The Week Trump Lost a Rematch, a Loyalist, and His Own Messaging Stunt
Three losses this week, and the common thread is almost too perfect: a judge he's already lost to blocked him again, a senator who confirmed his own Cabinet pick publicly begged him to fire the guy, and a House stunt built to embarrass Democrats embarrassed the Republican majority instead. Pour something cold.
1. Trump Signed the Same Illegal Order Twice. The Same Judge Blocked It Twice.
Back in 2025, Judge Deborah Boardman blocked Trump's first attempt to end birthright citizenship. Trump signed a nearly identical executive order on August 6, 2026 — and on September 2, Boardman blocked that one too, in the very same long-running case, calling it 'almost certainly unconstitutional.' NBC News reported her 35-page ruling leans on the Supreme Court's own June decision reaffirming birthright citizenship — meaning Trump got overruled by a precedent his own Supreme Court just wrote. The preliminary injunction covers every child in the certified class, and the administration is, once again, back to square one.
Same order, same judge, same result. At this point it's not litigation, it's a rerun — and he keeps losing the rerun too.
2. The Senator Who Confirmed Hegseth Just Told Trump to Fire Him
Sen. Thom Tillis — who voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary — posted on X this week that Hegseth is 'creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks' and is 'intimidated by competence,' urging Trump to 'find a new leader at the Pentagon.' The post came days after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll — who had clashed with Hegseth over ousting top generals — resigned, and Time reported Tillis explicitly held up Driscoll's leadership as the standard Hegseth failed to meet. Tillis isn't a swing vote or a never-Trump holdout — he's the Republican who helped put Hegseth in the job in the first place.
Nothing says 'this is going great' like the guy who confirmed your Cabinet pick publicly begging you to un-confirm him.
3. House Republicans Staged a Vote to Embarrass Democrats. It Embarrassed Them Instead.
House Republicans brought a constitutional amendment permanently locking the Supreme Court at nine justices to the floor this week — explicitly pitched as a stand against Democrats 'court-packing' after future elections — and it collapsed 212-206, 67 votes short of the two-thirds supermajority a constitutional amendment requires. Al Jazeera reported only one Democrat, Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina, crossed over to vote yes. The whole vote was staged to make Democrats look bad on camera; the camera mostly caught Republicans failing math they knew going in.
They built the stunt to embarrass the other team. Somehow the footage came back starring them.
Now go back to doomscrolling. You've earned five minutes of not-doom.