We Resist: Day 803

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

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Late yesterday and earlier today by me: Trump Considering Kobach for "Immigration Czar" and DHS Intelligence and Analysis Unit Focusing on Domestic Terror Has Been Disbanded and Primarily Speaking.

Here are some more things in the news today...

[Content Note: Racism; malice; neglect. Covers entire section.]

"Trump takes aim at Puerto Rican leaders after disaster bill fails." My god. He is such a loathsome specimen. https://t.co/NCHz2LVN5z

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) April 2, 2019

Nicole Lafond at TPM: Trump Went to Bed Raging at Puerto Rico and Woke Up Raging at Puerto Rico. "Trump can't stop tweeting his angst about Puerto Rico and the money the federal government spent on the island's hurricane relief efforts after it was devastated — and nearly 3,000 were killed — by Hurricane Maria last year. In a string of tweets that started just before 11 p.m. EST on Monday night and reignited after 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Trump berated the U.S. territory's leadership, whom he described as 'crazed,' 'incompetent,' and 'corrupt,' and suggested that he was the 'best thing that ever happened' to the island."

Zack Ford at ThinkProgress: Trump Claims Puerto Rico Received $91 Billion in Aid Following Hurricane Maria. It Didn't. "In a pair of tweets, Trump reiterated a number he's floated before, suggesting the island was given $91 billion in relief money to recover from the devastating storms in 2017. He also claimed the territory's politicians had mismanaged that money, saying it was unfair to the country's 'farmers and states' — seemingly suggesting Puerto Rico itself was not part of the United States. ...He added, 'Cannot continue to hurt our Farmers and States with these massive payments, and so little appreciation!'"

John Wagner at the Washington Post: White House Spokesperson Twice Calls Puerto Rico 'That Country' in TV Interview.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley twice referred to Puerto Rico as "that country" during a television appearance Tuesday in which he defended a series of tweets by [Donald] Trump lashing out at leaders of the U.S. territory.

...As he pressed to defend Trump's contentions, Gidley sought to make the case that the leaders of the territory, whose residents are U.S. citizens, have mishandled the aid they've received thus far.

"With all they've done in that country, they've had a systematic mismanagement of the goods and services we've sent to them," Gidley said. "You've seen food just rotting in the ports. Their governor has done a horrible job. He's trying to make political hay in a political year, and he's trying to find someone to take the blame off of his for not having a grid and not having a good system in that country at all."

Gidley later attributed his misstatements to "a slip of the tongue."

What a disgusting lot of toxic wrecks they are. I hate this regime with the fiery power of ten thousand suns.

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Chris Isidore at CNN: U.S. Auto Plants Would Shut Down within a Week If Border Closes, Economist Says. "[E]very automaker operating an auto plant in the United States depends on parts imported from Mexico, said Kristin Dziczek, the vice president of industry, labor, and economics at the Center for Automotive Research. About 16% of all auto parts used in the United States, both at assembly plants and sold at auto parts stores, originate in Mexico. Virtually all car models in America have Mexican parts, she said. Because of that reliance, she said the auto industry would stop producing vehicles relatively quickly. 'You can't sell cars with missing pieces,' she said. 'You've got to have them all. I see the whole industry shutdown within a week of a border closing.'"

One week before it would affect the auto industry, and not much longer before it would affect the U.S. food supply.

Kate Riga at TPM: Trump Punts, Says GOP Will Unveil Health Care Plan 'Right After the Election'. "Donald Trump, perhaps realizing the political cudgel he had handed Democrats with the renewed Obamacare attack, tweeted Monday that Republicans would wait to unveil their healthcare plan alternative until 'right after the election.' ...The punt could also be a result of Republicans not actually having a plan. Reports surfaced Monday that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) was pitching in on the effort, which did not seem very far along in its development. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) washed his hands of the issue entirely, clearly unwilling to make a second run at an issue that provided a huge win for the Democrats and humiliation for his caucus last time around."

So, take note, potential Trump voters (who are definitely reading this blog every day, lol): Your cool president will take away your healthcare in gratitude for your voting for him!

Yessenia Funes at Earther: Trump's 'Unprecedented' Plan to Restart the Keystone XL Pipeline May Be Illegal. "Donald Trump ratcheted up the drama over the Keystone XL Pipeline Friday when he issued a presidential memorandum to push the oil pipeline through despite a recent court ruling against it. And opponents plan on taking him back to court over it. After all, his action could set a new precedent for presidential power over such infrastructure if he gets away with it. ...The new permit is issued simply 'by the authority vested in [Trump] as President of the United States of America.' This move is unprecedented, said Doug Hayes, a senior attorney with the Sierra Club, who is helping litigate the case."

I feel like "Trump's 'Unprecedented' Plan to ____________ May Be Illegal" is the #1 MadLib of this administration.

Rebekah Entralgo at ThinkProgress: Trump's Threat to Close the Border Could Actually Increase Migration. "Donald Trump is threatening to close ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border this week, saying the detention centers are 'maxed out' due to a recent increase in migration. ...But would shutting down a border actually do anything to mitigate migration to the United States? Experts are dubious, suggesting it might actually do the opposite. 'We think these policies are actually accelerating arrivals,' Sarah Pierce, policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told ThinkProgress. 'When these policies are announced, there is a rush to the border to get to the United States before the next hammer falls.'"

I feel "Trump's Threat to ____________ Could Actually Make [X] Worse" is the #2 MadLib of this administration.

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Rachel Leingang at the Arizona Republic: University of Arizona Will Charge 2 Students over Protest of Border Patrol Event on Campus.

Two students at the University of Arizona will be charged with misdemeanors after a video showing them protesting a Customs and Border Protection event on campus went viral, UA President Robert Robbins announced Friday.

The potential charges stem from a Border Patrol presentation to a student club, the Criminal Justice Association, on campus on March 19.

Video of the incident showed two Border Patrol agents in a classroom giving a presentation, with people outside the door recording them and calling them "Murder Patrol," "murderers," and "an extension of the KKK."

After the agents leave the classroom, a group followed them until they left campus, chanting "Murder Patrol," video footage on social media shows.

Conservative media and commentators shared the video on social media and blogs as an example of free speech issues on college campuses.

In the letter sent to students posted online, Robbins said the protest represented a "dramatic departure from our expectations of respectful behavior and support for free speech on this campus."

UA police determined Friday that they "will be charging" two students involved in the incident with "interference with the peaceful conduct of an educational institution," which is a misdemeanor. A Class 1 misdemeanor could result in up to six months of jail time.

So, just to be clear, the students who were protesting border agents for enforcing Trump's vile nativist agenda are being punished for encroaching on the border agents' free speech. Wow.

Mark Bergen at Bloomberg: YouTube Executives Ignored Warnings, Letting Toxic Videos Run Rampant. "In recent years, scores of people inside YouTube and Google, its owner, raised concerns about the mass of false, incendiary, and toxic content that the world's largest video site surfaced and spread. ...Each time they got the same basic response: Don't rock the boat. ...Five senior personnel who left YouTube and Google in the last two years privately cited the platform's inability to tame extreme, disturbing videos as the reason for their departure."

Daniel Boffey at the Guardian: No-Deal Brexit More Likely by the Day, Says Michel Barnier. "Michel Barnier has said a no-deal Brexit is 'very likely' and becoming more likely by the day after the Commons rejected all the alternative solutions to Theresa May's deal. The comments from the EU's chief negotiator were echoed by the prime ministers of the Netherlands and Luxembourg. 'We have to take into consideration a no-deal possibility — it's a probability,' the Dutch prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters. 'We are no longer looking for an exit, but rather an emergency exit,' added Luxembourg's prime minister Xavier Bettel, who was hosting Rutte for no deal talks in the duchy."

Leyland Cecco at the Guardian: Canada Warming at Twice the Global Rate, Climate Report Finds. "Canada is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, a landmark government report [peer-reviewed by forty-three government scientists and academics] has found, warning that drastic action is the only way to avoid catastrophic outcomes. 'The science is clear — Canada's climate is warming more rapidly than the global average, and this level of warming effectively cannot be changed,' Nancy Hamzawi, assistant deputy minister for science and technology at Environment and Climate Change Canada, told reporters on Monday. The report, released late on Monday by Environment and Climate Change Canada, paints a grim picture of Canada's future, in which deadly heatwaves and heavy rainstorms become a common occurrence."

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?