It's Time to Protect America From America's President
America has periodically faced great national tests. The Civil War and Reconstruction. The Great Depression. McCarthyism and the Red Scare. Jim Crow and the civil rights movement. And now we face another great test — of our Constitution, our institutions, our citizens — as President Trump ignores courts and sabotages universities and his officers grab people off the street.
I've spent much of my career covering authoritarianism in other countries, and I've seen all this before. The chummy scene in the White House this week with Trump and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador was telling. 'Trump and Bukele Bond Over Human Rights Abuses in Oval Office Meeting,' read Rolling Stone's headline, which seemed about right.
With chilling indifference, they discussed the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a father of three who is married to an American citizen and who in 2019 was ordered protected from deportation by an immigration judge. The Trump administration nonetheless deported Abrego Garcia as a result of what it eventually acknowledged was an 'administrative error,' and he now languishes in a brutal Salvadoran prison — even though, in contrast to Trump, he has no criminal record.
This is a challenge to our constitutional system, for the principal lawbreaking here appears to have been committed not by Abrego Garcia but by the Trump administration.
Appellate judges in the case warned that the administration's position represented a 'path of perfect lawlessness' and would mean 'the government could send any of us to a Salvadoran prison without due process.'
Then the Supreme Court ruled that Trump must obey the district judge's instruction to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's return. Trump and Bukele effectively mocked our federal courts by making it clear that they had no intention of bringing Abrego Garcia home.
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Fox News
15 minutes ago
- Fox News
CBS News hammered on social media for promoting 'No Kings Day' anti-Trump protest merchandise
CBS News is currently facing backlash on social media after they posted what appeared to be an advertisement for "No Kings Day" protest merchandise to X on Friday, with users slamming the outlet for pushing the anti-Trump goods on the eve of a large-scale political protest. Thousands of people are expected to rally in hundreds of cities across America on Saturday to protest the Trump administration and counter the president's military parade in Washington, D.C. to mark the Army's 250th birthday. Today is also Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the U.S. flag on June 14, 1777. The counter-protesters are framing their demonstrations under the slogan "No Kings," describing it as a "day of defiance" against President Donald Trump and his allies while others have been calling for the president to be "dethroned." Author and Senior Analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy, J. Michael Waller, slammed CBS news for marketing "radical merchandise on eve of nationwide protest/riot." Another X user, Bonchie, a writer for the conservative news outlet RedState, mocked the news outlet for "doing free advertisements for Chinese-made, left-wing protest merch." Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist and a Fox News contributor, criticized the liberal news outlet for "no longer even remotely pretending to be news" and for embracing its role as "Democrat propagandists." Another X user questioned whether CBS News "advertising merch for a political event" violates any Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines, slamming the outlet's decision for being "highly unethical." This is not the only controversy CBS News is currently embroiled in. In May, CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon announced she was stepping down in a stunning move for the embattled company. Her exit follows that of longtime "60 Minutes" producer Bill Owens, who quit the prior month because he felt he'd lost journalistic independence amid an ongoing legal battle with Trump. In another blow to the troubled company, "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley spoke out about President Donald Trump's lawsuit against CBS and its parent company last Saturday, arguing that a settlement would be "very damaging." "Well, it'd be very damaging to CBS, to Paramount, to the reputation of those companies," Pelley said during a conversation with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Saturday, who asked how harmful a settlement and potential apology would be to the network. Trump filed a lawsuit against Paramount Global, CBS News' parent company, over a "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris in October 2024. Fox News Digital confirmed that Trump rejected a $15 million offer to settle his lawsuit, according to a source familiar with the matter, as the president's legal team is also demanding at least $25 million and an apology from CBS News. Fox News Digital has reached out to CBS News for comment regarding their article on "No Kings Day" merchandise.
Chicago Tribune
26 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
As President Trump goes to G7 summit, other world leaders aim to show they're not intimidated
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has long bet that he can scare allies into submission — a gamble that is increasingly being tested ahead of the Group of Seven summit beginning Monday in Canada. He's threatened stiff tariffs in the belief that other nations would crumple. He's mused about taking over Canada and Greenland. He's suggested he will not honor NATO's obligations to defend partners under attack. And he's used Oval Office meetings to try to intimidate the leaders of Ukraine and South Africa. But many world leaders see fewer reasons to be cowed by Trump, even as they recognize the risks if he followed through on his threats. They believe he will ultimately back down — since many of his plans could inflict harm on the U.S. — or that he can simply be charmed and flattered into cooperating. 'Many leaders still seem intimidated by Trump, but increasingly they are catching on to his pattern of bullying,' said Jeremy Shapiro, research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. 'In places as diverse as Canada, Iran, China and the EU, we are seeing increasing signs that leaders now recognize that Trump is afraid of anything resembling a fair fight. And so they are increasingly willing to stand up to him.' In the 22 instances in which Trump has publicly threatened military action since his first term, the U.S. only used force twice, according to a May analysis by Shapiro. Ahead of the G7 summit, there are already signs of subtle pushback against Trump from fellow leaders in the group. French President Emanuel Macron planned to visit Greenland over the weekend in a show of European solidarity. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carneyhas said the U.S. is no longer the 'predominant' force in the world after Trump's tariffs created fissures in a decades-long partnership between the U.S. and its northern neighbor. 'We stood shoulder to shoulder with the Americans throughout the Cold War and in the decades that followed, as the United States played a predominant role on the world stage,' Carney said this past week in French. 'Today, that predominance is a thing of the past.' The new prime minister added that with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the U.S. became the global hegemon, a position of authority undermined by Trump's transactional nature that puts little emphasis on defending democratic values or the rule of law. 'Now the United States is beginning to monetize its hegemony: charging for access to its markets and reducing its relative contributions to our collective security,' Carney said. Israel's attack on Iran has added a new wrinkle to the global picture as the summit leaders gather to tackle some of the world's thorniest problems. A senior Canadian official said it was decided early on that the G7 won't be issuing a joint communiqué as it has at past summits — an indication of how hard it can be to get Trump on the same page with other world leaders. The White House said individual leader statements will be issued on the issues being discussed. Speaking last month at a conference in Singapore, Macron called France a 'friend and an ally of the United States' but pushed back against Trump's desire to dominate what other countries do. Macron said efforts to force other nations to choose between the U.S. and China would lead to the breakdown of the global order put in place after World War II. 'We want to cooperate, but we do not want to be instructed on a daily basis what is allowed, what is not allowed, and how our life will change because of the decision of a single person,' Macron said. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pushed back against Trump's agenda of levying higher tariffs on imported goods, arguing it would hurt economic growth. The Japanese leader specifically called Trump ahead of the summit to confirm their plans to talk on the sidelines, which is a greater focus for Japan than the summit itself. 'I called him as I also wanted to congratulate his birthday, though one day earlier,' Ishiba said. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the summit was an opportunity for Trump to 'mend' relationships with other countries so China would be unable to exploit differences among the G7. She said other foreign leaders are 'not intimidated' by Trump's actions, which could be driving them away from tighter commitments with the U.S. 'The conversations that I've had with those leaders suggest that they think that the partnership with the United States has been really important, but they also understand that there are other opportunities,' Shaheen said. The White House did not respond to emailed questions for this story. Having originally made his reputation in real estate and hospitality, Trump has taken kindly to certain foreign visitors, such as U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Starmer has sought to keep Trump in line with Europe in supporting Ukraine and NATO instead of brokering any truces that would favor Russia. He has echoed the president's language about NATO members spending more on defense. But in his Oval Office visit, Starmer also pleased Trump by delivering an invite for a state visit from King Charles III. The German government said it, too, wanted to send a public signal of unity, saying that while Trump's recent meeting with Merz at the White House went harmoniously, the next test is how the relationship plays out in a team setting. There will also be other world leaders outside of the G7 nations attending the summit in mountainous Kananaskis, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Trump dressed down in the Oval Office. Italy's Meloni has positioned herself as a 'bridge' between the Trump administration and the rest of Europe. But Italy's strong support of Ukraine and Trump's threatened tariffs on European goods have put Meloni, the only European leader to attend Trump's inauguration, in a difficult position. Mark Sobel, U.S. chair of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, an independent think tank, said Trump's 'trade policies, backing for right wing European movements, seeming preference for dealing with authoritarians and many of his other actions are alienating our G7 allies,' even if the U.S. president is correct that Europe needs to do more on defense. But even as other G7 leaders defuse any public disputes with Trump, the U.S. president's vision for the world remains largely incompatible with they want. 'In short, behind the curtains, and notwithstanding whatever theater, the Kananaskis summit will highlight a more fragmented G7 and an adrift global economy,' Sobel said.
The Hill
28 minutes ago
- The Hill
Democrats must seize the mantle of law and order
There's a photo pinging around the blogosphere of a pallet of bricks, supposedly placed near Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities for use by 'Democratic militants' during the recent unrest in Los Angeles. The accompanying post says that the bricks were paid for by organizations linked to Democratic financier George Soros, a frequent whipping boy of the American right. 'It's a Civil War!!' the post exclaims. Actually, it's a hoax. The bricks photo comes from the website of a building supply company in Malaysia. And there is no war — civil or otherwise — in Los Angeles, where President Trump has sent 5,000 National Guard troops and Marines to quell an imaginary scourge of violence. But the protests aren't entirely peaceful, either. Across the country, we've seen incidents of looting, vandalism and assault. And unless Democrats admit and condemn the violence — forcefully and unequivocally — the voters will come down on us like a ton of bricks. That's been the historic pattern: the party of 'law and order' wins, and the party of crime and chaos goes down to defeat. Too often, my own team has found itself on the losing side. In 1968, when riots engulfed American cities, Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon flooded the airwaves with advertisements showing street crime, switchblades and hypodermic needles. The message was clear: If you want to clamp down on crime, vote Republican. Nixon went on to victory, and law and order has remained a staple of GOP appeals ever since. In 1988, George H. W. Bush infamously used a photo of Willie Horton — a convicted African American murderer who had raped a woman while on furlough from his life sentence in Massachusetts — to defeat Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis, that state's governor. But no modern politician has played the crime card more vociferously than Trump, who began his first term with a warning about 'American carnage' overtaking our cities. Three years later, in 2020, the riots following the George Floyd police murder seemed to confirm Trump's dark vision. That's also when some Democrats made a huge tactical error, by indicting all police officers for the sins of a few. Police weren't the solution to the problem, we said; they were the problem, bringing fear and violence to minority communities. Never mind that most non-white Americans want more police, not fewer. That helps explain why Trump's share of minority voters rose in 2020, and again in 2024. The insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, should have allowed Democrats to seize the mantle of law and order. Falsely claiming that the 2020 election was stolen, Trump stood by as mobs defaced the Capitol and assaulted police officers. One police officer serving at the Capitol Jan. 6 died the following day, and four other officers committed suicide in the days and months following the riot. Those officers should be pictured on every Democratic campaign advertisement for the next three years. And we should have invoked their memory again when Trump pardoned the Jan. 6 protesters earlier this year. But we just can't seem to pull it off. Democrats condemned the pardons, of course, but rarely in the language of law and order. So it's time to switch things up, once and for all. In the same breath, we need to acknowledge the violence of the past week and condemn Donald Trump for disparaging the police. That will mark us as the lawful party, and the GOP as the lawless one. The violence is real, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise. In Los Angeles, looters burglarized dozens of stores, several cars were burned, and seven police officers were injured. In Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott deployed the state's National Guard, demonstrators hurled bottles and rocks at law enforcement officers. To their credit, Democratic leaders around the nation condemned these actions. 'The violence and damage is unacceptable, it is not going to be tolerated, and individuals will be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law,' warned Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who announced an evening curfew in the city's downtown section on Tuesday night. That's a good start. But we should also blast the Trump administration for stepping on the toes of Los Angeles police, who insisted that they had the situation under control. Trump said otherwise, of course. 'If we didn't do it, there wouldn't be a Los Angeles,' he said, defending his decision to send in troops. 'It would be burning.' Remember when Republicans told us to 'support your local police'? Not anymore. The Trump administration says it knows best, and the local police don't matter. It's not enough to claim that the deployment of federal troops in Los Angeles was illegal, as the state of California argued in a court filing early this week. We also need to depict Trump as anti-police, and declare that we 'back the Blue' — and the GOP doesn't. In America, that's the only way to come out on top. Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the advisory board of the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest.
