March 21 2025

Trump, MAGA Remaking Elite US Institutions

Trump Invokes Wartime Powers to Boost Mineral Production

U.S. Navy’s Constellation Frigate Faces Delays, Cost Overruns, Exemplifying Broader Problem

Boston Celtics Sold for Record $6.1 Billion

Battle for Eurasia Update: European military powers work on 5-10 year plan to replace US in Nato, Germany rearms

McNeese, Drake, Arkansas Shine in NCAA Upsets

GET THE CITIZEN JOURNAL APP - FREE!

FLASH…London's Heathrow Airport closed for the day after a substation fire, disrupting global travel…

1. Trump, MAGA Remaking Elite US Institutions

A. In between trying to end the war in Ukraine, picking fights with judges and refashioning the federal government, Donald Trump dropped into the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington this week — his first visit since installing himself as its new chair. Trump has promised to rid one of the US’s leading arts venues of “woke” influences, “drag shows” and “other anti-American propaganda”, and usher in a “Golden Age in Arts and Culture”. That mission is part of a multipronged assault on some of America’s elite institutions, an offensive whose scale and intensity have stunned the country’s liberal establishment. From Hollywood to New York’s Upper East Side, America’s bien pensants are reeling from the return of Trump, the man from Queens who prefers the company of UFC fighters and manosphere bros to liberal luminaries. In recent weeks his administration has targeted Columbia University, dismantled USAID, and shut down Voice of America in what, to many, looks like a calculated campaign against bastions of liberal opinion. Ever since Andrew Jackson in the 1830s, presidential candidates have tried to get elected by railing against all-powerful elites. They often temper the populist rhetoric once in office. Trump himself excoriated Hillary Clinton for her ties to the Washington establishment in the run-up to the 2016 election, but then appointed a clutch of Beltway insiders to his cabinet after he won. This time round, however, far from toning down his anti-elitist bombast, he is turning it into actual policy. Trump’s moves against private Ivy League schools and other enclaves of privilege are bound to play well with his base, particularly white working-class men mistrustful of coastal elites. Exit polls in November showed that Trump was backed by 56 per cent of voters with no college degree.
FT

B. President Trump and the head of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP have reached a deal under which Mr. Trump will drop the executive order he leveled against the firm, Mr. Trump said on Thursday. In the deal, Mr. Trump said, the firm agreed to a series of commitments, including to represent clients no matter their political affiliation and contribute $40 million in legal services to causes Mr. Trump has championed, including “the President’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and other mutually agreed projects.” The deal materialized after the head of the firm, Brad Karp, went to the White House this week and had a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Trump to discuss a resolution. Members of the legal profession said in interviews that they were surprised by the deal, as it appears as if the firm — which is dominated by Democrats The agreement is a significant development in the retribution campaign Mr. Trump has opened against several top law firms that he sees as having supported efforts to help his opponents or unfairly prosecute him. And it is the latest demonstration of how Mr. Trump has used his power to extract concessions or public signs of support for his agenda from corporate leaders, news organizations and others since his election victory in November. The White House said that Mr. Karp had acknowledged “wrongdoing” by one of the firm’s former partners, Mark F. Pomerantz. Mr. Pomerantz had tried to build a criminal case against Mr. Trump several years ago while working at the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
NYT

2. Trump Invokes Wartime Powers to Boost Mineral Production

President Donald Trump is invoking emergency powers to boost the ability of the US to produce critical minerals — and potentially coal — as part of a broad effort to ramp up the development of domestic natural resources and make the country less reliant on foreign imports. An executive order signed by the president Thursday taps the Defense Production Act as part of an effort to provide financing, loans and other investment support to domestically process critical minerals and rare earth elements, according to a White House official. The US International Development Finance Corporation, working with the Department of Defense, will provide financing for new mineral production projects. The order, which also encourages faster permitting for mining and processing projects and a directive for the Interior Department to prioritize mineral production on federal land, comes as a direct response to long-held concerns among the US and allies that China overwhelmingly controls the processing of some of the most important critical minerals.
Bloomberg

3. U.S. Navy’s Constellation Frigate Faces Delays, Cost Overruns, Exemplifying Broader Problem

When a Wisconsin shipyard won the contract to build a new class of Navy frigate in 2020, the project was meant to address an embarrassing reality: The U.S. is now the global laggard in building warships. Stocked with high-tech weaponry to protect against enemy submarines, missiles and drones, the USS Constellation was expected to be ready for the open water in 2026. That was because the U.S. chose a proven design from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri in an effort to speed the process. Then the Navy started tinkering. The hull was lengthened by 24 feet to accommodate larger generators and reconfigured in part because the design was based on the relatively benign conditions in the Mediterranean, and the propeller changed for better acoustic performance, among other time-consuming adjustments. The effect: Like almost all other U.S. naval vessels, the Constellation is already years behind schedule and millions over budget. Physical construction began in mid-2022, and after more than 2½ years, the project is only 10% complete, according to a person familiar with the timeline. At this pace, including the two years of design time before building began, the ship will be completed in a total of nine years—around twice as long as it took an Italian shipyard to build the vessels it is based on. The Constellation, the first in what is expected to be around 20 to be built, is projected to cost at least $600 million more than its original estimate of $1.3 billion.
WSJ

4. Boston Celtics Sold for Record $6.1 Billion

The most storied franchise in the history of professional basketball will soon be changing hands. On Thursday morning, a group led by Wyc Grousbeck, the owner of the Boston Celtics, announced an agreement to sell the team to a group led by William Chisholm, the co-founder and managing partner of the California-based private-equity firm Symphony Technology Group. The deal values the Celtics at $6.1 billion, which represents the highest price paid for a team in the history of American sports, besting the $6.05 billion sale of the NFL’s Washington Commanders in 2023. Chisholm’s group of investors include Sixth Street, a giant investment firm and private lender, and real-estate executive Bruce A. Beal. The price for the Celtics, who last season won an NBA record 18th championship, continues a trend of skyrocketing valuations for NBA franchises. In 2022, mortgage-lending billionaire Mat Ishbia agreed to purchase the Phoenix Suns at a $4 billion valuation. The next year, the family of Miriam Adelson agreed to buy the Dallas Mavericks at a valuation of $3.5 billion.
WSJ

5. Battle for Eurasia Update: European military powers work on 5-10 year plan to replace US in Nato, Germany rearms

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.

A. Europe’s biggest military powers are drawing up plans to take on greater responsibilities for the continent’s defence from the US, including a pitch to the Trump administration for a managed transfer over the next five to 10 years. The discussions are an attempt to avoid the chaos of a unilateral US withdrawal from Nato, a fear sparked by President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to weaken or walk away from the transatlantic alliance that has protected Europe for almost eight decades.

B. Germany’s mammoth spending package cleared its last parliamentary hurdle, paving the way for as much as €1 trillion in civilian and defense investments to jolt the region’s economy and reduce its military reliance on the U.S. But economists and defense experts have warned that for Germany and Europe to reap the full benefits, the wall of money would need to be flanked with ambitious—and not necessarily popular—structural overhauls, including tax, bureaucracy and labor-market reforms. Germany’s spending plan, equivalent to around $1.08 trillion, has drawn cheers across a continent unnerved by signs that the U.S. is downgrading its security commitment to Europe and seeking a rapprochement with President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which is seen as the region’s biggest threat. Friedrich Merz, winner of last month’s German election and the man in line to become chancellor, has pledged to focus on European cooperation after the departing government became increasingly distracted by internal frictions between the coalition’s three parties. The German spending plan he developed marks a U-turn for Berlin, which for years preached fiscal discipline to its European neighbors while letting its military atrophy for lack of investment. The package’s scale dwarfs a €158 billion defense fund floated by the European Commission this month to support military spending in the European Union and fund future help for Ukraine.

Editors note: the last few times Germany rearmed ended poorly…
Substack / FT / WSJ

6. McNeese, Drake, Arkansas Shine in NCAA Upsets

The 2025 men's NCAA Tournament was as advertised on Thursday's opening day of first-round games, with a few upsets leading the charge. No. 12 seed McNeese dominated Clemson through the first half before surviving a late comeback scare in the second half, securing the program's first-ever March Madness win with a 69-67 victory. Then, No. 11 seed Drake took down Missouri, earning a 67-57 win in Ben McCollum's first season as head coach. Arkansas also handed Kansas a 79-72 loss, marking the Jayhawks' first loss in the first round since 2006. The win also sets up an all-time coaching matchup between the Razorbacks' John Calipari and St. John's Rick Pitino, who both won national championships at Kentucky.
USA Today

March 21, 1963: Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closes after 29 years

not because of the famous escapes, but because the isolated island lockup was too expensive to operate. Nearly a million gallons of water alone had to be barged to the island each week.

SUBSCRIBE ONLINE TO GET THE US CITIZEN JOURNAL IN YOUR INBOX - FREE!

See the Ad Astra Podcast! Released on Apple and Spotify around 10a CST.

Sponsors (click me!)

Sources

1A. https://www.ft.com/content/7bbb477a-0bf4-4222-9e28-817c2ae996ec
1B. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/paul-weiss-deal-trump-executive-order-withdrawn.html
2. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-20/trump-to-expand-critical-mineral-production-using-wartime-powers?srnd=homepage-americas
3. https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/warship-shows-why-u-s-navy-is-falling-behind-china-94cb9a87?mod=hp_lead_pos8
4. https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/boston-celtics-sale-nba-fa8e298f?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
5A. https://on.ft.com/4bLKKQT
5B. https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/germany-set-for-trillion-euro-defense-and-infrastructure-splurge-3cce7723?st=96ixe3&reflink=article_copyURL_share
6. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2025/03/20/march-madness-ncaa-tournament-first-round-scores-highlights-thursday/82550635007/