Heather Cox Richardson: “From the time he took office in January 2025, Trump and his cronies have not simply challenged laws or constitutional provisions. They have acted as if the Constitution doesn’t exist.... Their actions align with the strategy of Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt, whose writings seem lately to have captivated leaders on the American right. Schmitt opposed liberal democracy.... He argued that true democracy erases individual self-determination by making the mass of people one with the state and exercising their will through state power. That uniformity requires getting rid of opposition. Schmitt theorized that politics is simply about dividing people into friends and enemies and using the power of the state to crush enemies. As J.D. Vance described Schmitt’s ideas in 2024: 'There’s no law, there’s just power.' Much of Schmitt’s philosophy centered around the idea that the power of a nation that is based in a constitution and the rule of law belongs to the man who can exploit emergencies that create exceptions to the constitutional order, enabling him to exercise power without regard to the law.” Richardson elaborates on how Trump is doing that.... “Trump’s imposition of a new round of tariffs ... is a flashing red light.”
Sammy Westfall & Suzan Haidamous of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump wants to give ongoing talks with Iran 'some space' as he considers whether to escalate attacks, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Sunday. Mike Waltz’s comments came as the U.S. military paused its bombing raids on Iran over the weekend after 13 consecutive days of heavy strikes and warnings by Trump of an even more aggressive bombing campaign. On Friday, Trump emphasized ongoing talks between the United States and Iran in an Oval Office appearance. The day prior, he had told Axios that he is 'considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision.'” ~~~
~~~ Barak Ravid of Axios: "The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, Adm. Brad Cooper, recommended stopping the bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz because it has reached the limit of its effectiveness, according to two sources with knowledge of his position.... The recommendation by Cooper, the commander of the U.S. Military Central Command (CENTCOM), together with other advisers impacted ... [Donald] Trump's decision on Friday to pause U.S. strikes against Iran, the sources said.It was an acknowledgement by both military and civilian advisers to the president that there are limits to what can be accomplished through military action, and specifically an air power campaign." MB: IOW, the current lapse in strikes is less about giving peace a chance and more about the uselessness of blowing up stuff, especially when are air defense stocks are dwindling.
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: “Facing criticism that it had minimized the number of U.S. soldiers killed and wounded in the war with Iran, the Pentagon on Sunday changed the way it reports casualties as it announced a higher number of wounded service members this month. In an unusual new accounting method, casualties since July 7, when the cease-fire began unraveling and fighting escalated, are not listed on a Pentagon website with others since the war began, but rather on a new webpage labeled generically as 'overseas operations casualties.'... Under the new system, the Defense Casualty Analysis System restored the deaths of four soldiers killed last weekend in the war that had been removed from the website — but in a separate, unexplained category. The change also raised the number of those wounded to 142 more than were previously reported by the Pentagon since July 7. The official number of soldiers wounded since that date is now listed as 207, for a total of 624 since the war began on Feb. 28. The total number listed as killed is 18. Last week, Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, insisted that the number of U.S. troops injured since July 7 was fewer than 100.” The link is a gift link. The Guardian's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: This new system Drunk Pete has devised seems to be intended not only to minimize the number of casualties but also to create "confusion by imprecision." Since the list of "overseas operations casualties" lacks specificity, a U.S. soldier stationed in Germany and injured or killed in, say, a car accident on an autobahn, could be listed on the page.
Alex Horton, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration’s deadly military strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats have not reduced the amount of cocaine entering the United States, but they’re prompting criminal organizations to develop new strategies and tactics and undermining traditional investigative methods, according to a previously unreported assessment by the Drug Enforcement Administration, a closed-door congressional briefing and interviews with current and former U.S. and foreign officials.... The strikes ... had led traffickers to diversify beyond go-fast boats and to avoid international waters, opting instead for larger boats and hemming close to coastlines.... Traffickers are also relying more on aircraft, which take off from clandestine airstrips along the Colombian-Venezuelan border and head east to Guyana and Suriname to avoid U.S. forces.... The DEA analysts reported..., 'Price and availability have not been noticeably affected.'... The reports contradict public claims by ... Donald Trump. Trump has said at least 15 times, including as recently as last month, that the strikes have reduced maritime drug trafficking into the country by 97 or 98 percent. '98.2% of Drugs coming into the U.S. by Ocean or Sea have STOPPED!' he wrote on Truth Social in April.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Did some toady tell Trump that drug trafficking had been nearly eradicated to make him feel even better about killing fishermen? Or did Trump just make up out of whole cloth a specific figure like "98.2"?
Greg Kaffe & Kate Kelly of the New York Times: “Admiral [Daryl] Caudle, then the head of a major Navy training command, offered to help [Pete] Hegseth prepare for his politically contentious Senate confirmation hearing, according to current and former defense officials. The outreach was a breach of military ethics.... Nothing came of the offer. But soon after Mr. Hegseth took office, he fired the first woman to lead the Navy: Admiral Caudle’s boss. Days later, a senior officer on Admiral Caudle’s staff contacted Mr. Hegseth’s team in another breach of protocol. His pitch: Mr. Hegseth should choose Admiral Caudle to be the next chief of naval operations.... Even though Admiral Caudle was not on a list of candidates recommended by senior Navy officials, Mr. Hegseth chose him for the job.... But before the promotion could be finalized, the admiral needed to address [an inspector general's inquiry into remarks he had made]. To help resolve the inquiry, Admiral Caudle hired Timothy Parlatore, a Navy Reservist and well-known lawyer who had represented Mr. Hegseth and ... [Donald] Trump. [Case closed.]...
“Since taking office nearly 18 months ago, Mr. Hegseth has fired or sidelined more than two dozen senior officers, including Admiral Lisa Franchetti, who held the top Navy job before Admiral Caudle. He has also removed from promotion lists about 40 senior officers who had been selected by boards made up of their peers.... Admiral Caudle’s promotion is a view into the flip side of Mr. Hegseth’s purge.” MB: A photo of Caudle accompanying the article depicts him as a mean old White guy. The link is a gift link.
Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: Tim Bakkan, a law professor at West Point, stands up for the First Amendment and against the institution, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth. The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Natanson, BTW, is the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was arrested in January at the Pentagon's request for supposedly "illegally retaining classified government materials."
Phillips O'Brien on Laura Loomer's conversion on the Russia/Ukraine war: "So it turns out that Laura Loomer is now a good thing.... Loomer went to Ukraine, said how bad Russia was, how she had been misled by Russian propaganda, and how she now supported Ukraine. She is finally on the side of the angels. At least this is what we are being told. Actually, I can think of nothing more destructive. The praise people are putting on Loomer, and the publicity she is garnering from it, is a disaster. Let me explain:... While Loomer was in Ukraine..., she also revealed (once again) where her true and deep devotions have and always will lie. She remains a racist, conspiratorial and destructive Trumpist, calling for disenfranchisement of people she does not like, gross discrimination, and the prosecution and imprisonment of enemies. Indeed, she continued espousing all of these stances the entire time she was in Ukraine."
Paul Krugman: Decades ago, scientists predicted the effects of climate change, the results we are seeing today. The Trump administration hates them for that. "It’s just a real hatred of the whole scientific enterprise. And so in an obvious sense, the climate denial is of a piece with the determination of RFK Jr’s health department to find a link between vaccines and autism. They just kind of hate the idea of scientists, they hate the idea of objective research of any kind. And so that feeds right into the climate denial.... I don’t think you can really understand what’s going on in this administration without saying that there’s a kind of hatred of the intellect, not just science, but really any kind of hard thinking. I mean, at some, not very deep level, it’s an obvious correlation between Trump saying that the reason that we had fires in Canada is because the Canadians didn’t rake their forests, — all, by the way, two million square miles of boreal forest in Canada. You know, there’s just this absurdity, this kind of evil absurdity of the whole situation."
If you are following Krugman's series "Against Oligarchy," Part 2 is here. Most of it is behind a paywall, but you can claim your free post if you're so inclined.
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Michigan/Indiana. Olivia George, et al., of the Washington Post: “Officials who separated former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg from his young twins last month relied on a vague and unsubstantiated allegation from an accuser authorities later deemed possibly 'mentally unstable,' according to previously unreported police records. The records, obtained by The Washington Post, and an interview with the apparent complainant offer the most detailed account yet of how a false tip led investigators to the home of one of the country’s most prominent Democrats, drawing bipartisan outrage. Child welfare experts who reviewed the documents at The Post’s request said they illuminate a flawed process that was made worse by poor judgment by agencies and a lack of communication among investigators from two states. Michigan State Police reports detail the chain of events from the allegation to its eventual determination it was unfounded and potentially politically motivated.”
Minnesota Senate Race. Joe Kottke & Rachel Uribe of NBC News: “Democratic Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman said Friday that Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., sought his endorsement for her U.S. Senate campaign while he was in intensive care following the June 2025 attempt on his life. Hoffman said in a statement to NBC News on Sunday that a 'dear and trusted friend' approached him for an endorsement twice — once while he was in the intensive care unit and the second time while he was recovering at home — and that the friend 'confirmed that the endorsement requests came from Congresswoman Craig.'... A spokesperson for Craig said in a statement that 'the claim is categorically false.'”
New York/Israel. Emma Goldberg of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday responded directly to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s calls for his arrest, accusing the mayor of “fomenting hate” and referring to a video address that Mr. Mamdani made last week as 'hate speech.' In an appearance on Fox News’s 'Sunday Morning Futures,' Mr. Netanyahu criticized the mayor for the video, released Tuesday, in which Mr. Mamdani called him a 'war criminal,' condemned the war in Gaza and urged the U.S. government to enforce an International Criminal Court warrant for the prime minister’s arrest. 'He’s fomenting hate,' Mr. Netanyahu said, adding, 'He’s trying to turn one group against the other.' The prime minister also said that he did not think it was 'accidental' that a Jewish man was stabbed on the Upper West Side of Manhattan after the mayor released the video.... Mr. Mamdani’s spokesman Joe Calvello pointed to a New York Post interview with the mayor on Saturday, in which Mr. Mamdani said he was committed to countering antisemitism across the city.”
Washington State. Yan Zhuang & Ishani Desai of the New York Times: “Three people were killed and four others wounded on Sunday in a shooting at a food festival in Seattle, the authorities said. The shooting occurred at Seattle Center, which was hosting the Bite of Seattle food festival and is also home to the Space Needle, the Seattle Police Department said. The wounded included a boy who was approximately two years old, the Seattle Fire Department said. The police were searching for one suspect and had another in custody, Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis said at a news conference late Sunday. He said the police believed two people had been shooting at each other at the festival.” The link is a gift link.
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Germany. Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: “The police on Sunday evening shot and killed the man suspected of killing a woman and injuring 29 other people near a Berlin gay Pride celebration after he charged at officers with a weapon, the German authorities said. The man, a 21-year-old German citizen whose family members migrated from Lebanon, had been the subject of a protracted nationwide manhunt since the Saturday evening attack. The suspect used a rented van and what appeared to be a machete in the attack, which German officials called an act of Islamist terrorism. In a brief statement, the police said they had tracked the suspect to an area in a western corner of the city where residents maintain large garden patches. After officers shot him, emergency responders tried to revive him, but he died at the scene, the police said.” This is an update of a story linked early Sunday. (Also linked yesterday.) The link is a gift link.
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