by Steve Benen | Jul 15, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
On personnel matters, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hasn’t exactly earned the benefit of the doubt. Last year, for example, the beleaguered Pentagon chief replaced so many women in military leadership roles that The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols noted, “At this point, women have been cleared out of all of the military’s top jobs. … Some observers might see a pattern here. Discerning this pattern does not exactly require Columbo-level sleuthing.”
In the months that followed, the pattern persisted. In fact, just last month, the former Fox News host personally blocked the promotions of nine Navy officers, in a move that disproportionately targeted women and minority officers.
This week, it happened yet again. The New York Times reported that a Navy promotion board made up of senior admirals chose 22 officers. Hegseth took issue with some of them. From the article:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently blocked the promotions of seven senior Navy officers, five of whom are women or people of color, to two-star admiral rank, current and former defense officials said.
The highly unusual move means that for the first time in more than a decade, no female active-duty naval officers are likely to be promoted to admiral this year, officials said.
According to the reporting, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, among those Hegseth removed from the list was Rear Adm. Amy Bauernschmidt, the first woman to command as nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
This comes up every time Hegseth intervenes in promotion lists, but it’s worth emphasizing that under existing Pentagon policy, the defense secretary is only supposed to block officers for moral, mental, physical or professional failings. Hegseth keeps disregarding the policy.
Indeed,
by Steve Benen | Jul 14, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
As this week got underway, Donald Trump announced by way of his social media platform that he would deliver “a Speech to the Nation” on Thursday night, though the president initially didn’t say a word about why or what he intended to say. Hours later, however, he spoke via phone to Newsmax and shed some light on what the public can expect to hear.
Trump previews his Thursday speech: “Our elections are crooked and we’ve gotta straighten them out.”— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-07-14T01:17:24.666Z
“Our elections are crooked and we’ve got to straighten them out,” Trump said, peddling familiar, tiresome nonsense. “We’ve got to have voter ID; we’ve got to have proof of citizenship; and we have got to do something about the mail-in ballots, which are just corrupt, crooked and should not be allowed.”
In other words, the president remains focused on his voter suppression proposal, which the White House has labeled the Save America Act and which congressional Republicans have already conceded they can’t pass.
We’ll learn soon enough what makes its way onto the Republican’s teleprompter, but there’s one thing of particular interest that’s likely to make the cut.
MS NOW, citing comments from two White House officials granted anonymity to discuss internal plans, reported on Monday afternoon that Trump plans to address newly declassified intelligence reports that the White House asserts reveal plans by foreign nations to interfere in the 2020 election.
One obviously can’t fact-check claims that have yet to be made, but if the president and his team follow through on these plans, there are a few things the public should keep in mind.
First, there is some irony to the idea
by Steve Benen | Jul 13, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
Over the past year and a half, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly talked about his obsessive interest in “lethality.” But looking at his record rather than his rhetoric reveals a man who can’t shake his preoccupation with priorities that have nothing to do with restoring a “warriors’ ethos.”
Take his interest in facial hair, for example.
The former Fox News host faced ridicule last year after delivering his infamous “beardo” speech, but Hegseth has continued to express concern about service members whose beards do not meet his grooming standards. To that end, Stars and Stripes reported the military is cracking down on facial hair, with the Navy abandoning waivers to sailors who suffer from skin conditions caused by shaving.
This includes pseudofolliculitis barbae, a condition that can cause painful inflammation after shaving. The Stars and Stripes report noted that the condition “disproportionately affects Black men,” and given Hegseth’s broader record on matters related to race, it’s hardly unreasonable to think the Pentagon should answer questions about possible racial motivations behind the policy.
But while the hapless defense secretary apparently cares a great deal about beards, he seems far less concerned about service members or safety standards. The Washington Post reported:
The Pentagon said Friday that the military has lifted the suspensions of all helicopter pilots involved in a July 4 beach flyover in South Carolina that triggered scrutiny, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth weighed into the matter directly.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, indicated in a social media post that the pilots, members of the South Carolina National Guard, were no longer grounded “effective immediately.”
By way of social media, Hegseth assured various conservatives that he’d
by Allison Detzel | Jul 13, 2026 | Congress, News, Politics
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., remembered the late Sen. Lindsey Graham as both a fierce political adversary and an “unlikely partner” during an interview with MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff, after news on Saturday of the South Carolina Republican’s unexpected death at age 71.
“I came to the Senate with models like Orrin Hatch and Teddy Kennedy — strange bedfellows who got big things done,” Booker recalled on Sunday’s “Connect with Jacob Soboroff.” Inspired by that bipartisanship, the senator said he “opened the door right away” to working with Graham “on things I thought we could align with.”
As the New Jersey Democrat noted, the two had their share of public disagreements, including heated confrontations as members of the Judiciary Committee over the Supreme Court confirmations of Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“I mean, I played football in the Pac-10 and have banged my head and helmet with a lot of people, but I don’t think I headbutted anybody as hard as he and I,” Booker said of Graham.
But he said the Republican never allowed his political battles to overshadow the opportunity to find common ground.
Booker told Soboroff that in Graham he found an “unlikely partner” who helped him “land some of the biggest wins” of his career. Booker pointed to their collaboration on foreign policy legislation, including aid to African nations, and their work to pass the First Step Act, a landmark 2018 criminal justice reform law.
“When we disagreed, we fought ferociously. But he was the kind of guy that, when the spotlight was off, he’s like, ‘Hey, Cory, can we talk and try to figure out: Is there a way to
by Steve Benen | Jul 13, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
The on-again, off-again opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which links Michigan and Ontario, is finally back on again. The New York Times reported:
Despite the best efforts of President Trump, the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, will open on July 27, the government of Canada announced on Friday evening. […]
Officials in Canada and the United States said on Friday that the two countries had reached a deal about how tolls would be distributed, allowing the bridge to finally open.
The underlying controversy, dubbed Donald Trump’s “Bridgegate” by The Wall Street Journal, has been simmering for months, and given everything we’d learned about the relevant details, it looked pretty bad.
In Trump’s first term, he endorsed the project, and there was no reason to expect him to reverse course. In February, however, he nevertheless changed his mind and announced plans to prevent the bridge from opening, at least for a while.
Initially, it wasn’t at all clear what prompted the Republican president’s declaration — right up until we learned that Michigan billionaire Matthew Moroun had met privately with administration officials to lobby against the bridge. His motivation was obvious: Moroun owns a separate bridge that connects Michigan and Canada, and as former Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan explained in a piece for MS NOW, he wants to maintain a near-monopoly with his privately owned toll bridge.
Complicating matters, Moroun gave $1 million to MAGA Inc., the Trump-aligned super PAC. In short order, he secured a meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The same day as that meeting, Trump abandoned his previous position, announced his opposition to a project he
by Steve Benen | Jul 13, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
It was nearly three months ago when Politico reported that things weren’t “looking great” for FBI Director Kash Patel, suggesting that he appeared likely to be the next high-ranking official to exit the administration. This dovetailed with related observations about just how little the White House has done to defend Patel, or even to say his name out loud, in the face of multiple controversies.
In the days and weeks that followed, the former podcast personality’s troubles managed to get worse. The public soon learned about his personally branded liquor bottles. And his “payback squad.” And his alleged manipulation of crime data. And the “VIP snorkel” excursion at Pearl Harbor. And the failure to disclose an investment in a crypto-fueled business that has contracted with the Justice Department. And odd boasts about having a gold-plated jet ski.
It reached the point last week that even Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined congressional Democrats in questioning Patel’s flights on FBI aircraft and the bureau’s purchase of specially armored BMWs at the director’s request.
One day later, MS NOW reported that Patel, who was apparently planning to fly to Chicago to see his girlfriend, abruptly cancelled his plans after frustrated administration officials summoned him to the White House. Responding to the developments, Hearst columnist Philip Bump explained, “Trump lackeys go into their positions thinking they are protected by the force field that Trump’s base projects around him. But they’re not, because he maintains the force field by ejecting anyone who becomes too big of a liability. You’re on your own, K$H.”
In recent months, when Patel has run
