U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) is a retired NASA astronaut who spent 54 days in space. He’s also a retired U.S. Navy Captain, who served for 25 years including during the Gulf War, where he flew combat missions. But to Elon Musk, who leads President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Senator Kelly, a decorated aviator, is “a traitor.”

Kelly, who’s one of only two siblings who have ever traveled into orbit—his identical twin brother Scott is also a retired NASA astronaut—is married to the Democratic former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt but suffered a severe brain injury.

The Arizona Democratic Senator posted on social media — Elon Musk’s X platform — about his visit to Ukraine, a nation that has suffered devastating losses after President Donald Trump signaled full support for Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, and cut its military off from intelligence sharing.

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“Just left Ukraine. What I saw proved to me we can’t give up on the Ukrainian people,” Senator Kelly wrote on X Sunday evening. “Everyone wants this war to end, but any agreement has to protect Ukraine’s security and can’t be a giveaway to Putin. Let me tell you about my trip and why it’s important we stand with Ukraine.”

“This war started with what Putin thought would be a three-day operation to take Kyiv and control of all of Ukraine. Now three years later, that hasn’t happened. American and allied support has been a big reason why, but I saw how cutting it off now risks everything so many Ukrainians have laid down their lives for. And while our support hasn’t been free, we haven’t sent even half of what President Trump says,” Kelly added.

Posing with hospital workers, Senator Kelly wrote, “Hospitals should never be targets in war, but Putin is a war criminal who targets hospitals routinely.” He talked about his visit to Kyiv, where he met injured soldiers who “told me how they want to get back to the fight,” and nurses who “shared their stories of the invasion with me through tears.”

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Senator Kelly also shared horrific stores that have since disappeared from the headlines.

“These nurses told me how they witnessed Russian soldiers raping children in front of their parents and then murdering these children in front of their parents. Horrendous war crimes which can never be forgiven,” he wrote. “Donald Trump says he trusts Putin and is trying to make him look like a friend and a good guy. I look forward to seeing Putin rot in prison.”

Kelly did not stop there, instead, he warned how President Trump’s action are putting Americans at risk:

“Donald Trump is trying to weaken Ukraine’s hand and we are owed an explanation. If Putin gains ground he won’t agree to a ceasefire and will eventually threaten a NATO ally and this puts American troops and the American people at risk.”

Senator Kelly wrote at length about an issue he knows well, having been a naval aviator.

“I met with Ukrainian pilots, one who I had met in Arizona when he was learning to fly the F-16. They are flying challenging combat missions against the Russians who are protected by a considerable electronic warfare and surface to air missile system defense.”

“When Trump cut off these pilots from US intelligence that they need to plan their missions, he blinded them to the threat and put them and their aircraft at risk. But worse than that, it helps the Russians advance further into Ukrainian territory and murder more Ukrainians. President Trump says the Russians are ‘hitting them hard’ in a tone of voice that implies approval. It is sickening to see from an American President. ‘Hitting them hard’ means more dead Ukrainian kids.”

He talked about the “innovation and fighting spirit of the Ukrainians,” and said America could learn from some of their innovation.

After his series of twelve posts, which included photos from his trip, Kelly received many responses, may offering praise and thanks. And, he received one from Elon Musk: “You are a traitor.”

Senator Kelly responded writing, “Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do.”

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It’s Monday, March 10, and Donald Trump has been president for 50 days. The stock market continues its steep decline, with the Dow losing nearly 2,500 points over the past month. Today, it closed down nearly 900 points—after losing over 1100—reportedly due in large part to the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs, their chaotic implementation, and concerns over the possible recession they may bring. Meanwhile, a government shutdown looms. If Congress fails to reach a budget deal by midnight Friday—and President Trump has barely addressed the issue in public—the federal government will shut down at 12:01 AM on Saturday. While Congressional Republicans will likely need some Democratic votes, and it’s unclear how many, if any, they can count on, some political commentators are warning that Speaker Johnson is “devising a trap for congressional Democrats.”

You would not know any of this if you just walked through President Trump’s Truth Social page, where he spent an hour on Monday afternoon posting links to right-wing and far-right websites praising the “Trump effect,” claiming Trump is “rebuilding domestic manufacturing” (something President Joe Biden actually did,) bragging about the historically low number of migrants ICE apprehended at the Southwest border (he said he would deport millions), claiming his tariffs will not cause inflation (despite economists’ warnings), quoting his border “czar” saying he will “bring hell” to sanctuary cities, boasting that European nations are boosting their militaries (because they see the U.S. as aligning with Russia and hence unreliable), and posting a screenshot claiming he has the highest approval rating since being inaugurated (despite reliable polls saying the opposite).

Headlines make clear, however: investors and consumers alike are worried about a Trump recession.

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“Stock Rout Picks Up Steam With Recession Warnings Blaring” (Bloomberg)
“Dow falls 1,100 points in market rout after Trump says he won’t rule out a recession” (CNN)
“White House pushes back against recession talk as household worries grow” (Reuters)
“Stocks slump yet again as fears grow about tariffs — and a recession” (NPR)

Just days ago, the headline at Foreign Policy was, “Trump’s Economy Is Flashing Red”:

“Trade wars, rising prices, falling confidence, and sinking stock markets are not what Wall Street or Main Street voted for.”

The Guardian on Monday reported on the Trump economic crisis.

“Wall Street falls as tariff fears grip markets,” The Guardian’s headline reveals.

“Boom! The US stock market has opened sharply lower, as fears that a trade war could spark an American recession sweep Wall Street,” it explains. After detailing how markets opened lower and continued to fall in early trading, it notes, “This follows last week’s selloff, in which the S&P 500 fell by over 3%, its worst run since early September.”

And it warns about the impact on Americans.

“Stocks are sliding today after China today imposed reciprical tariffs on US imports, targeting agricultural products, in response to the 10% tariff imposed by the US on Chinese imports. Beijing’s tariffs will make American goods, such as soyabeans, pork, beef, chicken and cotton more expensive for Chinese consumers, and may lead importers to buy goods from elsewhere instead, hitting sales for US farmers.”

Most importantly, here’s how the UK-based paper explained the cause: “Hopes that Donald Trump’s more erratic actions could be reined in by the markets appear to be being eroded, after the US president failed to rule out a recession in his weekend interview with Fox. Instead, Trump spoke about how there would be ‘a period of transition,’ implying the White House was relaxed about economic damage, expecting it to be short-term.”

‘Chilling’ and ‘Kind of Mystifying’

Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, a seven-term Republican of Pennsylvania, told MSNBC Monday afternoon that Trump’s actions are having a “chilling” effect on the economy, and said it is “kind of mystifying” that the President “is behaving so recklessly with respect to the stewardship of this economy.”

Accusing Trump of trying to “undermine” North American economic systems, Dent said Trump’s tariffs “will likely cause recessions in Canada and Mexico, and create higher prices here and disrupt manufacturing and agriculture, so that’s going to be very negative for us.”

“He’s also, at the same time, is bad mouthing Europe every day, a major trading partner with us,” Dent added, observing that amidst all of this, Trump is “talking about greater rapprochement with Russia, which has an economy smaller than some of our states.”

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Dent described Trump as “rather destructive and reckless,” noting he “does not understand” the consequences his tariffs will have on American manufacturers and farmers.

Despite Trump’s cycle of tariff threats, implementations, walk-backs, and renewed tariffs—along with his mass firing of potentially hundreds of thousands of government employees in an effort to shrink the federal workforce—his National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, is pinning all the blame for the bad economic news on President Joe Biden.

Former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, Jason Furman, apparently responding to President Trump’s remarks over the weekend, during which he said the U.S. could expect a period of “transition” as his economic policies take effect.

“If you are implementing a credible plan that entails short-term pain for long-term gain the stock market will go up not down,” Furman, a professor of economics, wrote Monday afternoon.

‘We’ve Got a Biden Economy’ White House Advisor Says

Hassett served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the first Trump administration. He is known for his faulty prediction about the DOW reaching 36,000 in 2004 — it did not until 2024, under President Joe Biden. He is also known for his false prediction that by May 0f 2020 COVID deaths would drop to nearly zero. At least 1.2 million people in the U.S. to date have died from COVID.

On Monday Hassett blamed President Biden for Trump’s bad economic results, while calling massive disruptions, like Monday drop in the markets, as “some blips in the data.”

Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov, co-host of “The Five,” responded: “Strange that Biden never had these crappy numbers when it was actually his economy.”

Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen mocked Hassett: “Oh, right, this is still the Biden economy, except for how the Biden economy had a record high market and now we’re in a market crash. Got it.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Hassett: “We’ve got a Biden economy. Still, most of Biden’s policies are in place. If you look at the Atlanta Fed GDP now number, it’s showing negative first quarter, which is kind of a metric of the inheritance of President Biden.”

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 10, 2025 at 11:01 AM

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After enduring days of harsh headlines and relentless ridicule, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio took to his personal social media account at 4:55 AM on Monday to announce the official, sweeping cancellation of the vast majority of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contracts—igniting a firestorm of outrage and backlash.

Claiming a “6 week review” had been conducted, Secretary Rubio announced, “we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID.”

“The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” Rubio alleged, not defining what those core interests are. “In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department. Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform.”

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein noted Secretary Rubio’s announcement “was news to state officials who were told LAST WEEK they’d have until this Wednesday to submit forms for the review process.”

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Last week had already been a bad week for Secretary Rubio. A high-profile cabinet meeting fight with Elon Musk dominated headlines for days, leading to a Saturday Night Live skit mocking him and Elon Musk. Rubio is also being hammered with his own eloquent 2016 speech, for switching support from Ukraine to Russia. And he is being mocked for ignoring his own speech on why Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal.

The bad news did not stop there.

After his pre-dawn tweet, CNN’s KFile published a report on Rubio’s acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, “one of Trump’s most senior State Department appointees,” that exposed “deleted tweets spreading unfounded rumors that Rubio attended gay foam parties and calling him ‘low IQ.'”

Meanwhile, backlash is growing from Rubio’s announcement that USAID is being dismantled.

“Huge mistake,” declared Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, now a Stanford University professor. “We needed reform of USAID not dismantlement. China is not ending is foreign assistance programs. In an age of great power competition, the Trump administration is unilaterally destroying one of our best instruments of soft power influence.”

Dr. Norman Ornstein, a highly regarded political scientist, wrote: “I cannot believe that you were once viewed as a hero in the development and diplomacy community. Little Marco is not accurate enough for your cowardice and cruelty. Selling your soul and the lives of thousands or millions to bow down to Trump and have a Cabinet post. Disgraceful.”

Let month, Ambassador McFaul had written, “In 2012, when I was the US ambassador to Russia, Putin shut down USAID inside Russia. Why? Because their work supported free markets, democracy, human rights —ie causes that threatened Putins dictatorship. Shutting down USAID is exactly what autocrats all over the world want.”

An Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, Fred Wellman is a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School. He is now a political consultant and the host of the podcast “On Democracy.”

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“You are disgusting. 6 weeks. Millions will suffer because you’re a coward. China will step in because you want Trump to give you power. What a small pathetic man,” Wellman charged.

But he did not stop there.

He pointed to a ProPublica report from last week titled, “Internal Memos: Senior USAID Leaders Warned Trump Appointees of Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths From Closing Agency.”

“One million children will go untreated for severe malnutrition,” the report reads, “up to 166,000 people will die from malaria and 200,000 more children will be paralyzed by polio over the next decade, the memos estimated. The programs were cut anyway.”

“This is your legacy, Little Marco,” Wellman angrily declared. “Hundreds of thousands of deaths.” And in strong language Wellman attacked Rubio for apparent hypocrisy over his habit of posting biblical passages to social media, while accusing him of being a “fascist.”

Journalist Kevin Baron, the founding executive editor of Defense One, wrote: “In just 6 weeks they determined the worthiness of every USAID program? Ridiculous claim. When we investigated 4-years of USAID spending from 2001-2004, we had 55,000 rows of expenditures to sift through, from AIDS drugs to embassy curtains.”

Joey Politano, who writes about economics at Apricitas, offered some stark facts.

“Impossible for cuts this deep to not have incredibly devastating effects on global well-being—in 2024, ~28% of 2024 USAID spending was emergency response distribution of food & medicine alone, another ~15% was HIV/AIDS prevention work, and another ~6% was TB/Malaria/Ebola control,” Politano said.

“USAID’s programming is so massive and so diverse that it’s almost impossible to understand the immense ramifications of these cuts,” observed former CIA political analyst Michael Shurkin. “But little if any negative effects are or will be visible to most Americans, who will shrug their shoulders and say, ‘good job!'”

National security and civil liberties journalist Marcy Wheeler accused Secretary Rubio of “defunding support for Christian minorities overseas.”

Tim Hirschel-Burns, a policy liaison for the Global Economic Governance Initiative at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center noted: “The most important thing here is how many people are suffering unnecessarily, but remember this is also an insanely clear violation of the separation of powers. If the executive can get rid of 83% of something Congress appropriated, Congress doesn’t control the budget anymore.”

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