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Postmaster president, McConnell farewell and Canada's big score

 
Today's NATIONAL story

Trump reportedly wants to take over US Postal Service

What happened
President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order aimed at taking control of the U.S. Postal Service and folding the independent mail agency into the Commerce Department, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal said yesterday. Doing so without approval from Congress "would probably violate federal law," the Post said.

Who said what
Trump's takeover would start with the firing of Postal Service's Senate-confirmed governing board, the Post said, then placing "the 250-year-old mail provider and trillions of dollars of e-commerce transactions" under the direct control of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has urged Trump to privatize the quasigovernmental agency. Privatizing the USPS was something Trump "frequently pushed for during his first term," the Journal said, though his attempts "failed to gain support in Congress."

Trump has already claimed broad powers over government institutions, unilaterally decommissioning the U.S. Agency for International Development, putting himself in charge of the Kennedy Center and firing the leadership of several independent agencies. An executive order he signed Tuesday instructed independent regulatory agencies to align their policies more closely with the White House.

The Postal Service "by law is generally exempt from executive orders," the Post said. Americans also "consistently rank" it "among their most-beloved government agencies, second only to the National Park Service." The USPS is "wildly popular with the American people, and its service is essential and irreplaceable," said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). "Nobody voted for this. It is brazenly illegal, unconstitutional and corrupt."

What next?
A White House spokesperson late yesterday denied that Trump was planning such an executive order. Nevertheless, the USPS governing board is "planning to fight Trump's order," the Post said. In an emergency meeting yesterday, the board "retained outside counsel and gave instructions to sue the White House" if Trump were to remove board members or "attempt to alter the agency's independent status."

 
 
Today's POLITICS story

Mitch McConnell won't seek reelection

What happened
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said yesterday he will not seek an eighth term in 2026, ending more than 40 years in the Senate, including the longest tenure for a Senate party leader in U.S. history. He announced his coming retirement from the Senate floor on his 83rd birthday.

Who said what
McConnell is ending his "decadeslong tenure as a power broker" and conservative "master strategist" having "ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism" of President Donald Trump's MAGA movement, said The Associated Press. His announcement "did not come as a major surprise" to many in Washington or Kentucky, said Politico.

Since stepping down from leadership last year, McConnell has "distinguished himself" as one of the few GOP lawmakers "willing to challenge" Trump, said ABC News. He seemingly made light of that role yesterday. "These are the new moderates," he quipped with an arm around fellow Republicans Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the "first to embrace him" following his announcement, said the Louisville Courier-Journal. The trio are "among the few" in their party "willing to speak out" about Trump's "early executive actions" and the "only three Republicans" to vote against any of his cabinet nominees.

What next?
Several Republicans have already expressed interest in seeking McConnell's seat, including Rep. Andy Barr (R) and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Gov. Andy Beshear (D) has said he is not interested in running for Senate.

 
 
Today's SPORTS Story

Canada tops US in charged 4 Nations hockey final

What happened
Canada beat the U.S. 3-2 last night at Boston's TD Garden to win the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament. Canada's Connor McDavid scored the winning goal just over 8 minutes into overtime. Canada and the U.S. advanced to the final after eliminating Sweden and Finland.

Who said what
President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs and persistent "talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state" turned "what had been a tune-up for the 2026 Olympics into a geopolitical brawl over anthems and annexation as much as international hockey supremacy," The Associated Press said. Trump called the U.S. team yesterday and later derided Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "Governor Trudeau" on social media. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said "we look forward to the United States beating our soon-to-be 51st state, Canada."

"You can't take our country — and you can't take our game," Trudeau tweeted after the game. "Canada needed a win, and the players bared that on their shoulders," Canada head coach Jon Cooper said. "This wasn't a win for themselves. This was a win for 40-plus million people. And the guys knew it, and they delivered."

What next?
The U.S. and Canada will next cross sticks at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, with NHL players participating for the first time in years. The last time the U.S. "won a best-on-best tournament involving NHL players" was against Canada in 1996, USA Today said. "Canada has now won six of the last seven tournaments since then."

 
 

It's not all bad

Pods on the tarmac at Dallas Love Field capture jet exhaust and turn it into electricity to power the airport, said The Dallas Morning News. Designed by JetWind Power, the 6-foot-tall pods — described as "wind turbines-in-a-box" — collect exhaust during preflight checks and when airplanes push off; solar panels on top of the pods also feed power into the grid. After a successful pilot program, Dallas Love Field aims to expand from five pods to 14.

 
 
Under the radar

The president of Argentina is facing legal action and calls for his impeachment after he promoted a cryptocurrency on social media. Javier Milei's controversial post "caused a political firestorm," said The New York Times, with opponents describing him as a "crypto scammer." 

Last Friday, Milei posted on X about the $LIBRA coin, which he promised would help fund small businesses and startups. He shared a link to buy it, causing its price to "shoot up," said the BBC. But within a few hours, he deleted the post and the cryptocurrency "nosedived" in value, meaning investors lost most of their money. 

Critics accused Milei of a "rug pull," in which promoters of a cryptocurrency deliberately "draw in buyers" only to stop trading activity and "make off with the money raised from sales," the BBC said.

"Few Argentines" were financially affected by the currency's crash, because most $LIBRA buyers appear to have been in the U.S. and Asia, said the Financial Times. But episode has still caused a headache for Milei. His opponents "appear unlikely" to secure the two-thirds majority needed in Argentina's Congress to impeach him, but analysts suggested that investigations of the president could "nonetheless weigh on his approval ratings." 

The "most interesting lesson" of the scandal, Milei said in a televised interview, is that "I need to put up more filters" so that it "can't be so easy for people to reach me." The president, who's "reported to spend hours a day on X," said The Spectator, might be "forced to become a little quieter."

 
 
On this day

February 21, 1972

Richard Nixon visited China, becoming the first American president to do so. Nixon's arrival in Beijing, ending 25 years without any diplomatic talks or ties between China and the U.S., started a period of relative normalization. However, relations between the two countries have been getting steadily worse over the past few years.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"Hamas returns four bodies" to Israel, but Israel's military "says one does not belong to a hostage," The Washington Post says on Friday's front page. For Israelis, the return of two dead children and their mother was "a knife through our hearts," USA Today says, even before the mother's body was discovered missing. "IRS starts cuts to 6,000 jobs, risking delays in services," The Wall Street Journal says. "Care for 9/11 heroes gutted" by Elon Musk, as "Dem and GOP pols unite in anger," the New York Daily News says. "Trump suggests taking over" Washington, D.C., amid his "tireless pursuit of more power," the Post says, though "many of Trump's acts not popular," as "most say he exceeds authority."

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Test flight

A 19-year-old student in India who was late for his exam decided to paraglide to the test center. Samarth Mahangade had not noticed a change to the test time until 30 minutes before it was set to start, and to avoid heavy traffic, his neighbor offered him a ride on a paraglider. Mahangade was "hesitant" since he had never paraglided before, he told The Indian Express, but after a successful five-minute flight, he was just a little late for his test.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Chas Newkey-Burden, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images; Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images; Bruce Bennett / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images