On deportation flights, Trump should take a page from Nicholson and 'A Few Good Men.' Plus, Lutnick's blunder, & app flak.
By Gary Abernathy
Did Trump order the planes to continue? ‘You’re damn right I did!’ might be his most acceptable response.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg seems determined to usurp President Trump’s executive authority in regard to homeland security, as he tries to position the judicial branch of government as superior to the executive branch, despite their constitutionally intended co-equal status. Trump, in turn, should consider a somewhat drastic move.
Boasberg has warned that he will get to the bottom of whether his order was ignored to turn planes around that were carrying Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador. He has said he will find out whether his order was ignored and, if so, by whom.
Ignoring a court order is serious business. Not even a president should do so lightly. But there have been times over the years when presidents have blatantly done exactly that — the most recent example being President Joe Biden’s decision to find a way around a Supreme Court ruling against his student loan forgiveness program.
After that ruling, Biden boasted on X, “The Supreme Court tried to block me from relieving student debt. But they didn’t stop me. I’ve relieved student debt for over 5 million Americans. I’m going to keep going.” So there.
Considering that a president’s clear duty is to keep our country safe — a much more important task than forgiving student loans — Trump should take a page from Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men” and, if asked whether he ordered the planes to continue despite the judge’s orders, he should reply, “Your damn right I did!”
In “A Few Good Men,” Nicholson’s character, Col. Nathan R. Jessup, is accused of ordering a “code red” — an illegal and violent punishment — to discipline a Marine, Pvt. William Santiago. The event tragically results in the death of the private. A Navy JAG officer. Lt. Daniel Kaffee — played by Tom Cruise — investigates, leading to a classic courtroom confrontation between Kaffee and Jessup.
After being asked repeatedly by Kaffee if he ordered the code red, Jessup explodes, “You’re damn right I did!” But that outburst is preceded by one of the great movie speeches of all times, as delivered by Nicholson/Jessup.
Fed up with being questioned about his actions and methods and being pushed to tell the truth, Jessup lectures Kaffee on the realities of keeping the U.S. safe.
“You can’t handle the truth!” Jessup begins. “Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know — that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.
“You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall — you need me on that wall. We use words like ‘honor,’ ‘code,’ ‘loyalty.’ We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line.
“I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather that you just said ‘thank you’ and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand the post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think you're entitled to!”
“A Few Good Men” probably serves as a Rorschach test for viewers. Liberals most likely consider the Kaffee/Cruise character the hero of the story for bringing down the rogue colonel. Conservatives probably tend to identify with the real-world truth as explained by Jessup/Nicholson. Sometimes, rules are broken, and sometimes mistakes are made — even serious ones — but keeping America safe isn’t always accomplished by following the rules or waiting on permission. It’s not always that simple.
Someone should ask Trump point blank, “Did you order the planes to continue?”
At which point Trump should respond, “You’re damn right I did! I was elected to keep this nation safe, and for too long we’ve watched gang members and violent criminals who are in this country illegally terrorize our communities. Who’s going to put a stop to it? You, Rachel Maddow? You, Judge Boasberg? I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to someone who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather that you just said ‘thank you’ and went on your way.”
And then, to show he is not totally disregarding the co-equal judicial branch or counting on his status as a sitting president to protect him from all consequences, Trump should add, “So if some judge wants to find me in contempt and send me to jail for 10 days, guess what — I’ll go! I’ll go willingly, because it’s a small price to pay for carrying out my duty to protect the legal, law-abiding citizens of the United States of America.”
I’m guessing Americans would overwhelmingly be in Trump’s corner.
Lutnick way off base on Social Security comments
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard a public official say a few days ago when he claimed that if the government stopped sending Social Security checks, only “fraudsters” would complain about it.
The billionaire revealed himself to be completely out of touch with such a comment. He used his mother-in-law as an example — someone we presume is also pretty well off.
“Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain,” Lutnick said during an appearance on the “All-In” podcast. “She'd think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”
In fact, as Business Insider and others later reported based on a fact sheet published by the Social Security Administration, more than 7 million Americans age 65 and older receive at least 90 percent of their income from Social Security checks.
Many Social Security recipients live check-to-check, counting on that monthly check to pay basic bills. If the Department of Government Efficiency ever managed to be reckless enough to cut off Social Security checks — something hardly outside the realm of possibility — it would lead to the biggest outcry and backlash anyone in government has ever seen, and across party lines.
Do better, Howard.
Discussing military attack on Signal app was dumb, but not the crisis Dems and media want to make it out to be
As of this writing it’s not yet clear how an editor from The Atlantic ended up being dialed into a top secret discussion among high-level Trump administration officials previewing a pending military attack against Yemen’s Houthis. But while it was an embarrassing blunder, it was hardly the national disaster that Democrats and many in the media are attempting to portray it to be, nor should it result in anyone resigning or being fired. There’s no need for a ritual sacrifice to make the liberal gods happy.
Going forward, Trump officials will undoubtedly tighten up their security protocols. One would like to think that the government has its own encrypted communication technologies that don’t rely on common public applications such as the Signal app that officials were using. But, maybe not.
Democrats — and Hillary Clinton herself — are attempting to equate the episode to Clinton’s use of a private email server to store classified information, as in, hey, you said Hillary should go to jail. How ‘bout this?
Clinton’s act was much worse. As secretary of state, she intentionally insisted on a private, personal server to conduct government business, and did so over a long period of time. This situation, by contrast, was a one-off accidental mishap.
One thing we learn as time goes by, including through incidents like last year’s assassination attempts on Donald Trump, is that our highest-level government agencies — including even the CIA and FBI, and, apparently, the Defense Department — aren’t as technologically advanced as we previously thought. And that’s an important reality check.
Random thoughts on this and that …
Artists are right to demand fair compensation from AI
Hundreds of actors, singers and other creative types have signed off on a letter to the Trump administration in opposition to weakening copyright laws for the purpose of Artificial Intelligence training. They argue that creators should be properly compensated for their copyrights. I completely agree. The internet too often allows people to grab and use works that are the property of someone else. In turn, artists are being ripped off by the failure to be properly paid for their talents. Google, OpenAI and others can afford to do things the right way. Newspapers, by the way, should also be compensated when Google or other search engines collect their works for public consumption through their platforms.
Turns out Trump voters aren’t the stereotypes often presented
Shortly after last year’s presidential election, one survey found that about 60 percent of respondents said it was impossible or difficult to stay friends with Trump voters. But things might be improving slightly. When Hollywood sets a trend, it often takes hold. USA Today recently highlighted a scene from the popular HBO show “The White Lotus” wherein people begin to realize that their friends voted for Donald Trump — and they’re not weird, racist or hateful people, contrary to stereotypes. In fact, as the story points out, Democrats and liberals are currently on the wrong side of public opinion polls. It’s worth a read.
Increased profanity is an ongoing sign of childishness and lack of discipline
I wrote a Washington Post column once about the sad increase of the use of profanity in our society, and it’s only getting worse. I’m not claiming to be exempt from the occasional use of a profane expletive, but I don’t insert such words into my normal conversation, and I certainly don’t use them in social media posts, where you have time to think about what you’re going to say. It’s getting increasingly worse, with even many government officials seeming to think that they increase their bona fides by inserting profanity. For instance, reacting to the Signal app mishap, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg went on X and called it the “highest level of f--kup imaginable.” Yes, he thought about it, and then put it that way. Likewise Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy (R) put it this way on X: “Well, somebody f--ked up.” Please, people. It’s one thing to use a “hell” or a “damn” — not great, but not the worst — but the f-word and use of “sh—”, even if you’re using the dashes instead of spelling out the word, is getting ridiculous. It takes a little more intelligence and discipline to find more mature ways to express yourself than with profane expletives on social media platforms, but you can do it if you try.
MAGA Republicans Are Already Normal’ — for yourself or for that friend or loved one confused about America today
“MAGA Republicans Are Already Normal — And Other Shocking Notions” is a great addition to the library of MAGA Trump supporters, or the perfect gift for non-MAGA friends and loved ones to help them make sense of the 2024 election results. It’s available on Amazon. Buy it here.
The book (actually much thicker than the illustrations above indicate — the hardcover and paperback are each 453 pages) is a compilation of many of the nearly 200 columns I wrote for the Washington Post from 2017 to 2023 (and a handful of columns I wrote about Trump for The (Hillsboro) Times-Gazette from 2015 to 2017). The columns cover a variety of topics, but they particularly focus on Trump’s rise to political prominence and help explain his appeal.
Here’s a link to a website dedicated to the book.
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