Trump DOJ Orders Disturbing Reshuffling on Elections

Donald Trump has completely gutted the Department of Justice section charged with securing elections, The Guardian reported Monday.

In January, there were seven top career managers overseeing the voting section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which is charged with enforcing federal laws protecting voter registration. As of this week, all of them are gone.

Last week, five of them were reassigned to the complaint adjudication office, which handles employee complaints, alongside Tamar Hagler, who had served as the chief of the voting section office, and another career attorney. Of the two remaining managers, one was reassigned to an antisemitism task force, and the other retired.

These removals are part of a wider reshuffling in the Justice Department, as experienced career officials are reassigned to low-level duties, shifted toward the priorities of the Trump administration, or elect to take buyouts.

Trump appointees at the DOJ also instructed career employees in the voting section to dismiss all remaining active cases, but did not provide a rationale for their dismissal and did not meet with the attorneys. The section’s final active case was dismissed last Monday.

“This is what you do when you don’t really know what the section does and just want to create chaos in the simplest way possible that doesn’t involve you reading anything,” one former voting section attorney told The Guardian. “It is extremely clear that the intent is to get absolutely nothing done. And the effect will be that absolutely nothing gets done.”

The moves come just weeks after Harmeet Dhillon was confirmed to lead the civil rights division. A staunch Trump ally, Dhillon defended several election deniers in court and was widely expected to go after civil rights and diversity achievements.

Trump’s demolition of the DOJ’s voting section represents a victory for election deniers and far-right groups.

Cleta Mitchell, a far-right activist with the ear of the president, called for “every lawyer in the Voting Section” to be “terminated” in a post on X after Trump was elected in November.

“They are not supportive of Pres Trump or MAGA. There has to be a reckoning. These are leftwing activists who have come from and should return to their leftwing organizations,” she wrote.

The American Accountability Foundation, a dark-money witch-hunting cadre, sent a letter to then–attorney general nominee Pam Bondi in December specifically asking her to gut the DOJ’s voting section.

“These people are woke radical leftists and donors who have no place in the Department of Justice,” the group wrote in the letter signed by Thomas Jones, AAF’s president. “In order to restore the American people’s trust in election integrity and a neutral civil service, they must be fired and replaced with America-first attorneys who will execute on the agenda the American People voted for in November.”

The Trump administration’s meddling at the Department of Justice is part of a wider scheme to undermine any election he is likely to lose. A federal judge ruled Thursday to block parts of Trump’s executive order last month attempting to overhaul elections and voting processes.

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order requiring all truck drivers to speak English, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“President Trump believes that English is a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers, as they should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety officers, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station personnel, and provide and receive feedback and directions in English,” a document given to Breitbart by the Trump administration reads.

The order directs Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to “rescind and replace guidance to strengthen inspection procedures for compliance with English proficiency requirements.”

“To promote unity, cultivate a shared American culture for all citizens, ensure consistency in government operations, and create a pathway to civic engagement, it is in America’s best interest for the Federal Government to designate one—and only one—official language,” the order continues. “Establishing English as the official language will not only streamline communication but also reinforce shared national values, and create a more cohesive and efficient society.”

Trump is expected to sign the order at 5 p.m. on Monday.

This comes days after Oklahoma advanced and Arkansas passed similar acts targeting non-English speaking drivers. This act, a clear shot at immigrant truck workers inspired by a MAGA conspiracy theory about an influx of foreign truck drivers, could very well have adverse effects on an industry that is the lifeblood of the country’s domestic shipping industry.

Trump supporters are freaking out after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called for mass mobilization to resist Donald Trump.

Pritzker told guests at a New Hampshire dinner full of Democratic activists, officials, and donors on Sunday, “It’s time to fight everywhere and all at once.”

“Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,” the Democratic governor said, drawing applause and even standing ovations from those in attendance. 

This did not sit well in Trumpworld. The president’s supporters immediately started clutching their pearls and acting as if Pritzker called for mass anarchy. Tech oligarch and fascism enthusiast Elon Musk called the remarks “crazy” on his X account, reposting video from the “End Wokeness” account, which is likely run by right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec.

Fellow MAGA influencer Benny Johnson accused Pritzker of inciting violence.  

Douglass Mackey, who went to prison for interfering in the 2016 election, went even further, claiming that Pritzker was “essentially calling for civil war against MAGA.”

Catturd, a well-known MAGA online troll whose real name is Phillip Buchanan, called Pritzker “scum.” 

This public freakout over a simple call to activism shows how the right is frightened of even the smallest bit of protest and seeks to criminalize any dissenting speech. MAGA personalities, such as Kari Lake, regularly call for and celebrate political violence, especially when a court case or election doesn’t go their way (and even when it does).  Even Republicans have admitted they’re terrified of the MAGA base’s threats of violence.

Pritzker’s words are much tamer than what conservatives say on a regular basis and are what Democratic voters are looking to hear from their leaders. It seems that the real conservative freakout might be fear over a coming wave of opposition in this country that could result in a loss of power and influence. 

On Canada’s Election Day, the leader of the United States urged the nation’s neighbors to vote for an especially odd third option: choosing Donald J. Trump as their leader.

“Good luck to the Great people of Canada. Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st State of the United States of America,” Trump posted on Truth Social Monday.

“No more artificially drawn line from many years ago,” he continued, apparently referring to borders—an issue that he used in three elections to divide Americans while scapegoating immigration as the root cause of America’s social disorder. “Look how beautiful this land mass would be. Free access with NO BORDER. ALL POSITIVES WITH NO NEGATIVES. IT WAS MEANT TO BE!”

“America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past. It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!” he added.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Mexico’s and Canada’s trade deficits with the United States are “subsidies,” rather than indicators that America’s neighbors are purchasing more of its goods than they were selling in return. In 2023, that differential—or deficit—was nearly $41 billion with Canada and $162 billion with Mexico, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The president has also vastly overinflated the reality of the deficits, wrongly asserting that the U.S. is “subsidizing” its neighbors to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars each. The obvious solution to that problem, per Trump, is to take Canada and its independence, folding it into his increasingly centralized government.

But if Canada did enter the United States (hypothetically), it likely would not bode well for Trump’s ongoing quest for power. An analysis by legal experts who spoke with The Washington Post found that the introduction of Canada into the U.S. government would be a “nightmare” for Trump, adding an additional 53 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives—the vast majority of which would identify as Democrats.

But the likelihood that Canada would allow itself to be annexed as an afterthought to U.S. dominance is practically zilch. Earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that his country’s cozy relationship with the U.S. had come to an end, and that they would wean themselves off American products and services “at speeds we haven’t seen in generations.”

“Our old relationship of steadily deepening integration with the United States is over,” Carney said, shortly after replacing former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Canada’s leader. “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect, and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over.”

Carney is facing off against conservative lawmaker Pierre Poilievre, who appears to have modeled himself on Trump, for the prime minister’s office.

Republican Representative Mike Lawler wanted to impose order during his town hall Sunday, but no amount of rule-setting could have spared him from the fury of his constituents.

The New York Republican displayed a list of guidelines outside Clarkstown South High School in West Nyack, New York, where he was hosting his first town hall of the year.

The list required attendees to provide proof of residency in New York’s 17th district, prohibited “shouting, screaming, yelling or standing,” and encouraged them to “be respectful of one another, of staff, and of the congressman.”

But in the end, Lawler still faced tough criticism over his deference to President Donald Trump—often in the form of shouting and insults.

“What are you doing to stand in opposition to this administration? And what specifically are you doing that warrants the label ‘moderate?’” asked one constituent, a video on X showed, as the crowd of roughly 700 people erupted into cheers.

“My record speaks for itself—” Lawler began, sending the audience into raucous laughter and jeers. As Lawler continued to limply defend his supposedly moderate record—ProPublica has found that he voted in line with MAGA Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene 81 percent of the time—his constituents refused to quiet their anger.

“Folks, if you want me to answer the questions, let the question be asked, and then listen to the answer,” Lawler said. “If you’re just going to yell back and forth, the time is gonna run pretty quick.”

Lawler told his constituents who had expressed concern about Trump’s escalating trade war and “reciprocal tariff” policy that the president was simply responding to an “affordability crisis.”

“What caused record inflation? Five trillion dollars in new spending in the first two years of the Biden administration is what gave us record inflation,” Lawler said, drowned out by the sounds of booing from the crowd.

Constituents also expressed anger about the president’s inhumane deportations and his attacks on U.S. universities and colleges, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s mounting scandals, and concerns that Republicans were planning to make major cuts to Social Security and Medicaid.

“We’re not cutting Social Security or Medicaid. That is a lie—period!” Lawler insisted, and promised not to support efforts to strip benefits from eligible recipients. But the Republican Party has other plans to drastically shrink the federal match rate for the ACA expansion and shift more financial responsibility to states, and make it easier to gut the SSA.

While the audience was rowdy, they also appeared united. At one point, as Lawler explained that Trump’s tariffs were a response to higher tariffs from other countries and things such as European “price controls” on prescription medications, the audience began speaking in unison.

“Blah, blah, blah,” they chanted, according to a video posted on X.

Lawler was reelected to his seat in November with a whopping 57 percent of the vote. Voters in his district supported the moderate Republican over Democrat Mondaire Jones, but backed Kamala Harris rather than Trump.