Mouse Cohort No. 1. The Ex-Presidents
Where have you gone, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama* and Joe Biden?
There is a longtime tradition that holds that former Presidents do not publicly criticize their successors. However, norms, as we observe daily, are being shredded all over the place. So-called rules of decorum such as this one need no longer apply when a disaster of a President flirts with fascism, daily demonstrates his and his administration’s off-the-charts governing incompetence, and enmeshes the country in one constitutional crisis after another.
Unless you four are meditating deep in a Tibetan cave or sitting high atop a Himalayan summit without access to any means of communication (even smoke signals would do), please wake up and smell the foul matter burying your country.
The time has come when you need to speak out about the chaos, corruption and ineptitude of the current White House occupant. This is one norm that needs shattering. You have big megaphones. Use them! People might actually listen to you. It’s time for the elephants to do some serious stomping and bellowing. You should be screaming bloody murder about Trump’s illegal acts, his pardons of violent criminals, his abandonment of due process (one of the defining elements of democracy), his betrayal of our allies and 80 years of free world leadership against authoritarian regimes, his territorial acquisition fantasies, his lip-lock with Vladimir Putin, and his descent into totalitarianism. Before it’s too late.
*As this Rant was being put to bed, the Huffington Post reported that Barack Obama had expressed “deep concern” about Trump’s attacks against law firms and universities in a speech at Hamilton College. It’s a beginning, but by no means enough.
Mouse Cohort No. 2. The Legal Profession
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison was a storied member of the 350-400 firm “BigLaw” community, first in line to forge enlightened anti-discrimination policies that enabled Jews, African-Americans and Women to work at “white-shoe” law firms and elevate to partnership. However, after Trump issued what any court would have likely pronounced an illegal executive order aimed at the firm, Paul Weiss quickly caved rather than fight. The “agreement” Trump shoved down the firm’s throat will have it pimping for Trump to the tune of $40 million of free legal services aimed at his enemies. That is in addition to back-tracking from the firm’s historic championing of human rights.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom followed Paul Weiss down the path to perdition. Skadden did not even wait for a Trump executive order to fold, offering to provide Trump with $100 million in free legal services. Two other major law firms have also caved to Trump’s unconstitutional strong-arming at this writing.
It is often joked that law is the “world’s second oldest profession.” Paul Weiss, Skadden, Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, and Milbank have just joined the world’s oldest one.
Perkins Coie, another mega-firm targeted by Trump, is acting differently, fighting against Trump’s illegal extortion attempt. BigLaw firms Jenner & Block and Wilmer Hale are also fighting Trump’s coercive bullying. Hurrah for what honor and integrity still exists in the legal profession. And kudos to the young law firm associates who have resigned their jobs rather than work for organizations that made a deal with the devil.
I am sad to say that one of the firms knuckling under to Trump was a client of my company; but glad to say that two other clients are going to the mats against Trump’s illegality.
I don’t understand why the American Bar Association, its state bar counterparts and the entire BigLaw community aren’t joining together to fight Trump’s mafia intimidation of law firms and their clients and coming to the defense of every law firm in America threatened by Trump’s clumsy attempts at a chilling effect. Because that is what is at the heart of what this out-of-control President is doing. Even if he loses in court, the intimidation is the goal.
According to news reports, that goal has already been achieved. Clients seeking to sue the administration for its multitudinous transgressions are being turned away by major law firms that would have eagerly taken on those cases pre-Trump 2.0.
If these grandees of the legal community won’t fight Trump running roughshod over the 1st, 5th and 6th Amendments, who will?
Mouse Cohort No. 3. The Democratic Party
While a few Democratic politicians have raised their voices against Trump’s ravages and pillages, they come primarily from the party’s Progressive wing, which has little credibility with the majority of the public. I give Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez credit for getting out there and touring the country fulminating against Trump and connecting with the people harmed by his cruelty. However, if the Democrats want to be an effective opposition, it will take the more mainstream, centrist members to do something similar, and to do it as a steady drumbeat.
I’ve mentioned their names often in these Rants, so I won’t repeat myself here. The time has come to rip off the restraints and go full bore at Trump, Elon Musk and the docile Republican Reichstag members who are giving new meaning to the term “doormat.”
Dems should not over-enthuse about their victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election or having halved the margins in two Florida congressional races this week. The former was largely a referendum on the loathsome Elon Musk who came into the state flashing his dollars and cheesehead and behaved like the horse’s ass we in the Washington, DC area have had to endure these past months. It was not necessarily a plebiscite about Trump. And in Florida, the aspiring Reichstag wannabes won easily even without Trump at the top of the ticket.
There are certainly additional meek and fearful mice I could cite. We all know who they are: the legacy media and the academic community come immediately to mind. Prominent members of both are also caving to the would-be tyrant. With few exceptions (kudos to the Associated Press), they too have not stepped up to the plate and contested this evil legion of doom, opting instead for servility. And then there is the Republican Party, a pale shadow of what it used to be. Until this catastrophe of an administration, one would have thought that a spinectomy was high-risk surgery.
Dick Hermann
March 28, 2025
Where have you gone, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama* and Joe Biden?
There is a longtime tradition that holds that former Presidents do not publicly criticize their successors. However, norms, as we observe daily, are being shredded all over the place. So-called rules of decorum such as this one need no longer apply when a disaster of a President flirts with fascism, daily demonstrates his and his administration’s off-the-charts governing incompetence, and enmeshes the country in one constitutional crisis after another.
Unless you four are meditating deep in a Tibetan cave or sitting high atop a Himalayan summit without access to any means of communication (even smoke signals would do), please wake up and smell the foul matter burying your country.
The time has come when you need to speak out about the chaos, corruption and ineptitude of the current White House occupant. This is one norm that needs shattering. You have big megaphones. Use them! People might actually listen to you. It’s time for the elephants to do some serious stomping and bellowing. You should be screaming bloody murder about Trump’s illegal acts, his pardons of violent criminals, his abandonment of due process (one of the defining elements of democracy), his betrayal of our allies and 80 years of free world leadership against authoritarian regimes, his territorial acquisition fantasies, his lip-lock with Vladimir Putin, and his descent into totalitarianism. Before it’s too late.
*As this Rant was being put to bed, the Huffington Post reported that Barack Obama had expressed “deep concern” about Trump’s attacks against law firms and universities in a speech at Hamilton College. It’s a beginning, but by no means enough.
Mouse Cohort No. 2. The Legal Profession
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison was a storied member of the 350-400 firm “BigLaw” community, first in line to forge enlightened anti-discrimination policies that enabled Jews, African-Americans and Women to work at “white-shoe” law firms and elevate to partnership. However, after Trump issued what any court would have likely pronounced an illegal executive order aimed at the firm, Paul Weiss quickly caved rather than fight. The “agreement” Trump shoved down the firm’s throat will have it pimping for Trump to the tune of $40 million of free legal services aimed at his enemies. That is in addition to back-tracking from the firm’s historic championing of human rights.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom followed Paul Weiss down the path to perdition. Skadden did not even wait for a Trump executive order to fold, offering to provide Trump with $100 million in free legal services. Two other major law firms have also caved to Trump’s unconstitutional strong-arming at this writing.
It is often joked that law is the “world’s second oldest profession.” Paul Weiss, Skadden, Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, and Milbank have just joined the world’s oldest one.
Perkins Coie, another mega-firm targeted by Trump, is acting differently, fighting against Trump’s illegal extortion attempt. BigLaw firms Jenner & Block and Wilmer Hale are also fighting Trump’s coercive bullying. Hurrah for what honor and integrity still exists in the legal profession. And kudos to the young law firm associates who have resigned their jobs rather than work for organizations that made a deal with the devil.
I am sad to say that one of the firms knuckling under to Trump was a client of my company; but glad to say that two other clients are going to the mats against Trump’s illegality.
I don’t understand why the American Bar Association, its state bar counterparts and the entire BigLaw community aren’t joining together to fight Trump’s mafia intimidation of law firms and their clients and coming to the defense of every law firm in America threatened by Trump’s clumsy attempts at a chilling effect. Because that is what is at the heart of what this out-of-control President is doing. Even if he loses in court, the intimidation is the goal.
According to news reports, that goal has already been achieved. Clients seeking to sue the administration for its multitudinous transgressions are being turned away by major law firms that would have eagerly taken on those cases pre-Trump 2.0.
If these grandees of the legal community won’t fight Trump running roughshod over the 1st, 5th and 6th Amendments, who will?
Mouse Cohort No. 3. The Democratic Party
While a few Democratic politicians have raised their voices against Trump’s ravages and pillages, they come primarily from the party’s Progressive wing, which has little credibility with the majority of the public. I give Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez credit for getting out there and touring the country fulminating against Trump and connecting with the people harmed by his cruelty. However, if the Democrats want to be an effective opposition, it will take the more mainstream, centrist members to do something similar, and to do it as a steady drumbeat.
I’ve mentioned their names often in these Rants, so I won’t repeat myself here. The time has come to rip off the restraints and go full bore at Trump, Elon Musk and the docile Republican Reichstag members who are giving new meaning to the term “doormat.”
Dems should not over-enthuse about their victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election or having halved the margins in two Florida congressional races this week. The former was largely a referendum on the loathsome Elon Musk who came into the state flashing his dollars and cheesehead and behaved like the horse’s ass we in the Washington, DC area have had to endure these past months. It was not necessarily a plebiscite about Trump. And in Florida, the aspiring Reichstag wannabes won easily even without Trump at the top of the ticket.
There are certainly additional meek and fearful mice I could cite. We all know who they are: the legacy media and the academic community come immediately to mind. Prominent members of both are also caving to the would-be tyrant. With few exceptions (kudos to the Associated Press), they too have not stepped up to the plate and contested this evil legion of doom, opting instead for servility. And then there is the Republican Party, a pale shadow of what it used to be. Until this catastrophe of an administration, one would have thought that a spinectomy was high-risk surgery.
Dick Hermann
March 28, 2025
RSS Feed