Tag Archives: President Donald Trump

Raw Story: ‘Off the rails’: WSJ’s conservative editors tear down Trump’s ‘biggest overreach’

Posted on by
Reply

The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board went after President Donald Trump for what they framed as an unconstitutional attempt “to run Harvard” University after the Ivy League school rejected his demands for a MAGA-inspired policy overhaul.

Trump’s funding freeze of $2.2 billion in retaliation for the university’s snub drew the ire of the Journal’s board, which scorched the action in a Tuesday opinion piece that detailed the “good reasons to oppose this unprecedented attempt by government to micromanage a private university.”

…

“The Administration runs off the legal rails by ordering Harvard to reduce ‘governance bloat, duplication, or decentralization.’ It also orders the school to review ‘all existing and prospective faculty . . . for plagiarism’ and ensure ‘viewpoint diversity’ in ‘each department, field, or teaching unit,’” according to the board.

“These reforms may be worth pursuing, but the government has no business requiring them….”

‘Off the rails’: WSJ’s conservative editors tear down Trump’s ‘biggest overreach’
The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board went after President Donald Trump for what they framed as an unconstitutional attempt “to run Harvard” University after the Ivy League school rejected his demands for a MAGA-inspired policy overhaul. Trump’s funding freeze of $2.2 billion in retaliation for the university’s snub drew the ire of…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/off-the-rails-wsj-s-conservative-editors-tear-down-trump-s-biggest-overreach/ar-AA1CZV7z

Reason: Federal Appeals Court Rejects Trump Administration’s Attempt To Block Return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Posted on by
Reply

“This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear,” Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson warned.

Warning that the executive branch’s claims should shock “the intuitive sense of liberty” of Americans, a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit today unanimously rejected the Trump administration’s attempts to stay a lower court order to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a prison camp in El Salvador.

The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration last week to facilitate the release of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man that three government officials admitted was mistakenly sent to El Salvador’s most notorious prison, along with several hundred other alleged gang members. However, the Trump administration has done nothing to comply with that order; it insists it has no power to return Abrego Garcia from another sovereign state—nor does a court have the authority to force it to do so. 

When the federal district judge overseeing Abrego Garcia’s case attempted to enforce the Supreme Court’s order, the Trump administration requested an emergency stay from the Fourth Circuit Court. 

Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, a Ronald Reagan appointee to the Fourth Circuit, wrote that allowing the administration’s passive interpretation of “facilitate” would “reduce the rule of law to lawlessness and tarnish the very values for which Americans of diverse views and persuasions have always stood.”

“It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter,” Wilkinson wrote. “But in this case, it is not hard at all. The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order. Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done.”

“This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear,” Wilkinson warned.

And just to state the already obvious:

Trump administration officials have made no secret of its contempt for the concept of due process. 

Federal appeals court rejects Trump administration’s attempt to block return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Warning that the executive branch’s claims should shock “the intuitive sense of liberty” of Americans, a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for

https://reason.com/2025/04/17/federal-appeals-court-rejects-trump-administrations-attempt-to-block-return-of-kilmar-abrego-garcia

LA Times: UCLA international student detained at U.S.-Mexico border amid Trump visa cancellations

Posted on by
Reply

A UCLA international graduate student has been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border and is being held by Customs and Border Protection, the school confirmed late Thursday.

The student, whose name was not released, was taken into custody Wednesday night, according to faculty members and students who quickly organized a campus rally in her support Thursday evening.

…

Few details were released about the student, including her name and nationality. Faculty, and an immigration attorney who has been attempting to contact the student, said late Thursday they had not yet spoken to her. They added that the student was detained at the San Ysidro border crossing south of San Diego and was able to reach a UCLA contact before she was taken into custody.

It is unclear why the student was in Mexico or what led to her detention.

Earlier in April:

On April 4, UC San Diego said an international student there was also detained at the U.S.-Mexico border while attempting to cross. In a campus message, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said the student was “detained at the border, denied entry and deported to their home country.”

UCLA international student detained at U.S.-Mexico border amid Trump visa cancellations
UCLA confirmed that an international student was detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. A campus rally was quickly organized in her support.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-04-17/ucla-international-student-detained-us-mexico-border

Reason: A Survey Suggests Most Americans Are Not Keen on Trump’s Speech-Based Deportation Initiative

Posted on by
Reply

Just a quarter of respondents said they favored deporting students for “expressing pro-Palestine views.”

By trying to deport student activists he describes as antisemitic “terrorist sympathizers,” you might think, President Donald Trump is cannily choosing unpopular targets who are unlikely to attract much public support. But according to recent polling by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), most Americans are not fans of that speech-chilling initiative.

According to the latest iteration of FIRE’s quarterly National Speech Index survey, which was conducted from April 4 through April 11, just 26 percent of Americans “support” or “strongly support” a policy of “deporting foreigners legally in the United States on a student visa for expressing pro-Palestine views,” while 52 percent—twice as many— “oppose” or “strongly oppose” that policy. The rest were undecided.

When FIRE asked about “deporting foreigners legally in the United States with a green card for expressing pro-Palestine views,” the results were similar. While 23 percent of respondents thought that was a good idea, 53 percent disagreed, and 23 percent took no position.

And this:

“Deporting someone simply for disagreeing with the government’s foreign policy preferences strikes at the very freedoms the First Amendment was designed to protect,” says Sean Stevens, FIRE’s chief research adviser. “Americans are right to reject this kind of viewpoint-based punishment.”

Bingo!

A survey suggests most Americans are not keen on Trump’s speech-based deportation initiative
By trying to deport student activists he describes as antisemitic “terrorist sympathizers,” you might think, President Donald Trump is cannily choosing

https://reason.com/2025/04/17/a-survey-suggests-most-americans-are-not-keen-on-trumps-speech-based-deportation-initiative

Miami Herald: Once a champion for Venezuelans, Rubio endorses Trump decision to end Venezuela TPS

Posted on by
Reply

“Designating Venezuela under TPS does not champion core American interests or put America and American citizens first. Therefore, it is contrary to the foreign policy and the national interest of the United States,” Rubio wrote in a Jan. 31 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Where do these ignorant fools come from? It has nothing to do with putting America and American citizens first, second, third, or whatever. We are obligated under the 1967 Protocol regarding refugees to accept and assist refugees regardless of their temporal or geographic situation. TPS simply provided a framework to handle our existing treaty obligations more efficiently.

Once a champion for Venezuelans, Rubio endorses Trump decision to end Venezuela TPS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, once a stalwart champion of Venezuelan immigrants, supports President Donald Trump’s decision to end the deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of people already in the United States who fled dictatorship and humanitarian crises in their home country.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/once-champion-venezuelans-rubio-endorses-220038340.html

Kyiv Independent: Trump officials ‘fed up’ with Europe’s efforts to strengthen Ukraine, Economist reports

Posted on by
Reply

Some Trump administration officials are dissatisfied with European countries’ ongoing support for Ukraine, underscoring the growing rift between Washington and Europe, the Economist reported on April 15, citing undisclosed diplomatic sources.

Kyiv’s European partners have sought to present a united front on Ukraine, pledging additional assistance and preparing a “reassurance force” of troops to monitor a potential ceasefire.

As Trump’s Amerika slides into international irrelevance …

Trump officials ‘fed up’ with Europe’s efforts to strengthen Ukraine, Economist reports
Some Trump administration officials are dissatisfied with European countries’ ongoing support for Ukraine, underscoring the growing rift between Washington and Europe, the Economist reported on April 15, citing undisclosed diplomatic sources. Kyiv’s European partners have sought to present a united front on Ukraine, pledging additional assistance a…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-officials-fed-up-with-europe-s-efforts-to-strengthen-ukraine-economist-reports/ar-AA1D2afd

Daily Beast: Zuckerberg’s Suck-Up to Trump Does Him No Good at All

Posted on by
Reply

Mark Zuckerberg thought he’d done everything in his power to make the government’s antitrust case against Meta go away.

He’d paid $1 million into Donald Trump’s inaugural fund. He’d settled a lawsuit the president launched over being blackballed by Facebook for a whopping $25 million. He sat in Trump’s box at the inauguration and shuttled between the White House and Mar-a-Lago to ingratiate himself with his new friend.

And what did he get for all his trouble? A deafening silence from the one person who could help him as the days ticked down to the antitrust trial that threatens to tear his company apart.

King Donald must have lost track of where all the payola was coming from — guess it sucks to be Zuck!

Zuckerberg’s Suck-Up to Trump Does Him No Good at All
Mark Zuckerberg thought he’d done everything in his power to make the government’s antitrust case against Meta go away. He’d paid $1 million into Donald Trump’s inaugural fund. He’d settled a lawsuit the president launched over being blackballed by Facebook for a whopping $25 million. He sat in Trump’s box at the inauguration and shuttled between the White House and Mar-a-Lago to ingratiate himself with his new friend. And what did he get for…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/zuckerberg-s-suck-up-to-trump-does-him-no-good-at-all/ar-AA1D36oh

Raw Story: ‘The president is in a hell of a pickle right now’ with little way out: Axios founder

Posted on by
Reply

During a break from discussing the Donald Trump administration’s growing battle with the judiciary, Axios founder Jim VandeHei reminded the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the president has a lot on his plate right now with problems of his own making.

According to the Washington insider, Trump’s tariff war has done what appears to be irreparable damage to the reputation of the U.S. and he has put himself into a box he can’t escape from to get the economy back on track.

All I can say is, “Stupid is as stupid does!”

‘The president is in a hell of a pickle right now’ with little way out: Axios founder
During a break from discussing the Donald Trump administration’s growing battle with the judiciary, Axios founder Jim VandeHei reminded the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the president has a lot on his plate right now with problems of his own making. According to the Washington insider, Trump’s tariff war has done what appears to be irreparabl…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-president-is-in-a-hell-of-a-pickle-right-now-with-little-way-out-axios-founder/ar-AA1D2lBw

CNBC: Trump tariffs on China will soon bring ‘irreversible’ damage to many American businesses

Posted on by
Reply
  • On Saturday, the Trump administration said it would exempt technology products like the iPhone, PCs and chips from much of the recently imposed Chinese tariffs.
  • But for most businesses in the U.S., orders from China are being canceled and Chinese freight being shipped could be abandoned.
  • Without a wider pause in the trade war with China, the damage will soon be “irreversible” for U.S. businesses, according to a retail expert, including furniture, toys, apparel, footwear, and sports equipment.

Apple’s iPhone and other technology hardware, from chips to PCs, received a China tariff reprieve from President Trump on Saturday, but for much of the U.S. economy and small business owners, the damage will soon be irreversible from the 145% tariffs being imposed on Chinese imports.

Canceled freight orders and abandoned freight from China are quickly becoming the norm in the trade war between the U.S. and China, according to supply chain executives, as businesses across U.S. industries put a full stop on container exports, with the tariffs hitting like a ton of bricks.

“Furniture producers in China have seen a complete halt in orders from U.S. importers, and we’re hearing the same across toys, apparel, footwear, and sports equipment,” said Alan Murphy, founder and CEO of Sea-Intelligence.

“We had the same across Southeast Asia, but after the 90-day reprieve those bookings have restarted,” said Brian Bourke, chief commercial officer for SEKO Logistics, while the cancelled bookings for containers out of China continue. 

“Almost everything is on hold as it relates to China business,” said Alan Baer, CEO of OL USA.

“Trump’s 145% total tariff on Chinese imports would stop most trade between the U.S. and China,” economist Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation’s Center for Federal Tax Policy, said on Thursday on CNBC’s “The Exchange.”

“There may still be some things without any substitutes that companies just have to foot the bill, but for the most part, that cuts it off,” York said.

How can Americans possibly benefit from this?

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/12/trump-tariffs-on-china-mean-irreversible-damage-for-most-businesses.html