Crossing the Rubicon By Arresting Judges
Plus Pope Francis's message to MAGA, consumer sentiment, and reading recommendations
In today’s newsletter, you’ll find the following:
How the Trump administration is dismantling democracy by arresting judges
Pope Francis’s funeral and his message to the American far right
All-time low U.S. consumer sentiment and why we’re not feeling the full effects of tariffs
Great articles to read, including from The Political Prism Medium publication, where I’m the editor
We live in an unprecedented time in American history, but the newscycle continues. There is hardly any mention now of Judge Hannah Dugan’s arrest from Friday morning. We’re onto Trump planning to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by 90% and how 2 American children were sent to Honduras when their mother was deported.
Welcome to Trump’s “flooding the zone” strategy — dominate headlines with so much intense activity that nobody can keep up. It’s like trying to drink from a firehose.
But I want to stress the importance of Judge Hannah Dugan’s arrest, which is why I wrote about it over the weekend. We should not lose sight of it. In many ways, it’s Trump’s crossing of the Rubicon:
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Combined with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sending American children to Honduras when they deported their mothers, the Kilmar Abrego Garcia deportation to an El Salvadoran prison without due process, and the countless acts of “disappearing” people from the streets for doing something as small as writing an op-ed like this, and it’s become vividly apparent we’re living in an authoritarian American moment. As if it wasn’t clear already.
Pictured above is Judge Hannah Dugan being escorted by the FBI from the courthouse where she works. It’s important to note — the FBI didn’t have to do this. But Kash Patel (the FBI Director) and the rest of the Trump administration wanted to make a spectacle of Judge Dugan’s arrest. Even though, as I wrote, “All the FBI has on Judge Dugan is the fact witnesses saw her escort the man in question (who was a defendant in a case in her courtroom) through a ‘jury door’ instead of the public courtroom exit.”
The FBI could have called Judge Dugan in for questioning and then arrested her. They could have issued an indictment after going through the grand jury process, which would be typical for a case involving a prominent public figure or one that might have political ramifications like this one.
But they took none of these actions. Because it’s clear that the arrest of Judge Dugan is not only about her, but about sending a chilling message to the entire judiciary. The Trump administration wants to instill fear in anyone who may be against its agenda, whether on immigration or otherwise.
Thankfully, it appears that Judge Dugan will fight the weak charges against her. This comes at a time when universities and law firms are finally starting to fight back against the Trump administration trying to dismantle their checks on its power. People are waking up to the reality that in authoritarian societies, if you submit to the mob boss, they only keep coming back for more.
Don’t lose sight of this criminal case against Judge Dugan. And don’t take my word or your favorite political commentator’s word for it either — read the primary sources. In Judge Dugan’s case, that’s the criminal complaint against her. Even if you’re not a lawyer, you’ll be hard-pressed to find compelling evidence that demonstrates her criminal intent, especially when considering the responsibility all judges have to maintain order in their courtrooms (and not letting ICE agents disrupt their proceedings).
This will only get worse if the Judge Dugans of the world don’t fight back.
The funeral for Pope Francis and his message for MAGA
Over the weekend, world leaders gathered at the Vatican to pay their respects to Pope Francis. I was fortunate enough to go to Rome in 2020, just before the pandemic shut down everything. Visiting the Vatican was a highlight of that trip. I even blogged about it at the time.
I was raised Catholic, but I always struggled with certain church doctrines and systems of belief. It often felt at odds with my liberal arts education that promoted logic and critical thinking.
What I loved about Pope Francis was that he met people where they were in life. Whether you were a fallen Catholic like myself, someone who identified as gay or lesbian, or someone who had been divorced (which is frowned upon in the Catholic Church), Pope Francis often asked, “Who am I to judge?”
He brought a people-first ethos and humility to the Church at a time when it seemed that Catholicism was losing its way with young people and modernity, while also being mired in sexual abuse scandals.
Pope Francis encouraged his priests, bishops, and cardinals to get out into their communities. Talk with their parishioners. Understand their problems.
While he may not have changed some of the more controversial Catholic doctrines that don’t recognize same-sex marriage or prevent women from becoming priests, he started the conversation more than any pope before him. To me, that’s his enduring legacy.
Although I fear that the next pope may bring the church back to an even more conservative era pre-Vatican II (which led to more liberal reforms and ended things like the Latin mass). It should surprise no one that American Catholics like Steve Bannon, JD Vance, Roger Stone, and the like all strongly support these efforts.
Make the Catholic Church Great Again! Bring back the 1950s, not only in politics, but religion too!
Both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times have written fantastic stories on these pressures from the American right. But what I would encourage everyone to read is a message Pope Francis sent to all U.S. Bishops in February 2025, just months before his passing.
He criticized the Trump administration’s deportation strategy:
“That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”
He called the U.S. Bishops and all Catholics to do the following:
“I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”
I hope the new Pope can carry on Francis’s progress and message. We need more positive voices of moral clarity in this world. Not more regression to the inequalities and injustices of the 1950s.
U.S. consumers are not positive about the economy
The craziest thing about these charts? The full effects of tariffs have not even hit yet. Consider these points:
In anticipation of tariffs, many U.S. importers (who have to pay tariffs) warehoused as many goods and supplies as possible to reduce tariff costs. Many of these same importers are still going through this inventory as shipments from China are way down. Once these inventories are depleted, supply shortages will hit consumers (who are already not feeling great) even harder.
The Trump administration still has no bilateral trade deals with any country (after its 90-day pause). Trade deals usually take years to negotiate, and the idea that this administration will be able to execute even a handful in 90 days is ridiculous.
In sum, this economic and consumer sentiment situation is about to get way worse when supplies run out and the Trump administration fails to make any meaningful trade deals. Buckle up.
Reading recommendations
A Steel Man Argument for Trump’s Tariff and Immigration Policies
Elite Universities Form Private Collective to Resist Trump Administration
And now for some fun as the weather warms up — a Nantucket VLOG.
Have a good week!
If Deporting MS-13 Gang Members is a Constitutional Crisis, Then Let the Crisis Begin
https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/if-deporting-ms-13-gang-members-is