☕️💗 MY VALENTINE ☙ Friday, February 14, 2025 ☙ C&C NEWS 💗🦠

RFK's confirmation—what comes next; MAHA now official US policy; secret Supreme Court case opens door for Trump; reciprocal tariff plan tilts scales; Dems in disarray; major Proxy War news; more.

Good morning, C&C, it’s Friday! Happy Valentine’s Day! Today we have a jam-packed roundup; I tried to cram in everything. Please forgive any typos or mangled text, I’m writing at a furious pace trying to keep pace with the rush of events. In today’s unbelievable roundup: all our hopes and dreams were fulfilled yesterday as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was confirmed as our new Secretary of HHS and unleashed on the corrupt public health establishment; Trump caps it all off with an amazing MAHA executive order; quiet case approaches the Supreme Court and it could be ’seismic;’ Trump reciprocal tariff plan tips the financial world off its axis; Democrats still struggling to understand what’s hitting them over and over; and the Trump Team begins to focus on the Proxy War with spectacular results.

🌍 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🌍

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Yesterday was the best box of Valentine’s chocolates ever. I’m sure you heard the news— it was the next most encouraging development since Trump won the presidency in an indisputable modern-era landslide. In fairness, I suppose some people were sour about it. Like the Atlantic! Its headline reeked of near hopelessness: “RFK Jr. Won. Now What?” Now what? If they’re asking me, I would suggest: feelings of euphoria, chills, goose pimples, a sense of profound gratitude, and wondrous amazement at how well and quickly we’ve been blessed. But it’s probably impossible to cheer up the Atlantic’s editors.

CLIP: RFK sworn in as HHS Secretary. I’m not crying. You’re crying (1:08).

You can almost take pity on them. The Atlantic’s piece desperately clung to its rapidly shrinking purpose as the elite gatekeeper. “Kennedy holds broadly appealing views on combatting corruption and helping Americans overcome chronic disease,” the Atlantic allowed, admitting Kennedy’s undeniable grassroots support. “But,” they sneeringly continued, “he is also, to an almost cartoonish degree, not impeccably credentialed.”

Haha! Good one! Not impeccably credentialed! To a cartoonish degree! I wonder how long the tortured writers struggled to find the best words to describe their seething hostility without completely lampooning themselves as reeking caricatures of overfed academia. Only four years ago, corporate media clapped like trained seals about the confirmation of another lawyer —a lawyer with no public health background— named Xavier Becerra.

In March, 2021, the New York Times ran a story on Becerra’s confirmation simply headlined, “Senate confirms Xavier Becerra as the secretary of health and human services.” But, unlike the current breathless coverage of Kennedy’s confirmation, the Times covered for Becerra’s limp qualifications. It began by noting Republicans’ similar objections: they’d argued during a pandemic against a partisan lawyer’s nomination to lead the nation’s massive health agencies. A lawyer who was also, in the Atlantic’s loquacious terminology, not impeccably credentialed:

But then the Times punched back using Democrats’ sneering hand-waving. Becerra was qualified, it uncritically reported, because he’d once filed a 20-state lawsuit to protect Obamacare and was “vocal about abortion.” That’s pretty much it:

So. Let us toss the Atlantic’s silly story into the ashcan of failed empire, and consider the headline’s original question: What next?

🔥 As the pandemic started back in 2020, I wasn’t looking for a fight. I was dragged into a fight by the sheer force of government coercion, corporate malfeasance, and media gaslighting. That’s why, for me —and for you too, I’d bet— RFK Jr.’s confirmation resonates so deeply. It wasn’t just a victory for him; it was a vindication for every one of us who was ridiculed, censored, cancelled, compelled, coerced, uninvited, and ostracized for daring to question the stupid “follow the science” narrative.

Well, now “the science” has a brand new health secretary. And the zombies who mindlessly followed the science have suddenly re-discovered that it should be okay to question the science after all.

It was never about science in the first place, was it? It was always about politics.

Nor was I any sort of anti-vaxxer as of early 2020. I entered the pandemic believing, like most people, that people alarmed about vaccines were kooky fringe conspiracy theorists. Sure, I found flu shots ineffective, and I avoided them — but only because, as an economics undergrad, it seemed to me that any product with a negative price (get a free gift card with your free shot!) was an obviously failed product. The market knows.

But the pandemic completely changed my perspective. Not to mention Michelle’s, who is not even more passionate now than me, if that’s possible.

Now, in 2025, I have become skeptical not just of vaccines in general, but of any medication approved by the FDA since 2000. And I've cut out seed oils and as many other hyper-processed factory ingredients as I can.

My transformation would never have happened absent the government's dangerous and ill-informed over-reaction to covid. Thanks, covid?

🔥 Four years ago, winning seemed impossible. It was a Sysisphean job. There was no realistic way to root big pharma out of the captured health agencies. But as of yesterday, for the first time in modern history, Big Pharma isn’t just facing a few rogue lawmakers making noise—it now has a seasoned, battle-hardened adversary inside the very system that protects it. RFK Jr. isn’t some naive outsider learning the ropes; he’s been fighting these agencies in court for decades. He knows their tactics, their weaknesses, and most importantly, their paper trails.

Kennedy even got one more confirmation vote than Becerra. So there.

We were fair. We tried to warn them. We stood athwart the tracks of history, vainly yelling stop. But they wouldn’t listen. The government seeded the wind by forcing its bad science down our throats — and now it will reap the whirlwind.

Happy Valentines’ Day! Let’s MAHA.

🔥 More: CLIP: Trump talks autism at Kennedy confirmation, a clear hint that vaccines remain on the table (0:22).

🔥 But that wasn’t all. Commemorating Kennedy’s confirmation and his swearing in, President Trump signed another blockbuster executive order, this one titled Establishing the President's Make America Healthy Again Commission.

MAHA is now official United States policy.

In classic Trumpian fashion, the order didn’t soft-pedal the bad news. It noted Americans are much sicker than citizens of any other developed nation. It’s not even close. Despite spending more per capita on healthcare than any country on Earth, despite have massive Orwellian, overfunded health agencies, and despite getting injected, boosted, and prescribed more than an above-average lab rat, we still die younger, suffer more chronic illness, and raise kids who need their own medical file cabinets before they hit kindergarten.

The data is staggering—U.S. cancer rates are double those of the next sickest country. Sixty percent of Americans have chronic diseases. And over 40% of children already have health conditions that past generations didn’t develop until retirement age. Thanks a lot, CDC and FDA.

Most embarrassingly, 77% of young Americans can’t qualify for military service, thanks to a lethal cocktail of obesity, ADHD meds, and whatever’s leaching out of their microplastic-infused oat milk. It’s a real national security crisis—you can’t defend a country when troops need a vape break right after putting their boots on.

Trump’s order aimed squarely at the institutional failures contributing to the crisis. It correctly noted that our current medical system is failing to effectively address this pandemic of illness. It called out problems most institutions consistently downplay - like overreliance on medications, corporate influence on research, and compromised scientific processes.

The commission was tasked with examining root causes —ignoring institutional objections— and investigating toxic exposures (like microplastics), electromagnetic radiation (i.e., 5G), corporate cronyism, and the impacts of overprocessed factory food.

Most significantly, the order prioritized transparency and restoring scientific integrity. Imagine that. It also required more disclosure — agencies must release all their previously unpublished reports along with the underlying data. Think, reports of vaccine injuries. The agencies must also submit a plan to eliminate industry capture of research oversight and to scotch flabbily designed pharma studies, like ones with six cherry-picked participants.

The focus on uncovering and sharing truth, regardless of which interests it might upset, is another blow to the Deep State and to its corpulent co-conspirator, Big Pharma. More counter leaks incoming. The order also directed practical changes, like requiring agencies to work with farmers to improve food quality, and requiring insurance to support preventive care and lifestyle changes rather than just endless prescriptions.

In other words, Trump’s new EO perfectly encapsulated Kennedy’s MAHA mandate. It ordered a slew of agencies to prioritize MAHA, giving Kennedy a stick with which to overcome institutional Resistance. You should read it for yourself; it is incredibly encouraging.

The hits keep coming. Yesterday, frantic media headlines wailed about Kennedy’s confirmation with something approaching terror, but the next wave of news is about to wash right over them.

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Speaking of unfolding hits, the lawfare battlefield is evolving just as we’d hoped, except faster. On Monday, Reuters quietly ran a barely-reported story headlined, “Federal agency critics make last pitch for US Supreme Court to hear ‘seismic’ case.”

CLIP: Wonky Federalist Society panel discusses the ‘seismic’ importance of Humphrey’s Executor (58:21).

Remember Reagan’s “unitary executive theory,” which argues the President should have authority to fire any executive-branch employee he wants? The unitary theory has never been fully endorsed by the Supreme Court, and so we suspected Trump’s aggressive early executive orders invited that particular fight. But Reuters reported that, as it turns out, there was already a case winding for years through the judiciary, which is now poised right on the precipice of Supreme Court review.

Get ready to hear a lot more about an ancient Supreme Court decision, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. They’re racing toward overturning it, which would pour rocket fuel into Trump’s federal government reorganization.

On Wednesday, two days after the Reuters article ran, Trump’s new acting solicitor general mailed a curt letter responding to Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), 80, who last week complained about Trump’s decision to remove members of various boards, like the EEOC and the CFPB, which Congress says cannot be removed, especially not without notice.

“I am writing to advise you,” the Solicitor General’s letter began, “that the DOJ has determined that certain for-cause removal provisions that apply to members of multi-member regulatory commissions are unconstitutional and that the Department will no longer defend their constitutionality.” Boom.

It was the shot heard ‘round DC. The DOJ’s letter then invoked Humphrey’s:

Reuter’s article from Monday reported that the Supreme Court has now relisted the case challenging Humphrey’s twice, showing it is under serious consideration. Two days ago, the Solicitor General revealed the Administration’s intent to urge the Supreme Court to take the case, and to overrule Humphrey’s completely. If it does, which seems likely, a whole slew of agencies previously protected by Congress will face accountability.

It could be very big. The Supreme Court might just remove the statutory restrictions on Trump’s ability to fire agency board members, or it could go whole hog and fully embrace the whole unitary executive theory, making all the current lawsuits and TRO instantly obsolete.

And by throwing down the Humphrey’s gauntlet, the Solicitor General created a legally supported justification for Trump to keep doing what he has been doing right now.

That’s why Reuter’s called the case seismic.

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My goodness, there was so much more. Yesterday the AP ran a world-shaking story headlined, “Trump signs a plan for reciprocal tariffs on US trading partners, ushering in economic uncertainty.” Just wait till you hear this.

“I’ve decided, for purposes of fairness, that I will charge a reciprocal tariff,” Trump said in the Oval Office at the proclamation signing. “Meaning, whatever rates the countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less. In other words, they charge us a tax or tariff, then we charge them the same tax or tariff.”

The President added, “It’s fair to all. No other country can complain. This is something that should have been done many years ago.”

It was another masterstroke. One commenter observed, “If it was a literal earthquake, it would have knocked the planet off its axis.”

It was also the pushback Trump has long promised was coming to Europe. The EU countries thought they knew how to stymie Trump’s’ tariffs. They planned to apply the co-called “Canada model,” by launching trade wars against conservatives and Trump allies, like Tesla, or just the red states.

Their dumb idea was to force maximum political pressure on President Trump, to weaken his support with Americans. He he just ran rings around them.

With reciprocal tariffs, the Canada Model become a hammer they hit themselves in the head with. There’s no point in entering an automatically escalating trade war. You’re just shooting yourself in the foot over and over.

Most likely, this brilliant maneuver will immediately result in lower prices for nearly everything, as countries drop their duties and shed their taxes, VAT surcharges, and tariffs. But if it has to play out, the corporate media headlines will be constantly crying about Trump’s tit-for-tat tariffs, and will cherry-pick examples products here and there with increased prices. See, Mexican tamales now cost $2.79!

They still think we voted for lower prices. It’s practically all they have left to hold onto.

Don’t miss this: We have long subsidized Europeans by paying their unilateral taxes, VATs, and tariffs on all our international trade with them, while we weren’t charging them anything in return. The Europeans have used all that extra money to fund their massive immigration and welfare systems, not to mention undermining the U.S. every chance they got, like during the RussiaGate Hoax.

Soon, they won’t be able to afford all their insane social re-programming. In that sense, Trump’s tariff plan didn’t just help the United States. It’s helping liberate Europe.

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Months, maybe years too late, they’re finally starting to figure it out. A little. Yesterday, the New York Times published a “guest essay” by Ro Khanna with two titles. First, “Ro Khanna: The Alternative to Trump Cannot Be a Defense of Institutions as They Are.” (It was later edited to, “Ro Khanna: Democrats Have a Future. Here It Is.”) It hasn’t even been a month yet, and they are already agreeing with Trump the institutions are rotten.

It’s wild the democrats have to reassure each other they ‘have a future.’

Behold the shocking admission that Khanna (D-Ca.) made in his second paragraph:

Not just what they failed to recognize in the last election. What they spectacularly failed to recognize. And what was it? That we aren’t motivated by petty politics or even revenge; we are motivated by sheer fury. Fury at the governing class.

In other words, at them. We tried to warn them, over and over. But they wouldn’t listen.

Khanna continued in a remarkable passage that showed how —less than a month under President Trump— Democrats are questioning the very foundations of the last twenty years of woke ascendancy:

Don’t worry. They won’t take Khanna’s advice. Based on the comments, least half of Democrat Times readers think the best strategy is to double down.

🚀🚀🚀

Trump is ending the Proxy War, and fast. He’s mainly doing it by cutting out the slow-walking, warmongering Europeans. I’ll show you in a post featuring four headlines and a Truth. Here is the first headline, from Reuters this morning:

We are peering through a fog of diplomatic war, so we don’t know exactly what’s going on. But new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went to Ukraine Wednesday to deliver a “proposal” for continued U.S. support in Ukraine. Sources suggest that Trump wants payment for all our previous and future support, to the tune of $500 billion dollars, which would be secured by mineral rights in mineral-rich Ukraine.

Many commenters also think the proposal includes an audit of the money already provided. Wouldn’t that be spicy. Even the suggestion of an audit would probably send Zelensky racing to his panic room.

Remember when everybody was upset because Trump and Speaker Johnson acquiesced to the last big Ukraine funding round? Trump already had an idea of how to get our money back. Zelensky is riding the horns of a big dilemma. If Ukraine refuses to agree to pay us back, then Trump has everything he needs to refuse to provide any more aid. It’s only fair they should pay us back.

That’s how Trump plans to solve problem number one: Zelensky and the Ukrainians.

🚀 Europe is problem number two, and it is fitting that two headlines apply this morning to our EU “allies.” The next headline ran in yesterday’s Associated Press:

Disarray! Just like the Democrats! The short version is, newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth traveled to Munich’s annual Security Conference this week and told our European NATO partners two world-changing things: first, they should get ready to defend themselves a lot more, since the U.S. plans to draw troops out of Western Europe for redeployment in Asia.

He explained that Europe must “take ownership of conventional security on the continent.” The U.S. will still provide nuclear deterrence for Europe.

Next, Hegseth curtly informed the Old World that President Trump will handle the negotiations with Putin and Zelensky, not them. In other words, Hegseth manifested NATO’s worst fears, a prospect even more terrifying than French President Macron unexpectedly arriving for an unannounced weekend visit.

🚀 Regarding the Proxy War, SecDef Hegseth delivered even more bad news. We don’t agree with any of your dumb Proxy War ideas.

CLIP: Hegseth shoots down Zelensky’s so-called “peace formula” (0:45).

In short, Hegseth eviscerated all of Zelensky’s insane peace-plan demands, which of course were unthinkingly embraced by Europe’s NATO partners. First, the Secretary told them in no uncertain terms that Ukraine will never join NATO. Conversation over. Likewise, he told them no U.S. troops would ever be deployed to Ukraine as peacekeepers. If the EU wants peacekeepers in Ukraine, they must do it themselves, outside of NATO, and pay for it all on their own.

NATO membership was a deliberate obstacle to any peace agreement with Russia. But it was worse than that. Biden’s relentless brinksmanship about Ukraine’s NATO membership brought us to the precipice of nuclear apocalypse.

🚀 Finally, as if all that weren’t enough bad news, and as if the Europeans weren’t already grappling with a financial existential crisis in the form of Trump’s reciprocal tarrifs plan, CNN ran more bad news in the form of a story concluding that U.S. relations with Europe will never be the same — after one single phone call:

CNN began its article generously describing Wednesday’s momentous events as “two geopolitical thunderclaps.”

If there was one mindless, diplomacy-destroying mantra, endlessly repeated, that by itself explains the pitiful failure to end the Ukraine war much earlier, it was this stupid slogan: Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. What that meant was, nobody talks to Putin by themselves. As a result, Joe Biden only spoke to Russian President Putin exactly zero times in almost four years.

It wasn’t just President Cabbage. We didn’t even send a negotiating team to Russia. Yet the whole time, the Russians were practically begging us to negotiate.

So yesterday, Trump shattered all the nebulous anti-negotiating rules by picking up the telephone by himself and talking to his counterpart, Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the Russian readout, they spoke for ninety minutes. You can imagine how, after almost four years of silence, they had a lot to discuss.

The best description of how furious the sidelined Europeans were is right in the headline: the relationship will never be the same. It was a betrayal of trust! Trump cheated on us!

They’re not breaking up with us, not yet, but we’d better plan for a polar vortex of a Valentine’s Day. The romance is over.

Because a successful resolution of the Proxy War crisis affects us all, I decided to reprint the whole report from President Trump that he posted to Truth Social about his call with Putin:

Later Trump also called Zelensky. According to reports, the U.S. President spoke to Ukraine’s Martial Law Administrator for ten minutes.

So.

You’ll note that, in his post, Trump announced Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will now lead the negotiations. Witkoff is on a mediating roll, having just negotiated the Israel-Hamas cease-fire, which the Biden Administration attempted for two years but utterly failed.

Could you imagine? Imagine how wonderful it would be if Trump settled the Proxy War conflict, stopped the dying on both sides, and at the same time got all our money back?

It seems appropriate to close this massive post with a quote often attributed to Lenin (although nobody knows for sure): There are decades when nothing happens, and then there are weeks when decades happen.

We are living through weeks trying to keep up while decades of winning unfold. From time to time, take a moment to gratefully reflect on how dire and irresolvable it all seemed for so long. Then last year, we bravely began to hope. But now, we’ve moved way beyond hope. This is something vastly bigger than hope. This is the ride of our lives.

Have a fabulous Friday! C&C will be back tomorrow morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with a wonderful Weekend Edition for you. Till then.

Don’t race off! We cannot do it alone. Consider joining up with C&C to help move the nation’s needle and change minds. I could sure use your help getting the truth out and spreading optimism and hope, if you can: ☕ Learn How to Get Involved 🦠

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