April 10, 2025

Thursday, April 10,2025. Annette’s Roundup for Democracy.

Join the nation-wide protests to denounce the man in the White House.

He endangers the whole world. He embarrasses our nation.

Yes, he is destroying our universities, our libraries, and our schools, our healthcare system, our scientific research, and our children’s future.

He has broken our laws and ignored our Constitution while creating chaos, uncertainty and fear.

He has wiped out trillions of dollars of value in the stock market, putting American businesses, schools and nonprofits, state and local governments, farms, and individuals’ 401(k)s and retirement plans in danger.

He has threatened our Democracy and our national security and the world order, and puts us all at risk for a global recession.

Wars rage on in Ukraine and Gaza. He plays golf with the Saudis to put money in his pockets.

This is what the Republicans gave us and whose policies they support in the Presidency.

You have plenty to complain about.

So do it!

Call and write your Elected Officials.

Cite whatever disgraceful and illegal actions you want, whatever disgraceful comments you know, but perhaps cite his vulgarity in this report from the Guardian too.👇

ChaosKing

Trump says ‘I know what I’m doing’ before stepping back from global tariffs.

President said at National Republican Congressional Committee dinner that world leaders are ‘kissing my ass.’

Donald Trump has insisted “I know what the hell I’m doing” by imposing sweeping tariffs and bragged that world leaders are “kissing my ass” as they try to negotiate trade deals.

The US president was speaking to political donors at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraising dinner in Washington on Tuesday night.

His rambling 90-minute address came just hours before his latest tariffs went into effect. “I know what the hell I’m doing,” the president said. “I know what I’m doing. And you know what I’m doing too. That’s why you vote for me.”

The administration has given conflicting signals over whether the tariffs are open to negotiation.

Trump claimed: “I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass. They are. They are dying to make a deal.”

Mocking the pleas of foreign leaders, he parodied: “Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir!”

Less than a day later, Trump shelved plans to hike tariffs on most countries except China, unveiling a 90-day pause and pulling back from his global trade war after days of market turmoil and warnings of recession.

After insisting for days that he would hold firm on his aggressive trade strategy, Trump announced that all countries that had not retaliated against US tariffs would receive a reprieve – and only face a blanket US tariff of 10% – until July.

It is unclear where that leaves earlier threats of more tariffs to come. On Tuesday, Trump had said: “We’re going to tariff our pharmaceuticals and once we do that they’re going to come rushing back into our country because we’re the big market … So we’re going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals.”

The tariffs, announced last week on what Trump billed as “liberation day”, have wiped trillions of dollars off the US stock market and raised fears of a global recession; on Wednesday China slapped 84% retaliatory tariffs on US goods. Larry Summers, a former treasury secretary, described it as “the biggest self-inflicted wound we’ve put on our economy in history”.

Even Republicans, unswervingly loyal on other issues, are increasingly uneasy. Several senators have signed on to a bipartisan bill that would require presidents to justify new tariffs to Congress. Don Bacon of Nebraska has said he will introduce a House version of the bill, saying that Congress needs to restore its powers over tariffs.

But Trump lashed out at the dissenters on Tuesday night. The author of The Art of the Deal said: “I see some rebel Republican, some guy who wants to grandstand, say, ‘I think that Congress should take over negotiations.’ Let me tell you, you don’t negotiate like I negotiate.”

“I just saw it today, a couple of your congressmen, sir. ‘I think we should get involved in the negotiation of the tariffs.’ Oh that’s what I need, I need some guy telling me how to negotiate.”

Despite the turmoil, he claimed that he had the “most successful 100 days in the history of this country” and the stage was now “set for a monumental victory for the Republicans in the midterms” next year.

Turning to his signature issues, border security and immigration, the president revived a popular culture reference from his election campaign last year: Hannibal Lecter, the fictional serial killer from The Silence of the Lambs.

“They used to go crazy when I talked about … the late, great Hannibal Lecter. Right? ‘Why does he talk about that? He’s a fictional character.’ He’s not. We have many of them that came across the border. He’s actually not.

“But when the people went to the voting booth, then we understood why he talked about that because they voted for us. They say, ‘We don’t want Hannibal Lecter in our country.’”

The dinner was also notable for a slip of the tongue by Tom Emmer, a Republican congressman from Minnesota. He told the audience: “President cunt – Trump is counting on us!”, hastily correcting himself.

The error was caught with glee by social media users. The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, tweeted: “Had it right the first time.”

One more thing.

Tell them to stop **“President Kiss My Ass” ** from doing this too.!👇

The White House denies it, but only we can stop it.👇

Donald Trump Is Planning Lavish Military Parade on His 79th Birthday as Economists Warn of Recession: Reports.

Trump's previous attempt to organize a grand parade in 2018 was called off due to its $92 million price tag.

A military parade timed to Donald Trump's 79th birthday may be in the works.

Multiple outlets received reports that a big parade is being planned for June 14 — the president's birthday, and also the 250th anniversary of the Army — which would travel nearly four miles through the streets of Washington, D.C. Such a parade would involve the Army itself, an Army official told The Hill.

“The Army is very excited to celebrate its 250th anniversary with the entire county. Our intention is for Americans to be proud of their Army and also proud of their nation," Army spokesperson Col. Dave Butler told the outlet. "It’s too early to say yet whether or not we’re having a parade but we’re working with the White House as well as several government agencies to make the celebration a national level event.”

Following the report, a senior official in the Trump administration confirmed the parade to NewsNation, and Politico confirmed with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis that they had been included in preliminary discussions about plans for a parade.

"I would say it's at its early stages. Yes, [Trump officials] have reached out," Bowser said, adding that it isn't necessarily a military parade. But when a reporter pointed out that the parade route may start at the Pentagon, Bowser replied, "Okay, well, then it does sound like a military parade."

Yet, on Monday, the outlet also received word from the White House that "no military parade has been scheduled" thus far in regards to the showing.

Trump was adamant on a similar showing during his first term in 2018, Politico reported, but it was canceled due to its estimated $92 million price tag and the heavy burden of tanks and planes on day-to-day roads. Public safety costs would have reached $21 million alone.

The 2018 parade proposal received bipartisan backlash before it was called off.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham — typically a loyal Trump supporter — feared such a display may appear too similar to a "Soviet-style" show of military strength, whereas then-Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin called the proposal a "fantastic waste of money to amuse the president."

News that Trump may be picking up the lavish parade planning where he left off seven years ago comes as expert economists warn of a possible recession in the wake of the Trump administration's controversial new tariff plan.

A ceremonious event thrown with taxpayer dollars in a time of economic uncertainty — especially one that doubles as a birthday party — would not come without public pushback.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.

Large-scale military parades involving presidents are not a prominent element of modern U.S. culture like they are in some other nations — including Russia and North Korea.

France's similar display for Bastille Day in 2017 is reportedly the event that inspired Trump to bring a parade of his own to life. (People magazine).

And this, as Hillary reminds us.👇

And this, as Peter Baker, White House Correspondent for the New York Times, tweets -

Finally, get ready to do this as well.👇

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On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said Trump’s deportations could go on but they left an opening. Two judges stepped in.

Rulings in New York and Texas Curb Deportations of Venezuelans to El Salvador.

The decisions suggest that the battle over using a wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport migrants is certain to persist.

Two federal judges issued separate orders on Wednesday placing road blocks in the Trump administration’s continuing efforts to use a powerful wartime statute to deport Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members to El Salvador.

The twin rulings, in New York and Texas, were in direct response to a Supreme Court decision handed down on Monday that overturned a similar order issued last month by a federal judge in Washington. They suggest that even though President Trump declared victory when the justices weighed in on the matter, the battle over using the wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport migrants is certain to persist.

In its decision, the Supreme Court found that migrants subject to deportation under the act need to be given notice before being removed from the country so that they can challenge the process in court. But those challenges, the justices said, are required to be made in the places where the migrants are being held.

On Tuesday, two Venezuelans being held in a detention center in the town of Goshen, in Orange County, N.Y., asked Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to shield them from being deported.

Judge Hellerstein, at a hearing on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, issued a narrow decision in their case. He said that any Venezuelan migrants in his judicial district, the Southern District of New York, subject to deportation under the statute have to be given the opportunity to have a hearing before they are removed from the country.

“It seems to me that people need to be protected,” Judge Hellerstein said.

In a broader decision handed down in Federal District Court in Brownsville, Texas, Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. said that the administration cannot use the Alien Enemies Act to remove any Venezuelans being held at the El Valle Detention Center, in Raymondville, near the southern border, until at least April 23.

All of the Venezuelans who brought claims in New York and Texas had been protected from deportation under the now-defunct order issued in Washington on March 15. After the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday, they simply refiled their cases to comply with the justices’ new legal framework.

Mr. Trump’s efforts to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport scores of Venezuelan migrants have set off one of the most contentious legal battles of his second term. It began last month, after the president invoked the act, which has been used only three times since it was passed in 1798, to authorize the deportation of people he claims were members of Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan street gang.

The American Civil Liberties Union immediately challenged Mr. Trump’s use of the act in court filings to Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, even as the administration rushed more than 100 Venezuelan migrants on to planes to El Salvador. Once there, the migrants were put in a megaprison called CECOT, known for its brutal conditions.

Lawyers for the A.C.L.U. have said the government unlawfully used the act, which is supposed to be invoked only in times of declared war or during an “invasion” by a foreign nation or government.

In its ruling this week, the Supreme Court did not weigh in on the question of whether Mr. Trump has complied with such provisions of the law. But a federal appeals court in Washington ruled last month that at this early stage, it appeared unlikely that the Alien Enemies Act could be applied in the way Mr. Trump was trying to use it.

Judge Boasberg has also expressed skepticism about the White House’s use of the statute, saying that he was concerned that the migrants who fell subject to it had no way to contest whether they were gang members in the first place.

One of the men identified in the Texas filing as J.A.V. is a 32-year-old Venezuelan who was taken into custody by federal immigration agents during an asylum interview in February, largely because of his tattoos, court papers say. He has denied being a member of Tren de Aragua.

J.A.V.’s lawyers claim he is H.I.V.-positive and fears deportation to El Salvador “on account of his sexual orientation.” Like the other two men identified in the filings, he was almost deported on the planes that left Texas on March 15, but was spared at the last minute by Judge Boasberg’s initial order.

Both of the other men — known in the filings as J.G.G. and W.G.H. — have also denied belonging to Tren de Aragua.

The first of the men who brought suit in New York is a 21-year-old who fled Venezuela after having been threatened by members of Tren de Aragua because of his sexual orientation, the A.C.L.U. said in a filing.

The second is a 32-year-old who applied for asylum after having protested the actions of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and later fled the country, fearing that he would be imprisoned, tortured and killed for his activism. (New York Times).

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