webodec3ARCHIVEPreview
Open in TheBrain

Sick Deranged Twisted

TARGET FOR MARTIAL LAW FASCISM

newt lang memo origin?

SEE IRRATIONAL INSANE

sorta schizo as germ vs insane see sick term vs irrational

// vermin, fascist?

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MMA 8 26

Right-wing media liken Massachusetts law expanding abortion access to Satanism, murder, and “human sacrifice”

Women attending the signing of the law, which will allow more patients to receive care in the Bay State, were called “witches” and “shrieking harpies”

Written by Ben Van Bloem

Research contributions from Monica Rodriguez

Published 08/21/26

Right-wing media figures are melting down over a new Massachusetts law that will widen access to abortion in the state, claiming the law paves the way for “human sacrifice” and comparing the signing ceremony to “a coven of witches celebrating depravity."

In passing the law, Massachusetts joins Washington, D.C., and several other states that have moved to prioritize the judgment of medical professionals about pregnancy and abortion care rather than setting limits based on the length of the pregnancy. Right-wing figures, however, claim without evidence that this will legalize “post-birth abortion,” and that the law was enacted to make it easier to “sell the body parts” of aborted fetuses.

The law prioritizes the judgment of medical professionals, allowing more patients to receive care in-state

Figures in right-wing media have linked the new law to Satan, “human sacrifice,” or otherwise evil influences

Right-wing media attacked the women and providers who championed the legislation

Other figures attacked the law by comparing abortion to infanticide and downplaying potential pregnancy risks

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RWW

08/17/2026

by

Peter Montgomery

Rep. Brandon Gill is a first-term MAGA member of Congress from Texas and the son-in-law of discredited election conspiracist Dinesh D’Souza. And he’s the beneficiary of a remarkable faux-intimate fundraising email from Vice President J.D. Vance.

“It feels like I typed & re-typed this note 100 times,” reads the subject line.

The email goes on to say that the message “is more personal and from the heart than most messages, because it's going to patriots that I feel I can trust as our movement’s closest confidants.”

There’s a lot more:

Every time I stand behind the resolute desk, or walk into a critical cabinet meeting to make a decision surrounded by the most dedicated and fearless men and women in our country, I feel the very weight of our country’s survival in my hands and the responsibility of what it represents — a thin, fragile line between the America we love and the America the radical left is determined to build in its place.

And when I sit alone with my thoughts and my prayers the question I ask myself constantly is “what more can I do?”

That’s when I decided I needed to write this message.

At the end of my life, I want to stand before God Almighty and be able to say with a clear conscience that I gave everything I had to protect the soul of this country.

And all that is just part of a plea to follow a link to read Vance’s “urgent briefing,” which opens with this:

My fellow Americans – this is JD Vance.

Today, I’m coming to you with all my cards on the table, not as “The Vice President.”

I’m coming to you simply as JD, the small-town Ohio hillbilly who loves God, cherishes his family, and somewhere along the way ended up being tasked with a critical mission at one of the most critical moments in American history.

The “briefing” repeats some of the email language about Vance sitting alone with his thoughts and prayers asking what more he can do, before going into now-standard Republican smears about Democrats and progressives:

This isn't about Republicans versus Democrats anymore. I need you to understand that what we are facing is something deeper and more dangerous than a partisan election fight.

We are watching the deliberate, systematic infiltration of American institutions by people who genuinely despise this country's history, who mock our values, who want to dismantle Western civilization itself and replace it with something unrecognizable.

A legion of radical socialist candidates is being recruited, funded, and deployed to take over Congress. And their movement is gaining horrifying momentum as we speak.

Gill is no stranger to that kind of inflammatory rhetoric. Last year, when he was urging the defunding of public broadcasting, he claimed that everyone who works at National Public Radio hates Christians, conservatives, and this country. You'd never know from reading this email that Vance and Gill were both on Fox a couple months ago urging Democrats to tone down their political rhetoric.

Vance goes on. He warns that people who hate Trump and Republicans are filling “Democrat war chests.” It is unintentionally hilarious to have Vance—whose career in public life was sponsored and funded by Peter Thiel—warning that “Big Tech billionaires” are backing Democrats. Still, the stakes he portrays are dire:

If we lose the House this November, there is nothing left to protect us from what these deranged leftists and their socialist agenda will do. The America you and I grew up in — the one we are fighting to hand to our children — will not survive what comes next.

I'll be completely and uncomfortably honest with you: I cannot fight this fight alone.

After more paragraphs praising donors’ commitment and patriotism, Vance finally gets to the point:

I'm teaming up with Congressman Brandon Gill — the youngest House Republican in America, a fighter who takes on the radical left every single day in the hearing rooms and on the House floor with a ferocity I deeply admire — and together we are assembling 10,000 of the most dedicated MAGA patriots in the GOP's top donor files to build the firewall this majority needs to survive November.

Vance signs off with, “For God and for the America we refuse to give up on.”

The fine print reveals that unless a donor directs otherwise, 90 percent of their contribution will go to Brandon Gill for Texas, and 10 percent to Trump National Committee. And the finer print reports that funds going to TNC are allocated 77.5 percent to Never Surrender (Donald Trump’s PAC), 17.5% to the Republican National Committee, and 5 percent to Working for Ohio, Vance’s leadership PAC.

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an 7 26 see fasc NOTE PROJECTION ON GULAGS

Last Thursday, three speeches delivered by MAGA figureheads in the Trump administration amounted to “pronouncements” of the death of American democracy. This is according to veteran critical care physician Robert B. Shpiner, who took to the Guardian to warn of the dangerous way the White House is wielding the word “cancer” to describe its political opponents.

“The presumption that US elections are legitimate died last week in Washington,” writes Shpiner. “It did not die of one wound. It died of three, inflicted in a single day… And the country, running to the loudest of them, never examined the one most likely to kill.” Shpiner admits that while such pronouncements can seem alarmist, when his family left Russia in 1917 and Germany in 1933, “in both generations, leaving was called excessive; staying was the reasonable position. But an alarm that was right both times it sounded is not overcaution.” He asserts that the alarm sounded three times last Thursday.

“The morning belonged to the secretary of state,” writes Shpiner. “Before officials of more than 60 countries, he announced that the counterterrorism architecture of the free world, built over a generation against jihadist mass murder, should be rebuilt and aimed at the domestic left. He named a transnational enemy defined by hatred of the west, ‘a revolt of the worst against the best.’ He tied it to Iran and to Cuba and offered no evidence for either link. He said the journalists and thinktanks who might check the claims often agree with the enemy’s goals. The move is old and reliable: discredit the second opinion in advance.”

Then, writes Shpiner, “midday belonged to the White House deputy chief of staff. What he said deserves to be quoted rather than summarized, because summary is a mercy it has not earned. He called ‘leftwing political terrorism’ a ‘fatal cancer of civilization.’ He said that its politics, left to run its course, ‘always becomes a gulag.’ He said antifa demonstrators are ‘all deformed in some way, in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism,’ that ‘their outer appearance becomes a manifestation of their inner hatred,’ and he asked why there is ‘not one normal-looking person among them.’ He said that when the leftist protests that his rights are being violated, those appeals ‘must fall on deaf ears.’ He urged the assembled governments to be ‘completely unflinching in the pursuit of justice against these enemies of civilization.’”

Here Shpiner notes that he has practiced critical care for four decades, and that “cancer is my vocabulary, not his,” writing, “I know what happened the last time a government borrowed it. The Nazi state’s central perversion was the medicalization of killing: the enemy as tumor, as bacillus, the nation as patient, extermination as cure… When a government describes citizens as a cancer, it has written the first line of a treatment plan. On Thursday, the plan was read aloud, from a state department podium.”

Finally, writes Shpiner, “the evening belonged to the president. In primetime he called the American election system indefensible, claimed a foreign power held 220 million voter files, declared mail voting inherently corrupt, accused his own intelligence services of concealment, and told Congress that the only reason to oppose his bill is the intent to cheat. That framework converts every future outcome into evidence. Pass the bill and win: the bill worked. Fail and lose: the cheaters blocked it. A presumption of legitimacy cannot survive inside a belief system engineered to be unfalsifiable.”

Shpiner describes the media’s response in the days to come as a “triage error,” asserting that the focus fell on the “loudest injury” — President Donald Trump — and ignored “the morning’s remarks, the ones that declared a class of Americans a cancer and read enmity on their bodies.” Writes Shpiner, “I have watched teams run to the dramatic patient while the quiet one, the one not crying out, exsanguinates behind a curtain. The most dangerous words spoken in Washington on Thursday were not spoken in primetime. They were spoken before lunch, to more than 60 countries. The official transcript records the applause.”

He concludes on a grim note, writing, “In 40 years of intensive care, I have pronounced death many times. The criteria are strict because the declaration is irreversible, and so we are taught to be certain before we speak. I have also, more than once, seen a rhythm return after the room had gone quiet, when someone refused to stop compressions on schedule. This notice is filed in the knowledge that pronouncements can be premature. It is filed in the fear that this one is not.”

CNN 7 26

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and top White House adviser Stephen Miller on Thursday sought to paint a dark picture of the threat of “far-left terror” to the United States as they urged diplomats from around the world to “defend” their civilizations against the “scourge.”

In remarks focused almost entirely on the US, Miller spoke of the need to fight the “fatal cancer of civilization,” claiming that so-called left-wing terrorism, when “left to run its course, it always becomes a gulag.” He argued that the US’ political, legal, and judicial systems don’t work “if the threat of violence and terror goes on unchecked.” And he denounced Antifa protesters as “deformed,” saying, “their outer appearance becomes a manifestation of their inner hatred.”

“The greatest risk that we have is that our institutions have grown too soft and too cowardly to be able to defend themselves against a mortal threat,” Miller told a room full of representatives from more 60 countries and fellow Trump administration officials at the State Department on Thursday. “If your civilization is your home, you must defend it with the same passion and force as if an enemy intruder is inside your own house where your family lives.”

The ministerial on Thursday was meant to coalesce allies around a strategy to combat the alleged resurgence. Later on Thursday, Rubio announced a new visa restriction policy to target “members of Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned groups.”

The fight against the alleged rise of “violent left-wing extremists, including anarchists and anti-fascists,” is a key priority of the Trump administration, which has argued that they are a foremost terrorist threat to the US.

However, multiple former officials said the issue has been politicized by the administration and that the threat from the “far-left” does not rise to the level of that posed by groups like ISIS or by far-right extremists, the latter of which was absent entirely from the administration’s counterterrorism strategy released in May. And critics have expressed concerns that the strategy is an attempt to amplify the threat and target those on the political left who oppose President Donald Trump’s policies.

Rubio said the threat had been dismissed “as a right-wing fever dream, or worse, as a dangerous fascist conspiracy,” but that its resurgence is “an undeniable reality” comparable to the left-wing attacks of the 1970s.

“They can call themselves anti-capitalist or anti-imperialist, communist, or anarchist, or Marxists, but the fundamental character is always the same,” Rubio said.

Rubio called on the countries in the room to work with the US to “identify and map this threat and rebuild our counterterrorism architecture to defeat it.”

“Through intelligence and information sharing, through coordinated law enforcement strategy, through financial targeting and disruption, we will dismantle these networks brick by brick,” he said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who also spoke at the opening session, said his department was “expanding its efforts to identify organizations that abuse charitable and nonprofit structures as vehicles for illicit finance” for alleged far-left terrorism.

Rubio’s convening of the ministerial comes not only as the matter has become a key domestic focus for the administration, but also amid growing chatter about the top US diplomat’s potential political future.

Sixty-seven countries attended the event, a State Department spokesperson said on Thursday. They represented countries mostly from Europe, although there are countries from Asia and the Western Hemisphere with representatives. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country in attendance, according to the list provided by a spokesperson.

Many of the delegations were not be led by the foreign ministers of the countries, but rather ambassadors or working-level and technical officials. Several sources cited scheduling for the lower-level attendance, with invitations to the event only being issued at the beginning of July.

A banner reading ''Free All Antifas'' is displayed at the traditional ''Revolutionarer 1. Mai'' May Day protest in Berlin, Germany, on May 1.

A banner reading ''Free All Antifas'' is displayed at the traditional ''Revolutionarer 1. Mai'' May Day protest in Berlin, Germany, on May 1.

Tonny Linke/NurPhotoGetty Images/File

However, former officials said the ministerial appears to be a part of the administration’s broader effort to amplify the threat to suit a domestic political agenda. Several who spoke with CNN said that the reality of the threat from far-left extremists does not match the administration’s portrayal.

“We looked at terrorism of all stripes, including left-wing terrorism, but the reality and the data, both here domestically and abroad, indicate that left-wing extremism is not and has not been the type of threat or the degree of threat that far-right terrorism or extremist violence or jihadist violence have posed,” said Ian Moss, the former deputy coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department under the Biden administration.

Moss, now an attorney with Jenner & Block, noted that there are “other forms of violent ideological extremism, Islamist violence for starters, and then certainly violent right-wing extremists or White identity terrorists, which are a real risk, a real concern domestically and internationally, and one that the administration seems to have not focused on.”

Michael Duffin, a former senior counterterrorism adviser at the State Department, said that “never” in his nine years of working on counterterrorism “had so-called left-wing extremism risen” to a level warranting such high-level focus.

“There’s no violent extremist element, organizational element on the left, that would justify the expenditure of these resources,” he told CNN. Duffin was among many State Department officials who worked on counterterrorism who were fired last year as part of the administration’s mass firings and overhaul of the department.

Last November, the administration designated four European Antifa groups as terrorists. Throughout Trump’s second term, his administration has also ramped up domestic pressure against alleged far-left extremists.

Trump designated the anti-fascist movement Antifa as a so-called “domestic terrorist organization.” Despite claims that Antifa is a top concern domestically, law enforcement agencies have struggled to define the amorphous group, its size, locations of chapters and other basic information.

BBC 7 26

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged countries to collaborate against what he called a growing threat of left-wing terrorism.

The Trump administration hosted representatives from more than 60 countries in Washington, where it argued left-wing political violence was the result of a "unique evil rooted in a deep resentment towards civilisation".

Officials made no mention of countering far-right threats, and Democrats said Rubio's focus on left-wing groups was "politically partisan".

The initiative aligns with the Trump administration's stated priority of confronting left-wing groups, particularly Antifa, a loosely organised far-left movement.

At Thursday's session in Washington DC, Rubio called for a global effort to share intelligence to counter the "transnational" issue of far-left extremism.

The invitation list included officials from most European nations, several Latin American countries and India, Indonesia and Singapore, reports the Washington Post.

The Trump administration has already designated Antifa - short for anti-fascist - as a domestic terrorist group.

At the session, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller characterised leftists as "fundamentally motivated by envy, by hatred, by jealousy".

Also on Thursday, the state department announced visa restrictions targeting members of what it labels as "Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned groups", including those that have allegedly participated in "economic sabotage".

Washington has already designated four European groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations: Antifa Ost (based in Germany), the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front (Italy), Armed Proletarian Justice (Greece) and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense (Greek).

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an 11 25

In their thirst to speak of anything but damning emails further linking President Donald Trump to the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, right-wing influencers were desperately grasping at everything.

New York Times reporter Ken Bensinger describes pundits’ ‘thunderous silence’ at one of the most exciting media explosions in weeks.

“For hours, Fox News made nary a mention of the tranche [of incriminating documents], whose contents suggested, among other things, that the president knew more about the abuses perpetrated by Mr. Epstein, a former friend, than he had admitted,” said Bensinger. “Prominent podcasters like Ben Shapiro and Megyn Kelly focused on H-1B visas, the government shutdown and a proposal for 50-year mortgages on their shows and social media.”

The online troll account known as “Catturd,” which posts “dozens of times every day to its nearly four million followers on X,” spent the aftermath of the email release attacking Michelle Obama, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and former FBI Director James Comey.

“But as time wore on, right-wing media figures began coalescing around another approach: focusing on a single redacted name in the emails,” said Bensinger. “They argued that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee — who had released three emails early on Wednesday — had created a false narrative by hiding the name of one of Epstein’s victims in one of the messages. The redaction, the theory went, was meant to cover up that the victim, Virginia Giuffre, previously said she had never witnessed Mr. Trump involved in sexual abuse of minors.”

“This was done intentionally,” posted Newsmax anchor Rob Schmitt. He then followed that up with a selfie-style video in a gym. “This is how sick and twisted these people are,” Schmitt said. “They are vile creatures. This is what we’re up against.”

Right-wing media figures are in a difficult position, said Bensinger.

“The unified response to this week’s [email] disclosures shows how closely aligned right-wing media voices are with elected Republicans and the degree to which the two share story lines — and provide each other political cover,” said Bensinger. “Indeed, the core message that ended up emanating from conservative media this week originated [from Republicans] within the Oversight Committee itself, [who] jumped on the redaction question less than an hour after the three emails dropped.”

“Why did Democrats cover up the name?” Bensinger said committee Republicans posted on X. “Democrats are trying to create a fake narrative to slander President Trump.”

The White House seized that same line of thinking, pointing out that the redacted Epstein victim in the emails never claimed Trump had personally touched her.

Other MAGA influencers are now trying to ride that train as far as it can go, said Bensinger, with podcasters Benny Johnson and Tim Pool joining countless others in unified argument, all trying to raise suspicion over why Giuffre’s name was redacted.

Bensinger points out that it is the policy of the Oversight Committee to redact the names of victims in its revelations, and that Republicans committed an “apparent violation of the committee’s policy” when they released the unredacted version.

Read the New York Times report at this link.

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mma

Right-wing media escalate attacks on young women voters following Democratic election wins across the country

Clay Travis: “They've all gone insane, young women are actually insane in this country”

Written by Jane Lee, Isabella Corrao & Helena Hind

Published 11/07/25

In the wake of Democrats’ sweeping election victories across the country on November 4, right-wing media quickly focused their ire on young women, who voted overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates.

Figures across right-wing media expressed fear over the demographic, with Newsmax host Carl Higbie labeling “liberal white women” as “the biggest threat to America — they will literally vote for their own destruction and take everyone down with them.” The response from right-wing media to women exercising their right to vote ramps up a trend of conservative voices attacking liberal women in the past year.

Right-wing media react to young women voters following November 4 elections

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NEWSWEEK 9 25

ABC has pulled Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show off the air after comments the comedian made about the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, and following pressure from the network's affiliates as well as the nation's TV regulator.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely," a spokesperson for the Disney-owned broadcaster said in a statement shared with various news outlets on Wednesday.

The move has drawn praise from allies and supporters of President Donald Trump, but sparked condemnation from Democratic lawmakers and free expression advocates.

The context of Kimmel's cancellation has led to allegations that business interests—particularly those concerning a delicate merger approval process involving the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and ABC affiliate Nexstar—may have played a role.

Taken together, some have interpreted this as a form of indirect censorship of the political Left by the Trump administration. Similar concerns were raised following the recent cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

"First Colbert, now Kimmel. Last-minute settlements, secret side deals, multi-billion dollar mergers pending Donald Trump's approval," said Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren. "Trump silencing free speech stifles our democracy."

Newsweek has contacted ABC, Nexstar and the FCC via email for comment.

Why It Matters

In the wake of Kirk's killing, the Trump administration has taken a series of actions critics believe undermine longstanding commitments to free speech in the U.S.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned foreign nationals celebrating his death online to "prepare to be deported," Vice President JD Vance has encouraged people to report those who do so to their employers, and Attorney General Pam Bondi has come under fire for urging a crackdown on "hate speech"—a move many believe clashes with First Amendment protections.

Read moreJimmy Kimmel

Russian State TV Floats Theory Trump Planned Charlie Kirk's Killing

The administration of President Joe Biden faced similar criticism and accusations of censorship over the pressure it placed on social media companies to remove accounts and posts relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election that were considered misinformation. In June 2024, the Supreme Court rejected cases claiming that these amounted to an unconstitutional violation of free speech.

Why Was Jimmy Kimmel Taken Off the Air?

During his Monday night monologue, Kimmel made remarks about Kirk's death and its aftermath, suggesting that Trump supporters were attempting to capitalize on the murder and distance themselves from the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson.

"We hit some new lows over the weekend, with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel said.

Kimmel also mocked President Trump's seemingly uninvolved response to a reporter's question on Kirk's death.

In an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson on Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump ally and appointee, called Kimmel's comments "some of the sickest conduct possible," and said that there could be "a path forward for suspension over this."

"This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney," he added. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Carr also urged other media companies and local broadcasters to "push back" and stop airing the show.

:{FCC Chairman Brendan Carr testifies before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government at the Rayburn House Office Building on May 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Following Carr's interview, Nexstar Media Group, the owner of several ABC affiliate stations, announced that it would stop airing the show "for the foreseeable future" over Kimmel's remarks.

"Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets," the statement read.

This sequence of events has raised questions about the extent to which this decision was guided by financial motivations rather than genuine outrage over Kimmel's comments.

Nexstar, one of the biggest station owners in the U.S, is currently attempting to complete a merger with fellow TV giant Tegna. The nature of the merger—valued at $6.2 billion—requires the approval of the FCC, and for it to loosen longstanding ownership regulations. These include federal laws barring a single entity from owning TV stations that together reach over 39 percent of American households, and guidelines on the total number of stations that can be owned in a single market.

Sinclair, ABC's largest affiliate group, similarly objected to Kimmel's remarks, and said it would be pulling the late-night show from its stations "indefinitely." Sinclair praised FCC Chairman Carr's comments, and asked Kimmel to issue an apology to Kirk's family, and to make a "meaningful personal donation" to both them and Turning Point USA, the conservative outreach group founded by Kirk.

"Regardless of ABC's plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform," Sinclair said.

According to CNN, Sinclair—like Nexstar—has matters awaiting approval from the Trump administration.

Newsweekhas contacted Sinclair via email for comment.

After ABC followed suit, Johnson boasted that it was his podcast with Carr that led to Kimmel's show being taken off the air.

"It's called soft power. The Left uses it all the time," he wrote on X. "Thanks to President Trump, the Right has learned how to wield power as well."

FCC Chairman Carr, meanwhile, responded to CNN's request for a reaction with a GIF taken from The Office,in which the characters Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute are pumping their hands in the air in celebration.

What People Are Saying

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, in an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday evening, said that broadcast licenses carry "a unique obligation to operate in the public interest."

Commenting on the decisions by Nexstar and Sinclair to pull the show, Carr added: "I'm very glad to see that American broadcasters are standing up to serve the interests of our community."

President Donald Trump reacted to the news on Truth Social, writing:"Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that's possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT."

Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar's broadcasting division, said: "Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue."

Anna Gomez, the only Democratic commissioner at the FCC, posted to X: "An inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship and control. This Administration is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression."

The Writers Guild of America (WGA), a Hollywood labor union, said in a statement:"Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth. As for our employers, our words have made you rich. Silencing us impoverishes the whole world. The WGA stands with Jimmy Kimmel and his writers."

California Governor Gavin Newsom posted to X: "Corrupt, despicable, & spineless behavior. A coordinated effort to control the media is happening before our eyes & it needs to be called out."

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren posted to X:"First Colbert, now Kimmel. Last-minute settlements, secret side deals, multi-billion dollar mergers pending Donald Trump's approval. Trump silencing free speech stifles our democracy. It sure looks like giant media companies are enabling his authoritarianism."

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) reacted: "The government pressured ABC—and ABC caved. The timing of ABC's decision, on the heels of the FCC chairman's pledge to the network to "do this the easy way or the hard way," tells the whole story. Another media outlet withered under government pressure, ensuring that the administration will continue to extort and exact retribution on broadcasters and publishers who criticize it."

What Happens Next?

Sinclair said that its ABC stations will air a tribute to this Friday, during Jimmy Kimmel Live's usual time slot.

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MMA

Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed that because “the left … can’t win an argument, they’re trying to kill,” and said that “we have to politically destroy the sick movement that’s giving birth to these killers.”Watters continued, “I don’t care what you have to do — we can love them, but we don't give them any quarter. Enough is enough. This ends now. … It can be killed. Figuratively.” Fox News, *The Five*, [9/12/25]

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AN BADASH 9 25

In a fiery declaration, President Donald Trump announced he is designating "antifa" a terrorist organization. Some experts say he lacks the authority to do so and will struggle to enforce such a move — while others warn it could give him sweeping license to target groups or individuals he disfavors.

“I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday evening. “I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

As many have noted, antifa is not an organized group. It simply means “anti-fascist,” or “anti-fascism.”

But Trump has taken the step anyway. Here’s what some experts say.

READ MORE: ‘Depraved’: Vance Scorched for ‘Reprehensible’ Joke About Military’s Deadly Boat Strikes

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BBC News reports that some legal experts have called into question Trump’s legal authority to declare antifa a terrorist organization.

“The existing rules do allow the government, specifically the State Department, to make a list of ‘foreign terrorist organizations’ which makes it a crime to give funds or other ‘material support’ to those groups.”

“But the key word here is ‘foreign,'” BBC notes, “and those experts we have spoken to pointed out that free speech rights under the US constitution’s first amendment would limit Trump’s ability to ban – or restrict funding for – domestic movements like antifa.”

Rumen Cholakov, an expert in US constitutional law at King’s College London, “told us that if the government were to use its powers against them in the US their actions would be ‘potentially susceptible to constitutional challenges’ in court for violating these rights.”

Professor David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University, told BBC Verify, “Under the First Amendment, no one can be punished for joining a group or giving money to a group.”

Meanwhile, other experts have also weighed in.

READ MORE: ‘We’re Literally Sitting in the Building’: House Democrat Shreds GOP’s Spin on Violence

Attorney and MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski observed, “Since antifa is now designed as a terrorist organization it will be interesting to see how they determine who is a member and how they prove it is an organization.”

Politico senior legal affairs correspondent Kyle Cheney noted, “Trump says he’s designating ‘antifa’ a terrorist group and launching a probe into finding of antifa activities. The FBI has long said antifa doesn’t really have a centralized structure or leadership.”

U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY), an attorney, told CNN Wednesday night that “there is no antifa organization.”

He added, “the point” is that Trump is “using the Charlie Kirk murder as a pretext to go after people that he disagrees with. He, on the very night of Kirk’s murder, you will remember, accused the left of committing the murder — when the murderer had not even been caught or identified. This is all a pretext, and it’s a shame, I think … that Charlie Kirk actually stood for free speech. And instead, they’re using his memory to attack free speech.”

Political scholar Dr. Michael Mackey issued this warning: “‘Antifa’ is an artifact of Russian information warfare and the Kremlin-sponsored MAGA cult. No such entity exists in American civil society. Trump is owned by Putin.”

Intelligence and foreign policy analyst Malcolm Nance, a terrorism expert, said, “You cannot designate an idea as a terrorist group.There is no organization called ANTIFA. There is no leadership or funding path. There is no membership.”

“What he is doing is setting the stage to designate ANY American as a terrorist,” Nance alleged. “That’s Fascism.”

CBS News national security coordinating producer Jim LaPorta, an award-winning journalist, wrote: “It’s unclear how Pres. Trump could designate a group inside the U.S. as a domestic terrorist group. The U.S. does not have a federal crime of domestic terrorism. Additionally, it’s been understood that the Govt. would run into 1st and 4th Amendment issues.”

But those hurdles aside, experts are still issuing warnings.

Olga Lautman, a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), an expert on Russia, and creator and co-host of the Kremlin File podcast series, expressed concern.

“So Trump is designating antifa as a terrorist organization,” she wrote. “Problem is he thinks all Democrats are this so called antifa. He is following Russia’s playbook step by step to crush opposition. Hope everyone wakes up.”

On Substack, Lautman expanded her warning.

She pointed to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s remarks on Monday, after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Calling the “radical left” a “vast domestic terror movement,” Miller said: “With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people.”

“It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name,” he vowed.

“Where have I heard this before?” Lautman said of Miller’s statement. “In Russia, where the Kremlin seizes upon every terrorist attack, bombing, protest, or act of violence (some of which they carry out in false flag operations) to justify new crackdowns, laws, and the systematic destruction of any semblance of independent opposition.”

Lautman continued her stark warning, writing, “what makes the current moment in America so perilous is how closely it now echoes this Soviet/Russian script, with the killing of Charlie Kirk already being transformed from an individual crime into the cornerstone of a supposed vast conspiracy of leftist violence — again, without evidence — a pretext for sweeping crackdowns that will not stop at violent actors but extend to protesters, grassroots organizers, and the infrastructure that sustains them.”

“Groups like Indivisible and MoveOn, platforms like ActBlue, that fund Democratic candidates,” she predicted, “will all be recast as pipelines of extremism, stripped of their democratic role.”

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trump mantRa post kirk shoot

AN 9 25 CLAIM NO SUPPORT

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was Vice President JD Vance’s guest on Monday’s edition of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” just days after the right-wing political commentator was assassinated. The suspected gunman’s motives and political beliefs remain unclear, but the vice president pinned the blame for Kirk’s murder on “left-wing extremism.”

“While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies,” Vance declared, “it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far-left.”

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The vice president did not define “lunatics,” but statistics from the Cato Institute show that the vast majority of political violence comes from the far-right.

Guest-hosting for the late organizer and activist, Vice President Vance viewers, “I wanted to zoom out and talk with Stephen [Miller] a little bit, and talk about all of the ways that we’re trying to figure out how to prevent this festering violence that you see on the far-left from becoming even more and more mainstream.”

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READ MORE: Homeschooling, Religion and Politics Trump Science in Parents’ Vaccine Resistance

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The vice president—who placed blame at least in part on the left for Kirk’s death—said, “we have to talk about this incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism that has grown up over the last few years, and I believe is part of the reason why Charlie was killed by an assassin’s bullet.”

“We’re gonna talk about how to dismantle that,” he continued, “and how to bring real unity, real unity that can only come when we tell the truth and everybody knows that they can speak their mind about the issues of the day without being cut down by a murderer’s gun.”

Miller, who is considered by many—including some highly respected conservatives—a skilled propagandist, on Friday spoke out against what he called left-wing violent extremism.

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“I’ve not shared with anybody, but the last message that Charlie Kirk gave to me before he joined his Creator in heaven was, he said that we have to dismantle and take on the radical left organizations in this country that are fomenting violence.”

“That was the last message that he sent me before that assassin stole him from all of us.”

READ MORE: Trump Teases Threat to Defund NYC After Governor’s Endorsement for Mayor

“And we are gonna do that,” Miller vowed. “Under President Trump’s leadership, I don’t care how—it could be a RICO charge, a conspiracy charge, conspiracy against the United States, insurrection—but we are going to do what it takes to dismantle the organizations and the entities that are fomenting riots, that are doxing, that are trying to inspire terrorism, and that are committing acts of wanton violence.”

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“It has to stop,” he declared, “and my message is to all of the domestic terrorists in this country spreading this evil hate? You want us to live in fear? We will not live in fear, but you will live in exile. Because the power of law enforcement under President Trump’s leadership will be used to find you, will be used to take away your money, take away your power, and if you’ve broken the law, to take away your freedom.”

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an 9 25

House and Senate Republicans are lashing out at Democrats en masse, blaming them for rhetoric they say led to Wednesday’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

U.S. Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO), in a speech Thursday on the floor of the House of Representatives, attacked the left, charging that even those who are “well-meaning” abide by an ideology of “hate” that mirrors communist authoritarians and revolutionaries.

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“Well, everything has changed,” Congressman Onder claimed. “If we didn’t know it already, there is no longer any middle ground.”

“Some on the American left are undoubtedly well-meaning people. But their ideology is pure evil,” he charged. “They hate the good, the truth, and the beautiful, and embrace the evil, the false and the ugly.”

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READ MORE: ‘Fascist Playbook’: Trump Blasted for ‘Gas on the Fire’ Kirk Assassination Address

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“And they literally will kill those with whom they disagree just as their predecessor leftists—Marx, and Stalin, and Lenin, and Pol Pot, and Fidel Castro, did. “We must know that.”

Onder is not the only GOP lawmaker on Capitol Hill attacking the left in the wake of Kirk’s killing, despite the killer having not yet been identified or captured.

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) told Newsmax on Thursday morning that “what we are finding is that when you do have those strong conservative voices speaking truth to power you will find that when the left can no longer debate it, they can’t deny the truth, the only way they can silence those voices is through violence.”

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U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) went even further, vowing to use “Congressional authority” to “cancel” anyone who “belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk.”

READ MORE: ‘I Love the 90s’: RFK Jr. Mocked for Latest Outdated Take on Mass Violence

“I’m basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” he wrote.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) declared on Wednesday that “Democrats own what happened today.”

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“Some raging leftist lunatic put a bullet through his neck,” she declared.

As of now, there is no suspect in custody, and the FBI has announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to a suspect’s arrest.

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AN 6 25

NO LNX

Home | Trump just got a wake up call as he tries to escalate his war on defiance

Sabrina Haake, Raw Story June 15, 2025

Ever since he was ignominiously blocked from shooting George Floyd protesters, Donald Trump has been itching to sic the military on U.S. citizens. Seizing California’s National Guard and sending U.S. Marines into Los Angeles to deliberately escalate violence brings his long-festering fever dream closer to life.

Trump’s former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has recounted how, during a White House meeting in 2020, Trump looked at Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and asked why he couldn’t just shoot protesters, adding, “It was (both) a suggestion and a formal question. And we were just all taken aback at that moment as this issue hung very heavily in the air.”

Milley pushed back on that suggestion and other illegal Trump impulses, eventually leading Trump to call for Milley’s execution and revoke his security detail. During Trump 1.0, Trump apparently suggested shooting protesters enough times that Esper issued a public statement opposing the use of the Insurrection Act against protesters, enraging Trump.

Trump made sure that would not happen again in his second administration by appointing a dangerously unqualified defense secretary with few moral qualms. As a Fox News host, Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s desire to deploy the military against protesters. He defended war criminals who ‘killed the right people in the wrong ways,’ advocating “total war against our enemies… All of ’em, you stack bodies, and when it’s over, then you let the dust settle and you figure out who’s ahead.”

A trillion-dollar defense budget to kill whom, exactly?

Even though the U.S. is not at war, and Trump has shamefully abandoned our NATO military alliances, Hegseth waxes hard on “lethality,” and rails against “woke” laws that punish soldiers for indiscriminate killings. Trump/Hegseth seek a trillion-dollar defense budget, not to defend America from foreign enemies who are now Trump’s mentors, but to attack “enemies within,” i.e., Americans who oppose Trump’s agenda.

None of this, including Trump’s deliberate escalation of violence in LA, was unforeseen. Who can forget how Kamala Harris was panned as histrionic when she said Trump would sic the military on U.S. citizens, following his promise to do just that? In October, 2024, Trump said he’d use the military against the biggest threat to America — Americans who don’t support him.

“I think the (main problem we face) is the enemy from within,” Trump said, adding: “We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the big — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”

Both he and Hegseth have already weeded out military officers who would honor their oaths to the Constitution over illegal orders from Trump. This week, Hegseth inadvertently confirmed that the military, under Trump, will become a domestic force when he testified before Congress, saying, “We’re entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland.”

It’s galling that no congressman has connected the dots and asked about explosive military spending that Trump/Hegseth have signaled will be used against Americans.

Dubious legal grounds

As of this writing, Trump has not declared martial law, but recent Trump history, paired with his glaring mental illness, suggests it’s “when,” not “if.”

Trump’s plan to use troops to impose his domestic agenda is decidedly un-American. Today it includes deportations and manufacturing civil unrest; tomorrow, Trump’s goons will round up journalists who criticize him, judges, Democrats, and political opponents, as just happened Thursday when Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was tackled to the ground for trying to ask Kristi Noem questions.

If you have any doubt, watch Trump’s illegal and partisan address at Ft. Bragg, where he led troops in uniform to wildly “boo” journalists, California’s governor, and LA’s mayor. If you have any lingering naivety, still hoping soldiers will honor their oaths and not follow America’s Hitler, that speech will erase it.

For now, Trump is acting in LA pursuant to a presidential memorandum deploying the National Guard under a rarely used federal law, 10U.S.C.§12406. Under that code, a president possesses the power to federalize the National Guard only when there is “a rebellion or danger of rebellion” against federal authority, or when the president cannot execute federal laws. As Trump sees it, this assessment depends on his own untrained and undisciplined opinion. Under that statute, however, the National Guard can only support other law enforcement officers and defend federal property.

The Posse Comitatus Act also remains in effect, prohibiting the use of the military as a domestic law enforcement agency, except in extraordinary circumstances not yet present in LA despite Trump’s best efforts. The Insurrection Act of 1807, the authority under which Hegseth sent active Marines to LA, is a broader set of statutes granting Trump the power to use military force in specific circumstances, including suppressing armed rebellion, civil disorder, or other extreme circumstances where the states are unable to maintain public order.

Gov. Gavin Newsom formally objected to Trump sending troops, because California in general, and LAPD in particular, have sufficient resources to maintain order. Newsom knows that when US Marines start shooting civilians, whether in LA, Chicago, or New York, violence will ratchet up to the necessary threshold to circumvent Posse Comitatus and allow Trump to declare martial law.

Sabrina Haake is a 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her columns are found @ Alternet, Chicago Tribune, Howey Political Report, Indiana Democrats’ Kernel of Truth, Inside Indiana Business, MSN, Out South Florida, Raw Story,Salon,Smart News, South Florida Gay News, State Affairs, and Windy City Times. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.

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AN 6 25

Just one day after a widely criticized, multimillion-dollar military parade marking both the U.S. Army’s birthday and his own—and amid millions attending thousands of nationwide “No Kings” protests—President Donald Trump announced on Sunday night a new crackdown targeting undocumented immigrants exclusively in Democratic-led strongholds, declaring that blue cities “are the core of the Democrat Power Center.”

Some critics also note that the move comes after a suspect, reportedly a Trump supporter, allegedly assassinated a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and her spouse and gravely shot and wounded another Democratic lawmaker and his spouse on the same day as the anti-Trump rallies in all 50 states.

In a 400-word Sunday night “order” on social media, President Trump claimed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE) every day face “threats from Radical Democrat Politicians,” as he announced “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” before baselessly claiming voter fraud.

READ MORE:‘Coup’: What DHS Secretary’s ‘Liberate’ Comment Means, According to Experts

“Every day, the Brave Men and Women of ICE are subjected to violence, harassment, and even threats from Radical Democrat Politicians, but nothing will stop us from executing our mission, and fulfilling our Mandate to the American People. ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” the President wrote.

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“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” Trump continued. “These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens. These Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our Country, and actually want to destroy our Inner Cities — And they are doing a good job of it! There is something wrong with them. That is why they believe in Open Borders, Transgender for Everybody, and Men playing in Women’s Sports.”

Critics blasted the President and issued warnings.

“This is illegal on so many levels,” charged John Jackson, a former trial lawyer. “He’s declaring war on specific areas based entirely on their voter registration, which is a form of speech and protected political choice. It’s ‘vote Republican or I will punish you.’ Incredible. Out in the open. Lawless.”

“2 implications of Trump specifically targeting immigrants in Democratic cities: He’s NOT going after immigrants in places where they are least welcome,” observed former Washington Post editor Robert McCartney. “He IS doing what’s most likely to provoke backlash. We conclude that his goal is not to ‘solve’ the problem but to stir chaos.”

“This is the politicization of law enforcement. It’s not about ‘immigration,’ it’s about demonizing cities, harming political enemies and winning elections,” declared The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum. “Also, those are the cities that had the biggest No Kings protests.”

RELATED: In Reversal, Trump Uses Term Tied to Ethnic Cleansing Amid Renewed Mass Deportation Demand

Pointing to Trump’s full screed, political strategist Rachel Bitecofer noted, “Please go study how the Nazis talked about the Jews to whip the public up into accepting restricting them from society, deporting them, and ultimately murdering them. It will sound a lot like this.”

“Trump is going after Blue cities based on nothing more than the crazy, conspiratorial voices in his head,” wrote Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health. “He’s already violating our 1st, 4th, 5th & 14th Amendments, and deploying the U.S. military against citizens in L.A. This is what authoritarianism looks like.”

“He’s openly admitting that he’s politicizing law enforcement,” observed Chuck Todd, the former NBC News Chief Political Analyst and “Meet the Press” moderator. “This will not help ICE’s image because he’s asking them to perform a political task. Throw in the decision to shield the red states from law enforcement and he’s clearly hoping to provoke an angry response. At a moment when we need a president to de-escalate, he does the opposite.”

“Trump’s ugly plan is clear: Incite violence in blue cities & blue states only, and then put the military on the streets in those blue cities & blue states only,” warned former Tea Party GOP Congressman Joe Walsh, now a Democrat and political commentator. “Everything he does is meant to divide us. He is the absolute worst of us.”

“This sort of dehumanizing language about political opponents is exactly what leads to the horrific shootings we saw yesterday, wrote MeidasTouch News. “Disgraceful and dangerous.”

“One of his crazed supporters just assassinated a Democrat and he continues to instigate division and hatred, noted Arizona Democratic state Senator Analise Ortiz. “We need an adult in the White House, not a dictator hell bent on escalating tensions and political violence.”

Progressive media outlet The Tennessee Holler wrote that “the president posting that Dems are ‘sick of mind’ and ‘hate our country’ immediately after 2 Dem lawmakers and their spouses were shot in their homes is the opposite of leadership. Gas on the fire.”

“A US president is supposed to be the president of all the people,” wrote retired Professor of Law Anne Arbor. “This man instead foments hatred of his own political party against his political opponents. This statement verges on a declaration of civil war against half the country.”

READ MORE: ‘You Don’t Care’: Gay Congressman Blasts Defense Secretary Over LGBTQ Troops

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newsweek

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'Floating Island of Garbage'

Tony Hinchcliffe, a stand-up comic, said: "I don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yeah. I think it's called Puerto Rico."

Trump senior adviser Danielle Alvarez told *Newsweek* that the "joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign."

'These Latinos, They Love Making Babies'

"Believe it or not, people, I welcome migrants to the United States of America with open arms. And by open arms, I mean like this," Hinchcliffe said, while waiving his hands and mouthing: "No, go back."

He added: "It's wild. And these Latinos, they love making babies too, just know that. They do, they do. There's no pulling out. They don't do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country."

'We Carved Watermelons Together'

Hinchcliffe also pointed to a man in the audience before saying: "That's cool, Black guy with a thing on his head. What the hell is that, a lamp shade? Look at this guy! Oh, my goodness. Wow! I'm just kidding, that's one of my buddies. He had a Halloween party last night. We had fun, we carved watermelons together. It was awesome!"

Harris Is 'the Antichrist'

"In fact, she is the devil, whoever screamed that out. She is Antichrist," said David Rem, a sanitation worker billed as Trump's childhood friend, although it has been reported the pair met for the first time just two weeks ago.

Harris and 'Pimp Handlers'

"Kamala Harris is the least qualified candidate to ever run for any political office in American history," businessman Grant Cardone told the crowd.

"She makes her boss look competent. She's a fake. I'm not here to invalidate her. She's a fake, a fraud. She's a pretender. Her and her pimp handlers will destroy our country. They will."

'Nazi rally'

"I just got back from Israel about two weeks ago. They love Trump in Israel. Just you know, they love him," radio personality Sid Rosenberg said.

"I get back and they go, 'Sid, you want to speak at this MSG thing?' I go, 'Sure—out of character for me to speak at a Nazi rally. I was just in Israel.' But I took the gig."

'Sick Son of a B****'

"She is some sick b******, that Hillary Clinton, huh?" Rosenberg said. "What a sick son of a b****. The whole f****** party. A bunch of degenerates. Lowlives, Jew-haters, and lowlives. Every one of 'em. Every one of 'em."

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Trump calls for 'deranged' Jack Smith to be 'thrown out of the country'

an 10 24

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Fox anchor Bret Baier tried to explain away Trump's “enemy within” remark. Trump just proved him wrong — on Fox News.

10/16/24 mma

Fox anchor Bret Baier tried to explain away Trump's “enemy within” remark. Trump just proved him wrong — on Fox News.

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 10/16/24 mma

Former President Donald Trump said during a Fox News town hall which aired Wednesday that when he recently threatened to deploy the military against the “enemy from within,” he was talking about mainstream Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her family. Trump’s damning admission should be humiliating for people who tried to help Trump clean up his initial comments — including Fox chief political anchor Bret Baier.

Trump claimed that “the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” which he described as “radical left lunatics” during a Fox interview that aired Sunday. “I think it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen,” he told Maria Bartiromo. Later in the interview, Trump returned to the subject of “the enemy from within,” citing as an example Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).

Trump’s meandering and nonspecific commentary is often difficult to follow. But he constantly uses authoritarian rhetoric, frequently accuses his political opponents of committing crimes including treason, and was recently described by his former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as “fascist to the core.”

As critics pointed out the danger inherent in someone like Trump threatening to use the military against a nebulous domestic group, some of his supporters tried to rewrite the remarks to make them seem more palatable.

Baier took up their cause on Tuesday's Special Report. After saying Trump’s comments about “the enemy from within” were “raising eyebrows,” the Fox anchor aired a portion of the former president’s statement, criticism from MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s claim that his “belief” is that Trump was referring to undocumented immigrants who commit crimes.

“Gov. Youngkin trying there,” Baier said. “But I think JD Vance more on point where he said that if there is some big protest or something, that that is what the former president is talking about. He later talked about Adam Schiff, about being one of those enemies from within, or crazy left. And so a lot of people jumped on that. It is his words that cause some concern in a lot of corners.”

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CitationFrom the October 15, 2024, edition of Fox News' Special Report.

Baier later asked Josh Holmes, a former Republican congressional staffer and co-host of the Ruthless podcast, about the comments. Holmes replied that Trump was “obviously” discussing the possibility of urban unrest after the election, adding, “I think that’s what we’re talking about very clearly here. They can try to make it into something else.”

But at the town hall, which Fox reportedly stocked with Trump’s supporters, Fox’s Harris Faulkner asked Trump to address criticism of the “enemy from within” comment. In his response, Trump cited “the Pelosis” as an example of who he was talking about, adding, “these people, they are so sick and they are so evil.”

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CitationFrom the October 16, 2024, edition of Fox News' The Faulkner Focus.

HARRIS FAULKNER: Mr. President, Kamala Harris said you sounded unhinged and unchecked power is in our future. What do you say about that?

DONALD TRUMP: I thought it was a nice presentation. I wasn't unhinged. You know what they are? They're a party of sound bites. Somebody asked me can they be brought together? I never thought — I wasn't thinking like they could because they are very different. It is the enemy from within and they're very dangerous. They are Marxists and communists and fascists. And they say I use a guy like Adam Schiff. They made up the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It took two years to solve the problem. Absolutely nothing was done wrong, etc. They are dangerous for our country.

We have China, we have Russia, we have all these countries. If you have a smart president, they can all be handled. The more difficult are the Pelosis, these people, they are so sick and they are so evil. If they would spend their time trying to make America great again we would have — it would be so easy to make this country great. But what I heard about that, they were saying I was like threatening. I'm not threatening anybody. They are the ones doing the threatening.

In October 2022, a right-wing conspiracy theorist broke into the Pelosi home in San Francisco reportedly intending to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage. Finding the then-speaker absent, he assaulted and critically injured her husband Paul with a hammer. The assailant was ultimately found guilty of a slew of federal crimes and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Baier’s Fox colleagues responded by spinning up more conspiracy theories about Paul Pelosi’s assault, while Trump has repeatedly cracked jokes about it on the campaign trail.

Baier regularly downplays Trump’s authoritarian comments and actions on his Special Report program, where he is interviewing Vice President Kamala Harris for tonight’s broadcast.

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an 6 24

Trump's fundraising emails have long been viewed as over-the-top. But recently, they have, according to Rolling Stone and The New Republic, taken an especially dark turn.

On Wednesday morning, June 12, Trump's campaign sent out an e-mail that read, in all caps, "HAUL OUT THE GUILLOTINE!"

Rolling Stone's Nikki McCann Ramirez notes that "thankfully," the e-mail "was not a declaration of intent by Trump, but a melodramatic fundraising pitch accusing his political opponents of wanting to behead him."

READ MORE:**'MAGA imperial presidency': Analysis reveals the radical 'theocracy' central to Project 2025**

The e-mail read, "Remember when that Sicko Kathy Griffin made the rounds parading my BEHEADED head when I was President?! The radical-left CHEERED! Obama and Biden were SILENT! And the Fake News BLASTED it everywhere! The SAD and HORRIFIC TRUTH is that this is STILL the Sick Dream of every Trump-Deranged lunatic out there! And it's not just me they want gone, THEY'RE REALLY COMING AFTER YOU."

In an article published by The New Republic the same day, reporter Talia Jane cites the "guillotine" pitch as an example of how paranoid Trump's fundraising pitches are sounding.

"The e-mails, written by Trump's campaign but styled to sound like they're coming directly from Trump, intend to provoke supporters into donating," Jane observes. "A fundraising e-mail sent last week falsely claimed Biden directed the FBI to assassinate Trump, saying, 'He tried to publicly torture and humiliate me.… but he failed. He tried to raid my home and take me out with deadly force.… but he failed."

When CNN's Jim Acosta noted the "guillotine" e-mail on X, formerly Twitter, historian/author Ruth Ben-Ghiat — known for her expertise on fascism and authoritarianism — gave her take on Trump's email with a tweet.

READ MORE:**Imprisoned Jan. 6 rioter leading 'network of armed militias in all 50 states': report**

"From Fascism onward, authoritarians have prepared people to accept and commit violence by conjuring existential threats," she wrote. "Those threats must be not only to the beloved leader, but also to his followers. Jan. 6 was another [example]: it was a rescue operation of a cult leader in distress. Now a desperate convicted felon, Trump conjures a guillotine meant for them too. #Strongmen."

*Read Rolling Stone's full article at this link (subscription required) and The New Republic's reporting here.

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an 6 25

One of our highest priorities in this darkness must be to protect the people who are doing the most right now to push back against Trump’s tyranny: our judiciary.

In some 180 judicial rulings so far, federal judges have at least temporarily stopped Trump from (1) deporting and/or imprisoning people without due process, (2) firing federal workers and closing agencies and departments without congressional approval, (3) forcing law firms to not represent people or causes Trump dislikes, (4) forcing universities, their faculties, and their students not to say or write things Trump dislikes, and (5) imposing worldwide tariffs without congressional authority.

Most of these court rulings have been temporary until the merits of the cases are fully heard, but increasingly they’re final decisions.

The Trump regime is appealing many of them. A few will almost certainly end up in the Supreme Court.

Our laws and the Constitution allow a president to contest such rulings in these ways.

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But Trump and his lackeys are also using a second tactic: trying to undermine public confidence in the judiciary — even inviting threats to the safety of judges and seeking to intimidate them.

Last week, Trump on social media rebuked what he called “USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK.”

On Thursday, Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, wrote on social media that the decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. trade court striking down Trump’s tariffs as exceeding his authority was a “judicial coup.”

Miller added: “We are living under a judicial tyranny.”

Miller then reposted photos of the three trade court judges. (Two of the judges, incidentally, were Republican appointees, one named to the bench by Trump.)

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters that the judges had “brazenly abused their judicial power,” seeking to “usurp the authority of President Trump to stop him from carrying out the mandate that the American people gave him.”

This is dangerous nonsense. As J. Michael Luttig, a conservative retired federal appeals court judge, says:

“This was a planned war that [Trump] had been planning since he lost the last election. From Day 1, the president, the vice president and then eventually his entire Cabinet have been attacking the courts and the judiciary because they knew to a certainty that the courts would strike down his initiatives.”

It should be no surprise that personal threats against the safety of federal judges have risen dramatically since Trump took office.

Data compiled by the U.S. Marshals Service shows that in the five-month period leading up to March 1 of this year, 80 individual judges had received threats.

Then, over the next six weeks, an additional 162 judges received threats.

That spike coincides with increasingly harsh rhetoric — often from Trump himself — against judges who have ruled against the regime.

What should be done to protect our judges?

1. The simplest solution would be for Trump and his White House lackeys to avoid such vitriol in the first place.The problem is, they won’t. So:

2. Chief Justice John Roberts must strongly rebuke Trump, Miller, Leavitt, and any other members of the Trump regime who use inflammatory language against federal judges. Roberts should say that there is no place in our constitutional system of government for accusations by an administration of “USA hating judges,” “judicial tyranny,” or “usurping” presidential authority.

He should explain why administrations must respect checks and balances built into the Constitution, why judges must be fearless and independent in their roles, and why such accusations by an administration against the judicial branch are dangerous. He should also signal that he will continuously speak out whenever the president or his White House violates these norms.

3. The Judicial Conference of the United States — the national policymaking body for the federal courts — must also speak out strongly against such provocations.

4. Congress must increase the number of marshals assigned to protect judges, boost funding for courthouse security, and strengthen legislation to shield judges’ home addresses from public view. Roberts and the Judicial Conference should demand these, and the speaker of the House and majority leader of the Senate must agree to seek them.

5. What canyoudo?

— Call the Supreme Court and leave a message for Chief Justice John Roberts that he must speak up against Trump’s attacks on judges. Here’s how you can reach the Supreme Court: Call the general information phone 202-479-3000, or public information office 202-479-3211 (press 1 when calling this number), or write: Chambers of Justice John Roberts, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 1 First Street NE, Washington, D.C., 20543.

— Call the Federal Judicial Center and leave a message saying that the chief justice must speak out against the Trump regime’s efforts to intimidate the courts with threats and that judges need more protection. The phone number is 202-502-4000. Address is Federal Judicial Center, Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, One Columbus Circle NE, Washington, D.C., 20002-8003.

— Tell your members of Congress they must protect our judges by increasing the number of marshals assigned to protect them, boosting funding for courthouse security, and shielding judges’ home addresses from public view. Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121.

— Whenever you hear anyone criticize the federal courts, explain their critical role in our system of government.

— You can also express your gratitude for our judges. More than 30 retired judges have formed a group known as “Keep Our Republic’s Article III Coalition” to defend the independence of the court system and advocate for sitting judges. You can donate to them here.

Never underestimate the power of the people, especially at a time like this. We must make our voices heard.

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