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Tag: Donald Trump
September 3, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Election 2024
Health

Public Health Establishment Fears RFK Jr.’s ‘Dangerous’ Sway Over Trump.

The public health establishment fears that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will influence Donald J. Trump now he has backed the former president and joined his transition team. A leaked call between RFK Jr. and Trump following the latter’s near-assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, shows Trump expressing misgivings about administering a large number of large dosage vaccines to babies and young children, and the possibility of Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, having a health-focused role in his administration.

Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, believes Kennedy would do an “incredible job” as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Trump has not definitively assigned this specific role to Kennedy, and he may receive a more junior role heading a public health commission or agency—with the public health establishment particularly fearful at the prospect of RFK Jr. leading an organization like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“This would be nothing short of chaos,” complained one prominent professor, denouncing Kennedy as a “dangerous fanatic.”

RFK Jr. denies being dogmatically opposed to vaccinations but believes they may be linked to America’s ongoing chronic disease epidemic, particularly the huge rise in autism diagnoses. He believes the fact that pharmaceutical corporations cannot be sued if their vaccines have adverse side effects, in particular, disincentivizes comprehensive safety trials.

Kennedy’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ platform also stresses the impact of forever chemicals and other pollutants on public health.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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The public health establishment fears that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will influence Donald J. Trump now he has backed the former president and joined his transition team. A leaked call between RFK Jr. and Trump following the latter's near-assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, shows Trump expressing misgivings about administering a large number of large dosage vaccines to babies and young children, and the possibility of Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, having a health-focused role in his administration. show more
trump's record on abortion
August 30, 2024
William Upton
Election 2024
Health

BREAKING: Trump Will Vote ‘No’ On ‘Extreme’ Pro-Abortion Amendment.

Former President Donald J. Trump says he intends to vote “no” on Florida‘s Amendment 4, which would incorporate access to abortion in the state constitution. The proposed amendment would outlaw restrictions on abortion before fetal viability, estimated at the 24th week of pregnancy, with exceptions after this period for the patient’s health based on their healthcare provider’s judgment.

“The Democrats are radical because nine months is just a ridiculous situation, where you can do an abortion in the ninth month,” Trump said in an interview just before his rally in Pennsylvania on Friday. The former President—while stressing he also remains skeptical of restrictive six-week abortion bans—continued: “You know some of the states like Minnesota and other states have it where you can actually execute the baby after birth. And all of that stuff is unacceptable.”

Addressing Amendment 4 directly, Trump added: “So I’ll be voting no for that reason.”

In recent days, some activists in the pro-life movement have attempted to voters as to former President Trump‘s stance on abortion and Amendment 4 in Florida. Lila Rose–whose pro-life advocacy group ‘Live Action’ hauls millions in donations but spends extremely little on actual pro-life campaigning– trashed Trump as “foolish” and “unwise” and threatened to vote for a third party or write-in candidate in November.

Rose, along with others, were reacting to comments made by Trump in which the media attempted to portray the former President as a supporter of the Florida pro-abortion amendment.

WATCH: 

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Former President Donald J. Trump says he intends to vote "no" on Florida's Amendment 4, which would incorporate access to abortion in the state constitution. The proposed amendment would outlaw restrictions on abortion before fetal viability, estimated at the 24th week of pregnancy, with exceptions after this period for the patient’s health based on their healthcare provider’s judgment. show more
August 30, 2024
William Upton
NatSec
World

EU Chief Admits Trump Was Right, Europe Must Spend More on Defense.

The European Union must do more to bolster spending on its defense, says European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. The remarks echo calls by former President Donald J. Trump for the European nations to take on a greater role in paying for and organizing their military defense capabilities rather than being overly reliant on U.S. military aid and protection—especially regarding the NATO alliance.

“Protecting Europe is first and foremost Europe’s duty. And while NATO must remain the center of our collective defense, we need a much stronger European pillar,” said von der Leyen—who leads the executive body of the European Union—during a security conference in Prague on Friday. The European Commission president added: “We Europeans must be on guard. We must refocus our attention on the security dimension of everything we do. We must think about our Union as intrinsically a security project.”

FOLLOWING TRUMP’S LEAD.

Former President Trump has long pushed for the European states to meet their NATO defense spending obligations. The National Pulse reported in June that 23 of the 32 alliance members had finally met the two percent of GDP defense spending benchmark required of NATO states. This comes after former President Trump began pushing member states to increase their defense contributions during the 2018 NATO summit. Since then, the number of states meeting their two percent funding obligation has steadily risen.

Even after leaving office, Trump has continued to press European nations to take on more significant roles in regional security. The former President, during a February rally in South Carolina, noted that at some point, the U.S. would not be able to guarantee European security if NATO states on the continent won’t step up themselves.

Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), has also pressed Europe to step up, telling a security summit in Munich earlier this year: “The problem with Europe is it doesn’t provide enough of a deterrence on its own… The American security blanket has allowed European security to atrophy.”

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The European Union must do more to bolster spending on its defense, says European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. The remarks echo calls by former President Donald J. Trump for the European nations to take on a greater role in paying for and organizing their military defense capabilities rather than being overly reliant on U.S. military aid and protection—especially regarding the NATO alliance. show more
Merchan Bragg
August 30, 2024
William Upton
Lawfare

Trump’s Latest Move to Throw Out the NY Case: What Does It Mean?

Attorneys for former President Donald J. Trump are asking, for a second time, that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s prosecution be removed to federal court. Their newest filing cites significant legal issues in the aftermath of the United States Supreme Court‘s presidential immunity ruling in Trump v. United States.

“This ‘zombie’ case should have been dismissed long ago,” write Trump‘s attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove in the motion. “The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (‘DANY‘) violated the Presidential immunity doctrine in grand jury proceedings, and again at trial, by relying on evidence of President Trump’s official acts during his first term in Office.”

IMMUNITY RULING.

At the core of the Trump legal team’s filing is Bragg‘s reliance on testimony from Trump White House aide Hope Hicks—as well as emails and other documents submitted as evidence through her testimony.

The Supreme Court held in early July that former President Trump—and all U.S. presidents—are presumed to be immune from prosecution for official acts in office. Hicks’s testimony and documents entered into evidence by Bragg likely falls under this immunity, meaning they are inadmissible.

PREDICATE CRIME PROBLEM.

“The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that these types of violations threaten the structure of the federal government and the ability of future Presidents to carry out their vital duties in the way the Framers intended,” the removal filing reads.

Trump‘s attorneys also raise the issue of the predicate charges—also impacted by a recent Supreme Court ruling: “DANY’s flawed case is also preempted because their Indictment turned on the improper use of state law to try to retroactively police the 2016 Presidential election through non-unanimous jury findings.”

If successful, the case would be removed from the jurisdiction of New York Judge Juan Merchan and moved to federal court, where the charges against Trump could be quickly vacated and thrown out.

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Attorneys for former President Donald J. Trump are asking, for a second time, that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's prosecution be removed to federal court. Their newest filing cites significant legal issues in the aftermath of the United States Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling in Trump v. United States. show more
August 29, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Election 2024
Lawfare
Media

MSNBC Host Locks X Account After Humiliating Exchange With Corey Lewandowski.

MSNBC host Ari Melber has locked his account on X (formerly Twitter) after threatening to sue Corey Lewandowski, a top team member on the Donald Trump campaign, for defamation during an interview. Lewandowski said Melber had previously stated Trump “had a bandage on his ear” at the Republican National Convention (RNC) after being shot “just for a spectacle.”

Melber, discussing a New York Times article saying Trump had acted as a “prop” at the RNC, had agreed Trump’s bandage was a “placard for delegates to fill in, an image for political mobilization, a spectacle for this candidate who we know is, by his own admission, obsessed with assorted spectacles.”

“I quoted a New York Times article that said, at the convention, Donald Trump ‘was his own biggest prop,'” Melber insisted to Lewandowski. The Trump advisor offered to read the MSNBC host’s full quote back to him.

“It was a New York Times quote about how [Trump] had become such an important figure in rebounding from what was a horrific assassination attempt,” Melber reiterated. Lewandowski again offered to read his words back to him.

“Corey, I said I’d address it. I’m gonna finish… Fox News, which has been caught in defamation, ran a false piece falsely stating that I said something else that I didn’t say. So, I stand on that. I stand on the New York Times quote,” Melber said.

“So, you didn’t say, ‘This bandage was a prop, a spectacle from a candidate who’s obsessed with spectacles’?” asked Lewandowski.

“Uh, Mr. Lewandowski, I did not say that. That is a false quote,” the MSNBC host shot back.

“I have it right here,” said Lewandowski.

WATCH:

‘I’M PUTTING YOU ON NOTICE!’

“What you have is a false quote… I’m putting you on notice, if you continue to repeat falsely that I said that, you will be potentially in a defamation situation because I didn’t say that,” Melber threatened, declining Lewandowski’s offer to apologize to former President Trump for his remarks.

The far-left Daily Beast, Mediaite, and Huffington Post covered the exchange in tones suggesting Melber was in the right. However, their reports show that Lewandowski’s characterization of Melber’s statement about Trump and his bandage is correct.

Users on X began quoting Melber’s words back to him after clips of the exchange went viral, criticizing him as both a bully and a wimp for threatening a lawsuit. Melber responded by locking his account.

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MSNBC host Ari Melber has locked his account on X (formerly Twitter) after threatening to sue Corey Lewandowski, a top team member on the Donald Trump campaign, for defamation during an interview. Lewandowski said Melber had previously stated Trump "had a bandage on his ear" at the Republican National Convention (RNC) after being shot "just for a spectacle." show more
August 28, 2024
William Upton
Election 2024
Health

MUST READ: ‘Crunchy-Ish’ – The Return of the Trump-Bernie Voter.

Crossover voters from then-Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders to Donald J. Trump in the 2016 presidential election likely helped push the latter over the top in critical swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. With Bernie-aligned figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and anti-war populist Tulsi Gabbard backing Trump’s 2024 bid for the White House, a similar phenomenon could happen again, argues The National Pulse’s Editor-in-Chief, Raheem Kassam, in a recent interview with Wake Up To Politics.

The Kennedy–Gabbard voter demographic is a sort of evolution of the 2016 Bernie Sanders voter, Kassam notes. While they still oppose war and are skeptical of concentrated corporate and government power, they’re also keen on lifestyle choices that impact nutrition and physical health.

“These are people who think about what their clothes are made of,” Kassam says, adding: “They don’t want to wear polyester. They don’t want to eat seed oils. They prefer all-natural, no sulfites in their wines.”

A LIFESTYLE ISSUE.

According to Kassam, this lifestyle issue is the missing piece that may be critical to increasing that 2016 crossover vote and securing Republican wins once again in the Rustbelt as well as Arizona and Nevada—the latter two states being known for having a ‘crunchy’ streak in their electorates.

“Probably more than any other point in his life, Trump is on a learning trajectory right now,” The National Pulse’s Editor-in-Chief explains before continuing: “I think he probably looked at it originally from, like, ‘Okay, I’m for no war. Are you for no war?’ And they go, ‘yeah, we’re for no war.’ ‘Okay, so what else are you into?’ And they start talking about all this health stuff and everything else and he goes, ‘Oh my God, I had no idea.’”

VOTER SWAP?

Wake Up To Politics’s Gabe Fleisher notes that Trump has also appeared on several top podcasts whose audiences tend toward supporters of Sanders, Kennedy, and Gabbard. Most recently, Trump spoke at length with Theo Von on a myriad of topics, including the addiction crisis and his late brother Fred Trump’s struggles with alcoholism.

Perhaps most critically, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party appear to have little to offer this voter demographic heading into November. Instead, Democrats are offering an olive branch to the pro-war neoconservatives who found themselves in the political wilderness following the disastrous Iraq War and the 2016 election.

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Crossover voters from then-Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders to Donald J. Trump in the 2016 presidential election likely helped push the latter over the top in critical swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. With Bernie-aligned figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and anti-war populist Tulsi Gabbard backing Trump's 2024 bid for the White House, a similar phenomenon could happen again, argues The National Pulse's Editor-in-Chief, Raheem Kassam, in a recent interview with Wake Up To Politics. show more
August 28, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Election 2024

Dem-Run Swing States Are Refusing Take RFK off The Ballot.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has withdrawn from the presidential race in key states and endorsed former President Donald J. Trump. However, there is resistance to removing his name from ballots in several Democrat-run states. The pivotal swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Colorado are all declining to remove his name.

In Michigan, officials claim it is too late for Kennedy to withdraw as the nominee of the Natural Law Party. “Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election,” insists the spokeswoman for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a China-linked Democrat.

Wisconsin’s Elections Commission also voted 5-1 on Tuesday against removing Kennedy’s name.

Colorado, too, refuses to remove the independent candidate from the state ballot. However, it is less of a true swing state than Michigan or Wisconsin, leaning fairly decisively toward the Democrats.

However, Nevada is allowing Kennedy to remove his name—following an agreement between his legal team and Democratic National Committee (DNC) lawyers who had been suing to take him off the ballot. Kennedy’s name is also being removed from ballots in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, and Ohio.

North Carolina remains a state to watch. According to Patrick Gannon, the North Carolina State Board of Elections’ Public Information Officer, Kennedy has been nominated by the We The People Party. Gannon says that if the party withdraws Kennedy’s nomination, officialmustto assess the feasibility of reprinting ballots, with nearly a third of the state’s counties already beginning the printing process.

Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate, criticized Democrats in an interview on Tuesday, expressing disappointment with the party’s treatment of Kennedy and saying it had lost its moral compass.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has withdrawn from the presidential race in key states and endorsed former President Donald J. Trump. However, there is resistance to removing his name from ballots in several Democrat-run states. The pivotal swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Colorado are all declining to remove his name. show more
August 27, 2024
Christopher Tomlinson
Election 2024
Politics

Trump: Agreement Reached For ‘Fair’ ABC Debate With Kamala.

Former President Donald J. Trump has announced that he and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have agreed to participate in a debate on ABC on September 10. Trump indicates that the rules will be the same as those for the CNN debate he had with President Joe Biden.

Trump announced the move on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Tuesday afternoon. He referred to ABC as  “by far the nastiest and most unfair newscaster in the business.” In late July, the former President got into a heated exchange with the broadcast network’s Rachel Scott at the 2024 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention—with Trump referring to ABC as a “fake news” network.

According to Trump, both he and Harris will stand for the debate, and neither candidate will be allowed to bring notes or have access to questions before the debate. Harris and her campaign team had previously demanded a sit-down debate and wanted access to notes.

Trump added that Harris has yet to agree to the proposed September 4 debate on Fox News nor a possible third debate with NBC.

The debate will be Trump’s first with Harris and a major test for the Democratic Party nominee, who has been avoiding media interviews for weeks. Harris is still looking to build an edge against Trump in the polls following a lackluster performance at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago earlier this month. Voter surveys following the DNC suggest that Harris may be in trouble as she received little to no bump from the convention and that Trump has taken the lead in the polls.

READ: 

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Former President Donald J. Trump has announced that he and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have agreed to participate in a debate on ABC on September 10. Trump indicates that the rules will be the same as those for the CNN debate he had with President Joe Biden. show more
August 27, 2024
William Upton
Data
Election 2024

Even the Most Pro-Kamala Pollsters Admit She Got No DNC Speech Bounce.

A new poll suggests Kamala Harris received no significant polling bump from the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Typically, candidates for the two major political parties see some degree of boost in popularity following their respective party nominating conventions.

According to the survey, Harris holds a four-point advantage over former President Donald J. Trump nationally, with 48 percent to the latter’s 44 percent. The data remains unchanged from the figures recorded before the DNC was held last week. Historically, presidential nominees often experience a boost in support following their convention speeches. However, this recent poll suggests that Harris‘s address did not generate such an increase.

Despite Harris‘s slight lead over Trump, Republican consultant Mark Harris has laid out a convincing argument that polling continues to underestimate support for the former president, as it did in the 2016 and 2020 presidential cycles. He notes that pollsters have had difficulty modeling low-propensity voters and that a high degree of polling is impacted by response bias among college-educated voters.

The National Pulse reported on Monday that a separate post-DNC survey showed former President Trump retaking a slight edge in the 2024 presidential contest, leading Harris by one point. According to the poll, Trump leads Harris with 49 percent to the latter’s 48 percent.

Compounding election anxieties for Democrats is a new forecast showing Republicans will likely retain the House of Representatives. Currently, the Democrats have only a 43.9 percent chance of retaking the lower legislative body on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, Republicans stand a 56.1 percent chance of retaining their majority.

It should be noted that the White House and House of Representatives votes often coincide, which would suggest that former President Trump is actually seeing his campaign strengthen in the immediate aftermath of the DNC.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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A new poll suggests Kamala Harris received no significant polling bump from the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Typically, candidates for the two major political parties see some degree of boost in popularity following their respective party nominating conventions. show more
August 27, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Election 2024
News

Trump Adds RFK, Tulsi to Official Transition Team.

Former President Donald J. Trump is appointing former rival Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard as honorary co-chairs of his presidential transition team.

RFK Jr. briefly ran for the Democratic nomination for 2024 before switching to being an independent candidate. He ended his independent presidential run to endorse Trump on Friday, revealing his transition team role on Monday. “I’ve been asked to go on the transition team… to help pick the people who will be running the government,” he told Tucker Carlson.

Kennedy is assisting the Trump campaign by promoting a ‘Make America Healthy Again’ platform. His focus is tackling Big Pharma corruption, chronic disease, and the corrosive impact of forever chemicals and other pollutants on public health.

Gabbard, a former Member of Congress and vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), endorsed Trump on Monday. The military veteran praised Trump for his “action to de-escalate and prevent wars” during his first term, saying she is “confident that his first task will be to do the work to walk us back from the brink of war.”

Gabbard is helping with informal debate preparation sessions with Trump. She has experience debating Kamala Harris during the Democrats’ 2020 primary.

Kennedy and Gabbard are the transition team’s honorary chairs, joining Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance.

Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, commented on the new appointments, “We are proud that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard have been added to the Trump/Vance Transition team. We look forward to having their powerful voices on the team as we work to restore America’s greatness.”

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Former President Donald J. Trump is appointing former rival Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard as honorary co-chairs of his presidential transition team. show more