Trump Forces His Opponents to Choose Between Bad Options
Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker has made himself a spokesperson for Democratic resistance to Republican plans for a brazen mid-decade gerrymander, and on Sunday, he appeared on Meet the Press to state his case. 'It's cheating,' Pritzker said of the Texas redistricting that the president has demanded. 'Donald Trump is a cheater. He cheats on his wives. He cheats at golf. And now he's trying to cheat the American people out of their votes.'
It's a clever line. But it would have been better if not for the fact that some of Pritzker's fellow Democrats, including the governors of New York and California, are now trying to redraw their state's maps to squeeze Republicans. (It might also have landed better if Illinois' maps weren't already gerrymandered, as Representative Mike Quigley, a Chicago Democrat, recently acknowledged.)
If they're going to strike back, Democrats in some of these states don't just have to draw new maps—they have to find ways to circumvent structures they enacted in recent years to make maps fairer. Former Attorney General Eric Holder has been the driving force behind Democrats' work for fairer districts, but he's now in the awkward position of calling for cutthroat maps. 'My hope would be you have these temporary measures,' he told The New York Times. Of course, everyone always hopes that. The political scientist Sara Sadhwani, who helped draw the Golden State's current maps, argued for tossing them, telling Politico 's California Playbook, 'These are extraordinary times, and extraordinary times often call for extraordinary measures.'
This reasoning feels both dangerous and alluring. Democrats pushed for fairer districts to bolster democracy; if they remain pure and Republicans rig the system, then it was all for naught. Yet if they abandon the push for fairness, what are they preserving? Saying that Americans should resist tyranny is all well and good, but the past decade has shown that resisting involves a lot of risky judgment calls. Part of Trump's political genius, and his threat, is that he forces his opponents to choose between bad options.
During the first Trump administration, for example, some of his aides simply refused to execute on things the president told them to do—or, in one case, reportedly even swiped a draft letter from his desk to prevent it from being signed. On the one hand, they were probably right on the merits: Trump has lots of bad ideas, some of which might have endangered the country if enacted. On the other hand, they were unelected officials refusing lawful commands from the elected president. What's right in the short term can set perilous precedents in the long run.
This week, Trump dispatched the D.C. National Guard and federal officers to the streets of the capital. Five summers ago, amid major protests, he did the same—and reportedly contemplated calling in active-duty soldiers. Then–Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley was able to talk Trump out of that, but the price he paid was participation in a photo op with the president as he walked across Lafayette Square from the White House. The resulting images 'created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics,' as Milley put it. He quickly came to regret that decision and apologized. Knowing which choice was better is nearly impossible.
Once Trump left office, federal prosecutors had to grapple with how to handle both his attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election and his hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Trump's misdeeds were not especially murky or covert: Everyone watched him try to subvert the election in real time, culminating in the January 6 insurrection; the documents in question were demonstrably at Mar-a-Lago, and the government had subpoenaed them.
Declining to prosecute Trump for these actions would have encouraged his own further abuses and also fostered the impression that not everyone is equal under the law. Yet political leaders in functioning democracies generally do not charge their political rivals who have left office with crimes, because it injects partisanship into the system, eroding it for the future. Trump falsely accused President Joe Biden of engaging in banana-republic-style politics, but now that Trump is in power, his government is reportedly pursuing an absurd investigation against former President Barack Obama.
Once criminal charges were set in motion, the judges presiding over the cases had their own challenges. Would they give Trump a gag order—standard procedure to prevent a defendant from attacking witnesses publicly—and create an opportunity for him to claim 'election interference,' or would they allow attacks that no other defendant could get away with? (They mostly tried to split the difference.) The country ended up with perhaps the worst outcome: Trump faced charges, he reaped political benefit from claiming persecution, and now he has avoided convictions or even trials in all but one case, evading accountability by running out the clock.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser is now facing her own tough choice: If she forcefully opposes the president's temporary takeover of the city's police force, as well as other measures that he says he is taking to fight crime, then she risks inviting even more aggressive action from an angry Trump. If, however, she mostly acquiesces, then she is yielding the city's powers and surrendering her constituency's preferences to his. Meanwhile, university presidents are weighing whether to give in to Trump's attempts to seize control over their operations. Is it better to strike a costly settlement and regain some limited autonomy, or to fight the administration and risk even greater damage?
'Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice,' Republican Senator Barry Goldwater said during his 1964 presidential bid. 'Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.' Americans resoundingly rejected that vision at the time, but now many of Trump's opponents and targets are adopting it as a philosophy. Forcing Americans who care about democracy into these dilemmas is part of what gives him such power.
Trump's dreams for D.C. could soon hit reality.
Vladimir Putin could be laying a trap.
Today's News
About 800 National Guard troops have arrived in Washington, D.C., to support local law enforcement in carrying out President Donald Trump's order to deal with crime.
Trump is considering filing a lawsuit against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over the Fed's building renovation, amid ongoing tensions over interest rates.
Inflation remained steady in July despite price increases on some goods caused by Trump's tariffs.
Evening Read
Americans Are All In on Cow-Based Wellness
By Yasmin Tayag
A not-insignificant number of TikToks aim to convince the viewer that beef-tallow moisturizer will not make your face smell like cow. The beauty influencers who tend to appear in these videos—usually clear-skinned women rubbing tallow into their face as they detail their previous dermatological woes—describe the scent as 'buttery' or 'earthy' or grass-like. Many of them come to the same conclusion: Okay, even if the tallow does smell a little bit, the smooth skin it leaves behind is well worth it.
Beef tallow (as both a moisturizer and an alternative to seed oils) is one of many cow-based products that have crowded the wellness market in the past five or so years. Beef-bone broth is a grocery-store staple. Demand for raw milk has grown, despite numerous cases of illness and warnings from public-health officials that drinking it can be fatal. In certain circles, raw cow organs—heart, liver, kidney—are prized superfoods …
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New York Post
a minute ago
- New York Post
Journalist recounts harrowing broad-daylight sex assault in DC – says cops refused to include the attack in crime stats
A formerly DC-based journalist revealed Thursday that she was 'violently attacked and sexually assaulted' in the nation's capital – and that the city's police department refused to include the incident in their crime stats. Anna Giaritelli, a homeland security reporter with the Washington Examiner, detailed the heinous, broad-daylight assault against her, as well as the response from the Metropolitan Police Department and the court system, in a dramatic op-ed – which comes days after President Trump announced a sweeping crime crackdown in Washington, DC. 'On a Saturday morning in 2020, I walked out of my apartment on Capitol Hill to mail a package at a post office several blocks from the US Capitol. I put on my black sweatshirt and black sweatpants then headed out the door. I never made it to the post office,' Giaritelli wrote. 'Just one block from my apartment building's entrance, I was attacked by a large man well over six feet tall. He charged at me for a reason that I still do not understand. In broad daylight and on well-traveled 2nd Street NE next to Union Station, I fought to get away as he sexually assaulted me,' she continued. 'If it had not been for others in the vicinity, including a construction worker named Donny who heard my screaming and ran to my rescue, I don't know if I would be here today.' Trump has deployed the National Guard and hundreds of federal law enforcement officers to the streets of DC to address crime in the city. Giaritelli explained that the attack demonstrated to her, firsthand, how 'DC police and the courts fail the public.' Despite her attacker, described as a 'homeless man,' being apprehended 'months later' and sentenced to prison time, Giaritelli wrote: 'If you look for evidence that the attack happened in the city's crime statistics, you won't find it.' 'DC police covered up the unspeakable wrong that the stranger did to me,' the reporter said. The Metropolitan Police Department's online 'Crime Cards' statistics page – which purportedly tracks criminal offenses and pegs them to a map, showing where they occurred in the district – does not include Giaritelli's attack and sexual assault, she claims. 'When I asked MPD in 2020 why my incident was not on its crime map, an MPD spokesman said the city only includes 1st degree felonies under its crime stats,' the reporter explained. 'That would mean that for every person robbed, assaulted, or sexually abused in anything less than egregious ways, you have not been counted into the total tally.' 'The pain you suffered was not severe enough, according to MPD's standards.' The reporter said her attacker was arrested five times — and released from jail every time — as he awaited trial for his sex crimes. Giaritelli said she was then told by MPD, this week, that the crime map does include 'some sex abuse charges, but not all of them.' She noted that the crime against her is still not listed in the online database. Giaritelli praised DC law enforcement's immediate response to the attack, noting that they collected DNA evidence which they were able to match to a vagrant about two months later, leading to his arrest. Her attacker, however, was 'immediately released from jail' by the judge handling the case, leading Giaritelli to very reasonably fear that he was back 'living in a tunnel' just blocks from her apartment. The vagrant was 'arrested in five separate incidents' and allowed out of jail every single time, while he awaited trial for the sexual assault, Giaritelli said. MPD did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment. Trump on Monday claimed that DC's crime statistics – showing violent offenses down about 26% compared to last year – were 'phony' and promised that Attorney General Pam Bondi will be 'looking into that.' The president further noted that a DC police commander was suspended last month for allegedly falsifying crime data to make trends appear more positive.
Boston Globe
a minute ago
- Boston Globe
Crime ‘hot spots' targeted, encampments cleared, as feds expand D.C. push
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up National Guard troops are trained in 'common sense, and they're very tough people,' Trump said. He later added that 'they're trained in not allowing people to burn down buildings and bomb buildings and shoot people and all the things.' Advertisement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers walked on the National Mall on Thursday. Anna Moneymaker/Getty D.C. police data shows violent crime, after a historic spike in 2023, The 800 National Guard members mobilized to protect D.C. are not armed and will not be conducting law enforcement activities, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told reporters Thursday. That is the case, even though under federal Title 32 orders, which is the authority Trump used to activate them, they could conduct law enforcement if asked. Advertisement 'They will not be arresting people,' Wilson said. The statements from Trump administration officials came amid a flurry of developments, including D.C. police Chief Pamela A. Smith issued an executive order allowing the city's officers to share information about people who are not in custody and to transport U.S. immigration authorities and the people they detain. That cooperation on a major Trump administration priority does not change the D.C. law that prohibits local law enforcement from providing information about people in D.C. custody to federal immigration enforcement. On homelessness, District officials were bracing for the potential on Thursday night for the federal government to expand efforts to clear homeless encampments. City officials spent the day continuing to press people living outside to swiftly enter shelters so they could avoid being caught up in federal cleanup campaigns. The Trump administration has threatened to fine or arrest any individuals who refuse to be removed or placed in shelters. Local advocacy groups asked city officials to prepare for a possible increase in those seeking shelter, including those who have long objected to the strictures that can come with the services provided in such places. Homeland Security Investigations officers spoke with a food truck vendor on the National Mall on Thursday. Anna Moneymaker/Getty The National Park Service has regularly cleared homeless encampments on federal land in the District in past years. Earlier this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that '70 homeless encampments have been removed by the U.S. Park police' since March. In the same briefing, Leavitt said only two encampments remained in National Park Service jurisdiction in D.C. 'The removal of those two remaining camps is scheduled for this week,' Leavitt said. Advertisement Members of D.C.'s Health and Human Services team began clearing an encampment Thursday morning on a grassy no-man's-land near the Kennedy Center after giving residents a day's notice to remove their belongings. By 8 a.m., three people had already packed their belongings and scattered. Six more were busy wiping down their tents and folding tarps to meet a 10 a.m. deadline set by the District. Several residents said they had been at the encampment for months. 'It's a longer walk than it looks across the bridge to Virginia,' said David Beatty, 67, who has lived in the camp for eight months. 'If I can get my stuff in storage, I'll do what I usually do. … I have a broom and a dustpan, and I walk around sweeping up.' The District usually posts notices for clearing 14 days in advance, and the site had not been on the District's list for clearings. 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Advertisement 'We're following our own protocol,' she said, noting that there are no plans to arrest people who turn down shelter referrals. She said it is the only cleanup scheduled for Thursday. William Wilson, 66, dragged his cart of clothes and camping gear up the hill. 'I'd like to invite the president to spend some time here in a tent with us,' he said. 'We're nice people. We're a family here — we get along.' Among those facing federal enforcement, and the prospect of being forced off the streets, one key issue is storage, said Amber Harding, executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. 'Shelters have a two-bag maximum, so people might not want to go to a shelter if they don't want to throw away their stuff that can't fit into two bags. So we have been trying to work with the city to make sure they have storage options,' Harding said. Location is another factor. 'Right now the shelter spaces the government has are not downtown,' Harding said. 'That means people will have to be transported there, which means moving away from where they are currently staying, from the people they know and the places where they are currently getting services.' D.C. Council member Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1) said she was deeply concerned about federal encampment clearings. 'When this kind of dramatic action is taken, it erodes the trust we have built with folks living outside and diminishes our ability to bring them into permanent housing and get them stabilized,' she said. Advertisement The National Park Service and Park Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The clearings come as the presence of federal law enforcement has become more visible in portions of the District. Trump declared an emergency in D.C. earlier this week and put the city's police department under federal control. A person geld a sign as Department of Homeland Security Investigations agents joined Washington Metropolitan Police Department officers as they conducted traffic checks at a checkpoint along 14th Street in northwest Washington, on Wednesday. Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press The actions have sparked mixed reactions among residents, with some outraged by Trump's decision and some offering varying levels of support. In Northwest Washington, a checkpoint with local and federal law enforcement officers on Wednesday evening On Thursday, a group of 17 former elected officials from the District circulated a joint statement warning that Trump's 'strongman tactics' were dangerous for the city and the nation. 'There is no emergency that warrants this action,' they wrote, adding that the president and Congress can further cut crime by appointing judges to fill critical vacancies. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. 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Area beautification is military parlance for trash collection, landscaping and other tidying up on military installations. Though they are not armed, the troops are wearing body armor. Some have been seen around the city wearing soft caps instead of helmets as they take selfies with passersby. Weapons are stored miles away at their armory, ready if needed, the Army said. On Wednesday, Trump said the administration intends to ask for an extension of the emergency declaration beyond 30 days. Such a move would require congressional approval. At the same time, some federal officials indicated that they continue to operate on a time frame of about a month. Members of the National Guard patrolled near Union Station on Thursday. Kevin Dietsch/Getty National Guard troops are on orders lasting for 30 days, a defense official told reporters on the condition of anonymity to provide details that have not yet been discussed publicly. Maegan Vazquez, Dylan Wells, Olivia George, Meagan Flynn, Brittany Shammas and Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report.
New York Times
2 minutes ago
- New York Times
Newsom's Latest Statewide Campaign Is About Redistricting. And Donald Trump.
Californians may have thought they were done voting on Gavin Newsom. He's been elected twice as governor, defeated a recall seeking to oust him from office, and is barred by term limits from running again. But the state's voters will soon weigh in once more on Mr. Newsom's fate. This time, it will be in the form of a ballot measure the governor is pitching as a way to go after President Trump. Mr. Newsom on Thursday kicked off his campaign for a proposition asking California voters to approve a new congressional map, an extraordinary move meant to help Democrats win more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to counter Mr. Trump's request that Texas gerrymander five more seats for Republicans. The governor gathered Democratic lawmakers and union leaders waving 'Defend Democracy' signs in a Los Angeles auditorium for a show of solidarity, marked by the hopeful buzz of a campaign rally. The event was held a day before California lawmakers aimed to make the map public. 'On Nov. 4 in California, you have the power to stand up to Trump,' Mr. Newsom told the crowd. 'You have the power to declare that you support a system that is not rigged.' The governor has dubbed his measure the Election Rigging Response Act. The phrase was emblazoned on red, white and blue signs throughout the auditorium. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
