Jackie Calmes
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jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Jackie Calmes
@jackiecalmes.bsky.social
760 followers 150 following 110 posts
National columnist, LATimes. Ex-NYT & WSJ in DC, covering White House, Congresses & campaigns. Author of "Dissent: The Radicalization of the Republican Party & Its Capture of the Court." Mom....On Threads: jkcalmes
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jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Enough with laying blame on Noem, Miller and Bovino for the feds' deadly, terroristic tactics in Minneapolis and elsewhere. This is Trump’s paramilitary. These are his advisers. These are his policies. Don't let him pass the buck this time.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Trump imagines the buck will never stop with him
As Republicans object to this lawless administration, they should keep their focus on holding the boss accountable.
www.latimes.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:00 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: All of Trump's gilt defiling the White House, his name on the Kennedy Center--those can be easily undone. The same can’t be said for the damage he's done in just a year to the US character and rule of law at home, or its alliances and reputation globally.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: It will be a long road back after Trump's reign of destruction
He has already devastated the credibility of American law enforcement and the military, not to mention our nation's standing around the world.
www.latimes.com
January 22, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Jackie Calmes
onedominoaway.bsky.social
Robert Yates, Essay No. 15, Mar 20, 1788
“The president, with his immense powers, may easily become the tyrant of America."

onedominoaway.com/broken-shack...

An Old Whig, Open Letter Oct 27, 1787
“The president of the United States… will be in reality more like a monarch than any king in Europe.”
Broken Shackles: The Rise of the Imperial Presidency (1776–2025) » One Domino Away
Broken Shackles: The Rise of the Imperial Presidency (1776–2025) The Study of Article 2 Section 3's Take Care Clause... "Faithfully"
onedominoaway.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Jackie Calmes
lisafung.bsky.social
‘It’s Americans’ bad fortune that such a man as Trump, a wannabe king, is the presider in chief for the yearlong commemorations of the rebellion that ultimately threw off a real king who’d met protesters with force and retribution.’

Via @jackiecalmes.bsky.social

www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Trump celebrates our nation's founding while imitating tyrant King George III
The Declaration of Independence faulted the king for sending 'swarms of Officers to harrass our people' and protecting the agents 'from punishment for any Murders which they should commit.' Sound fami...
www.latimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 2:23 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Trump's conflicting takes on protest in Iran and the US is especially gross in the 250th year of the Declaration of Independence. Its indictments of King George have parallels today. Like, he “sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people.”
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Trump celebrates our nation's founding while imitating tyrant King George III
The Declaration of Independence faulted the king for sending 'swarms of Officers to harrass our people' and protecting the agents 'from punishment for any Murders which they should commit.' Sound fami...
www.latimes.com
January 15, 2026 at 3:22 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Who knew that by “America First,” President Trump meant all of the Americas? With the Donroe Doctrine--Might makes right--the wannabe king turns out to be a wannabe emperor of an entire hemisphere. While exacerbating, not fixing, problems at home.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Trump's 626 overseas strikes aren't 'America First.' What's his real agenda?
The president who promised domestic solutions has instead inserted the U.S. into many other nations' conflicts, most recently Venezuela's. Why?
www.latimes.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:16 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Trump's most potent '24 campaign ad delivered a punch line with real punch: “Kamala Harris is for they/them. President Trump is for you.” In 2025, the self-aggrandizing president only lived by the first-person pronouns: me, myself and I. A review.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Trump's motto in 2025? 'Me, myself and I'
To an extent that’s shocked even critics long convinced of his sociopathic narcissism, the president has fashioned a government that’s of Trump, by Trump and for Trump.
www.latimes.com
January 1, 2026 at 3:50 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: A man told a Salvation Army bell-ringer at the grocery, “Because you said ‘Merry Christmas’ and not ‘Happy Holidays,’ I’m giving you money. America’s back!” It's a mindset Trump stokes. Such kind wishes aren't political--unless you want them to be.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: 'Happy holidays' is how we embrace the Christmas spirit of generosity
There is no 'war on Christmas,' so our season's greetings are not political statements. Unless you want them to be.
www.latimes.com
December 25, 2025 at 6:03 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: There is a Santa Claus, and light in the dark. Susie Wiles' candor on Trump 2.0 in Vanity Fair is a Christmas-Hanukkah gift. Along with Trump's sliming of Rob Reiner, voters got the clearest mirror yet to the ugliness that is Trump. Happy 2026.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Some truth leaked out of the White House
Damning candor from Trump's chief of staff, along with the president's own embarrassing rant against Rob Reiner, show the crumbling of this administration.
www.latimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:53 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Even as the Supreme Court this week signaled it will end regulatory agencies' independence, Trump's interference in the fight over Warner Bros. Discovery showed what the future holds: Presidents picking winners and losers, politics over expertise.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Signs of the regulatory apocalypse
Trump announced that he would 'be involved' in deciding which company is allowed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. The Supreme Court signaled an end to regulatory agencies' independence.
www.latimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 4:21 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: First Trump fired the lawyers, Months on, the storylines around him are tangled in a knotty mess of lawlessness, hypocrisy & war crimes: killings at sea of supposed drug-runners, retribution for critics, yet a pardon for an ex-narco-state leader.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Now it's clear why Trump got rid of the top military lawyers
People who know and enforce the law would have been inconvenient during the president's undeclared war in the Pacific and the Caribbean.
www.latimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:46 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Today family comes first, but give thanks too for an independent judiciary, for the many federal judges, including Trump picks, who've withstood harassment and death threats to hold the wannabe king and his toadying turkeys to account. Examples:
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Be thankful for the judges upholding the law
On immigration alone, more than 100 federal judges — including many Trump appointees — have ruled that the administration’s actions violated civil rights or were otherwise illegal.
www.latimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:40 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Presidents of both parties have abused the pardon power but Trump's corruption and perversion of the rule of law surpasses them, making reform a national imperative: Amend the Constitution to repeal the unchecked power or give Congress a veto.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Instead of addressing injustice, pardons now pervert justice
Across the political spectrum, Americans are disgusted with how presidents have abused the pardon power for personal and political benefit.
www.latimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:58 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: A defensive Trump has been flailing, pinballing dumb ideas--$2,000 rebates and debt payoffs with nonexistent "trillions" from tariffs, 50-year mortgages, ending Obamacare. Policy ignorance has been a defining trait, but this knee-jerk junk is nuts.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Trump's improv approach to policymaking doesn't actually make policy
On social media and in interviews, the president has been blurting out proposals that are news even to the advisors who should be vetting them first.
www.latimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: A gilded White House, Gatsbyesque parties, crypto-grift. Trump won two elections on his appeal to working class voters, but he seems utterly out of touch, enjoying his personal Golden Age as voters struggle with costs he vowed to contain. They've noticed.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Trump's tone-deaf displays are turning off voters
The president faced poetic comeuppance after his ostentatious party: a blue wave in Tuesday’s elections.
www.latimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:16 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Only next to the inept radicals and flatterers in Trump's Cabinet does Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stand out as a “normie.” But his Argentina bailout at rural America's expense is just the latest sign that he's normal only by Trump standards.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Argentina bailout shows that Trump's Cabinet has no adults in the room
To survive in this administration means to be servile. And Scott Bessent of Treasury is doing both.
www.latimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: As sickening as Trump's East Wing teardown is, it's small stuff compared to killing noncombatant civilians from nations with which the US isn't at war. Yet together the actions reflect the spectrum of his utter sense of impunity. No kings indeed.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Trump is in his Louis XIV era, and it's not a good look
The president with delusions of empire is building a new Versailles and using the military as his own personal hit squad.
www.latimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:23 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Democrats are right to demand continued healthcare subsidies before they vote to reopen the government. But the shutdown is at least as valuable for drawing attention to the de facto Trump shutdown of government that he's been executing all year.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: This is Trump's shutdown. But he's been dismantling the government all year
The government hasn’t been functional since Republicans took control of the White House, Senate and House in January.
www.latimes.com
October 16, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Jackie Calmes
thedailyshow.com
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
October 9, 2025 at 8:23 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: George Washington warned about the likes of Trump. But 200+ years later the checks and balances the founders wrote into the Constitution to guard against a wannabe king with a standing army are proving inadequate to the charge when Congress bows.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: George Washington would be spinning in his grave
The founder who built the wall between our military and politics would be appalled by Trump's power grabs. But not surprised.
www.latimes.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:16 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
America First? Trump cuts money funded by law to blue states & cities amid the govt shutdown while his Treasury extends a $20 BILLION bailout package to Argentina that's only domestic benefit is to rich US holders of Argentinian bonds.
October 3, 2025 at 8:03 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Not since the pro-slavery Taney court before the Civil War has a Supreme Court been so wrong for its moment in history as the Roberts court. Lower courts have stepped up to Trump's anticonstitutional threats, but SCOTUS trumps them. Pun intended.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Today's Supreme Court is exactly the wrong group for this moment
Not since the pro-slavery court before the Civil War has a Supreme Court been as ill-suited as the Roberts court that opens a new term on Monday.
www.latimes.com
October 2, 2025 at 2:38 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Trump lately obsesses about getting into heaven. Hint: Stop wishing that so many fellow citizens go to hell.
The disconnect between Trump's dreams of heaven and his earthly avenging was never plainer than in his hateful message at Charlie Kirk's memorial.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Charlie Kirk preached 'Love your enemies,' but Trump spews hate
At the activist's funeral, the president condemned Christian teaching: 'That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent.'
www.latimes.com
September 24, 2025 at 4:16 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Each day since the Trump-Putin summit shows that worse than nothing came from that failed bro-fest. Putin arrived to a red carpet even as Russian kept bombing Ukraine and left with license for Russians “to do whatever the hell they want,” as Trump once put it.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: What came of Trump's Putin summit? Nothing good
As the president himself put it, the Russians feel free now 'to do whatever the hell they want.'
www.latimes.com
September 18, 2025 at 2:13 PM
jackiecalmes.bsky.social
Column: Democrats’ leverage on spending bills is pointless if senators don’t use it. They were right in March not to force a shutdown but they can no longer help fund a government that's become a plaything for Trump's power lust, enrichment and retribution.
www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Column: Democrats should force a shutdown to save the government
Shutting down the government hurts Americans. Letting Trump destroy it would hurt more.
www.latimes.com
September 11, 2025 at 4:26 PM