Why some leftists decide Trump’s no worse than Biden. But guess what? Trump’s a lot worse. I doubt Biden’s legal staff will ever assert, as Trump did, that Trump can order assassinations of his political rivals but can’t be arrested as long as he’s president (Roger Stone will almost certainly approve!).
This is not new. Nixon’s aides claimed if the president broke the law, by definition his actions were legal. George W. Bush mouthpiece John Yoo asserted the “unitary executive” could not be bound by any law or constitutional clause. But having someone say outright that the president can order political assassinations of other Americans is … alarming. Even given the judge was unimpressed.
Rep. Elise Stefanik is such a complete Trump toady I doubt she’d object to assassinations, as long as the victims weren’t her. Fox News’ jackass Jesse Watters claims if Trump isn’t immune, then a future Republican administration can bust Biden for child trafficking and cocaine. Of course he hasn’t done either but that won’t stop Watters lying.
Trump lies too, of course, claiming his second term (dream on, madman!) will end the government’s non-existent persecution of American Christians. In a similar vein, Greg Guteld of Fox claims that rooting out extremists in the military is a bad thing. After all, a military that respects diversity might not be down with imposing white male supremacy by force.
One of the pessimistic points I see made about Trump’s popularity is that 50 years after the civil rights movement and the start of second-wave feminism, the misogynist, racist chunk of America’s population hasn’t changed, hence Trump. At LGM, Paul Campos argues Trump’s success isn’t that simple. Jamelle Bouie adds more.
Bill Ackman, the conservative businessman who pushed to oust Harvard’s president over plagiarism charges, is outraged anyone is criticizing his wife’s plagiarism. Business Insider brought the charges against the spouse, Neri Oxman, out and their parent company is reviewing the staff’s actions.
Republican governors are rejecting federal funds to feed poor kids while school’s out during the summer. Among the bullshit reasons given are that kids are too fat so they should eat less.
How to make right-wing ideas seem more respectable and serious.
A Florida Republican has proposed a bill that if someone accuses a person of racism, misogyny, homophobia, the accusation is defamatory. Because being a racist or misogynist isn’t as bad as being accused of it (he said in sarcasm font).
Georgia Republican Kandiss Taylor is jumping on the Taylor Swift is Satanic bandwagon (see more here). Taylor is also a flat earther who thinks we’re being brainwashed into believing in the round Earth. I take some comfort knowing she got just 3 percent of the vote when she ran for governor.
To end on an up note, Trump’s been ordered to pay $362,000 to the New York Times and three Times reporters: “Trump argued that the attorneys fees were excessive and asked the court to order a lesser amount. However, the court granted the exact amount the plaintiffs requested for the Times and the three reporters who worked on the story that caused Trump to sue. ”
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