Tick…tick…tick

Hellooooo!! Anybody home?

We continue to wonder aloud where the red line is, beyond which we will no longer tolerate Trump, his grifts, his minions, and his policies. I have identified three primary reasons for our stunning lack of clarity:

1. “Red line” is an inapt metaphor. There are limits to what Trump can do within the Constitution, but there isn’t one clear point that defines when we are officially done with Donald Trump.

2. The people with the authority and credibility to define the red line keep moving it.

3. Remember what I said last week about lagging indicators? It is possible that we will only see in retrospect whether the red line was, in fact, a turning point.

Keeping up with our red line is like Charlie Brown trying to keep up with Lucy’s football. Let’s say the football represents Trump, MAGA, fascism, oligarchy, and every other existential threat to us. We see it, we know we have to kick it away, so we keep on trying, even though the football placement (aka red line) moves every single time.

The reason we need a red line is because we more or less agree that crossing it will mark our entry into “constitutional crisis.” Trump’s been whizzing past our red lines for the past decade, so our leaders just keep changing the line at which a constitutional crisis begins. The latest red line flout was, according to Chuck Shumer, when Trump defied a Supreme Court order.

He did that on Monday April 14, 2025. Reporters called him on it, in an Oval Office meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. It went like this. I’ve edited the exchange that ensued for clarity and brevity:

What is happening?

Something is happening on multiple issues, mostly involving a judicial intervention. Since those wheels seem to turn at a glacial pace, I will make a summarized list of what steps are currently underway. You know these already, but there’s something about seeing them all in a bundle that may help you feel a little less forsaken by our government.

1. Findings of Probable Cause for Contempt: Multiple federal judges have determined there is probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court for violating judicial orders. For instance, a judge found probable cause that the administration acted in contempt when it defied orders to turn around deportation flights carrying alleged gang members to El Salvador.

2. Legal Proceedings and Court Orders: Courts have issued directives demanding the administration comply with orders to facilitate the return of wrongly deported individuals, such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and to provide updates on efforts to do so. Judges have ordered the administration to testify about their compliance and to submit detailed reports on their actions.

3. Potential Criminal Contempt Charges: Judges have indicated that the administration's actions could lead to criminal contempt charges. For example, Judge Boasberg emphasized that the administration's "willful disobedience" during deportation flights could result in criminal contempt proceedings.

4. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen travels to El Salvador intent on seeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia and securing his release.

5. Calls for Broader Congressional Action: Other Democratic lawmakers, such as Representative Maxwell Frost (D-FL), have publicly condemned the deportation and detention of Abrego Garcia, calling it kidnapping and unlawful detention.

6. Bernie Sanders (I - VT) and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D - NY) are barnstorming the country drawing crowds in the tens of thousands, protesting the Trump regime.

7. Public protests demanding the return of Abrego Garcia are happening across the country.

8. Harvard University and Susman Godfrey law firm are among the heavy hitters daring to resist Trump’s extortion attempts. Slowly, others are standing with them. Stanford University published a letter in support of Harvard. So far, four other big law firms are following suit with Susman Godfrey.

How’s everyone holding up?

I’ll be frank with you. I would prefer my constitutional crises to be a lot crisper than this. I needed something dramatic to happen the moment Trump confirmed that he did not intend to return Abrego Garcia to his family. At that moment, I felt the country should shut down and have Trump & Co. detained. Right then and right there.

It turns out that constitutional crises aren’t very much like other kinds of crises. “Rapid response” takes on a different meaning. The evidence in the section above suggests the country’s leaders ARE responding. (“rapidity” being relative…) It also turns out that constitutional crises aren’t like chess with a definitive end marker called “checkmate.” If this, indeed, is the beginning of the end of the Trump regime, it won’t happen all at once, nor will it be clear that the path we’re on is the right one.

Compared to a chess game, constitutional crisis is more like dealing with a car that’s stuck in the mud. It may take multiple people pushing and rocking the car until the car gains enough traction to drive itself out of trouble. It is the determination of the people rocking the car that makes the difference between getting out and staying stuck.

We, the people, are the car-rockers in this particular cataclysm. Our job is to keep it rocking for however long it takes. Assume we will prevail, but be ready to march in an endless sea of protests and shout out at a gazillion town halls and make a million phone calls to your elected representatives.

April 19 is the next Hands Off rally in all fifty states. Protesters need to outnumber the crowds on April 5, so be there if at all possible.

April 20, according to unverified rumors, is when Trump may declare another one of his national emergencies, this time the Insurrection Act of 1807, and decree martial law. If that happens, there may be a brief silence while we all gather back our internal organs from off the floor. Don’t worry if nothing happens at first.

We will keep pushing and rocking this regime until it breaks apart. Remember that no one alive today has ever been through a constitutional crisis with a rogue president. Every one of us is in improv mode with this one, so we ought not panic every time there’s a bit of fumbling. What matters is that we stay together and that we never let up on the pressure.

What should be happening right now is that Republicans in the House should be beginning the impeachment process. That is the single remedy the constitution gives us for something like this. Of course, that just leaves us with a President J.D. Vance, who we may have to stomach until 2028. But if he starts pulling any of this Trumpian lawbreaking, Congress should be prepared to impeach him too.

Congress is where we need to keep up the pressure.

Previews of coming attractions

Here are a few things to keep an eye on. Not that you DO anything about it, but staying informed is essential. Here’s what I’m keeping an eye on:

• The IRS tries to rescind Harvard University’s tax exempt status.

• The DOGE/National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) data heist reported by a whistleblower. This story involves data theft, system sabotage, Russian agents logging into the system pretending to be DOGE agents, and a threatening note to the whistleblower, taped to the door of his home with photographs of him walking in his neighborhood taken via drone.

• Random assortment of the 195 legal actions filed against the Trump regime since January 2025.

Stuff is happening. Impeachment should be happening, but alas. What makes our situation so precarious is the near total breakdown of both political parties. Our job is to stay calm and keep up the pressure. I don’t know what will break first or how it will play out, but I do know that nothing can stand relentless bone-crushing pressure for ever.

This reminds me of one of my favorite movie lines of all time from “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:

"Everything will be alright in the end... if it's not alright then it's not yet the end"

If you feel alone, remember: I’ve got my eyes on you. I see you.

Song of the Day

“Somebody Just Like You” — Bjorn Dixgard

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Keep on keepin’ on,

Cindy