GOP Stands By Trump’s Whims

Donald Trump tanked the world economy in April with his arbitrary imposition of tariffs on U.S. trade partners. He alienated longtime allies on our borders and around the world and resulting stock market losses tore big holes in retirement accounts of American workers who are counting on 401k and IRA funds to supplement Social Security benefits in their senior years. 

Trump has no regrets as he steers the U.S, toward a second Gilded Age, which will further enrich his wealthy supporters but could plunge the economy into a recession leading to depression. 

Leaders of the Greedy Oligarchs Party have no regrets, either, as they allowed Trump to unilaterally impose the tariffs, which are supposed to be a congressional prerogative, except in cases of national emergency, which Trump declared, and now we have an emergency. 

Senate Democrats got four Republicans to support a resolution to block tariffs on Canada. On April 2, the Senate passed the resolution 51-48, with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joining co-sponsor Rand Paul of Kentucky. The vote came just hours after Trump announced tariff increases of 25% or more on goods from more than 100 nations, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) blocked the resolution’s consideration in the House. Trump proceeded to impose tariffs worldwide, but paused them for most nations after Wall Street market values plunged.

Democrats now need to lure four moderate House Republicans to caucus with them to restore accountability to the Lyin’ King.

The White House also bet the public would applaud the deportation of hundreds of immigrants from the United States to a prison in El Salvador on unsubstantiated claims by the Department of Homeland Security that they were gang members and/or terrorists, and ignore that the immigrants’ were denied their constitutional rights to due process, which would require a court hearing before the subjects could be sent to another country for indefinite detention.

Advocates of constitutional rights succeeded in putting a face on the issue, with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who fled to the U.S. in 2012 at age 16 to escape gang threats in his native El Salvador. He entered the U.S. illegally, and worked until 2019, when police picked him up and turned him over to immigration officers, but an immigration judge granted him “withholding of removal” status due to the danger he faced from gang violence if he returned to El Salvador. He was allowed to live and work legally in the U.S. He married an American citizen and was living in Maryland with his wife and three children, checking in with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, with no problems until DHS agents arrested him on March 12, as he was going home from a union sheet metal job. He was told his immigration status had changed. He was taken to a detention facility in Texas. On May 15 he was put on a plane headed for El Salvador and placed in a prison where El Salvador was holding deportees on contract with the Trump administration. 

The Trump administration alleged the deportees were members of criminal organizations, but Bloomberg News found 90% of them had no U.S. criminal record other than traffic or immigration violations. A Justice Department lawyer later admitted in court that Abrego Garcia was deported in error. That lawyer was placed on leave.

On April 10, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador was illegal.  Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted the government implied it “could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.”

Trump and federal authorities continue to insist Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13, without substantiation of the claims. Trump posed with a photo that appears to show “MS13” tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s fingers, but the photo apparently was digitally altered, as recent photos show his fingers have tattoos, but not “MS13.” So Trump and his flunkies appear to be comfortable with taking a gang victim from his family and sending him to another nation to be held in prison indefinitely, and then lie when called on it. And Trump said he is considering sending American citizens to prison in El Salvador. 

In another overreach, the White House froze more than $2 billion in federal funding for Harvard University and threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status if it doesn’t submit to Tump’s demands.

The Harvard Crimson reported, Trump called on Harvard to “derecognize pro-Palestine student groups, audit its academic programs for viewpoint diversity, and expel students involved in an altercation at a 2023 pro-Palestine protest on the Harvard Business School campus.”

Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, said in response that “no government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, warned that “if Trump gets away with weaponizing the tax system to target a political enemy, every American is at risk.”

“The First Amendment and federal tax law make clear no president can raise a university’s taxes because he doesn’t like what they teach,” said Wyden. “If this corrupt shakedown scheme stands, nonprofits from churches to temples to hospitals could be forced to echo Trump’s MAGA line or see their taxes hiked. Any Republican who claims to believe in the Constitution and doesn’t speak up is responsible for what happens next.”

Trump’s attack on Harvard is part of a broader campaign of retribution against universities and other institutions and organizations that are unwilling to capitulate to his administration. The Guardian reported that administration officials “have launched investigations into progressive and climate organizations, colleges, and recipients of government grants.”

Republican Congress members have been intimidated against opposing Trump’s overreaches, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said. 

In September 2024 we asked subscribers to help us cope with increased printing and postal costs. Our readers responded generously over the past eight months to help us keep publishing the paper, as well as developing digital alternatives. We got a few inquiries about whether the donations were tax deductible. We explained we couldn’t seek tax-exempt status. because it would limit our ability to engage in political reporting and endorse candidates and bills. 

Weaponization of the IRS and other federal agencies by the Trump administration has confirmed our caution. The last thing we need is a letter from the White House threatening legal action if we don’t change our attitudes about diversity, equity and inclusion to accommodate the Chief Extortionist’s prejudices.

The Progressive Populist has never counted on (or had access to) government grants or wealthy patrons to keep publishing, and we’ve only lost one offer of a five-figure contribution because the donor needed to send it to a tax-exempt organization. (Your two-, three- and four-figure donations made up for it. And we still need them.)     — JMC

From the May 15 issue of The Progressive Populist.

A Solid Wall of Justice

 

A Solid Wall of Justice:

Push-back on Trump - especially from the lower court judges - has been pretty consistent. 

How could it be otherwise? Everything Trump has done has been unconstitutional and illegal.

Ever the boot licking lackey, House Majority Leader Mike Johnson's response was predictable -- limit judicial power and make the judges go away.

Art by Kevin Kreneck. For more Graphics and Greeting Cards, go to https://kkreneck.wixsite.com/mysite

Chuck Schumer: Wise Old Owl of the Senate

 

Chuck Schumer: Wise Old Owl of the Senate:

Senator Chuck Schumer's much criticized vote in support of the Republican's Continuing Resolution to prevent a government shutdown is still drawing intense criticism.

Had he not done so, there would have been no effective Democrat push-back to prevent

Republicans from following through on their agenda. Republicans would have kept government shuttered indefinitely. I've always liked Chuck.

Art by Kevin Kreneck. For more Graphics and Greeting Cards, go to https://kkreneck.wixsite.com/mysite

Editorial: Trump’s Tariffs and Terrorism

After a few false starts that rattled the markets and U.S. trade partners, Donald Trump on April 2 ordered tariffs on more than 180 countries and territories, igniting a trade war that turned overseas allies into economic rivals, who are expected to impose retaliatory tariffs on American goods. 

Trump imposed a global tariff ranging from a 10% basic tariff on goods from smaller nations, 20 to 25 percent on goods from the European Union, 25% for Indian goods, 46% for Vietnamese goods and 54% for Chinese goods, which Trump increased to 145% after China imposed a retaliatory 34% tariff on U.S. goods. Despite Trump’s claims that tariffs are paid by foreign countries, American companies importing goods into the U.S. pay the tariffs, and pass the costs along to American consumers. Tariffs end up as a national sales tax that will cost the average American family thousands of dollars.

Goods from Mexico and Canada that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement Trump negotiated in 2020 will largely remain exempt from tariffs, except for 25% tariffs on auto exports and steel and aluminum which fall under separate tariff policies — but that could change on Trump’s whim.

Trump injected chaos into the world economy, which has caused stock market values to plunge worldwide, with a loss worth trillions of dollars. The chaos is likely to send the US economy into a recession, if not a full-fledged depression. And this is all to make Americans forget the vigorous economy and high employment rate that President Joe Biden handed over to Trump in January.

After stock markets showed a steep loss in values April 3-8, Trump on April 9 announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for all countries except China. The pause caused a surge in markets April 9, but continued uncertainty over the economic turmoil sent all three major Wall Street stock indices down again April 10.

In its authoritarian turn, the Trump administration insists on its right to terrorize immigrants with the threat of detention and deportation, and possibly extend that authority to terrorize U.S. citizens. 

The Supreme Court on April 7, in a 5-4 decision, allowed the use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which allows detention and removal of citizens of a nation at war with the United States, after Trump declared the presence of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang in the United States an “invasion.” But the court ruled that people who are detained under the act are entitled to due process before they are deported from the U.S.

The case originated in the D.C. court of Judge James E. Boasberg, whose temporary restraining order blocking the deportations of several immigrants was ignored by the Trump administration. Federal officials have said more than 130 Venezuelans who were being deported under the act were beyond U.S. airspace at the time of Boasberg’s order, and therefore could not be returned to the U.S. Instead, they were transferred to a prison in El Salvador that is known for human rights abuses, where they are being held indefinitely under a contract with the president of El Salvador. 

Family members have disputed that some of the migrants were gang members, and the government has acknowledged in court filings that many did not have criminal records in the United States.

Boasberg halted the deportations in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of five migrants. The ACLU said Trump can’t invoke the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans because the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela.

“The act was meant solely to address ‘military’ hostilities directed at the United States, not criminal activity by a gang during peacetime,” ACLU attorneys wrote in a filing.

The ACLU called the Supreme Court’s ruling that migrants are entitled to challenge the government’s claim that they are gang members “a huge victory.” However, the Supreme Court said the migrants would need to pursue their case in a federal court in Texas.

“We are disappointed that we will need to start the court process over again in a different venue, but the critical point is that the Supreme Court said individuals must be given due process to challenge their removal under the Alien Enemies Act,” lead ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement.

A few hours earlier, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts had blocked a Maryland federal judge’s order directing the Trump administration to return to the U.S. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran immigrant who was mistakenly deported to the same notorious prison in El Salvador.

Abrego García, who is married to a U.S. citizen and had legal protected status in Maryland, was picked up by ICE officials March 12, was told his immigration “status had changed,” was moved to a detention facility in Texas, and was deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite a court order forbidding it because he had fled death threats from gang members in El Salvador.

Trump officials now argue they cannot return Abrego García because he is in the custody of El Salvador, but U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland wrote that the federal government has the authority to return Abrego García and the Trump administration has offered “no evidence” to prove he is a member of any gang. Xinis also noted that the Trump administration is paying the Salvadoran government to detain deportees, and the agreement states that U.S. officials will decide what happens to the detainees in the future.

Earlier on April 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit declined to intervene, as a three-judge panel unanimously agreed that the order to bring Abrego García back “should not be stayed.”

In deporting Abrego García, I.C.E. “most assuredly” violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process, Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote. She pointed out that the U.S. government has readmitted wrongfully deported migrants before. “Now it must clean up the mess it has made” in Abrego García’s case, the order said.

Several nations, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have advised travelers about the political climate and fears of detention or harassment in the U.S.. 

In case you think this is just a matter for foreigners to worry about, Trump on April 6 said he might take up an offer to send U.S. citizens into El Salvador’s prison system.

In a press briefing aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked by a reporter about an offer made by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to accept prisoners sent by the U.S. from its federal prison population.

“I love that,” Trump said. “If we could take some of our 20-time wise guys that push people into subways and hit people over the back of the head and purposely run people over in cars, if he would take them, I would be honored to give them.”

In February, after Bukele first offered to imprison U.S. citizens, the ACLU told NPR the idea was a “non-starter.” But Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the time called Bukele’s offer “an extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country.” 

While the Heritage Foundation gets to work on writing a new chapter of Project 2025, democracy defenders must get organized to hold all Republican members of Congress to account for enabling the Trump regime’s excesses. The Greedy Oligarch Party needs a good old-fashioned Wisconsin-style butt kicking in the next election.  — JMC

From the May 1 issue of The Progressive Populist.