Digby's Hullabaloo Posts

Don’t just party and go home. Again.

Not to be a complete downer this morning, an anecdote about No Kings 3 tomorrow. I chatted the other day with a neighbor I had not seen in years. Standing in her yard as I walked by, she told me she planned to attend Asheville’s No Kings rally on Saturday. She has never attended a protest in her life, she said. Her husband planned to attend as well. The last time he joined a protest, she said, he was running from police in Chicago. Nearly 60 years ago. That means something.

I plan to attend out of solidarity, but do not expect much to come of another nationwide rally four months apart. Consistency matters. Few have the endurance for it, even if they are angrier now than at No Kings 1 or 2. The protests are cathartic, a national primal scream. Then people go home. Things will change when they refuse to.

Paul Waldman writes this morning about what lessons Democrats should take from the 3,000+ rallies planned for tomorrow:

The first and most obvious one is that people are mad, and anger is one of the most powerful motivators in politics. Don’t let the festive costumes and funny signs mislead you; millions of people won’t turn out to protest unless they’re seriously fed up.

Democrats talk a good game about fighting without backing it up with actions. It’s why people perceive the national Democratic Party as weak. Take risks. Your actions have to mate up with your apocalyptic rhetoric. Show us what you got.

Waldman continues:

The second lesson of the No Kings rallies is that this moment isn’t just about Trump — but in the short term it’s still mostly about Trump. It can’t be denied that without a president so horrid in so many ways, this kind of mobilization wouldn’t be possible. We’ve seen large protest movements before, but never one focused so intently on the issue-spanning idea that the inhabitant of the White House is a danger to the country. 

Maybe stop criticizing his policies as if Trump is anything resembling a normal president. Focus that anger on him. He’s weakened. Recent election flips prove it. Hammer his weaknesses.

As Rachel Maddow recently pointed out, Trump has committed an extraordinary number of abuses of power just since the last No Kings event, including bulldozing the East Wing of the White House, trying to arrest six members of Congress for explaining the moral and legal obligations of servicemembers, slapping his name on the Kennedy Center, waging war on the city of Minneapolis, and starting what increasingly looks like it will be a disastrous war in Iran. Anyone who was angry and frustrated before has even more reason to be so now.

Trump is weakened. Recent election flips prove it. Hammer his weaknesses.

Which leads to the next lesson of No Kings: Act like you’re the majority, because you are. The last No Kings event drew 7 million participants, according to the organizers; other estimates put the figure only slightly smaller. Either way, it was the biggest one-day protest in American history. While that may be a minority of the public, you don’t get that many people out in the streets unless they represent tens of millions more who didn’t participate.

Trump’s numbers are in the toilet. His cabinet members’ cringeworthy licking of his boots simply amplifies that impression and highlights weak wills no bluster, tattoos, or pushups can conceal. These are people Americans should be ashamed to have in leadership. Democrats should pull no punches in broadcasting it and making Team Trump feel it.

Waldman points out that underlying the surface anger is the same unease (mislabeled The Deep State) that helped elevate Trump in 2016. But it’s not civil servants who really have average Americans by the short hairs. That was Trump misdirecting anger the way he blames immigrants for people’s economic woes (NBC News):

According to the latest NBC News survey, 59% of registered voters agreed that those systems are stacked against them, while 38% disagreed with that sentiment and 3% were not sure. The share who agreed with that notion tied a high point in April 1992, a record set after NBC News began polling this question in 1988.

An overwhelming share of voters (84%) say they agree with the statement that “the very rich and powerful are above the law when they do something wrong, they look out for each other, using their power and connections to get special treatment,” while 14% disagree and 2% agree.

Waldman adds:

It matters to people that this president is so nakedly corrupt, that the Supreme Court is controlled by partisan hacks, that America’s image around the globe lies in tatters, and that the entire federal government has been degraded. They can see the connections between the way power operates and the fact that they don’t have affordable health care or better wages. Politicians have to show they understand that too.

The key lesson I’ve learned from my streetcorner and overpass antics of the last seven months is that people feel unseen by either major party. The first Gen Z woman who spoke in the Bulwark Focus Group I mentioned Monday said just that. It’s one thing to hear it or to read about it. It’s another to experience it in person day after day out on the street. Democrats who pitch policies before communicating that they see Americans’ struggles are tone deaf.

Waldman finishes up by emphasizing (again) that mobilizing is not organizing. Democrats are good at the first. Republicans are better at wrapping their partisans in movements that make being citizen activists part of their identities.

If Democratic politicians can understand these lessons, they can take them into governing the next time they win power. Then maybe they’ll actually make progress on creating the change all those protesters are demanding.

See you in the streets tomorrow.

The ad writes itself

The U.S. is scattering land mines in Iran in a war Congress has neither approved nor stopped. Travelers are arriving at Kennedy Airport at 1 a.m. in hopes of departing New York on time or at all. There is an epidemic of “mind blowing corruption” revealed in a $1.5 billion bet on oil futures. The Department of Homeland Security insists it will not stop arresting immigrants outside courtrooms after the Department of Justice(?) admitted DHS has no authority to. The president insists on his Sharpie signature being smeared across all new U.S. currency. Oh, and the U.S. has lost its “long-term status as a liberal democracy – for the first time in over 50 years.”

Goodbye Pax Americana

Donald J, Trump is collapsing the world we knew. Ronald Reagan declared morning in America. Trump embraces the sunset. The Financial Times saw it coming in 2016. The 2026 ad writes itself.

Heather Cox Richardson reports:

In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, put in bald language the change in the world order instigated by President Donald J. Trump.

“For 80 years,” Balakrishnan explained, “the US was the underwriter for a system of globalisation based on UN Charter principles, multilateralism, territorial integrity, sovereign equality.” That system “heralded an unprecedented and unique period of global prosperity and peace. Of course there were exceptions. And of course, the Cold War was still in effect for at least half of the last 80 years. But generally, for those of us who were non-communists, who ran open economies, who provided first world infrastructure, together with a hardworking disciplined people, we had unprecedented opportunities.

“The story of Singapore, with a per capita GDP of 500 US dollars in 1965. Now, [it is] somewhere between 80,000 to 90,000 US dollars. It would not have happened if it had not been for this unprecedented period, basically Pax Americana and then turbocharged by the reform and opening of China for decades. It has been unprecedented. It has been great for many of us. In fact, I will say, for all of us, if you look back 80 years.

“But now, whether you like it or not, objectively, this period has ended…. Basically, the underwriter of this world order has now become a revisionist power, and some people would even say a disruptor. But the larger point is that the erosion of norms, processes, and institutions that underpinned a remarkable period of peace and prosperity; that foundation has gone.”

In its place, as scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder said to me in a YouTube conversation yesterday, Trump is aligning himself with international oligarchs like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), and China’s Xi Jinping. Because of his position as the president of the United States of America, this means he is aligning the United States of America with this oligarchical axis as well, abandoning the country’s democratic principles and traditional allies.

It’s not so much a Trump plan as the convicted felon’s reflex for corruption, taste for violence, pathological need for dominance, sociopathy, and flagrant ignorance.

A passing commuter shouted at me on Thursday, “You’re a f%cking idiot!”

I could be president.

Trump’s hand-picked clones have already agreed to put him on a 24k gold memorial coin and they’re actively talking about putting him on the dime. Now this:

President Donald Trump has spent much of his second term in office working to leave his mark on Washington, DC. He’s draped enormous banners of his face over government buildings, plastered his name onto the Carrara walls of the Kennedy Center, and covered the White House in gold accents while demolishing the East Wing to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

Now the Trump administration is taking another unprecedented step toward brand ubiquity: His Treasury Department plans to add his signature to US currency.

Trump’s autograph will be added to all denominations of US bills, Vanity Fair has learned. The process of developing new printing plates is underway, I’m told, and the new bills will go into circulation in the coming months.

The measure is not temporary: Trump’s name will appear on bills until a future administration decides to take it off.

This will be the first time in US history that the sitting president’s signature will appear on American currency. US bills typically feature the signatures of the Treasury secretary and the US treasurer. Trump’s signature will replace that of the latter official, Brandon Beach, and sit alongside Scott Bessent’s.

“As the 250th anniversary of our great nation approaches, American currency will continue to stand as a symbol of prosperity, strength, and the unshakable spirit of the American people under President Trump’s leadership,” Beach said in a statement to Vanity Fair. “The president’s mark on history as the architect of America’s golden age economic revival is undeniable. Printing his signature on the American currency is not only appropriate, but also well deserved.”

It is appalling. All of it. But Trump is intent upon slapping his disgusting brand on every American symbol he can, from the White House to coins to airports and beyond.

Once he is out of office it’s vitally important that the Democrats rid the country of all this but I honestly don’t think they will. It will infuriate the MAGAs and they won’t want to create more friction by tearing down their dear leader while they’re still screaming in agony over the election being stolen. (Yes, they will assume that.) But we really can’t continue to have him be a ubiquitous figure in American society. It’s poison and it needs to be purged.

I hope that some rich person will fund a citizens effort to lobby for the removal of his hideous name from every public building and retire all the money with his name on it.It may take years but it has to be done.

Primary season is in full swing and it’s important to remember to bookmark Boltsmag.org for all the news at the state and local level as well as the big marquee races we’re all following:

Two statewide votes are headlining the election calendar in April. First, Wisconsin will choose a new supreme court justice, with major implications for voting rights. Then, Virginia will decide whether to allow the new congressional map proposed by Democrats.

But there are plenty of other storylines to watch. Many school districts are electing new school board members this month—in Alaska, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin—with familiar battles over book bans and the rights of LGBTQ students.

Also on the menu? Voters are filling vacant congressional seats in Georgia and New Jersey. Appointees of Wisconsin’s Democratic governor are fighting to survive against conservative challengers. Some Missourians and Oklahomans are weighing in on important tax referendums. And voters will decide who controls Anchorage, Alaska, Rio Rancho, New Mexico, Waukesha, Wisconsin, and other cities.

Enter Bolts’ guide to the 40 elections to watch in April.

The guide starts with a busy April 7, when voters will head to the polls in Wisconsin, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, and Oklahoma. On April 14, watch municipal races in California and New Mexico, followed by a New Jersey congressional race on April 16. On April 21, we’re tracking ballot measures in Virginia and Florida, and on April 28 a local race in New York.

As always, this guide is just our selection of key races to monitor, and not an exhaustive list of all elections in April. Some cities in Florida, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas are electing city council members, for instance; plus, voters in several small towns have the opportunity to recall local officials, and some Missourians and Oklahomans are mulling tax and levy measures.

Return on and after each Election Day; we’ll update this page as the results are known. 

Click over here. The Democrats have been kicking ass all across the country over the past year and winning many state races that are going to be super important as we face the assault on voting rights — all rights — that the Trump administration is pushing through at the federal level.

The DOJ is obviously in total disarray. Joyce Vance wrote about the latest cock-up:

Judge Aileen Cannon forbade it. There would be no release of Volume II of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report, the part that dealt with the discovery that Donald Trump kept classified documents, some at the Top Secret/SCI level, when he left the White House. When Smith testified before Congress, he carefully tailored his responses to avoid violating the court’s order

But not so much the Trump White House. In what appears to be a sloppy but serious error, the administration released a document to Congress that MSNOW’s Carol Leonnig and Jacqueline Alemany reported on yesterday. They write, “In a January 2023 ‘progress memo’ reviewed by MS NOW, Smith’s office discussed the possible motive after the FBI discovered that Trump held on to many documents related to his businesses.” Although the document isn’t publicly available, it sounds like the sort of reports agents and/or prosecutors might prepare for supervisors. This one contains some fascinating details.

The document was released as part of a regular document production DOJ has been making to Congress in support of the Republican inquiry into Smith. House Judiciary Democrats put it like this: “This particular production contained a memorandum detailing non-public information about the classified documents Trump stole when leaving office. The newly produced materials offer a startling view of evidence gathered by Special Counsel Jack Smith during his investigations into the criminal activity of President Trump, even as DOJ continues to suppress Volume II of his final report.”

L.O.L!!!

They are just so bad at everything.

Vance points out that the crimes Trump was charged with don’t require a motive. The statute says that prosecutors instead have to “prove to a jury that Trump unlawfully possessed classified information and willfully refused to return it to the National Archives when asked to do so. But prosecutors don’t have to establish why the defendant did that.”

Still, they knew that jurors would likely want to know why. (I wouldn’t be that interested because I think Trump just wanted to keep stuff for his own purposes which could be anything. His mind is very disordered.) However, Vance is right that people would be curious.

Smith and co. thought the documents indicated they might be useful for Trump business interests. I don’t doubt it.

Vance continues:

The reporting so far doesn’t reveal precisely which Trump business interests are involved, but Raskin engages in some educated speculation in the letter, which involves a classified map Trump had. “Without access to Volume II of the Special Counsel’s final report or the investigative files, we do not know what that classified map contained, nor can we determine from this memo the relationship between the classified documents President Trump stole and their pertinence to his ‘business interests,’” Raskin acknowledged. He continued, however, “We do know that around the time of this flight to Bedminster, President Trump was entering into partnerships with Saudi-backed LIV Golf and state-linked real estate firm Dar al Arkan.”

The flight is one where Trump allegedly showed others the map in question, and Raskin notes, “A month after this flight, in July 2022, President Trump played golf at Bedminster with Yasir al-Rumayyan, head of the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia—the same official who plied the Trump family with tens of millions of dollars as the family began to run out of money between terms. During this trip, President Trump defended his business partners from criticism levied by the families of 9/11 victims protesting the Saudi government’s role in the attack.” Raskin say that in this time period Trump boasted about having maps and said “that it was only the hawks who wanted to attack Iran, not him, and that he had Pentagon war plans ‘done by the military and given to me’ about such a potential attack.”

Now think about that in the current context. WTF? Does Donald Trump ever do anything in foreign policy that isn’t designed to help America’s adversaries? Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, they always benefit from his decisions. America and out allies, not so much.

For instance:

The Pentagon is considering whether to divert weapons intended for Ukraine to the Middle East as the war in Iran depletes some of the U.S. military’s most critical munitions, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Although a final decision to redirect the equipment has not yet been made, the shift would highlightthe growing trade-offs required to sustain the U.S. war againstIran, where U.S. Central Command has hit more than 9,000 targets in just under four weeks of fighting.

The weapons that could be diverted away from Ukraine include air defense interceptor missiles,ordered through a NATO program launched last year in which partner countries buy U.S. arms for Kyiv, the three people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the Pentagon’s sensitive deliberations.

Trump is gleeful at the prospect of handing Ukraine to Russia, obviously. He literally hates them because Rudy Giuliani convinced him that they were behind the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.”

Meanwhile, we’re threatening to do the exact war crimes Russia has been committing in Ukraine, making Putin the big winner in all of this.

The ancient scrolls tell us that, in the Before Time, a president's admission that his administration had not considered the obvious likelihood of the war widening when they first attacked Iran would lead to immediate congressional hearings.

— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) 2026-03-26T15:11:44.828Z

God help us.

Also:

Trump's face is drooping and his eyes are closed pic.twitter.com/zHuoQ4Suse

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2026

Trump won in 2024 because of men. They are abandoning him right now.

He won men by 13 pt in 2024, but his net approval is now -7 pt with them.

Men under 45: Trump won by 5 pt in 2024. Now he's 19 pt underwater with them.

On cost living, he's now 30 pt underwater with men! pic.twitter.com/UxvvS16VLf

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) March 24, 2026

New Verasight poll on the prominent issues of the day:

• ICE at airports: 53% disapprove of deploying ICE agents to airports; 59% disapprove of Trump rejecting the Senate DHS funding deal.
• Airport chaos: 77% say conditions at airports are worse than usual, and 52% blame the Trump administration or Senate Republicans for the current chaos — nearly double the 25% who blame Democrats.
• ICE trust: Only 37% trust ICE to act professionally — the lowest of any agency we tested.
• Iran: 72% oppose sending ground troops into the conflict. 60% prefer the U.S. pursue a ceasefire and negotiate with Iran, vs 29% who want to continue military operations.

People don’t realize that the Border Patrol is responsible for much of the brutality we’ve seen on our streets. Gregory Bovino was CBP not ICE.

And this …

That’s a killer. Not that he cares. As I’ve said, he’s playing for legacy now. And he’s so megalomaniacal that he figures all he has to do is accuse the Democrats of cheating in 2026 to make it so in the eyes of history. That may not work as well as he thinks it will.

A new Fox News poll released on Wednesday shows President Donald Trump’s disapproval rating is the highest it has been in either of his two terms.

A whopping 59% of respondents said they disapprove of Trump’s performance as president, with 47% saying they strongly disapprove. The 59% disapproval figure is the highest Trump has received in a Fox News poll. Only 41% of Americans said they approve. The survey was conducted between March 20 and March 23 and has a margin of error of three percent.

One key issue that seems to be weighing down the president is the war on Iran and its knock-on effects on the economy. Just 42% of voters back the war, according to the Fox News survey, with independents supporting it at a clip of just 28%.

A Reuters poll released on Tuesday had similarly bad numbers for Trump, as his approval rating in that survey was just 36%.

Twenty-two years ago a famous American became the poster child for insider trading when she was found to have taken a tip from her broker about a falling stock price and saved herself about $45,000 in losses. Martha Stewart, the extremely wealthy entrepreneur and “domestic lifestyle influencer,” spent five months in jail for lying about what she’d done. She paid restitution and fines, and came back just fine afterward. But the punishment struck many people as excessive. It was clear prosecutors sought to make an example of her and send a message that no one is above the law when it comes to insider trading. 

Somebody didn’t get the memo. Monday saw what appears to be one of the biggest insider trades ever registered, and there’s nobody minding the store willing to find out who it was. In fact, it may be that the store itself was in on it. 

Over the weekend, and seemingly out of the blue, President Trump took to Truth Social to threaten Iran with what, if executed, would amount to war crimes for targeting civilian infrastructure. He wrote, “If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” This sounded like a serious escalation, but at the same time, Trump has been so all over the place in conducting the war that it’s no longer reasonable to assume he means anything he says. 

Iran responded as one would expect. The regime sent out its own statements threatening to “irreversibly destroy” energy plants throughout the Middle East in response. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — who has become an unlikely spokesman for the administration on military strategy, perhaps in an attempt to soothe the chaotic markets — explained on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” that “sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate,” as if that made any sense at all. Suffice to say that everyone awaited Monday with anxiety and trepidation, wondering if the administration was about to take the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran to the next level. 

Trump blinked at 7:05 that morning, declaring he was giving Iran a five-day reprieve due to “good and productive talks” to end the war. The Islamic Republic denied that any such talks were happening, and since everyone involved in this endeavor are inveterate liars, there’s no way of really knowing the truth about any of it. 

But someone seems to have known that Trump was going to back down exactly when he did. CNBC reported later that day that at 6:49 a.m., the S&P 500 e-Mini futures trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange —  the world’s largest derivatives marketplace for futures and options, — saw a “sharp and isolated jump in volume.” It also happened on the Barito Renewables Energy (BREN) and West Texas Intermediate May futures oil markets, where contracts valued at $580 million were sold. Bloomberg News analyzed trading on those markets during the same period of time over the previous five days; the average trading level was around 700 contracts. In a one-minute period on Monday — between 6:49 and 6:50 — about 6,200 contracts were traded.

The market was very quiet at the time. There was no news, no public chit-chat, nothing that would give rise to such a big move, but there it was. The only explanation that makes any sense is that someone knew that within 15 minutes Donald Trump was going to announce he was backing off his threats against Iran — and that the markets would surge on the news. (A White House spokesman called the implication “baseless.”)

As Axios noted on Wednesday, “Mysterious trading patterns [have followed] Trump into war.” Each time he announces a consequential decision, the report found, an “epidemic of suspicious trading” occurs just before the news would affect the markets.

People appear to have been profiteering on the prediction-market website Polymarket as well, beginning with Trump’s military operation in Venezuela. According to the BBC, one trader made $436,000 on a $32,000 bet on the timing of the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. CNN reported that another trader has made nearly $1 million since 2024 from “dozens of well-timed bets that correctly predicted U.S. and Israeli military actions against Iran,” profits almost certainly derived from insider information. According to the report, “the bettor won a staggering 93% of their five-figure wagers about Iran, even though the events they predicted were unannounced military operations.”

This threat is acute enough that observers are warning that the ability to anonymously make such large bets on current events could motivate the people involved to alter outcomes for their own financial benefit. This is bad when it comes to sports, but it’s downright terrifying when it comes to wars.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., labeled the alleged profiteering an example of “mind-blowing corruption” and has proposed legislation to prohibit these markets from allowing bets on government action. “They are rife with insider trading,” he said, “and they offer incredibly perverse incentives, especially inside government, for government actors to push official decision making towards their financial interests.”

It would be nice to believe that our political leaders would never do such a thing, which would amount to making money off the lives of our troops. But considering the history of an administration led by a man convicted of 34 felony counts of business fraud, that would be unforgivably naive. According to a comprehensive New Yorker investigation, the Trump family has made $4 billion since the president returned to office in January 2025, and it’s important to note that Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in and adviser to Polymarket, and a paid strategic adviser to Kalshi, its rival firm.

But members of Congress are no better. Many of them have been raking in profits like it’s their religion ever since Donald Trump came back into office. After Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28, Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio, sold stock among two oil companies.

Polymarket and Kalshi announced on Monday they were issuing new guidance to guard against such behaviors going forward, but no one knows exactly how they will be able to control it. There are various bills pending in Congress to rein in some of the excesses, but it’s hard to imagine Trump signing them. 

As for the blatant market manipulation that’s taking place, such as those incredibly lucrative, serendipitously-timed Monday morning trades, I wouldn’t expect too much. After just six months on the job, Margaret Ryan, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s top enforcement official, resigned last week. She reportedly clashed with Trump’s hand-picked SEC chair Paul Atkins and other GOP political appointees over her decision to pursue cases with ties to Trump.

Maybe they can find another high-profile woman like Martha Stewart to send a different message. This one will say, “For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law.”

Salon

Mockery is underutilized

From the You Gotta Laugh to Keep From Crying Department.

Travel Hack: Skip the TSA line with ICE PreCheck pic.twitter.com/31ccX7iEdF

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 25, 2026

Here’s why.

Seth Magaziner at DHS Funding Hearing: I'd like to remind everyone why we are here. Please play the video.

*Plays an absolutely brutal video montage* pic.twitter.com/UWiJscAQJ7

— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) March 25, 2026

The founding fathers would be launching a second revolution.

Mice or men?

You’re driving down the highway and the driver ahead meanders back and forth between the left and right lanes. “For god’s sake, pick a lane,” you say aloud.

You may say the same to federal judges mentioned in Mattathias Schwartz’s reflections on their recent comments regarding the fate of the republic. Some are speaking out in Trump-era opinions usually much more reserved. Others see that as risky.

Schwartz writes in The New York Times (gift link):

In many instances, the writerly flourishes and flashy citations appear to be symptoms of a growing sense among district-court judges that President Trump’s second term is an all-hands-on-deck constitutional emergency. That feeling of alarm runs all the way up to the Supreme Court, where Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that one decision from the conservative majority was “an existential threat to the rule of law.”

Oh, but wait, warn others.

The public could perceive rulings as motivated by political animus, instead of the basic application of law to the facts of a case. District court judges who take an unnecessarily adversarial stance could provoke appellate courts to overturn their rulings. And if strident writing becomes the new normal, some judges expressed worry that a more restrained, technical style could be misinterpreted as a sign that they do not have broader concerns.

Some judges who spoke anonymously worried their colleagues just might be taking Trump’s bait. Pick a lane.

“The risk is being the boy who cried wolf,” said Noah Feldman, a professor at Harvard Law School and the author of a book on Franklin Roosevelt’s Supreme Court nominees. “If you say that the republic is collapsing in every single case, will anyone listen when the republic really is collapsing, and the Supreme Court says so?”

Noah needs to get out more. Maybe to Minneapolis.

Jaw-dropping DOJ admissions to court

DOJ admits repeatedly made "material mistaken" representations to judge. ICE never had authority (under 2025 Guidance) to conduct arrests at immigration courthouses!

DOJ admits court "relied on…prior misrepresentations"

DOJ blames ICE pic.twitter.com/MJxfQkws2b

— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) March 25, 2026

Sure, the judicial writing manual advises against “pomposity,” and “advocacy.” But what is a federal judge to do when facing an executive branch that defies court orders, repeatedly lies to judges’ faces, asks the Department of Justice to persecute political enemies, and uses the legal system as a tool for delaying accountability for its overreaches and for lining its friends’ pockets? All with the tacit approval of, if not overt direction from, a president whose “brain is oatmeal.” And a Supreme Court willing to give a man with 34 felony convictions and two impeachments the benefit of the doubt.

Some federal judges have had enough.

“Antiseptic judicial rhetoric cannot do justice to what is happening,” Judge Joseph R. Goodwin of the Southern District of West Virginia wrote last month. The tactics being deployed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he wrote, are “an assault on the constitutional order” and “beyond the reach of ordinary legal description.”

We are seeing blatant constitutional violations of civil rights promoted by this White House. “No court has yet been required to state the obvious,” Goodwin wrote. “This court is now required to say it.”

In ordering the release of an Ecuadorian asylum seeker and his 5-year-old son, Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas condemned the Trump administration’s “perfidious lust for unbridled power” was “bereft of human decency.” Furthermore, “the imposition of cruelty in its quest [knows] no bounds and [is] bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned.”

MAGA praises Trump for telling it like it is. Suck it up, cupcakes.

Mr. Trump has “forced judges to be in a position that they’ve never been in before,” said Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge and lecturer at Harvard Law School. “The distance between what he’s trying to do and what is lawful is so great, and the language of these opinions reflects that. So it’s not that there are rogue judges. There is a rogue president.”

But for Edward Whelan, a conservative legal commentator and former Justice Department official, judges who go further than “dispassionately deciding the specific case in front of them” are overstepping their role. “Once you get into other questions — should the judge be sending a signal or warning of the apocalypse — that’s not judging. That’s something different,” he said.

Like pulling the fire alarm instead of whispering amidst smoke and flame?

Mr. Trump escalated his attacks on Wednesday night, calling on Republican lawmakers to pass a crime bill that “cracks down on rogue judges.” He said at a National Republican Congressional Committee event in Washington that these judges “are criminals.”

First Trump came for the Muslims. Then he came for the election process. Then he came for the immigrants … and their civil rights. Then he came for civil servants. Then he came for voting rights. Then he came for political opponents. Then he single-handedly started a war, all along accepting bribes and lining his pockets.

Are we at banana republic yet, or still one banana short?

(h/t KM)