MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2025
Margaritas and human misconduct: On Sunday's morning's Fox & Friends Weekend, Rachel Campos-Duffy got to talking—once again—about Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his alleged margaritas.
On this occasion, as we'll show you below, it got even worse than that. Before we show you what she said, let's get clear on the state of play as Sunday morning started.
The background went like this:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia has indeed been in the United States as an "illegal immigrant." He has been living in the United States, without authorization, ever since he was 16 years old.
He has been charged with serious crimes by the Trump DOJ. Here you see the AP's report on the state of play as yesterday morning's Fox & Friends Weekend program came on the air:
US seeks to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he refused plea offer in his smuggling case
Immigration officials said they intend to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he declined an offer to be sent to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges, his defense attorneys told a court Saturday.
The Costa Rica offer came late Thursday and included a requirement that he remain in jail for the time being and then serve whatever sentence he would receive for pleading guilty, according to a brief filed in Tennessee, where the criminal case was brought. After Abrego Garcia left jail on Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified his attorneys that he would be deported to Uganda and should report to immigration authorities on Monday.
Later on Friday, “the government informed Mr. Abrego that he has until first thing Monday morning—precisely when he must report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office—to accept a plea in exchange for deportation to Costa Rica, or else that offer will be off the table forever,” his defense attorneys wrote.
He has been charged with a serious crime. Instead of simply putting him on trial in a court of law, then sending him to prison if he's convicted, the Trump administration came up with a better idea:
They wanted him to plead guilty and serve an apparently unspecified prison sentence. After he had served that sentence, he would be deported to Costa Rica, a highly civilized place to land.
Either that, or he would be sent to Uganda, a very different place. This offer came from the same administration which had mistakenly remanded him to one of the world's most notorious prisons in March of this year, then seemed determined to leave him there.
For whatever reason, the administration doesn't seem to want to put him on trial. They were threatening a very challenging deportation if he wasn't willing to plead guilty to serious crimes.
How about it? Has Abrego Garcia committed the crimes with which he's been charged?
We can't necessarily tell you that! As a general matter, this nation maintains courts of law—featuring judges, lawyers and juries!—to settle questions like that.
The DOJ wanted him to enter a guilty plea—a plea he didn't want to make. That was the state of play as Campos-Duffy and a pair of simpering colleagues turned up on the air.
Campos-Duffy said that Abrego Garcia is "clearly guilty." Except for the word "clearly," she could of course be right!
On the other hand, it will be hard to maintain an American nation when our most-watched "cable news" channel insists on paying people of Campos-Duffy's caliber to peddle such foofaw as this:
CAMPOS-DUFFY (8/24/25): He could have pled guilty to human smuggling, which he did! He was in a vehicle with a bunch of illegal aliens. There was no luggage—it was obvious what was happening.
He said he's not in a gang, but he has gang tattoos. He said he's not in a gang, but "I couldn't be sent to a certain prison because, you know, the gangs were going to, you know, retaliate against me because I'm not in a gang."
It doesn't make any sense. None of it makes sense. I mean, as he was picking up the margarita glass, there were tattoo signs on his fingers!
So this guy is clearly guilty, and he is definitely an illegal alien. And they offered him to go to Costa Rica, a place not far from his own home country of El Salvador, And he said, "No, I'm not going to plead guilty. I'm not going to Costa Rica." So his option is Uganda!
The pseudo-discussion continued from there. To watch the whole thing, just click here, then continue to click.
Is Abrego Garcia guilty as charged? He certainly may be! Also, it's true that he was in this country without authorization. On that basis, he was therefore subject to deportation every step of the way.
Does he have a right to a trial on the charges before him? Not necessarily, no. To which we'll append a second question:
Does the Fox News Channel have the right to put people like Campos-Duffy on the air?
As we've noted in the past, Campos Duffy is remarkably genial—among her own. She's also a bit of a religionist, and an apparent true believer of the tribal kind.
She has been misstating basic facts about this case ever since the case became a high-profile news event. She's allowed to do that 1) because it serves the corporate messaging interest, and 2) because our tribunes here in Blue America simply don't care enough to report or discuss such endless public misconduct.
As we noted on Saturday, Campos Duffy played the margarita card on that day's show, then she played it again on Sunday. Her willingness to continue doing such things is an insult to what little is left of the American interest.
Right from the start, she has been saying that Abrego Garcia's story about danger from gangs in El Salvador "doesn't make sense." As anyone who has bothered to read the background material knows, his actual story about the gangs did in fact make perfect sense, whether it was true or not.
(The immigration judge who ruled that he couldn't be deported to El Salvador understood the basics of the story and seemed to believe it was true.)
At this point, the yak about the tattoos is embarrassing. The playing of the margarita card is an insult to the American interest.
Campos-Duffy can, and does, keep this up for four hours straight. A modern nation can't function this way—not with this conduct from Red America, and not with the utter lack of interest shown by our own Blue elites.
Abrego Garcis may be guilty as charged (or not). Campos Duffy plainly is, along with her simpering friends!
Miss the point much?
ReplyDeleteNone of this justifies KAG being shipped to Uganda or El Salvador, no matter how shabby and confusing the reportage may be.
As I recall Garcia's original deportation was held up, NOT because the judge found him innocent. It was held up only because he was allegedly in danger if he was deported back to his own country. No court has ever found that he wasn't guilty of the acts he was charged with.
ReplyDeleteDavid, he was never charged with anything before. At the deportation hearing, it was suggested that he might be in a gang. The judge found it might be true. And yet, after all this, Trump still deported him to El Salvador in defiance of the court order prohibiting exactly that.
DeleteWhy are government judges hearing cases when we're running a deficit?
DeleteThe government has no place in our courts.
Delete“A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we would like a dictator.’ I don’t like a dictator; I’m not a dictator. - Trump, today
ReplyDeleteHere Trump accomplishes two things:
1) he introduces into the conversational flow the idea that the US should have a dictator. In fact he informs us that “a lot of people” think we should, so this is not just some fringe opinion;
2) like any wannabe dictator, he would be a reluctant dictator. He doesn’t even like dictators, and certainly isn’t one now. Still, lots of people are calling for a dictator….
“Get over [your] dictator phobia.”
DeleteJD Vance’s hero, Curtis Yarvin
Trump is wrong no matter what he says. If he says, "I'm a dictator," he's bad. It he says, "I'm not a dictator," he's bad."
DeleteI think it is the case that Trump is trying to have as much power as he legally can obtain. But, our Constitutional system would not permit Trump to become a dictator.
Our constitutional system is dying.
DeleteIf he says, "I'm a dictator," he's bad.
DeleteIs that controversial, Dickhead, you fucking fascist freak?
It he says, "I'm not a dictator," he's bad."
He's a fucking liar, Dickhead, you fucking fascist freak. You approve of his lying, so fuck off.
David doesn't care if Trump's lying, anymore then he cares that Trump is a child rapist.
DeleteAt least I care whether black people in DC are murdered.
DeleteTrump is wrong no matter what he says. If he says, "I'm a dictator," he's bad. It he says, "I'm not a dictator," he's bad."
DeleteYou're lost and confused as usual, David. No president has to muse about not being a dictator, because that's well-understood. When he does bring it up, mentioning "a lot of people" -- who, by the way, don't exist -- he's certainly brining into the public consciousness that he should be a dictator.
Why doesn't anyone ask him to name these people.
Ilya - It's not like nobody before ever brought up the concept of Trump being a dictator. I put the two words into a search engine and got 22 million hits
DeleteRight, because Trump keeps talking about being a dictator and he's acting like one.
Delete"22 million hits".
DeleteThat's like one/ one-millionth of the hits you get when you put Epstein, Trump in a search engine.
"At least I care whether black people in DC are murdered."
DeleteThe only people who think Republicans don't care about the well-being of black people, are other Republicans.
If you aren’t going to Right-wing blogs and repeating David in Cal’s claims about how great Trump has been for black people, you are missing out on one of life’s greatest joys.
DeleteIt’s too good not to share.
There’s nothing like being called every derogatory name in the book by a fascist.
Delete@8:11 - Murders in DC have averaged about 1 every other day. Since the National Guard began patrolling a week and a half ago, there were no murders.
DeleteWhat about grocery prices and the deficit, David?
DeleteWhy do you care about them exactly as much as you care about murders in DC (i.e. not at all)?
Trump is terrible on the enormous deficit. The Dems are even worse. They oppose every dollar of reduced spending, even wasteful spending.
DeleteDon't fall for future holocaust denier David in Cal's, phony concern about the deficit. This is the same clown who votes Republican, and claims he cares about the welfare of black people.
Delete3. He's trolling dingbats like Hector.
DeleteHey you fascist prick David, Dems grow the economy to pay for things. Repubics trash the joint forcing Dems to have to bail the economy out on top working to reduce the deficit. Your fucking fascist bullshit is really getting tired after 70 years of Laffer curve trickle down fucking nonsense. How the fuck do you not see this jagoff, or are you just playing? Either way fuck off already.
Delete"our Constitutional system would not permit Trump to become a dictator."
ReplyDeleteBut if lots of people want him to, surely the Supreme Court could discern a new and better reading of the Constitution's original intent....
Ezra Klein quoted a political scientist in one of his podcasts, who said: no political system can withstand a truly bad actor. And Trump is surely that.
DeleteIn any case, our political system is very well suited for being taken over by a dictator. And our constitution is antiquated nonsense.
Mostly agree. I will add that the courts, particularly this Supreme Court have done a great deal to render the constitution a meaningless pile of nonsense.
DeleteThese nasty pieces of shit have been working on oligarch/authoritarian government since that sick piece of shit Goldwater had his ass handed to him by LBJ. LBJ gave the blahs a couple bones and white fake fucking asshole Christians shit a cow. What a bunch of nasty fucks these fakers are, dwelling in book 1. You never ever hear these shits talking about how fucking woke Jesus was, compassion, love the neighbors, be good boys and girls and pay your fucking taxes. No sermon on the mount. Just fucking hate in gods name. Sickfucks, grifters, and marks - the whole lot of you.
DeleteWe need more common sense programs, like de-funding the police.
ReplyDeleteAgree a poor way of saying spend appropriate funds on the communities to get the most bang for the buck. But all that don't fit on a sign and you racist fucks are too fucking stupid to do nuance so what's the diff?
DeleteOur Sec of Defense has white supremacist tattoos, but it doesn't mean that he is a ....never mind, bad example.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, not to overstate the obvious, but there's absolutely no way that they could prove their phony human trafficking charges against Garcia. Everyone can plainly see that the charges are made up of whole cloth.
Maybe if they use the word "obviously", that will be considered proof.
DeleteYou know, the way the word "obviously" is used to prove that not all Republican voters are bigots.
Not a single Senator asked about the DUI hires tattoos. Fucking weak.
DeletePritzker: Trump looked at the cameras and asked for me personally to say, Mr. President, can you do us the honor of protecting our city? Instead, I say, Mr. President, do not come to Chicago.
ReplyDeleteYour remarks about this effort have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties
Two friends and I were held up at knifepoint on the el in Chicago years ago. From what I read, crime is a big problem. I am furious at political leaders who turn down any potential help in reducing crime.
DeleteI saw a political cartoon the other day. It showed Trump having cured cancer leading to demonstrators carrying signs supporting cancer. IMO Pritzker's decision to oppose the help of the National Guard is just about as ridiculous. And tragic for Chicago residents.