Tag: Donald Trump

New book offers fresh details about chaos, conflicts inside Trump’s pandemic response

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At one point, the president mused about transferring infected American citizens in Asia to Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, as White House officials debated whether to bring infected Americans home for care, President Donald Trump suggested his own plan for where to send them, eager to suppress the numbers on U.S. soil.

“Don’t we have an island that we own?” the president reportedly asked those assembled in the Situation Room in February 2020, before the U.S. outbreak would explode. “What about Guantánamo?”

“We import goods,” Trump specified, lecturing his staff. “We are not going to import a virus.” Continue reading.

Feds investigating whether Roger Stone ‘radicalized’ Trump supporters who stormed Capitol: Report

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Roger Stone is reportedly under investigation for his role in planning the Jan. 6 insurrection to undo Donald Trump’s election loss.

Federal prosecutors are building a conspiracy case against right-wing militants who allegedly plotted the insurrection, and investigators are looking into the roles Stone and Alex Jones may have played in radicalizing Trump supporters who joined the assault on the U.S. Capitol, according to Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman.

“I think they are leaving no stone unturned to kind of portray and determine the color of what happened here, were the insurrectionists influenced by staff, members of Congress, Trump loyalists like Roger Stone and Alex Jones,” Litman told MSNBC’s Zerlina Maxwell. “They’re really wanting to paint a full picture rather than — we see the biggest charges against some of the people, they are criminal conspiracy and insurrection, they pack plenty of wallop already, and that is the overall code they are going after but the picture deservedly is one of terrorism. These were domestic terrorists.” Continue reading.

Southern Baptist leader calls out QAnon: ‘Armed insurrection does not fit with God’s word’

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Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton sought to distance churches from the delusional QAnon conspiracy theory during a Saturday appearance on MSNBC.

In May, Axios reported on QAnon infecting churches in America.

“That stunning window into the country’s congregations followed a major poll, out last week: 15% of Americans, the poll found, agree with the QAnon contention that ‘the government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation.’ The online poll was taken by Ipsos in March for the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core,” Axios reported. “The poll found that Hispanic Protestants (26%) and white evangelical Protestants (25%) were more likely to agree with the QAnon philosophies than other groups.” Continue reading.

Trump’s announcement of rallies with Bill O’Reilly sets off furious backlash among QAnon supporters: report

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According to a report from Newsweek, Donald Trump’s announcement that he will be touring with former Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly in December was greeted with dismay and incredulity by QAnon followers who believed he would already have been reinstalled as president in August.

The tour, which will include stops in Sunrise, Florida, then Orlando before moving on to Houston and ending in Dallas on December 19, carries a ticket price of $100, with Trump announcing, “My tour with Bill O’Reilly is getting a lot of attention, and I’m looking forward to it. Maybe tickets would make a great Father’s Day gift? In any event, I’ll see you then, and much sooner.”

That announcement set off a flurry of comments on Telegram — a popular forum for QAnon adherents — who reacted with confusion and anger. Continue reading.

‘Italygate’ election conspiracy theory was pushed by two firms led by woman who also falsely claimed $30 million mansion was hers

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Late last December, as President Donald Trump pressed senior officials to find proof of election fraud, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emailed acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen a letter detailing an outlandish theory of how an Italian defense contractor had conspired with U.S. intelligence to rig the 2020 presidential contest.

The letter, which was among records released by Congress this past week, was printed under the letterhead of USAerospace Partners, a little-known Virginia aviation company. In early January, a second Virginia firm, the Institute for Good Governance, and a partner organization released a statement from an Italian attorney who claimed that a hacker had admitted involvement in the supposed conspiracy.

According to the conspiracy theory known as “Italygate,” people working for the Italian defense contractor, in coordination with senior CIA officials, used military satellites to switch votes from Trump to Joe Biden and swing the result of the election. Continue reading.

GOP’s ‘Offensively Absurd’ Spin On Capitol Riot Gets A Firm Debunking

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Seven Republican claims about the Jan. 6 insurrection were dismantled by CNN’s Brianna Keilar and John Berman.

CNN’s “New Day” anchors Brianna Keilar and John Berman dismantled seven “offensively absurd” claims that conservatives are now pushing about the deadly U.S. Capitol riot.

On Friday, Berman noted how “some Republicans and some deranged entertainers keep developing new and provably false ways to say the insurrection did not happen.”

The co-hosts then firmly debunked each current GOP claim about the attack carried out by the violent mob incited by Donald Trump ― from their “peaceful protesters” spin to the falsehood that they weren’t armed.

View the post here.

Marco Rubio hilariously fact-checked by Alexander Vindman’s wife: ‘You’re so bad at this’

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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was hilariously shut down by the wife of retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment trial.

Rubio tweeted a Politico story on the White House freezing military aid to Ukraine that was labeled “nonsense” by press secretary Jen Psaki.

“Remember when freezing military aid to Ukraine was an impeachable offense?” Rubio asked. Continue reading.

Fox News now has a conspiracy theory that vindicates both Matt Gaetz and Donald Trump

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Fox News personality Tucker Carlson on Friday returned to his debunked conspiracy theory that it was actually the FBI — not Trump and his supporters — who were responsible for the January 6th insurrection.

After Carlson interviewed Glenn Greenwald, the host wondered if maybe the FBI set up not just Donald Trump supporters, but also Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

“It does kind of make you wonder about Matt Gaetz, actually. Remember Matt Gaetz? He was engaged in child sex trafficking,” Carlson said with a mocking voice. Continue reading.

GOP increasingly balks at calling Jan. 6 an insurrection

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A growing number of Republican lawmakers are refusing to say that the Jan. 6 insurrection was actually an insurrection.

Nearly two dozen GOP House members voted against legislation this week that would award Congressional Gold Medals to police officers who defended the Capitol that day, in part because it describes the mob of then-President Trump’s supporters who were trying to stop Congress from ratifying the 2020 election results as “insurrectionists.”

“They were protesting. And I don’t approve of the way they protested, but it wasn’t an insurrection,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Continue reading.

Speaker of the House? These delusional Trump sycophants are giving the former president false hope

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Former President Donald Trump departed the White House nearly six months ago and he still cannot accept defeat. To make matters worse, many of his loyal supporters are continuing to give him false hope about his future in politics. 

According to Politics USA, there are now rumors circulating about Trump possibly becoming Speaker of the House. The publication laid out a possible path that could get the former president back in a position of power.

“If Trump wanted to, he could easily win a Republican House seat in the state of Florida,” the publication wrote, adding, “And if Republicans won back the House at the same time, Trump could be elected into a leadership position, potentially even Speaker of the House.” Continue reading.