Good morning. It is February 25th. It is a balmy morning in New York City, maybe disconcertingly so. And this is your Indignity Morning podcast. I'm your host, Tom Scocca, taking a look at the day and the news. The Washington Post reports that the latest casualty of Donald Trump and Elon Musk's assault on the government is the acting commissioner of the IRS. Doug O'Donnell, the Post writes, “a civil servant who spent decades at the agency will depart the administration by the end of the week.” The Post cites “four people familiar with the matter” who said the departure is “driven in part over his distress about the chaos inflicted on the government by billionaire Elon Musk's U.S. Doge service.” 

Form imitates meaning on the front of this morning's New York Times. On the lead news column, the headline package is “EUROPE’S LEADERS SHOW SOLIDARITY IN UKRAINE VISIT / ANNIVERSARY OF WAR / Talks Center on How to Support Kyiv if U.S. Cuts Assistance.” 

And then the first words of this story about the gathering of European leaders right after the Brussels dateline are “President Trump.” 

“President Trump,” the Times writes, “was barely acknowledged in a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and 13 Western leaders who visited Kiev in person on Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Still,” the Times continues, “he was everywhere in the subtle rebukes thrown his way, in how European leaders talked about further aid to Ukraine, and how they emphasized the importance of Ukrainian sovereignty, even as Trump officials have been talking about dialing back US support for Kiev and troop numbers in Europe.” The story goes on, “the show of solidarity in Ukraine on Monday comes at a head spinning moment for Europe,” always again invariably with the vibes. What if they just skipped that sentence and went to the next one?

“For three years, the United States has been a major supporter of Ukraine's resistance against Russia's invasion, diplomatically, financially, and militarily, pulling the Allies together in the leadership role it has played since World War II. But Mr. Trump is in the process of upending that, or at least threatening to do so. The United States angered European Allies by voting against a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russian aggression and calling for the withdrawal of invading Russian troops from Ukraine, an American resolution simply called for the war's end.”

The paper then sends the reader to page A8 for an entire write-up of the UN resolution business in which the Times notes that Ukraine's measure passed 93 to 18. Among the 18 countries that voted against Ukraine's resolution were Russia, the United States, Israel, Hungary, Haiti, Nicaragua and Niger. 

Back on page one, the second news column is “Putin Ambition Gets New Life Under Trump / Opening Path to Wider Influence in Europe.”

The story is about how, whatever larger interpretive framework you choose to apply to the facts, Donald Trump is so far doing everything that Vladimir Putin wants done. After three years of grinding warfare and isolation by the West, the Times writes, “a world of new possibilities has opened up for Mr. Putin with a change of power in Washington. Gone are the statements from the East Room of the White House about the United States standing up to bullies, supporting democracy over autocracy, and ensuring freedom will prevail. Gone, too, is Washington's united front against Russia with its European allies, many of whom have begun to wonder if the new American administration will protect them against a revanchist Moscow or even keep troops in Europe at all.” 

The next story over is a look at the approach of the end of the six week Gaza ceasefire agreement. “If Gaza Truce Ends in Days, What Is Next?” Both sides, the times rights have accused each other of breaking the terms of the existing deal which have allowed for the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. “Over the weekend, Israel delayed the release of several hundred prisoners, protesting the humiliating manner in which Hamas had paraded hostages before handing them over. With just days before the current truce lapses on Sunday, the sides have yet to begin negotiations for an extension.” 

And next to that, in a story of a different kind of intractable debacle that no one in the position of power seems interested in doing anything about, it's back to domestic politics and “How Wealth of Dr. Oz Collides With Medicare / Nominee Holds Many Ties With Industries He May Regulate,” a subheadline you could run for pretty much every Trump appointment, “Nominee holds many ties with industries. may regulate.” Dr. Mehmet Oz the Times writes “the celebrity TV doctor nominated by President Trump to oversee Medicare and Medicaid has been a relentless promoter of controversial private insurance plans for older Americans. ‘I’d be signing up,’ he told viewers, directing them to a call center in an episode that is still available on his YouTube channel. What Dr. did not tell the audience was that he made money from touting the plans, known as Medicare Advantage. The for-profit company operating the call center, TZ Insurance Solutions, paid to be featured. Dr. Oz even became a licensed broker for TZ Insurance in almost every state, according to regulatory filings newly unearthed by the New York Times, with the idea that he could sell plans directly to viewers.”

This is really the perfect profile of a Trump appointee, which the headline manages to undersell, because not only do his existing arrangements create obvious indefensible conflict of interest with the public responsibility that he's supposed to take on, they're also just flagrantly unethical on their own terms. “An examination by the Times,” the Times writes, “of his myriad financial interests revealed not only opaque ties with the industries he may soon regulate, but also a coziness with healthcare companies that lawmakers have already highlighted in questioning his independence. That's the usual, this guy should not be allowed near this position analysis. But the beast continues, he has made tens of millions of dollars hawking dietary supplements on his show and on social media, often without any mention of his financial interest. He has been paid by medical device firms and health related ventures, and his money was invested in a dizzying array of businesses.”

Before you get to the question of whether he would be corrupted by the opportunities available to him in a government post, he's already corrupt in his existing position as a celebrity medical entertainer. 

Down below the fold, there's a nice big obituary for “Roberta Flack, the magnetic singer and pianist,” the Times writes, “whose intimate blend of soul, jazz and folk made her one of the most popular artists of the 1970s.” The story The Times goes on to tell is one of talent and ambition winning out in an America where mobility and opportunity were within reach. The story describes how she went to Howard University as a precocious young pianist and excelled there. But the Times writes, a dean warned that the opportunities in classical orchestras would be scarce for a black woman, advising Ms. Flack to pursue a teaching career. She did, but she also started playing out, and basically overwhelmed everyone who saw her.

“Reporting from Washington for the Times in 1970,” the Times writes, “Jack Rosenthal described Ms. Flack as royalty and waiting. ‘Around the city,’ he wrote, ‘her conquest has been so complete that for months mention of her name has inevitably raised the question, when's Roberta going to make it nationally?’” The answer was 1972, with the first time ever I saw your face. And on she went from there. 

And down in the right hand corner of page one, the Times gets a local with a look at how New York City is responding to the egg shortage, including the emergence of loosie eggs sold in plastic bags over the deli counter. Three for $2.99. 

And in other local news on page A16, the Times takes a look at the Roosevelt Hotel, the formerly grand Hotel that closed in 2020 and reopened as a migrant shelter, leading to Elon Musk feeding on a conspiratorial fantasy that the city was putting up migrant criminal gangs in a luxurious command outpost, leading in turn to the Trump administration hijacking $80 million in already delivered funds out of the city's bank accounts. I remember going to a pretty fancy wedding at the Roosevelt quite a while ago, but it was quite a while ago. In Roosevelt, the Times writes, “an 18-floor building on East 45th Street near Grand Central Terminal opened in 1924, and was named after former president Theodore Roosevelt. Guy Lombardo was a mainstay during the first half of the 20th century, leading the house band in the hotel's grill. And its rooms became popular office space for the Republican Party, housing the campaigns of Fiorello LaGuardia when he ran for mayor and those of Thomas E. Dewey and Dwight D. Eisenhower when they ran for president.” This story also contains the informative yet under-explained paragraph, “the owner of the hotel, Pakistan International Airlines, which bought the Roosevelt in 2000, did not reply to requests for comment. The airline, which is owned by the Pakistani government, closed the hotel indefinitely in December 2020 after the pandemic decimated the tourist industry.” 

That is the news. Thank you for listening. The Indignity Morning Podcast is edited by Joe McLeod. The theme song is composed and performed by 
Mack Socca-Ho. You, the listeners, keep us going through your paid subscriptions to Indignity and your tips. Continue sending those if you can. And if nothing unexpected gets in the way, we will talk again tomorrow.