President Donald Trump announced over the summer that he wouldn't touch any of the historic White House in the construction of his massive gold ballroom. The New York Times reported, citing a senior administration official, that not only has it been proven not to be true, but the project is "far more extensive than he initially let on."
“It’ll be views of the Washington Monument. It won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it,” the president said. “And pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”
As it turns out, it's cheaper to completely "demolish the East Wing to construct the ballroom, rather than build an addition," the official explained.
They also intend to add security features.
Trump claimed that he was paying for the project himself; however, he has held events with big donors and corporate sponsors who are contributing millions of their own money to the project.
Trump has demanded that the Justice Department issue him $230 million in personal restitution for the investigations into him or his campaign. The gold ballroom project is estimated to cost $250 million.
Indiana Republican leadership has descended into mudslinging at each other over frustration at getting the votes to pass President Donald Trump's election-rigging scheme to eliminate two Democratic districts in the state.
On Wednesday, Politico reported that the state Senate President Pro Tempore, Rodric Bray, believes that chamber still doesn't have the votes to do a mid-decade gerrymander as was done in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, with a number of Republican lawmakers resisting pressure from Trump as well as party leaders. A spokeswoman for Bray said, “The votes aren’t there for redistricting.”
The entire state's GOP congressional delegation has endorsed the proposal, as well as Gov. Mike Braun, and Trump has sent Vice President JD Vance to the state multiple times to lobby for them to move ahead.
In response to the news, allies of Trump in the state are pushing back, insisting they can, in fact, get the votes. Braun's office said he “is still having positive conversations with members of the legislature and is confident the majority of Indiana statehouse Republicans will support efforts to ensure fair representation in Congress for every Hoosier.”
But one of the most heated responses came from Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, who issued a lengthy statement attacking the Republicans holding up the effort.
"The people of Indiana did not elect a Republican supermajority so our Senate could cower, compromise, or collapse at the very moment courage is required," wrote Beckwith. "The Indiana Republican-controlled Senate is failing to stand with President Trump, failing to defend the voice of Hoosier voters, and failing to deliver the 9-0 conservative map our citizens overwhelmingly expect. For years, it has been said accurately that the Indiana Senate is where conservative ideas from the House go to die. As President of the Senate, I am no longer willing to let that reputation stand unchallenged. We are not elected to fail. We are elected to show up and speak on behalf of our constituents."
"I am calling on my Republican colleagues in the Indiana Senate to find your backbone, to remember who sent you here, and to reclaim Indiana's rightful voice in Congress by drawing a 9-0 map," Beckwith thundered.
President Donald Trump announced he was providing emergency funding to states where he won presidential contests.
In a series of posts on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said that he had spoken to the governors of Missouri, Nebraska, and Alaska.
"I just spoke with Governor Mike Kehoe, of the Great State of Missouri, and told him that I am approving $2.5 Million Dollars in individual assistance after severe storms, high winds, large hail, flash flooding, and tornadoes, which occurred earlier this year," Trump wrote. "I won 'The Show Me State' three times in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and it is my Honor to deliver for these incredible Patriots!"
In another post, the president said he would never let Alaska down because he "won BIG" in three of the state's elections.
"I just informed Governor Mike Dunleavy that, based on his request, I am approving $25 Million Dollars to help Alaska recover from the major typhoon they experienced earlier this month. It is my Honor to deliver for the Great State of Alaska, which I won BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024 — ALASKA, I WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!" Trump insisted.
The president also noted that he approved $15 million for Nebraska's storm recovery efforts.
Economist Paul Krugman says U.S. consumer sentiment is much weaker than it was pre-COVID, “in fact comparable to its level at the depths of the 2008-2009 financial crisis.”
“While there have been no mass layoffs so far, people who have lost their jobs or are just entering the work force are finding it very hard to get new jobs,” said Krugman, describing a “K-shaped” economy with affluent people becoming more wealthy and the less well-off “under severe pressure,” as indicated by the rise in car loan and credit card delinquencies and grocery shoppers buying cheaper food. Meanwhile, the top 10 percent of Americans now account for nearly half of all consumer spending.
The rate at which businesses are hiring is currently “not far above its level during the 2008-2009 financial crisis,” Krugman said, although the Trump administration hasn’t released the latest figures.
Surveys conducted by the Conference Board tend to skew optimistic, with nearly half of respondents saying in late 2019 — on the eve of the pandemic — that jobs were plentiful. But the latest Conference Board survey had only 26 percent of respondents saying jobs were “plentiful.”
“And they’re right,” said Krugman. “Overall unemployment hasn’t risen that much, but the number of long-term unemployed — would-be workers who have been jobless for more than 6 months — had soared as of August, and has probably continued to rise since then.”
Another important indicator of a troubled labor market is Black unemployment, which is a reliable Geiger counter for what to expect in the greater economy later, said Krugman.
“After all these years, Black workers still tend to be ‘last hired, first fired.’ And while the overall unemployment rate hasn’t risen much so far, the Black unemployment rate has soared, presumably because Black workers are finding it especially hard to find jobs in this frozen economy,” Krugman said.
And even as the U.S. stock market cranks along, Krugman urged Americans not to be fooled.
“Investors seem to have decided that the wonders of AI matter more than Trump’s tariff madness, so we’re seeing a stock market surge dominated by technology companies,” said Krugman, adding that the AI boom “is troublingly reminiscent of the 90s tech bubble.”
“JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon suggested parallels between bad lending in the private credit market and the bad subprime lending that brought on the 2008 crisis,” said Krugman. “To quote Dimon: ‘I probably shouldn’t say this, but when you see one cockroach, there are probably more.’”
But aside from the question of whether this is a bubble, Krugman said it’s important to “be aware that the top 10 percent of households own 87 percent of equities, while the bottom half own almost no stock at all and gain nothing from a rising market.”
A defecting Democrat was called out by his own party on Wednesday, with a leading Democrat telling CNN, "I certainly disagree."
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), the House Minority Whip, responded to anchor Brianna Keilar's questions about the government shutdown and pushed back on Sen. John Fetterman's (D-PA) remarks.
"I don't care if it's Republicans doing that or my own party doing those things. I think that's the truth that our government must be open and we can negotiate all of these very important kinds of priorities," Fetterman told CNN on earlier in the day.
Keilar asked Clark if she agreed with Fetterman.
"Fetterman said he's fighting for both the 2 million Pennsylvanians who are on [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program], and also the 420,000 Pennsylvanians who are receiving the [Affordable Care Act] subsidies that you all are demanding an extension to. And he says it's fundamentally wrong to shut the government down, which is something Democrats have argued in the past when Republicans are doing it. At this point in time, because of this budget, we hear you, we hear Democrats saying it's different. It's not fundamentally wrong. Explain that. I mean, why? And why do you think that John Fetterman has it wrong here?"
Clark said there was a difference between this shutdown with the current Trump administration compared to others she has served under, or any in recent history.
"We have a president who, from the moment he took office, has been using the budget, which it is federal law, and under the Constitution, that we here in Congress set the budget as his private slush fund," Clark said. "He takes it from programs he doesn't like, and he gives it to programs he does like. We've watched this very recently in the Department of Education, where he has decimated special education funding in this country, something that many, many parents and schools deserve and need in order to provide for all of our students. He has done this over and over again. And so at each point in this budget process, we have said, 'You have to abide by the law. You have to respect that we are voted and elected to represent people,' and that when Congress sets budgets, setting the levels for SNAP, for our veterans benefits, for health care in this country, that is something that you should abide by. Not only does he not do that, he uses his bully pulpit to take more from the senator."
She described how the current stalemate is not like the past.
"I believe that we are in a situation here where Senator Fetterman sees no difference in how this administration is approaching this budget, and acting lawfully and constitutionally, and putting the needs of the American people first and any other administration. I certainly disagree with him about that, because what we're seeing here is a Speaker [Mike] Johnson in the House, when we said we cannot — we you know, we have opposed this budget at every single point. But let's not shut down government. Let's come together and talk about this,'" Clark said.
Johnson hasn't had the same response, she added.
"His response he has shut down the House. He has shut down the House and said, 'I simply don't care. I don't care what happens to federal workers. I don't care what happens to these snap programs. I don't care what happens to people's health care,'" she added.
"And so the idea that somehow when they control the House, the Senate, and the White House, that this is on Democrats is really a preposterous one to me. And they have you have seen them try to cover for their inexcusable strategy of taking healthcare funding, of taking food programs away from our kids and our seniors in order to fund tax cuts. That is the strategy. That is what they are doing," Clark said.
"And the fact that they are inflicting even more pain and injecting further cruelty by threatening to not repay people who federal workers who are working without pay, it just further shows the callousness on which they view working people at the same time, we have a president who, what is he talking about? He's talking about building a ballroom. Let that sink in for working people in this country," she said.
Fetterman is expected to have a potentially tough primary for breaking with his own party on key issues and frequently defending President Donald Trump.
Correspondent Andrew Buncombe tells The I Paper that our neighbors across the ocean are half-expecting a second Civil War to break out in the U.S. if tempers continue to flare.
The assassination of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk prompted many to demand an end to political violence and the rhetoric that led to it. But President Donald Trump blamed the “radical left” for the majority of political violence: “[Kirk] did not hate his opponents, he wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them, I’m sorry.”
Buncombe says British readers were already aware of violence escalating in the U.S., including an attack on Minnesota legislators and an April arson incident at the home of Pennsylvania’s Gov. Josh Shapiro. Then Trump seized on Kirk’s killing to justify sending troops into cities such as Chicago, Portland, and threatened to invade New York.
His invasion has spurred local outcry from state governors like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who accused Trump of following a playbook to “cause chaos, create fear and confusion, make it seem like peaceful protesters are a mob by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at them … to create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act so that he can send the military to our city.”
The Insurrection Act allows Trump to call up federal troops to put down domestic rebellion or insurrection, and U.S. courts could allow Trump to paint anything he wants as an “insurrection.”
Benjamin Jensen, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, tells The i Paper that the definition for a civil war used by modern scholars is a conflict in which at least 1,000 people are killed. But what’s more likely is “something similar to the 1791 armed uprising known as the Whiskey Rebellion,” which lasted two years, with hundreds of rebels taking up arms, with casualties.
Jensen said the rebellion could take the form of “sporadic acts of violence that will not be neatly defined by right or left but that stop short of becoming formal, organized parties locked in civil conflict.”
When asked to name a circumstance in which a violent conflict might take place, Coventry University political sociology professor Joel Busher proffered Republicans refusing to step down after losing “the next election.”
“Would they accept the result and support the process of democratic transition?” asked Busher. “I hope so, but if they did not, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that decentralized networks of armed actors would seek to mete out violence against their political enemies – Democratic lawmakers, minorities identified as being somehow less ‘American’.”
“If such violence were not condemned by senior Republicans, we would be looking at a potential civil war scenario,” Busher said.
No permits or plans have been submitted for the reconstruction of the new gold ballroom at the White House, a project initiated by President Donald Trump during the government shutdown, and a stop-work order has been issued.
Designer Sarah Boardman has spent the past two days on Threads, sounding the alarm that in a normal world, the National Capital Planning Commission would be in "charge of the construction, preservation, and all plans for the White House."
Boardman pointed out, "They do not have permission yet, and this is one of the agencies that is closed due to the shutdown. They absolutely did this on purpose."
"I just looked up all the permit records for the White House. There are none for this ballroom abomination. There are no applications. And it clearly says that we own this building," Boardman wrote on Threads with screen captures of the website.
Reuters and The Guardian also picked up on it, noting that the White House announced it would submit the plans to the planning commission only after the demolition began.
"White House officials insist demolition is allowed without the commission’s approval," said The Guardian. "Will Scharf, the Trump-appointed head of the commission, who is also a White House staff secretary, said in September there was a difference between demolition and rebuilding work, and only the commission can approve new construction."
She also looked up specific permits the construction company itself has pulled for the area, and there is no permit listed under their name for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Her screen capture (below) also showed that there is a "stop work order" and "notices" on the East Wing construction.
"Trump’s decision to appoint his own loyalists to the agency is likely to exacerbate concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the ballroom renovation, which critics have described as a 'presidential vanity project,'" the Beast reported.
The designer said that asbestos remediation would likely take six months to a year, though it doesn't appear to be part of the project.
Given that it is a public and historic project involving hazardous materials, the typical timeline is four to five years, Boardman continued. This is because the project would undergo public discussion, and preparation would likely require at least two years to ensure that both the workers and materials are vetted for safety.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which The Guardian explained is "a leading historic preservation non-profit created by Congress," sent a letter to the White House saying that demolition plans are “legally required” to go through public review. The group "urged" the president to pause his teardown.
“We are deeply concerned that the massing height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself – it is 55,000 sq ft – and may also permanently disrupt carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings,” the letter says.
"Attention \u2014 There are Notices or Stop Work Orders on this Property" reads public permit website from Washington, D.C. (Photo: screen capture via Sarah Boardman)
An interior designer sounded the alarm this week about a key safety issue facing the demolition of the East Wing of the White House: asbestos.
Taking to Threads for the past two days, Sarah Boardman noted that, given the age of the structure, there likely was some asbestos involved in the construction.
The first part of the East Wing construction began in 1902, but by 1942, another massive renovation began to expand the East Wing.
It should have been top of mind to the Trump administration, as the West Wing of the White House underwent a massive remediation project of asbestos in 2019 that required top advisors to relocate to the second floor of the building while it was being done.
It wasn't until 1989 that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a ban on most products containing asbestos. A court overturned most of the ban, and only a few products have been specifically banned. That, however, includes all new uses of the substance, the EPA describes.
One reason Boardman is aware that no asbestos remediation has occurred is that the White House would have needed to obtain a permit from Washington, D.C. In fact, there haven't been any permits requested for the project.
"I just looked up all the permit records for the White House. There are none for this ballroom abomination. There are no applications. And it clearly says that we own this building," Boardman wrote on Threads with screen captures of the website.
She also looked up specific permits the construction company itself has pulled for the area, and there is no permit listed under their name for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Her screen capture (below) also showed that there is a "stop work order" or "notices" on the East Wing construction.
The National Capital Planning Commission is the agency in "charge of the construction, preservation, and all plans for the White House," Boardman pointed out. "They do not have permission yet and this is one of the agencies that is closed due to the shutdown. They absolutely did this on purpose."
"Trump’s decision to appoint his own loyalists to the agency is likely to exacerbate concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the ballroom renovation, which critics have described as a 'presidential vanity project,'" the Beast reported.
As Boardman explained in her version of a "fast timeline," the "drawings, planning, permissions, permitting" usually take "2-3 years." Whereas asbestos remediation, she said, would likely take six months to a year. Given it is a public and historic project with hazardous materials, it normally would take four to five years because the whole project would have public discussion, and preparation for it would likely take a minimum of two years to ensure the workers and materials were vetted for safety.
"The other part of this demolition at the White House is different. Parts of that building were built not just in 1814 and 1840," Boardman continued, citing the construction and repairs that began after the White House was burned on Aug. 24, 1814, by Canadians who were under the rule of the British at the time.
"Lots of renovations in the '50s, '60s and '70s which have more nefarious materials being used. We are under such strict guidelines when taking apart building like this. They are absolutely not allowed to demo a building like this in the manner that they are. In Chicago, we have to recycle all demo materials," Boardman added.
A video showing construction unfolding on Wednesday revealed that there were no individuals in protective suits, typically used for asbestos remediation. Dust and debris continue to fly into the air, and the only method being used to keep down the dust is a water hose.
"Attention — There are Notices or Stop Work Orders on this Property" reads public permit website from Washington, D.C. (Photo: screen capture via Sarah Boardman)
a live look at the demolition of the White House's East Wing for Trump's ballroom
An analyst stunned by a new detail in President Donald Trump's $230 million Department of Justice demand said Wednesday it is "hard to fathom how bad this is."
Greg Sargent, staff writer and podcast host at The New Republic, argues that Trump is turning the presidency into "a massive Bribe Delivery System" and that he's likely to get the payout from the DOJ.
"It’s hard to fathom how bad this is. Start with the claims themselves: In 2023, Trump sought damages from DOJ from the Russiainvestigation, which he’s called a 'hoax' for years. But while that probe had some serious problems, DOJ’s inspector general concluded it was legitimately predicated, and a GOP-led Senate committee, chaired by the fellow who’s now Trump’s secretary of state, confirmed in August 2020 that Russia did attempt to swing the election to Trump. Of course his campaign’s potential role in this had to be investigated," Sargent writes.
One of the people who will decide on Trump's payment demands is Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal attorney for Trump. Blanche, who is now second in command at the DOJ, also met with convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein's former partner Ghislaine Maxwell in July.
But that's not even the worst part — the payment can probably be completed without even being revealed publicly, Sargent explains.
"Regardless, for Trump to continue seeking these payments as president is even more wildly corrupt. The conflict-of-interest issues involved in Blanche making this decision are obvious. This is probably unconstitutional too," he writes.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is investigating the demand and said that the payments can be made without immediate public disclosure.
“Our reading is that, even though this is a private settlement, it doesn’t have to be disclosed anywhere until there is an accounting of where all the money has gone at the end of the year,” Raskin told The New Republic.
“The domestic emoluments clause says the president may not receive any compensation at all from the U.S. government or the states beyond his official salary,” Raskin said. “This means he cannot be ordering government officials to write checks to the president.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley on Tuesday night began a marathon speech on the floor of the Senate, which he said was intended to “ring the alarm bells” against President Donald Trump’s authoritarian ambitions.
The speech, which began at approximately 6:30 pm ET on Tuesday and was still continuing at press time, documented Trump’s unprecedented assaults on American institutions and the rule of law.
“I’ve come to the Senate floor tonight to ring the alarm bells,” Merkley (D-Ore.) said at the start of his speech. “We’re in the most perilous moment, the biggest threat to our republic since the Civil War. President Trump is shredding our Constitution.”
Among other things, Merkley pointed to the Trump administration’s attacks on the media, including threats from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to pull broadcast licenses of stations unless they stopped airing late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who for years has been a staunch Trump critic.
Merkley also noted Trump’s attempts to send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, based on completely false claims that the city is “burning down” due to rioting from Antifa operatives. He ridiculed the notion that the current protests outside of the Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility constituted an organized rebellion with an intent to overthrow the US government.
“So among the inflated costumes, and the women in doing their pajamas and pastries... and the Unipiper on the unicycle, where do you find a large, organized, armed group with a mission of overthrowing the government?” he asked rhetorically. “Not to be found!”
Merkley highlighted the threat posed by National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), a directive signed by Trump last month that mandates a “national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence,” with an exclusive focus on left-wing groups.
Merkley argued that the order was a thinly veiled effort to shut down political dissent in the US by labeling all opposition to the president as a form of “political violence.”
“It certainly appears like it’s a strategy to take folks you disagree with and label them a terrorist threat, when they may actually be no such threat at all,” he said.
Elsewhere in the speech, Merkley slammed Trump for using the Department of Justice as an instrument of revenge to go after his political opponents, including former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, all of whom have been indicted on criminal charges over the last month.
“This is an extraordinarily dangerous moment,” he said. “An authoritarian president proceeding to attack free speech, attack free press, weaponize the Department of Justice, and use it against those who disagree with him, and then seeking the court’s permission to send the military into our cities to attack people who are peacefully protesting.”
At press time, Merkley has been speaking for more than 16 consecutive hours. Earlier this year, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) held the Senate floor for a record 25 hours in a speech that similarly warned about Trump’s authoritarian takeover of the US government.
Republicans in North Carolina have passed a new congressional map that eliminates the one genuinely competitive district in the state and makes it likely the GOP will gain an extra seat in next year’s midterm elections.
As reported by local news station WRAL, the new map passed on a party-line vote in the North Carolina House of Representatives on Wednesday and will now become law, as Democratic North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein is not allowed under state law to veto redistricting legislation.
The North Carolina Democratic Party lashed out at state Republicans for ramming through the new map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“RIP to free and fair elections in North Carolina,” the party said in a social media post. “Republicans just passed rigged maps to keep power—turning our 50/50 state into an 11-3 Republican advantage at [President Donald] Trump’s request. They know they can’t win fair and square, so they rig the maps. This fight isn’t over. We’ll organize, we’ll mobilize, and we’ll take it back at the ballot box.”
US Rep. Don Davis (D-NC), whose seat is being targeted by the GOP redistricting plan, noted in a statement that voters in his district last year voted for both him and Trump, and he argued that “not a single” one of them had ever demanded “a new congressional map redrawing eastern North Carolina.”
Republicans in the Tar Heel State redrew their congressional map as part of an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting campaign being pushed by Trump to help Republicans maintain their razor-thin majority in the House next year. In addition to North Carolina, both Texas and Missouri have also heeded Trump’s call to redraw their maps to boost their party’s chances.
However, not every North Carolina Republican is on board with the scheme, as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) on Wednesday told Spectrum News' Reuben Jones that he supported having independent redistricting panels, and warned his party that their scheme could have unintended consequences.
“You need to be careful,” said Tillis, who is not seeking reelection. “North Carolina is a purple state... if you go a little bit further, you could get surprised in an election cycle, and [it will] not go your way. So just be careful what you wish for!”
As things stand now, Republicans currently have 10 of North Carolina’s 14 congressional seats, and under the new map, that is projected to increase to 11 seats.
President Donald Trump and his supporters are furious at the National Football League over the selection of Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican rap star who has criticized the administration, to perform at the upcoming halftime show. But the NFL is making clear that its decision won't be renegotiated.
According to ESPN, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell "addressed the Bad Bunny controversy at his news conference following the NFL's fall meeting. It is the first time he has commented on the move announced in late September that garnered worldwide attention, including an increase in streams of Bad Bunny's music, along with backlash."
"It's carefully thought through," Goodell told the conference. "I'm not sure we've ever selected an artist where we didn't have some blowback or criticism. It's pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching." He added of Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, "He's one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world. That's what we try to achieve. It's an important stage for us. It's an important element to the entertainment value."
Trump himself recently jumped into the controversy, telling the right-wing Newsmax network during an interview, "I don't know who he is. I don't know why they're doing it. It's, like, crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it's absolutely ridiculous."
In addition to the criticism of Trump, MAGA supporters are enraged that Bad Bunny is expected to perform the halftime show in Spanish. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) proclaimed the performer's work is "demonic" and asserted it's further proof English must be made the official language of the United States.
Meanwhile, Turning Point USA, an infamous far-right youth activist group that is still reeling from the murder of founder Charlie Kirk during a political event in September, has announced plans to put on its own "alternative" halftime show packed with performers they deem patriotic and pro-American.
President Donald Trump just "laid bare" the "absurdity" of Chief Justice John Roberts' catastrophic Supreme Court decision, according to new analysis published Wednesday.
A new Mother Jones report from reporter Pema Levy describes how Trump can make the decision to demand the Justice Department pay him $230 million of taxpayer money "because thanks to the Supreme Court’s recent decisions, the executive branch could accurately be described by King Louis XIV—L’état, c’est Trump."
That "colossal cash transfer" Trump is requesting can happen due to the high court opinions from Roberts, "in which the court has shifted the fundamental structure of American government such that federal agencies, including the Justice Department, are mere extensions of the president’s will."
The reality is that Roberts set the groundwork for Trump's latest "shakedown."
"The absurdity of Roberts’ decision was laid bare Tuesday: The president gets to pay himself hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars, because he controls all executive branch personnel and all of their decisions, and there’s probably nothing anyone can do about it," Levy writes. "It sure doesn’t feel like our democratic accountability has increased. Of course, Congress could and should pass a law prohibiting such payments, and dare the Supreme Court to strike it down—but this Congress is unlikely to do even that bare minimum in response."
Trump wants to be compensated after the investigations over Russia's involvement and interference in the 2016 election, and Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents that he took after leaving the White House the first time.
"Now that he’s back in the White House, Trump plans to make the government pay for its appropriate use of its ability to investigate and prosecute to safeguard our democracy. And he grasps the fact that he has the absolute power to do that," Levy writes.
He even admitted it.
“With the country, it’s interesting, because I’m the one that makes the decision,” Trump said Tuesday in the Oval Office, following questions about the payments he requested.
“That decision would have to go across my desk. And it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself,” Trump said.
Roberts has claimed to be increasing democratic accountability in his opinions.
"But at this point, we can all see the mess he’s created. A man who takes from the voters to line his pockets is not feeling all that accountable to anyone," Levy writes.
"Attention \u2014 There are Notices or Stop Work Orders on this Property" reads public permit website from Washington, D.C. (Photo: screen capture via Sarah Boardman)