Crime is legal (if you're in the right group).

There are plenty of things the Trump admin has done where that applies. This is (likely) not one of them.

This idiocy hasn't had its day in court yet, but (especially given how the courts have turned against the administration in most cases recently) it seems highly likely this will be found to be illegal.

The courts haven't turned against the administration, they just don't care to rubber-stamp things that don't advance their personal policy goals and only erode trust in the courts. This advances their policy goals and that's scary.

Is anyone else wondering if this is just a “cover crime” for the ragebait while the real crime was s happening behind the scenes, not getting any attention because this news is capturing all of it? They’re doing something so ridiculously obvious that it’s illegal so they can’t possibly think this is where they gain something. The gain must be somewhere else.

yes