MAGAs to the Physics Department, Anti-MAGAs to El Salvador

Michael joins me for a spirited conversation about recent events. We start with the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, which I think is the most important thing going on in government right now for its civil liberties and rule of law implications. We discuss the Orwellian nature of the way the administration lies about everything, including things like JD Vance posting a long tweet about the case and not even mentioning the main issue, which is that Abrego Garcia was sent to a labor camp, as have been others who appear to have no criminal record or known gang ties. There is at least good news in the case involving the Venezuelans shipped to El Salvador, which is that Judge Boasberg has found probable cause to declare the administration in contempt. Note that in the podcast we say that it has already been held in contempt, which is wrong, as we found out after we were done.

While we’re discussing all this, I read a tweet from a DHS spokeswoman claiming that Abrego Garcia was arrested “wearing what is effectively MS-13’s uniform.” You can judge for yourself I guess. See here and here for the kind of slop Fox News is going with to justify what is happening.

We also talked about how the Based Ritual that I recently wrote about explains Trump administration policy. I do think that it is possible that some officials are considering the deterrent effects of shipping migrants off to a labor camp, but honestly that probably gives the administration too much credit for forward thinking. Michael wonders whether Trump is trying to ally with Bukele to form a “based empire” and if this fits into his obsession with expansion and President McKinley.

I joke to Michael that I’m becoming a civil libertarian crank like he is, having been radicalized by the claims that the Trump administration is making and its nonstop lies.

Michael brings up the recent NYT article that features me and others as regretful Trump supporters, and we discuss whether it is documenting a real trend or trying to create one.

We also talk about the Trump administration cutting off funds to Harvard. See these NYT pieces for reference. I explain my views on the Harvard situation here. I’ve always advocated pushing back on civil rights law as traditionally practiced and using it to go after DEI, but instead of doing that we’ve got an administration that is demanding affirmative action for MAGAs and the establishment of a regime for monitoring the thoughts of international students. Serves me right for making smart arguments to a Low Human Capital movement. Best case scenario, the attack on DEI does lasting damage to race and sex preferences while the other crazy stuff Trump is trying to do gets rolled back by the courts and a future Democratic administration.

We answer some questions from the audience at the end, including on whether Republicans moving in this direction was inevitable. I take the opportunity to plug my recent review of a biography of the life of Roger Ailes for some thoughts on the long-standing culture of the American right and how it opened the door to the Trump cult.