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The Dictatorship

Trump, in a new interview, says he doesn’t know if he backs due process rights

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Trump, in a new interview, says he doesn’t know if he backs due process rights

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump is circumspect about his duties to uphold due process rights laid out in the Constitution, saying in a new interview that he does not know whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike deserve that guarantee.

He also said he does not think military force will be needed to make Canada the “51st state” and played down the possibility he would look to run for a third term in the White House.

The comments in a wide-ranging, and at moments combative, interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” came as the Republican president’s efforts to quickly enact his agenda face sharper headwinds with Americans just as his second administration crossed the 100-day mark, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Trump, however, made clear that he is not backing away from a to-do list that he insists the American electorate broadly supported when they elected him in November.

Here are some of the highlights from the interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker that was taped Friday at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and aired Sunday.

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA's Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA’s Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Trump doesn’t commit to due process

Critics on the left have tried to make the case that Trump is chipping away at due process in the United States. Most notably, they cite the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was living in Maryland when he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and imprisoned without communication.

Trump says Abrego Garcia is part of a violent transnational gang. The Republican president has sought to turn deportation into a test case for his campaign against illegal immigration despite a Supreme Court order saying the administration must work to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

Asked in the interview whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens both deserve due process as laid out in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, Trump was noncommittal.

“I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know,” Trump said when pressed by Welker.

The Fifth Amendment provides “due process of law,” meaning a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime. Also, the 14th Amendment says no state can “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Trump said he has “brilliant lawyers … and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”

He said he was pushing to deport “some of the worst, most dangerous people on Earth,” but that courts are getting in his way.

“I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Military action against Canada is ‘highly unlikely’

The president has repeatedly threatened that he intends to make Canada the “51st state.”

Before his White House meeting on Tuesday with newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark CarneyTrump is not backing away from the rhetoric that has angered Canadians.

Trump, however, told NBC that it was “highly unlikely” that the U.S. would need to use military force to make Canada the 51st state.

He offered less certainty about whether his repeated calls for the U.S. to take over Greenland from NATO-ally Denmark can be achieved without military action.

“Something could happen with Greenland,” Trump said. “I’ll be honest, we need that for national and international security. … I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it, I have to be honest with you.”

President bristles at recession forecasts

Trump said the U.S. economy is in a “transition period” but he expects it to do “fantastically” despite the economic turmoil sparked by his tariffs.

He offered sharp pushback when Welker noted that some Wall Street analysts now say the chances of a recession are increasing.

“Well, you know, you say, some people on Wall Street say,” Trump said. “Well, I tell you something else. Some people on Wall Street say that we’re going to have the greatest economy in history.”

He also deflected blame for the 0.3% decline in the U.S. economy in the first quarter. He said he was not responsible for it.

“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job,” referring to his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.

Trump doubled down on his recent comments at a Cabinet meeting that children might have to have two dolls instead of 30, denying that is an acknowledgment his tariffs will lead to supply shortages.

“I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”

Vice President JD Vance departs after speaking during a tour at Nucor Steel Berkeley in Huger, S.C., Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Vice President JD Vance departs after speaking during a tour at Nucor Steel Berkeley in Huger, S.C., Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Trump plays down third-term talk

The president has repeatedly suggested he could seek a third term in the White House even though the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution says that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

Trump told NBC there is considerable support for him to run for a third term.

“But this is not something I’m looking to do,” Trump said. “I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward.”

Trump’s previous comments about a third term sometimes seem more about provoking outrage on the political left. The Trump Organization is even selling red caps with the words “Trump 2028.”

But at moments, he has suggested he was seriously looking into a third term. In a late March phone interview with NBCTrump said, “I’m not joking. There are methods which you could do it.”

President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, look on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, look on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

So JD Vance in 2028? Marco Rubio? Not so fast.

Trump said in the interview that Vice President JD Vance is doing a “fantastic job” and is “brilliant.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom Trump last week tasked to simultaneously serve as acting national security adviseris “great,” the president said.

But Trump said it is “far too early” to begin talking about his potential successor.

He is confident that his “Make America Great Again” movement will flourish beyond his time in the White House.

“You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic,” Trump said. “You look at — I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here. No, I think we have a tremendous party. And you know what I can’t name? I can’t name one Democrat.”

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks during a television interview at the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks during a television interview at the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Hegseth is ‘totally safe’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been under fire for his participation in Signal text chains in which sensitive information about military planning was shared. But Trump said he is not looking to replace his Pentagon chief.

“No. Not even a little bit. No. Pete’s going to be great,” Trump said. Hegseth’s job is “totally safe.”

The president also said his decision to nominate national security adviser Mike Waltz to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was not punishment for starting the chain to which Waltz inadvertently added a reporter.

“No. I just think he’ll do a nice job in the new position,” Trump said. He said his decision to have Rubio take over Waltz’s duties will likely be temporary.

“Marco’s very busy doing other things, so he’s not going to keep it long term. We’re going to put somebody else in,” Trump said, adding that it would nonetheless be possible to do both jobs indefinitely. “You know, there’s a theory. Henry Kissinger did both. There’s a theory that you don’t need two people. But I think I have some really great people that could do a good job.”

One person he said he is not considering for the post? Top policy aide Stephen Miller.

“Well, I’d love to have Stephen there, but that would be a downgrade,” he said. “Stephen is much higher on the totem pole than that, in my opinion.”

Trump insists he’s not profiting from the presidency, plans to donate his salary once again

Trump denied he is profiting from the presidency, even as he continues to promote a series of business ventures, including cryptocurrency holdings.

“I’m not profiting from anything. All I’m doing is, I started this long before the election. I want crypto. I think crypto’s important because if we don’t do it, China’s going to. And it’s new, it’s very popular, it’s very hot,” Trump said, adding that he hasn’t even “even looked” at how much he’s made from the venture.

Just days before taking office, Trump launched his own meme coin, which surged in value after it announced that top holders would be invited to an exclusive dinner at the president’s Washington-area golf club later this month and a tour of the White House. He also helped launch World Liberty Financial, another cryptocurrency venture, last year.

That’s in addition to a long list of other business ventures, from Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs his Truth Social site, to branded sneakers, watches and colognes and perfumes.

“Being president probably cost me money if you really look,” Trump said. “In fact, I do something that no other president has done, they think maybe George Washington has done.”

He added: “I contribute my entire salary to the government, back to the government. And I’m doing it again.”

Another TikTok deal extension

Trump said he is open to extending the deadline for a deal on TikTok once again.

“I’d like to see it done,” he said. “I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok. TikTok is — it’s very interesting, but it’ll be protected.

He later added: “If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension, might not need it.”

Last month, Trump used executive action to keep TikTok running in the U.S. for another 75 days to give his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership.

White House officials had believed they were close to a deal in which the app’s operations would have been spun off into a new company based in the U.S. and owned and operated by a majority of American investors. But Beijing hit the brakes after Trump slapped wide-ranging tariffs on nations across the globe.

“We actually have a deal. We have a group of purchasers, very substantial people. They’re going to pay a lot of money. It’s a good thing for us. It’s a good thing for China. It’s going to be, I think, very good,” he said. “But because of the fact that I’ve essentially cut off China right now with the tariffs that are so high that they’re not going to be able to do much business with the United States. But if we make a deal with China I’m sure that’ll be a subject, and it’ll be a very easy subject to solve.”

___

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

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The Dictatorship

How Trump’s trade deal and aid package affect American farmers

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How Trump’s trade deal and aid package affect American farmers

RANDOLPH, Minn. (AP) — When Donald Trump promised new tariffs while running for president, Gene Stehly worried that trade disputes would jeopardize his international sales of corn, soybeans and wheat.

A little more than a year later, Stehly said his fears have become a reality, and Trump’s latest promise of federal assistance is insufficient to cover American farmers’ losses.

“Maybe this will all come out to be better at the end, but I can tell you right now, it certainly isn’t the case at the moment,” Stehly said.

Trump announced Monday that his Republican administration would distribute $12 billion in one-time payments to farmerswho have suffered from persistently low commodity prices, rising costs and declining sales after China cut off all agricultural purchases from America during the trade war.

While rural areas remain conservative bastions, farmers’ patience with Washington is wearing thin. Several of them described the government bailout, an echo of similar policies during Trump’s first term, as a welcome stopgap but one that will not solve the agricultural industry’s problems.

“It’s a bridge. It’s not the ultimate solution we’re looking for,” said Charlie Radman, a fourth-generation farmer who grows corn and soybeans on the land his family has owned near Randolph, Minnesota, since 1899. “What we really want to have is a little more certainty and not have to rely on these ad hoc payments.”

But farmers support for Trump remains steadfast.

Kansas sorghum farmer Garrett Love, who was at the White House when the aid was announced, said farmers know that securing fair trade deals is a “hard process,” and farmers “appreciate lowering tax burdens, lowering regulations, increasing freedom, and Trump has definitely done that.”

Farmers caught up in trade war

American soybean and sorghum farmers typically export at least half their crops. They were hit the hardest by Trump’s trade dispute with China, the world’s largest buyer of soybeans that has increasingly relied on harvests from Brazil and other South American nations.

Trump and his Cabinet have boasted about the deal he struck with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October. But Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy, said this week that “agriculture trade cooperation between China and the United States is proceeding in an orderly manner” without giving specifics.

So far, China has bought only a little more than one-quarter of the 12 million metric tons of soybeans that U.S. officials said would be purchased before the end of February, raising doubts on whether Beijing would follow through on that pledge or commitments to buy 25 million metric tons annually in the next three years. China has not confirmed those numbers.

“In general, I don’t trust their motives and integrity of their promises,” said Bryant Kagay, who farms in northwest Missouri.

Even if China does buy the agreed amount of American soybeans, that would only bring U.S. farmers near to the amount they were selling every year before Trump took office.

That is a big part of why Minnesota farmer Glen Groth said he’d “like to see the administration focus more on opening up markets outside of China.” In addition to finding other international buyers, agriculture groups are pushing to expand domestic uses like biodiesel, ethanol, aviation fuel and animal feed.

Dan Keitzer, a soybean and corn farmer in southeast Iowa, said recent bumper crops and technological advancements that produce bigger harvests means that the industry needs more customers.

“I think most farmers would tell you that they don’t want to go to the mailbox and get a check from the government. That’s not why we farm,” he said. “We need more demand for our product.”

Aid is considered a Band-Aid

Trump has placated farmers with money before. During his first term, he provided $22 billion in 2019 to help cushion them from trade disputes with China. There was $46 billion in 2020, an expanded number that reflected financial challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $12 billion that he announced this week will not quell farmers’ fears about the future. They already are ordering supplies for next year’s crops and meeting with their bankers to discuss the loans they will need. But they’re trying to stay optimistic that crop prices will improve if they find more buyers. Farmers will find out exactly how much aid they can expect around Christmas.

The aid payments that are due to arrive by the end of February will be capped at $155,000 per farmer or entity, and only farms that make less than $900,000 in adjusted gross income will be eligible. During the first Trump administration, a number of large farms found ways around the payment limits and collected millions.

Farmers would like to see Trump aggressively tackle concerns about higher costs that are eating into their bottom line.

Trump signed an executive order over the weekend directing the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to investigate anti-competitive practices anywhere in the food supply chain, starting with the fertilizer, seed and equipment that farmers rely on and continuing to deal with meat packing companies and grocers who help determine what price consumers pay.

Tregg Cronin, who farms and ranches with his family in central South Dakota, said he’s grateful for the president’s acknowledgment that farmers are “caught in the middle” of the trade war.

But he said that any checks that farmers receive from the government will likely “get turned around and sent right out the door.”

___

Funk reported from Omaha, Neb. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

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Trump’s bullying of female journalists isn’t ‘frankness.’ It’s insulting.

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Trump’s bullying of female journalists isn’t ‘frankness.’ It’s insulting.

ByAri Bernick

It’s upsetting to have to advocate for respect in the workplace. It’s even more upsetting that the main offender is the president of the United States.

The most recent instance of the president directly attacking women in the media happened at the White House on Monday: “You are the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place,” the president said, berating ABC’s Rachel Scott, after she asked about video of the Sept. 2 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. “Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious, a terrible ― actually a terrible reporter, and it’s always the same thing with you.”

These public humiliations are outrageous.

Last week, the president diminished CNN’s Kaitlan Collins as “always Stupid and Nasty” in a social media post. Some of his other recent lows:

Remaining silent does a disservice to the women in the media who have come before me, those who stand alongside me and those who want to join the field in the future.

I might still be new to the industry, but I know female reporters deserve better.

It was not lost on me last month, seeing the attack on Rogers after a Times article about the president agingthat the president’s social media post did not scold or even mention the article’s male co-author.

Going after a female reporter’s looks and intelligence reminds me of things I learned in a media history class at Northwestern University: how women were excluded from newsrooms because people did not believe they had the intellectual capacity to be reporters, and how women used to be told to report on lifestyle and culture instead of “hard news” topics such as the economy. They were paid less, harassed more and were essentially told, “this isn’t for you.”

But journalism is for us.

These public humiliations are outrageous. And it’s frustrating to have spent four years studying how to ethically and accurately report only to see past injustices repeated and for the president to disrespect my chosen profession time and again.

But my larger concern is how this rhetoric could turn into action. In this administration, reporters have been turned away from the White House and Pentagon briefing rooms. What’s to stop the president from going even further?

I’m also worried about how the president’s rhetoric raises risks for me in my own work. For my job on the MS NOW social team, I spend a lot of time approaching people on the street for reactions to news stories. In October, for example, I interviewed several Chicagoans about how they felt about the National Guard deployments  in their city. The president’s aggressive behavior gives a green light for people to bash me for simply asking questions.

Asking difficult questions is crucial to journalism. Answering them is a responsibility of holding public office.

Asking difficult questions is crucial to journalism. Answering them is a responsibility of holding public office.

I shouldn’t have to spell this out but: No one should be berated for doing their jobs competently.

I’m standing up for my peers because I’m grateful for the previous generations that made my career path possible; for the journalism professors who encouraged me to speak the truth, boldly; and for female coworkers, producers and managers whose professionalism has mentored me directly and indirectly.

While the number of women going into journalism has increased, a 2024 study from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that the share of women in leadership positions in the field is still low. I worry that aspiring young journalists might feel reporting is not for them because of how the president treats women in the industry. I also worry that reporters might refrain from asking tough questions to avoid direct attacks from the commander-in-chief.

In 2015, when the president, then a candidate, made disparaging comments about Megyn Kelly after a Republican primary debate, the criticism that followed was widespread. More recently, some fellow reporters have denounced this disrespect of their colleagues and asked about the president’s behavior. Appallingly, the White House press secretary suggested everyone “should appreciate the frankness and the openness.”

Bullying wasn’t okay in a schoolyard, and it’s not okay coming from the Oval Office.

Ari Bernick

Ari Bernick is a production assistant on the MS NOW social team. She studied history and journalism at Northwestern University.

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The Dictatorship

The Trump administration’s bogus claim that it’s made Memphis safer

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The Trump administration’s bogus claim that it’s made Memphis safer

ByEarle J. Fisher

A year ago, the Department of Justice released a pattern and practice findings on the Memphis Police Department that documented systemic abuses and discriminatory enforcement that harmed Black residents. Twelve months later, instead of real reform or positive federal oversight, Memphis has been drawn into a national political performance. At the center is the Memphis Safe Task Forcea political creation of the Trump administration and a clear example of punitive populism, the latest expression of what Alec Karakatsanis names “Copaganda.”

The task force has initiated more than 35,000 traffic stops.

The task force has made more than 3,100 arrests since Oct. 1. Roughly 1,900 of them are for nonviolent offenses. During the same period, the task force has initiated more than 35,000 traffic stops. These numbers appear on a city dashboard that community members have criticized for lacking detail, yet local law enforcement and city/state officials are already being used as evidence of crime reduction. What the numbers actually show is the volume of enforcement, not the presence of genuine reform.

The Trump administration is presenting Memphis to the nation as a model of successful intervention by collapsing traffic stops, misdemeanors and immigration-related encounters into the broad category of crime control.

The Memphis Safe Task Force resembles earlier programs such as stop-and-frisk in New York, Blue CRUSH (Criminal Reduction Utilizing Statistical History) in Memphis and the “broken windows to the next level” policing approach that White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller has celebrated. It creates aggressive encounters with marginalized people to create the illusion that such encounters promote safety.

As was the case in so many cities across the country, violent crime in Memphis was declining before the task force was created, reaching what some described as a 25-year low. Crime was also at or near record lows in Chicago and Washington, two other cities where Trump has sent in troops. Though Attorney General Pam Bondi claims to have “reversed the trend of crime” in Memphis, that reversal was already underway.

The immigration data is even more revealing. Nearly 40% of local arrests tied to the task force involve immigration activity. Nationally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested almost 75,000 people with no criminal record. It’s unknown what the numbers show in Memphis. As the Tennessee Lookout reported last week, “Task Force officials initially reported immigration arrest numbers but have since stopped providing that data.”

But, in general, the operation has allowed officials to claim a crime crackdown even when people targeted are not linked to violent offenses. Here in Memphis, local and state officials want the public to conflate law enforcement activity with safety and accept an increase in activity as a substitute for accountability. They want to redirect attention away from the deeper rot in the Memphis Police Department that the DOJ report exposed.

The public is repeatedly shown selected numbers by Attorney General Bondi’s office — and echoed by local agencies and officials — to reinforce a predetermined story that the task force has created quick, measurable improvements, that these gains justify the erosion of civil liberties and that Memphis is safer because more people have been stopped or detained.

But public safety cannot be measured by the number of people funneled through the criminal legal system. Arrests and traffic stops are not evidence of transformation. They are only evidence of encounters. They say nothing about community trust or the changes required to prevent violence.

This narrative also obscures what has happened since the DOJ released its findings. Rather than embracing federal oversight, the mayor and city administration dismissed the report as “meaningless” and even asked a federal court to disregard it. They then announced another task force to study MPD oversight. Ten months later, that group has not published a single policy or recommendation. The structural problems identified by the DOJ remain unaddressed. In the vacuum created by this refusal to pursue real reform, political actors have substituted a storyline suggesting the city has already turned a corner.

The danger is not only local. When national leaders hold up Memphis as a model without scrutinizing the data, they normalize a strategy that encourages the public to equate policing with safety. One year after the DOJ confirmed what many residents had been saying for decades, we deserve more than political theater.

Other cities with problematic law enforcement agencies deserve more, too: reforms guided by independent oversight, transparency that distinguishes perception from reality and a public safety strategy rooted in truth. Instead, we’ve been offered a spectacle. And the Trump administration is promoting Memphis as a success story even as the underlying issues that threaten our safety remain unresolved.

Earle J. Fisher

The Rev. Earle J. Fisher, Ph.D. is Senior Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church (Memphis), founder of  #UPTheVote901 and author of “The Rev. Albert Cleage Jr., and the Black Prophetic Tradition: A Reintroduction of The Black Messiah”published by Lexington Books.

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