IRRATIONAL GUARD

Nancy Pelosi is furious about Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to the Los Angeles protests and not during the Capitol riots, the California lawmaker exclusively told What A Day.

• Demonstrations roiled part of downtown Los Angeles and a working-class suburb over the weekend, sparked by a trio of ICE raids on workplaces. Now, President Donald Trump is saying that Los Angeles would’ve been “completely obliterated” had he not sent in the National Guard. (That’s a lie: Los Angeles is massive, and the protests didn’t affect most residents.)

• What’s also bothering Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), however, is the fact that Trump didn’t send the National Guard to the Capitol during the January 6 riots: “It’s overwhelming because [the insurrectionists] want to put a bullet in my F-word head and they were going to hang the vice president of the United States — and this guy is not sending in the National Guard, and then lying about it to the public,” she told What A Day. “I’m very concerned about the hypocrisy.”

• Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) office called Trump’s military move an “unlawful” decision that “seemed intentionally designed to inflame the situation.” Legal experts also believe that Trump’s actions might not hold up in court. It was a stunning decision: Lyndon B. Johnson was the last president to deploy the National Guard to protect civil rights demonstrators in Alabama in 1965. California plans to sue Trump over doing so without the state’s consent.

• Trump’s actions have “inflamed the conditions on the ground,” Pelosi added. “I don’t think there’s any mystery to the fact that the president is not acting in the constitutional way, in so many other respects, not just this.”

Trump’s response to the protests caught the country by surprise — and provides an ominous glimpse into how he may handle conflict going forward.

• Five years ago, Trump said didn’t think he should be able to call the National Guard. Welp, here we are! The National Guard members would be used to “temporarily” guard ICE agents and other personnel during the protests, according to Trump’s order. “Everyone in every community across the country should be horrified because this could happen anywhere,” State Sen. Scott Weiner, a San Francisco Democrat, told What A Day. “This is not what happens in a democracy — it’s what happens in a dictatorship.”

• What’s next? The Trump administration is reportedly sending about 700 Marines to L.A. to help the National Guard. Some experts believe Trump could deploy the full U.S. military under the Insurrection Act, which was last used to quell unrest during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. And Trump’s team is openly threatening to arrest politicians who get in their way.

• It’s easy to imagine the White House using this episode as an experiment for future anything it doesn’t like. For Trump, “this is a dress rehearsal,” as The Atlantic writes. “If he can do that in California, in terms of the National Guard, he can do it any place … this is a national concern,” Pelosi said. “He is a menace.”

The deployment only ramped up the L.A. protests. But that’s the point: Donald Trump loves a battle — and the spotlight — no matter the cost. Side note: Apparently, Dr. Phil does, too.

SIGH-ENCE

“Dissent is the very essence of science,” National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya said during his confirmation hearing in March. Today, he got exactly what he asked for.

More than 300 NIH scientists signed a letter to the director (a prominent Covid-19 skeptic)  telling him they’ve had enough of the Trump administration’s bullshit: “We dissent to administration policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.” The scientists urge Bhattacharya — who is advocating for a 40 percent cut  to the agency’s budget  — to reverse course on many policies.

It’s a remarkable act of workplace rebellion, made even more stunning by one detail: Nearly one-third of the signers opted against anonymity, putting their careers on the line.

But desperate times call for desperate measures. The administration canceled some 2,100 research grants valued at $12 billion. Some clinical trials that were nearly complete had to be stopped, essentially wasting millions of dollars on incomplete research. There’s human costs to such actions, too: The cuts halted some trials, including one in Haiti that studied tuberculosis. Patients who received antibiotics were cut off mid-trial.

“There’s a book I read to my kids, and it talks about how you can’t be brave if you’re not scared,” Jenna Norton, a program director at the NIH, told the Associated Press. “I am so scared about doing this, but I am trying to be brave for my kids because it’s only going to get harder to speak up.”

The letter “has some fundamental misconceptions” about the NIH’s policy changes, Bhattacharya said in a statement. “Nevertheless, respectful dissent in science is productive. We all want the NIH to succeed.” Uh huh, sure!

NEWS NEWS NEWS

Israel intercepted a humanitarian aid ship, with Greta Thunberg and other pro-Palestinian activists onboard, that was headed toward the Gaza Strip. “The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel,” Israel’s foreign ministry wrote on social media, bashing the activists. They will be deported back to their home countries, Israeli officials said.

Russia launched its largest drone strike yet on Ukraine this morning, Ukrainian officials said. “Russia is escalating the war and has no intention of stopping it,” said Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s top adviser. “Any escalation can only be stopped by force.” Remember when Trump promised to stop the war on Day 1?

Brainworm survivor and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the expert panel that advises the CDC on vaccines, which “is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science,” he wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. Fun fact: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) voted to confirm RFK Jr. only after he promised not to get rid of the board. Go figure!

Harvard University is in talks with other schools to host international students who have been affected by the Trump administration’s crackdown on visas. It’s great that Harvard is thinking of these workarounds if needed. Will these students still say that they go to “a school outside Boston ” if they’re housed farther away? TBD.

The Democratic National Committee is in turmoil after audio of Chair Ken Martin leaked over the weekend: “I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore,” Martin told party leaders in a private call. He cited infighting caused by Vice Chair David Hogg, who caused controversy last month after pledging to fund primary challenges against Democrats who he views as ineffective. “You essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to,” Martin told Hogg. In related news, the DNC will launch a daily YouTube show. That’ll solve all these problems!

ABC News suspended journalist Terry Moran — who recently interviewed Trump at the White House — after he criticized Trump aide Stephen Miller on social media. “Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater,” Moran wrote. “You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.” I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Trump’s Social Security Administration chief said he wants the agency’s customer service to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence. SSA aims to be “a digital-first organization,” Frank Bisignano told the Wall Street Journal. Great idea! I’m sure that every 65-year-old will have absolutely no problem figuring out the latest technology to secure the money they need to live.

Sly Stone, the funk music pioneer who led Sly and the Family Stone, died today at 82 years old. Stone’s family said in a statement: “His iconic songs have left an indelible mark on the world, and his influence remains undeniable.” I’ll forever be dancin’ to the music.

With prices going up on just about everything lately, being smart with your money isn’t just a good idea – it’s essential.

Rocket Money removes the guesswork so you can easily make smart decisions.

Managing subscriptions, tracking spending, and cutting costs can feel overwhelming. Fortunately, that’s where Rocket Money comes in.

Rocket Money  is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings.

Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when they use all of the app’s premium features.

Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money.

Go to RocketMoney.com/whataday.