The Conversation -- April 15, 2025
Steve Thompson of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Tuesday said she will require Trump administration officials to produce in-depth details about the U.S. governments attempts, or lack thereof, to return a Maryland resident who was apprehended by immigration authorities and mistakenly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The decision from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to require documents and written explanations marks another escalation in the legal showdown with the White House. The case has widespread implications, with Justice Department lawyers arguing that the judge lacks the authority to force them to coordinate with the Salvadoran government to bring Kilmar Abrego García back to the United States. 'It’s going to be two weeks of intense discovery,' Xinis told Justice Department attorneys at the hearing.”
Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Tuesday blocked ... [Donald] Trump from punishing the law firm Susman Godfrey, calling the retribution campaign he has waged from the White House against the nation’s top firms 'a shocking abuse of power.' In her ruling, the judge, Loren L. AliKhan of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, said that the executive order Mr. Trump signed last week targeting the firm stemmed from a 'personal vendetta.' Susman Godfrey represented Dominion, a manufacturer of voting machines that lawyers allied with Mr. Trump falsely attacked when he lost the 2020 election. The court decision grants the firm’s request for temporary relief and blocks the Trump administration from carrying out many of the order’s punishments, including one directing agencies to turn the firm’s lawyers away from federal buildings and another aimed at terminating any federal contracts Susman Godfrey holds.”
"State Terror." Timothy Snyder on Substack: "Yesterday the president defied a Supreme Court ruling to return a man who was mistakenly sent to a gulag in another country, celebrated the suffering of this innocent person, and spoke of sending Americans to foreign concentration camps. This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror, and it has to be identified as such to be stopped.... Basic to the [U.S.] Constitution is habeas corpus, the notion that the government cannot seize your body without a legal justification for doing so. If that does not hold, then nothing else does.... Trump spoke of asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to find legal ways to abduct Americans and leave them in foreign concentration camps. But by 'legal' what is meant are ways of escaping law, not applying it. It is that anti-constitutional escapism that enables abuse.... In the history of state terror, the escape from law into coercion takes three forms, all of which were on display, incipiently, in the White House yesterday: the leader principle; the state of exception; and the zone of statelessness." In the third instance, Snyder compares Abrego Garcia's rendition to El Salvador from which Trump claims he is unable to retrieve the wrongly-jailed man to the Nazis concentration camps, most of which were outside of Germany, and the Nazis claimed they were beyong German control.
Edward Luce of the Financial Times: "At around noon on April 14 2025, America ceased to have a law-abiding government.... On Monday..., Trump chose to ignore a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling to repatriate an illegally deported man. He even claimed the judges ruled in his favour. The US president’s middle finger to the court was echoed by his attorney-general, secretary of state, vice-president and El Salvador’s vigilante president Nayib Bukele. The latter is playing host to what resembles an embryonic US gulag. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. In terms of clarifying moments, Trump’s meeting with Bukele compares with his dressing down of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in late February. Zelenskyy was berated for being insufficiently thankful for US military aid and for failing to wear a suit. A tieless Bukele, by contrast, got royal treatment. Trump’s team nodded when Bukele said he would not consider returning the wrongly deported Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. All baselessly agreed that Garcia was in fact a terrorist. The Oval Office drama offered a civics lesson to the world: America’s government pays greater respect to a foreign strongman than its own Supreme Court." MB: I had to sign up for FT, which was annoying.
Amanda Friedman of Politico: “... Donald Trump threatened to eliminate Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, following the Ivy League school’s refusal to implement policy changes demanded by his administration. 'Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting “Sickness?’” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.... He added: 'Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!' Basically all major colleges and universities are tax-exempt organizations, and the government revoking that status over policy disagreements would be unprecedented.” MB: This is entirely consistent with Trump's “L'État, c'est moi” frame. In his view, the “public interest” is indistinguishable from his interest.
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“Happy Tax Evasion Day!” Paul Krugman: “It’s April 15th, Tax Day. Today all good Americans will pay the taxes they owe. Not so good Americans, on the other hand, will pay less than they owe, hoping to get away with it. And their odds of getting away with tax evasion this year are a lot higher than they were last year, thanks to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. While we won’t have hard numbers for some time, it now seems likely that the 'tax gap' — the difference between what taxpayers owe and what they actually pay — will surge by hundreds of billions of dollars. Why? Because tax cheaters believe that the I.R.S., devastated by DOGE-directed layoffs, will lack the resources to detect and crack down on tax fraud.”
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Harvard Fights Back. Vimal Patel of the New York Times: “Harvard University said on Monday that it had rejected policy changes requested by the Trump administration, becoming the first university to directly refuse to comply with the administration’s demands and setting up a showdown between the federal government and the nation’s wealthiest university.... A letter the Trump administration sent to Harvard on Friday demanded that the university reduce the power of students and faculty members over the university’s affairs; report foreign students who commit conduct violations immediately to federal authorities; and bring in an outside party to ensure that each academic department is 'viewpoint diverse,' among other steps. The administration did not define what it meant by viewpoint diversity, but it has generally referred to seeking a range of political views, including conservative perspectives. 'No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,' said Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, in a statement to the university on Monday.” Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) The Harvard Crimson's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Garber is Jewish, so there's a mighty good chance he is not anywhere nearly as antisemitic as Trump. ~~~
~~~ Update. Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: “The [Trump] administration responded Monday night by saying it would freeze more than $2 billion in federal funding to [Harvard University].... Harrison Fields, a spokesperson for the White House, said universities are not entitled to federal funding. 'President Trump is working to Make Higher Education Great Again by ending unchecked anti-Semitism and ensuring federal taxpayer dollars do not fund Harvard’s support of dangerous racial discrimination or racially motivated violence. Harvard or any institution that wishes to violate Title VI is, by law, not eligible for federal funding.'... Garber shared with the campus community a link to the letter of demands, which he called unprecedented, and encouraged people to read it. The letter makes clear, he said, that the government’s intention is not to work constructively to combat antisemitism. The majority of the demands, Garber wrote, 'represent direct governmental regulation of the “intellectual conditions” at Harvard.'” The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Here's the Trump administration's letter sent to Harvard last week. Here's Harvard's response, sent yesterday. Both via Harvard. ~~~
~~~ See Akhilleus' commentary at the top of today's thread. ~~~
~~~ Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times: “Harvard University is 140 years older than the United States, has an endowment greater than the G.D.P. of nearly 100 countries and has educated eight American presidents. So if an institution was going to stand up to the Trump administration’s war on academia, Harvard would be at the top of the list. Harvard did that forcefully on Monday in a way that injected energy into other universities across the country fearful of the president’s wrath, rejecting the Trump administration’s demands on hiring, admissions and curriculum. Some commentators went so far as to say that Harvard’s decision would empower law firms, the courts, the media and other targets of the White House to push back as well. 'This is of momentous, momentous significance,' said J. Michael Luttig, a prominent former federal appeals court judge revered by many conservatives. 'This should be the turning point in the president’s rampage against American institutions.'”
Dan Diamond & Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: “Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said Monday that he does not plan to return a Maryland man whom the Trump administration mistakenly deported to his country, as the U.S. judicial system barrels toward a potential constitutional crisis over the standoff. 'How can I return him to the United States?' Bukele said in an Oval Office meeting with ... Donald Trump, responding to a reporter’s question. 'I smuggle him into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?'... 'No court in the United States has a right to conduct the foreign policy of the United States,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during the Oval Office meeting.” More from this story linked below. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: My suggestion to the judge overseeing Abrego's case: jail Marco for contempt of court. Then let's see how he "conducts foreign policy" from a federal lock-up. ~~~
~~~ Myah Ward & Eli Stokols of Politico: “The president deferred to his top administration officials Monday, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, senior adviser Stephen Miller and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to field questions about the administration’s intentions, in what appeared to be an orchestrated effort to deliver a forceful, consistent response. Bondi, sitting near Trump, said it is up to El Salvador to decide if they want to return him. 'That’s not up to us,' she said, pointing to the Supreme Court ruling. 'If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.'... Ccritics and legal experts have argued that the case sets a dangerous precedent of allowing the executive branch the expansive and chilling power to imprison individuals in different countries without due process — especially as Trump continues to float sending U.S. citizens to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center. 'Home-growns are next. The home-growns,' Trump told Bukele. 'You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough.'... During the back and forth in the Oval Office, Trump criticized the reporter who pressed him on this matter, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, insulting her for 'low ratings' and stating that he’d prefer her to simply praise him for deporting 'criminals.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Bondi, the attorney general of the United States, apparently sat there like a potted plant while the POTUS* said he would send native-born U.S. citizens to El Salvador prisons. That is not legal. It also is not the first time Trump (and his dingbat press secretary!) has suggested it: ~~~
~~~ Update from the Diamond/Wootson WashPo report linked above: “Trump also told reporters Monday that he was open to deporting U.S. citizens if they had committed violent, criminal acts. 'If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem,' Trump said in the Oval Office. 'We’re studying the laws right now. Pam [Bondi, the attorney general] is studying. If we can do that, that’s good.' Immigration experts have said there is no legal way for a person with U.S. citizenship to be deported.” Okay, so maybe she nodded. Even potted plants can wave in the breeze. ~~~
~~~ Kelsey Ables of the Washington Post (April 10): “... Donald Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of sending U.S. citizens who have been convicted of some crimes to prisons in other countries.... White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended [Trump's] comments..., telling reporters that in reference 'to the president’s idea for American citizens to potentially be deported, these would be heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly.' While immigration experts say there is no legal way for a person with U.S. citizenship to be deported, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor sounded a warning this month about the Trump administration’s stance on the matter in a dissenting opinion that referenced a case regarding the mistaken deportation of a Salvadoran immigrant in Maryland[:] 'The implication of the Government’s position is that not only noncitizens but also United States citizens could be taken off the streets, forced onto planes, and confined to foreign prisons with no opportunity for redress if judicial review is denied unlawfully before removal.'...” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Trump, et al., are Full of It. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Some of ... [Donald] Trump’s top aides on Monday misstated several key facts involving the deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador last month, blatantly contradicting other members of the administration who have maintained for weeks that his expulsion was an 'administrative error.' In remarks from the Oval Office and on television, Mr. Trump’s advisers suddenly declared that the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, had been lawfully sent to a prison in El Salvador. The White House also sought to portray a recent Supreme Court ruling in Mr. Abrego Garcia’s case as a victory when in fact the decision was a nuanced one. It partly found in favor of Mr. Abrego Garcia while also leaving open a loophole for the administration to avoid bringing him back from El Salvador. The efforts by the Trump administration to misrepresent the case came as President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador announced after a meeting with Mr. Trump that his government would not return Mr. Abrego Garcia to U.S. soil.” Read on, especially the parts about that hideous Stephen Miller. This is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Bring Me the Head of Abrego Garcia. Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: "On Monday..., Donald Trump told us why Abrego Garcia is not back. Abrego Garcia cannot be brought back because his continued imprisonment there — and the success of its underlying claim that the U.S. doesn’t have the authority to bring him back — is key to the Trump administration’s lawless plans to create an outside-the-law prison system to hold anyone it dislikes, including U.S. citizens. 'You know what I want them to do?' Trump told El Salvador President Nayib Bukele as the two walked into the Oval Office. 'Homegrown criminals next.' Repeating it to the others in the room..., Trump said, 'I said, “Homegrowns are next.” The homegrowns.” adding that Bukele would need to 'build about five more places.' Bukele responded, laughing, 'We’ve got space.' Trump later essentially repeated that to the press, saying, 'I’m all for it,' and adding, 'We have others who we’re negotiating with, too.'”
Mike Masnick of TechDirt: “In a stunning White House appearance that should alarm anyone who cares about constitutional rights, democracy, the rule of law or anything of the sort, Donald Trump and Salvadoran dictator Nayib Bukele openly defied a Supreme Court order while discussing plans to expand El Salvador’s notorious detention system to imprison US citizens without due process. The meeting, which came just days after Trump admitted the US could retrieve Abrego Garcia from unlawful detention in El Salvador, devolved into the two leaders joking about imprisoning anyone while promoting a chilling vision of 'liberation through incarceration.'... [Trump, Bukele and all of the Trump administration' speakers Monday] ... framing basic due process rights as a threat to public safety, a rhetorical trick that autocrats have used throughout history to justify extrajudicial detention.... As for Trump saying the US media would love it if criminals were released into the US, I should remind you that the person who did the biggest mass release of criminals into the US was Donald Trump when he pardoned all of the convicted January 6th Capitol insurrectionists.”
“Two Dictators Walk into a Bar...” Bill Kristol of the Bulwark has some views on the “degrading spectacle” that took place yesterday in the Oval Office. He reflects on a couple of speeches Abraham Lincoln gave and concurs that “there is 'a class of men,' many of them of 'vast influence,' who should be held particularly responsible for being willing to 'blow out the moral lights around us' and 'eradicate the love of liberty' in the broader political community.” MB: I am not going in search of the body of Bill Kristol's work, but it occurs to me that he himself belonged to that class of men willing to blow out the moral lights. Do correct me if I've misremembered.
The Day the Music Died. David Corn of Mother Jones: "... April 14, 2025, may well be recognized as a monumental day in US history. That is, of course, if there is honest history in the future. Because this is the day that ... Donald Trump sent a clear message to the nation: There is no rule of law in the United States. It happened in the Oval Office.... [Trump] is signaling that he can use government force in the most egregious manner and no one—no court—can stop him.... Never has such a toxic brew of cruelty, absurdity, and danger been on display in the White House. Trump and his crew were saying that the US government could mistakenly apprehend a resident, ship him to El Salvador to be imprisoned possibly for life in brutal conditions, and not have to take any steps to undo this violation of due process and decency—even after courts instructed it to do so. Their message: The law doesn’t matter, we can do what we want. This is authoritarianism. And their refusal was presented like a mordant joke. A Kafkaesque charade. An evil Catch-22."
Josh Marshall of TPM: “The Court will now rapidly have to decide whether to knuckle under to this institutional humiliation or stand its ground. Nayib Bukele is actively and publicly conspiring not only to violate American domestic law but the orders of American courts. El Salvador is a minor power, essentially a city-state, which even in our current degraded state requires the friendship and almost always the aid of the United States. Bukele is interfering not only in American domestic politics but the American legal and constitutional process. These are grave offenses against the sovereignty of the American people and the American constitutional order. Trump won’t be in power forever. The next Democratic administration won’t be like the last one. He needs to know that, and the consequences of that, today.”
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration on Monday night from using a powerful wartime statute to deport to El Salvador Venezuelan immigrants in Colorado who have been accused of being violent gang members. The lawsuit, brought in Federal District Court in Colorado by the American Civil Liberties Union, was the third of its kind filed in recent days, joining similar challenges filed last week in Texas and New York. Lawyers for the A.C.L.U. brought the suit on behalf of two men — known in court papers only by the their initials, D.B.U. and R.M.M. The men claim they have been wrongly accused by the administration of being members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. In a later filing, the A.C.L.U. appeared to suggest that the administration might be preparing to deport additional migrants in Colorado, also accused of being affiliated with Tren de Aragua.”
Sharon Otterman & Ana Ley of the New York Times: “Mohsen Mahdawi, an organizer of pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year at Columbia University, was detained by immigration officials on Monday after arriving for an appointment in Vermont that he thought was a step toward becoming a U.S. citizen, his lawyers said. Hours later, Mr. Mahdawi’s mother, older sister and lawyers were scrambling to find him after his abrupt detention at an immigration center in Colchester, Vt. His lawyers requested a temporary restraining order to prevent federal officials from transferring him to a more conservative jurisdiction — a tactic used in the detention and attempted deportation of at least four other college demonstrators. A Vermont federal judge, William K. Sessions III, swiftly granted that request, ordering that Mr. Mahdawi, an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, not be removed from the United States or transferred out of Vermont until he orders otherwise. His lawyers said that as of Monday afternoon, they had confirmed that he was still in Vermont.” Politico's report is here. ~~~
~~~ It Was a Set-up. The Intercept broke the story in this report. The way reporter Akela Lacy puts it, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Vermont called Mahdawi in for an interview, then ICE agents arrested and detained him. MB: The NYT & Politico reports don't present it quite that way, but it appears to me Lacy is correct.
~~~ Marie: Every move these Trumpeteers pull looks like something dreamed up by Stephen Miller and his evil pal Miller Stephens. AND they have a team of diabolical incels doing some of the dirty work: ~~~
~~~ Rachel Siegel, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration is using personal data normally protected from dissemination to find undocumented immigrants where they work, study and live, often with the goal of removing them from their housing and the workforce. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for example, officials are working on a rule that would ban mixed-status households — in which some family members have legal status and others don’t — from public housing.... Affiliates from the U.S. DOGE Service are also looking to kick out existing mixed-status households, vowing to ensure that undocumented immigrants do not benefit from public programs, even if they live with citizens or other eligible family members. The push extends across agencies.... Legal experts say the data sharing is a breach of privacy rules that help ensure trust in government programs and services.” MB: Of course that's part of the point, innit? A bonus to their efforts to deport immigrants.
Constitutional Crisis, Ctd.: ✓. David Bauder of the AP: “Despite a court order, a reporter and photographer from The Associated Press were barred from an Oval Office news conference on Monday with ... Donald Trump and his counterpart from El Salvador, Nayib Bukele. Last week’s federal court decision forbidding the Trump administration from punishing the AP for refusing to rename the Gulf of Mexico was to take effect Monday. The administration is appealing the decision and arguing with the news outlet over whether it needs to change anything until those appeals are exhausted. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit set a Thursday hearing on Trump’s request that any changes be delayed while case is reviewed. The AP is fighting for more access as soon as possible.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: It isn't enough that Boss Trump & his mob have created a constitutional crisis over the life-and-death matter of Mr. Abrego. Nope, they have to create another crisis over Trump's petulance over the AP's deciding against following his silly claim that he has renamed the Gulf of Mexico. They're enjoying these fights with the courts. They think they're showing off their manly dominance. And they think -- perhaps correctly -- that's there's nothing the courts can do to stop them from Article IIing their way right past the rest of the Constitution, especially the Amendments with all those annoying rights of citizens.
~~~ JayDee Fumbles the Trophy. Alexandra Petri of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance dropped the College Football Playoff national championship trophy during an event on the White House South Lawn on Monday, an ill-timed fumble that he laughed about later after it had spread across social media. As the ceremony honoring the champion Ohio State Buckeyes came to an end, Mr. Vance — a former senator from Ohio who graduated from Ohio State — tried to lift the trophy, which was on a table onstage. TreVeyon Henderson, a Buckeyes running back, stepped in to help, grabbing the top of the trophy as Mr. Vance lifted the base. As the men hoisted it off the table, the trophy split in two and Mr. Vance dropped the base, which fell to the ground. Mr. Henderson and another player managed to hold onto the top of the trophy.” The entire trophy weighs 50 pounds, according to the report. Kimmel (above) has video (from two angles!) of Vice President Fumble Fingers dropping the trophy. The NBC News story is here.
~~~ Marie: It isn't clear to me why JayDee tried to pick up the trophy in the first place. However, this video suggests it was his job to hold up the trophy for the audience to see. But gosh, that great big trophy was too heavy for the well known couch potato lover. So after dropping the base, he held up the top part of the trophy.
Coral Davenport of the New York Times: “Across the more than 400 federal agencies that regulate almost every aspect of American life, from flying in airplanes to processing poultry, Mr. Trump’s appointees are working with the Department of Government Efficiency ... to launch a sweeping new phase in their quest to dismantle much of the federal government: deregulation on a mass scale.... At Mr. Trump’s direction, agency officials are compiling the regulations they have tagged for the ash heap, racing to meet a deadline next week after which the White House will build its master list to guide what the president called the 'deconstruction of the overbearing and burdensome administrative state.' The approach, overseen by Russell T. Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, rests on a set of novel legal strategies in which the administration intends to simply repeal or just stop enforcing regulations that have historically taken years to undo, according to people familiar with the plans. The White House theory relies on Supreme Court decisions — some recent and at least one from the 1980s — that they believe give them the basis for sweeping change.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: As far as I can tell, the entire purpose of the Trump administration is not to take care of the people, as society generally expects, but to fleece us.
Adam Taylor & John Hudson of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration proposed cutting the budget of the State Department and what remains of the U.S. Agency for International Development by almost half, according to an internal memo circulated last week, with funds for humanitarian assistance, global health and international organizations facing dramatic reductions. The memo, which was reviewed by The Washington Post, says that cuts contained in an early proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget for the next fiscal year would leave a total budget of $28.4 billion for all activities carried out by the State Department and USAID, a separate agency that the Trump administration has sought to dismantle. That represents a decline of $27 billion, or 48 percent, from funding levels approved by Congress for 2025.”
Benjamin Mullin, et al., of the New York Times: “The White House is planning to ask Congress to claw back more than $1 billion slated for public broadcasting in the United States..., a move that could ultimately eliminate almost all federal support for NPR and PBS. The plan is to request that Congress rescind $1.1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the taxpayer-backed company that funds public media organizations across the United States.... If Congress agrees, that will amount to about two years of the organization’s funding, nearly all of which goes to public broadcasters including NPR, PBS and their local member stations.... Government money accounts for a small part of the budgets at NPR and PBS, which also generate revenue through sponsorships and donations. Most of the government funding goes to local stations, which rely on it to finance their newsrooms and pay for programming.” ~~~
~~~ Well, what do you expect a dictator to do when public broadcasting jounalists keep airing stories like this: ~~~
~~~ Jenna McLaughlin of NPR: When members of Elon Musk's DOGE team showed up at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board, officials gave them access to their internal computer systems. "But according to an official whistleblower disclosure shared with Congress and other federal overseers that was obtained by NPR, subsequent interviews with the whistleblower and records of internal communications, technical staff members were alarmed ... when [they] ... noticed a spike in data leaving the agency. It's possible that the data included sensitive information on unions, ongoing legal cases and corporate secrets — data that four labor law experts tell NPR should almost never leave the NLRB and that has nothing to do with making the government more efficient or cutting spending. Meanwhile, according to the disclosure and records of internal communications, members of the DOGE team asked that their activities not be logged on the system and then appeared to try to cover their tracks behind them, turning off monitoring tools and manually deleting records of their access — evasive behavior that several cybersecurity experts interviewed by NPR compared to what criminal or state-sponsored hackers might do."
Paul Waldman on Substack: "... there’s something ... [dark and sinister] at work in the way Trump — along with Elon Musk and the tech oligarchs he represents — are attempting to transform the American economy. They would like us to believe they’re working to restore something like the labor situation of the 1950s and 1960s, when a man could walk out of high school and into a factory job with good wages and benefits.... But that’s not at all what they have in mind.... In fact, the kind of economy we had in the middle of the 20th century (at least for white men) is the last thing they want. They’re out to create something much worse.... Those jobs back then ... were secure and well-paid because those workers belonged to unions.... The labor market [Trump and Musk] want to create is one with a tiny class of tech ubermenschen at the top, a gutted middle class whose jobs will largely be done by AI, a disempowered class of service workers whose wages are kept low, and a similarly disempowered class of manual laborers who can be told that because they are working with their hands they have recovered their lost masculinity. Perhaps most important of all, none of them should be permitted to bargain collectively, because that’s how ordinary people exercise power. Trump and Musk are united in their contempt for labor unions....” Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Lily Kuo of the Washington Post: “A senior Chinese official warned Tuesday that ... Donald Trump’s tariffs would backfire and that soon, 'those peasants in the U.S.' would 'wail in front of the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.' The remarks are the latest Chinese repudiation of Trump’s global trade war as Beijing shifts gears from attempting to communicate with the White House to hitting back frequently and forcefully in an effort to cast the United States as an irresponsible global power.... Xia [Baolong]’s comment on Tuesday came after Vice President JD Vance said this month that Americans, through Chinese purchases of U.S. government bonds, essentially 'borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy things those Chinese peasants manufacture.'”
What Margie Knew. Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, disclosed on Monday that she had purchased between tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock on April 8 and 9, the day before and the day of ... [Donald] Trump’s announcement that he was pausing a sweeping set of global tariffs, a pivot that sent the stock market soaring out of a sizable slump. Ms. Greene bought between about $21,000 and $315,000 in stocks on those days. The day before Mr. Trump’s move, she also dumped between $50,000 and $100,0000 in Treasury bills, according to required public disclosures made to the House. The report came as Democrats in Congress have demanded investigations of whether the president’s whipsawing moves on trade might have been aimed at manipulating the market and giving his allies a lucrative opportunity for insider trading. Members of Congress are required to report their stock trades within 30 days of making them, though they only have to mark down broad ranges rather than specific dollar amounts.... Representative Rob Bresnahan, a Pennsylvania Republican who has emerged as one of the most active stock traders in the freshman class despite saying during his campaign that he wanted to ban congressional stock trading, also appears to have profited from Mr. Trump’s tariffs.”
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Pennsylvania. Billy Witz & Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: “The man charged with attempted murder for setting fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept had a troubled past and a history of mental illness, according to new details on the case that emerged on Monday. The police said the suspect in the case, Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, climbed an exterior fence outside the residence early Sunday morning, broke two windows with a hammer and threw Molotov cocktails inside, causing serious damage. He later told investigators that he had fashioned the incendiary devices from beer bottles and gasoline from a lawn mower. Francis T. Chardo, the Dauphin County district attorney, said that his office was still examining whether the attack was politically or religiously motivated and that investigators were looking at social media, voice mail and other records. The attack took place on the first night of Passover, a major Jewish holiday, several hours after the governor and his extended family had gathered for a Seder meal.”
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Israel's Wars. Rachel Chason, et al., of the Washington Post: “A growing chorus of Israelis, including those participating directly in the war, are publicly condemning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to resume fighting in the Gaza Strip and calling for an immediate end to the conflict to bring Israeli hostages home.In the past few days, veterans, reservists, ex-spies and military officers, academics and former diplomats have all appealed to Israel’s leadership, penning open letters critical of the war. It began last week when nearly 1,000 air force pilots — some reservists and some retired — urged the military to secure a deal with Hamas to release the remaining hostages, even if it means withdrawing completely from Gaza.” MB: IOW, these protesters, almost all of whom are Jews, have more-or-less the same goals as the protesters Trump is removing from the U.S. for supposed anti-semitic and terrorist sympathies.
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Reader Comments (16)
Kudos to Harvard for standing up to Fat Hitler’s bullying demands. If there are any institutions that should appreciate the lessons of history, one would expect it of colleges and universities. The history of dictatorships clearly demonstrates that appeasement of dictators never works.
Columbia University thought they could appease the Fat Fascist when he pulled $400 million in funding. They knuckled under in hopes he would then leave them alone. Fat chance. Even after agreeing to onerous and ridiculous demands that have little to no legal support, Columbia found out last week, that FH had the NIH freeze all funding for scientific research, which in 2024, amounted to around $690 million to Columbia.
Bullies are never satisfied, dictators even less so, and Trump is both.
In Germany, after the first Hitler came to power, universities thought they could appease him by firing all Jews. A technical college in Stuttgart thought they could make him go away by awarding him an honorary doctorate. Nice idea, but…no.
“The transformation of German academia was not a slow drift but a swift and systemic overhaul. But what made Hitler’s orders stick was the eagerness of many academic leaders to comply, justify and normalize the new order. Each decision – each erased name, each revised syllabus, each closed program and department – was framed as necessary, even patriotic. Within a few years, German universities no longer served knowledge – they served power.
It would take more than a decade after the war, through denazification, reinvestment and international reintegration, for West German universities to begin regaining their intellectual standing and academic credibility.”
Similar outcomes obtained in Italy…
“In fascist Italy, the shift began not with violence but with a signature. In 1931, the Mussolini regime required all university professors to swear an oath of loyalty to the state. Out of more than 1,200, only 12 refused.
Many justified their compliance by insisting the oath had no bearing on their teaching or research. But by publicly affirming loyalty and offering no organized resistance, the academic community signaled its willingness to accommodate the regime. This lack of opposition allowed the fascist government to tighten control over universities and use them to advance its ideological agenda.”
And in the Soviet Union…
“Under Josef Stalin, academic survival depended less on scholarly merit than on conformity to official doctrine. Dissenting scholars were purged or exiled, history was rewritten to glorify the Communist Party, and entire disciplines such as genetics were reshaped to fit political orthodoxy.”
In this country, MAGA functionaries are already seeking to rewrite history, to denounce science that doesn’t comport with their medieval worldview, and to purge high schools and elementary schools of books, programs, and teachers that don’t satisfy MAGA ideology.
There have been a few universities that have stood fast against the wave of Trumpademia sweeping the nation, Wesleyan is one, but Harvard’s stand is important in more than just a symbolic way, especially if it emboldens other faculties and administration officials to refuse to bend the knee and kiss the ring.
History shows how dire are the consequences of giving in to the demands of fascist bullies.
As the song goes…
Ten thousand men of Harvard want victory today
For they know that o'er old Fatty
Fair Harvard holds sway
At least we hope so…
Waldman today:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-161327866
Akhilleus,
Will have dinner tonight with friends, one of whom is a Harvard grad.
I intend to raise a (water? beer?) glass in honor of his alma mater. He and other Harvard grads should be proud.
I just hope that when the FF strikes my university, as he already has in a minor way, it shows the same grit....
Ken,
If you have a few minutes, you can learn that ceremonial fight song “Ten Thousand Men of Harvard” to impress your dinner guest, the song sung traditionally at the Harvard-Yale game. He will know it, absolutely, and sing along. You can even add the line about beating Fatty…
I have said this before, but it bears repeating, maybe for the last time today. Chief Justice john roberts created this monster. He has to fix this.
When in the course of human events…
Ya know, I have long believed that the Orange Monster has never read any of our founding documents, the Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence, nor the Constitution.
But I’m beginning to suspect that he, or one of his toadies, actually has read at least some of the Declaration, and likely has used the list of grievances against King George as a blueprint for his own exercise in tyrannical thuggery.
As Digby wonders today, how many apply directly to the Fat Fascist…
Here’s just a few…
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
(Check)
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
(Or at least tried…Check)
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
(Gerrymandering…check)
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
(Not exactly dissolved, but threatened many with being primaried unless they kowtow, check)
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
(Triple check)
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
(ie, pissing on the law, check)
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices…
(Ohhhh yeah…)
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
(Masked thugs disappearing people off the streets, check)
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
(Yup)
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
(Foreign to our constitution? Definitely.)
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
(Pardoning assholes who commit war crimes? Check)
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
(Taaaaaariffs!)
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
(Or rather ending taxes for himself and his pals, check)
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
(Abrego Garcia, Check!)
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
(Ditto, check)
Lots more, but you get the idea. He has declared himself a king, and has adopted the conduct of our last king, the mad one we went to war against. Might have to do that again,
NiskyGuy,
It’s been a while since I read Mary Shelley’s tale of the modern Prometheus, but if I remember correctly, Victor Frankenstein chases the monster all the way to the Arctic Circle but dies in the attempt to destroy his creature. Not saying John Roberts should drop dead, but a life of luxury and ease should absolutely not be his for conferring this monster upon us all.
Jeff Bezos face planted running to get to his celebrity space capsule.
@RAS: Yeah, oops! I'll bet there was one inaugural ball this year where the best dancers on the floor were Bezos, JayDee & Trump. So right there is a good reason not to be a Republican, ladies.
Marie,
Right on the money about Bill Kristol. Back in the day, I always had a brick in hand ready to hurl at the TV whenever I saw smug bastards like Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes show up to blow the horn of neocon power and step on Democrats promoting abortion rights, racial Justice, gay rights, or fair taxation of the rich.
Kristol led the charge against the Clinton health plan and called advocation of gay rights a tragedy for the nation. His parents were neocon founders Irving Kristol and Gertrude Himmelfarb (we used to read her history essays as comic relief).
Kristol, as Chief of Staff to the VP, was once called Dan Quayle’s Brain (a little like being known as Mister Magoo’s navigator). He was all in on the Decider’s War of Choice and I distinctly recall him once making a full throated defense of John Woo’s horrific Torture Memo.
Here’s an article outlining Kristol’s descent into wingnut Apostasy , albeit written from the point of view of wingnuttery,
Am I happy the Bulwark exists? Absolutely. Republicans whacking that fat piñata is nice to see. Would I invite Kristol over for dinner?
Sure. Right after I send my life savings to the Heritage Foundation.
@Akhilleus: Thanks for the info, some of which I never knew. I do -- now that you mention it -- recall that he was Dan Quayle's brain and a brain is a terrible thing to waste. Or something like that.
Marie,
Oh yeah, Kristol and Quayle (boy, does that sound like a wingnut law firm, or what?) used to share a fried potatoe for lunch. Quayle used to cut up a potatoe to put in his version of New England clam chowdah, then again, he was no Jack Kennedy.
Since I’m in Association Mode, I reminded myself of that VP debate interaction between Lloyd Bentsen and a woefully unprepared Dan Quayle in 1988. It’s still brutal after all these years, so I just had to post this again.
A couple of things here. Note Quayle’s embarrassing expression as he tries to get out what a great communicator he is. Awkward!
Second, don’t miss the look on Bentsen’s face as Quayle compares himself to Jack Kennedy. Those raised eyebrows, that little head shake, and that whisper of a smile shows that Bentsen knows Danny boy just handed him a whopper of an opening. That look says “Oh man, this kid is gonna GET IT!” It’s the like the look a chess player gets when his opponent hands him an unforced opportunity for instant game-over, see ya later, checkmate, motherfucker!
But one other thing arises in this short clip of historic pantsing on live TV.
Quayle makes (or tries to) the point that he would be prepared to take over as president should that become necessary. Poor Danny. Quayle wasn’t a horrible guy, he was just a dumbass in way over his head. Had Poppy kicked and he was elevated to the presidency, it would have been sad and stupid, but he would have had a bunch of experienced apparatchiks around him to guide him through.
But now? If that fat fuck takes the express elevator down to the fiery pit (his absolute destination), we would get a sneaky, snaky, scheming little rat bastard for president*. It would be a wild nightmare with the various MAGA power centers vying for control: “Here JD, try our comfy custom sofa!” “No! Look over here. Here’s a lovely vintage Chesterfield for you to hump. Just listen to us.”
Dan Quayle was just a poor schmuck. Shady Vance is a beelzebub in waiting.
I may have told this "Quayle is a dummy" story here before.
The 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea was a turning point in the Pacific war, and the annual commemoration in Australia used to be a US-Oz renewal of mutual regard. The US used to send a high ranking personage as US Representative. In 1989, it was freshly-minted VP Quayle.
He spoke at the commemorative black tie dinner. I was there, but not a diner. I could walk around and see the ribbons on the uniformed chests. Lots of Viet Nam gongs were on many of those Aussie chests.
I forget most of what he said. But I totally remember him saying that in WWII, our fathers were tested together in battle, brothers in arms after that, etc. But that our (his) generation, even though we never fought together to strengthen that bond, still were strong allies, friends etc.
National Guard Dan apparently was unaware that Oz was in Viet Nam with us for most of it. And they weren't just supply sergeants. And they were tested.
I caught the Aussies looking at each other when he said that, with the kind of face you'd see if someone had just called you a bad name. But, they were kind .... no one laughed. And Dan, clearly, never had a clue that he had just revealed himself to be a full on idiot.
Do you think Kristol wrote that speech? I always thought it was DQ, but could be Charming Billy.
Yes- thanks for the additional info on Bill Kristol. It was an odd experience listening and applauding to him and Liz Cheny at the TribFest last fall, but at least they came around and enthusiastically supported Harris, unlike too many other republican never-trumpers.
Akhilleus - I recommend popcorn over bricks, especially if you have dogs to egg you on.
Jared Yates Sexton on substack has an interesting take -
On Lawlessness, Cruelty, and Clarity
"In Bukele, who has turned El Salvador into a vamping prison state, Trump recognizes himself and, with glee, was quick to form a partnership that represents the closest thing he could ever find to intimacy. And, to boot, the way in which he treats Bukele reflects an adoration for him that is father-like as he sees in him something reflected back that is more true and honest in that hollow cruelty and ambition than what he has with his sons, who have been hobbled by Trump’s abuses."
Laura,
Haha!
Yeah, Rocket would be most appreciative if I tossed popcorn instead of bricks. He sends his regards. He also makes it a point to whiz on one of the Trump lawn signs we encounter on our walks.
Good boy!!