We've Tried Nothing and We're All Out of Ideas
April 18, 2025·20 comments·In Brief
The current administration is solving the immigration crisis by ignoring the Constitution and court orders rather than doing the harder work of legislative action. It's the same learned helplessness that defined Biden's approach, just pointed in the opposite direction. What happens when leaders choose what's easiest over what's legal?
- The administration deported a man to a country a court explicitly forbade. Kilmer Abrego Garcia had valid legal protection from El Salvador. He was sent to a terrorism prison there anyway. There is no constitutional defense for this action.
- The defense being offered doesn't actually address the action taken. Vice President Vance argues Garcia probably had due process for deportation generally, not whether the administration had the right to ignore a specific court order. This rhetorical sleight sidesteps the actual constitutional violation.
- The real argument being made is that due process slows things down too much. Vance contends that the scale of the immigration problem makes constitutional requirements like hearings impractical. This treats legal constraints as obstacles to overcome rather than limits to respect.
- Voting for something doesn't authorize ignoring constitutional limits on how to achieve it. The administration is defending extreme policies by saying "America voted for this," equating election results with permission to bypass the Constitution. This equation has no historical parallel in modern politics.
- The alternative requires actual work, not executive shortcuts. The administration could pass legislation, fund immigration courts, and establish clear due process standards. Instead, it's choosing the appearance of bold action while abandoning the institutions that make constitutional governance possible.
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Comments
Rusty’s been eating his Wheaties, taking a break from book writing, keeping a watchful eye on the Narratives tracking, crushing it with AI… or (E) All of the Above. My goodness, I don’t make a habit of shouting at my laptop in appreciation of a strong turn of phrase. This is a gem:
because what makes America Great is that the guy who just finished saying the oath is every bit as much an American as you or me.
The conclusion regarding the fragility of the Constitution fills me with dread because I see no evidence of course correction so far. Maybe the capital flight that is afoot will rattle them. Let’s hope so?! Do we need bad markets to bring back sensible policies?
Your scathing commentary on Vance’s utterances is spot-on. Trouble is nothing any of us say here or elsewhere will make any difference. Trump will do what ever he wants whenever he wants and nothing can stop him. Even being held in criminal contempt will have no effect as contempt charges must go thru the Justice Dept, which Trump owns. Ergo even the Supremes are powerless.
It’s going to take the MAGA crowd in flyover-land being financially hurt sufficiently that they will vote for ANY non-Republican. We have to make the present R incumbents be very afraid of losing their jobs if they continue to behave as they do.
Remember that the lower you go on the education scale the more likely you’ll find a MAGA type, per The Econmist the other day. Unemployment at 6% and inflation at 4% would be a start. Roy
Vance is following in Trump’s footsteps in one important, meaningful, and utterly maddening way: accurately diagnosing a problem and then immediately shitting the bed when attempting any semblance of a solution.
I get his frustration, truly I do. Congress is basically just a six figure no-show job for a large number of the members, so getting them to pass any laws seems like tough sledding. But the fact that the administration hasn’t even tried is an admission of their own impotence. That Congress has said not one word about taking back the power to tariff (which was always vested entirely in Article I), and the Inflation Reduction Act remains unchanged is a testament to how utterly worthless the Legislative branch is right now. So yeah, Vance can’t expect Congress to do anything. Rather than taking up this fight—which is the whole reason these two were elected—he and Trump seem content to just slap together whatever they can with the duct tape and glue they found in a supply closet in the Map Room.
That is not in fact what I voted for.
Worth noting that the higher you go on the education scale the more likely you’ll find people who think biological sex isn’t real and that driving a coal-power car will save the planet from the doom that they swear is
1210 years away.“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”
Agree, Patrick! That’s the line that made me stand up and cheer!
the tide of pomp that beats upon the high shore of this world,
a distressful jetsam remains.
The Biden administration did try to pass an immigration bill. At least they tried something.
Had it occurred two years earlier the Narrative might have been adjustable.
So true.
I’d call myself decently educated and my diet requires reading/learning.
I immersed myself in a some studies over the last 4 months on the histories global banking, central banking and gold through the history of man. (happy to provided the names of my “text books”).
My conclusion - humans have still not figured out how to balance and appropriate “currency” (whether it be stones, gold, gold fiat (paper) or the recent “dollar”) consistently across nations and time.
Debasements commenced when gold supplies needed to get stretched a bit - OR a lot in BC times, oh and debasements were such a treasured game for rulers. Romans way overextended themselves and had to find more gold…and it sort of took off from there…every nation ruler wanted their face on a gold coin.
And they all came and went. " My/Our Thirst, Hunger, Needs" only lasted so long till some event/group/person forced a change.
So we stand with dollar today. It’s had a good ride. History indicates its odds of staying in its role are low. What comes?
As i hurt my head trying to figure out what the future holds, i find an odd sense of peace from DY’s:
“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”
Seems that money/currency or i call it “trust between humans and nations” is one of those things that is worth knowing but can’t be taught…
Or, for about 3,000 years (+/-) humans have figured out how to universally treat various diseases, but can’t quite get themselves to create a universally acceptable and sustainable distribution of stores/means of values.
The City of Man…
I left my conclusions on banking/central banking out as they are somewhat moot when realizing the “currency” puzzle is really the key to it all…central banking is really only 100 years+ old and is no better than weather forecasting - useful but limited. Banking…well the notion of banks “lending to people/enterprises to grow” has morphed into a drastically different meaning than ~70 years ago…
The City of Man…
Epsilon Theory is one of the few places that the semantic universe can be nudged a little closer to the truth.
jimmy
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