A White House statement Tuesday about a federal district judge’s ruling on Trump’s executive order on “sanctuary cities” did not mince words. It emphasized — more than once — that the judge who just ruled against the administration is not an elected official.
.. Trump is sending a dangerous message in his latest attack on the judiciary: “As the leader of the free world, I should be able to do what I choose. The court shouldn’t be able to get involved.”
Geyh said that attitude shows a lack of understanding of the equal roles of the three branches of government, specifically of the judiciary’s job to serve as a check on the executive branch.
.. “Presidents have disagreed with court rulings all the time. What’s unusual is he’s essentially challenging the legitimacy of the court’s role. And he’s doing that without any reference to applicable law,” Geyh told The Washington Post. “That they are blocking his order is all the evidence he needs that they are exceeding their authority.”
“That’s worse than wrong,” Geyh added. “On some level, that’s dangerous.”
.. Trumps’s attacks on the federal judiciary began even before he took office.
.. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel was the target of racially tinged remarks by the Republican presidential nominee last June. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said that Curiel’s ethnicity should have disqualified him from presiding over fraud lawsuits against the now-defunct Trump University.
He argued that because of his hard-line immigration policies, having a judge of Mexican heritage preside over a lawsuit against him presented an “absolute conflict” of interest.
.. “They ought to look into Judge Curiel because what Judge Curiel is doing is a total disgrace. Okay?”
Radio Lab: Nukes
President Richard Nixon once boasted that at any moment he could pick up a telephone and – in 20 minutes – kill 60 million people. Such is the power of the US President over the nation’s nuclear arsenal. But what if you were the military officer on the receiving end of that phone call? Could you refuse the order?
This episode, we profile one Air Force Major who asked that question back in the 1970s and learn how the very act of asking it was so dangerous it derailed his career. We also pick up the question ourselves and pose it to veterans both high and low on the nuclear chain of command. Their responses reveal once and for all whether there are any legal checks and balances between us and a phone call for Armageddon.
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria: Trump ‘Has Succeeded By BullSh-tting’
Zakaria said, “I think the president is somewhat indifferent to things that are true or false. He has spent his whole life bullshitting. He has succeeded by bullshitting. He has gotten the presidency by bullshitting. It’s very hard to tell somebody at that point that bullshit doesn’t work because look at results. Right? But that’s what he does. He sees something he doesn’t particularly care if it’s true or not. Just puts it out there and then he puts something else out. Notice again at the press conference, when pushed on it, does take responsibility. ‘I wasn’t saying that just quoting somebody else.’ When you have the White House press secretary quote somebody to prove a point, you’re endorsing that view.”
White House attacks on CBO could set up months of brawling
The committee, she said, “sees this issue as important and pressing and we hope to do all that we can as a peace church to protect people in our community … according to our religious convictions, our constitutional rights and Lancaster County’s history of supporting immigrants.”
.. On Monday, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters that part of the CBO report was “absurd,” and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said, “We disagree strenuously with the report that was put out.”.. Hall, a conservative economist, responded to the email, Hoagland said, writing that “he was doing the job he’s paid to do.”.. Its analysis, for example, of the White House’s proposed tax cut plan could find that large reductions in corporate or individual tax rates could lead to a big spike in the deficit. It could also issue a report about the economic impact of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border... “They appointed this person,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “He was supposed to be a conservative person. Unfortunately for Republicans, he’s also an honest person.”.. “I’m concerned about it, but let’s face it, this is a tough baby to take care of and there will be some people who are left out,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). “There isn’t enough money in the world to cover everybody the way they’d like to be covered.”.. Hall was hand-picked for the CBO job in 2015 by congressional Republicans, including Price, who at the time was a GOP congressman from Georgia... The Obama administration routinely objected to CBO assessments, but it often challenged CBO’s methodology or forecast modeling and didn’t dismiss reports outright.