All posts tagged "Trumpism"

At 21, Steve Vilchez is much like any other senior at Illinois State University. Studying biology teacher education, he aspires to teach high school science.

But, Vilchez has an unusual story to tell. From 2016 until the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, he was a passionate teenage Donald Trump fan.

Breaking with Trump and the Republican party he dominates was a slow and challenging process, Vilchez said, particularly since Trump surged back to power this year....

Former federal judge Michael Luttig, considered to be one of the intellectual founders of the modern conservative legal movement, has unveiled a new organization he co-founded with fellow conservative lawyers George Conway and Barbara Comstock, the Society for the Rule of Law Institute, which is intended to be a counterbalance to the Federalist Society's embrace of former President Donald Trump and what he sees as its abandonment of democratic ideals.

Speaking to MSNBC's Alicia Menendez on Tuesday, Luttig outlined the political and legal environment in which he believes this organization is needed.

"Talk to me about the damage that you believe has been done to the judicial system and to the legal profession," said Menendez....

President Joe Biden has condemned the latest series of far-right Supreme Court rulings this term — but he is not enthusiastic about the idea of legislation to expand the number of seats on the court, warning that it would be a "mistake" that would "politicize it maybe forever."

But that ship sailed long ago, argued former Congressman David Jolly (R-FL) on MSNBC Wednesday — in fact, it may be one of the only options to bring balance to the justice system.

"If [right-wing judges] have to perjure themselves, they'll get on this court and get rid of Roe v. Wade, check. Get rid of LGBTQ rights, check. They're on the way to doing that. They're rolling back the Warren Court and the 20th century," said anchor Joy Reid. "What do you make of the fact that Republicans don't seem to believe they can do that through persuasion? They don't believe their case is strong enough to make through the political process that they're deciding this court is going to do it for them?"...