Today’s notice: Can Republicans have it all? Can local law enforcement get behind Trump’s mass deportation plans? Does anyone in Congress actually know what bird flu is?
Dreaming the Possible Dream
Some people are looking at the tight House majority and feeling like Republicans should maybe lower their expectations. Count Grover Norquist among the conservatives in Washington who disagree. He is instead thinking big thoughts about the upcoming GOP trifecta — as long as Republicans learn some lessons from Donald Trump’s previous first year in office.
Norquist, whose Americans for Tax Reform group is expected to play a role in shaping any tax cut package that comes together when Republicans take control, is hopeful Republicans will learn from mistakes of the past and start there.
“It was a mistake to wait a year to get it done the last time,” Norquist told us about the 2017 tax reform bill in a recent conversation, arguing that the delay resulted in a tax bill that was less dreamy for Republicans than it could have been. This time, he advises self-restraint, looking past shiny objects and focusing on the policy. Do the reconciliation bill in the first two months, Norquist says.
“People always say to kids, ‘Never listen to the word ‘can’t.’” Well, sometimes you have to,” he said with a chuckle.
If Republicans can manage that, he thinks they can pull off a dream world where a potentially nasty rift between a pro-tariff protectionist wing of the party and guys like Norquist never manifests. The tax cuts would create so much growth, no one will need tariffs, he argues.
There may be a rude awakening even before the trifecta takes over. Last night, Trump wrote on Truth Social that upon taking office he would impose across-the-board 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” He followed that up with a similar promise to impose “an additional” 10% tariff on goods from China.
Before the announcements, Norquist told us he was fine with the threat of tariffs, “But it’s a little like a nuclear weapon: You don’t want to have to use them, because it has real costs beyond what you are trying to do.”
That does not sound like the dream scenario.
NOTUS reporters have several stories today about big conservative dreaming. Oriana González talked to people who feel that the yearslong goal of cutting all of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding is finally in reach. Claire Heddles spoke to folks in the crypto world who are pounding their chests McConaughey style. All are feeling it, but have yet to try to actually do it.
—Evan McMorris-Santoro
Harder-Than-It-Sounds Report: Mass Deportations
Speaking of dreams and political realities, NOTUS’ Casey Murray reports that Trump’s plan to deport millions of people may struggle to get through law enforcement, where local concerns can take priority even over a national policy a lot of cops support.
“If they come in and say, ‘We need you to do this, this and this,’ well, that’s going to depend on what else I’ve got going on,” Brad Coe, the Trump-supporting sheriff of Kinney County, Texas, told Casey. “They can’t make it mandatory.”
One big complaint: a lack of resources. “They would have to come in and build me a 1,000-bed jail and have that, and then they’re gonna have to fund this county to hire jailers and more deputies,” Sheriff Ronny Dodson of Brewster County, Texas — another Trump supporter — told Casey.
Front Page
- Welcome to Crypto’s ‘Special Interest Congress’: The crypto industry spent big this election cycle. Now, the “crypto-sized club” — as one critic described its spending might — looms over lawmakers in both parties.
- One Major Obstacle to Trump’s Mass Deportation Promise — Local Law Enforcement: “I’m not gonna let the government tell me what to do in my job,” one Trump-supporting sheriff told NOTUS.
- Republicans’ First Anti-Abortion Agenda Item: Defunding Planned Parenthood: Almost two decades after the first bill to cut funding for the organization was introduced, Republicans hope they’ll finally be able to get it done.
- House Republicans Celebrate Another One of Their Own Getting Nominated for Trump’s Cabinet: Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination to serve as labor secretary is controversial with some Senate Republicans, but not with Chavez-DeRemer’s colleagues in the House.
Bird Flu, What?
Cases of bird flu have been confirmed in 55 people across seven states since April, and NOTUS’ Emily Kennard asked 19 lawmakers about it. Turns out many lawmakers from both parties couldn’t speak in great detail about it, and some didn’t know much of anything about it at all.
“I don’t have much to say,” Democratic Rep. Raul Ruiz — the ranking member of the House’s COVID-19 subcommittee — told NOTUS. “I don’t know, so I couldn’t give you an honest assessment.”
Ruiz’s lack of knowledge was a repeated sentiment across Capitol Hill, but a few lawmakers had kept up with developments, including COVID-19 subcommittee member Rep. Brad Wenstrup.
“We’re doing good things to try and quarantine this and not let it go any further. These are risks we’re always going to have,” Wenstrup told NOTUS.
The J6 Case Might Not Be Dead After All
With Trump about to move back into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., any prospect that he may move into a less-comfortable residence — behind bars, say — for what went down on Jan. 6, 2021, has been forestalled by at least four years.
Legal experts told NOTUS’ Jose Pagliery that Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump might not be dead forever.
“If [Smith] is asking for it to be dismissed without prejudice, there’s no double jeopardy that would prevent a prosecution from going forward in the future. Double jeopardy applies when a jury has been empaneled,” Tess Cohen, a former New York prosecutor, told NOTUS. “Before that happens, under constitutional law, double jeopardy does not apply.”
Still, as former Manhattan prosecutor Catherine Christian pointed out, the DOJ will also have the power to dismiss the case for good. So maybe don’t bank on the case’s return…
“It would be interesting to see that when AG Bondi comes in, if she’ll send her deputy, Todd Blanche, to say that it should be dismissed with prejudice. What’s stopping them from doing that? The reality is, this case is dead,” she said.
Number You Should Know
3
Trump’s pick for secretary of labor, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, was one of just three House Republicans to co-sponsor the union-friendly PRO Act. That’s part of the reason she’s so beloved by many in labor, but it’s also giving some senators pause as they consider her nomination.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- How Universities Cracked Down on Pro-Palestinian Activism by Isabelle Taft at The New York Times
- A Third Woman Died Under Texas’ Abortion Ban. Doctors Are Avoiding D&Cs and Reaching for Riskier Miscarriage Treatments. By Lizzie Presser and Kavitha Surana at ProPublica.
- Under Trump, many states might pursue Medicaid work requirements by Shalina Chatlani at Arkansas Advocate
- Devoted Aide Who Keeps Good News Flowing Will Follow Trump to the White House by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan at The New York Times
Be Social
But will these BFFs become NMEs?
Thank you for this @SusieWiles Couldn’t more proud to be one of these “Musketeers!” pic.twitter.com/8aa6W1Mag0
— Tony Fabrizio (@TonyFabrizioGOP) November 23, 2024
Tell Us Your Thoughts
Which of Trump’s cabinet picks will get the fewest votes in the Senate?
Send your thoughts to newsletters@notus.org.