There are two headlines on the front page of the New York Times today that got me thinking. The first is “U.S. Military Attacked a Boat off of Venezuela, Killing Four Men,” this is according to the “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth, a tough guy who sports white nationalist tattoos. The second reads: “Supreme Court Lets Donald Revoke Deportation Protections for Venezuelans.” The subhead of the second article is: “It was the second time in four months that the justices had agreed to allow a group of more than 300,000 migrants to be deported.” 300,000! Are they all criminals? Are they all murderers, rapists, and insane asylum escapees? The subhead for the article about the US military destroying another boat and murdering four people reads: “It was the fourth strike in the Trump administrations legally disputed campaign targeting suspected drug runners in the Caribbean Sea.”
What’s the problem here? Let’s start with the military attacks on random boats in the Caribbean that just happen to be Venezuelan. There is literally no evidence that the people on these boats were drug runners. None. If there were any on those boats, it’s gone. And we know nothing about the people who were murdered. I’m using the word “murdered” intentionally.
The Times uses the term “legally disputed” to describe the military strikes. But is there really any ambiguity here? Is this a gray area? Is it perhaps completely legal for a president of the United States to order military strikes on small vessels by claiming that this is a national security issue? Is America so weak that a four-man vessel in the Caribbean Sea poses some existential threat to us? Is that the claim that we are using to justify these actions?
In addition to the fact that potentially innocent people are being targeted and murdered by the US military, there are a few other troubling things about this. For instance, there’s a real possibility that these strikes are illegal, and therefore the people carrying out the orders to commit them are following illegal orders, which is not something that people in the military are supposed to do. They are indeed supposed to refuse to follow illegal orders. And then of course there’s the whole idea of protocol and due process.
Let’s say—for the sake of argument—that these were, indeed, drug runners. What is the punishment for that crime? I don’t know. I have no idea. I assume that it depends on how many drugs one is trying to smuggle or on how big the smuggling operation is. It might also depend on whether people died as a result of the drugs that were sold to them. I have no clue what the sentence for such a crime would be. What I do know is this: the sentence is not murder.
Even if the sentence for such a crime were the death penalty, that is not the sentence that was carried out in these instances. The people on those boats were denied their due process rights. First of all, there was no demonstration that a crime had been committed in the first place. If, as is usually the case, the Coast Guard had boarded the boats and found evidence of a crime, arrested the people on the boat and taken them into custody; if the suspects were arraigned and indicted; if they’d been tried in a court of law and found guilty, they would’ve been sentenced.
None of that happened.
The people on those boats were denied their rights to that process. Indeed, the punishment for their alleged crimes (for which there is literally no evidence, except Donald’s say-so) was to be murdered. We are currently being governed by a lawless regime. It is indeed a regime that is above the law, thanks to the corrupt, illegitimate super-majority of the Supreme Court. And they see what’s going on; they see the context in which all of this is unfolding. And yet, they continue to grant Donald, in particular, and the Trump regime in general, more power.
Why? Why is the corrupt, illegitimate super-majority of this Supreme Court so driven to create an imperial presidency, which goes against every single ideal enshrined in the founding document that they—more than anybody else in this country—should be protecting and defending. The Constitution should be interpreted to maximize the rights of the American people. The Court should maintain that the three co-equal branches of government are, indeed, separate but equal.
I don’t know the answer. But that question needs to be asked constantly. At some point, I hope those six people in that corrupt illegitimate supermajority are finally, at long last, made to answer that question. I hope theyare be held to account. In the meantime, all we can assume is that they are indeed corrupt to their core, without any end sight.
Let’s dive in.
Hello everybody, and welcome to tonight’s episode of Mary Trump Live. It is great to have you here.
It’s day three of the government shutdown. White House Press Secretary, Eva Braun—I think I should just call her that—took questions from reporters today. Although, I don’t know why they bother asking them, because she just lies. Leavitt covered everything from Donald’s illegal, unconstitutional takeovers of American cities, to the government shutdown. And she didn’t tell the truth once.
First, Leavitt threatened Portland, Oregon, foreshadowing the military invasion that seems to be impending because Donald saw old footage on Fox of the 2020 Portland riots that occurred in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and thought that was the situation on the ground in Portland right now. It’s almost as if Donald doesn’t have the entire federal government at his fingertips to provide him with up-to-date information. Here’s what Leavitt had to say:
Donald will end the radical left’s reign of terror in Portland once and for all. The president has directed Secretary Hegseth to provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland in any ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa and other left-wing domestic terrorists.
It’s difficult to put into words how dangerous this is. I’m having a hard time articulating how irresponsible it is to claims that an American city is “War-ravaged” because of the radical left lunatics. Portland is “war-ravaged” because, according to Leavitt, because Democrats live there and Democrats run the government. The city is an unspeakable hellscape of violence and lives are at risk because of the Democrats. And that kind of false rhetoric puts Democrats at risk because if you believe Democrats are declaring war on American cities, then you will believe they should be stopped.
When asked about ridiculous memes and other tasteless posts about government layoffs that Donald has been posting on his failed social media platform (because he loves, loves putting people out of work), Leavitt downplayed Donald’s callousness, and came up with some quite novel excuses. A reporter questioned Leavitt:
You just said this is an unenviable choice, that this is an ‘unfortunate consequence.’ But the [Donald] has described this as an unprecedented opportunity to lay off additional workers. He’s posted a video likening Russ Vought to the grim reaper. So which is this? Is this an opportunity to fire more workers, or an unfortunate consequence?
Leavitt responded:
Look, [Donald] likes to have a little fun every now and then, and I think both things can be true at the same time. The Democrats have given the administration this opportunity, and we don’t like laying people off. Nobody takes joy in that around here, and if you think that, then I think that’s very sad. You view the White House and our staff as wanting to put people out of work. Nobody wants to do that, but sometimes in government you have to make tough decisions.
The Trump regime had been putting people out of work since January 20th, 2025, led initially by Elon Musk at the Department of Government Efficiency. They have been firing people right and left or forcing people out by making it impossible for them to continue in careers the careers they’ve dedicated their lives to. Much worse than that, they’ve, in a very short period of time, destroyed the life work of thousands of people. Is it okay to have fun with that? Well, guess who still a job and guess who’s still getting paid? That horrific disgrace of a human being.
Leavitt was also asked about undocumented workers receiving Medicaid dollars, which by the way, is not something that happens in this country. This is MAGA’s recent rationale for not negotiating with Democrats to come up with a budget deal. Again, undocumented workers do not receive Medicaid—or Medicare or Social Security. To get a sense of just how misleading Leavitt’s pressers are, let’s look no further than this bizarre question, which was almost certainly a setup.
Here’s what the reporter asked:
This week, the Democrats have chosen illegals over hardworking Hispanic Americans during Hispanic Heritage Month, causing the White House to cancel the celebration with the President. Is the President open to letting the Hispanics, who overwhelmingly voted for him, have their own ‘Siesta Fiesta’ on the White House lawn opposed to the fancy-- we don’t need fancy-schmancy, right? You can give us the backyard and we’ll fill it all in and have in our own fiesta. Is the President open to that?
Leavitt seemed amused:
I had no idea she was going to ask that question. I just want to preface that-- I’ve never met you. I just want to say that, but welcome to the briefing room. I love your energy. I can’t personally unilaterally promise the South Lawn grounds. We have some construction going on out there, but I do think-- I know-- that everyone here views it as very unfortunate we had to cancel or hopefully just reschedule the Hispanic American Heritage Month event, and it’s because we are working around-the-clock during this government shutdown. So, when the Democrats vote to reopen the government, that event will be back in the planning stages.
The White House briefing room has been reduced to a propaganda and disinformation factory, led by the worst press secretary in American history. She would have fit right in with the Third Reich. If Leavitt heard that characterization, she would be very proud of it. That’s how awful she is.
We have the latest on Donald’s chaotic Chicago takeover attempt. Today, federal agents clashed with protestors at the Broadview ICE facility in Illinois. The conflict led to at least five arrests. One especially tense moment occurred when DHS secretary and puppy murderer Kristi Noem, who clearly has nothing better to do, appeared for a photo-op on the roof of this facility.
In response to this display, Governor JB Pritzker demanded Noem hold a press conference and face questions about ongoing immigration raids in the Chicago area, saying
Illinois is not a photo opportunity or war zone. It’s a sovereign state where our people deserve rights, respect, and answers.’ Now this all comes after Illinois State Police set up concrete barriers overnight to designate protest zones to try to ease tensions between demonstrators and federal agents. The area has been overwhelmed at times in recent weeks, leading to confrontations with agents repeated deployment of tear gas, and multiple arrests.
Is Chicago another war-torn American city that Donald must come in and rescue? No. J.B. Pritzker is one of the best governors we have, and he understands exactly what’s going on. He understands that this is fascism, and that the United States government is a fascistic authoritarian regime that will stop at nothing to convince (at least some) Americans that the problem, the enemy from within, is people like us.
Luckily, Pritzker is on the ball, but I don’t know exactly what he can do to stop this federal incursion into a sovereign state and city. I do know it’s going to keep getting worse. There’s no backstop here. The Supreme Court isn’t going to lift a finger and even if in the unlikely event they decided that what the Trump regime was doing is unconstitutional and must stop, how are they going to make that happen?
This week, in keeping with the trend to fire people simply because they worked on a case that attempted to hold Donald accountable, or they expressed some disagreement with the Trump regime, or they flew the wrong flag, Donald’s DOJ fired Michael Ben’Ary, the top national security prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia. Many presume that Ben’Ary had been dismissed for opposing the indictment of James Comey. Now Ben’Ary insists he did nothing of the sort. On his way out, the longtime prosecutor wrtoe a note and posted it on the door of his office.
CNN published a copy of the letter, which read in part:
I took an oath to the Constitution that requires you to follow the facts and the law wherever they lead, free from fear or favor and unhindered by political interference. In recent months, the political leadership of the department have violated these principles, jeopardizing our national security and making American citizens less safe.
Ben’Ary was forced out because he continues to believe in the rule of law. He continues to believe that nobody should be above the law. He continues to believe that the DOJ should not engage in politically motivated prosecutions. He continues to believe that there should be a wall between the executive branch and the DOJ. He continues to believe in quaint things, like due process.
Given that, I have no doubt Ben’Ary also believed the Comey indictment was incorrect. Being fired for that would’ve been bad enough. But the fact that he was fired under false pretense is a pretty bad sign of where we are right now as a country.
Sometimes it does feel that we’re losing momentum, or that the other side has so much momentum that we’re going to have a difficult time turning this thing around. It is upsetting to realize that perhaps the only way we can, at least in the short-term, stop the slow rot of the Trump regime.
In the meantime, things continue to get worse. The economy is a disaster. The shutdown, which could have been avoided if Republicans believed any more at all in bipartisanship and compromise, is awful for tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people in this country.
We know that Speaker Johnson just extended the House’s vacation for another three weeks. There is no movement in the Senate. The Democrats should be completely dug in here. They are not the ones who need to reach out to the Republicans. In fact, I would advocate against that entirely. Democrats need to stand firm unless until the Republicans make significant concessions. Because we are in a position where giving in at all to the Republicans is to make common cause with fascists. Making common cause with fascists normalizes them, justifies them in some way and that is a line we don’t want to cross. We already saw what happened back in March.
I don’t think that even those of us who pay very close attention to these things would’ve imagined just how quickly we have reached this place where we finally recognize that there are no guardrails. The judiciary will not save us. The Republican Party is a party of fascists, and its agenda is to support whatever the Trump regime does. It’s hard to believe how quickly we have reached this point at which government agencies either no longer exist or exist only to do the exact opposite of what they were created for.
The Department of Defense is now the Department of War. Health and Human Services is now in service to making Americans sicker and endangering the lives of our children. The Department of Education soon won’t exist at all; and the Department of State has no interest in diplomacy or statecraft. I can’t say anything optimistic right now. Sometimes our responsibility is to be very honest about where we are and how bad things are.
We should remember that what is true now has always been true, it’s just more vitally important now that we get it right. This is up to us. This year, we have four critical elections in New Jersey, Virginia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. There’s work that we can be doing right now. Let’s not wait. Let’s get our acts together right now and continue to put pressure on the Democrats to refuse to work with Republicans to end this shutdown because keeping this dangerous anti-American government open is the worst possible thing for the future of our country.
