It is difficult to find any recent photos of President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis together.
That’s because the two of them have largely been at odds since DeSantis tried to test his MAGA bonafides and was utterly humiliated by Trump on the national stage during the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. Trump has made a point of continuing to humiliate DeSantis since he returned to office, while the soon-to-be term-limited governor of Florida tries to make MAGA amends, his political relevance fading fast.
But it appears the two are going to bury the hatchet tomorrow to come together in a shared passion: finding creative new ways to dehumanize immigrants, carried out with a trollish flair.
You’ll remember DeSantis’ infamous stunt during the Biden administration, when, following Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s lead, he duped, transported and dumped a plane full of migrants in Martha’s Vineyard. In the months following the incident it was revealed that the DeSantis administration lied to those it put on the plane, promising jobs and shelter only to dump them in a community that was not prepared to assist them.
It’s becoming a well worn tactic for DeSantis — upending the lives of migrants in a headline-grabbing way to own the libs/score some media coverage to boost his political significance. At the time of the Martha’s Vineyard incident, DeSantis was toying with the idea of a Trump primary challenge. Much of his second term work as governor of Florida was seen as an attempt to establish himself as a MAGA prodigy by trafficking in Trump-adjacent authoritarian extremes, like a new police force to ferret out people who may have illegally voted in the 2020 election — an effort to play into Trump’s various election-related conspiracy theories.
What Trump and DeSantis are doing in Florida this week is similar. By now you’ve likely seen the new name for the facility that the pair are meeting up to cut the ribbon for on Tuesday. “Alligator Alcatraz” is opening at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Florida Everglades. It will have up to 5,000 beds to hold immigrant detainees and process them for deportation. The facility will cost about $450 million a year in operational costs, according to the Associated Press. The state of Florida will pay to run the facility and the federal government will reimburse Florida with FEMA funds that are typically used to house people displaced by natural disasters. (You’ll recall, the Biden administration was ripped to shreds by Trump and his allies for using those funds to house migrants in hotels while they went through the immigration process.)
Environmental groups have already filed a lawsuit to try to stop the facility from opening, at least until it undergoes an environmental review, since it is located in the Everglades, surrounded by protected land. But the fact that it is in a swamp has turned into a bit of a ghoulish selling point for the Trump administration and DeSantis, as they brag about how supposedly dangerously remote the facility is.
“There is only one road leading in and the only way out is a one-way flight,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CBS News this week. “It is isolated, and surrounded by dangerous wildlife in unforgiving terrain.”
“When the president comes tomorrow, he’s going to be able to see,” DeSantis told reporters during a press conference Monday, adding that Trump is “very excited” to see the facility.
“They ain’t going anywhere once they’re there, unless you want them to go somewhere,” DeSantis said Monday. “Because good luck getting to civilization. So the security is amazing — natural and otherwise.”
Trump’s DOJ Appeals Perkins Coie Ruling
The DOJ filed a notice on Monday that it intends to appeal a ruling from U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell, issued in May, that blocked the Trump administration’s executive order attacking law firm Perkins Coie. It’s the first time the administration has appealed one of the orders from judges that blocked its effort to sanction a private, high-profile law firms of the sort that sometimes take on cases that run counter to the President’s political interests.
Perkins Coie was the first of four firms targeted by Trump that sued to fight his actions. The firms that challenged Trump’s actions in court have an undefeated record so far, with judges blocking his orders, and sharply criticizing them, in each of the four cases. Nine other law firms sought to avoid or undo executive orders by striking deals with the Trump administration, pledging nearly $1 billion in combined pro bono work for causes including helping veterans.
Tillis Joins Team Elon
While the world’s richest man issued a rather weak public apology for his part in his recent feud with President Trump over the reconciliation package — which the Senate is expected to vote on in days, if not hours — that never meant Elon Musk was going to back down from railing against the big, beautiful bill. Since announcing his retirement and “no” vote on the package this weekend, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has been striking a similar tone, issuing warnings about the dire consequences of not just the Medicaid-slashing aspects of the bill, but also the risks of dismantling Biden-era clean energy tax incentives.
Folks, @ElonMusk is 100% right, and he understands this issue better than anyone. We should take his warnings seriously. We can’t let Communist China become the long-term winner. https://t.co/PSDZI4Wctz
— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) June 30, 2025
Happy 4th
A shocking new poll from Gallup out today finds:
A record-low 58% of U.S. adults say they are “extremely” (41%) or “very” (17%) proud to be an American, down nine percentage points from last year and five points below the prior low from 2020. The 41% who are “extremely proud” is not statistically different from prior lows of 38% in 2022 and 39% in 2023, indicating most of the change this year is attributable to a decline in the percentage who are “very proud.”
In Case You Missed It
How Donald Trump’s Media Business Could Influence Domestic Policy
Bill Moyers Saw What Was Coming
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Senate Begins Amendments Vote-a-Rama On Big Bill
What We Are Reading
Distributional Effects of Selected Provisions of the House and Senate Reconciliation Bills
Sorry, I don’t have a cat.
Perhaps the idea behind Alligator Alley is to give all the detainees Dengue fever prior to export.
I wonder how long it will take before Florida’s agriculture industry is impacted by the deportations. Will the cost of your tasteless tomatoes go up or will they just disappear altogether?
Fuck them. May they both die. In pain. Soon.
Sounds appropriate, since the Trump maladministration is, in fact, a natural disaster. I think of it as akin to a volcanic eruption that darkens the skies across the globe.
In other news:
The Trump administration has sued the city of Los Angeles over its immigration policies, claiming that the city’s law discriminates against federal law enforcement by treating them differently from other law enforcement authorities.
NBC News
And the Garcia case:
The Trump administration has agreed to release from prison a three-time felon who drunkenly fired shots in a Texas community and spare him from deportation in exchange for his cooperation in the federal prosecution of Kilmar Abrego García, according to a review of court records and official testimony.
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/06/28/star-witness-against-kilmar-abrego-garca-was-due-be-deported-now-hes-being-freed/
Another dreary day of hate fueled news. Sigh