The real cover-up (about Trump).

May 20, 2025

On a very big news day, I want to pause for a moment to ask, “Why do these stories matter to those who are working to restore the rule of law and reclaim decency as an American political norm?”

Like it or not, we are engaged in an information war in which the other side is unconstrained by the truth. Their weapon of choice is the cynical lie. Ours is the truth. To know the truth, we must be informed of the facts so we can effectively communicate the truth to others. Knowing the truth also serves as motivation for our ongoing resistance.

But following the news can be exhausting. That is by design. Those seeking to undermine democracy and overthrow the Constitution want us to exhaust ourselves so that we will quit. They “flood the zone” with outrage after outrage, hoping that we will react to a small percentage of their cynical ploys, allowing some bad faith actions to become de facto law through inattention or exhaustion.

Do not allow yourself to become exhausted. Pace yourself. Recognize that the fate of our democracy is not on your shoulders alone. There are tens of millions of active, engaged Americans who are resisting efforts that you may not even know about.

Do what you can do, and trust that others will do the same. Together, as a united resistance, we are effectively battling the antidemocratic forces that have mounted a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. (Okay, maybe it wasn’t “hostile” as much as “willing,” but you get the point.)

We are winning on the issues—voters have unfavorable opinions about virtually every aspect of Trump's second-term agenda. Polling shows that generic “Democrats” have comparably low approval ratings. That is a “brand” problem for Democrats that may, or may not, affect individual elections between two flesh-and-blood candidates.

Even as we recognize that we are “winning” in the court of public opinion on the issues, we still have work to do in convincing the electorate at large that the “Democratic brand” represents their interests on nearly every major issue confronting our nation. A good way to start is knowing why the GOP proposed budget is an assault on the well-being, safety, and security of all Americans.

With that framing, I will discuss three of the major developments on Monday, and I invite readers to discuss additional developments in the Comment section.

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The cruelty and insanity that is the Republican budget proposal.

Although details are still emerging (and subject to change) the long-overdue 2025 budget proposal finally made it out of the House Budget Committee late Sunday evening. Here are the topline takeaways:

The Republican 2025 budget will

• Increase the deficit by $3 trillion over the next ten years;

• Increase the national debt limit by $4 trillion.

• Extend the 2017 tax cuts for millionaires and corporations, reducing tax revenue by $7 trillion.

• Slash Medicaid and food assistance programs by approximately $750 billion; and

• Make it more difficult to enroll in coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Here is the Wall Street Journal’s summary of the bad math in the bill: WSJ: The Stark Math on the GOP Tax Plan: It Doesn’t Cut the Deficit. (Accessible to all.)

[T] he Republican bill widens deficits by about 13%, reducing spending but lowering revenue by more.

The current proposal would increase projected budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion through 2034, locking in tax cuts and spending increases that outweigh reductions in spending on Medicaid and nutrition assistance.

While Republicans, who have vowed to reduce red ink, say higher economic growth will fill the gap, budget analysts across the political spectrum have panned the Republican plan, warning that it worsens the U.S. fiscal picture.

However, the bill is also filled with non-budgetary culture war items that should not be included in a spending bill. The Senate Parliamentarian should rule that many provisions cannot be passed on a majority vote in the Senate. They are instead subject to cloture (the filibuster), or a 60-vote minimum in the Senate.

See, for example, Erwin Chemerinsky’s discussion in Just Security, A Terrible Idea. As explained by Chemerinsky, the budget proposal would require that plaintiffs who obtain temporary restraining orders or injunctions post a bond for the estimated damages that might be suffered by the defendant if the TRO or injunction is reversed. The language in the proposed budget provides, in part,

No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order [was issued]. . . .

If the administration can violate a TRO or injunction without fear of a contempt order, then TROs and injunctions are meaningless. Per Chemerinsky,

This would be a stunning restriction on the power of the federal courts. The Supreme Court has long recognized that the contempt power is integral to the authority of the federal courts. Without the ability to enforce judicial orders, they are rendered mere advisory opinions which parties are free to disregard. [¶]

Of course, the question must be asked, why do Republicans now want to limit the power of the federal courts to enforce orders? The answer seems obvious: it is an effort by the Trump administration to negate one of the few checks that exist on its powers.

If you are scratching your head and saying, “Wait! I thought Hubbell was discussing the budget bill,” you haven’t missed anything. In a budget bill that is intended to fund the branches and agencies of the federal government, Republicans have slipped in a provision that would neuter the courts and allow Trump to ignore every TRO or injunction that has already been issued against the administration!

There are undoubtedly other provisions of the bill similar to the above. But the American people will not be able to read the final bill until after the House votes on the bill—whenever that is.

Nonetheless, we know that the bill is attacking the most vulnerable in our society—those who need Medicaid and food assistance. It is those Americans who will pay for the tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. And many of Trump’s supporters are dependent on Medicaid.

And let’s not forget that Trump unequivocally promised not to cut Medicaid! See ABC, Here are the times Trump has said he wouldn't cut Medicaid. Per ABC,

“We’re going to love and cherish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,” Trump also said in the Oval Office on Jan. 31. “We’re not going to do anything with that, other than if we can find some abuse or waste, we’ll do something, but the people won’t be affected. It will only be more effective and better.”

Trump promised that “the people won’t be affected” by eliminating fraud in Medicaid. But, in fact, the proposed cuts to Medicaid will eliminate coverage for 8 million Americans!

So, our job is to continue to protest the obscene, massive transfer of wealth from the poorest to the richest in America. The bill has not yet become law, and we must fight to the last moment before it is passed (if that happens). And if it passes, we must continue to educate everyone who has been disadvantaged by Trump's breach of his promise not to cut Medicaid.

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Supreme Court allows Trump to end temporary protected status for 350,000 Venezuelans

On Monday, the Supreme Court granted the request of Homeland Security to end the temporary protected status of 350,000 Venezuelans. See Reuters, US Supreme Court lets Trump end deportation protection for Venezuelans.

President Biden granted temporary protected status to nearly 350,000 Venezuelans. A few quick facts about the TPS program:

• · TPS allows the U.S. government to offer temporary deportation relief and work permits to immigrants from countries facing armed conflict, natural disasters, or extraordinary conditions.

• · Designations are made by the Secretary of Homeland Security, reviewed every 6 to 18 months, and must be either extended, redesignated, or terminated.

• · TPS does not grant lawful permanent residence, nor is it a path to citizenship.

• · As of 2024, over 1.2 million people were eligible for or receiving TPS, with Venezuelans as the largest group.
  

Although the Supreme Court allowed Homeland Security to accelerate the termination of TPS status for 350,000 Venezuelans,

The court left open the door to challenges by migrants if the Trump administration tries to cancel work permits or other TPS-related documents that were issued to expire in October 2026, the end of the TPS period extended by Biden.

If Homeland Security moves to deport thousands (tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands?) of Venezuelans, the disruption and cruelty will be staggering. This is a developing story, and the response by the Venezuelan community (and its allies) is still unfolding.

To help understand this story, I will hold a Substack livestream on Tuesday, May 20, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern / 10:00 a.m. Pacific with Ade Ferro, founder of Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Venezuelan American Caucus.

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The failure of the media to cover Trump's deteriorating cognitive state

On Tuesday, May 20, Penguin Random House will publish a book by Jake Tapper (CNN) and Alex Thompson of Axios that claims that Biden family and advisors “covered up” his “decline.”

Let’s put aside for a moment that several of the key figures who allegedly witnessed events described in the book have said publicly, “Not true. It didn’t happen.”

Let's put aside for a moment that Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson were writing a book about an alleged “cover up” when they were actively reporting on Joe Biden’s presidency, but never mentioned the “cover up” that they were allegedly discovering through 200 interviews.

Let’s put aside the implausability of the notion that one could “cover up” the cognitive state of a man who was appearing daily at campaign events, delivering addresses to Congress where he outwitted the entire Republican caucus, providing interviews to major media outlets, and guiding America through a period of stable foreign relations and successful domestic policy.

If it was a “cover-up,” it didn’t prevent major media outlets from reporting daily on Joe Biden’s age, stutter, stiff gait, and alleged gaffes.

The entire nation observed Joe Biden daily with full knowledge of massive coverage concerning his cognitive skills, coverage that was spurred by Trump's daily slurs and taunts about Biden’s alleged cognitive decline.

So, was there a “cover-up?

Yes, I am forced to admit it. There was a cover-up: Donald Trump was, and is, cognitively impaired. And that fact is being covered up by the media every single day.

We all know it. The press knows it. His advisors know it. But the media gives a fraction of the coverage to Trump's much more serious manifestations of cognitive decline than to the anonymous reporting in Jake Tapper’s sensationalized book.

I will not waste my time talking about Tapper’s book any further. I don’t care if you believe what he has written or not. So, please don’t send me emails (as a reader did today), attempting to re-litigate the question of whether there was more going on with Joe Biden’s cognitive state than hundreds of millions of Americans could monitor for themselves daily via intense news coverage.

What I do want to discuss is the amount of coverage that the media is giving today to Jake Tapper’s claims about a former president who guided our nation through one of the most successful presidencies in the modern era compared to an obviously cognitively impaired president who is violating the Constitution on a daily basis and running an administration that seems to be an open cesspool of graft.

I could go on, but I will hand the microphone to two highly regarded authors. I suggest that you read both essays: See Rebecca Solnit, "I'm the Problem; It's Me": On the Confession the Mainstream Media Won't Make, and Margaret Sullivan, The Guardian, Yes, the media’s Biden coverage was flawed. But its reporting on Trump was far worse.

Solnit writes, in part,

The New York Times, Rolling Stone, New Yorker, the Atlantic, the Nation, New York Magazine, and of course CNN and Axios have all featured stories in the last few days generally treating its contents as gospel, piling on its claims that key people cited in the book (which is not out yet, but apparently available to select sources) say aren't true.

Political scientist and Atlantic contributor Norman Orenstein tweeted in a rare dissent, "I have a hard time watching journalists high five each other over books on WH covering up for Biden. A diversion from their own deep culpability in Trump’s election. False equivalence, normalizing the abnormal, treating Trump as no real danger were the norm, not the exception."

In just the last month, Trump has

• Shared the statement that former President Obama should be tried before a military tribunal for treason

• Claimed that he invented the word “equalize.”

• While on his recent trip to the Middle East, posted that Taylor Swift is no longer “hot.”

• Called for the investigation and prosecution of Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, and Oprah for appearing at Kamala Harris campaign events.

• Hours after the public firestorm over Signalgate erupted, Trump said he “knew nothing” about it and asked a reporter to fill him in on what was happening.

• Claimed he didn’t sign the presidential proclamation that invoked the Alien Enemies Act that was used to deport hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador.

• Claimed not to be in charge of the administration’s positions before the Supreme Court regarding the return of Abrego Garcia.

• Posted a bizarre video of himself playing every instrument in an AI rendition of a Journey song. You must watch: See it: Trump posts bizarre video of himself playing Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing'

• Repeatedly and consistently demonstrated the inability to string together two consecutive coherent sentences.

I could go on, but you get the point, but I have left the most damning point for last: Trump delegated the duties of president to Elon Musk, the billionaire whose money elected Trump. Everyone in America witnessed Musk running the government while Trump disclaimed knowledge about what Musk was doing.

And yet the media is in a meltdown that Joe Biden was in “cognitive decline” when Trump has ceased performing the duties of president! Add to that the open corruption (cryptocurrency schemes, Mideast real estate deals while traveling at taxpayer expense, and accepting Boeing 747s for his personal use).

Journalists should be rioting in the streets, trying to force newspapers into the hands of passers-by, shouting from the rooftops, and devoting every single column inch of their available space to the abdication of the presidency and the obvious mental deterioration of Donald Trump.

But, on Monday, the NYTimes has one front page story devoted to Jake Tapper’s book, and zero stories relating to Trump's ongoing violations of the Constitution and obvious signs of cognitive decline.

The legacy media have failed America in every way possible by failing to provide appropriate coverage of the threat posed by Trump. And they keep doing it. To their everlasting shame.

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Concluding Thoughts.

See above. I am spent.

Again, I will hold a Substack livestream on Tuesday, May 20, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern / 10:00 a.m. Pacific with Ade Ferro, founder of Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Venezuelan American Caucus.

Talk to you tomorrow!

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