Being presidential
Only 1,394 days to go...
“Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion.” ~Henry A. Wallace
Trump has a history of extortion. Let’s not forget his FIRST impeachment in 2019 was about extortion. The Trump–Ukraine scandal revolved around efforts by Trump to coerce Ukraine and other foreign countries into providing damaging narratives about Joe Biden, as well as information relating to the origins of previous political attacks against him, such as the claims investigated by Robert Mueller. Trump enlisted surrogates within and outside his official administration, including his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr, to pressure Ukraine and other foreign governments to cooperate in investigating conspiracy theories concerning American politics.
It now appears that President Donald Trump was running an extortion campaign against Ukraine, as well as a complex cover-up to keep the public in the dark about his abuse of power. On July 18, 2019, the Trump administration withheld $250 million of military aid to Ukraine. Seven days later, Trump held a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which he asked Zelensky to work with Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Attorney General William Barr to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. (source: Trump’s Extortion of Ukraine: A Complete Government Shakedown)
Today he is engaging in all sorts of extortion. What’s worse is that organizations are caving to his demands and paying the metaphorical “protection money.” They would rather settle than have prolonged legal battles with the president.
…in civil society, a pattern of capitulation has emerged against Donald Trump's campaign of retribution against perceived critics. Some universities, law firms, and media organizations have chosen to comply rather than resist demands from the administration…. Columbia University--one of the wealthiest universities in the U.S.--agreed to the Trump Administration demands to overhaul its Middle Eastern studies department and its protest and security policies after the Trump Administration withheld $400 million in funds… Democratic-leaning law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP announced a deal with the Trump Administration where it would do $40 million of pro bono work for the administration after Trump leveled an executive order against the firm, which most legal observers considered illegal. The order was subsequently dropped. These deals follow a $15 million settlement last December by ABC News with the president over defamation, which most legal experts think was a winnable case for the outlet.
It is no accident that the Trump Administration is targeting independent institutions: they are one of the few remaining bulwarks against its power, following the total acquiescence of Republicans in Congress and Supreme Court decision last July that declared that the president has near total immunity for his actions. Universities are designed to foster independent thought and action, even if they sometimes fall short in doing so. Law firms provide legal representation for administration critics. Journalistic institutions strive to tell the truth and challenge the powerful.
Capitulating to Trump, American Elites Follow a History of Autocratic Enabling that Doesn't End Well
Elites have repeatedly made alliances with autocrats. Elites retain power and privileges, and have the potential to expand their profits, in return for supporting the autocrat no matter what he says or does. This support can include legitimizing his policies, helping to spread his propaganda, discouraging criticism of him and his government, and giving him an aura of respectability in the national and international arenas.
Such alliances are seen by elites as insurance against becoming a target of the leader, who often goes after the most powerful just to show that no one is safe. In an established autocracy, any criticism of the leader, or refusals to accept offers of collaboration, can be dangerous…Other elites are motivated by greed, or attached to neoliberal visions of government. They see Trump’s presidency as the final push to free government from excessive regulations. They are all for a political system founded on restricting or eliminating the rights of the many, while giving far more liberties to the few….
Instead of uniting and standing up to Trump’s intimidation tactics, they are folding and also backpedaling from actions taken in the past that could be seen as disloyal or contrary to Trumpian and MAGA interests. In doing so, they are helping Trump’s personality cult by already treating him as the dictator he fervently wants to be.
Protect Democracy put together their The Authoritarian Playbook.
Just looking at the table of contents, one can see that the playbook is being implemented as we speak:
Politicizing independent institutions.. √
Spreading disinformation..√
Aggrandizing executive power, weakening checks and balances.. √
Quashing criticism or dissent.. √
Scapegoating vulnerable communities.. √
Corrupting elections.. √
Stoking violence.. √
On a daily basis, Trump is implementing this playbook and showing us his true colors. His presidential style is that of an extortionist working to become a complete authoritarian.
Asheville Rising: How to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene
Six months after Hurricane Helene left widespread destruction across the Southeast, "Good Morning America" returned to one of the hardest-hit communities, Asheville, North Carolina. Check out how you can help with Asheville Rising.
Thought for the day in honor of his birthday…
“Most Americans are close to total ignorance about the world. They are ignorant. That is an unhealthy condition in a country in which foreign policy has to be endorsed by the people if it is to be pursued. And it makes it much more difficult for any president to pursue an intelligent policy that does justice to the complexity of the world.”
― Zbigniew Brzezinski
Must Read Article:
Somehow, wisdom and compassion just aren’t cool anymore. At least here in the U.S., it feels like this:
In: Harshness
Out: EmpathyIn: Arrogance
Out: HumilityIn: Meanness
Out: LoveIn: Being a Christian
Out: Living as Jesus suggested we liveIn: Authoritarianism
Out: Democracy
… Trump’s administration includes at least 13 billionaires — the wealthiest cabinet in modern U.S. history. And what do billionaires tend to do? They mainly look out for other billionaires.
They’re not exactly attuned to the life of the average person…
The real challenge is not a battle between liberals and conservatives, as much as it is a battle to remember our shared humanity.
Quote of the day:
"The concerted attacks on lawyers, law firms, and judges are a coordinated strategy to discredit and intimidate legal actors who dare to challenge the Trump administration. At stake is preservation of the ability of our legal system to function without fear or favor. When lawyers are targeted for representing unpopular clients, and judges face threats for upholding the law, we risk undoing the very prerequisites that make justice possible."
~ Andrew Weissman
What I’m reading today…
Nation's Elite Lawyers Choose Money Over The Constitution
When Donald Trump issued a lawless order instructing the government to crack down on the white-shoe law firm Paul Weiss, the firm’s chairman Brad Karp cut a corrupt deal with the president, including a promise to devote $40 million worth of pro bono hours “to support the administration’s initiatives.”
The decision had an immediate emboldening effect on Trump and chilling effect on the rest of the Big Law world. Trump signed a new executive order Tuesday targeting the firm Jenner & Block. He ordered his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to seek sanctions against any lawyers who file lawsuits he and his administration deem “frivolous.” Most other firms have responded to Trump’s implicit threat to strip them of their security clearances and drive away clients with business before the government by going to ground—abandoning clients that want to sue the administration, or that the administration might otherwise find objectionable.
Rivals Pounce on Paul Weiss, a Top Law Firm, After Trump’s Order
President Trump’s executive order attacking Paul Weiss and severely restricting that law firm’s ability to represent its clients was widely seen by lawyers as a dangerous affront to the nation’s legal system.
To rivals of Paul Weiss, it was an opportunity.
Within days of Mr. Trump’s March 14 order, some of the biggest competitors were calling top lawyers at the beleaguered law firm — one of the nation’s most prestigious — asking if they wanted to jump ship along with their lucrative clients…The competitors took a soft approach with Paul Weiss’s rainmakers, saying that they sympathized with the lawyers’ plight but that if they wanted out of the turmoil they could name their price.
Trump Is Coming for Every Pillar of the State
The second Trump term is substantially different from Trump’s first term in a key respect — the people around him have developed actual legal theories and policy ideas to buttress, direct and channel Trump’s impulses.
And these legal theories and policy ideas make Trump’s second term far more dangerous to the Constitution than his first.
America may be innovating the authoritarian playbook, but we can find the language to communicate frankly with others about the nature and activities of this government. That way we can develop effective messaging and mount a resistance campaign adapted to our specific situation.
Trump’s Old Grudge Fuels Swipe at a New Law Firm
President Trump initiated a fresh attack on lawyers on Tuesday, singling out a firm where a former prosecutor who investigated him once worked as the White House pursues vengeance against the profession he blames for his legal troubles.
An executive order from Mr. Trump focused on Jenner & Block, a prominent white-shoe firm that once employed Andrew Weissmann, a longtime deputy to Robert S. Mueller III, who as a special counsel investigated Mr. Trump in his first term over possible links to Russia.
The order underscored the extent to which the president, who faced four criminal indictments after he left office in 2021, now aims to exact a steep price from anyone associated with past investigations of him.
This executive order, if it could survive the inevitable judicial challenge, would severely shift power over federal elections into the hands of the Presidency… After the disputed 2000 election, when Congress passed HAVA, it set up an independent bipartisan agency called the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to do certain things like certifying voting equipment and doling out funds to states for voting tech upgrades… If a President can control the EAC, it could direct the agency to do all kinds of things that could benefit the President’s party. It would flout the bipartisan, balanced approached of the EAC.
The Memo: Democrats, lawyers left reeling from Paul, Weiss firm’s Trump deal
The major law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (called Paul, Weiss), targeted by President Trump in an executive order, opted to mollify rather than confront the president. In short, it backed down. Paul, Weiss agreed to provide $40 million in pro bono work on causes backed by the administration and to hire an outside expert to audit its hiring and employment practices. Cowardice and Capitulation Stain the Legacy of Once-Esteemed Mega Law Firm
“It is a permanent stain on the face of a great firm that sought to gain a profit by forfeiting its soul.”
Paul Weiss's Deal With Donald Trump
Yet rather than take action against the order, Paul Weiss disregarded the lawlessness of Trump’s actions, which is lawlessness of a particularly pernicious kind: punishing lawyers for representing clients or causes personally offensive to this president. Perhaps a different kind of business might sensibly conclude that it should do what it could to placate a hostile administration. But a law firm, in this instance a leading one, is not any kind of business: It is a professional association with obligations not only to its clients, but to the legal system itself….Paul Weiss’s agreement with the government does not involve a wholesale surrender of its independence, or that of its lawyers. But it accommodates demands from the government that compromise that professional autonomy. This can be seen by closely examining the commitments it made as part of an agreed process of continued “engaged and constructive relationship with the president and his administration.”
The Trump regime is starting to have a chilling effect on what and how Americans communicate with each another. It is beginning to create mass paranoia, which is exactly what Trump intends… The chill affects the four pillars of civil society — universities, science, the media, and the law…Trump wants university students to be so intimidated they won’t demonstrate against him; professors, so intimidated they won’t criticize his policies in the classroom; scientists, so intimidated they won’t denounce him even privately; the media, so intimidated they’ll refrain from reporting unfavorably about him; and lawyers, so intimidated they won’t support political rivals or litigate against him.
Donald Trump won with 49.9% of the popular vote. Although he has claimed he has a mandate for a radical transformation of government, the numbers just don’t back that up. And they don’t suggest there’s a mandate for putting out military information on a Signal chain being used on personal phones, rather than on secured government systems. If there ever truly was a mandate for Trump, the reality is, it’s evaporating day by day as egg prices stay high and people lose their jobs. And now, there’s this, a cavalier disregard for the safety of our troops, lax security with one member of the Signal group apparently in Russia while communications were ongoing, what looks like an effort to do an end run around government records retention procedures.
Will the Atlantic story break through? It should. Trump’s Vice President, his Secretary of Defense, his CIA director, his DNI, all put American pilots in harm’s way. If that’s not enough for Senate Republicans to break ranks with Trump, especially those on subcommittees that have oversight into military and intelligence community operations, it’s hard to imagine what would be.
Why use Signal in the first place when American leaders have some of the most secure communications technology in the world available to them? Is it just for convenience? If so, that’s sloppy, and they should be committing to do better, not arguing over whether the information was classified or not. (But if it looks like a duck…)
Since Trump won re-election — this time with the popular vote — many of the most influential people in America seem to have lost any will to stand up to him as he goes about transforming America into the sort of authoritarian oligarchy he admires. Call it the Great Capitulation.
Following Jan. 6, Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook co-founder, suspended Trump’s account. But last month at Mar-a-Lago, The Wall Street Journal reported, Zuckerberg stood, hand on heart, as “the club played a rendition of the national anthem sung by imprisoned” Jan. 6 defendants. (It’s not clear if Zuckerberg knew what he was listening to.) He’s pledged a million-dollar donation to Trump’s inauguration, as did the OpenAI C.E.O. Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos’ company Amazon, which will also stream the inauguration on its video platform.
Trump Demands Congress Defund NPR and PBS ‘IMMEDIATELY’ in Late-Night Meltdown
In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act creating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a bipartisan nonprofit that distributes federal funding to a decentralized network of local affiliate stations.
The average public radio station gets about 8 percent of its funding from the federal government, while the average television stations get about 17 percent, according to PBS News Hour. The federal funding costs Americans $1.50 per year on average, according to PBS. Only 24 percent of Americans support cutting funding, and even among Republicans it’s a minority at 44 percent, Pew Research Center reported this week.
Judge says Justice Department attacked her character to ‘impugn the integrity’ of US judicial system
A federal judge accused the Justice Department on Wednesday of attacking her character in an effort to undermine the integrity of the judicial system, forcefully pushing back against the Trump administration’s criticism of the courts for rulings that blocked parts of the president’s agenda.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell’s comments came in an order denying the Justice Department’s bid to remove her from a case over an executive order punishing a prominent law firm. The Trump administration had asked for the case to be moved to another judge in Washington’s federal court, accusing Howell of demonstrating “a pattern of hostility” toward the Republican president.
Musk Is Positioned to Profit Off Billions in New Government Contracts
Musk, as the architect of a group he called the Department of Government Efficiency, has taken a chain saw to the apparatus of governing, spurring chaos and dread by pushing out some 100,000 federal workers and shutting down various agencies, though the government has not been consistent in explaining the expanse of his power.
But in selected spots across the government, SpaceX is positioning itself to see billions of dollars in new federal contracts or other support…The boost in federal spending for SpaceX will come in part as a result of actions by President Trump and Mr. Musk’s allies and employees who now hold government positions.
The Scandal Will Also Be in How They Brush It Aside
If a scandal comes to light and no one does anything about it—is it a real scandal? I suppose we’ll find out. Don’t get me wrong: The fact that the most senior national security officials in the United States government hopped on to a commercially available messaging app to discuss details of a forthcoming U.S. military operation is a scandal.
Indeed, their behavior suggests that these officials have been doing this routinely to discuss all manner of issues, including the most highly classified ones. A failure to observe government rules and laws has probably been business as usual for the Trump administration. In other words, a further and more widespread scandal very likely lurks beneath the surface.
How the Social Security Administration is dodging a federal court order
The Trump administration has installed a DOGE operative as the new Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Social Security Administration (SSA) in an apparent effort to evade a federal court order blocking DOGE affiliates from accessing databases containing the sensitive personal information of millions of Americans.
Trump administration seeks to starve libraries and museums of funding by shuttering this little-known agency
What does the Institute of Museum and Library Services do?
The agency provides financial support to a wide array of cultural and educational institutions, including art, science and history museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and historic sites. Libraries of all types – public, academic, school and research – also benefit from the agency’s funding.
Through grants, research and policy initiatives, the IMLS helps these institutions better serve their communities. For libraries, the IMLS might fund technology upgrades, such as virtual reality learning stations, AI-assisted research aids or digitization of rare books. The agency also pays for community programs that take place in libraries, from early childhood reading initiatives to workshops that help people land jobs.
In His Second Term, Trump Fuels a ‘Machinery’ of Misinformation
Trump’s first four years in the White House were filled with false or misleading statements — 30,573 of them, or 21 a day on average, according to one tally. Back then, though, aides often tried to play down or contain the damage of egregious falsehoods. This time, Trump is joined by a coterie of cabinet officials and advisers who have amplified them and even spread their own. Together, they are effectively institutionalizing disinformation. While it is still early in his term, and many of his executive orders face legal challenges that could blunt the impact of any falsehoods driving them, Trump and his advisers have ushered the country into a new era of post-truth politics, where facts are contested and fictions used to pursue policy goals.
A book I highly recommend…
Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World Hardcover by Anne Applebaum
The members of Autocracy, Inc, aren't linked by a unifying ideology, like communism, but rather a common desire for power, wealth, and impunity. In this urgent treatise, which evokes George Kennan's essay calling for "containment" of the Soviet Union, Anne Applebaum calls for the democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to fight a new kind of threat.
(If you’re not interested in the book, I highly recommend listening to the podcast series: Autocracy in America)
What I am listening to…
What I read every day…
