Opinion

Voices: After the Elon Musk-Donald Trump rally, there’s a better word for Republicans than ‘weird’

Ryan Coogan
Sun, October 6, 2024

A few months ago, before he was the Democratic nominee for vice-president alongside running mate Kamala Harris, Tim Walz struck gold when he pointed out in an interview just how “weird” the Republican party has become over the past few years.

It was a word that really struck a chord – not just with Democrats, who have struggled to articulate the shift in their opponents’ ideological positions since 2015, but with Republicans as well, who took the slight very, very personally, and didn’t seem to have a response to it.

I mean, how could they, after two of their biggest representatives on the world stage – Donald Trump and Elon Musk – met at a long-anticipated rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday evening and gave us… whatever that was?

In theory, the event should have been a slam dunk – Trump returning to the site of his attempted assassination, defiant in the face of death, and accompanied by the richest man in the world and “real life Tony Stark” (yes, we really used to call him that).

Instead what we got was the propaganda equivalent of an air ball, as the two men’s combined presence somehow managed to be even less than the sum of its parts – presumably putting us well into negative territory. They spread lies, they inflamed political tensions, and they targeted the vulnerable – all in a day’s work for two men who could afford to pay people to teach them social skills, but instead choose to be the poster boys for “white nationalism, but somehow even stupider”.

At this point, though, you have to wonder if “weird” is the right word anymore. Maybe “embarrassing” would be better. The pictures to come out of the event certainly are – one shows Musk in the middle of a jaunty little half-hop while Trump looks on like a disappointed father; another has Musk leaning in to talk to Trump with a look on his face that reads as “finally, the approval my father never gave me”.

One picture from the event shows Elon Musk in the middle of a jaunty little half-hop while Trump looks on like a disappointed father (Reuters)

But I know I’m not really being fair, there – people rarely look good in candid photographs. What’s actually embarrassing is that Musk turned up to do the rally at all, after Trump summarily humiliated him on Truth Social, a Trump-owned competitor to Musk’s own terrible website, just two short years ago:

"When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidised projects,” wrote the former president, “whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, ‘Drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it…”

Well, I guess he finally did it, didn’t he? Actually, dropping on his knees and begging would probably have been a little less embarrassing – not just for Musk, who Trump humiliated, but for Trump too, who in holding the rally tacitly admitted that he needed campaign help from somebody he deems “worthless”.

Maybe the word is “disgusting”? That’s the word I’d use to describe Elon Musk’s prediction that “If [Republicans] don’t vote, this will be the last election”. It’s the kind of scaremongering that no democracy should have to weather, but it’s doubly disgusting when it happens at a rally for the guy who oversaw an attempted insurrection at the previous election.

Has Musk forgotten that, of the two candidates, only one has described themselves as a “dictator”? Or that Americans “won’t have to vote anymore” if he wins? I can’t imagine he has, to be honest – if I had to guess, I’d say he’s just talking out of his SpaceX.

Maybe “pathetic” is better? It was certainly pretty pathetic, the way Trump hit the same old tired talking points. Here he played all the hits, treating us to such classics as “Joe Biden is paying for sex change operations for illegal immigrants”, and “my political opponents tried to kill me”. At one point he even boasted about not needing a teleprompter… while reading from a teleprompter.

But I suppose that if I really had to pick just one word to describe the American political right in its current form – one word that summed up all their failings, both ideological and personal – I suppose it would have to be “losers”.

It’s the party of losers like Musk, desperate for validation but totally incapable of earning it. It’s the party of losers like JD Vance, who knows that he can’t actually back up any of his so-called beliefs, and so makes up stories about immigrants eating people’s pets to frighten voters into being on his side. It’s the party of losers like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who seems to sincerely believe that “they” – whoever “they” are – can control the weather.

And hopefully, come 5 November, it will be the party of two-time loser Donald Trump – and we’ll never have to hear any of his weird, embarrassing, disgusting, pathetic ramblings ever again.

Elon Musk's Unhinged Appearance At Trump Rally Gets Mocked In Memes

Kelby Vera
Sun, October 6, 2024 

Elon Musk is getting roasted for his over-the-top appearance at Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

The tech billionaire seemed overjoyed to be with the Republican presidential candidate during his return to the site of his July assassination attempt, where Musk was photographed jumping for joy while behind Trump on stage.

But people on X, Musk’s own social media platform, couldn’t help but cringe at his exuberance, taking to the site formerly known as Twitter to mock his right-wing cheerleading routine.

Many pointed out how Trump was giving Musk some serious side-eye as he bounced up and down on stage.



Others compared the Tesla CEO to a rambunctious child out past his bedtime.

And people weren’t ignoring Musk’s awkward address to the crowd, where he proclaimed himself “Dark MAGA” and condemned the possibility of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris getting elected.

Musk publicly announced he was backing Trump back in July after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate against his two-time rival, but the businessman reportedly began funneling millions into Trump’s campaign through a super PAC months prior.

It appears that Musk’s endorsement was one of his more sound investments as of late. (Last month, it was reported that X’s value had plummeted nearly 72% since his 2022 acquisition of the company.)

In August, Trump said he plans to offer Musk a cabinet position if elected.

Check out all the best reactions to Musk’s rally appearance right here:

A Picture Showing The Aftermath Of A Donald Trump Rally Is Going Viral

Matt Stopera

BUZZFEED
Mon, October 7, 2024 

Donald Trump returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, for the first time since his assassination attempt and was joined by none other than Elon Musk.

Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images

It was at that rally that we got this picture of Elon Musk that I was forced to see a thousand times against my will.

Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

Sorry.

Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images


Another image from the rally is going viral, and it's this picture of the rally aftermath.

Twitter: @ElizLanders

The picture was taken by reporter Elizabeth Landers showing a field covered with trash.

Twitter: @ElizLanders

Naturally, people are pretty grossed out by it.

Twitter: @fl00r3d

"This is how they 'Make America Great Again'??!!!," one person said.

Twitter: @KellyWildflour

"Straight up thought that this was a picture of Woodstock 99," another person said.

Twitter: @thequeengeek

And a bunch of people called it a metaphor for his campaign.

Twitter: @BackRoll23

"This picture represents the whole maga party and all that support it," one person said.

Twitter: @littlepagelc

"Hey, look, it's a metaphor for America after Trump," another person said.

Twitter: @FrankLepore

And this person asked the important question: "Can you imagine what their homes look like?"

Twitter: @CheryleRPh2

 Here's How to Support Animals and Shelters After Hurricane Helene

Here's how to help several organizations leading the charge in animal rescue and relief efforts after the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene.


Placebo365 via Getty Images
Jennifer Chen and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this story. Pricing and availability subject to change.

Yahoo Creator
Jennifer Chen
Updated Sat, October 5, 2024 at 4:09 PM MDT·3 min read



When Hurricane Helene hit land, the ensuing floods and destruction left people and animals stranded without access to clean water, electricity, and shelter. Many animal rescue organizations have stepped in to help the communities affected by bringing food and water for humans and animals, temporary shelter, and rescue relief efforts. Here are five ways you can help.
Best Friends Animal Society

Photo courtesy of Michael Hand/Best Friends

The emergency response teams for Best Friends are on the ground in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee with staff and volunteers working to support local animal shelters. They are distributing critical supplies like medical, food, water, and even gasoline. The organization has partnered with 26 shelters in North Carolina that are currently without power. Volunteers are helping to relieve exhausted shelter staff. You can follow updates on the Best Friends' Facebook page, and can donate to the disaster relief fund.
National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

Photos above courtesy of Los Angeles County Fire Department, FEMA and Lincoln Fire-Rescue.

This wonderful organization goes into shelters to find high-energy dogs who would make great search-and-rescue dogs. Trainers pull dogs from the shelters and match them with a first responder. The human-dog team are then deployed together whenever a natural disaster strikes to help find people who may go undetected. Hundreds of teams were sent ahead of Hurricane Helene to be on hand to help find and rescue any humans trapped. Check out the paws on the ground teams—and consider donating to help the reliefs efforts.
Humane Society of the United States

Colin Hackley/AP Images for the HSUS

The national organization has set up mobile animal vet clinics in several locations to help tend to sick and injured animals, as well as setting up a temporary shelter for animals who need the most assistance. They are bringing much-needed supplies to help assist the communities affected. You can find out more about the Emergency Animal Relief Fund.
ASPCA

Courtesy of ASPCA

Currently, the ASPCA is helping to transport 44 homeless dogs and cats to shelters outside of the Hurricane Helene destruction. In conjunction with rescue efforts, the Humane Society of Charlotte is hoping to clear out the shelters so they can make room for the transported animals. If you're considering adopting a pet and live in the area, now would be a great time to help the local shelter. You can donate to the ASPCA and Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, which was flooded during Hurricane Helene.
Local rescue groups

Elena Chernykh via Getty Images

I want to highlight a few rescue groups in the hurricane-hit region that need immediate financial support. Several organizations are urgently asking for adopters so they can help take in more animals and others are asking for pet supplies to give to those in need.

In Florida, Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League (West Palm Beach) and Cat Depot (Sarasota) are providing medical care for cats that need it.


In Ohio, the ASPCA's Cruelty Recovery Center has taken in 30 homeless dogs from Weaverville, North Carolina.


Consider donating to Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, which was hard hit by Hurricane Helene and the shelter had to evacuate 150 animals.


Forsyth Humane Society in Winston-Salem, North Carolina is asking for urgent pet supply donations through their Amazon wish list or Chewy wish list.


Local pet store chain Roll Over Pets in Shelby, North Carolina, is asking for dog food, cat food, and cat litter donations to be dropped off at various locations by October 10.

Jennifer Chen
Yahoo Creator
Jennifer Chen is a freelance journalist and young adult author who lives in Los Angeles with her TV writer husband, twins, two pugs, and a cat named Gremlin. She's a proud foster kitten mama.

Major North Carolina newspaper knocks Trump over Helene response ‘falsehoods’

Dominick Mastrangelo

The Hill.

Mon, October 7, 2024 

Major North Carolina newspaper knocks Trump over Helene response ‘falsehoods’


A leading newspaper in North Carolina is blasting former President Trump over what it calls his “falsehoods” about the government response to Hurricane Helene, which devastated a large swath of the state last week.

“This is not a situation to capitalize on for political gain. But former President Donald Trump has politicized the situation at every turn, spreading falsehoods and conspiracies that fracture the community instead of bringing it together,” the editorial board of The Charlotte Observer wrote this week. “By every indication, state and federal agencies have been working to help people in need. They’ve been airlifting food and other supplies to affected areas.”

The Observer noted Trump’s statements in recent weeks claiming Democratic state and federal officials are “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas,” and saying Vice President Harris “spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants.”

“There’s no evidence to support any of those ridiculous claims,” the newspaper shot back.

“Let’s be clear: Western North Carolina is not a political football. This is not a campaign opportunity,” the outlet continued. “The most unhelpful thing any politician — or anyone else — can do right now is spread misinformation and tell people that their government isn’t doing anything to help them.”

Public polling shows North Carolina as one of several key battleground states less than a month out from the election, with Harris and Trump virtually tied there.

“Sowing the seeds of political division is always an unnecessary and tiresome endeavor,” the Observer continued. “But doing so in times of great need, when unity is paramount, is particularly shameful.”

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 

North Carolina’s second-largest newspaper condemns Trump for ‘ridiculous’ Helene response ‘falsehoods’

John Bowden
Sun, October 6, 2024 



Donald Trump is now facing condemnation from the editorial board of North Carolina’s second-largest newspaper as he continues to take criticism for politicizing the response to Hurricane Helene across the US southeast.

Trump was in Georgia last week to survey hurricane damage alongside the state’s governor, Brian Kemp — a one-time foe who has returned to the Trumpworld fold, like many Republicans, seeking political cover.

On Monday, he attacked Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration in a Truth Social post for supposedly “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas”, a false charge. A Republican lawmaker representing three counties in hard-hit western North Carolina — which is largely rural, and politically trends conservative — has called it a “junk” conspiracy.


He’d go further in an interview with Kellyanne Conway, one of his most ardent truth-twisters on cable TV before she was largely exiled from the networks, accusing Harris of trying to “hurt” western North Carolina residents.

On Saturday, Trump’s claims provoked a response from one of the state’s most widely-read newspapers, the Charlotte Observer. The Observer’s editorial board slammed the ex-president for his lies about the federal response to Helene, which is believed to have killed more than 100 across the state.

“This is not a situation to capitalize on for political gain. But former President Donald Trump has politicized the situation at every turn, spreading falsehoods and conspiracies that fracture the community instead of bringing it together,” read the newspaper’s editorial.

“There’s no evidence to support any of those ridiculous claims. And by every indication, state and federal agencies have been working to help people in need,” it continued.

Adding that the hurricane-ravaged areas of the state were not a “political football” for the Trump campaign, the Observer also swiped at the state’s Trump-endorsed lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, for spreading the conspiracies. Robinson’s reasoning for doing so is clear: he’s at the center of the complete implosion of his campaign over a shocking CNN investigation which found that a screen name and email address linked to the sitting lieutenant governor was linked to a wide array of disgusting and vile comments on a porn site.

Harris herself was in the state on Saturday and visited Asheville — a city hit by substantial flooding during the storm.

“We're here for the long haul,” she told a volunteer leader.

Robinson also received special mention in the piece for his failure to show up for a key vote to declare a state of emergency, part of his role as lieutenant governor, while he continued to campaign for the governorship. The vote still passed without his participation.

Hundreds are believed dead after Helene caused massive flooding and triggered landslides that wiped out bridges and homes. It’s now the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the US in more than a half-century.

Federal aid approved for Helene survivors has already passed $45m, and that number may continue to rise. FEMA’s website indicates that the disaster relief agency has already distributed more than 1.5m meals and more than 12.6m liters of drinking water as part of aid efforts. President Joe Biden further announced the deployment of 500 National Guard members equipped with “advanced technological assets” to western North Carolina.

The agency has even been forced to put out a separate webpage to counter misinformation and conspiracies surrounding Hurricane Helene relief, including charges from right-wing social media accounts claiming that aid is being distributed on the basis of ethnicity.

Thom Tillis, the state’s senior member in the US Senate, addressed the ex-president’s fake claims on Sunday.

"We can have a discussion about the failure of this administration's border policies and the billions of dollars it's costing, but right now — not yet — is it affecting the flow of resources to western North Carolina,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation.

AMERIKAN CONFEDERATE NAZI

Donald Trump Goes Off the Rails With Claim That Some Races Have Murder Gene

Emell Derra Adolphus
Mon, October 7, 2024

Donald Trump revealed an unhinged eugenics theory Monday, claiming during a morning rant that some migrants have “bad genes” that make them predisposed to committing murder.

Trump spent a good chunk of an interview on the The Hugh Hewitt radio show slamming the policies of his political opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and baselessly accused her of wanting to install a communist government.

Trump and GOP Make BS Migrant Claim Amid FEMA Hurricane Shortfall

“She wants to [do] government housing. She wants to go into government feeding. She wants to feed people. She wants to feed people governmentally,” he said as host Hugh Hewitt, as he listened without saying a word. “She wants to go into a community party-type system. When you look at the things that she proposes, they’re so far off. She has no clue.”

Trump then attacked Harris’ handling of illegal immigration—despite her pushing back against his claims of a “crisis”—and alleged that she was letting people into the country with “bad genes.”

“How about allowing people to come to an open border, 13,000 of which were murders, many of them murdered far more than one person, and they are not happily living in the United States,” he said. “And now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes.”

He added, “We got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”

 The Daily Beast.


Trump attacks Harris' economic plans, says she 'wants to feed people governmentally'

Bryan Metzger
Mon, October 7, 2024 


Scroll back up to restore default view.


Trump gave a rambling response when discussing Kamala Harris' economic proposals.


He said that she "wants to feed people governmentally."


Trump also said that some immigrants have "bad genes" and are predisposed to murder.

In a Monday morning interview, former President Donald Trump made a series of outlandish and false claims about Vice President Kamala Harris' economic proposals.

"She wants to go into government housing," Trump said on The Hugh Hewitt Show. "She wants to go into government feeding. She wants to feed people. She wants to feed people governmentally. She wants to go into a communist party type of a system."

It's unclear what Trump meant by "government feeding," and a Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The comment came after Hewitt, a conservative radio host, noted that Harris has proposed giving $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-time homebuyers, a policy that some economists have warned would spike demand and raise prices.

"That's going to drive the prices up, yeah," Trump said. "Your price is going to be $100,000 dollars more now."

More broadly, Harris has proposed working with the private sector via tax incentives to build three million more homes, despite the former president's suggestion that she "wants to go into government housing."

'We've got a lot of bad genes in our country'

Moments later, Trump pivoted toward immigration, arguing that some immigrants have "bad genes" and are predisposed to murder.

"You know, now a murderer, I believe this, it's in their genes," Trump said. "And we've got a lot of bad genes in our country right now."

It's the latest example of Trump using inflammatory rhetoric to describe some immigrants. Last year, he said that some immigrants were "poisoning the blood" of the country, which was seen by many as a reference to racial purity.

Trump also claimed on Monday that Harris has allowed "people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers." He was apparently referring to recently released data from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) indicating that more than 13,000 noncitizens in the US who have been convicted of homicide, either in the US or other countries.

The Department of Homeland Security has said that data is being misinterpreted, and that "the data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more."

Business Insider


Trump: Immigrants Have Brought ‘Bad Genes’ Into The Country

Matt Shuham
Mon, October 7, 2024 

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a campaign rally at Dodge County Airport, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Juneau, Wis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) via Associated Press

During an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday, Donald Trump said immigrants were filling the country with “bad genes” and used lies about decades-old crime statistics to make his point.

Trump has long been obsessed with the idea that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America — echoing Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s rhetoric. For years, he has lied that other countries are purposefully sending criminals to the United States.

As part of his recent weekslong racist smear campaign, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), falsely said Haitian immigrants had raised the infectious disease rate in Springfield, Ohio. And Trump has been touting his mass deportation agenda, which he says he’ll enact as soon as he’s in office.

“How about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers?” Trump told Hewitt, referring to the Biden administration. “Many of them murdered far more than one person, and they’re now happily living in the United States. You know, now, a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes. And we’ve got a lot of bad genes in our country right now. They left, they had 425,000 people come into our country that shouldn’t be here that are criminals.”

The xenophobic claim that immigrants are genetically predisposed to committing violent crimes is shocking and false — but xenophobia is also a cornerstone of Trump’s presidential campaign.

Trump’s numbers are based on heavily manipulated statistics about the criminal conviction records of people with cases in immigration court — cases that span several decades, some long before President Joe Biden was in office, and which include people currently serving prison time.

The full transcript of Trump’s remarks is here.

Responding to a Republican congressman’s request, the Department of Homeland Security recently released statistics on people with criminal conviction histories who are on a list called the “non-detained docket.” The list specifically covers people with cases in immigration court who are not locked up in immigrant detention centers.

The DHS data covers people who’ve been in the United States for over 40 years. And it includes people who entered the country legally with green cards or have other forms of legal status, in addition to people who crossed the border without authorization. The data showed that as of July, 435,719 people were on the non-detained docket with some sort of conviction in their past. (For context, as NBC News noted, “According to ICE’s fiscal year 2023 budget justification, there were 405,786 convicted criminal immigrants on the non-detained docket as of June 5, 2021, just under five months after Trump left office, indicating many crossed during the Trump administration.”)

Of the people on the non-detained docket, 13,099 had a past conviction for homicide. This doesn’t mean that all of these people are walking free. Many are currently serving a sentence in state or federal prison or in jail — so they are not in immigrant detention.

Others have served their sentences already — though, as the initial DHS letter noted, “most noncitizens who are convicted of homicide are typically not eligible for release from ICE custody.”

Trump and Vance have been lying about these statistics for over a week, as FactCheck.org has documented. Other outlets have extensively covered these details already — as has the U.S. government.

“The data in this letter is being misinterpreted,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement released late last month, which was quoted by multipleoutlets. “The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”

FactCheck.org asked the Trump campaign about all these details, and a spokesperson responded only by saying that Trump “will begin the largest mass deportation in history on day one.”

George Conway Sums Up A Donald Trump Tactic With 2 Words From Adolf Hitler

Lee Moran
Updated Mon, October 7, 2024

Conservative attorney George Conway drew a damning parallel between the rhetoric of former President Donald Trump and Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler after Republican nominee Trump peddled the baseless claim that relief funding for Hurricane Helene is being used to assist undocumented immigrants.

It’s “a form of projection,” Conway told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner of Trump’s latest mound of misinformation, which Trump has pushed as the 2024 election is in the homestretch.

Trump “attributes to others motives that he himself has,” Conway continued.

The Trump White House in 2019 actually diverted $155 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund for its anti-immigrant policies.

“But it’s more than that,” Conway said.

The lawyer and fierce Trump critic then recalled the concept of “große Lüge.”



“That’s German. I don’t speak German, so forgive my pronunciation,” he said. “But ‘große Lüge’ is ‘big lie.’ It means ‘big lie.’ It was a phrase coined by Adolf Hitler in ‘Mein Kampf’ in 1925 for a propaganda technique by which you tell as big a lie as possible so that people will believe bigger lies.”

“They will believe bigger lies more than they believe smaller lies because they simply think that it’s impossible for anybody to have the temerity to tell such an amazingly large lie,” he added. “But Donald Trump does that as a matter of course. He’s a pathological liar and a sociopath.”

It is, however, said Conway, “par for the course for Donald Trump” and is “why he’s a cancer on American public life that must be removed, once and for all.”

George Conway: Trump Is Using Hitler’s Propaganda Playbook

Maurício Alencar
Sat, October 5, 2024 

George Conway, a prominent Never Trump Republican and founder of the Lincoln Project, has likened the former president to Adolf Hitler—a well-worn comparison that has been made by Donald Trump’s fiercest critics.

But Conway’s comments on MSNBC on Friday were surprisingly specific as he criticized Trump over his misleading claims about President Joe Biden using disaster relief funds to house immigrants.

MSNBC’s Alex Wagner asked Conway what he thought about Trump’s accusation in his capacity as a “student of Trump’s strange psyche.”

“It’s a form of projection,” Conway responded, “He attributes to others motives that he himself has. But it’s more than that.”

In his explanation that Trump was lying to people in Georgia and North Carolina, Conway cited Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which was published nearly a decade before the Nazi dictator came to power.

“The words that came to mind when I read about this controversy today is the große Lüge,” Conway continued. “That’s German. I don’t speak German, so forgive my pronunciation. But große Lüge is ‘big lie.’ It means ‘big lie.’”

“It was a phrase coined by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf in 1925 for a propaganda technique by which you tell as big a lie as possible so that people will believe bigger lies.”

“They will believe bigger lies more than they believe smaller lies because they simply think that it’s impossible for anybody to have the temerity to tell such an amazingly large lie.”

“But Donald Trump does that as a matter of course. He’s a pathological liar and a sociopath.”

Conway, whose ex-wife Kellyanne Conway served under the Trump administration, repeated his characterization of the former president heard in “#Unfit” over four years ago.

JD Vance is among those to have previously suggested that Trump was “America’s Hitler”, but he has since said he was wrong to do so, and has been forgiven by the former president.

The Daily Beast.

Breaking with national union, MN firefighters association endorses Kamala Harris

Declan Desmond
Sun, October 6, 2024 

Stock image of a firefighter using the Jaws of Life.
Credit: Ethan via Flickr

The union representing thousands of firefighters, paramedics and dispatchers in Minnesota has officially endorsed Kamala Harris for president — a move that comes after the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) declined to endorse any candidate in the 2024 race.

Based in St. Louis Park, the Minnesota Professional Fire Fighters (MPFF) announced its decision Thursday, saying the Harris-Walz ticket has shown a "dedication to public safety and its track record of supporting first responders":

“Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz have demonstrated time and again that they understand the challenges firefighters face,” said MPFF President Scott Vadnais in a statement. “From securing better healthcare and mental health services to ensuring that fire departments are well-resourced, they have been steadfast allies to Minnesota’s fire fighters. We believe that under their leadership, our profession and the communities we serve will be safer and stronger.”

The decision by the IAFF not to endorse Harris is significant in that it was among the first unions to back Joe Biden in his quest for the 2020 presidential nomination, as Politico notes. 

The organization said Thursday that the IAFF Executive Board voted by a margin of 1.2% not to support either candidate in 2024, adding that the decision came after they took "unprecedented steps to hear our members’ views on the candidates and the policy issues that matter most to them."

This closely mirrors last month's bombshell announcement that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters — also breaking with the tradition of endorsing Democrats — would not be backing any presidential candidate in 2024.

Like the IAFF, the Teamsters cited its polling of rank-and-file Teamsters members, which showed that "a majority of voting members twice selected Trump for a possible Teamsters endorsement over Harris."

The Minnesota Teamsters — like many other state-level Teamsters across the country — also broke from its national counterpart in the wake of the announcement, endorsing Harris and calling her and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, "proven champions for Union workers."

Additionally, other major labor unions like the AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers and the Nevada Culinary Workers Union have also announced their support for Harris.

Kamala Harris Helped Save Teamsters’ Pensions. She Still Couldn’t Get Their Endorsement.

Dave Jamieson
Sun, October 6, 2024

When Vice President Kamala Harris met with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16, she was hoping to walk away with a major union endorsement. The Democratic nominee offered plenty of reasons why she was better for labor than Donald Trump, but she returned to one issue more than once.

“She reinforced the pension thing over and over,” said John Palmer, a member of the Teamsters’ executive board who was in the meeting.

In 2021, Democrats attached an expensive pension bailout to the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion stimulus package they muscled through the Senate on a party-line vote at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The inclusion of an estimated $74 to $91 billion to shore up troubled multiemployer pension funds was a small legislative miracle for the Teamsters and other unions – and it never would have happened without Harris.

At the time, the Senate had 50 members caucusing with Democrats and 50 with Republicans, with Harris, as president of the chamber, serving as the tie-breaker to end deadlocks. She cast the deciding vote in a crucial step known as themotion to proceed, allowing the stimulus package to advance with zero Republican support.

But two days after the meeting with Harris, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien announced that the 1.3 million-member union would not be backing Harris or Trump. The controversial non-endorsement effectively boosted the Trump campaign, since it marked the first time since 1992 that the Teamsters didn’t support a Democrat for the White House. O’Brien also gave Trump a lift by releasing internal polls showing members preferred the former Republican president over Harris.



The Biden-Harris administration carried out their promise to solve the Teamsters’ pension problems. That alone should be enough to cement a commitment from the IBT.Jim Hoffa, former longtime Teamsters president

Many O’Brien critics are angry that the union could look past the pension rescue, to say nothing of Trump’s hostility to unions during his first term. The Teamsters’ Central States pension fund was the biggest plan facing insolvency, with thousands of Teamsters facing benefit cuts so steep it would threaten their retirements.

“The Biden-Harris administration carried out their promise to solve the Teamsters’ pension problems,” Jim Hoffa, the union’s former longtime president who preceded O’Brien, said in an interview. “That alone should be enough to cement a commitment from the IBT.”

Local Teamsters councils covering a majority of the union’s members across the U.S. have since come out for Harris, often citing the pension issue, among others.

Kara Deniz, a Teamsters spokesperson, said there were a number of factors that played into the executive board’s decision to stay out of the presidential race. She cited conflicting surveys of Teamsters membership: Early town hall straw polls suggesting members backed President Joe Biden when he was the presumptive Democratic nominee, and later online and phone polls showing they backed Trump over Harris after she replaced Biden atop the ticket. (Town halls would tend to draw a lot of union activists, which could partly explain the discrepancy.)

Deniz also said the union couldn’t secure important commitments from Harris in their Washington meeting. That included a guarantee to keep Biden antitrust chief Lina Khan atop the Federal Trade Commission, and a promise not to intervene in potential Teamster work stoppages like the rail strike Biden and Congress preempted in 2022.

She said the Teamsters shouldn’t be beholden to Harris or Democrats just because they bailed out the pension funds.

“If a party does one thing, does this mean that we owe a single party forever?” she said. “There were a lot of other issues that were important that were discussed.”

Teamsters President Sean O'Brien shakes hands with workers during a rally. O'Brien took the unusual step of speaking at the RNC as the leader of a major union. 

PATRICK T. FALLON via Getty Images

Deniz said O’Brien was not available for an interview. After announcing the non-endorsement, O’Brien told PBS NewsHour that Democrats helped create the Teamsters’ pension problems in 1980 by voting to deregulate the trucking industry under then-President Jimmy Carter, leading to an influx of non-union firms that reduced Teamster membership. “Should I look for praise for fixing a problem I helped create?” he asked.

O’Brien himself is a trustee of the New England Teamsters Pension Plan. That plan was on track to run out of funding by 2028, but now it will receive $5.7 billion in federal money due to Democrats’ stimulus package, according to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the government-run entity that insures defined-benefit pensions. Without that funding, the plan’s 72,000 recipients could have seen their benefit payments slashed by roughly 75%.

Palmer, who plans to challenge O’Brien for the union’s presidency in 2026, said he was one of three executive board members who voted to endorse Harris, while 14 voted to endorse no one. (Trump received no votes, he said.) O’Brien made the case that backing Harris would defy members’ wishes, Palmer said, and he believes O’Brien’s position influenced the thinking of other board members.

Palmer argued the non-endorsement would prove to be “very costly.”

“We’re not here to reflect members’ polling,” he said. “We’re here to make sure facts are put forward to members so they can make an educated choice.”
‘Playing Sweden’

The Teamsters executive board’s decision not to endorse has put headquarters at odds with its many local bodies that have come out for Harris.

That includes Joint Council 43 in the critical swing state of Michigan, with 32,000 Teamsters. The council’s board had voted unanimously to back Harris before O’Brien announced the Teamsters would stay neutral, said Kevin Moore, the council’s president. He said they decided not to go public until after O’Brien and leadership made their call.

“I’m not going to second-guess the general president,” Moore said. “I just know this: in Michigan there was never another choice for us.”

Moore said electing Harris and other Democrats is crucial to maintaining union strength in his state. He noted that Democrats repealed Michigan’s right-to-work law last year after wresting control of the statehouse from Republicans, the first time a state had done so in nearly 60 years.

We get elected for a reason: not only to represent our members, but to safeguard our organization.Bill Carroll, president of Teamsters Joint Council 39 in Wisconsin.

But the pension issue loomed large in the council’s decision as well, he added. After all, Michigan Teamsters are part of the Central States plan that Harris and other Democrats voted to rescue.

“That’s why there was so much anger here in Michigan about the [non-] endorsement,” Moore said.

O’Brien’s relationship with Trump goes back to at least January, when he met with the former president at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. O’Brien later sought and accepted a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention, a controversial move given Trump’s anti-union record and attempts to overturn the legitimate 2020 election results. In his speech he urged both parties to support labor, and praised Trump as “one tough SOB.”

Some Teamsters believe O’Brien’s public overtures to the GOP started out as an attempt to solidify support among the union’s conservative-leaning members. It also couldn’t hurt to get on the winning side — when O’Brien addressed the RNC, Trump was polling ahead of the Democrats’ then-presumptive nominee, Joe Biden, making it seem likely the union would have to deal with another Trump administration.

Others theorize that O’Brien felt snubbed by Democrats when they turned him down for a speaking slot at their own convention.

Deniz called such speculation “absolutely absurd,” and said internal politics played no role in O’Brien’s Republican outreach. She said a Teamsters survey indicated more than two-thirds of members thought it was important for him to address the RNC.

Chad Bartholomew, a Teamster and delivery driver in Washington state, said he was glad to see the union stay out of the race. Bartholomew supports Trump and believes he’d be better at handling the economy and keeping inflation down. He doesn’t see it as the union’s job to get involved in national politics. He was annoyed when his local threw its backing behind Harris.

“We’re better off to play Sweden in this and be neutral,” Bartholomew said.

Kevin Brisky, a former Teamsters shop steward who retired from a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Minnesota in 2018, said he was dismayed to see many younger, male coworkers drifting toward Trump during the 2016 election. He felt they needed to be schooled on “what party does what for us, and what party does nothing for us.” He viewed the non-endorsement as a cop-out.

“You’re an elected leader,” he said of O’Brien. “You’ve got to make decisions.”

Most major unions have lined up behind Kamala Harris since she became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. via Associated Press

The phone survey of 900 rank-and-file members, run by Democratic pollster Lake Research Partners, found Teamsters preferred Trump to Harris, 58% to 31%. Lake Research’s Joshua Ulibarri, who oversaw the poll, said they were “robust surveys” with sample sizes “in the usual range for union memberships.”

“This was solid work and I think pretty good snapshots of how union members felt and — at the time — planned to vote,” Ulibarri said in an email.

Some local union leaders don’t believe the figures.

“I guess I’m not buying it,” said Bill Carroll, president of Joint Council 39 in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

Carroll and the rest of his board voted unanimously to support Harris, a decision he called a “no-brainer.” He doesn’t doubt that plenty of the council’s 15,000 Teamsters support Trump. “I’ve got some members that absolutely had their hair on fire over our endorsement,” he said. But he doesn’t believe they back Trump to the degree shown in the internal polls.

He also said an endorsement is about more than the candidates’ popularity.

“We get elected for a reason: not only to represent our members, but to safeguard our organization,” said Carroll, who’s been a union official for 25 years.

Republicans under former Gov. Scott Walker decimated public-sector unions in Wisconsin, repealing collective-bargaining rights for most government workers, including thousands of Teamsters in public works, Carroll noted. And like those in Michigan, many Teamster retirees in Wisconsin might have received a fraction of their Central States pensions if Democrats didn’t intervene.

Carroll said he and other board members didn’t weigh cultural issues — they just considered what another Trump presidency could mean for unions like theirs.

“We’re dealing with old man Trump here,” he said. “It’s not like a John McCain or a Mitt Romney that might have some middle-of-the-road leanings. The stakes are much higher.”

Boots On The Ground

The real-world effect of the union’s non-endorsement might never be clear, though just about anything could tip the election if it comes down to a few thousand votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan or Wisconsin.

The Teamsters aren’t known for having the robust political operation of some other big unions, but in years past, the union has sent staff to help get-out-the-vote efforts for Democrats in the battlegrounds, officials said. Union employees take leave from their normal duties to do campaign work paid through the Teamsters’ political action committee.

A Teamsters spokesperson confirmed that this year’s non-endorsement means it won’t be putting any such resources into the presidential race.

“It basically takes them out of the ballgame,” Hoffa said. “It’s a big help to Donald Trump because the international has decided to sit it out and stay on the sidelines.”

But the joint councils are autonomous bodies, and leaders like Carroll said they do some of the most critical get-out-the-vote work. That includes running phone banks to call members and meeting them on shift changes and in break rooms to hand out fliers on the election. He said his council will be running for Harris full-steam through October, and he expects others around the country to operate similar ground games.

But even Carroll is concerned about the lack of unity and wishes the entire union was moving in lockstep.

“When we speak with one voice, we’re the strongest. When our members are divided and things get chaotic, that’s what causes weakness,” he said. “I’m not sure what the result of all this is going to be. But it certainly isn’t solidarity-forming.”

Bruce Springsteen Says America Has Reached a Civil War-Level of Division in Kamala Harris Endorsement

JD Knapp
Thu, October 3, 2024


While Bruce Springsteen knows his vote is no more important than any other American’s, he is also aware his platform is much more influential than most. As such, the “Born in the U.S.A.” rocker officially endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on Thursday in an impassioned Instagram video.

“Friends, fans and the press have asked me who I’m supporting in this most important of elections, and with full knowledge of my opinions, no more or less important than those of any of my fellow citizens, here’s my answer: I’m supporting Kamala Harris for president and Tim Walz for vice president, and opposing Donald Trump and JD Vance,” he began.

“Here’s why: we are shortly coming upon one of the most consequential elections in our nation’s history, perhaps not since the Civil War has this great country felt as politically, spiritually and emotionally divided as it does then at this moment. It doesn’t have to be this way,” Springsteen continued. “The common values, the shared stories that make us a great and united nation, are waiting to be rediscovered and retold once again.”

“Now that will take time, hard work, intelligence, faith and women and men with the national good guiding their hearts,” he admitted. “America is the most powerful nation on earth, not just because of her overwhelming military strength or economic power, but because of what she stands for, what she means, what she believes in; freedom, social justice, equal opportunity, the right to be and love who you want. These are the things that make America great.”

The legendary singer then switched gears to explain why Donald Trump and JD Vance are unfit for the White House.

“Donald Trump is the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime. His disdain for the sanctity of our Constitution, the sanctity of democracy, the sanctity of the rule of law and the sanctity of the peaceful transfer of power should disqualify him from the office of president ever again,” Springsteen said. “He doesn’t understand the meaning of this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American. On the other hand, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are committed to a vision of this country that respects and includes everyone, regardless of class, religion, race, your political point of view or sexual identity, and will grow our economy in a way that benefits all, not just a few like me, on top. That’s the vision of America I’ve been consistently writing about for 55 years now.”

“Everybody sees things different and I respect your choice as a fellow citizen. But like you, I’ve only got one vote and it’s one of the most precious possessions that I have,” he concluded. “That’s why come Nov. 5 I’ll be casting my vote — Harris and Tim Walz. Thanks for listening.”

Springsteen joins a growing list of celebrities who have spoken out ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

The post Bruce Springsteen Says America Has Reached a Civil War-Level of Division in Kamala Harris Endorsement appeared first on TheWrap.

Bruce Springsteen Endorses Kamala Harris, Calls Trump the ‘Most Dangerous Candidate for President in My Lifetime’

Jon Blistein
Thu, October 3, 2024 

Bruce Springsteen performing at the 2024 Sea.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey. - Credit: Taylor Hill/WireImage/Getty Images

Bruce Springsteen delivered a powerful endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, calling Donald Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime,” and saying Harris and VP candidate Tim Walz are “committed to a vision of this country that respects and includes everyone.”

Springsteen shared his endorsement in a video on Instagram, delivering a short, uninterrupted speech from (fittingly enough) a very classic-looking diner. Along with citing Harris’ and Walz’s commitment to inclusivity regardless of “class, religion, race, your political point of view, or sexual identity,” Springsteen said, “They want to grow our economy in a way that benefits all, not just the few like me on top. That’s the vision of America I’ve been consistently writing about for 55 years.”

Along with heaping praise on Harris and Walz, Springsteen shared some harsh words for Trump. “His disdain for the sanctity of our Constitution, the sanctity of democracy, the sanctity of the rule of law, and the sanctity of the peaceful transfer of power should disqualify him from the office of president ever again,” Springsteen said. “He doesn’t understand the meaning of this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American.”

Springsteen called the 2024 election “one of the most consequential” in U.S. history, arguing that not since the Civil War has the country been so “politically, spiritually, and emotionally divided.”

He then stated plainly, “It doesn’t have to be this way. The common values, the shared stories that make us a great and united nation, our waiting to be rediscovered and retold once again. Now, that will take time. Hard work, intelligence, faith, and women and men with the national good guiding their hearts. America’s the most powerful nation on Earth, not just because of our overwhelming military strength or economic power — but because of what she stands for, what she means, what she believes in. Freedom, social justice, equal opportunity, the right to be in love with who you want.”

Springsteen’s endorsement of Harris and Walz should come as no surprise, as he’s been regularly endorsing (and often campaigning for) Democratic candidates for years. He endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and called Trump a “moron” in a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone; in 2020 he gave his support to Joe Biden, even narrating and soundtracking a campaign ad for the future president.

Springsteen joins an ever-growing list of big names — especially musicians — who’ve given their support to Harris and Walz. Others include Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Barbra Streisand, Bon Iver, Jason Isbell, Maren Morris, John Legend, and Stevie Wonder.

Rolling Stone

Harris is pressed on support for Netanyahu in ’60 Minutes’ preview

Tara Suter
Sun, October 6, 2024 

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Vice President Harris was pressed on the U.S.’s support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an upcoming interview on CBS News’s “60 Minutes.”

“We supply Israel with billions of dollars in military aid,” correspondent Bill Whitaker said in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “And yet, Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be charting his own course. The Biden-Harris administration has pressed him to agree to a cease-fire. [He’s] resisted. You urged him not to go into Lebanon. He went in anyway. He has promised to make Iran pay for the missile attack, and that has the potential of expanding the war. Does the U.S. have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?”

“The aid that we have given Israel allowed Israel to defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles that were just meant to attack the Israelis and the people of Israel,” Harris said in the interview. “And, when we think about the threat that Hamas, Hezbollah, presents, Iran, I think that it is, without any question, our imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks.”

“Now, the work that we do diplomatically, with the leadership of Israel, is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done, which would release the hostages and create a cease-fire,” Harris added. “And we’re not gonna stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders.”

The interview is set to broadcast at 8 p.m. EST on Monday, according to CBS News.

Tensions in the Middle East have risen sharply in recent weeks, as Israel recently started limited ground incursions into Lebanon and Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel earlier this week.

Whitaker also said during the vice president’s “60 Minutes” appearance that “it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.”

“Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things — including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region,” Harris said.

Whitaker then asked Harris if “we have a real close ally” when it comes to the Israeli prime minister.

“I think, with all due respect, the better question is, ‘Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people?’” Harris said. “And the answer to that question is yes.”

The Hill has reached out to a spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office and the Harris campaign for comment.

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