Tag Archives: Barack Obama

Alternet: Trump just made a big mistake — and he has no one to blame but himself | Opinion

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The Epstein scandal is the best thing to happen to the cause of freedom and democracy in a very long time. I don’t remember the last occasion when liberals could hope to break the grip that Donald Trump has had, not only on the Republicans but on the Washington press corps. With this story, there’s finally daylight between him and his base. MAGA is facing a crisis of faith and with that, there’s hope.

Which is why I was genuinely stunned yesterday to see former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismiss the Epstein scandal as just another distraction. “Whether it’s Jeffrey Epstein or Alcatraz, it’s all off the subject of what they’re doing with this budget that’s harmful to meeting the kitchen-table needs of the American people,” she said.

MSNBC’s James Downie put it well: “The public is pissed about Epstein in no small part because he was a rich guy who got away with heinous crimes, because he deliberately cultivated rich friends,” he said. “That’s an inequality story. The only way it could be closer to ‘kitchen-table issues’ is if the files were tucked in a goddamn pocketbook!”

Aside from that, she’s missing the bigger picture. The Epstein scandal has grown so fast that Trump now risks forfeiting the one thing that made him invincible in the eyes of many – that made it possible for him to credibly claim that he could shoot someone and never lose a supporter. That one thing is him being the exception to the rule.

In this case, the except to the rule of Epstein.

Fact is, the president was intimately involved with the disgraced financier and child-sex trafficker. (You can read about their history in today’s Times.) But the MAGA faithful never believed it, or if they did, they didn’t believe Trump deserved the same level of scrutiny. Why?

Because the cult of MAGA is animated by a conspiracy theory, one that holds that Trump was sent by God to fulfill a prophecy, as a hero who saves America from a secret cabal of powerful (Jewish) pedophiles who traffic young girls for sex to untouchable elites. In MAGA lore, Epstein came to represent this shadowy, malevolent confederacy. The idea was that Trump would get reelected in 2024 and bring them all to justice.

So even if there was concern about old pictures and videos of Trump palling around with Epstein, Trump couldn’t be that bad, because QAnon – the conspiracy theory’s name – said that Trump was MAGA’s champion. Enemies like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and George Soros were guilty and deserving of death, but Trump? He was the exception to that rule, the exception that would make America great again.

As long as MAGA believed in him as their savior, there was little he could do to lose their trust. He could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue. He could lead a paramilitary takeover of the US government. He could literally betray some supporters with the understanding that their sacrifice was for the greater good of saving little girls from monsters.

But then Trump made a mistake. He took MAGA’s faith for granted. He and US Attorney General Pam Bondi believed they would go wherever he told them to, even if the US Department of Justice concluded that there was no list of Epstein clients and there was no blackmail ring. They pulled back the curtain to reveal that Trump is not only a mere man, but a con man. And if MAGA believed him, well, that’s on them.

Up to that point, it really didn’t matter how much reporting there was about the actual relationship between Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, because MAGA could explain away those facts as part of the QAnon prophecy. The (Jewish) media is part of the evil conspiracy against America, so naturally they are going to try to bring its savior down. Now that Trump has triggered a crisis of faith, things are different.

You can see the difference in Trump’s reaction to the latest by the Wall Street Journal. It reported Thursday that he gave Epstein a “bawdy” note on his 50th birthday in which he drew the outline of a naked woman. He signed his name at the bottom as if the signature were her public hair. He included imaginary dialogue in which Trump says, “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.” Trump concluded with saying: “Happy birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

If you’re willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, which is what MAGA has been doing for the last decade, there’s nothing to see here. But if you’re unwilling – if, in fact, you feel betrayed by a leader who said he’d reveal the secrets of America’s enemies but instead chose to protect those secrets – this might look like what it seems to be: Two grown men joking about their fondness for sex with underage girls.

It used to be that Trump could gut it out knowing that the rightwing media apparatus was behind him all the way. They could altogether shout down legitimate mainstream reporting. But the rightwing media apparatus – which includes men like Steven Bannon, Tim Pool, Tucker Carlson and Benny Johnson – made itself as powerful as it is by advancing Trump, in one way or another, as the leader of the cult of MAGA. In their view, he was never supposed to put himself in league with the Jewish conspiracy, yet that’s what he did, and now that he’s done so, these rightwing media personalities can’t accept it.

Therefore, Trump is in a position he has never been in. He must earn back trust from the MAGA faithful, trust that he used to safely assume was his. That’s why he ordered the attorney general to seek the release of grand jury testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein case. But in doing so, he opened space for more questions by the press corps, more demands by the rightwing media personalities, and more opportunities for his most loyal supporters to second-guess the purity of his intentions.

That’s not a distraction. That’s the whole ball game. Fortunately, many Democrats are taking advantage of it. They’re calling for the release of more documents, raising awareness of Trump’s hypocrisy and in general, they’re sewing doubt by hyping the idea that he’s hiding something. Nothing else has cracked Teflon Trump, but this might.

Pelosi ought to know better.

https://www.alternet.org/alternet-exclusives/trump-maga-epstein-2673383670

Law & Crime: ‘Violates the First Amendment’: Judge bars Trump admin from imposing sanctions on US human rights advocates who work for international court

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A federal judge in Maine on Friday barred the Trump administration from enforcing sanctions on two U.S. citizens and human rights advocates who work with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On April 11, Matthew Smith and Akila Radhakrishnan, a human rights nonprofit leader and lawyer, respectively, filed a 39-page lawsuit against President Donald Trump and several other members of his administration over an executive order that imposes sanctions on the ICC, prohibits certain interactions with designated ICC officials, and threatens both civil and criminal penalties for any such violations.

The lawsuit was premised on the idea that the sanctions “violate their First Amendment rights, and those of others like them, by prohibiting their constitutionally protected speech.” The plaintiffs, in late April, requested a preliminary injunction barring the government “from imposing civil or criminal penalties on them” for “provision of speech-based services” to the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP).

Now, U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen, a Barack Obama appointee, has granted that requested relief in a 16-page order.

“[T]he Executive Order appears to burden substantially more speech than necessary,” the judge wrote. “Accordingly, the Plaintiffs have established likely success on the merits of their First Amendment challenge.”

The government argued Trump’s order advanced a “compelling” and “important” interest in “protecting the personnel of the United States and its allies from investigation, arrest, detention, and prosecution by the ICC without the consent of the United States or its allies.”

The judge, however, found the executive order too broadly written and mused that it “appears to restrict substantially more speech than necessary to further that end.”

In Executive Order 14203, titled, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court,” the 45th and 47th president said he was motivated by the ICC’s “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and [its] close ally Israel.”

The court takes stock of the president’s cited justification for issuing the sanctions, at length:

The Executive Order condemns the ICC’s investigations of U.S. and Israeli personnel and its issuance of arrest warrants for Israel’s current Prime Minister and former Minister of Defense. The Executive Order, emphasizing that neither the U.S. nor Israel is a party to the ICC’s founding treaty, asserts that the ICC’s conduct “threatens to infringe upon” U.S. sovereignty and “undermin[es]” the “critical national security and foreign policy work” of the United States, Israel, and other U.S. allies

But, the court notes, the plaintiffs’ work has nothing to do with the United States or Israel. Rather, the court explains, Smith’s work has focused on “the OTP’s investigation and prosecution of atrocity crimes against the ethnic minority Rohingya people in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.” And Radhakrishnan’s work has focused on “matters involving sexual and gender-based violence, particularly in Afghanistan.”

The judge then applies the executive order as written to the facts alleged by the plaintiff’s about their work for the ICC’s OTP.

“The Executive Order broadly prohibits any speech-based services that benefit the Prosecutor, regardless of whether those beneficial services relate to an ICC investigation of the United States, Israel, or another U.S. ally,” the order reads. “The Government does not explain how its stated interest would be undermined—or even impacted—by the Plaintiffs’ services to the OTP related to the ICC’s ongoing work in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Afghanistan.”

Torresen goes on to say the plaintiffs’ “irreparable injury is presumed” due to the nature of a First Amendment claim. Here, the judge is essentially saying a violation of the free speech guarantee in the nation’s founding charter is a sufficient injury alone – and does not need to be extensively analyzed.

Notably, while the court notes the plaintiffs alleged Trump’s order “violates the First Amendment” and was in excess of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the court did not reach the IEEPA claim.

Finally, the judge balanced the equities – pitting the plaintiffs’ First Amendment injury against the defendant’s interest in “national security and foreign policy interests.” Again, the human rights advocates came out on top.

“I find the Government’s argument unpersuasive,” Torresen intones. “First, the Government has at least implied that injunctive relief is unnecessary because it does not intend to enforce the Executive Order against the Plaintiffs at all. It is hard to square that position with the Government’s assertion that an injunction would impede national security and foreign policy interests.”

In other words, the court says the government is trying to have things both ways by insisting they would never target the plaintiffs while also arguing an order barring them from going after the plaintiffs would be detrimental.

The court then returns to the factual record of the executive order’s stated goals and the plaintiff’s actual human rights work.

“Second, even putting that inconsistency aside, I find the Government’s argument unpersuasive for the same reasons that I find Section 3(a) fails intermediate scrutiny,” the order goes on. “The Government does not explain how the Plaintiffs’ continued services to the Prosecutor concerning atrocities in Bangladesh, Myanmar, or Afghanistan would impede national security and foreign policy interests concerning the United States and Israel.”

The court, in the end, barred the government from sanctioning the plaintiffs for their work with the ICC’s OTP.

“The Government is hereby enjoined from imposing civil or criminal penalties on the Plaintiffs under Executive Order 14203,” the order concludes.

Judge bars Trump admin from imposing sanctions on US human rights advocates
“The Executive Order broadly prohibits any speech-based services that benefit the Prosecutor, regardless of whether those beneficial services relate to an ICC investigation of the United States.”
‘Violates the First Amendment’: Judge bars Trump admin from imposing sanctions on US human rights advocates who work for International Criminal Court

New York Times: ‘Egregious.’ ‘Brazen.’ ‘Lawless. ’How 48 JudgesDescribe Trump’s Actions, In Their Own Words

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Many Americans in positions of power, including corporate executives and members of Congress, seem too afraid of President Trump to stand up to his anti-democratic behavior. Federal judges have shown themselves to be exceptions. “Judges from across the ideological spectrum are ruling against administration policies at remarkable rates,” said Adam Bonica, a political scientist at Stanford University.

These rulings have halted Mr. Trump’s vengeful attempts to destroy law firms, forestalled some of his budget cuts and kept him from deporting additional immigrants. Yes, the Supreme Court has often been more deferential to the president. Still, it has let stand many lower-court rulings and has itself constrained Mr. Trump in some cases.

The bipartisan alarm from federal judges offers a roadmap for others to respond to Mr. Trump’s often illegal behavior. His actions deserve to be called out in plain language for what they really are. And people in positions of influence should do what they can to stand up for American values, as many judges have done.

Here, we’ve compiled quotations from judges’ recent rulings and bench comments.

…

J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals

Appointed by Ronald Reagan

On the refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador:

“This is a path of perfect lawlessness, one that courts cannot condone.”

Leonie M. Brinkema, Eastern District of Virginia

Appointed by Bill Clinton

On an ICE official’s inconsistent affidavit:

“This is a terrible, terrible affidavit. If this were before me in a criminal case and you were asking to get a warrant issued on this, I’d throw you out of my chambers.”

James E. Boasberg, District of Columbia District

Appointed by Barack Obama

On a judge’s order blocking deportations:

“In an egregious case of cherry-picking, defendants selectively quote only a fragment of the court’s response here to mischaracterize its position.”

Click on the links below to read what the other 45 judges had to say regarding King Donald’s legal prowess:

Opinion | ‘Egregious.’ ‘Brazen.’ ‘Lawless.’ How 48 Judges Describe Trump’s Actions, in Their Own Words
Dozens of judges, appointed by presidents of both parties, have stood up to the administration’s lawlessness.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/07/12/opinion/editorials/federal-judges-quotes-trump-administration.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V08.A1qs.Bu0IZMlwJ46a&smid=url-share

Raw Story: Travesty’: Ex-presidents issue rare rebuke of Trump as major agency axed

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Obama:

A pair of former U.S. presidents issued a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump on Monday in a farewell meeting to former employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Former president Barack Obama called Trump’s decision to shutter the agency “a travesty.” He also credited the agency with both saving lives and creating economic growth across the globe.

Bush:

Former president George W. Bush chided Trump for gutting a program within USAID known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which he credited with saving 25 million lives across the world.

“You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work — and that is your good heart,’’ Bush said in a pre-recorded message. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.”

Our resident fascist:

Trump has raged against USAID since the day he took office for his second term. One of the first executive orders Trump signed described U.S. foreign aid offices as being “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.”

He then sent Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to investigate USAID’s spending and recommend ways to reduce the agency’s financial prowess. Musk described USAID as “a criminal organization” and “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”

And one of the fascist’s royal suck-ups:

The pressure had its intended impact. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who previously described USAID as an agency with “amazing achievements,” swiftly recommended cutting 83% of programs under the agency’s umbrella.

Travesty’: Ex-presidents issue rare rebuke of Trump as major agency axed

https://www.rawstory.com/usaid-2672503313

Law & Crime: ‘Rightfully done and justly suffered’: Judge swats down Jan. 6 defendant’s restitution and fine return request

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A pardoned Jan. 6 defendant and former U.S. Marine who sought to recover fines and restitution he paid after his Capitol riot conviction got swatted down Friday by a federal judge, who reminded him that a pardon does not make one’s conviction or the exaction of monetary penalties “erroneous”  — meaning no refunds.

“As the Supreme Court explained in Knote … once a conviction has been ‘established by judicial proceedings,’ any penalties imposed are ‘presumed to have been rightfully done and justly suffered,’ regardless of whether the defendant later receives a pardon,” wrote U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in a nine-page order for defendant Hector Vargas Santos, 29, of Jersey City, New Jersey.

Suck it up, Bubba!

‘Not refundable’: Judge swats down Jan. 6 defendant’s restitution and fine return request
A pardoned Jan. 6 defendant and former U.S. Marine who sought to recover fines and restitution he paid after his Capitol riot conviction got swatted down Friday by a federal judge.
‘Not refundable’: Judge swats down Jan. 6 defendant’s restitution and fine return request, reminds him that pardon does not make one’s conviction or exaction ‘erroneous’

Huffington Post: Trump’s Immigration Arrests Are Seeing A Wave Of Resistance

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Recent weeks have seen the Trump administration’s “mass deportation” program kick into overdrive. 

Militarized federal agents are working hard to meet the White House’s sky-high arrest quotas, and the number of people in immigration detention is surging past record highs. That means focusing even more on otherwise law-abiding people who happen to have irregular immigration statuses ― people who pay taxes, show up to court dates and check-ins, work hard to provide for their families, and followed previous administrations’ rules to apply for humanitarian protections. It also means interrogating people at swap meets, and underground parties, or those who just have brown skin. 

The nation disapproves, polling shows. Massive protests around the country ― in both large urban areas and small towns ― have showcased Americans’ fury at having their loved ones and neighbors ripped out of their communities at random. 

Across the country, people are also taking action to slow down what they see as the egregious over-enforcement of immigration law, attempting to starve Trump’s mass deportation machine of fuel and to throw sand in its gears.

…

But activists and community organizers have worked for generations to slow down deportations ― and, as it turns out, Trump’s deportation agenda relies upon some crucial choke points. Here they are.

…

One key opportunity for bystanders to intervene in the deportation process comes during the actual moments where immigration agents may be making an arrest.

Take the case of Bishop-elect Michael Pham, Pope Leo XIV’s first bishop appointment in the United States. On World Refugee Day last week, Pham and other faith leaders visited an immigration court. The ICE agents who in recent weeks have been arresting immigrants showing up to routine hearings in the building “scattered” and did not take anyone into custody, Times of San Diego reported.

In Chicago, two National Guard soldiers appeared in uniform with their mother at her immigration appointment, alongside two members of Congress. The soldiers’ mother returned home without incident. 

Not everyone has the star power to discourage detentions by their mere presence. But at courthouses and ICE check-ins where Trump has taken advantage of a legal maneuver known as “expedited removal” to arrest and deport people without due process, volunteers accompanying immigrants can document arrests and sometimes provide informal legal information to people who might not know about ICE’stactics.

…

Spreading information about people’s legal rights during interactions with law enforcement, known as “know your rights” information, has also grown enormously popular.

…

Getting Everyone Legal Representation: The data is clear. Legal representation is associated withbetter outcomes in immigration court. 

That’s because the deck is stacked against people in the immigration legal system. Unlike in criminal court, people in the immigration process are not guaranteed free legal representation if they can’t afford it, even if they’re detained behind bars.

…

Opposing Local Cooperation With The Feds: Even though immigration enforcement is a federal job, local cooperation is a crucial part of the operation.

…

Fighting Trump’s Massive DHS Budget Increase 

You Can Actually Help Kneecap Trump’s ‘Mass Deportation’ Arrests. Here’s How.
The mass deportation agenda relies upon some key choke points.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-mass-deportation-resistance-choke-points_n_685d882fe4b01b4b31df992f

Law & Crime: ‘Not free to do as it pleases’: Judge says Trump admin lacks authority to unilaterally shutter Job Corps

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A federal judge in Manhattan has halted the Trump administration’s effort to shutter the Job Corps training program — the nation’s largest residential career training program for thousands of low-income youth — while litigation on the matter continues.

U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter of the Southern District of New York on Wednesday extended his temporary restraining order (TRO) by granting a request for a preliminary injunction in the case, reasoning that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) unilateral closing of the program created and authorized by Congress violated federal law.

‘Not free to do as it pleases’: Judge says Trump admin lacks authority to shutter Job Corps
A federal judge has halted the Trump administration’s effort to shutter the Job Corps training program nationwide while litigation on the matter continues.
‘Not free to do as it pleases’: Judge says Trump admin lacks authority to unilaterally shutter ‘lifeline’ youth job training program

Daily Express: CNN airs breaking news in huge blow to Donald Trump following Iran airstrike

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CNN has been providing updates on the situation in Iran following Donald Trump’s decision to strike the country’s nuclear facilities.

CNN aired a breaking news segment featuring a guest exclaiming, “this is huge” in response to Donald Trump’s strike on Iran.

On the program, United States Representative Thomas Massie predicted Republicans will lose their majorities due to the President’s impulsive leadership.

Anchor Manu Raju introduced Massie, who advised Trump to “go back and look at the first Iraq war,” highlighting that the President at the time engaged in debate and voting with his government before any significant military action. He cited additional instances, such as Barack Obama’s 2013 desire to intervene in Syria, which Congress rejected, resulting in no action. It comes as new dementia fears were raised about Trump after viewers spotted a mysterious clue in his suit.

CNN airs breaking news in huge blow to Donald Trump following Iran airstrike
CNN has been providing updates on the situation in Iran following Donald Trump’s decision to strike the country’s nuclear facilities.

https://www.the-express.com/entertainment/tv/175645/cnn-donald-trump-iran-airstrike

Esquire: Anti-government Lunatics Used to Be on the Fringe. Trump Has Allowed Them to Operate in the Open.

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Pennsylvania police stopped one of these crazies from harming ‘No Kings’ protesters. But the wildness persists.

But because I had been reading and studying a lot about the militia movement, especially in the West and South, even before Tim McVeigh blew up the Murrah Federal Building—thanks there to the indefatigable David Neiwert, who has been on that beat for longer than most people—I knew that the wildness predated Obama’s rise to the presidency, that it was fed by lunatic conspiratorial beliefs and a fringe form of American Protestantism that had taken to guns and the woods at the same time.

In retrospect, what I sensed in 2012 was that this vague wildness was beginning to gain focus. It needed a target and, in the long view, Obama really was only a temp worker. The wildness was beginning to organize itself, and its target was the entire democratic-republican governmental system.

Now we have hundreds of these individual warriors floating around. The president pardoned a couple regiments of these people who attacked the U.S. Capitol. They have friends at court now. They have too many allies in the state and federal legislatures despite all the public mewling about “political violence” that is all the rage today. The wildness has taken on human form. It now has a coherent shape. We can see it plain. We can see it through the Kevlar.

Anti-government Lunatics Used to Be on the Fringe. Trump Has Allowed Them to Operate in the Open.
Pennsylvania police stopped one of these crazies from harming ‘No Kings’ protesters. But the wildness persists.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65102966/pennsylvania-police-stop-no-kings-protest-bomber

Also here:

Anti-government Lunatics Used to Be on the Fringe. Trump Has Allowed Them to Operate in the Open.
Pennsylvania police stopped one of these crazies from harming ‘No Kings’ protesters. But the wildness persists.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/anti-government-lunatics-used-to-be-on-the-fringe-trump-has-allowed-them-to-operate-in-the-open/ar-AA1GYcF3

Mirror: Trump removes Martin Luther King bust from White House in latest disrespectful move

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Donald Trump has removed Dr Martin Luther King’s bust from the oval office as the president continues to host a right wing “activist” who labelled the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a “huge mistake”.

The tribute to the iconic “I have a dream” speech maker that sat front and centre during Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s presidencies has been re-shuffled to Trump’s private dining room, according to Black Press USA. It comes after the controversy over the unseen MLK files.

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-martin-luther-king-1212605