Esquire: Somehow Republicans Are Defending Kristi Noem After the Forceful Removal of Senator Alex Padilla

I thought assaulting someone holding federal office was a crime. Not anymore, apparently.

So, apparently we’re bum-rushing US senators now. From The Guardian:

In video taken of the incident that has since gone viral on social media, Padilla is seen being restrained and removed from the room by Secret Service agents.“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla shouts, as he struggles to move past the men removing him from the premises. “Hands off!” he says at one point.Emerging afterward, Padilla, who is the ranking member of the judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship and border safety, said he and his colleagues had repeatedly asked DHS for more information on its “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions” but had not received a response to his inquiries.

This tinhorn governor of a state where nobody lives, this puppy-murdering hack whose political career outside of MAGA World was as dead as Custer, now gets to sic her black-shirted thugs on the senior senator of a state that she and her criminal boss and all their attendant lords have been lying about, and about which she had flown to Los Angeles to lie about some more.

Dumbass in a ballcap says what? She just admitted they’re blowing up the town to get rid of the mayor and governor. If the courts ever get their teeth back, this gaffe will figure prominently in many filings.

Meanwhile, Padilla is hauled into a backroom and driven to the floor and handcuffed.

And not for nothing, but threatening and/or assaulting the holder of any federal office is a felony and could draw you five to ten in the pokey. And these goons are pretty identifiable.

And, of course, the administration’s prevarication mill went into full operation almost instantly. From The New Republic via Yahoo:

In posts on X, the official DHS account and Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin released a statement attempting to justify wrestling Padilla to the ground and handcuffing him. “Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” the statement read.

Tricia learned to lie like this at the AEI’s Leadership Institute.

But in a video of the altercation from Padilla’s office, the senator could be heard clearly identifying himself. “Hands off! I’m Senator Alex Padilla, and I have questions for the secretary,” said the California Democrat as a security guard pushed him out of the room.

It’s clear that the goons looked at him and just saw another angry brown face. And by their reactions, Tricia and her boss are similarly afflicted.

This is also all my bollocks. Noem knows who Padilla is and, if she doesn’t, she should, and he did identify himself. Third-rate hack with a fourth-rate alibi.

And what about Speaker Moses? What did you expect?

That sanctimonious sumbitch wants Padilla censured. And he spent the afternoon hiding. If he’s a Christian, I’m an Ostrogoth.

The day was not without its burlesque, however. In a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Maxwell Frost asked Chairman James (Jughead) Comer to issue a subpoena for Noem regarding the events of the day. Comer, of course, refused, probably because Padilla was not carrying Hunter Biden’s laptop at the time. And then we were off.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65058840/senator-padilla-kristi-noem-james-comer-marjorie-taylor-greene

Washington Post: The secret police descending on Small Town, U.S.A.

Masked immigration officials are storming towns and arresting people.

Maybe they really were immigration officers, just as they claimed. Or maybe they were a ragtag vigilante group, arbitrarily snatching brown-looking people off the street.

“It could have been like a band of the Proud Boys or something,” said Linda Shafiroff, recounting the agents who showed up outside her office in masks and tactical gear and refused to show IDs, warrants or even the names of any criminals they were supposedly hunting.

As unrest and military troops overtake Los Angeles, terrifying scenes are also unfolding in smaller communities around the country. They, too, are being invaded by what resembles a secret police force, often indistinguishable from random thugs.

Shafiroff and business partner Sarah Stiner own a boutique home-design and construction firm in Great Barrington, a New England town largely populated by artists, aging hippies and affluent second-home-owners. On May 30, around 11 a.m., six armed agents showed up outside the women’s office. The agents were dressed as though they had parachuted into a war zone, rather than a small town where the crosswalks are painted in rainbows.

Maybe they really were immigration officers, just as they claimed. Or maybe they were a ragtag vigilante group, arbitrarily snatching brown-looking people off the street.

“It could have been like a band of the Proud Boys or something,” said Linda Shafiroff, recounting the agents who showed up outside her office in masks and tactical gear and refused to show IDs, warrants or even the names of any criminals they were supposedly hunting.

As unrest and military troops overtake Los Angeles, terrifying scenes are also unfolding in smaller communities around the country. They, too, are being invaded by what resembles a secret police force, often indistinguishable from random thugs.

Shafiroff and business partner Sarah Stiner own a boutique home-design and construction firm in Great Barrington, a New England town largely populated by artists, aging hippies and affluent second-home-owners. On May 30, around 11 a.m., six armed agents showed up outside the women’s office. The agents were dressed as though they had parachuted into a war zone, rather than a small town where the crosswalks are painted in rainbows.

“It could have been from Cracker Jacks,” she recalled.

The gardener did not appear to understand what these officers were asking him. Another man who had been working the landscaping project with him immediately went into the women’s design office and shut the door upon seeing the masked agents arrive. The agents didn’t try to follow him, Shafiroff said.

When the business owners repeatedly asked the agents to prove who they were, the agents said they didn’t need to show identification, and accused their interlocutors of promoting lawlessness. “You want people driving drunk in here?” one of them asked, according to a cellphone video. Shafiroff replied: “I don’t want people driving drunk. I have asked for IDs.”

The gardener was eventually put in the back of an unmarked car and driven away. Shafiroff, who described the incident as part of the new “police state,” said she has since heard through mutual acquaintances that the man is being detained in an immigration facility, perhaps near Boston. She said she had been told the worker’s family was unable to determine his whereabouts for several days. (My attempts to contact the man or his family have been unsuccessful.)

The business partners, who have received threats in the days after the incident as a result of coverage by local newspapers, had good reason to question who these cloaked agents were.

It’s easy to buy tactical gear online. And around the country, bigots and criminals have already begun taking advantage of chaotic, masked immigration raids to further their own ends. Civilians have impersonated ICE agents while committing robbery (Pennsylvania), kidnappings (FloridaSouth Carolina), sexual assault (North Carolina), and other forms of public intimidation (Washington stateCalifornia).

Some Democratic leaders have demanded that ICE agents show their faces and present identification when carrying out enforcement actions, so they can at least be differentiated from anonymous hooligans. Republican lawmakers have fiercely opposed such efforts, claiming that asking federal officials to identify themselves would put agents in “extreme danger.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump ordered the arrest of protesters simply for wearing masks. “MASKS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED to be worn at protests,” he posted on social media on Sunday. “What do these people have to hide, and why???”

This seems like a reasonable question to ask of federal law enforcement officers. America, after all, is not supposed to have a secret police force. And our country’s history of roving bands of masked men rounding up undesirables is a long, ugly one.

New York Times: Trump Declares Dubious Emergencies to Amass Power, Scholars Say

In disputes over protests, deportations and tariffs, the president has invoked statutes that may not provide him with the authority he claims.

To hear President Trump tell it, the nation is facing a rebellion in Los Angeles, an invasion by a Venezuelan gang and extraordinary foreign threats to its economy.

Citing this series of crises, he has sought to draw on emergency powers that Congress has scattered throughout the United States Code over the centuries, summoning the National Guard to Los Angeles over the objections of California’s governor, sending scores of migrants to El Salvador without the barest hint of due process and upending the global economy with steep tariffs.

Legal scholars say the president’s actions are not authorized by the statutes he has cited and are, instead, animated by a different goal.

“He is declaring utterly bogus emergencies for the sake of trying to expand his power, undermine the Constitution and destroy civil liberties,” said Ilya Somin, a libertarian professor at Antonin Scalia Law School who represents a wine importer and other businesses challenging some of Mr. Trump’s tariffs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/us/politics/trump-emergency-powers-invasion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.N08.tEO-.S_2DmAE6Yws9&smid=url-share

Washington Post: Lawsuit accuses Musk of bribing Wisconsin voters with cash prizes

A Wisconsin nonprofit organization focused on fighting for fair elections has filed a legal complaint alleging that billionaire Elon Musk illegally bribed voters by giving out cash prizes this year in his attempt to help conservatives take control of the swing state’s Supreme Court.

The complaint, provided to The Washington Post by lawyers representing the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and two Wisconsin voters, claims that Musk, his America PAC and a Musk-linked entity known as United States of America Inc. violated the state’s election law in “a brazen scheme to bribe Wisconsin citizens to vote.”

The complaint stems from actions of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO ahead of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election this spring, when he handed out $1 million checks to Wisconsin voters and when his super PAC, America PAC, paid registered voters $100 each for signing petitions and providing their contact information.

State law, the complaint notes, bars offering or giving “any amount of money over $1” to induce anyone to go to the polls, vote or vote for a particular person. The complaint also claims the actions violated the state’s prohibition on unauthorized lotteries.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the conduct broke state law and to bar Musk and the defendants from replicating such conduct in future Wisconsin elections. They are also asking the court to award damages “to the extent supported by law.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/11/lawsuit-accuses-musk-bribing-wisconsin-voters-with-cash-prizes

Also here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/lawsuit-accuses-musk-of-bribing-wisconsin-voters-with-cash-prizes/ar-AA1GvnwU

New York Times: Trump Declares Dubious Emergencies to Amass Power, Scholars Say

In disputes over protests, deportations and tariffs, the president has invoked statutes that may not provide him with the authority he claims.

To hear President Trump tell it, the nation is facing a rebellion in Los Angeles, an invasion by a Venezuelan gang and extraordinary foreign threats to its economy.

Citing this series of crises, he has sought to draw on emergency powers that Congress has scattered throughout the United States Code over the centuries, summoning the National Guard to Los Angeles over the objections of California’s governor, sending scores of migrants to El Salvador without the barest hint of due process and upending the global economy with steep tariffs.

Legal scholars say the president’s actions are not authorized by the statutes he has cited and are, instead, animated by a different goal.

“He is declaring utterly bogus emergencies for the sake of trying to expand his power, undermine the Constitution and destroy civil liberties,” said Ilya Somin, a libertarian professor at Antonin Scalia Law School who represents a wine importer and other businesses challenging some of Mr. Trump’s tariffs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/us/politics/trump-emergency-powers-invasion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.N08.tEO-.S_2DmAE6Yws9&smid=url-share

USA Today: Manufacturing down, food expensive and ICE is deporting moms. Happy now, MAGA? | Opinion

If performative cruelty is the only thing that mattered to you, things are working out great under President Trump. Otherwise, things stink.

Look at Trump’s empty promises. Cruelty is all that matters.

If you voted for President Donald Trump and hoped something good would happen to you, feel free to say: “Oops.” If you voted for him out of a thirst to see immigrants who have committed no crimes suffer and live in fear, then feel free to say: “Yes!”

Because that’s where we are at the start of June 2025. Trump’s promises of a better life for Americans are proving to be empty.

And his promise to round up “millions” of “criminals” and deport them hasn’t materialized, because the claim that there are millions of criminal immigrants in America was a lie in the first place.

Instead, the administration has resorted to grabbing immigrants at courthouses where they’re appearing for hearings – in other words, following the rules – or snatching up and deporting working moms and high school kids.

ICE isn’t just going after criminals. Moms and kids are easy targets.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official interviewed by the conservative Washington Examiner said Trump adviser Stephen Miller has been demoralizing the agency with unrealistic deportation demands: “Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’ ”

So much for going after the “bad guys.”

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old high school junior was recently arrested by ICE agents as he drove with friends to volleyball practice in Milford, Massachusetts.

A school administrator told the Boston Globe the teenager was well-known in the community and had attended Milford Public Schools since kindergarten: “It’s just horrendous. These are babies. They’re kids. I don’t care that they’re 18 – he’s just a kid.”

Communities are watching people they love get rounded up

In the small Pennsylvania town of Honesdale, ICE agents recently raided a pizzeria and detained three employees, rattling the community. Resident Connor Simon told WNEP-TV: “It’s really hard to fathom that the guy making my pizza for 25 years is a gangster and a terrorist, and the person who shows up in an unmarked car wearing a mask and body armor comes to take him away is somehow the good guy.”

And the recent ICE arrest in Kennett, Missouri, of a mother – an immigrant from Hong Kong – has led residents to denounce what happened to the longtime resident who works at a diner.

I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here,” Vanessa Cowart told The New York Times. “But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves.”

These actions by the Trump administration benefit only the most sadistic among us.

But it’s part and parcel of the harm Trump’s MAGA policies have already caused.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/06/03/trump-deportations-construction-spending-down-economy/83995322007

Raw Story: ‘Machine starting to stutter’: Ex-insider says MAGA ‘loyalists’ doubting Trump

Those closest to Donald Trump are starting to question the president, according to a former insider.

Author and former Trump associate Lev Parnas, who has reported on Trump’s purported “humiliation” by Russia’s Putin, on Sunday published an article entitled “Trump Is Tearing It All Down — But There Is Hope,” in which he explains all the harm he sees Trump doing to our nation.

“We have a president, twice impeached, now back in power, ignoring court rulings and pardoning domestic extremists — people who plotted to kidnap a sitting governor — while openly mocking the rule of law,” he said, adding, “So yes — it’s understandable to feel overwhelmed. But here’s the truth you need to hold onto.”

Parnas proudly proclaims, “In darkness, there is still hope.”

“The louder Trump gets, the more people start to whisper,” he added, before dropping some news from his MAGA sources.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-die-hard-questioning-parnas

Independent: Musk tried to block massive Trump-backed Mideast AI deal unless he was included: report

Elon Musk rushed to the Mideast to hold up a massive Trump-endorsed American AI operation in Abu Dhabi unless it included him, according to a new report

Retiring DOGE hatchet man Elon Musk rushed to the Middle East during Donald Trump’s visit there earlier this month to block a massive American AI partnership with the United Arab Emirates backed by the president – unless it included him, according to a new report. That apparently explains the tech billionaire’s sudden appearance at a Trump meeting with Saudi Arabia officials during the president’s three-country Middle East tour.

Trump’s team scrambled to soothe an irritated Musk so the president could announce the deal while he was in the Middle East, the Journal reported.

It wasn’t immediately clear if some kind of accommodation was worked out for the tech boss who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the campaigns of Trump and other Republicans, or if he is now part of the deal. He could not immediately be reached for comment. His company has not been named as a participant in the business by any announcement of the deal.

Poor F’Elon!

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/musk-trump-middle-east-ai-deal-b2759700.html

USA Today: Michigan Gov. Whitmer says Trump vowed to ‘drop’ idea of pardoning kidnapping plotters

 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a radio interview that President Donald Trump had previously told her he would not consider pardons for the men convicted of conspiring to kidnap her — a position he veered from this week, when he told reporters gathered in the White House that he would “take a look at it.

Never believe or trust King Donald.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/michigan-gov-whitmer-says-trump-vowed-to-drop-idea-of-pardoning-kidnapping-plotters/ar-AA1FKz7E

Associated Press: Trump’s $600 million war chest: How he plans to wield his power in the midterms and beyond

Between a barrage of executive orders, foreign trips and norm-shattering proclamations, Donald Trump has also been busy raking in cash.

The president has amassed a war chest of at least $600 million in political donations heading into the midterm elections, according to three people familiar with the matter. It’s an unprecedented sum in modern politics, particularly for a lame-duck president who is barred by the U.S. Constitution from running again.

The only way for MAGA & King Donald to survive is to buy their way through the mid-term elections in 2026.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-fundraising-midterms-leverage-ccee4d19d5b41f08504370839fb36364