Almost 18 months into his second presidency, Donald Trump continues to double down on many of his familiar positions — from claims of voter fraud to immigration to attacking longtime allies of the United States. But according to The Nation’s Sasha Abramsky, Trump still has a major foe he can’t escape from: the lower federal courts. And between the courts and voters, Abramsky argues, Trump’s agenda is not invulnerable.
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“President Donald Trump recently reposted a racist attack against Somali kindergartners,” Abramsky explains in The Nation. “Not adults or teens, but four- and fives-year-old kids. Girls at a kindergarten graduation ceremony in Minneapolis were singing while wearing hijabs. And in an online video, someone with the moniker End Wokeness argued that this sartorial choice at an event bringing community together and showcasing American diversity signified the collapse of the education system and, by implication, an ongoing fundamentalist religious invasion. Authoritarianism is defined in part by a gleeful willingness by state actors to scapegoat and direct violence at vulnerable minorities, and the United States is clearly hurtling toward this point.”
Abramsky argues that it’s no coincidence that “the ever more dishonorable Secretary of State Marco Rubio” announced, this week, the Trump administration’s push to end the International Criminal Court. The journalist emphasizes, however, that even though Trump is doubling down on a range of bad policies — from waging war on voting rights to demanding U.S. control of the Strait of Hormuz — “things aren’t all doom and gloom.”
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“In court after court,” Abramsky observes, “Trump is losing his battle to take over the election systems of the 50 states. Now, don’t get me wrong, he may eventually try to do so anyway, judges’ orders notwithstanding, through a nebulous assertion of emergency powers — indeed, his scheduled prime-time speech this Thursday evening may take the country down just this dangerous road. But if he does, he will confront a wall of court decisions from across the country — and it’s hard to see how he could maintain his grip over a system that is united in opposition to his actions and as his already dismal polling numbers drop even further…. Increasingly, on issue after issue, judges also aren’t holding back their disdain for this regime’s efforts to subvert the law.”
Abramsky continues, “Just look at this week’s scathing ruling on the self-dealing qualities of the $1.8 billion ‘anti-weaponization fund’ that Trump and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche cooked up this past spring — and Judge Kathleen Williams’ recommendation that the lawyers involved, including Blanche, be disciplined for their actions. For those Senate Republicans already uncomfortable with Blanche’s nomination to remove ‘acting’ from his title, Williams’ recommendation just might give them the cover they need to come down against this preposterous choice.”
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