En una publicación en X, la exfiscal federal Barbara McQuade señaló un reportaje del New York Times de Peter Baker como una señal alentadora de que personas que antes podrían haber complacido a Trump ahora lo desafían abiertamente. Baker también destacó lo que describió como una "señal preocupante para Trump" entre los republicanos.

Baker escribió en el Times: “He may yet bring Canada and Israel to heel through force of personality, tariffs or other means. The Supreme Court has given him one free pass after another to use his executive authority as he sees fit, whether it be taking control of independent agencies, building his cherished ballroom or trying to crack down on mail-in voting. And every time someone predicts that Republicans in Congress will finally begin exhibiting some independence, they prove the prognosticators wrong. While they have resisted his pressure in some instances lately, Senate confirmation of Todd Blanche as attorney general made clear that he still dominates his party’s congressional wing.”

Baker continuó: “But even among Republicans, there are some worrisome signs for the president. Although he has successfully punished several prominent Republican lawmakers he deemed disloyal by rallying his MAGA base to defeat them in party primaries this year, GOP voters have rejected Mr. Trump’s endorsed candidates in 10 nominating contests, including six in August alone. Polls show his support among Republicans slipping.”

Después de que Trump ganó la elección presidencial de 2024 y regresó a la Casa Blanca, grandes directores ejecutivos que no necesariamente eran partidarios de sus políticas —desde Jeff Bezos, de Amazon, hasta Mark Zuckerberg, de Meta/Facebook— procuraron evitar ofenderlo. Durante la campaña, Bezos canceló de forma muy comentada un editorial de The Washington Post que respaldaba a la candidata demócrata Kamala Harris. Con ese contexto, McQuade dijo que el reportaje de Baker sugería un cambio más amplio de tono: más personas en Estados Unidos y otros países están entendiendo que no hay una ventaja en apaciguar a Trump, especialmente cuando concesiones anteriores no han puesto fin necesariamente al conflicto.

En su publicación del miércoles en X, McQuade dijo que el reportaje de Baker era una señal esperanzadora de que “people are finally learning that capitulating to a mob boss only brings more pain.” Añadió: “Standing up and speaking out is effective. And contagious. Pass it on.”

McQuade pasó siete años como fiscal federal para la Oficina del Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos (DOJ) en el Distrito Este de Michigan bajo Barack Obama. Ahora es profesora de derecho en la University of Michigan y analista legal frecuente para MS NOW, antes MSNBC.

Para subrayar su punto de que “capitular” ante Trump solo trae “more pain,” McQuade, ahora de 61 años, compartió el artículo de Baker y sostuvo que las personas que antes podrían haber complacido a Trump ahora lo desafían abiertamente.

Baker escribió: “This is a summer movie that's been seen before: President Trump makes demands. When the other side does not give him what he wants, he escalates with bombastic threats of crippling punishment. The other side surrenders. Except that Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, evidently has not read the script. His refusal to buckle in the face of Mr. Trump's trade ultimatum even at the cost of retaliatory tariffs has flipped the narrative of the president's second term. Instead of giving in, Mr. Carney is testing whether defiance is a viable strategy against Mr. Trump.”

Pero Carney, subrayó Baker, no es la única persona que desafía a Trump.

“Universities and law firms are rebuffing his directives rather than signing on the bottom line,” noted the Times reporter. “Bond markets are rebelling against his fiscal policies. Even the ABC network, whose $16 million payment to settle a Trump lawsuit was seen as an early example of yielding to the president, has discovered that it did not buy peace and is now suing his administration for threatening its broadcast licenses. None of which means that Mr. Trump should be underestimated. Although his poll numbers are at or near historic lows, he remains the most dominant figure on the planet, able to reset the terms of the global conversation on a whim with a social media post and unafraid of wielding power in ways that his predecessors did not.”

McQuade critica con frecuencia a Trump. En un tuit del 23 de agosto, cuestionó a Trump y al fiscal general de Estados Unidos Todd Blanche por su “appalling transformation of DOJ as a tool of retribution.”