Progressive Thinking

Laura Kiefert breaks down how the Court’s latest rulings - on mass deportations and mass firings - prove that what’s “legal” isn’t always what’s right.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - When I was growing up, we were taught the Supreme Court was the last line of defense for justice in this country. That when all else failed, this group of robed constitutional guardians would rise above politics and protect the rights of the people. But that ideal died a slow death—and its last gasps have become painfully obvious with the Court’s recent rulings favoring the Trump administration.

Let’s be clear: this Court is no longer functioning as a fair referee. It’s playing defense for a man who has made a career of bulldozing norms, ducking accountability, and weaponizing government against anyone who dares stand in his way.

Take the decision to greenlight Trump’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act—yes, 1798, back when we were still powdered wigs and muskets—to deport Venezuelan migrants he claims are gang members. The Court’s conservative majority brushed past any real scrutiny of due process, pretending this centuries-old law somehow gives the executive branch sweeping power to make deportation decisions without meaningful oversight. Justice Sotomayor, in dissent, warned of the “grave consequences” for people swept up in this vague, unchecked dragnet—but her voice, once again, was drowned out by a majority more interested in empowering Trump than defending civil liberties.

And if that wasn’t chilling enough, let’s talk about federal workers. The Court just blocked an order that would’ve reinstated over 16,000 employees fired in one of the Trump administration’s so-called “efficiency” purges. No hearings. No process. Just pink slips. Two justices—Sotomayor and Jackson—had the guts to call it out for what it is: government overreach, trampling on the livelihoods of people who’ve served their country. But again, the majority showed where its loyalty lies.

It’s not with working people. It’s not with fairness. It’s not with the Constitution.

It’s with Trump.

This is the part that enrages me most: The same Court that micromanaged student loan forgiveness, that handcuffed the EPA, that nitpicked over the tiniest interpretations of federal authority, now turns around and gives Trump a blank check to fire thousands and deport people under a 200-year-old law.

And we’re supposed to believe this isn’t political?

The Court has become a place where morality goes to die under the weight of legal technicalities. Where cruelty is sanitized with precedent. Where silence in the face of injustice is disguised as restraint.

I’m not a lawyer. I’m not a scholar. I’m just someone who believes in fairness. But I can tell you this: just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s right. And what this Court is doing—again and again—is using legality as a shield for injustice.

They are enabling the rise of authoritarianism, not by bold declarations, but by a slow erosion of protections, a dismissal of norms, and a refusal to act when it matters most. They are telling Trump, “Go ahead. Fire who you want. Deport who you want. Delay justice as long as you want. We’ve got your back.”

SUMMARY

The Supreme Court was meant to be the last defense against authoritarian overreach. Instead, it’s acting like Trump’s personal legal team. In this editorial, I break down how the Court’s latest rulings—on mass deportations and mass firings—prove that what’s “legal” isn’t always what’s right. And how their silence in the face of injustice is anything but impartial.

Trump’s Cruel Plan to Gut Essential Care

LAKE GENEVA, WI - Let me say this loud and clear:

If you still think Donald Trump cares about seniors, the sick, or the vulnerable—wake up. This man isn’t just threatening democracy with his strongman rhetoric—he’s actively coming after Medicare, and he doesn’t care who he hurts along the way.

The Trump team’s decision to block Medicare coverage for anti-obesity medications is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s cruel, shortsighted, and dangerous. And if we let it slide, millions of people will pay the price—not with dollars, but with their health.

Slamming the Door on Life-Changing Obesity Medications

Trump’s latest move? Rejecting a proposal that would have allowed Medicare to cover new, effective anti-obesity medications like Wegovy and Zepbound. These aren’t vanity pills—they’re treatments for a serious, chronic disease that affects more than 42% of American adults.

Obesity contributes to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Denying coverage for these medications means more hospital stays, more suffering, and more lives cut short. Seniors are already more vulnerable—and under Trump’s policy, they’re being told to suffer in silence while their health declines.

It’s not only heartless—it’s fiscally stupid. Treating obesity early and effectively saves the system money down the road. But Trump never cared much for math if it didn’t benefit him personally

Cuts to Medicaid, Attacks on the Disabled, and a War on Public Healt

But the attack on Medicare is part of a much bigger plan. Trump’s proposed cuts to Medicaid would gut access to care for children, people with disabilities, and low-income seniors. In states like Texas, experts are warning that hospital closures and massive service losses are on the horizon if these cuts go through.

And what’s Trump doing while healthcare experts sound the alarm? Appointing unqualified loyalists to lead agencies like Medicare and Medicaid, turning them into political playgrounds rather than institutions of public service.

He’s not just chipping away at the system—he’s hacking it to pieces. Eliminating government-funded obesity drugs. Threatening cuts to preventive care. Undermining access to mental health services. All while wrapping himself in a flag and screaming “America First.”

If You’re Not Outraged, You’re Not Paying Attention

This isn’t policy. This is sabotage.

Trump isn’t just trying to take away programs—he’s trying to dismantle the very idea that government should protect and support its citizens. If you’re elderly, disabled, sick, or poor, he’s telling you to fend for yourself.

Well, I’m not okay with that. And you shouldn’t be either.

Media outlets aren't reporting—they're performing. From Lara Trump to NBC's Ronna debacle it's all spin no spine. I call out the worst offenders.

LAKE GENEVA WI - Let’s drop the act: American journalism isn’t liberal—it’s scared. Gutless. Somewhere between chasing ratings and avoiding the “bias” label the media bent so far to the right it practically kissed Mar-a-Lago’s ring.

If you think Fox News is the only propaganda shop in town bless your heart. They’re just the loudest. The rest of the “mainstream media”—CNN NBC ABC even the New York Times—are spinning like busted ceiling fans in the name of “balance.” But there’s nothing balanced about giving fascism equal time.

We’re living in the golden age of spin. And the Spin Doctors? They’re everywhere.

Fox News: Now Hiring Trumps

Fox isn’t just backing Trump—they’re putting him on payroll.
Lara Trump now co-hosts The Big Weekend Show because nothing screams objective journalism like handing a mic to the candidate’s daughter-in-law.
Charlie Hurt now on Fox & Friends Weekend frames Trump’s win as destiny. Meanwhile Maria Bartiromo is still ranting about the “deep state” like it’s the final boss in a video game.

Newsmax & OANN: MAGA News Circus

Greg Kelly at Newsmax called Trump “the greatest living American” and claimed Democrats are “communists in disguise.”
Matt Gaetz now has a weekly show on OANN—because apparently being under investigation makes you more qualified to anchor the news.

CNN: Still Addicted to 'Balance'

CNN wants to play referee in a knife fight.

After the 2023 Trump town hall debacle they’re still trotting out voices like Scott Jennings who shrugs off Trump’s indictments as “overreach ” and David Urban who sells Trump’s economy like he’s back on the campaign payroll. Meanwhile CNN insists it’s all about “hearing both sides”—even when one side wants to jail reporters.

NBC: The Ronna McDaniel Fiasco

NBC handed a contract to Ronna McDaniel Trump’s election-denier-in-chief. When staff revolted and viewers cringed the network dropped her in less than a week—but not before giving her a platform to push the same lies she peddled at the RNC.

ABC & CBS: Biden’s Age and Nothing Else

Biden gives a strong fact-filled State of the Union—and David Muir at ABC leads with “But voters are still concerned about his age.” Really? Not Trump’s threats to democracy just the number on Joe’s birthday card?

Norah O’Donnell at CBS parroted the same nonsense ignoring policy and obsessing over optics. Meanwhile Trump is ranting about purging civil servants—and they’re still counting Biden’s steps.

The New York Times: Understanding the Unhinged

In late 2024 the Times announced plans to hire a pro-Trump columnist—because apparently we need more voices trying to explain away authoritarianism in 800 words or less.

And yes Maggie Haberman is still there writing puff pieces about Trump’s moods and favorite snacks while breezing past his plans to shred democracy. It’s palace intrigue for the apocalypse.

The New Faces of “News”

Let’s not forget the latest cast of spin artists:

• Lara Trump at Fox acting like she’s not related to the guy she’s praising.
• Ronna McDaniel briefly at NBC before the backlash knocked her out.
• Matt Gaetz now spinning from a studio instead of a subpoena.
• Charlie Hurt dressing propaganda up as commentary.
• Vivek Ramaswamy now treated like a thought leader while spewing January 6th conspiracy garbage and denying climate change.

These aren’t journalists. They’re influencers playing dress-up.

Here’s the Ugly Truth

The media isn’t just spinning—it’s surrendering. They’ve normalized a convicted fraud a twice-impeached chaos agent and a man openly plotting authoritarian rule.

They’ve turned fascism into a “point of view.”
They’ve let democracy become a ratings segment.
And we the audience are being played.

We don’t need more “both sides.”
We need truth. We need guts.
And we sure as hell need fewer spin doctors—and more damn journalists.

And we sure as hell need fewer spin doctors and more damn journalists.

Wake up, America. Before there’s nothing left to bounce back to.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - You know what’s heartbreaking?

Watching good people—decent, hardworking people—cling to the lie that “everything’s gonna bounce back.” That all we have to do is just hang on a little longer, trust in Trump’s plan (whatever that is this week), and America will come roaring back to life. Like one of those cheesy underdog sports movies where the team pulls off a win in the final five seconds.

But this isn’t a movie. And this isn’t some routine surgery.
This is a terminal diagnosis, and they’re pretending it's just a mild infection.

Trump and his sidekick J.D. Vance have been peddling this idea that the economy is just “under the weather.” That sometimes people get sick, need an operation, and then they’re good as new. They’ve been tossing that analogy around like it’s gospel. But here’s what they don’t say out loud:

Sometimes the surgery doesn’t work. Sometimes people don’t get better. Sometimes they die.

And right now, the middle class is on life support. Small towns are dying. Wages haven’t kept up with the cost of living in decades. People are maxing out credit cards just to afford groceries. Parents are skipping meals so their kids can eat. Seniors are splitting their prescriptions in half to make them last.

But the Trump crowd? They’ve been told that this is normal. That all of this is just part of a cycle. A temporary dip. Just a little economic turbulence before we soar again.

It’s a lie. A cruel one.

And what’s sad—truly sad—is that millions of Americans believe it. They believe that if they just vote the “right way,” if they show loyalty, if they keep holding on, then things will go back to how they used to be. As if we can rewind the clock to a time when life felt more affordable, more stable, more American.

But that time is gone. And Trump’s not bringing it back—he’s part of why it’s gone in the first place.

Remember when he promised jobs would return, that coal would come back, that we’d be winning so much we’d get tired of it? Remember how none of that happened?

Instead, billionaires got tax cuts, the national debt exploded, and ordinary people were left to figure it out alone. And now those same people are being told, once again, to just hold on.

I look around and see exhausted people still believing that someone who wouldn’t cross the street to help them up is somehow their savior. And it breaks my heart. Because these are folks who deserve better. Who have worked hard their entire lives. Who need real help—not hollow analogies and empty slogans.

This isn’t about politics anymore. It’s about people. And we are watching a slow, painful unraveling while too many are still sitting in the waiting room, trusting the surgeon who already left the building.

Trump thinks yelling “America First” while nuking the global supply chain is somehow going to bring back the golden age of American manufacturing. That age is long gone.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - Today, Donald Trump stood at a podium, flapping his gums again about how everything is going to “boom.” The markets are going to boom. The economy is going to boom. The country? Oh, that’s going to boom too. And you know what? I actually agree with him—for once. Things are going to boom. Just not in the way he wants you to think.

I’m talking about the kind of boom that leaves a smoking crater where your savings used to be. The kind of boom that knocks you off your feet and leaves your ears ringing while you try to figure out what the hell just happened. The kind of boom where, when the dust settles, we’re all stuck sweeping up the shattered pieces of our bank accounts and wondering how we got conned into this mess. That’s the “boom” we’re in for.

What kicked it off? Trump’s bright idea to slap a 10% tariff on all imports, with even higher rates on countries like China, Mexico, and our European allies. You know, the people we actually rely on for trade. The very next thing that happened? The stock market tanked. Over 1,600 points dropped from the Dow like it got pushed off a cliff. That’s not booming—it’s detonating.

Tariffs are taxes. That’s Econ 101. But Trump either doesn’t know that or just doesn’t care. He thinks yelling “America First” while nuking the global supply chain is somehow going to bring back the golden age of American manufacturing. Meanwhile, the rest of us are stuck watching prices climb on everything from groceries to gadgets.

Experts are already warning that the average American household could see prices jump by nearly $4,000 a year. And when you factor in inflation creeping back up and potential job losses in industries that rely on imported goods? Buckle up. This isn’t just an economic misstep—it’s a full-scale policy explosion.

International response? You guessed it. Countries around the world are preparing to hit us right back. Trade wars don’t just pop up overnight, but Trump’s reckless, chest-thumping bravado is lighting the fuse. And guess who’s standing closest when it goes off? Yep. We are.

This isn’t leadership. It’s sabotage dressed up as strength. And Trump, with his gold-plated ego and zero grasp of economic reality, is grinning through it all like he just made a brilliant move on a game board he doesn’t even understand.

So yes, Donald. We’re going to boom. Like a bomb in the living room. Like an engine blowing out at 80 miles per hour. Like the bad decision it is.

And we’ll be the ones left crawling out of the rubble.

Summary:
Donald Trump says the economy is going to “boom”—and for once, he’s not wrong. But this isn’t the boom of prosperity he’s promising. It’s the kind of boom that leaves everyday Americans buried under debt, inflation, and economic wreckage. In this scathing opinion piece, Laura Kiefert dismantles Trump’s reckless tariff plan, exposing the real cost of his clueless economic bravado: soaring prices, crashing markets, and a trade war we can't afford. If this is his version of winning, we’re all screwed.