Latest news with #MAGA-sphere
Politico
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Politico
House Dems Find Their Mojo With the Epstein Saga
In the middle is Trump, who once had a well-documented friendship with Epstein and who has been referenced in court documents surrounding the now deceased financier — though who is not accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Trump has tried to smother the controversy, even scolding his supporters for obsessing. 'Everyone's always talking about Trump being 'Teflon' — obviously that's because all Hill Republicans are pretty much a suit of armor for him, right? But in this instance, they're not,' said a senior Democratic aide discussing the strategy. 'And so it exposes him, I think, to more attacks that otherwise would be brushed off — and makes it easier for us to drag his numbers down while creating chaos among the Republicans.' The most interesting part about the strategy is how organically it came together. After watching the MAGA-sphere melt down over the administration's announcement in early July that there was no 'client list,' Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) grabbed the issue, telling his colleagues that the matter was kryptonite for the GOP, according to people close to him. In the House Rules Committee, ranking Democrat Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and his team had similarly been watching the feeding frenzy with right-wing podcasters and influencers, sensing an opportunity to needle Republicans so clearly out of step with their own base. Khanna found an unexpected ally in libertarian gadfly Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), teaming up to launch a discharge petition that could let House members circumvent Johnson's attempt to keep the issue from a vote on the floor. Through it all, Democratic leaders were cheering on their members. Beyond giving Khanna tacit support to work with Massie, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries set the tone for members early last week. He insisted in press conferences and in private meetings that this issue was a lose-lose situation for Republicans: either Trump and his allies had been lying for years about what was in those files or they were right and were now hiding evidence to protect their cronies. For longtime Hill watchers like myself, Jeffries' embrace of the scandal was a surprise. As Axios wrote last week, Jeffries has been known for an 'often taciturn approach to salacious stories of the day, preferring to remain disciplined and on-message in his public communications.' But like his members, Jeffries sensed the Epstein scandal was different, insisting it could feed into a narrative of corruption that would resonate beyond just the Democratic base.
Politico
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Politico
MAGA Warned Trump on Iran. Now He's In An Impossible Position.
President Donald Trump campaigned on ending what his base has long derided as U.S. foreign adventurism, leading the rebellion against an establishment that long favored international interventions. Now some of his most vocal supporters fear Israel may have trampled his ability to make good on that promise. The Jewish nation's decision to conduct a pre-emptive strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities on Thursday night threatens to draw the United States into a Middle East conflict — and split the MAGA coalition that catapulted Trump back into the Oval Office. While administration officials say the U.S. played no part in the offensive, it was unclear as of Thursday night whether the U.S. will be able to actually stay on the sidelines. Trump will almost certainly feel compelled to help defend Israel against counter-attacks by Iran. And there are real questions about how Tehran — which was slated to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff for the latest round of peace talks on Sunday — will react. Will they, for instance, blame the U.S. and retaliate on American bases in the region, forcing Trump's hand into a military operation he long campaigned against? The entire situation is infuriating the MAGA base, whose leaders had been imploring Trump to stop Israel in recent days. But the president either tried and failed, highlighting his lack of sway with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu — or he privately greenlit the campaign against the warnings of his base (which the administration firmly denies). Either way, the president who insisted his negotiating prowess would usher in a new age of world peace, now finds himself in perhaps the diciest situation of his presidency: facing down the possibility of leaving Israel to fend for itself — or joining it in going toe to toe with Iran. 'What the president does from here could end up defining his presidency,' MAGA scribe Matt Boyle of Breitbart told me just after news of the strikes. 'He has to balance protecting America's greatest ally in the region in Israel with avoiding getting the USA drawn into war.' Others in the MAGA-sphere already had an answer: Stay out. 'Israel has now made a mockery of the United States,' said Breaking Points host Saagar Enjeti, who earlier in the day predicted on X that 'a war with Iran would make the disastrous war in Iraq look like a cakewalk.' He added, 'President Trump today said he did not want strikes ahead of negotiations scheduled for tomorrow and they did it anyways. Their attack today is deliberate sabotage and a blatant attempt to force us into war. We must resist.' Indeed, moments after the strike occurred, Trump ally Charlie Kirk went live with his supporters and declared the entire situation a mess that 'is now going to have major American domestic implications.' Americans will once again start debating whether to finance Israel and sell them arms, he said — and if we do, Tehran could react. 'As you very well know, I'm very pro-Israel on this show; I'm just simply interpreting the political dynamics here,' he said. 'And I could tell you right now that the audience, you guys ... are not thrilled with this situation at all.' 'The question is also, I think fundamentally at its core: How does the America First foreign policy doctrine and foreign policy agenda … stay consistent with this right now?' he asked. Israel's offensive came after pleas to the president from the MAGA base reached a fever pitch on Thursday. Some of the most high-profile figures of the movement took to social media, podcasts and television imploring Trump to intervene to stop it, believing that he actually could. Kirk — the Turning Point USA leader who's become a de facto whip for the administration— warned that a strike on Iran 'will cause a massive schism in MAGA.' Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief at the right-wing publication, The Federalist — who frequently lavishes praise on Trump on Fox News — argued that allowing the Israeli strike 'would be seen as an unforgivable betrayal by millions of American voters.' Right-wing activist Jack Posobiec warned that the midterms are nearing and wondered: 'What do you think a new Middle East conflict with Iran would do to summer gas prices?' And on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast two days in a row, Boyle insisted that 'it's incredibly important that President Trump resist the pressure' for military action. 'The president listens to the base — it's his best quality,' Boyle had told me earlier in the day.'Clearly people across the MAGA movement are watching what's happening very closely and are concerned that any moves by globalists and neocon forces to drag the United States into another endless war in the Middle East would cause serious political damage to the president.' Just a few days ago, many of these types were only talking about this issue privately — if they were talking about it at all. For the few who went public, they directed their criticism at hawks like Mark Levin or others they deem 'warmongers,' as I wrote three days ago. But in light of evacuation orders for some State and other U.S. officials in the region, those pleas took on new urgency on Thursday — and were being redirected at the man they put in the Oval Office. The public pleas presumed, of course, that Trump had the sway to actually stop Israel from forging ahead on its own. While many experts have suggested Israel would want a 'green light' from Trump before acting, all of a sudden some began questioning whether that was still the case. It turned out it wasn't. Speaking to reporters at a bill signing Thursday, Trump bluntly warned that an Israeli strike on Iran 'could very well happen' — though he made clear his preference is for diplomacy and that he's asked Israelis to hold off. But Trump allies have argued that it won't matter if the U.S. isn't technically the country to start the war — if Israel gets involved, so will the U.S. The White House appears to recognize the political sensitivities. Throughout the day, officials appeared to closely monitor the MAGA pushback on Iran: At 11:57 a.m. Enjeti highlighted a nugget in a CBS story reporting that Trump was 'weighing options.. .to support Israeli military action without leading it ... including aerial refueling or intelligence sharing.' 'The narrative of an independent Israeli strike is bunk then,' he wrote. 'This would be a U.S. sanctioned operation, and we must stand against it.' One hour later, Enjeti updated his followers that he got 'some push back from a WH official,' who said the U.S. won't be involved in a strike by Israel 'at least for now.' (I was told the same last night by an administration official before the strike.) I called up Enjeti Thursday afternoon to get his take on what's going on. The first thing he did was draw my attention to a 2011 video clip of Trump slamming President Barack Obama, claiming that 'our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate.' 'He's weak and he's ineffective,' Trump said of Obama. 'We have a real problem in the White House.' The clip, Enjeti said, was making the rounds on Thursday among MAGA types. 'It's being passed around specifically because that was a key tenet of his indictment of the George W. Bush/neoconservative wing of the party,' Enjeti said. What's happening now 'is very counter to the things he said from the very beginning, on the campaign trail — it flies really in the face of the way he talked about 'stupid leaders who pursue disastrous foreign wars.'' By the end of Thursday, Trump appeared to be getting the message, doubling down on his insistence that he wants to avoid a new Middle East conflict. 'We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue!' he wrote on Truth Social. 'My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran.' Hours after he posted that missive, Israel struck Tehran.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
MAGA Warned Trump on Iran. Now He's In An Impossible Position.
President Donald Trump campaigned on ending what his base has long derided as U.S. foreign adventurism, leading the rebellion against an establishment that long favored international interventions. Now some of his most vocal supporters fear Israel may have trampled his ability to make good on that promise. The Jewish nation's decision to conduct a pre-emptive strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities on Thursday night threatens to draw the United States into a Middle East conflict — and split the MAGA coalition that catapulted Trump back into the Oval Office. While administration officials say the U.S. played no part in the offensive, it was unclear as of Thursday night whether the U.S. will be able to actually stay on the sidelines. Trump will almost certainly feel compelled to help defend Israel against counter-attacks by Iran. And there are real questions about how Tehran — which was slated to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff for the latest round of peace talks on Sunday — will react. Will they, for instance, blame the U.S. and retaliate on American bases in the region, forcing Trump's hand into a military operation he long campaigned against? The entire situation is infuriating the MAGA base, whose leaders had been imploring Trump to stop Israel in recent days. But the president either tried and failed, highlighting his lack of sway with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu — or he privately greenlit the campaign against the warnings of his base (which the administration firmly denies). Either way, the president who insisted his negotiating prowess would usher in a new age of world peace, now finds himself in perhaps the diciest situation of his presidency: facing down the possibility of leaving Israel to fend for itself — or joining it in going toe to toe with Iran. 'What the president does from here could end up defining his presidency,' MAGA scribe Matt Boyle of Breitbart told me just after news of the strikes. 'He has to balance protecting America's greatest ally in the region in Israel with avoiding getting the USA drawn into war.' Others in the MAGA-sphere already had an answer: Stay out. 'Israel has now made a mockery of the United States,' said Breaking Points host Saagar Enjeti, who earlier in the day predicted on X that 'a war with Iran would make the disastrous war in Iraq look like a cakewalk.' He added, 'President Trump today said he did not want strikes ahead of negotiations scheduled for tomorrow and they did it anyways. Their attack today is deliberate sabotage and a blatant attempt to force us into war. We must resist.' Indeed, moments after the strike occurred, Trump ally Charlie Kirk went live with his supporters and declared the entire situation a mess that 'is now going to have major American domestic implications.' Americans will once again start debating whether to finance Israel and sell them arms, he said — and if we do, Tehran could react. 'As you very well know, I'm very pro-Israel on this show; I'm just simply interpreting the political dynamics here,' he said. 'And I could tell you right now that the audience, you guys ... are not thrilled with this situation at all.' 'The question is also, I think fundamentally at its core: How does the America First foreign policy doctrine and foreign policy agenda … stay consistent with this right now?' he asked. Israel's offensive came after pleas to the president from the MAGA base reached a fever pitch on Thursday. Some of the most high-profile figures of the movement took to social media, podcasts and television imploring Trump to intervene to stop it, believing that he actually could. Kirk — the Turning Point USA leader who's become a de facto whip for the administration—warned that a strike on Iran 'will cause a massive schism in MAGA.' Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief at the right-wing publication, The Federalist — who frequently lavishes praise on Trump on Fox News —argued that allowing the Israeli strike 'would be seen as an unforgivable betrayal by millions of American voters.' Right-wing activist Jack Posobiec warned that the midterms are nearing and wondered: 'What do you think a new Middle East conflict with Iran would do to summer gas prices?' And on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast two days in a row, Boyle insisted that 'it's incredibly important that President Trump resist the pressure' for military action. 'The president listens to the base — it's his best quality,' Boyle had told me earlier in the day.'Clearly people across the MAGA movement are watching what's happening very closely and are concerned that any moves by globalists and neocon forces to drag the United States into another endless war in the Middle East would cause serious political damage to the president.' Just a few days ago, many of these types were only talking about this issue privately — if they were talking about it at all. For the few who went public, they directed their criticism at hawks like Mark Levin or others they deem 'warmongers,' as I wrote three days ago. But in light of evacuation orders for some State and other U.S. officials in the region, those pleas took on new urgency on Thursday — and were being redirected at the man they put in the Oval Office. The public pleas presumed, of course, that Trump had the sway to actually stop Israel from forging ahead on its own. While many experts have suggested Israel would want a 'green light' from Trump before acting, all of a sudden some began questioning whether that was still the case. It turned out it wasn't. Speaking to reporters at a bill signing Thursday, Trump bluntly warned that an Israeli strike on Iran 'could very well happen' — though he made clear his preference is for diplomacy and that he's asked Israelis to hold off. But Trump allies have argued that it won't matter if the U.S. isn't technically the country to start the war — if Israel gets involved, so will the U.S. The White House appears to recognize the political sensitivities. Throughout the day, officials appeared to closely monitor the MAGA pushback on Iran: At 11:57 a.m. Enjeti highlighteda nugget in a CBS story reporting that Trump was "weighing options.. .to support Israeli military action without leading it ... including aerial refueling or intelligence sharing.' 'The narrative of an independent Israeli strike is bunk then,'he wrote. 'This would be a U.S. sanctioned operation, and we must stand against it.' One hour later, Enjeti updated his followers that he got 'some push back from a WH official,' who said the U.S. won't be involved in a strike by Israel 'at least for now.' (I was told the same last night by an administration official before the strike.) I called up Enjeti Thursday afternoon to get his take on what's going on. The first thing he did was draw my attention toa 2011 video clip of Trump slamming President Barack Obama, claiming that 'our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate.' 'He's weak and he's ineffective,' Trump said of Obama. 'We have a real problem in the White House.' The clip, Enjeti said, was making the rounds on Thursday among MAGA types. 'It's being passed around specifically because that was a key tenet of his indictment of the George W. Bush/neoconservative wing of the party,' Enjeti said. What's happening now 'is very counter to the things he said from the very beginning, on the campaign trail — it flies really in the face of the way he talked about 'stupid leaders who pursue disastrous foreign wars.'' By the end of Thursday, Trump appeared to be getting the message, doubling down on his insistence that he wants to avoid a new Middle East conflict. 'We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue!' he wrote on Truth Social. 'My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran.' Hours after he posted that missive, Israel struck Tehran.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Truckling to MAGA ended in humiliation for Santa Ono
Century Tower on the Gainesville campus of the University of Florida. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix) A few days ago, the University of Florida was all ready to welcome a brand-new president. They'd gotten rid of the useless (yet expensive) Ben Sasse and chosen a single finalist, a scientist called Santa Ono, former head of the University of Michigan. The trustees liked him; Ron DeSantis liked him, especially since Ono, who was once all-in on diversity at UM, recently pulled a 180, loudly recanting his climate change-admitting, student protest-allowing progressive ways and parroting the governor's War on Woke nonsense like a DeSantis Bot. It wasn't enough: The state university Board of Governors refused to give him the job. Poor old weathervane Ono fell victim to a nasty social media campaign against him, led by such intellectual giants as Don Trump Jr., who squawked 'WTF!' on the twixter; New College trustee Christopher 'They're eating the cats!' Rufo; Sen. Rick Scott; and the congenitally absurd Rep. Byron Donalds, who allowed as how while he didn't know Ono, the man didn't sound like he 'comported with the values of the state of Florida.' Au contraire, congressman. Given that Ono was prepared to abandon the principles of free speech, inclusion, and academic independence, I'd say he perfectly comports with the values of the state of Florida. Especially when it comes to higher education. DeSantis and his UF allies may have lost the Ono battle (more on the politics involved later), but he's committed to the larger war: Florida may soon be celebrated in the MAGA-sphere as the first state to lay waste to its universities. The full-scale assault started in 2023, when DeSantis wrecked New College and took to installing ideologically aligned hacks as presidents and appointing university boards so bent on destruction they'd shame a Visigoth. Former politico Richard Corcoran was not educationally, temperamentally, or administratively qualified to be president of the state honors college, yet there he is, DeSantis' boy, drawing a huge salary and inviting accused rapists to speak on campus in Sarasota. FIU and FAU got landed with dead-enders former Lt. Gov. Jeannette Nuñez and Republican state Rep.-turned private prison company vice president Adam Hasner. Now the governor has turned his lizardy eye upon the universities of West Florida and Florida A&M with a view to undermining academic freedom, student opportunity, and scholarly rigor. DeSantis, who loves to call Florida 'free,' doesn't want institutions of higher education to be free: He wants them cowed, cramped, and compliant. In April, DeSantis claimed — with no evidence, mind — UWF was some kind of 'indoctrination camp' run by 'Marxist professors' and warned those crazy Pensacola lefties to 'buckle up.' Big changes were coming. To that end, he appointed a noisome bouquet of trustees, several proudly hostile to book-learning. Three of them were either rejected by the Florida Senate or else slunk off before they could be officially sent packing. Adam Kissel, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation and one of the discarded candidates, seemed puzzled by the snub. In an interview with UWF's newspaper 'The Voyager,' he claimed he'd been brought down by a 'disinformation narrative' partially based on his comments lamenting the GI Bill's negative effect on American society. That would be the GI Bill that has enabled millions of veterans to get a college degree and join the middle class. Kissel also complained about the general milieu in blood red Escambia County, claiming, 'Cancel culture is still alive in Pensacola.' After these embarrassing rebuffs, you might think DeSantis might rethink his approach but, of course, you'd be wrong. His newest trustee pick, another Heritage Foundation luminary, pitched a hissy fit about UWF students putting on a Halloween drag show in 2019. (Halloween — you know, when people dress up in all sorts of outlandish ways?) Zack Smith, a Pensacola native and former assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Florida, told UWF's then-president Martha Saunders he had 'concerns' (most of which seem to involve gay people asserting equal rights or Black people calling out systemic racism in America), including such outré actions as inviting one of the founders of Black Lives Matter to speak on campus (she's an 'avowed Marxist'!) as well as the UWF librarian suggesting Ibram X. Kendi's 'How to Be an Antiracist' as a good read for Black History Month. God forbid students might encounter a critique of capitalism or an important and provocative exploration of race during Black History Month. Pro tips for Project 2025 zealots: Capitalism is not beyond criticism. I refer Heritage True Believers to Mark 10:25 (the camel/rich man/eye-of-needle thing) and Matthew 6:24 (the God and Mammon thing) as well as analyses of our economic system, many written by those embedded in it. Marxism is a political philosophy. Like any other philosophy, it should be studied in universities. Merely hearing about it does not rot your very soul. Ibram X. Kendi is a distinguished scholar, a graduate of Florida A&M University who has gone on to win a National Book Award and a MacArthur Fellowship. Reading his work will not infect you with the Woke Mind Virus. But — agree or disagree with what Kendi says — his book might make you think. Imagine that: college students thinking. Eye-wateringly stupid as Smith's complaints were, they had the intended effect: Martha Saunders resigned, allowing DeSantis to put his education commissioner in as interim president. The irredeemably unimpressive Manny Diaz Jr. has no higher ed experience, no terminal degree, and no business running what was, under presidents such as Judy Bense, a highly regarded archeologist, and Martha Saunders, an expert in communications theory, a university on its way up. Unfortunately for UWF, odds are Diaz gets the permanent gig: That's what happened at New College; that's what happened at FIU. DeSantis wants university presidents who realize they do not work for the institution, fostering knowledge, encouraging free inquiry, and serving education. He insists they work for him. They must do his bidding, battling villains such as faculty unions, student journalists, Pride Month celebrations, critical race theory, gender studies, and African American studies. Which brings us to FAMU. DeSantis and his higher ed henchpersons have, in the past, tread pretty carefully with Florida's only public HCBU. Maybe it's because FAMU is such a, well, let's call it a 'bargain.' In 2024-25, FAMU's enrollment was 9,980. New College's was 850. FAMU's appropriation was $50 million. New College got $52 million. Even those of us who went to school in Florida can do that math. Not that anyone should be surprised the state spends far more per student at predominantly white New College than at predominantly not-white FAMU. Can't be racism. Oh, no. Perish the thought. Even though on Planet DeSantis, the very existence of a majority-minority student body is DEI gone wild. At any rate, FAMU's no longer flying under the governor's radar. He just got to stick another of his favorites in the top job. The good part: FAMU's presidential search was unusually transparent, at least in comparison to the absurdly hermetic process at UF and other state institutions. The four finalists' names were publicly announced and students, faculty, and community members were invited to meet them. Three had solid-to-excellent qualifications. Contenders included the provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, the senior vice president for administration and finance at the University of Central Florida, and FAMU's own senior vice president and COO. The not-so-good part: Candidate Number Four. Marva Johnson appeared almost out of nowhere, rumored to be a late addition pushed by trustee Deveron Gibbons, a DeSantis appointee. As you'd expect, she has no higher education experience, but she has far more important qualities: She's a telecom company executive, a MAGA Republican, and a crony of Ron DeSantis'. FAMU has long been a leader in the fight for civil rights and remains the nation's top public HCBU, alma mater of politicians like former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and U.S. Rep. Al Green, musicians Common and Cannonball Adderley, satirist Roy Wood Jr., Wimbledon champion Althea Gibson, and art collector Bernard Kinsey. Rattlers were horrified Johnson made the short list and held rallies protesting her candidacy. Movie producer, FAMU alum and big-time donor Will Packer said she might 'do irreparable harm to the university's relationship with its community and with its donor base.' Naturally, she got the job. And, like any self-respecting MAGA grifter, immediately demanded a salary of $750,000, nearly $300,000 a year higher than her predecessor. Of course, she won't make as much as the president of New College: He pulls in nearly a $1 million overseeing those 850 students. Taxpayers might wonder why, when legislators and the governor keep whining about the need to cut budgets and save money, there seems to be no problem paying a gaggle of under-qualified nonentities huge amounts to be university presidents. But universities in Florida and other MAGA-controlled states are no longer so much about education as they are about propaganda and power. Republicans want to control curriculum, censoring anything that upsets white folks — topics such as slavery, genocide, colonialism, gender, women's rights. You've seen how Trump is going after Harvard and other universities, cutting off funding, trying to control hiring and admissions, denying foreign students visas. Colleges in Utah, Ohio, Texas, Iowa, and (no surprise) Florida are being told to emphasize Western Civilization, the Constitution, and 'Great Books.' MAGAs might not like it if universities really focused on, say, the Constitution. Students might realize that the current regime regularly violates it. For Ron DeSantis, taming Florida's universities feeds his desperate need for relevance. Spurned by the voters during his disastrous presidential bid, ridiculed by onetime patron Donald Trump, defied by the Legislature, DeSantis figures at least he can run — or ruin — education. It's not quite as smooth a conquest as anticipated. The crash of Santa Ono's UF candidacy was about the Right's fear of DEI. But it was also about giving DeSantis a black eye. The crash of Santa Ono's UF candidacy was about the Right's fear of DEI — they truly do want to Make America White (and Christian and male-dominated) Again — and hysteria over hiring someone who, despite his pathetic attempts to demonstrate that he'd drunk the Trumpy Kool-Aid, clearly knew better. But it was also about giving DeSantis a black eye. Signs indicate Casey DeSantis will run for governor when her husband terms out. But she's got all kinds of political problems, not least an investigation into her dodgy charity, Hope Florida. Her husband is spewing spittle all over Tallahassee, accusing a 'jackass' in the Legislature (the rest of us know him as Rep. Alex Andrade) of taking documents which 'he dropped in a prosecutor's office,' and hollering 'that is not an organic investigation' and any accusation of money laundering is just a 'smear.' Then there's her likely primary opponent, Rep. Byron Donalds. He's been endorsed by Trump. It's no coincidence he led the MAGA campaign against Ono. Higher education has always been political. Governors and legislators have never approved of professors (liberals, mostly) or students (snotty-nosed kids protesting) or faculty (probably Marxists). But DeSantis has taken the politicization of universities to a whole new level of venality, pettiness, and dangerous repression. The 'Free State of Florida' isn't. As that famous novel (which could soon be on the banned books list) says: 'Freedom is slavery' and 'Ignorance is strength.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
The Hill
17-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump shows signs of mounting frustration with Supreme Court
President Trump has displayed growing frustration with the Supreme Court as justices have stymied his approach to carrying out his agenda, particularly on immigration, since his White House return in January. 'THE SUPREME COURT WON'T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!' the president exclaimed Friday in one of multiple Truth Social posts penned after the court ruled 7-2 to temporarily block the administration's efforts to deport migrants with alleged ties to Venezuelan gangs largely over a technical issue. 'This is a bad and dangerous day for America!' he wrote in another post that also accused Supreme Court justices of 'not allowing me to do what I was elected to do.' Trump entered the White House five months ago with a more outwardly restrained approach to the High Court, which has a 6-3 conservative tilt that includes three Trump appointees from his first term. When justices unanimously upheld a federal law in January to shut down video-sharing app TikTok in the United States unless it cuts ties with its Chinese parent company, Trump, who had sought more time to hash out a TikTok resolution, responded online by saying he would try something else. 'The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it,' he wrote to his followers on Truth Social. He later again defended the panel of justices and accused the media of trying to 'create a divide between me and our great U.S. Supreme Court,' after some people highlighted his interactions with Chief Justice John Roberts and other justices who attended his joint congressional address in March. Trump stressed his respect for the judiciary but grumbled about the 'ridiculous situation we are in' after the court authorized a separate temporary hold on deportations on April 21. 'My team is fantastic, doing an incredible job, however, they are being stymied at every turn by even the U.S. Supreme Court, which I have such great respect for, but which seemingly doesn't want me to send violent criminals and terrorists back to Venezuela, or any other Country, for that matter,' he wrote. But his messages about the court have gotten more emphatic as Trump-linked cases mount —along with reposts of messages from other court critics. His latest hyper-critical messages directed at the court this week over immigration have reverberated throughout the MAGA-sphere. Trump early this week offered a tactic for his team to argue in favor of broad presidential powers when faced with resistance from Supreme Court justices: Tell them that he's the president and was elected to do what he wants. 'Our lawyers should state this FACT when going before the United States Supreme Court, and all other courts. I was elected in a landslide, won ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, 312 Electoral College Votes, Won 2750 to 525 Districts, and easily won the Popular Vote. I must be allowed to do the job that I was elected to do. If not, we won't have a Country anymore,' he wrote Sunday. He wrote in a post Friday: 'The Radical Left SleazeBags, which has no cards remaining in its illegal bag of tricks, is, in a very coordinated manner, PLAYING THE REF with regard to the United States Supreme Court. They lost the Election in a landslide, and with it, have totally lost their confidence and reason. They are stone cold CRAZY! I hope the Supreme Court doesn't fall for the games they play. The people are with us in bigger numbers than ever before. They want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!' He followed that with another message stressing that the court was in the wrong when it ruled against him. 'THE SUPREME COURT IS BEING PLAYED BY THE RADICAL LEFT LOSERS, WHO HAVE NO SUPPORT, THE PUBLIC HATES THEM, AND THEIR ONLY HOPE IS THE INTIMIDATION OF THE COURT, ITSELF. WE CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN TO OUR COUNTRY!' he wrote. Trump reposted a message Saturday from Mike Davis, a former Republican Senate and White House aide who now runs the Article III Project, an advocacy group that supports conservative jurists. Davis wrote that the court is 'heading down a perilous path.' 'The Supreme Court must come to the RESCUE OF AMERICA,' Trump added to the top of Davis's original post.
