This story from the New York Times this morning probably isn’t going to get a lot of pickup because every word of it is, in Trump’s America, so utterly predictable. But taken all together—wow:

Roger J. Stone Jr., the longtime associate of President Trump’s, has been lobbying for a pioneering cryptocurrency investor known as “Bitcoin Jesus” who is facing federal fraud and criminal tax charges, according to congressional filings.

Happy Friday.

Reading Trump’s Mind

by William Kristol

I guess I gotta dump Pete.

It’s too bad. Putting him there was a good idea. And we pulled it off at first. We pushed him through the Senate—which is pretty amazing, you gotta admit. Some 44-year old who hasn’t done squat, getting him confirmed to run the Pentagon. Those Republican senators had all kinds of “concerns.” But they folded like I knew they would.

And Pete got off to a good start. He fired the top brass—it’s amazing how little pushback there was to that—got rid of the JAGs, and was beginning to really get into the promotion system. He was willing to do what it takes to get a military that’s loyal to me. Which is goddamn important for 2028.

But he’s screwed up too many times. We could have toughed out that Signal crap. But now all his former staff are leaking against him, everyone in the building’s out to get him. To handle that, you gotta be tough and shrewd, like I am.

Pete’s not up to it. They tell me he’s looking over his shoulder all the time now. You can’t operate that way. You end up making even more mistakes.

So, sayonara, kid.

Should I dump him now, before all the media stories next Wednesday about the first 100 days? I probably should. Might as well get credit for fixing the problem. Roy Cohn—I really miss that guy, he was the best—used to like to say, in kind of a poetic way, If it were done, ’twere well it were done quickly. Roy really had a gift for words.

But, you know, all the other people I put in are doing fine. They’re not even really controversial anymore.

Pam and Kash are great. The whole Justice Department is now basically my personal law firm. They never tell me I can’t do anything, and they’re doing a lot to weaken my enemies and help my friends. Those executive orders are great. And meanwhile I’m getting away with stuff on the financial as well as the political side they told me I never could. And having Justice and the FBI at my disposal—that’s important for 2028.

Russ at OMB’s doing fine. Elon’s gotten all the publicity (what a relief it will be when he goes). But Vought is quietly pulling off that Schedule F thing so key people at agencies that matter are going to be loyal to me. Which is also big for 2028.

Kristi? Her judgment isn’t great. No, I’m not talking about Corey. I’m talking about getting yourself photographed in front of a bunch of horrible convicts? Who told her that was a good idea? You never see me in a photo like that. Roy had this expression he came up with, A photo’s worth a thousand words. Still, what matters is that the people under her at DHS are making sure that agency is loyal. They’ll be useful in 2028.

I got stuff going in the right direction. The polls are down some recently, but when Witkoff does the deals with Putin and Iran, and Tulsi says it’s all great and that we’ve avoided World War III, that’ll play well. I let Navarro talk me into going too far on the tariffs, but Bessent’s gonna start announcing a bunch of deals, so the markets can get back on track. And I’ll get that guy Kilmar back from El Salvador next week so I look like I’ve got a heart of gold sometimes. I gotta call Bukele tomorrow, make sure we have this all set up.

But I’ll need a replacement at Defense. It would be good to announce it the same day Pete goes.

Maybe Charlie Flynn? He just retired as a four-star, they tell me the regular military guys respect him—but Mike says he’ll be with us when it counts, if you know what I mean.

Or maybe Elise? The first woman secretary of defense! We don’t do DEI. But we’re just busting those glass ceilings on the merits. LOL, as Barron says.

Anyway, Elise is smart and tough. And she’ll do what it takes. Getting the right people in the right places in the military—it’s key for 2028.

But before that, think of the photos of Elise and Kristi and Tulsi and Pam standing behind me at the desk in the Oval. Donald’s angels!

Goddamn, Roy would love that. He’d laugh in that kind of evil way he had. I do miss him. I don’t believe in Heaven and Hell or all that stuff, and I don’t think Roy did either. But Roy had this expression he came up with that he loved to say: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

That’s my motto for 2028.

But first, I gotta dump Pete.

Why Fix What You Could Break Instead?

by Andrew Egger

As the legal roadblocks to his extralegal-deportation regime grow, Donald Trump has increasingly turned to arguments of expediency for why he should be permitted to skip due process for deported migrants. “We’re getting them out, and a judge can’t say, ‘No, you have to have a trial,’” the president said this week. “We cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so would take, without exaggeration, 200 years.”

Plenty who should know better have echoed Trump’s argument. “It is absurd that Biden allowed millions to violate our laws and enter our country illegally but Trump must give each one due process before they are expelled,” complained conservative Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen this week. “If the left can let millions in illegally and we must then litigate each deportation the left wins.”

These arguments try to brush aside legal realities in a supposed appeal to common sense: Why should illegal immigrants get as much due process as American citizens? But this is political sleight of hand. When we say migrants deserve due process, we mean they must receive the protections U.S. law guarantees them, even when the government would rather they didn’t. But the protections due process guarantees to migrants are far less than the protections guaranteed to Americans accused of crimes.¹

An arrested migrant need not be advised of his Miranda rights. He has no right to an impartial jury trial; his case is decided by a judge who, like the officers arresting him, is an employee of the Department of Homeland Security. He may hire an attorney, but the state is under no obligation to provide him one.

The chief obstacle to accelerating legal deportatio