{"id":750,"date":"2026-05-30T15:08:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T15:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=750"},"modified":"2026-05-30T15:08:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T15:08:41","slug":"trump-has-definitely-overplayed-his-hand-this-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=750","title":{"rendered":"Trump has definitely overplayed his hand this time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When the history of the sordid and cruel megalomaniac who now occupies the Oval Office is written, it may well be that his deal with himself to set up a $1.8 billion fund for reimbursing anyone he feels was harmed by the federal government is chronicled as the final straw. <\/p>\n

Read more GOP rebels prep to tear apart Trump\u2019s agenda as MAGA ranks dissolve<\/a><\/p>\n

Why not Trump\u2019s absurd tariffs, which are really import taxes passed on to consumers? Why not Trump\u2019s needless war against Iran, which caused prices to soar and is unlikely to result in a better deal on its nuclear ambitions than the one struck by Obama? Why not his cruel ICE and Border Patrol dragnets? Why not the Epstein files or dozens of other lawless or outrageous things he\u2019s done?<\/p>\n

I think because almost everyone knows that the fund will be used to pay off Trump\u2019s supporters \u2014 including the 1,500 who attacked the U.S. Capitol and then were imprisoned for it \u2014 and that paying them is a bridge too far. <\/p>\n

This morning a federal judge barred the government from taking steps to launch the fund or process payments at least until a hearing is held in June in a pending lawsuit challenging its legality. <\/p>\n

The order came in a case brought by a group of individuals and entities who say they have faced partisan attacks by the Trump regime but who say they expect to be excluded from accessing the fund. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unusual, to say the least, that such a group would be recognized by a court as having standing to bring such a suit, because their status is entirely speculative. They merely expect to be excluded. But such is the level of cynicism about the motives and processes of Trump that even a district court judge would automatically recognize the validity of such an expectation. <\/p>\n

It is impossible to conceive that those who have been attacked by Trump\u2019s Justice Department \u2014 such as former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James \u2014 would be compensated by Trump\u2019s fund. Nor would the former federal prosecutor who claims he was fired for his work on the January 6 investigation, or people arrested while protesting immigration raids. <\/p>\n

Other lawsuits challenging the fund have been filed in the District of Columbia and in California. But the interesting thing is it\u2019s not just lawsuits, and it\u2019s not just Democrats. A number of prominent Republican lawmakers have publicly objected to the fund. <\/p>\n

Read more The Trump pattern continues: All talk and no receipts to show<\/a><\/p>\n

The fact that public money would be spent, and that the fund would be entirely under Trump\u2019s control, also figures in.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, 35 former federal judges on Wednesday urged the judge who closed Trump\u2019s case with the IRS \u2014 the origin of the fund \u2014 to take another look at the terms of the deal. I can\u2019t recall another instance of former judges petitioning a sitting judge to take another look at the terms of a settlement.<\/p>\n

The stench of Trump\u2019s self-dealing, compounded by the absurdity of his suing his own Justice Department for $10 billion \u2014 and the department\u2019s responding with a \u201cdeal\u201d that would give him $1.8 billion to reward his supporters, and future immunity from IRS audits \u2014 seems to have tipped some set of cosmic scales. <\/p>\n

The scales of justice and also the political scales. Republican members of Congress are hearing an uproar from their constituents about this, which persuaded many to leave town without acting on Trump\u2019s second big reconciliation bill. <\/p>\n

I asked earlier this week if Trump has finally overplayed his hand. I believe the cumulative effects of all his wanton and harmful initiatives over the last several months are now setting in. The $1.8 billion fund will be seen as the straw that broke Trump\u2019s legal and political back \u2014 the act of hubris that illuminated all the other acts of hubris, the very emblem of Trump\u2019s contempt for anything and everyone beyond himself and his own self-glorification. <\/p>\n

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https:\/\/robertreich.substack.com\/.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Struggling Republicans are carrying corrupt albatross around their necks: analysis<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the history of the sordid and cruel megalomaniac who now occupies the Oval Office is written, it may well be that his deal with himself to set up a $1.8 billion fund for reimbursing anyone he feels was harmed by the federal government is chronicled as the final straw. Why not Trump\u2019s absurd tar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump has definitely overplayed his hand this time - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=750\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump has definitely overplayed his hand this time - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the history of the sordid and cruel megalomaniac who now occupies the Oval Office is written, it may well be that his deal with himself to set up a $1.8 billion fund for reimbursing anyone he feels was harmed by the federal government is chronicled as the final straw. 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