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After the last newsletter, a reader wrote: “Your entire newsfeed has felt like you have to be making every single thing up.”
Today’s no exception. We woke up to find Trump posted something so horrifically racist that even Tim Scott — Trump devotee — called it the most racist thing he’s seen from this White House. Also, the White House is trying to deport 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his family. A Senator released a rare warning to the head of the CIA. Find out more in today’s news, below.
First though: a conversation about what to do when you feel powerless watching masked federal agents roam American streets.
Scott Galloway — NYU professor, Pivot podcast co-host, and proprietor of an ever-growing independent media empire — has an answer: hurt them where it counts. Cancel your subscriptions.
His “Resist and Unsubscribe” campaign asks Americans to exercise economic power by dropping services from the biggest tech players and companies doing business with ICE. The list is here. His theory: “The president doesn’t respond to outrage. He responds to economic signals. When stock prices fall, when GDP looks threatened, all of a sudden we see a very crisp walking back of the president’s plans.”
There’s precedent. In the 1830s, American workers launched general strikes to cut the workday from 14 hours to 10. In 1920, millions of German workers walked off the job to stop a government coup. It worked. In France in 1968, 10 million workers struck and won a 35% minimum wage increase. In Iceland in 1975, 90% of women refused to work, provide childcare, or do housework for 24 hours — and the country passed its first Gender Equality Act.
It would be hard to pull off a weeks-long general strike in the US. There’s no safety net. People need paychecks for healthcare and groceries.
Galloway’s approach is different. It’s targeted, designed to pressure the tech CEOs who have Trump’s ear but accept the status quo. I asked him questions you sent in. Check it out at the top.
And below — your news.
Here Are Your Headlines
Breaking: The DOJ on Friday announced it will allow lawmakers to review the Epstein files, without redactions, beginning Monday. Lawmakers will be restricted to certain reading rooms and will not be allowed to have electronic devices.
Who’s Hiding Now: Bill Clinton on Friday slammed House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer for refusing to let him and Hillary give their Epstein testimony in a public hearing. “Chairman Comer says he wants cameras, but only behind closed doors. Who benefits from this arrangement?” Clinton posted on X. The former president, who agreed to testify under oath, called on Comer to hold “a public hearing, where the American people can see for themselves what this is really about.”
Your Grandfather’s Racism: President Trump posted, and on Friday deleted, an outrageous video that began with false claims the 2020 election was stolen with the help of voting machines — and ended with a blatantly racist clip depicting the Obamas as apes. At first, the White House defended the video, telling critics to “please stop the fake outrage.” That didn’t quell growing bipartisan condemnation. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the only Black Republican senator, said the video was “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.” A group of GOP lawmakers reportedly called Trump to discuss the post. By Friday morning, the White House changed course — deleting the video and claiming a “staffer erroneously made the post.” They did not apologize. Nor did Trump walk back the video’s many false claims about elections.
About Those Midterms: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declined to condemn Trump’s call for the GOP to “take over the voting” in November. Instead, Johnson complained that Republicans have been losing races, then promoted Trump’s lies about mail-in ballots, which he said seem “fraudulent.” Other GOP leaders just pretended Trump was talking about the SAVE act, legislation that would make it harder to vote. But Trump doubled down. “The federal government should get involved” in elections, he insisted. “I don’t know why the federal government doesn’t do them anyway.” (Answer: The Constitution.)
Alarm Bells: Voting experts sound far more concerned about this than Republican lawmakers. A Republican former election official in Arizona warned that “clearly the federal government is going to do things it’s never done before.” The Democratic clerk of Dane County, Wisconsin — named in one of Trump’s lawsuits challenging the 2020 election — said his office has installed bulletproof glass, cameras, and panic buttons.
Save Space: The Senate is set to vote next week on the SAVE Act. Reminder: the SAVE Act would impose strict proof-of-citizenship requirements that would likely disenfranchise tens of millions of voters (women, working-class, and immigrant populations would be most affected), effectively end mail voter registration, force voter purges, and expose election workers to years in prison or private lawsuits. You can read more about the SAVE Act here.The bill has become a rallying point for hardline Republicans. Democrats oppose the bill — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it “Jim Crow 2.0” — so it’s unlikely to reach the necessary 60 votes. However, some Republican Senators are calling on leadership to change the filibuster to override Democratic opposition.
Intimidation: The White House on Thursday refused to rule out sending ICE agents to polling stations during the midterm elections. And Steve Bannon endorsed Trump’s call to nationalize elections, warning that they’ll “have ICE surround the polls come November.”
What’s Tulsi Up To? You may recall the Director of National Intelligence was present when the FBI raided the Fulton County elections office and took their ballots. A new report reveals that DNI Gabbard also led a team to investigate voting machines in Puerto Rico last year. So our spy chief is running her own investigation into the 2020 election, separate from the FBI’s. That’s not normal, nor is this: Congressional leadership says they received a copy of a top-secret whistleblower complaint, which Gabbard’s agency has been accused of trying to cover up. It was filed eight months ago, around when Gabbard’s team was conducting its “investigation” into voting machines in Puerto Rico. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that the complaint accuses Gabbard of wrongdoing and would cause “grave damage to national security” if disclosed. The law requires these complaints reach Congress within weeks. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said it plainly: “I think it was an effort to try to bury this whistleblower complaint.” Again, none of this is normal.
Alarm Bells: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent an unusual letter to CIA Director John Ratcliffe. In it, Wyden states that he sent “a classified letter” to Ratcliffe “in which I express deep concerns about CIA activities.” Presumably Wyden is concerned enough about the contents of that classified letter to take the rare step of alerting the public.
All Talk: Senior officials from the US and Iran held talks in Oman on Friday. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner reportedly met with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who said the talks were a “good beginning” and that officials “identified areas for possible progress.” In other words — no deal. More talks are expected. Iranian officials say the regime may consider suspending its nuclear program if the US lifts punitive economic sanctions. But they refuse to address other key issues, including ballistic missiles and treatment of dissidents. Don’t hold your breath for a breakthrough.
Pressure Cooker: The US on Friday imposed new sanctions targeting Iran’s “shadow fleet,” a shipping network allegedly used to evade sanctions. Earlier this week the USS Abraham Lincoln, part of a massive US fleet operating in the seas just south of Iran, shot down an Iranian drone that the military claimed had “unnecessarily maneuvered toward the ship.”
Heartbreak in Arizona: A Tucson local news channel, KOLD, says it received a new message regarding the possible abduction of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie. The Pima County Sheriff told KOLD, “Investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity.” The FBI has announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie’s return. She is believed to have been kidnapped from her home near Tucson on Saturday night. The FBI has surged resources to help — but no person of interest has been identified. Savannah Guthrie and her family have repeatedly pleaded directly to the kidnappers, warning that Nancy is in poor physical health and without her medication. But they’ve heard nothing, which a retired FBI agent said was very unusual. On Thursday, the first of two deadlines in a ransom note passed by; the second deadline is on Monday.
Nail-biter: Two Democrats are locked in a neck-and-neck race to become the party’s nominee for the House seat vacated by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill. As of Friday afternoon, with 93% of Thursday’s vote tallied, progressive activist Analilia Mejia is leading former Representative Tom Malinowski by a few hundred votes. The race reflects the struggle between different factions of the Democratic party, with high-profile progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) rallying behind Mejia.
Baile Inolvidable: This Sunday’s Super Bowl will make halftime show history. Global Latin superstar Bad Bunny is will deliver the first-ever all-Spanish halftime performance. Fresh off his history-making win at the Grammys, Bad Bunny says, “It’s going to be a party.” And what about those Americans who don’t speak Spanish? “People only have to worry about dance,” he said. “There’s no better dance than the one that comes from the heart.”
The Alternative: If that doesn’t appeal to you, no problem. You can tune in to Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show,” headlined by Kid Rock. No prizes for guessing which Trump prefers. He called the NFL’s selection of Bad Bunny “a terrible choice,” complaining that “all it does is sow hatred.”
ICE Bowl: The NFL insists there are no ICE operations planned for the Super Bowl, but locals aren’t convinced — and are preparing for the worst. Bay Area councils have declared “ICE-free zones” and hundreds of trained volunteers have been trained to monitor the stadium and immigrant neighborhoods. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned months ago that ICE would be “all over” the event, saying the only people who should attend are “law-abiding Americans who love this country.”
Pure Cruelty: The Trump administration this week filed a motion to end the asylum claims and expedite the deportation of the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, the five-year-old whose abduction by ICE caused international outrage. The family’s lawyer slammed the move as “extraordinary” and once again noted that they had entered the country legally.
First of Many? A federal jury on Thursday ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million in a lawsuit brought by a woman who said a driver sexually assaulted her. This is the first time Uber has been held liable in a sexual assault case involving its drivers. That’s important, because over 3,000 similar lawsuits have been filed against the rideshare company, which has faced significant criticism for how it handles passenger safety. Will this open the floodgates?
Midas Touch: Trump is holding $18 billion in funding for crucial infrastructure projects connecting New York and New Jersey. He reportedly told Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that he’ll release the funds — if the lawmaker helps get Dulles airport and NYC’s Penn Station renamed after Trump.
Making History: A new jobs report has grim news. According to the private report, January saw the most layoffs and fewest new hires of any January since 2009, when the country was in the throes of the Great Recession. And new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the number of job openings sank to the lowest level since September 2020.
Culture, Not Noise
Magic On Ice: The Winter Olympics have officially begun. Tens of thousands of spectators gathered in Milan’s San Siro Stadium, the oldest in Italy, to watch the main opening ceremony. And boy, did these games open in style. Mariah Carey, ballet dancers from the historic Italian theatre La Scala, opera legend Andrea Bocelli, and the official mascots — two stoats, Tina and Milo — were among the performers at San Siro. There, the roughly 2,900 athletes from every country paraded into the stadium. Team USA, the largest delegation, walked in to cheers. (Vice President JD Vance and Usha Vance, though, were booed.) In fact, the 232 athletes from the US make up the country’s largest-ever Winter Olympics team. And for the first time ever, the US has an honorary captain: Snoop Dogg. Also in the parade? Nathan Tchibozo, the first-ever athlete to represent Benin. Synchronous ceremonies took place across the country; with venues spread out over an area the size of New Jersey, this will be the most spread-out Winter Olympics in history. Team USA finished fourth in 2022 with 25 medals. To do better they’ll have to overcome some new forms of competition. Case in point: Norway’s ski jumping team got caught on video altering the crotch of their suits. In ski jumping, suits must be no more than 1.5 inches larger than body measurements. But every inch of fabric, especially in the crotch, is advantageous. So athletes have been accused of stuffing cloth or clay down their pants, injecting acid to enlarge their, erm, nether regions — or, in Norway’s case, attempting a few post-inspection alterations. Anything for Gold.
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