This Week in Democracy – Week 57: Trump's Tariff Tantrum, Illegal Arrests, and Colbert Censorship
Zeteo's weekly round-up, documenting the growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.
Isn’t it something when democracy works the way it’s supposed to? In Donald Trump’s America, that has become increasingly rare, especially when it comes to the Supreme Court, but on Friday, a majority of justices broke with the president and ruled he cannot use emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs.
Trump, of course, had a full-blown meltdown about the decision, and has already said he will use other authorities to circumvent it.
And while this Supreme Court ruling is a win for democracy, there were still a whole host of things Trump and his cronies did this week that harm democracy, undermine the Constitution, and hurt free societies worldwide.
From unlawful arrests to one state getting closer to requiring ICE to be at the polls, here’s a quick look at just some of the harmful actions the president and his allies took this week:
Saturday, Feb. 14 – Thousands of Illegal Detentions
The Trump administration has been found to have unlawfully detained immigrants more than 4,400 times by hundreds of judges since October alone, according to Reuters, as part of a policy that’s resulted in the total number of people in ICE detention reaching a record high and more than 20,000 lawsuits.
Sunday, Feb. 15 – Deportation Czar’s Crusade Continues
On CBS’ ‘Face the Nation,’ Trump administration border czar Tom Homan balked at demands by Democratic lawmakers for changes to ICE policies, arguing that while he doesn’t “like the masks,” he believes they are necessary for agents to “protect themselves,” even though police officers don’t wear them.
Homan also ludicrously claimed that federal agents aren’t engaging in racial profiling and that stops are only made based on “reasonable suspicion,” despite the fact that the Supreme Court opened the door for ICE to engage in racial profiling last year.
Monday, Feb. 16 – Colbert Fights Back
Late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert said that CBS refused to air an interview he filmed with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico out of fear after FCC chair Brendan Carr issued regulatory guidance last month requiring daytime and late-night talk shows to give equal time to political candidates, even though they have historically been covered by an exemption.
On the following night’s show, Colbert noted that his team couldn’t “find one example” of the equal-time ruling being enforced for any interview on a late-night talk show dating back to the 1960s.
CBS claimed that the program “was not prohibited” from airing the interview, which was instead uploaded to YouTube, but said the network provided “legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger” the rule.
Tuesday, Feb. 17 – ICE at the Polls?
Senate Republicans in Arizona advanced legislation in an effort to require ICE agents to have a presence at voting locations in the state – a move that could violate federal law.
Wednesday, Feb. 18 – Violating Court Orders
Politico reported that the Trump administration admitted in a court filing to violating court orders by federal judges in New Jersey more than 50 times in the past 10 weeks, including deporting someone to Peru in violation of an injunction, and missing three deadlines to release people detained by ICE.
Additionally, the administration missed six deadlines to respond to court orders, along with a dozen others to provide bond hearings to people in ICE detention, and 10 instances of failing to produce evidence ordered by judges.
Thursday, Feb. 19 - Kicking People Out of Housing
Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a new proposed rule that could ban families with at least one undocumented immigrant in the household from living in public housing, a move that could result in tens of thousands of people being evicted from their homes, including nearly 37,000 US citizen children, or face possible family separation.
The rule would also require local housing authorities to report any tenant who isn’t eligible for rental aid to US Citizenship and Immigration Services. While undocumented immigrants don’t receive federal rental aid, they may live with family members who do, including children born in the US.
Friday, Feb. 20 - King Trump Melts Down
In its most significant rebuke of the Trump administration since the president returned to office, the Supreme Court ruled that he cannot use emergency powers to unilaterally impose tariffs.
Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas dissented. In their opinion, it’s apparently okay to let Trump impose sweeping tariffs with emergency powers granted to presidents under a law – the International Emergency Economic Powers Act – that doesn’t even use the word “tariff” one time.
And guess what… After the ruling, Trump called the Supreme Court justices who ruled against him “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution”; suggested – without elaborating or evidence – that they are being swayed by “foreign interests”; and claimed he will impose a 10% “global tariff” under a different act – one that has a statute limiting tariffs to 150 days unless authorized by Congress.
Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:
Awe, poor baby threw a hissy fit because 'his' SC said 'no', despite saying 'yes' way too many times and giving the bully 'immunity'. The bastard should be sitting in a jail cell, not the WH. My biggest concern are the midterms, which no doubt, will be handed over to the maga party. I don't know how we're going to have a 'fair and free' election when states like AZ will try to have trump's gestapo at the polls. I'm sure they won't be the only state to try this illegal stunt. It's becoming clearer that our only option as a country is a revolution. He and his corrupt-as-hell administration, have to be stopped before the damage is irreversible. Does anyone have a better idea?
To repeat what I wrote yesterday: Three idiots on the US supreme court apparently can't read the constitution. How did they ever get there? (Rhetorical question--we do know how and it is another sad story.) The tyrump-epstein criminal syndicate now running the US is not going to give up on this, unless, possibly the economy suddenly rebounds as a result and they can falsely claim another victory.
The tyrump-epstein criminal syndicate now attempting to run the country and the world is shown by Zeteo's reporting to be what it is: pure evil.