Patterico
@patterico
Opinions definitely not those of my employer. Music I wrote: My newsletter: May every day be another wonderful secret.
I will now be cheering against the United States in the next World Cup game it plays.
Regarding the UAE bribing Trump to secure a deal for AI chips that our intelligence worried might flow to China: patterico.com/2026/02/03/y...
In a podcast with @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social, Sarah Isgur said Supremacy Clause immunity asks whether an agent's acts are “egregiously unconstitutional outside...federal duties." No. It's whether he "did no more than what was necessary and proper" for those duties. tile.loc.gov/storage-serv...
I have a piece up today at Quillette, that analyzes the cancel culture frenzy that the right has engaged in since the murder of Charlie Kirk, and the way Trump has used government power to stamp out opposition. Here are some excerpts to whet your appetite. quillette.com/2025/09/20/t...
If I am sent to Hell, my greatest punishment would be if the Devil refused to let me watch Trump and Rubio roasting there too
Let’s dispel once and for all with this fiction that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s knows exactly what she’s doing.
It gets wearying to feel the need to make fun of people like this. At a certain point you just want to say
Hundreds of people disappeared to CECOT without process would like to have a word.
For anyone who thinks I am being unfair to Isgur, below is her exact quote criticizing Reuveni for not evading the judge's question at least four times. I chalk it up to her background as a political operative, where such advice is common. patterico.substack.com/p/donald-tru...
Also in the section for paid subscribers: an analogy for Game of Thrones fans in which Olenna Tyrell drafts an executive order targeting Joffrey. Yes, good and evil is reversed here from real life, but the concept ("I want x to know it was me") is the same.
From the section for paid subscribers: I whack the baseball head guy, with whom I used to be friends, for not only botching legal analysis (which is fine) but for aggressively attacking my integrity over it. And I do so in great detail, with screenshots.
Another sample: what is Trump really up to with the refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia? I have a theory! And it's not just about immigration.
Sample: pushback against Sarah Isgur's criticism of a DOJ lawyer (later fired) who told the truth in court the moment the judge asked. Isgur, a former political consultant, wanted him to evade the question four times before finally answering.
Pam Bondi is a walking violation of the DOJ manual on media contacts. t.co/HTlATCflOr
Andy helped make all this our new reality. He can take his sanctimonious criticism and stuff it. www.nationalreview.com/2024/11/the-...
How did it play out? The DA filed suit and is reputed to have collected $800,000 in settlement. which made it possible for him to retire comfortably. Another DA took a retaliation case to trial and collected $1.5 million. I expect DOJ lawyers to have similarly strong lawsuits and to collect big. /2
Thursday Night Massacre at the Department of Justice, as multiple senior attorneys resign because they cannot ethically move to dismiss the Eric Adams case for the patently corrupt reasons offered by Trump’s stooge. www.reuters.com/world/us/man...
This man is helping RFK Jr. pick HHS candidates for top positions, and has tried to get the polio and hepatitis B vaccines removed. But don’t worry! There will be sound leadership at the top: RFK Jr., and Donald Trump, who recently said he trusts RFK Jr. on vaccines.
I understood Jack Goldsmith to argue the opposite: that had Wray forced Trump to fire him, it would have narrowed Trump's ability to replace Wray under the FVRA. (Also, why can't Trump use (a)(1) to name Patel first assistant? Can't he be so named after the resignation?) x.com/jacklgoldsmi...
@cathyyoung63.bsky.social, in an interview of Jay Bhattacharya that you linked in your excellent COVID piece, I noticed this interesting detail: as he argued lockdowns were harmful, he also complained that only the laptop class was able to “stay home and stay safe”? Wait, staying home was safer? 😮
Compare this passage from my piece in May (first two screenshots) with a passage from an ABC News article about the case (third screenshot) abcnews.go.com/US/daniel-pe...
In some places, just for transfer. I’m sure the women assaulted at a women’s prison in New Jersey due to lax policies on transferring claimed transgenders will be relieved to know you don’t consider their victimization to be a valid concern.
In short: OP: I believe x is obviously true. ME: I don't have an opinion on x. I do think people could debate the issue. TWELVE PEOPLE: But x is obviously true. ME: [Gives possible arguments x might not be true.] YOU: Why do you spend all this time arguing x might not be true? ME: