February 28 2025

Political Impacts of Medicaid Spending Cuts

Washington Post Shifts to Champion Free Markets, Liberties: Jeff Bezos

Silicon Valley Defense Firms Pitch Tech to Trump’s Pentagon

U.S. Drones Over Mexico Target Cartels, Aid Drug Busts

Trump-Zelensky Talks May Shape Ukraine War, Eurasia Battle

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1. Political Impacts of Medicaid Spending Cuts

...those places could bear the brunt of steep Medicaid cuts that are expected to be central to Republicans’ budget plans. The budget passed on Tuesday night by House Republicans directs Energy and Commerce, the committee that oversees Medicaid, to cut spending by $880 billion over the next decade, which would amount to an 11 percent reduction in the program’s planned spending. In its 60 years, Medicaid has swelled from a small program that provided medical care to poor Americans receiving cash assistance to the largest source of public insurance. It covers 72 million Americans, about one-fifth of the population. It pays for about half of all nursing care in the United States, and 40 percent of all births. The program has grown especially quickly over the last 15 years, as millions joined through the expansion of the Affordable Care Act to cover healthy adults who earn less than 138 percent of the federal poverty line, about $21,597 for an individual and $36,777 for a family of three. The rolls swelled again during the coronavirus pandemic, when Medicaid extended emergency coverage to millions. Republicans have not yet specified what policy changes they would make to Medicaid. Options discussed include requiring enrollees to be employed, or dialing down funding for the Affordable Care Act’s expansion, which made millions of adults eligible for coverage. A work requirement would be expected to cut Medicaid spending by about $100 billion over the next decade, as those unable to comply — or to file the correct paperwork showing their employment — would lose coverage.

Source: NYT

2. Washington Post Shifts to Champion Free Markets, Liberties: Jeff Bezos

I shared this note with the Washington Post team this morning: I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages. We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others. There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job. I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity. I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.
Source: '@JeffBezos

3. Silicon Valley Defense Firms Pitch Tech to Trump’s Pentagon

Silicon Valley-linked defense companies are seizing on their newfound influence in the Trump administration to address the Pentagon’s shifting focus, pitching their services in fields ranging from autonomous drones to a newly named “Golden Dome” missile-defense shield. Newer contractors like Anduril Industries, Palantir Technologies and Epirus are lobbying for new contracts and working to convince Pentagon officials that their technology will better equip the military. Many see the Pentagon’s pivot toward new missions as a key chance to win a bigger share of its budget, though their success is far from assured.
Source: WSJ

4. U.S. Drones Over Mexico Target Cartels, Aid Drug Busts

The U.S. has secretly flown unarmed drones from Mexican airfields to spy on drug cartels, leading to the arrests of kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, one of his sons and other drug lords, U.S. and Mexican officials said. The flights, operated by the Department of Homeland Security and the Central Intelligence Agency at the Mexican military’s request, have also provided vital information for large drug seizures, the officials said. Using cameras that can capture a license plate from 20,000 feet above, the drones feed surveillance video on cartel smuggling operations, and map out clandestine labs, to authorities on both sides of the border, the officials said. The drones, many of them MQ-9 Reapers used in counterterrorism operations around the world, are based for a week or two at a time at Mexican airfields, the officials said, highlighting the deep bilateral security cooperation between the two countries. Being based in Mexico enables the drones to spend more time over surveillance targets in the lush mountains of western Mexico that are home to the world’s largest fentanyl smuggling organizations, instead of flying back and forth to the U.S., the officials said.
Source: WSJ

5. Trump-Zelensky Talks May Shape Ukraine War, Eurasia Battle

Editors note: This ongoing conflict pits the West, led by the United States, against an axis of adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. At stake is dominance over the vast and strategically critical landmass of Eurasia. The conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and rising tensions with China in East Asia are all interconnected, forming part of a larger struggle: the Battle for Eurasia. To dive deeper into my framework for understanding the Battle for Eurasia, see my article.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday. It could be a pivotal moment in Trump’s efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. The two are expected to sign a deal that would grant Washington partial access to Ukraine’s minerals — part of an effort by the Trump administration to recoup the cost of U.S. war aid. Trump stunned Europe this month when he criticized Zelensky as a “dictator without elections” and baselessly blamed him for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The two presidents are scheduled to hold a joint news conference at 1 p.m. Eastern time following an Oval Office meeting and lunch.
Source: Washington Post

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Sources

1. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/02/27/us/politics/medicaid-enrollment.html
2. https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1894757287052362088
3. https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/defense-spending-contractors-hegseth-startups-3c510191?mod=hp_lead_pos6
4. https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/mexico-cartel-us-drone-boss-capture-a0c8e429?mod=hp_lead_pos8
5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/28/trump-presidency-news/