The 1600 Newsletter: Magic Mike Johnson’s Latest Trick

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The Insider’s Track

Good morning,

Got a bit of a grab bag today with a few things I want to address before taking a long weekend (bringing the little one to the natural history museum tomorrow, where I intend to blow her toddler mind between the planetarium and dinosaur exhibit).

It was really heartening to see some ostensibly hardcore MAGA/Trump supporters write in yesterday to express their concerns about the Khalil case from a First Amendment perspective. The media likes to paint this country as completely polarized, but when you actually work in the media, you get these glimpses of how much common ground and shared values Americans actually have. The 1A is one of them. If you don’t agree, just remember: if you approve of the federal government snatching a legal, permanent U.S. resident off the street without evidence of any specific crime, you are approving of a future administration doing the same thing—maybe next time to someone you support, or even know.

Meanwhile, the Senate Dems find themselves in quite the bind with less than 48 hours until a potential government shutdown. I hate covering these self-inflicted shutdown dramas—so boring, so dumb, why do we do this to ourselves?—but you gotta hand it to Magic Mike Johnson for once again pulling off the impossible job of keeping his caucus together while handing the Ds a you-know-what-sandwich: approve of his seven-month funding bill to keep the lights on (thereby funding ICE, DOGE, all the things they hate), or be seen as responsible for shutting down the government and all that comes with it. I suspect when push comes to shove they’ll do the former.

Also today, Trump hosts the head of NATO at the White House—this as we still await word from the Kremlin about the 30-day ceasefire deal that Marco Rubio has secured from Kyiv. It’s notable that neither Trump nor Musk have done much to pressure Putin to sign this agreement. Maybe they’re doing it behind-the-scenes, but it would be nice to see us putting the screws to Vlad, the actual aggressor, at least as hard as we’ve been doing to Zelensky in public. Trump says he’ll bury Moscow in economic sanctions if they don’t agree, but Russia has been sanctioned to the hilt since the war began and they’ve managed just fine. If there’s a bigger negotiating tactic at play here, I still don’t see it.

Finally, how’d you like to be Pete Hoesktra, the former Republican congressman from Michigan, today. He has his confirmation hearing to become ambassador to Canada: a cake job if ever there was one, at least back when Trump offered it to him last year. Now he’s gotta be the American face of this idiotic trade war and 51st state threat. I think I’d rather just stay retired.

The Rundown

Trump Doubles ICE Arrest Rate in First 50 Days

President Donald Trump oversaw a surge in ICE arrests during the first 50 days of his second term in office—more than doubling the daily rate under the Biden administration—newly released figures show. Agents made nearly 33,000 migrant arrests between Jan. 20 and March 10. Read the full story.

Also happening:

Trump threatens 200% tariff on EU alcohol: President Donald Trump threatened to impose 200% tariffs on all alcoholic products from the European Union in response to the region’s retaliatory 50% tariff on U.S. whiskey. “This will be great for the wine and champagne businesses in the U.S.,” Trump said in part. Read more.
Russia-Ukraine war: A senior Kremlin official rejected the idea of a temporary ceasefire, as proposed by the Trump administration, saying Russia was only interested in a long-term resolution of the Ukraine conflict. “It seems to me that no one needs any steps that imitate peaceful actions in this situation,” Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said to Russia-1. Read more.
Government shutdown: Senate Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer said that not enough Democrats support the GOP-led funding measure that passed the House. With the looming deadline, Democrats are pushing for a continuing resolution to extend government funding through April 11. Here’s the latest.
Guantanamo Bay operation: The Trump administration has reportedly spent $16 million on housing migrants in Guantanamo Bay’s naval base in Cuba. Over the past two days, all of the migrants detained at Guantanamo Bay have been transferred to Louisiana, two major outlets report. Here’s what we know.
From court: A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing parts of an executive order aimed at punishing Perkins Coie, a prominent law firm linked to Democratic-funded opposition research during the 2016 presidential campaign into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. Read the full story.