Brie-fing: March 18, 2025

The Trump 2.0 Archive Journal has moved online.

Starting today, all of my archiving and journaling will take place online.

President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence, participates in a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photo by D.Myles Cullen)

I started keeping a written journal detailing the second Trump administration on January 27th. There was no set goal or big plan, I simply felt that history deserved as many perspectives as it could get.

Over the last week, two things have become abundantly clear to me;

1. The Trump administration has departed from the rules of democracy.

2. Writing by hand just ain't gonna work.

The journal is BEAUTIFUL. It’s personal. It’s honest and engrossing and I’m genuinely proud that I wrote the first ~90 pages by hand. With that said, my heart tells me that I’ll be more effective by doing this online; I can add pictures and infographics. I can link directly to news stories and reports to inform the work. I can record the news at the same speed it’s coming at us… Above all else, I can share as I go, and maybe help inform some other folks along the way.

I’m transferring the handwritten pages to a binder, and will print these entries out and add to it on a daily basis. It’s important to me to keep the diaristic feel, so I’ll commentate and opinionate throughout the entries. This is NOT meant to be an objective work; I will make no efforts to shield how I feel, nor will I hide the times when I am wrong or mistaken; some of these entries are bound to age poorly, while others might end up feeling salient later on. It’s meant to be a true journal that archives this period in history; if something I say turns out to be disgusting in 100 years, PLEASE call my dead ass out on it. Learn from this journal however you can, with no thought to my legacy.

Okay, now that we’ve covered all that…

I chose to start recording online because, after yesterday March 17th, I am sufficiently convinced that Donald Trump and his administration are trying to do permanent damage to democracy. I think we’re officially in a Constitutional crisis, and the amount of damage being done requires very, VERY fast fingers.

Living through this moment in history feels like an out-of-body experience.

9:58pm:

I’m listening to an episode of Pod Save America right now;

“By the way, this is happening not just with the Venezuelan gangs, this is happening now, there’s a whole bunch of these cases popping up; there’s a New Hampshire man, who has a valid green card from Germany. He’s just a German citizen; violently interrogated at Logan airport, stripped naked, put in a cold shower, denied access to his medication, food, water, all because he had a misdemeanor charge for marijuana possession from 2015, which had since been dismissed… A mother of 5 from Milwaukee who has lived here in the United States since she was 8 months old, she was deported to Laos, where she’s never been, and now she’s stranded in a house surrounded by military guards, again, because of a marijuana related conviction.”

Checking New York Times to start the day:

• Trump and Putin discussed Ukraine.

  • Topics included power plants and “dividing up” Ukrainian assets.

  • Phone call lasted over two hours

• The Trump administration is pushing back against a federal judg’s orders on deportations.

  • Trump said on Truth Social that the judge is “a troublemaker and agitator”, calling for his impeachment.

    • LOL, NYT points out that his “remarks come days after he declared during a speech at the Justice Department that criticizing judges should be illegal.”

  • The Justice Department filed papers late Monday night arguing the judge, James E. Boasberg, had no jurisdiction because “the presidential actions they challenge are not subject to judicial review.”

    • It’s worth noting just how far we’ve strayed from the norms here; the lawyers for the Justice Department are literally arguing that the President, and everything he does, should be above legal scrutiny.

  • NYT’s Shawn McCreesh: “In Trump’s post on Tuesday morning, he appeared to lay out a theory that because he won the popular vote and the swing states, he should have the power to overrule any judge who defies him. This judge, Trump wrote, ‘didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!).’”

• Chief Justice John G. Roberts issued a rare rebuke of Donald Trump

  • “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

    • That’s justice-speak for ‘shut the fuck up you idiot’ lol

10:50am

Last night, right before bed, I recorded this headline from AP News: Israeli strikes have killed at least 235 people in the Gaza strip, according to hospitals.

I’m looking at BBC News right now:

• Israel continuing strikes across Gaza, as Hamas-run ministry says more than 400 killed

  • Lyse Doucet, Chief international correspondent BBC: “The fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire which came into force on 19 January always seemed likely to be broken.”

    • No aid has entered Gaza this month

    • Politics is at play here - Netanyahu’s right-wing allies, who he needs to stay in power, want him to continue the war in Gaza

    • I guess Netanyahu plans to deliver a speech soon… stay tuned

• Five Hamas officials confirmed killed in overnight strikes

  • Yasser Harb, member of Hamas’ political bureau, along with his family

  • Engineer Issam Al-Da’alis, Hamas government head and member of the political bureau

  • Major General Mahmoud Abu Watfa, deputy interior minister in Gaza and the highest-ranking Hamas security official

  • Brigadier General Bahjat Abu Sultan, head of Hamas’ Internal Security Agency, the group’s most powerful security apparatus

  • Abu Omar Al-Hattah, Deputy Minister of Justice in Gaza

  • Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) - an allied armed group of Hamas - also confirmed the death of its spokesman Naji Abu Seif, otherwise known as Abu Hamza.

Here’s the magic question:

Was it worth it?

I understand that war is ugly, unfair, and inhumane. I understand that Hamas committed an unprovoked, brutal, vicious attack on innocent people, and Israel can’t just let that stand.

I’m LITERALLY asking… is this good math to Israel? 400+ people lost their lives so you could get five Hamas officials. Is that considered a win? Was that a fair trade? I’m no expert on Israel and Palestine; my extended family is technically Jewish, but none of us practice; I’m not gonna jump in here and pretend like I know what the right answers are.

All I’m saying is, you can only see so many photos of dead Palestinian kids before the math starts to look a little bit… cruel. Idk. Who the hell am I?

Here are the headline updates from NBC about the war:

• White House said Israel consulted it before striking Gaza

  • “As President Trump has made it clear — Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,” Press Secretary Leavitt said.

• Israel warns some Gaza residents to evacuate

  • "For your own safety, move away to the known shelters in western Gaza City and in the city of Khan Younis," the Israel Defense Force's Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said in a post on X.

• Hamas says Gaza strikes are ‘death sentence’ for hostages

  • Izzat al-Risheq, Hamas’ political bureau: "Netanyahu's decision to resume war is a decision to sacrifice" the captives and "impose a death sentence on them… Mediators are required to reveal the facts about Netanyahu's reversal of the ceasefire agreement and hold him solely responsible for pouring oil on the fire in Gaza and the region."

• Airstrikes ‘felt like Armageddon,’ doctor volunteering in Gaza says

  • Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan: “It’s nuts here, we woke up to an airstrike frenzy… The windows were shaking, the doors flew open, it was non-stop and then within about ten minutes we started hearing the sirens,” describing the scenes as “a level of horror and evil that is really hard to articulate.”

• China calls on ceasefire to continue, saying it’s ‘highly concerned’

  • Mao Ning, Foreign Ministry spokesperson: Beijing hopes that “all parties can earnestly promote the continued and effective implementation of the ceasefire agreement,” adding Israel and Hamas should “avoid taking any actions that may lead to an escalation of the situation, and prevent a larger-scale humanitarian disaster.”

• ‘Panic’ consumes hostages’ families as ceasefire in peril

  • Daniel Shek, head of diplomacy at HMFF, which represents families of the hostages in Gaza: “There’s a feeling of, I think the word 'panic' is quite appropriate, because they are afraid for the safety of their loved ones who are still there, obviously, but also because simply this makes the continuation of the negotiations much, much more difficult."

    • Shek said he was hopeful that mediators, "especially the United States," would "make an extraordinary effort to bring the negotiations back on track and to resume the ceasefire," which he said would be "for everybody’s sake, including for the sake of the Gaza Strip.”

  • Ayelet Svatitzky, sister of Nadav Popplewell, who died in Hamas captivity: "It was too late for so many families whose loved ones were murdered in captivity," Svatitzky said in a statement shared by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. "But for other hostages—it is NOT too late. THEIR LIVES CAN STILL BE SAVED."

• Danny Danon, U.S. ambassador for Israel: "Let me be very clear: Israel will not stop until all of our hostages are back home," Danny Danon said in a video. "We will make it very clear to the Security Council that if they want to stop the war in Gaza, they have to ensure that the hostages are coming back to Israel."

• Kenneth Roth, prominent human rights advocate and former executive director of Human Rights Watch: “The first phase of the ceasefire obviously expired, but the Israeli government has shown no interest in continuing that ceasefire while negotiating the second phase,” Roth said in a statement sent to NBC News. "Instead, to pressure Hamas into making further concessions, the Netanyahu government has reverted to its war-crime strategy of starving Palestinian civilians and now bombing Gaza.”

• Doctors Without Borders ‘appalled and outraged’ by strikes

  • From the organization’s statement: “People simply cannot afford such violence and devastation to start again. Israel must end its collective punishment of people. Aid and basic goods must be allowed in."

• France condemns Israeli strikes on Gaza and calls for halt to violence

  • French Foreign Ministry: “France calls for an immediate halt to hostilities, which are compromising efforts to free hostages and threaten the lives of Gaza’s civilian population," the French Foreign Ministry said in the statement. "All parties must return to respecting the ceasefire in its entirety, and engage in good-faith negotiations to make it permanent."

• IDF says strikes in Gaza are ‘preemptive’ and ‘will continue as long as necessary’

  • I find this rhetoric infuriating because it conveniently skips over a very crucial point… THIS IS COERCION, is it not? Essentially, there was a ceasefire, and they were negotiating the next phase, and Hamas didn’t accept their deals… so they’re bombing them and refusing to let aid come in. And what makes me the sickest is that, apparently, Israel notified USA they were gonna do it, and the government MY TAX DOLLARS support stood proud and endorsed the attack.

• U.S. ambassador to the U.N. blames Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Hamas

  • Dorothy Shea, US ambassador: "Hamas refused this offer, preferring still to hold hostages captive and hide amongst the people of Gaza, using them as human shields," she said. "It is the people of Gaza who will suffer further because of Hamas’ disregard for human life."

    • Okay… it’s just hard to hear lectures about the ‘disregard for human life’ while they’re counting the bodies of their dead

• Israeli foreign minister: ‘This is not a one-day operation’

  • “We will continue the military course over the coming days. As always, it is important to make it clear that we are doing our best to minimize harm to civilians.”

    • Said the decision to launch the offensive was made several days ago: “The Americans knew before the attack and supported us - because justice was with us.”

NBC News is interviewing people on the ground in Gaza. They quoted an unnamed man: “There was no warning, there was nothing. They were sleeping, peaceful people, sleeping in their homes. Children — now in pieces, we can't identify them because they were torn to pieces."

Netanyahu gave a news briefing about an hour ago, saying “I want to promise to you and to Hamas that this is just the beginning.” It’s clear that the U.S. and Israeli governments are in agreement about how to proceed, but considering that relatives of hostages are on TV, quite literally begging Trump to change his mind and return to a ceasefire to save the hostages, and considering France condemned the attack, they might face more pressure than they expected.

It’s just all so barbaric.