Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to the defenders of Ukraine and all of modern civilization!
My deepest condolences to all those affected by another barbaric attack by Russian invaders on Ukrainian cities. Eternal memory to the fallen…
- Democrats won the early elections in the Republican district where Trump lives
- The Ministry of Security with a new minister, but still without a budget
- Trump is looking for a way out of the war with Iran
▶ The truly major American news on Tuesday came in the evening from Florida. There, in the electoral district where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is located, early elections were held for the vacated seat in the Florida House of Representatives.
This district is traditionally “red,” Republican. Given the division of the country into “red” and “blue” states and regions that has developed over the last 25 years, it was believed that Democrats had no chance there.
But now is a special time.
A time when the “greatest president of all times,” who names airports, stadiums, and cultural centers after himself, hangs his portraits on the facades of federal buildings in the capital, is dragging the Republican Party into a quagmire. This is due to his policies, the results of which include inflation, rising unemployment, a sharp increase in the cost of medical insurance, the loss of medical insurance by more than a million people in the first two months of the year, a fall in the stock market (and hence, a fall in Americans’ retirement savings), and a lack of private sector economic development (the number of newly created jobs in the private sector in February equaled the number of lost jobs).
A time when the “elite” of the Republican Party is most afraid of the “greatest president of all times,” believing that his wrath could cost them seats in Congress. Therefore, this “elite” is willing to wear shoes a size too big or too small, gifted by the “greatest president of all times.” And they do not refuse the shoes even after the corresponding videos and photos have circled the world. And they are willing to vote in Congress only according to the wishes of the “greatest president of all times.”
But at all times, who will sit in Congress or in local legislatures is not decided by the “greatest president of all times,” not decided by any president at all. Voters decide.
And so, on Tuesday, the voters of the “red,” 87th Florida district, of which the 47th president is a resident and voter, elected to the Florida House of Representatives Democrat Emily Gregory. She defeated the Republican candidate John Maples, who was publicly and actively supported by Trump and for whom he publicly voted.
Gregory received 51% of the votes. Her Republican opponent – 49% of the votes.
The margin seems small. But remember, this is a very “red,” Republican district!
And look at how many voters have turned away from the Republican Party over a year and two months of it being in power under the 47th president. In November 2024, Republican candidate Mike Caruso won in this district with a result of 59%-41%. At that time, Trump defeated Kamala Harris in this district with a result of 56%-44%.
It’s unlikely that ordinary Republicans in this district turned away from their candidate. But the outcome of any election is decided by non-partisan, independent voters. And these voters clearly demonstrated their feelings, showing the 47th president and his party, in the district where Trump resides, what awaits him and his party in the Congressional elections on November 3.
The elections in Florida’s 87th district have become another clear evidence of a steady trend in voter sentiment that remains unchanged in all states where various elections have taken place in recent months.
However, in this case, it is also noteworthy that the elections took place in a district where the president lives, where he is registered as a voter and votes, where he actively supported his party’s candidate.
And if this party continues to fear the “greatest president of all time” more than the voters, many of its representatives will have to look for a new job after November 3. Because it is the voters who decide. And the last thing they consider when voting is which candidates the “greatest president of all time” supports. If they consider it at all. Independent, non-partisan voters are unlikely to care what Trump tweeted the day before the election, on Monday:
“Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24, there will be the most important early elections for the Florida House of Representatives (87th district) – in the beautiful Palm Beach district. JOHN MAPLES HAS MY FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT!
TO ALL THE GREAT PATRIOTS OF THE 87TH DISTRICT OF THE FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: GO AND VOTE FOR JOHN MAPLES! Polls are open from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. JOHN WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
The result is known. The majority of voters did not listen to Trump, showing, as voters in Texas did in the recent early Texas Senate elections, that in this current, special time, Democrats can win elections in states and districts where a year ago their victory seemed unimaginable.
▶ On Tuesday, the now-former Republican senator from Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, took office as Secretary of Homeland Security. He was confirmed by the Senate in a vote that was nearly along party lines (“for” all Republicans except Senator Paul, and Democrat Fetterman, “against” all Democrats except Fetterman, and Republican Paul). However, Mullin found it much more challenging to gain the support of the Senate Homeland Security Committee than the full Senate. The committee consists of 15 senators (8 Republicans and 7 Democrats). Its chairman is Republican Rand Paul, who stated before Mullin’s nomination consideration that he would vote against it, as Mullin is considered a volatile individual prone to aggression, which he repeatedly demonstrated as a senator. If all Democrats on the committee had voted against Mullin’s candidacy, his nomination might have ended there. However, another member of the committee is the most conservative current Democrat, Senator Fetterman from Pennsylvania, who voted “for” along with seven Republicans, allowing the full Senate vote to proceed.
Mullin replaced Kristi Noem at the Ministry of Security, who was dismissed by Trump about a month ago.
The newly appointed minister will now lead a ministry in crisis due to a lack of budget.
The budget passed by Congress in early February allocated funding for the ministry’s expenses for only two weeks. To finance the ministry, Democrats demanded the inclusion in the budget law of provisions to align the activities of immigration police with the procedures followed by police nationwide—such as requiring identification badges and personal video cameras, banning appearances in masks, prohibiting entry into citizens’ homes without a warrant, and banning raids in educational and religious institutions, among others. Since passing the budget law in the Senate requires 60 votes, it is impossible to do so without the Democrats’ votes.
The Department of Homeland Security encompasses numerous services—emergency management agency, the secret service protecting the state leaders, cybersecurity agency, transportation security administration (TSA—the agency ensuring airport security), border and customs service, coast guard, immigration police.
Since February 17, the ministry has been without a budget for over a month. Only one of its subdivisions, the immigration police, has a budget allocated for the entire year in “one big beautiful law” (which Democrats call “one big ugly law”), passed as part of the procedure revising the current budget last summer with only Republican votes (this procedure allows the relevant law to be passed in the Senate by a simple majority).
Accordingly, for over a month now, everyone working within the ministry, except for immigration police officers, has not been receiving a salary. This includes all TSA employees. As a result, some TSA staff are not showing up for work, others are quitting and seeking other jobs, and some are working without enthusiasm, leading to long queues for security checks in major airports across the country. People are waiting for 3-4-5 hours, missing their flights.
In the past month, Democrats in the Senate have proposed passing a budget bill for the TSA and other services, excluding the immigration police, more than a dozen times, but Republicans have continually refused, insisting on a budget that includes additional appropriations for the immigration police without meeting Democratic demands and framing the law for its activities.
The latest compromise bill was suggested before the weekend. Senate Republican Leader Thune went to the “greatest president of all time” to ask if the bill could be passed, but the “greatest” did not allow it and announced that he would send “Great PATRIOTS” from the immigration police to airports to perform TSA duties.
Immigration officers did indeed appear on Monday at 14 major airports, even without masks. However, it is unclear what they are doing there. They wander around, talking to each other, creating a television image for the 47th president. They are not trained to check passengers and their belongings for prohibited items and cannot perform this task. Security checkpoint queues have not decreased. People still have to wait in them for hours.
On Tuesday, Senate Republican Leader Thune stated that Republicans are proposing a compromise bill that includes funding for the entire ministry, excluding additional appropriations for the immigration police. Trump announced that he would “study this bill closely and strictly.”
I don’t know if Trump gave boots to Thune. But when the Senate Republican Leader goes to ask the president for permission to pass a bill that would fund the TSA, which Congress could speedily approve almost unanimously, thus could override a presidential veto, it can only be said that John Thune and his Republican colleagues in Congress lack self-esteem.
And voters evaluate this according to their standards. They demonstrated this on Tuesday in Florida.
Trump, welcoming Secretary Mullin in the Oval Office on Tuesday, stated that his ministry was deprived of funding by “radically left thug Democrats.”
Meanwhile, Delta Airlines announced on Tuesday that it is temporarily halting the privileged service program for Congress members. Until they approve the TSA budget, they will now have to purchase tickets at commercial prices, stand in regular lines with other passengers for baggage check and security screening, and board the plane not in “group 1” with business class passengers, but in order of their assigned seats.
▶ In the last two days, there has been a noticeable trend of Trump seeking a way out of the conflict with Iran.
On Monday, his former Secretary of Defense (2017-2018), retired General Mattis, stated in Houston that tactical successes in strikes on Iranian military targets do not align with the absence of clearly formulated strategic goals. The success of military operations, or tactics, can only be measured by whether strategic goals are achieved. And if the strategic goal was regime change in Iran, then that goal has not been achieved.
In recent days, Trump has made numerous contradictory statements and written a series of conflicting tweets. At one moment, he threatened to destroy Iran’s electricity network (which would indeed be a war crime, a violation of the Geneva Convention), then he stated that there would be negotiations with Iran, that such negotiations are already happening, or that Iran “gave us a gift related to oil and gas.” In the latter case, Trump likely referred, as Politico writes, to a large tanker with Iraqi oil, which Iran supposedly allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. However, on Tuesday evening, Bloomberg reported that the tanker had not passed through the strait.
Then on Sunday, Trump wrote that “Now, with Iran’s demise, America’s greatest enemy has become the Radical-Left, extremely incompetent Democratic Party! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT”
Trump stated on Tuesday that “we did not expect Iran to strike all neighboring Arab countries.” Well, he might as well have said that he did not expect Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz. The Washington Post reported that American military intelligence precisely warned about this—that in response to any strikes, exactly this would happen—strikes on the Arab countries in the region and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
At the same time, the president sent several thousand U.S. Marines to the Middle East region. Although the purpose is unclear. According to retired General Wesley Clark, to control just the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. would need to deploy up to 100,000 service members in the region.
If we look at the reports from major media sources with references to different sources, we can conclude that the 47th president is indeed seeking a way out of the war, and that the U.S. seems to have actually handed Iran a 15-point plan to end the war through Pakistani intermediaries. However, Iran denies having any negotiations with the U.S., at least for now, although it does not deny receiving proposals from the U.S. through intermediaries.
The New York Times writes, citing its sources, that Crown Prince MBS (and the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia) in several conversations with Trump in recent days urged him to continue the war. At the same time, an official representative of Riyadh, in response to the newspaper’s request to comment on this information, said there were no such calls and that Saudi Arabia has always advocated for a peaceful resolution to conflicts.
In a situation where the strategic goal is not achieved, for Trump, the measure of whether to stop the war is how the U.S. stock market behaves, the price of oil, and, accordingly, the price of gasoline in the U.S. The main stock indices have fallen by about 6% since February 27. Oil has increased by 33% over the same period (it was even more expensive, but in the past two days, the price has slightly decreased amid “peace-making” talks and tweets from the 47th president). Filling the full tank of an average passenger car now costs about $16-18 more in the U.S. than before the war started.
And from everything that has been happening in recent days, it is clear that the president is looking for the opportunity to declare his victory in such a way as to show that he achieved something from Iran, which would be recorded in some document that Trump could present as his victory. Meanwhile, Iran, along with Hezbollah, continues shelling Israel with rockets and drones. Iran continues to shell Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region.
There are 1,033 days left until the end of the story called “Fear: Trump in the White House” © (the title of Bob Woodward’s book, published in 2018).
Thank you to everyone who read. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Take care of each other, help one another. Health to all.
Ultimately, what happens in the world depends on us. Whether we fight evil, do Good, remain mere observers, passively wait and believe that someone somewhere will decide something for us, or fight evil and do everything possible to ensure that Good prevails.
We must not allow evil to triumph. The victory of evil would mean the end of the world we live in. We cannot allow that. Especially now.
Ukrainian Friends, I embrace and love you all. Please take care of each other.
Ukraine exists and will always be.
And evil will be defeated and punished. And this will certainly happen.
