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Welcome to Thugland: Judiciary Edition [1]
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Date: 2025-04-27
“Slowly I turned, and step by step, inch by inch …” – from The Three Stooges Niagara Falls sketch.
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The Three Stooges are really funny, but we’re seeing something very scary in this country that – like Moe’s and Larry’s assault on the dim-witted Curley in their Niagara Falls sketch – is progressing one agonizing step at a time.
One step at a time towards authoritarianism. One step at a time towards the invalidating of our constitution and rule of law. One step at a time toward the gouging of our democracy.
One step at time we collectively walk into a place where Donald Trump, our four-time indicted, twice-impeached, insurrection inspirer, sexual assaulter, tax fraudster, wannabe fascist dictator, convicted felon, Russian puppet, mob boss, president, and a morally bankrupt Republican Party have taken us.
One step at a time we travel deeper and deeper into this mess. Each step takes us further from what this country used to claim it stood for. Each step forward making it harder to turn back. We’re here, and what are we going to do about it?
Welcome to Thugland.
Trump and his minions have declared war on the judicial system. They attack judges whose decisions they don’t like. They thumb their noses at rulings they don’t agree with. They’re trying legislatively to limit their power and even talked about defunding some of the court system.
The criminal president’s goal is to bring his claim of ultimate power before our corrupt U.S. Supreme Court, where he hopes it’ll clear the way for him to tear down our constitutionally based government of three co-equal branches and declare him king over it all.
That’s a nightmare scenario we’ll face down the road. Right now, in so many ways, Trump is step-by-step pushing the envelope to see how far he can go. This week his efforts reached the judicial system when his FBI/Gestapo arrested a Milwaukee County Court judge who wouldn’t help them apprehend a Mexican citizen who was appearing in her courtroom on a non-immigration matter.
The arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan on Friday led slimeball FBI Director Kash Patel to post a picture of her in handcuffs on social media, because intimidation and humiliation are the real goals here.
And Attorney General/Trump puppet Pam Bondi declared open season on judges and any other elected officials who they perceive to stand in the way of their orgasm-causing mass deportation scheme when she said: “Some of these judges think they’re above the law. They are not. We will come after you and prosecute you. We will find you.”
We will find you? The New York Times called this “a major escalation in the Trump administration’s battle with local authorities over deportations.” It’s more than just that. Much more.
Make no mistake about it, this is the first step in the Trump wet dream of arresting anyone he perceives as his political enemy: judges, mayors, governors, Democrats in general, noncompliant Republicans (Hello Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger).
First, they came for the judges … You can figure out the rest.
Dugan is charged with obstructing a proceeding of a federal agency and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest. She was released on her own recognizance
The government alleges that Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI agents arrived at her courtroom on April 18 to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican citizen who was there to face domestic violence charges. Dugan allegedly told them to talk to the courthouse’s chief judge.
She’s accused of steering Flores-Ruiz through a side door in her courtroom while agents waited to arrest him in a public hallway. I’m new at this but isn’t covering all the exits standard operating procedure when you’re lying in wait to arrest an alleged fugitive?
Anyway, a DEA agent spotted him leaving the building, and he was apprehended after a foot chase.
We know Trump and his cronies hate the courts, seeing as how so many of his executive actions have been slowed or at least temporarily halted with restraining orders by federal judges. Plus, his personal experience as a convicted felon hasn’t left him with a warm-and-fuzzy feeling about how our criminal justice system works.
Trump has said his administration will investigate and prosecute local officials who don’t assist federal immigration enforcement efforts. We know he likes to rant about “sanctuary cities.”
The Times reported that Justice Department senior officials have urged prosecutors to look for cases in which local authorities, whether they’re municipal, state, or court officials, have tried to stop or hinder immigration agents.
Looks like they think that they’ve found one in Dugan. We’ll see how her case plays out, but she won’t be the last to be perp walked by this corrupt Justice Department. This is just the beginning.
You can read the Times story here.
The Times also reported that some judges are concerned that Trump will tell the U.S. Marshals Service to stop protecting them, particularly in light of increased threats against them.
By law, the U.S. Marshals Service oversees security for the judiciary. It’s also part of the Justice Department, which Trump controls through Bondi, who’ll do and say whatever he tells her to.
The Times said there’s “a growing discomfort from judges that their security is handled by an agency that, through the attorney general, ultimately answers to the president, and whose funding, in their view, has not kept pace with rising threats.”
What if Trump withdraws the protections it provides to judges? He’s already stripped security protections from former administration members and other individuals he doesn’t like.
There’s no evidence that Trump is thinking about revoking security from judges, the Times said. But would you put it past him?
Trump and his supporters have attacked various judges and called for their impeachment, making them possible targets for his MAGA base which, as we saw on Jan. 6, has no qualms about resorting to violence. The Times said some judges are spending their own money for additional security.
A White House spokesman called concerns that the president would deprive judges of their security “dangerous and irresponsible.” That’s an interesting choice of words because that’s exactly how you can describe the president himself.
Here’s what could turn out to be a watershed moment: What happens when a judge rules that a federal official or agency is in contempt of court by refusing to follow his or her orders? Would the marshals be willing to deliver that contempt citation to the appropriate person? Would Bondi tell them they aren’t doing that?
Then it all goes to hell if the court can’t initiate and follow through on contempt proceeding.
You can read the Times story here.
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Folks, if we lose the courts, it’s could very well be game over for our country. What will we do if the federal government can simply ignore judicial rulings with no recourse for their actions? There is one option, admittedly one that those of us of sound mind would hope can be avoided at all costs.
It’s been reported that there’s been dozens of cases where pizzas have been anonymously sent to judges and their family members at their homes. It’s an intimidation tactic signaling “we know where you live.”
I hope it never comes to this, but there could come a time when we have to start sending some pizzas of our own.
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Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Please share and subscribe for free via email on its home page.
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