This week’s Joseph Welch and Neville Chamberlain Award Winners Courage and cowardice in the face of American tyranny Robert Reich Apr 21 Friends, The week’s Joseph Welch Award for courage in the face of American tyranny goes to two senators whose actions epitomize Joseph Welch when he stood up to Senator Joe McCarthy in 1954. The first is Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who traveled to El Salvador to seek answers about the detention and safety of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident whom the Trump regime abducted and sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, admittedly in “error” due to a 2019 court order prohibiting his deportation — yet refuses to do anything about. The Trump regime alleged Garcia was affiliated with the MS-13 gang — an accusation his attorneys and his family firmly deny. It is still just an allegation; there has been no arrest, no evidence, and no legal findings. Yesterday, Van Hollen accused the Trump administration of “outright defying” the Supreme Court’s order to facilitate the return of Garcia.“They are flouting the courts as we speak,” he charged. “Facilitating his return means something more than doing nothing, and they are doing nothing.” The second Joseph Welch Award goes to Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who has often broken with the Republican Party to criticize Trump. She was the first Republican senator to announce she would vote against some of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, the only one to criticize his berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the only one to criticize the chaos that Elon Musk and his U.S. DOGE Service are causing. Last week, Murkowski made a courageous admission about the reality of serving in public office at a time when a tyrant in the Oval Office is bent on retribution against his political foes. Speaking at a conference in Anchorage, she said, “We are all afraid.” And then, after pausing for about five seconds, she continued: “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.” (See clip below.) A critical step in stopping Trump’s viciousness is for Republican lawmakers to stand up to it, speak up against it, and condemn it. Congratulations, Senator Murkowski. By contrast, this week’s Neville Chamberlain Award for trying to appease the tyrant goes to two individuals who epitomize the efforts of Britain’s former prime minister to appease Hitler. First is Justice Samuel Alito, who (joined by Justice Clarence Thomas) wrote that the Supreme Court’s decision to block the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan migrants under a wartime law was “premature.” Premature? It was clear to the seven other justices that the Trump regime couldn’t be trusted to live up to an earlier ruling that said detainees were entitled to be notified of government plans to deport them — in a way that would allow them to challenge the move. The second Neville Chamberlain Award goes to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) who opined yesterday that Trump has the legal authority to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador on the basis of unproven allegations. “What he’s doing is absolutely legal, which is removing those that do not have legal status in this country, that have proven to be the worst of the worst.” “Proven?” The whole point is that nothing has been proven. My friends, we are coming ever closer to the point when the Trump regime is no longer a legitimate part of our democracy, but a dictatorship. Courage is our only real weapon against its vileness. Here is Senator Murkowski: