At a time when he's struggling with major legal bills, far-right conspiracy theorist and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has received some more bad news. MyPillow, according to The New Republic's Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, is being evicted from a warehouse it has been renting in Shakopee, Minnesota.
The eviction, Houghtaling reports, is the result of MyPillow's failure to pay $217,000 in rent for one of two warehouses. The property is owned by the company First Industrial, whose attorney, Sara Filo, appeared during a courtroom hearing on Tuesday, March 26.
Filo told the court, "MyPillow has more or less vacated, but we'd like to do this by the book. At this point, there's a representation that no further payment is going to be made under this lease, so we'd like to go ahead with finding a new tenant."
Many of Lindell's financial and legal problems stem from his efforts to help former President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election results.
Lindell claimed, without evidence, that Dominion Voting Systems and its competitor Smartmatic — both providers of voting equipment — helped now-President Joe Biden steal the election from Trump. And those companies have sued Lindell for defamation.
Lindell's legal bills are also the result of his "Prove Mike Wrong" challenge of 2021.
That year, at this "Cyber Symposium" event in South Dakota, Lindell offered to pay $5 million to anyone who could disprove his claim that Chinese government officials helped Biden steal the election. Software developer and computer forensics expert Robert Zeidman accepted the challenge and went about debunking Lindell's claim.
According to Zeidman, Lindell now owes him $5 million. The MyPillow CEO has tried to get out of paying him, but U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim upheld Zeidman's victory as perfectly legitimate in a February 21 ruling and agreed that Lindell needs to pay him the money owed.
Lindell, however, has maintained that Trump really won the 2020 election and that Zeidman didn't disprove his conspiracy theory involving Chinese officials.
Houghtaling notes, "The beleaguered conspiracy theorist has, all in all, been struggling with cash flow for some time. Earlier this month, Lindell joined Steve Bannon's podcast to advertise a new Arizona lawsuit he underwrote for Kari Lake — and to ask if listeners would be willing to spare some change to help him out.
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
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Last week,The Economist's presidential polling average set in motion a reevaluation of the general election when President Joe Biden pulled ahead of Donald Trump for the first time since September 2023.
To be clear, Biden isn't suddenly the odds-on favorite to win in November, but the fundamentals of the Biden-Trump contest do appear to be shifting in a slightly more favorable direction for Biden.
In the 18 Biden-Trump head-to-head matchups conducted by reputable pollsters (1.8 stars or higher-plus in 538’s pollster ratings) since the March 7 State of the Union address, Trump led in nine surveys, Biden led in seven, and they were even in two. This is a modest improvement from the 18 comparable surveys leading up to Biden's speech. In those surveys, Trump led in 10, Biden in six, and two found the candidates evenly matched.
Better yet, the average of these polls shows Biden improving overall, from 1.1 percentage points underwater before the State of the Union, to 0.8 points underwater afterward—which may seem like a negligible shift but is meaningful where averages are concerned. (Note: None of the polls used here account for how third-party candidates affect the outcome.)
Included in the post-SOTU polling was this month’s Daily Kos/Civiqs survey, which found Biden leading Trump by a single percentage point, 45 percent to 44 percent—a slight uptick from January, when the two were even.
But truth be told, the horse-race polling is among the least of Biden's gains in the contest. The Biden campaign's fundraising in February combined with that of the Democratic National Committee eclipsed the totals of Trump and the RNC.
Filings posted last week showed that the Biden campaign raised $21.3 million in February, while the DNC raised another $16.6 million; the Trump campaign reported raising $10.9 million, while the Republican National Committee raised a similar $10.7 million.
But the more pronounced disparity came in cash reserves available to Biden and the Democrats. Biden and the DNC closed out February with a combined $97.6 million cash on hand—more than doubling the $44.9 million banked by Trump and the RNC.
Democrats’ associated committees boast a cash advantage over Republicans as well:
- Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has $14 million more money banked than the National Republican Campaign Committee ($59.2 million to $45.2 million).
- Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has a $7 million cash-on-hand advantage over the National Republican Senatorial Committee ($31.9 million to $24.8 million).
Other underlying fundamentals are also moving in a positive direction for Biden and Democrats. While Republicans led Democrats in 538's generic congressional ballot aggregate throughout most of January, February, and much of March, Democrats have now pulled even with Republicans, at roughly 44.5 percent each.
In Civiqs’ tracking polls, the public opinion of Biden's efforts to create jobs are better than they have ever been, with 42 percent agreeing that he’s doing enough and 48 percent disagreeing.
And while voters' views on the condition of the economy remain well underwater, they are trending in the right direction since falling in the first half of 2022, during the throes of inflation. At net -24 points “good,” the numbers now are on par with how voters viewed the economy in late September 2021.
And voters' estimation of their family finances are the best they've been in roughly two years, since early March 2022.
Current public opinion about the economy and personal finances are double-digits better than they were during the final month of the 2022 midterms, when Democrats turned back the vaunted red wave that historical norms foretold. In fact, voters’ view of the economy is 22 points better now than it was on Election Day 2022.
The data points aren't unrelated. Now that voters are getting more clarity on the choices this cycle, Democratic donors are demonstrating greater enthusiasm for their ticket than are Republican donors. And that cash advantage is giving Democrats more room to advertise and assemble a ground game.
While voters will be settling into their choices later this year, partisans on both sides are already starting to “come home” to their party—which is particularly important to see on the Democratic side since the media had fixated on soft support for Biden as an early narrative.
Civiqs polling from January and March is a perfect example, with Biden bumping his support among Democratic voters by a couple points, from 88 percent to 90 percent. Trump likewise boosted his GOP support from 90 percent to 92 percent.
But what is most fascinating is the shift among independents, who favored Trump by 11 points in January. But this month, Biden cut Trump's lead among independent voters to just a handful of points, 37percent to 42 percent.
Biden's State of the Union remains a rallying point, giving Democratic voters something to cheer and offering a point of reassurance for some disaffected Republicans voters who defected from Trump to Biden in 2020. This week's Focus Group podcast, hosted by Sarah Longwell, featured the reactions of several Trump-to-Biden voters following the State of the Union.
I thought he was energized, chuckling, and that’s one of my biggest complaints about him. You know, not the age so much. It’s just, you know, he’s not, like, an enthusiastic, energized guy. ... You know, he made a couple of jabs at, like, Lindsey Graham, which comes off good in this, like, day and age. ... Sometimes you could tell he was going off script, which is good. He was, you know, flowing improv, which is good. He’s showing he’s competent.
It was the most that I’ve seen him be able to go off script that I can remember—but this, to me, felt like he was going off script. He was showing that he can do it, and he can do it well, which was a pretty good thing. And, I mean, to me, that answers some of the questions that people were having, or have made about him in the last couple of months.
He suffers from having a stutter. So a lot of times he stumbles over words, and it can be a little uncomfortable to listen to him. But I thought he sounded really sharp. He was very strong. He did go off script, but he was handling the hecklers really well.
If there's a takeaway here, it's that letting Joe be Joe—even amid some stumbles—is a better strategy than shielding him from the press and voters. Biden did himself and Democrats a world of good with his feisty State of the Union speech. And the Biden campaign appears to have switched into high gear in the weeks since, visiting every 2024 swing state in less than three weeks and putting the president on full display in a multitude of settings.
The other takeaway is that Republicans are continuing to disintegrate, with Trump's money woes eating away at their ability to compete by the day.
November is still many months away, but Democrats have reason to like the way things are trending as they work to build momentum heading into the August convention.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.
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At a press conference on Tuesday, March 26, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told reporters that there was no sign of terrorism or foul play in the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge — which had been struck by a freighter. According to Moore and the Biden White House, there was no indication that it was anything other than a tragic accident.
But that hasn't stopped far-right conspiracy theorists from claiming otherwise or looking for ways to blame the Biden Administration for the tragedy.Rolling Stone and The Daily Beastgathered some of the more extreme reactions in articles published that Tuesday.
Infowars host Alex Jones remarked, "Looks deliberate to me. A cyber-attack is probable. WW3 has already started."
On Newsmax, American Conservative Union president Matt Schlapp implied that "drug-addled" employees and "lockdowns" during the COVID-19 pandemic were somehow to blame for the bridge's collapse.
Schlapp told Newsmax, "All I would say is that if you talk to employers in America, they'll tell you that filling slots with employees who aren't drug-addled is a very huge problem; so, I'm making no specific charges here because we don't know. But you know, anybody who flies in America can see that you're constantly waiting on a tarmac somewhere for some crew to show up."
On X, formerly Twitter, anti-feminist Andrew Tate posted, "This ship was cyber-attacked. Lights go off and it deliberately steers towards the bridge supports. Foreign agents of the USA attack digital infrastructures. Nothing is safe. Black Swan event imminent.
Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, interviewing Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), tried to link Biden's border policy to the tragedy. And Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), on Newsmax, claimed that Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill was to blame because it overemphasized "Green New Deal" spending.
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
Sister channels Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network are usually singing from the same sheet of music when covering the news of the day, in particular as it relates to reporting about their longtime ally and political patron Donald Trump.
Today, however, the two networks deviated markedly during their daytime coverage of the ballooning stock valuation for Trump’s media company, which completed a merger deal last week.
Disgraced former President Donald Trump has enjoyed a financial windfall over the past day. Late Monday morning, a court in New York significantly reduced the bond he owes the state as he appeals a $454 million civil fraud judgment against him, while also extending Trump an additional 10-day grace period to secure a new bond. In response to the news, share prices for Digital World Acquisition Corp., the shell company that just completed its merger with Trump Media & Technology Group (the company that owns Truth Social), surged by the close of trading.
Share prices for Trump’s new company continued climbing Tuesday. At one point, Trump Media shares traded for double what they went for last week, spurring numerous financial publications and business reporters to label the company a “meme stock” — a company whose stock price is driven by viral popularity and thus can be prone to an eventual collapse. Industry experts warned that the stock value is “untethered to its underlying business results” and that there was “no way” the current market price represents “a rational valuation for this company.”
None of these glaring red flags about Trump’s overvalued company were enough to dissuade the cast of characters at Fox News’ Outnumbered from basking in Trump’s good fortune.
After showing critiques of Trump's company that aired on cable rivals CNBC and MSNBC, the Fox team mocked Trump’s critics and celebrated his stock’s performance.
Guest co-host Marc Siegel specifically took umbrage with a description of Trump’s new venture as a “pump and dump” scheme, arguing, “That would mean, by the way, that you deliberately pump up the stock in order to sell a bunch of it off,” but “that’s not what’s happening here.”
According to Siegel, this stock price run-up represents “a real excitement” for “an alternative to the — to one-dimensional media.”
At almost the exact same moment that Siegel was singing Trump Media’s praises on Fox News, Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino was throwing cold water at would-be investors, specifically warning that Trump might treat the company as a pump-and-dump scheme.
During an appearance on Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Gasparino first explained that Trump could not sell his shares in the company without “dramatically” undermining the stock’s value and opening the company up to shareholder lawsuits.
He then declaratively warned viewers against investing in the stock at this price, comparing Trump Media to previous meme stocks that were “bid up by irrational exuberance” like AMC, GameStop, and Bed Bath & Beyond, and pointing out that Trump’s social media enterprise has just “one fraction of the users” and revenue of a competitor like Twitter, which notoriously struggled to make money.
Gasparino also took aim at so-called “pumpers” who would recommend purchasing a “meme stock” like this one, saying such a person is “probably a fraud.”
Gasparino warned that “six months from now, [Trump] can just dump all of his shares,” before predicting, “I bet you he dumps a chunk of it.”
Gasparino followed his prediction with a warning that investing in the company should be “scary stuff for the average person.”
He then concluded the segment by again predicting, “I just don’t see him holding on to the stock when he can sell it,” adding, “He knows this thing isn’t making any money.”
Gasparino was not the only Fox Business personality to warn viewers about the underlying fundamentals of Trump’s media venture.
During the next hour, on Fox Business’ The Big Money Show, correspondent Kelly O’Grady explained that analysts say Trump’s company boasted share prices that don’t “represent the underlying business.”
After O’Grady’s segment concluded, co-host Taylor Riggs asked investment analyst Lou Basenese if Trump’s company was “another meme stock that’s divorced from fundamentals,” to which he responded, “Yes, yes, and yes.”
As it turned out, skeptics like Gasparino were right to be worried about the volatile valuation Trump Media was sitting on in the middle of the trading session. After peaking at around $79 per share Tuesday morning, the stock closed at $57.99, a roughly 26 percent intraday decline. Earlier investors, like Trump, still saw their portfolios grow as the stock closed higher than in the days before, but the “average” person drawn to the meme stock today probably lost money.
Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.
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Donald Trump blasted the judge overseeing his first criminal trial and singled out his daughter for an attack.
The former president lashed out Tuesday morning after New York Supreme Court justice Juan Merchan refused to further delay his trial in the hush money case involving porn actress Stormy Daniels and scheduled jury selection to begin April 15, and Trump repeated his claims that the prosecution was politically motivated.
"Judge Juan Merchan, a very distinguished looking man, is nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome," Trump posted on Truth Social. "In other words, he hates me!"
The ex-president and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have attacked Merchan's adult daughter, who served as director of digital persuasion for Kamala Harris' 2020 presidential campaign and worked indirectly for the Biden-Harris 2020 presidential campaign through a communications firm that contracts with progressive campaigns.
"His daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm that works for Adam 'Shifty' Schiff, the Democrat National Committee, (Dem)Senate Majority PAC, and even Crooked Joe Biden," Trump posted.
The former president's lawyers had asked Merchan to recuse himself, but a New York advisory committee on judicial ethic concluded that that his impartiality could not "reasonably be questioned" based on his daughter's position or a $15 donation he made to the Biden-Harris campaign.
Trump then went after Merchan for sentencing his longtime accountant Allen Weisselberg to five months in jail after he pleaded guilty to 15 counts of tax fraud, and the judge will sentence him again April 10 after he pleaded guilty to perjuring himself in testimony in the former president's civil fraud trial.
"He was recently the judge on an unrelated trial of a long term employee, elderly and not in good health.," Trump posted. "This judge treated him viciously, telling him either you cooperate or I’m putting you in jail for 15 years. He pled, and went to jail for very minor offenses, highly unusual, served 4 months in Rikers, and now they are after him again, this time for allegedly lying (doesn’t look like a lie to me!), and they threatened him again with 15 years if he doesn’t say something bad about 'TRUMP.' He is devastated and scared!"
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
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“Donald Trump mocks Joe Biden’s stutter,” the headlines blare, and I am confronted (again) with (more) proof that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee hates people like me.
I don’t remember when they told me I stuttered, but I do remember the banana chips I got as “rewards” in the speech room in my Ohio grade school. I learned tricks that worked well and tricks that didn’t, tricks that I still use to this day, and tricks I’ve long forgotten. I don’t remember if I got picked on for it, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Fifth grade was my Nerd Year, after all, plagued by incessant bullying and the kid-violence that comes with it.But I do remember when the former vice president “came out” as a stutterer in a sprawling profile in The Atlantic, written by John Hendrickson, a stutterer himself.
I already knew Biden stuttered, because I’m a stutterer and Extremely Online, but the big reveal rippled through the media and endeared him to the public. People seemed to be watching for the former vice president to get caught on words, just so they could loudly forgive him for it. He even invited a young stutterer to be part of the virtual Democratic National Convention that summer, and I cried as I watched the video.
Some four years later, my response to video of Trump mocking Biden elicited a far different response.
The Washington Post, August 21, 2020:
Twenty seconds into his speech to the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, Brayden Harrington started to stutter.
He knew he would — it was the reason the 13-year-old was addressing millions of viewers from his bedroom. As he had explained to kick off his speech, his life had changed after meeting former vice president Joe Biden in February.
“He told me that we were members of the same club. We ... ” Brayden said, shutting his eyes as he drew out an “s” sound, willing the word to emerge: “... stutter.”
And then, he kept going — smiling, poised, and delivering a powerful message about how Biden, who has spoken openly of his battle with a speech impediment, had inspired him to reach higher.
“He kept going.” I have two words, in my own handwriting, inked where my right wrist meets my palm: Keep going.They’re words that apply to many situations—how I got through a rough childhood, a challenging young adulthood, more than one breakup, and a spinal injury in 2018. But those words whisper encouragement when I cover my mouth to “reset” during those moments when my mouth stops listening to my brain.
It’s a trick I learned in that small speech room in elementary school. It requires me to stop trying to speak and focus on just being present.
Biden has other tricks.
The Atlantic, January/February 2020:
At first, Biden sounded strong, confident, presidential: “My plan makes a limit of co-pay to be One. Thousand. Dollars. Because we—”
He stopped. He pinched his eyes closed. He lifted his hands and thrust them forward, as if trying to pull the missing sound from his mouth. “We f-f-f-f-further support—” He opened his eyes. “The uh-uh-uh-uh—” His chin dipped toward his chest. “The-uh, the ability to buy into the Obamacare plan.” Biden also stumbled when trying to say immune system.
Fox News edited these moments into a mini montage. Stifling laughter, the host Steve Hilton narrated: “As the right words struggled to make that perilous journey from Joe Biden’s brain to Joe Biden’s mouth, half the time he just seemed to give up with this somewhat tragic and limp admission of defeat.”
I remember that montage. It sickened us here in the Daily Kos newsroom, because it was so unapologetically childish and cruel. I took it particularly hard, because I’ve lost so many words to “that perilous journey.”
Stress exacerbates my stutter. It’s a force multiplier. So when, for a few years in my life, I found myself speaking before crowds and before cameras, I wasn’t surprised when no amount of preparation guaranteed my carefully chosen words would make it out of my mouth without encountering obstacles. I’d fret for weeks, wondering if I’d manage to avoid getting caught up, and if I did, if I’d be able to keep going.
Then a good friend advised me to own it. “Once you’ve reset, just smile, say ‘sorry, I stutter, so that might happen again,’ and just keep going. And remember those people want to hear what you have to say. They’ll wait.”
And that’s what I did. That’s what I still do. And I remember that folks want to listen to me, and waiting a few seconds for me to squeak out a word isn’t the big deal I think it is.
And so it is for Biden. When the president speaks, people listen. Even if they have to wait a few seconds.
As Hendrickson wrote for The Atlantic on March 10, 2024, after Trump mocked Biden for his stuttering incidents during an undeniably successfully State of the Union speech:
Stuttering is one of many disabilities to have entered Trump’s crosshairs. In 2015, he infamously made fun of a New York Times reporter’s disabled upper-body movements. Three years later, as president, when planning a White House event for military veterans, he asked his staff not to include amputees wounded in combat, saying, “Nobody wants to see that.” Stuttering is a neurological disorder that affects roughly 3 million Americans.
[...]
For a time, Trump exercised a modicum of restraint around this topic. As I once wrote, Trump was probably wise enough to realize that, to paraphrase Michael Jordan, Republicans stutter too.
[...]
Trump may be among the most famous and powerful people in modern history, but he remains a small-minded bully. He mocks Biden’s disability because he believes the voters will reward him for it—that there is more to be gained than lost by dehumanizing his rival and the millions of other Americans who stutter, or who go through life managing other disorders and disabilities.
The rights and dignity of the disabled have always mattered to me, but after my injury, I am more aware of how cruel the world can be to those with different or fewer abilities. Watching the opposition party become the “fuck your feelings” party of wannabe fascists these last nine years should embarrass and enrage us all.
Alliteration is especially tough for me, and when I know it’s coming, I slow my words and enunciate them with almost comical intensity. But I don’t stutter when I type. And so I can easily say that I’m ready to spend the next seven-plus months beating bullies, building benches, saving statehouses and the Senate, and righting wrongs.
I’ll never say “fuck your feelings” to anyone, even a MAGA zealot, because that’s just not me. But I will say this—a few times, fast, even:
Fuck fascism.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ve earned some banana chips.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos
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NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to post a bond to cover a $454 million civil fraud judgment or face the risk of New York state seizing some of his marquee properties.Trump, seeking to regain the presidency this year, must either pay the money out of his own pocket or post a bond while he appeals Justice Arthur Engoron's February 16 judgment against him for manipulating his net worth and his family real estate company's property values to dupe lenders and insurers.
On Monday morning, Trump wrote on social media that the number Engoron set was "fraudulent.""It should be ZERO, I DID NOTHING WRONG!," he said.The Trump campaign on Friday called for donations from "one million pro-Trump patriots," saying that the "iconic Trump Tower" was among his properties at risk of seizure.The case cuts to the core of his public image as a prosperous businessman. Trump rose to fame as a developer of flashy properties like Manhattan's Trump Tower and often boasts of his financial success - even though his companies have at times struggled.
But Trump, the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 election, now faces a web of financial worries including campaign fundraising lagging behind his rival.
The judgment in the case was entered in Manhattan, where Trump properties such as Trump Tower or 40 Wall Street may be in the sights of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who brought the civil case in 2022.
James also has notified Westchester County, just north of New York City, of the judgment, a step toward potentially seizing assets there such as a Trump golf course and a 60-room mansion and estate called Seven Springs.
Taking control of Trump's properties would pose a host of legal and logistical challenges for the attorney general's office. Placing liens on them to ensure they are not sold or transferred and going after Trump's liquid assets would be more straightforward.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the case politically motivated. The first former U.S. president ever to face criminal charges, Trump has been indicted in four separate cases, pleading not guilty in each.In one of those cases, a New York judge on Monday is set to hear arguments on Trump's bid to postpone a mid-April start date over charges related to hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 U.S. election.
'Fire Sale Prices'
In the civil fraud case, Trump's lawyers have said 30 surety companies have rejected his requests to post a bond securing the judgment, and have asked that he be allowed to post $100 million instead. They have asked a mid-level state appeals court to delay enforcement of the judgment.
During a 2023 deposition by the attorney general's office, Trump said his companies had more than $400 million in cash. In a social media post on Friday, he said he had almost $500 million in cash, but intended to use much of it on his campaign.
"I will be forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices," Trump wrote on social media last week.
Trump came a step closer to a windfall on Friday after investors approved a $5.7 billion deal to list the company that owns his Truth Social platform on the stock market. Trump's majority stake in the company, Trump Media & Technology Group, is worth about $3.3 billion.
But even if the deal gets completed this week, it is unclear if it would help Trump cover the judgment. That is because he previously agreed to terms preventing him from selling his shares for six months or borrowing against them.
Before the three-month, non-jury trial in Manhattan, Engoron found that Trump had engaged in fraud by overvaluing properties including his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, his penthouse apartment in Manhattan's Trump Tower, and various office buildings and golf courses.
This case is not the only one to drain Trump's finances. Trump this month posted a $91.6 million bond to cover an $83.3 million defamation verdict for writer E. Jean Carroll while he appeals. She sued him after Trump called her a liar for accusing him of raping her decades ago. He has denied wrongdoing.
Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Jack Queen in New York and Nathan Layne in Milton, Connecticut Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen Walder
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Two days after NBC News' Friday, March 22 announcement that former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel had been hired by the network as a political analyst, NBC's Meet the Press host Kristen Welker interviewed the ex-GOP leader Sunday, grilling McDaniel about past statements she's made disregarding the 2020 presidential election results.
After years of pushing ex-President Donald Trump's Big Lie that the election was stolen from him by President Joe Biden and the Democrats, the former RNC chair told Welker. "The reality is Joe Biden won." CNN reports McDaniel has "has repeatedly attacked the network and its journalists, assailed the news media as 'fake news' and promoted false claims around the 2020 vote, as an on-air commentator ahead of the 2024 presidential election."
Following her conversation with McDaniel, Welker sat down with former Meet the Press host and NBC News veteran Chuck Todd, asking him to share his "takeaways" from the interview.
"Look, let me deal with the elephant in the room," Todd said, telling Welker, "I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation because I don't know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News. I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn't want to mess up her contract."
The former NBC host continued, "She wants us to believe she was speaking for the RNC, when the RNC was paying for her. So she has credibility issues that she still has to deal with. Is she speaking for herself or is she speaking on behalf of who is paying her? Once at the RNC she did say that, Hey I'm speaking for her party, I get that, that's part of the job. So, what about here?"
Todd added, "I will say this: I think your interview did a good job at exposing many of the contradictions. And look, there's a reason why a lot of journalists at NBC are uncomfortable with this because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination. So, that's where you begin here. And so, when NBC made the decision to give her NBC News' credibility, you gotta ask yourself what does she bring NBC News?"
"And when we make deals like this — and I've been at this company a long time — you're doing it for access. Access to audience. Sometimes it's access to an individual. And we can have a journalistic ethics debate about that. I'm willing to have that debate. If you told me we were hiring her as a technical adviser to the Republican convention, I think that would be certainly defensible. If you told me, 'we're talking to her, but let's see how she does in some interviews,' and maybe vet her with actual journalists inside the network.
Todd emphasized, "I do think, unfortunately this interview is always gonna be looked through the prism of, 'who is she speaking for?'" I think you did everything you could do," Todd told Welker. "You got put into an impossible situation. Booking this interview, and then all of a sudden the rug is pulled out from under you, and you find out she's being paid to show up?"
"It's unfortunate for this program, but I am glad that you did the best that you could," he added.
Watch the video below or at this link.
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
Will North Carolina's Extremist Republicans Drive Away Business -- To Connecticut?
Will all North Carolinians pay the price for Republicans nominating a gubernatorial candidate who favorably quotes Adolf Hitler, compares LGBTQ+ people to “maggots” and “flies,” and thinks a six-week abortion ban is awesome but not quite awesome enough?
In a less benighted time, we might have confidently said, “Hell yes. That’s not the America I know. The America I know overcharges everyone for prescription drugs, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.” But MAGA has metastasized to the point where the morally outrageous is now just more of the same.
Of course, there are outrages and then there’s “holy fuck, what did that dude just say?” North Carolina GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson’s public pronouncements fall squarely in the latter category. And at least one blue state looking to boost its tax base has noticed.
As much of America continues to devolve into a “Mad Max”-style dystopia where every character is played by Mel Gibson, Connecticut has decided it’s time to call bullshit and coax some Tar Heel State businesses north.
WRAL-TV, Raleigh, North Carolina:
Democratic Senate leaders in the Nutmeg State wrote to officials in Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development, urging them to “explore opportunities to attract businesses from the state of North Carolina to relocate to Connecticut.” They cited North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s Republican gubernatorial nomination, his history of inflammatory comments about LGBTQ people and women, and his desire to restrict abortion access as the impetus for the effort.
In the letter, Connecticut Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney and other legislators stated, “We are constantly looking for chances to diversify and strengthen our state's economy, and we believe there is a unique opportunity to reach out to businesses in North Carolina.”
To review, current North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, whom the state’s Republicans overwhelming chose earlier this month as their gubernatorial candidate, is a font of feral nonsense. He’s quoted Hitler favorably on Facebook. He’s called women who get abortions—even if they’ve been pregnant for just 24 hours—murderers. And he’s advocated for a complete ban on abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
And that’s not all!
There was the time he called school shooting survivors “media prosti-tots” for advocating for gun-control policies. The meme mocking a Harvey Weinstein accuser, and the other meme mocking actresses for wearing “whore dresses to protest sexual harassment.” The prediction that rising acceptance of homosexuality would lead to pedophilia and “the END of civilization as we know it”; the talk of arresting transgender people for their bathroom choice; the use of antisemitic tropes; the Facebook posts calling Hillary Clinton a “heifer” and Michelle Obama a man.
Okay, then!
Of course, Democrats, both in North Carolina and nationwide, naturally see Robinson’s bid as a boon for their own electoral prospects. So it stands to reason that business-minded progressives outside the state would see an opportunity as well.
WRAL-TV:
The LGBTQ community is a frequent target of Robinson’s speeches; he said last year that “God formed me” to fight against the push for LGBTQ rights and visibility. He has also questioned whether women can be leaders, whether the Holocaust was as bad as is commonly accepted, and whether Jewish bankers secretly control much of the world economy.
“These remarks not only undermine the values of inclusivity and tolerance of our nation, but should also raise significant concerns about the business environment and social climate in North Carolina under potential leadership that condones or ignores such divisive rhetoric,” the Connecticut lawmakers’ letter said. “In contrast, Connecticut prides itself on its commitment to diversity, equality, and fostering an environment where businesses can thrive while upholding ethical standards and respect for all.”
And it’s not just Democrats who are noticing the bitterly cold winds of change that could soon force North Carolinians to both winterize and Hitlerize their homes. The far-left North Carolina Chamber of Commerce is alarmed, too, calling the recent primary results a “a startling warning of the looming threats to North Carolina’s business climate.”
In a post-primary newsletter, the Chamber wrote, “While we celebrate the victories of Chamber-backed candidates, many of the races we were watching turned for candidates that do not share our vision for North Carolina.”
And the Chamber has good reason to be alarmed. According to one analysis, before it was repealed, North Carolina’s 2016 anti-trans bathroom bill was poised to cost the state $3.76 billion in business over the span of a little more than a decade. And one recent study found that having more LGBTQ+ people in a state is associated with higher economic growth. Meanwhile, there’s also compelling evidence that diversity within companies leads to improved innovation and market growth.
Of course, Robinson isn’t the NC GOP’s only headache. CNN reporter Shimon Prokupecz recently cornered Republican superintendent of public instruction nominee Michele Morrow, who both hates public schools and has called for the public execution of former President Barack Obama.
Needless to say, outside her skeevy echo chamber, Morrow wasn’t nearly as forthcoming about her outré views on presidential executions:
So Morrow wants to kill a former president and thinks public schools are socialism centers. That’s nitpicking and nothing a newly anointed Robinson couldn’t smooth over with a bit of well-placed promotion.
If he wins, maybe he can try out one of these slogans:
- Come to North Carolina, Where the Tax Breaks Are Real but the Holocaust Isn’t
- North Carolina: First in Flight From That Gay Conversion Camp Your Parents Sent You To
- North Carolina: 120 Years of Regress, From Kitty Hawk to Shitty Talk Radio
- Kiϟϟ Me, I’m From North Carolina
- North Carolina: You Will Carry Your Incest Baby to Term, Peasant!
Okay, maybe those need some workshopping.
Meanwhile, Connecticut—and presumably other blue states as well—is ready to jump in and take advantage of the yawning decency gap between its own government and North Carolina’s.
“Connecticut is an open and welcoming community, proud to protect our socially progressive values and boasting an incredible quality of life,” said Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner-designate Dan O’Keefe in a statement. “We invite companies of any size to come to Connecticut and make it here.”
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.
Just five months after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) succeeded ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced last week that she plans to file a motion to vacate the seat — once again — if Johnson agrees to bring the the bipartisan package, which includes Ukraine aid, to the House floor.
Axios reported Friday that Democratic lawmakers, like Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), who don't agree with Johnson on policy, are still willing to help him keep the speakership if it means voting against Greene.
The Florida leader wrote via X/Twitter, "I do not support Speaker Johnson but I will never stand by and let MTG to[sic] take over the people’s House."
According to a Sunday, March 24 CNN report, several other Democratic lawmakers willing to assist Johnson with maintaining his position say they will only do so if the speaker agrees to move forward on the $95 billion aid package that the US Senate already approved last month.
The news outlet notes, "While the exact timing remains unclear, the first procedural vote to oust Johnson is expected to take the form of a 'motion to table' – or kill – fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resolution to vacate the speakership. Democrats are weighing whether to kill the resolution on the first procedural vote, but say they need to hear the speaker publicly outline his intentions on Ukraine aid."
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) told CNN if Johnson "does the responsible thing, which is allowing members of Congress to vote on a bill that will pass and that is in our national security interests, and subsequent to that a non-serious actor that doesn’t want to govern brings a motion to vacate, yes I would motion to table in that circumstance."
According to CNN, some GOP House members worry "that Greene’s move to oust Johnson could cost them the House in November, though some hardliners are weighing whether they would ultimately vote to remove him."
The news outlet reports House Homeland Security Chair Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) said, "I’m disappointed. … I think it’s a distraction. We need to just – unfortunately this bill passed, and we’ve got a lot of other stuff now to do, some articles to walk over… we don’t need anything that’s going to disrupt that." He added that he hopes "Greene will ultimately decide not to call up her resolution for a vote, saying, "I don’t think we’ll let that happen this time. I mean, we’ll see how it goes, but I don’t think that’s going to happen."
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
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WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a $1.2 trillion spending package, keeping the U.S. government funded through a fiscal year that began six months ago.Biden described the package, which Congress overwhelmingly passed in the early hours of Saturday, as investing in Americans as well as strengthening the economy and national security. The Democratic president urged Congress to pass other bills stuck in the legislative chambers.
"The House must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental to advance our national security interests," Biden said in a statement. "And Congress must pass the bipartisan border security agreement, the toughest and fairest reforms in decades, to ensure we have the policies and funding needed to secure the border. It's time to get this done."The Democratic-majority Senate passed the spending bill with a 74-24 vote. Key federal agencies including the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, State and Treasury, which houses the Internal Revenue Service, will remain funded through September 30.
But the measure did not include funding for mostly military aid to Ukraine, Taiwan, or Israel, which are included in a different Senate-passed bill that the Republican-led House of Representatives has ignored.The business community welcomed the passage of the spending bill and committed to continue working with policymakers to advance legislation that would enhance tax breaks for businesses and low-income families.
"A fully operational U.S. government provides important stability for American businesses, workers and families," Business Roundtable CEO Joshua Bolten said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to work with Members of Congress to advance sound policies, including the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act."
Senate leaders spent hours on Friday negotiating a number of amendments to the budget bill that ultimately were defeated. The delay pushed passage beyond a Friday midnight deadline.But the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a statement saying agencies would not be ordered to shut, expressing confidence the Senate would promptly pass the bill, which it did.
While Congress got the job done, deep partisan divides were on display again, as well as bitter disagreement within the House's narrow and fractious Republican majority. Conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) threatened to force a vote to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-AL), a fellow Republican, for allowing the measure to pass.The 1,012-page bill provides $886 billion in funding for the Defense Department, including a raise for U.S. troops.
Johnson, as he has done more than 60 times since succeeding his ousted predecessor Kevin McCarthy in October, relied on a parliamentary maneuver on Friday to bypass hardliners within his own party, allowing the measure to pass by a 286-134 vote that had substantially more Democratic support than Republican.For most of the past six months, the government was funded with four short-term stopgap measures, a sign of the repeated brinkmanship that ratings agencies have warned could hurt the creditworthiness of a federal government that has nearly $34.6 trillion in debt.
"This legislation is truly a national security bill — 70 percent of the funding in this package is for our national defense, including investments that strengthen our military readiness and industrial base, provide pay and benefit increases for our brave servicemembers and support our closest allies," said Republican Senator Susan Collins, one of the main negotiators.
Opponents cast the bill as too expensive."It's reckless. It leads to inflation. It's a direct vote to steal your paycheck," said Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), part of a band of Republicans who generally oppose most spending bills.The last partial federal government shutdown occurred during Donald Trump's presidency, from December 22, 2018, until January 25, 2019. The record-long interruption in government services came as the Republican insisted on money to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and was unable to broker a deal with Democrats.
Greene Lashes Out
The new budget bill passed the House with 185 Democratic and 101 Republican votes, which led Greene, a hardline conservative, to introduce her measure to oust Johnson.That move had echoes of October, when a small band of hardliners engineered a vote that removed McCarthy for relying on Democrats to pass a stopgap measure to avert another partial government shutdown. They had been angry at McCarthy since June, when he agreed with Biden on the outlines of the fiscal 2024 spending that were passed on Friday.
McCarthy's ouster brought the House to a halt for three weeks as Republicans struggled to agree on a new leader, an experience many in the party said they did not want to repeat as the November election draws nearer.
And Greene said she would not push for an immediate vote on her move to force Johnson out.
"I filed a motion to vacate today. But it's more of a warning than a pink slip," the Georgia Republican told reporters on Friday.
Indeed, some Democrats said on Friday that they would vote to keep Johnson, if he were to call a vote on a $95 billion security assistance package already approved by the Senate for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.That measure is unlikely to come up anytime soon, as lawmakers will now leave Washington for a two-week break.
Pockets of Republican opposition to more funding for Ukraine have led to fears that Russia could seriously erode Kyiv's ability to continue defending itself.
Life is unlikely to become easier for Johnson anytime soon, with the looming departure of two members of his caucus -- Colorado's Ken Buck and Wisconsin's Mike Gallagher -- set to whittle his majority to a mere 217-213 in a month's time. At that point, Johnson could afford to lose only one vote from his party on any measure that Democrats unite to oppose.
Reporting by Richard Cowan, David Morgan and Makini Brice; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu. Andrea Shalal, Ismail Shakil and Lucia Mutikani; Editing by William Mallard, Andrea Ricci and Jonathan Oatis
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