Now Trump is Going after Grants for Crime Victims

There's no low that Trump won't go.

Now he's holding up funds for crime victims, which just happens to include Epstein's numerous victims, in an attempt to extort states into bending the knee to advance Trump's illegal immigration attempts. 

Twenty states (all blue) and the District of Columba have sued the Justice Department for adding a new immigration enforcement rule to federal grants that assist victims of crime - arguing it's part of the Trump administration's crackdown against so-called "sanctuary states."

There's a 42-year-old division of the Justice Department that hands out more than a billion per year to all 50 states to compensate crime victims and fund programs like crisis counseling centers, emergency shelters, domestic abuse hotlines and victim advocacy services, that has been shuttered for political reasons 

No surprise it's another illegal attempt by the Trump-devoted Justice Department to further his corrupt agenda. The law has been in effect since the Reagan-era law that set up the federal government's crime victim grant programs. It doesn't say a damn thing about immigration enforcement.

Trump's minions have decided to defund all of those services in a naked attempt at bribery on a scale seldom scene in America's history. The shocking move highlights the fact that Trump has no empathy for anyone - despite his lies to the contrary.

The looming Epstein File revelations have Trump spinning around like a whirling dervish determined to change the national conversation about Epstein and to flood each day with more shocking moves. It works up to a point. But each attack to distract has had a short lifetime in the mass media. A majority of Americans - 93% - want the Epstein Files released in whole - not a drip, drip, of heavily redacted documents.

So, Trump is left with coming up with something more shocking than the day before. So far, that's been easy as he pursues his personal vendettas and makes stupid statements day and night on his Truth Social platform. Yesterday he suggested people may want a dictator. How's that for effect? He is so sure of completely talking over every aspect of our democracy he's saying out loud what people have been accusing him of for years - he wants to be a dictator for real.

The states asked a federal judge to block the new rules and declare them illegal. They said they need "urgent relief" since applications for most grants are due Wednesday (Aug.27). I sincerely hope relief comes in time tomorrow.

To be clear, the federal government is attempting to use crime victim funds as a bargaining chip to force states into doing Trump's bidding on immigration enforcement. It's that simple.

As it Stands, what worries me is how often precedent is being overthrown by the right-wing Supreme Court. Think Roe vs Wade and all the other cases the court has thrown out in the last few years.