Who Is Going To Stop The FedMob?

With everything happening in the world this morning, one thing stands out to us more than any other: We’re dealing with a federally backed crime syndicate sitting in the White House. We’ve used the metaphor previously, but at that time, we were mostly concerned about tariff policies. As we look around this morning, we see the marks of a crime syndicate in almost every headline. What we find bothersome is that we’re not sure there are enough ‘good guys’ to stop them.

The headline that bothers us most is one we’ve seen from three different sources stating that the administration is looking for a way to legally deport citizens. The statement in question comes from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Here’s the video of her making the statement.

Yes, the press secretary put a number of caveats around the concept of deporting US citizens. Our problem with that is they made the exact same statement 80 days ago when talking about deporting illegal immigrants. We see how disastrous that program has been. When as many as 75% of the people sitting in a hardcore Salvadoran prison have not committed any crime at all, we can’t trust that the numbers would be any better if they begin deporting American citizens. Everyone would become a target.

Meanwhile, more than $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and around $790 million for Northwestern University have been frozen while the government investigates alleged civil rights violations at both schools, the White House says. The two Ivy League universities join Brown, Harvard, and Columbia as targets of the administration’s war on higher education. Cornell said it had received more than 75 stop work orders earlier Tuesday from the Defense Department related to research “profoundly significant to American national defense, cybersecurity, and health.”

This complaint is broader than the previously used excuse that the White House is “cracking down on antisemitism” at US universities. Every university charged has denied that they are specifically and intentionally promoting antisemitism or harboring anti-Israel “terrorists.” Some universities, such as Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, have capitulated to the administration in an effort to save critical research funding. Concern continues to exist, however, that the White House is attempting to put a collar on the often vocal demonstrations that are unique to the campus lifestyle. While charges of First Amendment violations are everywhere, no one has yet to make any headway that keeps colleges and universities from this form of graft.

Several news outlets ran with the headline of the IRS coming to an agreement to share personal tax information with ICE. The American Civil Liberties Union immediately took objection to the agreement, saying that it puts innocent families in fear of deportation. The deal is not a good one. So much so that the acting head of the IRS resigned later last night in protest. Ms. Krause’s departure from the agency is likely playing right into the administration’s hands. They’ll now replace her with someone more devoted to fulfilling the President’s agenda.

Who is going to stand up for such flagrant violations of the law? There was some hope that SCOTUS might find a spine until yesterday’s decision that blocks a lower court’s order to replace a large number of federal employees that had been fired in previous weeks. This gives the administration an effective go-ahead to continue firing as many people from as many agencies as they want. Critical programs such as Social Security, the Veterans’ Administration, and the CDC could be rendered completely ineffective if the layoffs are allowed to stand.

Is Congress going to stand up to the President? He’s using strong-arm intimidation tactics to try to keep everyone in line. At a party pat-on-the-back dinner last night, the President instructed Republican members of Congress, “One little thing the Republican Party has to do is get together and damn vote,” the president said, adding: “Close your eyes and get there. It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding.”

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., said, “I couldn’t sleep at night if I was part of exacerbating the federal deficit. While there might be some over there who have an appetite for some of the spending cuts, it’s clear that not everyone does.”

As of last night’s count, there were still roughly a dozen Republicans who might vote against the Senate budget bill, which would be enough to stop it and force it back into mediation. That group taking a stand on the budget is a loose coalition, however, and can’t be trusted to pull the reins back on any other part of the President’s slash-and-burn agenda, including tariffs.

The whole reason behind the separation of powers in the Constitution is to block exactly this kind of situation. The courts are supposed to stop an overly aggressive president. Congress has an obligation to pull back on racketeering maneuvers that the President has taken. The framers couldn’t have imagined a situation where someone as delusional and dangerous as Felonious Punk would ever be President and the two other branches not hold him in check. The safety net provided by the Constitution is gone.

If we are going to save our democracy, it’s going to have to come from a grassroots level of protest against the President and his Cabinet of Thugs. We cannot wait for next year’s elections because by this time next year that option may already be gone. We have to stand up, make noise, and fight tooth and nail for every last one of our rights.

If we don’t fight, we’re certain to lose.