…has been rescinded, as most readers will know (one court had already enjoined it, another was poised to do the same).

The "pause" was outrageous, as we already noted, so what is going on with the monster child and his fascist minions?  Here's my best interpretation.

We know that Trump wants to contest the constitutionality of the 1974 federal law that prohibits Presidents from impounding funds appropriated by Congress.  The Monday "Veath memo" was such a badly written piece of work that those advising Trump pointed out that it would never survive legal challenge (a point Professor Vladeck made).  Round two will involve a much more limited "spending pause" that complies with the rules, and will set a factual record that may support a more plausible legal challenge.   The new "spending pause" will not be across the boards, and I doubt it will target NSF and NIH expenditures broadly:  it will instead target expenditures that give off the odeur of DEI, or "transgenderism," or some other powerless bogeyman Trump & his henchman think is ripe for targetting.  A "pause" memo written by an adult (not Veath, who will soon be known as Darth Veath), that is narrowly tailored at programs that are not in line with Trump priorities, will make a much better case to bring up to the Supreme Court of the U.S.  

We shall see soon enough.

The bigger issue right now is whether the Senate rejects the RFK Jr. bozo as Secretary of Health & Human Services.  Unlike Trump, RFK Jr. is mature enough that he could be hired to look after one's pets!  He is, however, less competent to run public health in the U.S. than my dog.