Trump is Losing

Plus, a birthday request

Hi Friends,

Before we get to today’s newsletter, an update: my birthday is on Friday and to celebrate, I am running a 15%-off sale on paid annual subscriptions and Founding Member plans this week.

Here’s the plan: I would like to raise enough money to hire a reporter to investigate the important stories that legacy media is failing to cover — mainly because most legacy media these days has to answer to corporate overlords whose business interests are very much at the mercy of a famously vindictive president. I am not beholden to anyone and I’m already on Putin’s enemies list, so it’s pretty hard to scare me into silence. I am also committed to producing easily digestible video content that can break through the noise and appeal to voters (and potential voters) who don’t follow politics as intently as we do.

I can only do all this if I raise the funding. So my appeal to you is to click on the button below and help me take Salty Politics to the next level.

With love and gratitude,

Julie

---

It may not seem like it but Trump is losing. He knows it and the more attuned members of the MAGA ruling class know it. You need only to look at how the president and his lackeys are behaving to prove the point.

First, at two Oval Office press availabilities, Trump suddenly distanced himself from the detention of Kilmar Abgrego-Garcia, the Salvadorian national who was illegally rendered back to his home country. Here’s the Associated Press:

When asked by reporters Thursday afternoon if he believed Abrego Garcia was entitled to due process, President Donald Trump ducked the question.

“I have to refer, again, to the lawyers,” he said in the Oval Office. “I have to do what they ask me to do.”

The president added: “I had heard that there were a lot of things about a certain gentleman — perhaps it was that gentleman — that would make that case be a case that’s easily winnable on appeal. So we’ll just have to see. I’m gonna have to respond to the lawyers.”

When Trump began these deportation flights, he assumed that they would be immensely popular. After all, he has consistently credited his election to his hardline views on immigration. This show of strength would not be problematic, he must have reasoned.

What he did not count on is concern even from Republicans about the lack of due process for the deported migrants, now incarcerated at a notorious Salvadorian gulag at United States taxpayer expense. Across the country, voters are expressing rage over what this portends for the rule of law.

That’s why Trump and his lackeys in the media have gone overboard to promote a narrative about Abrego García that is largely irrelevant to the issue at hand. On Good Friday, Trump released a photo of himself holding an obviously photoshopped image of Abrego Garcia’s knuckles with MS13 tattooed on each one. (Unfortunately for Trump, Abrego Garcia’s real hand has been visible in several photos, with nary an MS-13 tattoo on any of his knuckles.)

It’s why the administration is coming up with ever-more fantastical allegations against Abrego Garcia. He once wore a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie “with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominations,” which apparently makes him a member of MS-13. The Department of Homeland Security has also accused him of being a foreign terrorist, a wife beater and a human trafficker.

Needless to say, Abrego Garcia has never been convicted of being a terrorist, gang member, domestic abuser or human trafficker. In fact, he has a cleaner record than the president the United States.

And here’s how you know Trump is losing. His own allies — the ones who have genuflected before him despite knowing better, are running scared. First, it was Senator Chuck Grassley, who was berated at an Iowa town hall for not doing everything he can to bring Abrego Garcia home. I suspect that Grassley thought he might be pressed about the effect of Trump’s tariffs on Iowa farmers but that’s not what happened. Instead, his constituents grilled him about the constitutional crisis in which the nation finds itself, as the president ignores court orders and incarcerates people abroad without due process. Grassley stammered about not having the power to prevent this, which is an outright lie. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He can singlehandedly stop much of Trump’s agenda if he so chooses.

Then, on Sunday, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana (whose favorite pastime is cosplaying an extra from the Dukes of Hazzard despite being a Rhodes scholar) went on Meet the Press to say this about Abrego Garcia’s rendition to El Salvador:

“Look, this was a screw-up in my opinion,. The administration won't admit it. But this was a screw-up.

“And I understand why the administration has bowed up and won't admit it's a mistake. Because if they do, they'll have their throats torn out. But it was a screw-up.”

When someone like Kennedy, who has made a habit of excusing every single thing Trump does, is standing up for a Salvadorian migrant, you know that it’s not about a Salvadorian migrant. Even politicians deep in MAGAland are starting to feel the heat.

Also on Friday, the administration wavered on its plainly unconstitutional demand that Harvard, among other things, engage in MAGA DEI in admissions and hiring or risk losing federal funding and its tax-exempt status. Again, the administration likely assumed that the American people would be behind its decision to stick it to the most elitist of institutions. After all, one-third of all Americans have little or no confidence in higher education, believe that colleges promote political agendas, and fail to teach relevant skills. Trump must have reasoned that his base, which is especially down on higher education, would be elated.

But that’s not what happened.

Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal implied that Trump is weaponizing the IRS to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status. As a matter of law, federal officials cannot direct the IRS to investigate anyone. And Trump’s decision to do this because he claims that Harvard “keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness’” should put the fear of God into every institution that forms the backbone of the MAGA evangelical movement.

Several years ago, Jerry Prevo, president of the tax-exempt evangelical Liberty University, was caught on tape saying that he wanted university officials to be better at electing likeminded politicians. “Are they getting people elected? Which is one of our main goals,” he said. “Are they really motivating our conservative people to really get out to vote? If they are, we ought to be seeing some changes in elected officials — and we are to some extent. All I want to do is to make us more effective.”

When the person to whom he was speaking raised the issue of this activity violating IRS rules, Prevo boasted, “I have a 50c3 church. For 30 years, I’ve known how to handle that and not get into trouble. The homosexual community has tried to take me down for at least 30 years, and they have not been successful because I know how to work the 50c3.”

If the courts allow Trump to go after Harvard, Liberty and many evangelical churches should be quaking in their boots. Even they must realize that Trump will not be in office forever.

Perhaps that’s why Josh Gruenbaum, an administration lawyer, frantically called both Harvard and Columbia University to claim that the April 11th letter to Harvard, which effectively demanded administration control over the university, was “unauthorized” and should not have been sent.

It’s not that the administration has rescinded either its decision to tell a private institution how to conduct its business or Trump’s order to weaponize the IRS against it. As Harvard points out, “Even assuming the Administration now wishes to take back its litany of breathtakingly intrusive demands, it appears to have doubled down on those demands through its deeds in recent days. Actions speak louder than words.”

Last night, Trump upped the ante against Harvard, threatening to pull another $1 billion from the university for having the temerity to disclose the contents of Trump’s original extortionate demands. Clearly, this stand-off will continue but my bet is that the administration pulls back before Harvard does.

The cracks are starting to appear, because the lawlessness of Trump’s behavior is starting to impact voter sentiment and Republican elected officials are beginning to take notice. That is why the protests this weekend were so important. That is why the town halls in Republican districts are so important — even if Republican elected officials do not show up. That is why we must continue speaking out.

It’s not about undocumented migrants or Ivy League institutions. It’s about the rule of law. Even Trump’s closest allies are starting to realize that the American people won’t submit to a dictatorship quietly and it is scaring the hell out of them.

Like a bully full of bravado, Trump won’t ever admit that he is losing. But he is.

---

Further Reading:

Photo by Henry Be on Unsplash

USA Today: 'I'm not involved in it': Trump defers to Department of Justice on Abrego Garcia case

The Associated Press: Trump officials’ defiance over Abrego Garcia’s deportation is ‘shocking,’ appeals court says

The Wrap: Trump Posts Photoshopped Image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Knuckle Tattoos With Disputed ‘MS-13’ Interpretation

CNN: Trump admin continues releasing information to paint Abrego Garcia as violent gang member as outcry against deportation grows

Forbes Breaking News: 'Why Won't You Do Your Job?': Chuck Grassley Lit Into By Constituents Over Kilmar Abrego Garcia

The Guardian: Think fake news isn't a real problem? Look at Senator John Kennedy

USA Today: 'Won't admit it's a mistake': GOP lawmaker hits Trump admin over Abrego Garcia deportation

The New York Times: Trump Officials Blame Mistake for Setting Off Confrontation With Harvard

Gallup: U.S. Confidence in Higher Education Now Closely Divided

The Wall Street Journal: GOP Accused Democrats of Politicizing IRS. Now Trump Wants It to Punish Harvard.

The Associated Press: Can the IRS revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status?

Politico: Liberty U president says on tape that ‘getting people elected’ is his goal

CNN: New York Times: Trump administration sent letter of demands to Harvard University in error

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Irate at Harvard, Plans to Pull Additional $1 Billion in Funding