Week 82 - The Return
A week of major setbacks for Trump at home and abroad
Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.
This was a week full of setbacks for Trump, at home and abroad. The U.S. continued to be mired in Trump’s war of choice with Iran, which, by all appearances, the U.S. seems to be losing. As we pass the three month mark, Trump and his regime seemed to vacillate, day by day, on whether a ceasefire or escalation was near, or whether, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the war was over.
On the home front, Trump suffered two major setbacks, first with a federal judge reversing his rebranding of the Kennedy Center, and then, bowing to both political and legal pushback, Trump backed down on his so-called ‘anti-weaponization’ fund. Backed down in part — not on the immunity audit, which benefits him personally. Uncharacteristically in recent days and weeks, Trump has largely avoided the media, and spent another weekend sending a flood of AI slop on Truth Social.
Increasingly it appears that Trump, as he put it this week, does not “care about the midterms.” His focus instead seems to be on throwing himself a big 80th birthday party at the nation’s capital, putting his name and brand as many places as possible, and enriching himself, his family and allies as much as possible before the clock runs out.
What alarms me most is all that we have normalized. The Justice Department, now run by his personal lawyer, has become a cudgel for Trump’s personal vendettas. This week, he crossed the line to pursuing E. Jean Carroll, who is completely a personal target, unrelated to his time in office. He named Bill Pulte to acting director of national intelligence, handing his ally unfettered access to a gold mine of intelligence, which he would undoubtedly use to target enemies, and could also harness to impact midterms. Trump’s regime acts like a mafia organization, awarding huge government contracts and loans, as Trump places stock market bets with his personal funds on companies he then champions. Our leadership in all realms is continuing to become more white and male, and less competent.
The question now is whether Republicans will at long last stand up to Trump, as they did with his fund, or if they will revert to being compliant junior assistants. Trump made some enemies in the Senate, after endorsing primary opponents of Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Cornyn. Will the Senate at long last push back? If not, it becomes a waiting game for how much damage Trump can do before the midterm elections, just five months away.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges filed a motion urging the judge who oversaw Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS to reopen the case, and conduct an inquiry into whether the deal reached by Trump and the IRS could be challenged as an act of fraud.
Lawyers for the judges wrote, “The purported ‘settlement’…raises profound questions about the parties’ candor toward the court and manipulation of the judicial system, which threatens to undermine confidence in the administration of justice.”
On Friday, a federal judge temporarily froze payments from Trump’s ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ in response to a lawsuit by former Jan. 6 prosecutor Andrew Floyd and other plaintiffs, claiming the fund is unlawfully discriminatory by benefiting political allies of Trump.
On Wednesday, CNN reported that Trump’s DOJ launched a criminal investigation of E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault and won in court on the allegation and defamation, again using the DOJ to pursue his personal enemies.
The investigation of perjury was brought by U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros in Chicago, whose office had dismissed a case against the “Broadway Six” in Week 81, over a 2022 statement by Carroll in New York that she received no outside funding for her lawsuit.
On Thursday, in a public statement, Boutros said the Northern District of Illinois “has not opened — and has never opened — a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.” CNN reported their sources reaffirmed the investigation after his statement.
Bloomberg reported that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro subpoenaed Reddit and X seeking names, addresses, and banking information of anonymous users who had been critical of the Trump regime’s deportation efforts, as part of a criminal investigation.
At least two anonymous users learned of the subpoenas and hired lawyers, who said the investigation could relate to allegations of revealing federal officers’ locations. Civil rights group warned the move could chill protected free speech and intimidate dissenters.
NYT reported roughly one in five lawyers who worked for the federal government at the end of 2024 had departed, many going to work for state attorneys general and nonprofits. Once working for the DOJ was the gold standard, now lawyers worry it would tarnish their resume.
The Department of Education lost 53% of its lawyers, leaving a large backlog of discrimination cases, while Housing lost 40%. The only federal agency to increase lawyers was Homeland Security, which grew by 21%, driven by Trump’s immigration crackdown.
