Trump's betting we won't care about his authoritarian and Orwellian tactics

Last month, Kilmar Abrego García, a legal resident of Maryland, was swept up in the Trump administration's deportation raids. Abrego Garcia was sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, despite the fact that he's never been charged with a crime.

The Trump administration has admitted that Abrego Garcia's deportation was due to an "administrative error," but they refuse to rectify the situation — even after the Supreme Court unanimously directed them to do so. And perhaps most alarming, Trump has doubled down on his authoritarian ambitions.

During a cozy meeting in the Oval Office with El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, he suggested that he would start sending U.S. citizens to Salvadoran prisons.

Make no mistake: when a president ignores a court order, we are in a full-blown constitutional crisis.

This is not up for "normal" political debate. This is a fundamental question of whether we as a country will tolerate our president flouting the courts and scheming to disappear people he doesn't like into foreign prisons.

Trump is making two bets:

1) That the courts have no way of enforcing their order. 2) That the public at large will see this whole matter as just another "Trump controversy" and soon forget about it.

On the first matter, every member of Congress must do everything within their oversight and legislative power to help the judiciary enforce an order. They took an oath to uphold the Constitution, and have a duty to stand up to an out-of-control executive.

On the second matter, I urge Oregonians – and folks across the country – to raise their voices *loudly.*

Trump is betting on our outrage fatigue. But now is exactly when we need to get angry, and get loud. Together, we must mobilize and show that we value freedom and due process over the whims of a would-be dictator.

This moment will test our country. Let us meet it with strength, honesty, and courage.

Onward,

Ron