President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would use the power of the Justice Department to go after two officials who were highly critical of him during his first term in office, including one whose anonymously written New York Times op-ed claiming he was part of the “resistance” to Trump’s presidency captivated the nation for years.

The announcement by Trump that he was targeting former Department of Homeland Security official Miles Taylor, who penned the op-ed, and former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Krebs, whose rejection of Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election led to his ousting, comes as the president continues to seek retribution on his perceived enemies in ways big and small.

Executive orders signed by Trump on Wednesday strip Taylor and Krebs of any existing security clearance they may still hold since leaving office and orders the Justice Department to probe both former officials.

The president did not specify any alleged wrongdoing by the men that necessitated investigations by the department. But, speaking in the White House, Trump made clear he thinks he knows what the results should be.

“I think what he did, and he wrote a book, ‘Anonymous,’ said all sorts of lies, bad things– and I think it’s, I think it’s like a traitor, like, it’s like spying,” Trump said of Taylor. “I think it’s a very important case, and I think he’s guilty of treason, if you want to know the truth, but we’ll find out.”

King Donald is an illiterate bumpkin who apparently doesn’t even understand how treason is defined in the U.S. Constitution.

Trump targets two first term critics, a law firm and the American Bar Association | CNN Politics

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would use the power of the Justice Department to go after two officials who were highly critical of him during his first term in office, including one whose anonymously written New York Times op-ed claiming he was part of the “resistance” to Trump’s presidency captivated the nation for years.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/09/politics/trump-critics-executive-orders-taylor-krebs/index.html

Donald Trump’s White House has a threatening message for anyone who might even be perceived to disagree with the president: Don’t. Or else.

Even though he has promised to end what he viewed as “weaponization” of the Department of Justice, Trump is treating people who disagree with him more like the “enemy from within” he talked about during the presidential campaign.

The president took the unusual step this week of issuing official proclamations ordering the federal investigations of people who worked in his first administration.

He’s demanding free work from law firms who represented his perceived enemies, threatening to impeach judges, deporting campus protesters and so much more.

The underlying message, for anyone who hasn’t put all these things together, is that dissent will not be tolerated under Trump 2.0.

Analysis: Trump’s retribution sends a chilling message to dissenters | CNN Politics

Donald Trump’s White House has a threatening message for anyone who might even be perceived to disagree with the president: Don’t. Or else.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/12/politics/trump-krebs-khalil-taylor-crackdown-dissent-what-matters/index.html

All had left authoritarian countries to build new lives in the United States, a place they believed would be different. But they now see ominous patterns repeating and democratic norms eroding — and feel a duty to warn Americans.

“It honestly feels like I just switched rooms on the Titanic,” said Miguel Mendoza, a former political prisoner in Nicaragua who lives in Orlando.

The Washington Post spoke with 12 people from six authoritarian countries — some who fled left-wing regimes and others right-wing ones. They described an unsettling feeling of déjà vu in the initial months of the Trump administration: the attacks on courts and the press; the threats to universities and law firms; the hollowing out of agencies; the scapegoating and mass deportation of immigrants; the marginalizing of transgender people.

They fled authoritarian countries. Here they’re experiencing déjà vu.

Immigrants from six nations where democracy was eroded say they see the same patterns emerging during the Trump administration — and want to warn Americans.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/they-fled-authoritarian-countries-here-they-re-experiencing-d%C3%A9j%C3%A0-vu/ar-AA1CJw4n

This is the editorial referenced in the Mediaite article:

Mediaite wrap-up:

The Dispatch, the conservative outlet founded by former Fox News contributors Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg, issued a rare editorial rebuking President Donald Trump over his “pursuit of American decline” on Thursday.

Under the headline “Slouching Towards Tyranny: On a dark hour for the American right,” the publication’s editors lamented that the “old rules” of “American global leadership, free markets, limited government, fidelity to the Constitution,” have been set aside in favor of “new and fresh ideas.”

“What are these new and fresh ideas? For some, they are literally monarchism or autocracy. For others, they are mercantilism and a division of the world into ‘spheres of influence,’” they continued. “In short, their foreign policy was ancient when Charlemagne was on the throne, and their economic philosophy was hatched in the 15th century.”

‘Slouching Towards Tyranny’: Conservative Outlet Issues Rare Editorial to Rebuke Trump Over ‘Pursuit of American Decline’

The Dispatch, issued a rare editorial rebuking President Donald Trump over his “pursuit of American decline” on Thursday afternoon.

The wife of the man the Trump administration deported and has indefinitely imprisoned in El Salvador’s notorious gang prison spoke out this week in various interviews.

MSNBC anchor Ana Cabrera noted on Wednesday, “Also still waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the case involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, that Maryland father who was wrongfully deported as the administration admits was almost a month ago. Now he was sent to that prison in El Salvador. His future remains in limbo. I spoke with his wife earlier today, take a listen.”

“I want them to bring him back. I want to know when they will bring him back,” Jennifer Vasquez told Cabrera.

“Because my kids asked. When is he coming? I don’t have an answer,” she added.

Despite the Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling that Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be returned to the U.S., Bimbo #2 Kristi Noem is too dimwitted to get the message:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Wednesday, “We’re confident that people that are [imprisoned in El Salvador] should be there, and they should stay there for the rest of their lives.” Notably, the Trump administration previously said that Garcia was deported as a result of an “administrative error” as he had been granted “protected status” in the U.S. by a judge, meaning he could not be deported back to El Salvador for fear for his safety. The administration, however, continues to maintain Garcia was a gang member.

Wife of Man Imprisoned in El Salvador By ‘Error’ Speaks Out – As Noem Says They Should Be Jailed ‘For Rest of Their Lives’

Notably, the Trump administration previously said that Garcia was deported as a result of an “administrative error”

The Wall Street Journal continued its assault on President Donald Trump’s trade policy in a new editorial questioning if he even has a “China trade strategy.”

“It’s all going according to plan, says the White House, and you almost have to smile at this spin in trying to sell President Trump’s partial tariff reversal this week as a triumph,” began the Journal in its opening salvo. “The reality is that Mr. Trump is making it up as he goes, and it would help if he had an actual strategy to deal with China in particular.”

After noting that Trump has escalated his trade war with China, it went on to submit that it isn’t clear whether the administration seeks “complete decoupling” or a “trade deal” with the Chinese.

The Wall Street Journal Torches Trump for ‘Hurting His Own Cause and Country’ Instead of China: ‘Making It Up as He Goes’

The Wall Street Journal continued its assault on Donald Trump’s trade policy in a new editorial questioning if Trump even has a “China trade strategy.”

Pure narcissism!

The White House removed a portrait of former President Barack Obama from a prominent spot and replaced it with artwork of President Donald Trump surviving last summer’s shooting attempt in Pennsylvania.

Just after 3 p.m. ET Friday, the verified White House X page posted a short clip of a photo of Trump bleeding from the ear and raising his fist in the air.

The image appeared to be a painting and was identical to one that went viral last July after Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet fired by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Trump Boots Obama’s Portrait From Prominent White House Spot – Replaces It With Assassination Attempt Photo

The image appeared to be an oil painting and was identical to one that went viral after Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet last July.

Trump’s moves have been frequently stymied so far by lower courts, forcing him to appeal his cases at the Supreme Court where 6-3 the conservative majority has given him some early wins — or at least delays.

But in Noem v. Abrego Garcia, a unanimous decision by the nine justices appeared to support a lower court’s ruling that the Trump administration — and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — cannot and should not leave a Maryland man in a prison in El Salvador after admitting that the U.S. mistakenly sent him there.

(The Trump administration claimed, implausibly, that it could not bring Abrego Garcia back, despite its mistake in deporting and imprisoning him.)

…

Decrying what many view as the administration’s overt violation of core American principles, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) asserted that “there is a special place in HELL for the people who are willing to argue to the Supreme Court that the man they MISTAKENLY sent to an El Salvador prison should stay there.”

Kristi Noem Deserves “Special Place In Hell” After 9-0 Supreme Court Decision, U.S. Congressman Says

The Trump administration is putting the Supreme Court through its paces with “emergency” applications after a POTUS record for executive orders being issued in the first months of Trump 2.0, many of them resulting in legal challenges. (The SCOTUS emergency docket currently lists Trump v. Wilcox, Trump v. Washington, Trump v. CASA, Trump v. New […]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kristi-noem-deserves-special-place-in-hell-after-9-0-supreme-court-decision-u-s-congressman-says/ar-AA1CL0Vq

A meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Food and Drug Administration was intended to be an introduction between Kennedy and the agency staffers he oversees, but his remarks were so shocking that several people walked out, according to a report by Politico on Friday.

…

According to Politico, Kennedy delivered “largely off-the-cuff remarks” in a 40-minute meeting with FDA staffers Friday. Two employees who attended the meeting spoke anonymously to the reporters, who were provided with a transcript and audio of Kennedy’s comments.

“President Trump always talks about the Deep State, and the media, you know, disparages him and says that he’s paranoid,” Kennedy said. “But the Deep State is real. And it’s not, you know, just George Soros and Bill Gates and a bunch of nefarious individuals sitting together in a room and plotting the, you know, the destruction of humanity.”

…

Kennedy also accused FDA staffers of being swayed by “agency capture” and acting as a “sock puppet” for the industries subject to their regulatory oversight. He referenced human mind control experiments like the CIA’s Project MKUltra and the Milgram experiment, which tested participants’ willingness to inflict what they were told were painful, possibly fatal, electric shocks to others if an authority figure ordered them to do so — as part of a discussion that Politico described as “an apparent effort to encourage FDA employees to stay true to their mission of making Americans healthier.”

These comments from the boss “alarmed and disheartened” FDA staffers and several of them walked out of the rooms where Kennedy’s speech was being aired, according to the sources who spoke to Politico.

FDA Staffers Dish on Unhinged Meeting With RFK Jr.: ‘The Deep State is Real’

A meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Food and Drug Administration was intended to be an introduction between Kennedy and the agency staffers he oversees, but his remarks were so shocking that several people walked out, according to a report by Politico on Friday.

President Donald Trump and his cabinet met at the White House on Thursday where, as is customary at Trump cabinet meetings, the attendees took turns praising the president.

Perhaps no official was more obsequious than Attorney General Pam Bondi, who again vowed to prosecute Tesla dealership vandals “to the fullest extent of the law.” But before laying out her accomplishments and to-do list, she paid tribute to Trump.

“President, we’ve had some great wins in the last few days,” she began before falsely stating. “You know, you were overwhelmingly elected by the biggest majority.”

…

“Americans want you to be president because of your agenda,” Bondi continued. “And the courts are ruling that you have the authority to determine how the money of this country will be spent. That’s what the American citizens wanted and that’s what they’re getting.”

Meanwhile back on Earth at ground level, the truth rears its head:

Of the 59 winning presidential campaigns in U.S. history, Trump’s 2024 win ranks 49th in terms of the percentage of the popular vote margin.

You’re truly an incredible suck-up, Bimbo #3!

Sycophantic Pam Bondi Falsely Tells Trump, ‘You Were Overwhelmingly Elected by the Biggest Majority’

President Donald Trump and his cabinet met at the White House on Thursday where, as is customary at Trump cabinet meetings, the attendees took turns praising the president.