Many of us have been waiting for the arguments on May 15th before the Supreme Court in the birthright citizenship case to see if the justices will put long-needed limits on district courts issuing national injunctions. Critics object that Democratic groups are going to blue states in open forum-shopping to secure such injunctions from favorable judges — a record number of injunctions for an Administration that only just passed its 100th day mark. Those complaints are likely to only increase after the new order by District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco. It is arguably the most expansive yet in its scope and assertion of judicial power.
At the request of unions and other groups, Judge Illston (a Clinton appointee) imposed a temporary restraining order (TRO) for 14 days to stop the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale layoffs and program closures across two dozen agencies. For those calling for district courts to be restrained, Judge Illston’s TRO (which often leads to a preliminary injunction) will seem like another court ruling with total abandon.
Trump is carrying out his pledge to dramatically downsize the government, including targeting waste and unnecessary or superfluous programs. One can certainly disagree with that judgment. The unions and Democrats opposed the pledge during the campaign. However, after the public elected him, the question is whether a single district judge has the ability to stop a president from implementing such policies.
Unions insist that Congress set up a specific process for the federal government to reorganize itself and that that process is not being followed. Specifically, Illston is arguing that the process includes consultation with Congress. The law, 5 U.S.C. § 903 states in part:
(a)Whenever the President, after investigation, finds that changes in the organization of agencies are necessary to carry out any policy set forth in section 901(a) of this title, he shall prepare a reorganization plan specifying the reorganizations he finds are necessary. Any plan may provide for—
(1) the transfer of the whole or a part of an agency, or of the whole or a part of the functions thereof, to the jurisdiction and control of another agency;
(2) the abolition of all or a part of the functions of an agency, except that no enforcement function or statutory program shall be abolished by the plan;
(3) the consolidation or coordination of the whole or a part of an agency, or of the whole or a part of the functions thereof, with the whole or a part of another agency or the functions thereof;
(4) the consolidation or coordination of part of an agency or the functions thereof with another part of the same agency or the functions thereof;
(5) the authorization of an officer to delegate any of his functions; or
(6) the abolition of the whole or a part of an agency which agency or part does not have, or on the taking effect of the reorganization plan will not have, any functions.
The President shall transmit the plan (bearing an identification number) to the Congress together with a declaration that, with respect to each reorganization included in the plan, he has found that the reorganization is necessary to carry out any policy set forth in section 901(a) of this title.
The law has always occupied a gray area since a president has the authority under Article II to run the executive branch and remove individuals. Judge Illston recognizes that inherent authority as a “prerogative of presidents to pursue new policy priorities and to imprint their stamp on the federal government. But to make large-scale overhauls of federal agencies, any president must enlist the help of his coequal branch and partner, the Congress.”
The lawsuit was filed last week, and the court issued its order not long after arguments.
Judge Illston did acknowledge that two courts of appeal recently rendered decisions against jurisdiction in such cases in Widakuswara v. Lake, No. 25- 5144, 2025 WL 1288817 (D.C. Cir. May 3, 2025) and Maryland v. U.S. Dep’t of Agriculture, No. 25- 1248, 2025 WL 1073657 (4th Cir. Apr. 9, 2025). The court notes that those decisions are not binding on a San Francisco district court and rejects their value as “persuasive authority.” Judge Illston declared that “Tthe [sic] Fourth Circuit offers no reasoning for its conclusion that the district court lacked jurisdiction, and this Court finds the dissenting opinion in that case more robust and more persuasive. ” It similarly embraced the dissent in the D.C. Circuit case.
Danielle Leonard, a lawyer representing the challengers, told the court that Trump is destroying the government, insisting, “It’s an ouroboros: the snake eating its tail.”
For critics, it may look more like Article III devouring Article II. The order will only heighten the pressures leading into the May 15th arguments in Washington. It will also increase pressure on Congress to move forward with legislation designed to rein in district courts in the use of national or universal injunctions.
Here is the order: AFGE v. Trump
Who the hell wants to be elected to an office that in 2 to 4 years you will have to run for reelection and maybe you will get reelected or maybe you won’t. When you can get appointed to a lifetime position and all by yourself stop the wheels of government. This is nothing more than judicial abuse.
What am I missing? Where does the statute require the “help” of Congress? Is the numeric number of the Executive Order and the rational in the order short of the statute call for notice to Congress? What does the statute say is the legal consequence of lack of sufficient notice to Congress? What does the statute say about what Congress can do if it disapproves of the President’s action? What research did the Judge do about the abstention doctrine?
OT
Apparently, it’s someone else’s country. With the American Founders depicted at the top of this page, we read the following:
“Minorities or women have never held a majority in either chamber of Congress, or on the Supreme Court, and there has been only one nonwhite president of the United States in American history. White people got so pissed off at that they replaced Barack Obama with a bigoted con man who questioned whether the Black president was even born in this country, and when their guy lost the next election, his people tried to start a coup.”
– Elie Mystal, African Anti-American Commentator And Conqueror
________________________________________________________________________
“I say in the book, if I get shot, if I get murdered by an undocumented immigrant, please tell my children I did not care that they were undocumented.”
– Elie Mystal, African Anti-American Commentator And Conqueror
________________________________________________________________________
“[We gave you] a republic, if you can keep it.”
– Ben Franklin
_________________
You couldn’t.
________________
“We the People of the United States…Secure the Blessings of Liberty TO OURSELVES and OUR POSTERITY.”
– Preamble
______________
You didn’t.
Why do illegal alien invaders from Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti, Nicceragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Africa, Columbia, etc., claim to be “migrants?”
Obama’s plan is to fundamentally transform America from Americans to illegal-alien-invader-voter Mexicans and Haitians, and Americans don’t know that?
Same thing for Europe.
What has happened to Europeans everywhere?
Who have they been listening to?
Europeans from South Africa are seeking “asylum” in America.
Soon enough, actual Americans will need to claim “asylum” somewhere, but there’s nowhere left.
The US certainly was one as were Canada and other nations including Mexico. The western hemisphere was asylum. The world is smaller now.
There is no asylum anymore.
If anything comes from this orgy of district court judges imposing their will on the entire nation it would be to establish a process for handling such things that applies to all cases and all courts. My suggestion for the last decade or so is that any request for a TRO or injunction that applies beyond the nominal jurisdiction of the district court be sent to a panel of judges to be composed of one judge from each appellate circuit. The request could be heard by a randomly selected 3 or 5 judge panel or could be heard by the injunctive panel en banc. Any order that applies nationally should be considered by a cross-section of courts representing the entire nation.
Never forget:
As long as this court is thusly arranged, this SCOTUS is a BUSH SCOTUS. That means it has the flavor of an anti-Trump court – vengeance for brother Bush. Watch and see if I’m not right.
– Sushi Kalamari-sama
OT:
JT did not mention Passover nor Easter this year, a first for him. That was disappointing though perhaps predictable given the trajectory of our nation. However, Mother’s Day is tomorrow. All mothers need to be recognized for their self-love, devotion and sacrifices for us, their “little snots”. Without mothers none of us would be here. Thus, in honor of the mothers on this forum…..Happy Mother’s Day! 💐🌹🌸
Humorist Dave Barry wrote a magnifient piece about his mother and how she gave him the gift of humor. Enjoy.
I Got My Sense of Humor From My Mom
“She had an edge—a sharp, dark wit, always ready to strike”
By Dave Barry
May 9, 2025
My friends loved my mom. When I was in college, my roommate Rob Stavis visited during a break, and he told Mom that he’d just been dumped by his girlfriend and he was feeling low. Mom, who loved Rob, listened with a thoughtful, sympathetic expression. When he was done, Mom put her hand on his arm and said, “Rob, she was a little snot.” Rob burst out laughing.
Wall Street Journal
typo:….their selfless-love…
I was so hoping this⬆was going to turn into a pornhub type story…..
No Experience Needed, No Boss Over il Your FD Shoulder… Say Goodbye To Your Old Job! Limited Number Of Spots Open you just need to
go on (__)
The bigger issue facing SCOTUS is the true nature of political policy lawsuits. These are lawsuits brought by political activists to reverse or thwart policies. They are a far cry from “injured parties”. Since when is losing an election — and by extension, control over policy choices — a form of plaintiff injury?
And what does democratic majority rule mean anymore when elite activists and sympathetic Judges can disempower the People’s right (and combined wisdom) to determine policy?
Why should a District Court Clerk even accept these political policy lawsuits?….in many cases where the impact of the law being challenged has yet to be felt? (the speculative grievance)? Common sense is these filings should be thrown back at the plaintiffs and their lawyers with the advice:
“The Court finds that your claims are pretextual and when looked at honestly, are seeking to exert control over policy utilizing the Judiciary rather than elections. Your matter belongs in the public square to be debated there, and if found important enough, taken up in the next set of elections, not in the Courts.”
To argue that political lawsuit TROs be limited to Federal Districts is a big mistake, because it implicitly concedes that such lawsuits deserve to be accepted at the District level.
““The Court finds that your claims are pretextual…”
Interesting idea, but as long as people seek political office (including judgeships) for the purpose of exerting power, it has zero chance of ever happening.
Another seemingly unconstitutional and sketchy element of 5 USC 903 Is the provision stating that: “…no more than three plans may be pending before the Congress at one time.” Congress gives itself the power to completely dam up ANY such presidential executive actions by just sitting and chewing on three for as long as it wishes.
I think that means 3 alternate approaches to addressing the same issue. Congress can work on hundreds of issues in parallel.
Why would you think that? There’s nothing in the rest of the regulation that mentions “alternate approaches” or different versions of a plan. There are only references to “a plan” or “the plan”, and then the later revision, quoted above, noting the limit of three plans at a time before congress.
The Supreme Court is an equal branch. This ‘lesser-court Judge has not the authority to do anything more than issue an opinion. The POTUS is the executive responsible for the Executive Branch. It is his purview and responsibility to organize and lead the Executive Branch.
This is incorrect. A district court judge absolutely has the authority to strike down the actions of the president as unconstitutional or ultra vires.
The president cannot ignore an order from a district court judge.
Granting of a TRO or injunction is not a court finding a policy unconstitutional. It is halting a policy before any finding has been made one way or the other.
“This is incorrect. A district court judge absolutely has the authority to strike down the actions of the president as unconstitutional or ultra vires.”
Only where the presidents acts ARE unconstitutional or beyond the presidents powers
AND
The judge has jurisdiction
AND
A plantiff with standing has brought a case before the judge.
Judges do not have the power to act on their own.
They do not have the power to act outside their jurisdiction.
They do not have the power to act where there is no legitimate plantiff.
In disputes over the legislative vs. executive powers – only congress is a legitimate plantiff.
And congress is perfectly free to allow the president to infringe on congressional powers – if They so choose, by simply doing nothing.
“The president cannot ignore an order from a district court judge.”
That is far more complex.
There is no constitutional requirement that the orders of the judiciary are obeyed.
With few exceptions we have near universally obeyed the orders of judges and hoped to reverse on appeal.
But the power of the courts to enforce their orders, essentially rests with whether the president will direct law enforcement to compel those orders to be followed or whether congress will impeach and remove the president if he does not obey the courts.
The courts have no constitutional power to enforce their own orders.
One of the reasons for all the limitations on the judiciary – aside from the fact they are appointed not elected and serve for life, is that they have no power to enforce their edicts beyond moral as-suasion.
It is extremely important that the actions of the courts have super-majority support – even if not agreement because without they they are impotent.
You saw one means in which that impotence manifests itself in the lawfare against Trump and the 2024 Election.
Whatever YOU personally might beleive – the majority of voters either did not care about the courts actions against Trump, or cared and outright rejected them.
Either way the lawfare against Trump WEAKENED the courts.
And the lawfare right now is further weakening the courts.
And if respect for the courts declines too much, they can be disobeyed without consequence.
Legislation and adjudication may not usurp and exercise executive power that is exclusively “vested in a President.”
The judicial branch is perplexed and acting irrationally and illicitly because the relevant legislation is unconstitutional in its usurpation and exercise of executive power.
In situations like these, the courts must have declared the relevant legislation unconstitutional at the time of its passage.
Marbury v. Madison was monumental because it found that a portion of the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional.
The legislative branch may not include the usurpation and exercise of executive power in its bills.
Further, Congress may from time to time countermand inferior Courts.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Article 2, Section 1
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Article 3, Section 1
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.
Democrats doing what they do best: violence
Benny Johnson
@bennyjohnson
🚨DHS confirms Democrat Congress members will be arrested after bodycam footage showed them assaulting officers at a NJ ICE facility:
“There will be arrests. We have bodycam footage of these members of Congress assaulting ICE enforcement officers.”
https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1921255012606394615
Oh well, that story will die fast…
We will know in a few hours, or days, or months cuz we don’t have few years for this Constitutional Republic before we do what Jefferson said about blood. I heard a prominent democrat ex-congressman state just last week over our 250 history he wasn’t sure which party spilled more blood. One-half this nation fought to maintain States rights over Federal control, based on 1% of democrats owning slaves and more than 600,000 died in that insurrection. And they’ve not stopped. The 14th amendment was followed by the KKK, Jim Crow control, countless hangings with no trials, the longest filibuster in our Congress’ history over codifying civil rights; and now their lawlessness is in full view.
What if [ ? – consider this ]
The Congressional Seats were based upon Economic Performance (efficiency) The House of Representatives seats would be on a scale of GDP per State distribution and the Senate seats upon Total U.S. GDP distribution.
This would translate to some States having more or less Representatives by GDP of Congressional District, and having more or less Senators per State by National GDP.
The political landscape would look a lot different when judged upon economic performance. By it’s performance, Efficiency is what drives a Country to be better than others. State spending deficits are a symptom of inefficiency, therefore in order to eliminate State deficits, State constitutions would need to be amended in order to improve their performance. Cutting the Fat and Streamlining the system. Same applies for the National Government.
Ret.: Shouldn’t an Area that performs better be represented by a greater number of representatives.
Ret.: Don’t you live in a certain type of Neighborhood because it performs better.
Ret.: Don’t you send your Kids to certain Schools because they perform better.
Ret.: Don’t you Shop in a certain Stores because they perform better.
Ret.: Don’t you buy in a certain Automobile because they perform better.
etc. …
My guess as it is now, is that Consumer Reports magazine would have to give every State and the National Government a big fat [F] rating.
Ret.: Are WE setup for efficient performance, as it is.
Trump must keep doing what he’s doing, If in its lease value, it draws attention to the inefficiency of Government (State and National).
Getting rid of Governmental Waste and driving Efficiency to reach better Performance among the competition of the Countries of the World,
It’s not just a noble gesture, it is what needs to be done to survive, maintain and raise the standard of living in America.
These Judaical speed-bumps are just an impediment of the changes that must be done in order for US to compete and survive in this Global Competition.
That cause alone supersedes the judgement of Judge Illston and the underlying law(s) cited, of which ultimately impedes the welfare of all Citizens of the U.S..
The Laws which lead to inefficiency need to be eliminated or changed.
Things change, No one-size-fit-them-all, and nothing last forever.
What’s being done, needs to be done. This is what, ‘Make America Great Again’ looks like in action.
Let’s judge Trump by his “economic performance”–shall we? Let’s see now, 6 bankruptcies, including some failed casinos. How about the laundry list of failed Trump businesses? Here are some: Trump Home, Trump Vodka, Trump Ice, Go Trump Shuttle, Trump University ($25 million payout for defrauding “students”), Trump Network, Trump Steaks, Trump Mortgage, Trump Casinos, Trump Fragrances, Trump The Game, and Trump Communications. First term, that he cheated to get, he drove our economy from robust to the worst recession since the Great Depression, and that’s not counting the unnecessary loss of lives and economic impact because of his mishandling of COVID. How many millions in judgments are against him for: sexual assault and falsifying records? How much money was spent in payoffs to nude models and porn actresses, not to mention attorney fees for all of his litigation that he lost, including the E. Jean Carroll case and the cases brought against him by the State of New York for falsifying business records and stealing funds donated to his charitable foundation? Since lying about groceries to cheat his way into power a second time, the robust economy he inherited is contracting and many economists say we are already in a recession and likely headed for an all-out depression, all because Trump cannot admit that his stupid tariffs are a bad idea. According to your logic, Trump should voluntarily remove himself from office.
And, nothing Trump vis-a-vis Musk has done was in the name of efficiency or streamlining government–just a series of arbitrary firings without any rhyme or reason, without any analysis of the quality of the work done by any individual or by the benefit the American people derive from the project or agency for which arbitrarily fired people worked, much less whether the American people want these agencies and this work stopped for the higher priority of Trump to give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest. They fired cancer researcers, bird flu researchers, meat and poultry inspectors, the head librarian at the Library of Congress, VA nurses and counselors, NOAA employees, air traffic controllers, and have tried to shut down the Department of Education, Meals on Wheels, school lunches for poor kids and the CFPB. The order to USAID has resulted in deaths due to starvation–the US makes more food than we can consume, and farmers depend on the government purchasing excess grain, peanuts and other agricultural products, so they are hurt, too. All in the name of tax breaks for the very wealthiest, which are the only ones Trump cares about. Trump has set a record for the number of injunctions against his stupid EOs, so MAGA media goes after judges who issue injunctions, trying to feebly argue that they don’t have authority to issue “nationwide” injunctions. As a MAGA media pundit, Turley echos the feeble argument that a federal judge does not have the authority to issue an injunction that applies nationwide, but he cites nothing to support his argument–another baseless MAGA media talking point. What Court WOULD have such authority, if not a federal court? The arbitrary firings and efforts to shut down programs has nationwide impact, so why shouldn’t an injunction stopping such illegal practices also have nationwide impact? Also, no MAGA media pundit, including Turley, has been able to point to any analysis of the work of any fired individual or the project they were working on to justify shutting them down in the name of efficiency or curbing waste, fraud and abuse.
Lets judge Trump by economic performance.
Starts out with maybe a share of 100-200M in 1970. Is now worth 5-7B depending on the value of crypto assets.
Further the 100-200M in the 70’s was the Trump FAMILY value – the total FAMILY value today is probably near 20B.
That is pretty good.
The people who succeed at EVERYTHING they touch – such as Musk are one in a billion. Trump is merely 1 in 25Million in terms of success
That is still far better than 24,999,999 others.
What about as president
In his first term Standard of living rose by about 4500/yr and most of that went to the working class.
That INCLUDES 2020 and Covid.
During Bidens’ term actual standard of living after inflation DROPPED by 3500/yr
If you think Trump is a failure – “Please Sir, can I have more ?”
Gigi
Just to clarify – the estimates of Trump’s current net worth INCLUDE all the long list of as of yet NOT final decisions against him.
It is only a uestion of time before NYS is forced to throw out the James mortgage nonsense case.
The Bragg case is also eventually dying on appeal.
My bet is that Carroll eventuially settles for a small undisclosed sum. Otherwise she will be dead before she sees only a tiny portion of any award – the odds of that decision surviving are slim to none.
It is not likely that AG James is going to jail – but she likely will have to resign in disgrace and she likely will lose her law license for a bit. Her mortgage shenanigans make her claims against Trump look trivial.
She claimed to be married to her father, and she claimed to have a primary residence in VA when she was legally reuired to reside in NY.
And a long long list of other mortgage fraud that makes her claims against Trump look like nothing.
It is likely that Willis in GA will also lose her bar license, She has Multiple lawsuits against her – some Trump related others unrelated. Regardless it is crystal clear that she is a scoff law and crook and all arround bad person.
When those on the left accuse you of something – that means THEY are actually doing it.
I do not care if Trump slept with Daniels. Voters do not/did not care that Trump may have slept with Daniels or anyone else. They MIGHT have cared if he had cheated on Melania while she was pregnant.
After reading her testimony I do not beleive Daniels. She knew too much about the wrong things and too little about things she should have remembered. But most importantly – if her story was Trump she would have sold it to Hillary.
The only person a false story is valuable to is Trump. She sold her story to Cohen for a pitance. That means it is not likely true.
As to the rest – there is no crime, despite what NY courts have said. There was no tax evasion, there was no election funding issue. Court case after court case has for centuries said government can not dictate how you keep your records.
Only that you pay the taxes you owe. The Bragg case never should have been charged much less gone to court.
Worse – all the pre-election lawfare has hurt the left – because people see the POST election lawfare is just a continuation.
Republicans protested at the Capitol when democrats appear to have won a highly uestionable election.
Democrats are using lawfare to try to undue an undeniably honest election.
There was likely some fraud in 2024 – by democrats.
Accross the country we are seeing haughty democrats who played games facing criminal charges.
Gov. Hobbs in AZ is fighting off strong charges of corruption. It is likely she will not be re-elected in 2026 and if she is not – she may be headed for jail.
The long list of prosecutions against lawless democrats is building. Most of these are NOT people who targeted Trump or who Trump is retaliating against. These are democrats who are simply breaking the law.
The Judge in AZ who harbored illegal aleins and gave on a gun – is not someone Trump even knew about.
Nor is Judge Dugan, or the Mayor of Newark, or the two democrat Reps who assaulted ICE officers
And each day the list grows.
This is also really stupid on democrats part – the more lawless you behave the more Trump can prosecute those who went after Him.
Most of these people will get off lightly – as they probably should. But the people will compare and contrast that to what YOU did to Trump and Trump supporters.
There were 20 year sentences for some J6rs. Do you think that the Newark Mayor will get 20 years ? or Judge Dugan ?
or the two congressmen arrested for assaulting ICE officers ?
John Say: Where’s proof of what you write? You never cite any authority, because there isn’t any. Whatever you believe about the alleged wealth of Trumps, it is most likely untrue because he’s been caught exaggerating his wealth and lying about the value of assets for years. I could go through a long laundry list of the grifting of the Trumps, including leveraging the office of the President for financial gain, but I won’t bother because you MAGAts are fact-immune. Do you think that when Trump finally departs this life that he won’t have to answer for the people who died because of his malignant narcissism? This includes those children in Sudan who have died of starvation when their food was arbitrarily cut off. This includes the children in Africa who will or have died of AIDS when the medication for AIDS and the condom shipments were stopped because Musk and that dumb bottle blondie press secretary didn’t know that there’s more than one place called “Gaza”–one of which is in Africa. This also includes the hundreds of thousands of Americans who unnecessarily died of COVID because of Trump’s lies and pushing of fake cures. This includes Ashli Babbitt, who died on the altar of Trump because of her faith in the Big Lie, as well as the Capitol Police officers who died as a result of the insurrection. And, your claim about Americans being worse off under Biden is pure fantasy. Biden turned around the economic and public health mess Trump left him to deal with and real wealth soared while unemployment dropped to the lowest level in 50 years. Trump and his loser children are all for show–Trump is a failure of a person by any rational measure of how to judge human qualities. He is on his 3rd failed marriage, he cheated on all 3 (so far) of his wives. He has a well-earned reputation for cheating people in business, and his Daddy gave him money to get started and then bailed him out of one financial disaster after another until he was put under guardianship for dementia–which is when the bankruptcies started. His namesake son cheated on his wife and left her to raise 5 children. Eric is widely viewed as not very bright. Ivanka and Tiffany are viewed as lightweights, too. What have his children accomplished on their own? Nothing. They trade on the “Trump” name. Ivanka’s husband’s business was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy until the Saudis bailed him out to the tune of several billion right after Trump was defeated in 2020, raising all kinds of concerns about his ethics. Worldwide, the Trumps are not respected.
Seek professional help, gigi. Your vast knowledge of all the sins of Number 45/47 can only have been gleaned from the anals (not incorrectly spelled) of the NYT, Atlantic and the sinisterly glowing world of MSNBC and CNN. You and your peeps lost and you will lose again in 2028. And hopefully from now on until I’m off this mortal coil. Meanwhile, try not to stroke out.
“Where’s proof of what you write?”
I do not need to. Because I have been posting for a very long time, and during that time on issues of fact I have either been right, or on the rare instances I have not been, I have corrected myself.
That is the definition of credibility.
Conversely you are wrong about nearly everything you post, you never correct errors, and you repeat the same errors others have corrected again often less than 24hrs later as if clear proof you were wrong never happened.
“You never cite any authority”
I frequently cite authorities – but not always. Again I have established my credibility, just as you have established that you are not trustworthy.
“Whatever you believe about the alleged wealth of Trumps, it is most likely untrue because he’s been caught exaggerating his wealth and lying about the value of assets for years. ”
It is true that Trump exagerates his wealth. It is also true as he himself has said that the actual net worth of a billionaire is relatively nebulous.
When DJT stock went public Trump’s reported wealth more than doubled over night.
But the FACT is he did not magically become worth more than twice as much, The market just provided a measure of part of his wealth that was hard to measure before.
As to somewhat more objective measures of Trump’s wealth – and that of his family –
Forbes updates the wealth of high value individuals several times a year. Further they explain in a fair amount of deatil how they arrive at that number and all the variables and unknowns.
https://www.forbes.com/profile/donald-trump/
“I could go through a long laundry list of the grifting of the Trumps”
No you can go through a long laundry list of conduct that you do not like. ut that grifting – except in the hypocritical and subjective way that left wing nuts define words.
Trump entered the presidency in 2017 with a higher net worth that he left – possibly the only president in US history ever to do that. Between 2021 and 2025 he doubled his wealth – again as a private citizen – since taking office in 2025 his wealth has again declined.
If that is “grifting” he is incredibly bad at it.
Regardless, he does far better personally when he is NOT president – that is inarguably true.
If he actually sought to profit as president – why does his wealth grow when he is NOT president and shrink when he is ?
“I won’t bother because you MAGAts are fact-immune.”
The inarguable FACTS are that Trump lost and loses money when he is president and makes money when he is not.
That pretty much makes YOU fact immune.
“Do you think that when Trump finally departs this life that he won’t have to answer for the people who died because of his malignant narcissism?”
That question presumes that you beleive in a god and a final judgement – which most of those of you on the left do not.
But lets assume there is a god and that he judges people as Mathew said he would.
During Trump’s first presidency – the standard of living of americans particularly the poor and working class ROSE by 4500/year. That BTW was from Jan 20, 2017-jan 20 2021 – including covid.
Mother Therasa never did so much good.
When you talk of deaths – presumably you mean Covid – you are never clear about what you mean – two an 1/2 times as many americans died of Covid under Biden as Trump.
If the actions of presidents actually made a difference regarding Covid (they did not),
Then Biden is the mass murderer.
For the first 22months of Biden’s presidency – the average covid deaths/month was the same or higher than under Trump. Yet Trump had no vaccine – that was HIS gift to Biden. Trump had a bunch of left wing nut advisors such as Fauxi who were lying all over the place – and covering up the fact that Covid was likely a lab leak in China of a research project atleast partly developed and funded by NIH – Fauxi himself.
if you are going to blame someone for millions of deaths – Fauxi, and the government public health establishments arround the world would be top of the list – not Trump.
The FACT is that we have NEVER stopped an airborne respiratory virus with a R0 of 1.4 or above if it gets a toe hold in any significant population. Once The people of Wuhan were infected – the rest was only a question of time. If anything – the idiotic policies of those on the left of our public health experts made the pandemic last longer and probably kill more people as a result. In the end covid has become endemic – it is never going away, but thankfully it has also become far less deadly.
Regardless, if you are trying to blame Trump for Covid deaths – you are barking up the wrong tree.
To the extent Trump bears responsibility it is for LISTENING to the advice of govenrment left wing nut “experts”
“This includes those children in Sudan who have died of starvation when their food was arbitrarily cut off. ”
There is no nation in the world that is incapable of feeding itself – that has been true since atleast the 80’s. Any nation that can not feed itself fails to do so because of ITS OWN internal politics.
“This includes the children in Africa who will or have died of AIDS when the medication for AIDS and the condom shipments were stopped because Musk and that dumb bottle blondie press secretary didn’t know that there’s more than one place called “Gaza”–one of which is in Africa. ”
Most of Africa does NOT want USAID or frankly aide from other countries.
Why ? because over the course of the past 50 years the west has sent over $1T in aid to african and the effect has made things worse.
With respect to condoms and aids medication – Sorry Gigi – but African gets very little of that from the US – more than 90% of US foreign aide never leaves the country – it goes to line the pockets of American NGO’s and their workers.
If the biblical judgement foretold in Mathew is real – it is NOT Trump who should fear – but all those who profited from virtue signaling and ripping off charity.
“This also includes the hundreds of thousands of Americans who unnecessarily died of COVID because of Trump’s lies and pushing of fake cures. ”
There is no cure for Covid. There was not in 2020, and there is not today.
There is absolutely nothing that the public health community recomended that proved beneficial – ultimately Nature defeated covid – it transformed it from a deadly parasite to the equivalent of the common cold – but we still have it.
You say Trump could have gotten rid of it – then why didn’t Xi or Johnson or any other world leader ? The death rate of Covid throughout the world can be perfectly predicted by demographics and geography and NOTHING ELSE.
It was HUBRIS for humans to beleive they could control a virus.
“This includes Ashli Babbitt, who died ”
No she was murdered.
“as well as the Capitol Police officers who died as a result of the insurrection.”
Zero CP officers died as a result of the J6 protests.
There was no insurection – That claim is looney.
Do you honestly think that in a country where there are more guns than people,
that insurectionists would show up at the capital with no firearms, no molatov cocktails. no lasers to blind police, no frozen water bottles to pelt the police with ?
“And, your claim about Americans being worse off under Biden is pure fantasy.”
Sorry Gigi – it is actual fact.
“Biden turned around the economic”
The economy had turned BEFORE Biden took office.
You are correct that the 1st 2 QTRs of 2020 had the worst recession in US history.
The last half of 2020 had the strongest recovery in US history.
Net growth for 2020 was ZERO – not negative. Trump’s first 3 years averaged almost 3% growth – for the entire 4 years Trump still has the strongest growth after inflation of any president in the 21st century.
That is not an opinion – that is the numbers.
Biden had a larger increase in GDP than Trump, but he also had far larger inflation, and afer you adjust GDP for inflation – Biden was the WORST economic performance of the 21st century – worse than Obama worse than Bush.
Now NONE of them compare to most 20th century presidents.
3% growth was the NORM for the 20th century.
“and public health mess Trump left him to deal with”
The public health mess was the mess of public health officials who thoroughly botched Covid. Nearly the same people advised Biden as Trump. They told Bident he same bogus nonsense and they failed. just as they did with Trump.
“real wealth soared”
Completely false. Adjust for inflation – and all biden’s numbers turn to schiff.
“while unemployment dropped to the lowest level in 50 years.”
By appearances yes – but turns out Biden was gaming the numbers – we are learning that because we are NOW seeing real declines in unemployment – the jobs that Trump is adding are NOT govenrment jobs, and NOT illegal aliens.
“Trump and his loser children are all for show”
Please Sir give me some more ?
“Trump is a failure of a person by any rational measure of how to judge human qualities.”
But you are not rational and never have been.
“He is on his 3rd failed marriage, he cheated on all 3 (so far) of his wives.”
Probably true – but he maintained good relations with all his ex’s and supported all his children – none of whom appear to have turned out to be sex addicted, coke snorting, influence pedaling grifters. Joe Biden turned his back on his own grand child until the polls FORCED him to accept her.
“He has a well-earned reputation for cheating people in business”
We have courts for that. Further we also have a free market.
I know this is hard for you to grasp – but people do not continue to do business with people who cheat.
If McD’s sold you rat burgers – you would quit buying.
Trump has no problem’s find people to invest with him or loand him money – because he succeeds most of the time and makes them lots of money.
“his Daddy gave him money to get started ”
That is correct – but the entire Trump family fortune in 1970 was about 200M.
DJT controlled about 50M of that.
“then bailed him out of one financial disaster after another until he was put under guardianship for dementia–which is when the bankruptcies started.”
And yet somehow magically Trump is now worth 100 times more than what “Daddy gave him”.
“His namesake son cheated on his wife and left her to raise 5 children. Eric is widely viewed as not very bright. Ivanka and Tiffany are viewed as lightweights, too. What have his children accomplished on their own? Nothing. They trade on the “Trump” name. Ivanka’s husband’s business was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy until the Saudis bailed him out to the tune of several billion right after Trump was defeated in 2020, raising all kinds of concerns about his ethics.”
Wow – what weird revisionist history. The Trump extended family is worth between 5-10 times What DJT is. So your first thesis is that DJT only succeeded because Daddy bailed him out – but Daddy is dead, and DJT is worth 100 times more than “daddy”.
Now you are claiming the kids are all dead beats – yet they are worth Billions.
You claim that the Saudi’s Bailed Jared out – it was the Qataris’ and there was no BAILOUT – they gave Jared a bit less than 3B to INVEST – he makes a few MILLION – if he does well. If he does not – he gets nothing. Jared only profits if the Qatari’s profit from his investments. And unlike Hunter’s shady deals it was done in public.
BTW ONE of the building Jared owns on Central park is worth a Billion dollars all by itself.
As to your assessment of the rest of the family – what is it that you have ever been right about ?
Someone negotiated the Abraham accords – the Choices are really limited – Jared, or DJT. Take your pick.
Regardless, NONE of Trump’s family is Hunter Biden.
“Worldwide, the Trumps are not respected.”
By left wing nuts the world over.
Regardless as you are seeing – foreign leaders do what Trump asks.
Respect, Fear, Negotiating skill.
It does not matter what you call it.
Sometimes “going back to what works” is the solution. Your unchecked rage and anger towards President Trump is unhealthy and in need of treatment.
cid:F349801B-1657-437D-B930-DF7FCFF5BBCF
OMG, it sounds like you don’t like the effectiveness in which our President is doing these. How about the majority of the people in this country who voted for him and his policies? I, for one, am excited to see where he goes with MAGA, MASA, and MAHA. If anyone should be afraid of what he’s doing to this country it’s me. On SSD and SS Survivor benefits. I have absolutely no worry in the world about the job our great president is doing. As a former Civil Servant and DOD Contractor, there is plenty of waste, fraud and abuse of the Federal Government. It’s needs a total reset, purge and restart. USAID is nothing more than a bureaucratic cash cow for Democrats and Republicans. Let each individual state take some responsibility for their constituents and learn to effectively govern. Maybe their constituents will realize the power of their vote and actually get out and vote.
@Gigi: You could have saved a lot of uselessly sacrificed electrons by just saying you don’t know squat about the operations of large holding companies with hundreds of enterprises and tens of thousands of employees, but just mindlessly regurgitate the skewed nonsense ejaculated into your eager maw by various equally ignorant “journalists” and “news” sources.
You have a point, anon. All States are contributing to inefficient States so there’s not a reason to do better. Governors are in play here, too. Corruption in in play.
The realization that government is huge is in play. The realization the economy is bankrupt is in play. There’s nothing being done at the federal level in cuts that can’t or should be picked by individual States. The exceptions are the international agencies and its not a time to give away money internationally when there’s no money.
Unions can look to States to keep them running. Farmers are by State. As anon points out bring your basket to the table Georgia, Vermont, California etc. California isn’t growing anything. It’s being shipped in from other nations mainly Mexico. What are you producing California?
Don’t leave out the Treasury and Bessent. How much money is sec. Bessent willing to print (counterfeit) since there’s nothing behind it currently, democrats? Why do Nike air Jordan’s cost so much when China manufactures them first 1.50? Shipping, distribution, packaging, fuel, etc until the price is 150.00. The shoes aren’t worth chat.
“The House of Representatives seats would be on a scale of GDP per State distribution and the Senate seats upon Total U.S. GDP distribution.”
I take serious issue with any proposal to use GDP to condition any action of consequence, let alone anything as important as what you are suggesting. GDP is a deeply flawed number that aggregates many incompatible measurements; terming it “apples to oranges” vastly minimizes the problems. Jeffrey Tucker analyzes it much better than I can:
===================================================================
Get the Government Out of GDP!
https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/get-the-government-out-of-gdp-5822844
===================================================================
Do you mean demonstrating to the union that your State actually brings something to the table? Newsom can show his bullet train to nowhere and the cost per mile? Then explain he’s sold the idea as an episode of The Twilight Zone?
Since the judge ignored the holdings of appellate courts in other circuits, a strong argument exists that this ruling applies only in the 9th Circuit, not nationwide. A district judge can’t overrule appellate courts. Trump should continue to reorganize the federal government in all circuits except the 9th Circuit.
As I understand it, District Court rulings are binding within the Circuit where located and are only “persuasive” authority in other Circuits. Even Circuit Courts of Appeal follow that practice (rulings not binding but persuasive in other Circuits). Contrary to what is reported, a District Court ruling has no binding “national” import. Look to jurisdictional provisions empowering District Courts. Years ago, Clifford Wallace (then US 9th CA) taught us in law school to focus on jurisdiction and legal standing first because many cases lack one or both of them.
The question I have is do these judges realize at some point in time, likely soon, the SC is going to have to rule on these actions, nation wide TRO, injunctions? They just might be setting up precedent of limiting their own rule.
NotReallyaFarmer
Great question that you ask.
I also have some questions.
Why aren’t you out in the fields on this lovely spring day ????
Why do you spend all day, every day commenting here???
Who is tending to your livestock??
Who is preparing for spring planting ???
Who is cleaning out the irrigation system after a long cold winter??
Who is out repairing fences ????
Inquiring minds would like to know the answers !!!!!
They let you out this morning, anon?
Yes
That ‘yes’ was for upstate:
“They just might be setting up precedent of limiting their own rule.”
Dear Prof Turley,
I’ve read with interest Trump’s insistence they are fully in compliance with SCOTUS 9-0 ruling to ‘facilitate’ the return of Garcia. Not sure it is up to Trump to determine if they are in compliance?
Ditto any other court ordered injunction. Including this one.
>”Trump is carrying out his pledge to dramatically downsize the government, including targeting waste and unnecessary or superfluous programs. One can certainly disagree with that judgment.”
And I certainly do.
Trump pledged a lot of things during the election. .. in my judgment, he has honored very few of them.
*Trump’s pledge to end the conflict in Ukraine, and to work with Russia and China to reduce ‘defense’ spending by half are probably the most disappointing.
Facilitate means help, not do. So, facilitating could be something as simple as saying, “If you let him go, we can have a donkey ready for him to ride back.”
As far as I know, Trump hasn’t offered a donkey or to ‘help’ Garcia return in any other way.
*again, Trump insists they are in full compliance with SCOTUS 9-0 ruling to ‘facilitate’ the return of Garcia.
That was the problem with the judges order. While they want precision on every court action, they fail on their own words being so imprecise that it can be interpreted differently with dozens of various scenarios.
It means–> getter done.
The order didn’t say he had to facilitate that MS13 human trafficker wife beater’s return. That’s a media lie. The order said only to facilitate his release from custody in El Salvador. That can only mean don’t put up roadblocks, since the US government has no power to order his release from a Salvadoran prison.
Turley– “after the public elected him, the question is whether a single district judge has the ability to stop a president from implementing such policies.”
I think the ultimate answer to that question will be NO.
At the moment we are unsure how much of the judiciary will remain when it is answered or how it will be answered.
The politicians–both D and R–have much to answer for. They should never have appointed such tyrannical screwballs to the courts. We need wise lawyers who love the law on the bench.
I was particularly struck by this: Turley– “Judge Illston did acknowledge that two courts of appeal recently rendered decisions against jurisdiction in such cases in Widakuswara v. Lake, No. 25- 5144, 2025 WL 1288817 (D.C. Cir. May 3, 2025) and Maryland v. U.S. Dep’t of Agriculture, No. 25- 1248, 2025 WL 1073657 (4th Cir. Apr. 9, 2025). The court notes that those decisions are not binding on a San Francisco district court and rejects their value as “persuasive authority.” Judge Illston declared that “Tthe [sic] Fourth Circuit offers no reasoning for its conclusion that the district court lacked jurisdiction, and this Court finds the dissenting opinion in that case more robust and more persuasive. ” It similarly embraced the dissent in the D.C. Circuit case.”
When even judges don’t respect the courts, why should we?
Interesting that ‘we’ knew not who was running the Executive Branch when Biden was president. HOWEVER, ‘we’ are beginning to know the judicial clique who want to run the Trump administration.
Not sure Biden knew who was running the Executive Branch when Biden was president.
*however, according to the U.S. Constitution, there is no such thing as a ‘judicial clique’.
The US Constitution does not list every thing that exists. You might as well say that according to the US Constitution there is no such thing as a horse.
However, in real life there is judicial RICO
Having only lightly scanned 5 U.S.C. § 903, and possibly missing something relevant, I’d note the following:
1) Nothing notes that congressional approval is required. In fact, a 1984 amendment on what notes the president “shall provide” seems to indicate that any such plan may not necessarily even need to be given in advance, as it asks for “(C) any preliminary actions which have been taken in the implementation process”.
2) Wording on what “may” be provided in the president’s “plan” implies that the president is seen to have the authority to do those things, including: “the abolition of the whole or a part of an agency which agency or part does not have, or on the taking effect of the reorganization plan will not have, any functions.”
Overall, the regulation seems to veer into questionable efforts by congress to micromanage/hamstring presidential control of the executive branch with their demands.
Exactly. Just because Clinton involved Congress, doesn’t mean another President must. Apparently, the judge has discovered a “penumbra.”
May is used as a sort of pick and choose… your dinner may include green beans , peas, squash…choose when ordering.
The plan may have no peas but corn instead. The plan is to cut government spending.
Democrats: making us lose trust one institution at a time!