Tag: donald trump

Trump’s Rule by Fiat a Bipartisan Legacy

U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest defiance of the courts — this time refusing to follow an appellate judge’s order to halt migrant deportations — has triggered another round of liberal outrage. Critics are calling it an authoritarian move, a blatant assault on the rule of law, and a warning sign that American democracy is on its last legs.

But if this is the end of democracy, it’s been ending for a long time. And not just at Trump’s hands.

The central truth we keep missing — especially on the left — is that Trump is not an aberration. He’s a grotesque continuation. The playbook he uses was written by both parties over decades of eroding democratic norms, consolidating executive power, and circumventing meaningful checks on authority. Trump didn’t invent the impulse to rule by fiat; he just brings it out into the open.

If we want to stop the next Trump, or the next expansion of executive lawlessness, we can’t keep pretending he came out of nowhere.

Consider the legal justification Trump has floated for ignoring the courts: The United States is “at war.” Therefore, he claims, wartime powers apply — even domestically, even over immigration courts. To many, this sounds like a dystopian twist. But it’s eerily familiar. Because the same logic has been used, repeatedly, by both Republican and Democratic administrations since 9/11.

Congress Granted War Powers

After the attacks on the Twin Towers, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which gave the executive branch sweeping powers to pursue terrorism around the world. That one document has served as the legal scaffolding for 20-plus years of undeclared wars and covert operations in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere.

No further congressional approval was needed. The public never had a say. The war powers clause of the Constitution became symbolic — if not obsolete.

Former President Barack Obama inherited that framework and expanded it. His administration developed the now-infamous drone kill list, justified targeted assassinations (including of U.S. citizens) and defended the government’s right to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects without trial.

Obama didn’t officially suspend habeas corpus, but in practice, he upheld a system that made the writ meaningless for hundreds of detainees held at Bagram and Guantánamo. The position of his Department of Justice was clear: The executive has the authority to detain and kill, beyond judicial oversight, because we are at war.

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Pam Bondi Aims To Revive a Moribund Legal Process for Restoring Gun Rights

Although President Donald Trump has been entrusted with control of the nation’s vast military might, including its nuclear weapons, he is not allowed to own a gun. He lost that right as a result of 34 state felony convictions involving falsification of business records. Whatever you think of the legally dubious case underlying those convictions, this situation makes no sense as a matter of public safety. It epitomizes the absurdly broad criteria that bar Americans from possessing firearms under federal law.

Attorney General Pam Bondi recently took an important step toward addressing the unjust, constitutionally dubious burdens imposed by that policy. An interim final rule that took effect last week aims to revive the moribund legal process for restoring the Second Amendment rights of “prohibited persons” who pose no threat to public safety. The rule rescinds the delegation of that process to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), which Congress has long prohibited from accepting applications for relief.

“For decades, law-abiding Americans who have had their gun rights unfairly restricted have been left in legal limbo—creating an unconstitutional de facto lifetime gun ban,” says Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America. “This bureaucratic failure has denied thousands of individuals their lawful opportunity to restore their rights. The [Justice Department’s] decision to finally withdraw ATF’s authority in this matter is an encouraging sign that this administration is serious about protecting the Second Amendment for all Americans.” 

Under 18 USC 922(g), prohibited persons include anyone who has been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year of incarceration, regardless of the sentence that was actually imposed, whether or not the offense involved violence, and no matter how long ago it happened. This is the provision that forced Trump to give up his guns, even though his offenses were nonviolent and did not result in any formal punishment. The law also prohibits gun possession by anyone who has ever been subjected to involuntary psychiatric treatment, even if he was never deemed a threat to others.

Anyone who defies these bans is committing a federal felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. He could face additional penalties for lying on the federal form that must be completed to buy a gun from a federally licensed dealer, which can be construed as two distinct felonies under 18 USC 922(a)(6) and 18 USC 924 (a)(1)(A), and for “trafficking in firearms,” which Congress has counterintuitively defined to include prohibited persons who obtain guns. All told, a prohibited person who dares to exercise his Second Amendment rights could face combined maximum sentences of nearly half a century.

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Trump White House might flip the script on tax cuts for the rich

The Trump administration is discussing a surprising option to help fulfill his campaign-trail promises: Allowing the richest Americans’ tax rates to rise in return for cutting taxes on tips, a senior White House official tells Axios.

The big picture: Some White House officials believe letting income taxes on the very highest earners rise would buy breathing room on other priorities, and help blunt Democrats’ attacks as they seek to extend President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.

  • Officials say all discussions are preliminary and nothing is set in stone.

By the numbers: Currently the top income tax rate is 37%, charged on income above $609,351 for an individual or $731,201 for a married couple.

  • If the 2017 law were allowed to expire, that would jump to the pre-2018 rate of 39.6%, and lower the threshold above which the top rate applies.
  • Around 1% of taxpayers are in that top bracket, though they pay a disproportionate share of income taxes.
  • Under the budget reconciliation rules that Republicans seek to use to extend the tax cuts, that would free up more revenue that could be used to fulfill some of Trump’s populist promises, such as eliminating taxes on tips.

Zoom out: It would aim to flip the script on Democrats, whose messaging focuses on Republicans potentially slashing Medicaid and enlarging the deficit in order to fund tax cuts for the super-rich.

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Trump White House Says Marijuana Decriminalization ‘Opened The Door To Disorder’ In Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump’s White House says the move to decriminalize marijuana in Washington, D.C. is an example of a “failed” policy that “opened the door to disorder.”

In a fact sheet about an executive order that Trump signed on Friday—which is broadly aimed at beautifying the District and making it more safe—the White House listed several local policies in the nation’s capital that it takes issue with, including cannabis reform. That’s despite the president’s previously stated support for a states’ rights approach to marijuana laws.

“D.C.’s failed policies opened the door to disorder—and criminals noticed,” it says, citing “marijuana decriminalization,” as well as the District’s decision to end pre-trial detentions and enforcement practices around rioters, as examples of such policies.

The executive order itself doesn’t mention marijuana specifically. But it says the directive will involve “deploying a more robust Federal law enforcement presence and coordinating with local law enforcement to facilitate the deployment of a more robust local law enforcement presence as appropriate in areas in or about” D.C., and that includes addressing “drug possession, sale, and use.”

With respect to the fact sheet circulated by the White House, cannabis possession and personal cultivation is legalized in D.C. under a voter-approved ballot initiative, though commercial sales of non-medical marijuana remain illegal (a policy referred to by some as “decriminalization”).

Because of a long-standing congressional rider that’s been annually renewed since that vote, the District hasn’t been able to use local funds to implement a system of regulated recreational cannabis sales, so officials have taken steps to expand the city’s existing medical marijuana program as a workaround.

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Iran Responds To Trump Offer They Can’t Refuse

According to Al-Mayadeen and other informed sources, the Iranian response consists mainly of the following points, reports @Middle_East_Spectator.

1. Iran reaffirms that it will not negotiate directly with the United States, especially under the policy of maximum pressure, and it rejects the American approach categorically.

2. Iran states that it does not negotiate on behalf of any regional power, and that Iran does not dictate the foreign policy of other nations or groups, including Yemen’s Ansarallah, which is an independent ally.

3. Iran states that it will not accept Trump’s ‘unrealistic conditions’, and that the U.S. demands were so extensive that they cannot be entertained even hypothetically. 

4. Iran warns unequivocally that any military or hostile action, whether by the United States or any of its ‘stooges’, will be met with an Iranian response that will encompass all U.S. military assets in the Middle East.

Yesterday, CDM interviewed Ali Safavi from their camp in Albania , with the National Council of Resistance in Iran, on how to take down the regime from the inside, rather via a regional war that could spin out of control.

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From JFK to Donald Trump: How the USA Became Wedded to Zionist Israel

There are many contrasts between the 35th president, John F. Kennedy, and the 45th and 47th president, Donald J. Trump. One extreme example is regarding U.S. policy toward Israel.

JFK and Israel/Palestine

Unknown to many people today, JFK supported Palestinian rights and sought a sustainable peace in the region.

In 1960, when JFK was campaigning to be president, he spoke at the convention of the Zionists of America. In his speech, Kennedy was complimentary about Israel but frankly said, “I cannot believe that Israel has any real desire to remain indefinitely a garrison state surrounded by fear and hate.” That warning, issued when Israel had only existed for 12 years, was ignored.  

Kennedy did not just issue warnings. To the chagrin of the Israelis, JFK established friendly relations with Egypt’s President Nasser. The Kennedy administration provided loans and aid to Egypt.

The JFK administration supported UN resolution 194 which called for the right of return for Palestinian refugees driven out of their homeland. Although Israel committed to abide by UN resolutions when it was admitted to the United Nations in 1949, the Israelis reneged on this commitment and were hostile to the resolution. The day before JFK was assassinated, the New York Times reported (p 19), “Israel Dissents as U.N. Group Backs U.S. on Arab Refugees” and “U.S. Stand Angers Israel.”  The second item begins, “Premier Levi Eshkol expressed extreme distaste today for the United States’ position in the Palestinian-refugee debate.”

John Kennedy’s brother Robert was Attorney General and headed the Department of Justice. For two years, up until the end of 1963, the DOJ made increasingly strict demands that the American Zionist Council (AZC) register as agents of a foreign country. In response, the AZC stalled, delayed, and created the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

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‘We Are the Only Ones… Who Can Do This’

The so-called SignalGate scandal centered on the bombing of Yemen is highly revelatory. First, some resources. CNN has a useful annotated account of the chats exchanged at the highest levels of the Trump administration. At their respective Substacks, Lenny Broytman and Caitlin Johnstone have telling dissections of these chats as well. At Jacobin, Branko Marcetic has an important article that reminds us of the illegality of the attacks. As the article’s subheading puts it: The press [mainstream media] is mostly framing the Yemen group chat scandal as a story of incompetence. There’s little attention being paid to the deadliness, illegality, and ineffectiveness of the strikes themselves.

To me, among the most telling “chats” came from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It highlights the “exceptional” nature of America:

Pete Hegseth to Vice President JD Vance: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.

But Mike [Waltz, the National Security Adviser] is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this. Nobody else even close. Question is timing…

This is precisely the problem for America since the Vietnam War, if not before then. We’ve created a monster military, a “global strike” force, that is capable of destroying any target anywhere around the globe. “Nobody else even close,” SecDef Hegseth correctly says. And because we can do it, because we are exceptional in military force, our leaders believe we should do it, even if it’s only to send a “message” to the world how tough we are, how committed we are to killing others.

Other countries – like those “free-loading” European ones – are PATHETIC because they don’t have America’s military might. Only we can smite evildoers around the globe, only we can do so while also arming Israel to the teeth and covering its flanks while it continues its annihilation of Gaza, and this is something we are immensely proud of.

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The Hate Group Helping Trump Deport Israel’s Critics

A far-right, pro-Israel group with a history of support for terror and genocide is working closely with the Trump administration, preparing dossiers on thousands of pro-Palestine figures it wants deported from the United States.

Betar U.S. is known to have had several meetings with senior government officials and has claimed credit for the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the nationwide anti-genocide student demonstrations that began at Columbia University last year.

Ross Glick, the group’s executive director until last month, noted that he met with a diverse set of influential lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. John Fetterman and aides to Republican Senators Ted Cruz and James Lankford, and that all supported Betar U.S.’ campaign to rid the country of thousands of “terror supporters.”

Shortly after Glick’s trip to Washington, D.C., Trump signed an executive order titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism” that promises “the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws,” to “quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation” and to “investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.”

Trump himself announced that Khalil’s arrest, which made worldwide headlines, was “the first of many to come.”

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump administration will not tolerate it,” he wrote on Truth Social.

The 45th and 47th president has also stated that he plans to deport “Communists” and “Marxists” from the United States, even those who are citizens. As such, this marks an escalation in government-backed suppression of dissent not seen since the McCarthyist era of the 1940s and 1950s.

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Trump’s First Pick For Attorney General Says Marijuana Rescheduling Is ‘On The Horizon’

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)—President Donald Trump’s first pick for U.S. attorney general this term before he withdrew from consideration—says “meaningful” marijuana reform is “on the horizon” under the current administration, praising the president’s “leadership” in supporting rescheduling.

In an op-ed published by The Tampa Bay Times on Thursday, Gaetz said that moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) “won’t solve every problem overnight, but it is a necessary step in the right direction.” And he expressed confidence that Trump will bring about that reform.

The former lawmaker’s column omits mention of the fact that former President Joe Biden initiated the rescheduling review that led federal agencies to recommend the reclassification. And while it’s true that, during his 2024 campaign, Trump endorsed the policy change in a social media post, he has not publicly discussed marijuana issues since taking office.

In any case, Gaetz said today “there is meaningful change finally on the horizon, thanks to President Donald Trump and his leadership in supporting the rescheduling of cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug.”

Gaetz said he’s “always believed that marijuana laws should be rooted in science, not stigma,” citing his work to advance reform during his time in the Florida House and Congress.

However, he seemed to mischaracterize his contribution to the issue in the state legislature, claiming he introduced legislation at the time to “legalize marijuana because I understood that our outdated federal policies were failing patients, veterans and businesses.” Gaetz did sponsor a limited medical cannabis bill, but not a full-out legalization measure. In Congress, he was one of the sole GOP votes to support a Democrat-led federal legalization bill, however.

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Trump To Trans Males “You Can Never Become A Woman”

President Trump gave a stark biology lesson Wednesday as he told those gathered at the White House that trans-identified males “can never become a woman.”

“No matter how many surgeries you have or chemicals you inject, if you’re born with male DNA in every cell of your body, you can never become a woman,” Trump asserted.

“You’re not gonna become a woman,” Trump reiterated, drawing raucous cheers from the audience.

“And that’s why last month, I proudly signed a historic executive order to ban men from competing in women’s sports, and it was very popular,” he added.

The President was speaking in honour of women’s history month.

While citing American women he called “legends,” including Betsy Ross, Harriet Tubman, Susan B Anthony, Clara Barton, and Amelia Earhart, Trump also noted there are “more women in our cabinet than any Republican president in the history of our country.”

Those women include Susie Wiles, Karoline Leavitt, Alina Habba, Pam Bondi, Brooke Rollins, and Linda McMahon.

Referring to the previous regime, which now seems like a distant nightmare,Trump said “For four long years, we had an administration that tried to abolish the very concept of womanhood and replace it with radical gender ideology.”

“Maybe you heard something about that,” he continued, adding “They destroyed women’s spaces and even tried to replace the word mother with the term ‘birther person’, the mother became a ‘birther person’. What’s that all about?”

Trump further related how he had seen a Democrat Rep. on TV desperately trying to defend trans-identified males in women’s sports. 

“I said, this guy is going to lose. He’s going to lose badly,” the President noted, adding “The whole party is still into that. They haven’t learned, we don’t want him to learn, frankly, we want him to keep fighting.”

“Let’s not tell him under the Trump administration, we’re ending the Marxist war on women, and you had a war on women, and we’re protecting women’s rights, defending women’s dignity, and standing up for the American moms and daughters,” Trump urged.

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