Trump's Joe Rogan ICE Problem Is Getting Worse
PDS Published 01/14/2026
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ICE in Minnesota is now allegedly arresting refugees – including children – who have fled persecution, gone through exhaustive vetting, and been legally admitted to the country.
And not only that, the agency is reportedly transferring them to facilities in Texas – a state where immigrant children in detention have allegedly faced unsafe conditions;
A state where officers have been accused of beatings and sexual abuse.
And a state where a detained migrant died just this month – one of four people who have died in ICE custody so far in 2026 alone.
And all that, along with the administration’s embrace of neo-nazi slogans and the scenes pouring out of Minneapolis of masked men roaming the streets and taking people away?
That may be why you have even conservative podcaster Joe Rogan coming out and comparing ICE to “the Gestapo.”
So yeah, as usual, we got a lot to talk about today.
But let’s start with these refugees lawyers and immigrant rights advocates say are being detained.
It’s important to know that refugee applicants - before they’re admitted to the country – have to go through a very long and very difficult process.
Which involves vetting by the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and other government agencies.
And these people? They have to prove that they have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, political opinion, nationality or membership in a particular group. []
But last week, the White House said that wasn’t enough.
With Citizenship and Immigration Services announcing that it’d be starting a “sweeping initiative” to conduct new background checks and intensive verification of refugees to check for fraud and other crimes – saying:
“The initial focus is on Minnesota’s 5,600 refugees who have not yet been given lawful permanent resident status.”
And permanent resident status? That’s otherwise known as a “green card.”
And refugees in the US are technically required to apply for green cards within a year of admission.
But sometimes it takes a bit longer because of money or bureaucracy or whatever – the point is that’s reportedly never been cause to arrest refugees or threaten them with deportation. []
With Tracy Roy, legal director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, explaining to the New York Times:
“This has never happened, that you arrive as a refugee, and that on day 366, if you are still not a green card holder, you are deportable,”
“That has never been the way the statute has been interpreted.”
Although, either way, at least one of the detained refugees may have already filed documents to get her green card anyways – at least according to the woman’s daughter who said she had proof.
And a mix-up wouldn’t be all that surprising because even as the administration is demanding this one-year-deadline be met?
It’s suspended the processing of green card applications for people from nineteen countries – including Somalia, Myanmar, and Eritrea.
Which I mention because these are the three countries that refugees detained so far have reportedly come from – with most coming from Somalia.
And that’s not all that surprising because:
1) Minneapolis and the greater Twin Cities area host the largest Somali population in the United States
And 2) They’ve been a particular target of Trump – who has called them “garbage” he doesn’t want in the country.
And with that, his administration has moved to end Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants, leaving them until mid-March to leave the country.
With all this being seeming to be part of the backlash to the fraud scandal that has been wracking Minnesota because, according to the White House, 85 of the 98 people charged in connection so far are of Somali descent. []
Although, of course, that’s out of a population of around 80,000 in Minnesota.
And if Trump really cared about fraud he maybe wouldn’t have pardoned some of the country’s most prolific fraudsters and robbed their victims of millions of dollars in restitution.
And in any case, so far, there’s no indication that the refugees allegedly being detained are implicated.
With Roy, from the Immigrant Law Center, saying that none of the cases she had been contacted about involved a refugee who had committed a crime beyond traffic violations. []
But despite that, and despite an apparent lack of any due process, they’re being held against their will.
And while I highlighted allegations surrounding facilities in Texas specifically, I should note that there are concerns about conditions at detention centers all over the country.
This, as the administration has restricted the ability of lawmakers to inspect these facilities.
And there are actually plans to massively expand detention capacity – including by renovating industrial warehouses to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees.
And ultimately, there’s all this crazy stuff happening that we don’t even see.
Although, to be fair, we’re pretty distracted by all the crazy stuff we do see.
Right, because more and more videos just continue to come out of encounters with federal agents – claiming to show them shoving people on sidewalks (broll)
With two Minneapolis residents, for example, both American citizens, claiming to have been stopped in their vehicle by officers who fired pepper spray through the windshield vent and smashed the window. []
Also claiming one of the officers threatened them – telling them that “obstructing” ICE was how Renee Good got killed – and then taking them away. []
And with that, they said they were put in adjacent cells, and pressured to rat out their friends.
With one claiming he was even offered money or legal protection if he gave up the names of organizers or neighbors who are in the country illegally. []
But, in the end, they were let go without charges – saying they were then tear gassed on the way out of the facility by officers who were dealing with protesters in the area.
And all that brings us to these comments by Joe Rogan that are getting a lot of attention.
Right, because Rogan endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, but he has been somewhat critical of how deportations are being carried out.
And on his show with Rand Paul yesterday you had him going even further, saying:
“I can also see the point of view of the people that say, ‘Yeah, but you don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around snatching people up, many of which turn out to actually be U.S. citizens that just don’t have their papers on them. Are we really going to be the Gestapo? ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?” (2:40:25-2:40:41)
You also had Rogan questioning the Trump administration’s narrative of Renee Good’s death – saying:
“It’s complicated obviously, but it’s also very ugly to watch someone shoot a U.S. citizen, especially a woman, in the face.:
“I’m not that guy. I don't know what he thought. And again, this is a guy who had almost been run over, but it just looked horrific to me. I mean, when people are saying it’s justifiable because the car hit him, it seemed like she was kind of turning the car away.” (2:37:35-2:37:43 & 2:37:46-2:38:02)
Now, with that, he also went on to say that Good seemed “out of her fucking mind” and “crazy.”
And he seemed to express support for deportations in general – even giving weight to the conspiracy theory that undocumented immigrants have been brought into the country to win election for Democrats.
But the Gestapo comment is the one that’s turning heads – and it’s also an argument you have people making for multiple reasons.
Including that there have been recent posts by accounts within the administration that have been seen as a nod to neo-Nazis and extremists,
For example, two days after Renee Good was shot, DHS put a recruitment post on Instagram saying “We’ll Have Our Home Again” – the name of a song featuring language often used in white nationalist calls for a race war.
In fact, the lyrics opened the manifesto of the man behind a 2023 mass shooting in Jacksonville targeting Black people.
The Department of Labor has also gotten flak for a post over the weekend that said:
“One Homeland. One People. One Heritage.”
Which is not only a batshit way of describing America, it’s also, people have argued, pretty similar to Nazi propaganda declaring:
“One People, One Nation, One Leader”
And then there was also this thing with Kristi Noem standing at a podium plastered with the phrase: “One of Ours. All of Yours.”
Which people have claimed is associated with a Nazi massacre of a Czech village in 194.
Although, with that one, I will say, historians have said they’re not aware of that specific phrase being used historically in that context.
But you still have people saying that even if it’s not a real slogan it’s kind of an open threat.
And we may be seeing the administration following through on it not just with the presence of thousands of agents but with financial pressure.
Right, because you had Trump saying yesterday that his administration will start denying federal funding to entire states if they’re even home to so-called sanctuary cities.
Which are generally considered those that have policies limiting local law enforcement’s ability to work with federal immigration officers.
Now, of course, it’s unclear what Trump can actually do that will stick.
The courts have already shut down two of his past efforts to cut off funding for sanctuary jurisdictions – once during his first term and once during his current term.
A judge has also blocked his attempt to stop sending money to five Democratic-led states for daycare subsidies and other aid to low-income families with children.
Another judge has ruled against a threat to cut nearly $8 billion in clean energy funding to states that voted against him in the 2024 elections
And there’s a legal battle playing out over a warning from the Department of Agriculture that it would withhold funds from states refusing to provide data about SNAP recipients.
And with all that, it’s the mass deployment of federal agents that really seems to be having the greatest impact right now.
And notably, the identities of around thousands of them have allegedly just been leaked and shared with a website called “The ICE LIST”
Which calls itself a “journalistic project” meant to share information to “hold ICE members legally accountable.”
And notably, Dominick Skinner, who runs the website from the Netherlands, says individual reports about DHS personnel from the public have “spiked” since Good’s shooting – adding:
“I’ve had hotel staff sending post-it notes, bar staff sending DHS IDs, and loads of people saying their neighbour is an agent.” []
But that said, the alleged leak of 4,5000 names all at once, apparently from a whistleblower, reportedly may be the largest ever breach of department staff data.
And so you’ve had DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who is included on the site, claiming that the leak “would constitute 4,500 felonies” – and adding:
“The disgusting doxxing of our officers put their lives and their families in serious danger.”
“Anyone who doxxes our officers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Now, that said, since the website is hosted abroad, there may not be much the White House can do on that front.
And Skinner has said they plan to release “the majority” of names from the leak but will make exceptions – including for nurses and those who work in childcare at the agency.
Though, very interestingly, he claimed today that the website came under a “prolonged and sophisticated” cyber attack after news of the leak broke – saying the attack originated from Russia, and adding:
“...it is clear some people out there do not want the names of ICE and Border Patrol agents made public”[]
But we’ll have to wait to see if we get any more solid information about what’s happening there.
And in the meantime, speaking of ICE agents, we should also talk about what it takes to be one.
The answer may be….not much.
Because ICE is apparently hiring recruits before they submit basic paperwork or drug test results, and without conducting the most cursory background check.
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ICE is apparently hiring recruits before they submit basic paperwork or drug test results, and without conducting even the most cursory background check.
Or, at least, that was the experience of one recruit who wrote a Slate article exposing some absolutely horrifying issues with the agency’s hiring process.[]
Right, the recruit at the center of this story is Laura Jedeed, a freelance journalist who focuses on American conservative and far-right movements and has bylines in many big mainstream publications.
And in her article, Jedeed says that she went to an ICE Career Expo in Texas last August because she wanted “to learn what it was like to apply to be an ICE agent.”
But despite having no intent to actually join ICE, Jedeed thought her resume was pretty strong — strong enough that she could at least get her foot in the door to check out the whole recruiting process without immediate suspicion.
Right, she enlisted in the Army right out of high school and served two deployments in Afghanistan before working as a civilian analyst for a few years.
But, notably here, Jedeed intentionally left out any mention of her current occupation as a journalist.
And she figured that omission would prevent her from even making it through the initial review, because once the hiring managers did even a simple Google search, they would find a whole host of articles and posts condemning Trump, his administration, and the right-wing shift of the country at large.
Noting that she even has a dossier on AntifaWatch — a right-wing website that “tracks” alleged members of the group that conservatives have branded as a domestic terrorist organization.
So Jedeed goes to the expo and registers for an interview time slot, but when she gets there at 9 a.m., there’s barely anyone there: there’s no line to check or go through security, and the hallways and drug testing stations are nearly empty.
There are only six people ahead of her for the interview, and even though the expo was held in a massive ESports stadium, Jaded said there “couldn’t have been more than 150 people” in the event space during her entire visit.
Though, notably here, a reporter from The New York Times who also attended the expo said that around 3,000 people attended the event over the course of two days.
But, at least when Jedeed was there, the stadium was pretty damn empty.
And when it comes time for her interview, it ends up being pretty surface-level.
Right, she’s asked for basic identifying information, whether she has law enforcement or military experience, and her location preferences.
She explains the “gap” on her resume where she’s omitted her current occupation, saying she went to college part-time and was doing gig-economy stuff.
The interviewer then informs Jedeed that ICE is prioritizing current law enforcement first and would look at her resume, and if they like what they saw, she would get an email with next steps.
So she leaves the interview, assuming that’s the end of that, there’s no way they’ll hire her once they Google her name.
Still, she keeps a close eye on her inbox for a little while, but after a few days, she’s not as careful — and that’s how she initially missed the email from ICE giving her a tentative job offer.
And according to Jedeed, the email provided a series of steps she had to take on a tight deadline: she had just 48 hours to log onto USAJobs and fill out a Declaration for Federal Employment, then 5 more days to return the forms attached to the email.
With those forms including driver’s license information, an affidavit that she’d never been convicted for domestic violence, and consent for a background check.
And — this is a key thing for what happens next — the instructions in the email explicitly stated: “If you are declining the position, it is not necessary to complete the action items listed below.”
But because she didn’t see the email, she’s already missed the deadline to do all those things.
So Jedeed assumes that this is the natural end of her experiment — but plot twist! It gets SO much crazier.
Right, three weeks later, she gets ANOTHER email that reads: “Thank you for confirming that you wish to continue with the hiring process.”
Now, that comes as a bit of a surprise to Jedeed, given the fact that she literally did not confirm that she wished to continue with the hiring process…
But she still decides to go ahead and take the pre-employment drug test ICE requested just for shits and giggles — she’d come this far, right? And there was no way she was going to pass it because she had smoked pot 6 days before her test.
So she waits for a call to tell her she failed the drug test, but after not hearing anything for 9 days, she decides to log onto USAJobs and check her application to see if my drug test had come through.
And that’s when she learned ICE had offered her a job — all without her even knowing or ever submitting any of the paperwork they requested.
No background check, no domestic violence affidavit, no clean drug test result, nothing. Boom. Hired by ICE.
And while the portal noted that pre-employment activities remained pending, it also showed that she had accepted a final job offer and listed her onboarding status as “Entered On Duty.”[]
With the portal indicating that she had officially been Entered On Duty on September 30th — several days earlier, and supposedly the same day ICE sent her the final offer that she had supposedly accepted.
Now, notably here, Jedeed does acknowledge that maybe if she had accepted the job, they would have demanded her pre-employment paperwork, done some basic screening, and then fired her ASAP.
But, even then, she writes that “the pending and upcoming tasks list suggested a very different outcome.”
Noting that, on October 6th — a date three days in the future at this point — her physical fitness test had been initiated, and both her medical and background checks had been completed.
With Jedeed writing:
“Was ICE seriously going to let me start training without finding out the first thing about me? I reached out to ICE for an explanation, but never heard back.”
But whether ICE would let her start training, she never found out, because she ultimately declined the job.
Still, Jedeed says her experience should make everyone VERY concerned.
Noting that it's possible she experienced some kind of computer glitch, and this is a one-of-a-kind situation, but arguing:
“given all of the above, it seems far more likely that ICE is running an extremely leaky ship when it comes to recruitment.”
And adding that it’s basically impossible to know for sure because there’s so little oversight of ICE and the agency conceals its agents’ identities.
With Jedeed going on to wonder if the agency missed the fact that she was an anti-ICE journalist who didn’t even complete the paperwork, what other major things are they missing? Writing:
“How many convicted domestic abusers are being given guns and sent into other people’s homes? How many people with ties to white supremacist organizations are indiscriminately targeting minorities on principle, regardless of immigration status? How many rapists and pedophiles are working in ICE detention centers with direct and unsupervised access to a population that will be neither believed nor missed? How are we to trust ICE’s allegedly thorough investigations of the people they detain and deport when they can’t even keep their HR paperwork straight?”
And adding that if ICE didn’t screen her out, they also can’t be expected to hire competent recruits.
With her specifically pointing to the killing of Renee Good.
So clearly this is just an absolutely fucking wild saga, and one that raises some very serious concerns.
Now, as far as how ICE has responded, this morning, DHS posted a statement on X, writing:
“This is such a lazy lie. This individual was NEVER offered a job at ICE. Applicants may receive a Tentative Selection Letter following their initial application and interview that is not a job offer. It just means they are invited to submit information for review, similar to any other applicant.”[]
But, I mean, Jedeed literally shared a screenrecording of the portal where it says, in multiple locations, that she was sent a job offer, including one page that explicitly reads:
“The final job offer has been sent out for response on the following, September 30, 2025.”
And Jedeed had shared that screen recording well before DHS made their statement… so if anything is lazy, it’s their response.
Like you could have easily gone with “oh it was a one-time computer error on her end, this has never happened to anyone else,” and we’d never know because there’s no way to verify that.
Or you could have just done the classic “fake news! This is all doctored.”
But saying she was never hired when, at the very least, your own job portal indicates she was, and she has the receipts… work on those comms, boys.
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And getting back to the news, we’ve got to talk about how Denmark is mobilizing troops to protect Greenland - probably from Donald Trump.
Right, it may be hard to remember among everything going on here that the Trump administration is also gunning for a US takeover of Greenland.
Even though pretty much everyone else is against that idea - including residents in Greenland as well as leaders in Denmark, NATO, and the EU.
With Trump repeatedly claiming that the US needs Greenland for “national security” and saying that it’s covered by Chinese and Russian ships.
Which is a claim that both experts and Greenland residents have expressed doubt over.
And we saw Greenland’s Prime Minister making his stance on the issue very clear - saying,
“Greenland doves not want to be owned by the USA. Greenland does not want to be governed by the USA. Greenland will not be part of the USA. We choose the Greenland we know today, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark,”
“Now we are faced with a geopolitical crisis, and if we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark.” []
Which was also echoed by several Greenland residents - telling the New York Times they’re concerned about cultural differences as well as losing the Scandinavian welfare system.
Because exchanging free health care for whatever the fuck we have going on here doesn’t exactly sound the most appealing.
Anyway, even the vast majority of Americans aren’t really on board here.
According to a Reuters poll, only 17% of Americans support Trump’s efforts to annex Greenland. []
And we’ve even seen legislation introduced to stop him from using US resources to do so.
But Trump doesn’t really seem concerned with American or Greenlander opinions on the matter and he very pointedly has not ruled out taking Greenland by force.
He’s even promised that he will do this, quote, “the hard way” if necessary.
Which has led to several European countries promising to defend Greenland in the case of an invasion.
And that brings us to today’s news - Denmark is increasing, quote, “military presence in and around Greenland in the coming period, involving aircraft, ships, and soldiers.” []
And we’ve also seen Swedish armed forces arriving as a part of a group from several allied countries.
Which also includes Germany, France, and Norway. []
But even in the face of that, Trump still isn’t letting up.
In fact, early this morning, he doubled down on this whole thing again - this time, specifically saying that Greenland is necessary for his plan to build the “Golden Dome.”
Which, if you don’t remember, is his grand plan for a futuristic missile defense system.
He also directly called out NATO - saying they should be leading the way for the US to take Greenland. [[]
Or else, quote, “Russia or China will, and that is not going to happen!”
Adding that NATO isn’t an effective force or deterrent and,
“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
Now, Trump’s statement on Truth Social came just hours before a scheduled meeting between Denmark’s foreign minister, his Greenland counterpart, and JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss Greenland.
And this meeting is seen by Copenhagen as a crucial chance to ease tensions with the Trump administration.
With the Danish foreign minister saying,
“Our reason for seeking the meeting we have now been given was to move this whole discussion, which has not become less tense since we last met, into a meeting room where we can look each other in the eye and talk about these things.” []
Initially, it was meant to be just a meeting with Rubio but Vance reportedly jumped in as well - offering to host the meeting at the White House.
Which, according to Danish officials, does raise the stakes quite a bit.
Now, the meeting was held behind closed doors so we don’t have a lot to go on regarding how it went.
But we will likely see a press conference in the immediate future talking about what the plan is going forward.
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Right, because as we approach November, Trump seems determined not to let power slip out of his grasp the way it did in 2020.
Now whether Republicans get on board with that is an open question, but we know that privately at least, some of them think he’s a buffoon.
We just got secret grand jury transcripts confirming that from the now dead Georgia election interference case in 2022. [Headline/image]
Because in his testimony, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who just last week called Trump … [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 00:48 - 00:51] Caption: “the greatest president of all time,”
… also called Trump’s scheme to enlist fake electors from swing states in2020 “weird,” adding, “I don’t know what to tell you, just weird.” [Quote and continue b roll]
With him saying at the time, “I have told him more times than we can count that he fell short,” then adding: [Quote same link and image]
“IF YOU TOLD HIM MARTIANS CAME AND STOLE VOTES, HE’D BE INCLINED TO BELIEVE IT.” [Quote same link and same image]
But Graham’s not alone; you also had former Georgia state house speaker David Ralston [Rawl-stin], who resisted Trump’s demands that he try to throw out the election results … [Image]
[Audio, 05:05 - 05:18] Caption: [Donald Trump:] “You do it to uncover fraud. You can say, for transparency and to uncover fraud, possible fraud. So who’s gonna stop you for that?” [David Ralston:] “A federal judge.” *Chuckles*
… calling the fake electors scheme “the craziest thing I’ve heard.” [Quote]
And let’s not forget the amazing anecdote that Liz Cheney once recalled from January 6, after rioters had already stormed the Capitol.
Right, according to her, as her fellow GOP House members lined up to sign onto sheets objecting to Biden’s electoral votes, one of them, Mark Green, said sheepishly to no one in particular, ‘The things we do for the Orange Jesus.’” [Quote]
But as crazy as all that is, it’s not just ancient history; it matters right now.
Because Trump’s approval ratings are in the toilet, polling predicts Democrats are gonna win the midterms, and historically the governing party just tends to lose the first midterm after winning the presidency. [Chart]
So there’s a lot of discussion right now about: are we going to see a replay of 2020 this year? [B roll, 00:13]
Now of course, the presidency itself isn’t up for grabs until 2028, but in a speech to House Republicans this month Trump cast 2026 as existential for him too. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 01:50 - 02:02] Caption: “You gotta win the midterms, because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just gonna be, I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me. I’ll get impeached.”
With him at another point adding: [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 00:16 - 00:25] Caption: “Now I won’t say ‘cancel the election, they should cancel the election,’ because the fake news will say, ‘he wants the elections cancelled! He’s a dictator!’ They always call me a dictator.”
By the way, notice how he said he would refrain from doing it not because it’s actually dictatorial, but because people would call him mean names?
Anyway, some experts worry he might invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy the military, the national guard, or federal agents to Democratic cities on election day. [Headline]
With exactly that fear coming up on The View this week.
[Clip, 00:00 - 00:13]
But even short of just cancelling the elections — something Trump definitely can’t do legally — there are numerous levers he can pull to try to make things go his way.
Right, he already got Republicans in Texas, Ohio, Missouri, and North Carolina to redraw their Congressional districts five years ahead of schedule, and Florida still may join them. [Image]
Then, in August, he announced on Truth Social that he directed his Commerce Department to immediately begin work on a new census that excludes non-citizens. [Post]
Which would be huge because the census determines how many electoral votes and House seats each state gets, as well as how their maps are drawn.
Though it’s highly unlikely Trump can force through a new, mid-decade census in time to impact the midterms, especially with primaries happening early in the year.
But there’s much more; fore example, he “truthed” last August:
“I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly “Inaccurate,” Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election. … WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections. Remember, the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do. … THE MAIL-IN BALLOT HOAX, USING VOTING MACHINES THAT ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER, MUST END, NOW!!!” [Post]
Now uh, just a few things on that.
First of all, it’s not true that states are merely an “agent” of the federal government.
In fact, if anything, it’s the opposite; right, the Constitution gives states broad leeway to run elections how they see fit.
Second, there’s no evidence that mail-in ballots are fraudulent, but more importantly, neither is there for voting machines.
In fact, if anything, they’re much more accurate and faster than tallying votes by hand.
So if Trump got his way and states stopped using voting machines altogether, states would have to recruit hundreds of thousands of additional poll workers, results would take days, weeks or even months to compute, and recounts and court challenges would probably spike because the tallies would be less reliable. [Quote, find “reliable”]
But even if he can’t get rid of them, Trump can still sow distrust in the machines, then exploit that confusion to do the nuclear option: seizing them by force.
Right, during his interview with The New York Times last week, he expressed regret that he did not order the National Guard to seize voting machines after the election in 2020. [Quote, first line]
Because for context, in December of that year, two of his most crackpot outside advisors, Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn, urged him to direct the military or federal agents to seize voting machines, and they even presented him with draft executive orders to do it. [Quote same link, find “draft”]
With Trump seeming receptive at the time; right, he brought up the idea with his then Attorney General Bill Barr, who shot it down, then he directed Rudy Giuliani to ask high-ranking DHS officials if they could legally seize the machines, but was shot down again. [Quote same link, find “Rudolph”]
So now, Trump told The Times he “should have” moved forward with the idea, which raises the question: [Quote same link]
If he does try it in 2026, who’s going to stop him?
Probably not Pam Bondi, who, as Trump’s lawyer in 2020, claimed that he won Pennsylvania, then dodged questions about whether Biden won during her confirmation hearings as attorney general.
Certainly not Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general and head of the DoJ’s civil rights division, which oversees voting issues, who’s an election denier.
Heather Honey, the deputy assistant secretary at Homeland Security who now helps oversee election infrastructure, is also unlikely; right, she worked on a probe into Arizona’s 2020 election and has challenged voters’ eligibility in Pennsylvania.
Then there’s Eric Neff, the acting chief of the DoJ’s voting rights section, who once filed highly dubious charges against the head of an election software company when he was a prosecutor.
And of course Kash Patel has his own history of election denialism.
Hell, Trump’s White House reportedly vetted job applicants all the way down to entry-level positions with questions like “Who won the 2020 presidential election?” [Headline]
So even if Democrats do well, they worry that Republicans with their extensive gerrymandering, voter suppression, and other tactics just might cling to their razor-thin House majority anyway.
And with the lunatics running the asylum at the executive branch, one of the main checks left on Trump’s power is the conservative judiciary.
Which does hold out some hope, though how much is really an open question.
Right, the Supreme Court upheld the gerrymandered map in Texas, but there are other maps still being considered.
Also, it dealt Trump a surprising blow recently by ruling that his deployment of national guard to Chicago was illegal, so it’s doubtful whether they’d support a scheme to seize voting machines. [Headline]
But it’s also set to hear a case this summer addressing the legality of Trump’s executive order barring election officials from accepting mail ballots received after election day, even if they’re postmarcked before. [Headline]
This as the U.S. Postal Service just changed its guidelines so that some mail won’t be postmarked until days after it’s put in the mailbox. [Headline]
But we’re still many months away from November, and there’s a lot that can happen in that time, including the resurrection of Jeffrey Epstein.
So for now, let me know, are you hopeful, are you terrified? What’s your nightmare scenario?
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Trump flipped off a heckler yesterday, and now the heckler is the one facing trouble at his job.
Right, yesterday Trump toured a Ford plant in Michigan, and in a viral video, you can vaguely hear an employee off-camera call him a pedophile protector.
“Pedophile protector, wooo!” (0:00-0:02)
And Trump’s response was to point at the person, seemingly mouth fuck you twice, and then give them the middle finger.
In fact, the White House didn’t even try to deny this and defended the move, with a spokesperson saying:
“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
But the heckler’s place of work is not adamantly defending him.
With the United Auto Workers saying that the Ford employee was suspended after this incident.[]
The employee has been identified by multiple outlets as TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old line worker at the factory.
And he told the Washington Post:
“As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever.[]
But, he is concerned about the future of his job and says he was “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”
And in case there was any doubt what he meant by “pedophile protector,” he clarified that he was in fact referencing the Epstein Files.
Explaining he was just about 60 feet from Trump, who could hear him clearly, so he thought:
“I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity. And today I think I did that.”
He describes himself as an independent who has never voted for Trump, though he has voted for other Republicans in the past.
And as for Ford’s response, you had a spokesperson saying that:[]
"One of our core values is respect and we don’t condone anyone saying anything inappropriate like that within our facilities. When that happens, we have a process to deal with it, but we don’t get into specific personnel matters."
With the company’s executive chairman, Bill Ford, also trying to downplay the interaction as just a brief, six second moment out of an otherwise very successful tour.
But it has gone incredibly viral and prompted a ton of backlash for Trump, people thinking that flipping a constituent off is low and unpresidential even for him. [][][]
Others shooting back at the White House’s response, arguing that the heckler was not shouting expletives, and the only obscene part of that interaction was Trump giving a “fuck you” gesture. []
And so some have rallied behind the employee, with a Representative from Michigan saying she spoke to him, and that he is rattled by all this, that she hopes he does not get fired, and noting that it is not even unheard of for politicians to be heckled on factory floors. []
Others making GoFundMes to support him amid his suspension, some already with hundreds of thousands racked up in donations.
But for now, we will have to see if Trump addresses this situation, or if any other discourse comes of this, but I would love to know your thoughts on Trump just giving the finger to a Ford worker.
