Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
I like “funded by Mr. Trump” as if either national guard is paid for by Trump or Trump has ever used his own money for anything.
Political scientist at Stanford University studying law, courts, policing, public safety. www.tomclarkphd.com Go birds.
1,010 followers 145 following 472 posts
view profile on Bluesky Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
I like “funded by Mr. Trump” as if either national guard is paid for by Trump or Trump has ever used his own money for anything.
Jonathan Cohn (@jonathancohn.bsky.social) reposted
Perfect encapsulation of the Trump administration: The guy suing Harvard for alleged antisemitism is a straight-up Hitler-admiring Nazi. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/02/m...
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) reposted
HUGE: "Nevertheless, at Defendants’ orders and contrary to Congress’s explicit instruction, federal troops executed the laws. ... In short, Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act." Working link here: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Keith E. Whittington (@kewhittington.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
I’d say the appropriate reaction in a constitutional democracy is to keep someone with that attitude the hell away from the White House, but here we are
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
This seems like a mildly more appropriate way to cover the story.
Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) reposted
As a friend recently put it: the venn diagram of people who assured us the gun violence was worth it because we need the guns to protect ourselves against a tyrannical federal government and the people cheering on Trump as he deploys the military to take over American cities is a circle
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Again, a judge saying that the government is lying. Once more, we see the core norms on which American rule of law rests have completely broken down. The judicial system can’t work this way, given its current set-up.
Mark Copelovitch (@mcopelov.bsky.social) reposted
Don’t print lies in the newspapers. Don’t keep platforming the lying liars to performatively lie on your teevee shows. End the interviews immediately if you’ve messed up by inviting them anyway & they once again performatively lie in public. What is journalism, anyway?
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Blatantly illegal actions by the administration simply in the name of trying to be cruel to children. We still have a few judges willing to say no.
Joshua J. Friedman (@joshuajfriedman.com) reposted
I really hope this becomes the black eye it deserves to be www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Wireless Enthusiast (@chrispps.bsky.social) reposted
"It’s not merely rule by the worst but an active assault on virtue wherever it exists. Trump and MAGA have turned the country over to the cruelest, most rapacious, and least honorable among us and directed the force of the state against firefighters, aid workers, civil servants, and children."
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social) reply parent
#sarcasm
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
I don’t understand what they are so upset about. The law does not apply to Trump and the thugs like Noem who do his bidding. So what if they signed an agreement and then violated it?
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Get ready for a shadow docket decision from SCOTUS.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
The government is so broken that people who have the expertise necessary to fix it are declaring the whole thing a lost cause.
Ryan Enos (@ryanenos.bsky.social) reposted
When the executive ignores laws they find inconvenient, it is called a dictatorship.
The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) reposted
Don’t look away
Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath.bsky.social) reposted
Jim O’Neill is a tech investor, former CEO of the Thiel Foundation, and co-founder with Peter Thiel of the Thiel fellowship. He has no direct medical education or experience. It’s hard to get away from the feeling that they really are trying to kill us.
Jonathan Ladd (@jonmladd.bsky.social) reposted
This, and all the Jan 6 pardons, are sending a signal to those who might participate in future coup attempts: we will have your back.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
I have to believe that many Americans would get it...if only this image were plastered across the media.
Tom Pepinsky (@tompepinsky.com) reposted
This is absolutely catastrophic for U.S. higher education, and for U.S. global leadership. Just the latest in a series of senseless acts of self-sabotage by a malevolent administration bent on making the United States weak and poor.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Haha. Orange safety vests over camo.
Eric Columbus (@ericcolumbus.bsky.social) reposted
In 1960, federal law enforcement *helped* a child get to school.
Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) reposted
We’re being governed by monsters. Just absolute monsters.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Not only is he proposing slavery, but he is claiming he is "far from the Trump Administration", which is obviously a lie and sort of gives away the game.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
My favorite part of all of this is the fanatical obsession with the 250th anniversary. They really are embodying the revolution, aren’t they?
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
“Mr. President, I invite you to see your big, beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor, because you are really the transformational president of the American worker,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Trump. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Heather Walter-McCabe (@profwaltermac.bsky.social) reposted
An excellent analysis and read.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
The DOJ has become an extremely inefficient institution that focuses a large portion of its energy trying to advance a political agenda (including intimidating the leader's opponents) rather than pursuing justice without fear or favor.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
This is the thing. John Robert’s may say that Trump is above the law. But is he ready to say that every person Trump sends to abuse people throughout America is, too?
Matthew Stiegler (@matthewstiegler.bsky.social) reposted
This. Exactly this. This is sensible. This is an appropriate sense of urgency. This is defending democracy. This is defending the rule of law. This is how prosecutors should be responding everywhere.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
John Roberts and his colleagues have said repeatedly, clearly, and unequivocally that the courts cannot impose limits on Donald Trump. Why would he think anything other than "I have the right to do anything I want to do." You have the rights courts give you, and they've given him that one.
Chatham Harrison dba TRUMP DELENDUS EST (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) reposted
The Republican Party is going to get worse before it gets even worse
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
For reference, that's basically *everybody.* Thanks, John Roberts.
Ahmed Baba (@ahmedbaba.bsky.social) reposted
This is the second day in a row he’s said this. This is an intentional normalization effort.
Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) reposted
He's literally become Don Quixote.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
One of Trump’s tactics in his bid to take over all of the government has been to *sue judges*. The DOJ filed a lawsuit against every federal judge in Maryland for blocking his deportations. A judge has tossed the case. But it’s not over. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
James Fallows (@jfallows.bsky.social) reposted
Worthwhile thread by @donmoyn.bsky.social He's right that this is a terrible, credulous, context-free piece in @washingtonpost.com. Not mainly fault of reporter, who is a Brit breaking-news writer based in London. OTOH WaPo has been doing strong reports about Occupied DC.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Trump cannot fire Lisa Cook. But, he's trying to, and I expect the compliant Supreme Court will let him do it, effectively demolishing the US's position as a stable regime for investment. Trump may watch his bonds drop in value and freak out, but the damage is done. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...
Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) reposted
They’re making fun of the media referring to Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a Maryland man as they threaten to send him to Uganda, a country where he’s never lived. They’re simply fucking vile.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
In authoritarian America, the state party gets to rig things to make sure it stays in power at the behest of the leader, but if the out-of-power party tries anything, they get drug into court. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Victor Ray (@victorerikray.bsky.social) reposted
small government don't-tread-on-me conservatism at work
AkivaMCohen (@akivamcohen.bsky.social) reposted
Remember this is the same DOJ that said Judge Boasberg's oral order was meaningless and didn't need to be followed
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
This is what we call state appropriation and is a hallmark of the absence of the rule of law. When the state simply takes away part of a company, what it says is that there are no more property rights, period. (Remember this when the MAGA crowd screams about socialism and communism.)
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Want to be that Ensign is telling the truth? If you want to convince a judge that it is a slow process to deport people, maybe you should have a history of whisking them away to torture camps *as a judge its issuing the order against it*
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
We have reached the point in the US where the rule of law has completely broken down. In this extremely high-profile hearing a federal judge is starting with the premise that the US government is not acting in good faith. That is, she *presumes* the government is being deceptive and dishonest.
Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) reposted
People responding to this with "Not worth speculating about" are driving me a little insane, because I lived through the last year of the Biden presidency and read thousands of people speculating he maybe had dementia, Parkinson's, was a vegetable, including in the most elite newsrooms in the US
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
I’m pretty sure democracy is done.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Presidents don’t give money to states. Congress appropriates funds, and the executive branch administers the process.
Chris Kluwe (@chriswarcraft.bsky.social) reposted
Hakeem Jeffries, standing in front of a wall: “These so-called ‘military death squads’ and ‘Trump Tribunals’ are just a distraction from
Mark Copelovitch (@mcopelov.bsky.social) reposted
Today in “neither our media nor our political system is designed to deal with a far right authoritarian party”
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social) reply parent
We will never know how many people have been kidnapped by masked men pretending to be government gestapo agents. Part of the reason why we shouldn’t allow secret police is because no one knows what to make of a masked man taking a brown person off the street.
Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) reposted
Honestly surprised we're not seeing more incidents like this -- both the masked men impersonating cops and the intended victim shooting masked men.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
This is a fantastic read. It highlights exactly how the administration is using imagery to advance fascism. And I also makes clear their absurd lack of respect for law and self-awareness.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
There’s nothing disturbing about this at all.
Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) reposted
“Papers, please”
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
When fascism took shape in the 20th century, it might have made sense for the media to not have recognized the significance of any given tactic or piece of the puzzle. There’s no excuse today, when we can see the roadmap.
Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) reposted
You can tell yourself we are not living under a personalist authoritarian regime or you can listen to the spokesperson for that regime
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
It’s important to understand that the administration is undermining state capacity at every turn. Conservative or liberal, you’re going to find that some core function of society you rely on comes to a screeching halt as the US collapses under the weight of Trump.
darth™️ (@darthbluesky.bsky.social) reposted
well she did not consider pedophilia inappropriate so what does this even mean
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
When a member of the government reports facts that contradict Chairman Trump, they get removed from their post and sent to Siberia. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/u...
Schrödinger's President (@darinself.com) reposted
No one is more anti-American than these guys. They hate their fellow citizens.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
What determines whether you have to apologize or pay a billion-dollar shakedown?
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
When you choose a serial grifter to lead the country, your reputation as a reliable investment dissolves.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Imagine what the ghost of Richard Nixon is thinking right now. apple.news/A0HbguEaORZ2...
Brendan Nyhan (@brendannyhan.bsky.social) reposted
The President standing with the military doing domestic law enforcement in an area dominated by his political opponents. Could not be more antithetical to the founders' intent.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
For those of you who don’t read a lot of court opinions, this bit is basically as direct a critique on the politicized conservatives on the court as you’re ever going to see. Jackson lays it out there. The majority on the Court is lawless and has one guiding principle: Trump is above the law.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
The Supreme Court seems to be accepting lots of arguments by the Trump Administration that claim courts should not be in the business of deciding whether Administration actions are illegal. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Matt Ortega (@mattortega.com) reposted
ICE's budget increased so much that they are now just blowing $2.4 million for 25 Chevy Tahoes and custom car wraps. They zeroed out life-saving foreign aid that will ultimately kill 14 million people under the guise of "waste, fraud, and abuse."
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Suppose you disagree that the US is building concentration camps. Can we at least agree they have re-opened our 80-year-old concentration camps?
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
In the any normal democracy with the rule of law, you don’t need identification to walk outside in public. But in Trump’s delusional fascist “show me your papers” state, you need multiple forms of ID.
Mina Kimes (@minakimes.bsky.social) reposted
They say phones only make us miserable but I just got this news alert and laughed for a solid minute so who is to say
NY Times Pitchbot (@nytpitchbot.bsky.social) reposted
Hitler sidesteps judicial norms with mass incarceration program.
Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) reposted
The bluntest evidence — so far — that the Trump administration’s attack on DC has nothing to do with addressing the alleged crime that purportedly is the reason for trampling on DC home rule.
Connor Ewing (@cmewing.bsky.social) reposted
Hence the push for new congressional maps in TX, IN, FL, OH, and MO.
David Ryan Miller (@davidryanmiller.com) reposted
In our name, with our tax dollars. A key component of the US' platform in the latter half of the Cold War was human rights (albeit imperfectly). We would have sanctioned other countries for less than this.
Mark Copelovitch (@mcopelov.bsky.social) reposted
This entire fascist story remains completely absent from the home pages and front pages of our major media outlets 🤷♂️
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Part of the administration’s “problem” is that they always say out loud the things that they shouldn’t. The problem with the judiciary is that too often judges are willing to pretend they didn’t hear it.
Brendan Nyhan (@brendannyhan.bsky.social) reposted
Non-US publications very clear on what's happening
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
"The difference between Susan Collins and Ted Cruz is at least Ted Cruz is honest about selling us out." Ouch.
Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt.bsky.social) reposted
Trump claims his militarized takeover of DC has made people feel safer to go out to restaurants, but in fact restaurants in DC have seen the number of diners plummet more than 25% since he sent feds into the street. @jordanonrecord.bsky.social www.wusa9.com/article/news...
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
So, minority party legislators are being held as political prisoners? I’m not sure how else to describe a situation where you do not have freedom of movement.
Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) reposted
You could write a book about this photo. Everything about it is so fucking vulgar.
southpaw (@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) reposted
The whole confederacy is getting in on it.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
The gilded Oval Office is a really weird site.
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
The entirety of Trump's policy book collides to push up the price of food for Americans.
Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) reposted
Also, as @danahoule.bsky.social points out, one clear theme of ICE's little reign of terror is that they are EXTREMELY sensitive to murals, signs, and other displays criticizing ICE. Which means that one of the most effective ways to attack the agency is to produce those things in great numbers
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
If about 3% of the entire country’s population turning out in protest doesn’t affect war plans, then the anemic protests against fascism in our country don’t stand a chance.
Max Kennerly (@maxkennerly.bsky.social) reposted
How is anyone supposed to reasonably believe these people are law enforcement? They're masked, anyone can buy a CBP hat and a POLICE patch, and why would a real gov't agent wear insignia suggesting they're both federal border patrol AND state/local police? They're dressed like amateur carjackers.
Brandon Friedman (@brandonfriedman.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee spent four years and hundreds of thousands of lives trying to occupy Washington, DC. MAGA accomplished it without firing a shot. South Carolina was the first state to secede. If South Carolina troops are the first in DC, let that symbolism not be lost on anyone.
Rolling Stone (@rollingstone.com) reposted
A senior administration official, as well as other officials, told Rolling Stone that it is a priority of Trump that these kinds of military deployments -- in times of relative calm -- become normalized in American political culture. More: rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Military soldiers from a southern state are heard to the capital to occupy its streets and impose “order.” (Yes, WV is southern, despite its origins.) www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
We need lawyers focused on making good arguments that only the most political-hacky judges can ignore, to expose the identities of American gestapo agents and subject them to financial damages. At a minimum, it seems a little pressure could go a long way towards calming them down.
Nicholas Slayton (@nslayton.bsky.social) reposted
'While customers sitting outside at the Logan Circle cafe munched on avocado smash and matcha pancakes, two and then an additional four masked agents beat the shit out of the man in broad daylight. This is America.' Please read this and support @marisakabas.bsky.social
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
So, Trump has left the White House by car only 50 times since January. 12 of those trips were to go golfing? www.washingtonpost.com/style/intera...
Tom Clark (@tomsclark.bsky.social)
Masked people, who refuse to identify themselves or who they work for, kidnapping people off eh street while asserting that one political ideology is dominant. That’s America now. You can’t hide from that. Where are our leaders?