7 unhinged things Donald Trump did on day nine back in the White House that you need to know

Day nine and Donald Trump held his first press briefing – unleashing Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, in prime time.

On the President’s behalf, she reassured the public that the drones over New Jersey weren’t “the enemy” – but was sketchy on the detail of tens of millions of Americans possibly losing their healthcare coverage, and the potential shutdown of Meals on Wheels.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the White House, Trump’s team were busy emailing every government employee to offer them thousands of dollars to quit.

There were unlikely claims about sending condoms to Gaza, and incredible non-answers about Black History Month.

And then RFK Jr got called a predator by his own cousin.

Yesterday was quite a day in Trump world – here’s what you need to know.

1. Apparently shut down 85 million people’s healthcare. Maybe by accident. It’s still unclear

When it was first announced, The White House said Trump’s government spending freeze would not affect Medicaid – the programme that provides health insurance to adults and children with “limited income and resources”.

When the Office of Management and Budget was forced to send a second memo, clarifying the first one, it also said Medicaid wouldn’t be affected.

Yet yesterday, the state-by-state web portals where people manage their medicaid accounts – which are co-funded by the federal government and the states – were all apparently turned off.

And listing programmes that would not be included in the freeze, in a bid to “clarify” widespread confusion about the plan, new Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not mention Medicaid.

Asked to clarify whether Medicaid was included, she said she didn’t know and would have to get back to reporters.

The White House has insisted the freeze would not affect funding that was paid directly to Americans.

But Ms Leavitt didn’t offer a concrete answer on whether this would apply to programmes like Meals on Wheels, which provides food to 2.2 million older people.

As of 2022, 85 million low-income and disabled people get free healthcare through medicaid. In 2019, Medicaid paid for half of all births.

Later, Ms Leavitt tweeted: “The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly.”

2. Gave this spectacular response to a question about Black History Month

Asked specifically whether the White House will still be celebrating Black History Month, Leavitt gave this spectacular answer: “As far as I know, this White House certainly still intends to celebrate and we will continue to celebrate American history and the contributions that all Americans have made.”

You’ll note that at no point in that sentence did she say the White House would be celebrating Black History Month.

3. Claimed the US was about to send $50m worth of condoms to Gaza, which it almost certainly wasn’t

Leavitt claimed one of the first wasteful projects identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency was a plan to spend $50m to Gaza.

As far as anyone can tell, it wasn’t. Nobody really knows what she – and now Musk who has been tweeting about it all night – are talking about.

The Guardian found a report by the USAid agency, which confirmed none of the $60.8m the US spent on contraceptive shipments included any condoms sent anywhere in the Middle East.

They also noted that in 2019, Trump’s first administration spent $40m sending contraceptives around the world.

4. Prompted this absolutely excoriating letter from JFK’s daughter about her cousin – RFK Jr – calling him a ‘predator’

Caroline Kennedy tends to keep her opinions to herself. That was a pretty important part of her most recent job, as US Ambassador to Australia.

But Trump’s plan to install her cousin, Robert F Kennedy Jr as Health Secretary was, it seems, too much.

A video emerged last night of Ms Kennedy reading out a letter she sent to the panel of Senators currently deciding whether he’ll be confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary.

She very calmly describes her cousin as “a predator” who is addicted to power.

And she said his views on vaccines are disqualifying. She offered senators personal details from their lives growing up together that she said pose an even greater concern.

She described her cousin’s basement, garage and dorm as being an epicenter for drug use, where he would also put baby chickens and mice in blenders to feed to his hawks.

“It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence,” she wrote.

He has openly talked about his heroin use and he pleaded guilty for bringing it on an airplane in 1984.

Kennedy now “preys on the desperation of parents of sick children,” she told senators, noting that he has vaccinated his own children while discouraging others from vaccinating theirs.

“Unlike Bobby, I try not to speak for my father — but I am certain that he and my uncle Bobby, who gave their lives in public services, and my uncle Teddy, who devoted his Senate career to improving health care, would be disgusted,” Ms. Kennedy wrote.

It really is worth watching the whole thing – it’s quite something.

5. Offered every single government employee voluntary redundancy by email

Remember that email system they were testing the other day, to send an email to every government employee – all several million of them?

Well, this is what it was for. They emailed everyone in the federal government, offering to pay them until the end of September as long as they resign by February 6th, according to Axios.

In a move that echoes Elon Musk’s behaviour when taking over Twitter, employees who wished to quit were given the following instructions.

“1) Select “Reply” to this email. You must reply from your government account. A reply from an account other than your .gov or .mil account will not be accepted. 2)Type the word “Resign” into the body of this reply email. Hit “Send.”

The White House expects up to 10% of the government workforce to take up the offer – which would be hundreds of thousands of people.

6. Confirmed drones over New Jersey were “not the enemy”

confirmed the drones that caused alarm over New Jersey were “authorised” and “not the enemy”.

She said the Federal Aviation Administration approved the flights.

“After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons,” Ms Leavitt said.

“Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones.

She added: “It got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy.”

7. Invited social media influencers to join the press corps, and gave special chairs

She announced the White House would be issuing press credentials to, among others “podcasters and social media influencers”, who would get two special chairs in the briefing room.

The chairs used to be reserved for White House staff, but will now go to selected bloggers and “new media” personalities.

They have to sit there, rather than in the rows of press seats, because the normal seating plan is agreed by the White House Correspondents Association.

Were I a podcaster or social media influencer, you could not pay me enough to sit in one of the special chairs.