Day 1850: "Status quo."
Episode description
Thursday, February 12, 2026
In this episode: The Senate failed to advance a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security through Sept. 30, leaving the agency headed for a partial shutdown when funding expires Friday night; the Trump administration said it will end “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota, drawing down thousands of federal immigration agents after a 2-month crackdown that produced mass protests, more than 4,000 arrests, and two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis; the Justice Department tracked the search histories of lawmakers who reviewed the files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation; the whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard centers on an intelligence intercept that captured two foreign nationals discussing Jared Kushner; the House passed the SAVE America Act; a federal judge blocked the Pentagon from demoting Sen. Mark Kelly’s retired Navy rank and cutting his retirement pay over a video advising troops not to follow illegal orders; Trump rescinded the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” removing the legal basis the agency has used to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act for nearly two decades; and 62% of Americans say Trump’s “gone too far” by deploying federal immigration agents into major U.S. cities, and 61% say he’s gone too far using federal law enforcement at protests.
Read more: Day 1850: "Status quo."
Newsletter: Get the daily edition of WTFJHT in your inbox
Feedback? Let me know what you think
AI Policy: My AI policy