I have repeatedly cited the observation by a noted civil libertarian to the effect that poison gas is a great weapon–until the wind shifts.
In case the clear meaning of that observation eludes anyone, it is a recognition that ignoring the rule of law in order to punish people you dislike is a very dangerous tactic, because when those disliked folks gain power–as they inevitably will– they can turn those same illegal tactics against you.
It is abundantly clear that Trump and his MAGA minions don’t understand the operation of due process guarantees. (Granted, Trump is embarrassingly ignorant of all civil liberties, and indeed, ignorant of how the world works.) That ignorance is shown by the increasing hysteria with which the administration keeps asserting that Abrego Garcia is “a bad dude,” and that bad dudes aren’t entitled to due process.
There is substantial evidence to rebut the administration’s accusations about Garcia, but their probity is totally irrelevant. Giving an accused individual due process requires that the government prove its allegations in a court of law. If Garcia is really a gang member or otherwise unfit to live among us, the state should be able to demonstrate that fact. A grant of due process doesn’t keep authorities from expelling bad guys–but it does require government to provide the evidence upon which they are painting an individual as someone who should be expelled from our shores.
If a mere accusation is poison gas sufficient to justify deportation, none of us is safe. The accusatory finger can be pointed at anyone, for any reason. That’s why Talking Points Memo–among many others–has editorialized about the extreme importance of this case.
As best we can tell, Abrego Garcia was on the third deportation flight from Texas to El Salvador on March 15. The other two flights contained people deported under the Alien Enemies Act without any judicial review. The AEA deportations were the first to be challenged in court, which led to the big blow up in U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s court about whether the Trump administration had willfully violated his order blocking them.
It was in the midst of that legal battle that the case of Abrego Garcia’s mistaken deportation emerged, an error the Trump administration admitted, serving as the perfect signifier for why due process is so essential. If Abrego Garcia could be deported in error – and in violation of an existing order by an immigration judge – isn’t that precisely why the law offers procedural protections that all of the deportees that day were entitled to at some level?
TPM noted that the administration’s positions inside the courtroom have been at odds with its public statements. It has gone from admitting the deportation was in error to the launch of “a full-scale propaganda campaign from the White House on down, sowing misinformation, inventing facts, smearing Abrego Garcia with falsehoods, and furiously trying to muddy the waters to obscure its own malfeasance.”
The editorial quoted Timothy Snyder, a noted scholar of tyranny:
The president defied a Supreme Court ruling to return a man who was mistakenly sent to a gulag in another country, celebrated the suffering of this innocent person, and spoke of sending Americans to foreign concentration camps.
This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror, and it has to be identified as such to be stopped.
Americans who have been following the news are aware that Garcia is only the most prominent example of extra-legal apprehensions and deportations, which have been accelerating under this lawless regime. This reality–among other Trump acts in defiance of the rule of law–has brought us to the current constitutional crisis, as the administration stonewalls and evades, and refuses to submit to court orders.
The Republicans in the House and Senate could end this crisis. Even if they failed to impeach the mad king, they could assert their powers under the Constitution and take back the authority that Trump has usurped–authority that is rightfully theirs. Their failure to do so–the cowardice preventing them from even publicly protesting Trump’s blatantly illegal, unconstitutional and immoral behaviors–is a betrayal of immense proportions. Assuming we emerge from the current abyss, these Republicans will go down in history as weaklings and traitors whose failure to honor their oaths is a repudiation of the values upon which this country was founded.
It will also be seen as an invitation to turn the poison gas in their direction when Democrats gain control. Of course, if that happens, we really will have lost the Founders’ America.
Several weeks ago pro-putin member of congress spartz made the following comment, “you violate the law, you are not entitled to due process.” I am so proud to live in this know nothings district. I’m sure our senators are equally ignorant. I have not heard from either to the contrary.
Well, I was with you, Sheila, until the last sentence. The Democrats already appear just as weak as the MAGATs in Washington. At best, they point to themselves as “not being Trump’s MAGATs.” Schumer’s now-infamous response is “Let Trump be Trump.”
If the uniparty is allowed to slide further to the right as a result of Dear Leader’s actions, then this country is toast for the people and might as well be imploded by Stephen Miller and Musk. And, by the way, Musk and his Tech Bros know full well that they could lose a fortune if the Democrats cancel all their contracts with the federal government. They don’t seem to be worried at all for some reason. Why is that?
Does AI prevent poisonous gas from infecting the Tech Bros? 😉
I’ll repeat a completely irrelevant point in this post: When has Trump ever been held accountable? He got a felony charge for sexual assault, but it didn’t impact him one bit. If anything, it proved that the “Deep State” will stop at nothing to bring him down. Look closely at what the media is doing – nothing!! I mean, what’s up with CBS?
Trump’s mentor, Roy Cohn, was protected because he had blackmail on very powerful people and was used as an asset by the intelligentsia. Epstein, same. Trump, same. Clinton, same. Musk, same. Thiel, same.
The media doesn’t discuss Musk’s mentor, the former head of the CIA’s joint venture program, In-Q-Tel, now associated with NASA. And speaking of NASA, it looks like one of Musk’s collaborators and fellow billionaire, Jared Isaacman, was tapped by Trump to lead NASA several days ago.
If I were in charge of the DNC, I’d have my presidential prospects tour the country and discuss expropriation to the masses. The so-called “save democracy movement” is decades late. We desperately need Occupy Wall Street Movement 2.0, or don’t waste our time!!!
All this illegality is what criminal enterprises do. Trump is the mob boss and he is/has weaponized everything about the legal system to fulfill his own personal animus toward people of color, and political opponents.
Why didn’t he get booed off the stage when he mocked the physically challenged reporter 10 years ago? Instead, the audience cheered. In 2024, more registered voters DID NOT VOTE than any number who voted for either candidate. So, “we” the people let minority rule destroy our beloved democracy.
Well, done lazy people.
like the Iraq war when the U.S, seeked help from locals, many solders found themselves in extra judicial killings of neighbors and unliked other religious people. until it was stopped to the most part,but had been ongoing during the takeover. just point and shoot. like history of nazism school kids also were targeted for thier knowlege of who were jews and whos parents talked about democracy and hitlers real game. L.A. schools and the ice people in recent tries to affect children directly,luckly the head of those schools seen the game,and reacted to protect those kids. but that knowlege of that game is in historys pages. we are reenacting the same pages today by a led government by a hostle takeover by con and a full party of representatives totally ignoring and complaisant in this country to trump and his billionaire buddies. impeachment now would mean a whole party. the pick and choose of this regiem is muttered by the news media and the like to actully ignore it, no comment returned is being used by the white house and other enities taken over by the heritage foundation and turning points 2025 manfesto to maleficence. we need to discuss the private orgs who festered this aliance and who spent/donated the money to enforce its propaganda machine. Gordon Brown in UK is sueing murdoch. and reopening the tapping of e mails etc and about its funneling of privacy for propaganda news. we are obviously involved on the other end. but murdoch is propaganda,and his billionaire buddies are causing harm elsewhere. again since the tide is moving over them, like a grover norquist slang , we need to drown the facist side of the isle..you do remember grover?
jacobin.com
tradwives area harbingerof systemic breakdown./Kristen R Ghodsee.
an overlooked mention about AI.. and trumpssms ideal life
What I fail to understand is the fact that we are deporting people to another country and right into a prison (a super max one actually). Aren’t most people who are deported from the US just dropped off at some airport in their home country? Why are they going right to prison? Abrego Garcia is imprisoned for some reason. This seems to me the scariest aspect of this whole situation… no due process here, no due process there, no due process anywhere. We are probably paying for this too.
Todd, we are all flawed.
We are as diverse as we could be. Nobody shares both our personal DNA and culture. We had a good thing going for us for 250 years. Fortunately, at the beginning, folks sat down and set down a design for government that, while also flawed, seemed with application to be a good start on a nation of the people, for the people, and by the people that worked. We were making progress.
To get back on track, let’s return to the land of Constitutional laws and work on progress, not towards more wealth, but a more functional government according to the design we already have.
We need power to organize people and to use that power to get everything done. To have any chance at success, we need to emulate what Republicans did and have a long-term strategy to implement a return to Constitutional law.
Why not start by repairing an existing party rather than starting from scratch? We don’t have much time to do what needs to be done.
Let’s take advantage of what we have learned, back up just a little, modify what we have now that there are sufficient numbers of woke people, and give it another try.
Lisa Murkowski said the Republicans are afraid of Orange Jesus. I’m pretty sure that she’s not afraid of being primaried. She has already shown that she can win as an independent. The threats must be to family or friends, or to the Republicans in the House and Senate themselves. Remember that he does have a personal militia that is willing to do whatever he suggests. We’re watching “Beckett” and the performance is real.
For a primer on how the rule of law is destroyed by a dictatorship watch the movie Judgement at Nuremberg.
As for the deportations of innocent persons ( all persons are assumed to be innocent until convicted by a trial ) I find myself wondering about the ICE agents. How does one convince themselves that deporting babies and children without a care as to what will happen to them is OK? Did not these agents swear an oath to uphold the Constitution? Are these the same kind of men and women who rounded up the Jews in Germany and put them on a train to hell?
Per Vernon – “In 2024, more registered voters DID NOT VOTE than any number who voted for either candidate.” This is a deep ROOT CAUSE of much of where we are now. How do we fix this is what could/maybe save “America”.
I remember the good ol’ days under Bush and Cheney when the US sent folks abroad only to be tortured and incarcerated without due process..
Meanwhile in Gaza….
Yes, Bush and Cheney, those were the good old days!
Trump has been a criminal all of his adult life, and is now a criminal with power, again; does not care about anyone/anything but Trump. Due process, like climate change is just an “annoyance.”
Pete,
What good thing was going?
I keep hearing about all of these great times in the past, and how wonderful this country was/is, by committing genocide and stealing the land of tens of millions of original Americans. If you thought like many of the founders, of this country, the natives here did not know how to use the land they lived on. It was so much more valuable to those who had the knowledge, lol!
So that gave the white European Protestant, the right to eliminate, murder, the original inhabitants so they could steal the land and prove how smart those white European Protestants were! This was written in the Constitution! How you might ask? Well, the only folks that could vote were the wealthy male white land Baron European Protestant slave owners!!!!!
Wow, now that’s a mouthful! They used religion to wipe out native Americans and give themselves and acceptable conscience while doing it. The slaves were abrahamists or Muslims by large margins. 4/5 human, wow! How magnanimous, it could have been 3/5 or 2/5. The native Americans were just mongrels, they didn’t even approach humanity. The Chinese who came here in droves were considered persona non grata, they had no rights! They could not acquire citizenship! The Japanese were rounded up and put in concentration camps here, no matter how many generations their families lived in this country!
That’s a problem, right there! The American Nazi Bund, that kind of slithered under a rock during the second world war and gave rise to this white nationalist fervor we have today! And, not only that, it gave the KKK tools and financing to become what they are today. The American Nazis thought the KKK were useful idiots, and boy, did they hit that nail right on the head!
So my question to you, is how was American government great for the American people who are not white? Well, it never was! The good old days were never good! The Roman empire has reaped what they had sown for millenia this was an excellent example! That’s why Christianity was made the official Roman religion. And the lemming culture of white Protestants in the United States, do not have a clue to where manifest Destiny came from, where American exceptionalism came from, and what was everything really about? Concerning the mass immigration to these shores? And why is there such a blowback today by white Christian Protestants on everyone who is not a white Christian Protestant looking for human rights, civil rights, Justice, which is now being reinterpreted by the department of Justice! Does that sound nazi-esque? Do you even know what manifest Destiny was? Do you really know what gave rise to American exceptionalism? Were any of these things actually beneficial to every portion of society and citizenry? I no the answers to those questions, everyone should know! And yet, it seems there is a complete cluelessness of actual conduct by the wife Christian Protestant throughout history, one that was ruthless, narcissistic, and selfish! How was that good? We need to hit the reverse button on what? We need to go back to, what?
Jesus Christ said to love God, and love your neighbor! That was the entire law wrapped up in those two short statements. Then, later on, Christ included loving your neighbor! Because that was the best way to change not only what you think but what they think. This was not just a Christian ideal, these things were put down in writing throughout the Mosaic law. But the white Protestant males decided this was a dangerous thing!
So the Manifest Destiny of this country was the use of slavery to rule the entire western hemisphere if not the world by a mega agrarian society, which would make America exceptional in its influence and power.
The German Bund got away with so much lawlessness in this country, it boggles the mind. Because they were white, and they were Protestant, unlike the Asians! Unlike those black Americans, or those native Americans! It’s easier to hate when someone doesn’t look like you, it’s easier to subjugate when someone doesn’t look like you it’s easier to scrub those individuals from history, if they don’t look like you.
So before you start talking about how grandiose things were or should still be or if they were at all, I would suggest you go back and research how so many influential and beneficial citizens have been scrubbed from history, and why!
We need to recognize a number of key things, some of which have been brought up by others. The Dems are Less Corrupt than the Reps – not “the answer”. We need to build on Both – Ands, not Either- Or’s – we need to seek Radical Change – and work both as “liberals” and “radicals” – we need to – do what we each can locally and beyond in whatever ways and recognize both our strengths and weaknesss. BIPOC – particularly those that are Women + Gender-Non-Binary – both are “doing the work” – and provide – “the victory majority” – us white folks, particularly those of us who are male – as seemingly “the enemy”. We need to build communities – of mutual support – Ridiculing – T + his minions – doesn’t help hardly ever, if ever. Love – over Hatred – using what potential allies/groups we have and when helpful start more – Curiosity – Potluck Meals – as part of our Organizing – Music and Other “Arts” – add strength – we need to sustain ourselves and both have Hope – and a “Reality Check” – build Movements – not – Moments (alone). Protests – Important – Talking with (not at) those who Disagree with us and/or who are “undecided” or “independent” or similar – deeply listening – Recognize – the POWER – of Emotion and Particularly Fear – Intellect doesn’t breed Insight without Emotional Energy. Look Positively also – at How Bernie and AOC – are speaking in Red Areas – and getting support ++++
One thing that has become clear is that that most people who take the oath to protect and defend the Constitution have no idea what the Constitution says because they have never read the Constitution.
I’m counting the days till May 2nd to know if I will receive my paid into Social Security check to live on for another month before counting the days begins again. The solutions lie with the Democrats and the Republicans admitting they must work together to end Trump’s and Musk’s MAGA hostage situation of this entire nation. Together they would outnumber the MAGAs and have better chances to remain in office come their election days.
Faith is personal. Law is public. Can not say this too much or too often.
Personal opinion,
We really got hurt when the Bernie & group got just a little too liberal.
He seems to work perfect for his state. Not a good balance for the whole country.
WE need no extremes. What we do need is our elected to work for us, not party or personal gain. Thats the tough one.
Pete. Ignore John Sorg. He will never admit that people are capable of governing themselves or that humanity has made any progress over the centuries or that we are any better off now than we ever were. He is the voice telling us to just shut up and accept whatever is done to us because however bad it is, we deserve it. Not that HE ever shuts up. He’s too busy preaching doom and gloom.
You spoke words of wisdom and hope!
Sharon Miller,,
Go ahead and tell me exactly what my comment centered on that was wrong? You extol virtues where there is no virtuosity. Explain to me what society was exceptional in its self rule? And I’m not just talking about European civilizations, I am talking about any civilization.
What time period was there ever peace or harmonious coexistence? Name one time period. Then if you can name one, explain to me in your Sharonsplain, how and why? And then, I’ll take over from there!
This period in time it’s just the latest, until the next time. Eventually, there will be no next time, because someone will have pushed the button or released the kraken or whatever. Nothing is thought through! That’s fairly obvious!
Some excellent thinking here about “root causes”…
https://quillette.com/2025/04/28/a-new-dark-age-technology-social-media-musk-bezos-zuckerberg/
Abrego Garcia fled San Salvadore with his parents when he was 16 yrs. old. They fled due to hostile gang interference into their thriving business and threats to their Lifes. Abrego Garcias parents didn’t know they just had a year to file for asylum in US and missed the deadline.
Later in life Abrego Garcia was brought to court when he was married with children, worked steadily to support his family and had no history of crimes. The court found his case to be valid and issued a withdrawal to deport and specifically never to be sent back to San Salvadore where he was still a target. His due process and the rule of law were completely ignored by the Trump administration.
Friday the DOJ ordered the FBI to arrest a judge who allowed an immigrant to exit through the jury doors to avoid ICE in the hallway. The judge claimed they didn’t have a judge’s arrest warrant. Attorney General Bondi went on TV to admonish judges that Trumps form of the law was now being enforced by DOJ and FBI.
Also, it’s been discovered that a young man who was granted asylum was sent away and now is ordered back.
He and his minions are getting away without using ‘due process’. They are still hijacking and shipping people and children with cancer and nobody has been able to stop it.
Regarding the democrats–they may actually want to listen to what David Hogg is suggesting.
John Sorg. Your latest comments prove my point!
Where is the Karma bus when you need it.
Sharon Miller,
17 The one who is quick to anger acts foolishly,
But the man who thinks things out is hated. (Proverbs 14:16)
16 A fool immediately shows his annoyance,
But the shrewd man overlooks an insult. (Proverbs 12:16)