this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
641 points (98.6% liked)

politics

23036 readers
5107 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) traveled to El Salvador to seek the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident wrongfully deported in March.

Abrego Garcia, married to a U.S. citizen with three children, was legally allowed to stay under a 2019 court order.

The Trump administration admitted his deportation was an “administrative error” but refused his return. The Supreme Court ruled against the administration 9-0.

In response, the White House launched a smear campaign against Van Hollen, framing Garcia as a gang member despite no charges or convictions.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 118 points 3 days ago (6 children)

A court has demanded the Trump admin return this man, and their defense has been that they don't have the power to do it. Now they publicly criticize a Senator for trying to get the man returned.

They really are stupid when it comes to undermining their own case, aren't they?

[–] [email protected] 92 points 3 days ago (3 children)

They really are stupid when it comes to undermining their own case, aren’t they?

No, they are not. It's a mistake to think of them as stupid, as that leads to underestimating the threat they pose.

They don't care about winning this case in the conventional sense. Trump and his allies couldn't care less what happens to Kilmar Abrego Garcia; what they're after is the power to exile or imprison people without due process of law.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 days ago (1 children)

To be fair, Trump really is pretty stupid. His handlers aren't.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

A lot of his handlers are also stupid, especially this term. Some of them aren't, so there's still a chance of a coherent plan coming through, but most of the time it's just stupidity.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago

No, there absolutely is a coherent plan, it's just that part of that plan is to create chaos and the appearance of incoherence. We absolutely should keep that straight.

It's also true that Trump's orbit contains a lot of other useful idiots, but they are hangers-on, not who I would consider to be his handlers.

Of course it does take a certain kind of idiot to ever embrace fascism, but we can't mistake that for incompetence.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago

They are stupid. It's required for fascism to fascist.

It's because they are stupid it makes them dangerous. They will say "NO I AM RIGHT!" when the obvious answer sits in front of them.

They JUST DON'T CARE.

Don't give them credit for a "well thought our plan." This regime will destroy itself, with or without resistance. Look at Putin's Russia. When he dies, there will be a massive power struggle and no one knows what the fuck will happen.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

We have far more to fear from stupid people than we do from evil people- Dietrich Bonhoeffer https://bigthink.com/thinking/bonhoeffers-theory-stupidity-evil/

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They don’t want this guy to be free and doing a press tour about his experience.

[–] Darkassassin07 15 points 3 days ago

Can't release a dead body.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

They really are stupid when it comes to undermining their own case, aren’t they?

No. They don't care about "making a case". They don't have to. They don't care if what they say is wrong or ridiculous--note how they were smirking as they said all the fake excuses in their press conference. They know they're stupid fake excuses and they know everyone else knows it. They don't care. They're having a blast. They're flaunting their power and daring anyone to try and stop them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Do they ever care? Just keep gaslighting.

The news can never catch up to all the atrocities happening simultaneously.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

They have no case, besides "you can't make me."