memeorandum: How Trump's clash with the courts is brewing into an ‘all-out war’ (Zac Anderson/USA Today)

10:05 AM ET, May 25, 2025

Top Items:

Judges Weigh Taking Control of Their Own Security Amid Threats — U.S. marshals, sworn to protect federal judges, ultimately answer to President Trump, who has ramped up criticism of the judiciary

Zac Anderson / USA Today:

How Trump's clash with the courts is brewing into an ‘all-out war’ — Frustrated by judicial rulings during his second term, President Trump and allies have lashed out at the courts in a growing pressure campaign. — Arresting judges. Threatening their impeachment.

Discussion: CNN and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Ruth Marcus / New Yorker:

J. D. Vance Warns Courts to Get in Line — The Vice-President says it's time for Chief Justice John Roberts to step in and make judges behave. He's wrong. — Vice-President J. D. Vance offered some unsolicited advice to Chief Justice John Roberts the other day: the federal courts need …

Discussion: Raw Story and Daily Kos

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump Profits Like No Other President, as Outrage Is Muted … President Trump at a business round-table meeting in Abu Dhabi this month.Doug Mills/The New York Times — When Hillary Clinton was first lady, a furor erupted over reports that she had once made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures.

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:
Trump Is Immensely Vulnerable

Discussion: Raw Story

Ed White / The Detroit News:

U.S. Justice Department pardon lawyer pledges ‘hard look’ at plot to kidnap Michigan governor … “On the pardon front, we can't leave these guys behind,” Ed Martin Jr. said this week on “The Breanna Morello Show.” — “In my opinion these are victims just like January 6,” Martin said …

Jessica Priest / The Texas Tribune:

Political appointees would have more control over Texas universities' courses and hiring under bill OK'd by House — Senate Bill 37 would give more power to university regents, who are appointed by the governor, to vet and veto new curricula and administrators.

New York Times:

Why Vietnam Ignored Its Own Laws to Fast-Track a Trump Family Golf Complex — As President Trump blurs the lines between politics and business — and threatens steep tariffs on trade partners — governments feel compelled to favor Trump-related projects. — As President Trump blurs …

Washington Post:

Russian attack in Ukraine kills 12 as Zelensky condemns ‘silence of America’ — The massive missile and drone attack, one of the largest aerial bombardments of the war, casts more doubt on the U.S.-brokered peace process. — KYIV — Russia launched another massive missile …

Discussion: New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and The Hill

James Waterhouse / BBC:
Russia launches largest drone attack yet on Ukraine

Discussion: USA Today, Politico, New York Times and Bloomberg

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy / USA Today:

With $37 million and a jet, Trump's presidential library takes off, Eric Trump as pilot — A new nonprofit, Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Inc., has been established to raise funds for a future presidential library for Donald Trump. — The foundation …

Discussion: New York Times and The Post Millennial

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is a big risk for House Republicans. Many of them hope otherwise. — As the 2026 midterms loom, voters are restless and eager to penalize those in power. Every election starting with 2006, with the exception of 2012, has been a change election.

Discussion: Bloomberg and NewsMax.com

The Times:

JD Vance's Irish ancestry claim hits a genealogical dead end — DUP-commissioned report fails to find a link between Donald Trump's vice-president — a self-declared Scots-Irish — and Ireland — JD Vance takes pride in declaring himself to be a “Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart” …

Erica L. Green / New York Times:

Trump Administration Highlights: President Stresses New Era in Speech to West Point Graduates — Where Things Stand — West Point: Speaking at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Saturday, President Trump told graduating cadets they were part of a new “golden age” in the country.

Lauren Floyd / Axios:
Trump at West Point graduation lauds “Golden Age” as anti-DEI and pro-defense

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, Fox News, Twitchy, American Thinker, Raw Story, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, The Independent, The Hill, Reuters, New York Post, ABC News, Breitbart and Grabien

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

Six Months Later, Democrats Are Still Searching for the Path Forward — The party's standing is startlingly low after a defeat that felt like a cultural rejection. What comes next? — OUT OF POWER — The party's standing is startlingly low after a defeat that felt like a cultural rejection.

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

How Donald Trump Has Remade America's Political Landscape — Donald J. Trump's victory in 2024 was not an outlier. — It was the culmination of continuous gains by Republicans in much of the country each time he has run for president, a sea of red that amounts to a flashing warning sign …

Discussion: Althouse

Jeanna Smialek / New York Times:

Europe's Been Negotiating by the Book, but Trump's Tearing It Up — The Trump administration sees tariff talks as a chance to pressure a rival into concessions. E.U. officials have acted as though they were dealing with an ally. — The European Union has been following tried-and-true rules …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, NewsMax.com, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Breitbart, Fortune and Grabien

Wall Street Journal:

The Week That Derailed Joe Biden's Post-Presidency — A fight against cancer and a struggle to amass an inheritance for his family are setting up a somber final chapter — When Joe Biden left office in January, he sought to follow the template set by his predecessors for a post-presidency …

Discussion: Rolling Stone