I feel like the federal government shouldn't be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on an entirely unnecessary, totally unprecedented, and excessively violent occupation of an American city.

I'd bet a lot of money that a lot of orders to principal officers of the United States have come only from Stephen Miller.

it is unfortunately true that "the left" isn't protesting the Iran regime, Nathan Robinson just wrote an article telling people you shouldn't

The US is being terrorized by a domestic terror organization called ICE. They are going door-to-door. They are stealing and kidnapping people. They have killed over 30 people so far. We are being terrorized by the US government and what you have to do first is acknowledge it.

I think the last 24 hours in VA are a stronger indication of what the Democratic Party platform will be in 2026 and going forward than the feeble quaverings of Chuck Schumer.

Wait wait wait, the fucking 'don't send me to die in a random Middle Eastern war' guy retweeted that?

Look man. What can I tell you. Miller is just a fascist. We're signatories to the UN Charter. The territorial integrity of States is legally guaranteed under the UN. It's also an attack on a NATO member. We're also signatories to a treaty for the defense of Greenland. None of this is up for debate

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I wouldn't do that. Wages of Destruction is, legitimately, an excellent work. The author is just a colossal piece of shit who also likes to jack off to the dream that one day he might be wielding the tokarev.

i just don't think it's great that i'm expected to respect people who openly fantasize about murdering me

That is literally the part that led the USSR to near ruin, to boot.

actually kind of insane for me that tooze is specifically fantasizing about "in the 30s i would have purged you" when the actual Great Purge was... this. old comrades racing to outdo each other in murderous cruelty to other old comrades, performing like yapping seals for smiling Comrade Stalin

Jake Featherston but stupider.

Unelected, unconfirmed, and running the world towards war.

ICE has kidnapped so many people from their cars that the city had to put out this statement. Let that sink in.

Addendum: Again, none of this is about "norms." I suspect that some of you immediately jump to critiques of "norms" and "law" based thinking but you don't have the knowledge or analytical tools to think beyond those.

Trump is not omnipotent. He exists within a web of institutions. His authority is not unlimited. It appears that way largely because his allies occupy key places — Congress — that could provide a meaningful check. Important to understand his actual reach and the limits of that reach. (14/14)

Put a little differently, the question isn't — when it comes to state conduct of elections, certification of state elections and the seating of lawmakers — "who will stop *him*" but rather "who will stop *them*." (13/?)

I think it is important and worthwhile to prepare for all of those possibilities. But I do not think it is worthwhile to focus on those places where he neither has the literal capability nor formal or informal authority to act. (12/?)

He will likely try to interfere in those places where presidential power can have some influence, such as the USPS. He may direct DOJ investigations into particular states and districts. And he will certainly support state-level GOP voter suppression (11/?)

What he will likely do is use the area where he has the most freedom of action — again, immigration enforcement — to try to threaten and intimidate where he thinks it might be effective (itself likely based on a faulty understanding of the landscape). (10/?)

He has informal power, but even actors inclined to listen have balanced his demands against their self-interests, see his failed push to gerrymander Republicans into a House majority. (9/?)

When we look at what he might do with the midterms, it is useful to keep these distinctions in mind. Trump has essentially no ability to exercise direct authority on federal elections. He cannot even pressure states into giving him voting rolls. (8/?)

What we are seeing now, at home and abroad, is his attempt to inflict as much pain as possible in those areas where he has close to total freedom of action: immigration enforcement and foreign policy. But even there, there are limits — practical, operational and logistical constraints. (7/?)

He failed. Kilmar Abrego Garcia is home. The National Guard deployments were halted. Some institutions bent the knee, many others did not. Courts have forced him to reinstate fired workers. Congress has restored some cut funding. (6/?)

Trump's aim, in the first months of last year, was to elide the difference between the two categories. It was to try to leverage his formal authority to bolster his informal power and influence. And it was to try to overpower those actors that could contest his more limited forms of authority. (5/?)

Where Trump has direct authority, he has been able to exercise it in dangerous and authoritarian ways (ICE and CBP). Where Trump must rely on informal coercion, he is less successful, especially if/when those institutions resist. (4/?)

But there are places where Trump, as president, has relatively limited freedom of action and where the main points of opposition have been robust. Where states can contest his actions (National Guard deployments), he falls short. Where courts must litigate his decisions, he also falls short. (3/?)

Freedom of action? Immigration enforcement, foreign policy, the management and conduct of the executive branch. Congressionally-sanctioned unilateral action? DOGE, budget impoundments, removal of executive branch officials. (2/?)

There are places where Trump, as president, has broad freedom of action. And there are places where Trump, as president, has been able to act unilaterally because the main point of opposition, Congress (and SCOTUS), support his program. (1/?)

Bouie keeps getting slammed for these sensible and sober minded Takes because there are people who've come to see anything short of maximal Doomerism as somehow complacency - you're saying I *shouldn't* feel maximally bad!??? Yet it is obvious on reflection that maximal doomerism breeds complacency.

Why should straight men have a monopoly on Jerry Springer logic and bad decisions?

In Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minnesota, we are living in terror. Our mayors & our governor are trying to defend us. The federal government, under the direction of President Trump, is responding to our terror through greater acts of force. They are now threatening the State & Local gov't that defends us

I want to convey this in no uncertain terms. The citizens of Minnesota--an entire state--are terrified right now. The federal government is responding through greater force. The federal government is not looking at its own citizens as "citizens." They are looking at us as something to "break."

you pull every lever you can and you keep pulling it and eventually they get tired enough to leave

It literally assumes if not for the IDF these people would be anything but what they were and uh....LOL LMAO.

big things happening

academics be like “you believe in traditional forms of political engagement? that pales in effectiveness to my strategy, which is taking you out back and shooting you” and then not take you out back and shoot you

Russia loves Trump’s message on Greenland, as Putin has openly said. It is worth asking whether this was a Russian idea. It certainly divides and could destroy NATO, and it distracts from Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Nuclear defense is why we built a base on Greenland in 1951. We had this idea 75 years ago. The base has been there since then. You don’t have to invade a country where you already have everything. Invasion just destroys what you have and much else besides.

once again: the civil rights movement is worth studying not just because they were right, but because they won www.liberalcurrents.com/how-to-win-a...

The administration seems to not understand that investigating John Ross isn't something that you do because you want to hand the libs a win You direct your DOJ to investigate John Ross, because you'll find the alternative to be especially unpalatable

Red Army Truthers always crack me up, like everyone helped each other out in meaningful ways, making it into an idealogical pissing contest makes me think:

I understand that a lot of reactions are going to be along the lines of “well they’re just going to claim literally any protest is non-peaceful” and I’m sure they will do that in some cases but these kinds of TROs have actually made a difference in other places don’t hand it to them preemptively

iconic

Like, as always, it’s pointless to make the comparison, but can you IMAGINE Fox News and the New York Post right now if Obama hosted a party for Versailles style dog people. metro.co.uk/2026/01/15/d...

Remember: these weaponized criminal investigations are not designed to hold up under court scrutiny. They're designed to intimidate and score political points among folks who want to pretend these bogus charges are "doing something". They're flailing from a weak dictator wannabe Fear only helps him

5. Walz and Frey have been correct not to call up the National Guard and to keep state and local law enforcement away.

1. This is one of the greatest abuses of power in US history (which now happens daily). 2. It won't work. 3. They're losing badly and they know it. 4. This is so stupid and reeking of flop sweat that only Miller could've ordered it.

Seeing reports that ICE agents in Minnesota are targeting Hmong. As a Viet we know the Hmong as allies and also a culture that promotes rugged individualism loyalty. I sincerely hope that the ICE agents going after them eat shit.