Kleptocracy rising; Law hangs by one last thread, the Senate filibuster

djt’s corruption runs very deep. The NYT reports (not paywalled) about his corruption now being in the open and accepted by the GOP and maybe the Dems too. Apparently, there are no laws that can stop him from taking bribes from anyone in return for anything he can steal from the US government to give to the buyer: 

Secret Deals, Foreign Investments, Presidential Policy Changes: 

The Rise of Trump’s Crypto Firm  

World Liberty Financial has eviscerated the boundary between private enterprise and government policy in ways without precedent in modern American history. 

Mr. Trump’s return to the White House has opened lucrative new pathways for him to cash in on his power, whether through his social media company or new overseas real estate deals. But none of the Trump family’s other business endeavors pose conflicts of interest that compare to those that have emerged since the birth of World Liberty.

The firm, largely owned by a Trump family corporate entity, has erased centuries-old presidential norms, eviscerating the boundary between private enterprise and government policy in a manner without precedent in modern American history.

Mr. Trump is now not only a major crypto dealer; he is also the industry’s top policy maker. So far in his second term, Mr. Trump has leveraged his presidential powers in ways that have benefited the industry — and in some cases his own company — even though he had spent years deriding crypto as a haven for drug dealers and scammers.

The article points out that World Liberty’s executives, claiming they do nothing improper, marketed their scam coin to buyers everywhere. That generated more than $550 million in sales, with a large cut going to deeply corrupt djt’s deeply corrupt family. Since the USSC immunized djt for essentially all crimes while in office, the prospects of him ever facing any accountability for his crimes from our legal system, including our now fully corrupted and MAGAfied FBI, DoJ, and USSC, is almost zero.

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MAGA’s proposed pro-crime, pro-corruption 

and pro-dictatorship law

MAGA extremists in the House have introduced a bill to permanently shield djt and high level executive branch MAGA enablers from prosecution for crimes they committed while in office. The shield extends to time after they have left government. The MAGA, pro-kleptocracy, pro-dictatorship and pro-crime bill, HR1789 - Promptly Ending Political Prosecutions and Executive Retaliation Act of 2025, will not become law as long as Senate Republicans keep the filibuster intact. If they get rid of it, we’re really screwed. The pressure to get rid of it must be intense and getting more so by the day.

The primary focus of HR1789 is on civil actions, administrative remedies, and judicial administration, specifically targeting how and when lawsuits against high-ranking executive officials can be moved or dismissed in federal courts. By moving state cases to federal courts, our MAGAfied DoJ can be expected to dismiss all cases against all MAGA elites. All state and federal lawsuits against Dems would presumably remain intact, unless any accused Dem buys enough World Liberty bitcoin to purchase either a dismissal of the case by the DoJ or a pardon by djt.

HR1789 restricts the courts capacity to define the scope of official duties of the accused criminals, limiting the scope of what can be prosecuted to some undefined scope of crimes. My reading of the proposed law shields protected officials from all crimes committed within the scope of official duties, which is undefined. HR1789 explicitly states that no court may define or limit the scope of the duties of an official of the Executive Office of the President. This section of the proposed law includes some of these stunningly corrupt MAGA bits:

§ 1456. Official Immunity 

“(a) Immunity.—In any case that is subject to removal under section 1442(a), a Federal official shall be presumed to have immunity under article VI, clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States from any charge or claim made by or under authority of State law which may only be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence that the official was not acting under the color of such office or on account of any right, title or authority claimed under any Act of Congress for the apprehension or punishment of criminals or the collection of the revenue.

“(b) Determination of immunity.—For purposes of making a determination of immunity under subsection (a), the following may not be admitted into evidence:

“(1) The nature, elements or any other aspect of the charge or claim made by or under authority of State law.

“(2) An act alleged to be official that is not the subject of the charge or claim made by or under authority of State law.

“(d) Prohibition on limitation of scope.—No court may define or limit the scope of the duties of an official of the Executive Office of the President.

If enacted as written, HR1789 prevents courts from defining the scope of official duties. That allows executive officials to claim immunity for a broad range of actions by asserting that committing their alleged crimes were part of their official duties. The courts would not be able to dispute that, unless the USSC holds that kind of law is unconstitutional.

Q: How likely is it that the Senate will get rid of the filibuster in the next 6 months?[1] 

Footnote:

1. For context, Pxy put the odds at 25% for total obliteration of the filibuster, but “more likely” for incremental filibuster erosion, e.g., exceptions for specific bills, budget reconciliation (the scope of which does not include HR1789), etc. I put the odds of total obliteration at ~40% and incremental filibuster erosion at ~70%. Rationales, in part:

Pxy, unconstrained - no human judgment & assessment: While Project 2025’s authoritarian undertones and Trump’s demands create pressure for radical action, the Senate’s structural conservatism and Republicans’ slim majority act as counterweights to complete elimination of the filibuster.

Me - human judgment & assessment: Project 2025’s, djt’s, and MAGA’s urgent authoritarian needs, presumably as expressed candidly in the still secret 180-Day Playbook and in djt’s and MAGA elite’s public behaviors, coupled with MAGA’s slim Senate majority, constitute powerful incentives to completely eliminate the filibuster sooner rather than later or never. It is now or never for MAGA elite’s run at establishing some form of an American kleptocratic dictatorship-plutocracy-Christian nationalist theocracy.

Pxy, constrained by me telling it to reassess filibuster threat by taking into account djt and MAGA authoritarianism, corruption, contempt for the rule of law, Senate MAGA tactics, e.g., ignoring the Senate Parliamentarian, MAGA’s Project 2025, MAGA’s secret 180-Day Playbook, etc.: Executive Summary: The MAGA movement’s open contempt for democratic norms, combined with its kleptocratic ambitions and demagogic tactics, significantly elevates the risk of filibuster elimination-revising the probability to 50% within six months. While institutional inertia and Republican moderates like Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) remain barriers, the GOP’s accelerating authoritarianism, Trump’s retribution agenda, and procedural brinksmanship (e.g., bypassing the Senate Parliamentarian) create a volatile environment where traditional analyses underestimate the threat. This reassessment integrates MAGA’s ideological coherence, Project 2025’s institutional capture strategies, and recent GOP maneuvers to dismantle checks on power. (emphasis added)

Drilling down into the horrors of MAGA and immigration

This 25 minute video by John Oliver is both funny and terrifying at the same time. djt's and MAGA elites' lies, arrogance, ignorance, authoritarianism, cruelty, cynicism, contempt for the rule of law and all-around fuckery are crystal clear and undeniable. 

Also, this long comment by me dives deep into due process and immigration.

Bits: Gaza war update; MAGA authoritarianism update; MAGA abortion authoritarianism

The AP writes: “Gaza aid dries up as Israeli blockade enters a third month -- While pummeling the strip with airstrikes, it has banned any food, water, shelter or medication from being trucked into the Palestinian territory, where the U.N. says 90% of the population is reliant on humanitarian aid to survive. Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds. Of the 59 captives remaining in Gaza, 24 are believed to still be alive.”

Palestinian children at a food distribution center in 

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, April 21, 2025

They are starving to death

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The Daily Beast reports, in an article Historian of Fascism Claims Trump Is Speeding Towards Dictatorship Faster Than Putin about the progress that djt and MAGA elites are making in killing our democracy, rule of law and civil liberties. A leading historian of fascism, Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, argues that the current US slide into authoritarianism under djt and MAGA elites is unprecedented in modern times. She says that djt’s efforts to consolidate power are happening with a speed and ruthlessness that surpass the early years of leaders like Vladimir Putin in Russia or Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. According to Ben-Ghiat, the current U.S. political climate more closely resembles the aftermath of a coup than a typical democratic transition of power

Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present and a professor at New York University, highlights the rapid dismantling of government programs and social services under Trump as a hallmark of “democratic backsliding,” a process seen when democracies transition into authoritarian regimes. She emphasizes that neither Putin, Orban, nor Erdogan moved as swiftly to centralize authority after coming to power through elections. The rapid dismantling of social services and attacks on science are unprecedented, even compared to other dictatorships. She draws historical parallels with Nazi Germany’s swift descent into dictatorship, warning against complacency in advanced democracies.

Q: Is Ben-Ghiat an irrational, full of malarkey alarmist crackpot, or does she make some good, maybe terrifying, points?

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The 19th Newsletter reports about MAGA politicians in Missouri trying to overturn abortion rights that voters voted for: “Missouri’s voters restored abortion rights. Their leaders are trying to overrule them. -- Clinics are rebuilding services, patients are returning and Republicans in the state are moving quickly to take protections away — again. Celeste Athon was one of the first dozen people to have received an abortion in Missouri since the November election, when voters backed a proposal to add abortion rights protections to the state constitution. Missouri, one of the quickest states to outlaw abortion after the fall of Roe v. Wade, was the first where voters overturned a near-total ban. Missouri Republicans, who hold supermajorities in both legislative chambers, have filed more than a dozen anti-abortion bills this legislative session, ranging from a six-week ban to a bill that would classify abortion pills as controlled substances to legislation that would treat abortion as homicide.”

Once again, when the public wants something that MAGA elites oppose, MAGA elites reject and ignore what the people want. They want their way, period. This is American radical right authoritarianism in action, clear, pure and simple. In this matter, we see radical right Christian nationalist, theocratic authoritarianism. MAGA’s “rationale” exemplifies MAGA “thinking” about policy. They just argue that voters didn’t understand what they were doing when they voted to protect abortion rights in November. What a bunch of arrogant pricks and liars MAGA elites are.

The abyss of fundamentalist Christian theocracy is now quite near

CONTEXT

I have urgently warned about this critically important Oklahoma lawsuit, Oklahoma State Charter Board v. Drummond. This case is about a religious charter school that wants taxpayers to pay for its operations. If the Catholic school wins this lawsuit, it will become the nation’s first religious charter school. Oklahoma refused to charter the school, citing church-state separation under the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The school then sued the state. The school wants to sink its claws into tax revenue streams. That would force taxpayers to seriously support the CN (Christian nationalist) political movement in its ruthless Christian theocracy wealth and power goals.

This dispute boils down to a ferocious CN theocratic attack on the Establishment Clause, church-state separation, democracy, the secular rule of law and civil liberties that God hates and demands an end to, e.g., abortions, same-sex marriage, birth control, maybe inter-racial marriage, DEI efforts, and LGBQT rights and protections. The lawsuit frames Oklahoma’s refusal to fund a Catholic school as anti-religious discrimination, leveraging recent Supreme Court precedents like Carson v. Makin (2022). A ruling favoring St. Isidore would further entrench the Court’s role in legitimizing theocracy, echoing Justice Alito’s assertion in Dobbs (the USSC's anti-abortion rights decision) that secular moral frameworks lack “neutrality.” The theocratic arguments here conflate religious liberty with state endorsement of sectarian dogma. Project 2025 and its judicial proponents want to replace secular pluralism with a regime that privileges conservative Christianity as the de facto state religion. As Amanda Tyler of the Baptist Joint Committee warns, this agenda “would hasten our journey down that road to authoritarian theocracy.”

TNR reports that in oral arguments, it is starting to look like the USSC will probably rule in favor of theocracy. Such a decision would likely amount to total or near-total obliteration of the Establishment Clause and the waning power of church-state separation doctrine in the constitution and law. The stakes here for democracy, the secular rule of law and what is left of our shrinking civil liberties and protections could not be much higher. Whether people believe it or not, we are now facing a corrupt, horrific, imminent Christian theocratic threat to our country. The decision is expected by the end of June or early July at the latest.

BLOG POST

TNR writes: “The Supreme Court Is Declaring War on Secularism -- The high court’s recent run at rewriting the Constitution has come for the establishment clause. The Supreme Court appears ready to approve the nation’s first religious charter school in Oklahoma, dealing a monumental blow to the separation of church and state by effectively writing the establishment clause out of the Constitution. In oral arguments in Oklahoma State Charter Board v. Drummond on Wednesday, the high court’s conservative majority saw no issue with allowing the Catholic Church to operate a state-funded public school, despite the state and federal constitutional bans on such entanglements. If anything, they appeared offended by the suggestion that it wouldn’t be constitutional.”

Likelihood of theocracy winning: Barrett recused herself due to a blatant conflict of interest, i.e., she has close ties to Notre Dame, which represents St. Isidore, the charter school trolling for tax dollars. The hard core authoritarian four, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh all clearly signaled they will vote for theocracy. Roberts also appears to be sympathetic, but less is strident about it. If there is a 4-4 split, with Roberts voting with the three Democratic Party judges, the charter school will lose and have to pay its own way. A study published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal analyzed 23 religion-in-education cases and concluded the current Court is “statistically likely” to overrule the Oklahoma Supreme Court and permit state-funded religious charter schools. So, if Roberts votes with the other four authoritarian extremists (a 5-3 decision), we’re screwed. Chances of us being screwed? My estimate is ~75%.

Ramifications if Christian theocracy wins: A victory for St. Isidore enables religious groups nationwide to operate taxpayer-funded charter schools. Forty-six states classify charter schools as public institutions, and many have constitutional bans on funding religious schools. A ruling for St. Isidore could force states to either fund religious charters or dismantle their charter systems entirely. A win for theocracy here effectively ends the last major distinction between public and religious education. Given its relentless ideological aggression, states will face intense CN pressure to fund schools teaching creationism, racism, bigotry, e.g., opposing LGBTQ+ rights, excluding non-Christians, the righteousness of discrimination against and oppression of people and groups that God hates, and anything else that CN elites tells us God demands be taught. In essence, the floodgates to hell will bust open and America could fall to some form of dark ages theocratic government and law. 

If and how effectively society rebels against the coming CN theocratic onslaught is an open question. What the plutocrats will do about this, if anything, is also an open question. About half of them appear to be CN adherents. The lawsuit’s outcome will determine whether the Establishment Clause retains any force in safeguarding a government neutral toward religion, or becomes a relic of a secular past that CN elites are determined to erase.

Q: Is this just a tempest in a teapot, or if the religious school wins, does this mark the end of the beginning of a fundamental shift in American government and law from being still mostly secular, to becoming a cruel fundamentalist Christian theocracy?