Susan Kristol

I try to steer clear of too much writerly self-indulgence but I did write about Marco's shoes:

Grotesque.

Could also be Germany 1930s, Soviet Union 1950s. Could be many places, but shouldn't be America.

Shameful—but in a way useful. No one should any longer pretend we have a “Department of Justice.” We have a Department of Trump.

NBC News is out with a very strong report into the apparent use of excessive force by ICE and other DHS officers, beyond the most notorious shootings. It also features this photo, which I couldn’t get past.

The people who need their own halftime show are the same people who needed their own water fountains. Never forget.

Shameful. This picture says it all. The Height of Close-Combat Weaponry Is on This Woman’s Doorstep nytimes.com/2026/01/28/us/… via @NYTimes

ICE pointed semi-automatic weapons at a retired American couple in a church parking lot. No warrant. No rights read. Just terror. This is not law enforcement. This is unconstitutional intimidation. Under the Fourth Amendment, ICE cannot detain or search without a judicial warrant. "We don’t need one," is a lie. PAXIS is here to hold that line: — Lawful speech, not escalation. — Shared truth, not fear. — Human dignity, always. 🛑 If ICE appears at your place of worship: You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to see a judicial warrant. You have the right to not open the door. 📚 Learn more, stand firm and help develop: paxis.app PAXIS holds. The Constitution holds. We do not run. We respond.

An incredible interview. The quiet dignity.

I would offer that Alex Pretti putting his body—with his hands up—between a woman and the BP agent who had just violently shoved her into the snow, offer stark competing visions of manhood. Pretti, a nurse caring for veterans, who took a face full of pepper spray to shield that woman, is a much better masculine ideal that the masked coward shoving the woman and executing a man on his knees. MAGA may venerate the latter, but most people in a healthy society want the former.

Look, if DHS and ICE legitimately felt that these killings were justified, then they wouldn't be doing everything in their power to stop normal-course investigations into them. But that's precisely what's happening.

I make no apology for posting this photo. I think it’s a photo that will haunt America in the years to come. This is what you have become. If you defend this, have a word with yourself.

Showing far more courage and integrity than 98% of the Republicans currently serving in Congress who watch this administration running wild with malice, corruption and mayhem and just sit inert, in cowardly silence.

At nearly every crisis point over the last year - and there have been so so many 🫠 - totally ordinary people have been exponentially braver than the billionaires and elite. Turns out, you can’t buy courage!

The abhorrent power of the photograph of a 5-year-old held by ICE washingtonpost.com/style/2026/01/…

@HavicanWatson @BillKristol Ellen—I’m with you on this.

@BillKristol I was listening to Trump as I read your post, Bill, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more frightened in my life. At 81 years of age, my country is dying and there seems to be nothing being done about it.

This is a free nation.

Earth Dragon Run a.co/d/eVmibTs Can’t wait to read David Pinault’s latest novel!

Senator Alex Padilla is a good man and principled public servant. The brazen and aggressive manhandling of Senator Padilla by the Trump administration is a sickening disgrace. Anyone who assaulted the Senator should be held accountable. No one is above the law.

I’ve have a new Substack up: a goodbye note to the GOP on this Memorial Day weekend. Check it out: michael96.substack.com/p/memorial-day…