Upheaval in international affairs, more cuts to the federal workforce — and everyday people and politicians speaking out.
Here comes the seventh week of Trump’s second term. Let’s talk about what just happened, and what’s coming next:
What Just Happened 🤔
Trump Versus … Our Leadership
- On Friday, President Trump — with Vice President Vance and other advisors — executed a midday White House ambush of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Tag-teamed by Vice President JD Vance and Trump himself, a heated televised conversation tipped into absurdity when a reporter with right-wing Real America’s Voice asked if Zelenskyy had ‘disrespected the office,” as in the Oval Office, by wearing his customary sweater and pants instead of a suit.
GLENN: Why don’t you wear a suit? You’re at the highest level in this country’s office & you refuse to wear a suit. A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the office.
ZELENSKYY: I will wear a costume after this war will finish. Maybe something like yours. Maybe something better.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 28, 2025 at 1:22 PM
One could wonder if Trump-supporting media will ever ask the same question of Elon Musk:
“Why don’t you wear a suit?”
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell.com) February 28, 2025 at 1:38 PM
The bigger picture is that the break represents not just the U.S. taking sides with Russia, but the signaling of an order in which the U.S. aligns with Russia — whose economy is not even among the ten largest in the world — at the expense of America’s traditional, democratic, much wealthier allies.
… Our Wallets
- The Social Security Administration (SSA) rolled out plans to axe 15 percent of its workforce, or about 7,000 employees, in the process closing a substantial number of the field offices used by pensioners and other recipients of Social Security benefits for obtaining assistance with questions or problems. Two dozen senior officials at SSA left the organization as the news was announced.
… Our Health
- Trump and Musk’s allies in the House of Representatives gave preliminary approval to a plan to slash Medicaid — a health-insurance plan that covers millions of people — through a 217-215 vote. The size of the cut, which could leave 20 million people without coverage, was set in order to make money available for a massive tax cut for billionaires.
… Our Safety
- While a worse-than-usual flu season burdens hospitals, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) canceled an early March meeting where scientists planned to choose which strains of flu the 2025-26 season’s vaccines should protect against. Because production of enough flu shots for the U.S. population takes six months, the action by HHS — which is led by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — could leave Americans with even less protection next winter against the sometimes deadly disease.
… Our Families
- Workers at the Department of Education received an email on Feb. 28 that warned of “very significant layoffs.” A buyout offer included in the email gave employees of the department — which helps to improve approaches to schooling and ensure equal access for students with disabilities and learning differences — until Monday to decide whether to leave or risk the loss of their job.
… Our Rights
- The Department of Homeland Security has permitted itself to snoop on Americans on the basis of the sexual orientation or gender identity — eliminating a civil-rights safeguard against government intimidation of LGBTQ+ people and organizations. (Speaking of government intimidation: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed to have fired 100 transgender intelligence officers after their communications on a platform operated by the National Security Agency were leaked to, and published on Elon Musk-owned X, by a racist and transphobic firebrand.)