It’s time to protect the United States from the identity of the President of the United States
I have covered authoritarianism in other countries most of my career, and I have seen it all before. This week, Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s Chummy scene at the White House are being told. “Trump and Bucker told Bond Bond, who violated human rights at the Oval Office meeting,” Rolling Stone’s title seemed to be correct.
Their indifference discusses the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a father of three who married a U.S. citizen and was ordered by an immigration judge to be exempted from deportation in 2019. However, the Trump administration still deported Abrego Garcia, who is now struggling in a brutal El Salvador prison, despite his contrary to Trump, has no criminal record.
This is a challenge to our constitutional system, because the main labor violations here seem to be committed not by Abrego Garcia but by the Trump administration.
The appeal judge in the case warned that the government’s position represents a “perfect path to illegality” and meant that “the government could send any of us to the El Salvador prison without due process.”
Then, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump must obey the instructions of the District Judge to “promote” Abrego Garcia’s return. Trump and Bucker effectively mocked our federal court, making it clear that they had no intention of bringing Abrego Garcia home. Trump is proud of his ability to release hostages in foreign prisons, but he shows his helplessness when bringing back Abrego Garcia – even if we are paying El Salvador to the deported. A prominent New York Times investigation found that of the 238 immigrants sent to the El Salvador prison, most of them had no criminal records and few found gang-related connections. Officials seem to have chosen their goals based in part on tattoos and misunderstandings about their meaning.
This is the government that marked the removal of photos of the World War II bomber Enola gay, which seems to be because it believes it is related to homosexuals. But this incompetence is entangled with cruelty. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said those sent to the El Salvador prison “should be there for life.”
Trump’s border “tsar” Tom Homan suggested that the governor of the asylum state should be prosecuted and may even be imprisoned. “It’s coming soon,” he said.
Most of this responds to what I saw abroad. In China, the government has suppressed elite universities, suppressed the press, suppressed lawyers and forced intellectuals to plunder the party. A university lecturer recalls how an ancient historian Sima Qian was punished for a shameful general: “Most Chinese intellectuals still feel cast because we dare not say it for my words,” I doubt that some American university presidents would feel in the situation today.
In communist Poland, Venezuela, Russia, Bangladesh and China, I saw rulers fostering personality cults and claiming to follow the laws they concocted from thin air. A Chinese national security official once told me that when he detained me, well, um, he said, “We are a legal country.” In North Korea, officials praised Kim Jong Il’s book, “The Great Teacher of News Reporter”, instead of hoping to improve my writing, rather than showing complete loyalty to the boss. Trump’s cabinet members sometimes sound the same.
Trump’s contempt for the courts was a result of attacks on law firms, universities and news organizations. The White House appears to have ignored a separate court this week by blocking AP reporters from attending White House events.
Faced with this attack, many powerful institutions were in trouble. Nine law firms have surrendered and agreed to provide nearly $1 billion in unpaid work for the government’s preferred cause. Columbia University turns over.
We need a bunch of hope, this week from Harvard University. It showed a firm denial in the face of the administration’s ridiculous demands, even as Trump subsequently suspended $2.2 billion in federal funds and threatened the university’s tax-free status. (Conflict Alert: I am a former member of the Harvard Oversight Committee and my wife is a current member.)
Yes, critics from elite universities have made some legitimate points. For years, I have thought that our liberals sometimes overlook the important diversity on campus: We want to include people who don’t look like us, but only when they think like us. Too many university departments are a monocultural ideological one, and evangelical Christians and social conservatives often feel unpopular.
It’s indeed there yes Despite Trump’s overstatement of anti-Semitism pressure, despite Trump’s legal criticism of Israel’s brutal attack on the Gaza Strip. (And note that there is parallel anti-Semitism in Trump’s orbit, and Trump himself trafficked his troubles with Jews.) Top universities will amplify their elitism because they acknowledge from the highest 1% of students to more students than the lowest 50%, just like some. Admission preferences of unfair education aristocrats based on legacy, sports and teacher-parents continue to exist.
However, Trump does not encourage debate on these issues. Instead, like the dictators of China, Hungary and Russia, he is trying to smash the independent universities that may challenge him. One difference is that China is at least smart enough to protect and promote academic scientific research while suppressing universities, as it recognizes that this work benefits the entire country.
I hope voters understand that Trump’s retaliation fund freeze is not the main strike on Harvard’s campus, but researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School. The university has 162 Nobel Prize winners, and scientists there are studying cancer immunotherapy, brain tumors, organ transplants, diabetes, and more. This is the basis for the GLP-1 weight loss drug that revolutionizes obesity care.
Plans now facing funding cuts could address pediatric cancer and treatment for veterans. The federal government has released a “stop work” about Lugrig’s disease at Harvard University. The result is that Trump’s desire for power and revenge may one day be measured by more Americans dying from cancer, heart disease and other diseases.
All of this illustrates a government that is not only authoritarian, but also reckless. This is a deliberate destruction of the American project. That is why this moment is a test of our ability to strengthen and protect our national greatness from the leaders of our nation.
