From Marc Elias’ blog, Democracy Docket.

 

The Republican Party has always had a problem with its lawyers.

On the one hand, there were the big-firm lawyers who supported smaller government, a balanced budget and federalism. They generally avoided the deeply ideological causes of the right — restricting abortion rights, attacking civil rights and promoting guns.

When it came to elections, these lawyers were prepared to argue constitutional claims that limited voting but would not involve themselves in the really dirty work — challenging voters at the polls and openly advocating for the disenfranchisement of minority voters.

They also stayed away from crazy conspiracy theories. Big-firm Republicans might be willing to argue that the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional, but they were not prepared to claim that a Venezuelan leader rigged the 2020 election.

After the 2020 election, I was proud to help lead the Biden campaign’s litigation efforts against Trump’s attacks. At the time, I was at a large law firm — and the firm was happy to do the work. So were a half-dozen other large, prestigious law firms.

By contrast, one of the defining storylines of that period was the Trump campaign’s inability to retain top-tier lawyers. Even the big firms that had represented his campaign seemingly bowed out rather than help him overturn the result of a free and fair election.

Standing on the other side of this historic divide within the GOP were the true believers — everything the big-firm lawyers were not. They sought out legal fights over social issues. They were often the lawyers on the ground, at polling places and in ballot-counting offices.

Most importantly for Trump, they relished the conspiracy theories. They were more than happy to embrace the most outlandish claims he advanced.

Still, they were largely kept on the margins of the party. Now they run it.

The result is that even as the GOP faces increasingly favorable courts, it continues to lose at an astounding rate.

Part of this is because of the positions they advocate. But another, less easily quantified factor is the clownish and disrespectful behavior they bring to the courtroom. It is one thing to have Donald Trump shouting lies in the White House; it is another to have his lawyers doing the same in the courthouse.

Consider the sheer number of misstatements DOJ lawyers have made to federal judges. Add to that the disrespectful spectacle Attorney General Pam Bondi created at a recent congressional hearing. Then listen to nearly any lawyer who represents Trump speak about the courts and judges.

There is a style to how Republican lawyers increasingly write and speak that is not just insultingly hyperbolic but alarmingly disconnected from reality. Earlier this week, for example, I read a brief that led me to conclude with certainty that the Republican Party has completely lost its mind.

It all started when the Department of Justice demanded that the Wisconsin Elections Commission turn over the state’s personal voter files. After the Commission filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the Wisconsin Republican Party filed an amicus brief in support of the DOJ.

The brief opens by quoting the late Zig Ziglar in all-caps, bolded font: “WITH INTEGRITY, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE.”

I will admit I was not familiar with Mr. Ziglar’s work. However, a helpful footnote informs the reader that he was “a prolific American speaker and author of over 30 books who inspired millions, including world leaders, with his simple but critical life-guiding principles.”

The brief then proceeds to read like a rant your senile uncle would deliver while watching Fox News. Its thrust is that Democrats are bad, Wisconsin is hiding something, and the DOJ’s request “is honorable.” But the brief’s crowning achievement is this line: “Like Alabama in the 1950s, Wisconsin attempts to use state law to obstruct the Attorney General’s investigation today.”

Having read the brief several times, I am confident that no aspect of this case hinges on anything Zig Ziglar might have said — no matter how motivational. I am even more certain that, whatever your perspective, Wisconsin’s effort to protect its citizens’ sensitive voting data is not the equivalent of Alabama’s commitment to preserving Jim Crow laws.

I have no illusions that the Republican Party cares what I think about the quality of its attorneys. Nor do I expect its lawyers to take my admonitions to heart. Frankly, as far as democracy is concerned, that is probably for the best.

In the midst of the post-2020 election litigation, Lou Dobbs chastised Stephen Miller over the quality of the Trump campaign’s lawyering and suggested the Republican Party pay me $500 million to stop defeating them in court.

I can’t be bought — and in any event, it would be a waste of money. You don’t need Zig Ziglar when you have the law and the facts on your side. The Republican Party’s lawyers are still looking for both.

Last year, as tourism grew worldwide, the United States was the only major destination to see a decline in foreign visitors, recording a 6 percent drop, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, an industry group. January saw a continued decline in inbound visitors, down 4.8 percent from January 2025.

Visitors from Canada, usually the second-largest source of U.S. tourism after Mexico, plunged by 28 percent in January compared to January 2024.

Other key markets like Germany and France also recorded significant declines, while Britain, the largest long-haul source market for U.S. tourism, saw a marginal growth of 0.5 percent compared to the previous year.

“When 11 million international visitors aren’t showing up, the result is billions of dollars in economic losses to the travel industry,” said Erik Hansen, a senior vice-president at the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group that promotes travel to and within the country.

Would you come to this shithole nation if you had a choice to go elsewhere? 

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MORE — ICE agents receive a bounty for everyone they arrest — legal, illegal, citizen, not citizen — doesn’t matter, the agent gets a bonus.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice

Horrifying story in the Guardian this morning. Probably many more cases like this that haven’t been reported on as well.

“Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone’

Karen has no criminal record. She is a grandmother who spent eight years working as an admin assistant at a primary school before her retirement. “I don’t even have parking tickets in the background anywhere,” she says. “I am not a dangerous criminal. I didn’t enter the country illegally and I had everything I needed to be there.”

So why did ICE detain her, and keep her locked up for so long? A possible answer began to emerge over the weeks she was incarcerated. As Karen got to know the guards at the Northwest ICE Processing Center where she was held, she kept hearing the same thing from them: that ICE officers are paid a bonus every time they detain someone. “Individual ICE agents get money per head that they detain – the guards told me that,” Karen says.

It’s no secret that the Trump administration has been pouring money into ICE. Its annual budget – $6bn a decade ago – is now $85bn; ICE is now the highest -funded law enforcement agency in the US. Since last August, new recruits can expect to receive a signing-on bonus of up to $50,000.

Within days of Donald Trump’s second inauguration on 20 January 2025, his administration ordered ICE officials to detain more people, with new quotas that would increase the total number of arrests from a few hundred to 1,200-1,500 a day. Reports immediately began to emerge of international travellers being detained by ICE officers.”

 

 

Trump is not ‘exonerated’ — There are two sexual assault allegations against Trump involving minors

From Julie K Brown
https://jkbjournalist.substack.com/p/trump-is-not-exonerated

This Wasn’t a Tariff Speech. It Was a Meltdown b a 2-year-old throwing a temper tantrum  — and Yes, It’s Fascist.

What Donald Trump delivered here was not a policy announcement. It was not an economic argument. It wasn’t even really about trade or tariffs.

It was about him.

Every inch of this speech revolves around a single grievance: the Supreme Court of the United States told him no. And in his mind, that isn’t a constitutional check — it’s a personal betrayal. An insult. A humiliation that demanded an immediate show of dominance.

Listen to the language. Count the pronouns.

“I can do anything I want.”
“I can destroy trade.”
“This was an important case to me.”
“I understand the court.”
“I wanted to be a good boy.”
“I won by millions of votes.”
“I settled eight wars.”
“I saved 35 million lives.”

There is no presidency here.
No office.
No institution.
No Constitution.

There is only I.

He does not speak of the presidency as a role. He speaks of it as his personal power, temporarily inconvenienced by disobedient underlings. The Court’s ruling wasn’t a legal disagreement; it was a narcissistic injury. And what follows is textbook narcissistic rage.

First, personalization:

“This was an important case to me.”

Not to the country. Not to the law. To him.

Then, devaluation:

“I’m ashamed of certain members of the court.”
“They’re fools.”
“Lap dogs.”
“Unpatriotic.”
“Disloyal to the Constitution.”
“Swayed by foreign interests.”

Courts don’t disagree in authoritarian thinking — they betray.

Then, idealization of loyalists:

“Strength and wisdom and love of our country.”

Judges are not evaluated by legal reasoning, but by obedience. Rule for him, and you are virtuous. Rule against him, and you are corrupt. That isn’t constitutional government. That’s personal rule.

This is where narcissism curdles into fascism.

Fascism is not a vibe or a slur. Political science defines it by identifiable traits:

Personal rule over institutions

Delegitimization of independent courts

Loyalty over law

Nationalism as a moral weapon

Identification of internal enemies

Retaliatory escalation when constrained

Claims of popular mandate overriding legal limits

This speech checks every box — using his own words.

“I can do anything I want.”
“I can destroy the country.”
“I can embargo.”
“There are even stronger methods.”

That isn’t policy explanation. It’s intimidation. It’s the threat of overwhelming state power as punishment for restraint.

And then comes the authoritarian magic trick — reframing a loss as a victory:

“The court actually made my power clearer and stronger.”

He lost. The Court limited him. And instead of accepting that limit, he uses it to justify escalation. You didn’t stop me — you forced me to be harsher. That is how fascist leaders operate.

Notice the tell buried in plain sight:

“I wanted to be very well behaved… because I understand how easily they’re swayed.”

That is not respect for judicial independence. That is manipulation. Courts, in his worldview, are not coequal branches. They are obstacles to be pressured, praised, punished, or bypassed. When they fail to submit, they become enemies of the nation — because in his mind, he is the nation.

Which brings us to the extra 10%.

The timing wasn’t economic necessity. It wasn’t forced by the ruling. It was compensation. A wounded ego reasserting control the fastest way possible. Section 122 was the bluntest, quickest weapon available — a visible show of power meant to say: I’m still in charge. Markets noticed, but they didn’t panic. In fact, stocks initially rose on relief that one chaotic tariff scheme had been checked — a quiet tell that Wall Street trusts the Court more than the man throwing the tantrum.

Fascist dictators don’t start as towering masterminds. They start as small, insecure men who cannot tolerate limits, humiliation, or dissent. They fuse their ego to the state, redefine loyalty as patriotism, and turn every check on power into an act of treason.

This speech isn’t about tariffs.
It’s about a man who cannot distinguish himself from the presidency, who experiences law as an insult, and who responds to restraint with threats.

That combination — narcissistic entitlement + grievance + state power — is not incidental to fascism.

It is the engine.

Fascism doesn’t begin with jackboots.
It begins with a fragile ego saying:

“If you don’t obey me, you are the enemy.”

And that’s exactly what we just watched.

Senator Ron Wyden said details from his office’s investigation into Epstein’s finances shows a massive Treasury Department file locked away in a cabinet drawer, containing records of 4,725 wire transfers totaling nearly $1.1 BILLION flowing in and out of just ONE of Epstein’s many bank accounts.

 

Fourth-quarter U.S. GDP up just 1.4%, badly missing estimate; inflation firms at 3%

Source: CBS News

Published Fri, Feb 20 2026 8:31 AM EST Updated 15 Min Ago

U.S. growth slowed more than expected near the end of 2025 as the government shutdown impacted spending and investment, while a key inflation metric showed high prices are still a factor for the economy, according to data released Friday. Gross domestic product rose at an annualized rate of just 1.4%, according to the Commerce Department, well below the Dow Jones estimate for a 2.5% gain.

Consumer spending rose at a slower pace for the period while government spending tumbled sharply in a quarter marked by the record-length shutdown. The department estimated that the shutdown subtracted about 1 percentage point from growth, though it added that the exact impacts “cannot be quantified.”

For the full year in 2025, the U.S. economy grew at a 2.2% pace, down from the 2.8% increase in 2024.

“The Federal government shutdown clearly sent the economy careening off its strong growth path in the fourth quarter which is a one-off that won’t be repeated in early 2026,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds. Just prior to the data release, President Donald Trump warned that the GDP number would be soft, blaming it on the government shutdown that ended in November.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/20/pce-inflation-december-2025.html

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NO.  The problem is not the government shutdown.  These figures reflect economic activity BEFORE the shutdown.  These figures show the impact of Trump’s tariffs, his blocking federal funds for construction and other projects, and a gradual slowdown in consumer spending.