Outside the Beltway

Scenes from the Dumbest Timeline

It would all be just absurd if it didn't matter so much.

Steven L. Taylor · Thursday, April 30, 2026 · 4 comments

I don’t have the energy to even try and unpack all of this this at the moment, but all of this is worth documenting (in escalating order of dumb, for the most part).

Via NPR: Kid Rock flies in Army helicopter weeks after flights near his house drew scrutiny.

Kid Rock and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth both flew in Army Apache attack helicopters at a base in Virginia on Monday, weeks after military pilots drew scrutiny for hovering near the entertainer’s Tennessee home.

On social media Monday night, Hegseth posted photos of himself and Kid Rock at the base. “Kid Rock is a patriot and huge supporter of our troops,” Hegseth wrote.

What is this administration’s obsession with Kid Rock?

While, yes, this is not the first time an administration has hosted a celebrity guest, but this feels especially transgressive after the pilots who buzzed Kid Rock’s hosue first got in trouble (as they should have) and then Hegseth blocked any punishment.

Army aviators in March flew the same type of helicopters near the home of the musician, who is an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump. The helicopters also flew over a “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration in Nashville, prompting questions about flight safety and whether either maneuver was authorized.

The Army initially said it would investigate the March flights, which involved crews from the 101st Airborne Division at nearby Fort Campbell, and suspended the pilots involved. However, Hegseth quickly intervened and shut down the inquiry.

Army officials said at the time that the helicopters were on a training mission when they stopped by Kid Rock’s house and that their presence had nothing to do with the protest.

Feels a lot like an endorsement of political commentry by members of the armed services by the SecDef and/or giving a special treat to a celebrity supporter of the president.

Then we have this from Truth Social on Wednesday morning:

I know that on one level, many Americans are ignoring his weird provocations in social media (if not ignoring the war itself), but it seems worth nothing that is not normal and is profoundly unserious.

But, I guess once you’ve threatend the death of a civilization only to TACO out and starting treating bridge and powerplant day the way you treated infrastructure week in your first term, a lot of people will tune you out.

For the record: I am glad he TACO’ed out on his maximalist threats, but he does keep blustering only to end up claiming pretend victories and the wash-rinse-repeating.

Then was the lawsuit filed over the ballroom. Check out the AP headline: Justice Department legal argument for the White House ballroom reads like a Trump social media post.

The 16-page filing, which was signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and submitted by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, is a sign of the extraordinary degree to which the president has demolished the wall of independence that the Justice Department has historically had separating itself from the White House.

“The National Trust for Historic Preservation’ is a beautiful name, but even their name is FAKE because when they add the words ‘in the United States’ to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it makes it sound like a Governmental Agency, which it is not,” the filing’s first sentence reads.

I guess Blanche really wants to be AG.

Speaking of the ball room, I am old enough to remember when it was going to be totally paid for by private funds (source):

Back to Blanche and his job aspirations, Ken White has a must-read piece on the laterst Comey indictment: The Comey Threat Indictment Is A Grave Embarrassment To The United States Department of Justice And The Rule of Law.

On April 28, 2026, the United States Department of Justice indicted former FBI Director James Comey over a mildly sassy arrangement of seashells. The charge is preposterous and no competent or honest prosecutor would bring it. It represents a betrayal of the professional and ethical obligations of every U.S. Department of Justice attorney involved, and reflects the complete collapse of the Department’s credibility and independence in favor of a cultish and cretinous devotion to Donald Trump.

[…]

As a lawyer commenting on the Trump administration’s legal arguments, I face a challenge: how do I convey to non-lawyers, or even lawyers in different fields, the shameless fatuity of some of the Trump Justice Department’s arguments? Words fail. This case is overtly, obviously, on its face, ridiculous and premised on a foolish and unconstitutional theory. I know it as confidently that those of you who work with numbers know that 2 + 2 = 5 is not a plausible argument. I know it as confidently that those of you in the arts know that “John Wayne Gacy is the most respected American painter” is wrong.

Yet we live under a Department of Justice that will commit this travesty and argue it’s valid. Even now, members of Congress — nominally sworn to defend the Constitution — are defending it. And soon enough, some puerile throne-sniffer of the legal academy — some Wurman, some Barnett, some Turley — will emerge to argue that it’s plausible, so thoroughly has Trumpism corrupted us.

Not only is all of the absurd, it is dangerous and demostrates the subversion of the DoJ. As White notes in his piece, it is going to take a while to reclaim what has been lost, if it even can be reclaimed.

Bonus clip: