Trump Claims He’s Above the Law, but Pence Disagrees; Southwest Airlines Announces Layoffs–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Feb. 17, 2025

Indy Digest: Feb. 17, 2025

On Saturday, the president sent a cryptic and disconcerting tweet:

Given the things Trump has said in the past—and has been doing since taking office four weeks ago today—this tweet sent chills up my spine.

Also interesting was a tweet that Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, sent a few hours later:

The article linked to in Pence’s tweet, “The Presidency and the Constitution,” was written by Pence back in 2010 for Imprimis, “the free monthly speech digest of Hillsdale College.” It it, he makes the case that the president of the United States (who just so happened to be Barack Obama when Pence wrote the piece) is too powerful already, and certainly not above the law. Here’s an excerpt:

The presidency must adhere to its definition as expressed in the Constitution, and to conduct defined over time and by tradition. While the powers of the office have enlarged, along with those of the legislature and the judiciary, the framework of the government was intended to restrict abuses common to classical empires and to the regal states of the 18th century.

Without proper adherence to the role contemplated in the Constitution for the presidency, the checks and balances in the constitutional plan become weakened. This has been most obvious in recent years when the three branches of government have been subject to the tutelage of a single party. Under either party, presidents have often forgotten that they are intended to restrain the Congress at times, and that the Congress is independent of their desires. And thus fused in unholy unity, the political class has raged forward in a drunken expansion of powers and prerogatives, mistakenly assuming that to exercise power is by default to do good.

Even the simplest among us knows that this is not so. Power is an instrument of fatal consequence. It is confined no more readily than quicksilver, and escapes good intentions as easily as air flows through mesh. Therefore, those who are entrusted with it must educate themselves in self-restraint. A republic is about limitation, and for good reason, because we are mortal and our actions are imperfect.

Think about how remarkable this is: We have a president claiming he does not need to follow the law, and his former vice president—whose life was threatened at one point by people protesting on behalf of the president—openly refuting that claim.

Wow.

The Associated Press today published an interview with Pence. It’s a fascinating read, as Pence makes it very clear that, well, he’s still Mike Pence—he mentions that one reason why he opposed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to head the Department of Health and Human Services is because RFK Jr. is “an abortion rights supporter”—and he goes out of his way to sound conciliatory and say nice things about Trump. So if you’re looking for him to become Liz Cheney 2.0, that’s not happening.

Nonetheless, his willingness to refute Trump’s “he who saves his country” claim is fascinating—and an illustration of how perilous the state of our republic is right now, just 28 days into the second Trump presidency.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• For the first time, Southwest Airlines is laying off a lot of people, in an effort to cut costs. CNBC reports: “Southwest Airlines said Monday that it is cutting about 15% of corporate jobs, or about 1,750 people, a move its CEO called ‘unprecedented’ as the company scrambles to cut costs. The company said it expects savings from the cuts of $210 million this year and about $300 million in 2026. The layoffs will be mostly done by the end of the second quarter and include some senior leadership roles, CEO Bob Jordan said in a staff note, which was seen by CNBC. … Southwest’s decision to slash jobs comes several months after a settlement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which won five Southwest board seats, short of control. The firm had also pushed for Jordan to be replaced as CEO, though it was not successful. Other recent cost-cutting measures at Southwest included a hiring freeze, a pause to the internship program and an end to team-building ‘rallies,’ a company tradition that dated back to 1985, CNBC previously reported. It has also aggressively cut unprofitable routes.”

• It’s official: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is running for governor. The Los Angeles Times says: “Before hundreds of supporters gathered in Riverside, Bianco, 58, said the California dream had ‘turned into a nightmare’ for people struggling with rising prices for food, groceries, electricity and housing. ‘What is it that they have given us?’ Bianco said of Democrats. ‘Rampant crime, higher taxes, the highest cost of living in our nation, tent encampments in every major city, more fentanyl deaths, catastrophic fires, a broken homeowners’ insurance market. … Californians deserve better. … He’s drawn headlines for his refusal to enforce potential vaccine mandates for Sheriff’s Department employees during the COVID-19 pandemic; a civil rights investigation into his department by state prosecutors, which Bianco has said is politically motivated; and his support for Proposition 36, the ballot measure voters approved last fall to stiffen criminal penalties for theft and fentanyl dealing.”

• And now for some news about the mess that is the federal government … yet another swath of evidence that DOGE’s actions are ill-informed and dangerous came late last week, when this happened, as explained by The Associated Press: “The Trump administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that DOGE’s blind cost cutting will put communities at risk. Three U.S. officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration were abruptly laid off late Thursday, with some losing access to email before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning to find they were locked out. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. … The hundreds let go at NNSA were part of a DOGE purge across the Department of Energy that targeted about 2,000 employees. ‘The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for,’ said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, referencing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team. ‘They don’t seem to realize that it’s actually the department of nuclear weapons more than it is the Department of Energy.’ By late Friday night, the agency’s acting director, Teresa Robbins, issued a memo rescinding the firings for all but 28 of those hundreds of fired staff members.”

• On a day in which there was yet another plane crash comes the news that Trump and co. are now apparently firing Federal Aviation Administration employees. Ugh. The Associated Press reports: “The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Probationary workers were targeted in late-night emails Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement. The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told The Associated Press. The air traffic controller was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. A Transportation Department official told the AP late Monday that no air traffic controllers were affected by the cuts, and that the agency has ‘retained employees who perform critical safety functions.’ In a follow-up query the agency said they would have to look into whether the radar, landing and navigational aid workers affected were considered to handle critical safety functions.” How NOT reassuring!

• The state’s insurance commissioner has gone against the recommendation of his staff and rejected State Farm’s request for a large emergency rate increase—for now. Our partners at Calmatters explain: “Ricardo Lara, who has been urging insurance companies to write policies in the state again despite increasing wildfire risks, says in a letter to State Farm executives that he needs more information before he can approve an increase. He asks them to appear before him in person on Feb. 26 at the Insurance Department’s office in Oakland to answer his questions at an ‘informal conference.’ ‘The burden is on State Farm to demonstrate that interim relief is warranted under the circumstances,’ the commissioner says in his letter. ‘My goal is to make sure policyholders do not have to pay more than is required. In light of the recent Los Angeles wildfires, State Farm’s customers need real answers about why they are being asked to pay more and what responsibility the company’s leadership is taking to get its financial house in order.’ State Farm said in a written statement … that it ‘must seriously consider its options within the California insurance market going forward.’”

• And finally … hey, look, a measles outbreak in Texas is sending people to the hospital. ABC News says: “Measles is continuing to spread across the United States as an outbreak in Texas rapidly grows and cases are confirmed in nearby states, according to health officials. In western Texas, a measles outbreak doubled from 24 confirmed cases on Tuesday to 48 cases on Friday, according to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS). This marks the largest measles outbreak in the state in more than 30 years, according to a DSHS spokesperson. All of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, and 13 people have been hospitalized so far. Gaines County is the epicenter of the outbreak, with 42 cases confirmed among residents, according to DSHS. Meanwhile, in neighboring New Mexico, three unrelated cases of measles were confirmed last week in Lea County, which borders Gaines County, according to the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH).”

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