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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Trump should probably just stop talking about Powell: “U.S. stocks plunged sharply Monday after President Donald Trump lobbed new insults at Fed Chair Jerome Powell, pressuring him to cut interest rates while markets are already contending with shocks from his tariff policy.”
* This is an unfortunate story, but the details make it a little weird: “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s bag — including $3,000 in cash — was stolen on Sunday night, a DHS spokesperson confirmed to NBC News on Monday.”
* In Idaho: “Six men who prosecutors said took part in forcibly removing a woman from a town-hall meeting hosted by local Republicans in Coeur d’Alene, a small city in northern Idaho, in February are facing charges including battery and false imprisonment.”
* The quiet demise of the “5 Things” email: “When Elon Musk and President Donald Trump commanded all federal workers to submit weekly emails listing five accomplishments, they warned of harsh consequences: Failure to comply would count as a resignation. Musk called the emails an accountability measure needed to ensure that staff even had a ‘pulse.’ But records obtained by The Washington Post, as well as interviews with three dozen managers and employees across government, reveal that officials refused to comply with core aspects of the directive from the beginning.”
* That’s a lot of money: “President Trump raised $239 million for his inauguration festivities in January, a norm-shattering amount fueled by corporate America’s desire to curry favor with a famously transactional president. The total, disclosed in a filing with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday, is more than double the previous record of $107 million set by Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017.”
* There’s an ocean between Europe and Canada, and yet: “EU membership isn’t on the ballot in Canada’s crucial election later this month — but polling shows Canadians are intrigued by the idea of joining the bloc. As U.S. President Donald Trump upends the relationship with his northern neighbor via a blizzard of punitive tariffs and belligerent social media posts, Canadians are wondering if they should cozy up to new, more reliable allies.”
* Ryan Holiday was invited to speak at the U.S. Naval Academy. He was asked not to mention the fact that the academy’s library was stripped of hundreds of books that Team Trump might not like. Holiday declined — at which point his lecture was canceled.
* The next papal conclave is two or three weeks away: “Pope Francis, the first pontiff from Latin America and the first from the Jesuit order to lead the Catholic Church, died on Monday morning at 88.”
See you tomorrow.