Nearly a week ago, Donald Trump declared a “crime emergency” in Washington, D.C. But just like Trump’s other bogus emergencies (remember the nonexistent invasion from Venezuela?), that's a lie. Crime in D.C. is sharply down.
And like those other cases, this official fabrication comes with terrible consequences. Trump has over the past days used this latest falsehood to attempt to impose authoritarian control over the District, its people and its streets, deploying troops and federal law enforcement and trying to take over the local police.
But today there’s good news, and you Contrarians helped. Friday D.C. pushed back in court and won, ousting the Trump-installed purported head of the police. Thanks to your paid subscriptions funding pro-democracy legal work, my legal colleagues and I were able to rally over 20 constitutional conservatives–senior officials from every GOP administration from Nixon to Trump 45–to announce legal and public support. Since we are owned by no one, all profits from your subscriptions support pro-democracy efforts like this.
Of course, criminal violence is a concern in D.C. It is in most metropolises of the United States, thanks in part to this Roberts Court dismantling of gun-protection laws. But in D.C. murders and carjackings have–to the contrary of Trump’s rationale–been falling steadily. Indeed, that's something the president himself bragged about not long ago. So there is no basis for his claiming that rampant, surging violence justified sending in the National Guard, FBI, and even taking control of our city’s police.
The Home Rule Act gives the federal government narrow and temporary powers in extraordinary situations. It does not provide a blank check to bulldoze the District’s right to self-govern. For example, appointing the DEA head as ‘emergency police commissioner’ with full command over MPD was a brazen overreach–one that directly counters the principles of democratic accountability and local autonomy enshrined in law. As federal Judge Ana Reyes thankfully recognized from the bench yesterday, that appointment is fundamentally wrong and plainly unlawful. She threatened to enjoin it from happening and the Trump regime backed down.
Kudos to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and A.G. Brian Schwalb for fighting back. And thank you Contrarians for supporting their and our efforts to restore D.C.’s self-governance.
But the fight isn't over. Far from it–much more is needed. Proceedings will be continuing before the judge to push back further on Trump and we will be filing briefs and fighting for your values, Contrarians (with our wonderful legal team for this case including those over 20 constitutional conservatives, the Democracy Defenders Fund and Lowell & Associates). With your help, we are prepared to take any and all legal action necessary to fight authoritarianism.
I couldn’t agree more with D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s statement that “No emergency exists in D.C. that the president did not create himself.” So this latest bogus emergency hardly comes as a surprise. As Tom Joscelyn and I explained this week, this maneuver from the authoritarian playbook has been run again and again by Trump.
Here’s how it goes: he invents a crisis, defies our constitution and the actual facts, labels it an emergency, maligns as many disenfranchised and vulnerable people as possible, pretends to solve the nonexistent crisis, and above all else uses the whole mess as an opportunity to seize unwarranted power. This is why, since starting his second term, Trump has declared 11 “national emergencies,” each of them built on distortions, corruption, and MAGA mythology.
Let’s revisit a few, so that we’re all equipped to recognize what the president is doing when he reaches for his Sharpie to label something an emergency (keep in mind, dear Contrarians, what he does to organizations that were created to handle legitimate disasters):
On Day One (his aspiring-dictator day), he made it rain with abrupt declarations of crises that did not exist, as an attempt to sow fear. He announced a “border emergency” despite record-low crossings and record-high deportations; a “criminal organizations emergency” blaming Venezuelan gangs for an “invasion” that our own U.S. intelligence said didn’t exist; and a “national energy emergency,” despite record oil and gas output and a stable power grid.
Then came an “economic emergency,” targeting supposed unfair trade practices—including from Heard Island and McDonald Islands, barren Antarctic rocks home only to penguins. Either Trump has been consuming too many old Batman cartoons–or the tariffs were based on bad math that inflated rates and bypassed Congress’s constitutional role (unfortunately it was the latter).
Most recently, he declared a “Brazil emergency,” siding with Jair Bolsonaro and smearing Brazil’s democratic government as lawless for prosecuting a fellow aspiring autocrat who shares Trump’s propensity for dodging accountability.
These examples underscore an unmistakable pattern: Donald Trump cries “emergency” when the facts are otherwise, then uses the false alarm to grab power, instill domestic terror, crush oversight, and advance his corrupt agenda. Whether it’s crime, immigration, energy, the economy, or mislaying blame for rising costs on an island of innocent penguins, the goal is the same—replace truth with fearful uncertainty, and democracy with one-man rule.
Believe the data, not the declaration. In Trump’s hands, “emergency” means power grab. This is the autocratic playbook.
But that is not the document that defines us as Americans. The Constitution does. Which is why Contrarians coast to coast are pushing back on Trump’s illegalities. Peacefully protesting. Defending those whose livelihoods Trump seeks to dismantle. Fighting back (and winning) in the court of law. As evidenced below in this week's round up of our work, here at The Contrarian we not only refuse to be fooled by his amateur tactics, we investigate and amplify (and throw in a dash of ridicule) every day. We do that to make sure that the brightest, most authentic experts available are keeping the court of public opinion informed, engaged, and entertained. See for yourself!
The DC Occupation
Trump's offensive, disrespectful, dangerous dictatorial move
Legal analyst Glenn Kirschner took stock of Trump’s military occupation of D.C.: a “clear, flagrant, and inarguable violation of D.C. law,” by which a convicted felon and would-be dictator now commands the very police force he helped endanger on Jan. 6.
Don't be fooled: Trump's D.C. takeover is about race
Shalise Manza-Young wrote a searing indictment of the racist underpinnings of Trump’s D.C. occupation—and how this may be the first of several majority-Black cities he plans to occupy. “Black people have been Trump’s target for his entire adult life. This is a man whose first appearance in the New York Times was for denying apartments to Black applicants. But his racial animus makes him very much a product of the country he was born in; the historical rule, not an exception.”
President Trump said violent crime in big cities was 'out of control'
Jeff Nesbit fact-checked Trump’s fear-mongering D.C. crime claims, citing a new FBI report on 2024 data that shows significant declines in violent crime in big cities nationwide, and explained how perception gaps still drive policy. “A country that is getting safer from violent crime but simultaneously more dangerous for the officers sworn to protect it requires sober analysis, not political slogans.”
Dark Money and Democratic Erosion
Political corruption degrades democracy: Michael Beckel on dark money & graft in politics
Election finance expert Michael Beckel joined Jen to discuss the poisonous legacy of Citizens United—the 15-year-old landmark Supreme Court case that opened the floodgates for obscene amounts of wealth to enter into political campaigns—and how Trump has taken advantage of this system to erode public trust, and undermine anti-corruption safeguards. “This administration feels like a powder keg of corruption scandals waiting to explode.”
Trump's economics are intellectually inconsistent: Aya Ibrahim explains
Economist Aya Ibrahim joined Jen to examine Trump’s travesty of an economic plan, the dollar’s position as the global reserve currency, and the need to invest in green energy before it’s too late. “Trust is very hard to earn, and it is very easily lost.”
Journalist and author Osita Nwanevu joined Abraham Kenmore in conversation about Nwanevu’s new book, The Right of the People, which analyzes how economic power shapes political power and challenges Americans to imagine democracy beyond the limits the Founders built in. “It's important for us to understand these things…to have an explanation of why it's been so hard to govern in ways we want to, but also to give ourselves permission to imagine something better.”
Institutions Under Attack
Bold action is needed to protect judges and the rule of law
In the wake of judges across the country reporting death threats, swatting, and doxxing after handing down rulings against Trump, Austin Sarat and Steve Kramer wrote on the tide of radical extremists empowered by Trump’s own attacks on the judiciary. “Threats against judges are nothing new. But they are fast becoming the norm rather than the exception.”
How to burn a spy without saying a name
Brian O’Neill wrote on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s seeming mission to put the very mission of her department—not to mention the lives of individual officers—in critical danger, via declassification moves that aren’t just reckless but strategically negligent. “Sometimes, the most dangerous betrayal is the one that looks harmless—until the silence that follows becomes permanent.”
Voting rights are under attack– with Rick Hasen & Colin Allred
On The Contrarian Pod this week election law expert Richard Hasen joined Jen Rubin to discuss the Supreme Court decisions that have chipped away at voting rights, and former Representative and current Texas U.S. Senate candidate Colin Allred came on to share how the state is fighting back.
The Human Cost
Jen pulled no punches on the unfolding human rights abomination that is DHS’s ICE-led war on immigrants. “The disgusting conditions detainees face when inside detention centers should appall Americans… Reports of deaths, unsanitary conditions, rotted and insufficient food, and overcrowding put us in the company of dictatorial regimes that consistently abuse human rights.”
The numbers add up, so why pull out?
Roberto Valadéz, former director of communications and special initiatives for the United Nations Ambassador for Global Health, wrote on how Trump’s reckless dismantling of PEPFAR—a bipartisan initiative that has saved 26 million lives and strengthened economies worldwide—is a threat to global health and human life.
Setting fire to women's health
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf covered The Trump administration’s plans to burn $9.7M in U.S.-funded birth control, destroying supplies meant for women in refugee camps and war zones. "Beyond the outrageous fiscal and material waste, the harms are equally massive."
The Resistance: Under Fire and (Still) Fired Up
Muriel Bowser, Letitia James, and the hazards of being a Black woman in power
D.C.’s mayor and New York’s AG are under scrutiny, and we all know why. Trump has a pattern when it comes to powerful Black women. Carron J. Phillips explained how Muriel Bowser, Tish James, and other political leaders have found themselves in his crosshairs.
When Ms. Rachel Talks, Parents Listen
Culture columnist Meredith Blake wrote on the unexpected rise of YouTube star Ms. Rachel, beloved for her preschooler-entrancing videos, as a bold voice in the conversation about the suffering of children in Gaza.
Woody Guthrie used songs to sort out his feelings and ideas, and to build connection
Music journalist and author Alan Light explored a new collection of Woody Guthrie's music and lyrics, which opens a raw, revealing window into the artist and activist’s storytelling. "[Guthrie] set out to tell stories he thought were important, to resist oppression and greed, to use songs as a way to sort out his feelings and ideas, and to build connection."
The Contrarian covers the Democracy Movement
This week we saw crowds gather in D.C. to let the National Guard know our capital wants freedom, not fascism. We also saw town halls (happily) go off the rails; ICE protests in Ohio and Arizona; Alaska preparing for Trump’s summit with Putin; Britain giving the Vance family the welcome they deserve; and much more. Get help organizing from Indivisible, find protests in your area at mobilize.us, and send us your protest photos at submit@contrariannews.org.
Cartoons, Pets, and Pasta Salad
Cartoonists Michael de Adder, Nick Anderson, and Ruben Bolling took on Trump’s latest authoritarian gambits without losing sight of a key facet of his callous, hypocritical policy-making: stupidity. Getting tough; Don't tread on me; Tom the Dancing Bug.
This week’s featured pet is Dodger. (I swear, as a Dodgers fan I recused myself from the selection!) He's a nine-month old Tabby cat. Dodger loves to fetch, regularly practices house-fly ninja techniques, and is currently training for the USA Parkour Freestyle Finals 2026 Kitty Division.
Marissa Rothkopf doesn’t just bake! This week, she shared one of her favorite summer food memories with us through her BLT pasta salad recipe. Although best served after a morning in the pool when one’s bathing suit is still damp, this refreshing summer meal is delicious any time.
That’s all for this week, friends. In the span of time it took to write my roundup, Trump suffered two more major losses. He failed again at reaching a conclusion to the war in Ukraine with its instigator Putin–making their Alaska summit precisely the PR pageant the Russian president was seeking. And California clapped back against the Trump-driven Texas gerrymander, marking a major success for the Texas Democratic state legislators who broke quorum to call national attention to the situation. They can head back to their state with victory in hand.
We will talk about all that and more on Coffee with the Contrarians Monday at 9:15. I'll be on vacation this week but Jen will have great guests with her to dissect the continuing pushback on Trump's authoritarianism and all the news.
Warmly, Norm
H. L. Mencken understood Don the Con's game around 100 years ago when he said:
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.
Norm, your dashes of ridicule are so welcome! Those poor innocent penguins. 🐧 “Whether it’s crime, immigration, energy, the economy, or mislaying blame for rising costs on an island of innocent penguins, the goal is the same—replace truth with fearful uncertainty, and democracy with one-man rule.”
Thanks for your work and giving us the deeper understanding of what’s happening. You, Jen and the rest of the crew are priceless. Honestly, there’s so many superlative words to describe you, I picked priceless out of the hat of many.