Tag: GOP now the cult of Trump

White House chief of staff claims press covering coronavirus to take Trump down

The Hill logoWhite House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Friday downplayed the threat of the coronavirus but acknowledged likely school closures and disruptions to public transportation in the United States as a result of the outbreak.

He also accused the press of peddling a false narrative about the administration “scrambling” to contain the virus, saying he briefed Congress with other top health officials six weeks ago. He accused the media of ignoring the coronavirus until now because publications were too preoccupied with Trump’s impeachment before that, which he called a “hoax.”

“Why didn’t you hear about it?” Mulvaney told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday morning in a discussion with Stephen Moore, an economic expert at the Heritage Foundation. “The press was covering their hoax of the day because they thought it would bring down the president.” Continue reading.

Senate Intel chair privately warned that GOP’s Biden probe could help Russia

Richard Burr’s discussion with Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley highlights the divide among Republicans over the Biden investigation.

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee has privately expressed concerns about his colleagues’ corruption investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, further exposing divisions within the GOP over whether to continue pursuing an effort that led in part to President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

In a Dec. 5 meeting, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) told the leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Finance committees — Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, respectively — that their probe targeting Biden could aid Russian efforts to sow chaos and distrust in the U.S. political system, according to two congressional sources familiar with the meeting.

The meeting took place as the House was charging forward with impeachment articles against Trump over an alleged effort to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate his political rivals, including the former vice president and his son Hunter. And it underscores disagreements among Senate Republicans over the merits of a Biden investigation. Continue reading.

Ginni Thomas leading purge of ‘disloyal’ Trump aides: report

AlterNet logoA group led by Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is driving a White House effort to purge government officials seen as “disloyal” to President Donald Trump and replace them with vocal supporters who regularly appear on Fox News, according to Axios.

Trump recently rehired Johnny McEntee, a 29-year-old personal aide to Trump who was abruptly fired in 2018 amid an investigation over “serious financial crimes,” to lead the presidential personnel office and purge officials believed to be “anti-Trump,” Axios reported last week.

This effort has apparently been in the works since at least 2018, when Thomas’ group Groundswell submitted a number of memos urging the firing of so-called “Never Trump” and “Deep State” officials as aides complained that the government was filled with “snakes,” according to the report. Continue reading.

Congress set for clash over surveillance reforms

The Hill logoCongress is gearing up for a high-profile fight over reauthorizing a handful of controversial surveillance programs months before the 2020 elections.

After punting late last year to give themselves more time to negotiate, lawmakers now have 15 working days to figure out whether and how to reauthorize expiring provisions of the USA Freedom Act by the March 15 deadline.

The policy battle comes as tensions are already running high in Washington after a weeks-long fight emanating from the Justice Department — which will also be at the center of the surveillance discussion — and with the November elections injecting a higher dose of politics into any discussion involving Congress and President Trump. 

Republican National Committee obscured how much it pays its chief of staff

AlterNet logoRichard Walters began his career at the lowest rungs of the Republican National Committee when he was 23. Now, at 30, he’s the RNC chief of staff, earning far more than any other official there, including his boss, the chairwoman, and the top officials at the Democratic National Committee.

The rich compensation might have raised eyebrows — but for the fact that the RNC obscured it. Last year, Walters earned a salary of $207,558, but the party paid him an additional $135,000 through a shell company he established in December 2018 called Red Wave Strategies.

Federal Election Commission reports described the RNC’s payments to Red Wave as “political strategy services,” as if the money had flowed to an independent contractor and not Walters himself. Red Wave does not have other employees and has no clients other than the RNC.  Continue reading.

Republican Party Mails ‘Intentionally Deceptive’ Fake Census Form

The official government forms for the 2020 U.S. census haven’t been mailed yet, but the Republican National Committee (RNC) is being slammed by critics for mailing out a mock-Census questionnaire that bears some resemblance to a census form.

The RNC questionnaire, according to Los Angeles Times reporter Sarah D. Wire, is labeled “2020 Congressional District Census” and contains “a lengthy questionnaire on blue-tinted paper similar to the type used by the real Census.” And RNC critics, Wire reports, view the forms as a dirty trick “designed to confuse people and possibly lower the response rate when the count begins in mid-March.”

“Unlike the official Census form,” Wire explains, “the RNC survey is largely made up of political questions, such as whether the respondent supports using military force against Iran, thinks race relations in the country are getting worse and believes ‘political correctness’ has gotten out of hand.” Continue reading.

The return of fascism — Who will stand up and fight it? Lawrence Wittner

Back in 1941, the year of my birth, fascism stood on the brink of conquering the world.

During the preceding decades, movements of the Radical Right — mobilized by demagogues into a cult of virulent nationalism, racial and religious hatred, and militarism — had made great strides in nations around the globe. By the end of 1941, fascist Germany, Italy and Japan, having launched massive military invasions of other lands, had conquered much of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

It was a grim time.

Fortunately, though, an enormous movement arose to resist the fascist juggernaut. Led by liberals and assorted leftists around the world and eventually bolstered by the alliance of Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States, this resistance movement ultimately prevailed. Continue reading.

Fox News host shuts down strategist who points out Trump has ‘cheated on all’ of his wives

AlterNet logoJessica Tarlov is a senior strategist with Schoen Consulting, a firm that boasts campaign strategy work for people like Mike Bloomberg and HBO. She is also a frequent contributor to Fox News, coming on as a “Democratic Strategist.” On Monday, Tarlov was on America’s Newsroom, a Fox News show that is every bit as newsroom-y as you might expect from Fox. She was there to discuss Pete Buttigieg’s appearance on the Sunday news shows and specifically his responses to Rush Limbaugh’s homophobic attacks on his same-sex marriage. It’s a way for Fox News to keep playing homophobic statements made by right-wing pundits while playing at being a newsroom.

Newsroom co-host Sandra Smith asked Tarlov for her thoughts on the matter. Tarlov started within the boundaries for Fox News, pointing out that Rush Limbaugh and conservatives are a wee bit full of shit and clearly homophobic when talking about the sanctity of marriage, pointing out “You see a loving, monogamous couple like Pete Buttigieg and Chasten, his husband, up there showing what is possible. That someone who is in a same-sex relationship could be running for president and doing as well. And then they’re torn down by Rush Limbaugh, who’s been married four times I think.”

This was all well and good, but Tarlov then added “And we have Donald Trump, three times married, cheated on all of those wives, and you hear—“, this is when Sandra Smith cut in to strangely say “—Let’s not bring in personal relationships.” A stiflingly bizarre thing to say, and something Tarlov pointed out was incongruous as the attack on Buttigieg was clearly “personal” in nature. Smith pivoted to repeating Limbaugh’s homophobic quote, and then threw to another pundit, one who wasn’t going to point out that Donald Trump is a scumbag and the people that support him are scumbags.  Continue reading.

Enraged Trump Rants (And Lies) About Mueller Probe, Again

It’s been 11 months since the Mueller Investigation came to an abrupt close, refusing to specifically indict President Donald Trump (while handing Congress a blueprint to do so,) and yet the leader of the free world Tuesday morning launched himself into a fiery meltdown over the investigation.

An irrationally enraged Trump is now declaring “the whole Mueller investigation was illegally set up based on a phony and now fully discredited Fake Dossier, lying and forging documents to the FISA Court, and many other things. Everything having to do with this fraudulent investigation is badly tainted and, in my opinion, should be thrown out. Even Mueller’s statement to Congress that he did not see me to become the FBI Director (again), has been proven false. The whole deal was a total SCAM. If I wasn’t President, I’d be suing everyone all over the place,” he threatened.

Trump concluded: Continue reading.

Post-impeachment, Trump declares himself the ‘chief law enforcement officer’ of America

Washington Post logoDuring his Senate impeachment trial, Democrats repeatedly asserted that President Trump is “not above the law.” But since his acquittal two weeks ago, analysts say, the president has taken a series of steps aimed at showing that, essentially, he is the law.

On Tuesday, Trump granted clemency to a clutch of political allies, circumventing the usual Justice Department process. The pardons and commutations followed Trump’s moves to punish witnesses in his impeachment trial, publicly intervene in a pending legal case to urge leniency for a friend, attack a federal judge, accuse a juror of bias and threaten to sue his own government for investigating him.

Trump defended his actions, saying he has the right to shape the country’s legal systems as he sees fit. Continue reading.