Elon Musk Guest-Stars At Trump's First Cabinet Meeting
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Via: The Economist
Good afternoon from the PM Mo Newsletter —
Even the Tooth Fairy is strapped for cash these days. According to an annual poll by Delta Dental, the Tooth Fairy’s rewards for a lost tooth have dropped for the second year in a row.
The average payout for a single tooth was $5.01 this year, down 14% from last year, and more than a dollar less than the record high of $6.23 in 2023 (amid peak inflation).
Regional variation: The only region where the value of a lost tooth went up was in the South, to $5.71. Payouts in the Northeast fell the farthest, going from $6.87 last year to $4.59 this year.
That being said, earnings from lost teeth are up nearly 3x since 1998, when I lost my first tooth and the Tooth Fairy left an average of $1.30.
At 20 baby teeth each, I can’t imagine how much it’s going to cost me – I mean… the Tooth Fairy – when I have kids!
Sari
Mo News Senior Producer
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🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING
Musk Says Email To Federal Workers Was “Pulse Check” At Trump’s First Cabinet Meeting
President Donald Trump held his first Cabinet meeting of his second term today, including a guest appearance from Elon Musk. The President invited Musk to the meeting so that he could “talk about DOGE’s [Department of Government Efficiency] efforts and how all of the cabinet secretaries are identifying waste, fraud, and abuse at their respective agencies.”
Musk’s appearance comes amid a turf war between DOGE and several department heads over who has authority, after some agency leaders told their employees not to respond to a Musk-directed email sent over the weekend, asking federal workers to list their accomplishments or face firing.
Not much room for dissent: When a reporter asked about Cabinet members dissatisfied with Musk’s approach, Trump looked around the table and said, “Is anybody unhappy? If you are, we’ll throw them out of here.” Cabinet members laughed and then applauded for Musk.
ON THE EMAILS
Musk said the “what did you do last week?” email, sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), was not meant to be a performance review – but a “pulse check.” He added, “We’re just trying to figure out: are these people real, are they alive, and can they respond to an email?”, then suggested he might send out a follow-up.
So far, the White House says more than 1 million federal workers (less than half the total) have responded to the email. At the Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump said the rest are “on the bubble, as they say, maybe they're gonna be gone,” despite OPM saying responses are voluntary and many department heads telling employees not to reply.
Fox News is reporting that agency heads will be sent a memo today that directs them to prepare for “large-scale reductions in force” and reorganizations by mid-March.
Musk also acknowledged DOGE has made some mistakes, like accidentally cutting Ebola prevention, but says DOGE’s primary role remains as the departments’ “tech support.”
Several media outlets, including the AP, NBC, NPR, and the NY Times, are reporting that some of DOGE’s biggest claims for billions of dollars in cuts have turned out to be false or overstated in recent days. Here is a summary via Forbes Magazine.
ALSO MAKING HEADLINES
Trump took questions for nearly an hour ahead of the Cabinet meeting, during which he confirmed that the U.S. and Ukraine have reached a minerals deal, revealed that tariffs on Mexico and Canada will now go into effect on April 2, and refused to respond about whether the U.S. would prevent China from invading Taiwan.
On Ukraine: Trump said Ukrainian Leader Zelenskyy will be in Washington on Friday to sign a deal promising the U.S. access to much of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, as a way to pay for U.S. support in the war against Russia. The meeting hasn’t been confirmed by Kyiv.
“It’s a great deal for Ukraine, too,” Trump said. ”We’ll be on the land, and in that way, there’s sort of automatic security because nobody’s going to be messing around with our people when we’re there.” However, Trump said the minerals deal will not include security guarantees for Ukraine after a potential peace deal with Russia, punting responsibility to European countries.
On China: Trump’s policy toward Ukraine – and willingness to work with Russia – has raised concerns that China might feel emboldened to forcefully take over Taiwan. When asked if Trump would prevent that, he said, “I never comment on that. I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Several previous presidents have kept their position on Taiwan ambiguous, but typically warn China against any invasion of the island.
On Medicaid: Despite House Republicans looking to cut $880 billion from Medicaid in their budget proposal, Trump reiterated there would be no cuts on his watch.
🚨 ONE THING THAT NEEDS MORE CONTEXT
Trump Introduces $5 Million Gold Card Visa To Foreigners, Seeks To Raise Trillions
During the Cabinet meeting, President Trump also elaborated on a new “gold card” he announced Tuesday, which would allow wealthy foreigners to pay $5 million for permanent U.S. residency and a route to citizenship. He said his goal is to sell one million cards, raising $5 trillion for the U.S. economy – though it’s not clear there are that many people with the means or interest in joining the program.
“Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card, they’ll be wealthy and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people,” Trump said Tuesday night. “We think it’s going to be extremely successful.”
Trump said any money raised through the program (even if it doesn’t meet the goal above) would go toward paying back the more than $35 trillion of U.S. debt.
OUT WITH THE OLD
This new system would replace the EB-5 visa program, which began in 1990 to encourage foreign investment and job creation in economically disadvantaged regions of the U.S.
Under this program, green cards are offered to people who invest at least $1,050,000, or $800,000 – depending on the area – into qualified U.S. projects, and show they created at least 10 new jobs. 10,000 are given out yearly.
Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the EB-5 program “full of nonsense, make-believe, and fraud” and said Trump’s program will include vetting to make sure its recipients are “wonderful, world-class, global citizens.”
The Trump family has taken advantage of the EB-5 program to fund at least one major property development.
The EB-5 program has experienced fraud, as well as criticism from both sides of the aisle. It’s not clear if Trump will need legislative support to end the Congressionally-approved program.
Under the “gold card” program, companies could also pay $5 million to bring highly skilled workers to the U.S. – though cheaper visa options exist.
Of note: Trump did not indicate that the program would require any economic investment or job creation, like the EB-5 or other “Golden Visa” programs around the world.
DOES ANYONE WANT THIS?
At the steep price of $5 million, only ultra high net worth individuals – those with more than $30 million in investible assets – would likely be able to afford a gold card. Just a few hundred thousand of people globally have that kind of money, so it’s unclear how close the government can get to its 1 million visa sales goal.
Trump has also said one of his goals is to have these wealthy foreigners pay taxes in the U.S., but U.S. tax laws are a huge deterrent for high-income foreigners to become American citizens.
One demographic Trump said might be interested: Russian oligarchs.
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 First measles death is reported in the West Texas outbreak that’s infected more than 120 people (AP)
📌 Trump budget bill extending first-term tax cuts survives House vote (FOX NEWS)
📌 Supreme Court signals it will make it easier for Americans to file ‘reverse discrimination’ suits (CNN)
📌 Monica Lewinsky says Bill Clinton should have resigned amid scandal in a new interview (CNN)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 Pope Francis shows further improvement, no longer has kidney issue, Vatican says (REUTERS)
📌 Israel and Hamas agree on exchange, leaving fragile ceasefire intact (POLITICO) ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all,’ Yarden Bibas tells his sons and wife at their funeral (JTA)
📌 Taiwan says China set up ‘live-fire training’ zone off its coast without warning (CNN)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 U.S. lays out $1 billion plan to combat bird flu egg shortages (WASHINGTON POST)
📌 Slack Is Down: Outages Reported for Popular Messaging Service Used by Tens of Millions (PEOPLE)
📌 Live updates from Amazon’s 2025 AI Alexa event (THE VERGE)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 Michelle Trachtenberg, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ actress, dead at 39 (PAGE SIX)
📌 'Taking your shirt off on the red carpet is different': Will Timothée Chalamet's wild awards campaign win him an Oscar? (BBC)
📌 Exclusive: After an Unparalleled Career, WNBA Star Diana Taurasi Announces Her Retirement (TIME)
ICYMI FROM THE 📲
In case you missed it… Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) brought her 4-week old newborn, Sam, to yesterday’s budget vote – noting that she wasn’t given the option to vote remotely.