“In his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump has taken a sledgehammer to many of the nation’s cyber-focused agencies and programs. Now, a normally apolitical community is rising up in protest.
The nation’s cyber agencies, particularly the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have faced relentless cuts to programs and personnel, heightening concerns about the stability of the workforce and resiliency of U.S. capabilities.”
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“The industry has long held the view that securing the nation’s most critical networks is a collective national security imperative, with private political opinions mostly kept secondary. But Trump has ushered in an era of hyperpartisanship in Washington and has rewarded public displays of allegiance to the MAGA cause, generating fury among exasperated professionals.
“With the politicization of basically everything in government, including cybersecurity, we are seeing what would be the normal course of business come under scrutiny,” said one cyber industry leader on the sidelines of the RSAC Conference, one of the largest gatherings of cyber professionals in the world. “There are a number of groups, communities if you will, that are trying to take a more aggressive approach to say, ‘Hey, we can’t be quiet or complacent anymore on the way we operate,’ because effectively good faith is no longer the tone that is being taken.””
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” “Nobody should be blackballed for doing their job,” said a third industry leader. “That’s the situation we have right now — widespread anger that it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. And where are our industry leaders?””
“Incumbent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secured a come-from-behind win for his center-left Labor Party in Australia’s election Saturday while his right-wing challenger lost his seat.
The Labor landslide came after Albanese’s government spent months trailing the opposition in polling, but gained support rapidly in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s clash with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his “Liberation Day” tariffs.”
“In most modern presidencies, the National Security Council, led by the national security adviser, has outmuscled other institutions to lead on key foreign policy and national security issues. But Waltz struggled to get approval even for staff, and some of his picks were fired after complaints from a far-right influencer about loyalty — a startling example of weakness.
Neither the State Department nor the Pentagon has managed to seize the mantle, even as the NSC floundered. This is surprising, given that both departments often resented the outsized role the national security adviser has played in past administrations, especially the micromanagement by the NSC.
Foreign officials, unsure who has the most sway over Trump, have resorted to talking to as many people with links to the president as they can. The hope is that at least one of those contacts can be an effective whisperer in Trump’s ear on everything from Iran nuclear talks to tariffs.”
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“Rubio has gone so far to please Trump — abandoning positions he’s held in the past, sometimes in harsh terms — that he’s almost unrecognizable now. Maybe his willingness to bend to Trump’s will, even suggesting he’d defy a judge, has made Trump more inclined to rely on him, including having him lead the NSC for now. At the same time, it could mean that Trump views him as a doormat he can walk all over. (I got the sense from most people I spoke to that many believe Trump likes keeping his national security aides weak because he wants to be the only source of any power.)”
“Underlying the 2024 election results was a subtle trend that could signal a dramatic reshaping of the electorate: a surge in ticket-splitting among Latino voters who shifted sharply toward Donald Trump but also supported Democratic House and Senate candidates.”
“The Trump administration has lost a Venezuelan migrant they deported. His family cannot track him down, and the administration has not given any indication as to where he went. He’s not on lists of people deported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. He’s not in the Immigration and Customs detainee database. ICE confirms he’s been sent out of the country, but nobody can say where.”
“Lobbying expenditures on trade issues were a staggering 277 percent higher in the first quarter of 2025 than in the first quarter of 2024, according to data reported to the clerk of the House of Representatives and compiled by Advancing American Freedom Foundation, a conservative nonprofit. In raw dollars, lobbying firms reported spending $4.9 million on trade-related issues in the first three months of this year, up from $1.3 million during the same three months in 2024.
There’s also been a huge expansion in the number of lobbying firms working on the tariff issue. According to the House data, 212 different entities registered some spending on tariff lobbying in the first quarter of this year, up from just 89 that worked on tariff issues in the first three months of last year.
And the average cost to businesses is increasing too. Compared to last year, the average tariff lobbying contract is now 21 percent higher, according to AAFF’s analysis.”
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“”Although President Donald Trump popularized calls to ‘drain the swamp,’ his favorite policy tool, tariffs, has actually enlarged it and generated a massive financial windfall for K Street lobbyists while hardworking American families pick up the tab,” writes Joel Griffith, policy adviser at AAFF, in the Washington Examiner.
In practice, that means some businesses have sought relief from tariffs for themselves while pushing for higher tariffs on competitors.”
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“This is also exactly what happened during the first Trump trade war. A Lehigh University study published last year found that politically connected firms—specifically, those that donated to Republican candidates, including Trump—were more likely to succeed when asking the government for an exemption on imports that would normally be subject to tariffs.”
Defeating Russia in Ukraine would isolate Iran and deter both China and Russia from future aggression. China would be most deterred by a willing and strong U.S. bonded with many allies. Unfortunately, the U.S. is acting weak while at the same time damaging its alliances.
“What do you do with U.S. citizen children when a noncitizen parent is deported? The Trump administration has so far answered this question by saying, Well, actually, it’s not much of a question at all, hurry up and deport them already, let’s not ask any questions or consult any lawyers.”
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“Doughty, who President Donald Trump appointed, issued an order expressing his fear that the toddler had been deported against her father’s wishes, noting that it is “illegal and unconstitutional” to deport U.S. citizens. “The Government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her. But the Court doesn’t know that,” wrote the judge. “Seeking the path of least resistance, the Court called counsel for the Government at 12:19 p.m. CST, so that we could speak with VML’s mother and survey her consent and custodial rights. The Court was independently aware at the time that the plane, tail number N570TA, was above the Gulf of America. The Court was then called back by counsel for the Government at 1:06 p.m. CST, informing the Court that a call with VML’s mother would not be possible, because she (and presumably VML) had just been released in Honduras.” A hearing is set for May 16 due to the judge’s “strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.””
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“Two other U.S. citizen children were deported to Honduras with their illegal immigrant mother, denying the 4-year-old child—who has metastatic cancer—access to his medication.
Gracie Willis, an attorney with the National Immigration Project, told NBC that the boy with cancer and his 7-year-old sister were detained on Thursday; taken to El Paso, Texas; and flown to Honduras on Friday morning.”
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“the deported mothers not have sufficient access to attorneys or family members to make arrangements for the care of minor children. This runs contra ICE’s own policies, “which mandate coordination for the care of minor children with willing caretakers—regardless of immigration status—when deportations are being carried out,””