Weekly News Roundup - 3/8/24
Biden's SOTU is a Rorsarch test for partisans; the U.S. creates some separation with Netanyahu; a rate cut looks more likely again
Welcome to the tenth weekly news roundup of 2024. The archive for all weekly news roundups is here. If you notice stories or issues you’d like to see mentioned in these roundups, let me know. In 2024, the Border Stalkers Substack is featuring one news update a week, and one book a month, with weekly posts on each book. The book of the month schedule is here.
Biggest Stories of the week
President Biden delivered his third State of the Union address, facing huge questions about his competency to lead the nation for another four years, ahead of this fall's presidential election. Biden, seeking to reassure his own party and independent voters on the fence, gave a fiery, forceful and partisan speech. The full transcript of the speech is here and video highlights are here.
President Biden and Donald Trump both win overwhelmingly on Super Tuesday, the final confirmation that the fall election is set to be a repeat of the 2020 election. This time, however, Biden faces far bigger questions about his age and Trump is shadowed by the fact that he tried to overturn the last election and throw out the votes of millions of Americans. One outstanding question is whether a third party or independent candidate might enter the race.
The Supreme Court rejects Colorado's attempt to remove Trump from the ballot.
The Biden administration, under pressure from the Democratic base, creates more distance between itself and the Netanyahu government in Israel. As ceasefire talks in Gaza break down, President Biden announces that the U.S. is creating a temporary port in Gaza to bypass the Israeli military and deliver a vastly larger amount of aid to the Palestinian people.
The February jobs report adds confidence that interest rate cuts are on the way this year, reassuring the business sector after a series of developments in recent weeks that had sown uncertainty about rates coming down soon.
Week in Review
Friday, March 1
A huge blizzard hits California and Nevada, dumping up to 7 feet of snow on Lake Tahoe.
Saturday, March 2
Donald Trump wins a trio of primary contests in Michigan, Idaho and Missouri.
Sunday, March 3
Vice President Kamala Harris calls for "an immediate ceasefire" to the war in Gaza, after meeting in Washington with a rival Israeli politician to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Israel has a right to defend itself. Far too many Palestinian civilians, innocent civilians have been killed. We need to get more aid in, we need to get hostages out. and that remains our position," Harris says.
The wildfire in the Texas panhandle becomes the second largest in U.S. history. It has burned more than 1 million acres of land, displacing several hundred people.
Nikki Haley wins the D.C. Republican primary, her first win of the nominating process.
Monday, March 4
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that states cannot bar Donald Trump from running for president again, rejecting the Colorado Supreme Court's finding that had approved removing Trump's name from the ballot there, in a unanimous 9-0 decision.
Apple is fined $2 billion by the European Union for using its App Store to throttle competitors
Jet Blue and Spirit Airlines call off their planned merger, deciding not to fight an anti-trust lawsuit by the Biden administration.
Tuesday, March 5
Trump wins 14 of 15 Super Tuesday primaries, though he loses roughly a third of the vote to Nikki Haley in half those states, the ones that are outside the Deep South. Biden, meanwhile, wins all the states but sees protest votes in Minnesota, North Carolina and Colorado, over U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Independent who has caucused with Democrats, leaves the Arizona Senate race, deciding not to seek reelection.
Bitcoin briefly hits an all-time high price of more than $68,800, but then quickly falls by 8%.
Wednesday, March 6
Nikki Haley suspends her campaign for president but does not endorse Trump, saying it is now "his time for choosing" to reach out to the voters who are turned off by him. "I hope he does that," she says.
The D.C. Council passes a new public safety bill "that puts the liberal city on a track toward harsher punishments for a range of crimes from illegal gun possession to retail theft, a new direction forged by months of intense outcry from residents and businesses over last year’s historic crime spike." It passes 12 votes to 0, with one abstention. "Two council members, Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) and Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1), are facing recalls over the issue of crime; both voted in favor of Secure D.C. on Tuesday," the Washington Post reports.
The Alabama legislature, scrambling to address the uproar by the state Supreme Court's ruling on in vitro fertilization, passes a law that "shields providers from prosecution and civil lawsuits 'for the damage to or death of an embryo' during IVF services. Civil lawsuits could be pursued against manufacturers of IVF-related goods, such as the nutrient-rich solutions used to grow embryos, but damages would be capped to 'the price paid for the impacted in vitro cycle.'"
Thursday, March 7
President Biden delivers his third State of the Union address. The discomfort of Republicans in the chamber is most evident when Biden speaks about his commitment to standing with Ukraine against Russia's invasion. "If the United States walks away now, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe at risk. The free world at risk, emboldening others who wish to do us harm. My message to President Putin is simple. We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down," Biden says. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, nods and claps but does not stand. A few Republicans in the chamber stand. Many clap. Most do not stand. Some simply sit on their hands, a remarkable shift among the party that used to stand for a strong national defense but which now has significant isolationist pockets.
Sweden joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). "Sweden, along with Finland, which joined NATO last year, both abandoned long-standing military neutrality that was a hallmark of the Nordic states’ Cold War foreign policy after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. Biden, in his speech to Congress, was expected to use Sweden’s decision to join to step up calls for reluctant Republicans to approve stalled military assistance to Ukraine as the war enters its third year," the AP reports.
Friday, March 8
The U.S. jobs report comes in higher than expected, "signaling that the U.S. economy remains robust as inflation edges lower," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The data is the latest evidence that the Federal Reserve is on track to lower interest rates later this year, potentially providing a boost to markets that have been on a tear to start 2024 ... Fed Chair Jerome Powell previously poured cold water on the idea of a rate cut at the central bank’s March 19-20 meeting. Still, many investors expect multiple reductions by year’s end." The stock market reacts positively to the news.
Interesting Reads
The Age Issue (Again) by John Ellis on Medium
Apocalypse Not: Presidents don’t matter as much as they would like you to think by Jonah Goldberg for The Dispatch
Seven states and events miles apart: How the Trump and Biden campaigns approach a rematch, by Bill Barrow and Will Weissert for The Associated Press
With Haley Out of the Race, What Will Her Voters Do in November? by Katie Glueck and Anjali Huynh for The New York Times
Elon Musk and the dream of a machine God by Derek Robertson for Politico Digital Future Daily
Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power, by Evan Halper for The Washington Post
Trump supporters target black voters with faked AI images by Marianna Spring for the BBC
Why Elon Musk Is the Second Most Important Person in MAGA by David French for The New York Times
Newly Released Messages Detail Roots of the ‘Fake Electors’ Scheme: Emails and texts unearthed in a lawsuit show how key figures intended their plan to create a “cloud of confusion” to help keep Donald Trump in office after his 2020 election loss by Luke Broadwater and Maggie Haberman for The New York Times
Trump needs Haley voters to win back the White House by Marc Thiessen for The Washington Post
House AI task force leaders take long view on regulating the tools by Cristiano Lima-Strong for The Washington Post's Technology 202
The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending by Franklin Foer for The Atlantic