Jonathan M. Katz: Hypocrisy’s vectors
Trump’s gifts from Qatar, asylum for Boers, persecuting speech and more
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It isn’t that hypocrisy is good or even necessarily benign. It’s just that it’s a fact of life. So instead of wishing hypocrisy didn’t exist, I try to focus on the direction of people’s hypocrisies. When do they shift their moral goalposts, and why?
Take corruption. Donald Trump’s supporters claim to be obsessed with corruption — inside trading in Congress, woke billionaires, human trafficking, whatever post-QAnon insanity is currently in vogue. Pro-Israel reactionaries (there’s obviously a huge overlap there) have similarly been obsessed since well before the October 7th attacks with the allegedly pernicious influence of the Arabian Gulf states, especially Qatar, on U.S. universities, whose money they are convinced is being used to brainwash hapless American college students into supporting anti-Israel dogma (branded unquestioningly as “antisemitism”) and general “terrorism.”
So now, of course, their mental alarms must be clanging over the news that Trump himself is not only openly accepting foreign bribes through his memecoin but is reportedly ready to personally accept a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 — from the Emir of Qatar! — to use as a new Air Force One. (This clearly unconstitutional bribe, which comes on the heels of other Trump family deals with the petrostate, has been reportedly signed off on by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who used to lobby on Qatar’s behalf at a salary of $115,000 a month). I mean, the national security implications alone, as helpfully detailed here by Garrett Graff, of a sometimes-adversary presenting its own plane for the use of the president of the United States, must be seriously concerning to people whose core abiding principle is supposedly “America First.”
(Jonathan M. Katz more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – May 12, 2025
The biggest news over the weekend was silence: the silence of Republicans. They refused to disavow White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s statement that the administration is looking at suspending the writ of habeas corpus, that is, essentially declaring martial law. They have also stayed quiet after the administration announced it was planning to accept a gift of a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 plane from the Qatari royal family. President Donald J. Trump would use the plane as Air Force One during the rest of his presidency and take it with him when he leaves office.
This is in keeping with the refusal of 53 Republican senators to answer questions from Rolling Stone’s Ryan Bort after NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Trump, “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as president?” and he answered: “I don’t know.” Only Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) went on the record, posting on social media: “Following the Constitution is not a suggestion. It is a guiding force for all of us who work on behalf of the American people. Do you agree?”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)Lisa Needham: Miller threatens to suspend habeas unless Trump can defy judges
Either way, the rule of law loses.
Judd Legum: Why Qatar is bribing Trump
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Qatar is not acting out of altruism. It wants policy concessions from the U.S. government to bolster its economic and national security interests. Trump is brazenly exploiting those needs to line his pockets.
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NY Times: Why Trump Suddenly Declared Victory Over the Houthi Militia
The militant group in Yemen was still firing at ships and shooting down drones, while U.S. forces were burning through munitions.
When he approved a campaign to reopen shipping in the Red Sea by bombing the Houthi militant group into submission, President Trump wanted to see results within 30 days of the initial strikes two months ago.
By Day 31, Mr. Trump, ever leery of drawn-out military entanglements in the Middle East, demanded a progress report, according to administration officials.
But the results were not there. The United States had not even established air superiority over the Houthis. Instead, what was emerging after 30 days of a stepped-up campaign against the Yemeni group was another expensive but inconclusive American military engagement in the region.
(NY Times more…)
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Wired: Two Men Claiming to Be Trump Appointees Blocked From Entering US Copyright Office
The men appeared at the US Copyright Office days after the Trump administration fired its leader, who had just published a report about the use of copyrighted materials for AI training.
(Wired more…)LAWdork: Monday’s lesson: Don’t mess with librarians.
Ultimately, though, Trump’s effort to take over the Library of Congress could come down to whether Congress says, “Don’t mess with Congress.”
(LAWdork more…)
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NY Times: Air Traffic Staffing Shortage Forces Delays at Newark Airport
(NY Times more…)
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Verge: Trump administration announces ‘illegal’ rollback of energy and water efficiency standards
The Trump administration is attempting to wipe decades of efficiency standards off the books.
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Marisa Kabas: Hasan Piker’s ICE detainment is a cautionary tale for multiple reasons
The progressive Twitch star’s account of his experience shows unchecked power, and what *not* to do if detained.
(Marisa Kabas more…)
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Dean Blundell: Is Trump Building a Secret Police Force? A Deep Dive into a Controversial Claim
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EEAGLI: The huge fall in illegal US border crossings
US agents logged more than 300,000 southwest border encounters last December. By March the count dropped below 8,000 – the lowest tally in twenty-five years. Tougher asylum rules, extra military support and fast deportation flights clearly deterred many would-be crossers.
Supporters hail the numbers as proof that strict policy works. Critics answer that untracked “got-aways” may still rise and new camps in northern Mexico show the human tide has not vanished, only shifted.
Past episodes offer caution. Similar dips under Barack Obama in 2012, Donald Trump in 2020 and Joe Biden in early 2024 all rebounded within months as economic need and cartel tactics evolved. Without legal work visas and faster asylum courts demand rebuilds.
Domestic employers already feel a pinch. Texas farmers and Arizona hoteliers report worker shortages during peak spring planting and tourist seasons. The economic pull has not gone away; it is simply paused.
For lasting calm analysts point to three levers: regional job permits that channel lawful mobility, speedier case hearings to deter frivolous claims and climate investment in countries where drought wrecks crops. Until those pieces align each sharp drop risks becoming the quiet before another surge.
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Noah Berlatsky: Trump Is (One) Logical Endpoint of the GOP
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I think there are two basic trends in GOP politics which lead to Trump: right-wing media and white supremacy. Let’s take the second one first.As you’re probably aware, the GOP began in 1860 as the (vacillating) party of multi-racial democracy in opposition to the (openly) white supremacist Democrats. The Republicans largely abandoned their commitment to Black rights in 1877 at the end of Reconstruction. For the next 75-100 years, there was no party of multi-racial democracy, because both parties embraced white supremacy.
That changed over time, as Black people began to organize and push the Democratic party to be less horrifically racist. Finally in the 1960s Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, embraced the Civil Rights movement and passed real electoral reforms. For the first time since Reconstruction, the whole of the US—including the South—became something like an actual democracy, where all people, whatever their skin color or gender, could and did vote, and where the national ideal (at least in public) was generally agreed to be equality rather than white supremacy.
The Democrats became the party of Civil Rights and (overwhelmingly) of Black voters. The Republicans became what the Democrats had been post-Civil War—the party of white supremacist backlash. You can name various signposts on the way—Barry Goldwater, Nixon’s Southern strategy, Reagan, and of course Trump. White people‚ who used to be split between the two white supremacist parties, have slowly, over the decades, sorted themselves into the Republican camp, while most other voters cast the majority of their ballots for Democrats, because white supremacy tends to appeal to white people more than it appeals to anyone else.
…But for the GOP to turn into a party that supports democracy, or a party that respects and promotes qualified candidates—that’s going to require a lot more than just ditching Trump. We need, at the minimum, real structural change, and real consequences for all those who have attacked the constitution, not just Trump.
Otherwise, even if Trump goes, the GOP will continue to elevate the worst people in the world to power. They won’t be exactly like Trump. They might be somewhat better than Trump in some ways. But they will still be self-aggrandizing fascists. And America under their rule will still, and more and more, be a cruel and hateful place.
(Noah Berlatsky more…)
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BBC Mundo: Quiénes son los afrikáners, los sudafricanos blancos a los que EE.UU. recibe como refugiados por “sufrir discriminación racial”
(BBC Mundo more…)
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CNN: Bullying only leads to self-isolation, Xi says day after US-China tariff truce
Hong Kong — Chinese leader Xi Jinping says “bullying” and “hegemonism” will only backfire, in a veiled reference to the United States just a day after a temporary truce was agreed in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.Xi chose to deliver this message, which paints China as a global leader and defender of free trade, at a summit of Latin American and Caribbean officials — including the presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Chile — in Beijing on Tuesday. The region has become increasingly caught in the middle of a tussle for influence between the US and China.
“There are no winners in tariff wars or trade wars. Bullying or hegemonism only leads to self-isolation,” Xi said, reiterating a warning he has made throughout the trade showdown with US President Donald Trump.
(CNN more…)
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Dispatch: Victims Once More
HHS cuts imperil a vital 9/11 medical aid.
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We now know the air in Lower Manhattan was far from “clear” when we returned to our apartment. It was toxic, filled with jet fuel, asbestos, glass fibers, and particles from pulverized electronics, cement, and other materials.
(Dispatch more…)
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Dispatch: The Republicans’ Debt Delusion
Tough talk on the budget is plentiful, but policy decisions tell a different story.
(Dispatch more…)
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