Articles by Lesley Abravanel

'Vagueness doctrine': How a common authoritarian tactic has 'become fundamental' to Trump

New York Times Magazine writer Matthew Purdy says that the use of vague rules by President Donald Trump and his administration to "justify arbitrary and capricious" actions is intentional, establishing a "clear line between democracies run by laws and autocracies run by strongmen." Citing federal judge William Young's "searing" opinion on Trump's cancellation of research grants by the National Institutes of Health, Purdy says that Trump's "broadly cast executive orders" were intentional. Young said that by setting up Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as "some sort of boogeyman," Trump administration officials “decided that they are going to ‘eradicate’ something that they cannot define.” Young's critique, Purdy explains, faults "the administration for using broadly cast executive orders and policies to justify “arbitrary and capricious” actions. This is known as the "vagueness doctrine, a concept that for centuries has been foundational to American law," Purdy explains. "Unless laws are clearly stated, citizens cannot know precisely what is and is not permitted, handing authorities the power to arbitrarily decide who is in violation of a law or rule," he writes. This doctrine is a common autocratic technique, Purdy says. "Vagueness has long been seen as a clear divide between democracies run by laws and autocracies run by strongmen, leading American administrations of both parties to routinely criticize foreign governments for using vague laws to suppress unwanted speech and behavior." This vagueness has also "become fundamental to the way Trump operates," Purdy explains, and "it is not so much a legal strategy as a power dynamic." Purdy says this dynamic is evident in Trump's targeting of so-called "woke culture," an attack that judges have deemed "ill-defined." "In a sense, Trump is creating a system of rules and punishments all his own. And when those rules are vaguely defined — unlike, say, a speed limit or even complex financial regulations — there is no assurance that anyone can be safely outside the zone of violation," he says. And while Trump "saw the dangers of vagueness" as a private citizen facing indictments for the retention of classified documents nad his own lawyer Todd Blanche argued that the underlying law was vague, he has, Purdy says, "flipped the script" in his second term. "Following the killing of the right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk, Trump and his associates appear to be drawing up a fresh batch of broadly defined violations to catch their political enemies — a strategy critics say is akin to how authoritarians use vague accusations to target opponents," Purdy says. Vagueness, he explains, "breeds trepidation, perhaps the desired result." International law professor at the University of Chicago Tom Ginsburg, ho has written about the decline of democracies around the world, says that "vagueness is part of the tool kit." Vagueness, Purdy explains, "has been seen as antithetical to due process and the rule of law since the earliest days of American democracy." The nation's founders warned in the Federalist Papers against laws "so incoherent that they cannot be understood” or those that change so often “that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow.” Conservative Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote in a 2018 Supreme Court opinion that “Vague laws invite arbitrary power," siding with his liberal colleagues in striking down a provision, which he said lacked "clear criteria", used to try to deport a Filipino man, a legal permanent resident, who was convicted of burglary. “A government of laws and not of men can never tolerate that arbitrary power,” Gorsuch wrote. And despite Trump's many attempts, "None of Donald Trump’s edicts have deployed vagueness as effectively as his attack on D.E.I.," Purdy says. "Less understood is the recipe that makes the anti-D.E.I. campaign so effective: equal parts vagueness and threat." What began in Russia, explains Purdy about vagueness, has now gone global, Purdy says. "Today strongmen around the world often use vague laws to constrain groups that challenge their power," he says. Trump's attacks on law firms have exemplified this as well, Purdy says. Trump targeted the law firm WilmerHale through an executive order, claiming the firm engaged in activities detrimental to national interests and was associated with Robert Mueller's Russian interference investigation. The order aimed to bar the firm's lawyers from federal buildings and revoke their security clearances. However, a federal judge struck down the order, ruling it unconstitutional and an attempt at political retribution — a decision supported by other federal judges. "Judge Richard J. Leon, a George W. Bush nominee, said he agreed with the firm’s assertion that the executive order left no doubt that WilmerHale is being punished because it has represented some of the president’s political opponents and advanced positions with which he disagrees," Purdy writes. “The order essentially leaves it to WilmerHale to predict which causes and which attorneys the president personally dislikes and then steer clear of those causes and attorneys,” Leon wrote. “This chilling effect triggers serious vagueness concerns.”

1 days ago

Technology

Reagan's 'once-mythic legacy' has been 'toppled' by a 'shallow demagogue': analyst

President Donald Trump's "temper tantrum" over a Canadian ad using the actual words of Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs illustrates how "MAGA has turned away from Reagan’s once-mythic legacy," according to Salon's Heather Digby Parton. When it comes to former President Reagan, some Americans still remain nostalgic, she writes — but only one particular group. "For a certain swath of Americans old enough to remember his optimism and storytelling — and to ignore the extensive damage he did to the country — hearing his voice doubtless carries them back to a gentler time," she says. But Trump, recognizing the ad's power, she writes, ranted against it on his Truth Social and "was so mad he slapped an additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian goods, which came on top of the 35 percent he had already imposed. He also declared the bilateral trade talks over." Some small businesses retaliated to this in a lawsuit claiming by imposing these tariffs, "the president exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)," Digby Parton says. In August, the administration lost the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, but, she explains, "they temporarily stayed the decision pending the Supreme Court appeal, which was accepted by the justices with lightning speed." "Trump’s notion that, without Ontario’s ad, the Supreme Court justices wouldn’t know about Reagan’s free trade philosophy is unintentionally hilarious," she says, noting that Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito all worked in the Reagan administration. Trump, notes Digby Parton, knows of the importance of Reagan's appeal to his base — or at least, his former appeal. "Trump is well aware of how Reagan was long held up as something of a god among Republicans, and Trump himself went to great lengths to suck up to him when he was president, albeit to little avail," she writes, referring to a 2017GQ article titled "Donald Trump Loves Ronald Reagan, Even Though Reagan Never Liked Him Back." And while the New York Times confirmed the accuracy of the Canadian ad and its use of Reagan's speech, the reaction to it by the Reagan Foundation, which oversees the former president’s library, following Trump's tantrum was, Digby Parton notes, "startling." "You would think that they, of all people, would be so protective of Reagan’s legacy and insist upon his beliefs being portrayed truthfully," she writes. "Instead the foundation raised a big stink, saying they hadn’t given permission to the admakers to use excerpts of the speech — which was in the public domain, so they had no say in the matter — and insisting that it misrepresented him," she explains. That startling reaction is confounding and Digby Parton questions its origins. "Either its board has gone so MAGA that they have been deluded into believing the man they purport to honor and defend was a big tariff-lover, or they are so terrified of Trump that they betrayed Reagan’s legacy in hopes of appeasing the president," she muses. Whatever the reason may be, it appears that most of Trump's base has, along with their leader, abandoned Reagan. "It now appears that most of Trump’s followers have left Ronald Reagan and what he stood for behind. They no longer have any interest in or loyalty to the conservative movement he helped create. Its remains are mere artifacts of what has come to seem like an ancient civilization," she writes. After Reagan was gone, she writes, conservatives "worked to secure the movement’s enduring power by consciously turning Reagan into a mythic figure whose ideas would live on in perpetuity." That perpetuity seems to have been canceled, she says, thanks to Trump. "Now, less than a decade after Trump was first inaugurated president in 2017, most of it is lying in rubble," she writes. "Seeing a movement that was as vibrant as the conservative movement toppled so quickly by a shallow demagogue should give those who love democracy and human progress hope. If Ronald Reagan couldn’t go the distance, Donald Trump certainly can’t."

1 days ago

Karl Rove warns GOP is on precipice of first statewide 'Democratic victory since 1994 in Texas'

Conservative political strategist and Fox News pundit Karl Rove says that if Texas nominates Attorney General Ken Paxton instead of incumbent Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), the state may very well flip blue, according to Mediaite.Paxton is known for a series of high-profile lawsuits and was acquitted of 16 articles of impeachment brought by the House of Representatives including bribery and abuse of public trust. In April 2025, he announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, setting up a primary challenge against incumbent Cornyn. Paxton's campaign has sought to portray him as more aligned with...

4 days ago

Trump scraps 'surprise' restaurant visits as memory of protestors leaves him spooked

A month after President Donald Trump was confronted by protesters at a Washington, D.C. restaurant, Axios reports that his team was "so alarmed" by how close they got to him, they had a "tense talk" with Secret Service officials.Trump rarely makes "such unannounced appearances in D.C.," Axios says, but White House staffers were "suspicious about how protesters from the group Code Pink knew he would be at the restaurant that night."Code Pink: Women for Peace is a U.S.-based, female-led grassroots organization that advocates for peace and social justice through nonviolent means.Trump stopped by...

Oct 24, 2025

Trump’s 'immense cognitive decline' is 'grave risk' to all: psychologist

A prestigious psychologist says that President Donald Trump is exhibiting a “massive increase” in “clinical signs of dementia,” exacerbating the president’s “malignant narcissism,” according to The Daily Beast.Former Johns Hopkins professor and psychologist Dr. John Gartner says that the 79 year old president's "nonsensical speeches, repeated confusion, and frequent lapses in memory" are proof of his “immense cognitive decline.”Gartner points to the president's speech to top military brass at Quantico as an example of hisdecline.In that speech, Gartner, who co-hosts a popular...

Oct 23, 2025

Trump relative says president's 'tacky' building blitz makes her 'want to die of shame'

President Donald Trump's outspoken critic niece Mary says that her uncle's desire to build an arch in Washington, DC that mimics France's Arc de Triomphe makes her "want to die of shame," according to a report in The Daily Beast.Trump publicly unveiled his plans for the arch to commemorate the nation's 250th birthday during a dinner last week for the wealthy donors who are funding the $250 million ballroom addition to the White House that has caused outrage among many, according to the New York Times.“Small, medium and large — whichever one, they look good,” Trump said, holding out the...

Oct 22, 2025