NEW THREATSTrump Turns COVID.gov into MAGA Fan Service | Trump Turns COVID.gov into MAGA Fan Service | Shadowy Crypto Companies Make Inroads in U.S. Under Trump, and more

Secret Deals, Foreign Investments, Presidential Policy Changes: The Rise of Trump’s Crypto Firm  (Eric LiptonDavid Yaffe-Bellany and Ben Protess, New York Times)
World Liberty Financial has eviscerated the boundary between private enterprise and government policy in ways without precedent in modern American history.

Shadowy Crypto Companies Make Inroads in U.S. Under Trump  (New York Times)
The prime example is Tether, a firm that regulators once targeted. Its chief executive recently hobnobbed in Washington with lawmakers and lobbyists.

Trump Turns COVID.gov into MAGA Fan Service  (Jonathan Cohn, Bulwark)
It used to provide medical information. Now it’s just Fauci hate and lab leak theories.

The Only Consistent Thread of Trumpism  (Damon Linker, Persuasion)
This administration embodies a new type of conservatism centered on the impulse to destroy.

An Open Letter to America’s Law Firms  (Jeff Bleich, Persuasion)
Our profession must organize, not capitulate.

The Trouble with MAGA’s Manufacturing Dream  (Economist)
Donald Trump underestimates the difficulty of producing in America—and how his own policies will make it harder.

All Authors Working on Flagship U.S. Climate Report Are Dismissed  (Brad Plumer and Rebecca Dzombak, New York Times)
The Trump administration told researchers it was “releasing” them from their roles. It puts the future of the assessment, which is required by Congress, in doubt.

American Panopticon  (Ian Bogost and Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic)
The Trump administration is pooling data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next.

Trump Administration to Judges: ‘We Will Find You’  (Adam Serwer, The Atlantic)
The attorney general’s message to the judiciary is clear.

DOGE’s Growing Reach into Personal Data: What it Means for Human Rights  (Deborah Brown, Just Security)
On March 20, the Trump administration issued an executive order that dangerously expands the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to data. It looks to eliminate “information silos” that are crucial for protecting privacy and preventing government abuse, and it could lay the groundwork for creating a massive database that combines all sensitive personal data of anyone government agencies hold data on. This is every bit as dangerous and dystopian as it sounds.
The administration is directing all federal agencies to modify or rescind any regulations preventing the sharing of unclassified data and records with other parts of the U.S. government, as well as to ensure “unfettered access” to comprehensive data from all state programs that receive federal funding, including those stored in third-party databases. The aim of this dangerous expansion of data sharing is purportedly to stop “waste, fraud, and abuse” and “eliminate inefficiency.” This builds on months of overreach by DOGE within federal agencies, which has already sparked lawsuits and alarm from privacy experts, advocates, and public servants.