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Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump’s Justice Division goes after his enemies.
What’s occurring? It’s a protracted checklist from this week alone:
As disparate as these headlines are, there’s a standard thread: Underneath Trump, the DOJ — historically unbiased from the White Home — is taking extraordinary steps to quash dissent and compel obedience.
Why does this matter? The Logoff has beforehand lined the dire financial implications of Trump’s Fed energy seize; most of the others are greatest seen as assaults on free expression. They every matter on their very own phrases, however the massive image is that the Trump administration is weaponizing the DOJ at an alarming fee.
As my colleague Ian Millhiser experiences, there’s additionally a second aspect: DOJ overreach is vandalizing the division’s credibility in court docket, probably in a method that can final properly after Trump’s time in workplace.
What’s the context? None of this habits, I ought to stress, is new. Trump’s DOJ has been behaving egregiously since final yr; lowlights, so far as the rule of legislation is anxious, embody his (so far unsuccessful) makes an attempt at prosecuting former FBI director James Comey and New York state Legal professional Normal Letitia James.
However Trump clearly desires extra: On Monday, we additionally discovered that the president is more and more pissed off together with his legal professional common, Pam Bondi, for not doing extra to advance his priorities — together with simply this sort of weaponization.
And with that, it’s time to sign off…
I include reassuring information: You in all probability don’t have as a lot plastic in your physique as you suppose.
Particularly, researchers at the moment are difficult the accuracy of quite a few high-profile research that discovered rising ranges of microplastics in our brains, arteries, and elsewhere, as Vox reported yesterday in collaboration with The Guardian and Local weather Desk.
That isn’t to say microplastics aren’t an issue or one thing to concentrate on — however they’re possibly not one thing to panic about, both. Have a fantastic night, and we’ll see you again right here tomorrow!
