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In the most recent development of the Trump administration’s case relating to the deportation flights to El Salvador, the President has invoked the state secrets privilege. By utilizing this privilege, the administration has taken a rare step against the judicial branch after refusing to answer Judge Boasberg’s questions.
According to the Trump administration, an oral order from a judge does not hold the same legal weight as a written order, also claiming that the planes sent to El Salvador were carrying hundreds of migrants who they claim are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
In order to hastily deport this enormous amount of migrants, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was invoked. This is a piece of legislation signed into law by President John Adams that grants the executive branch the power to detain and deport people with very little due process.
Prior to the invocation of this legislation by President Trump, it had only been used three times in the nation’s history: the War of 1812 and both world wars.
During World War II, this legislation was used to justify the detention of people from German and Japanese lineage, both non-citizens and citizens alike. These internment camps have been a stain on the history of the U.S., a time period that was presumed to be behind us.
To justify the use of this long since outdated legislation, the Trump administration has doubled down on their claims that Tren de Aragua is being funded by the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, claiming that this is an act of war by the Venezuelan government. These claims have been disproven, in fact, many of the victims of Trump’s deportation efforts were legal citizens of the U.S.
Without a shadow of a doubt, we are in a constitutional crisis.
The Trump administration has not only repeatedly ignored the orders issued by federal judges, but on Tuesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson threatened to eliminate federal courts altogether. This would effectively dismantle the checks and balances that have been the glue holding our fragile democracy together.
This begs the question: If the judicial branch does not have the power to halt actions taken by the executive branch, then who will hold the president accountable? While there is no definitive answer, from what we have seen over the past few days, it will be the responsibility of the press to hold our government accountable.
On Monday, text messages were leaked after the White House National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, added editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a Signal group chat. In this group chat, plans for airstrikes targeting the Houthi rebels in Yemen were constructed and carried out.
The most notable members of the group were Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, among others.
After making the responsible move of leaving the group chat and not initially disclosing what was discussed in the Signal group, Goldberg’s bluff was called, and on Wednesday, he released the full transcripts of what was spoken about.
From direct discussion about the weapons being utilized, to emojis being used to celebrate the strike that killed the target and his girlfriend, it became apparent that collateral was not properly calculated.
For lack of better words, this is the biggest imaginable f***-up that the administration could have made.
Not only is the incident itself worrisome, as high ranking officials in the Trump administration were speaking about classified and highly sensitive material regarding where, when and how strikes will be taking place in Yemen, but the administration is continuing to dig themselves into a hole by attempting to cover up their actions.
The administration is continuing to claim that no top secret information was discussed in the group chat since it wasn’t made explicitly classified by Secretary Hegseth. President Trump has also stated that he continues to have faith in his Department of Defense despite the crude incompetence that was displayed for the entire world to see.
While testifying under oath to the House Intelligence Committee, Director Gabbard repeatedly doubled back on claims she had previously made under oath. On Tuesday, Director Gabbard was hesitant to admit that she was in fact the member of the group chat labeled as “TG,” to which she did eventually admit after the typical charade of repeating the same phrases in order to dodge questions.
If we lived in a country that truly held leaders to the same standards, there would not only be an investigation into this incident, but there would be resignations, firings and criminal convictions.
This abhorrent abuse of power puts the lives of millions of Americans at risk as our state secrets are now feasibly accessible to any foreign agent.
This isn’t just a hypothetical, as on Wednesday, four missing members of the US military were found dead at the Belarusian border during a training exercise in Lithuania. To state that the deaths of these four service members were correlated with the lack of security measures being taken whilst discussing state secrets is not far from the truth.
While an investigation has not taken place into the cause of these deaths, it is apparent that the Trump administration is pursuing a sloppy and unprofessional manner. Which is far from surprising considering the lack of qualification in the administration.
Whilst directly lying to Americans, President Trump continues to tout his belief that he won in a “landslide” and that his “mandate” was historic, when in reality with every passing moment, more and more Americans are losing their trust in this administration.
On Tuesday, Democrats won an enormous victory in Pennsylvania, electing Representative Dan Goughnour to win back the Democratic majority in the state House. This is remarkable as in the 2024 election, Donald Trump won this district by a whopping 15%, representing the shift of everyday Americans away from the authoritarian Trump faction.
President Trump has been in office for just over two months and to think that something like this was allowed to happen, and we as a populous were made aware, is nothing short of worrisome, to say the very least.
This begs the question, what is happening behind closed doors if we have already been made aware of top secret information being discussed on an unsecured device while at least one member of the group chat was actively in Moscow?
This administration is not loyal to its constituents, nor is it loyal to the U.S.. This hostile takeover of the federal government must be put to an immediate end and the power must return to the people. The Trump administration, in its recklessness and abhorrent lack of regard for the rule of law, is putting the lives of every single American directly at risk, and we cannot allow this to continue.
The American people deserve to feel safe and secure and it has become horrifyingly apparent that this administration is not capable of protecting us.
Jackson Small is a columnist. Contact him at [email protected].