Monday mornings always come with a rude awakening… it’s that “here we go again” feeling as we embark on another week in a world we no longer recognize. With each Monday comes the now-routinely awful news of what happened over the weekend when we tried to look away from the train wreck happening constantly before our eyes.

This weekend brought with it the moment we knew was coming while we hoped it wouldn’t… when Trump and his administration openly ignored a court order. It involved due process for a group of men who Trump decided were terrorists, without so much as a hearing before they were rounded up, shackled and deported to El Salvadore.

Although a judge ordered that if a plane was in the air it be returned, that did not happen. So here we are.. I guess this is the constitutional crisis they’ve been warning us about? If so, then what? I wish I knew the answer.

Our guest today is David Enrich, who’s been making the media rounds promoting his important new book, MURDER THE TRUTH: FEAR, THE FIRST AMENDMENT, AND A SECRET CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT THE POWERFUL.

At the end of the show today, I mentioned that another major constitutional problem that came up this weekend when Trump ignored a court order.  In his must-read Substack newsletter, Robert Hubbell today wrote:

Since Inauguration Day 2025, commentators have been speculating about whether and how our democracy would survive a refusal by Trump to comply with a court order. Well, we are about to find out. Over the weekend, Trump intentionally ignored a court order in a case arising out of the deportation of (alleged) Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act of 1789. See Axios How Trump’s White House defied a judge’s order halting deportations

So, the question has changed from,

“What will happen IF Trump ignores a court order?”

to

“What are we going to do about the fact that Trump HAS ignored a court order?”

Before looking at the details of what happened, let’s skip to the end and answer the question of what happens now that Trump has intentionally disobeyed a court order.

The short answer is that the federal judges must hold Trump and subsidiary officials in civil contempt. The Supreme Court must affirm those findings. Civil contempt is not a pardonable offense.

In normal times, officials would comply with court orders after being found in contempt. If that doesn’t happen, impeachment is the next step in the process of enforcing the rule of law.

In normal times, the finding that a president has deliberately violated a court order would result in impeachment, conviction, and removal from office.

Since the GOP-controlled Congress will not impeach and convict Trump, the next step is for the people of the US to follow the example of other nations by engaging in mass demonstrations, national strikes, boycotts, and civil disobedience. For example, in Hungary, Trump’s friend and hero, Viktor Orban, is the subject of mass protests. Radio Free Europe, Thousands Of Hungarian Opposition Supporters Rally; PM Orban Vows Crackdown On Media

Trump’s corporate overlords want to preserve the ordered society and stable economy that allows their businesses to flourish. A president who claims that the laws are optional raises the question of why anyone should be bound by the law. No one—least of all the president, whose power derives from a law-abiding electorate—wants Americans to view the law as optional.

To the extent that there is a glimmer of hope in the events that unfolded over the weekend, it is that Trump (or his advisors) blinked when they realized they had admitted that Trump intentionally violated a court order. By blinking, someone in the Trump administration signaled that they understand the cascading consequences of a president who declares that the rule of law has ended.

While the above answers may not be satisfactory to some, the good news is that we have an answer to the troubling question of “What happens if Trump ignores a court order?” The answer is all power derives from the consent of the governed. That consent is contingent and granted only upon good behavior of the grantees.

In the end, “We, the people,” are the answer to the question of what happens if Trump violates a court order.

At this point, we could all use a laugh. I shared this song to start today’s show. It’s from an amazing singer-songwriter named Jill Sobule with a couple of her friends. Enjoy!

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Here’s today’s show via YouTube: