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DonViejo

DonViejo's Journal
DonViejo's Journal
July 19, 2019

Trump Attacks Tom 'The Chin' Friedman For Calling Him Racist: We Just Spoke and He 'Kissed My A**'


Trump Attacks Tom ‘The Chin’ Friedman For Calling Him Racist: We Just Spoke and He ‘Kissed My A**’

By Aidan McLaughlinJul 19th, 2019, 8:54 am

President Donald Trump unleashed a tirade against Thomas Friedman on Twitter Friday morning, claiming the New York Times columnist had been friendly in a private call before deeming him a racist in print. Trump kicked off his Twitter meltdown with an unflattering nickname for Friedman:

Thomas “the Chin” Friedman, a weak and pathetic sort of guy, writes columns for The New York Times in between rounds of his favorite game, golf. Two weeks ago, while speaking to a friend on his cell phone, I unfortunately ended up speaking to Friedman … he could not have been nicer or more respectful to your favorite President, me. Then I saw the column he wrote, “Trump Will Be Re-elected, Won’t He?” He called me a Racist, which I am not, and said Rhode Island went from economically bad to great in 5 years because the … Governor of the State did a good job. That may be true but she could not have done it without the tremendous economic success of our Country & the turnaround that my Administration has caused. Really Nasty to me in his average I.Q. Columns, kissed my a.. on the call. Phony!


-snip- (copies of the tweets)

While it’s difficult to know what transpired on their call — Trump tends to be an unreliable narrator and has claimed many a time that his critics kiss his ass in private — the president is correct about Friedman’s brutal column, which warned Democrats that Trump could win in 2020.

The searing line that likely piqued Trump’s ire: “I wasn’t surprised to hear so many people expressing fear that the racist, divisive, climate-change-denying, woman-abusing jerk who is our president was going to get re-elected, and was even seeing his poll numbers rise.”

Read here.

Full article/images of the tweets
https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-attacks-tom-the-chin-friedman-for-calling-him-racist-we-just-spoke-and-he-kissed-my-a/
July 19, 2019

"Send her back" is where racism and authoritarianism meet


This viciousness isn’t an accident. It’s what Trumpism is really about.

By Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp zack@vox.com Jul 19, 2019, 8:30am EDT

“Send her back! Send her back! Send her back!”

It’s hard not to feel chills when you watch the video of a Trump rally in North Carolina where this chant, directed at Rep. Ilhan Omar, breaks out. The president, in the middle of a diatribe against Omar, pauses and looks out as the crowd chants — not smiling, exactly, but doing nothing to calm the chanters or quiet their refrain.

That moment, the chant demanding that a naturalized citizen and member of Congress be “sent back” to her native Somalia booming through an audience of thousands, put on display the particular fusion of racism and authoritarianism that defines Trumpism as a political movement.

“Send her back” is not the first such chant to break out at Trump events; it follows “lock her up,” the ritual demand from Trump supporters that Hillary Clinton be sent to jail. Together, “lock her up” and “send her back” demonstrate beyond doubt that the law, in the Trumpian view, is a vehicle for punishing political enemies and minority groups.

In the Trumpian imagination, political opponents are not mere rivals but existential threats aligned with anti-American elements (read: immigrants and minorities) in a bid to undermine everything they cherish about America. As such, Clinton and Omar should not merely be defeated in an election; they must be crushed. If that requires abusing the power of the state and twisting the law to do so, so be it.

more
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/19/20699231/send-her-back-racism-authoritarianism
July 19, 2019

House Judiciary asks Hope Hicks to clarify testimony about Stormy Daniels


By Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb, CNN

Updated 8:18 PM ET, Thu July 18, 2019

(CNN) - The House Judiciary Committee is examining the truthfulness of former White House communications director and Trump confidante Hope Hicks' statements in the aftermath of new documents released on Thursday, asking her to clarify her testimony to the committee last month.

The FBI documents released earlier Thursday revealing that one day after the tape came out, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen spoke on the phone with then-campaign spokeswoman Hicks and candidate Donald Trump. Those conversations were apparently about adult film actress Stormy Daniels, also known as Stephanie Clifford, according to the documents.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler wrote to Hicks asking if she wanted to voluntarily clarify her testimony, saying the new evidence "raises substantial questions about the accuracy" of several statements she made.

In her appearance last month before the Judiciary Committee, Hicks said "no" when asked multiple times by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee whether Hicks was ever present when Trump and Cohen discussed Daniels, according to a transcript released of the closed-door interview.

more
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/18/politics/hope-hicks-house-judiciary-testimony/index.html
July 19, 2019

NBC News poll: Biden, Sanders and Warren lead 2020 field


The poll also shows President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked upward in the past 10 months.

July 19, 2019, 4:30 AM EDT

By Dareh Gregorian

Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the pack of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, with Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren tied behind him, according to a new NBC News|SurveyMonkey online poll.

The poll, conducted after the first Democratic debate in late June, shows 25 percent of respondents would vote for Biden if a primary or caucus was held today, while Sanders, I-Vt., and Warren of Massachusetts each garnered 16 percent.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California was close behind, with 14 percent, and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Peter Buttigieg registered at 8 percent. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey each snared 3 percent, while the rest of the 24 person field came in at 2 percent or less.

The poll was conducted between July 2 and July 16, after 20 of the Democratic candidates went head-to-head in the first primary debate in Miami, which was hosted by NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo over two nights.

more
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/nbc-news-poll-biden-sanders-warren-lead-2020-field-n1031506
July 19, 2019

Trump's field-tested strategy: Whip up a frenzy, then disavow


The president’s latest episode followed a repeated Trump tactic of pushing his rhetoric over the line — and then shrugging off responsibility.

By GABBY ORR and BURGESS EVERETT 07/18/2019 06:19 PM EDT

He once encouraged supporters to attack protesters — then claimed to ensure the safety of all Americans.

He mused that Russia should seize his competitor’s emails — then said it was just a joke.

And he whipped his crowd into a frenzy about locking up Hillary Clinton — before insisting post-inauguration that the idea of prosecuting his Democratic opponent is “just not something I feel very strongly about.”

President Donald Trump returned to a familiar tactic Thursday of blaming others for a problem many believe he created, tossing his own base under the bus to deflect outrage from GOP allies on Capitol Hill and beyond.

It’s a throwback to a field-tested Trump playbook: push the rhetoric further than some allies can handle, then tiptoe back to shrug off responsibility.

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/18/trumps-rally-send-her-back-1422348
July 19, 2019

GOP rattled by Trump rally


BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 07/19/19 05:59 AM EDT

Republican lawmakers are feeling rattled after a long week capped by a raucous presidential rally where thousands chanted “send her back” at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a Somali refugee who became a U.S. citizen and one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

President Trump distanced himself from the chant on Thursday, saying it made him unhappy and that he disagreed with it.

But he also did not seek to tamp down the chant when it happened on Wednesday night, and the crowd was clearly responding to Trump’s attacks on Omar and three other minority congresswomen he earlier in the week had said should go back to their home counties.

Three of the women were born in the United States, and while Republicans have blasted their progressive politics, many were uncomfortable at best with Trump’s choice of words.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 and now an elder statesman of the Senate, warned Thursday that the chants in North Carolina were “offensive” and would likely hurt his party’s image.

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/453824-gop-rattled-by-trump-rally
July 19, 2019

Big donor Steyer's presidential run could deny millions to other Democratic races


JULY 19, 2019 / 6:22 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Sharon Bernstein
5 MIN READ

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Billionaire Tom Steyer, a longtime friend and key donor to liberal candidates and causes, says he decided to run for the Democratic presidential nomination next year because no other candidate was offering a “mandate for change”.

But by deciding to fund his long-shot bid with $100 million of his own money, some Democratic activists believe all he will end up doing is denying his money to grassroots organizations and candidates in Senate and House races that Democrats are desperate to win.

Steyer’s political bona fides and passion are not in question. He has worked for years on issues of climate change and voter engagement and donated about $170 million since 2015 to his independent political action committees, Need to Impeach and NextGen America.

During the 2017-2018 election cycle, he was the second-largest donor to Democratic and liberal candidates and causes, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

more
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-steyer/big-donor-steyers-presidential-run-could-deny-millions-to-other-democratic-races-idUSKCN1UE147
July 19, 2019

U.S. House Democrats to focus Mueller testimony on Trump's conduct


JULY 19, 2019 / 6:22 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

David Morgan

4 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears in Congress on Wednesday, House Democrats will try to focus his testimony on clear examples of conduct by President Donald Trump that would lead to criminal charges against any other American.

The strategy, described by Democratic congressional aides at a briefing for reporters on Thursday, is intended to build support among Americans for an investigative agenda that Democrats plan to advance, possibly leading to impeachment proceedings.

Republicans, who say Trump is the victim of a political attack by Democrats and former Justice Department officials, plan to use Mueller’s appearance to explore the origins of his investigation and the politics of his former team.

Mueller, who for nearly two years dug into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Trump’s efforts to impede his probe, will appear under subpoena separately before the House of Representatives Judiciary and Intelligence committees.

He is expected to spend about five hours total delivering testimony that is unlikely to stray from the 448-page report he submitted in April.

more
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-mueller/u-s-house-democrats-to-focus-mueller-testimony-on-trumps-conduct-idUSKCN1UE14N
July 19, 2019

Merkel feels solidarity with minority congresswomen attacked by Trump

Source: Reuters


JULY 19, 2019 / 6:43 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Merkel on Friday distanced herself from U.S. President Donald Trump’s comment that four minority Democratic congresswomen should “go back” to where they came from.

Trump told four lawmakers - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan - to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”.

All four of them are U.S. citizens and three of them were born in the United States

“I decisively distance myself from that and I feel solidarity with the ... attacked women,” Merkel told a news conference.

###


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-democrats-merkel/merkel-feels-solidarity-with-minority-congresswomen-attacked-by-trump-idUSKCN1UE18C

July 19, 2019

UK's Javid says 'send her back' chant at Trump rally unacceptable

Source: Reuters



JULY 19, 2019 / 6:46 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

2 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - Chants of “send her back” directed at politicians are completely unacceptable in a modern democracy, British interior minister Sajid Javid said on Friday after a crowd chanted the phrase at a rally for U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has said he was not happy with the chant, which started after he criticized Democrat Representative Ilhan Omar who was born in Somalia. At the weekend Trump said on Twitter that Omar and three other Democratic lawmakers should “go back” to where they came from.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, the contenders to be the next British prime minister, have criticized Trump’s Twitter attack but have not called it racist.

“I am deeply concerned ... the chants of ‘send her back’, this is going on in the US today. Imagine if people were saying to me in Britain ‘send him back,’” said Javid, who is of Pakistani heritage.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-congress-britain/uks-javid-says-send-her-back-chant-at-trump-rally-unacceptable-idUSKCN1UE18H?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28Reuters+Politics+News%29

Profile Information

Name: Don
Gender: Male
Hometown: Massachusetts
Home country: United States
Member since: Sat Sep 1, 2012, 03:28 PM
Number of posts: 60,536
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