Today in Politics, Bulletin 112. 4/14/25

… Trump told Salvadorian autocrat Bukele that he wants him to build more of his hard-labor torture prisons in El Salvador so he can send American citizens there next. Trump was speaking quietly and privately to Bukele in the Oval Office away from reporters during that conversation, but was captured on a hot mic from the Salvadorian govt’s livestream: "Home-growns are next. The home-growns. You gotta build about 5 more places. It's not big enough."

… Trump to the press: "I'd like to go a step further. I said to Pam Bondi, I don't know what the laws are, we always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways. I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country."

… Bukele also did not wear a suit, opting for a sport jacket, shirt without a collar, and no tie. Nobody in the Trump WH seemed to mind though. I guess they are only outraged when our closest allies do it.

… Since the Trump Admin claims that there is nothing they can do to get Kilmar Abrego Garcia back from the Salvadorian prison since he is outside the US, Bukele was asked if he would agree to send him back: “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the US? Of course I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous! Why do you want terrorists on the streets? I don’t have the power to return him to the US.”

… CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to AG Bondi, who was in the Oval Office for the meeting: Do you plan to ask to return the man who your admin says was mistakenly deported? Bondi: “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us.”

… Collins to Trump: You said if the Supreme Court said if someone needed to be returned, you would abide by that. Trump: “Why don’t you just say isn’t it wonderful that we’re keeping criminals out of our country? That’s why nobody watches you.”

… After the meeting, Bukele posted this. We traded our alliance with Europe for a partnership with a Central American dictator who builds concentration camps for profit. Donald Trump’s America.

… Trump then claimed the Supreme Court ruled they don’t have to bring him back: “The Supreme Court, it was 9-0?” Stephen Miller: “In our favor, against the district court ruling, saying no district court has the power to compel foreign policy.”

… Ed Whelan from Ethics and Public Policy Center: “Outrageous misrepresentation of Supreme Court ruling. The unanimous Court ruled that the district-court order ‘properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.’”

… Immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “The Trump admin is claiming that they can pay El Salvador to imprison anyone, and once the person enters Salvadoran custody, no matter how illegal it was to get them there, there is nothing any judge in the US can do to order them to bring the person back.”

… Stephen Miller was asked on Fox what happened to sending migrants to Guantanamo Bay. Q - Is Gitmo still open? MILLER: It's wide open. Q - Can you tell me how many immigrants are there? MILLER: No, I cannot. That's operationally sensitive information. But I want to be very clear. We've been living through a hoax. Nobody has been mistakenly sent to El Salvador. This was the right person sent to the right place.”

… There is nobody at Gitmo. They announced with great fanfare that was where they were going to send everyone, until they figured out it was cheaper to send them to Bukele.

… Anna Bower, Lawfare: “Trump admin officials who have conceded that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was erroneously removed to El Salvador: 1. Solicitor General John Sauer, in a filing at SCOTUS. 2. ICE official Robert Cerna, in a sworn declaration. 3. DOJ lawyer Erez Reuveni, in court filings and at a hearing.”

… Miller outside the WH: "We're going to continue to send foreign terrorist aliens to El Salvador as well as to many other countries."

… Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): “It’s incredibly weird how many people around Trump seem to get an unhealthy pleasure from other people’s pain, distress, and humiliation. It seems abnormal. It’s weird and twisted how fixated they are on a brutal Salvadoran prison, and taking photos with people behind bars, and bent-over shaved men. (Even caging children at the border, back in Trump One.) It’s weird how they derive joy from firing perfectly harmless people and walking them out of their offices on short notice between security personnel.”

… “It’s weird how they cheer plainclothes, masked fed agents snatching college kids off the street and imprisoning them for exercising their freedom of speech. It’s weird how tyrants throughout history seem to attract people who have a taste for torture and cruelty. Is there some weird way people with those tastes recognize each other, that normal people can’t see? It’s just weird that any subset of humanity gets its kicks this way.”

… Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) sent a letter to the Salvadorian Ambassador requesting a meeting with Bukele while he was in the US to discuss Kilmar Abrego Garcia: "If Kilmar is not home by midweek – I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release."

… AP said that despite winning an injunction hearing and obtaining a court order to regain press access to the WH after being banned for refusing to print ‘Gulf of America’, they still weren’t allowed in when the order took effect: "Our journalists were blocked from the Oval Office today. We expect the WH to restore AP's participation in the pool as of today, as provided in the injunction order."

… Another court order they are ignoring, which Republicans in Congress assured us Trump would never do.

… New CBS News / YouGov Poll on Trump Job Approval just hit its lowest level this term: Approve 41%, Disapprove 54%.

… People who think the economy is getting worse: Nov-42%, Dec-49%, Mar-51%, Now-53%.

… CNN’s Harry Enten: “CBS' new poll is, I'd argue, the worst poll for Trump during his entire 2nd term: Most say the economy is getting worse - a huge shift from March with most now saying Trump (not Biden) is responsible for the economy. Trump's net approval goes negative in one of his best polls.”

… Cody Balmer climbed over a security fence at night and broke into the PA governor’s mansion where he used an incendiary device to firebomb the home while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were inside. He is charged with attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault. Shapiro, his wife, and their 4 children were evacuated at 2:00 AM by state troopers.

… Shapiro: “We don’t know the person’s specific motive yet. But we do know a few truths. First: This type of violence is not OK. This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society. And I don’t give a damn if it’s coming from one particular side or the other, directed at one particular party or another or one particular person or another. It is not OK, and it has to stop. We have to be better than this.”

… AP reported that Balmer told police that he planned to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he found him. Police report: “Balmer admitted to harboring hatred towards Gov. Shapiro.”

… After pontificating on Air Force One at length about the Masters golf tournament, Trump was asked about the attack on Shapiro 20 hours after it happened: “I haven’t heard about it. I’ll look into it.”

… He was then asked about it again later today during his meeting with Bukele: "The attacker was not a fan of Trump I understand. Just from what I read and what I've been told. Probably just a whack job."

… What a surprise that Trump made this about himself.

… MI Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was asked at an event today about covering her face when Trump brought her into the Oval Office as he was signing orders for DOJ to investigate people: "I don’t want my picture taken, that’s all it was. I kind of wished I hadn’t put my folder up in front of my face, but whatever. You know I was there. I just wrote a book about learning to laugh at yourself, so I’m pretty good at it. We all have our moments.”

… NY Mag on Warner Brothers, which owns CNN: “WB confirmed that a company rep recently reached out to the Trump orbit seeking advice about how the company might advantageously interact with the WH and improve its Trump-age odor. The reported message was to look at the example of Amazon and Jeff Bezos paying Melania Trump $40 million to participate in a documentary about herself. Don Jr. might like a hunting and fishing show on the Discovery Channel, they were told, and that CNN could have more pro-Trump voices.”

At the end of today’s Bulletin is a lengthy quote from the producer of the The Apprentice about Bill Maher’s recent meeting with Trump. He gave what I thought was a very insightful analysis about how Trump manipulates people in these meetings based on things he observed behind the scenes on the show.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can read it here.

… WSJ reports that Trump’s personal attorney Boris Epshteyn has been the one shaking down law firms that Trump targeted with executive orders. So far he has