The First Amendment will outlive Trump
Christopher Katsarov—The Canadian Press via Associated Press
Following Renee Good’s murder, Trump doubled down and sent more ill-trained, masked, and lethally armed occupying forces into Minneapolis. It’s a safe bet that his efforts to ratchet up community outrage and violence will succeed sooner or later, if not in Minneapolis, then somewhere else controlled by Democrats.
While it’s clear that Trump is doing everything he can to bolster and hasten his invocation of the Insurrection Act, for online gamblers betting on predictable and stupid Trump moves, it’s just a question of when it will happen.
Astute betters might predict that Trump’s declaration under the Insurrection Act is still 5 or 6 months away, closer to November, the better to cancel the midterms. But Epstein could return to dominate headlines any day, and Trump will indulge his compulsion to out-noise him. Also, judging from his non-stop blunders in other areas (looking at you Greenland, tariffs, and the flop in Davos), Trump will likely stumble into another strategic error by invoking the Act too early, while there’s still time for SCOTUS to smack it down on First Amendment grounds.
In the meantime, Trump officials are sharpening attacks against peaceful protestors, treating the First Amendment like radical fiction.
Targeting Don Lemon while hiding federal policy
When former CNN news anchor Don Lemon filmed a marathon seven-hour protest at a Minneapolis church last week, Harmeet Dhillon, Trump’s assistant AG, publicly threatened him: “You (Lemon) are on notice! A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service.”
Never mind that Lemon did not select the location, organize, or even participate in the protest; it’s apparently now illegal for journalists to breath the same air as the protestors.
On cue, other Trump officials piled on, declaring the protest an “act of hatred against Christians.” Karoline Leavitt, her signature cross blazing, announced, “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship. The Department of Justice has just launched a full investigation into the despicable (Don Lemon) incident that took place earlier today at a church in Minnesota.”
The hypocrisy. It burns.
Leavitt’s cross must be burning a charred replica on her throat. She forgot to mention that Trump reversed the policy that prohibited ICE from attacking people at places of worship in January 2025, after that policy had been in effect for 13 years.
Since then, Trump’s green shirts have arrested, brutalized, and tackled people in churches all across America. Although most ICE attacks go unnoticed by the media, ICE attacks on or near church grounds to date include: a raid on Iglesia Fuente de Vida church in the Atlanta suburbs; a raid on United Methodist church property in Charlotte; raids at Our Lady of Lourdes in San Bernadino; throughout Puerto Rico during Sunday services; on numerous church grounds throughout California (Inland Empire, Downey Memorial Christian Church, Montclair, Highland and St. Adelaide); and in Washington, D.C., where the Evangelical Lutheran Church joined the Quakers in a suit to block ICE raids in places of worship.
On a better day, the hypocrisy would be laughable. Not only is ICE attacking people in their “sacred place of worship” under Trump’s own official policy, but the location isn’t what makes it un-Christian. Dragging people out of their beds with flash bang grenades, tackling senior citizens to the pavement, and pulling handicapped people out of their cars are only Christian acts in Lucifer’s bible.
Trump officials’ full out assault against the First Amendment
The DOJ’s response to Don Lemon was a warning shot to all journalists: Reporting ICE brutality will cost you. Dhillon said, “Everyone in the protest community needs to know that the fullest force of the federal government is going to come down and prevent this from happening and put people away for a long, long time.”
Perhaps Dhillon skipped Constitutional Law, or doesn’t understand the difference between interrupting church services, which may not be protected by the 1st A, and protesting outside a church, which is. Ratified and in effect since 1791, the 1st A will still be standing long after Trump is horizontal and feeding worms. Putting protestors and journalists “away for a long, long time,” is straight out of Putin’s playbook, and is not going to happen here without the Civil War Trump so desperately craves.
Multiple cases pitting freedom of speech against Trump’s “executive authority” ICE brutality are pending in the lower courts, and when they get to SCOTUS, ICE is going to lose bigly. A recent smackdown from a Reagan appointed judge is instructive while we wait.
“These Cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution”
Last week, during a hearing over student speech on college campuses, US district judge William Young called Trump an “authoritarian,” and accused the administration of “an unconstitutional conspiracy” against the First Amendment. On January 22, he issued a ruling that Trump officials had, under the law, “objectively chilled protected speech.”
Young found that Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem “have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.” “The big problem in this case is that the cabinet secretaries, and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the first amendment.”
Describing the case as one of “the most important” of his career, Young asked: “How did this happen? How could our own government, the highest officials in our government, seek to so infringe on the rights of people lawfully here in the United States? It’s fairly clear that this president believes, as an authoritarian, that when he speaks, everyone, everyone in Article II is going to toe the line absolutely.”
Here’s to American judges never toeing the line for a fascist, to journalists never pulling their punches, and to the glorious and everlasting freedom to call Trump what he is: an idiot.
Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.
It’s time to talk tactics.
I believe there are already cell groups in the CIA and the military which are secretly making plans to possibly counter the untenable situation, people who don’t wish to give up the country or watch it be blown up. But they can’t be depended on. Moreover, they’re planning for the ultimate moment to strike, only when worse comes to worse.
In the interim the population (and only the population) can pour sand into the gears of the Trump machine charging full throttle towards his absolute power. By doing two things:
a) Relentlessly polite verbal objection (w/o a trace of mockery or aggression) to all Trump’s henchmen while they’re on the job whatever that job might be. We must develop a vocabulary to do this, then speak it constantly, uninterruptedly, loud and clear, for it will be recorded a million times (remember last words of Ms. Good, they will never die, can never be repudiated.)
b) Take endless photos/videos at dozens of angles, distances of every single appearance of Trump’s henchmen. The meticulous NY Times analysis of Good’s murder proved that a compilation of photos/videos can overcome any unclear or blurred frame and end up with a 100% airtight, perfect, objective picture of any incident. Then, keep that photographic/video evidence in a safe place. We are going to need it.
I can't do anything about what is happening in DC. Sun Tzu taught me to fight my battles where I can win. So, I fight back at the local level. I belong to a Democratic club at the county level, and the president of the club has appointed me as legislative tracker. I was a community activist in the early "90s and was a very successful one. I learned one person can make a difference. I track the local Board of County Commissioners in Tampa. Two republicans are up for reelection. Republicans currently hold a 5-2 majority. If the 2 republicans lose, the democrats will have a 4-3 majority. There are 2 excellent candidates who I am supporting. I am teaching them in the ways of Sun Tzu. I have been a student of his since the early '70s when I was stationed in Taiwan. I am retired and have the time to be very effective. One of the republicans running is hardcore MAGA. He suffers from a chronic case of foot in mouth disease and he lies. I am keeping what I call a naughty list utilizing the meeting recaps and videos. I give everything I am compiling to the candidate running against him. I am fully aware of the executive order declaring ANTIFA (which is a political philosophy and not an organized group), a domestic terrorism organization. I am also aware of National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, both are being used to label protestors against ICE, domestic terrorists. Both of these things are completely unconstitutional, but we are dealing with a lawless administration that is not concerned with constitutional rights or the rule of law. Sun Tzu taught me to prepare for an attack from my enemies. I have made arrangements with people of resources, in case my door is kicked in during the middle of the night and I am "disappeared". I get 3 minutes for public comment at the meetings, which I use to get under the skin of the MAGA commissioner, on the BOCC (board of county commissioners). The two things the orange one signed are to be utilized as intimidation tools against protestors and community activist that are being too effective. I'm a 71-year-old Air Force Viet Nam Era veteran. I took an oath to the constitution, not an orange skinned tyrant. (Do not say his name, Big Brother looks for that). We are in a battle for our democracy. The wealthy have tried to destroy our democracy 3 times in the past. The British lords and king tried to strangle democracy at birth. They failed. Southern autocrats wanted to spread slavery nationwide and establish a dictatorship. They failed. At the beginning of the 1900's 5 robber barons tried to establish a nationwide monopoly run like a kleptocracy. They failed. Now it is the turn of this generation of Americans. The wealthy were defeated 3 times in the past by the American People. We will do it again. It looks dark and will be an uphill battle, but the Sleeping Giant is stirring and will soon awaken, its anger will be Hulk level. The American People united cannot be defeated. Besides we way outnumber these evil bastards. NEVER GIVE UP. NEVER SURRENDER.