Week 43 — The Return

This week Trump lost three major court cases, which could have major implications on the regime’s ability to enact his agenda. Perhaps the most consequential was a 7–4 ruling by a federal appeals court, finding that he had overstepped his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in his trade war, a ruling that could impact the majority of his tariffs. The court noted that no president had ever done this before, and it is the power of Congress to impose tariffs. The WSJ Editorial Board once again lambasted Trump, writing, “If he can impose a tax on any imported product any time he wants, he really has the power of a king.”

A federal appeals court similarly found that Trump had wrongfully invoked the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants he accused of belonging to a Venezuelan street gang. The ruling could have broader implications for the Trump regime, and its broad anti-immigrant narrative used to justify its actions. Notably, in Week 42, an analysis by the NYT highlighted Trump’s overuse of declaring emergencies, finding he had already declared a total of ten, while his predecessors averaged seven over their four-year terms.

The third ruling related to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, finding he had violating the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities. The ruling came on the same day Trump threatened to send federal troops to other blue cities, including Chicago and Baltimore. The regime will appeal all these rulings, and ultimately the Supreme Court will continue setting boundaries that will have long-term implications for the future power of the presidency.

Finally, notable this week were Trump’s continued use of the tools of authoritarians. He continued his pattern of firing those with whom he disagrees or who get in his way. The WSJ noted that he is even backsliding to what was endemic during his first regime: his pattern of firing his handpicked senior officials. Trump also continues his attacks on science and data, another tool of authoritarians.

1. On Wednesday, the Justice Department abruptly dropped charges against a client of Brad Bondi, the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, marking the second time in less than a month that the DOJ dropped cases of clients represented by her brother.
2. WSJ reported that the Trump family amassed $5 billion of wealth on paper on Monday, after its crypto venture launched trading of a new digital currency, WLFI. The Trump family, including Trump himself, holds just under a quarter of all WLFI tokens in existence.
3. On Wednesday, Health and Human Services announced on X that Dr. Susan Monarez was no longer the director of the Centers for Disease Control, posting in the early evening she had resigned, less than a month after she was confirmed by the Senate.
4. Hours later, her attorneys posted on X that she had not resigned, but was fired by HHS Sec. Robert Kennedy, Jr. because she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.” She refused to step down, and said Kennedy could not fire her.
5. At least four other senior CDC officials resigned in protest on Wednesday in a massive shake up of the agency, citing the “weaponizing of public health,” “the spread of vaccine misinformation,” and the proposed budget cuts and mass layoffs under a reorganization plan.
6. At 9:30 p.m. ET, a spokesman for Trump said in an email that Monarez was “not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” and so “the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC.”
7. Shortly after, a lawyer for Monarez posted on X “we reject notification,” citing since she was “a presidential appointee, senate confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her,” adding the notice was “legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director.” Trump was silent.
8. NYT reported that earlier in the week, Kennedy had summoned Monarez to his office, and demanded she fire career agency officials and commit to backing the findings of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Policy, which he had stacked with anti-vax loyalists.
9. On Thursday, the White House named deputy CDC director Jim O’Neill as the acting director. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Trump had terminated Susan Monarez, but there was no public statement by him. Monarez’s lawyers did not recognize the firing.
10. O’Neill has no training in medicine or infectious disease science. He was formerly a speechwriter under president George W. Bush, and worked for Trump ally Peter Thiel in Silicon Valley. During the Covid pandemic, he voiced public support for unproven treatments.
11. On Monday, nine former CDC directors from both parties said in an NYT op-ed, “Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health,” that he is focusing “on unproven ‘treatments’ while downplaying vaccines,” and canceling “investments in promising medical research.”
12. On Monday, Trump demanded on Truth Social that pharmaceutical companies release success rates of their Covid “drugs,” saying he has seen numbers and results, but the public has not, adding, “I want them to show them NOW, to CDC and the public, and clear up this MESS.”
13. On Wednesday, Trump fired Robert Primus, a Democratic board member of the Surface Transportation Board, as the board was weighing the proposed merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. Primus had voted against a similar merger in 2023.
14. Primus said he would challenge the firing, telling the WSJ, “This is deeply troubling and legally invalid.” The White House said Thursday that Primus “did not align with the President’s America First agenda,” adding the regime would nominate “new, more qualified members.”
15. On Thursday, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook sued Trump over her firing, calling it “a broadside attack on the independence” of the Fed, adding “the unsubstantiated and unproven allegation” predates her time in the position and does “not amount to ‘cause.’”
16. On Tuesday, nearly 600 bipartisan economists, including Nobel laureates, wrote in an open letter, “We stand with Governor Cook,” saying firing her would threaten the Fed’s independence and erode trust in a key pillar of the U.S. financial system.
17. On Tuesday, lawyers for Cook said in a court filing that she “did not ever commit mortgage fraud,” saying the mortgage applications were disclosed prior to her nomination by former president Joseph Biden, and so “likely cannot constitute a legitimate basis” for firing her.
18. On Thursday, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte sent another criminal referral against Cook to AG Bondi. The latest complaint was about a mortgage that was taken out on a property listed as a second home, and later declared as an investment property.
19. WSJ reported that Trump is turning on people in the regime that he handpicked and appointed, including some who have been Senate confirmed. Trump had tried to avoid the high turnover that plagued the first regime by only selected loyalists who were screened for fealty.
20. Examples include Monarez; Michael Faulkender, deputy Treasury secretary; Cameron Hamilton, acting head of FEMA; Billy Long, head of the IRS; Mike Walz, NSA; and two top DOJ antitrust officials. The regime is also looking into Corey Lewandowski, an unpaid DHS advisor.
21. Trump has also shrunk his National Security Council to fewer than 150 staffers, whereas typical administrations have closer to 400. He has turned to a small group of advisers, which encourages freelancing by senior officials to gain his attention and advance their priorities.
22. On Wednesday, Trump called for racketeering charges against George Soros and his son, Alex, baselessly citing on Truth Social “their support of Violent Protests, and much more, all throughout the United States of America.”
23. On Thursday, Trump canceled former vice president Kamala Harris’s Secret Service protection. Typically, Secret Service protects former vice presidents for six months, but Biden had extended it for an additional year, citing security concerns. No rationale or reason was given.
24. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order stripping union protections from federal employees at six federal agencies, including NASA and the National Weather Service, to end their collective bargaining agreements with employee unions.
25. NYT reported that with the ruling, more than 445,000 federal workers saw their union protections disappear in August, from an executive order signed in March impacting 22 federal agencies, as well as a second order impacting six additional agencies.
26. NYT reported that Black women have been hit the hardest by Trump’s firing of federal workforce employees, and his anti-DEI order’s impact on corporations, and other policies. Black women make up 12% of the federal workforce, almost double their share of the overall labor force.
27. Between February and July, Black women lost 319,000 jobs in the public and private sectors, while white women saw a job increase of 142,000, Hispanic women of 176,000, and white men saw the largest increase of 365,000 jobs.
28. On Thursday, Mark McCloskey, a lawyer for Jan. 6 insurrectionists, said he had met with the DOJ to discuss setting up a “voluntary nonjudicial resolution committee” to dole out monetary awards to insurrectionists, as had been done for victims of September 11.
29. On Wednesday, the CFO of Nvidia said the company is shipping chips to China, but not yet paying the 15% to the U.S. government as Trump claimed, telling investors, “I don’t have to do this 15% until I see something that is a true regulatory document.”
30. On Friday, as part of his trade war, Trump ended the nearly century-old “de minimis” exemption, which had been in place since the Tariff Act of 1930. There was no clear guidance on shipments or collecting duties, leading to a halt of shipments into the U.S. from dozens of countries.
31. WSJ reported Trump’s haphazard tariffs, and shifting rates, has left many U.S. businesses unclear on how to price their products. Producers are trying to agree with retailers on how much of the tariff to absorb, and how much to pass to consumers, amid Trump’s moving tariffs numbers.
32. Late Thursday, a federal appeals court ruled 7–4 that most of Trump’s tariffs were unlawful, and he had overstepped his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), saying the act “does not authorize the tariffs imposed by the Executive Orders.”
33. The majority also noted no president had done this before, writing, “the Government has ‘never previously claimed powers of this magnitude,’” which is “a ‘telling indication’ that the Government’s reading of a statute is incorrect.”
34. The majority added, “The core Congressional power to impose taxes such as tariffs is vested exclusively in the legislative branch by the Constitution.” The court stayed their order of freezing tariffs until mid-October to allow the regime to appeal to the Supreme Court.
35. Trump berated the court on Truth Social, calling them “a Highly Partisan Appeals Court,” but there were judges nominated by presidents of both parties on each side of the ruling. Trump claimed if the ruling stands, it would “literally destroy” the country.
36. In a filing Friday, members of the regime urged the appeals court to pause their order, with Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent warning of “dangerous diplomatic embarrassment,” and Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick predicting “devastating and dire consequences.”
37. The WSJ Editorial Board wrote the ruling means Trump “can’t tax any import on a personal whim,” adding, “Congress has ceded too much power over trade to the President,” and “If he can impose a tax on any imported product any time he wants, he really has the power of a king.”
38. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled 2–1, allowing a lower court ruling that found Rebecca Slaughter, the Democratic Federal Trade Commission commissioner, should be reinstated, after she was fired by Trump.
39. A full federal appeals court flipped a ruling by three of its judges, allowing Trump to freeze billions in foreign aid approved by Congress. In a dissent, a Democrat-appointed judge said the case presented “a textbook separation-of-powers claim” on which Trump had “infringed.”
40. In a letter to Congress, the Trump regime said it planned to cut $4.9 billion in foreign aid, using ‘pocket recessions,’ and without congressional approval. Sen. Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called it a “clear violation of the law.”
41. The move was set to test the Impoundment Control Act, which allows the White House to freeze funds for 45 days. White House budget chief Russ Vought argued that the money allocated by Congress has not yet been spent, and the budget expires at the fiscal year end.
42. As part of Trump’s war on wind power, the Transportation Department announced that it was terminating or withdrawing $679 million in funding awarded during the Biden era to support the development of 12 offshore wind projects, calling the projects “wasteful.”
43. A federal appeals court ruled 2–1 that the Trump regime acted legally when it clawed back $16 billion in climate grants funds awarded under a Biden-era program, even as “some grantees may be forced to shutter their operations.” Both judges in the majority were Trump appointees.
44. The Trump regime canceled a $500 million grant to Heidelberg, a cement company in a deep red part of Indiana, which was pioneering a lower-carbon cement amid fierce global competition, leaving the community and cement industry stunned.
45. NYT reported that in addition to his efforts to limit or end use of solar and wind power within the U.S., Trump is also trying to use tariffs and threats to strong-arm other countries to relax their pledges on climate change, and burn more oil, gas, and coal.
46. More than 85 American and international scientists denounced the Trump regime’s climate report, saying in a public comment on the report that it cherry-picked data, and is riddled with errors and misrepresentations.
47. Historians liken Trump’s attacks on science as reminiscent of authoritarians over the centuries. Trump’s regime has fired teams of scientists, pulled funding for research, and if his proposed budget cuts pass, it would be the largest drop in support for science since World War II.
48. On Wednesday, the DOJ relaxed the requirement for temporary immigration judges, announcing they will no longer need to have experience in immigration law. The shift came after more than 100 immigration judges departed through firings and resignations.
49. The Trump regime is also considering using military lawyers, who have little or no experience with immigration law, to work temporarily as immigration judges, potentially inserting the military into another aspect of domestic life.
50. On Friday, a federal judge blocked the Trump regime from using fast-track deportations of people detained far from the southern border, known as expedited removal, ending, for now, a pillar of Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
51. On Sunday, a federal judge blocked the Trump regime from deporting 76 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors from the U.S. to Guatemala. A DOJ lawyer said the flight might have departed, but would return and the children would be deplaned because of the order.
52. NYT reported that while governors of red states Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, and Missouri had dispatched their states’ National Guard troops to D.C. to please Trump, all of those states have cities with higher crime rates than D.C., yet they did not ask for federal intervention.
53. On Saturday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order directing the city to use “every legal mechanism” to combat the potential deployment of troops or federal law enforcement to Chicago threatened by Trump and his regime.
54. On Sunday, Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem told “Face the Nation” that the regime plans to expand ICE operations in major cities, including Chicago. She added it would be up to Trump on whether the National Guard would be deployed in Chicago.
55. On Monday, a federal judge ruled that Trump had illegally deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, violating the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities.
56. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled 2–1 that Trump cannot use the Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants that he accused of belonging to a violent Venezuelan street gang, rejecting his argument that the U.S. was under invasion by Tren de Aragua.
57. The ruling found that immigration is not synonymous with a military breach of U.S. borders, saying, “There is no finding that this mass immigration was an armed, organized force or forces.” Trump had used the same arguments in several aspects of his anti-immigrant agenda.
58. On Monday, Labor Day, the White House announced Trump would make a major announcement on Tuesday at 2 pm ET. Trump had uncharacteristically been out of the public eye for three days, and rumors swirled about his health, and that he had possibly died.
59. The announcement was on relocating Space Command headquarters, hardly a cause for such pomp. Trump at first claimed he was not aware of the rumors, then acknowledged questions about his health, calling it “fake news,” adding that he “was very active over the weekend.”
60. NYT reported justifiable concerns about Trump’s health have been met with obfuscation and limited explanations. Issues include a large bruise on his hand which was covered by make up, swollen ankles, difficulty standing for long periods of time, hearing issues, and high cholesterol.
61. On Tuesday, when asked by reporters if he still planned to send the National Guard to Chicago after the ruling, Trump said, “We’re going in,” adding, “I have an obligation,” and “This isn’t a political thing.”
62. Trump also hyperbolically claimed that now there was “no crime” in D.C., adding, “It’s now a safe zone,” and “It’s in such great shape.”
63. On Tuesday, a D.C. grand jury declined to indict a defendant accused of threatening Trump on social media, the latest grand jury to not indict, another sign of the pushback by D.C. residents to Trump’s federal troop deployment.
64. WAPO reported Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired the top CIA Russia experts, days after Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after she was targeted by far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer.
65. On Thursday, a federal judge blocked Kari Lake, acting chief executive of Voice of America, who Trump has tasked with dismantling the agency from within, from firing VOA director Michael Abramowitz, saying Lake did not have the authority to remove him.
66. On Friday, Lake posted on social media that she had fired most of the remaining VOA employees, sending layoff notices to 532 employees, and leaving just roughly 100 journalists and staffers remaining.
67. Meanwhile, right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson, who has a history of promoting falsehoods and plagiarism, has been given rare access to the White House, including being invited to the daily briefing, and the privilege of being called on first by press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
68. NYT reported the Pentagon reinstated a portrait of Confederate Gen. Robert Lee at West Point Library, three years after a congressional commission ordered it removed, citing a 2020 law that stripped the names of Confederate leaders from military bases.
69. Cracker Barrel, after changing its logo back, also quietly removed or altered what it called “out-of-date” pages on its website that referenced the LGBTQ community and diversity, equity, and inclusion groups.
70. Trump’s Education Department threatened to pull federal funding from the Denver public school district, citing its transgender bathroom policy, and saying it would give the schools 10 days to ban transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
71. On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he planned to sign an executive order requiring voters to present identification in order to vote. The move expanded his efforts to change voting requirements ahead of the 2026 midterms.
72. On Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would award his longtime ally Rudy Giuliani with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he called “our Country’s highest civilian honor,” two days after Giuliani was severely injured in a car crash.
73. On Tuesday, as Congress returned from summer recess, the House Oversight Committee was set to meet with accusers of Jeffrey Epstein. The move had bipartisan support despite Trump’s efforts to quash it, and House Speaker Mike Johnson calling recess early to avoid it.
74. Later Tuesday, the House released more than 33,000 pages of files on Epstein, including at least eight videos of apparent police interviews with victims, as Republican leadership hoped to avoid a bipartisan effort to force a vote on releasing all documents.
75. On Wednesday, a group of Epstein victims gathered in D.C. to push members of Congress to release the Epstein files. One said that she and other survivors would compile their own list of people in Epstein’s orbit, saying, “We know the names. Many of us were abused by them.”
76. On Wednesday, Trump accused Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who were in China together for the first time, and attended a massive military parade together, of conspiring against the U.S.
77. Trump added he was “very disappointed” in Putin, after the Kremlin denied Trump’s claims that Putin would attend a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump said in a radio interview that the U.S. will “be doing something to help people live,” but did not elaborate.