Week 63
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It’s been a bad week for Donald Trump, so he is firing people. Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi so far, with more possible. This is an opportunity to strangle his government if the Democrats can stop his nominees. At the very least, getting people lined up for the jobs will slow him down and further frustrate him.
His easy-peasy Iran regime change is turning out to be harder than Venezuela’s. Turns out “They’re all brown people” is not sufficient for waging war.
The Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical of his Department of Justice’s arguments against birthright citizenship. Estimates I’ve seen for the decision range from 7-2 to 9-0. His glowering presence in the courtroom seems not to have done what he thought it would. Sam Alito was hospitalized a few weeks ago, but that could just have been an excess of Federalist Society fatty lunch. Let’s hope he hangs on until a Democratic Congress can block him.
The No Kings demonstrations last week included 8-9 million people, more than the previous one.
The war is going very badly, with Iran in charge of the Strait of Hormuz and shockingly resistant to Trump’s all-caps screeds on Truth Social. They even shot down a couple of US planes. One of the pilots is still missing. One of Trump’s fears about the war is said to be that it will turn out like Jimmy Carter’s attempt to release the hostages.
Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s Chief of Staff and the head chaplain of the military. Both Trump and Hegseth are promising war crimes in Iran.
Something good happened, which probably contributes to Trump’s bad mood. Namely, a diverse group of four astronauts are on their way to the Moon. A woman, a Canadian, a Black man, and a white American man are all in that capsule, a little more than halfway there. The liftoff was picture perfect, and they are sending back some great pictures. The picture of the Earth above features auroras on the upper right and lower left, and Zodiacal light (scattering by dust) is the white edging.
Follow the court-watchers for the details of the lawsuits. Chris Geidner (LawDork, Bluesky), Roger Parloff (Lawfare, Bluesky), and the Just Security tracker.
Let’s stay away from hypotheticals, as usual. Post your pets.
145 more weeks to go. What are you doing?
Previous weeks: Week 10, Week 20, Week 30, Week 40, Week 50, Week 60, Week 61, Week 62