Bros Will Be Bros: Hegseth Intervenes in Kid Rock Flyby
INSIDE: Amit Mehta ... Donald Trump ... Richard Leon
‘Carry On, Patriots’
It is one of the burdens of the Trump era that the silliest, most absurd things often implicate grave matters of historic import.
The Republic will not rise or fall on Army helicopter pilots joyriding over the Tennessee mansion of Kid Rock, but the civilian secretary of defense intervening for political purposes in the military’s investigation and discipline process for the misconduct erodes command and control and good order and discipline.
Hegseth’s “it’s all good here” tweet came after the Army suspended the pilots of the two Apache helicopters and initiated an investigation. Given past incidents, it would likely have led to discipline of the pilots, in accordance with longstanding military policies against these kinds of stunts.
There’s a long history here of cowboying that the military has sought to rein in, and it’s unconnected to the midair collision last year in D.C. between a civilian airliner and an Army helicopter. In 1998, for example, 20 people were killed in Italy when their cable car plunged to the ground after a U.S. Marine Corps aircraft flying too low and too fast sheared the car’s cable. No one in the cable car survived.
The two Apaches, based at Ft. Campbell along the Tennessee-Kentucky border, also buzzed the No Kings rally in Nashville before the close approach to Kid Rock’s swimming pool. Army officials said before Hegseth’s intervention that it wasn’t clear yet if the flight path over the protest was coincidental or another unapproved deviation, the WaPo reported:
Within about two hours on Saturday, one of the helicopters flew by demonstrators six times at McGregor Park in Clarksville, Tennessee, dipping as low as 625 feet, according to publicly available flight data. At one point, the aircraft briefly circled an area where protesters were gathered.
Kid Rock is a MAGA diehard, as high-profile a pro-Trump celebrity as you’ll find. Hegseth is letting the pilots off the hook — and undermining their chain of command and the rules and regs that all military pilots must adhere to — with a bro-to-bro thumbs up that it’s all good because of the naked political affiliations involved.
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Trump Issues Wild New EO on Voting
In his latest effort to seize extralegal control over the state-run midterm elections, President Trump issued a new executive order that purports to direct:
1. DHS to create a “State Citizenship List” of “individuals confirmed to be United States citizens who will be above the age of 18 at the time of an upcoming Federal election and who maintain a residence in the subject State.”
2. the U.S. Postal Service not to mail ballots to anyone not already on a separate approved list it keeps called the “Mail-In and Absentee Participation List.”
Election law expert Rick Hasen tries to make sense of this structure, which is odd and convoluted in addition to plainly unlawful:
To put this in plain terms: the order would use the USPS, which is not under the direct control of the President, to interfere with a state’s lawful transmission of ballots. If the state does not comply with these rules, federal law would purport to interfere with a state’s conduct of its own elections.
The EO is unlawful in numerous respects and will face immediate legal challenges.
Birthright Citizenship at SCOTUS
Detect a theme?
Madiba K. Dennie: The Supreme Court Has Never Heard a Case As Easy As This One
Pema Levy: The Nonsense Case Against Birthright Citizenship
TPM’s Kate Riga and Josh Kovensky: The Supreme Court will consider President Trump’s far-right fever dream that perverts what the Constitution already says about who gets to be an American citizen.
TPM’s live coverage of this morning’s oral arguments, which President Trump is attending in person, is already underway right here.
Mass Deportation Watch
TPM’s Josh Kovensky: Inside the Bizarre Feedback Loop Between DHS and MAGA Influencers
Chicago Tribune: The final numbers are in on Operation Midway Blitz: 3,800 people detained, 2,500 deported, most without criminal records.
Trump DOJ Watch
ProPublica: Trump DOJ Dropped 23,000 Criminal Investigations in Shift to Immigration
Politico: Trump tactics leave federal prosecutors’ offices rudderless
NYT: DOJ “Struggles” to Respond to Trump’s $10B Suit Against I.R.S
Jan. 6 Never Ends
In the long-running lawsuit by police officers and Democratic lawmakers against President Trump for the Jan. 6 attack, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta of D.C. ruled that Trump’s speech at the Ellipse was political and not covered by the official acts immunity lavished upon him by the Supreme Court.
The Purges
FBI: Three fired FBI agents who worked on Trump investigations have filed a class action lawsuit in what is the most comprehensive effort to challenge the unlawful retributive terminations.
VOA: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals paused a lower court ruling that had ordered the reinstatement of about 1,000 Voice of America reporters and support staff, meaning the agency will continue to be crippled while the Trump administration’s appeal plays out.
Trump’s PBS/NPR EO Unconstitutional
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss of D.C. issued an injunction barring the Trump administration from implementing or enforcing the May 2025 executive order that purported to end federal funding for public broadcasting. Since the lawsuit was filed, Congress rescinded a billion dollars in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has since dissolved.
Ominous Headline of the Day
“Federal Judge Approves Trump Effort to Obtain List of Jews From Penn“
Notable
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker of Tyler, Texas, rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to allow religious leaders to endorse candidates from the pulpit.
Judge (!) Blocks Trump Ballroom
Exclamation-point-happy Judge Richard Leon of D.C. issued a preliminary
injunction blocking the continued construction of the vanity ballroom project over the ruins of the East Wing of the White House “until Congress authorizes its completion.”
“No statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have,” Leon ruled.
President Trump reacted predictably to the adverse ruling, shifting his argument to the need for a renovated bunker under the old East Wing and hardened security for the White House.
“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!”
The White House quickly appealed the ruling.
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Overwhelmed by today's MM, David, as there's hours worth of newsy items to pore over, especially the link to TPM's Scotus "citizenship" hearing, where of course Justice Alito is beclowning himself. Ironically enough, the NYT this a.m. ran a lengthly and well-researched piece on the immigrant origins of several notable Americans, including Alito. In the article the Times showed the draft card of Alito's father — also called Samuel — where he listed his birthplace as Trenton, NJ rather than his true birthplace, Ancona, Italy. Wait, lying on a federal form? Good Heavens, strip him of his naturalization! Not a "true" American!
See how that works, Sammie?
About "Trump Issues Wild New EO on Voting" - you neglected to add at least one other violently illegal aspect of his EO. Per Heather Cox Richardson's morning newsletter today:
"Nonetheless, Trump is ordering the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to work with the Social Security Administration to create a list of verified U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state. The order directs the U.S. Postal Service to send mail-in ballots only to voters on the list, and to mark each ballot with its own unique barcode. It threatens any states refusing to cooperate with the order with a loss of federal funding and directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate anyone wrongfully distributing mail-in ballots. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council notes that 'there is no such thing as a federal list of citizens. It does not exist.' ”
This would rip the veil of secrecy from the ballot, allowing Trump's goons to identify who every mail-in voter voted for. It would violate the secrecy of the Social Security database. And, of course, Trump has zero authority over any aspect of elections. The whole thing is wildly unconstitutional.