AFTERMATH: Hope is fading for anyone trapped and still alive in the rubble left by Myanmar’s massive earthquake on Friday. Already nearly 1700 people are confirmed dead, mostly in Myanmar but some also in neighboring Thailand where a 30-story building under construction collapsed.

  Whole neighborhoods in Myanmar were reduced to wreckage and relief efforts are hampered by damage to airports. Russia and China have rushed in to help but aid from the US has been slowed by Trump administration spending cuts. 

  The disaster prompted a ceasefire between the National Unity Government, which has been  fighting the ruling military. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting. A UN statement said there is a “severe shortage of medical supplies is hampering response efforts, including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, assistive devices, essential medicines, and tents for health workers.”

— CONDITION TRUMP!!!: With 25 percent tariffs set to go into effect, Donald Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker that he doesn’t care if foreign automakers raise prices. “I couldn’t care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American cars,” the President told the host of “Meet the Press” over the telephone.

  He went on; “The message is: ‘Congratulations, if you make your car in the United States, you’re going to make a lot of money. If you don’t, you’re going to have to probably come to the United States, because if you make your car in the United States, there is no tariff.’”

  That’s not the only news he made in the interview. He admitted to being “pissed off” at Russia’s Vladimir Putin for his stalling on making peace with Ukraine. Trump told Welker. “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” he said.

  And, not surprisingly, Trump said he’s already considering g a third term, even though that is prohibited by the 22^nd Amendment. “A lot of people would like me to do that,” he said, which is something he says when he’s making it up. “I’m not joking,” Trump said but, “It is far too early to think about it.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

—  Trump’s efforts to eviscerate law firms suing him and his administration were dealt a blow when a federal judge issued restraining orders against the President’s orders targeting two major law firms. 

  Trump’s executive orders had banned the firms Jenner & Block and WilmerHale from entering  government buildings, contacting government employees, or taking government jobs. Judge John Bates in the District of Columbia said he found the orders “disturbing” and “troubling.”

  Trump is not only fighting lawsuits in court, but trying to cut the legs off law firms representing the parties suing. As many as 150 lawsuits have been filed against the new Trump administration challenging policies and personnel decisions. In dozens of cases, judges have ordered the administration to pause or reverse the President’s actions.

  At least two law firms have surrendered, making deals with the President. Skadden, Arps agreed to do $100 million worth of pro-bono work on behalf of initiatives backed by the administration.

— The top official in charge of vaccines for the Department of Health and Human Services resigned rather than submit to the new regime of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Dr. Peter Marks wrote in his letter of resignation that, “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

— Doctors in West Texas say some measles patients are growing worse because they’ve been given an alternative therapy touted by Health Secretary Kennedy,  who said vitamin cod liver oil containing Vitamin A is a miracle cure. Doctors say some unvaccinated children have been given so much cod liver oil that they show signs of liver damage.

— The interim president of Columbia University, Katrina Armstrong, resigned in the midst of a dustup over the university surrendering … at least partly … to Donald Trump’s threat to withhold $400 million in federal funding over antisemitism on campus. 

  The University, as one example, banned the wearing of masks to conceal identity while “in the commission of violations of University policies,” but also made adjustments in other policies and curriculum.  Some faculty members claimed that the University had surrendered academic freedom. 

  Armstrong is being replaced as interim president by Claire Shipman, 62, the co-chair of the Columbia board of trustees and a former correspondent for ABC News, NBC, and CNN. 

  Shipman will be Columbia’s third president in less than a year after Minouche Shafik resigned last August following the turmoil of pro-Palestinian protests that gripped the campus last spring. She has admitted in congressional testimony that Columbia has problems but she’s going to face the same Hobson’s choice as her predecessors; academic and institutional freedom vs. the loss of $400 million. 

— THE OBIT PAGE: Richard Chamberlain the handsome blonde actor who was America’s heartthrob in the early 1960s in the television series “Dr Kildare,” died at home in Hawaii at age 90.

  Following the fluff of Kildare, Chamberlain trained to be a serious actor and became the king of television mini-series receiving Emmy nominations for “The Thorn Birds” and “Shogun,” as well as for “Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story.” 

  The actress Cecile Callan had a sudsy and steamy bathtub scene with him in the 1986 “Dream West.”

  Despite his massive appeal to women, Chamberlain revealed in a 2003 memoir that he was gay.

BELOW THE FOLD:  The NY Times counted and found that President Trump publicly mentioned Joe Biden 316 times during his first 50 days in office, mostly to blame the former president for something gone wrong.

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