Category: Election

Well, we’re finally here. The first hundred days of Trump’s authoritarian regime. What do we have?

Amidst falling stock markets and his “Day of Liberation” of tariffs, Trump’s poll numbers on just about every issue are crashing. And crashing badly.

An average of different polls on his job approval rating at 100 days has Trump at the lowest level of any other president in 70 years. That average has him at a 43% approval rating with a 54% of disapproval. Some polls, like the recent Washington Post / ABC / Ipso poll, have him down to a 39% approval raring.

Economists are predicting empty shelves in markets across the country within a couple of weeks, especially if the tariff war with China continues; some are predicting a recession by summer. On trade and tariffs, the poll averages have 39% of Americans approving and 61% disapproving.

He’s under the water on every issue.

There are 7 candidates for the OB Community Foundation Board of Directors. OB community members who want to vote should become a member of the OB Community Foundation (no-cost memberships are available); more info at https://obcommunityfoundation.org/membership. Voting will be open through April 27.

Here are the candidates and their statements (in the order sent to the Rag).

Downtown San Diego once again witnessed thousands of protestors on Saturday, April 19, demonstrating against Trump and for defending constitutional protections and due process rights.

This time around, it was called “Not On Our Watch” and organized by a citizen-led group known as 50501 San Diego, the the local branch of a nationwide movement that intends to lead 50 protests in 50 states.

The gathering fell on April 19, a date organizers explained marks a symbolic connection to the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord—the spark that ignited the American Revolutionary War in 1775.

Waterfront Park to Gaslamp District March for Constitutional Rights

San Diego invites community members to join a peaceful demonstration advocating for constitutional protections and due process rights on Saturday, April 19th, 2025.

Event Details: Assembly & Program: 10:00 AM at Waterfront Park (1600 Pacific Hwy, San Diego, CA 92101) -Featured speakers addressing constitutional concerns -Open mic for community voices -Live music performances

March: Beginning at 12:00 PM, proceeding from Waterfront Park to the Gaslamp District

Post-March Activities: Flyering and canvassing throughout the Gaslamp District to raise public awareness

By Adam Serwer / The Atlantic- RSN / April 16, 2025

Trump’s administration is only pretending to comply with the Supreme Court on the matter of a Maryland man it deported erroneously.

Between the path of outright defiance of the Supreme Court and following its order to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador’s infamous Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), the Trump administration has chosen a third way: pretending it is complying while refusing to do so.

During an on-camera Oval Office meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whom the Trump administration has paid to imprison immigrants deported from the United States it claims without evidence are gang members, President Donald Trump deferred to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said the decision was Bukele’s.

“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Bondi told reporters. “That’s not up to us. If they want to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.” Bukele, for his part, called Abrego Garcia a “terrorist,” saying to a reporter who asked if he would return him, “I hope you’re not suggesting that I smuggle a terrorist into the United States.” He added, “The question is preposterous.”

The bad faith of this exchange is obvious. Bukele has the power to free Abrego Garcia and send him back to the U.S. on an American plane without “smuggling” anyone or anything. But neither side wants that outcome, and so they are both pretending that it’s the other’s responsibility. It’s a game both sides are in on.

By Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D.

There’s a strange and sobering warning in the air this Holy Week— a convergence of sacred observance and civic unrest. Across the country, new rounds of protest are planned for Saturday, April 19. Here in San Diego, demonstrators will gather at Waterfront Park and march to the Gaslamp District to protest a wave of executive orders consolidating power in the hands of a single leader. The event is being organized by 5050california.org, under the banner: “Not on our watch—because silence is compliance.”

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday—a day marking Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem amid cries of “Hosanna!” (save us!) and the waving of palm branches under Roman rule. Historically, it was not just a parade, but a protest march that led to his execution by the occupying empire.

This Sunday, April 20, is Easter—a day when Christians celebrate Christ’s resurrection. It is also the final day of Passover, when Jews recall the liberation of an oppressed people. But April 20 is also Adolf Hitler’s birthday, still marked by white supremacist and neo-fascist groups. This troubling convergence of symbols—resurrection, liberation, fascist memory— aligns with another political calendar milestone.

By Elie Honig / New York Magazine / April 10, 2025

Donald Trump’s presidential payback tour rages on, and now it’s personal. It’s one thing to target multibillion-dollar law firms, universities, and media outlets for organizational retribution; those efforts, aimed at stifling and punishing any criticism or dissent, are reprehensible in their own right. But now Trump is going after individual private citizens, using the might of the executive branch to potentially throw his detractors in prison.

In a pair of official proclamations — rendered no less unhinged by the use of official fonts and White House letterhead — Trump identifies two targets who worked in the federal government during his first tenure and dared to speak out publicly against him.

First: Chris Krebs, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency from 2018 to 2020 and made headlines when he publicly contradicted Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. For this act of heretical truth-telling, Trump labels Krebs “a significant bad-faith actor” — whatever the hell that means — who poses grave “risks” to the American public.

And then there’s Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who publicly criticized the president in an anonymous book and various media appearances. Taylor, like Krebs, purportedly poses “risks” to the United States, is a “bad-faith actor” (though apparently not a significant one like Krebs), and “stoked dissension” with his public commentary.

By Jacob Knutson / Democracy Docket / April 10, 2025

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a major voter suppression measure that, if it became law, could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters and badly undermine U.S. democracy.

The vote count was 220 to 208, with four Democrats voting for the bill and zero Republicans opposing it. Democrats who voted for the bill were Reps. Jared Golden (Maine), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Ed Case (Hawaii).

The SAVE Act would make it more difficult for active voters — Republicans and Democrats alike — to continue participating in elections, and would erect unprecedented barriers for new voters hoping to register and participate.

The bill appears to face long odds in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to overcome an expected Democratic filibuster.

“In a bold new departure for the forces of voter suppression, MAGA’s so-called ‘SAVE’ Act will make it harder for tens of millions of eligible Americans to vote, including tens of millions of people, mostly women, who change their names after marriage,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Democracy Docket in a statement. “Every eligible voter should be able to access the ballot box, free from legislated intimidation, trickery and harassment.”

By Erwin Chemerinsky and Laurence H. Tribe / RSN – New York Times / April 9, 2025

Of all the lawless acts by the Trump administration in its first two and a half months, none are more frightening than its dumping of human beings who have not had their day in court into an infamous maximum-security prison in El Salvador — and then contending that no federal court has the authority to right these brazen wrongs.

In an astounding brief filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, the solicitor general of the United States argued that even when the government concedes that it has mistakenly deported someone to El Salvador and had him imprisoned there, the federal courts are powerless to do anything about it. The Supreme Court must immediately and emphatically reject this unwarranted claim of unlimited power to deprive people of their liberty without due process.

That would seem to be the obvious response. It was Thomas Jefferson who called the right of habeas corpus to protect against unlawful detention one of the “essential principles of our government.”

Jefferson’s concerns are underscored by the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a lawful resident of the United States, whom the federal government admits it wrongly deported to El Salvador. He has been incarcerated in El Salvador along with some 200 Venezuelan migrants deported there last month by the Trump administration, which says they were involved in criminal and gang activity.

From Voice of San Diego / April 8, 2025

Two South Bay mayors will race for the open seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre will appear on the runoff ballot July 1.

With 11,000 votes still to count, McCann, a Republican, had won 44 percent of votes. Aguirre had gotten 32 percent of votes counted.

Two other Democrats in the race, San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno and Chula Vista City Councilmember Carolina Chavez, garnered too few votes – 13 percent and 8 percent – to overcome the frontrunners’ lead. Three other lesser-known candidates split the remainder of the vote.

McCann will come up short of the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright.

by Ernie McCray

We have a president
who commits treason,
an offense that just happens to be
our country’s
most serious crime
and we haven’t called him out on it
at any time
which blows my mind
because there have been times
when engaging in trying to overthrow
the government
came with a steep price,

By Roberto Camacho / Times of San Diego / April 7, 2025

A controversy about an op-ed in The San Diego Union-Tribune by a student at UC San Diego in the wake of violent responses to pro-Palestinian protests has stirred a conversation about free speech, its limits, and who has a right to speak — and about what.

For decades, universities have held themselves out as boundary-pushers at the forefront of societal metamorphosis and have served as conservatories for challenging ideas and conversations.

However, some ideas appear to be more palatable than others.

When “Mia,” a 21-year-old anthropology major at UCSD and a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, was invited to contribute an op-ed to the Union-Tribune to share the perspectives of Jewish students in support of Palestinians, she was elated.

However, a few days later Mia’s op-ed was removed from the U-T’s website without explanation, sparking a local outcry from educators, activists, and community members.