DCUM Weblog

Over the past year in which I have focused these blog posts on the dangers presented by the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, I have repeatedly warned that Trump planned to interfere with this year's midterm elections. Recent events have made this even more clear. I have written more than once that simply telling the truth about the Trump administration can make someone sound like a loony conspiracy theorist. This topic is a case in point. Trump's actions are so far beyond accepted norms that they can be hard to believe. Connecting the dots of such efforts results in bizarre conclusions that even the most cynical among us can find hard to believe. But, given recent developments, it is exceedingly clear that Trump does not plan to allow free elections this November.

As the expression goes, "all politics is local". Therefore, today I am going to take a break from my usual focus on cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, although there is certainly a lot that can be said about him, and turn my attention to a local District of Columbia issue. This change in focus was inspired by an editorial in the Washington Post on Friday. That editorial, bylined by the "The Editorial Board" and titled "D.C.'s glacial response to the winter storm," is indicative of how far the Post has fallen in recent years. While the Post's editorials about the District have historically been a low point in the newspaper's performance, this one sets new standards in ridiculousness. The concluding paragraph comes off almost as satire. At any rate, with the editorial as a starting point, I am going to give this topic what you might call the "Matthew Yglesias treatment." In other words, I will take a complex issue and simplistically show how it justifies my preconceived political opinions.

I want to end this week with some ruminations about the resistance to cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's deployment of federal agents to Minnesota. It has been inspiring to watch the mass organization of volunteers who have rallied to the defense of their neighbors. At the same time, the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have shown that this resistance can come at a cost. I normally like to include a mix of news and opinion in my blog posts, but today's is mostly going to be opinion. I will certainly forgive anyone who doesn't want to subject themselves to something that, were it written on paper, would not be worth its cost. Whether this post is worth the bits and bytes that compose a web page is also probably debatable. Nevertheless, as I have said before, I have thoughts and I want to express them.

What is happening in Minneapolis is turning out to be an important milestone in the effort by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump to impose his autocratic rule on the country. It is still too early to tell whether Trump will ultimately succeed or fail, but Minneapolis has shown us that he will face significant hurdles. Minneapolis has revealed the true nature of Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection thugs. Far from going after the "worst of the worst," these masked agents that look and act more like an armed paramilitary than a legitimate law enforcement group, are simply terrorizing the community. The resistance in Minneapolis has inspired not one, but two songs by major songwriters. Yesterday we were blessed with both "The Streets of Minneapolis" by Bruce Springsteen and "City of Heroes" by Billy Bragg. Imagine being the subject of songs by these two songwriters in the course of a day? To quote another famous protest song, "There's something happening here." While the people in the streets, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and the Department of Homeland Security gangs hurling tear gas and pepper spray get the attention, much of the battle is being waged in the courts. Today I will provide a few updates on legal developments.

After an attack on Representative Ilhan Omar yesterday evening, it has become apparent that mainstream Republicans are, at best, indifferent to political violence directed towards their political rivals and, at worst, actually supportive of it. This has been clear from the reactions of Republicans from cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump on down. While there have been a few Republican voices unequivocally condemning the assault, this has been very much a minority reaction among those on the right. This is not only true in yesterday's attack, but has been the case in regard to several recent acts of violence committed against Democrats. The same Republicans who practically made it a crime not to mourn the death of Charlie Kirk are now engaging in behavior that would have caused people to lose their jobs had the same behavior been directed at Kirk.

The administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump repeatedly has claimed that its deportation operations are aimed at the "worst of the worst." This is a lie. The majority of those being detained by Department of Homeland Security agents working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol do not have criminal records. While some will argue that simply being an undocumented resident is itself a crime, that is irrelevant in the vast majority of cases in which immigrants have been detained. Those being targeted are generally not undocumented as the term is normally understood. Rather, the immigrants were allowed into the country, often as a result of asylum claims, and provided a list of conditions to which they must adhere. A common condition is regular check-ins with immigration officials, and many of those detained have actually been seized when they showed up for their required appointments. ICE and BP are, in fact, targeting almost any immigrant upon whom they can get their hands, even individuals who are in full compliance with the law. One of the most egregious examples of the Trump administration targeting law-abiding immigrants is Operation PARRIS, which was launched on January 9, 2026, and aimed at 5,600 lawfully admitted refugees residing in Minnesota.

Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has long engaged in misogynistic behavior. As far back as 2015, then Fox News host Megyn Kelly asked Trump during a presidential primary debate why "You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals." Trump's response was to claim that he only described Rosie O'Donnell in such a manner. But the question bothered Trump enough that days later he would attack Kelly herself, saying, "There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." During Trump's second term, he has made a habit of attacking women reporters. He responded to Bloomberg News' Catherine Lucey by saying, "Quiet, piggy," called the New York Times' reporter Katie Rogers "a third-rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out," referred to ABC News' Mary Bruce as a "terrible person and a terrible reporter," and described CBS News' Nancy Cordes as "a stupid person." This current of misogyny has infected the entire MAGA movement and has become a mainstay of MAGA ideology. For instance, Vice President and reply-guy JD Vance criticized prominent Democrats as "childless cat ladies." Misogyny is showing up in the normal discourse of MAGA supporters and may well have motivated two recent shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents.

It is possible to argue that cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's entire existence is built on a mountain of lies. We could probably dissect any aspect of his biography and find that this is true. The latest effort by Trump to conjure something into existence on the basis of falsehoods and misrepresentations is his "Board of Peace," which he inaugurated yesterday. Trump presents himself as a peacemaker and is obsessed with the fact that he has not been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, Trump has a poor record when it comes to peace, and his new board has little to do with peace and a lot to do with money. Judging by the Board of Peace, Trump still does not deserve a Nobel Peace Prize, but he does have a serious claim to a prize for innovation in grifting. In that realm, Trump is certainly a world leader.

We have been witnessing a surge of incidents in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents break down doors and enter homes to arrest individuals that are believed to be subject to deportation. In several high-profile cases, innocent individuals, including U.S. citizens, have been arrested. Frequently, residents of the home or those detained have said that the ICE agents acted without a proper warrant. This suggests that ICE has been acting without regard to the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Now, a whistleblower report has revealed that this is no coincidence. Rather, ICE has been training new recruits to follow guidance in a closely held memo that says that an administrative rather than a judicial warrant is sufficient to enter a home, including by force. This guidance is at odds with the Fourth Amendment.

In yesterday's post, I briefly mentioned a speech by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. At the time, I had only seen snippets of Carney's address. While that was enough to convince me that what he had to say was extremely important, I did not really understand its full significance until later. I am now convinced that this may turn out to have been one of the most important talks of our time. That is, if other countries heed Carney's word. Otherwise, the speech will likely simply be forgotten.

After World War I and even more so after World War II, there was widespread recognition that the existing world order had failed to maintain stability, resulting in the devastating wars. There was an eagerness to establish a new international system that would create rules for inter-state interaction and a means for preventing conflicts. The most prominent institution to result from these efforts was the United Nations. The system of international institutions and laws became known as the rules-based order or the liberal international order.