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Tag: election 2018
Donald Trump Jr.

Judge Upholds Coal Magnate’s Lawsuit Against Donald Trump Jr.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Although Donald Trump Jr. and former coal baron Don Blankenship have a lot in common — both are far-right bullies, both are extremists, and both are aggressive defenders of fossil fuels — there is a considerable amount of bad blood between the two of them. And in West Virginia, a 95-year-old federal judge has refused to throw out Blankenship's defamation lawsuit against Trump Jr., according to Law & Crime.

The lawsuit stems from comments that Trump Jr., the son of former President Donald Trump, made about Blankenship during West Virginia's 2018 U.S. Senate race, which found Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin being reelected.

The 71-year-old Blankenship is the former CEO of the coal company Massey Energy, and he served a year behind bars because of his role in a 2010 coal mining disaster. In his lawsuit, Blankenship argues Trump Jr. wrongly defamed him by describing him as a convicted "felon"; Blankenship was incarcerated because of a misdemeanor conviction, not a felony conviction.

In one of his anti-Blankenship tweets, Trump Jr. said of Manchin, "He's probably never run against a felon." That tweet, according to Law & Crime reporter Elura Nanos, appears to have been deleted.

U.S. District Court John T. Copenhaver, Jr., who was appointed by President Gerald Ford back in the mid-1970s and is now 95, ruled that Blankenship's lawsuit can move forward.

Copenhaver wrote, "Based on this article that Trump Jr. himself cites within his own quote tweet, there is a plausible inference that he had knowledge of the plaintiff's conviction history in association with the mine explosion, and in particular that the conviction was a misdemeanor, not a felony."

The bitter rivalry between Trump Jr. and Blankenship started in 2018, when Blankenship ran for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia and Trump Jr. — pointing out that Blankenship had been incarcerated — predicted that centrist Democrat Manchin would crush Blankenship in the general election if Blankenship received the GOP nomination. Although West Virginia Republicans rejected Blankenship in the primary as Trump Jr. hoped and Republican Patrick Morrisey won the nomination, Manchin won the general election. The centrist and relatively conservative Manchin, like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, has often been a source of frustration among more progressive Democrats. But he is popular in West Virginia, a deep red state.

Blankenship, who left the Republican Party in 2018, is now a member of the right-wing Constitution Party — and in 2020's presidential election, he received the Constitution Party's nomination and ran against then-President Donald Trump, now-President Joe Biden, Libertarian Party nominee Jo Jorgensen, and Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins.

#EndorseThis: Cory Booker Shares Democrat Strategy For Winning Midterms

#EndorseThis: Cory Booker Shares Democrat Strategy For Winning Midterms

Like a savvy statesman, Cory Booker punctuates the first chunk of a Jimmy Fallon interview with a funny tale which endears him to The Tonight Show crowd.

We won’t give away the details, but let’s just say being elected to Congress doesn’t always stop one’s Mom from fussing over them.

Things turn serious, however, when Booker is tasked with explaining how Democrats can potentially take over Capitol Hill in November of 2018. Instead of merely worrying about which issues paint Dems in the best light or provide the best in-road to attacking President Trump’s record in the White House, the Senator’s advice reminds how gains were made on Philadelphia avenue.

Can we think of an election in which college kids turned the tide of an otherwise evenly-contested race? How about two races?

Yes we can.

Trump Stooge Who Defended Accused Child Molester Running For Gowdy’s Seat

Trump Stooge Who Defended Accused Child Molester Running For Gowdy’s Seat

Reprinted with permission from Shareblue.com

 

When Rep. Trey Gowdy announced recently that he would not seek re-election in 2018, a crowd of Republicans quickly jumped into the race to replace him.

The latest addition to the list is Trump apologist Mark Burns, who came under fire last year for his outspoken defense of accused child molester Roy Moore during the race to fill Jeff Sessions’ vacant Senate seat in Alabama.

Burns announced late Thursday that he had thrown his name into the race for Gowdy’s seat as the representative for South Carolina’s 4th Congressional District. He followed up that announcement Friday with a tweet touting his work for Trump and asking people to visit his campaign website.

Burns, an evangelical pastor, rose to prominence in 2016 as a vocal supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign. He has since taken on the role of a full-fledged apologist, defending even the most indefensible decisions Trump has made, including his recent comments referring to African nations as “shithole countries.”

He also made headlines in Sept. 2016, when he walked out of an interview with CNN’s Victor Blackwell after being confronted about false biographical claims he made on his website. He later admitted to falsifying several of the professional accomplishments listed on his biography.

According to NBC News, “Burns has yet to present a policy platform, but has hewed closely to Trump on immigration and support for law enforcement in the past.”

While he hasn’t outlined his policy positions yet, Burns has made his stance on one issue very clear.

The issue? Credible accusations of child molestation.

His apparent stance? That’s not a problem.

In November, Burns used his national platform to defend Moore against credible allegations of child molestation, referring to the accusations as a “character assassination.” He also voiced doubt about the allegations, insisting that Moore was a “very strong Christian conservative.”

As repugnant as Burns’ defense of Moore was, it was par for the course these days for Republicans. The GOP elected Trump just weeks after hearing him brag about sexual assault and then listening to more than a dozen women come forward to confirm it.

And one year later, the party went all in for an accused child molester.

Now one of the strongest voices in defense of an alleged pedophile is running on a GOP ticket.

Come claim him, Republicans — he’s all yours.