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Tag: bullies
Lara Trump

Lara Trump Bullies Republicans Who Aren't 'On Board' With Former Guy

Friday, March 8 will mark the end of Ronna Romney McDaniel's time as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), and former President Donald Trump is recommending Michael Whatley (who chairs the North Carolina GOP) as McDaniel's replacement and Lara Trump (his daughter-in-law) as RNC co-chair.

Lara Trump has drawn criticism from some conservatives for vowing, during an interview with Newsmax's Rob Schmitt in February, that "every single penny" of RNC money "will go to the number one and the only job of the RNC — that is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country."

Lara Trump, according to former RNC Chairman Michael Steele and other critics, is doing Republicans in down-ballot races a major disservice.

But the MAGA activist isn't backing down from her promise to prioritize her father-in-law's 2024 campaign over everything else. And she is threatening to disown any Republicans who aren't on board.

During an early March appearance on Real America's Voice, Lara Trump warned, "I can assure you, there will be no funny business. Anyone who is not on board with seeing Donald Trump as the 47th president and America-loving patriots all the way down the ticket being supported by the RNC is welcome to leave, because we are not playing games. And we have no time to waste."

Lara Trump continued, "So, we have to ensure that every single penny of every dollar donated goes to causes people care about. That's part of the reason that I think I'm such a great fit for this: There's no one more loyal to Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement than this person you’re looking at right here — than me."

Steele has been arguing that Lara Trump fails to understand the duties of being an RNC co-chair.

On MSNBC's The Weekend in February, Steele told host Alicia Menendez, "The number one responsibility of the RNC (is not) to elect Donald Trump. The number one responsibility is to elect every candidate who's on the ballot on behalf of the party. It is to raise money for those candidates who are on the ballot."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Bill o reilly's ex wife and the Jeff Gross

Bill O’Reilly Bullies Police Officer Dating His Ex-Wife

On Tuesday, investigative reporter John Cook reported on the Gawker website that Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly had pushed his local police department to investigate an officer who allegedly dated O’Reilly’s wife while they were separated.

Cook reports that Richard Harasym, an Internal Affairs detective in the Nassau County Police Department in O’Reilly’s hometown, was ordered to help O’Reilly’s private detectives investigate an officer in the department who was romantically involved with O’Reilly’s wife, Maureen O’Reilly (nee McPhilmy). The commissioner of the police department at the time, Lawrence Mulvey, is described as a friend of O’Reilly’s and was allegedly expecting him to make a large donation to the police department’s nonprofit organization. After declining that assignment, Harasym was reportedly transferred out of the Internal Affairs department. Gawker’s sources say that he was transferred because he refused to help O’Reilly.

Internal Affairs is intended to investigate police misconduct, and dating a married woman — though perhaps immoral — is not police misconduct. And the officer in question may not have even been dating a married woman. O’Reilly’s nephew, according to Cook, mentioned to staffers at Fox News that McPhilmy started dating the officer while she and O’Reilly were already in a trial separation. Indeed, McPhilmy bought a house under her maiden name last year, and O’Reilly has not been wearing his wedding ring this year — suggesting that they intend to split up, if they haven’t already.

It’s not hard to see why McPhilmy and O’Reilly may have decided to call it quits. In 2004, O’Reilly was accused of sexually harassing Andrea Mackris, a young producer on his Fox News show The O’Reilly Factor. Among other things, he allegedly called Mackris on the phone and told her steamy sexual fantasies — including one involving falafel — while masturbating with a vibrator. The parties later settled out of court.

But it wasn’t all fun and games. When Mackris considered exposing O’Reilly’s harassment, he allegedly threatened to enlist his Fox News connections to ruin her life:

“If you cross Fox News Channel, it’s not just me, it’s [Fox President] Roger Ailes who will go after you. … I’m the street guy out front making loud noises about the issues, but Ailes operates behind the scenes, strategizes and makes things happen so that one day BAM! The person gets what’s coming to them but never sees it happen. Look at [prominent Fox News critic] Al Franken, one day he’s going to get a knock on his door and life as he’s known it will change forever. That day will happen, trust me.”

O’Reilly and Fox have been known to retaliate against critics in the past. A few years ago, O’Reilly warned a caller on his radio show, “We have your phone number, and we’re going to turn it over to Fox security, and you’ll be getting a little visit. … Fox security then will contact your local authorities, and you will be held accountable.” And after a New York Times journalist reported that Fox News had lower-than-expected ratings, rumors began to surface that he had spent time in rehab before writing the article.

Fox still appears to be in the business of intimidation, judging by their numerous on-air attacks against John Cook and his employer, Gawker. But Cook says he’s not worried about retaliation from Fox News. “I’ve never been to rehab or anything like that,” he says, “and there’s nothing they can say that will embarrass Gawker.” Moreover, he says, “They just want this to go away, and if they know that if they do anything to us, we’ll just write about it.” The one thing that Cook expects from O’Reilly is an interview. “O’Reilly has a history of sending out producers to stop people and get ambush interviews,” Cook says. “I’m prepared for that.”