Donald Trump met with King Abdullah II of Jordan today and the one idea he probably got from that meeting is becoming a king himself.
Trump has appointed the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, to go through departments of the federal government to find so-called waste and fraud and if their own communications are to be believed, he’s cutting spending illegally. Emails from within DOGE (the so-called Department of Government Efficiency named after Elon’s Bitcoin scam) show that they were trying to stop payments to government contractors.
Elon, who is an unelected bureaucrat, and the young Nazis he hires do not have the authority to cut spending. For that matter, neither does Donald Trump. Government spending is legislated through Congress.
Trump has ordered hiring freezes, cuts to spending, and firings without any authority. It’s just him and Elon doing it while JD Vance cheerleads it while Republicans in Congress who know it’s wrong, mumble defenses of it.
Our nation is not governed by one man or even just one branch. There are three branches of the government and despite what Senator Tommy Tuberville believes, those branches are NOT the House, Senate, and Presidency. In case you’re a MAGAt, the three branches of the federal government are Executive (presidency), Legislative (Congress), and Judicial (the courts). These three branches are supposed to be the checks and balances that keep our nation a democracy and not a dictatorship. Our checks and balances are failing.
Trump ordered the freezing of federal grants until he could choose which projects to fund and which to eliminate. Democratic attorneys general from across the nation sued in federal court, and Judge John McConnell ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze the spending. Guess what. Trump has defied that order.
Judge McConnell said on Monday that the White House defied his order to release billions of dollars in federal grants. This is the first time a judge has expressly declared that the Trump administration is disobeying a judicial mandate.
The judge wrote that his order was “clear and unambiguous, and there are no impediments to the Defendants’ compliance.”
Today from the Oval Office, Trump said he always follows a judge’s ruling. Obviously, that was a lie.
Vice President (sic) JD Vance rolled off a couch and said, “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” Sure, but these moves by Trump are not the executive branch’s “legitimate power.”
More than 40 lawsuits have been filed challenging Trump’s orders, which include revoking birthright citizenship and giving Elon access to the Treasury Department’s payment system.
The Judge wrote, “These pauses in funding violate the plain text of the T.R.O. (temporary restraining order). The earlier ruling (that had been ignored) ordered the administration not to “pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel or terminate” money that had already been allocated by Congress (because that’s their role) to the states to pay for Medicaid, school lunches, low-income housing subsidies, and other essential services. You know, things Republicans don’t like.
Donald Trump is still above water in the latest polls despite stealing lunches from children living in poverty.
The judge quoted an opinion from a 1975 Supreme Court case noting that “persons who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect.”
The Trump administration is making appeals, which are the proper steps to take, while also violating the orders. You can’t violate a judge’s ruling because you expect to win your appeal.
Adam Winkler, a professor at U.C.L.A School of Law explained that if the judge finds that the government is still ignoring Judge McConnell’s initial order, he could order more than a dozen administration officials named in the lawsuit to explain why they should not be held in contempt of court, and then punish them with imprisonment, or more likely, fines paid by their agencies.
There’s also the possibility that some of Trump’s underlings may have to pay fines from their own bank accounts if they’re held in contempt of court. Imagine having to pay a fine of $1,000 on a low-level government salary. Who believes Trump will pay those fines out of his pocket?
Trump may be challenging the courts to find out how much he can get away with. How can the courts stop him when he ignores their orders?
David A. Super, a professor at Georgetown Law, said he had heard directly from several groups, both inside and outside of government, that said their funding was still frozen.
Super said, “There’s no question that the government is not complying, has not even come close to complying, with the order. Even funds that weren’t frozen before the order are being frozen now.”
At some point, probably sooner than later, there will be a standoff. If Trump wins, we’re fucked. If the courts can’t stop Trump from violating the US Constitution, then nobody can stop him. The courts will be as useless as our Republican Congress. Talk about government waste.
Not one of the 12 Friday the 13th movies can come close to being as terrifying as an unrestrained President (sic) Donald Trump.
Seriously? They stopped at 12? You would think they’d have stopped at Friday the 13 part 13. Sheesh. The plot could involve Jason Vorhees being attacked by the over 163 people he murdered in the first 12 movies. Yes, someone counted victims. By the way, I hated those movies.
Creative note: I’ve drawn Trump in three cartoons in a row, which makes me tired of drawing Trump. For this fourth one, I decided to hide his face. I think he’s better looking this way.
Crazy Ralph: One of the things that always bothered me about Friday the 13th was Crazy Ralph, the bicycle-riding local drunk who warned all the horny teenagers that if they didn’t leave Camp Crystal Lake, then they were doomed. Yet, he peddles his crazy drunk ass out to Crystal Lake, and what happens? He’s doomed. C’mon, Mr. Crazy. If he killed Kevin Bacon, what makes you think Jason Voorhees isn’t gonna kill you? But hey, at least you’re within six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Yes, he killed Kevin Bacon somewhere between his being stampeded in Animal House and nearly imprisoned for dancing in Footloose.
Laura: Yes, we are still waiting on a nice lady named Laura who sent me a check to become a paid subscriber for a few months, but I lost her email and I need her to email me at clayjonz@gmail.com so I can give her what she paid for.
Drawn in 30 seconds:
Timelapse:
Signed prints: Each signed print costs $40.00. Every cartoon at Claytoonz is available. Payment is accepted through PayPal, Venmo (clay-jones-87), or snail mail to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. Add to the note what you’re purchasing.
Tales From The Trumpster Fire: Signed copies of my second book are $50 and available only through me. I currently have seven copies in my personal stash. Add to the note what you’re purchasing.
Knee-Deep In Mississippi: There are only seven copies left of my first book, published in 1997. They can be purchased for $40.00. Add to the note what you’re purchasing.
Tip Jar: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. All support is appreciated.
And all this in less than a month! 🙄
Have you forgotten me, Clay? I am feeling so abandoned.
Your faithful friend, Pizza Rat. 🍕🐀