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Tag: easter
LGBTQ Transgender

Fox Staged A Freakout Fest Over Fabricated Biden 'Attack On Easter'

President Joe Biden expressed his belief that trans Americans deserve to live their lives in safety and dignity in a Friday proclamation and Sunday statement marking the Transgender Day of Visibility. But the right-wing demagogues at Fox News and Newsmax apparently disagree with that sentiment — they have spent the last few days furiously denouncing Biden’s statements, which they describe as an affront to Christians because Transgender Visibility Day, celebrated annually on March 31, happened to fall on Easter Sunday this year.

Fox News devoted 2 hours and 19 minutes, including 37 full segments, to freaking out over Transgender Visibility Day’s overlap with Easter Sunday as its propagandists slammed Biden for recognizing the former, according to a Media Matters review of the network’s programming from March 30 through April 1. Newsmax chimed in with another 1 hour and 45 minutes on the subject, including 40 segments, over the same period.

Stars at both networks used the time to warn Christians that they were under attack from Biden’s statements recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility. Fox’s Jesse Watters argued that Biden is “waging spiritual warfare against Christianity,” and complained that “the trans thing is over” because “we have accommodated the trans for quite some time.” His colleague Laura Ingraham said Biden had put “egg on his faith” by “commemorat[ing] godlessness” through his “demonic” actions. “Easter has now been replaced or at the very least, is now forced to share a day with a new holiday that the administration clearly prefers,” Sean Hannity declared. Over at Newsmax, Eric Bolling cited the situation as evidence of a “spiritual war” and an “all-out attack on Christian faith.”

It’s worth comparing the hateful bile spewed by the right-wing media to Biden’s actual message.

“On Transgender Day of Visibility, we honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union — where all people are created equal and treated equally throughout their lives,” Biden’s Friday proclamation began. “Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back.”

The president added on Sunday that “transgender Americans deserve to be safe and supported in every community,” and denounced “MAGA extremists” for trying to pass “hateful and extreme state laws that target transgender kids and their families.” He termed such legislation “un-American,” highlighted mental health resources available to transgender youths, and promised that his administration will “never stop working to create a world where everyone can live without fear.”

“I want every member of the trans community to know that we see you,” he concluded. “You’re each made in the image of God, and deserve love, dignity, and respect. You make America stronger, and we’re with you.”

Biden’s message is in keeping with the traditional American creed, first set forth in the Declaration of Independence’s resolution “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” America’s greatness comes in part because its leaders have sought to expand that circle over time so that it brings in previously excluded groups like women, people of color, and LGBTQ people. Trans Americans, to Biden, deserve the same rights and privileges and should be treated with the same respect as any other citizen of this country.

This need not be a controversial sentiment or one which attracts a vitriolic response. Indeed, Fox News is going to great lengths to avoid acknowledging that its corporate cousins at Fox TV celebrated Transgender Visibility Day in 2021, tweeting, “Trans Day of Visibility is dedicated to celebrating transgender people, their contributions to society and raising awareness of discrimination they face. To all the transgender men, women and non-binary folx, we see you and stand with you.”

But Fox and Newsmax hosts, like their Trumpist media brethren, are the “MAGA extremists” Biden called out in his statement. They’ve spent years spreading hateful, bigoted attacks against transgender people and any person or entity associated with them. As propagandists for a movement that merges a cult of personality around Trump, blood-and-soil nationalism that mocks our civic tradition, and a theocratic brand of Christianity focused on perceived slights, they met Biden’s remarks with days of outrage.

That Biden also issued a Sunday statement celebrating Easter as a time to “remember Jesus’ sacrifice” and appeared Monday morning at the traditional White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn was apparently insufficient.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, recently seen hawking his own line of Bibles and preparing for his upcoming trial over paying hush money to a porn star so she wouldn’t say they had an affair during his third and current marriage, marked the day of Christ’s resurrection by posting unhinged rants on Truth Social, including this gem nominally celebrating Easter:

That behavior, apparently, is just fine to his supporters at Fox and Newsmax.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

No, Biden Didn't 'Ruin Easter' -- And Daily Caller Has Egg On Its Face

No, Biden Didn't 'Ruin Easter' -- And Daily Caller Has Egg On Its Face

Oh, how awkward. After spending their Easter weekend rending their garments because President Joe Biden ruined Easter, Republicans might need to retract their outrage because it turns out, nope, he didn’t.

The story that had so many Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, in a tizzy was published by the Daily Caller last week and declared that the president had quite blasphemously and, the story suggested, for the first time ever in history, “banned religious Easter eggs” from the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll.

Just one problem, as the Daily Caller noted in its retraction of the story:

The ban of religious symbolism on eggs as part of the White House Easter egg art contest has been longstanding, dating back decades, and the Biden administration did not make any modifications to this rule. While the Caller did not explicitly state at any point that the rule was new, this additional context rendered the main thrust of the article misleading to readers, who could reasonably have come to the conclusion that the rule was new.

Oops.

Johnson is not the only Republican who was quick to jump on the now-retracted story as evidence that Biden—the practicing Catholic president who very regularly attends church services—hates Easter, Jesus, and apple pie. As congressional reporter Jamie Dupree noted, Minnesota Republican and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer used the story to declare that Biden “proudly leads the charge” in the “radical left’s war on Christianity.”

Raging about the longstanding rule that Biden in no way invented or was responsible for was only one part of the GOP’s weekend of rage. Many Republicans were furious that the 15th annual Transgender Day of Visibility coincided with Easter this year—something Biden also did not decide.

At least they can take some comfort in knowing that Biden didn’t personally destroy the sanctity of Easter eggs after all. Their heartfelt apologies will surely be coming any minute now …

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Endorse This: Kimmel Mocks Don Jr. Over 'Weird Porn' Addiction (VIDEO)

Endorse This: Kimmel Mocks Don Jr. Over 'Weird Porn' Addiction (VIDEO)

While most of the country was celebrating Passover and Easter with their families like normal human beings, the Trump family freakshow was attacking prosecutors and obsessing over trivial issues that divide the country. Late-night comedy host Jimmy Kimmel, perpetually mocking the Trumps with excellent precision, spotted a bizarre set of Easter messages from Donald Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr.

The once-elected and twice-impeached former president used the holiest of days on the Christian calendar to do what he does best: put out a series of statements slamming his critics, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, whom he called “racist” for simply investigating him.

“This is rare, because typically when he lashes out at a racist attorney general, it’s one that he hired that later turned on him,” Kimmel noted.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the former president’s equally awful son posted an image of heavily armed Easter bunnies guarding eggs. Seriously, Don Jr. seems to have some bizarre violent furry fetish, or maybe something worse.

“What does this have to do with anything? Is somebody threatening to take the Easter Bunny’s machine guns away?” Kimmel asked. “Don Jr. is into some weird porn.”

Watch the entire segment below:


No ‘Packed Churches On Easter’ As Trump Yields On Social Distancing

No ‘Packed Churches On Easter’ As Trump Yields On Social Distancing

Donald Trump extended social distancing guidelines this weekend until at least May, less than a week after saying he thought the nation would be “opened up and just raring to go by Easter.”

During a Monday appearance on Fox News, he said Easter would very likely be the peak of this outbreak, contradicting his earlier claims that the crisis should be done by then.

“We’re doing a lot of things and we don’t want to [end social distancing measures] too soon,” Trump told the network. “Around Easter, that’s going to be the highest point, we think.” He added that he thinks April 30 “is a day where we can see some real progress” and that by June, the death toll will “will be brought to a very low number.”

Despite expert warnings, Trump laid out what he called a “beautiful timeline” last Tuesday, urging that the nation be “opened up and just raring to go by Easter.” Citing his “very special” relationship with the April 12 holiday, he said, “Wouldn’t it be great to have all the churches full? You’ll have packed churches all over our country.”

But Trump’s own medical experts quickly pushed back against this dangerous proposal. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Friday that some states would still be dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in September.

“Everyone’s timeline is going to be different. Some places haven’t hit their peak yet,” he told ABC. “‘We’re trying to give people the testing data to make informed choices. It doesn’t matter if it’s Easter, Memorial Day, or Labor Day.”

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN Thursday that Trump’s Easter timeline was “an aspirational projection to give people some hope” but that with the number of cases increasing dramatically each day, it was “no time to pull back.”

“You don’t make the timeline. The virus makes the timeline,” he added.

As recently as Wednesday, Trump was attacking his critics for doubting his everything-will-be-fine-soon timeline. “The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success,” he tweeted. “The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than ever before!”

A poll last week showed that the vast majority of Americans did not want to end social distancing until it is safe to do so: 81 percent said social distancing should continue “for as long as is needed, even if it means continued damage to the economy.” Just ten percent said the economy was a greater priority.

As of Monday, Trump administration officials were predicting the COVID-19 outbreak could mean more than 200,000 deaths in the United States. Just one month ago, Trump claimed that the number of cases in the United States would soon be “close to zero.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.