little marco completes full spine-removal surgery
Marco Rubio, pictured here in his natural habitat: standing behind Trump, nodding vigorously, and pretending this is all totally fine.
Marco Rubio once said Trump was a 'con artist.' Now he’s his Secretary of State and professional character witness, because nothing says 'deeply held principles' like immediately torching them for a Cabinet seat.
According to Dexter Filkins, Rubio’s journey from Trump critic to Trump champion is less a 'political evolution' and more a live-action demonstration of how fast a Republican can shed a conscience when there’s an office, a motorcade, and proximity to power on the line. The man who warned America about Trump now spends his days defending the same behavior he used to call dangerous—but don’t worry, he insists it’s all very serious and patriotic.
In other words, the former anti-Trump crusader has rebranded as the regime’s hype man abroad, laundering Trump’s image on the world stage while pretending this is all normal diplomacy and not an ongoing experiment in soft authoritarianism. Rubio didn’t change Trump; Trump changed Rubio—right into the kind of ambitious, pliable loyalist you want when you’re busy testing how far you can push the boundaries of democracy.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump probes senator for the crime of reading the constitution out loud
Elissa Slotkin, seen here committing the unspeakable crime of reminding U.S. troops they answer to the Constitution, not Donald Trump’s latest tantrum.
Michigan senator Elissa Slotkin says she’s under federal investigation for the high crime of… telling U.S. troops they have a duty to refuse illegal orders, which is a basic principle of U.S. military law, international law, and the constitution. In other words, she’s being probed for saying the quiet legal part out loud. Trump immediately branded the video “seditious behavior by traitors” that’s “punishable by death,” because nothing says normal democratic president like casually fantasizing about executing members of Congress on social media, then having the White House clarify that, no, he doesn’t actually want to kill them, he just wants them “held accountable.” Totally reassuring.
Slotkin says she learned of the investigation from the office of Trump loyalist and D.C. U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro, who wants to question her over the 90-second clip. She calls it what it is: an authoritarian president weaponizing the federal government to intimidate critics into silence. The video, featuring Slotkin, Mark Kelly, Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Chris Deluzio, and Maggie Goodlander, dared to note that “threats to our constitution” are coming from “right here at home” and that service members “must refuse illegal orders” — all while Trump was busy ordering deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. For this unforgivable act of quoting the law, Slotkin and Crow were buried in death threats, Slotkin got 24/7 Capitol Police protection, her house got a bomb threat, and her father got swatted. But sure, the real problem is a 90-second civics lesson.
Over at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — Fox News turned Defense chief, because of course — called the video “despicable, reckless and false” and launched an investigation into Senator Mark Kelly. Hegseth then tried to reduce Kelly’s rank and pension as punishment for the radical statement that troops should, wait for it, follow the law. Kelly is now suing to stop this “unconstitutional crusade,” warning that Hegseth’s message to veterans is clear: speak out against the president and you risk demotion, financial punishment, or prosecution, even years after you retire. Because nothing says “land of the free” like telling retired officers their benefits depend on how enthusiastically they praise Dear Leader.
Slotkin, a former CIA officer who used to study authoritarian regimes abroad, now gets to live the fun twist where she recognizes the playbook being run at home. Legal intimidation, physical intimidation, weaponized investigations, threats to livelihood — all aimed at punishing elected officials for encouraging the military to obey the law instead of the president. The administration’s position is clear: illegal orders are fine; reminding people they’re illegal is the real sedition.
#killing-democracy#fascism#lawlessness
supreme court invents ‘candidate feelings’ clause to attack mail-in voting
The Supreme Court building, where "elections have consequences" now means candidates get to sue if counting all the votes is inconvenient for their campaign schedule.
The Supreme Court just handed Trump-world a shiny new weapon, ruling 7-2 that Illinois Republican congressman Mike Bost can sue to stop mail-in ballots from being counted if they arrive after Election Day, even when they’re properly postmarked on time. In other words, if your ballot got slowed down by the DeJoy Memorial Sabotaged Postal Service, that’s your problem, because Mike Bost’s campaign staff might have to work an extra week and that’s now a constitutional injury.
Chief Justice John Roberts, doing his usual "I’m very serious about democracy" cosplay, announced that candidates have a "concrete and particularized" interest in the rules for counting votes and thus get special standing to attack them. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Sonia Sotomayor, pointed out the obvious: the Court just carved out a bespoke VIP lane for politicians to sue whenever they don’t like how votes are counted, destabilizing both standing law and elections. But sure, this is all about the "integrity" of the process, not giving sore losers a pretext to drag every close race into federal court.
This all plugs neatly into Trump’s ongoing crusade against mail-in voting, backed by his executive order instructing the attorney general to "take all necessary action" against states that count ballots received after Election Day. Sixteen states plus DC and several territories do exactly that, but the administration’s position is clear: if it makes voting easier or counting more accurate, it’s suspicious and probably illegal. Now, with the Court’s help, every Republican candidate who doesn’t like the scoreboard gets to claim hurt feelings and legal standing, because nothing says "free and fair elections" like empowering the people on the ballot to sue to stop ballots from being counted.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
trump’s ‘department of war’ raids a reporter’s house, because freedom
FBI agents leave a reporter’s house with her devices, her watch, and whatever was left of the First Amendment stuffed in an evidence bag.
The Trump administration’s lovingly rebranded “department of war” just did what every wannabe strongman dreams of: sent the FBI to raid a Washington Post reporter’s home at dawn. Agents tore through Hannah Natanson’s Virginia house, scooping up her phone, her laptop, even her Garmin watch—because nothing says serious national security threat like a journalist’s step count.
Attorney General Pam Bondi bragged on X that DOJ and the FBI acted at the Pentagon’s request to go after a Post reporter who was reporting on classified leaks from a government contractor now behind bars. Press freedom groups, who still remember what the First Amendment is, called it a “tremendous intrusion” and a “tremendous escalation,” which is polite-lawyer-speak for “this is what illiberal regimes do right before things go fully off the rails.”
Natanson’s beat? The federal workforce—and how Trump’s second-term wrecking crew is rewriting workplace policies, firing civil servants, and gutting agency missions. In other words, she’s been documenting the slow-motion demolition of the government, and the government has responded by showing up at her front door with a warrant. Guidelines meant to protect journalists from this kind of state harassment were already weakened by Bondi, but sure, this is totally about “protecting national security” and not about intimidating 1,169 current and former federal employees who trusted her with their stories.
As legal experts gently note that “searches of newsrooms and journalists are hallmarks of illiberal regimes,” the Trump team is busy normalizing exactly that—turning leak investigations into a convenient tool for killing democracy one raid at a time. But don’t worry, they insist, if you’re not leaking, you have nothing to fear—unless you’re reporting, reading, talking to a reporter, or thinking about it.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump fires the race referees, then quietly rehires them
DOJ officials staring at a sign that says "America’s Peacemaker" and wondering how fast they can replace it with "America’s Culture War Department".
The Trump DOJ tried to quietly kill the Community Relations Service — a 1960s-era "America’s peacemaker" created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — by firing basically everyone and giving it zero dollars in Trump’s budget. Because nothing says "healing racial tensions" like defunding the tiny agency whose literal job is to stop racial conflict from exploding.
Unfortunately for the White House demolition crew, civil rights groups (including the Ethical Society of Police and local NAACP branches) sued and pointed out that wiping out almost all CRS staff looked an awful lot like an unlawful attempt to dismantle a congressionally created civil-rights agency. A federal judge all but said, "yeah, you’re probably going to win" — and suddenly the DOJ discovered the magic of "administrative discretion" and rescinded the layoff notices.
But don’t worry, the gaslighting is still on schedule: the DOJ told the court it’s reinstating the 13 employees, but carefully avoided saying whether they’ll actually be allowed to do CRS work again. In other words, they might get their badges back, but not their mission. Meanwhile, a bipartisan spending bill in Congress is trying to give the agency $20 million, while Trump’s budget pretends it doesn’t exist at all. So yes, the administration tried to bury a civil-rights peacekeeping agency alive — and when the judge started shoveling the dirt back out, they claimed it was all just a little HR misunderstanding.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#racism
trump declares 'absolute immunity' for federal bullets
ICE and DOJ, seen here workshopping new ways to spell 'accountability' as 'absolute immunity.'
An ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old American mother Renee Good in Minneapolis, and within hours the Trump administration decided that was plenty of time to finish the investigation forever. Donald Trump hopped on Truth Social to brand her a "professional agitator" who "viciously" ran over the officer, while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem helpfully upgraded it to "domestic terrorism"—because nothing says fact-finding like smearing the dead before the body is cold.
Vice-president JD Vance then wandered onto TV to announce that the ICE shooter had "absolute immunity" from state prosecution, apparently having confused the Constitution with a Fox News chyron. The FBI, doing its best impression of a mob lawyer, proceeded to shut state investigators out of the case, while DOJ’s once-expert civil rights division has been systematically gutted and pointedly excluded from the investigation. Veteran prosecutors in Minnesota and in what’s left of the division are reportedly quitting over the sham.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has been quietly ignoring a growing pile of alleged federal brutality cases—from Chicago to Portland to D.C.—where federal agents have been busy gassing clergy, journalists, and peaceful protesters. In other words, the federal government has decided its officers can shoot, gas, and beat people with no real oversight, and if states try to step in, the feds slam the door. But sure, tell us more about how this crowd is "restoring law and order" while they build a system where federal badges come with a license to kill and a presidential PR team on call.
#lawlessness#fascism
trump discovers the fed is not his personal atm and loses it
Jerome Powell, apparently learning the hard way that the real crime was not cutting rates fast enough for Dear Leader.
Donald Trump has reassured the nation that everything is fine because he personally thinks everything is fine, and if there's one thing markets love, it's a president using the Justice Department to kneecap the central bank chair for not cutting rates fast enough.
Jerome Powell, the Fed chair Trump himself appointed, is now facing a DOJ "criminal investigation" over allegedly abusing taxpayer dollars on a $2.5bn renovation of the Fed's headquarters. Minor complication: Powell already told senators about the project last July, which makes the whole "he misled Congress" angle look less like a crime and more like a tantrum with subpoenas. Powell says the charges are baseless and politically motivated, i.e. punishment for not turbo-charging Trump's re‑election stock portfolio with emergency rate cuts.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon committed the unforgivable sin of saying central bank independence is important, prompting Trump to declare Dimon "wrong" and accuse him of wanting higher rates to make more money. In other words, the billionaire president who personally profits from low rates is accusing the billionaire banker of self‑interest, because nothing says "defending institutions" like projecting your own grift onto Wall Street. Trump then casually promised to replace Powell "in the next few weeks"—a nice little reminder that if you don't give him the monetary policy he wants, he'll just try to fire you and send the DOJ after you.
Other bank CEOs are politely screaming into the void about how maybe blowing up the Fed's independence could, you know, wreck the bond market and raise rates instead of lowering them. But sure, let's destabilize a century-old institution that underpins the global financial system because Trump wants cheaper money and someone told him renovations cost more than a golf course sprinkler upgrade.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#forever-grifting
president of the united states flips off factory worker, republic survives somehow
The leader of the free world demonstrates his comprehensive policy on transparency, ethics, and accountability in one elegant gesture.
In Dearborn, Michigan, the dignity of the presidency made a brief, doomed appearance on the Ford factory floor before being immediately flipped off by its current occupant. While touring a Ford truck plant, Donald Trump responded to someone calling him a "pedophile protector" by literally stopping, pointing, and giving them the middle finger — on camera, of course, because this administration never misses an opportunity to turn governance into a low-rent TMZ exclusive.
The White House line, via professional spin sprinkler Steven Cheung, was that a "lunatic" was "wildly screaming expletives" and that the president delivered an "appropriate and unambiguous response" — because nothing says "steady leadership" like the commander in chief reacting to hecklers like a bored 8th grader on the back of the bus. Ford, whose "core values" allegedly include respect, bravely condemned "inappropriate" comments in their facilities while very pointedly not saying a single word about the 79-year-old man-child flipping people off on their assembly line.
Hanging over this little motor-city tantrum: Trump’s name appearing in the newly released Epstein files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, including records indicating he flew on Epstein’s plane at least eight times in the 1990s, once with an unnamed 20-year-old woman. Authorities haven’t accused him of a crime, DOJ is waving around disclaimers about "untrue and sensationalist" claims, and Trump insists he did nothing wrong. In other words: you ask the president about a documented history of flying with Jeffrey Epstein, and what you get back is not answers, not transparency, but the presidential middle finger — a perfect visual metaphor for how this administration treats accountability.
#killing-democracy#full-stupid
trump tries to cancel a whistleblower lawyer, judge says 'nice try'
Artist’s rendering of the Trump White House clearance process: a giant shredder labeled "ENEMIES LIST" next to a rubber stamp that just says "NO LONGER IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST."
The Trump White House decided that the best way to handle pesky national security whistleblowers was to kneecap their lawyer, Mark Zaid, by yanking his security clearance in March. No hearing, no individualized review, just a good old-fashioned enemies list memo declaring it was "no longer in the national interest" for Zaid – and a grab bag of Trump foes from Joe Biden to Hillary Clinton – to see classified information. Because nothing says "rule of law" like the president personally deciding who can work in their profession based on how annoying they were during his first impeachment.
Unfortunately for the Retribution Administration, an actual judge intervened. Federal judge Amir H Ali granted a preliminary injunction ordering the White House to "immediately and fully restore" Zaid’s clearance, finding that Zaid’s representation of whistleblowers and other clients adverse to the government was the sole reason it was summarily revoked, and that he’d been denied even the minimal process given to everyone else. In other words: yes, this was blatant political punishment, and no, you can’t just blacklist the Ukraine whistleblower’s lawyer because you’re still mad about that phone call.
Zaid now has his access to classified information back, meaning he can once again represent clients whose cases involve secrets the president would prefer stay buried under a golf course in Bedminster. The White House, having been told its revenge memo is no longer in effect for Zaid, did not respond to requests for comment – presumably busy drafting the next list of people it thinks are a "national security threat" for the crime of holding it accountable.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#retribution
comer bravely investigates hot-tub photos, ignores actual epstein cover-up
James Comer, valiantly defending the republic from the clear and present danger of Bill Clinton in a swimming pool.
House Oversight Chair James Comer has discovered the true heart of the Epstein scandal: Bill Clinton in a hot tub. The Republican-led committee subpoenaed Bill and Hillary Clinton for testimony, then acted shocked – shocked! – when the Clintons told them to pound sand, calling the subpoenas “invalid and legally unenforceable” and “a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals, as President Trump has directed.” Because nothing says serious child sex-trafficking investigation like doing whatever Donald Trump tells you to do on Truth Social.
The Clintons point out that Comer’s crusade has managed to interview a grand total of two officials – Alexander Acosta and William Barr – while somehow not bothering to question seven other top officials who were actually subpoenaed. In other words: maximum cable-news theater, minimum interest in what the government really did to botch, bury, or bungle the Epstein case. But sure, let’s rush a contempt vote on the Clintons while the rest of the witnesses enjoy witness protection by way of Republican leadership.
Meanwhile, Trump and GOP leaders opposed the bipartisan bill to release all Epstein files, and DOJ is still slow-walking the document dump past the statutory deadline. Lawmakers are now begging a judge to appoint a special master just to get the government to follow its own law. So yes, the same crowd that screams about the Deep State cover-up is working overtime to keep the files redacted, stall the releases, and turn Congress into a taxpayer-funded oppo-research shop. But don’t worry – Comer swears this isn’t about accusing Clinton of wrongdoing. They “just have questions.” Mainly: how many fundraising emails can you squeeze out of a subpoena that goes nowhere?
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
trump fixes immigration backlog by deleting the court
People wait outside an immigration court that the Trump administration is methodically emptying of judges so it can later claim it "doesn’t work" and must be closed. Very efficient, if your goal is deportations, not justice.
The Trump administration has discovered an exciting new way to handle the massive immigration court backlog: eliminate the court. San Francisco’s immigration court, one of the busiest in the country, is being shuttered by the end of the year. Judges and staff got the news the modern way — a short email — informing them they’ll be shipped 30 miles away to Concord, because nothing says access to justice like forcing immigrants and their lawyers to commute even farther to a court that’s already drowning in cases.
This comes after Trump’s DOJ spent 2025 firing immigration judges like they were hosting a reality show reboot. San Francisco went from 21 judges to just four and a single supervisor, even as they were left holding roughly 120,935 cases. Nationwide, nearly 100 judges were axed, including at least 19 veterans who actually knew what they were doing. The official line from EOIR is that moving everything to Concord is "more cost-effective" — in other words, we broke the system on purpose, and now we’re saving money by not fixing it.
The Concord court, which was originally opened to help relieve San Francisco’s overload, has itself been bleeding judges and staff and already has a growing backlog. So naturally, the solution is to dump San Francisco’s six-figure caseload on top of it or run hearings remotely, because what could possibly go wrong with life-or-death asylum decisions handled over glitchy video from a gutted judiciary. This isn’t about efficiency; it’s about constricting due process until people just give up and get deported. But sure, tell us again how this is all about the "rule of law."
#killing-democracy#anti-immigration#lawlessness
jack smith volunteers as tribute in jim jordan’s kangaroo court
Jack Smith, pausing briefly from being declared illegal by Trump judges and targeted by Trump himself, prepares to explain on live TV why trying to overturn an election is, shockingly, a crime.
Jim Jordan has finally agreed to let former special counsel Jack Smith testify in public about his Trump investigations, after first insisting on an eight-hour, closed-door struggle session where Republicans tried and failed to turn "criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election" into "totally normal presidential behavior." Smith, who has been begging to answer questions where Americans can actually hear him, will now get to explain on camera how he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump led a scheme to overturn the election and repeatedly tried to obstruct justice in the classified documents case.
Naturally, this comes after Trump’s favorite federal bodyguard in a robe, Judge Aileen Cannon, helpfully declared Smith’s appointment illegal and tossed the classified documents case in the trash, while Smith was forced to drop the election case entirely because DOJ policy says you can’t prosecute a sitting president — especially one who got back into office by attacking the very election system he’s now shielded from. But sure, tell us more about how the real authoritarian threat here is the guy trying to enforce the law, not the guy demanding his prosecutor be prosecuted.
Ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin is already pre-writing the epitaph for this hearing, noting that Republicans "could not lay a glove" on Smith or his evidence in private and are about to humiliate themselves in public, too. Trump, meanwhile, is still calling for Smith to be prosecuted for the crime of documenting his crimes, while House Republicans dutifully turn the Judiciary Committee into a live-streamed loyalty test for the Dear Leader. In other words: another day in Trump’s America, where the president allegedly runs criminal schemes to overturn elections, the courts and Congress trip over themselves to protect him, and anyone who investigates it gets dragged in front of a camera as the villain.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
ice raids city hall because following the law is now suspicious
ICE agents wait at a so-called 'routine' immigration appointment, otherwise known as the part of the process where you get punished for following the process.
Federal immigration agents have apparently decided that New York City Hall is now part of the border, detaining a legally authorized NYC council employee during a "routine immigration appointment"—because nothing says "rule of law" like kidnapping someone who's doing exactly what the law requires. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called it an "assault on our democracy" while DHS, in a very on-brand move, provided no basis for the detention and quietly shipped the staffer off to a Manhattan detention center.
Council speaker Julie Menin confirmed the employee has authorization to remain in the US through October 2026, and Congressman Dan Goldman spelled it out: there is no indication of anything other than his immigration status being used as a pretext. In other words, ICE under Trump is now openly targeting law-abiding immigrants who show up to mandatory check-ins—a trap experts have been warning about for years. The message is clear: if you follow the rules, Trump’s deportation machine will meet you at the front desk.
All this is unfolding as the Trump administration brags about surging ICE deployments nationwide, protesters flood the streets after an ICE agent killed Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good, and Minnesota AG Keith Ellison sues DHS over "warrantless, racist arrests" and lethal force. Courts, churches, schools, immigration offices—every space is fair game for an unaccountable federal police force executing the president’s deportation agenda. But sure, tell us again how this isn’t an attempt to build a nationwide fear state for immigrants and anyone who dares work in government while not being white enough for Stephen Miller’s vision board.
#anti-immigration#killing-democracy#lawlessness
trump’s war on wind gets a reagan-judge reality check
Artist’s impression of Trump pointing at an offshore wind farm and yelling ‘national security threat’ while a Reagan-appointed judge quietly reaches for the Constitution.
A federal judge just told Donald Trump that he can’t randomly nuke a nearly finished offshore wind project because he suddenly discovered feelings about “national security.” Danish wind developer Ørsted can resume work on its 87%-complete Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island, after US district judge Royce Lamberth — a Reagan appointee, no less — granted an injunction and openly mocked the administration’s plan to bleed the company for $1.5 million a day while it "decides what it wants to do."
The Trump Interior Department had suspended five offshore wind leases in December, citing mysterious classified Pentagon intel about wind turbines being a threat to national security. Developers weren’t allowed to see this secret doom memo, of course, but were expected to quietly eat millions in losses. Ørsted’s lawyer politely suggested the court be “very skeptical” of the government’s true motives, which is lawyer-speak for: this smells like Trump’s long-running personal vendetta against wind dressed up in a cheap national security costume.
So now, thanks to a Reagan judge who apparently still remembers what due process is, one of Trump’s latest attempts to kneecap clean energy and handcuff multibillion-dollar projects has hit a legal wall. In other words: the administration tried to turn “I think wind turbines are ugly” into federal policy, and the judiciary responded with, "that’s not how any of this works." But sure, tell us more about how this is the administration that respects the rule of law.
#killing-democracy#anti-science
supreme court asked to legalize trump’s emergency tantrum tariffs
The Supreme Court at sunrise, moments before being asked to retroactively bless Trump’s ‘because I said so’ tariff doctrine.
Donald Trump is warning of a "complete mess" if the Supreme Court rules that, actually, the president can’t just scream "EMERGENCY" and slap global tariffs on everything like a toddler playing SimNation. Two lower courts have already said he overstepped his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but Trump is now pre‑blaming the justices for the chaos that would follow if the government has to refund some of the $130bn it vacuumed up through his trade cosplay.
On Truth Social, the president declared that if the tariffs are struck down, "WE'RE SCREWED"—a refreshing admission that his grand economic strategy hinges on legally dubious taxes that Congress never approved and the statute never actually mentions. His new argument is basically: sure, it might have been unconstitutional, but undoing it would be too hard, so let’s just keep the money and pretend this was all fine. Because nothing says "rule of law" like "it’d be a paperwork nightmare to follow the Constitution".
The White House is already shopping for backup schemes, hinting it’ll rummage around in other statutes to find any lever that still lets Trump slap tariffs on imports like a bored autocrat with a label maker. Meanwhile, businesses and states that have been bleeding cash under these "national security" tariffs are begging the Court to call this what it is: an abuse of emergency powers dressed up as trade policy. Even Trump’s own appointee Amy Coney Barrett called the potential refund process a "complete mess"—which Trump promptly echoed, because if there’s one thing this administration excels at, it’s turning its own legal defeats into talking points about how democracy is just too inconvenient.
#killing-democracy#trade-war
hegseth invents retroactive rank-cancelling for disloyal veterans
Pete Hegseth, hard at work testing the theory that if you punish veterans for disloyal speech, the Constitution will eventually just demote itself.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has apparently decided that the Uniform Code of Justice now includes a "hurt Trump’s feelings" clause. He launched a process to demote retired Navy captain, astronaut, and current US senator Mark Kelly and cut his pension because Kelly appeared in a short video reminding service members they can refuse illegal orders. In other words: "please obey the law" is now "sedition" in Trump’s America.
Kelly’s lawsuit lays it out: Hegseth, the Pentagon, the Navy, and Navy secretary John Phelan are accused of "trampling" constitutional protections that keep Congress independent and the military apolitical. This all kicked into gear after Donald Trump went on Truth Social to accuse Kelly and five other Democratic veterans of "seditious behavior punishable by death" for daring to say troops don’t have to blindly follow unlawful commands. Hegseth then dutifully echoed the treason talk, issued a formal censure, and started a retirement-grade review whose outcome, Kelly notes, is basically pre-written.
Kelly is asking a federal court to throw the whole thing out as unlawful and unconstitutional, and to remind the executive branch that it doesn’t get to financially kneecap senators for saying "the president can’t order you to commit crimes." Because nothing says "apolitical military" like threatening to strip veterans of rank and pay years after they retire if they don’t sufficiently worship the commander-in-chief. But sure, tell us again how this crowd is all about "freedom" and "supporting the troops".
#killing-democracy#fascism
judge says illegal, doj says ‘lol anyway’
Lindsey Halligan, seen here in the Oval Office auditioning for the role of ‘acting U.S. attorney’ in a government that treats the Constitution as a suggestion box.
The Eastern District of Virginia, now apparently operating as the Trump Personal Vendetta Annex, just pushed out top attorney Robert McBride while the Justice Department continues insisting that Lindsey Halligan is in charge — despite a federal judge ruling her appointment illegal. Because nothing says "independent justice system" like doubling down on an unlawfully-installed Trump loyalist.
A judge already tossed the criminal cases Halligan’s office brought against James Comey and New York AG Letitia James, finding she was wrongly appointed. That makes at least five acting U.S. attorneys unlawfully installed under this administration, but DOJ leadership is still pretending Halligan’s title is real, like a kid insisting their imaginary friend can sign legal documents.
McBride’s exit reportedly followed a dispute over whether he’d lead any effort to re-indict Comey — because of course the priority is retrying Trump’s political enemies, not fixing the blatantly illegal appointments. To make things even more normal and fine, McBride apparently met quietly with federal judges to see if the court would appoint him acting U.S. attorney instead, behind the administration’s back. The response from DOJ leadership? Fire him, keep the illegal appointee, and dare the judiciary to do something about it.
In other words: the judge says the prosecutor was unlawfully installed, the Constitution says this is not how any of this works, and the Trump DOJ says, "We have noted your concerns and will be ignoring them in their entirety." Rule of law is for suckers; loyalty is the only credential that matters.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#forever-grifting
trump disappointed he didn’t finish the coup with tanks at the polling place
Donald Trump, presumably pondering how much better 2020 would have gone if he’d added "invade the voting machines" to his list of presidential duties.
Donald Trump has now gone on the record with the New York Times to say the quiet part even louder: he regrets not using the National Guard to seize voting machines after losing the 2020 election. In other words, the former (and now current) president is sad his coup didn’t involve more troops and fewer laws. He still insists he actually won 2020—"I won three times," he boasts—because nothing says "strong democracy" like a guy who keeps adding imaginary wins to his record like they’re Trump University diplomas.
The idea to grab voting machines wasn’t some fever dream from a Telegram channel; it was floated in a December 2020 Oval Office meeting with Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn, the brain trust of "what if martial law, but make it kooky." They even drafted executive orders to have the Defense Department "seize, collect, retain and analyze" voting machines in swing states, which is a fun way of saying "use the military to overturn an election." Even Bill Barr—yes, that Bill Barr—reportedly "immediately shot down" the plan, because when Bill "Cover-Up" Barr is your voice of restraint, you are way, way off the constitutional map.
Trump now muses that the National Guard might not be "sophisticated enough" to pull off his fantasy machine grab, praising them as "good warriors" but questioning their ability to navigate the alleged dark arts of "crooked Democrats." Translation: he wanted soldiers to help him stay in power, but worries the troops might not be as committed to overthrowing American democracy as Sidney Powell’s group chat. Meanwhile, actual election security experts still say 2020 was the most secure election in US history, and Trump’s lawsuits crashed and burned in courts nationwide—but sure, the real problem is that the tanks never made it to the county clerk’s office.
#killing-democracy#fascism#lawlessness
trump tries to solo rage-quit a senate-ratified climate treaty
Trump signs a memo declaring the U.S. free from climate reality, surrounded by men who think the greenhouse effect is a liberal hoax.
Donald Trump has discovered a new climate solution: if you pull the U.S. out of the UN’s core climate treaty, the planet just… stops warming, right? In a fresh presidential memo, he announced that the U.S. "shall withdraw" from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and 65 other international bodies that allegedly offend American "sovereignty"—in other words, anything that mildly inconveniences fossil fuel donors. There’s just one tiny problem: legal experts keep pointing out that he probably doesn’t have the constitutional authority to yank the U.S. out of a Senate-ratified treaty by himself, no matter how many all-caps memos he signs.
Harold Hongju Koh, former top State Department lawyer, says the quiet part out loud: because the Senate approved the UNFCCC back in 1992, Trump doesn’t get to un-sign it like a bad prenup. He calls for a “mirror principle”—if it took the Senate to get in, it takes the Senate to get out. Meanwhile, Columbia’s Michael Gerrard and others note that past presidents have sometimes acted like they can ditch treaties unilaterally, and Congress just sort of shrugged, which Trump is now treating as a blank check to dismantle decades of international law between Truth Social posts.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse politely sums up the situation as "not just corrupt, it’s illegal," calling the move "polluter-driven stoogery"—because nothing says "defending American prosperity" like making sure oil and gas companies never have to deal with the inconvenience of a habitable planet. The Supreme Court has never clearly decided who actually gets to terminate treaties, which Trump is apparently reading as: "go nuts, no refs on the field." Legal scholars are now arguing over whether this stunt would also make it harder for a future president to rejoin the treaty, or whether a successor can just stroll back in and pretend the tantrum never happened.
The bottom line: Trump is trying to unilaterally blow up the foundational global climate agreement that a previous Republican president negotiated and a unanimous Senate ratified—while insisting this is about "sovereignty" and "freedom," not the fossil fuel industry’s death grip on his administration. The rest of the world gets a clear message: the U.S. is an unreliable partner, its treaty commitments are only as durable as the next Fox segment, and the constitutional separation of powers is just another speed bump on the road to climate arson.
#killing-democracy#anti-science
trump state dept defends musk’s ai creep factory
Elon Musk’s X: now with state-sponsored outrage protection from the Trump administration, for when your AI sex-picture machine meets the slightest hint of regulation.
In the latest episode of "Free Speech Means Never Having To Moderate Anything," Elon Musk’s X gets caught helping users churn out sexualised AI images of women and children, and the UK government has the audacity to say, "hey, maybe don’t do that." Ofcom fast-tracks an investigation into Grok, X’s built-in AI image tool, which is apparently great at turning random photos into sexualised garbage and Auschwitz bikini shots—but sure, tell us more about how AI will save civilisation.
Business secretary Peter Kyle and technology secretary Liz Kendall say Ofcom can go all the way up to banning X in the UK if the company won’t stop turning its platform into a premium service for unlawful images. X’s brilliant response? Don’t fix the abuse pipeline, just limit the image generator to paying subscribers—because nothing says "responsible tech governance" like putting exploitation behind a paywall.
Enter the Trump administration, stage hard-right: Sarah Rogers, the US undersecretary for public diplomacy—because of course it’s public diplomacy—rushes out to compare the UK’s potential action to Putin-style censorship. In other words, a US official is now publicly defending Musk’s right to let a platform crank out sexualised AI images of women and kids, and calling any attempt to stop it ‘authoritarian.’ The message from Trump-world is clear: regulating corporate abuse is tyranny, but state power deployed to protect a billionaire’s engagement farm is just good old-fashioned ‘freedom.’
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
