* Heads up: ACA tax credits expire Dec. 31. Sans government action, future health costs are expected to skyrocket for millions of Americans.
* Since the summer, ICE has arrested more than 1,000 people per day. This lags behind Trump’s goal of more than a million by the end of his first year of term two.
* According to Oxford Economics, a government-shutdown reduces economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week. That’s worth $7.6 billion to $15.2 billion a week, based on the hours not worked.
* Here was Trump’s take on the “No Kings” marches. “It’s a joke. I looked at the people. They are not representative of this country.” As if this country’s president were.
* Israel-Hamas: Trump’s plan for Gaza (Trump Gaza Strip Malls?) doesn’t address the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That is, Palestinian statehood. No progress on a two-state solution leaves the conflict largely unsettled and unworthy of Nobel Peace Prize conjecture.
* Portland’s mayor, Keith Wilson, is not totally opposed to federal help. As long as the “help” is actually needed. “Imagine, the federal government sent instead 100 teachers or 100 engineers or 100 addiction specialists,” he noted.
* “Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the world.”—Donald Trump.
* “The Trump Administration is seeking to destabilize our city and promote chaos.”—Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
* “You can’t get a (Nobel Peace Prize) medal for promoting democracy when you tried to overthrow the democracy you were running.”—Maureen Dowd, NYT.
* Edifice Wrecks: The demolished East Wing is being replaced by a 90,000 sq. ft., $380 million ballroom with bullet-proof windows and a gilded age Mar-a-Lago look. Call it another Trump legacy update beyond due process denial, xenophobia, grift, ICE invasions, health care insanity, Putin bromance, unprecedented buffonery and existential embarrassment.
* “The president wants to do the right thing by the ‘People’s House.’”—WH Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Speaking of, Sean Spicer is looking better these days.
* Cabinet opening? Trump commuted the sentence of former U.S. Rep. George Santos, who had been serving a seven-year sentence in federal prison for fraud and identity theft.
* “I think he’s crazy. I think he’s unfit for office. … He’s an opportunist.” That was South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s thinking about Donald Trump in 2016. Chances are, he still feels the same, only can’t say it anymore, especially on the golf course.
* Trump is a (martial) law and order president.
* “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”—Let’s call it what it is: The ultimate existential Trump threat.
* “Any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat—I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”—Donald Trump. Calling Jews disloyal? We’ve, hauntingly, heard that before.
* “Mr. Trump and his sons’ enormous accumulation of crypto wealth appears set to continue throughout his term. … It’s an open door to a form of corruption, at the highest level, that Americans have never had to confront.”—Jacob Silverman, author of “Gilded Rage.”
* Statue of Liberty Update: “Welcome, White South Africans yearning to breathe free.”
* Trump reportedly wants the new Washington Commanders, $4-billion stadium named after him. Be careful what you ask for. Commander Bonespurs and Orangeskins could be in the running.