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Jimmy Carter

'Piggish Is Too Kind': Trump Ripped For Slurring Late President Carter

President Donald Trump could not acknowledge Jimmy Carter today without using the death of the former President to dig at his own presidential predecessor Joe Biden.

“Jimmy Carter died a happy man. You know why? Because he wasn't the worst president. Joe Biden was,” Trump told a crew of reporters at the White House.

The statement drew immediate reaction from online critics from all over the world. Harri Ohra-aho, senior advisor for defense and former security director of the Finnish Military Intelligence Centre described Trump as too stupid to see anything as more than spectacle.

“Whatever one may think about the policies of previous presidents, this is probably the bottom line,” Ohra-aho posted. “Everything seems to be just a show for the current one.”

National Review senior editor Jay Nordlinger was similarly despairing, saying, “I don’t think an American president should talk this way. Then again, I could say this every day. And tens of millions of Americans lap up Trump like milk.”

Boston University College of Education Professor Jerry Berger had his own reaction, posting, “Piggish is too kind a word to describe this individual.”

The statement also presented an easy target for Occupy Democrats Executive Editor Grant Stern, who called the claim: “Half true. Half False. Trump is definitely the worst president, and it's not even close,” while Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) said, “Jimmy Carter, if he died a happy man, it was because he lived a life of service, and followed a path laid out by Jesus.”

Other critics, like Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist and Forbes writer Sophia Nelson could only muster a single-word reaction: “Jesus…”

Carter’s memory is etched in the minds of millions of people, regardless of political disposition. In 1982, he established the Carter Center to promote and expand human rights, which earned him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Among his many accomplishments, Carter spent his retirement building homes for the homeless, and he is attributed as the chief architect behind the near eradication of the African Guinea worm, one of humanity’s only species-specific parasites.

He also likely did not vote for Trump.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Why Lutnick Displaced Musk As 'Most Loathed' Trump Adviser

Why Lutnick Displaced Musk As 'Most Loathed' Trump Adviser

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who passionately defended the administration's controversial tariff policy despite the resulting market chaos, is said to be the "most loathed" member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet.

According to a report by The New Republic, Lutnick has displaced tech billionaire Elon Musk as "the most loathed member of Trump's inner circle" for two reasons.

"The first is that he defeated efforts by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and National Economic Council Chair Kevin Hassett to limit the size and scope of Trump’s tariffs, which, if we’re lucky, will tip the United States economy into a recession. (If we’re unlucky, the tariffs will tip the global economy into a depression.)," the report said.

"The second reason Trump officials hate Lutnick is that nobody thinks he actually believes the hooey he spouts in furtherance of a maximalist tariff policy. In an administration overflowing with sycophants, no nose is burrowed more deeply inside Trump’s gluteus maximus than Lutnick’s," it added.

The report further notes that until last week, no one was more reviled within the Trump White House than "special government employee" Elon Musk. However, after Musk faced a significant setback with his $25 million investment in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, which shattered his image of invulnerability, that disdain shifted to Lutnick.

Last moth, Politico quoted a source close to the administration as saying that the commerce secretary “is constantly auditioning for Trump’s approval."

“He’s trying to be a mini-Trump," the individual added.

Politico reported at the time that White House and administration officials were “growing increasingly frustrated with Lutnick." His “abrasive personality” and comments on the media displayed “a lack of understanding of even the basics about how tariffs and the economy work," the officials reportedly thought of Lutnick.

Meanwhile, Lutnick made an appearance on CBS News's Face the Nation on Sunday to advocate for the tariffs.

He said, “We’ve got to start to protect ourselves,” adding, “and we’ve got to stop having all the countries of the world ripping us off. We have a $1.2 trillion trade deficit, and the rest of the world has a surplus with us. They’re earning our money. They’re taking our money, and Donald Trump has seen this, and he’s going to stop it.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

'Insanity': At Pentagon, Musk Will Gain Access To Top-Secret US War Plans

'Insanity': At Pentagon, Musk Will Gain Access To Top-Secret US War Plans

South African centibillionaire Elon Musk — one of President Donald Trump's closest advisors — is now reportedly scheduled to receive a top-secret briefing involving the United States' top-secret plans in the event the nation goes to war with China.

The New York Times reported Thursday evening that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO will be visiting the Pentagon on Friday to get "access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded military secrets." Those war plans are detailed in "20 to 30 slides" that reveal exactly how the U.S. would plan to fight a war against the world's most populous nation and second-largest economy. The Times Julian E. Barnes, Maggie Haberman, Eric Lipton, Ryan Mac and Eric Schmitt noted that the briefing comes despite Musk having "extensive financial interests in China."

"If a foreign country was to learn how the United States planned to fight a war against them, it could reinforce its defenses and address its weaknesses, making the plans far less likely to succeed," the reporters wrote.

Some Musk critics expressed worry that China has significant leverage over the centibillionaire. Progressive activist Murshed Zaheed opined that the Times' reporting included "bats--- crazy" details about Musk's potential conflicts of interest toward the end of the report. In the final five paragraphs of the article, the Times reported that the Tesla factory in Shanghai — which was "built with special permission from the Chinese government" — is responsible for "more than half of Tesla's global deliveries." Tesla also has a $2.8 billion loan agreement with Chinese lenders "for production expenditures."

Consultant Matt Ortega pointed out that Chinese President Xi Jinping could simply tell Musk to "provide us with the U.S. war plan or we will close your Shanghai factory." Journalist Radley Balko exclaimed that Musk getting access to Chinese war plans was "insanity." Former FBI counterterrorism official Frank Figliuzzi called Musk getting the war plans a "clear and present danger." And author and journalist Tim Weiner reminded his followers that Vivek Ramaswamy — who co-founded the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Musk — once said in 2023 that the tech billionaire would "jump like a circus monkey when Xi Jinping calls in the hour of need."

"If you give the war plans to Musk, you might as well give them to China," Weiner wrote on Bluesky.

Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell implied to the Times that Musk's visit was merely casual, saying: "The Defense Department is excited to welcome Elon Musk to the Pentagon on Friday. He was invited by Secretary Hegseth and is just visiting."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Border State Sheriffs Defying Trump On Mass Deportation Scheme

Border State Sheriffs Defying Trump On Mass Deportation Scheme

President-elect Donald Trump's advisors have been hoping county sheriffs in border states will assist with the incoming administration's mass deportation campaign. But several sheriffs are already publicly promising to not lift a finger.

According to a Tuesday report in WIRED magazine, top Trump immigration advisors like Tom Homan and Stephen Miller have been having conversations with several far-right sheriffs who have expressed an interest in helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) remove immigrants from the United States. But that effort is unlikely to pick up traction, both for legal reasons and because other sheriffs have said they already have their hands full and don't want to take on more work.

Currently, ICE's 287(g) program allows for state and local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE in its efforts "to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of noncitizens." However, this does not include sheriffs themselves rounding up and detaining undocumented immigrants.

Additionally, no federal funding has been appropriated to any sheriffs' offices that help ICE, meaning just 125 out of 3,081 sheriff's offices in the U.S. have signed up. And Yuma County, Arizona Sheriff Leon Wilmot told WIRED that the Supreme Court has already established that enforcing immigration law is outside the jurisdiction of local police departments and sheriffs' offices.

"[T]hat's not our realm of responsibility," Wilmot said. "If we wanted to do immigration law, we would go work for Border Patrol."

The push for sheriffs to assist the incoming administration has been led by retired sheriff Tom Mack, who is the head of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA). Mack told WIRED he's been exchanging voice and text messages with Homan about getting more sheriffs involved with deportations. Homan has previously promised to build "the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen." But Wilmot said "no one listens to" Mack, that he "hasn't been a sheriff in a long time" and that he "pushes his own agenda."

Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway, who is a Democrat, told WIRED that he wasn't invited to an event Homan hosted in his state last month, even though Hathaway's jurisdiction includes some of the nation's biggest ports of entry. He added that he would refuse any calls to help the Trump administration deport immigrants, as it would hurt his standing in his county.

"I'm not going to cooperate, because 95 percent of the residents of the town where I live, where my county is, are Hispanic,” Hathaway said. “I'm not going to go checking the documents of practically every single person in my county to determine their immigration status, because that would create distrust between law enforcement and all the people in my community."

The sheriffs bucking calls to assist with mass deportations even include some of Trump's biggest supporters in the law enforcement community. Livingston County, Michigan Sheriff Mike Murphy — who hosted a pro-Trump rally in a building owned by the sheriff's office — told the outlet that he isn't interested in using county resources to help with federal immigration law enforcement.

"I still have a county to do police work in,” Murphy said. “Just because the president says, 'Hey, go out and round them up,' that is not all of a sudden gonna move to the top of my priority list. If somebody's house is getting broken into, that's my priority. If somebody's involved in an injury crash and they're laying on the side of the road, that's my priority. I've got cases that are open.”

Other border state sheriffs who have come out against calls to help the Trump administration round up migrants include Val Verde County, Texas Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez and Brewster County, Texas Sheriff Ronny Dodson. According to Dodson, the incoming Trump administration giving sheriffs the authority to jail migrants could "break" county law enforcement.

"I’m not gonna let the government tell me what to do in my job," Dodson said.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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