Ex-GOP Official Calls Out Karoline Leavitt: ‘Critical Thinking Has Died’

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) says critical thinking has left the United States, pointing squarely at White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who argued Wednesday that a federal judge first appointed by former President George W. Bush is “a Democrat activist.”

Her comment came after U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg verbally ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to turn around planes deporting hundreds of Venezuelan migrants Saturday to a brutal prison in El Salvador under the Aliens Enemies Act of 1798.

The completed deportations have since prompted an ongoing clash between the Justice Department and Boasberg, with Leavitt arguing Wednesday that the legal system is biased — because Trump received more injunctions than any other president this century.

Jolly veritably torched the press secretary during an appearance Wednesday on MSNBC.

“I think critical thinking has largely died in the United States of America and Karoline Leavitt is probably a perfect example of that,” said Jolly. “And so what? What if he is an activist? Karoline’s an activist, as well. Most of the people in the Trump administration are activists.”

“And to the notion of too many injunctions against Donald Trump, that’s probably because he’s the one president who’s acted the most outside the bounds of his executive authority,” he continued.

Boasberg has ruled in favor of Trump numerous times before, for example ordering the release of 15,000 documents on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server when she was Trump’s presidential opponent during the 2016 election.

Leavitt nonetheless told the press Wednesday that Boasberg had it out for Trump.

“Judge Boasberg is a Democrat activist,” she said Wednesday. “He was appointed by [former President] Barack Obama. His wife donated more than $10,000 to Democrats. And he has consistently shown disdain for the president and his policies and it’s unacceptable.”

Though he was indeed elevated by Obama to be a U.S. district court judge in 2011, Boasberg was confirmed 96-0 by the Senate — and originally appointed in 2002 by Bush.

The judge dismissed a lawsuit in 2017 seeking Trump’s personal tax returns to be released, and issued sentences for defendants involved in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, that were more lenient than what prosecutors were seeking.

“The death of critical thinking is real,” Jolly said Wednesday. “This White House is a perfect example of it. And I think this is also when there’s this debate, which surprises me sometimes, whether or not we’re in a constitutional crisis. Yes, we are.”

“We’ve been in a constitutional crisis since we elected an insurrectionist,” he continued.