Laura Rozen

WSJ: “While the president-elect is still behind Hegseth for now, “if this continues to be a drumbeat and the press coverage continues to be bad, particularly on TV, then I think there is a real chance that he loses Trump’s confidence.” Giftlink: www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Trump Team Blindsided by Details of Sexual-Assault Allegation Against Hegseth

The president-elect is still behind his pick for defense secretary, but the transition team is growing frustrated with the candidate.

Didn’t see til tonight that at one point in Oval today, Zelenskyy invited Vance to come to Ukraine, and Vance was just such a hack. Mocked the idea of going to Ukraine and said he has seen propaganda tours. Really ugly stuff.

New: In a backsliding democracy, ‘public mobilization is the guardrail’

open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

In backsliding democracy, ‘public mobilization is the guardrail’

Some excerpts as we head into the weekend.

Marocco drafted the State Dept global stop work memo for US assistance issued yesterday, according to copy I saw

CREW @citizensforethics.org

Pete Marocco, a former Trump administration official who was reportedly caught on camera inside the Capitol on January 6th, is now apparently working with Trump's transition on national security personnel matters.

Playbook PM: A Jan. 6 insider on the transition team?

We are the last people in America without an air fryer, and whenever I get interested in looking for one, am immediately so overwhelmed by the choices that I don’t get one. This happens like three times a year

Peter Falk is brilliant.

Wth

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social

The USDA sent an email to grocery stores telling them they are prohibited from offering special discounts to customers affected by the SNAP funding lapse. I'm aware of at least 2 stores that had offered struggling customers a discount, then withdrew it after receiving this email

Pro Ukraine demonstrators carrying Ukrainian and American flags outside the White House as Ukraine President Zelenskyy meets with Trump

Finding it hard to have any response to Vance than go fuck yourself.

Reply to @lkrozen.bsky.social

GOP rep: Witkoff ‘cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations’

open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

Leaked phone calls throw scrutiny on Witkoff’s pro-Kremlin positions (updated)

“It is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians,” Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said tonight. “He cannot be trusted to led these negotiations. …He should be fired.”

Not sure how I can be so jet lagged by a one hour time change

Five years in, got covid for the first time. Feeling pretty rotten.

wth

wapo.st/3Mbd9a6

U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols

The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

New: US lifts bounty on Syrian rebel leader who helped oust Assad

diplomatic.substack.com/p/us-lifts-b...

US lifts bounty on Syrian rebel leader who helped oust Assad

HTS leader “committed” to “critical need to ensure terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside of Syria or externally, including to the US and our partners in the region,” US diplomat Barbara Leaf.

“In fact, what's happening in Hungary isn't conservativism; it's corruption. It’s a system that's designed to enrich a clique of elites to take public assets & put them in private pockets, while talking” up conservative values, ex US ambassador David Pressman told NPR

🧵

Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social

In the FBI probe that led to the US v Trump classified docs case, a former Trump Adm witness identified as Person 16 described another former Trump Adm member, Person 24, as “unhinged” & “crazy.” Person 24 shares many traits of, and may be, Kash Patel. ... 1/4

‘Gradually, then suddenly’: Syria rebels advance on strategic city of Homs, Assad forces fall back

open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

‘Gradually, then suddenly’: Syria rebels advance on strategic city of Homs, Assad forces fall back

Events in the Levant this week brought to mind the Ernest Hemingway quote, from The Sun Also Rises: “‘How did you go bankrupt?’ ‘Two ways.

AP: “Only 31% of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center …finds. That is down from 40% in March & marks the lowest economic approval he’s registered in an AP-NORC poll in his first or second term.”
apnews.com/article/trum...

Trump's handling of the economy is at its lowest point in AP-NORC polling

A new AP-NORC poll finds President Donald Trump’s approval on the economy has fallen substantially since he reentered the White House.

Reply to @lkrozen.bsky.social

The Trump admin is “accepting a series of escalating Russian demands without extracting any quid pro quo except the promise of an end to the war on terms that Russia dictates,” IISS’s Nigel Gould-Davies wrote, describing it as a policy of “strategic surrender.”

open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

Trump approach to end Ukraine war echoes his deal with Taliban

Trump’s cut-off of military & intel aid to Ukraine as he seeks warm relations with Russia has disturbing similarities to his approach in 2020 to Afghanistan, when he cut a deal with the Taliban.

New: The hollowness of the always-on-TV Trump administration

open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

The Hollowness of the Always-on-TV Trump administration

For an administration that conducts so much of its business in propaganda videos (DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, endlessly trailed by a video production crew, posing yesterday in an ICE baseball cap, Role...

New: Biden says on ‘brink’ of hostage release/Gaza ceasefire deal open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

Biden says on ‘brink’ of hostage release/Gaza ceasefire deal

“On the war between Israel and Hamas, we are on the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition,” President Biden said in a speech at the State Dept today.

New: No imminent threat: Experts dispute Trump admin claims for attacking Iran

open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

No imminent threat: Experts dispute Trump admin claims for striking Iran

Senior Trump administration officials briefing reporters hours after US and Israeli strikes began on Iran Saturday made a troublingly flimsy case for military action against Iran that lacked proof of ...

Biden announces Lebanon ceasefire.
Heavy Israeli strikes reported in Beirut and Tyre hours before it is supposed to start at 4am
diplomatic.substack.com/p/biden-anno...

Biden announces Lebanon ceasefire

‘Under the deal reached today, effective at 4am local time, fighting across the Lebanese/Israeli border will end,” President Biden said.

New: Trump’s approach to ending Russian war on Ukraine echoes his deal with the Taliban

open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

Trump approach to Ukraine echoes his deal with the Taliban

Trump’s cut-off of military & intel aid to Ukraine as he seeks warm relations with Russia has disturbing similarities to his approach in 2020 to Afghanistan, when he cut a deal with the Taliban.