As readers of this column know, I like to highlight successful pushback on Donald Trump's dictatorial aspirations. They are important in their own right. But they are also a reminder that the rule of law remains vibrant when we are confronted with abuses like Friday’s raid on the home of former Trump official turned public critic John Bolton.
Starting on the positive side, this week brought a landmark legal success against one of Trump's prior abuses of the rule of law, and, as has so often been the case, you Contrarians were a part of it. In a powerful reaffirmation of legal norms, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann on Thursday delivered a major rebuke to the Trump regime’s attempts to illegally install the president’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Brann ruled that Habba was serving “without lawful authority” under the statute governing such appointments. He found that her 120-day interim term expired in July and that the DOJ’s efforts to keep her in place by dubiously naming her a “special attorney” after that time was up were legally unsupported.
It’s simple: 120 days means 120 days. But to an autocrat like Trump, rules are meant to be broken. That “catch me if you can” attitude has been overwhelmingly denounced by lower court judges appointed by both parties. The Supreme Court is another story, alas, as it proved again this week, but fortunately it touches only a small fraction of the hundreds of rulings against Trump.
Here, Judge Brann is a conservative and former member of the Federalist Society. His clear and direct ruling highlights yet another example of the courts serving as an essential bulwark against the Trump administration’s blatant illegalities. His words could not ring truer:
“A government operating by handshake and mutual understanding may go along swimmingly, but only for so long as everyone is willing to play by the rules. Those rules are the result of good-faith compromise—a concession by one branch is premised on the understanding that another branch will not abuse the benefit. So even if a practice of making exceptions to the letter of the law exists, it is likely cabined by other practice-based rules that limit the scope of those exceptions. When one side decides that the practice-based limits no longer apply, what then? May that party take all the benefits of past practice with none of the concessions? In such a situation, recourse to the law—with no atextual exceptions—provides the only answer.”
That brings us to the FBI raid on Ambassador Bolton’s house. True, we don't have many details yet. But initial press reports suggest that the investigation includes allegations of mishandling classified information against Bolton by the prior Trump administration after he very publicly broke with it. Those allegations were discredited and the Biden administration ultimately dropped the investigation.
There can be little doubt that this move is a clear attempt at intimidation, whatever else may be going on. That's readily apparent from, for example, Trump's animus towards Bolton, his pattern of investigating and prosecuting adversaries, and FBI Director Kash Patel’s apparent gloating in real time. Forgive me if I view with skepticism the actions of an administration headed by Trump, who clung to boxes of wrongly-held classified documents after he left office despite repeated requests for their return–not to mention the actions of the administration’s now-FBI director who twisted himself into pretzels to defend the possession of those documents. I was the least surprised person in America when press reports indicated that the FBI went into Bolton’s house with bags “but nothing was seen coming out of the residence.”
We at Democracy Defenders Fund immediately condemned the targeting of Bolton, and we will be doing much more to fight these kinds of attacks. If you doubt that, just look at our work on the Habba case. We were proud to be a part of the team that won that victory, led by the brilliant work of our colleagues at Lowell & Associates, Gerald Krovatin, and others. And that means that you were a part of the team as well. Because we at The Contrarian are owned by no one, all profits go to support my pro-democracy litigation effort, including this case and over 100 others. Your paid subscriptions make all of that possible! We can't do it without you.
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Speaking of the international scene, I couldn't help thinking of our Contrarian ethos as seven European leaders descended on the White House on Aug. 18 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to head off Trump’s impulse to capitulate to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine conflict. Contrarians watched with horror as Trump seemed to give away the store to Putin at their Alaska “summit” last Friday.
Resistance can take unexpected forms—and the diplomatic form of it was just what Trump met from the European leaders who caucused with him in the Oval Office. For all of the authoritarian damage Trump has done, I’ve been amazed at how often he’s been stopped when people are brave enough to stand up to him. It appears that’s what happened at the White House, with the momentum for a shameful Trump-led appeasement of Putin seemingly stalling.
Instead, the rest of the week has been dedicated to the discussion of what security guarantees for Ukraine would look like, with Russian diplomats undermining their own cause by making the absurd suggestion that Russians should be a part of the force protecting Ukraine (talk about the fox guarding the henhouse). The idea of land giveaways to Russia has been sidetracked. Indeed, by the end of the week, Trump went so far as to suggest support for Ukraine surging on offense against Russia.
However careful and couched the message of the European leaders, that’s what I call effective resistance. Of course it could be ephemeral, but we should take our successes where we can get them. We tracked this story closely, as you will see in our usual rundown below, and we will continue to do so. We owe nothing less to the Ukrainians. Trump’s authoritarianism has both domestic and international dimensions, and here at The Contrarian we keep a sharp eye on all of it, thanks to your paid subscriptions….
Summit? More Like a Nadir.
Courage was absent in Anchorage
Russian President Vladimir Putin came to Alaska with ultimatums to resolve the war in Ukraine: control of Donbas, negotiations without ceasefire, narrative dominance in the room. For Trump, argued Brian O’Neill, courage would have meant rejecting those terms and protecting Ukraine from further predation. Instead, Putin conceded nothing. Trump left (by his own telling to Fox News’s Sean Hannity) having moved closer to Moscow’s terms.
Word & Phrases We Could Do Without
For this week’s column on the words and phrases that have lost all (political) meaning, Jen Rubin took on Trump’s ludicrous “guarantee” of U.S. security to end the war after the Alaska summit. The word itself collapses under his history of betrayal, and the European leaders who heard his pitch know an empty promise when they see one.
What's next for Ukraine with Tom Malinowski
On The Contrarian Pod this week, Tom Malinowski joined Jen Rubin to discuss what the Alaska summit tells us about America’s role in the fight for sovereignty and democracy–as Trump rolled out the red carpet, Putin played for time, and Ukraine was left exposed. "Putin is an expert in clock management."
The War Continues, Peace Talk Notwithstanding
Marvin Kalb centered the real question under the smoke and mirrors of the Alaska summit: when Trump and Putin are finally finished with their “negotiations,” will Ukraine be free and independent, or subordinated to Moscow’s needs?
Hands Off Our D.C.
Jen wrote on the grim combination of danger and spectacle that is Trump’s occupation of D.C., from federal agents tackling food delivery drivers, to random checkpoints across D.C., to MAGA governors sending in their guardsmen. “The telltale sign that Trump’s declared crime 'emergency' is an utter farce? Trump claims the crime has vanished—in less than a week!”
The Contrarian covers the Democracy Movement
This week we saw unremitting protests in D.C. and more voices around the country rising in solidarity. We also saw Alaskans stand with Ukraine, 300,000 join anti-war protests, planning for Labor Day actions, and much more.
The real weaponization of justice: Abbe Lowell on Trump's campaign of retribution
Abbe Lowell, who is representing both Homeland Security whistleblower Miles Taylor and New York AG Leticia James against the Trump DOJ’s attempted legal retribution, joined Jen to discuss how much power Trump has over D.C. and how the weaponization of the presidency is allowing him to take revenge against those who critique him. "There's nothing that apparently this administration, led by President Trump, will not do."
When a president fought for D.C. home rule, with help from MLK
Frederic Frommer put Trump’s D.C. occupation in historical context with a look at the starkly different conditions of sixty years ago, when Martin Luther King Jr. marched to the White House to demand home rule for D.C.--with then-president Lyndon B. Johnson as an ally.
Revisionist History, Racist Present
Roberto Valadéz wrote on the toll of the terror under which many immigrant families are now living, as ICE crackdowns turn schoolyards into zones of fear and children face potentially lifelong physical, emotional and educational consequences. “Schools shouldn’t have to be a sanctuary from our own government.”
Pete Hegseth made clear whose history he celebrates
Shalise Manza Young incisively condemned exactly what Pete Hegseth is doing when he says “we recognize our history”: the “we” is white people, and the history in question is oppression whitewashed as imperial progress. “Pete Hegseth is proud of traitorous enslavers and Ku Klux Klan leaders. He said so himself.”
A nation's memory is not a political weapon
Jeff Nesbit took on Trump’s latest attack on the Smithsonian, by which the administration is pressuring one of our most important cultural institutions to rewrite history. Museums exist to tell the full American story, not a politically approved version, Nesbit reflected; now, the complex, unvarnished story of where we’ve been, with all its rich lessons for a more humane future, is under attack.
Offsides with Pablo Torre: Racial discrimination in the NFL & the impact of climate change on sports
In this week’s episode of “Offsides, Pablo Torre and Jen took on Brian Flores’ case as a flashpoint of racial discrimination in the NFL and a new ruling that could reshape the league’s future.
Voting & Elections
Of course Trump threatened ballot access on the 19th Amendment's anniversary
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf wrote on the real and present threat to ballot access and the 105th anniversary of women’s suffrage. “Here we are in 2025, witnessing top brass in the Trump administration engage in public discourse about whether women in this country should have the right to vote.” The fight this time is for all the marbles.
Breaking down Trump's fever dream on mail-in voting
Stephen Richer stepped in as our official Trump translator, making sense of Trump’s latest rant against mail-in ballots…which, spoiler alert, only makes its absurdity even clearer.
The credibility crisis no one names: Democrats keep elevating losers
Michael Franklin took a hard look at Andrew Cuomo’s failed political comeback in New York, which highlights, he argues, a much deeper crisis inside the Democratic Party. "Time served isn’t the same as leadership. Experience only matters if it delivers...So what can we do?"
Yup, Iowa’s Senate Seat is in Play
Jen Rubin gave us a silver lining on the election horizon, writing that few incumbents are as vulnerable as Joni Ernst in Iowa, whose “We-are-all-going-to-die” unpopularity and Medicaid cuts have made her one of the GOP’s weakest links heading into 2026. Democrats smell opportunity, and they should.
Culture, Comics, and Contrarian Pets
Cartoonists Nick Anderson and RJ Matson took on Trump’s dreams of being the big man in Europe (Shiny things, A United Push), while Michael de Adder and Ruben Bolling looked at what MAGA means closer to home these days (Revising history, Tom the Dancing Bug).
Sex and the City Fans Deserved Better than And Just Like That
Culture columnist Meredith Blake hailed the unceremonious end of And Just Like That…, the Sex and the City reboot that could have been something but…wasn’t. "For fans of Sex and the City, who remained loyal to the franchise through two movies of rapidly diminishing quality and 33 unhinged episodes of And Just Like That, the news came as a relief. Finally, the show will be put out of its misery. But it’s also devastating."
The Best Ever Sourdough Discard Crackers
Emily Beyda is reclaiming sourdough bread from the trad wives! Back in the 1960s and 1970s, sourdough was popularized by the liberal counterculture who rejected the processed, space-age convenience foods of the time. Now, it seems as though the conservative movement associates baking from scratch with the family and authenticity. But this recipe rejects that and instead offers a recipe that only takes a few minutes of hands-on labor.
This week’s featured pet comes to us from Contrarian Contributor Shalise Manza Young. Coco the 9 ½ year-old Rottweiler loves to munch on strawberries and cheese, but has the unfortunate habit of getting sprayed by skunks.
There you have it my dear Contrarians– another week of in-depth coverage and powerful action that your paid subscriptions make possible.
I'll be back from my travels on Monday and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on Coffee with the Contrarians at 9:15 AM ET on Substack Live. Until then, have a great weekend. Warmly, Norm
Every week gets nuttier than the last. How low can they go …..
So will the raid on Bolton's house alarm at least some of the Trump administration's right-wing non-MAGA backers? Will they realize that targeting a high-profile white guy means they might be vulnerable? Watch this and other spaces to find out . . .