The Donald Trump Score Card

Trump to pardon Cueller based on an unsupported premise that Biden had him prosecuted for making unfavorable remarks about him.


Trump says he is pardoning Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, who was indicted on bribery charges

excerpt:

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would pardon Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who was indicted last year on bribery and money laundering charges.

In his Truth Social post, Trump accused Democrats of working to "attack, rob, lie, cheat, destroy, and decimate anyone who dares to oppose their Far Left Agenda, an Agenda that, if left unchecked, will obliterate our magnificent Country."

 

Trump announces raids on New Orleans and Minnesota.

 

Democrats decry ‘harrowing’ photos of Epstein’s private island home and demand end to Trump’s ‘cover-up’ – live | Jeffrey Epstein | The Guardian

excerpt:

“A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the [decision], which he had the complete authority to do,” Hegseth said at the White House.

In response, GOP senator Rand Paul remained unconvinced with the administration’s explanation. “In this sense, it looks like they’re trying to pin the blame on someone else,” Paul told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday evening.

 

New images released of Epstein living quarters at his island.


Democrats decry ‘harrowing’ photos of Epstein’s private island home and demand end to Trump’s ‘cover-up’ – live | Jeffrey Epstein | The Guardian

 

U.S. halts all immigration cases, including citizenship ceremonies, for nationals of 19 countries, internal guidance says
By Camilo Montoya-Galvez
Updated on: December 2, 2025 / 8:53 PM EST / CBS News

U.S. halts all immigration cases, including citizenship ceremonies, for nationals of 19 countries, internal guidance says

 

What the emergency docket actually looks like

excerpt:

"First of all, the reality is more complex than simple ideological bias. Overall case outcomes appear balanced (52.5% liberal, 47.5% conservative), but when the court chooses to grant relief, 75% of those grants produce conservative outcomes. This pattern has persisted regardless of which party controls the White House. This shows a court that does not necessarily favor one side in all emergency decisions, but does reveal one that grants emergency relief selectively in cases that advance conservative legal positions.

Commentators have also focused on the supposed lack of explanations in emergency decisions. But the frequency of these has actually increased dramatically since 2022. We also see an unprecedented amount of public disagreement among the justices, with 67% of substantive applications producing dissents or disagreement statements, more than double the recent averages."

 

What the emergency docket actually looks like

excerpt:

"Reviewing the data collected from the period studied revealed several notable patterns. Although much has been written on the interim relief docket, the following trends have gone largely unnoticed.

The court is saying “yes” a great deal more than in years past.

During the period under review, the court granted 44% of the substantive emergency applications. This is nearly double the 23% rate from the 2023-24 term. During Trump’s first presidency (2017-2021), the court granted emergency relief of substantive emergency applications at 46%. During Joe Biden’s presidency (2021-2025), the rate dropped to 31%. So far, during Trump’s second term, the grant rate is even higher at 67%. This supports the general narrative that the court has been consistently more receptive to granting emergency requests from the Trump administration than to similar requests from the Biden administration.

Such grants have disproportionately resulted in conservative outcomes."

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/us/politics/supreme-court-emergency-docket-partisan.html

excerpt:

"The cases the two administrations pursued were different, of course, making comparison inexact, and the concentrated volume and sheer ambition of President’s Trump’s applications dwarfed those of his predecessor. The court has so far, on a technically temporary basis, let him fire independent agency regulators, cut funding approved by Congress, dismiss transgender troops and remove protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants. Last week, the court allowed him to pursue aggressive roundups of people suspected to be in the country unlawfully."

 

The Biden administration sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court 17 times over four years

Trump has already made over 20 requests in less that a year during his second term.

 

Trump has had a 84% success rate with his emergency requests to the U.S. Supreme Court in his second term, whereas Biden had only 53%.


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/us/politics/supreme-court-emergency-docket-partisan.html

excerpt:

"This is apparent in the overall numbers, with the Trump administration prevailing much more often than its predecessor had — 84 percent of the time, compared with 53 percent for the Biden administration. That is perhaps unsurprising, given that the court is dominated by six Republican appointees."

 

Supreme Court Shadow Docket Tracker — Challenges to Trump Administration Actions

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A clear pattern has emerged: The Court is using the shadow docket to quickly and dramatically expand executive power. As Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent, “Our emergency docket should never be used, as it has been this year, to permit what our own precedent bars. Still more, it should not be used, as it also has been, to transfer government authority from Congress to the President, and thus to reshape the Nation’s separation of powers.”

 

Supreme Court Shadow Docket Tracker — Challenges to Trump Administration Actions

excerpt:

"Since January 20, 2025, the Supreme Court has issued 23 decisions on the shadow docket concerning administration actions.

20 ruled for the administration at least partially

3 ruled against the administration

7 were not accompanied by any written explanation (most other rulings included only brief analysis, sometimes as short as a sentence)"

 

U.S. Supreme Court has granted 83% of the Trump administration’s requests on the emergency docket
By Ellen Morrissey
October 3, 2025 at 4:05 PM

U.S. Supreme Court has granted 83% of the Trump administration’s requests on the emergency docket - Ballotpedia News

excerpt:

"Excluding withdrawn applications, the Trump administration has filed 26 emergency applications with the Supreme Court, challenging lower court orders against the administration’s actions. In addition to the 23 decided applications, three others are currently pending before the court. The largest topic category of these applications is immigration and citizenship, with 10 cases, and the second largest is termination of federal employees with seven. See the chart below for a full breakdown of the Trump administration’s emergency applications by topic."

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/us/trump-solicitor-general-supreme-court.html

excerpt:

The Harvard Law School professor Richard Lazarus, an assistant solicitor general during the Reagan administration, said the charged rhetoric in filings could imperil the office’s special status with the Supreme Court as a trusted counselor that presents the justices with rigorous arguments that interpret the law consistently, no matter who occupies the White House.

The fiery language, Professor Lazarus said, makes the office sound like “a zealous ideologue.”

“They look like they are representing an individual. They don’t look like they are representing the United States or the federal government,” he said. “The question is whether the court will call them on it or not.”

 

The DOJ is representing an individual: Trump. They have become his personal attorney, even mentioning his name in intros of court filings.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/us/trump-solicitor-general-supreme-court.html

excerpt:

"For the first time in modern memory, the office’s merits briefs, the legal filings it makes before the justices hear a case, begin with an “introduction,” a section often filled with unusually charged language, including direct quotes from Mr. Trump.

This account of how Mr. Trump is changing even one of the most staid, tradition-bound corners of the U.S. government is drawn from interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the office, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of internal discussions within the office."

 

Trump can be expected to appeal his loss to the Supreme Court where the six conservatives have issued 19 emergency stays to him.


Judge blocks ICE from making warrantless arrests in DC without flight-risk proof

excerpts:

"A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from making widespread immigration arrests in Washington, D.C., unless agents obtain warrants or have probable cause that the target is an imminent flight risk."


"Defendants’ systemic failure to apply the probable cause standard, including the failure to consider escape risk, directly violates" immigration law and DHS' implementing regulations, the judge said.

 

GOP wins special election for House seat in TN, although Democrats accrued a 10 to 15 percent gain in deep red counties, consistent with their numerous wins in the 2025 off-year elections around the country.

It's a warning sign for Trump and the GOP in the 2026 midterms.


Republican wins Tennessee special election for House seat, NBC News projects

excerpt:

"That translates to a 10-point shift toward Democrats in Decatur County and a 15-point shift in Perry County. Trump carried the district overall by 22 points in 2024."

 

It would have been nice to seen the Democrats get off their ass and try to win that Tennessee seat. That should have been a no holds barred attempt. They probably bought a back road billboard and a few posters...get the the hell out there and fight - every damn seat is crucial. "Oh, we showed the GOP....we only lost by ten points..."

 

Looks like My Pillow Guy: Mike Lindell will be running for governor in Minnesota.