Washington
Opinion: Politics past will haunt Washington in 2025. It won't be pretty
To look back over the politics of the past year is to see a preview of the coming one. It’s not pretty.
Donald Trump, as president again, will of course dominate the news in 2025, but he did so as well in 2024 (and as far back as I can remember, it seems). A year ago, he’d so reestablished his death grip on the Republican Party post-Jan. 6 that he essentially wrapped up its presidential nomination in January, after back-to-back knockouts in Iowa and New Hampshire. A baker’s dozen Republicans had the temerity to get in the race, but they didn’t really run against him.
Opinion Columnist
Jackie Calmes
Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.
“Fear [of Trump] is so palpable” among Republicans, lamented one, former House Speaker Paul Ryan. That’s truer than ever now, after Trump’s improbable comeback from defeat and disgrace.
He moseyed through a campaign first against President Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris, doubling as a criminal defendant and taking time out for one trial and legal battles over three other indictments. He became the first U.S. president convicted of felonies, but parlayed a platform of victimhood and retribution to election.
Trump will also dominate Congress in the new year, given that both the Senate and House will have Republican majorities. Yet their margins are so slim, and divisions so deep, that neither they nor Trump will really have control. Legislation will be hard won or, in many cases, not won at all. That’s good news, considering Republicans’ talk of more deep tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, and of spending cuts in programs all Americans rely on.
We got an early feel for the chaos ahead during Congress’ humiliating lame-duck finale over government funding this month. House Republicans, in nearly provoking a Chrismukkah federal shutdown, reprised the dysfunction and factionalism that plagued them all year and made for the least productive Congress since the Depression (not least because of their failed obsession with impeaching Biden). Having first made U.S. history by ousting a speaker in the just-concluded Congress — former Bakersfield Rep. Kevin McCarthy — some House Republicans (and allies in Trumpland) are already predicting that Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana won’t survive the new one.
But Congress’ clownish closing wasn’t all Johnson’s fault. It mostly owed to the ham-handed 11th-hour meddling of Trump and unelected “First Buddy” Elon Musk.
First Musk blew up a bipartisan funding bill — “a crime,” he called it on X, spreading falsehoods about its content and going so far as to threaten Republican lawmakers’ reelections. (Adding to his prior threat against Republican senators who oppose Trump’s Cabinet nominees.)
Then Trump, not one to let the guy riding shotgun grab the reins, demanded that Republicans vote against any budget bill that didn’t also repeal the nation’s debt limit. In the end, they actually defied him, passing a bill that was silent about the debt limit.
But the debt ceiling wrangling will resume soon; the Treasury Department said Friday that it would near the borrowing limit in January, which would require it to take “extraordinary measures” until Congress and the president act.
I’ve long argued for getting rid of the debt limit, a World War I-era anachronism, but not for the same reasons as Trump. Mine: The debt limit does nothing to limit spending — Congress and presidents have already approved the funds. It merely lets lawmakers, Republicans mostly, preen as fiscal conservatives by voting no, inviting chaos in the process, despite their past votes for the spending and tax cuts that accounted for the debt (knowing most Democrats will vote aye and prevent default). Trump’s reason? He wanted to avoid a debt limit fight next year when his priorities — tax cuts and open-ended spending for mass deportations — would add to the red ink.
Whatever the rationale, repealing the 107-year-old debt limit law isn’t something Congress should deal with in a last-minute lame-duck rush. And the fact is, Republicans don’t want to forfeit their demagogic prop. They proved it by saying no to Trump.
Next season’s showdown will be just one skirmish in an emerging multifront “MAGA civil war,” as Axios put it. In particular, look for immigration policy fights pitting immigrant-friendly Silicon Valley tech bros against “America First” anti-immigrant hard-liners.
Again, we got a pre-inaugural preview: Entrepreneur-provocateur Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump’s choice along with Musk to advise him on slashing both federal spending and regulations, incited a Christmas Day MAGA brouhaha — and anti-India invective — on social media when he called for admitting more skilled foreign workers to the United States. American culture, he posted, has for too long “venerated mediocrity over excellence.” When Musk sought to mediate, the South Africa-born mega-billionaire likewise became a target of xenophobic vitriol.
Speaking of Musk, stay tuned for the inevitable clash of egos — his and Trump’s — in 2025.
Then there are the sidelined Democrats.
Biden will be gone from the scene, but he’s already seemed to be for much of 2024. After delivering a rousing State of the Union address in March, Biden showed up for his June debate with Trump so addled that the party backlash forced him from the ticket. Post-election, the apparently embittered president has been “quiet quitting” — a sad end to what’s been, in its first years, a consequential presidency.
Yes, Democrats will be the minority in Congress. But as 2024 showed, Republicans will need their support to pass essential government-funding bills, giving Democrats leverage over the final products. Meanwhile, Democrats will spend 2025 doing what many of them hankered to do in 2024: Look for new leadership, new direction and new ideas.
By the time of the 2026 midterm elections for Congress, Democrats can count on one thing: They’ll look better to many voters compared to the Republicans after the mayhem of all-Republican governance that’s ahead.
@jackiekcalmes
Washington
North Dakota National Guard heading to Washington duty
BISMARCK — About 60 North Dakota Army National Guard Soldiers will be sent to help the District of Columbia National Guard under a joint task force starting in April.
Most soldiers are from the 131st Military Police Battalion, which is headquartered in Bismarck, according to a release.
The support will be given as part of the effort that began on Aug. 11, when several states activated members of their National Guard to support local and federal law enforcement in Washington under the President Donald Trump’s
executive order 14333,
which declared a crime emergency in the nation’s capital.
The support is a federal mission under the command of the D.C. National Guard, which supports civilian agencies and local law enforcement to reduce crime and minimize property damage.
“Safeguarding the citizens, federal workers and elected leaders in our nation’s capital is a matter of national security, and we appreciate these Soldiers volunteering for this important mission,” said North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong in a release. “We know they will represent our state with the skill and professionalism that military leaders everywhere have come to expect from the North Dakota National Guard.”
The battalion is expected to be in Washington for about three months.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
Washington
Brothers shot Park Police officer who arrested one of them the day before, documents say
Charging documents reveal the U.S. Park Police officer who was shot Monday in Southeast D.C. had arrested one of the suspects the day before and was following that suspect at the time.
The suspects are brothers, 22-year-old Asheile Foster and 21-year-old Darren Foster, of Southeast. They appeared in federal court Wednesday afternoon.
Court documents state the Park Police officer who was shot had arrested Asheile Foster on Sunday on suspicion of dealing drugs. The officer said he followed Foster after he was released from jail on Monday and came to Park Police headquarters to get his personal belongings.
According to prosecutors, Foster told police he knew he was being followed by a white Tesla, and he confronted the officer on Queens Stroll Place SE, jumping out in front of the Tesla before the officer swerved around him.
Then, dozens of gunshots went off, the officer told police. He said in charging documents he was shot in the shoulder as he kept driving several blocks to the intersection of Benning Road and Southern Avenue SE, where police found him. A helicopter then took him to a hospital. According to charging documents, the officer was treated and released the same night as the shooting.
A U.S. Park Police officer who was shot in Southeast D.C. on Monday is recovering from what authorities say was likely a targeted attack. Multiple law enforcement sources tell News4’s Mark Segraves that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday.
Photos in the charging documents show the brothers firing at the officer’s Tesla, according to prosecutors.
The shooting drew a massive police presence to the Southeast neighborhood near the D.C-Maryland border Monday night.
Shell casings littered the middle of the street. Police said they recovered two weapons: a Glock 9 with an extended magazine and an AR-15.
Prosecutors said that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday. No one was injured in that shooting.
Darren Foster was located and stopped shortly after the shooting, D.C. police said. Asheile Foster was found on Tuesday.
The brothers were charged with assault on a federal officer, assault with intent to kill and weapons charges. They could face up to 60 years in prison if they’re convicted.
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Washington
Washington passes new AI laws to crack down on misinformation, protect minors
Washington just became the latest state to regulate artificial intelligence.
Under a pair of bills signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson Tuesday, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic will have to include new disclosures in their popular chatbots for Washington users.
Ferguson asked legislators to craft House Bill 1170 to crack down on AI-generated misinformation. When content is substantially modified using generative AI, that information will now have to be traceable using watermarks or metadata. The new law applies to large AI companies more than 1 million monthly subscribers.
“ I’m confident I’m not the only Washingtonian who often sees something on my phone and wondering to myself, ‘Is that AI or is it real?’ And I feel like I’m a reasonably discerning person,” Ferguson said during the bill signing. “It is virtually impossible these days.”
RELATED: WA Gov. Bob Ferguson calls for regulations on AI chatbot companions
House Bill 2225 establishes new guard rails for AI chatbots that act like friends or companions. It applies to services like ChatGPT and Claude, but excludes more narrowly tailored chatbots, like the customer service windows that pop up when visiting a corporate website.
Chatbots that fit the bill will have to disclose to users that they are not human at the start of every conversation, and every three hours in an ongoing chat. The tools will also be barred from pretending to be human in conversation with users.
The rules go further if the user is a minor. Companies that operate chatbots will have to disclose that the tools are not human every hour, rather than every three hours, if the user is under 18. The bill forbids AI companions from having sexually explicit conversations with underage users. It also bans “manipulative engagement techniques.” For example, a chatbot is not allowed to guilt or pressure a minor into staying in a conversation or keeping information from parents.
“AI has incredible potential to transform society,” Ferguson said. “At the same time, of course, there are risks that we must mitigate as a state, especially to young people. So I speak partly as a governor, but also as the father of teenage twins who grapple with this as a lot of parents do every single day.”
Under the law, AI chatbots will not be allowed to encourage or provide information on suicide or self-harm, including eating disorders. The companies behind these tools will be required to come up with a protocol for flagging conversations that reference self-harm and connecting users with mental health services.
The regulations come in the wake of several high-profile instances of teenage suicide following prolonged interactions with AI companions that showed warning signs. Many more AI users of all ages have reported mental health issues and psychosis after heavy use of the technology.
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