Four days into this situation in the skies over Tehran, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said, 'We're not at war right now.' This was, rather, a 'very specific, clear mission-an operation.' Operation does seem to be the preferred word in government talking points, even as it encompasses assassinating an ayatollah, torpedoing an Iranian naval ship, blowing up fuel depots and a desalination plant, and losing the lives of (so far) eight American service members along the way.
In October 2020, President Trump unveiled a plan to grant himself the power to fire vast numbers of civil servants for any reason should they get in the way of his agenda. Five and a half years later, that plan has come to fruition, despite vast public opposition. Starting March 9, an unspecified number of federal employees could lose their current job protections and be converted into at-will employees at Trump's discretion.
Taking to Truth Social in an overnight double post on Tuesday morning, the president warned that a negative ruling on his tariff powers would leave the U.S. financially defenseless: The biggest threat in history to United States National Security would be a negative decision on Tariffs by the U.S. Supreme Court. We would be financially defenseless. Now Europe is going to Tariffs against China, as they already do against others. We would not be allowed to do what others already do! (Screengrab via Truth Social)
