Before going on to the outrages du jour, please take a look at This is why Kamala Harris really lost by Eric Levitz at Vox.

Executive Summary: A majority of the people who voted don’t know shit from Shinola.

The article is based on an analysis by Blue Rose Research. “Few pollsters boast a larger data set than Blue Rose — the company conducted 26 million voter interviews in 2024. And the firm’s leader, David Shor, might be the most influential data scientist in the Democratic Party.” It says that voters who were most closely engaged with news and politics swung toward Democrats. And voters who were least engaged swung overwhelmingly against Democrats. Unfortunately, there were more people in the second group.

David Shor said, “People have a lot of complaints about how the mainstream media covered things. But I think it’s important to note that the people who watch the news the most actually became more Democratic. And the problem was basically this large group of people who really don’t follow the news at all becoming more conservative.”

Up to that point, I was not at all surprised. I was also not surprised that the non-engaged voters are mostly being influenced by stuff they view on social media. What did surprise me is that the biggest swing to the right wasn’t from users of X but from users of TikTok. At Lawyers, Guns, and Money, Paul Campos points out a lot of other things in the data that point to a hugely ignorant electorate, IMO.

Now on to the Alien Enemies Act deportations. Malcolm Ferguson is reporting at The New Republic that the “criminals” Trump wants to warehouse in prisons in El Salvador are any migrant men with tattoos.

“This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President – He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. …

… “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” the president wrote. 

And just like that, members of the House GOP filed articles of impeachment against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg. Chief Justice John Roberts issued a gentle rebuke. “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts said. Maybe Roberts is getting a little nervous about the Frankenstein monster he helped create.

Judge Boasberg asked for some answers from the DoJ by noon today. The DoJ refused to give all the requested answers. So now they’ve got until noon Wednesday. And there is a hearing scheduled for Friday.

Meanwhile, a judge has ruled that Musk’s deconstruction of USAID was unconstitutional, and it should all be put back.

Also meanwhile, Musk’s Lost Boys have a new tool to gain entry to agencies they want to destroy, and the tool involves guns. See Josh Marshall, here and here.

Yesterday I wrote that DoD web pages about the Navajo Code Talkers have been taken down. Today we learn that the Native American marine who was one of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers, Ira Hayes, also has also been deleted from the DoD site.

As David Kurtz writes at TPM, we’ve crossed the Rubicon. Trump is now openly defying judge’s orders.

The major news of the weekend was the rapid-fire series of events following President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act that culminated with the White House chortling over its defiance of a federal court order blocking deportations under the act and ordering outbound flights to return to the United States.

The Trump administration’s immediate deportation to El Salvador of Venezuelan nationals claimed to be part of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang is its own saga, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio taunting the federal court, El Salvador’s president releasing grim videos of dehumanizing treatment of the detainees, and the White House trumpeting how it ignored a federal judge to create a fait accompli.

Today already a federal judge has scheduled a hearing for 4 pm this afternoon to give the Trump Administration a chance to explain itself. At Axios, Marc Caputo writes How the White House ignored a judge’s order to turn back deportation flights.

The Trump administration says it ignored a Saturday court order to turn around two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members because the flights were over international waters and therefore the ruling didn’t apply, two senior officials tell Axios. …

… The White House welcomes that fight. “This is headed to the Supreme Court. And we’re going to win,” a senior White House official told Axios.

A second administration official said Trump was not defying the judge whose ruling came too late for the planes to change course: “Very important that people understand we are not actively defying court orders.” 

State of play: Trump’s advisers contend U.S. District Judge James Boasberg overstepped his authority by issuing an order that blocked the president from deporting about 250 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1789.
The war-time law gives the executive extreme immense power to deport noncitizens without a judicial hearing. But it has been little-used, particularly in peacetime.

“It’s the showdown that was always going to happen between the two branches of government,” a senior White House official said. “And it seemed that this was pretty clean. You have Venezuelan gang members … These are bad guys, as the president would say.”

Since Trump kind of skipped the due process thing, we are supposed to take his word that all the deported people were Venezuelan gang members and not just random migrants rounded up to put on a show. I understand Trump has been frantic to ramp up the number of people deported, since so far he hasn’t managed to deport people any faster than other administrations. In any event, the judge has blocked Trump from deporting anybody under the Alien Enemies Act.

And while the White House may be officially declaring that it didn’t intend to defy the judge, Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan pretty much says otherwise.

We are going to make this country safe again … I’m proud to be a part of this administration. We are not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think. I don’t care what the Left thinks. We’re coming,” he added.

Asked what was coming next in the administration’s deportation efforts, Homan said: “Another flight. Another flight every day.”

Although I don’t know if there have been flights per the Alien Enemies Act today. But a Republican House member from Texas has declared he is filing articles of impeachment against the judge.

The War on Social Security. Musk put the Lost Boys to work to find actual dead people receiving Social Security so he can justify killing it, I take it they thought they’d found one. Except he’s not dead yet. This is from the Seattle Times:

Johnson’s strange trip through the netherworld began in February, when a letter from his bank arrived addressed to his wife, Pam.

“We recently received notification of LEONARD A. JOHNSON’s passing,” it began. “We offer our sincerest condolences …”

At first she figured it was a scam — her husband, after all, was sitting right there. But then the bank got to the point.

“We know this is a difficult time, and we’re here to help,” the bank wrote. “We received a request from Social Security Administration to return benefits paid to LEONARD A. JOHNSON’s account after their passing.”

“There’s nothing you need to do — we’ve deducted the funds from LEONARD A. JOHNSON’s account.”

Uh oh. It itemized how $5,201 had been stricken from their bank account, on the grounds that Ned wasn’t justified to get those benefits — because he was dead. That was for payments he’d received in December and January.

Ned found that his February Social Security check hadn’t been paid, and he’s yet to receive his March check, either. His Medicare insurance had been canceled. He also learned that when you die, your credit score gets marked as “deceased, do not issue credit,” which makes it tough to get a loan.

“The good news is I don’t think it can go any lower than that,” he said cheerfully.

He called the bank first, and they said an electronic notification had been triggered on Feb. 18 that he had died back in November. But I’m on the phone with you right now, he told them. Also, what did I die of? Take it up with Social Security, they said.

Naturally, dealing with the local Social Security office was a nightmare because of layoffs. He’s lucky it hadn’t closed yet. As of the posting of the news story Johnson had gotten his $5,201 back, but his missing back payments for February and March are still missing. And it doesn’t say if his Medicare benefits have restarted.

But, yeah,, 80 years without a missed Social Security payment, I understand, until Elon Musk got hold of it.

See also Judd Legum at Popular Information, Memo details Trump plan to sabotage the Social Security Administration. The Plan seems to be to make it much more difficult to apply for benefits. This is what Musk calls “efficiency.”

At the Department of Justice, acknowledgment of the heroism and important contributions of military personnel who are not White men are being erased from websites and other public records. Axios reports that “Articles about the renowned Native American Code Talkers have disappeared from some military websites, with several broken URLs now labeled ‘DEI.'”

And at the Guardian, see Black Medal of Honor recipient removed from US Department of Defense website.

The US defense department webpage celebrating an army general who served in the Vietnam war and was awarded the country’s highest military decoration has been removed and the letters “DEI” added to the site’s address.

On Saturday, US army Maj Gen Charles Calvin Rogers’s Medal of Honor webpage led to a “404” error message. The URL was also changed, with the word “medal” changed to “deimedal”.

Rogers was wounded three times while leading the defense of a base. But heroism only counts when White men do it, I guess.

One more: Trump has declared all of Biden’s pardons to be void. Let’s see if he can make that stick.

I want to thank everybody who made yesterday’s fundraiser such a success. This really helps. Of course, additional donations via GoFundMe or using the donate button at the top of the right-hand column on the home page are still welcome. But I won’t ask again. For now.

Before getting to today’s outrages — I always hate to have to pass the hat, but I’ve realized my income this month isn’t going to stretch to the next Social Security deposit, assuming it gets deposited. I’m doing a very small fundraiser. Here’s the GoFundMe link. Or, you can always use the donate link over on the right-hand column, if you’re on the home page. Thanks much for all help.

The fallout from yesterday’s CR vote may just be getting started. Lots of people are furious at Chuck Schumer. It’s been widely reported that even Nancy Pelosi expressed outrage at Schumer. However, I’m not sure the statement she made came out before or after the actual vote. In any event, she wanted the Senate to nix the CR and try to negotiate something less toxic. Josh Marshall called the vote a missed opportunity for Dems to make it clear to the public that We Are Not Okay With What Trump Is Doing.

I don’t think most of the long-entrenched Dems in Washington really, truly get how the single biggest thing holding them back for many elections is that too many voters don’t see how they are different from Republicans. And, in truth, some of them haven’t been all that different; the infamous “centrists,” for example. The ones who come out after every lost election to blame the progressives. Makes me crazy. But if something good does manage to sneak out of this terrible mess we’re stuck in now, maybe it’s that the Dems will finally realize it’s not 1992 any more, and the “New Democrat,” “No Labels,” “let’s reach across the aisle” crap is what’s been failing them, not promoting a Green New Deal.

So, for the record, here are the Dems who caved and voted for the CR:

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
• Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania
• Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada
• Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii
• Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois
• Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
• Senator Gary Peters of Michigan
• Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire
• Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire
• Senator Angus King of Maine, an independent who frequently caucuses with Democrats

Former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, who isn’t exactly a radical firebrand, wrote in his substack column Surrender has a terrible price — Chuck Schumer just purchased it for America. Ouch.

I also want to say that John Fetterman has been a huge disappointment, He seems to want to be the new Kyrsten Sinema. I hope at least that he never shows up for a State of the Union address disguised as a canary. Note also that Chuck isn’t up for re-election until 2028, and Gillibrand not until 2030. I don’t know about the rest of them.

Moving on — it strikes me that Trump is now at war with just about everything on the planet except the actual enemies of the U.S. He’s at war with higher education. He’s at war with science, especially climate science. He can’t seem to relate to any of our long-term allies without making it a confrontation, such as his getting nasty with the Prime Minister of Ireland this past week. And he’s still talking about taking over Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. And why are we not demanding a psychological and cognitive evaluation of this guy? He’s either massively stupid or not entirely there.

And it’s all about his personal grievances. He has no interest whatsoever in policy or government. He just wants to get back at everything he doesn’t think reveres him enough. Or something. Yesterday’s Justice Department speech was, IMO, nothing but a scream from Trump’s dark and twisted id. Pretty much everything Trump is doing is probably about gratifying his ego and emotions and getting back at all the people he thinks haven’t been fair to him. Which seems to be most of the human species.

And much of this is just irrational. Today Voice of America employees showed up for work and found themselves locked out.

Journalists showed up at the Voice of America today to broadcast their programs only to be told they had been locked out: Federal officials had embarked on indefinite mass suspensions.

All full-time staffers at the Voice of America and the Office for Cuba Broadcasting, which runs Radio and Television Martí, were affected — more than 1,000 employees. The move followed a late Friday night edict from President Trump that its parent agency, called the U.S. Agency for Global Media, must eliminate all activities that are not required by law.

In addition, under the leadership of Trump appointees, the agency has severed all contracts for the privately incorporated international broadcasters it funds, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

What the bleep? Was this Vladimir Putin’s idea? All of these things are part of a bigger thing called the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which currently is headed by Trump ally and professional Fruit Loop Kari Lake. Surely Lake could have directed it all toward pushing pro-Trump news all the time. Why is he shutting these things down?

Along with gutting the global media agency, yesterday Trump signed executive orders gutting agencies dealing with libraries, museums, and ending homelessness.

Today Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up deportations. Apparently he hasn’t been able to deport people any faster than previous presidents, which enrages him. From the Brennan Center for Justice:

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation. The law permits the president to target these immigrants without a hearing and based only on their country of birth or citizenship. Although the law was enacted to prevent foreign espionage and sabotage in wartime, it can be — and has been — wielded against immigrants who have done nothing wrong, have evinced no signs of disloyalty, and are lawfully present in the United States. It is an overbroad authority that may violate constitutional rights in wartime and is subject to abuse in peacetime. …

… The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked three times, each time during a major conflict: the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. In World Wars I and II, the law was a key authority behind detentions, expulsions, and restrictions targeting German, Austro-Hungarian, Japanese, and Italian immigrants based solely on their ancestry. The law is best known for its role in Japanese internment, a shameful part of U.S. history for which Congress, presidents, and the courts have apologized.

… So it’s only ever been used during a declared war, which we don’t currently have. A president “may invoke the Alien Enemies Act in times of ‘declared war’ or when a foreign government threatens or undertakes an ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory incursion’ against U.S. territory,” the Brennan Center says. So Trump is imagining that other countries are emptying out their jails and insane asylums and sending people here, not that people are coming here of their own accord. Today Trump claimed the U.S. is being invaded by a particular Venezuelan gang, and he had all of five Venezuelans all ready to deport. But a judge has blocked the deportations pending a hearing.

Too bad there are so few insane asylums left. Trump needs to be in one.

By all accounts, Chuck Schumer’s decision to support the continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown has opened a huge rift in the Democratic Party. I’m not sure I agree with Schumer’s reasoning, which he explains here.

First, a shutdown would give Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk permission to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now.Under a shutdown, the Trump administration would have wide-ranging authority to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel nonessential, furloughing staff members with no promise they would ever be rehired.

The decisions about what is essential would, in practice, be largely up to the executive branch, with few left at agencies to check it.

Mr. Musk has reportedly said that he wants a shutdown and may already be planning how to use one to his advantage.

See also the dialogue between Schumer and Chris Hayes from last night.

Josh Marshall:

I don’t think Chuck Schumer and whichever other senators may join him today grasp the size of the chasm they’re opening up. I get the sense the full level of it will only begin to dawn on them sometime next week. If I’m right that they don’t fully grasp it, why don’t they? Well, you generally don’t see things you’re heavily invested in not seeing. Washington and particularly the Capitol also remain in their own bubble of a sorts, despite the fact that in many key ways it is at the very center of the storm.

I’m sorry for the morbid analogy, but I think of those Chernobyl scenes with people who’ve already been irradiated by didn’t realize it yet. They think they’re fine. But they’re not. They’ll find out in a few days.

It’s not clear to me what all is in the CR, but it’s supposed to be good for the rest of fiscal year 2025. That is, until September 30. And the Senate is expected to vote on it this afternoon. The old CR expires at midnight tonight.

Update: The CR was passed in the Senate. Here Are the Senate Democrats Who Helped Republicans Avert a Shutdown. There is still grumbling this may yet cost Schumer his leadership position. I’ll believe that when I see it, but there’s no question there’s going to be a nasty falling out ahead for the Dems.

I don’t know what’s going to happen with the continuing resolution the House sent to the Senate. Adam Schiff released a statement explaining why he’s going to vote no, His reasons are compelling to me.

Speaking of senators, if you missed Lawrence O’Donnell last night, please just watch the opening segment here.

I’ll write more tomorrow, I promise.