U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) is under fire after invoking the U.S. Constitution’s racist Three-Fifths Compromise—that mandated slaves be counted only as three-fifths of a person—to defend his claim that undocumented immigrants should not be counted at all in President Donald Trump’s push for an unprecedented new census.

The U.S. Constitution is clear and cannot be changed without a constitutional amendment.

Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 states that all “free Persons” shall be counted:

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”

The Fourteenth Amendment adds that “the whole number of persons in each State” is to be counted.

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Senator Hagerty, who in 2022 voted against legislation protecting same-sex and interracial marriages, suggested that there are other interpretations of the Constitution that would ban undocumented immigrants from being counted in a census, and he claimed that blue states only want the undocumented to be counted for “power.”

“This is all about power,” Senator Hagerty told Fox Business on Friday (video below). “This is why you see these sanctuary cities situated in blue states. That is, blue states that are losing citizens to states like mine in Tennessee, they’re losing citizens, they’re backfilling with illegal aliens.”

Undocumented immigrants have always been counted in every census since there have been people considered undocumented.

Not according to Hagerty.

“This is not what the Founding Father has ever intended to count illegals for the purposes of allocating voting power in America,” he claimed.

When the Founders drafted the Constitution, there were no “illegals,” because almost anyone could freely enter the country. Not until 1929 did entering the U.S. without authorization become a federal crime, and only a misdemeanor.

Hagerty has a different point of view.

“We should only be counting citizens,” he insisted, promoting legislation he has filed, saying he has 18 co-sponsors.

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“I have a hard time imagining that Democrats can continue to say this is the right way to go for America,” he continued. “It has been the motive behind the crime at our Southern border that President Trump is fixing and the American public is loving it.”

NBC News, just weeks ago, reported that there “has been a clear decline in support for Trump’s handling of immigration.”

Asked point-blank by the Fox Business host, “Is it constitutionally legal to do that?” the Tennessee GOP lawmaker replied, “There’s a constitutional interpretation, I think, that has been misapplied. It goes back to slavery days. And you know, what portion of a person is going to be counted, etcetera.”

“A person here illegally should not be counted,” he insisted. “That’s just common sense. We need to fix it.”

Critics slammed Hagerty.

“Someone should mount a giant blowup of the 14th amendment in the Senate Republican cloakroom, because these people apparently haven’t read it,” suggested Matt Bennett, Executive Vice President for Public Affairs for the think tank Third Way.

“The U.S. Constitution is unambiguous. No ‘interpretations’ have been ‘misapplied,'” wrote communications professional Mathew Helman. “As MAGA tries to reverse-engineer a way around the Constitution, we’ll get lots of dishonest word salad like this.”

“So we’re clear,” wrote Wall Street investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze, “Sen. Hagerty’s ‘legal rationale’ is to drag us back to the logic of the 3/5 Compromise.”

“Counting human beings as fractions was a moral stain on this country, not a precedent to revive. The Constitution requires an actual enumeration of all persons living in the U.S. Anything less is an attack on democracy itself.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Sen. Hagerty on his legal rationale for not counting undocumented immigrants in the census: “There’s a constitutional interpretation I think that has been misapplied that goes back to slavery days and what portion of a person is going to be counted.” pic.twitter.com/zhrCLTciEp

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 15, 2025

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The U.S. Department of Defense is on the defensive after outrage erupted over Secretary Pete Hegseth’s repost of a CNN video last week featuring the head of his church — a hardline Christian nationalist pastor who says he wants the nation, and ultimately the world, to be ruled by Christianity. Hegseth’s caption: “All of Christ for All of Life.”

Pastor Doug Wilson, according to a CNN video (below), also believes in a patriarchal society where women submit to their husbands, believes homosexuality is a crime and should be re-criminalized, believes women should not have the right to vote and should not hold certain positions of leadership, and that they should not be in combat roles.

“Women are the kind of people that people come out of,” Wilson unapologetically told CNN, specifying: “it doesn’t take any talent to simply reproduce biologically.”

On Thursday, several reporters grilled Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson (full transcript), who also grew defensive when asked to account for her boss’s beliefs.

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Asked by a reporter, “is it your belief and is it the Secretary’s belief that those women, if they are serving, and women across the United States should have the right to vote?”

Wilson responded angrily, telling the reporter, “of course the Secretary thinks that women should have the right to vote. That’s a stupid question.”

That was just the start of the questioning focused on Secretary Hegseth’s support for Pastor Wilson and his beliefs.

“Well, why did he retweet the pastor who does support taking away that right from women?” the reporter asked.

“The Secretary very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings,” the press secretary replied.

“Including taking away the right to vote?” the reporter pressed.

“I’ve already answered that question,” was the response.

“So, including taking away the right to vote?” the reporter again pressed. “You have not been clear. I mean, he retweeted her — or him. Why retweet someone that wants to take away the right to vote?”

“I have been correct on that the Secretary supports the 19th Amendment. Next question,” the press secretary insisted.

When asked if Secretary Hegseth is “in disagreement” with Pastor Wilson, the press secretary would only say that Hegseth “appreciates” many of his pastor’s “writings and teachings.”

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“I’m not going to litigate every single aspect of what he may or may not believe in a certain video,” the press secretary declared.

Later, another reporter brought up the Wilson video, this time diving into more of the pastor’s beliefs.

“What was the point of posting that video? I know you said that he respects him, but you mentioned that all of these women are joining the recruitment. What does a video like that, that mentions women submitting to their husbands, what does that say to women service members? Or we should be a Christian nation like Saudi Arabia is a Muslim nation,” the reporter said, grilling the press secretary. “What does that say to Muslim service members or Jewish service members or people who don’t believe? I mean, what message is that sending as the Secretary of Defense reposting something like that? He’s not just a person; he’s a government official now.”

Press Secretary Wilson was not having it.

“So, I reject the premise of the question. I think what he had said, ‘all of God for all of time’ — I think that is a non-controversial statement.”

The grilling grew more intense, with the reporter diving deeper into some of the beliefs revealed by the CNN profile, and the press secretary refusing to discuss them.

“I’m not going to litigate what he may or may not think about real presence in communion. We’re not going to get down to the nitty gritty on all of that stuff, right. But what I can tell you is that he is a Christian. He appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.”

The Daily Beast, reporting on the Pentagon press conference, noted that “Hegseth’s social media promotion of Wilson’s church network, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches—which Doug Wilson co-founded—came after he railed that the military ‘allowed itself to go woke,’ declaring that generals and admirals ‘involved in any of the DEI woke s— has got to go.'”

The Beast also noted that “high-profile moves have targeted senior women across the services. Last month, Hegseth removed Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, the first woman to lead the U.S. Naval Academy, before the end of her expected term.” Also, “Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield was fired from her NATO billet, and Adm. Linda Fagan—history’s first female service chief—was ousted from the Coast Guard by Homeland Security.”

The crisis created by Hegseth posting the CNN video is not just one of public perception or public relations.

Veterans have told The Guardian, the news outlet reported on Thursday, “that Hegseth’s religiosity – rubbing off in new recruitment ads and official US Department of Defense social media activities – is dividing the ranks and doing untold damage to the future of the US military.”

Watch the video Hegseth reposted below or at this link.

All of Christ for All of Life. https://t.co/QqXhqZFStv

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) August 8, 2025

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California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has spent the week mocking President Donald Trump, adopting Trump’s signature social media style — extreme, self-promotional, hyperbolic, all-caps — to deliver taunts about his plans to counter Trump’s directive for Texas and other red states to redraw their congressional maps, a move aimed at reducing the number of Democratic-held districts and paving the way for Republicans to hold the House in November.

Governor Newsom’s focus has been on what he is calling his “Election Rigging Response Act,” legislation where he will ask voters in November to allow California to redraw its congressional district maps to respond to President Trump’s unprecedented move to conduct redistricting outside the constitutionally mandated decennial censuses.

Fox News declared on Thursday that “Gavin Newsom is in on the act now.”

FOX NEWS CALLS TRUMP LOWEST POLLING PRESIDENT IN RECENT HISTORY !!! pic.twitter.com/AXusF6pKP3

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 14, 2025

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Newsom’s social media team called out the Trump administration Thursday afternoon, after it noticed Border Patrol agents outside his Los Angeles redistricting rally.

TRUMP’S PRIVATE ARMY IS ILLEGALLY ON PRIVATE PROPERTY!!!! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY THIS WEAK LITTLE MAN!!! https://t.co/13nJL6JRvG

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 14, 2025

In a stunning turn of events, however, the masked Border Patrol agents outside Newsom’s rally started arresting people.

Fox News happened to have Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem live on-air when it ran video of at least one arrest. The Fox News hosts praised the move.

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“This is coming from our reporters in L.A. right now, where they say that border patrol has arrived just outside of the downtown L.A. Venue where Governor Gavin Newsom was actually holding a press conference today, and it appears that those border Patrol agents are making arrests, illegal immigrants that are — I don’t know if they were at this press conference, if they were in the area, but this is the area … when we first saw this video, it is a very ‘in your face’ way to let, you know, Democrats know that you are gonna do your job, that you’re going to carry out these Trump policies.”

“In your face” — Fox News plays video of Border Patrol agents arresting people right just now outside Gavin Newsom’s press conference pic.twitter.com/4xiwEwMCuu

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 14, 2025

“One of the speakers in the runup to Newsom’s event just warned this would be happening and held it up as another reason why Californians needed to get behind Newsom’s answer to Texas and Trump,” reported NBC News Senior National Political Reporter Natasha Korecki.

Newsom responded in real time to the arrests.

“And right outside, at this exact moment, are dozens and dozens of ICE agents,” the governor told rally attendees. “Donald Trump — you think it’s coincidental? — Donald Trump and his minions, Tom Homan — tough guy —he decided, coincidentally or not, that this was a location to advance ICE arrests.”

“People are scared,” Newsom continued. “People are fearful.”

“Do you think it’s coincidental?”

During a press conference about efforts to block GOP-led redistricting efforts in Texas, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said “Donald Trump and his minions” sent “dozens and dozens of ICE agents” outside of the event. https://t.co/cmX1lQuLpq pic.twitter.com/7ojQJD1bYm

— ABC News (@ABC) August 14, 2025

Watch all the videos and social media posts above or at this link.

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