"You Effed Up. You Trusted Us."

“Well, the Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion, so, I would say that’s an option we’re actively looking at. Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.”

Presidential advisor Stephen G̶o̶e̶b̶b̶e̶l̶s̶ Miller

Well, OK then. I guess we are here at last. The above quote is the latest salvo of BS rationales to justify ignoring said Constitution in a quest to basically act on whatever whim a sleep-deprived Donald Trump comes up with at 3AM.

Trump is obsessed with the word "quickly." He has promised we'll see the benefits of his incomprehensible and dunderheaded trade policies very quickly. We will remove illegal aliens very quickly. We will bring back jobs, reduce consumer prices, solve wars all very quickly.

Never mind that bringing post-covid inflation down to 2.4% in December of 2024 took a couple of years. Never mind that his good friend Vladimir Putin has ignored his entreaties as another 30,000 have died in Ukraine just in 2025. Just claim victory and move on. The assumption is, the base voters will swallow it and assume it to be true.

There was a joke during the Viet Nam War that since all the negotiations were not producing results, simply pull out our troops and declare victory. That seems to be the strategy to fulfill the "quickly" mantra for this crowd.

The President claimed his attacks on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who were subject to US strikes several times during the Biden years, have done the trick and they agreed to stop rocket attacks. That came just before a Houthi rocket landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. The Houthis then announced...

"Our position remains stable in continuing military operations and shelling the strongholds of the Zionist enemy, in support of our brothers in Gaza. Anyone who tries to protect the Zionist entity from our attacks should look closely at the fate of the Americans and the defeat they suffered." 

The administration then announced that they had negotiated a cease-fire between India and Pakistan, only to have India dispute that saying it was a direct negotiation not involving the US.

The President brags the economy is now thriving under his leadership. that would be the same economy that actually shrank in the first quarter of the year.

The administration has promoted it's massive numbers of arrests and removals of illegal aliens accompanied by tough-guy rhetoric from Chief Border Blusterer Tom Homan.

The truth from Reuters...

U.S. President Donald Trump deported 37,660 people during his first month in office, previously unpublished U.S. Department of Homeland Security data show, far less than the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns in the last full year of Joe Biden's administration.

And as for Elon's band of merry pranksters and their claims to have rooted out and cut $115 billion in government funding so far. Fortune Magazine reports that...

The $115 billion number was misleading, and said DOGE's claims have "historically included inaccuracies and inflated numbers, stoking criticism for its chaotic approach and lack of government expertise." The article noted how DOGE "deleted several contracts from its wall of receipts after media reports undermined their legitimacy," and described DOGE's website as "littered" with errors. It also quoted an executive partner with Madison Dearborn Partners who believed "the total savings were overstated by up to 80%." No other outlets on the left had covered the $115 billion claim as of this writing.

Let's just admit it. the President is simply a liar. I believe that the clearest, most direct language is always best. It would be refreshing if commentators not on Fox would just forget the qualifiers like "misleading," "lacking evidence," "unsupported." They are simply lying. Their whole philosophy can be summed up in this exchange from Animal House...

Flounder: What am I going to tell Fred?!

Otter: I'll tell you what. I'll swear you were doing a great job taking care of his car, but you parked it out back last night and this morning, it was gone. D-Day takes care of the wreck. We report it to the police. Your brother's insurance company buys him a new car.

Flounder: Will that work?

Otter: Hey, it's gotta work better than the truth.

But now, in addition to just bald-faced lying about accomplishments, we come to the dismantling of our governmental framework piece by piece.

When the US Supreme Court, whose name includes the word "Supreme," by the way, declared that a Salvadoran national deported by mistake should be returned, they used the words "...facilitate his return." In response, the Trump folks publicly cogitated on the meaning of the word "facilitate." You know, like...

Now most sentient homo sapiens understand the word to mean, "make it happen, dummy." Is Kilmar Abrego Garcia a bad guy? I don't pretend to know, despite the ludicrously photo-shopped picture His Orangeness held up. But I do know he wasn't supposed to be deported, and if you want to do that, you have to take your case to a judge. That's how the law works in these here United States.

And that right to face a judge is part of a principle that is as old as the Magna Carta. Habeas corpus literally means, "you shall have the body." And that right, which allows an individual to petition their detention in court, also extends to noncitizens held within the United States. It can only be evaded if the country has been "invaded." That's why the President invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a law that would allow the deportation of noncitizens with little to no due process.

But it doesn't work just because a President waves a wand and declares there is an invasion. The Washington Post writes...

The Constitution does not allow the suspension of habeas corpus solely because an “invasion” is declared by the executive branch. The document states in Article I that it can be suspended only “in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion [when] the public Safety may require it.”

And that is an argument this bunch keeps losing in court. Gang members crossing the border to do their gang thing does not meet the definition of invasion.

In fact, habeas has only been suspended four times in our history. Those suspensions took place throughout the country during the Civil War, in several South Carolina counties overrun by the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction, in two provinces of the Philippines during a 1905 insurrection, and in Hawaii after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

In fact, when Lincoln did it during an actual Civil War, the Chief Justice Roger Taney, told him "uh-uh." Congress had to finally act to invoke it under the court's direction. In fact. former federal prosecutor and famous Zoom chat miscreant Jeffrey Toobin, took time out from slapping the bishop off camera to declare...

"The idea that someone in custody has the right to go to court to challenge their incarceration, that is so basic to Anglo-American law. And that’s one reason why suspending habeas corpus is considered such an extreme, extreme step. This is an example of how losses in court is causing this administration to escalate its rhetoric. And we’ll see where it goes."

But, mistakes and false boasts don't impede the fealty shown by lickspittles in and out of government.

“One of the few things we can all agree on is that Donald Trump’s tariff plan was a chaotic embarrassment that has irreparably weakened America both domestically and on the world stage,” said podcaster Joe Rogan. “So you really gotta give big ups to President Donald Trump for stepping in to stop the bleeding, that’s called leadership. This is the exact sort of genius that made me vote for Trump and Musk in the first place.”

Can I just interject, "Huh?" Is he saying, "Thank heavens he saved us from...him."

And of course, Cabinet meetings have become a praise-a-palooza.

“The reason the media attacks this administration as chaotic is because the president is solving the problems the American people set about to solve,” J. D. Vance said. “He’s actually doing the things that he promised he would do, and Mr. President, it’s been an honor to be a part of it for the past 100 days.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi followed Vance by addressing the president directly to say that his “first 100 days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in this country — ever.”

And Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who’s preparing to wind down his role with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, said on Wednesday that what’s been accomplished during Trump’s first 100 days is “more than any administration before, ever, period.”

And frankly, his first cabinet in 2016 also knew how to kiss the, uh, ring...

This kind of adulation is exactly what President K̶i̶m̶, Uh, Trump needs like oxygen. And unlike the folks in the video, the current crowd will make sure that never is heard a discouraging word. Even when on the verge of a massive violation of the Constitution and their oaths of office.

So, ignore the things in plain sight like collapsing imports and a complete lack of actual accomplishments. Otter sums it up best, as always.

Hey, it's got to work better than the truth.