Trump is increasingly desperate and unhinged. As his favorability ratings plumbed new lows this week, he is doing whatever he can to suppress votes in advance of the 2026 midterms. He believes that the only way to prevent people from voting against him is to prevent them from voting at all. On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order that severely restricts the availability of mail ballots, which have been in use since the Civil War. See Democracy Docket, Trump signs sweeping order attacking mail-in voting.
The executive order is unconstitutional and will be invalidated by the courts early and often.
Per Democracy Docket,
Election experts immediately said the order would be rejected by the courts. One told Democracy Docket it’s “unconstitutional on its face.” [¶]
David Becker, a leading election law expert, told Democracy Docket, “I expect that this will be blocked by multiple federal courts in a very short period of time and have no legal effect whatsoever.”
The president has no authority to regulate elections, and his previous efforts were stricken in short order. The Constitution delegates the authority to regulate elections to the states and Congress.
Given its illegality, the executive order is intended to create apprehension and confusion by promoting the false premise that mail ballots are inherently suspect. When Trump and the GOP lose by historic margins in 2026, he will be at the ready to blame his losses on “rigged” elections. But as in 2020, Trump will need more than unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
The full text of the order is here: Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections – The White House.
The key provision per Democracy Docket is the creation of a national database of alleged “verified” voters, which states must use to purge their voter rolls:
The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to create lists of verified U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state. It also instructs the U.S. Postal Service to only send absentee ballots to voters on approved lists and mandates the use of secure ballot envelopes with unique barcodes for tracking.
The executive order is blatantly unconstitutional. The authorities cited in the executive order do not authorize the president to regulate elections, establish verified voter lists, or control the Post Office delivery of ballots. Instead, the two statutes cited in the executive order delegate responsibility to the states for managing federal elections.
The first statute cited in the executive order is the Help America Vote Act, which establishes minimum voting standards to be implemented by the states. See Help America Vote Act | U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
The second statute, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, requires state governments to offer simplified voter registration processes, with enforcement oversight delegated to the independent US Election Assistance Commission.
Neither of the statutes cited in the executive order delegates any authority to the president to regulate elections. The executive order will be invalidated at the first opportunity.
Given the order’s blatant illegality, Trump’s purpose in issuing it is to frighten and confuse Americans. Don’t allow him to manipulate you. Avoid spreading unfounded rumors and articles written by authors seeking to gain clicks by creating panic.
Instead, trust in the skill and dedication of the dozens of lawyers and election law advocacy organizations who will challenge the law in court on Wednesday—lawyers like Marc Ellias and Norm Eisen. While we can take nothing for granted, neither should we indulge in baseless fears.
Trump’s illegal war on Iran
Trump has scheduled a nationwide address for Wednesday at 9:00 pm Eastern. Based on comments he made on Tuesday, he will apparently declare victory based on the destruction of significant portions of Iran’s missile stockpiles and navy.
On Tuesday, Trump backed off from his initial demand for “unconditional surrender,” saying,
No, they don’t have to make a deal with me when we feel that they are, for a long period of time, put into the Stone Ages, and they won’t be able to come up with a nuclear weapon.
Iran doesn’t have to make a deal. It’s a new regime. They are much more accessible.
We leave because there’s no reason for us to do this. We’ll be leaving very soon.
See CNBC, Trump to address nation on Iran war Wednesday night, White House says
Trump’s declaration of victory will serve as cover for an ignominious US defeat. After Trump’s ill-advised war,
Iran is under the control of radical elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and the titular control of Mojtaba Khamenei, who is more extreme than his father, Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade (60%) enriched uranium remains intact;
Iran retains (or can easily manufacture) hundreds of drones capable of attacking other states in the Gulf region;
Iran has seized control of the Strait of Hormuz, something it did not have prior to the war;
The flow of container ships through the Strait of Hormuz is currently running about 7% of its pre-war daily total;
Iran destroyed the world’s largest LNG production complex, located in Qatar, leading to diminished global supplies for the next three years;
The US lost 13 service members, suffered hundreds of casualties, lost one AWACS plane, and suffered the temporary loss of the USS Gerald Ford due to an onboard fire that displaced 600 crew members from their on-board sleeping quarters;
More than 3 million Iranians were displaced due to US bombing near civilian areas; and
Across Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, a total of 2,698 people have been killed.
As Trump and Hegseth prepared the ground for their “defeat is victory speech,” they directed their anger and disappointment at US allies. Trump posted on Truth Social, attacking France for blocking US military overflights and telling allies who want Gulf oil to “go get your own oil,” while Hegseth piled on at the Pentagon with a mocking reference to “a big, bad Royal Navy” that could secure the Strait itself. See Time, ‘Learn How to Fight for Yourself’: Trump Says U.K. and Others Should Go to Strait of Hormuz and ‘Take’ Oil.
In short, the net result of Trump’s illegal war is that Iran is more radical, more powerful, and more dangerous than before the war. It is true that the US destroyed much (all?) of Iran’s ballistic missiles and most (all?) of Iran’s navy, but neither of those military achievements has prevented Iran from exercising control over the Strait of Hormuz.
About 20% of the global oil supply and LNG is now under the control of Iran, a situation that did not exist before the war. That outcome was both predictable and predicted—but Trump chose to proceed based on his “feelings” that Iran was about to launch a major attack on the US and its allies. (That “feeling” was backed by no intelligence or evidence of military preparations by Iran.)
As bad as this outcome is (assuming Trump announces his faux-victory), it is better than his threatened ground invasion, which would accomplish nothing and lead to the loss or wounding of hundreds or thousands of US service members.
Stock traders will react as though the war is “over” and drive a “post-war rally,” despite the fact that it will take months to get oil flowing again at prior levels—assuming Iran allows that to happen.
Of course, 24 hours is a long time for Trump to maintain focus and attention, so he may change his mind before he speaks on Wednesday evening. We should be prepared for any outcome, but hope that he stops the counterproductive war on Iran.
Trump suffers several significant losses in federal court.
Trump had a very bad day in court on Tuesday. Among other losses,
A federal judge in D.C. issued a preliminary injunction ordering Trump to cease all work on his construction of the national scar known as the Trump ballroom. See The Guardian, US judge orders Trump to halt $400m White House ballroom project.
US District Court Judge Leon wrote as follows:
[U]nless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop! But here is the good news. It is not too late for Congress to authorize the continued construction of the ballroom project. The President may at any time go to Congress to obtain express authority to construct a ballroom and to do so with private funds. Indeed, Congress may even choose to appropriate funds for the ballroom, or at least decide that some other funding scheme is acceptable. Either way, Congress will thereby retain its authority over the nation’s property and its oversight over the Government’s spending.
Predictably, Trump railed against Judge Leon’s order, bragging that the ballroom construction was “ahead of schedule” and “was not being built with taxpayer funds.” Trump’s brag highlights a major problem with the project: The Antideficiency Act prohibits government employees from accepting private funds for government operations. See Antideficiency Act | U.S. GAO (Act prohibits accepting “voluntary services for the United States, or employing personal services not authorized by law [or] making obligations or expenditures in excess of an apportionment . . . .”).
The reason for the prohibition against accepting private funds for government projects or services is obvious. Suppose that Jeff Bezos wanted to build a massive government data center on the National Mall, right in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Would it be a defense to a lawsuit against that action to claim, “But it isn’t costing taxpayers a dime”? Obviously not. The government must operate in accordance with the Constitution and the law. It cannot be circumvented by billionaires and corporations volunteering to pay for projects and services not authorized by Congress.
In another defeat for Trump, a federal judge ruled that a key part of an executive order targeting NPR and PBS was unconstitutional. The judge blocked the administration from denying federal funds based on editorial viewpoint. See CNN, Federal judge rules Trump order ending NPR and PBS funding was unconstitutional.
The judge issued a permanent injunction, finding the order constituted “viewpoint discrimination and retaliation” in violation of the First Amendment. (While this decision is a victory for First Amendment protections, Congress effectively killed CPB and eliminated funding to NPR, PBS, and affiliates.)
Opportunities for Reader Engagement
Note from Postcards to Voters
Tony at PostcardsToVoters.org launched postcards for the Virginia referendum on redistricting asking people to VOTE YES on April 21st! These postcards couldn’t be more important! The Republicans are lying on printed cards right now showing VA Governor Spanberger for Vote No, so our handwritten postcards could do a lot to set people straight. A WIN WILL GIVE DEMOCRATS FOUR SEATS IN CONGRESS!!!
We worked together over years to gain a clear majority in the VA State Houses and they delivered us this referendum opportunity which could help us flip the US House in November. Can you write some postcards? PTV volunteers just sent 26,789 fully handwritten postcards to Florida to help Emily Gregory flip the FL State House seat in Trump’s Mar a Lago district. Emily won by 800 votes!
Fully handwritten postcards really get noticed in a pile of junk mail. They work! Sign up here to help. If you are already a PTV member, hop on Web Abby , and choose VA to receive the script and addresses for VOTE YES!
Concluding Thoughts
There is a high level of anxiety over the birthright citizenship case, which will be argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Every lower court to consider the case has ruled against Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. See SCOTUS Blog, The key arguments in the birthright citizenship case. If you are interested in a summary of the arguments in the case, I recommend the SCOTUS Blog article.
The question is not close. The Constitution says what it says, i.e., that “anyone born . . . in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is a citizen. Trump attempts to add words to the Constitution that do not appear in the 14th Amendment. Trump should lose. The only question should be, “By what margin?”
In a larger sense, the issue before the Court is its own legitimacy as an institution. While I believe the Roberts Court has already damaged itself beyond repair, many still believe that a beating heart of constitutional fealty lies buried deep beneath the overt partisanship of the conservative majority.
We need not settle that argument, because the Court will settle it for us. If the Court overrules two centuries of precedent and ignores the plain words of the Constitution, nothing more need be said. We should simply begin the work of deconstructing and rebuilding the Court. A ruling supporting Trump’s executive order will have only one precedent in American jurisprudence: Dred Scott v. Sandford.
We can take nothing for granted, and this Court has lost the presumption of good faith and judicial integrity. But the tariff decision demonstrated that some arguments are too outlandish and illogical even for the conservative majority. The birthright citizenship arguments by Trump are even more baseless and fantastical than his imaginary power to impose tariffs.
Talk to you tomorrow!
No Kings Day protest photos
London, England
Jericho Vermont 500 strong
We estimated >2000 people in the No Kings Parade in Ithaca, NY.
Simi Valley, CA
Watsonville, CA.
Conifer, Colorado
Missoula, MT. 9,000 marched; 15,000 rallied after!
Brattleboro No Kings
Dripping Springs Texas
One of many great signs at one of the three protest sites in Tucson.
Truckee, CA, high up in the Sierras~1500 attended
We were gathered at a busy intersection in Reston, VA, so we had many cars honking in support.
Gainesville FL
Aspen, CO
San Francisco No Kings Day
Wilmington, NC
Photos from SF
Cold & Windy Benzonia, Michigan
Pictures from Iowa
Photos from March 28 Tavira, Portugal. 55 of us gathered on short notice and almost no publicity - American, Irish, and German expats, a few Portuguese, and a young man from Nepal who asked if he could join us. We are ready for the NEXT one!
Photos from Phoenix & Scottsdale, Arizona
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