congress" and the last ten things started with the words "work with Congress".

This peace plan is just the banal repurposing of that template, same as with Gaza, filled with more surrender to Russia Russia Russia and more Pie In The Sky than gramma can bake.

The unseriousness is off the charts.

AXIOS had the scoop here:

The full plan

1. Ukraine's sovereignty will be confirmed.

[What, like the 1994 Budapest Memorandum ROFLMAO?]

2. A comprehensive non-aggression agreement will be concluded between Russia, Ukraine and Europe. All ambiguities of the last 30 years will be considered settled.

[LOL, they're going to wave a magic wand and start over with a blank slate. Cue Burt The Invisible from Soap.]

3. It is expected that Russia will not invade neighboring countries and NATO will not expand further. 

[Sure, sure. In your dreams, pal. This was definitely written by Trump at 3AM]

4. A dialogue will be held between Russia and NATO, mediated by the United States, to resolve all security issues and create conditions for de-escalation in order to ensure global security and increase opportunities for cooperation and future economic development.

[ALL issues, lol.] 

5. Ukraine will receive reliable security guarantees.

[Like from God maybe?]

• A U.S. official told Axios this would be an explicit security guarantee for Ukraine from the U.S., the first time that has officially been on the table during these talks, though the proposal does not offer further details on what it entails.

6. The size of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be limited to 600,000 personnel.

[I'll take Nation Building for $1,000, Alex.]

• Note: Ukraine's army currently has 800,000-850,000 personnel, and had around 250,000 before the war, according to a Ukrainian official.

7. Ukraine agrees to enshrine in its constitution that it will not join NATO, and NATO agrees to include in its statutes a provision that Ukraine will not be admitted in the future.

[Ukraine misbehaved in class and has to write "I will not join NATO" on the blackboard 100 times after school.] 

8. NATO agrees not to station troops in Ukraine.

[Watch me herd cats!] 

• Note: NATO countries including France and the U.K. have been working on separate proposals that would include small numbers of European troops on Ukrainian soil after the war. This plan appears to disregard that possibility.

9. European fighter jets will be stationed in Poland.

[There are no European fighter jets.] 

10. The U.S. guarantee: 

[What if Russia launches missiles at Kyiv, which happens every goddamn day?]

• The U.S. will receive compensation for the guarantee;
• If Ukraine invades Russia, it will lose the guarantee;
• If Russia invades Ukraine, in addition to a decisive coordinated military response, all global sanctions will be reinstated, recognition of the new territory and all other benefits of this deal will be revoked;
• If Ukraine launches a missile at Moscow or St. Petersburg without cause, the security guarantee will be deemed invalid.

11. Ukraine is eligible for EU membership and will receive short-term preferential access to the European market while this issue is being considered.

[Do they get frequent flyer miles with that?] 

12. A powerful global package of measures to rebuild Ukraine, including but not limited to:

[All this new spending by a bankrupt country already $38.2 trillion in debt] 

• The creation of a Ukraine Development Fund to invest in fast-growing industries, including technology, data centers, and artificial intelligence.
• The United States will cooperate with Ukraine to jointly rebuild, develop, modernize, and operate Ukraine's gas infrastructure, including pipelines and storage facilities.
• Joint efforts to rehabilitate war-affected areas for the restoration, reconstruction and modernization of cities and residential areas.
• Infrastructure development.
• Extraction of minerals and natural resources.
• The World Bank will develop a special financing package to accelerate these efforts.

13. Russia will be reintegrated into the global economy:

[Russia will never pay for its war crimes in Ukraine.] 

• The lifting of sanctions will be discussed and agreed upon in stages and on a case-by-case basis.
• The United States will enter into a long-term economic cooperation agreement for mutual development in the areas of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data centers, rare earth metal extraction projects in the Arctic, and other mutually beneficial corporate opportunities.
• Russia will be invited to rejoin the G8. 

14. Frozen funds will be used as follows:

[The G7 holds $300 billion in frozen Russian assets, hardly enough for the current estimates for rebuilding Ukraine, which run from $524 billion to $1.1 trillion.]

• $100 billion in frozen Russian assets will be invested in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine;
• The US will receive 50% of the profits from this venture. Europe will add $100 billion to increase the amount of investment available for Ukraine's reconstruction. Frozen European funds will be unfrozen. The remainder of the frozen Russian funds will be invested in a separate US-Russian investment vehicle that will implement joint projects in specific areas. This fund will be aimed at strengthening relations and increasing common interests to create a strong incentive not to return to conflict.

15. A joint American-Russian working group on security issues will be established to promote and ensure compliance with all provisions of this agreement.

["Ensure compliance" how?] 

16. Russia will enshrine in law its policy of non-aggression towards Europe and Ukraine.

[Molotov-Ribbentrop anyone?] 

17. The United States and Russia will agree to extend the validity of treaties on the non-proliferation and control of nuclear weapons, including the START I Treaty.

[This peace plan is the everything bagel.]

• Note: New START, the last major U.S.-Russia arms control treaty, is due to expire in February.

18. Ukraine agrees to be a non-nuclear state in accordance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

[This worked out great the last time in 1994, didn't it?] 

19. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant will be launched under the supervision of the IAEA, and the electricity produced will be distributed equally between Russia and Ukraine — 50:50.

[Like Chernobyl, right?] 

20. Both countries undertake to implement educational programs in schools and society aimed at promoting understanding and tolerance of different cultures and eliminating racism and prejudice:

[Mighty woke of you.] 

• Ukraine will adopt EU rules on religious tolerance and the protection of linguistic minorities.
• Both countries will agree to abolish all discriminatory measures and guarantee the rights of Ukrainian and Russian media and education. (Note: Similar ideas were incorporated into Trump's 2020 Israel-Palestine peace plan).
• All Nazi ideology and activities must be rejected and prohibited. [Nick Fuentes most hurt.] 

21. Territories:

[Trump is Chamberlain ceding the Sudetenland to Adolf Hitler in 1938.]

• Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk will be recognized as de facto Russian, including by the United States.
• Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will be frozen along the line of contact, which will mean de facto recognition along the line of contact.
• Russia will relinquish other agreed territories it controls outside the five regions.
• Ukrainian forces will withdraw from the part of Donetsk Oblast that they currently control, and this withdrawal zone will be considered a neutral demilitarized buffer zone, internationally recognized as territory belonging to the Russian Federation. Russian forces will not enter this demilitarized zone.

22. After agreeing on future territorial arrangements, both the Russian Federation and Ukraine undertake not to change these arrangements by force. Any security guarantees will not apply in the event of a breach of this commitment.

23. Russia will not prevent Ukraine from using the Dnieper River for commercial activities, and agreements will be reached on the free transport of grain across the Black Sea.

24. A humanitarian committee will be established to resolve outstanding issues:

• All remaining prisoners and bodies will be exchanged on an 'all for all' basis.
• All civilian detainees and hostages will be returned, including children.
• A family reunification program will be implemented.
• Measures will be taken to alleviate the suffering of the victims of the conflict.

25. Ukraine will hold elections in 100 days.

26. All parties involved in this conflict will receive full amnesty for their actions during the war and agree not to make any claims or consider any complaints in the future.

[In other words there will be no Nuremberg Tribunal for the Butchers of Bucha.] 

27. This agreement will be legally binding. Its implementation will be monitored and guaranteed by the Peace Council, headed by President Donald J. Trump. Sanctions will be imposed for violations.

[Who will head it in 2029?] 

• Note: This is the same general structure Trump proposed to govern the Gaza peace agreement.

28. Once all parties agree to this memorandum, the ceasefire will take effect immediately after both sides retreat to agreed points to begin implementation of the agreement.

 

 

Democrat Jay Jones who advocated violence against police and Republicans and their families wants to be Virginia's next attorney general, opposes qualified immunity same as libertarian Justin Amash

 

Jones Allegedly Said In 2020 That 'A Few Police Officers Dying Would Stop Them From Killing Other People':

"... And I said, ‘that’s insane.’ But he firmly believed that if you removed qualified immunity, that police officers would act differently, and I firmly believe that it would not result in good public policy, and it would put police officers and the public’s lives at risk if they have to second-guess themselves on a decision they’re making in a moment where someone is doing something violent.” ... 

Jay Jones Violent Text Scandal Throws Virginia Dems Into Crisis:

... The texts come days after the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Jones was caught going 116 miles per hour in a 70mph zone in 2022 and did 500 hours of community service at his own political action committee. ... 

All of our problems with Donald Trump are at root theological

 

Trump turned 6-years old when his pastor first published this in 1952

Speaking of reversals, now Jeffrey Epstein did kill himself, clients on list relieved to learn that there is no list

Exclusive: DOJ, FBI conclude Jeffrey Epstein had no "client list," committed suicide

Epstein client list doesn’t exist, DOJ says, walking back theory Bondi promoted

Laura Loomer rips AG Pam Bondi over Epstein files: ‘She was always lying’

 

Jeffrey Epstein had no 'client list,' died by suicide, DOJ and FBI conclude

 

MAGA Demands Pam Bondi’s Head for Falsely Hyping Epstein Client List

 

‘Complete disappointment’: Kash Patel once pushed Epstein conspiracies, now leads Trump’s FBI and dismisses them, but MAGA isn’t buying it

From ‘where's the list?’ to ‘there is no list’: Kash Patel’s Epstein U-turn - Hindustan Times

Trump Issues Statement on Kash Patel and Dan Bongino — As MAGA Torches Them Over Epstein

Elon Musk and Scott Bessent got into a shouting match in the White House last Thursday which included Bessent loudly criticizing Musk for overpromising and under-delivering DOGE cuts

The Treasury Secretary would know, of course, because he has to report income and outlays every month.

One person who witnessed the dispute said:

It was quite a scene. It was loud. And I mean, loud.

The story is here.

Supremes vote 7-2 to pause deportations of Venezuelans

The Trump administration has been bragging that the Supremes let them deport Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which of course is a half-truth. The April 7 decision 5-4 stipulates that due process be followed, which is why they ordered 9-0 the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia who didn't get it, and the Supremes this morning aren't sure that's the case either with the latest group set to be deported.

 

 U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halts deportations of Venezuelan migrants under wartime law

The U.S. Supreme Court early on Saturday paused President Donald Trump’s administration from deporting Venezuelan men in immigration custody after their lawyers said they were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the justices. ...

At issue is whether the Trump administration has met the Supreme Court’s standard for providing the detainees due process before sending them to another country - possibly to the notorious prison in El Salvador where others are jailed. ...

Their deportation would be the first since the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling that allowed removals under the 1798 law while specifying that “the notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.” ...

On March 15, the Trump administration deported more than 130 alleged Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador. Many of the migrants’ lawyers and family members say they were not gang members and had no chance to dispute the government’s assertion that they were. 

 

 

After 38 years, it's time to junk the bedrock idea undergirding conservative economic philosophy of low taxes because IT'S NOT TRUE

 AXIOS today, here:

A bedrock idea of conservative economic philosophy is [the] idea that low taxes fuel economic growth. 

This idea is simply false, and history proves it.

We've had 38 years since the Reagan Tax Reform Act of 1986 to prove it correct and it's not.

Real GDP 1986-2024 has grown at a compound annual rate of 2.586%, a rate 29% worse than for the same length of time before that when taxes were much higher.

Real GDP 1948-1986 grew at a compound annual rate of 3.635%.

Tax reform is a complicated topic, the political subject of the AXIOS article.

I can simplify it for you: Tax like we used to in the immediate post-war.

Nominal marginal rates in 1957 (dollars are NOT adjusted for inflation in the tables), the height of the Baby Boom, went from 20% to 91%.

The set up didn't stop people from marrying, having children, and buying houses, and it didn't stop economic growth, because it forced rich people to avoid these confiscatory marginal rates by investing their money domestically to earn income at lower rates of capital taxation.

Ronald Reagan's tax reform was a license to invest elsewhere, and we're all poorer for it. 

If Democrats had any brains they would propose richly rewarding domestic investment using the tax code and severely punishing foreign investment. They could start by raising top marginal tax rates on ordinary income and offering much lower long term capital gains tax rates de-linked from ordinary income but only for domestic investment.

The country desperately needs much better economic growth, and the libertarian-Republican consensus is not providing it.

 

 

Investment abroad eclipsed investment at home for the first time in 1993 and is 200% of domestic today

A new party of violence in the making?

 "They hate us": Democrats confront their own Tea Party

Various observations after Democrat town halls:

 "Among the things I got [at a town hall] were: 'Will you call for Chuck Schumer to resign?'" the lawmaker said. "Last week I got: 'You need to tell your leadership they had no right rebuking Democrats for being strong at'" Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress.

"Another thing I got was: 'Democrats are too nice. Nice and civility doesn't work. Are you prepared for violence?'"

"The level of exasperation is comparable [to the Tea Party] for sure, even if the issues and policies are very different," said [Jared] Huffman [CA-2]. 

"The base has been pissed off for a while." ...  it "seems to be more widespread" now.

"My constituents have passionately said they are not happy with Democratic leadership. ... They expect more from me and from Democrats in Congress."

"If near unanimity against the Republican CR is not definitive evidence of a party unified in opposition to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, then I am not sure what would be," said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.).

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) told Axios that "no one expressed displeasure with Democrats" during his last two-hour town hall. People are "back to focusing on Musk and Trump," he said.

"All I know is that most folks are pissed, and scared, and they hate this chaos and the blatant corruption of Trump and Musk," said Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio). "Democrats absolutely want leaders who are going to fight back and fix what's broken."

Senator Schumer's surrender to Republicans inflames rank and file Democrats even in their homes

The anger mirrors less visible Republican discontent with its supine leadership for failing to assert Congress' control over the power of the purse and letting Elon Musk run their show.

 

House Dems go into "complete meltdown" as Schumer folds

... "I know I speak for so many in our caucus when I say Schumer is misreading this moment. The Senate Dems must show strength and grit by voting no," said Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.).

... Some House members, in turn, have gotten an earful from constituents. "I have also never had so many people from home personally texting me—ANGRY," said another House Democrat. "I don't think they knew who Chuck Schumer was before today," the lawmaker said. "But they know now and they hate him." ...

Mad King Ludwig declares war on Representative Thomas Massie (KY-4), one of only two Republicans remaining with the gumption to oppose the proposed continuing spending resolution

The other Republican opponent of the CR is Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. He won his 2022 Senate race with 61.8% of the vote and won't need to stand for re-election until 2028 when Trump is history.

Massie is unafraid. He's been there, done that, and is still standing:

 Trump vows to "lead the charge" to unseat GOP Rep. Massie

Defying every norm, Trump is negotiating directly with terrorists again (no, not the ones in Moscow)

 US holding secret talks with Hamas on release of Gaza hostages, 'Post' confirms

... US special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler ... met with senior Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar, several times. These meetings, first reported by Barak Ravid on Axios, mark the first known direct dialogue between Hamas and the US administration since the US designated Hamas as a terrorist organization in 1997.

Such talks run counter to long-standing US policy against direct contact with groups that Washington lists as foreign terrorist organizations. ...

The White House said Boehler has the authority to negotiate directly with Hamas.

“When it comes to the negotiations that you’re referring to, first of all, the special envoy who’s engaged in those negotiations does have the authority,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. ...

Such talks run counter to long-standing US policy against direct contact with groups that Washington lists as foreign terrorist organizations.Such talks run counter to long-standing US policy against direct contact with groups that Washington lists as foreign terrorist organizations.

Republican fantasies about using "current policy" to price the cost of extending the Trump tax cuts at $0 are illegal

House GOP explores alternative math on Trump tax cuts

 ... But the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires that Congress use "current law" to account for how much a tax cut will cost. ...

Yeah, he didn't really though: It was a no apology apology

 Zelensky expresses regret for Oval Office spat with Trump

... "Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive," Zelensky wrote on X. ...

Dictator Trump threatens American students with expulsion for "illegal protests"

Trump threatens federal funds for schools that allow "illegal protests"

 . . . Trump also took aim at American students protesters, who he said will be "permanently expelled" or arrested, "depending on the crime." . . .

You know what to do.

House Republicans everywhere are taking incoming at townhalls and district office protests over DOGE layoffs and cuts, budget bill is full of more of the same

Republicans fear their big budget win is a 2026 time bomb

... Some Republicans already see signs that the backlash to the Trump administration's "efficiency" efforts is spilling over into opposition to their legislative plans. ... Republicans have been barraged the last week and a half by angry constituents at town halls and protests outside their district offices complaining about DOGE's layoffs and cuts to federal programs. ...       

The lone GOP truth-teller is Thomas Massie, who voted against the budget bill because it puts America at least $56 trillion in debt in 10 years, even with the spending cuts.

America needs spending cuts and tax increases, but Republicans are virtually incapable in their DNA of raising taxes.

 

 

Congressional Republicans are unhappy with imprecise and rash spending cuts and personnel reductions, resulting in violations of the law, mistakes, and human carnage in their districts and states

 Trump faces growing DOGE revolt from GOP lawmakers

... "We all want efficiencies, there is a way to do it, and the way these people have been treated has been awful in many cases. Awful." ... some are quietly fuming that their Constitutional role in controlling federal funds could be steamrolled in the process. The House Republican who spoke anonymously warned that many conservatives are "very constitutionalist" and may be inclined to protect Congress' power if forced to do so. "Even though it's our guy in the White House, if there's a lot of executive overreach, we want to protect the institution of Congress," they said. ...

Trump's European-style coalition cabinet is full of liberals and conservatism is dead LOL, says tormented son of a member of the John Birch Society

 

 A pro-abortion RFK Jr. at HHS. A pro-union Chavez-DeRemer at Labor. Lefty Democrat Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. And gay George Soros adviser Scott Bessent at Treasury. 

The team represents the Trump worldview: Traditional conservatism is dead — and its biggest, lifelong advocates neutered to the point of irrelevance.          

Mike Allen of AXIOS reminds me of no one so much as George W. Bush: "There is no conservative movement. I redefined the Republican Party".

I think Mike is in a perpetual state of PTSD because his father was a John Bircher.

Donald Trump's problem is that no real conservative wants to be associated with his lame duck brand, so he's got to find people SOMEWHERE to serve in his hapless administration. Might as well be lefties and liberals and Jeb Bush retreads like Pam Bondi at the Department of Justice after the Gaetz flameout.

Meanwhile, Donald J. Trump and George W. Bush are exactly the same person, except Georgie actually got more than 49.83% of the vote.

 

75+ million votes already cast

 Nearly half of 2020's electorate have already cast ballots in 2024

Around 100 million people voted early, either in person or via mail, in 2020. ... Of those who have cast their vote so far in states that report party registration data, Democrats hold a slight lead — 37.9% to 36.2% — per [University of Florida Election Lab's] count.