DCUM Weblog

Today I am going to provide updates on a number of the topics about which I've previously written. To be frank, compiling these updates has been a depressing endeavor as, if anything, they show that things in the U.S. are getting significantly worse. While there are a few glimmers of hope, they are generally outweighed by negative developments. We may feel an urge to look away in order to avoid the bad news, but it is important to keep our eyes open and aware of what is happening. It is in the interest of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump that we simply give up and ignore what he is doing to our country. However, the easiest form of resistance is to simply pay attention.

Trump's Attacks on Law Firms

Last month I wrote about executive orders that Trump signed targeting law firms that had fallen into disfavor with him. Since then, Trump has similarly gone after several additional law firms. While one of the first firms that Trump targeted, Perkins Coie, has challenged Trump in court and met with success, others, such as Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, quickly capitulated and made considerable concessions to Trump. Far from being discouraged by the legal pushback, Trump instead seized on what was essentially tribute paid by the firms that surrendered. Trump has bragged about what he has been able to wring out of the firms and been encouraged to attack more of them. Some firms have even preemptively approached Trump to offer their surrender. It has been extremely disappointing to see firms comprised of what are supposed to be hard-nosed litigators fold like wet paper bags. I am, of course, just a simple website owner and not a graduate of an Ivy League law school or a partner in a prestigious law firm, but I cannot begin to understand the calculus of the firms that immediately give in. Who would want to hire a law firm that won't even stand up for itself? Who would want to pay them to immediately grovel at the slightest threat? How could these firms be trusted in any case that might upset Trump? To their credit, a number of employees have chosen to leave the firms that gave into Trump, putting their honor above their immediate interests. But far too many top lawyers appear to be more interested in being able to make payments on a house in the Hamptons than standing up for their own constitutional rights.

After reports that Shadow President Elon Musk would be stepping back from his Special Government Employee role in the federal government, he has been kind of quiet. While the US DOGE Service that the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump insists that Musk does not lead, despite all evidence to the contrary, continues its rampage through the federal government, Musk has not recently been in the spotlight. He has popped up only to criticize Peter Navarro, Trump's senior counselor for trade and manufacturing. That does not mean that Musk has not kept busy. For instance, he recently concluded a multibillion dollar merger involving his artificial intelligence company, xAI. At the same time, Musk also completed a merger of another of his companies, X, his social media network that was previously known as Twitter. As you may have divined, Musk's two companies merged with each other. This involved a multistep process that provides an interesting window into how it is possible to create wealth out of thin air. The merger also raises questions about Musk's future plans and whether they might involve the highly sensitive government data to which DOGE has had access.

Imagine that while in the course of your daily routine, maybe walking your dog, picking up a child from school, leaving work, going to the grocery store, or any other mundane activity, you are seized by a group of masked individuals, tossed into an unmarked van, and whisked to a detention center. Within hours, you are moved to another detention center and, shortly after that, transferred to a third detention center. Somewhere along the way, you are told that you will be deported to El Salvador, where you will be confined to the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). You are also informed that you have the right to file a habeas petition to challenge your deportation. It is entirely possible that you don't even know what a habeas petition is, let alone how to file one. Nobody may even know that you are missing or, if they do, where you are being held. If friends or family manage to find a lawyer willing to help, the lawyer won't know where to file a habeas petition because your location is unknown. Before you are able to obtain a court appearance, you are put on an airplane to El Salvador. Then, days later, lawyers present evidence that you were wrongly identified as a member of the violent Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, and should not have been deported. The government admits that your deportation was in error but claims no ability to have you returned from a prison that is under foreign control. The government's reaction is essentially "too bad, so sad" or, more directly, "it sucks to be you."

Not all of the attacks on American freedoms started under cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. When it comes to Israel and the Palestinians, Trump has continued the policy of former President Joe Biden of providing full, unequivocal support for Israel. Both Presidents have sought to squelch criticism of their policies and Israel's actions, especially among college students. The result has been the most pronounced assault on freedom of speech within the United States in modern history. Biden began the process by funding, supplying, and providing political support for Israel's genocide in Gaza and then backing attempts by Israel's supporters to classify almost any criticism of the country's actions as "antisemitism". Even the most modest critique of Israel's actions in Gaza is likely to be declared "antisemitic" or "pro-Hamas" and, in many cases, punished. This process began under Biden, but Trump has seized the cudgel of combating "antisemitism" to further his own interest in neutering universities as a source of opposition to his autocratic policies. Under both administrations, steps were taken to suppress freedom of speech, particularly on college campuses, in order to avoid criticism of the full-fledged support for Israel and Israel's atrocities in Gaza.

Yesterday, cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump announced a broad range of tariffs on almost every country in the world, minus Russia and Belarus (I'm sure this was a simple oversight). Trump claimed that these are "reciprocal" tariffs that simply duplicate tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers that those countries place on U.S. goods. Observers quickly expressed confusion about how the various tariff rates were derived because they could find no combination of tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers that added up to Trump's figures. Eventually, one analyst — who could probably have a good future as a code breaker — discovered that the tariff rates were actually just the trade deficit that we have with each country divided by the value of the country's annual exports to the U.S. and then divided in half. When asked to confirm that this was, in fact, the calculation that was used, White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai replied that the formula was incorrect and, instead, provided a complex equation containing Greek symbols and a lot of complex and confusing language. Those with a working understanding of mathematics quickly discovered that the Greek symbols cancelled themselves out (one multiplied the value by 4 while another multiplied the same value by .25) and, once the equation was simplified, indeed matched the initial discovery that the calculation was simply the trade deficit divided by the value of exports divided in half. Obviously, basing tariff rates on such a number makes no sense whatsoever.

For the most part, I have tried to stick to discussing factual information with, of course, many of my opinions mixed in. Today, I'll do something different and try my hand at speculation. I have to warn readers that I am a poor speculator. Were it otherwise, I would have made a bazillion dollars by now by correctly picking stocks to buy. Alas, I remain a humble website owner, lacking the means to purchase a U.S. Supreme Court justice or even a Wisconsin State Supreme Court justice. But, luckily, speculation is free and, therefore, I can afford it. The topic of my prognostications, or let's face it, guesses, is the interdependency of Shadow President Elon Musk's political and financial fortunes. More specifically, my argument is that a decline in one area will negatively impact the other. Hence, the victory by Susan Crawford yesterday in an election for a seat on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court will result in financial losses for Musk, particularly in the case of Tesla.

It is somewhat remarkable that I never struggle to find a topic demonstrating a movement by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump towards autocracy. To the contrary, many days, including today, I have to choose between multiple possible topics. Today I'll follow up on a topic that I've written about a number of times already: the Trump administration's treatment of immigrants. Exactly a week ago I wrote about the denial of due process to those being deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), pointing out that, without judicial review, "we are expected to believe that the government is infallible." I further suggested that such an expectation was probably ill-advised. Now, we have a case in which the Trump administration admits to making an error and wrongly deporting an individual to be held in CECOT. Astonishingly, however, the government says that it does not have the ability to return the man and is arguing that courts do not have the authority to order that he be returned.

I have been highlighting cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's autocratic actions that threaten our democracy. For those who value the democratic traditions of our country, the threat of autocracy is enough to oppose Trump and his imposition of dictatorial practices. However, like autocratic regimes throughout history, the Trump administration is incompetent. In fact, one motivation of dictatorial rule is the fear of the rulers that their incompetence will be exposed. They don't want their actions to be questioned because they know that the answers to those questions will expose just how bad of a job they are doing. Another aspect of authoritarian rule is that, instead of being based on values and principles, governance serves those close to the rulers. Proximity to power becomes paramount to being provided government support. Over the weekend, two Trump administration initiatives were highlighted that showed both the administration's incompetence and its deference to those in favor with leading Trump officials. The first is the way in which the administration identifies members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The second is a Trump program called "Mission South Africa" that is aimed at encouraging the immigration of White Afrikaners from South Africa.

Given that the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has decided that criticism of Israel is a deportable offense, I am going to use the privilege afforded to me by virtue of my being a U.S. citizen to criticize Israel every chance I get. While I would love to have a reason to do that today, my criticism is actually going to be of U.S. officials. But it involves Israel.

I wasn't going to write about the notorious "SignalGate" controversy in which top Trump administration officials engaged in discussion of top-secret military plans while including a journalist in on their discussion. There has been a lot written about that already, and I assumed that I could not add anything that hasn't already been brought up. But then I realized that was not true. One aspect, at least to my knowledge, that has not been addressed in detail is the role of Israel. As I wrote in an earlier blog post, the root cause of the U.S. attack on Yemen is Israel's actions with regard to Gaza. Had Trump not adopted former President Joe Biden's policy regarding Israel and Gaza, there would not be any Houthi missile attacks and no need for the U.S. to respond to those attacks. Yet this aspect of the conflict was completely ignored in the Signal chat.