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Chuck Darwin<p>"When you see important societal actors — be it university presidents, media outlets, C.E.O.s, mayors, governors — changing their behavior in order to avoid the wrath of the government, <br>that’s a sign that we’ve crossed the line into some form of authoritarianism,” </p><p>said <a href="https://c.im/tags/Steven" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steven</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Levitsky" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Levitsky</span></a>, <br>a professor of government at Harvard and the co-author of the influential 2018 book <br>“How Democracies Die.”</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-democracy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/poli</span><span class="invisible">tics/trump-democracy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>In recent months, Voice of America’s parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, has opened human-resources investigations into Voice of America journalists <br>-- for reporting on criticism of Trump <br>-- or for making comments that were perceived as critical of him.</p><p>At least a couple of articles that included criticism of Trump and his administration were not published or were watered down after publication in recent months</p><p>And on Friday, the Agency for Global Media informed one of Voice of America’s highest-profile journalists, <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/Steven" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steven</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Herman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Herman</span></a>, </p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://journa.host/@w7voa" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>w7voa</span></a></span> <br>@newsguy.bsky.social </p><p>that he was being placed on an extended “excused absence” pending a human resources investigation. </p><p>Mr. Herman confirmed receiving the letter, which said the investigation was into whether his “social media activity has undermined V.O.A.’s audiences’ perceptions of the objectivity and/or credibility of V.O.A. and its news operations.”</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/business/voice-of-america-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nytimes.com/2025/02/28/busines</span><span class="invisible">s/voice-of-america-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>Others in the Trump inner circle who made their fortunes via privately held ventures include treasury secretary <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/Steven" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steven</span></a> T. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mnuchin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mnuchin</span></a>, who got a great deal during the financial crisis on IndyMac, a mortgage lending bank, <br>thanks to our government’s penchant for the socialization of risk and privatization of profit when entities considered “too big to fail” go into a state of distress. </p><p>Mnuchin and his fellow investors, a group that included liberal donor and hedge-fund honcho George Soros, changed the company name to <a href="https://c.im/tags/OneWest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>OneWest</span></a> and began to aggressively foreclose on homeowners. <br>The bank earned Mnuchin and his partners a profit of $1.6 billion in its first year of operation, <br>even as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was preparing to take a hit of nearly $11 billion “on bad loans that the Pasadena institution made before it was sold last March and renamed OneWest Bank,” according to E. Scott Reckard of the Los Angeles Times.</p><p>Then there’s commerce secretary <a href="https://c.im/tags/Wilbur" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Wilbur</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ross" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ross</span></a>, worth $2.5 billion according to Forbes, who started a second career in 2000 with the creation of his eponymous investment company, <br>which he later sold to Invesco for a reported $375 million. </p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Reed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Reed</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Cordish" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cordish</span></a>, special assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives, is a scion of the family that owns privately held Cordish Companies, <br>involved in gaming and entertainment. <br>He’s said to be tight with Jared Kushner. </p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Sonny" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sonny</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Perdue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Perdue</span></a>, Trump’s secretary of agriculture, founded the private company Perdue Inc., a trucking outfit, <br>with his wife, Mary, who was reported in 2005 to be the company’s sole shareholder. <br>(An official at Perdue Inc. declined to confirm to The Baffler whether this is still the case.)</p><p>And, while not a rich guy himself, CIA director <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mike</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Pompeo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Pompeo</span></a> founded a private company called <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thayer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Thayer</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Aerospace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Aerospace</span></a> in the late 1990s with help from Koch Venture Capital, an arm of Koch Industries. <br>A Pompeo aide told the Washington Post that the Koch investment amounted to only 2 percent, <br>but there’s no way to really know, since the transaction took place between two privately held companies. <br>He later became president of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sentry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Sentry</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/International" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>International</span></a>, another private company, before his 2010 run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which he won, again with an assist from the Koch brothers. <br>He’s also a climate-change denier—an appealing trait in a public official if you’re a fossil fuels magnate looking to buy one</p>
Chuck Darwin<p>The two finalists to become Trump’s Treasury Secretary <br>— the person will have a major hand in cutting taxes for the wealthy and raising tariffs so everyone pays more <br>— are <a href="https://c.im/tags/Howard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Howard</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Lutnick" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Lutnick</span></a>, who’s CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and Trump’s co-transition chair, </p><p>and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Steven" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steven</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Bessent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bessent</span></a>, the founder of the investment firm Key Square Capital Management.</p><p>Lutnick had been in the lead but a few days ago, according to the The Wall Street Journal, he heard from Trump’s allies that he might not get the nod. </p><p>So Lutnick turned for help to <a href="https://c.im/tags/Elon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Elon</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Musk</span></a>, who now calls himself Trump’s “First Buddy.” </p><p>Bessent’s supporters also reached out to Musk to endorse Bessent, which tells you alot about the palace intrigue going on now in Mar-a-Lago, and how much power Musk is now wielding. </p><p>Yesterday, Musk, posted on his X that Lutnick would be a better choice for treasury secretary than Bessent:<br>“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change. Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another.”</p><p> Musk’s and Trump’s criterion for filling high-level positions <br>(besides unbridled fealty to Trump): </p><p>⚠️The picks don’t need to know anything or share any large vision of the public good. <br>They just have to be bomb-throwers who’ll shake things up.</p><p>The worst that can be said of any candidate is he’ll govern as usual.</p><p>🔥Trump is well on his way to “crush the system,” as he promised <br>— which most Americans appear to want because the “as usual” system has for decades been rewarding big-money donors, monopolists, CEOs living off government contracts (like Musk) <br>and fat-cat denizens of Wall Street (like Lutnick and Bessent) <br>— all of whom have been siphoning off most economic gains for themselves.</p><p>🆘 But if the new system that Trump installs <br>(with or without Musk’s help) <br>siphons off even more of the gains for those at the top, while destroying what’s left of our democracy, <br>most Americans will find themselves even worse off and more resentful.<br><a href="https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-first-buddy-is-in-deep-shit" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">robertreich.substack.com/p/tru</span><span class="invisible">mps-first-buddy-is-in-deep-shit</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>Trump taps combative aide for top press job as Cabinet picks face scrutiny </p><p> Donald Trump on Friday chose one of his most combative advisers as his next White House communications director, <br>doubling down on his years-long confrontational approach to the news media <br>as his team defends two controversial Cabinet picks facing new scrutiny over allegations of sexual misconduct.<br>
Trump tapped <a href="https://c.im/tags/Steven" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steven</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Cheung" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cheung</span></a>, <br>the communications director of his campaign, to lead his White House press shop, <br>elevating a loyal spokesman and former Ultimate Fighting Championship staffer <br>known for lobbing crude insults on social media. </p><p>Although many of Trump’s press aides aggressively criticize the news media and relish taunting Democrats, <br>Cheung stands out. </p><p>His selection suggests Trump’s approach to the news media will be just as contentious in his second term as it was in his first, <br>when White House press briefings often grew heated — if they happened at all.
<br><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/15/steven-cheung-trump-gaetz-hegseth/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">washingtonpost.com/politics/20</span><span class="invisible">24/11/15/steven-cheung-trump-gaetz-hegseth/</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>One of the most satisfying aspects of covering biotech as long as I have <br>is the opportunity to report on the long arc of drug development, from start to finish. <br>It’s not always pretty, and more often than not, it ends badly.</p><p>But <a href="https://c.im/tags/KarXT" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>KarXT</span></a>, now <a href="https://c.im/tags/Cobenfy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cobenfy</span></a>, is one of those drug stories with a happy ending. <br>I remember talking to <a href="https://c.im/tags/Steven" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steven</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Paul" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Paul</span></a> in 2019 for a story about the phase 2 results, <br>which were pretty remarkable. <br>Paul was excited about what KarXT might mean for people with <a href="https://c.im/tags/schizophrenia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>schizophrenia</span></a>, <br>but he was cautious because, as he warned me at the time, <br>clinical trials for psychiatric conditions are extraordinarily difficult to replicate. <br>Let’s wait to see what KarXT does in Ph3 trials, he said.<br>Now, we know.</p><p>It’s been cool to follow and report on the KarXT story all these years. <br>From PureTech to Karuna to Bristol Myers Squibb, <br>and now, to <a href="https://c.im/tags/approval" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>approval</span></a>, where Cobenfy will have a meaningful impact on people living with schizophrenia ...</p><p>-- Adam Feuerstein<br><a href="https://x.com/adamfeuerstein/status/1839623238525055101" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">x.com/adamfeuerstein/status/18</span><span class="invisible">39623238525055101</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>Donald Trump’s campaign said Saturday that some of its internal communications had been hacked.<br>The acknowledgment came after POLITICO began receiving emails from an anonymous account with documents from inside Trump’s operation.<br>The Trump campaign blamed “foreign sources hostile to the United States,” </p><p>POLITICO has not independently verified the identity of the hacker or their motivation, <br>and a Trump campaign spokesperson, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Steven" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steven</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Cheung" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cheung</span></a>, declined to say if they had further information substantiating the campaigns’ suggestion that it was targeted by Iran.</p><p>Cheung said:<br>“These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process” <br>-- exactly like the Russian "Wikileaks" documents used by the 2020 Trump campaign </p><p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/10/trump-campaign-hack-00173503" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">politico.com/news/2024/08/10/t</span><span class="invisible">rump-campaign-hack-00173503</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>
Judge <a href="https://c.im/tags/Aileen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Aileen</span></a> M. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Cannon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cannon</span></a>’s stunning dismissal this week of the most serious charges faced by Donald Trump put her on shaky legal ground, according to experts, </p><p>who say she is🔸 on track to be reversed on appeal<br>🔸 and could even be removed from the case<br> — an extraordinary, but not unheard of step.<br>
Because of the political calendar, however, any legal repercussions could be short-lived.<br>
Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified national security records and obstruction of government efforts to retrieve the material <br>🔸may not matter if the former president and current Republican nominee is elected in November. </p><p>If he gets back to the White House, Trump could pressure his Justice Department to close the case. </p><p>He could also promote Cannon to the very appeals court that will soon examine her decision to toss the case.

Cannon’s finding that special counsel <a href="https://c.im/tags/Jack" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Jack</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Smith" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Smith</span></a> was improperly appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump <br>conflicts with numerous past court decisions and the nation’s long history <br>— during both Democratic and Republican administrations <br>— of allowing <a href="https://c.im/tags/independent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>independent</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/prosecutors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosecutors</span></a> to handle high-profile instances of alleged wrongdoing.


⭐️Smith has filed notice of his plans to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, <br>which reviews decisions from the Florida district where Cannon, <br>a relatively inexperienced judge appointed by Trump in 2020, sits.</p><p>⭐️The court has already rebuked her twice for her handling of other aspects of the classified documents case, <br>sending what Yale Law School professor Akhil Amar described as a message that her decisions had been “way out of line.”<br>
The question now, Amar said, is <br>💥how quickly and dramatically the appeals court acts on the latest ruling, 💥<br>which dismissed the entire indictment for Trump and his two co-defendants.<br>
“They may not want to stick their head in a <a href="https://c.im/tags/buzz" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>buzz</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/saw" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>saw</span></a> if they can just let the case take its slow, deliberative course,” he said.<br>
In her 93-page decision, Cannon said there is no specific statute authorizing the attorney general to appoint a special counsel. </p><p>She also said the Constitution requires someone with Smith’s authority to be confirmed by the Senate.<br>
The judge acknowledged the tradition of special-attorney-like figures in moments of political scandal involving high-level government officials, <br>from <a href="https://c.im/tags/Watergate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Watergate</span></a> to <a href="https://c.im/tags/Iran" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Iran</span></a>-<a href="https://c.im/tags/contra" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>contra</span></a> to Russia’s attempts to <a href="https://c.im/tags/interfere" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>interfere</span></a> in the 2016 election.<br>
But Cannon said the practice of appointing such independent prosecutors has been inconsistent and based on a “spotty historical backdrop.” </p><p>Smith, she wrote, is “a private citizen exercising the full power of a United States Attorney, and with very little oversight or supervision.”</p><p>Conservative legal groups have long questioned the constitutionality of special counsel appointments. </p><p>Cannon repeatedly cited Justice <a href="https://c.im/tags/Clarence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Clarence</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thomas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Thomas</span></a>, who raised the issue in a solo opinion this month as part of the Supreme Court’s decision granting Trump broad immunity from prosecution for official acts. </p><p>That Supreme Court case focused on Smith’s separate election interference prosecution of Trump in D.C.</p><p>She also embraced the arguments in a law review article by <a href="https://c.im/tags/Gary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gary</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Lawson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Lawson</span></a> of Boston University School of Law and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Steven" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steven</span></a> G. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Calabresi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Calabresi</span></a>, a Northwestern law professor and 🔸a co-founder of the Federalist Society, with which Cannon is affiliated.<br>
Other legal experts, however, have joined former Justice Department officials and Smith’s legal team in saying<br> her ruling ignores the history of special counsel appointments and flouts Supreme Court precedent.<br>
Most notably, the high court in 1974 unanimously required President Richard M. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Nixon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Nixon</span></a> to hand over recordings to a special prosecutor as part of the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Watergate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Watergate</span></a> investigation. </p><p>In that opinion, the justices endorsed the office, citing several statutes under which the attorney general had <br>“delegated the authority to represent the United States in these particular matters to a Special Prosecutor with unique authority and tenure.”<br>
While lower-court judges are bound to follow the Supreme Court’s lead, <br>🔸Cannon took the unusual step of finding she was not required to abide by that aspect of the high court’s opinion in U.S. v. Nixon, <br>🔸saying the case did not directly address the validity of the office of special counsel.</p><p>Michael J. Gerhardt, a University of North Carolina law professor who teaches about constitutional conflicts between presidents and Congress, said <br>Cannon cannot just brush aside a unanimous high court ruling.<br>
“For a trial judge to ignore it is judicial malpractice,” he said, describing her most recent decision as <br>part of a “pattern of bias that leads her to endorse wacky or unfounded arguments, <br>and that’s a problem if you’re a judge.”<br><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/20/cannon-trump-florida-appeal-special-counsel/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">washingtonpost.com/politics/20</span><span class="invisible">24/07/20/cannon-trump-florida-appeal-special-counsel/</span></a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>If Donald Trump returns to the White House, close allies want to dramatically change the government's interpretation of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Civil" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Civil</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rights</span></a>-era laws to💥 focus on "anti-white racism" 💥rather than discrimination against people of color.</p><p>Trump's Justice Department would push to <a href="https://c.im/tags/eliminate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>eliminate</span></a> or <a href="https://c.im/tags/upend" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>upend</span></a> programs in government and corporate America that are designed to counter racism that has favored whites.</p><p>Targets would range from decades-old policies aimed at giving minorities economic opportunities, to more recent programs that began in response to the pandemic and the killing of George Floyd.</p><p>Trump campaign spokesperson <a href="https://c.im/tags/Steven" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steven</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Cheung" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cheung</span></a> told Axios: "As President Trump has said, all staff, offices, and initiatives connected to Biden's un-American policy will be immediately <a href="https://c.im/tags/terminated" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>terminated</span></a>."</p><p>Longtime aides and allies preparing for a potential second Trump administration have been laying legal groundwork with a flurry of lawsuits and legal complaints — some of which have been successful.</p><p>A central vehicle for the effort has been <a href="https://c.im/tags/America" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>America</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/First" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>First</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Legal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Legal</span></a>, founded by former Trump aide <a href="https://c.im/tags/Stephen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Stephen</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Miller" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Miller</span></a>, who has called the group conservatives' "long-awaited answer to the ACLU."</p><p>America First cited the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in February in a lawsuit against CBS and Paramount Global for what the group argued was discrimination against a white, straight man who was a writer for the show "Seal Team" in 2017.</p><p>In February, the group filed a civil rights complaint against the NFL over its "Rooney Rule."</p><p>The rule — named for Dan <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rooney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rooney</span></a>, late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers — was instituted in 2003 and expanded in 2022. <br>It requires NFL teams to interview at least two minority candidates for vacant general manager, head coach and coordinator positions.</p><p>American First argued that "given the limited time frame to hire executives and coaches after the season, this results in fewer opportunities for similarly situated, well-qualified candidates who are not minorities."</p><p>In 2021, Miller's group successfully sued to block the implementation of a $29 billion pandemic-era program for women- and minority-owned restaurants, saying it discriminated against white-owned businesses.</p><p>"This ruling is the first, but crucial, step towards ending government-sponsored racial discrimination," Miller said then.</p><p>Other Trump-aligned groups are preparing for a future Trump Justice Department to implement — or challenge — policies on a broader scale.</p><p>The <a href="https://c.im/tags/Heritage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Heritage</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Foundation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Foundation</span></a>'s well-funded "<a href="https://c.im/tags/Project2025" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Project2025</span></a>" envisions a second Trump administration ending what it calls "affirmative discrimination."</p><p>Part of the plan, written by former Trump Justice Department official <a href="https://c.im/tags/Gene" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gene</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Hamilton" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Hamilton</span></a>, argues that "advancing the interests of certain segments of American society ... comes at the expense of other Americans — and in nearly all cases violates longstanding federal law."</p><p>Hamilton is America First Legal's general counsel.</p><p>Such groups have gained momentum with the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Supreme" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Supreme</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Court" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Court</span></a>'s turn to the right<br> — most notably its recent rejection of affirmative action in college admissions. </p><p>The court ruled that programs designed to benefit people of color and address past injustices discriminate against white and Asian Americans.</p><p>In 2021, a federal judge blocked a $4 billion program to help Black farmers</p><p><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/04/01/trump-reverse-racism-civil-rights" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">axios.com/2024/04/01/trump-rev</span><span class="invisible">erse-racism-civil-rights</span></a></p>