Salena Zito: "The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally."
But apparently some supporters took him both seriously and literally.
thanks to wapo and slate
* euphemized — post-truth drumpf-speak for education in the meanings of drumpf’s ‘best’ words
Under President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice is attacking the real enemy: recordkeeping requirements.
Yes, Trump just got his pet at the Office of Legal Counsel, T. Elliot Gaiser, to whip up a very aggro opinion saying that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional.
Such a great look to have a presidential appointee just baldly declaring that the law requiring the president to keep records is unconstitutional because Congress has no right to tell the president to keep records. It intrudes on his authority to make him do so, and there’s no legislative purpose, and it's burdensome, and on and on and on.
This sort of thing was inevitable once the DOJ became fully captured by Trump. Not just that he would begin treating the OLC like his own personal legal opinion factory, there to spit out whatever he likes, regardless of actual law, but that he would go after the PRA specifically.
The PRA was enacted in the wake of Watergate and requires that presidential and vice-presidential records be available to the public. So, the president and vice president have to maintain records created during their tenure and leave them behind when they go, at which point they are transferred to the archivist.
During his first term, Trump routinely violated the PRA by tearing up and throwing away records. Upon leaving office after his first term, he insisted that the PRA meant he could keep whatever presidential records he wanted, forever. You will note that is pretty much literally the opposite of what the law says.
Related | Trump says executive privilege for me—but not for thee
The only reason Trump wasn’t indicted for violating the PRA over squirreling away classified documents in his fancy bathroom at Mar-a-Lago is that the PRA is a civil, not criminal, statute. So he was indicted under different laws for that little escapade until Aileen Cannon magicked it away for him.
But of course, the PRA still had to go—and Gaiser was more than eager to do so.
Sure, the Supreme Court already ruled in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services that the PRA was not unconstitutional and did not infringe on Nixon’s rights, but per Gaiser, it’s totally different for… reasons.
Gaiser is a handy guy to have at the OLC if you are Donald Trump. Gaiser is a true, true believer. A 2012 Hillsdale College graduate who clerked for Justice Samuel Alito, Gaiser was part of Trump’s 2020 campaign team. During the investigations into January 6, Kayleigh McEnany named Gaiser as someone who was really trusted on “matters of election integrity” and that Gaiser had advised that the vice president had a “substantive” role in certifying elections.
Translation: Gaiser thought it would be totally legal for Mike Pence to refuse to certify an election if doing so would make Trump sad. Keen legal mind there, dude.
Speaking of keen legal minds, it probably bears mentioning that Gaiser clerked for Alito beginning in the fall of 2021. As in, after being a part of Trump’s merry band of election deniers and insurrection enthusiasts.
Besides throwing out a major recordkeeping act, Gaiser was also happy to whip up a little opinion saying that it’s unconstitutional to ban sending firearms through the U.S. mail. He was also eager to crank out dozens of pages striking down as unconstitutional nearly all programs the Department of Education managed that helped increase school enrollment and achievement for non-white students.
Dude probably waited his whole life for that, let’s be honest.
Gaiser’s opinions are denser and longer, but at root, they also hold the exact same legal authority as Trump’s executive orders do: absolutely none. If Trump wants the PRA to go away, he can get Congress to change the law, or he can bring a legal challenge to the law, perhaps, in his personal capacity. It isn’t like he has any qualms about maintaining a robust stack of private lawsuits while president.
Related | How many personal lawsuits does Trump have going right now, anyway?
This isn’t just about Trump not wanting the public to see what he’s doing. It’s about his belief that everything is his—the White House, the Kennedy Center, you name it. In his mind, his records belong to him, not us. He can toss or keep them as he pleases, but they’re not ours.
It’s the exact opposite of democracy.
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• Trump postpones strike threat: President Donald Trump told CNN there are 15 points of agreement” between the US and Iran after talks this weekend. He announced earlier he will hold off strikes against Iranian energy sites for five days, after threatening to attack if Tehran did not allow the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
• Iran responds: Iran’s foreign ministry said there was “no dialogue” between Tehran and Washington, according to state affiliated media. Multiple nations have been passing messages between the US and Iran over the last several days to de-escalate the mounting tensions, sources have told CNN.
• Latest strikes: The number of people reported killed in Iran and Lebanon since the start of the conflict is now in the thousands. Several locations across Tehran have been targeted in the latest wave of Israeli attacks, according to Iranian state media.
• Markets react: Oil prices dropped following Trump’s statement. The global oil benchmark tumbled more than 7% to trade below $99 a barrel, having climbed to $114 a barrel earlier in the day.
While the Strait of Hormuz is vital to the global energy supply, its closure also threatens Gulf countries that rely heavily on imported food. CNN’s Nic Robertson got exclusive access to Jeddah Islamic Port on the Red Sea where officials say cargo could increase by 50% over the next month as shippers are forced to reroute.
The US Embassy in Muscat, Oman, has issued a shelter in place warning for the entire country because of “ongoing activity,” without elaborating.
In the security alert, the embassy urged people in Oman to find a secure location in their residence or another building and “have a supply of food, water, medication, and other essential items.”
“In case of an attack, stay away from any debris, and monitor news outlets for official guidance,” it said.
Days after the US-Israeli war with Iran began, the US Department of State ordered non-emergency US government employees their family members to leave Oman, the alert said.
Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported Monday, citing what it described as informed Iranian sources, that plans are being prepared for potential actions targeting Tel Aviv and some regional allies of the United States and Israel.
The Israeli military has said that it struck one of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ main headquarters today, alongside several other military buildings in the capital city of Tehran.
London has summoned the Iranian ambassador to the United Kingdom in relation to two people charged “on suspicion of providing assistance to a foreign intelligence service,” a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said in a statement shared with CNN.
As Americans watch in horror as immigration goons are jailing innocent kids and killing U.S. citizens who dare to exercise their constitutional rights, President Donald Trump is flooding the zone with so much chaotic and horrific news in an effort to overwhelm the public.
Trump has employed the chaos strategy for years, doing so many awful things all at once so his political opponents can’t craft a message to address it all or successfully organize to stop his obvious wrongs.
But it’s especially terrifying now, as the strategy is an effort to get away with literal murder, financial heist, and election rigging.
Let me explain.
The killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis ginned up so much righteous anger that even Republicans felt the need to criticize Trump, finally saying that they are open to discussing changes to his immigration enforcement tactics.
It's a shocking development as Republicans have otherwise let Trump do whatever he wants, no matter how evil and lawless.
But as his grip on the GOP faltered this week, Trump unleashed a new torrent of horrors to change the narrative and once again overwhelm his critics.
He had the FBI raid the offices of Fulton County's election officials in Georgia on Wednesday, with agents taking boxes of ballots and voting equipment. It’s part of an obvious quest for Trump to muddy the waters with fake claims of voter fraud to justify making changes to the 2026 elections that could help Republicans steal the midterms.
Then on Thursday, Trump filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, seeking $10 billion of your hard-earned tax dollars—yes billion, with a “b”—in damages. Trump says he’s owed that enormous sum because his tax returns—which proved that he's a tax cheat—were leaked during his first term in office.
Related | Journalists arrested as Trump team sets fire to First Amendment
To put that into perspective, $10 billion is one-third of the money needed to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies to millions of Americans for one year. It’s also worth 25 White House ballroom projects, which Trump now estimates will cost $400 million.
If you think that Trump won't be successful in stealing your cash for his own personal benefit, remember that Trump has turned the Department of Justice into his personal revenge machine that does what he wants, no matter how lawless.
What’s more, the head of the IRS and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would cut the check. Yes, the same toady who defends Trump's every move.
Then on Friday morning, Trump announced his pick for Federal Reserve chair, choosing Republican sycophant Kevin Marsh, who will likely bend to Trump's will on monetary policy.
He also had the DOJ arrest journalists for covering a protest in a Minnesota church, a gross violation of the First Amendment and his latest despicable perversion of justice to punish his perceived enemies.
Of course, Trump's horrific actions have taken a toll on his popularity.
A Pew Research Center poll released Thursday found Trump's approval falling to a second-term low of 37%, with even Republican support tumbling.
"Last year, 67% [of Republicans] said they supported all or most of Trump’s plans and policies. Today, 56% do," the poll found.
But if Trump can flood the zone to get away with stealing taxpayer money and changing election rules to rig the midterms, then public opinion won't matter.
We are long past a constitutional crisis.
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