Beltway Insider: Trump/Putin, Ukraine, Harvard/Chinese Students, Cartels/Immigration, Charles Rangel, Robert Jarvik

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Sunday, 01 June 2025 05:33

Written by Janet Walker

President Trump has moved away from his friendship style of negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, into an aggressive and hardball effort to secure a cease fire between Russia and Ukraine, as Putin ramps up the violence.

The President's job approval rating, according to The New York Times for the period ending May 31, 2025,  remained constant at 45% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as president decreased by 1% to 52%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Trump Putin Lock Horns Over Ukraine

President Trump has hit his limit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The one-time comrade of the President has become his nemesis as he refuses to negotiate in good faith and has increased the military aggression against neighboring Ukraine, in what appears to be last ditch effort in an no win war.

After Putin failed to send a high level team of negotiators to Istanbul, Turkey, two weeks ago, and neither Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky nor Putin attended the summit, which failed to reach any objectives. Russia immediately went on the offensive, and became shelling Ukraine with drone attacks, striking a bus, and killing nine. Since, the initial talks on May 17, Russia has increased its bombing efforts, firing 355 long-range drone missiles strikes killing and injuring dozens of civilians in the capital city of Kyiv and the surrounding area.

"Kyiv's goal remains to secure a cease-fire first, before moving on to negotiations for a broader peace deal. Russia has shown little interest in a cease-fire. Instead it repeatedly has said that it wants talks to focus on solving the "root causes" of the war — Kremlin parlance for wide-ranging demands like a commitment not to expand NATO eastward, an objective that Kyiv and its allies see as a way to subjugate Ukraine," reported The New York Times.

With talks possibly scheduled for next week, Zelensky has sent a list of requirements for a cease fire to both Washington and Russia. He is hoping that Trump's frustration with Putin will ultimately work for the people of Ukraine and stop this senseless and unwinnable war.

Trump, and members of his party, are echoing the sentiment of Zelensky, that Putin is stalling. Even though the potential for talks are still on the table, Putin, can fail to show or cancel. Unless this war ends soon, the Trump administration has already begun to prepare additional sanction packages to levy against Russia. Although, the extent of the influence and segment of sanctions has yet to be determined.

World News: Trump Fails to Move Russia and Ukraine Toward Peace

What Brought on Trump's Attacks on Harvard

As the Trump Administration escalates its squeeze tactics against Harvard University, it is important to note, that it is not the only university visited by a federal task force combating antisemitism. After the protests during the 2023 pro-Palestinian, brought on by the Israeli escalation in Gaza, campus' throughout America suddenly became hotbeds for protests, with some universities becoming symbolic of a growing antisemitic movement. Antisemitism, which is the hostility or prejudice against Jewish people.

As the Israeli Gaza war increased and the Palestinian people were confronting starvation and annihilation, international students studying in the United States arranged protests to highlight these conditions. Across these campuses many students, particularly Jewish students felt threatened and often the Palestinian protests were not peaceful demonstration and often ended with the destruction or property or other acts of aggression. Which is one-step away from physical violence.

In order to combat this, the Trump Administration task force visited ten universities, Columbia, Harvard, George Washington, Johns Hopkins, New York University, UCLA, UC Berkeley, University of Southern California, Northwestern, and University of Minnesota.

"The President, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, and the entire Administration are committed to ensuring that no one should feel unsafe or unwelcome on campus because of their religion," said Mr. Terrell. "The Task Force's mandate is to bring the full force of the federal government to bear in our effort to eradicate Anti-Semitism, particularly in schools. These visits are just one of many steps this Administration is taking to deliver on that commitment," reported the Department of Justice.

After the task force visited the universities, the administration sent letters indicating the changes that would need to take place in order to remain in good standing with the government. Columbia University, hesitated, and after President Trump threatened the university with funding cuts, the relented. Harvard University, the nation's oldest and wealthiest, refused to consider the changes, indicating they would not be bullied into relinquishing its rights or independence.

This hard line only taunted the administration and essentially the war was on. In the days following, the administration froze 2.2 billion in federal funding, threatened to withdraw the university's tax exempt status, and required federal agencies to cancel contracts. Harvard has remained steadfast that they will not allow themselves to be managed by the Trump administration.

"The administration did not let up. On May 5, McMahon announced that Harvard is ineligible for new federal grants. About a week later, Harvard was hit with a $450 million funding cut. An additional $60 million worth of grants from the Department of Health and Human Services was terminated days later, bringing the total of losses to more than $2.7 billion," reported The Washington Post.

Trump is a blunt instrument and while his overall motivation, to stop the seed of antisemitism, is on point, his tactics are brutal and dictatorial which repel any possibility of consideration.

International Students

Citing the 2023 pro-Palestinian protests, the Department of Homeland Security, on May 22, revoked Harvard's certification for their Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

While it is doubtful that Harvard is work with the Chinese Communist party training members of its paramilitary group as United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie Neom, stated, that is typical of the Trump administration, a big statement loaded with trigger words and fanfare, and a silent walk back, when it doesn't materialize.

As of now, the Trump Administration's ban on allowing Harvard to enroll international students has been blocked by a Massachusetts judge.

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Southern Border Immigration, Cartels, and Human Trafficking

As the Trump Administration continues its crackdown on illegal immigration, the Middle and Latin American Cartels, primarily responsible for the smuggling everything from methamphetamine and fentanyl to men, women, children into the United States, are developing new means to move their product, across the border.

According to Insight Crime, "US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced February 20 that the Venezuelan mega-gang Tren de Aragua, the MS13 street gang, and the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG), Gulf Cartel, Northeast Cartel, Familia Michoacana, and United Cartels in Mexico would be declared "foreign terrorist organizations."

While these efforts, at the border, have resulted in a drop in border encounters, the overall rate of encounters have increased at 9% in March 2025. The reason for the increase is not the trickle of immigrants, it is the business enterprise of the Cartels, which keep evolving, to keep their product flowing across the border.

The singular numbers of illegal entries have no impact on the cartel's illegal criminal enterprise, which accounts for nearly 1% of global trade, and only serve to enhance Customs and Border Control totals as expected property loss assumed with each shipment. Dismantling the cartels, much like disrupting an international supply chain, is the only real effective solution to putting a dent into human southern border trafficking.

The years of surveillance on border criminal activity, and understanding the innovative methods employed by cartels to smuggle in cocaine and heroin in the 1980s and 1990s, should provide some insight into the methodology these cartels, which are organized in a horizontal multinational company structure.

For example, the Sinaloa cartel, with the arrest and imprisonment of El Chapo Guzman, the leadership has been segmented into co-governing units, which cuts down on inter-cartel violence, and creates a unified, all for one, one for all, approach to ensuring that there is less product loss and more opportunities to move much more product across the border effectively through a network of distribution points that travel beyond the border into the United States.

According to Shawn Teresa Flanigan, author of "Terrorists Next Door, A Comparison of Mexican Drug Cartels and Middle Eastern Terrorist Organizations," a study that compares the Mexican cartels to Hamas and Hezbollah, and found, "The similarities between them are striking: these are all by necessity territorially specific organizations tied to relatively defined geographic locations, and have deep and sophisticated relationships with the states within which they operate. However, there are critical differences between Mexican drug cartels and Hamas and Hezbollah as well, the most important (according to an analysis of multiple definitions of terrorism) being the presence of political and ideological motivations."

Stephanie Brewer, director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), agrees stating, "Mexican criminal groups are very powerful and cause horrific levels of violence and suffering, but they are not pursuing the type of political ends that a terrorist organization pursues."

For the Trump Administration to effectively dismantle or at least put a dent in the upwards of $78 trillion dollar cartel trade, knowing their ideology, and strategizing will have more effectiveness than loud boosts from the Oval office meant to as scare tactics to an organization that does not scare.

Coronavirus Total

At the order of the President of the United States, the U.S. no longer recognizes the value of The World Health Organization. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually.  The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy announced this week, that the CDC would no longer recommend an annual Covid-19 booster shot for healthy children and health pregnant women.  ""I couldn't be more pleased to announce that as of today the covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule," Kennedy said," reported The Washington Post.

For the 14 days ending May 31, 2025, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the World Health Organization increased by 79,755 to 777,745,434. The total worldwide death toll increased by 554 to 7,095,903 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated April 11, 2025, from the World Health Organization).

Dr. Robert Jarvik, Developer of Artificial Heart, Dies

Robert Jarvik, known for his contribution in the development of the first artificial heart, the Jarvik 7, died this week. The cause was complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 79.

His contribution in the area of heart surgery was both a career maker and breaker, as the idea of an artificial heart in the 1982, was beyond the imagination. And even when the first surgery was successful, the hope that the Jarvik-7 would eventually be used to replace the heart, began to fade, as the second patient, who lived nearly two years after his heart replacement, also died.

In 1990, the Food and Drug Administration withdrew the approval for the Jarvik-7 to be used. It was then that Jarvik decided the artificial heart would better serve those who were waiting for human heart transplants and would serve as a bridge between the time needed to secure a viable heart.

"Interviewed by Syracuse University Magazine in 1989, Dr. Jarvik said his belief that the device could gain use as a widespread, permanent replacement for the human heart was "probably the biggest mistake I have ever made." He later joined other researchers in developing small battery-powered heart pumps — ventricular assist devices, or VADs — intended to support an ailing heart rather than replace it entirely," reported The Washington Post.

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Charles Rangel, New York Congressman, Dies

Longtime New York congressman Charles Rangel died this week, during a short stay in a Manhattan hospital. He was 94.

Mr. Rangel began his political career in the 1970s when he was elected to the House of Representatives to by the constituents of his district, which was predominately the neighborhood of Harlem, New York City.

His remarkable run in the house, lasted for 46 years, and during this time he became the first African American Chair the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. A democrats, he was championed the needs of his constituents and under his leadership Harlem became a better neighborhood.

"Congressional scholar Thomas E. Mann of the Brookings Institution said Mr. Rangel "was known to be serious, informed and capable of working with colleagues of diverse views on both sides of the aisle. His policy positions were generally in line with those of his constituents, and he looked out for their local interests as well. His ethical improprieties clouded what otherwise was a notable career in Congress," The Washington Post reported.

While an impropriety would end his chairmanship, it would be the demographic change in the neighborhood that would ultimately mark the end of his career. Mr. Rangel chose not to run for reelection in 2017, ending his extraordinary commitment to the people of Harlem and New York.

For more information on President Donald Trump: Whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.