Opinion
By Jeff Childers
4/14/25
Good morning, C&C, it’s Monday! And we’re off to an exciting new week of revolutionary news. In today’s roundup: election integrity wins in Arizona begin paving the road to 2026 midterms; America inks first-and-free Panama Canal deal; Iranian peace talks pick up speed as Trump deploys dickerer-in-chief to Rome; biglaw folding like a pair of Walmart dress slacks; Kennedy’s big science agencies end barbaric animal practices in stunning political reversal; another historic and revolutionary executive order floats by the mockingbird media while it was distracted by a squirrel; and the White House extinguishes Biden’s blasphemous Easter in a single Holy Week.
🌍 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🌍
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As the midterm elections continue creeping inexorably toward us, yesterday Fox News ran a very encouraging story headlined, “Arizona to begin removing as many as 50K noncitizens from voter rolls following lawsuit.” Kudos to America First Legal, which beat fifteen Arizona counties into bleary-eyed submission. The settlement requires the county supervisors to work with DHS to remove everyone without verified citizenship. Guess which party resisted this commonsense cleanup?
The settlement followed AFL’s lawsuit alleging that counties failed to enforce state laws requiring proof of citizenship at voter registration, and also coincidentally neglected the mandatory monthly checks to verify voters’ citizenship status. Had a different political party engaged in widespread failure to enforce laws, corporate media would have called them law defiers and said they were acting like kings.
Oh well.
AFL has been crushing it. In a related case, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ordered Arizona’s Secretary of State to release the list of voters with unverified citizenship. The case began with a public records request, part of AFL’s work to ensure compliance with voter registration laws already on the books. But Secretary of State Adrian Fontes had resisted releasing the list of approximately 218,000 voters with unverified citizenship, citing vague concerns about potential voter harassment and intimidation.
Gosh. That sounds bad. But I’m old enough to remember when they used to mail everyone’s name, personal phone number, and home address to every single grownup in town. It was in a giant yellow book. We even got new ones twice a year. For free. You didn’t even have to ask for one. Back in the day, we had so many of the dang things we used extra ones as booster seats for small children at Easter supper.
Yet somehow, despite broadcasting everyone’s names, addresses, and home phone numbers twice a year, civilization still survived. Weird! Somebody should tell Secretary Fontes.
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Trump’s dealmaking is beginning to bear fruit. Last week, the South China Post ran a story headlined, “US seals Panama deal to deploy troops to canal amid Trump’s takeover threats.” Ironically, though Panama denies any significant Chinese presence on the canal, the sub-headline said, “the pact stops short of allowing Washington to build its own bases on the isthmus, a move Panama warned would ‘set the country on fire.’”
It might have been a tad overly dramatic. Even though the U.S. agreed to build no new bases, the deal allows US forces to occupy Panama-controlled facilities, for training, military exercises, and “other activities.” It includes former US bases that were myopically handed over to Panama by Democrat president Jimmy Carter, a one-term president with all the grace and foresight of a Columbia University gender studies major.
Anyway, the new deal also prioritizes U.S. military vessels in the queue for the Canal— “first and free.” Suck that, China. Go back to the Pacific Rim.
SecDef Pete Hegseth reported the new arrangements to the President at last week’s Cabinet meeting (1:18). Secretary Pete told President Trump, “We just got back from Panama last night. We were at the Panama Canal… and signed a couple of historic deals… we’re taking back the Canal. China’s had too much influence. Obama and others let them creep in. We, along with Panama, are pushing them out, sir.”
China was madder than a noodle shop patron told “no refunds!” after he got Szechuan spicy instead of mild. “A furious Beijing,” the Post reported, “has since announced an antitrust review of the deal.”
Hegseth said it was just the first agreement to float through the Canal. More are planned.
🔥 Meanwhile, peace talks with Iran continue, defying predictions the Iranians would quickly balk. Axios ran the story last night, headlined, “Scoop: Iran, U.S. talks expected to continue Saturday in Rome.” The Trump administration said it was ‘satisfied’ with this weekend’s initial round of talks in Oman, which got the Iranians to agree to shifting from indirect talks — brokered through Omani intermediaries — to direct talks, with Iranian and U.S. officials sitting in the same room.
It may not sound like much, but the Ayatollah had vowed to never negotiate with the US. Indirect talks were the first compromise, but it now seems we’ve moved beyond that childlike phase. In another surprise development, reports emerged yesterday that the two lead negotiators, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, spoke directly for around 45 minutes on Saturday, also breaking the separated format.
Keep an eye on Witkoff. He’s the guy Trump sends to all the key talks. We’ll discuss him more soon.
🔥 Despite widespread media sneering, the tariff negotiations are apparently beginning to bloom. Yesterday, White House Advisor Peter Navarro was on Meet the Press (which Rush always called “Meet the Depressed”), and said that during Trump’s tariff pause, “we have 90 deals possibly pending over the next 90 days.”
CLIP: Navarro said Trump aims for 90 trade deals in the next 90 days, a ‘deal-a-day’ (1:19).
🔥 A overlooked facet of Trump’s tariff bluster were his several off-the-cuff remarks last week that, to get the many trade deals done, he “guessed” he would have to, reluctantly, “use those big law firms.”
In other words, some very lucrative legal contracts are in the offing. That was the carrot.
So it was no surprise when the AP ran a story headlined, “Trump reaches deals with 5 law firms, allowing them to avoid prospect of punishing executive orders.” The last thing the firms want is to be left on the sidelines as smaller firms race up the federal ladder ahead of them. To the chagrin of far-left activists and the American Bar Association (but I repeat myself), five more mega law firms folded like cheap polyester suits last week and agreed to drop DEI, to hire based on merit, to not discriminate on political views, and to provide hundreds of millions in pro-bono (free) legal work to Administration priorities.
In exchange, the EEOC withdrew its pending investigations into the firms’ discriminatory hiring practices.
Countless corporate media articles complained about Trump “targeting” leftist law firms and those who’d helped with RussiaGate and the 2020 Election debacle. But those articles got amnesia about the cancellation and criminal prosecution of conservative attorneys under the Biden Administration. Weird. You’d think it would be a noteworthy comparison.
Anyway, DEI is really dead. The big law firms are the DEI enforcers who blackmail corporations into compliance through lawfare and financial scoring shenanigans. Now they’re sworn to uphold fairness and merit.
It’s the Art of the Deal.
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Somewhere in doggy heaven, Fauci’s beagles are smiling. (But not barking, since their troublesome vocal cords were surgically severed by NIH ‘scientists.’) Last week, Stat News ran the great news under the headline, “FDA plans to phase out animal testing in drugs in what it calls a ‘paradigm shift.’” The sub-headline added, “‘Thousands of animals could eventually be spared each year as these new methods take root,’ said new FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.”
PETA actually praised Trump. Add that to your bingo card, since I know it wasn’t there.
It’s not just FDA. Trump’s new EPA chief Lee Zeldin also announced on the same day that his agency would reinstate Trump’s 2019 policy to phase out all animal testing at the environmental agency. The statement noted that the Biden administration had multiplied animal testing trials, whereas Zeldin is “wholly committed to getting the agency back on track to eliminating animal testing.”
In comments to reporters, HHS Secretary Kennedy also said that the NIH will join the effort to eliminate live animal testing, in favor of a variety of higher-tech methods, including using AI and lab-grown tissues. Some people have expressed concern about the safety of using artificial intelligence, but several recent studies have shown AI is much more reliable than medical-complex doctors in diagnosing health problems.
Last month, the New Atlas reported, “Nearly 100% of cancer identified by new AI, easily outperforming doctors.” Just saying. Don’t cancel me. (Maybe if doctors were less focused on pushing jabs and slavishly following goofy government ‘guidance,’ they’d be better at treating patients, but I digress.)
Not everyone was happy though. Democrats gnashed their razor-sharp teeth. Trump’s attacking science! It’s another weird inversion: Historically, liberals supposedly championed animal rights, to an extent we even used to mock them about it. But they obviously never meant it. Now progressives have become the party of debarking puppies and torturing them with sand flies.
It’s science! Shut up!
I can think of a few uses for those unwanted sand flies, since the NIH won’t need them anymore. Dr. Fauci, you’re needed in the lab. Wear loose clothing and bring itch cream.
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One of the least reported but most significant executive orders Trump signed last week was reported in Broadband Breakfast, succinctly headlined “Trump Administration Pushes Deregulation.” The sub-headline said, “President Trump targeted anti-competitive regulations, aimed to promote growth.” At any other time, it would have been called “historic” and “revolutionary.” These days, it was just Wednesday.
The new order directs all agency heads, like FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, to review all regulations within their authority and identify any rules that stifle competition. It specifically focused on regulations that facilitate monopolies, that create or enforce unnecessary barriers to entry, or needlessly burden agency buying. Agencies have 70 days to submit plans for rescission.
It also invoked the “good cause exception,” which allows agencies to “dispense with notice-and-comment rulemaking” if “impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.” In other words, it’s meant to happen fast. If Trump didn’t mean it, he wouldn’t have bothered finding that obscure exception.
It is a well-known fact, often observed with forlorn, anguished futility, that once big corporations get their lobbies going, regulatory rulebooks begin swelling with detailed, arcane, and expensive restrictions related to their industries. It’s not that they love rules per se, it’s that they love how complying with those rules becomes so expensive and burdensome it prevents anyone else from competing in their markets.
Meanwhile, consumers pay all the compliance costs.
One classic example is requiring commercial-grade kitchens in nail salons, which actually happened in some areas. Big salons already outfitted with full food service, like hotel spas and resorts, can easily comply, while neighborhood nail joints get clipped off by the cost of installing kitchens they’ll never use— all in the name of “public health.”
Anti-competitive rules are always cloaked in language about “safety standards” and “consumer protection.” It’s for your own good.
In another well-known example from 2011, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission deployed new crib safety standards that were so strict and so specific that virtually every existing crib on the market suddenly became illegal— even ones that had safely swaddled generations of babies. The alleged villain was horrific drop-side cribs, an unremarkable and highly convenient design that had existed for decades, but in the swish of an autopen suddenly became a menace.
The new crib standards were so onerous that only a small handful of big crib manufacturers could afford to retool their factories to meet them. One 2011 estimate said it would cost small crib crafters upwards of $1 million each to comply, which instantly wiped out most boutique and artisanal crib makers, many of whom made beautiful, heirloom-quality furniture.
The result was big cribmakers gobbled up their smaller competitors like they were Gerber puffs. Now we’re stuck with expensive, mass-produced, throwaway Target cribs from three mega-brands. And now, the gorgeous Amish maple cribs our grandfathers carved from single tree trunks are felonies. (Hopefully, the crib rule will soon be in the crosshairs, and the nation can snatch its crib sanity back through the bars.)
Shredding these kinds of gatekeeping regulations will not only spur new investment in some of the most common and lucrative American industries, but will also lead to lower prices for goods and services. And Trump deployed this anti-inflationary revolution alongside his new tariffs, once again giving himself multiple ways to win.
Not only that, but the order was another torpedo launched at the ship of corporatism, aka crony capitalism, in favor of Main Street. The order prioritized “significant regulatory actions” – those aimed squarely at the biggest, most-crushing rules. And the President directed the creation of a portal allowing the public to finger anti-competitive regulations. Power to the people.
Bernie Sanders’ creaky narrative that Trump is beholden to billionaire oligarchs took another body blow.
But the move was also aimed at progressives and the deep state. It threatens their entire model of fascistic governance and fund-raising. On one hand, the left sells regulations to their corporate donors to protecting them from free market competition, and on the other hand passes rules designed to punish political enemies who don’t donate generously enough. It’s blackmail, and the losers are stranded babies and moms who can’t reach over the crib rails.
That explains why we heard nary a peep about this order— media doesn’t want us suggesting ideas to Trump’s deregulation Team.
Over the years, some previous presidents have occassionally tried to tackle this kind of over-regulation, but only timidly, and only by targeting specifically-named industries. Trump’s universal executive order is revolutionary in intent, breathtaking in scope, and historic in scale. It targets not just unneeded rules, but also rules creating structural economic barriers— especially rules protecting legacy players, credentialed gatekeepers, and favored monopolies.
It’s another wrecking ball. It could single-handedly revive countless stagnant markets. It is exciting because, if fully implemented, it could level the administrative state like antitrust law once did to Standard Oil. But suspense arises too, because it will only work if the deep state moles have been sufficiently neutered, otherwise they’ll slow-walk it and outwait Trump’s term in office. Much depends on the success of the entire plan.
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Fox News ran a seasonally uplifting story yesterday headlined, “White House plans ‘extraordinary’ Holy Week as Trump honors Easter with ‘the observance it deserves.’” By contrast, President Cabbage J. Autopen, the animatronic placeholder, declared Easter 2024 to be the “Fabulous Transgender Day of Visibility.” You remember. (Sorry to bring it up.) Yesterday —Palm Sunday— President Trump issued a message ringing with the unapologetic moral clarity of the Founders—something no modern president has dared emulate:
The White House Faith Office published a schedule of events leading up to Resurrection Sunday, including not just a colored egg roll and a giant rabbit mascot, but national prayer, worship services, Bible readings, and even a Christian dinner with hymns and opera. Old school.
Trump’s full-throated Presidential Message was unapologetically faithful and staggeringly uplifting. “Through His suffering, we have redemption,” the Message explained. “Through His death, we are forgiven of our sins. Through His Resurrection, we have hope of eternal life. On Easter morning, the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and light prevails over darkness—signaling that death does not have the final word.”
Today, the President plans to release a special Holy Week video. On Wednesday evening, he will host an Easter dinner with prayer and hymns by the Marine Corps band. On Holy Thursday, the president will host a staff worship service at the White House with priests and pastors, featuring an ensemble from Liberty University performing worship music.
This news probably makes some secular readers edgy. Are we heading toward theocracy? In short, no. Hardly. The First Amendment protects religious liberty, not religious absence. Our nation’s first 150 years were steeped in public faith, and yet still we managed not to collapse into The Handmaid’s Tale— despite the fever dreams of overcaffeinated atheists.
Alexis de Tocqueville, the French political thinker who toured the United States in the early 1830s and wrote Democracy in America had quite a bit to say about the role of faith and religion in the American experiment. Tocqueville concluded that religion was essential to maintaining freedom in America. Far from being opposed to liberty, he said religion in the U.S. provided moral order and self-restraint, which made democratic institutions sustainable.
Indeed, one can make a compelling argument that all our social and political problems are directly related to the country’s deliberately orchestrated falling away from faith.
Resurrection Sunday —colloquially, “Easter”— is the most important holiday on the Christian calendar, much more significant than Christmas. “If Christ has not been raised,” the Apostle Paul observed, “our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” In other words, without the Resurrection, the whole edifice of Christian faith crumbles like a poorly built tent in a Galilean sandstorm.
Trump’s Easter proclamation wasn’t just a breath of cool, fresh spiritual air— it was the electrifying sound of a cultural defibrillator, jolting a flickering national soul back toward life. The Holy Week announcement was not only a return to the nation’s most vital historic roots, but a necessary antidote to the blasphemous and anti-religious Biden Administration. Many Christians held their breath for years, wondering whether this was it.
Trump’s unabashed celebration of the season is a stunning reversal offering wisdom that, no matter how far gone things seem to have gone, hope remains.
Have a magnificent Monday! Coffee & Covid will be back, just like the Terminator, with a brand new roundup of essential news and commentary tomorrow morning.
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© 2022, Jeff Childers, all rights reserved
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
