A 300% increase in threats against judges since January
U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas is still reliving the July night in 2020 when her doorbell rang and a gunman shot and killed her son, Daniel Anderl, and grievously wounded her husband. Salas herself was the target.
The threat she faced has only escalated to touch other judges in the Trump era, Salas warned MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Friday.
“Just this week I was contacted by a judge, and I was told that the second pizza that arrived at this judge’s house – he had already received one before – the second pizza that arrived at this judge’s house was sent by my son, Daniel Anderl,” Salas said in an interview on MSNBC. “The name that they used on the pizza was Daniel Anderl. My baby boy, who we lost on July 19, 2020.”
“And if it would have stopped there, it would have been bad enough,” she added. “But it’s not stopping. Just last night, another pizza, there’s four now, four pizzas that are being sent to judges as threats. And who’s the sender? Daniel Anderl.”
Salas told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that the significance in the ominous deliveries is the message that it sends.
“You send a pizza to a judge’s house – that’s the message – I know where you live. You send a pizza to a judge’s child’s house – I know where your child lives,” she said.
Salas has a plea to the kind of people motivated by hatred of the judicial system and judges. “For the love of God, stop all this hatred and all this anger because it is going to get someone killed.”
It is a powerful interview. Both women struggled to maintain their composure in the face of the judge’s tragedy and the sick hatred behind these escalating, Mafia-like threats. Trump-fueled threats, let’s not mince words. The administration and members of Congress are throwing fuel onto the fire with rhetoric about corrupt judges, and “giving license” to people who would do them harm.
Salas looked into the camera and begged people to respect the law, respect the process, and stop the downward spiral. May we all heed her plea.
The constitution will not restrain the mad king (TPM):
GREENBELT, MARYLAND – The Trump administration defied a court order on Friday, telling a judge in writing and verbally that it could not provide information about a man that it admitted it wrongly deported to an El Salvador prison.
At the court hearing, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis for the District of Maryland repeatedly asked a DOJ lawyer to provide basic information about the whereabouts of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported on March 15.
“I have a simple question: Where is he?” Xinis implored more than once.
What’s missing in the AI image above of Donald Trump as Mad King George III is him giving U.S. courts the middle finger. As of Friday afternoon, we’re at that point (ABC News):
The federal judge overseeing the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, slammed the government’s handling of the case Friday and ordered the Justice Department to provide her with “daily updates” on its efforts to bring him back.
“From now until compliance, [I am] going to require daily statuses, daily updates,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said at a hearing in Maryland on Friday. “We’re going to make a record of what, if anything, the government is doing or not doing.”
The judge said she will require updates provided by an official with personal knowledge of Abrego Garcia’s status, on Abrego Garcia’s location, what steps the Trump administration has taken to facilitate his return, and what additional steps the government will take to return him.
Trump could return Abrego Garcia with a phone call to the government he’s contracted. But he doesn’t want to. The administration as already admitted his deportation was an administrative error. But was it? Trump want everyone bowing to his will. If Trump backs down in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that people like those he’s kidnapped to El Salvador get due process in accordance with constitutional law, he implies he’s bound by it. And that’s a no-no.
The Roberts court tiptoed around directly ordering Trump to return Abrego Garcia. Menawhile, Trump lawyers tap dance for all they’re worth to avoid lying to federal judges and pissing off Trump or AG Pam Bondi. At the White House, Trump wants to set up the confrontation with SCOTUS that will prove he’s broken the entire government to his feral will.
“We are watching the collapse of the international order in real time,” Carole Cadwalladr insists in a nervous return to TED. Learn how to fight back, she urges. First we have to name it: “It’s a coup.”
“It’s already later than we think.”
This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like
“It’s a kind of power we’ve never seen before.”
“We are already living within the architecture of totalitarianism. It may not have been deliberate, but we now have to act as though we are living in East Germany, and Instagram is the Stasi.”
“Privacy is power.”
Appropriating your information is “more than theft. It’s a violation. Data rights are human rights.”
“We are not powerless. The 30,000 people who supported me proved that – we are not powerless. Because we know who we are, and we know what we stand for. And my question to Silicon Valley is, do you?”
It’s overwhelming. Between the Trump cult and the digital coup this gets harder every morning. Hell, we’re still trying to certify Justice Allison Riggs’s N.C. state Supreme Court seat she won in November. While we’re not working to stop the spread of global authoritarianism and a digital coup.
Survivors in Gaza and Aleppo have it worse. So it’s chickenshit, isn’t it, for us sitting in front of computers to give in to the creeps trying to threaten or sue us into submission? We’re better than that (I hope).
Street protests do little to change the political battlefield. And I’m as quick as anyone to dismiss them as little more than events designed to make us feel better about issues than to resolve them. But April 5 was a tonic, proving we are not alone. We are many. I’m hoping April 19 comes together bigger than the last, perhaps building toward a national stike.
In its decision late Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court in an unsigned, unanimous opinion politely informed the Trump administration it must “facilitate” the release of a man it spirited off to a Salvadoran gulag last month due to its own “administrative error” (Washington Post):
A district court judge had ordered Kilmar Abrego García to be brought back to the United States by Monday night, but Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issued a brief pause hours before the deadline, allowing the justices time to weigh a government motion to block the order.
In its brief order Thursday evening, the high court said the judge “properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
But not so fast. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s initial order instructed the Triump administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego García’s return to the U.S. SCOTUS sent the case back to the lower court to expand on what it meant by “effectuate.”
The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador. The intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the District Court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.
That is, another co-equal branch of our government mustn’t overstep its authority, something with which the Trump administration is thoroughly familiar. “Abrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant who is married to a U.S. citizen, was deported on March 15 despite a court ruling forbidding it,” the Post explains.
As a lame duck in 2020, Trump brought and lost dozens of lawsuits challenging his election loss to Joe Biden. Now with his sycophants installed in every cranny of the Executive Branch, with Trump-appointed judges throughout the federal judiciary, and with GOP control of both branches of Congress, Trump feels entitled to ignore adversarial rulings. In essence, “Make me.” Or “facilitate this.”
After instructing the lower court to give the Executive “due regard” in foreign affairs, SCOTUS suggested that the Trump administration “be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”
Oh, we’re sharing now, are we, mugged Rachel Maddow on her show. “What is this, group therapy?” Maddow asked. “Do you feel you can share?” Is this a court order or not? Or a by-your-leave from the highest court in the land? Mustn’t make daddy angry?
Nowhere in its ruling does the SCOTUS ruling use the word “return” regarding Abrego García, notes Chris Geidner at Law Dork, adding, “Of the 13 judges — including seven appointed by Republican presidents — to look at the Trump administration’s actions here, none have sided with the administration.”
Does anyone think he or his lackeys care?
Geidner updates with this late news:
[UPDATE, 10:50 p.m.: Judge Paula Xinis issued an order following Thursday night’s Supreme Court ruling, ordering the government to “take all available steps to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States as soon as possible” and scheduling a status conference in the case for 1 p.m. Friday.
Additionally, Xinis ordered the Justice Department to file a declaration by 9:30 a.m. Friday detailing where Abrego Garcia is and what steps have been and will be taken to facilitate his return.]
Justice Sonia Sotamayor laid out her rather tart thoughts on the matter, and called bullshit on the Trump administration’s claims that Abrego Garcia’s fate now is out of its hands. Watch your backs. This is where Trump is haeding if he isn’t stopped:
The Government now requests an order from this Court permitting it to leave Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, in a Salvadoran prison for no reason recognized by the law. The only argument the Government offers in support of its request, that United States courts cannot grant relief once a deportee crosses the border, is plainly wrong. See Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U. S. 426, 447, n. 16 (2004); cf. Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U. S. 723, 732 (2008). The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that 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. See Trump v. J. G. G., 604 U. S. ___, ___ (2025) (SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 8). That view refutes itself.
In lieu of divine intervention, a bit of karmic comeuppance for this nasty little administration would be welcome about now.
Many of the Trump 2.0’s problems are self-inflicted, but public pushback has opened a metaphorical cut over its eye. YOUR pushback works. Trump himself will never admit it, of course. But his rapid retreat on his tariffs on Wednesday after investors started dumping U.S. bonds proves he’s vulnerable. The bond market was getting “a little queasy,” Trump admitted this morning. Investors predicted a Trump recession. Trump retreated.
U.S. bonds are normally a haven in rough economic seas. But not in a Trumpish storm:
But in the past few days, money has been seeping out of the bond market, which is making these bonds much cheaper, generally. That is pushing yields on bonds higher, because bond yields move inversely to their prices.
The sell-off unnerved the White House enough on Wednesday, per reports, that Trump issued a 90-day “pause” in implementing his retaliatory tariffs (above a 10 percent base) except for China.
That may not be the only data shaking Trump’s public confidence. A Quinnipiac poll reveals Americans very unsettled by Trump’s handling of the economy. (See image at top. Remember how he’d lower prices on Day 1?)
That lowering prices thing ain’t working, whatever lies he’s telling. Plus, as Rachel Maddow noted Wednesday night, nine out of the 10 largest drops in Dow Jones history happened on Trump’s watch.
The frenzy of vandalism against the Social Security and Medicare systems by Elon Musk’s DOGEes has raised hackles among seniors and Medicare recipients. “Now, after nearly a month of chaos and backlash,” DOGE plans for eliminating phone support and forcing users to use direct deposit is dead, reports The Washington Post:
According to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post, plans to force people awarded retirement, disability and Medicare benefits to set up direct-deposit payments online or in person have been canceled after the agency concluded it could vet these transactions for fraud by phone. Those applying for benefits can also continue the process by phone without the need to go online or visit an office in person, according to the Monday memo from acting deputy commissioner Doris Diaz to acting commissioner Leland Dudek.
Pushback works. Protesting works. Pressure works.
The shift amounts to a wholesale retreat by Musk’s team and the Social Security leadership in their bid to dramatically curtail telephone access to services. The changes announced by Dudek in March and pushed by members of the DOGE team would have directed all people filing claims to first verify their identity online or in person. The new system would have removed a phone option, in place for years, which has come to be a mainstay for the 73 million Americans who rely on Social Security for retirement, survivor and disability benefits and Medicare claims.
Emails went out to Social Security employees this week instructing them not to have any correspondence with “Congressional” actors or “Advocates.” They’re circling the wagons. “An agency spokesman denied that anyone had been told not to respond to inquiries from lawmakers.” Okay.
This is an ongoing saga. But the takeaway is that a million(s?) people in the street, a national outcry, and market unrest has Musk-Trump off balance, and maybe reeling. Great.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt discusses deporting Americans to El Salvador.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Thinking of taking a family trip outside the U.S.? It’s not your reception as an American at a foreign resort you have to worry about. It’s close encounters of the Trump kind when you return (Detroit Free Press):
A lawyer’s spring break trip to the Dominican Republic with his family ended on a troubling note at Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday: He was detained by federal agents, questioned about his clients, and asked to give up his cellphone, he says.
But Dearborn attorney Amir Makled, who is representing a pro-Palestinian demonstrator who was arrested at the University of Michigan last year, stood his ground. He didn’t give up his phone.
“I’m an American citizen. I’m not worried about being deported,” Makled said he recalled thinking to himself in the airport interrogation room. “So, I tell them, ‘I know you can take my phone. I’m not going to give you my phone, however … 90% of my work is on my phone. You’re not getting unfettered access to (it).’ “
Makled, 38, is a civil rights and criminal defense attorney who knows his rights backwards and forwards and who had his passport flagged. He was interrogated by the Tactical Terrorism Response Team (TTRT), a secretive unit of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that has detained and questioned tens of thousands of U.S. citizens at ports of entry for several years.
“These secretive teams’ activities may result in further government scrutiny and other negative consequences for targeted travelers, including placement on a government watchlist,” the ACLU warns.
Makled told his story to Chris Hayes Tuesday night.
Free Press again:
“This current administration is doing something that no administration has done — they are attacking attorneys,” Makled said, stressing lawyers from big and small firms alike are being targeted. “This is a different type of threat to the rule of law that I see. They are now challenging the judiciary, or lawyers, they’re putting pressure (on them) to dissuade attorneys from taking on issues that are against the government’s issues. We have an obligation as lawyers to stand up to this stuff.”
After 90 minutes, CBP let Makled, a lawyer, go with his cell phone. How would you have fared? Because until this administration ends, the harassment won’t end with lawyers.
The Intercept reported in 2021 on documents it reviewed from an ACLU FOIA lawsuit (emphasis mine):
Between 2017 and 2019, the documents show, the units detained and interrogated more than 600,000 travelers — about a third of them U.S. citizens. Of those detained, more than 8,000 foreign visitors with legal travel documents were denied entry to the United States. A handful of U.S. citizens were also prevented from entering the country, which civil liberties advocates say violated their rights. Lower court and Supreme Court rulings affirm the constitutional right of U.S. citizens to freedom of movement and the ability to enter and leave the country.
That was then, under Trump 1.0. This is now. We’ve seen already that Trump 2.0 treats constitutional rights and court opinions as nuisances to be waved away. As far as Trump is concerned, and with the backing of over half the Supreme Court, he is the law.
From trolling to state terror
How soon before Trump protesters are designated heinous violent criminals?
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the Trump administration is not sure it is legal to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador, but that President Donald Trump has “simply floated” the idea for the sake of transparency.
[…]
Leavitt said the president had discussed the idea both privately and publicly for “heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly.”
“The president has said if it’s legal, right, if there is a legal pathway to do that, he’s not sure. We are not sure if there is, it’s an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed very publicly as in the effort of transparency,” she said.
It is no longer clear when Trump is merely trolling his adversaries for sport and when he is floating trial balloons to gauge potential pushback. Talk of deporting Americans to foreign gulags is not a case of “every accusation is a confession.” He’s telegraphing what he wants to do. It is unclear when he’ll decide to do it.
I’m reluctant to leave the country under one Trumpish policy only to return and find that it’s changed while I’m away. Trump is harassing U.S. allies. He’s targeting foreign students. He’s targeting lawyers. He’s branded the press as the enemy of the people. Invoking Martin Niemöller would seem trite if not for the deafening echoes.
“What we were hearing throughout the day,” Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible told MSNBC’s Ari Melber, “was the biggest problem … that organizers of these marches were having around the country, was that too many people were showing up, too many more people than they had planned on.” Five to seven times more than had signed up in advance, she said.
That was Saturday, April 5.
Bookmark this clip. You’ll want to come back to it.
View on Threads
Saturday was just the beginning. The next events are scheduled for Saturday, April 19 (details coming). Newsweek:
50501 is again calling for protests in all 50 states against the Trump administration on April 19.
In social media posts, the group stated that they want 3.5 percent of the U.S. population—more than 11 million people—to participate. They cite this figure as the threshold for “sustained resistance in order to make a difference.”
50501 said the April 19 demonstration will be to protest against what they describe as a “hostile government takeover” overseen by the Trump administration.
Organic is better
Our protest here on Saturday was coordinated by 50501, Indivisible, and several other groups. (I actually don’t know how it came together.) Although a local Democratic elected official was the first speaker, someone noted that lack of Democratic Party presence. One reason is that these activist groups are better at this kind of organizing on the fly, and their contact lists cover a wider regional swath than a county party’s. Another is that branding it a Democratic Party event would be less likely to draw a crowd to what people, a majority registered independents, would rightly expect would be a party rally (not what they’re looking for).
What I hope we are seeing is a movement building of the sort that ousts authoritarian leaders in other countries. If ours was a parliamentary system, a no-confidence vote could do it. As is, we in the U.S. are sailing uncharted waters that may give a whole new meaning to “haul in your sheets.”
Remains of a rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the sand along the John Day River at Service Creek, Wheeler County, Oregon, United States. Photo by Jsayre64 via Wkimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Has anyone tried treating Trumpism with cod liver oil and steroids? Because it seems contagious. At least for anyone in close proximity to the patient in the Oval Office.
True, Donald Trump selected his team largely on the basis that they look good on television. So, he’s selected in many cases for attractive and vacuous. And fiercely loyal. That’s a given.
Trump’s chief economic adviser addressed the Hudson Institute on Monday and presented a set of steps/demands that other countries might take for addressing “unfair barriers to trade” and “unsustainable trade deficits” that have Boss Trump hot and bothered.
Miran said that these factors had led to a “decline of our manufacturing workforce by over a third since its peak and a reduction in our share of world manufacturing production of 40 percent.”
It’s worth noting that while manufacturing employment has gone down, U.S. manufacturing output is up and nearing its all-time high of December 2007. Who exactly will actually work all of these hypothetical manufacturing jobs? No one seems to know! Trump’s own secretary of commerce said earlier this month that he planned to use automation to replace cheap labor, and the treasury secretary suggested Monday that maybe ousted federal workers could pick up some shifts.
Miran suggested that to appeaase the Boss, other nations might simply cave to his demands. Accept the tarifffs without retaliating.
Miran said that countries could “stop unfair and harmful trading practices” by buying more American products, specifically noting that countries could boost defense spending and procurement from the U.S. by “taking strain off our servicemembers and creating jobs here.”
(Don’t ask me to explain the logic there.)
Hey, here’s an idea, Miran offered. Y’all countries can just make your products in the U.S. to avoid tariffs. Or you might “simply write checks to Treasury that help us finance global public goods.” This from an administration that doesn’t believe in the public good anyway. So infer Trump’s attempt at a global protection racket. Nice country ya got there.
Trump said Sunday that he’d told global leaders that he wanted to erase the U.S. trade deficit because he viewed any deficit as a “loss,” though that’s not quite how economics works.
In Trump’s zero-sum world, the U.S. is a loser if it has a trade deficit with any country. And we know what Trump thinks about being a loser.
He wants that Tom Sawyer economy I’ve written about. One where people pay us to work for us or they send us their goods in tribute. It’s like kissing his feet without bending over.
