The Trump-Installed ‘Heretic’ Pastor in the White House
Plus: Elon Musk Is a Deep State Agent, According to Elon Musk
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BILL KRISTOL, SAM STEIN, and BENJAMIN PARKER: When President Musk Speaks, Donald Trump Listens
ADRIAN CARRASQUILLO: The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Is Torn at a Critical Moment
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DANIEL N. GULLOTTA: What to Expect from the ‘Heretic’ Pastor Trump Installed in the White House
IF EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE, it seems like destiny that Donald Trump would meet the Charismatic pastor and evangelist Paula White-Cain. Both are high-profile entrepreneurs in their fields; both have a peculiar personal dynamism that has powered them through hard times. And both, it might be argued, worship success. On Friday, the president appointed White to be a senior adviser in the newly established White House Faith Office—birds of a feather, in the air together.
WILL SELBER: USAID Kept My Troops Safe in Afghanistan
IN 2008, I DEPLOYED TO AFGHANISTAN for the first time on a Provincial Reconstruction Team. Our group included active-duty airmen and soldiers as well as reservists and guardsmen. But the linchpin of our team was our USAID embed, David. He may not have been lethal with a weapon, but without him we would have failed catastrophically.
David had been to Iraq before he volunteered in Afghanistan. He not only went outside the wire in some of Afghanistan’s most dangerous, insurgent-infested regions, but also showed the ropes to newbies like myself.
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Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Carol Leonnig and Robert Putnam: Lies and Moral Obligations [YouTube: Putnam, Leonnig]
The Next Level: The DOGE Days Are Far From Over [YouTube]
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SARAH LONGWELL: Elon Musk Is a Deep State Agent, According to Elon Musk
ELON MUSK HAS HAD a busy week. Must be something in the
ketaminewater.Specifically, he’s been busy accusing Bill Kristol, Politico, Ben Stiller, and many, many others of secretly taking government funds to finance their nefarious activities.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
The Best People… “Federal Agency Fires Staff, Calls It an Error, Fires Them Again” (Bloomberg)
Our New Pandemic: Moral Cowardice… Matt Labash argues: “It's contagious as hell, and spreading fast; plus, a word on what courage looks like from Alexei Navalny.” 🔐
NIH admits funding freeze is illegal… will resume issuing grants, according to an internal memo obtained by Popular Information.
Trump Has a ‘List’ of National Archives Staff… to Fire as Revenge for Docs Scandal (Rolling Stone).
How Elon Musk and the Right …Are Trying to Recast Reporting as ‘Doxxing’ (NYT🎁)
From prison for seditious conspiracy… To Matt Gaetz’s old House seat? The Proud Boys seditionist and J6er is considering running. (Miami New Times)
In local news… The community in Evendale is hopping mad about a neo-Nazi demonstration over a freeway overpass. (The demonstrators fled and lost a a Swastika flag, which was burned on tape2.)
It's Open Bribery Season in Washington! Daniel Drezner asks: “Interested in political corruption? Have I got an administration that works for you!”
"Armored Tesla" forecast to win $400 million State Department contract… after Trump's election, government document shows. (DropSite)
The United States of Pizza… Mapsplained by Phil Edwards.
Moral Clarity in a Time of Peril… Reed Howard argues: “We must see the truth of our time clearly—but realism must not become resignation.”
Feds drop criminal probe…. into Vince McMahon (NYPost)
Know Any Good Gossip? On her podcast, “Normal Gossip,” the writer Kelsey McKinney relishes everyday drama. In a new book, she explores our cultural fascination with other people’s lives. (NYT 🎁)
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