The Dictatorship
Trump and Bukele must think Americans are either ignorant or incredibly gullible
Late Thursday, a unanimous Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garciathe Salvadoran citizen who was in the United States legally but illegally rendered to a Salvadoran prison over what the administration admits was an “administrative error.” Now the same administration that claims the U.S. can take over Greenland and Canada is pretending it can’t dictate policy to another country. “If they want to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday during an Oval Office meeting between Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. “That’s up for El Salvador if they want to return him,” she argued.
Bukele, for his part, completed the shell game: “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States,” he insisted. But the U.S. can do far more than “provide a plane” to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. When the White House asserts it is out of ideas for how to bring him back, don’t believe it.
The White House has deployed a wide range of tactics to secure the compliance of those over which it has little direct or legitimate authority.
The Trump administration has attempted — not very successfully — to use on-again-off-again tariffs to try to bend foreign governments to its will. It has attacked law firms to punish them for past perceived slights of the president, to get them to refrain from suing the administration in the future and to force them to serve the policy goals of the administration. It has slashed billions of dollars in contracts with and grants to America’s most prestigious research universities for not serving the Trump administration’s interests.
In other words, the White House has deployed a wide range of tactics — mostly on dubious legal grounds — to secure the compliance of those over which it has little direct or legitimate authority. As the Trump administration suddenly draws a blank on how it could pressure the Salvadoran government to return Abrego Garcia, then, no one should take such claims seriously.
If the administration’s position is that once anyone is outside U.S. territory and custody, courts cannot order their return — no matter how illegal or unconstitutional that rendition — what would stop the federal government from sending anyone, citizen and noncitizen alike, to a prison camp in some other part of the world without recourse? To put it bluntly: nothing. Under this logic, if the administration could do this to this individual, literally no one is safe, provided they are whisked out of U.S. government custody and control.
With its ruling Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected this sort of race-to-the-border logic. Now that the Supreme Court has stepped in and ordered Abrego Garcia’s return, it is up to the Trump administration to comply. But the court’s unanimous order also leaves the White House a little wiggle room. The court found that one aspect of the lower court’s directive, that the administration “effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return, was “unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority.” It directed the lower court to “clarify” that directive, “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.” At the same time, it also found that the administration “should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”
If the administration, and the trial court, are looking for some guidance on what steps the government could take to “effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return, they need not look past the free-wheeling actions of the administration over the last month for some tactics for achieving that goal. The playbook from which it is drawing its current tactics is full of ways to bring Abrego Garcia home. And it won’t take much.
The U.S. government could pressure the Salvadoran government in any number of ways, like it has other nations and institutions.
The U.S. pays El Salvador to detain deported migrants like Abrego Garcia. The administration could threaten to cut those funds or suspend future transfers unless he is returned. It could increase tariffs. It could assert the power to increase tariffs on other countries that do business with El Salvador. It could cut foreign aid to the country. Indeed, the U.S. government could pressure the Salvadoran government in any number of ways, like it has other nations and institutions. If it even hinted that it might consider any of these tactics, Abrego Garcia would be on the next flight home. That it refused to even try speaks volumes.
In the long run, as at least some members of the court recognize, any judicial ruling short of ordering the Trump administration to secure the return of Abrego Garcia will simply encourage the federal government to deport individuals — noncitizens and citizens alike — and place them in the hands of a foreign power as quickly as possible, putting them out of the supposed reach of the law and the Constitution. In a statement appended to the court’s order, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson warned of this possibility: “The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.”
For now, the Supreme Court did not say exactly how the Trump administration should comply with its orders, but the justices at least did what they had to do in this setting: declare these actions illegal. If the Trump administration does not move to bring Abrego Garcia home, it will only raise the stakes. The courts should not tolerate the White House’s feigned powerlessness, especially when it has tried to stretch the bounds of its own power in so many other contexts.
Ray Brescia
Ray Brescia is a professor of law at Albany Law School and author of the forthcoming book “The Private Is Political: Identity and Democracy in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism.”
MOUNT POCONO, Pa. (AP) — On the road in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Donald Trump tried to emphasize his focus on combating inflation, yet the issue that has damaged his popularity couldn’t quite command his full attention.
The president told the crowd gathered at a casino and resort in Mount Pocono that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats had used the term “affordability” as a “hoax” to hurt his reputation. But his remarks weaved wildly to include grievances he first raised behind closed doors in his first term in 2018 — and later denied saying — asking why the U.S. doesn’t have more immigrants from Scandinavia.
“Why is it we only take people from s—-hole countries, right?” Trump said onstage. “Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few?”
Trump said he objected to taking immigrants from “hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries.” He added for emphasis that those places “are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”
Tuesday’s gathering in the swing state — and in a competitive House district — was an official White House event, yet it seemed more like one of his signature campaign rallies that his chief of staff said he would hold regularly ahead of next year’s midterms. But instead of being in an arena that could draw several thousand attendees, it was held in a conference center ballroom at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, a small town of about 3,000 residents.
Voters starting to blame lasting inflation on Republicans
Following dismal results for Republicans in last month’s off-cycle elections, the White House has sought to convince voters that the economy will emerge stronger next year and that any anxieties over inflation have nothing to do with Trump.
He displayed a chart comparing price increases under his predecessor, Joe Biden, to prices under his own watch to argue his case. But the overall inflation rate has climbed since he announced broad tariffs in April and left many Americans worried about their grocery, utility and housing bills.
“I have no higher priority than making America affordable again,” Trump said. “They caused the high prices and we’re bringing them down.”
As the president spoke, his party’s political vulnerabilities were further seen as Miami voters chose Eileen Higgins to be their first Democratic mayor in nearly 30 years. Higgins defeated the Trump-endorsed Republican Emilio Gonzalez.
The president’s reception in the county hosting his Tuesday rally showed he could still appeal to the base, but it was unable to settle questions of whether he could hold together his 2024 coalition. Monroe County flipped to Trump last year after having backed Biden in 2020, helping the Republican win the swing state of Pennsylvania and return to the White House after a four-year hiatus.
As home to the Pocono Mountains, the county has largely relied on tourism for skiing, hiking, hunting and other activities as a source of jobs. Its proximity to New York City — under two hours by car — has also attracted people seeking more affordable housing.
In Monroe County, people agree that prices are a problem
But what seems undeniable — even to Trump supporters in Monroe County — is that inflation seems to be here to stay.
Lou Heddy, a retired maintenance mechanic who voted for Trump last year, said he’s noticed in the past month alone that his and his wife’s grocery bills have risen from $175 to $200, and he’s not sure Trump can bring food prices down.
“Once the prices get up for food, they don’t ever come back down. That’s just the way I feel. I don’t know how the hell he would do it,” said Heddy, 72.
But Suzanne Vena, a Democratic voter, blames Trump’s tariffs for making life more expensive, as she struggles with rising bills for food, rent and electricity on a fixed income. She remembers Trump saying that he would stop inflation.
“That’s what we were originally told,” said Vena, 66. “Did I believe it? That’s another question. I did not.”
The area Trump visited could help decide control of the House in next year’s midterm elections.
Trump held his rally in a congressional district held by first-term Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahanwho is a top target of Democrats. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, a Democrat, is running for the nomination to challenge him.
Speaking to the crowd before Trump, Bresnahan said the administration was working to lower costs, but voters “aren’t asking for partisan arguments — they’re asking for results.”
It’s not clear if Trump can motivate voters in Monroe County to show up in next year’s election if they’re worried about inflation.
Nick Riley, 38, said he’s cutting back on luxuries, like going out to eat, as he absorbs higher bills for food and electricity and is having a hard time finding a good deal on a used car. Riley voted for Trump in 2020, but he sat out the 2024 election and plans to do so again next year.
“We’re all broke. It doesn’t matter whether you support Republicans or support Democrats,” Riley said. “We’re all broke, and we’re all feeling it.”
Trump to start holding more rallies before midterm elections
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said on the online conservative talk show “The Mom View” that Trump would be on the campaign trail next year to engage supporters who otherwise might sit out a congressional race.
Wiles, who helped manage Trump’s 2024 campaign, said most administrations try to localize midterm elections and keep the president out of the race, but she intends to do the opposite of that.
“We’re actually going to turn that on its head,” Wiles said, “and put him on the ballot because so many of those low-propensity voters are Trump voters.”
The challenge for Trump is how to address the concerns of voters about the economy while simultaneously claiming that the economy is enjoying a historic boom.
Asked on a Blue Light News podcast how he’d rate the economy, Trump leaned into grade inflation by answering “A-plus,” only to then amend his answer to “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.”
Trump says economy is strong, but Americans should buy fewer dolls
The U.S. economy has shown signs of resilience with the stock market up this year and overall growth looking solid for the third quarter. But many Americans see the prices of housing, groceries, education, electricity and other basic needs as swallowing up their incomes, a dynamic that the Trump administration has said it expects to fade next year with more investments in artificial intelligence and manufacturing.
So far, the public has been skeptical about Trump’s economic performance. Just 33% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, according to a November survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
But Trump indicated that his tariffs and other policies were helping industries such as the steel sector. He said those industries mattered for the country as he then specifically told Americans that they should buy fewer pencils and dolls from overseas.
“You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter,” he told the crowd. “Two or three is nice.”
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Boak reported from Washington.
President Donald Trump won’t be getting his wish. ABC said Monday it has signed late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel to a one-year contract extension.
Kimmel’s previous, multiyear contract had been set to expire next May, so the extension will keep him on the air until at least May 2027.
Kimmel’s future looked questionable in September, when ABC suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for remarks made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Following a public outcry, ABC lifted the suspension, and Kimmel returned to the air with much stronger ratings than he had before.
He continued his relentless joking at the president’s expense, leading Trump to urge the network to “get the bum off the air” in a social media post last month. The post followed Kimmel’s nearly 10-minute monologue on Trump and the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Kimmel was even on Trump’s mind Sunday as the president hosted the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington.
“I’ve watched some of the people that host,” Trump said. “I’ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible, and some of these people, if I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.”
Kimmel has hosted the Oscars four times, but he’s never hosted the Kennedy Center show.
Just last week, Kimmel was needling Trump on the president’s approval ratings. “There are gas stations on Yelp with higher approval ratings than Trump right now,” he said.
Kimmel will be staying longer than late-night colleague Stephen Colbert at CBS. The network announced this summer it was ending Colbert’s show next May for economic reasons, even though it is the top-rated network show in late-night television.
ABC has aired Kimmel’s late-night show since 2003, during a time of upheaval in the industry. Like much of broadcast television, late-night ratings are down. Viewers increasingly turn to watching monologues online the day after they appear.
Most of Kimmel’s recent renewals have been multiyear extensions. There was no immediate word on whose choice it was to extend his current contract by one year.
Bill Carter, author of “The Late Shift” and veteran chronicler of late-night TV, cautioned against reading too much into the length of the extension. Kimmel, at age 58, knows he’s getting close to the end of the line, Carter said, but when he leaves, he doesn’t want it to appear under pressure from Trump or anyone.
“He wants to make sure that it’s on his terms,” Carter said.
Kimmel has become one of the leading voices resisting Trump. “I think it’s important for him and for ABC that they are standing up for him,” Carter said.
Following Kirk’s killing, Kimmel was criticized for saying that “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” The Nexstar and Sinclair television ownership groups said it would take Kimmel off the air, leading to ABC’s suspension.
When he returned to the air, Kimmel did not apologize for his remarks, but he said he did not intend to blame any specific group for Kirk’s assassination. He said “it was never my intention to make the light of the murder of a young man.”
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night visit to the swing state of Pennsylvania was billed by administration officials as part of an ongoing, broader effort to reshape perceptions of an economy that many Americans say is failing to meet their needs.
But what viewers actually got was a meandering speech in which the president doubled down on his prior assessment of affordability as a partisan “hoax” before blasting former President Joe Biden as “a sleepy son of a b—-,” praising White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s “beautiful face and those lips that don’t stop” talking, and railing against Somali immigrants in Minnesota — among other issues unrelated to the economy.
It took 15 minutes into his speech before Trump first uttered the word “affordable” — and it wasn’t long before he began railing against the concept entirely.
“They have a new word, you know?” Trump said of Democrats. “They always have a hoax. The new word is ‘affordability.’ So they look at the camera and they say, ‘This election is all about affordability.’”
Later, Trump contradicted those comments.
“I can’t say ‘affordability hoax,’ because I agree the prices were too high, so I can’t go to ‘hoax’ because they’ll misconstrue that,” he said.
Beneath a banner touting “LOWER PRICES, BIGGER PAYCHECKS,” Trump sought to paint an optimistic picture of economic conditions and blame Democrats for everyday Americans’ struggles.
“They gave you high prices,” Trump said. “They gave you the highest inflation in history, and we’re bringing those prices down rapidly — lower prices, bigger paychecks.”
Between mocking Biden’s alleged cognitive decline and railing against the Democratic-led impeachments he faced in his first term, Trump touted a drop in the prices of eggs and Thanksgiving turkeys. He brought onstage local workers whom he said benefitted from his policiesincluding eliminating taxes on tips and overtime work. And he made several dubious claims — about newly-created jobs going entirely to American citizens and wage growth for factory workers and miners — that do not appear to be supported by publicly available evidence.
Trump’s comments came the same day that, in an interview with Blue Light News’s Dasha Burns, the president graded the economy under his leadership “an A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus,” and insisted that “prices are coming down.”
But the reality is more complex, and the White House has scrambled to soften some of the harsher consequences of the administration’s economic policies. Last month, the White House rolled back tariffs on dozens of food products in an effort to reduce rising prices for consumers. And on Monday, the administration rolled out a $12 billion aid package for farmers who have been hit by Trump’s trade war.
“We gave the farmers a little help, $12 billion, and they are so happy, and all they want is a level playing field,” Trump said Tuesday night. “And now it’s happening, and the tariffs are making them rich.”
Other measures cannot be so easily undone. The Trump-backed “Big Beautiful Bill” enacted historic cuts to both Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which many low-income Americans rely on to afford health care and groceries. More than 20 million low- and middle-income Americans are about to be walloped with skyrocketing health care premiums if Congress does not extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies by the end of the year.
Nonetheless, Trump claimed during his speech that the ACA itself — which he called a “scam” — is behind the rising costs of premiums.
Polls show American consumers are feeling the squeeze, and many — including a substantial number of Trump supporters — hold the president responsible for rising prices. A new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll out Tuesday shows that affordability and inflation remain top concerns for voters, and that a majority of voters think Trump’s tariffs are hurting the economy.
A Politico poll released last week found that almost half of respondents — including 37 percent of Trump voters — say the cost of living is the worst they ever remember. And a Fox News poll released in November found about twice as many voters blame Trump for the economy than blame former Biden.
Democrats seized on these findings while slamming Trump’s attempted messaging pivot.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz,”https://x.com/Tim_Walz/status/1998509867439673543?s=20″>wrote on X: “Go buy groceries and tell me the economy is A+.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told Politico’s Playbook newsletter on Tuesday afternoon that Trump’s five-A-pluses assessment of the economy “does not reflect the reality on the ground here in a community where many Pennsylvanians voted for him in the last election.”
“The record is clear: his policies have hurt the very communities that propelled him to the White House,” Shapiro said, hours ahead of Trump’s visit to the commonwealth. “Trump’s tariffs and economic policies have raised prices at the grocery store, shuttered markets for our farmers, hurt our manufacturers, and dramatically increased the cost of living for Pennsylvanians.”
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW.
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