Evening Report — Trump stirs culture wars ...Middle East

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©  Greg Nash

PRESIDENT TRUMP IS TAKING AIM at cultural flashpoints, signing executive orders to reverse or scale back policies that became top social priorities for Democrats during his first term in office.

Trump is planning several orders that will impact the military, which under President Biden's administration prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

• Trump is expected to sign an executive order barring transgender people from serving openly in the military. Trump previously revoked a Biden order preventing the military from discharging soldiers because of their gender identity. He also signed an order saying the U.S. government would only recognize two genders.

• Trump plans to sign an executive order reinstating service members who were dismissed from the military for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Those service members will receive their former rank and full back pay with benefits.

• Newly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says more orders are coming soon, including one pertaining to the construction of an “Iron Dome” for America.

• The Office of Personnel Management ordered the heads of departments and agencies to terminate all DEI offices and workers within 60 days, according to memo.

• Over the weekend, Trump took action to limit U.S. government funding for abortions, reversing some of Biden’s efforts to increase access. Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy that requires foreign nongovernmental organizations to not use any funding sources for abortions or counseling related to the procedure. Trump will also enforce the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of any federal dollars on abortions. Those actions came shortly before Trump addressed the March for Life in Washington.

• The federal government is formally implementing Trump’s directive to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and changing Denali back to Mount McKinley. 

TRUMP GETS GOP BLOWBACK OVER IG, SECURITY CLEARANCES

Trump’s late-night move to oust more than a dozen inspectors general is getting some blowback from Republicans, who say the actions might have been illegal.

Trump abruptly fired 17 watchdogs at various agencies within the Defense Department, State Department, Energy Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, and others.

➡️ Read more: Fired government watchdog: ‘So, Friday night I got an email’

The law requires the president give Congress a 30-day notice.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) defended the move, while acknowledging that the president “technically” broke the law.

"He should have [given Congress notice],” Graham said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But the question is, is it OK for him to put people in place that he thinks can carry out his agenda? Yeah. He won the election.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key swing vote in the Senate, said she was baffled by the move.

“I don’t understand why one would fire individuals whose mission it is to root out waste, fraud and abuse.”

Former Small Business Administration Inspector General Mike Ware told MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera:

“We're looking at what amounts to a threat to democracy, a threat to independent oversight, and a threat to transparency in government.”

Trump is also getting pushback from within his own party for cutting the government-provided security details from some his critics and former officials who have fallen out of favor.

Among those who have lost their security detail: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser John Bolton, and Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

•  Pompeo and Bolton have faced threats from Iran.

•  Graham said the Senate should investigate Trump’s decision to pull Bolton’s security.

•  Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called on Trump to "revisit the decision."

• “Iran is committed to vengeance against all of these people,” Cotton told "Fox News Sunday."

?Perspectives:

• The Washington Post: Will Trump solve problems voters care about most?

• CNN: After Colombia backs down, Trump claims America is respected again.

• The New Republic: Trump broke the law.

• The Atlantic: The January 6er who left Trumpism.

• The Hill: A look through Trump's looking glass.

Read more: 

• 5 takeaways from Trump’s whirlwind week back at the White House.

• Trump’s risky gambit to strip security from Fauci, Bolton and Pompeo.

• White House says US-Colombia agreement in place after back-and-forth.

• Trump’s move to freeze Biden-approved funding draws howls from Dems.

CATCH UP QUICK

A new bid for TikTok from Perplexity AI could give the U.S. government a 50 percent stake.

Working Americans are turning to food banks as the Fed’s inflation battle drags on.

ON TAP

• House Republicans will meet with Trump this evening at his resort in Miami to discuss the way forward on his agenda.

IN OTHER NEWS

©  Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Associated Press file

Immigration enforcement swings into high gear

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it made 956 arrests in Chicago on Sunday.

The raids were overseen by President Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan and acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.

Homan said immigration raids would take place at middle schools and elementary schools because “many” MS-13 members are between the ages of 14 and 17.

In Colorado, the Drug Enforcement Agency arrested at least 50 people at a “makeshift nightclub” with ties to a a Venezuelan gang.

The acting head of the Department of Homeland Security is allowing immigration enforcement agents to swiftly deport the estimated 1.5 million who came to the U.S. under parole programs established under the Biden administration.

The Trump administration has reportedly ordered Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents to meet daily arrest quotas, The Washington Post reported, ranging anywhere from a few hundred to 1,500 arrests per day.

MEANWHILE ...

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the weekend ordered the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, to stop issuing visas. 

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is sending 400 soldiers and some helicopters to the Southern to bolster the federal government’s efforts to limit illegal crossings.

Read more: 

• Krugman: Trump immigration crackdown ‘set to hobble food production and home construction’

• Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship sparks GOP divisions.

• Trump’s 5 biggest moves on immigration so far.

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