memeorandum: Team Trump Is Gaming Out How to Ship U.S. Citizens to El Salvador (Rolling Stone)

3:45 PM ET, April 12, 2025

Top Items:

CSMS # 64724565 - UPDATED GUIDANCE - Reciprocal Tariff Exclusion for Specified Products; April 5, 2025 Effective Date — The purpose of this message is to provide further guidance on the additional duties due on imported merchandise which were imposed by Executive Order 14257, issued April 2 …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, HotAir, Quartz, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Tom's Hardware, Fortune, The Hill, Raw Story, CBS News, Politico, Federal Register, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

Erin Doherty / CNBC:

Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from new tariffs … Smartphones and computers will be exempted from President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs, according to new guidance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. — The guidance comes after Trump earlier this month imposed 125% tariffs …

Discussion: The Guardian, New York Post, UPI, 9to5Google, Axios and The Post Millennial

Bloomberg:

Apple, Nvidia Score Relief From US Tariffs With Exemptions — President Donald Trump's administration exempted smartphones, computers and other electronics from its so-called reciprocal tariffs, representing a major reprieve for global technology manufacturers including Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp. even if it proves a temporary one.

Discussion: The Verge, USA Today, CNET, Daily Mail, Los Angeles Times, Fox Business, Fortune, CNBC, RedState, NBC News, 9to5Mac and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »

Financial Times:

Trump excludes smartphones from reciprocal tariffs — Tech including routers and selected computers get reprieve after a week of turbulence in US markets — The Trump administration has excluded smartphones from its steep “reciprocal” tariffs as it battles to calm global markets by tempering …

Tripp Mickle / New York Times:

Trump Administration Live Updates: New Rule Exempts Smartphones and Computers From Most Tariffs — Where Things Stand — Smartphone reprieve: The Trump administration published a rule late Friday night that appears to exempt many electronic parts and devices from most of the president's punishing tariffs …

Discussion: The Wrap, One America News Network and Mostly signs

Juliana Kim / NPR:

Smartphones and computers are now spared from Trump's reciprocal tariffs — The Trump administration has amended its list of imports that will be affected by sweeping global tariffs in order to exempt certain electronics, including smartphones and computers.

Discussion: New Jersey Online, ABC News, Al Jazeera, Breitbart and CNBC

Auzinea Bacon / CNN:
Smartphones and computers are now exempt from Trump's latest tariffs

Discussion: The Root, VentureBeat, Business Insider and Forbes

Associated Press:
Trump administration says it will exclude some electronics from reciprocal tariffs

Discussion: Scripps News, New Jersey Online and Ars Technica

Associated Press:
Trump's China tariff shocks US importers. One CEO calls it ‘end of days’

Discussion: KRDO

Rolling Stone:

Team Trump Is Gaming Out How to Ship U.S. Citizens to El Salvador — Trump officials are talking internally about denaturalizing American citizens — and potentially sending some to El Salvador — Donald Trump and his White House have moved to deport green-card holders for espousing pro-Palestinian views …

Discussion: Twitchy and New Republic

Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Trump's Horrifying Removal of Man in “Error” Takes an Even Darker Turn

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times, Law & Crime, Vox, Scripps News, WHDH-TV and Politico

Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Supreme Court avoids confronting Trump so far, even when it rules against him

Discussion: Mother Jones, Bloomberg, NPR and Washington Post

Washington Post:

Trump administration overrode Social Security staff to list immigrants as dead — A senior executive who objected was marched out of his office and put on leave, while earlier warnings about the agency's deaths database were ignored. — Just now — Two days after the Social Security …

Discussion: USA Today

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story: Senior Social Security official removed by security after pointing out illegal plans: WaPo

Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:

HHS officials did not know how many people have been fired — Department of Health and Human Services officials during a closed-door briefing could not give a full accounting of the number of people who have been fired from the agency, a Democratic aide for the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Friday.

Discussion: Politico

Erkki Forster / The Daily Beast:
Staffers Walk Out of RFK Jr.'s Slur-Ridden Speech About Deep State

Discussion: Mediaite, Fox News, Politico and Raw Story

Alexander Tin / CBS News:
FDA to replace laid-off employees with contractors, sources say

Discussion: Politico, STAT and TechCrunch

Adam Goldman / New York Times:

F.B.I. Suspends Bureau Employee on Patel's So-Called Enemies List — The employee was a longtime counterintelligence analyst who had worked on the F.B.I.'s investigation examining Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. — The F.B.I. has suspended an analyst on Kash Patel's …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Townhall and Raw Story

NBC News: FBI analyst targeted in Kash Patel's book placed on leave

Emily Badger / New York Times:

Musk's Latest Fraud Finding Isn't What It Seems — His team found cases of seemingly fake people receiving unemployment benefits. But that fake data exists for a reason. — Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency announced this week that they had found something especially startling …

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Signal and Boston Herald

T. Christian Miller / ProPublica:

“Slow Pay, Low Pay or No Pay” — Uncovered: How the Insurance Industry Denies Coverage to Patients — Shortchanged: Blue Cross Louisiana OK'd mastectomies and breast reconstructions for women with cancer but refused to pay a hospital's full bills. For some claims, it paid nothing.

Discussion: Pluralistic, Mostly signs and “At some point …

Deborah Brunswick / CNN:

‘Why are high fertility people always so weird?’: A weekend with the pronatalists — CNN's Meena Duerson travels to Austin to join roughly 200 “pronatalists” for the second-ever Natal Conference, an event devoted to discussing the world's declining birth rates and potential solutions.

Kevin M. Levin / Civil War Memory:

Trump Cuts Funds for Boston's Museum of African American History — When people ask me to take them to the most important historic site in Boston, I take them to the Museum of African American History (MAAH) on Beacon Hill. The museum, located in Smith Court along Joy Street …

Discussion: The Chicago Crusader and Vanity Fair

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Wants to Be Impeached Again — It's already in the cards thanks to his ill-founded trade war, no matter how that war plays out. — This week the system worked. Donald Trump blinked. The unwinding is still just beginning. It will be painful and tumultuous.

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

‘One million.’ The private goal driving Trump's push for mass deportations. — Immigration officers and analysts are increasingly skeptical the Trump administration can deport that many immigrants in a single year. — Just now — As the Trump administration aggressively pushes to deport …

Discussion: Associated Press and RedState

New Yorker:

So You Want to Be a Dissident? — A practical guide to courage in Trump's age of fear. — Once upon a time—say, several weeks ago—Americans tended to think of dissidents as of another place, perhaps, and another time. They were overseas heroes—names like Alexei Navalny and Jamal Khashoggi …

Politico:

USDA's $1B bird flu plan uses money intended for schools, food banks — The move tees up a major political fight over the Trump administration's priorities — and the small pot of money USDA has to spread around. — Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins' $1 billion plan for fighting bird flu …

Discussion: Carolina Journal

Politico:

Forget tariffs — Beijing is already choking off US exports on the sly — China juices trade war with nontariff barriers targeting MAGA-friendly U.S. export sectors. — Beijing is showing the Trump administration that tariffs aren't the only weapon in a trade war.

Luke Harding / The Guardian:

US ‘demands control’ from Ukraine of key pipeline carrying Russian gas — Senior Kyiv economist describes latest postion of Trump administration in talks as ‘colonial-type’ bullying — The US has demanded control of a crucial pipeline in Ukraine used to send Russian gas to Europe …

Discussion: The Kyiv Independent, KRDO and New York Times

David Smith / The Guardian:

‘Completely out of touch’: golf and dinners for ‘king’ Trump as economy melts down — Casual attitude as markets fall suggests man detached from anxieties of ordinary voters - and surrounded by yes men — After lighting a fuse under global financial markets, Donald Trump stepped back - all the way to a Florida golf course.

Discussion: Raw Story

Politico:

Judge relaxes ban on DOGE access to sensitive US Treasury information — A federal judge ruled at least one DOGE worker can have access if he goes through training and submits disclosures. — A New York judge has relaxed a ban she'd put on Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency preventing …

Discussion: The Hill and New York Times

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

Far-right Republicans tease rebellion but fall in line when Trump asks — The House Freedom Caucus, which used to drive a hard bargain on spending, is facing an identity crisis and has capitulated when pressured by the president. — Just now — First, they threatened …

Elena Moore / NPR:

For some students who protested war in Gaza, fear and silence is a new campus reality — Last spring, Cornell University was home to a student encampment, where dozens slept in tents on the quad to protest Israel's war in Gaza. The demonstration lasted more than two weeks.

Discussion: The Independent Florida …, Raw Story, WBUR and New York Daily News

Emily Ngo / Politico:

Canadians freeze visits to the US over Trump — Tourism from the north tanks amid annexation talk, tariff whiplash and border stops. — NEW YORK — Marketers for top U.S. destinations are trumpeting a reminder to Canadians amid a dive in tourism: You're welcome here regardless of who's president.