Trump is abusing his power. But his phony emergencies, gerrymanders, and purges are coming from fear. It fits a pattern of desperate overreach, sparking mounting backlash against Trump and the GOP.
Ahmed, you are so clear-eyed and sharp. I appreciate your ability to assemble the list of horrible/stupid unforced errors the president has made. It is great to see them all laid out here.
I am also very glad to hear you are working on voting rights and are getting ready to bring all of us more content on substack.
I have a question for you. A request. I agree completely with all you have written here but even I feel helpless in the face of a so-called supreme court that rubber stamps the white supremacist idiocy, especially with this week’s hypocritical condoning of racial profiling — after disallowing consideration of race to promote diversity and after having admitted Korematsu was a horrible decision. How do we stay hopeful when they will simply roll over any forward movement? I support expanding the court but do not yet know how we get from their lawlessness to reform. Can you address this in your future writings?
Hi Tracy. Thanks for your kind words, I really appreciate it. Glad to hear the piece landed with you and you found it to be clear-headed.
I honestly share your concern about the Supreme Court. In my last article on the lower court rulings striking down his fake emergencies, I talked a little about the shadow docket and how SCOTUS has been green lighting far too many of Trump’s moves.
I can definitely explore potential reforms to SCOTUS in future pieces. My thoughts on SCOTUS now? I think there are a few possibilities. The optimistic route is that Chief Justice Roberts is holding his fire for even bigger cases where they have to shut down the Trump admin’s authoritarianism. The other route is that the right-wing court is fully bought in on Trump’s authoritarian project.
I think we’re not at a place yet where can say with 100% certainty which reality we’re in. So time will tell. But I’m holding on to hope that if Trump goes even further (overt interference in elections, seeking a third term, etc) they would stop him. I think we just have to take things day by day, and not cede power to Trump until he is confirmed to have obtained it.
Thank you for responding. I will check out the other post. I sure hope you are right.
For me, this was a huge one—the 4th amendment. It felt like a similar overreach, sending people to El Salvador without due process.
Perhaps these are rulings that reflect the court’s racism and they will step up when it comes to major election interference, not the usual destruction of votes at the margins, which is enough to turn elections.
It has taken me a long time to recognize how the court is actually motivated. It is very painful, so I appreciate your insight.
Ahmed, you are so clear-eyed and sharp. I appreciate your ability to assemble the list of horrible/stupid unforced errors the president has made. It is great to see them all laid out here.
I am also very glad to hear you are working on voting rights and are getting ready to bring all of us more content on substack.
I have a question for you. A request. I agree completely with all you have written here but even I feel helpless in the face of a so-called supreme court that rubber stamps the white supremacist idiocy, especially with this week’s hypocritical condoning of racial profiling — after disallowing consideration of race to promote diversity and after having admitted Korematsu was a horrible decision. How do we stay hopeful when they will simply roll over any forward movement? I support expanding the court but do not yet know how we get from their lawlessness to reform. Can you address this in your future writings?
Hi Tracy. Thanks for your kind words, I really appreciate it. Glad to hear the piece landed with you and you found it to be clear-headed.
I honestly share your concern about the Supreme Court. In my last article on the lower court rulings striking down his fake emergencies, I talked a little about the shadow docket and how SCOTUS has been green lighting far too many of Trump’s moves.
I can definitely explore potential reforms to SCOTUS in future pieces. My thoughts on SCOTUS now? I think there are a few possibilities. The optimistic route is that Chief Justice Roberts is holding his fire for even bigger cases where they have to shut down the Trump admin’s authoritarianism. The other route is that the right-wing court is fully bought in on Trump’s authoritarian project.
I think we’re not at a place yet where can say with 100% certainty which reality we’re in. So time will tell. But I’m holding on to hope that if Trump goes even further (overt interference in elections, seeking a third term, etc) they would stop him. I think we just have to take things day by day, and not cede power to Trump until he is confirmed to have obtained it.
Hope that answer is helpful.
Thank you for responding. I will check out the other post. I sure hope you are right.
For me, this was a huge one—the 4th amendment. It felt like a similar overreach, sending people to El Salvador without due process.
Perhaps these are rulings that reflect the court’s racism and they will step up when it comes to major election interference, not the usual destruction of votes at the margins, which is enough to turn elections.
It has taken me a long time to recognize how the court is actually motivated. It is very painful, so I appreciate your insight.
100%. I totally agree, letting that proceed was terrible. But it’s not the final case on it, they didn’t rule on the merits.
But yeah, either way, they shouldn’t have lifted the lower court’s ruling. We’ll have to see. I share your concern