On Thursday, Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American” had two fascinating tidbits. First:
In 2020, when Utah senator Mitt Romney voted to convict Donald Trump on one of many fees on which the Home impeached him, Trump tweeted a video calling him a “Democrat secret asset” who “tried to infiltrate Trump’s administration” whereas “posing as a Republican.” Romney was the Republican Celebration’s 2012 presidential nominee.
Which made me assume: So, my Trump-supporting mates, did you imagine that? Is Mitt Romney a Democrat secret asset?
Hmmm …
Then there have been the administration’s latest choices to have the navy destroy three Venezuelan boats which will have been operated by drug smugglers. In fact the police have the precise to arrest drug smugglers (if the police have jurisdiction and possible trigger), however does the navy have the precise to assassinate, quite than arrest, alleged drug smugglers from a rustic with which we aren’t at struggle?
Cox Richardson quoted John Yoo, the Republican creator of the notorious memos justifying torture within the administration of Bush the Youthful, on this problem:
John Yoo, the previous deputy assistant legal professional common underneath President George W. Bush who wrote the authorized justification for torture in the course of the struggle on terror, pushed again on the intense powers Trump is claiming to kill these he labels terrorists. “There needs to be a line between crime and struggle,” Yoo mentioned. “We will’t simply contemplate something that harms the nation to be a matter for the navy. As a result of that would doubtlessly embrace each crime.”
Which made me assume: So, my Trump-supporting mates, has anybody but satisfied you that these assassinations had been authorized?
I then left Cox Richardson’s leads and went to Bloomberg Legislation:
Three present [Department of Labor] staff, who spoke on situation of anonymity, informed Bloomberg Legislation that colleagues who took the Division of Authorities Effectivity’s “Fork within the Highway” provide earlier this yr have returned as full-time staff, after amassing their full pay and advantages for months with out performing their job duties.
The company’s inside web site for processing worker IT requests additionally has a banner studying “Welcoming Again Returning DRP Workers,” in response to a screenshot shared with Bloomberg Legislation.
That’s a superb deal for the workers: An extended trip, on the federal government payroll, after which you’ll be able to rejoin the federal government, doing exactly the identical job that you just had theoretically left.
Can I’ve that deal, too?
And, my Trump-supporting mates, does that appear like authorities effectivity to you?
I then left the simple sources of reports and ventured out alone.
Firstly of Trump’s time period, there have been about 700 immigration judges out there to course of the massive backlog of immigration circumstances pending to resolve whether or not of us can lawfully enter america. After a collection of firings and compelled self-resignations, there at the moment are about 600 judges left to resolve these circumstances. That’s not almost sufficient, so Trump has determined to enlist members of the navy’s JAG Corps to function immigration judges. Members of the JAG Corps don’t essentially know something about immigration regulation, and there are authorized questions whether or not members of the navy can be utilized for civilian functions (akin to serving as immigration judges).
So, my Trump-supporting mates, are you satisfied that firing certified immigration judges for no motive, after which changing them with unqualified, and presumably unlawful, navy attorneys (who had been presumably doing different needed duties for the navy) is an clever coverage?
Trump says that American cities run by Democratic mayors are crime-ridden hellholes. Trump’s resolution to that is to ship in members of the Nationwide Guard, who aren’t educated in crime management, to maintain order.
So, my Trump-supporting mates, does it actually make sense to ship within the Nationwide Guard, on a short lived deployment at appreciable expense, to serve this objective, or wouldn’t it make extra sense — if our giant cities are actually crime-infested hellholes — for the federal authorities to offer money grants to cities to allow them to rent and prepare extra cops?
How about all the opposite ridiculous issues that Trump has requested you to imagine? Did you actually imagine, first, that the rioters on January 6 had been members of antifa, as Trump insisted? Did you then change your thoughts to imagine, as Trump later instructed, that the rioters had been members of the FBI? Did you then later change your thoughts once more to imagine, because the fearless chief insisted, that the rioters had really finished nothing flawed in any respect and deserved to be pardoned?
What is going to you imagine tomorrow?
Did you actually imagine, as Trump insisted, that Trump had not signed a word within the birthday ebook for Jeffrey Epstein’s fiftieth birthday? Did you imagine that there was in actual fact no birthday ebook in any respect? Did you imagine that the Wall Road Journal, which had the temerity to recommend {that a} word signed by Trump existed, must be sued for defamation? Now that the word has been produced, and also you’ve seen it with your personal eyes, what are you pondering? Trump nonetheless says it’s not his signature; do you imagine that? In that case, simply who cast the word, 20 years in the past, and had it inserted within the ebook, and for what objective? When Trump modifications his story once more, will you imagine the subsequent ridiculous factor that he says?
Is there an out of doors likelihood that you just understand there’s one thing flawed with this?
Or is Trump telling you to not fear?
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a associate at a number one worldwide regulation agency and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment issues at a big worldwide firm. He’s the creator of The Curmudgeon’s Information to Working towards Legislation and Drug and Machine Product Legal responsibility Litigation Technique (affiliate hyperlinks). You possibly can attain him by e mail at [email protected].
