Not everyone's convinced by Trump's Jesus backtrack
Nick Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.
Opinion
Trump's terrifying terrorist list likely has a new name on it — yours
Trump’s thought police may already have your name in their database, which is growing — according to Kash Patel — at the rate of around 300% right now. They’re not looking for people who’ve committed crimes but, rather, people who they think may commit crimes in the future. Thought and opinion crimes.
Yeah, like in the movie Minority Report, only with an Orwell 1984 twist. You could call it the FBI’s New Political Pre-Crime Center.
We shouldn’t be surprised, as horrific as this is. When wannabe dictators are elected to lead countries and want to end their democracies and impose absolute rule, they typically follow a simple series of steps, sometimes referred to as “The Dictator’s Playbook.” They:
— Purge government institutions of professionals and replace them with yes-men and groveling toadies.
— Strip their political party of anybody who’d even consider challenging them.
— Help friendly oligarchs buy up the nation’s primary media and turn it into a mouthpiece for the new regime, while directing billions in government contracts as recompense to those same men.
— Pack the courts so they and their buddies can crime without consequence while they drain the government of wealth.
— Build a separate, parallel police force loyal first and foremost to Dear Leader that they can use to terrify the population and “keep order.” (Schutstaffel, Brownshirts, Blackshirts, Tonton Macoute, Central Nacional de Informaciones, Brigada Político-Social, KGB/FSB, ICE, etc.)
But key to their entire identity and supporting their base of power is their ability to identify “an enemy within” and convince enough of the population that these people represent such a danger to the nation that they must be suppressed.
If you’re a democrat or lean that direction, that’s you and me. And that’s now.
Reporter Ken Klippenstein has been on this beat for a while, and his newsletter is well worth the read. He first identified the GOP’s hit list in Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, often referred to as “NSPM-7.” It identifies as potential “domestic terrorist” threats those Americans who espouse:
“[A]nti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, … extremism on migration, extremism on race, extremism on gender, hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.”
Klippenstein then, three months later, discovered that the Trump regime — specifically, Bondi’s DOJ and Patel’s FBI — was already busily compiling lists of such potential terrorists, sharing the responsibility with some 200 FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) working collaboratively with local police departments across America.
And Bondi had instructed them to go back as far as five years in their scrubbing of social media and searching out our thoughts and opinions to find Americans who presumably may oppose Christianity, billionaires, or Tradwives.
But that was just the beginning.
Now, this week, Klippenstein has found that Patel has set up within the FBI a group — including 10 different federal investigative and police agencies — to “proactively” identify those of us who may disagree with their opinions about religion, gender, or capitalism.
The old “Terrorism Screening Center” set up in the wake of 9/11 to look for guys from Saudi Arabia who may want to learn to fly planes without landing them has been shut down and replaced with the “Threat Screening Center.”
And Bin Laden’s guys aren’t the “threat” they’re looking for: it’s those “potential domestic terrorists” who aren’t sufficiently Christian; who oppose the abuses and excesses of the “free market’s” unregulated no-holds-barred monopoly capitalism; and are or have friends who are queer or otherwise support the queer community.
One of the most troubling parts of the entire story is that America’s mainstream media appears to have no interest in this whatsoever, even though it appears right there in Trump’s new budget and is already up and operating within the DOJ and FBI.
And, ironically, reporters — particularly those for what Republicans call “liberal” publications and media outlets — would probably be among Patel’s prime targets. As Klippenstein notes:
“Again, all of these developments have yielded virtually zero media attention.”
Which tosses the responsibility for letting Americans know about the new Schutstaffel that, come election time, may well be rounding up or at least “visiting” people on its list, to you and me.
America was founded on the idea that your thoughts and opinions are your own and the government has no business regulating them or punishing you for them.
Under today’s GOP, Putin is writing our European/NATO foreign policy, Netanyahu is writing our Middle Eastern foreign policy, and now, it appears, the late George Orwell is writing our domestic policy.
The question, then, isn’t whether this is happening — it already is and they’re bragging about it — but whether we’ll tolerate it. If we continue to let the Trump regime and the GOP decide which thoughts and opinions are acceptable and which make you a criminal suspect, we’ve already given up the very freedoms our Constitution was written to protect.
Our answer has to be loud, visible, and relentless: sunlight, outrage, and actions like protesting, contacting our elected officials, and voting before the Trump/Republican machinery of hate and suspicion becomes a permanent new normal in America.
- Thom Hartmann is a New York Times best-selling author and SiriusXM talk show host. His Substack can be found here.
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Trump has reached a tipping point — and he's now hurtling to his end
The past terrifying week has caused me to wonder: How did America ever get to a point where one man, backed by the military might of the United States, could credibly threaten death to an entire civilization?
I’m also wondering how 19 super-rich American households could have added $1.8 trillion to their wealth in just the last 24 months — roughly the size of the economy of Australia — while the rate of child poverty in the U.S. has more than doubled, from a low of 5.2 percent in 2021 to over 13 percent now?
How have we come so perilously close to climate catastrophe, with spring temperatures in the Western United States already shattering records — and yet governments are spending over a trillion dollars a year subsidizing the fossil fuel industry and banks have channeled over $3 trillion to fossil fuel companies since the Paris Agreement, while there are almost no funds to protect living ecosystems?
How have we allowed artificial intelligence, the most powerful technology the world has ever seen, to threaten millions of jobs; make vulnerable the software that runs our financial, energy, and defense systems; and potentially destroy the human race — while allowing it to amass so much political power that it eludes all guardrails and regulations?
I have served at the highest levels of the U.S. government. I’ve watched our political and economic systems grow and change over the last 50 years, and I’ve spent much of that time writing about their evolution. I’ve never been reluctant to accuse those in power of abusing their authority.
While I have some ideas about how and why our system has sacrificed democracy and critical thought to the false gods of greed and growth (anyone interested in my tentative thoughts is more than welcome to read my recent Coming Up Short), I cannot state with certainty how we arrived at this point.
Yet notwithstanding how we got here, how do we change course? I refuse to accept that we cannot, or that it’s too late.
On Friday, I taught students who are seeking degrees in public policy. They wanted to know why — given all this — I remain optimistic.
I told them that I have faith in the goodness and reasonableness of the American people when they become aware of huge problems that threaten our and the world’s existence. And that the problems I’ve mentioned have now reached such size and dangerousness that the public can no longer ignore them.
We are, I think, coming to a tipping point in how we understand the challenges to our continued existence.
As author Jeremy Lent has written:
“A civilization built on a different foundation would start from an acknowledgment that the deep interconnectedness of all life is not romantic aspiration but scientific fact — confirmed by complexity science, systems biology, and Earth science, and affirmed by wisdom traditions of cultures that never lost that understanding.
From this recognition, different goals follow: not perpetual growth but setting the conditions for all people to flourish on a regenerated Earth. Not maximization of returns on capital but the kind of reciprocal, mutualistic relationship with living systems that makes long-term human wellbeing possible.
There is no blueprint that will save us. No one person or group can design in advance what such a civilization will look like in its particulars. But a framework of core principles can orient us — the way a distant horizon orients a traveler moving through unmarked terrain.
You may not yet see the exact path, but knowing the general direction changes everything about which opportunities you embrace and which you recognize as alluring detours.
The trance that keeps us from seeing this is powerful. But it has been broken before. Every paradigm that once seemed like reality itself — the divine right of kings, the natural inferiority of women, the Earth at the center of the universe — turned out to be a myth that was shattered.”
I agree with Lent. It’s time to eschew the myths that contributed to the reelection of the most dangerous person ever to occupy the White House, myths that continue to limit our beliefs and imaginations: that widening inequality and an ever-larger military are necessary and inevitable, that we need a billionaire oligarchy to guide our economy and a “strongman” to lead our government, that a political revolution founded on returning American democracy to the ideal of self-government would be too destabilizing, that continued growth of the Gross Domestic Product is an unmitigated good, and that more “productivity” and “efficiency” are always beneficial.
The most dangerous myth of all is that there is no alternative to the path we’re on, that we have no control over our destiny, and that, just as it was inevitable that we came to where are, our unraveling is similarly inevitable.
I refuse to accept this deterministic myth. The first act of genuine systemic change is to stop believing it.
It’s been a terrifying week, but one that is awakening millions of people.
Thank you for being an ally in seeking a better world.
- Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org
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These bumbling clowns were so inept Iran's hardliners could barely keep straight faces
There is an old American idiom for a group so collectively inept they couldn’t organize a one-car parade, as another axiom goes. We call them the Three Stooges. They were a legendary comedy trio famous for their chaotic, physical slapstick and for being a cultural shorthand for lovable but total incompetence.
After watching JD Vance (Mo), Steve Witkoff (Curly), and Jared Kushner (Larry) stumble out of Islamabad empty-handed, having failed to end a six-week war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, or extract a single meaningful concession from Iranian hardliners, the comparison feels apropos.
I’ve been reading comment sections of stories about Trump’s 21st century trio of clowns, and I’m not the only one who has labeled them after the indelible comedy trio.
With that said, let’s do a little review about the strengths - err weaknesses - of each of the foolish players.
JD Vance arrived in Pakistan as Vice President of the United States, a title he has held longer than he held his Senate seat, which he won a mere three years ago. His previous experience in high-stakes negotiation consists largely of brokering peace between childless cat ladies and their felines who took umbrage at his offensive jab.
In June of last year, Vance’s stupidity reared its bulbous, bearded head when he tried to explain the concern around the U.S. first foray into Iran. "I understand the concern, but the difference is that back then we had dumb presidents, and now we have a president who actually knows how to accomplish America’s national security objectives".
Well, of course we can laugh about Trump understanding national security objectives, but Trump was among the presidents during those last 25 years — along with other Republicans.
Then there is Jared Kushner, whose legendary negotiating prowess consists primarily of leveraging his proximity to his father-in-law to attract billion-dollar investment deals from foreign sovereign wealth funds to enrich himself. A chip off the old father-in-law.
In a January 2020 interview with Sky News Arabia, Kushner defended his qualifications to lead the Trump administration's "Peace to Prosperity" plan by stating:."I’ve been studying this now for three years. I’ve read 25 books on it." This from the same guy whose memoir was reviewed by the New York Times as a "queasy-making" slog that reads more like a college admissions essay than a serious political account.
And Steve Witkoff. As Trump himself might say, “Who in the hell is this guy?” Prior to Trump designating him a diplomatic savant, Witkoff was focused on luxury real estate development in Manhattan and Miami. Seemingly, it’s this background that presumably explains why he reportedly confused enrichment facilities with “industrial reactors” and referred to the Strait of Hormuz as the “Gulf of Hormuz.”
He and his boss just can’t get the lingo “straight” about Hormuz.
Somewhere among the rows of tombstones in Arlington National Cemetery, revered diplomat Henry Kissinger is pounding furiously on the lid of his coffin, demanding to be let out.
Just about everyone in the world is probably scratching their heads as to why these three numbskulls were leading the way on such consequential matters, and wondering what could have possibly been involved in the three’s preparation, and whether they truly understood the stakes and consequences of what they were doing.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, required two years of intense negotiation, a coalition of six world powers, teams of nuclear scientists, career diplomats fluent in Farsi and the theological contours of the Islamic Republic, and marathon sessions in Lausanne and Vienna.
In other words, it was exhausting and comprehensive.
The foundational principle, agreed upon by all sides, was that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.” The Islamabad talks lasted 21 hours before collapsing into mutual recrimination. Only a fool, or someone who has spent his career flipping luxury condominiums, or someone who thinks women should stay in violent marriages, would believe a nuclear and geopolitical settlement forged in decades of hostility could be resolved between sun up and sun down.
The backdrop to this failure is even more damning. Early in Trump’s second term, the State Department was systematically gutted - Middle East and Iran - with more than 3,800 employees shown the door, including the bulk of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, its dedicated Iran office, 13 Arabic speakers, and four Farsi speakers.
The ambassadorships to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE sat vacant as the region ignited. The institutional memory, the language skills, the quiet back-channel relationships that make diplomacy possible, were summarily dismissed because Trump’s “gut” knows more than they all collectively knew and understood.
What was sent to Islamabad in their place? A neophyte and narcissistic vice president, a money-thirsty son-in-law, and a real estate developer who surely spells “Straight of Hormuz” wrong like his boss.
The Iranian delegation was composed of ideologically committed, strategically patient officials who have spent decades enduring sanctions, threats, and negotiations. No one, besides China and Russia, are rooting for the Iranians, but let's be honest, they must have struggled to keep straight faces during negotiations.
Now here we are, with no hope in sight. The ceasefire deadline is not receding. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Iran remains firm in clinging to their uranium and nuclear program. The region sits on tenterhooks.
And, perhaps even more worrisome, the same three bumbling fools who walked away empty-handed in Islamabad are, as far as we know, still in charge of what comes next.
In the original Stooges shorts, the chaos always resolved itself. Someone got a pie in the face, furniture got destroyed, and by the final scene, everything was improbably fine.
That is the reassuring cinematic fiction of the undying genre of slapstick comedy. In real geopolitics, when the Three Stooges leave the stage, they truly look like a trifecta of losers. And their next foray into diplomacy will likely end in the same, proverbial pie in the face thrown at them by Iranian extremists.
Moe, Larry, and Curly always got another chance. So do these three stooges, and that prospect is more of a horror show than a comedy short.
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End in sight as Trump's childish rampage reaches its limit
This election season's message is painfully simple — Democrats must show up as the adults and run as the parent and grandparent ready to deal with what remains of this adolescent mess.
Perhaps it will feel familiar to many, a rush to arrive and survey the damage, knowing someone has to take over, organize, and clean. It will not be the fundamentally unequipped, the delinquents, the kids. Once again it will be us, the Dems.
To the extent this administration adheres to any one ethos, it's not about making anything great. It's much more "because we could!" accompanied with a vacant smile, dopamine-lit eyes, someone reflexively acting in self-interest in the moment, no thought about tomorrow, or others, living second to second, fully adolescent, still impressed only that he can do it, never wondering if he should.
That is the Trump administration and all movement MAGAs — think Pete Hegseth.
In the same way that adult family and friends have for ages shown up at the car accident, the police station, the doctor's office, and taken over, Democrats must move from here to November, and beyond, holding to one core value, both as principle and character trait: "time to hand it to grown-ups."
It is a job as thankless as it is obvious, and all too familiar.
Democrats cleaned up after the George W. Bush administration's coddling of Wall Street nearly drowned the world's economy in a sea of CDOs and swaps. In 2021, Dems took over like a well-run PTA to ensure the world's most-necessary vaccine got distributed and a society rebooted amidst an epidemic killing millions. Democrats must move forward again today, ready to simply deal with the daylight after this administration's dark run. The job will be semi-familiar, though never close to this level, and yet the path to office and power, the path to opportunity to limit and clean, has never been clearer.
The "issues" barely matter anymore.
One can look at literally almost any action this administration takes, whether it is the Iranian war, the now unconcealed racism and misogyny at the root of the anti-DEI rampage, the grift-gift, decimation of the healthcare system to cover tax cuts to billionaires, doesn't matter — it's all done with teen glee, caring only about today and themselves, not the consequences for us or even themselves. And it's time to call it what it is, the inevitable result of wrongly empowered kids, entirely free of adult predisposition, never mind supervision.
They made football and video game memes amidst war, fired general officers for being women or Black — lacking all shame. Like kids everywhere, they do it "because they can." Any Democrat wanting to make a difference in stopping this or eventually helping to clean it up had best come forward infused with utter earnestness and candor. "It is time to stop, grow up, and clean up." Projecting any politics is malpractice.
It sounds simple, and yet it is also so damned powerful. The true gravitas granted by being "an adult in the room" acts as nuclear kryptonite to these super-kids. See Megyn Kelly's reaction to simple "adulting," when she recently referenced Hall of Fame Adult Pete Buttigieg and many other Democrats, catastrophizing like the mean-girl cheerleader willing to burn the town to a pile before allowing a rival prom-queen, promising to vote Republican even if Trump dropped a nuke because:
"That's when I think Democrat, that's what I think. That's smug, arrogant. I'm better than you. I look down my nose on you. Even though you've done three tours of duty. ... That to me, I could never vote for, never."
Perfect Trumpism, never sounding more high school, never more afraid of a teacher, a parent, someone judging what just happened and saying, "No, we should not be openly attacking the world, threatening genocide, embracing racism, paying off billionaires, now knock it off and go home." And that's because Kelly does, in fact, know that adults would step in and be better than this — much better. There is no reaching Kelly with any message.
But she's hardly the norm. Real people, real grown-ups still exist and terrify the GOP.
Maturity must be the platform.
I am not currently advising any single candidate, but the message to all Democrats out there now is to drop all political pretense. Instead, message out with a candid, "I care, and I will help fix it." Look at Mayor Mamdani in New York City and his approach — young, yet an adult in charge. Rising Texan star, precocious James Talerico, has some of the same juice; it's about approach, not age. Senators Chris Murphy, Mark Kelly, and Amy Klobuchar (Speaking of Minnesotans) long carried this message while also being the type everyone relies on when things get bad.
That is the message from this point forward. Adult supervision, the games are over, grow up, accountability is coming, and then assuring the world, "We've got this now." That is everything needed for a world needing saving.
Sad that it's so simple, isn't it? But simple doesn't mean easy, indeed — in this case, it's the exact opposite.
But this is where we stand. It doesn't matter why it's third down and 15; it just is. Life plays out this way for grown-ups every day, from intra-family to international. Inevitably, as bad as things get, whether it be troops in Iran or a drunken fight at a prom, testosterone-powered and poisoned rides eventually end. A typical Hegseth "because we could, brah!" butts up against a global "no more." The party ends, daylight comes, sober assessments get made, plans formed, find a first down and move the ball — that's what adults do.
It is also the Democratic platform from now until grown-ups govern — as compelling as it is needed, as true as it is sad. The simpler, the more mature, the more powerful. Stand ready to take over for the kids playing the most dangerous games. They hate that we know better and really hate already knowing that resolutions require consequences and rules. It will be extremely hard. Kids hate getting caught.
But the world has literally never needed us more. Fortunately, they're not asking for superheroes, merely adults.
Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist at Large, former associate editor of Occupy Democrats, author, and attorney. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com, still seeking a few more beta readers for his latest soon to be released novel.
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This woman has a lot of dirt on Donald — and she's not afraid of him
OK, so that Melania Trump thing on Thursday was just downright bizarre.
I mean, complaining about all of the “lies” being told about her in the press from her exposure in the Epstein Files? Thanks, Madame First Lady, but literally no one was talking about your friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell – at least not until you called so much attention to it by unilaterally calling a news conference in the White House.
She griped about “the false smears” from people “looking to cause damage to my good name” (good name?) and how they “must stop.” Well, mission accomplished, Melania. They stopped. In fact, they never actually started. The press has much bigger fish to fry looking at the alleged crimes of actual pedophiles rather than someone who had an unfortunate relationship with Epstein’s co-conspirator.
The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that Melania’s mock outrage had little to do with her. There was no gossip, no speculation, no allegations. She might as well have been railing about the White House wait staff. There remains more pure controversy surrounding Amazon’s funding of her documentary.
So yes, we have now entered a realm where Trump’s family members are using the Epstein debacle to distract from… what? The Iran war sort-of ceasefire? Ongoing conjecture about the diminished mental capacity of her husband as he threatens genocide on the Middle East? The fact gas prices continue to skyrocket?
It’s a mystery.
But like all good mysteries, everyone has a theory or two or three surrounding it. Here’s mine: Melania wants to matter again.
The woman is no rocket scientist, but she’s also not quite as dumb as she’s often charged. She understands that she’s the least popular First Lady in American history. Her legacy at this point surrounds having centered a documentary that focused on trying on shoes and baring her ankles, and once wearing a jacket that was inscribed on the back with, “I Really Don’t Care. Do U?”
I’m thinking that maybe, just maybe, she was struck by a momentary twinge of conscience that inspired her to assure the world she’s not some Epstein fiasco stooge, and that she wants Congress to call in Epstein survivors to testify under oath.
This doesn’t, of course, mean that Melania handled her Thursday announcement in a particularly effective or appropriate manner. Whoever is overseeing her personal marketing is doing her no favors. For one thing, you don’t just go around denying things you aren’t at the present time accused of, unless, of course, you’re trying to get out in front of a potential scandal to control the narrative.
Ah yes, there’s that.
A lot of the chatter at week’s end centered on the likelihood that there was something big coming down the pike and Melania wanted to be on the record covering her own backside. But what could that be?
One thing that I surely appreciate is the rogue aspect of this. It seems pretty clear that Melania didn’t seek or receive administration approval – or that of her husband in particular – before deciding to do this. That’s sort of delicious when you consider that literally no one else in the president’s orbit has that kind of power. She is alone in Trump’s sphere in being fireproof.
I think.
Given this fact, Melania carries an extraordinary amount of power via having immunity from dismissal. I’ve always thought she held all the cards in that marriage. It’s far easier to imagine her filing for divorce than him.
We also have to believe the First Lady knows more about what’s contained among the Epstein Files redactions as well as in those files that have yet to be released. Ergo, she holds a lot of cards.
Was what she said on Thursday about keeping herself out of trouble while prepping to throw her husband beneath the bus if necessary? It’s doubtful, but possible. I would have been significantly more impressed had Melania stepped up to the lectern of the Grand Foyer and said, “If I’m being honest, my husband should be forced to testify at a Congressional hearing. He knew Epstein better than anyone.”
I know. When hell freezes over. But a man can dream.
Let’s remember that this is the first First Lady in history who doesn’t live at the White House fulltime. She’s also rarely anywhere close to her husband’s side, even when he needs propping up. Their marriage is, by all appearances, one of convenience, if that. From Melania’s perspective, it looks far more like one of inconvenience.
Melania no doubt appreciates the perks of being married to the most powerful man in the world while at the same time shunning the duties. Forget sleeping in the same bed; I’d be surprised if they’ve slept in the same wing over the past decade.
This is all a longwinded way of saying that Melania’s priorities are unlikely to be completely, or perhaps even partially, aligned with her husband’s. She’s in the Melania business, not the Melania and Donald business. She knows many more specifics about her husband’s past behavior than we do, and maybe that fills her with sufficient disgust to leave him twisting if it ever came down to it. With any luck, it will.
We will probably know soon enough why Melania said what she said on Thursday. The least likely reason is that she’s legitimately worried about her own reputation, because let’s be clear: the people and the media don’t give a single damn about her relationship with Epstein and Maxwell. What they care about is how it might play into Trump’s culpability.
What I appreciated in Melania’s decision to go public with something that was well off the public’s concern meter was the sheer balls it took to do it. If this kind of behavior were to evolve, we may need to start treating her with something resembling respect
Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.
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The National Strike would hit extra hard with this single addition
Major unions like the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, and citizen groups like Indivisible and Public Citizen are calling for a national May Day strike. It’s a powerful idea, building off of a Minnesota day this past January where people didn’t go to work or school, didn’t shop, and didn’t otherwise participate in ordinary activities.
The Minnesota day was spearheaded by major unions, 700 local businesses closed in solidarity, and 75,000-100,000 people marched in the streets. For the national day, I’d suggest adding one more element, incorporating arm bands, like black arm bands, so people who are participating can make clear their sympathies. And those who can’t take off from work or school, or who are retired, so have no jobs to leave, can show support as well.
The armband idea comes from the October 15, 1969 Vietnam Moratorium. They didn’t call it a strike, but it was a similar day of marches, walkouts, teach-ins, and other activities that gave as many ways as possible to participate. Two million participated in the day’s marches, but far more in other activities. New York City’s Council endorsed it. Milwaukee held a funeral procession. Small towns rang church bells ring to commemorate the dead. The Moratorium took place while Nixon was threatening North Vietnam with nuclear weapons and although Nixon said at the time the protests made no difference to him, he later revealed that the breadth of support led him to back off from the threat.
I was in high school in Los Angeles. I wore my black armband to school and my after-school job at a drugstore. My manager told me to take it off. I resisted as politely as I could. As I recall, he finally backed down. Another friend wore his armband at his high school in a mill town north of Seattle. In both cases, the armbands got people talking and thinking. They gave an additional way to participate for those who couldn’t join the walkouts. They reinforced anti-war solidarity. U.S. soldiers in Vietnam even wore armbands as a way of joining the protests, following a full-page NY Times ad signed by 1,366 active service members.
So why not include a call for armbands as part of the Mayday strike? It’s true that some people might use them as a substitute for visibly leaving jobs or schools. But if the goal of the movement is to engage people as broadly as possible, as well as to demonstrate power, then the armbands can offer additional options and bringing the day of protests into more places. They’re an alternative for retired people who don’t have jobs to walk out of. They’re one more antidote to powerlessness, allowing people to participate step by step. It seems important to add them as part of the day’s organizing.
One last thought on color. Black works, because we're mourning the potential loss of democracy, as well as the deaths in the war Trump started. But the other colors have their strengths as well. One option could be letting people choose—green for the environment, blue for climate change, rainbow for LGBT. I might exclude red just because although it makes sense for the socialist roots of May Day, I think it's important for anti-Trump resistance to be as broad as possible and national events to speak to more conservative people.
Paul Rogat Loeb is the author of Soul of a Citizen and The Impossible Will Take a Little While, with 300,000 copies in print between them. See Paulloeb.org.
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Trump's enemies all have this in common — and it drives him nuts
The President of the United States is supposed to set the standard for global leadership, from their track record of public service to their public behavior. There’s supposed to be a level of respect for the office that’s been earned, because a proper POTUS shows the people of the country how respected they are as well. Our president represents us on the global stage, and should have friendly relationships with our allies so that we, and the financial markets, aren’t kept in a state of constant chaos.
Think of Joe Biden’s affable, warm Irish humor and his ability to poke fun at himself. Recall his eight years of bromance with Barack Obama and how they made the country feel like Daddy and Uncle Joe were taking care of everyone. We took that for granted, even as there was darkness always under this country’s surface.
And it took the worst of this country to excavate it as they continue to create a new low for humanity on the daily.
Donald Trump has been in a bad mood for his entire life, and we’re the ones paying for it.
Unloved and ignored by his parents, Lil Donny learned that negative attention was better than no attention. He grew into the world’s most toxic narcissist, equally wearing down his allies and enemies with his tantrums and threats. His misery was mirrored back to him by his cult, as self-victimization is the MAGA default setting. He’s a literal Bully Pulpit, whining about his perceived slights, his weak jealousies based on coveting what others have that he will never have, resulting in the current Culture of Mean that we’ve been living in for over a decade.
Trump’s bullying and snide entitled tones permeated the Republican Party, which became the worst frat House and Senate in history. He wore the media down until they were enabling the bully they created, and now he can control most of them with a mean post on Truth Social or by singling them out at a press conference.
Often compared to an overgrown toddler in a giant blue suit, Trump’s petty petulance seeped into every aspect of American culture as his opponents and harshest critics fell by the wayside in 2016 and all became his sycophants once the Russians hacked the RNC and DNC servers.
Trump has such an inexplicable chokehold on the country’s mood because he has an inexplicable chokehold on the Republican Party, even as he casually threatened to end a civilization this week.
First, they ignored Trump’s threat and bullied the many Democrats who called for the 25th Amendment as “pearl-clutchers” instead of standing with them. Thankfully, that didn’t stop proper patriots like Rep. John Larson (D-CT) from filing brand new Articles of Impeachment against Trump. 
Nobody voted for Trump to flatten Gaza to turn it into the Atlantic City of the Middle East, and the same nobodies voted for him to wipe the Iranian people from existence, all because he’s in the Epstein Files.
By the time TACO Tuesday rolled around at the expected time, Republicans were ready with their response, which was “ALL HAIL TRUMP for solving the Iran crisis,” without mentioning that he had manufactured it in the first place.
It’s the ultimate Started/Going meme:
Trump knows all too well by now that he can get away with this because Republicans and the media he owns will let him get away with it. This is what a typical manipulative bully does — they push to see how much their target will give them. When you give a bully an inch, they take more than a (school)yard, they take over your entire life. They seep into your subconscious and haunt your nightmares until that dark mood feels like it’s in your whole body. It changes your posture, drags you down physically and emotionally, and makes you want to surrender because you’re just so exhausted. And your bully knows this, and they love it. They’ll never stop pushing now that they know they’ve got all the ground they want.
I made that meme because that’s who he is. He loves toying with people’s feelings because he’s so miserable and mad. He’s mad that the Epstein Files aren’t going away, and when his mood gets worse, the body count increases.
American servicepeople have died because Trump is in the Epstein Files. The world was left holding its collective breath for an entire day until King Baby decided to fold. There’s literally no reason for us to be living like this. We need to be done with him and every last one of his enablers.
Look at Todd Blanche. Look at this weakness, this blatant display of treason, all because Trump has some sort of sway over him.
Trump shouldn’t ever be allowed to get away with making people worry that they’re going to die. He shouldn’t be allowed to threaten anyone, from the media to his perceived enemies — all of whom have one big thing in common:
They tell the truth about him. And King Baby really doesn’t like that.
Which is why we as a nation need to demand more truth. We need a daily Democratic press briefing, helmed by a dedicated Press Secretary, which would take place at the Capitol immediately after Karoline Lie-vitt is finished lying to the media for the day. All members of the media would be welcome, especially those Trump banned from the Press Room, and therefore, they would all show up to see what the Democratic Press Secretary would have to say.
Democrats are poised to steamroll over the GOP in the midterms, and there will be consequences for Trump and his enablers. But we shouldn’t have to live under Trump’s instability for another day, let alone two more years. Republicans must be forced to choose loyalty to Trump or to America, because he’s proven it can’t be both.
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Blundering Trump just got walloped with bad news as America's nightmare month continues
Friends,
Trump gas — like Trump shoes, Trump cologne, the Trump Bible, Trump shoes, Trump NFTs, Trump crypto, Trump resorts, and Trump University — is turning out to be a ripoff.
The average cost of gas tracked by the AAA was $4.17 a gallon yesterday. The station at the end of my street is selling it for over $5 now. If you drive a Mini-Cooper, as I do, which demands premium grade, you’re shelling out over well over $6.
To put this in perspective, the average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. the day before Trump launched his war was $2.98. Between then and today, the U.S. has experienced the largest increase in gas prices in 60 years, nearly a 40 percent jump.
Despite the tentative cease-fire in the Middle East, a gallon of gas is expected to cost at least as much for quite a while.
Even if Iran soon allows all tankers through the strait, Trump gas is likely to remain pricey because it’s likely to take months to repair and reconstruct the oil infrastructure that’s been destroyed in and around the Persian Gulf.
Crude futures — bets that traders are making on the future price of crude — have returned to over $100 a barrel, which translates into over $4 a gallon extending for months. Given that the Strait of Hormuz is still largely closed, the actual price that global buyers are paying for real-world shipments is up around $150 a barrel.
The price of gas is always the most conspicuous signal of affordability because most people know precisely how much a gallon of gas costs, down to the decimal point. It’s exhibited on every street corner with a gas station. They know what they pay to fill up their tanks. They’re aware of exactly when gas prices rise or drop, by how much, and what competitors are charging.
No amount of Trump spin can change this reality. Numbers observed every day on the street have a particular potency. Trump can’t accuse the heads of government bureaus that track inflation of being Democratic hacks and can’t fire them and replace them with people who will parrot his lies. Consumers know what they’re paying.
Will the high price of Trump gas matter seven months from now when Americans go to the polls to elect the next House of Representatives and a third of the next Senate? Assuming we have free and fair elections, the answer is probably yes.
Gas prices are a stronger predictor of presidential approval or disapproval than any other broad macroeconomic indicator, such as the overall rate of inflation or unemployment. Historically, every 10-cent increase in the price of gas correlates with a 0.6 percent decrease in presidential approval.
And presidential approval or disapproval is, in turn, a stronger predictor of how the American public will vote in midterm elections than any other broad political measures, such as approval of Congress or of either political party.
It’s been a nightmarish month in every respect. Trump’s war will go down as one of the worst political and humanitarian blunders in history. Thirteen U.S. military personnel died in the conflict. Hundreds more have been injured. A human rights group estimates that 1,665 civilians have been killed in Iran, including 248 children.
America will be paying for this war for many years, in one way or another. Hence, it may be small comfort to think the war will likely contribute to a Democratic Congress starting next January. But I’ll take whatever comfort I can.
- Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org
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There are 3 possible reasons for Melania's shock appearance — and they're mind-boggling
Friends, Trump’s rule for “flooding the zone” has been straightforward: Whenever the subject that everyone’s talking about becomes too uncomfortable for him — he changes it.
Too much Jeffrey Epstein? Send federal agents to Minnesota to brutalize American citizens. Too much brutality by federal agents? Fire the head of the Department of Homeland Security and start a war with Iran. War goes badly? (Well, we’ll soon find out.)
So, why did Melania Trump hold a news conference today? Standing at a lectern in the Grand Foyer of the White House, the first lady labeled as “lies” unspecified allegations linking her to Epstein, and said they “need to end today.”
“The false smears about me from mean-spirited and politically motivated individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name to gain financially and climb politically must stop.”
But who’s even been thinking about Melania and her potential relationship with Epstein or Maxwell in the midst of Melania’s husband’s threat to obliterate 90 million Iranians? Who cares about Melania and Maxwell when the price of gas is through the roof? Why would anyone be interested in such “unspecified allegations” when Iran still possesses 970 pounds of highly-enriched uranium and now has more motive than ever to turn it into nuclear weapons?
Besides, there hasn’t been the faintest whiff of scandal about the relationship between Melania and Maxwell, let alone Epstein.
Back in January (which seems years ago), the Justice Department released an email Melania sent to Maxwell. But the email got little attention. It was part of millions of pages of correspondence released about the Department’s investigation into the disgraced financier. Also, the correspondence took place in 2002, more than two years before Melania became Trump’s third wife.
There’s not even a smoking gun in her email. Melania merely expressed friendliness toward Maxwell and says she can’t wait to visit her in Palm Beach.
Melania also refers to a “nice story about JE” in New York magazine — presumably the 2002 story in which Donald Trump indicated he knew about his former pal’s penchant for young girls. It was in that story that Trump boasted:
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Granted, this quote suggests Trump was on to Epstein’s proclivities and may have even shared them. But the quote is old news. It’s been circulating ever since Trump was first discovered to be cavorting with Epstein.
Why, then, did Melania hold today’s news conference?
I can think of three possible reasons:
1. She was urged to do it as a way to revive interest in the Epstein scandal. You heard me right. The White House figures that Epstein is easier to handle right now than the fallout from the catastrophe of Trump’s war in Iran. Plus, Pam Bondi is gone and won’t be testifying, and the emerging regime at the Justice Department — Todd Blanche and Harmeet Dhillon — can more reliably be counted on to bury anything in the Epstein files that might incriminate Trump. In other words, a great way to change the subject.
2. Amazon is now in negotiations over streaming rights to Melania’s 2026 documentary Melania, which has been a box office bomb, grossing only $16.6 million worldwide against a massive $40 million production budget and $35 million in marketing, and leaving Amazon with a significant financial loss. Amazon and Bezos urged Melania to stir up publicity for herself, and what better way to get attention than to deny any relationship with Epstein?
3. Melania is pissed off at Trump for any number of things, and today’s news conference was a way of letting him know she’s capable of making his life miserable.
- Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org
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A day in the life of an imbecile
I woke up very early yesterday. Maybe the earliest anyone has ever woken up. People are saying that. The alarm clock? TOTAL DISASTER. Very loud, very unfair. Still, I jumped out of bed feeling STRONG and feeling READY to take on the day!
Many people are saying that my daily life is absolutely INCREDIBLE. Maybe the greatest routine anyone has ever seen. The reason is because I plan it in advance with great care. That’s the secret of having the kind of success I have in my job. It’s just in my DNA.
Breakfast is amazing, but sometimes a challenge. Today, a long-term marriage is going to die unless my wife cooks my morning eggs with harder yokes. The runniness has got to stop. If it doesn’t, we are going to have COMPLETE and TOTAL SPOUSAL CHANGE. A more talented and focused woman will be required. I don’t want to do it, but 15 years of lousy eggs is forcing my hand. She understands why this must happen,
After coffee and several conversations with the most interesting beings on the planet – primarily my Chihuahua mix – column writing begins. It’s powerful stuff. Sharp, insightful, really incredible words. Some people say it’s among the best being done today. I don’t say that, the PEOPLE are saying it. Deadlines come in, very tough deadlines, but I meet them easily.
I write about the things no one else has the courage to. The impact is just unbelievable. No one has ever seen anything like it. The number of views is in the billions. I’m told that no one can count that high, quite frankly.
After I’m done with the column, I go out driving. Everyone looks at my 2019 Ford Fiesta with awe. They pull over to the side of the road with their mouths wide open, just staring, because they’re beyond impressed. They don’t see a man in a car. They see a hero in a piece of American ingenuity. Despite the assorted bumps and scratches, she’s a beauty. I say “she” because being in it makes me feel like I’m with a gorgeous woman. Every morning, I grab her by the steering wheel – if you catch my drift.
It's been a big day for saving money! I found gas for $5.89 a gallon. That’s super-cheap in California. Now that we have a ceasefire with Iran – it’s pronounced “E-ron,” by the way, not “I-ran,” I just learned that – it’s clear that I’ll be able to fill my tank far less expensively. No one can believe I paid so little. It’s beyond incredible. The owner of the station saw it was me and immediately dropped the price 20 cents. That’s respect, hades and gents.
Dropped by the post office to mail a package. Very busy. Lines? Long. But people noticed me. “GO AHEAD,” they insisted. “You deserve it.” I didn’t ask, but they forced me to. I think they recognized me from my interview 14 years ago on “The E! True Hollywood Story.” I was honored.
Came back home and had a chat with the wife about our egg DEBACLE (a new word I just learned, it means disaster). She told me that if I didn’t like her eggs, I could go lay them myself. So, I did. Delicious.
Then I turned on the TV. Maybe my favorite thing to do. Reruns of “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” Tremendous. You know that Dick Van Dyke is still alive at 100 years old? That reminds me that my doctor told me I’m going to live until I’m at least 350. No one has longevity like me. Ever.
Went out to dinner. The maître d’ approached our table and said, “Sir, would you happen to be Ray Richmond of Raw Story?” “Yes,” I replied. “Well then,” he told me, “we can’t possibly take your money. You are my guest. Order whatever you want off the menu. It’s on the house.”
This is why I love being me. Every moment of every day, someone is honoring me just for being glorious. For example, yesterday I received a 10-point proposal from AT&T about my cellphone contract. By the time we were done, I was paying practically nothing for my monthly service – mostly because I don’t like to pay anyone anything and usually get away with it.
Speaking of that, I just did my taxes in advance of the April 15 deadline. Not that I care about a deadline, or taxes. The most American thing I do is making sure I don’t pay UNCLE SAM a SINGLE CENT! I see taxes as extortion. They can pry their STINKING tax money from my cold dead hands – that is, if I ever planned to die, which I don’t.
This is one reason why I so love being an American. The whole world loves us, loves the things we create, loves our freedom. Sometimes, they resent us for it, but I DON’T CARE. What I care about is me. I care about my bank account. I care about how my hair looks (perfect, as always). I care about the people who LIKE ME.
It’s a big responsibility to be so amazingly good at everything. But I love a good challenge. And I’m having WAY TOO MUCH FUN to worry about the losers. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.
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Desperate Melania dared use Epstein's victims to save her skin
Nobody asked her, but Melania, who doesn’t speak, spoke today.
Here’s the thing. I’ve been obsessively following every thread of the Jeffrey Epstein story, every document drop, every name floated, every rumor circulating in the news. And yet, when Melania Trump — out of the blue — strode out in front of the White House press corps to issue a sweeping, unprompted denial of any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, I found myself genuinely bewildered. I actually said out loud: “What is she talking about?”
And then, about thirty seconds later, I said: “Ah-ha.”
Melania doth protest too much.
There’s a reason Shakespeare’s line has survived four centuries, and that’s because it still rings true — probably more than ever. When someone rushes to the cameras to deny accusations nobody publicly leveled, they’re not clearing the air or being “transparent” — I hate that word, so overused.
No, what these come-forwarders are doing is the once-tried-and-true game of getting ahead of the story, pre-positioning themselves so that when the story does break, they can point back to this moment and say, “See? I denied it. I went public.” That’s not innocence.
I worked in PR for 30 years, and I’ve handled more than my share of crises — the “come forward” is one element of crisis management.
But in today’s hyper world, people now are accustomed to this trick, and they see right through it. With more news, more social media and more chatter, this approach now has been executed too many times.
Sure, sometimes these scenarios are true, honest and authentic. David Letterman’s admission to having improper relationships with his employees comes to mind. But in Melania’s case? No chance!
We do know she knows more than she’s saying because the record speaks for itself. Photos of Melania with Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell exist, and they are not doctored (Melania said during her soliloquy that pics of her were doctored; she didn’t specify which).
An email from Maxwell allegedly referring to Melania as “sweet pea” has been reported. These aren’t conspiracy theories; they’re documented in the files and they raise entirely legitimate questions about the depth and nature of that social world Melania inhabited that included Epstein and Maxwell, and her husband Donald.
By all indications, Melania wasn’t a wallflower with Epstein and Maxwell like she was at Trump’s inauguration, or anytime she’s standing next to him with emptiness written all over her face. Like everyone else who interacted with both of them — even if she’s First Lady — she needs to testify and not give some random, read-from-the-paper speech to reporters.
The House Oversight Committee GOP members devoted an entire day to hauling former First Lady Hillary Clinton before the committee, where she whacked their sorry behinds. It was a waste of time because she really did not know Epstein. And it was ludicrous. Clinton hasn’t been first lady for 26 years. But we have a first lady who actually knows Epstein with pictures and emails as proof.
The Republicans on the committee, and former AG Pam Bondi, don’t care about the survivors. They offered them nothing in the way of what they are demanding. These are real women. Damaged, resilient, ignored women who have been fighting for years just to be heard.
And Melania had the audacity to use them yesterday as a human shield for her own reputation.
“Congress must do its job,” she intoned, with all the warmth of…well, Melania Trump. “The survivors deserve their day.”
Oh, now she cares about survivors? Phony is as phony does — I think I’ve mangled that axiom the way Trump tried to say something to the effect that victims deserve spoils, which in this case, they most certainly do.
But Donald, like his GOP lapdogs, isn’t in the mood to give victims anything.
Neither is Melania. This is the woman who famously wore that jacket reading “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” while children were being separated from their parents at the border. This is the woman whose own documentary, which I watched for approximately fifteen minutes before reaching for the Pepto-Bismol, is a monument to wealth-flaunting, couture detachment.
Melania shuns anyone who shops off-the-rack, or doesn’t have their hair blown out by a live-in hairdresser. The Epstein survivors are shopping at Kohl’s. They don’t have stylists. They don’t agonize over shoulder pads the way Melania does in her vain film. And they have suffered in ways Melania’s carefully curated fake empathy cannot begin to touch.
Melania has absolutely no business speaking up for them or about them. She. Does. Not. Care.
Melania takes her grubbing and grifting cues directly from her husband — from a distance though, because she can’t stand to be near him. She is a full participant in the family business of shameless self-enrichment. She has sold NFTs, written a moronic and empty memoir, she’s into cryptocurrency — of course, and she licenses her photos, and there’s that $40 million documentary.
She pocketed $250,000 from the Log Cabin Republicans for a single speech, and many other lucrative speaking fees. She took $108,000 from a Trump super PAC for her hair. I guess she’s still doing that failed “Be Best” thing, although, because it’s Melania's, it's most likely something that be best for Melania.
Melania’s lust for money is only outpaced by her phoniness.
And that phoniness was on full display yesterday. She had the gall to try and deflect from her obfuscation about Epstein to her faux-support for the survivors.
Yes, the Epstein survivors deserve exactly what Melania said they deserve, a public forum, under oath, before Congress, with cameras rolling. Not because Melania said so. Not as a vehicle for her to perform altruism she has never once demonstrated. But because justice has been long delayed for these deserving women.
Look, any public support for the survivors is a win, because in the Trump administration no one seems willing to give them the peace of mind of putting Epstein's accomplices in prison.
The survivors are hurting. They are fragile, and they are brave, and they have been used, by powerful men, by broken institutions, and now, apparently, by a first lady who discovered her conscience when it suddenly became useful for her as a way to show she “cares.”
Melania’s come-to-Jesus moment this morning were lies tangled up with spurious, duplicitous froth. How much does she truly know? I don’t know.
But I know this: in my professional experience, when someone offers a denial no one asked for, the real question isn’t whether they’re telling the truth — it’s what they’re trying to hide.
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America's fate rests in the hands of loyal GOP hitman Brett Kavanaugh
If I asked you to name the most unpopular Supreme Court justice, you might choose the venal Clarence Thomas or the perpetually enraged Samuel Alito. In either event, you’d be wrong. Americans’ least popular member of the high tribunal is Brett “I like beer” Kavanaugh. Poll after poll has shown Kavanaugh taking the honor since his nomination in 2018.
Kavanaugh also holds the honor of being President Donald Trump's favorite justice, an accolade he earned with his dissenting opinion from the court’s February invalidation of Trump’s worldwide “reciprocal tariffs.” Kavanaugh is now poised to deliberate on pending voting rights cases and a ruling on birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. It’s frightening but indisputable: The future of American law may rest in his ideological, incompetent hands.
Kavanaugh’s initial low public standing stemmed from his snarling televised response to the testimony of psychologist Cristine Blasey Ford, who credibly accused him during his confirmation hearing of sexually assaulting her at a boozy high school party. Declaring his innocence and choking back tears, Kavanaugh described the allegations as “a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump [and] millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.” Trump quickly came to his embattled nominee’s rescue in a tweet posted hours after the hearing, calling his testimony “powerful, honest, and riveting.”
Long before Senate Republicans approved his nomination by a vote of 50-48, Kavanaugh had built a well-earned reputation as a credentialed and loyal Republican hitman, highlighted by his decision to join Ken Starr's Office of Independent Counsel in 1997 to assist in the investigations that eventually led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
Since taking his place on the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh has proven a reliable Trump flunky. But unlike Thomas and Alito, he’s also proven to be an intellectual lightweight.
While in Starr’s service, Kavanaugh penned a lurid memorandum that suggested 10 questions for prosecutors to ask Clinton about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky when he testified before a federal grand jury. Among them:
- “If Monica Lewinsky says that you ejaculated into her mouth on two occasions in the Oval Office area, would she be lying?”
- “If Monica Lewinsky says that on several occasions you had her give [you] oral sex, made her stop, and then ejaculated into the sink in the bathroom off the Oval Office, would she be lying?”
- “If Monica Lewinsky says that you masturbated into a trashcan in your secretary’s office, would she b[e] lying?”
After a brief stint in private practice, Kavanaugh joined the GOP's legal team in the run-up to the Supreme Court’s infamous Bush v. Gore decision, which handed the presidency to George W. Bush. In 2001, he was rewarded with an associate’s position in the White House counsel’s office, and two years later he was nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Senate Democrats were alarmed at the thought of an enrobed Kavanaugh, and they managed to put the nominee through two confirmation hearings. “As I look through all of the different issues that you have been involved in as an attorney in public service and the private sector, it seems that you are the Zelig or Forrest Gump of Republican politics,” the normally mild-mannered Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) remarked in 2004. “You show up at every scene of the crime. You are somehow or another deeply involved, whether it is Elian Gonzalez or the Starr Report, you are there.” In the end, the Democrats failed to stop Kavanaugh’s confirmation in 2006.
During his 12 years on the circuit court, Kavanaugh won praise from right-wing advocacy organizations for a record of overtly pro-business rulings that routinely undercut federal regulations on air quality, consumer protections, and other issues.
Since taking his place on the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh has proven a reliable Trump flunky. But unlike Thomas and Alito, he’s also proven to be an intellectual lightweight, penning few consequential majority opinions of his own and generally following the lead of Chief Justice John Roberts, with whom he voted more than 95% of the time in his first few years on the court.
Recently, however, Kavanaugh has begun to break with Roberts to more closely align with Trump—sometimes to comical effects.
Consider the interim “shadow docket” ruling issued last September, Noem v. Perdomo. The court’s decision lifted a lower-court injunction that had barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Los Angeles from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants based solely on their ethnicity, language, geographic location, and occupations. Like most shadow docket decisions, the Perdomo order was bare-bones, comprising a single paragraph that failed to explain the court’s rationale, but permitted litigation to continue in the lower courts. Kavanaugh, however, took it upon himself to write a 10-page concurrence filled with misstatements of fact and law, in which he argued without evidence that because 10% of people in the Los Angeles region are illegally present, the “totality of circumstances”—including race, location, and language—indicated a high probability that such stops would enable ICE to fulfill its important core mission.
He also added, again without evidence, that any such detentions would be basically benign, reasoning:
The Government sometimes makes brief investigative stops to check the immigration status of those who gather in locations where people are hired for day jobs; who work or appear to work in jobs such as construction, landscaping, agriculture, or car washes that often do not require paperwork and are therefore attractive to illegal immigrants; and who do not speak much if any English. If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a US citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go.
The concurrence was widely panned as authorizing violations of the Fourth Amendment’s requirements of individualized suspicion and probable cause—which soon became known as “Kavanaugh stops.” The criticism became so intense that Kavanaugh was compelled to add a footnote to his concurring opinion in the court’s December shadow docket ruling that struck down the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago (Trump v. Illinois). “The Fourth Amendment requires,” he wrote,
that immigration stops must be based on reasonable suspicion of illegal presence, stops must be brief, arrests must be based on probable cause, and officers must not employ excessive force. Moreover, the officers must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity.
The mea culpa did little to restore Kavanaugh’s jurisprudential standing or dignity. In February, his career hit a humiliating low when Chief Justice Roberts publicly rebuked him for essentially cutting and pasting the Trump administration’s arguments for tariffs into his dissenting opinion.
It’s not easy to imagine Kavanaugh sinking much lower than he already has, but one thing remains constant: Trump’s favorite Supreme Court justice has no business casting votes on the most powerful judicial body in the world.
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