Hey everyone. Welcome back.
Our top story today: the fallout from the Air Force One decoy operation. The President finally faced questions about using his own staff and the press corps as decoys, and his answer, of course, made everything worse.
I was on CNN yesterday where I talked about this, take a look:
It really is all lies. Constantly and about everything.
Also today: Trump flirts with declaring a national emergency so he can take over the midterm elections; the White House pushes the Justice Department to prosecute a 67 year old Olympian over the Reflecting Pool for a second time; the Treasury tells American companies they can go back to hiding who owns them; and Wisconsin Democrats pick their nominee for governor in a nail-biter with a message for the whole party.
Do me a favor. Like this video, share it with someone who needs to see it, and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Let’s get to it.
1. The Air Force One Decoy Story Only Looks Worse Today
If you read yesterday’s newsletter, you know the gist of what happened. Facing a credible Iranian assassination threat leaving Turkey last month, Trump boarded the old Air Force One in front of the cameras, snuck out the other side into an airport catering truck, and took it to a small unmarked military jet. Air Force One then took off as a decoy, carrying reporters and White House staff oblivious to the danger they faced. If you haven’t seen the footage yet, take a look:
The backlash has been fierce, and the new details keep making it worse. CBS News reported that the only people in the catering truck with Trump were three of his most loyal personal aides, and that the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, flew out on the secret plane with him. The Secretary of State and the Treasury Secretary rode the decoy, but unlike the reporters sitting near them, they knew exactly which plane the President was on.
The reporters who served as the literal human shields are furious. One of them told The Post that defending the president is a staffer’s job, then drew the line: “That’s not my job. I cover the president.”
MAGA world came roaring back with one talking point: Bill Clinton did the same thing flying into Pakistan in 2000. And yes, a decoy was involved. But guess what? The Post ended up digging in and found a key difference. Clinton’s team briefed the press ahead of time. His press secretary, Joe Lockhart, put it this way: “There was no attempt to hide anything, much less lie about it later.”
And when reporters finally asked Trump why it was too dangerous for him to fly on Air Force One but fine for them, here’s what he came up with:
So the plane he escaped on was actually at greater risk, “because that would be the plane they would be more likely to go for.” Nobody on earth believes that, and I doubt he does either.
Of course, Presidents need protection, because the stability of this country depends on it. But we’ve seen Presidents do this before without duping and endangering their staff. Doing that is plain dishonesty. He told everyone that he wanted the military to see the old plane, and that was why he was supposedly flying it back. In reality, he was just sending the White House Press Corps and some of his own staff out as human shields for him.
2. Trump Is Openly Flirting With Using an Emergency to Run the Midterms
Late Monday night, Trump sat for an interview with Wayne Allyn Root, a conspiracy theorist on Real America’s Voice and one of his favorite media personalities.
Root had a pitch ready. Since Senate Republicans lack the votes to pass Trump’s election overhaul bill, Root said Trump should simply declare a national emergency over elections and impose it himself. Photo ID, proof of citizenship, limits on mail voting, no Congress required. Listen to how Trump responded:
Well that’s a disturbing thing to hear. He didn’t say no.
The law on this is clear. The Constitution exclusively gives states and Congress the power to run elections, not the president. No president in our history has declared an emergency to run, change, or cancel a vote.
Well, the GOP has a problem with elections, but it has nothing to do with fraud. Mike Lindell, carrying Trump’s complete and total endorsement, lost Minnesota’s Republican primary for governor by eleven points. He is still refusing to concede. He says his team is investigating “anomalies.” Asked if he’d accept the AP calling the race, he answered, “Why would I listen to the AP?” The fraud is there when they lose, gone when they win.
I also tackled this on CNN yesterday. Take a look:
I still don’t think an emergency declaration is the most likely outcome, but I’m more worried than I was a month ago. It matters either way though, because even me having to talk about this corrodes people’s faith that their vote counts, and that’s what the President is trying to do. When citizens stop believing their voice matters, that is how democracies actually die.
3. A Judge Threw Out the Reflecting Pool Case. Trump Wants It Brought Back.
After Trump’s fourteen million dollar renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool started cracking and peeling this summer, the administration went looking for someone to blame. Prosecutors charged David Hearn, a 67 year old former Olympic canoeist, with a felony for allegedly slashing the pool’s new liner. The guy says he briefly touched a loose piece of sealant, nothing more.
Then, the case collapsed. On July 31, the U.S. Attorney for Washington Jeanine Pirro moved to dismiss the case, telling the court the damage came from a rushed, botched installation and that it was difficult to attribute any of it to vandalism. A judge threw the case out last week.
That should have been the end of it, right? Wrong! Instead, Trump has raged about the dismissal ever since. Watch how he talks about his own hand-picked prosecutor:
Now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that White House officials have asked the Justice Department to consider charging Hearn all over again, potentially on a new misdemeanor count.
This President doesn’t know when to accept defeat. Trust me, I know a thing or two about that. The government’s own findings cleared Hearn, and the prosecutors said so in writing. And the White House wants him charged anyway, because the President is completely embarrassed over his pool. That is what a weaponized Justice Department looks like, and this time it’s pointed at one private citizen in hopes of soothing the president’s wounded ego.
4. The Rule to Stop Shell-Company Money Laundering Is Gone
Yesterday, the Treasury Department permanently repealed the rule requiring American companies to reveal their major shareholders. The rule, designed to stop criminals from hiding behind shell companies, was originally passed over Trump’s veto at the end of his first term.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the repeal “a victory for common sense and American small businesses.” But small business owners say the forms took less than 10 minutes of their time, and presented no burden to their companies. So what’s the real reason?
Well, look at who benefits. This database was never public. It was a confidential record for investigators, so that a company existing only on paper couldn’t move millions through the US on behalf of people nobody could name. Those are the people getting their anonymity back. Foreign fortunes parked in Trump-branded real estate. Overseas billionaires piling into the family crypto ventures. If any of the President’s business partners registered their identities with Treasury, that record is now headed for the shredder.
5. Wisconsin Democrats Sent a Message About the Future of the Party In Last Night’s Primary
Just days ago, polls showed State Representative Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, leading the Democratic primary by double digits. But last night she lost to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in a race that came down to less than half of a percentage point. So what happened?
In July, Crowley was struggling so badly that he suspended his campaign, until jumping back in days later with the support of Governor Tony Evers. His endorsement was well-timed, because Hong’s surge came with a lot of baggage, including one old tweet urging America to “cancel Thanksgiving.” That’s not exactly the message Democrats need in a swing state like Wisconsin, especially with election denier Tom Tiffany waiting in November.
Ultimately, that move allowed voters to rally behind someone with an actual chance in the general election. And with Crowley as their new opponent, it’s clear that Republicans are worried about their odds:
Because of races like these, the media has said a lot about socialism taking over the Democratic Party. But I think they’re getting the story backwards. What Democratic voters keep demanding is a fighter. For a while Hong looked like the fighter in this race, and she surged. Once it became clear that she couldn’t win in the general, those voters pivoted fast. It’s not about left versus middle, it’s about beating Trumpism.
Still, Democratic leaders should understand what these latest primaries mean. I watched Republican voters decide their establishment wasn’t meeting the moment, and I watched what they replaced it with. If the establishment keeps playing it safe while their voters demand a fight, those voters will find fighters on their own.
Some other stories that caught my eye:
The Trump administration is now set to spend at least 900 million dollars on construction at the White House. That number, reported Wednesday by the Washington Post, is far larger than anything disclosed before, and it centers on the President’s massive new ballroom and a related underground military complex. Here’s the part that should get your attention. Rather than ask Congress for the money, the administration has been quietly gathering funds from other federal agencies and private donors and routing them into an account normally used for basic White House upkeep. The ballroom started as a 200 million dollar project the President said he’d pay for himself. It’s now quadrupled, some donors were kept secret, and the Post says taxpayers will cover most of it.
ICE is planning to outfit its officers with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks. According to a Homeland Security notice reported by the Associated Press, the agency intends to spend up to 20 million dollars on thousands of these devices by next March, through a no-bid contract. The official pitch is that they’re for, quote, de-escalation, a tool to gain compliance from combative people. But read the fine print. Even the manufacturer warns the gloves shouldn’t be used as punishment, or on someone who’s merely mouthing off, or on children, pregnant women, or the elderly, and the ACLU points out the people getting shocked may get no warning at all.
