Proof of life
Yesterday I wrote about the sheer absurdity of the Trump regime using the mistaken deportation of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia as the case that it wants to use to overthrow the United States Supreme Court. We all knew Trump would end up pulling this. But to choose a case where the Trump regime has admitted it screwed up? A storyline with a sympathetic victim? A case where the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Trump? This is the one Trump wants to put all his chips down on?
One possible explanation I didn’t mention yesterday, because it was frankly too dark to even speculate about, was that Garcia might already be dead. The Trump regime and El Salvador have previously confirmed he’s alive, but were we really supposed to take them at their word? Was the Trump regime doubling down on this case because it was trying to cover up Garcia’s death?
Thankfully, no. The reason I’m willing to write about this scenario today is that we now know it’s not the case. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who has been camped out in El Salvador demanding to meet with Garcia, finally got that chance last night. Van Hollen even posted a photo of the two of them having coffee, and Garcia appears to be unharmed:
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https://x.com/chrisvanhollen/status/1913034619710034094
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So what now? Even with the U.S. Court of Appeals having further ruled against Trump in this case yesterday, the Trump regime is still asserting its right to keep Garcia deported. But from the looks of it, El Salvador may be getting skittish about all of this. How else to explain the fact that it made sure the photo of Garcia was in a decent looking restaurant instead of a prison cell? It’s as if the government of El Salvador now wants to make sure the American public knows it hasn’t been torturing this guy. And that’s precisely the opposite message from what the Trump regime has been trying to send.
It’s tough to predict what will happen next. This is looking like more and more of a losing hand for the Trump regime. Public sentiment was never going to be with them on this matter, and now Americans are getting to see Garcia as a human being with a face and a Kansas City Chiefs hat, even as El Salvador seems to be saying “please don’t hurt us.” Anyone with even a modicum of political savvy would realize they were on the losing end of this and cut bait – but as I wrote yesterday, there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the Trump regime with even a modicum of political savvy.
So we’ll see what happens. But for now, the undeniably good news is that Mr. Garcia is alive and apparently well. And the potentially good news is that the tide of this story seems to be turning against the Trump regime by the hour.
