The U.S. armed forces may soon face the choice of whether to refuse illegal and unconstitutional orders, @radiofreetom.bsky.social writes. What will they do?

Never before in American history has one state's military force been deployed in another state over its objection. I say never because the Civil War involved states whose governments legally ceased to exist, their offices vacated by constructive resignation, with no legitimate governors to object.

Trump wants to violate the law and deny furloughed federal workers their pay. 1/3 of them are US military veterans. #shutdown #trump #politics #news #veterans

Chilling insight by @barbarafwalter.com: "Once citizens view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this… They’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns." via www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...

America’s senior military officers, including the Chair of the Jt Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, must approach Trump now and make clear to him that they will not obey illegal orders to act against American citizens or disrupt the American political process www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

Donald Trump’s deployments of the National Guard to American cities “are best understood as an effort to erode the nation’s sense that such use of the military is unacceptable,” Quinta Jurecic argues.

More are united around a simple message: RFK Jr should not be HHS Sec. His decisions undermine our public health capacity and put lives and health at risk. As 6 former Surgeon Generals argue: "He has rejected science, misled the public and compromised the health of Americans." 🎁 wapo.st/3VTALll

If appropriations bills are not seen as enforceable contracts, why should any Member of Congress vote to fund any part of the federal government under Donald Trump? You're voting to provide money for lawlessness. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...

“We aren’t just outside the bounds of normal constitutional operations; we’re several standard deviations outside anything America has ever experienced before. We can clearly see what’s happening is wrong—illegal and unconstitutional—and the actors who can do something about that just … aren’t.”

“.. we’re going to take care of our people,” Trump added. “There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of. And we’ll take care of them in a different way.” @thehill.com thehill.com/homenews/adm...

A populace that is agitated without being informed. A leader who encourages the worst suspicions, fuels the most dangerous lies, and mocks compromise and tolerance. It is getting close to being too late. ICYMI: www.thebulwark.com/p/everything...

How do you find a compromise budget that reflects the priorities of 535 members of the House and Senate when Trump will just withhold any money he doesn't want to spend? A representative democracy cannot function as Trump has broken the US system this year. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...

Graydon Carter could do the funniest political prank call since Spy's heyday.

MAGA, MAGA.

“No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”

Trump: "We call them the water drugs. The drugs that come in through water. They're not coming. There are no boats anymore. Frankly, there are no fishing boats. There are no boats out there period, if you want to know the truth. Does anybody go fishing anymore?"

Trump wants to see troops in American cities. To him, the factual and legal rationale behind those deployments is unimportant.

Let’s stipulate that Trump will continue to do things that shock us. But, seriously, no one should be shocked about this. He’s been itching to did it for years. He’s laying the ground every day. We’ve been warned. And this is exactly what he’s going to do. charliesykes.substack.com/p/yes-of-cou...

Whitehouse: "It obviously makes a big difference when you have a professional DOJ and there's no alleged involvement of the president in a sex trafficking operation. This is different. This is a MAGA DOJ conducting an investigation into a trafficking operation in which POTUS may well be implicated"

Heather Honey, a high-profile denier of Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, was appointed to a senior DHS position in which she’ll help oversee election security. “DHS now appears poised to become a primary amplifier of false election conspiracies pushed by our enemies,” one expert said.

Turning the military on citizens. Attempting to rig elections. Toying with the idea of declaring martial law. Attacking political enemies and punishing those who speak out. If this were happening in another country, what would you call it?

Everything Trump is doing now is a preamble for his regime's real goal: to invoke the Insurrection Act. I don’t want to unduly alarm you, but you need to be aware of this imminent danger. It’s unfolding very rapidly. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-plan

The reason why Trump can’t simply say “no” when asked if he will pardon Ghislaine Maxwell is he needs her to continue to cover for him. Giving her hope for a pardon guarantees she will keep her mouth shut about what she knows.

Stephen Miller is portraying opposition to Donald Trump in any form, including by judges issuing legal rulings, as an illegal rebellion, Jonathan Chait argues:

Here’s the CBS News report about ICE making bogus 911 calls and filing false police reports in Chicago. ht: @mikenellis.bsky.social

Trump speech to Navy. He tells them, “We have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats.”

No "assurance" or "promise" any Republican makes on anything is worth a single thing, at all. It has exactly zero value. Why would any Democrat agree to anything that's not a piece of legislative text, when even legislative text is ignored by the wannabe dictators of the Trump regime?

Love this. Superbly done. Please send this far and wide. @donwinslow.bsky.social

"One of Trump's biggest supporters is saying, we want him to be a benevolent authoritarian strongman....I'm a little alarmed that they're putting that into the public discourse." "Wait till Trump reposts it." @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social on today's Bulwark Podcast:

at this point you have to acknowledge that there is no way that these guys don't try to mess with the 2026 midterms. there is absolutely no respect for the legitimacy of the opposition

Understand what they are doing: using the massive power of the state - including military power and the power to imprison - to carry out a campaign to eliminate their political opposition. It's growing in seriousness by the hour.

"His attempts to politicize the military have become more blatant at a time when he is flexing his power over that military in ever new ways." This is by a NYT reporter, not a columnist. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/u...

Mike Johnson seems to be stalling to block the Epstein-files vote. The Speaker claims he can’t swear in Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who plans to sign the discharge petition, during the government shutdown. That’s not true.

Trump on pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell: Haven't heard the name in so long. I’ll take a look at it. I’ll speak to the DOJ. A lot of people have asked me for pardons. Reporter: But she’s convicted of sex trafficking Trump: I’ll have to take a look at it.

Q: You called the judge's ruling 'legal insurrection.' Are you recommending the president take action against judges who rule against him? STEPHEN MILLER: No. It's simply a factually accurate statement

Been wondering how SCOTUS could get to "red gerrymanders ok, blue ones bad. " Here's one way: DOJ sues CA, NY, other blue states, SCOTUS rules maps illegal. DOJ doesn't sue red states, maps remain.

Chicago priest Father Michael Pfleger: "The state of emergency is in AMERICA, not Chicago. It's birthed from this president and his admin's reign of terror." ( ht: @mikenellis.bsky.social )

Has Trump’s second term posed a greater or lesser threat to the rule of law than you expected? @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/m...

No Kings. No Caesar.

1. Federal agents from ICE and other agencies are wrongly detaining U.S. citizens, sometimes detaining them for days, on suspicion that they are undocumented immigrants. The raids are done without search warrants or other procedures designed to protect civil liberties.

Texas proudly invading Illinois. It’s hard to describe the level of potential constitutional crisis here.

The US is on a collision course for a constitutional crisis, as Trump attempts to federalize members of red states and send them to invade blue states against the will of the governors in blue states such as Illinois and California.👇

They’re using American tax dollars to fund infrastructure in Argentina because that’s where they’re all going to flee when we kick them out of office

history teacher in 50 years: So in September, that’s when the president signed an executive order criminalizing anti-fascism and saying all resistance would be crushed student: oh so that’s when the whole country realized they were living under fascism teacher: haha what? oh no lol not at all. no.

Don't forget that amid all his other wrongdoing Trump betrays the principle of national unity. He deploys federal power to make war on states that didn't vote for him, along with their populations.

Trump really really wants political violence in the street and he is doing everything possible to make the federal government generate it since it wasn't happening organically.

This is a declaration they will use federal resources to deploy violence against judges, prosecutors, and attorneys general. There's no other coherent interpretation of the phrasing, including "only remedy," "legitimate state power," and connecting those people with "terror networks."

Stephen Miller again lashes out at the judiciary, suggesting federal judges are aiding and abetting domestic terrorism: