DCUM Weblog

I last wrote about Kilmar Ábrego García in August. At that time, the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump was attempting to deport Ábrego to Uganda. In the final paragraph of that post, I mentioned that Ábrego's lawyers had filed a writ of habeas corpus in federal court. Yesterday, United States District Judge Paula Xinis issued an opinion in the matter. Not to put too fine a point on things, but it was a doozy. Xinis found that Ábrego, who at the time was in federal custody, was being unlawfully held, and she ordered his immediate release. As a result, Ábrego was released from custody last night. However, the Trump administration is not finished with its persecution of this man and late yesterday engaged in some highly irregular and potentially unlawful behavior that threatened Ábrego's freedom.

MAGAland is extremely fractured these days, with different MAGA personalities fighting with each other and splits emerging within the movement. The fissures result from two vacuums within the MAGA coalition, one that is frequently exaggerated and one that is generally underestimated. The exaggerated vacuum is that caused by the assassination of Charlie Kirk. While Kirk was popular on the right and had a high profile, he simply did not have the importance with which he has been attributed in the lionization that has occurred since his murder. Nevertheless, he did lead a credible and well-funded organization, and there is now strong competition to seize, if not his actual mantle, at least the glorified version of it. The underestimated vacuum is one caused by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump’s transition from a populist grassroots leader to a corporatist autocrat who has abandoned much of MAGA orthodoxy.

Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump rode a wave of devotion among his cult followers to power. His popularity among the MAGA movement gave him a base of support that was practically unrivaled. But in his second term in office, Trump seems less interested in that grassroots movement and instead is relying on the institutions of government as the source of his power. Trump has seemingly abandoned his role as a grassroots leader and, instead, exerted power through his control of government.

Trump has transitioned from primarily being a grassroots populist to an authoritarian leader whose power flows from his control of government institutions rather than his devoted followers. During his quest for the presidency, Trump relied on his dominance among grassroots MAGAs. This is a group that was so devoted to Trump that they literally stormed the Capitol Building on his behalf. Trump not only benefitted from his supporters' votes, but used them to threaten other politicians and force them to submit to his will. Elected Republicans were well aware that crossing Trump could result in a primary challenge and a likely election defeat. But now, little more than 10 months into his second term, Trump has less need for his mass of followers and, instead, is relying on his control of the government as the basis of his power.

When Zohran Mamdani, Mikie Sherrill, and Abigail Spanberger led a wave of Democratic victories in November by campaigning on affordability, the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump got the message. Something needed to be done about rising prices. After all, one of Trump's primary campaign issues had been the price of eggs. However, consumers were finding that under the Trump administration, almost everything was more expensive. This created a dilemma for the Trump officials. One of the main causes of rising prices was Trump's signature tariff policy. The quickest way to contain prices would be to abandon Trump's tariffs, but that was something that Trump would not consider. The administration did eventually reverse tariffs on coffee, tea, bananas, beef, and a few other food items, but tariffs remained a key policy. In the absence of acceptable options for lowering, or even stabilizing prices, the Trump administration decided that they would address affordability through messaging. Briefly, administration officials took to the airwaves to assure Americans that they felt their pain and were working night and day to confront the problem of affordability. This message was undercut by their boss. Trump, instead of focusing on affordability in the U.S., bailed out Argentina and, in the process, provided assistance to Argentinian soybean farmers and cattle ranchers while harming the interests of U.S. farmers. Ultimately, Trump would drive a spike through the heart of the administration's message by declaring that affordability was a "hoax." The administration then settled on a new message: It's all the fault of former President Joe Biden.

Thanks to cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, Republican elected officials are increasingly emulating Sergeant Schultz, the aimable German prison camp guard in the Hogan's Heroes sitcom. Schultz was famous for ignoring the prisoners' illicit activities, claiming that "I see nothing" or "I know nothing." Faced with Trump's increasingly controversial or hard-to-defend actions, Republicans are often claiming that they know nothing about them. This is an easy way to avoid either criticizing Trump or standing behind his latest move. Elected officials of all stripes are generally very image-conscious and reluctant to reveal any faults. Yet Republican after Republican will happily portray themselves as ignorant of current events rather than being forced to choose between either of the less desirable alternatives. These Republicans, of course, are not being forthright and, if they were, it would be reasonable to ask how such uninformed individuals can adequately perform the jobs for which they were elected. But for today's Republicans, ignorance is truly bliss.

Is cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump a racist? It is hard to know what thoughts are lurking around inside the head of someone, especially one whose brain has turned to mush as has Trump's. A fairer, and easier to answer, question is whether Trump engages in racism. To that, I think the answer is unequivocally "yes". To be fair, Trump's racism is often mixed with xenophobia and it can be difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins, but Trump's xenophobia is heavily influenced by race. For instance, Trump is very opposed to immigration, especially from what he calls "third world" countries whose inhabitants are likely to be non-white. However, he welcomes white South Africans. Trump's embrace of racism has been most obvious recently in his preoccupation with Somali immigrants, especially those living in Minnesota.

Back on November 11, I wrote a blog post titled, "Trump's Truth Social Insanity" in which I described the insanities that cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump regularly posts on Truth Social, his social media network. In that post, I suggested that Trump's Truth Social feed might become a recurring topic. Today is my second contribution to that series. I am motivated to return to this topic due to Trump's overnight activity beginning Monday evening. Within a few hours’ time period, Trump managed to either "truth" or "retruth" at least 160 times. The craziness has to be seen to be believed, but while I have seen some mentions by the corporate media of Trump's slew of posts, none of them have captured the reality of what really occurred. I will attempt to do that today.

Yesterday I wrote about the attacks being launched by the United States military against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. I specifically focused on new reporting about the first of the attacks, which occurred on September 2. The new accounts claimed that after the initial strike, which severely damaged the boat and killed most of the 11 occupants of the craft, a second missile strike was launched in order to kill two survivors who were seen clinging to the wreckage. Killing survivors in this manner is almost universally considered to be a war crime, and such an example is included in the Department of Defense's "Law of War" manual in order to illustrate an illegal order that military personnel have a duty to refuse. After publishing the article, I added an update due to remarks by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Leavitt confirmed that there indeed had been multiple strikes but denied that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had given an order to kill the survivors. In light of Leavitt's remarks and other developments yesterday, I think it is worth continuing to consider this topic.

The United States has attacked over 20 boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, killing over 80 individuals. According to the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, the boats were carrying drugs destined for the United States, and those killed were drug traffickers and gang members. The administration has provided no evidence to support its allegations, and there is a strong debate over whether the attacks amount to extrajudicial killings. This dispute gained additional attention last week when the Washington Post published an article reporting that there were two survivors of the initial strike during the first boat attack on September 2. The two were subsequently killed by a follow-up strike. Killing survivors is one of the most widely acknowledged war crimes, and these attacks put U.S. personnel at risk of prosecution under both U.S. and international laws.

Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has completely lost it. If you were not already convinced of this, the last few days have provided enough evidence to persuade all but the most dedicated cultists. Almost any time Trump opens his mouth these days, he does a disservice to our country and damages our national interests. The media's tendency to "sanewash" what Trump says and, therefore, sugarcoat his words, and Trump's cultish followers' contention that Trump's insanities are nothing more than good fun, tend to hide the reality of what passes through Trump's lips on a regular basis.

Often the bizarre statements that Trump issues are harmless, if nonsensical. For instance, two days ago Trump, for no discernable reason, "truthed" on his Truth Social social media network that "There is a new word for a TRUMP REPUBLICAN, which is almost everyone (GREAT POLICY IS THE KEY!). It is, TEPUBLICAN??? Or, TPUBLICAN???" This is a man who has clearly run out of juice. Moreover, the much more recognizable, as well as pronounceable, "MAGA" already exists and is heavily used.