Tag: Executive Power
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Corruption Pardons
This is what corruption decriminalized looks like. Yesterday NPR reported that since returning to office, Donald Trump has pardoned at least fifteen former elected officials and their co-conspirators who were charged or convicted of public corruption. This on top of the 1,500 January 6 rioters he pardoned on day one of his current term. Among…
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Integrity Army
When someone tells us their plans, we should believe them. Reporting from Copenhagen at the Democracy Summit, where leaders from across the free world are gathered to talk about the state of democracy. On Sunday Donald Trump announced he is deploying an “Election Integrity Army” in every state for the midterms. “Much bigger and stronger”…
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Trump Passport
Dear Leader. Note to my future self. Today I am traveling internationally, and the US passport in my pocket does not have Donald Trump’s face on it. That will not be true much longer. The State Department has finalized a redesign of the US passport featuring Donald Trump’s scowling second inaugural portrait, superimposed over the…
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Allies Will Pay
The cost of that policy will not be paid only in Berlin. Note to my future self. Friday, the Pentagon announced the withdrawal of 5,000 American troops from Germany over the next year. Saturday, the President said the cuts would go “a lot further than 5,000.” Days earlier, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the United…
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SPLC Targeted
That appears to be the point. Note to my future self. On April 21st the Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on eleven counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The theory: that the SPLC defrauded its donors by paying confidential informants to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan,…
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Firing Squads
What they are describing is something else. Note to my future self. On Friday the Trump Justice Department announced it will execute federal prisoners by firing squad, something it has never done. DOJ is also readopting pentobarbital, the lethal injection drug whose use the previous administration had paused after concluding it caused a sensation close…
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Bad Banner
Chavez deRemer’s resignation statement called Donald Trump “the greatest President of my lifetime.” Note to my future self. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned Monday under an inspector general investigation. The allegations: an affair with a member of her security detail, a stash of alcohol in her office, taking subordinates to a strip club on official…
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Not Winning
Watch, because those who believe themselves to be cornered can be the most dangerous. Note to my future self. This is not winning. The president built his reputation on being perceived as a winner. Recent facts do not paint that picture. Just look. Iran. He started a war of choice seven weeks ago. Iran closed…
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Taxing Supremacy
Leadership matters. Note to my future self. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger just ended 76 years of state subsidies to Confederate organizations. This week she signed HB 167, stripping tax-exempt status from six Confederate-linked groups — including the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society. Notably, these…
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Authoritarian Playbook Lost
The people of Hungary just showed what’s possible. The question for us is: are we paying attention? Note to my future self. Great hope in Hungary this week. Strongman Viktor Orbán — 16 years in power, the global patron saint of illiberalism — lost decisively in elections on Sunday and conceded. Seventy seven percent of…
Notes To My Future Self 