Good morning! Spring snuck up on us. And while she’s always finicky, it seems like she’s sticking around for a little while. Highs will be in the 60s all week—some days might even hit the low 70s. We’ve hit the time of the year when you can do stuff outside after normal work hours. Go hang out at a street-end park (don’t let any NIMBYs tell you they’re not public) and get that Vitamin D and dopamine.

Until then, though, let’s do the news.

One Million: That’s how many people Trump hopes to deport in his first year back in office. Not for any particular reason—just because it’ll make him feel like a big strong boy. Basic humanity isn’t going to stop him, but there are a lot of reasons why he’s not likely to succeed: First, we’ve never come close to that number (the current record is held by Obama, who deported some 400,000 people in one year); second, analysts don’t think we have the funding or staffing levels to make it happen; and third—let’s say it together now—most immigrants have a right to a court hearing before being deported.

We’re Still in a Trade War: Even if it’s feeling more and more like a slapfight. In case you’ve lost track of the tariff see-saw, here’s where they stand: Our 10 percent global tariffs are still in effect; so are the tariffs on cars, aluminum, and steel; Trump loosened up the “reciprocal” tariffs and the tariffs against Mexico and Canada (NYT calls them “partly in effect”); and of course, for the reason we’re in a trade war in the first place, the tariffs against China are huge and in effect. Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that China has suspended exports of rare minerals that only they mine, cutting off supplies for automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies, and military contractors worldwide.

Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV: It’s that time of year again, when we watch the president pretend that he’s firing on all cylinders. Yesterday, the White House released the results of Trump’s annual physical exam, and a navy captain insists that he’s “fully fit to execute the duties” and “exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health.” At 78, Trump is the oldest person to be sworn in as president, and he’s been extremely guarded with the press about his health since he was grazed by a bullet in July. The New York Times described Trump as a “fast-food enthusiast,” “fueled by a diet heavy on ice cream, red meat, and soda,” He weighed in at 224 pounds, which is only interesting because the last time his weight was made public was when he was charged with attempts to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat in Georgia.

What if Universities Were the Resistance? Trump has taken aim at basically every major university, using vague claims about DEI and anti-semitism to try to get them to bend the knee. And it’s starting to work—just look at Columbia University. But Masha Gessen has a different idea: What if instead of acquiescing to an anti-intellectual totalitarian, universities banded together to protect truth? “Universities are independent centers of intellectual and, to some extent, political power. He is trying to destroy that independence,” they wrote in the New York Times. “There is a way for universities to fight back. It requires more than refusing to bend to Trump’s will, and it requires more than forming a united front. They must abandon all the concerns—rankings, donors, campus amenities—that preoccupy and distract them, and focus on their core mission: the production and dissemination of knowledge.” Read more about it here.

Baby, You’re a Firework: Jeff Bezos’s fiancé, Lauren Sanchez, brought an all-female crew to space with her this morning. For a little more than 10 minutes, Katy Perry (yes, that one), journalist Gayle King, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyễn, philanthropist Kerianne Flynn, and former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe crossed the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. This was the 11th space tourism flight that Bezos’s Blue Origin has popped into space.

Should Bezos be sending a crew into space as an early wedding gift while the world is literally on fire? No. But here’s a silver lining. Amanda Nguyễn was a NASA-bound Harvard astrophysics student, until she was raped at a frat party in 2013. Then she found out that, not only would she have to go through the re-traumatizing process of getting a rape kit done, she’d have to pay for the privilege and fight to keep the state from destroying the evidence. So she put her NASA plans on hold and helped draft the Sexual Assault Survivor’s Rights Act, which Obama signed into law in 2016. This morning, she went into space for 10 minutes to collect data on menstruation in zero gravity—one of the main (baseless) excuses other orgs have chosen not to send women into space.

ICYMI: State workers threw down in Olympia last week, refusing to let Governor Ferguson try to balance the state budget on their backs. Ferg wants to furlough state employees to try to cut costs rather than imagine a world where our state has a progressive tax structure. Marcus Harrison Green has more on it here.

Speaking of Progressive Tax: Did you feel the shift in the matrix? On Friday, the Seattle Times reported that in the shadow of a bleak budget forecast, Mayor Bruce Harrell is considering new progressive tax streams—a local wealth tax, perhaps, or an expanded payroll tax (like Jumpstart, but bigger!). Taxes like these shift some of the burden of our city’s budget from average working people to our city’s wealthiest, which is why it’s 1) awesome, and 2) surprising that it ever came out of Harrell’s mouth. We’ll see if he can get it on paper.

REI Backtracks: Our homegrown outdoor outfitter finally admitted that signing a letter backing Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick for interior secretary, was a mistake. Since stepping into the position, Burgum has called for extracting natural resources from otherwise untouched land in Alaska, building housing on federal lands, and restoring the coal industry. Who could have seen that coming? 

Another Hate Crime: On Friday, a man was arrested in Fremont on suspicion of a hate crime. He allegedly threw large rocks at a woman, grazing her head, while shouting profanities about her sexual orientation.

Wonky Transit Week: Some of our tracks need love, so light rail trains between Westlake and Stadium stations will arrive 25 to 30 minutes apart until next Wednesday. The sections north and south of that block will be running almost normally—every 12 minutes. The biggest annoyance is that you’ll have to change trains at Westlake and Stadium. Plan for some extra time and bring a good book. 

To Ease You Into Your Monday: Here’s a live stream of an eagles’ nest in West Virginia. This nest has been here since 2002, and eagles come back every year. Right now, the babies look like weird little dinosaurs, and they’re here to hang out as long as you need them today.

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29 replies on “Slog AM: Trump Wants to Deport a Million People, We’re Still in a Trade War, Harrell Flirts with Progressive Taxes”

  2. Nobody has to get a rape kit done, survivors are given the option to participate in any or all of it. It’s insane they were being made to pay for it though.

  3. The goal should be to deport 18-20 million illegal immigrants. But one million is a nice start! Go Trump Go!

    Universities are INDEPENDENT? LOL, if they want to be so independent they should give up their federal funding. I won’t hold my breath.

    It really doesn’t matter how much beef or Diet Coke President Trump consumes. He’s blessed with fantastic genetics. He’ll be around for a good long time to come.

  7. Just based on his body’s proportions, if Trump is actually 6’3” it is physically impossible for him to weigh 224 lbs. Like, the laws of physics do not allow human flesh to take up that much volume without the mass to match, unless he is not just figuratively but also literally full of hot air. He is either lying about his height or weight, most likely both. Why, I couldn’t tell you, because the display of insecurity is more embarrassing than just admitting the truth.

  9. @7: Are you saying he’d need to weigh more? A 6’3” person under 200 is perfectly healthy: 152 to 192.

    Agree he’s not that tall though.

  10. If he were 6’3 he would need to weigh substantially more than 224. He’s about the same height as Biden which puts him at 6’0. 224 is much more believable at that height but I don’t see why he wouldn’t lie about that when we’ve already established he’s lying about something as easily verifiable as his height. Even his reported body temperature of 98.6 is probably made up. That was the average body temperature from like 50 years ago and highly unlikely to be what any individual reading would be if you took it today.

  11. There’s no way Trump only weighs 224 when he looks like a donut-stuffed balloon. My husband is barely 6′ (I’d argue he’s only 5’11”, but I digress) weighs 230, and Trump makes him look like a svelte runway model. Trump is AT LEAST 40 pounds above what he says he weighs, but the bigger (heh) issue is we have a sitting president so vain he forces medical professionals to lie about his weight and health to give him a pass. Which, yeah Biden was definitely on the dementia train and doing the same thing, but that doesn’t make me feel better about either of them having been given access to the nuclear football.

    We should’ve learned out lesson about electing Alzheimer’s patients to the presidency back in the 80s, but here we are again.

  14. “Burgum has called for . . . building housing on federal lands.”

    I’m confused as to why the Stranger believes it’s improper for the the federal government to identify underutilized federal properties suitable for development as affordable housing for rural and tribal communities. It is solely because a Trump appointee came up with the idea, or is there more?

  16. 14 it’s a dumb idea on its face but even if you actually believe their only goal is to build “affordable housing” in the middle of nowhere you would have to be extremely naive to think they would stop at that, though i suppose no more naive than believing they just want to sell off federal land to build homes for poor people

  20. @17, what does a proposal from the city of Seattle from 2019 have to do with the trump administration in 2025

    I don’t know how else to put this to you but the administration who lies constantly about everything even when nothing is at stake is probably lying about this too, though they’re not exactly lying because they’ve been talking about drilling and mining on federal land a lot more than building housing for poor people. If you’re capable of believing the trump administration is ever speaking in good faith then I suggest you keep your eye out for the wallet inspector because you’re a prime target.

  22. @21, Even if they were proposing to only open up unused federal land near existing cities for housing development I would be skeptical, and that is only a small part of a much larger effort to sell off federal land for resource extraction and to build entirely new “freedom cities” (beyond parody) in the middle of nowhere.

    Could the government develop low income housing on urban-adjacent federal land? Sure. Would that be a policy I can get behind? Absolutely. Do I trust this administration to follow through on that? Lol

  24. @20, @22: Agreed we should assume Trump’s administration will do nothing to help anyone but themselves, and we should hope their vast incompetence somewhat mitigates their malice. That said, we need to look for opportunities to make their actions benefit everyone, not just reflexively oppose everything.

  26. To be crystal clear, I don’t think they’re asking for our support or permission to do any of this because they’re going to do whatever he wants. I think they are adding a feel-good plan to a feel-bad one to make the whole proposal more palatable and easier to weaponize against anyone who resists. If they do end up building urban housing I will be as pleasantly surprised as anyone but I think it’s foolish to believe that’s going happen.

  27. @26 this is the exact right take, I only shared that link because it’s an interesting idea not because I think Trump could or would ever implement it effectively

  28. “…I don’t think they’re asking for our support or permission to do any of this because they’re going to do whatever he wants.”

    I neither wrote nor implied anything about anyone asking for permission. We’re in their imperial overreach period, so we should simply watch for future opportunities we can exploit from their overreach. They’re already concerned about losing control of the House next year, and we need to work to ensure it happens, and the Senate too, if possible. At that point, they’ll have to compromise, and we’ll need to be ready.

  29. Kudos to the Stranger for calling attention to Masha Gessen’s very important essay. Every university president, provost and trustee in the country needs to read it and heed it (I’d like to think it just now helped Harvard grow a spine). Particularly important is the essential role Poland’s universities played in equipping the country’s population to resist and roll back autocratic capture. The last two paragraphs are worth quoting in full:

    “So this is my radical proposal for universities: Act like universities, not like businesses. SPEND YOUR ENDOWMENTS [emphasis mine]. Accept more, not fewer students. Open up your campuses and expand your reach not by buying real estate but by bringing education to communities. Create a base. Become a movement.

    “Alternatively, you can try to negotiate with a mafia boss who wants to see you grovel. When these negotiations fail, as they inevitably will, it will be too late to ask for the public’s support.”

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