Happy Tuesday! We would do an April Fools’ Day bit, but we’ve learned our lesson about jokes taken literally.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued evacuation orders for Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, and surrounding areas on Monday. A military spokesperson said that IDF forces are “returning to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terror organizations in these areas.” The move followed the IDF’s expanded ground operations against Hamas in Rafah over the weekend. About a fifth of Gaza is now covered by evacuation orders, as Israel resumes operations in the enclave in the wake of the collapsed U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage release deal.
- Three of the four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing during a tactical training exercise in Lithuania last week were found dead on Monday, U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command announced. The soldiers’ bodies were found inside the armored vehicle they had been operating, which was submerged in a bog underneath 15 feet of water and mud. U.S. Navy and Lithuanian divers are continuing to search the surrounding area for the fourth soldier. The names of the deceased troops have not yet been released.
- Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right party National Rally (RN), was convicted of embezzlement on Monday and barred from running for public office for five years. Le Pen and eight other European Parliament members, as well as 12 parliamentary assistants, were found guilty of misusing parliament funds to pay staff working for her party. A criminal court sentenced her to four years in prison, but half of the sentence was suspended and the other half can be served under house arrest. Le Pen—who has denied any wrongdoing and denounced the conviction as a witch hunt—was considered the frontrunner in France’s 2027 presidential election, but she will be ineligible to run barring a successful appeal.
- Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator, has resigned, the Wall Street Journal first reported Friday. Marks—who joined the agency in 2012 and went on to help lead the first Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership that produced the first COVID-19 vaccines—was reportedly given the choice to leave of his own accord or be fired. In a resignation letter, Marks penned a scathing criticism of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “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.” Kennedy has long questioned the safety and effectiveness of many vaccines.
- The Trump administration on Sunday deported 17 more alleged “violent criminals” belonging to the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs to a mega prison in El Salvador. Officials said the deportations were done under traditional removal authority rather than the Alien Enemies Act. The use of the obscure authority to carry out deportations without due process has been temporarily blocked while a legal challenge is adjudicated.
We can end smoking faster.
Russian Puts Up Roadblocks to a Ceasefire
Speaking to NBC News on Sunday, President Donald Trump said that he was “very angry, pissed off” at Vladimir Putin. The president’s rare invective against the Russian leader, together with his threat to impose tariffs on international buyers of the country’s oil, appeared to reflect the administration’s growing frustration at the main obstacle to a durable peace deal in Ukraine: the Kremlin.
Last month, Russia effectively rejected a Ukrainian-endorsed U.S. proposal to freeze fighting along all fronts for 30 days. Now, Putin is dragging his feet on Trump’s efforts to secure significantly pared-down deals to mutually halt attacks on energy targets and on the Black Sea—a strategy that could backfire as Trump considers ways to force Russia into concessions.
On Sunday, Trump threatened to target not just Russian oil but also its international purchasers with hefty tariffs unless there’s a breakthrough. “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault … I am going to put secondary tariffs on all oil coming out of Russia,” the president told NBC. But the timeline ...
As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. You can read our 881-word item on obstacles facing a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire in the members-only version of TMD.
Today’s Must-Read
It’s uncertain how seriously Donald Trump is taking the idea of a third term right now, and his allies on Capitol Hill seem to think he’s pulling the media’s collective leg. If his team were honest with him, they would note how many roadblocks stand in the president’s way. There’s not only the 22nd Amendment but also the 12th Amendment, which lays out the conditions for electing the president and vice president. The language at the end of that amendment that “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” appears to rule out the Daily Mail’s running-mate switcheroo scenario. And the idea that Vance or any other Republican, if duly elected president, would willingly step aside in order to reinstall Trump beggars belief.
Toeing the Company Line
Literally and Seriously
For ‘soft’ Trump supporters, the reckoning comes early.
A Glimmer of Hope in Gaza
Anti-Hamas protests in the besieged strip should be a cause for optimism.
A Pro-Natalism for Normies
Conservatives who want to stabilize birth rates should drop the weird stuff.
It’s Better to Be Good Than Lucky
Administration officials are excusing the Signal group chat because the Houthi attack succeeded. That’s a problem.
Aliens and Enemies
What happened to due process?
Worth Your Time
- Writing for National Affairs, Robert P. Beschel Jr. argued that the GOP needs a better approach to civil service reform. “Republican policymakers are clearly eager to respond to real challenges, but they are acting without awareness of the hard-earned lessons that have shaped the civil service we inherited,” he wrote. “The struggles to establish a modern meritocratic civil service in America were protracted and politically brutal, with advocates of the spoils system fighting tenaciously in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to stop the movement in its tracks. Ironically, it was the Republican Party that led the way in pushing forcefully for the creation of a professional civil service. … Few would argue that the current federal civil service is without serious problems. It can be difficult to fire non-performers and attract talent for fields in high demand. Many have bemoaned the bureaucracy for its cost, inefficiency, and non-responsiveness. Change is clearly needed, and would in fact be welcome in many corners of the federal government. But even in these radical and polarized times, care must be taken to avoid adopting a cure much worse than the disease.”
Presented Without Comment
Peter Navarro, senior counselor to the president for trade and manufacturing, had the following exchange during an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
Fox News host Sharron Bream: The president says he doesn’t care if the prices go up on U.S. cars, so what’s the message to the U.S. consumer?
Navarro: The message is that tariffs are tax cuts. Tariffs are jobs. Tariffs are national security. Tariffs are great for America. Tariffs will make America great again.
Also Presented Without Comment
Bloomberg: Trump Plans to Contact North Korea, Touting ‘Good Relationship’
Also Also Presented Without Comment
NPR: White House Says It’s ‘Case Closed’ on the Signal Group Chat Review
In the Zeitgeist
If you’re feeling down about the state of the world, you’ll probably want to steer clear of the new season of Black Mirror, which is set to hit Netflix on April 10.
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