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I’M AN ETERNAL OPTIMIST. But my gut, informed by a career spent studying and implementing American foreign policy, tells me this week will not go well. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Rubio’s diplomatic experience is limited to his time in the Senate, during which he served on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees. He has primarily focused on Latin American policy. Lavrov, on the other hand, has been Russia’s foreign minister since 2004, which makes him the longest-serving foreign minister in modern history. Before that he was a career diplomat. He is known for both his diplomatic savvy and his mastery of deception.

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THE PAST FEW WEEKS have been a master class in myth-busting, starting with the fantasy that the government should be run like a business and the corollary delusion that winning candidates don’t follow through on their campaign agendas.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are running government right now just like they run their own businesses. It’s all about them and their profits, from Trump’s possibly criminal idea to forcibly remove all Palestinians from Gaza and build a resort there (“I would own this,” he told Bret Baier) to Musk’s so far doomed attempt to get a judge to approve his possibly shady $56 billion Tesla payout.

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Happy Tuesday! Baseball is back! Kinda. Spring training doesn’t count, and is for sickos, but if you’re not a sports person: at least Spring is around the corner.

My favorite short… From #SNL50? Has to be “Anxiety.”

Sheriff working to trace neo-Nazi group… calls on legislature for tools to tackle hate groups (WLWT)

Checking in on the Party of the Working Class… How are the Republicans helping workers so far? (Hamilton Nolan)

USDA says it accidentally fired officials… working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them (NBC)

I am the law… Some new hot garbage from the bad orange man about who can “speak for” what the law is.

Kennedy says panel will examine childhood vaccine schedule…after promising not to change it (AP)

Zelensky Lashes Out at Trump… for Excluding Ukrainians From Peace Talks (NYT)

The Unicorns Are Zombies… Also Safe Superintelligence, OpenAI voting rights, the egg spot market, Libra and the Meet Kevin ETF. (Matt Levine, Bloomberg)

Zachary Levi Begs Elon Musk Not To Fire The ‘Good’ Federal Workers… Who Voted For Trump. If he only had a magic purple crayon, Zachary. If only. (HuffPo)

Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” and Congress… Hypocrites Cutting Others But Not Themselves (Adam Kinzinger)

U.S. weighs destroying $500 million… in stockpiled covid tests (WaPo)

Senior U.S. prosecutor resigns… citing demands to open probe into Biden-era contract (Reuters)

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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.