Feb. 16: President’s Day 2026 — Are we supposed to be celebrating something today?
Don’t miss this week’s blog post by IP attorney, author Timothy Trainer, host of the podcast and video show Tim’s Travails • Follow Tim on Substack
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
On President’s Day, are we supposed to be celebrating something? If so, it’s difficult to identify what that would be, given the speed with which the current president has undermined the constitution, the rule of law, and defied the courts.
Trump’s great 2020 election complaint about having the election stolen is worth keeping in mind. The spotlight should be on who really wants to steal an election or, going beyond that, eliminate future elections: Donald Trump pushes harder for nationalizing elections despite backlash. There’s no confusion about who is truly the wannabe thief: it’s the current occupant of the White House. And there’s no confusion as to who is consumed with the idea of going beyond stealing an election to cancelling them altogether.
On the flip side, despite the U.S.’s involvement in global wars, elections were held during both world wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the war on terror as we engaged in warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus, any rhetoric by the Criminal in Chief about future elections is all about how he can fulfill his desire for the greatest election theft of all time, eliminating them and keeping power.
On this President’s Day, we see daily how this President defies the Constitution, laws, and court orders.
I’ve previously written about judges who have pushed back on ICE tactics and ICE’s routine violation of the rights of people, whether immigrants or citizens. A recent Reuters report dove into court actions arising from ICE’s actions and found that the courts have ruled over 4,000 times on how ICE has imprisoned people illegally.
Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped. | Reuters. “ICE and CBP agents have routinely stopped vehicles and questioned the occupants in apparent retaliation for being followed by community members monitoring their activities.” How ICE Went Rogue: Analysis of the Legal Authorities Governing ICE – American Immigration Council.
Trump likes political protests abroad and is willing to threaten foreign governments with U.S. military action when a foreign government clamps down against protestors. “White House weighs whether to respond to the crackdown on this popular uprising against the Iranian clerical establishment, long hostile to America. President Trump has both threatened ‘strong’ military action against Iran should more demonstrators be killed”. Trump threatens ‘strong’ military action as Iran protest deaths rise: NPR. But this same man is too fragile to allow Americans to exercise their rights in protesting his actions that the courts have found violate the fundamental rights of Americans.
One of the many outlandish rationales for all the rights violations was a DHS Assistant Secretary justifying arrest and prolonged detention of an individual because she had “a conviction for passing bad checks,” and passing bad checks “does not make for an upstanding lawful permanent resident.” And how much was this check: $25 (Twenty-five dollars). She bounced a $25 check in 2014. ICE tried to deport her. – The Washington Post.
Now that DHS has clarified what undermines good character and what conduct falls short of being an upstanding, lawful person, we should ask all these government job-holding cult followers how they support a convicted criminal in the White House. The Criminal in Chief’s criminal conduct is so far beyond a $25 bad check that it does not register on a comparison meter or chart.
On this President’s Day, the only thing to remind ourselves about is whether there are any rights still available in practice to U.S. citizens. Trump’s efforts to gut the United States of its democratic principles and rights will progress without people speaking out, and defying his version of the Gestapo: DHS/ICE. While those wearing badges and carrying guns are doing the dirty work, none of this would be possible without approval from the very top. As the small sign once read: the buck stops here and “here” is the President’s desk.
This President is not worthy of any respect, not worthy of deference, and most definitely not worthy of us voting for anyone who supports his anti-American mode of governing.
Photo of Timothy Trainer in DC by AnnaGibbs.com
About the Timothy Trainer: Writing books is a passion for attorney Timothy Trainer, who for more than three decades focused on intellectual property issues in his day job. He has worked in government agencies and in the private sector and his assignments have taken him to 60 countries around the world.
Tim found time to pen a few non-fiction tomes, including his first book, Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights; the 15th edition was published in 2022. Thomson Reuters’ Aspatore Books published Tim’s next title in 2015, Potato Chips to Computer Chips: The War on Fake Stuff.
Fiction was a genre he always wanted to try. In 2019, Pendulum Over the Pacific, was released by Joshua Tree Publishing. “This political intrigue story is set in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., and centers on trade tensions between the U.S. and Japan in the late 1980s,” Tim explains.
In 2023, his first series hit bookstores: The China Connection.
In 2025, he published the sequel, The China Factor, which ranked #63 on the Amazon Asian Literature list in May.
Click here to learn about all of Tim’s books.
