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White House Deploys 'Rapid Response' Account To Smear Reporters, Push Fake Polls

Donald Trump’s White House is using its state-run “Rapid Response 47” account to push lies, attack reporters, and hype fake poll numbers—blurring the line between official governance and a MAGA propaganda machine.

In a post on X Friday, the “Rapid Response 47” account posted a clip of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt answering a question by NBC News Chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander on the White House north lawn.

“MUST WATCH: @PressSec smacks down Fake News loser @PeterAlexander as he tries to run cover for the WASTE, FRAUD, and ABUSE in the federal government,” the account posted to its more than 723,00 followers.

But Alexander asked a reasonable question, and it was far from the “smackdown” the page claimed it was.

“We’re now hearing from constituents in some traditionally red districts complaining about what they say is the chainsaw approach, saying that it’s being done very sloppily, the cuts to jobs and spending. How do you respond to that criticism?” asked Alexander.

“I love how the media takes a few critics when the overwhelming response from the American people is support for what this administration is doing,” replied Leavitt.

The account’s tactics mirror Trump’s own. In reality, Trump has been lying about his approval rating, making up fake polls that nobody could corroborate.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday found that 44 percent of voters approve of his administration so far, and 51 percent disapprove. Earlier numbers haven’t been any better. A February 7 Pew Research poll showed his approval rating at 47 percent.

The “Rapid Response 47” X account is not the official White House account but is labeled as another government administrative page and links to the official White House website. It was rolled out by the White House shortly after the inauguration. Its bio states that it’s the “Official Rapid Response account of the Trump 47 White House. Supporting @POTUS's America First agenda and holding the Fake News accountable. MAGA!”

On Wednesday, the official White House X account posted an AI-altered photo of Trump portrayed as a king wearing a crown, stating, “Long live the king.” On Tuesday, the same account drew outrage after it posted a degrading ASMR-style video of undocumented immigrants being detained and transported out of the country.

The attacks on the press haven’t stopped at social media accounts.

The White House has also attacked the First Amendment by banning the Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One over the news organization refusing to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” after Trump’s executive order declaring it so. The administration’s newly appointed Federal Communication Commission chair, Brendan Carr, also filed three new complaints against CBS News, ABC News, and NBC News in January.

With government-run accounts amplifying partisan attacks, AI-generated propaganda, and press restrictions, Trump’s second term is looking more tyrannical by the day.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Trump's COVID Response Was Far Worse Than We Remember

Here are Trump's words from that infamous April 2020 press conference about Covid:

"So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light. ... And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. ... I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. ... And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning."

Yet here we are, a little more than four years later, and the narrative about how COVID was handled has shifted. It now seems to be conventional wisdom that the worst errors we committed concerned massive shutdowns and school closings. We hear comparatively little about the large discrepancies between Republicans and Democrats in death rates because of the former's resistance to public health measures and vaccination.

A serious country would look back at Trump's greatest challenge during his presidency and remember what an embarrassing failure it was.

It began with denial of the problem. Trump told Bob Woodward in a February 2020 phone call that "You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flus. ... This is deadly stuff."

But in his public statements, Trump repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the virus. On Jan. 22, 2020, he said, "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine." On Feb. 7, he tweeted:

"Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation."

On February 10, he again reported on a chat with Xi, reassuring Americans that "I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control."

On February 26, he urged people to wash their hands (fair enough) but then suggested that the new virus was "the same as the flu" — exactly the opposite of what he told Woodward.

On February 27, he predicted that COVID would "disappear ... it's like a miracle."

On February 28, Trump said the Democrats were politicizing the coronavirus, calling it their "new hoax."

Trump's principal actions as chief executive in the early days of the pandemic were to enact travel bans from China and later Europe. He did nothing to initiate a testing program, though he did assert falsely that anyone who wanted a test could get one.

In March, Trump urged that the Grand Princess cruise ship, with sick passengers aboard, not be permitted to dock in San Francisco because he didn't want to increase the number of cases counted in the United States. "I like the numbers being where they are. I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault."

Also in March 2020, citing a small French study, Trump declared that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, taken together with an antibiotic, could be "one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine" and should "be put in use immediately."

On April 3, Trump mentioned that the CDC was now recommending that people wear masks but said that he would not wear one.

By July, with the number of cases rising sharply, Trump suggested that the tests were picking up trivial cases: " They have the sniffles and we put it down as a test." By that point, 3.7 million Americans had been infected and more than 140,000 had died.

Also in July, Trump elevated Dr. Stella Immanuel on Twitter. Dr. Immanuel touted hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID and denied that masks were effective. She also believed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches.

In a September 2020 campaign stop, Trump said that COVID affects "virtually nobody," mainly just "elderly people, elderly people with heart problems and other problems. If they have other problems, that's what it really affects, that's it."

Trump modeled contempt for masking, mocking reporters and others for wearing them. He held huge rallies and White House indoor parties that became superspreader events. When he himself became infected with COVID, he failed to disclose it to associates like Chris Christie (who wound up in intensive care) and arguably attempted to infect Joe Biden at the first presidential debate.

Trump denied the problem, failed to coordinate a federal response other than banning travel, embraced quack cures and modeled antisocial behavior. After first praising Xi Jinping to the skies for his "strong" control of the virus, he switched to name calling — the "Kung Flu," the "China virus" — to incite xenophobic responses. He really did only one big thing right — backing Operation Warp Speed, which hastened the development of the vaccine.

Now his party has gone full nutcase, demonizing Anthony Fauci. These are unserious people in thrall to a sociopathic clown. The U.S. death rate from COVID far exceeded that of peer nations. That was not due to excessive lockdowns or masking. It was due to incompetence in the White House. Time for a great remembering.

Reprinted with permission from Creators.

Have We Been Looking At Deficit Reduction The Wrong Way?

Jared Bernstein–formerly a top economic advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, and a key figure in the Obama Administration’s attempt to get the economy back on track–has published a fascinating response to Ezra Klein’s analysis of the administration’s response to the Great Recession.

Bernstein closes with a poignant critique of official Washington’s irrational, and destructive, fear of deficit spending:

“The main question we want to ask…is not ‘is the deficit getting too large’ but ‘is it large enough?’ As long as the economy is operating under capacity and the spending is temporary—think Recovery Act, not Bush tax cuts—to do too little in the name of deficits, bond vigilantes, and Treasury rates (which are now at historic lows), is to condemn millions to unnecessary unemployment, declining living standards, and even, in the case of the young, permanent scarring.
And, yes, for many in Congress it’s a tactic—they don’t care about the deficit other than its use a cudgel against doing something to help someone other than their funders. But as long as we fail to understand the dynamics of deficits—their need to expand as much as necessary in bad times and contract in good ones—we will never be able to meet the market failures we face now or in the future.”

According to Bernstein, we have been looking at our national debt in the wrong way. Although debt reduction has emerged as one of the most effective talking points in our political discourse–and as of June, 59 percent of Americans wanted the government to make debt reduction its primary concern, even if it meant slowing down the economic recovery–Bernstein suggests that we should be going in the exact opposite direction.

The divide between Bernstein’s opinion and the public’s will is just another clear example in a long list of signs that our most commonly used political talking points have little to do with economic reality.

Obama Visits FEMA Storm Center To Check On Hurricane

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s command center on Saturday as Hurricane Irene began making its way up the East Coast, and 6,500 American troops were told to be ready in case they are needed for relief work.

The center helps coordinate the government’s response to natural disasters such as this weekend’s hurricane, and the president offered encouragement to emergency management staff from across the federal government.

“Everybody here, you guys are doing a great job,” Obama told dozens of workers who were at their computer stations. The workers wore red or blue vests with their job descriptions on their backs.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told 6,500 active duty troops to be prepared for a possible order for them to help with Hurricane Irene relief assistance. Panetta issued a prepare-to-deploy order for the troops from all branches of the military if support relief efforts are required, spokesman George Little said.

The request for the possible help came from states in the path of the storm.

Obama, accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and his assistant for homeland security, John Brennan, said he was monitoring the situation closely. He thanked everyone for their efforts.

“”This is still obviously going to be a touch and go situation for a lot of communities, but knowing that they’ve got an outstanding response team like this will make all the difference in the world,” he said. “Especially because you all are not going to get any sleep for the next 72 hours or so.”

Earlier Saturday, Obama got a fresh update on the storm from his emergency management team.

He’s asking to be kept alerted to developments throughout the day and overnight as the storm makes it way up the Eastern Seaboard. He also spoke with federal and state agencies involved in the response by video teleconference.

Obama said that when he discussed the situation Friday with governors and mayors, he asked if they could think of anything else they needed. “There was quiet on the phone and that was a good sign,” the president said.

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Smart. Sharp. Funny. Fearless

White House Deploys 'Rapid Response' Account To Smear Reporters, Push Fake Polls

Trump's COVID Response Was Far Worse Than We Remember

Have We Been Looking At Deficit Reduction The Wrong Way?

Obama Visits FEMA Storm Center To Check On Hurricane

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