| Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York burned down, killing 145 people, most of them young female immigrants. The tragedy led to sweeping changes in workplace safety laws. | | |  | The big idea | | No sign Putin is backing off in Ukraine |  President Biden arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels on Thursday. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) | | | At the dawn of Russia's new war in Ukraine, President Biden pleaded for patience with newly imposed sanctions against Moscow. Give me a month, he said, then let's "see if they're working." Four weeks later, the results are something of a mixed bag. The sanctions have achieved their practical goal: Inflict significant harm on Russia's economy. The central bank there, which jacked up interest rates to 20 percent to try to stifle soaring inflation, now projects two quarters of economic contraction — a recession, in other words. More than 450 foreign companies have withdrawn from Russia, scaled back operations there, or suspended their activities, as the war threatens to roll back 30 years of integrating Moscow into the global economy after the Soviet Union collapsed. The longer this lasts, the harder it will be for Russia to return to something like business as usual. (That comes with caveats: Its oil, gas, and coal reserves mean it still has considerable leverage, and major countries like India and China haven't sided with the West's sanctions.) But the sanctions have not achieved their political goal: Convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to at least put his war in Ukraine on pause. Instead, his forces have escalated devastating bombardments of civilian areas as the conflict turns into a war of attrition. Biden told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels Thursday the United States and its allies are "increasing the pain" on Russia and that his goal in calling an emergency meeting of the alliance was to be sure "we will sustain what we're doing, not just next month, the following month, but for the remainder of this entire year." | | "That's what will stop him," the president said, referring to Putin. "The single most important thing is for us to stay unified and the world continue to focus on what a brute this guy is, and all the innocent people's lives that are being lost and ruined." Russia's calculation, Biden said, could be "they can take anything for another month" if Putin assesses Europe "is going to crack in a month or six weeks or two months" which is why "we have to stay fully, totally, thoroughly united." While the United States and its allies have been remarkably united, cracks are a concern. Nations confronting Putin are now in something of a pain contest against Russia. The European Union, which imports about 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia, is trying to wean itself from Moscow's exports, but currently faces its worst energy crisis since the 1970s oil shocks. At home, Biden's Democrats were already likely to succumb to the historical trend of the sitting president's party getting walloped in midterm elections, even before inflation soared. Gas prices, already surging before the war, climbed further and remain painfully high. The president faces another source of pressure. As the images of Russian forces devastating Ukraine pile up, with bombed-out shells of apartment buildings, weeping child refugees — and potentially, of atrocities by Moscow's forces — the public may demand he do more. The United States and NATO have sped antitank and surface-to-air weapons to Ukraine but have balked at imposing a no-fly zone over the war-torn country or flying Soviet-era warplanes to supplement the ones Kyiv already has. Biden has said escalating to direct confrontation with Russia would bring about World War III. But a new poll from the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 56 percent of Americans — 68 percent of Republicans and 43 percent of Democrats — say the president has not been tough enough on Russia. Thirty-six percent of Americans say his approach has been "about right." Sizable majorities approve of the economic sanctions, including restricting American imports of Russian oil. "While support for a major U.S. role has grown since last month, from 26% to 40%, Biden faces a tightrope walk to avoid war and to curb the impact on the American people. The poll shows close to half of Americans are 'extremely' or 'very' concerned about being drawn into war with Russia," the Associated Press reported. | | It's a frustrating poll. It doesn't ask Americans for specific steps they might favor — what it might mean, in practice, to be "tough." Without that level of detail, it's almost like a job approval poll more than a Russia policy poll. And we know from previous polling that, for example, Americans favor imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine … at least until they learn what a no-fly zone would require, direct confrontation with Russia and a potential escalation of the conflict to a NATO war with Moscow. | | |  | What's happening now | | Biden arrives in Poland to meet troops, discuss accepting refugees |  Biden visits with members of the 82nd Airborne Division at the G2A Arena on Friday in Jasionka, Poland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) | | | President Biden landed in Rzeszow, Poland, Friday, "a city about 60 miles from the Ukraine border, for what will be his starkest confrontation yet with the intensifying refugee crisis as millions of Ukrainians flee amid Russia's ongoing invasion," Ashley Parker and Tyler Pager report. | Supreme Court Justice Thomas released from hospital | Ukraine says 300 died in theater attack, hunger grips cities | | "About 300 people were killed in the Russian airstrike last week that blasted open a Mariupol theater, Ukrainian authorities said Friday in what would make it the war's deadliest known attack on civilians yet," the AP's Nebi Qena and Andrea Rosa report. More key updates: | Manchin says he supports Jackson for Supreme Court | | "Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said Friday that he intends to support President Biden's nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, essentially ensuring Jackson's confirmation," Felicia Sonmez reports. "I am confident Judge Jackson is supremely qualified and has the disposition necessary to serve as our nation's next Supreme Court Justice," Manchin said. | | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | GOP lawmakers push historic wave of bills targeting rights of LGBTQ teens, children and their families |  From left, Camille, Alexandra, Leon and Homero Rey at their home in Potomac, Md. Leon, 9, is transgender. He and his family moved from Texas to protect his rights. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post) | | | Who's running the show? "The explosion of legislation is in part the culmination of efforts by a trio of conservative organizations, which are helping state legislators write and promote the bills. One of the most active — the Alliance Defending Freedom — has a decades-long history of fighting LGBTQ rights, including in battles to preserve state laws criminalizing consensual sex between gay adults, court records show," Kimberly Kindy reports. The numbers: "Today, at least 166 measures to restrict LGBTQ rights are still pending in state legislatures across the nation — nearly quadruple the number of similar bills introduced just three years ago, according to data from Freedom for All Americans, an LGBTQ advocacy group." | How far has Biden gone in helping Ukraine? And where would you draw the line? | | In this interactive story, Amber Phillips outlines what Biden has done so far to aid Ukraine — and you can see how your calls would measure up against his. "What Ukraine most wants from the West to end the war, the West is least likely to give. That's the inherent tension between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Biden," Phillips explains. | Dozens of men got sick during a secret training exercise at a nuclear site in 1991. They're still fighting for answers. | | What happened: "The Southern Cross Exercise, held at a South Carolina nuclear facility owned by the Department of Energy, would see at least 28 people report symptoms that included coughing, difficulty breathing, dizziness, headaches, sneezing, nosebleeds, rashes, and vomiting," BuzzFeed News's Zahra Hirji reports. When and where: "They fell ill in April 1991, mostly along the Meyers Branch creek stretch of the heavily polluted Savannah River Site. Larger than the five boroughs of New York City, this vast federal facility contains production and processing plants for tritium and plutonium 239, highly radioactive components for nuclear weapons. It was then, and still is, a Superfund site." Never-before reported: "The sudden and mysterious illnesses that arose during those fateful training exercises have never before been reported. Neither has the decadeslong search for the truth of what caused the wave of sickness, led by the individuals who fell ill, not the government that was supposed to protect them." | These children fled Afghanistan without their families. They're stuck in U.S. custody. | | "Seven months after the fall of Kabul, shelters in the U.S. caring for children evacuated without their parents are experiencing unprecedented violence while workers at the facilities have struggled to respond to the young Afghans' trauma," ProPublica's Melissa Sanchez and Anna Clark report. "At least three shelters in Michigan and Illinois have shut down or paused operations after taking in large groups of Afghan children, prompting federal officials to transfer them from one facility to another, further upending their lives." | | |  | The latest on covid | | Covid vaccinations — including boosters — fall to lowest levels since 2020 | | |  | The Biden agenda | | Biden, E.U. announce partnership to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy |  Biden delivers a speech during a visit to service members from the 82nd Airborne Division on Friday. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images) | | | "President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the new agreement in a joint appearance, stressing that the initiative will both reduce Europe's dependence on Russian energy while keeping the countries on track to meet their climate goals," Emily Rauhala, Tyler Pager and Ashley Parker report. More on that from Bloomberg: Biden risks undercutting climate goals with wartime pivot to gas | Amid pressure from allies, Biden sticks to longstanding U.S. policy nuclear weapons | | "President Biden, stepping back from a campaign vow, has embraced a longstanding U.S. approach of using the threat of a potential nuclear response to deter conventional and other nonnuclear dangers in addition to nuclear ones, U.S. officials said Thursday," the Wall Street Journal's Michael R. Gordon reports. Past promises: "During the 2020 campaign Mr. Biden promised to work toward a policy in which the sole purpose of the U.S. nuclear arsenal would be to deter or respond to an enemy nuclear attack." A new(ish) tune: "Mr. Biden's new decision, made earlier this week under pressure from allies, holds that the 'fundamental role' of the U.S. nuclear arsenal will be to deter nuclear attacks. That carefully worded formulation, however, leaves open the possibility that nuclear weapons could also be used in 'extreme circumstances' to deter enemy conventional, biological, chemical and possibly cyberattacks, said the officials." | U.S., EU reach preliminary deal on data privacy | | "The U.S. and the European Union reached a preliminary deal to allow data about Europeans to be stored on U.S. soil, heading off a growing threat to thousands of companies' trans-Atlantic operations," the WSJ's Daniel Michaels and Sam Schechner report. | Biden: I would be 'very fortunate' to run against Trump in 2024 | | "President Joe Biden on Thursday said he would be 'very fortunate' if he were to face off against former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election," Politico's Myah Ward reports. "In the next election, I'd be very fortunate if I had that same man running against me," Biden said. | One more thing: The return of the White House Easter Egg Roll | | "The White House's annual Easter Egg Roll will return on April 18 after a two-year hiatus, according to the White House," Jada Yuan reports. | | |  | Russia's long-range cruise missile, visualized | | | "Russian naval forces launched long-range cruise missiles on Tuesday evening from the waters off Sevastopol, a port city in Russia-held Crimea," according to expert analysis of video verified by The Washington Post. "The 3M-14 or SS-N-30A cruise missile, commonly referred to as the Kalibr missile, can be fired from ships or submarines toward land targets. It can travel a maximum range of about 1,550 miles, according to the CSIS Missile Defense Project," our colleagues report. | | |  | Hot on the left | | Why is the Manhattan DA returning evidence in Trump's case? | | "Prosecutors have been sending back documents to people who turned over information about former President Donald Trump's business, in perhaps the starkest sign yet that the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation into Trump may be winding down," the Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery and Asawin Suebsaeng report. What's happening: "According to two people familiar with the situation, witnesses who had turned over key documents to investigators have suddenly been getting their evidence back in recent weeks." Zoom out: "Returning evidence is often a sign that an investigation is concluding, and the news comes one day after The New York Times published a leaked copy of a resignation letter from a top prosecutor who quit out of frustration that the new head of the office, District Attorney Alvin Leonard Bragg Jr., seems disinclined to criminally charge Trump." | | |  | Hot on the right | | What actually matters about Ginni Thomas's texts |  Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, arrives to watch Amy Coney Barrett take the Constitutional Oath on the South Lawn of the White House on Oct. 26, 2020. (Patrick Semansky/AP) | | | "The breaking news is not that the longtime conservative activist Ginni Thomas, who is married to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, appears to be an unhinged 2020 election conspiracy nut," the Bulwark's Amanda Carpenter writes. What you should be paying attention to: "After the election, Mrs. Thomas had specific communications with White House officials about legal matters that get to the very heart of the events of January 6, 2021." "And her husband, without any explanation or disclosure, made a ruling to shield those kinds of communications." | | |  | Today in Europe (all times eastern) | | | At 12:45 p.m., Biden will leave Rzeszów for Warsaw. He's expected to arrive at 1:40 p.m. | | |  | In closing | | Fallon's take on the emergency NATO meeting/photo op |  Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, U.S. President Biden, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pose with the leaders of the US-led military alliance as they pose for a family photo at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. (John Thys/AFP via Getty Images) | | | Jimmy Fallon | "Yeah, it was an emergency summit, but don't worry: NATO leaders still had time for a family photo." | | | | | | | "Looks like the sales team at a Honda dealership, doesn't it? I'm expecting them to all say together, 'We're ready to serve you.'" | | | | | "It's a very diverse group. There are suits of every color." | | | | | | Thanks for reading. See you next week. | | |
