Trump's Days of Rage

As we stumble into a new week, the pattern is full: A SOTU of Spittle-Inflected Rage on deck, war drums beating, trade war chaos, and dead drug kingpins.

But I think we need to start with this. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation: “F.B.I. Director Celebrates Olympic Hockey Victory on Day of Mar-a-Lago Shooting” - The New York Times

The director of the FBI.

Far be it from me to throw shade on beer-soaked celebrations (I am, after all, a Wisconsinite and a Packer fan.) But timing and context seem important here: “FBI chief shown in raucous locker room celebration during Olympics trip”.

Let’s start with all the denials. For days, the FBI had insisted that Kash Patel was on an official trip to Milan for security meetings, and adamantly denied that the jet-setting Patel was partying on the taxpayer dime. FBI spox Ben Williamson spent days ripping reports by MS NOW’s Ken Dilanian that Patel would be hanging out at the Olympics.

“Your rag outlet wrote that [Patel] went to hang out at the Olympics on the taxpayer dime – even when provided information that your theory was false. When you’re ready to correct that let me know. Won’t hold my breath,” Williamson wrote.

But then came the video — which rocketed around law enforcement circles —showing “Patel pouring what appeared to be beer down his throat, spraying some of it in the air and screaming in celebration as a player put a gold medal around his neck.”

Genuinely, the fan from hell.

And then there is the (highly relevant) question of whether Patel might have had more important things he should have been doing on this junket.

Mr. Patel’s trip to Italy came at a fraught and frenetic time for the bureau and for Mr. Patel, who has shown little willingness to curb or even conceal his jet-setting.

This includes the possibility the US may be about to attack Iran, assassination attempts, and violent drug wars. Notes the Times: “Sunday was a particularly busy day for U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies.”

Americans in Mexico were told to shelter in place after a top leader of a drug cartel had been killed by the country’s military. The Secret Service said law enforcement officers killed the would-be intruder at Mar-a-Lago, and the F.B.I. is expected to play a central role in the subsequent investigation.

Exit take: Once again, a reminder that Patel may be a clown, but clowns with flamethrowers still have flamethrowers. Or to put it another way: This may be the gang that can’t shoot straight. But they are still shooting.

Happy Monday:

Some days, if you’re like me, you find the news cycle overwhelming. And alarming.

Because it is.

These are extraordinary times, and it’s tempting to look away. Trust me, I know. But we can’t afford to give up: This is the challenge of our times; and the fight of our generation.

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A SOTU of Rage

Trump continued his petulant attacks on the Supreme Court Monday morning, announcing (because he has the mental agility of an 8-year-old) that he will henceforth only spell “Supreme Court” in lower-case letters “based on a complete lack of respect!”¹

He will get to see those justices face-to-face tomorrow night, when he addresses the nation. The speech comes as his disapproval rating tops 60 percent.

The president’s approval rating stands at 39 percent positive and 60 percent negative, including 47 percent who say they strongly disapprove. The last time Trump’s disapproval touched 60 percent was shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Among registered voters, Trump’s approval is 41 percent and his disapproval is 58 percent.

So, yeah, he’s going to be bigly pissed. Especially as his tariff policy descends into chaos — both at home and abroad.

Trump’s new tariffs are illegal too

Slam-dunked by the Supreme Court’s decision, Trump seems poised to impose tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. As Joyce Vance notes, “One thing that is for sure is that if he actually enacts them, he’ll have a fight on his hands in court.”

Indeed, he will.

Neal Katyal, who successfully argued the IEEPA case tweeted: “Seems hard for the President to rely on the 15 percent statute (sec 122) when his DOJ in our case told the Court the opposite: “Nor does [122] have any obvious application here, where the concerns the President identified in declaring an emergency arise from trade deficits, which are conceptually distinct from balance-of-payments deficits.”

So, wrote Katyal, if Trump wants new tariffs, “he should do the American thing and go to Congress. If his tariffs are such a good idea, he should have no problem persuading Congress. That’s what our Constitution requires.”

National Review’s Andy McCarthy agrees.

McCarthy, (hardly a Never Trump die-hard) say flatly that Trump’s new gambit is also clearly and unambiguously illegal:

These new tariffs are even more clearly illegal than Trump’s IEEPA tariffs….

There is no rationale under Section 122 to impose tariffs. Because President Trump has no unilateral authority to order tariffs, he must meet the preconditions of Section 122 to justify levying them. He cannot. Not even close.

**

Nota bene: David French asks: “Is This the Most Important Supreme Court Case of the Century?”

In a series of interim decisions, the Trump administration recently enjoyed a temporary winning streak at the Supreme Court, but the judicial tide seems to be turning.

Combined with its recent decision in Trump v. Illinois, which refused to stay a lower-court ruling blocking Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Illinois, the Supreme Court has defied two of the administration’s most dangerous, most authoritarian ambitions.

Meanwhile, the chaos spreads through global markets. Aaron Ross Sorkin notes that Trump says he is setting a global tariff rate at 15 percent. “But countries aren’t sitting still:”

• Indian negotiators reportedly postponed talks to finalize an interim deal the country struck with the U.S. this month as they “study the implications” of the Supreme Court ruling, according to the BBC.

• Lawmakers in the European Parliament said they would stop work on approving the E.U.’s trade deal with the U.S. “We have no other option,” a top European negotiator told Bloomberg.

• Other nations that raced last year to get a deal done, including Britain, have big questions.

**

Not a parody

This weekend Trump said he would send a hospital ship to Greenland to deal with all of the disease and distress there. Turns out it’s a non-existent ship for a non-existent problem.

According to The Washington Post, Trump’s announcement is “causing befuddlement on both sides of the Atlantic.”

“It’s a no thank you from here,” Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a statement Sunday. “President Trump’s idea of sending an American hospital ship here to Greenland has been noted. But we have a public healthcare system where treatment is free for citizens. That is a deliberate choice — and a fundamental part of our society. That is not how it works in the USA.”

Nielsen continued, “Please talk to us instead of just making more or less random statements on social media. Dialogue and cooperation require respect for the fact that decisions about our country are made here at home.”

In an odd turn of events, “Maritime tracking data further suggests there are no U.S. hospital ships currently positioned to sail to Greenland,” The Post reported.

Nota Bene:

Tom Nichols: The GOP’s Nazi Problem - The Atlantic (GIFT LINK)

[Some] Republicans are deploying Nazi imagery and rhetoric, and espouse ideas associated with the Nazi Party during its rise to power in the early 1930s. A few recent examples: An ICE lawyer linked to a white-supremacist social-media account that praised Hitler was apparently allowed to return to federal court. Members of the national Young Republicans organization were caught in a group chat laughing about their love for Hitler….

Even federal agencies are modeling Nazi phrasing. The Department of Homeland Security used an anthem beloved by neo-Nazi groups, “By God We’ll Have Our Home Again,” in a recruitment ad. The Labor Department hung a giant banner of Donald Trump’s face from its headquarters, as if Washington were Berlin in 1936, and posted expressions on social media such as “America is for Americans”—an obvious riff on the Nazi slogan “Germany for the Germans”—and “Americanism Will Prevail,” in a font reminiscent of Third Reich documents.

FFS.

Monday dogs

Auggie and Eli waited patiently for me to get home last night. Or so I’m told.

1. Not a parody.