MARCH MADNESS

March 1 -- Trump signs an Executive Order to make English the official language of the US, reversing President Clinton's order requiring assistance for non-English speakers. 

March 2 -- Trump creates a US crypto reserve.

On the same day, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. Jr. writes in an opinion piece that studies showed Vitamin A "dramatically reduces measles mortality" and that the use of the steroid budesonide, the antibiotic clarithromycin and cod live oil also produces "good results".

March 3 -- The Senate confirms Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education. She claims her mission is to end the Department of Education (DOE)

March 4 -- Trump delivers joint address to Congress. He speaks for one hour and forty minutes.

March 5 -- Trump postpones auto tariffs for 30 days.

On the same day, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announces plans to cut its workforce by 80,000.

March 6 -- Trump delays imposition of tariffs on Canada and Mexico until April 2. 

On the same day, he issues an Executive Order against the law firm Perkins Coie restricting its access to government buildings and federal contracting work on the grounds that the firm had previously worked for Democrats and clients that opposed the administration; he had previously issued a similar order against Covington Burling based on the fact that it represented Jack Smith, the Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney who prosecuted Trump in connection with the J6 insurrection and the separate classified documents case. 

Also on March 6, Trump demands federal courts impose costs and damages on those who seek injunctions against the federal government that are later reversed.

March 7 -- Trump signs an Executive Order that revokes Public Service Loan Forgiveness to organizations that advance "public disruptions".

On the same day, the administration -- through the Department of Education (DOE), the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) -- informs Columbia University that it would be pausing or terminating over $400 million in federal funding.

Also on the same day, the Department of Defense tags tens of thousands of on-line photos and posts for removal in order to comply with Trump's demand to eliminate DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs. One of the photos is of the "Enola Gay", the aircraft from which the first atom bomb was dropped on Japan. It appears to have been tagged because it contains the word "Gay".

March 11 -- The House of Representatives passes -- in a 217-215 vote -- an entirely partisan Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government through September 30.  The House CR proposes $2 trillion in spending cuts and allows for $4.5 trillion in additional spending to pass Trump's proposed tax cuts.

March 12 -- Trump meets Irish Taoiseach Michael Martin and repeats the claim that the European Union (EU) was designed to take advantage of the US.  

March 13 --  In a follow-up to its March 7 letter to Columbia, the DOE, GSA and HHS send a second letter setting forth the demands Columbia University must meet to avoid losing federal funding. Among the demands are that Columbia place its department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies under academic receivership for five years.  On March 25, the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming the administration's "threats and coercion" against Columbia "are part of a huge authoritarian playbook meant to crush academic freedom and critical research in American higher education."

March 14 -- The  Senate passes the House CR to fund the government through September 30. Ten Democrats vote with fifty-two Republicans to avoid a filibuster.  

On the same day, Trump gives a speech to attorneys at the Department of Justice in which he says those who oppose him in court "are horrible people. They are scum."  

Also on the same day, he issues an Executive Order against the law firm Paul Weiss restricting its access to government buildings and federal contracting work. The basis for this order is that a former Paul Weiss partner assisted the NY County DA in its prosecution of Trump in connection with his creation of fraudulent business records to hide his affair with Stormy Daniels.

And also on the same day, Trump issues an Executive Order shutting down Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Marti. The federal courts block the order later in the month

March 15 -- Trump uses the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to unilaterally arrest and deport 261 individuals he claims are members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. US District Judge James Boasberg issues a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the action.  In a later opinion denying the Government's motion to vacate that TRO, Judge Boasberg explained that plaintiffs had a right to contest any claim they were members of the gang and the right to contest their removal to El Salvador given evidence that it would subject incarcerated plaintiffs to torture.

March 16 -- Trump violates Judge Boasberg's order and deports the 261 individuals anyway, sending them to a prison in El Salvador. None had the opportunity to contest the claim they were gang members.  For many, there is evidence they were not.

March 18 -- Trump calls for the impeachment of Judge Boasberg. Chief Justice Roberts says impeachment is not the proper response to disagreement with judicial rulings.

On the same day, Trump removes two commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission. The removed commissioners -- Alvara Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter -- were Democratic appointees.  The law forbids their removal other than for cause. This follows equally partisan removals from the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. On March 27, Bedoya and Slaughter filed a law suit challenging their removals.

March 20 -- Trump signs an Executive Order calling for the dismantling of the Department of Education (DOE). On March 11, in anticipation of this plan, DOE issued a reduction-in-force directive to place 50% of its employees on administrative leave.

On the same day, the law firm Paul Weiss cuts a deal with President Trump agreeing to provide $40 million in pro bono legal services in exchange for Trump rescinding his March 14 Executive order against the firm.

March 21 -- Trump revokes the security clearances of President Biden, Fiona Hill, Alexander Vindman, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney and  seven others.

On the same date, and pursuant to the DOE's March 11 reduction-in-force directive, 50% of its employees are put on administrative leave.

Also on the same day, Reuters reports that the “FBI has cut staffing in an office focused on domestic terrorism and has scrapped a tool used to track such investigations”, both of which, it reports, “are an indication that . . . investigations . . . involv[ing] violence fueled by right-wing ideologies” may be “less a priority”.

March 24 -- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Vice President Vance participate in a group chat on Signal, a commercial app, that includes journalist Jeffrey Goldberg and includes and discusses imminent plans to bomb Houthi rebels. In addition to being absolutely forbidden in communications involving classified documents and information, Signal allows chats and shared documents to be later destroyed and can be used to violate the Federal Records Act.

March 25 -- Trump signs an Executive Order demanding that, in federal elections, all votes be received by election day and all voters provide proof of US citizenship.

On the same day, the Washington Post reports that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has hired a long-standing vaccine skeptic, David Geier, to conduct its study on whether vaccines cause autism.

Also on the same day, masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrest Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright Scholar and Tufts University graduate student legally here on an F-1 student visa since 2018. When asked about her case, Secretary of State Rubio claimed her activities "would compromise a compelling US policy interest" and that “if you apply for a visa . . . and tell us that the reason why . . .  is not just . . .  to write op-eds, but . . . to participate in . . . vandalizing universities, harassing students, [and] taking over buildings, . . . we're not going to give you a visa." In fact, however, the only thing Ozturk did, according to her lawyers, was write an op-ed. Although a Massachusetts federal judge ordered that she not be removed from the state, ICE claims it had already flown her to a detention facility in Louisiana  before the order was issued. She has not been charged with any crime.   

March 26 -- Trump imposes 25% tariffs on all automobile imports, effective April 2. Automobile stocks plummet.  

On the same day, he also issues an Executive Order against the law firm Jenner & Block restricting its access to  government buildings and federal contracting work.  The basis for this order is that Andrew Weisman had worked on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team in connection with the investigation of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016 and was later hired by the firm after that investigation ended.  The investigation concluded there was not sufficient evidence to find the Trump campaign had conspired under federal law with Russia but also specifically concluded that it could not exonerate Trump from claims he had obstructed justice in connection with the investigation.

March 27 -- Trump issues an Executive Order against the law firm Wilmer Hale restricting its access to  government buildings and federal contracting work. The basis for this order is that Special Counsel Mueller was allowed to return to the firm as a partner after his investigation of Trump ended. A federal court issues a TRO blocking that order; another issues a similar order blocking the March 26 order against Jenner & Block.

On the same day, RFK Jr. announces that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will cut 10,000 employees and blames the department's 82,000 workers for the decline in the nation's health.

Also on the same day, NBC News reports that "the State Department has revoked 300 or more student visas, as the White House increasingly targets foreign-born students whose main transgression seems to be activism."

March 28 --  Vice President Vance and his wife visit Greenland. The trip was originally planned as a visit by Vance’s wife to Greenland’s capital. That was changed when it was made clear she would be met by streams of protesters who oppose Trump’s designs on the island. So instead the pair visited a US Air Base  in the north.  At the base, the Vice President said Denmark is not protecting Greenland. The only threat Greenland faces, however, is from Russia, a threat NATO protects it against but Trump continually weakens. As for Denmark, in the wake of 9/11, the only time NATO’s mutual defense obligation was ever invoked, Denmark lost more soldiers per capita than the US in the Afghan war.

On the same day, Trump announces that the law firm Skadden Arps has agreed to provide $100 million in pro bono legal services to avoid the adverse orders he has issued against other firms.

Also on the same day, Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the official who spearheaded the Warp Speed drive that led to the Covid vaccine, resigns. In his resignation letter, Dr. Marks states “The ongoing multistate measles outbreak . . . reminds  us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined.” As to RFK Jr., his letter states “I was willing to work to address the Secretary’s concerns regarding vaccine safety and transparency . . . However, it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.” 

Also on the same day, the stock market caps three days of losses in response to Trump’s imminent tariffs and declining consumer confidence. The Dow was down another 1.69%, the S&P 1.97% and Nasdaq 2.7%.

March 29 — As of this day, there are 483 cases of measles spread over twenty states.  The largest number is in Texas with 400 cases. It spread there in the largely unvaccinated Mennonite community.

March 30 — In an interview on NBC, Trump refuses to rule out running for a third term.