Trump Blusters But Faces Setbacks at Home

Hello, this is Michael Moss. Heather Cox Richardson is unable to read the letter today, so I will be reading it in her place. March 5, 2026. President Donald J. Trump is behaving more and more erratically these days, seeming to think he can dictate to other countries. This morning, Trump told Barack Ravid and Zachary Basu of Axios that he needs to be involved personally in choosing the next leader of Iran. Speaking of Iranian politicians who are preparing to announce a new leader, Trump told the reporters, They are wasting their time. Khamenei's son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delce Rodriguez in Venezuela. Foreign affairs journalist Olga Nesterova of ONEST, or Honest, reported that in a call with Israel's Channel 12 this morning, Trump called Israel's President Isaac Herzog a disgrace and demanded Herzog pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today because Trump doesn't want Netanyahu distracted from the war with Iran. Trump said Herzog had promised him five times to pardon the Prime Minister, and he appeared to threaten Herzog when he added, tell him I'm exposing him. In a statement, Herzog noted that Israel is a sovereign state governed by the rule of law, and said the pardon is being dealt with by the Justice Ministry as the law requires. After its ruling, Herzog's office said, he will examine the issue according to the law and without any influence from external or internal pressures of any kind. In a conversation today with Dasha Burns of Politico, Trump insisted that people are loving what's happening and said, Cuba's going to fall too. The most astonishing example of Trump's international aggression came from White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt. Although Trump initially said he attacked Iran to keep it from acquiring nuclear weapons, Levitt yesterday explained that Trump joined Israel in a military attack on Iran because Trump had a feeling, based on fact, that Iran was going to attack the United States. Trump's assertion of power globally contrasts with increasing setbacks at home. Since the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEPA, as unconstitutional, the administration has tried to slow walk repaying the $130 billion the government collected under those tariffs. But yesterday, Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that companies that paid the tariffs are entitled to a refund. After the Supreme Court's decision, Trump immediately imposed new tariffs of 15% on all global trade, using as justification Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. As Lindsay Whitehurst and Paul Wiseman of the Associated Press noted, this is awkward because the Department of Justice under Trump argued in court last year that Trump had to use the IEPA because Section 122 did not have any obvious application in fighting trade deficits. Today, the Democratic Attorneys General of more than 20 states filed a lawsuit to stop the new tariffs imposed under Section 122 Once again President Trump is ignoring the law and the Constitution to effectively raise taxes on consumers and small businesses New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement Thursday. The Department of Justice has also quietly backed away from Trump's demand that it investigate whether former President Joe Biden broke the law by using an auto pen to sign presidential documents. Yesterday, Michael S. Schmidt, Devlin Barrett, and Alan Fuhr reported in the New York Times that prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. were never quite clear what crime, if any, had been committed by the Biden administration's use of the auto pen. They concluded there was no credible case to make against Biden. The journalist noted that the failed inquiry has only added to the sense among many federal investigators that Mr. Trump has become increasingly erratic in his desire to use the criminal justice system to punish his political adversaries for behavior that comes nowhere close to being criminal. Trump had been so invested in his attacks on Biden over his quite ordinary use of an auto pen that he replaced a White House picture of Biden with one of an auto pen. So the prosecutor's shelving of that investigation has to sting. Likely even more painful, though, is today's news that Trump's hand-picked National Planning Commission has put off a vote to approve the ballroom Trump is proposing to replace the East Wing of the White House that he suddenly tore down last October. At a Medal of Honor ceremony on Monday, Trump called attention to his ballroom and boasted, I built many a ballroom. I believe it's going to be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world. But the American people do not share Trump's vision. The chair of the commission said significant public input has caused him to delay the vote until April 2nd. Jonathan Edwards and Dan Diamond of the Washington Post say that of the more than 35,000 comments the commission received, more than 97% were opposed to Trump's plans for the ballroom. But perhaps the biggest setback for the Trump administration showed in the testimony of now former Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, before Congress this week. There, days after Trump launched a major military operation in the Middle East without consulting Congress, angry lawmakers of both parties exposed the lawlessness and corruption taking place in the department under Noem's direction. But their stance was about more than Noem. Her lawlessness and corruption represented the larger lawlessness and corruption of the Trump administration. Noam testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. In both chambers, Democrats jump right to a central feature of the way in which Noam and the administration are setting up the idea that anyone who opposes the actions of the Trump administration is participating in domestic terrorism. They tried to get Noam to walk back her statements that Renee Good and Alex Preddy, both shot and killed by federal agents acting under her authority in Minnesota, were domestic terrorists. Noam refused to do so. She has not actually called them domestic terrorists, but has said they were engaged in domestic terrorism, a distinction that reveals the administration attempt to criminalize political opposition Rachel Levinson Waldman of the Brennan Center explained that to actually be called a domestic terrorist an individual must commit one or more of 51 underlying federal crimes of terrorism, which involve nuclear or chemical weapons, plastic explosives, air piracy, and so on. Good and Pretty, and the many others administrations have accused, do not fit that description. But on September 25, 2025, Trump's NSPM 7 memo claimed that those opposing administration policies are part of criminal and terroristic conspiracies and that those who participate in them are engaging in domestic terrorism. Noam refused to back away from the idea that Trump's opponents are engaging in criminal and terroristic conspiracies by, for example, opposing the behavior of federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and Border Patrol. Leaving that definition behind would undermine the administration's entire domestic stance. Democrats slam Nome for her handling of detentions and deportations, ignoring court orders, and detaining U.S. citizens. In the House, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee said, she turned our government against our people and turned our people against our government. Republicans also called Noam out. Noam's poor handling of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, has left North Carolina still suffering after terrible storms in 2024, and Senator Tom Tillis, a Republican of North Carolina, went after her. He highlighted a letter from the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, who said the department's leaders have systematically obstructed the work of him and his staff. He identified 11 instances in which the department had refused to provide records and information. In a criminal investigation with national security implications, the department would permit him to access a database only if he revealed details of the investigation of individuals who might be related to the investigation. Tillis said, does anybody have any idea how bad it has to be for the Office of Inspector General in this agency to come out and do this publicly? That is stonewalling. That's a failure of leadership, and that is why I've called for your resignation. Lawmakers also focused on the corruption in DHS, which now commands more than $150 billion, thanks to the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Lawmakers referred to a November 2025 ProPublica story in which reporters traced a $220 million contract for an ad campaign featuring Noam. The contract went first to a brand new small company organized by a Republican operative just days before winning the contract and then to a subcontractor, Strategy Group, owned by Noam's former spokesperson's husband and closely associated with Noam's advisor and reputed affair partner, Corey Lewandowski. Noam insisted she had nothing to do with the contract award and claimed Trump had signed off on the ad campaign. About the contract Representative Joe Neguse a Democrat of Colorado commented in apparent disbelief You want the American people to believe that this is all above board That 143 million dollars of taxpayer money just happened to go to this one company that doesn't have a headquarters, doesn't have a website, has never done work for the federal government before, and is registered apparently or attached to a residence from a political operative, and of course, one of the subcontractors of that contract, as you know, is a political firm that's tied to, to you, back when you were governor of South Dakota? Since Noam's testimony, the strategy group released a statement saying it received only $226,137.17 for its work on the ad campaign. Also under scrutiny was Noam's purchase of a private plane with a luxurious bedroom in it, which brought up questions about whether, as is widely reported, she is having a sexual relationship with a subordinate. She refused to answer and insisted Lewandowski had no role in approving contracts. Joshua Kaplan and Justin Elliott of ProPublica promptly fact-checked her. In fact, Lewandowski has signed off on a number of contracts. Lawmakers' indictment of Noem for her extreme partisanship, disregard of the law, corruption, and lying condemned similar behavior from the administration in general. Today, Trump told Steve Holland and Ted Hessen of Reuters that he never knew anything about Noem's $220 million ad campaign, suggesting she lied to Congress under oath. This afternoon, just before she went on stage to speak, Trump announced by social media posts that he was replacing Noem with Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma. This is an assertion of power the president does not have. He can nominate Mullen, but the Senate must confirm or reject his appointment. Apparently unaware she was fired, Noam proceeded to give a speech in which she recited a false quotation from George Orwell, the writer who devoted much of his work to the importance of manipulating language to facilitate authoritarianism, a fitting end to Noam's career in the Trump administration. But Noem is not likely to disappear from the news. Illinois Governor J.B. Prisker recorded a video saying, hey, Kristi Noem, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Here's your legacy. Corruption and chaos. Parents and children tear-gassed. Moms and nurses, U.S. citizens, getting shot in the face. Now that you're gone, don't think you get to just walk away. I guarantee you, you will still be held accountable. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, was more direct. Turns out lawlessness is not a winning strategy, he posted. See you at Nuremberg 2.0. Letters from an American was written by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Denham, Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.