The post “No One Is Watching”: How Trump Reversed Biden’s Crackdown on Gun Trafficking appeared first on ProPublica.
Rev. Al Sharpton’s latest race-baiting found him shoehorning a past president and “slave masters” into a narrative about President Donald Trump’s motivations for an upcoming White House […]
While the public has been focused on the occasional high-profile clash between President Donald Trump and the Supreme Court, the court's conservative supermajority has been quietly using the shadow docket to hand Trump something far more consequential — effective control of the federal government — and legal analysts say that work is now largely complete.That is the central argument of a new piece by Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, who say the popular narrative of a principled Chief Justice John Roberts standing up to Trump conceals a far more troubling reality."Trump's takeover of the federal government is largely complete," Stern writes. "So I just don't think the court needs to issue nearly as many shadow docket orders as it did during that shock-and-awe campaign — it has already achieved its objectives."The shadow docket refers to emergency orders and procedural rulings the court issues outside its normal merits docket, typically with little explanation and no oral argument. During the first year of Trump's second term, the conservative supermajority used it repeatedly and rapidly to clear the way for Trump to impound federal funds, fire executive officials, and rewrite immigration law — moves that would have been blocked under previous interpretations of the law.Lithwick and Stern argue that Roberts has a long-established pattern of using smaller decisions to prepare the ground for larger ones. "Do something small, get people accustomed to it, then do it big," Stern explains. "The shadow docket has become the way you do that now. You seed the ground on the shadow docket and say: 'Well, this is the law now.' This process used to take four or five years. Now, with the shadow docket, you can do it within the same term."The authors also push back on the idea that occasional Trump losses at the court represent meaningful resistance. The justices, they argue, only draw the line when Trump threatens the court's own power and supremacy — not when he threatens civil liberties, voting rights, or the separation of powers more broadly.That selective resistance, Lithwick warns, may ultimately backfire. The court has repeatedly rewarded Trump for defying lower court orders. "There is no clear reason why that should stop with the Supreme Court," she writes. "Eventually, the administration won't just say: It worked all these other times, it should work this time."If that happens, Stern argues, the court will have squandered whatever moral authority it had left. "They've made me a king," he writes of Trump's likely reasoning, "so I'm going to act like one."
WATCH: Unions Join Newark Anti-ICE Protests as the Left MOBILIZES Against Trump’s Immigration Enforcement Anti-ICE protests in Newark, New Jersey, are exposing a much larger problem than opposition to one detention facility. The post Publicly Funded Teachers Unions Join Newark Anti-ICE Protests as the Left MOBILIZES Against Trump’s Immigration Enforcement Agenda (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Some MAGA Republicans, including "War Room" host Steve Bannon, are calling for President Donald Trump to seek a third term in 2028 even though the U.S. Constitution's 21st Amendment, ratified in 1951, is crystal clear about presidential term limits. Others in the MAGA movement are arguing that they need to think about MAGA's future. Turning Point USA's Erika Kirk is already endorsing Vice President JD Vance for 2028, but according to Never Trump conservative Rick Wilson, Trump is undermining Vance as the "golden child for MAGA" — and making sure Republicans compete for his support. In a "Fast Politics" video with liberal co-host Molly Jong-Fast, Wilson argued, "I think (Trump) is starting to try to shape the future to pick out who he wants as the golden child for MAGA. And you notice, he said, over the weekend — or, I guess, at the end of the week — there was that big meeting with Candace (Owens) and Tucker (Carlson), all these people who are MAGA but are opposed to…. the Iran war, and he came out and said: Well, they're not MAGA, I'm MAGA. I'll decide who is MAGA."The former GOP strategist continued, "And I think he's starting to look at himself as the kingmaker to come in the immediate years ahead of them — however many there are left. And so, I think that's why you're getting this sort of vibe of competition between Vance and (Secretary of State Marco) Rubio."Republicans, Wilson noted, are by no means universally sold on Vance as the logical successor to Trump.GOP insiders are paying attention to former Sen. Rubio (R-Florida), who is the closest thing to a traditional conservative in the second Trump Administration.Wilson told Jong-Fast, "And you're going to start seeing (Trump) mentioning senators or governors that he likes. You're going to see him play the game. He's going to throw meat out there to make them all compete for his love. Just like with his children." Jong-Fast interjected that "this is all happening with the backdrop" of recent firings in the Trump Administration. Although Trump's second administration hasn't had nearly as much turnover as his first, the president has fired some prominent MAGA loyalists in 2026 — including former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi (who was replaced by Acting AG Todd Blanche) and ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (who was replaced with now-DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former U.S. senator).
President Donald Trump is not cool anymore, culturally as well as politically, according to a recent analysis.Trump’s so-called “fair” to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary is losing talent because top pop culture figures, even non-liberal ones, want nothing to do with Trump, wrote MS NOW’s Jeff Slate on Sunday. Slate reviewed how Bret Michaels, Morris Day, the Commodores and Young MC have cancelled their planned appearances, with several of them stating they were not aware that it was a pro-Trump event.Then slate focuses on Martina McBride, a Grammy-nominated singer known for her wholesome and seeming neutral image.“I’ve spent my entire career singing songs about real people with real issues,” McBride wrote in her statement. “I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be a voice for those who have felt like they didn’t have one. It greatly upsets me that any fan who has been moved by my music may now feel like I’m abandoning the meaning behind those songs. I assure you, that is not the case.”Slate then broke down why this is relevant in terms of understanding Trump’s place in the current zeitgeist.“This was major news, and MAGA world took notice,” Slate wrote. “Remember that it was only a year ago that contemporary country star Carrie Underwood happily accepted an invitation to perform at Trump’s second swearing-in ceremony, despite not insignificant backlash from progressive fans.”He added that McBride’s public statement “feels bigger than one festival. She isn’t some over-the-hill casino entertainer. The 59-year-old songstress is a traditional, conservative-coded country artist. McBride has sold many millions of records over her decades-long career, with songs that frequently mix classic country themes of God and faith with heartbreak, hope and resilience.”Yet he concluded that “something, clearly, has shifted. And fast. Despite what some of her loudest critics are now implying on social media, McBride does not have a track record of supporting leftist causes. Instead, her decision highlights in the starkest of terms just how culturally corrosive Trump has become during his second term. That’s what a war of choice, soaring gas and food prices, stagnating inflation, and an aggregate job approval rating in the 30s can lead to.”In addition to being controversial because it is tied to Trump’s brand, the festival is also under scrutiny due to allegations of corruption.“For one million dollars or more…donors to Freedom 250 can secure an invitation to a private reception hosted by Trump himself,” reported Washingtonian. “As the New York Times explained earlier this year, Freedom 250 allows ‘people and companies with interests before the Trump administration’ to make ‘tax-deductible donations to gain access to, and seek favor with, a president who has maintained a keen interest in fund-raising, and a willingness to use the levers of government power to reward financial supporters.’”After the report came out, Democratic senators began a probe into the organization’s finances, writing that “government-sponsored civic commemorations should not serve as platforms for political messaging or partisan activity, nor should they create opportunities for donors to exert influence with federal decision-makers under the guise of patriotic celebration.”
President Donald Trump is now calling on the Freedom 250 event to be cancelled and replaced with a MAGA rally after several musical artists dropped out. Meanwhile, the president also claims he “canceled” his involvement with the Kennedy Center after a federal judge ruled that Trump’s name must come off of the building. NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez reports for TODAY.
The plan is pitting Republican against Republican in a messy debate that will take over the Senate this week.