Laura Rozen

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?

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.

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

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 ...

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.

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.”

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

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.”

🧵

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

“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

Trump intensifies push for voter restriction bill.

“Change the voters, change the country,” Trump aide Stephen Miller wrote.

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

Trump intensifies push for voter restriction bill ahead of midterms

“Change the voters, change the country,” top Trump aide Stephen Miller wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

“By keeping the House on indefinite hiatus — as well as sidelining its oversight authority— Republicans have…made our national legislature a nullity. They have, for all intents & purposes, dissolved Congress.
It is impossible to overstate the magnitude of this transformation of the American system.

Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social

Outstanding @jamellebouie.net column. Or as I might say it, Mister we could use a man like Thaddeus Stevens again. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...

Opinion | The Empty Promises of Trump’s Imperial Presidency

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: Trump’s horrifying speech to U.S. generals envisions war at home

diplomatic.substack.com/p/trumps-hor...

Trump’s horrifying speech to U.S. generals: ‘It’s a war from within’

Trump tells U.S. generals that he plans to primarily use the U.S. military to fight “the enemy within,” in American cities.

The purge diplomatic.substack.com/p/the-purge

The purge

Trump and Musk aides purge career officials, commandeer sensitive government databases: ‘There is no oversight.’

New: Leaked phone calls throw scrutiny on Witkoff’s pro-Kremlin maneuverings

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

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

Leaked phone calls between top Kremlin aides and Trump peace envoy Steve Witkoff suggest the Russians believed they could launder their positions into Witkoff’s draft peace plan without the Kremlin co...

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

Love the cat we are cat sitting

“Some Trump officials privately acknowledged to CNN that the president’s public commentary has been detrimental to talks, noting the sensitivity of the negotiations and the Iranians’ deep mistrust of the US.”

www.cnn.com/2026/04/20/p...

A deal to end the Iran war seemed close. Then Trump started posting on social media | CNN Politics

As the weekend approached, the US and Iran appeared to be closing in on a deal to end the seven-week war.

“One U.S. official said the move is in part aimed at deterring Pyongyang from sending more troops.”
gift link: wapo.st/3Zc9IUE

Biden approves Ukraine’s use of long-range U.S. weapons inside Russia, reversing policy

The Biden administration will allow Kyiv “limited” use of the ATACMS long-range missile system to strike enemy positions in Kursk, a significant reversal of U.S. policy.

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.

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

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.