Today in Politics, Bulletin 208. 9/16/25

… AG Pam Bondi went on Katie Miller’s podcast and echoed the authoritarian comments about prosecuting Democrats that JD Vance and Katie’s husband Stephen made yesterday: "There's free speech and then there's hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech."

… She then went on Fox and said DOJ is criminally investigating an Office Depot employee who didn’t want to print out posters of Kirk: “If you want to go and print posters with Charlie's picture for a vigil, you have to let them do that. We can prosecute you for that. We have right now our civil rights unit looking at that.”

… She then said companies are obligated to fire employees who are saying critical things about Kirk: "Employers, you have an obligation to get rid of people who are saying horrible things.”

… Even right-wingers and many Trump supporters strongly condemned her comments. Fox chief political analyst Brit Hume: “Someone needs to explain to Ms. Bondi that so-called ‘hate speech,’ repulsive though it may be, is protected by the First Amendment. She should know this.”

… After huge backlash from Republicans, who have fought against hate speech laws for years and were already disgusted with her over Epstein, Bondi was forced to post a clean-up on social media hours later: “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime. For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.”

… “Under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), it is a federal crime to transmit ‘any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another.’ Likewise, 18 U.S.C. § 876 and 18 U.S.C. § 115 make it a felony to threaten public officials, members of Congress, or their families. You cannot call for someone’s murder. You cannot swat a Member of Congress. You cannot dox a conservative family and think it will be brushed off as ‘free speech.’ These acts are punishable crimes, and every single threat will be met with the full force of the law.”

… But that’s not what she said on the podcast, that’s not what she meant, and limiting her investigation to just those things is not what she’s going to do.

… Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA): “This is rich. AG Bondi has REFUSED to prosecute MULTIPLE direct death threats against me and my family.”

… Right-wing Hillsdale College consultant Chris Rufo: “This is extremely concerning. The distinction is not between ‘free speech’ and ‘hate speech,’ but between ‘free speech’ and ‘organizing illicit activities, engaging in political violence, depriving others of their civil rights, and committing tax or nonprofit fraud.’”

… Headline from today’s conservative National Review, which was founded by William F. Buckley: “Pam Bondi’s Ridiculous 24 Hours.”

… Conservative commentator and journalist Pedro Gonzalez: “Bondi’s comment about ‘hate speech’ is saying out loud what Stephen Miller and JD Vance have been hinting at and implying while using the tragedy of a political assassination as cover and people need to realize that this was a kind of mask off moment. This isn’t just about fighting political extremism. They’re talking about cracking down on political dissent, and they’re going to push this as far as people will let them, which is why it’s important to say something.”

… Conservative talk-show host Erick Erickson (who attacked me a few days ago for suggesting that alleged assassin Robinson might not be a leftist): “Our Attorney General is apparently a moron.”

… Elon Musk responded to two separate posts from right-wingers attacking Bondi by agreeing with their criticisms of the AG with “well said” and “exactly.”

… Mehdi Hasan: “The right have launched an all-out attack on liberals and the left, in the wake of the Kirk killing, pushing narratives about left-wing violence and the need to investigate liberal nonprofits and Schumer and Jeffries are totally AWOL. The Dems are leaderless. Shocking.”

… Hasan: “We had four years of a Democratic Attorney General scared of his own shadow, refusing to go after Trump for crimes that Trump committed on camera and on tape, outsourcing all investigations, and never talking to the media. And, now, sigh, we have Trump's Attorney General saying this.”

… Kyle Clark, anchor of NextOn9News (CO): “Declaring that a private business refusing to print a vigil poster for the President's friend is a civil rights violation is an interesting legal argument. Brings to mind Colorado cases Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission and 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis.”

… In his way to board a flight to UK this morning, Trump was asked about Bondi’s comments by Jonathan Karl: Q - What do you make of Bondi saying she is going after hate speech, a lot of allies say hate speech is free speech. Trump: She will probably go after people like you. You treat me unfairly - you have hate in your heart. ABC paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, maybe they'll go after you.”

… Last night, Trump complained about the protesters who disrupted his dinner: “They started to scream when I got into a restaurant. I said I'm doing a great job for peace in the Middle East, I should get lots of awards with that. She was a paid agitator. I've asked Pam to look into that in terms of bringing RICO cases because they should be put in jail. What they are doing to this country is really subversive.”

… Marge Greene’s boyfriend Brian Glenn tried to help Trump out a little with a follow up, but Trump was in full dictator mode and wasn’t having it: Q - But they still have their 1st Amendment rights, though. Trump: Well, I'm not so sure.”

… Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) was asked about Trump saying last night he didn’t know anything about the assassination of MN state rep. Melissa Hortman by a right-wing extremist: “I’m blown away by the callousness of his response. What we need right now is a universal condemnation of political violence. And yet the president - I don’t know whether he’s just clueless or was just pretending that he didn’t remember. But that’s exactly what we do not need in this moment.”

… Ironically, the special election to fill Hortman’s open seat is today.

… Speaker Mike Johnson then weighed in: “Leaders cannot call their political opponents enemies of the state because they disagree with their policy priorities. This is something we should’ve learned in grade school.”

… I responded to that by posting 4 different clips from Oct 2024 where Trump called Democrats “the enemy of the people”, “marxists”, “communists”, “fascists”, “sick and evil”, “scum” and “vicious people.”

… Brett then put together a 6-minute montage of Trump clips demonizing Democrats and posted it. That was all posted less than an hour after Johnson and Trump’s comments. Somebody has to do it, might as well be us. We learned not to wait on party leaders years ago because usually nothing happens.

… PA Gov Josh Shapiro: “Unfortunately, some from the dark corners of the internet all the way to the Oval Office, want to cherry pick which instances of political violence they want to condemn. Doing that only further divides us. We must reject the rhetoric of vengeance, and instead focus on the work of healing. Censorship – using the long arm of government to silence people, businesses, and nonprofits and restrict their right to free speech – will not solve this problem.”

… Rep. Nancy Mace on Fox: "We're not dealing with sane people. They need to be dealt with boldly, strongly. I support everything Trump is saying and wanting to do. That's why I'm working to root out the teachers and healthcare workers in South Carolina who celebrate murder. I don't want them around our kids."

… America First Post: “The Kirk family and Turning Point USA are preparing defamation lawsuits against media outlets and figures who smeared Charlie Kirk after his assassination. TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said on a podcast with Scott Jennings, ‘We are seeing it all and logging it all. We have good lawyers.’”

… Attorney Mark Zaid pointed out an inconvenient fact to them: “Even amazing lawyers can't change the fact that deceased individuals (or their estates) cannot bring defamation lawsuits.”

… MSNBC: “Roughly 20% of FBI agents - 2,840 out of around 13,800 - have been diverted to work on immigration enforcement. It’s one of the many consequences of Kash Patel’s push to require agents to help round up undocumented immigrants, a mission not normally undertaken by the FBI. The impacts have been significant. Nearly every agent on Baltimore’s domestic terrorism squad was reassigned this year to work full time on immigration enforcement, forcing them to walk away from investigations of a network of violent predators that targets and exploits children online.”

… Patel was asked about that today at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. He claimed that he didn’t know anything about the Baltimore domestic terrorism squad being wiped out so they could round up migrants.

… Michael Feinberg, former senior FBI executive: “Agents aren’t out there recruiting sources. They are not maintaining trip wires. They are not able to keep their ear to the ground about what’s happening among extremist movements. As a result, the extremists have more latitude to do things that harm our society.”

… A former FBI official who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation said: “If the bureau is not looking at domestic terrorism, nobody else is. We are now more susceptible to extremists because of these actions.”

… The hearing was highly combative, with Patel going at it with Democratic senators yelling and interrupting them. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to Patel: “Republicans are not Nazis. And Democrats are not ‘evil,’ as Patel has claimed. Democrats are not responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk, as Republicans were not responsible for the murder of Melissa Hortman. Our political opponents are not our enemies. We are all Americans.”

… Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ): “Here’s the thing, I think you’re not going to be around long. I think this might be your last oversight hearing. Because as much as you supplicate yourself to the will of Donald Trump, this may the last time I have a hearing with you because I don’t think you’re long for this job.”

… Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT): “You said you wanted to ground former FBI Director Chris Wray's private jet travel. In March, an FBI plane flew roundtrip from DC to Vegas and you attended a UFC fight with Mel Gibson. Is that true? PATEL: The difference is I live in Las Vegas. I'm allowed to go home. Welch: On April 5 you attended a hockey game in NYC. You don't live there, right? PATEL: No, I don't.”

… Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA): "Who, if anyone, did Epstein traffic these young women to? Patel: There is no credible information, none, that he trafficked to other individuals."

… Say what, now?

… Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked Patel if he thought a ban on assault weapons could result in fewer instances of political violence: "So, assault weapon ban? What do you think? PATEL: I think there are instances on this legislation that could prevent future attacks.”

… I don’t think his rapidly dwindling MAGA fan base is going to like that answer.

… Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) liked it though: “Kash Patel is NOT wrong here. An assault weapons ban will reduce mass shootings.”

… Continuing on with Trump’s unhinged press gaggle on the way to his flight: Q - “Should a president in office be engaged in so much business activity? Trump: I'm not, my kids are running the business. Where are you from? Reporter: Australian Broadcasting Corp. Trump: You’re hurting Australia very much right now. And they want to get along with me. Your leader is coming to see me soon, I'm going to tell him about you, you set a bad tone. You can set a nicer tone. Be quiet.”

… He was asked about potential sanctions on Ukraine: “Zelensky is going to have to get going and make a deal. Zelensky is going to have to make a deal.” (He never mentioned Putin).

… Q - “Do you believe the Federal Reserve is an independent body? Trump: It should be, but I think they should listen to smart people like me.”

… He was asked about blowing up more boats off Venezuela: "There are very few boats out on the water now. I can't imagine why? Not even fishing boats. There's nobody. Nobody wants to go fishing. We're seeing that there are no ships in the ocean anymore. Meaning, no drugs are coming across. Probably stopping some fishermen too. To be honest, if I were a fisherman, I wouldn't want to go fishing either because they’re saying, ‘maybe they think I have drugs.'"

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… Caleb Ragland, President of Soybean Farmers Assn on NewsNation: “We depend on the Chinese market. And right now we have 0 sold for this crop. It's a 5 alarm fire for our industry. We are not price competitive with Brazil due to the retaliatory tariffs. Our prices are about 20% higher, and that means that the Chinese are going elsewhere. And the American soybean farmers and their families are suffering.”

… Have no fear, soybean farmers. Republicans will bail you out at some point with a huge chunk of taxpayer money to pay you for not being able to sell your products