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Donald Trump Can’t Explain How He’s Going To ‘Unify Our Country’ By Getting Rid Of Same-Sex Marriage

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Trump Is Allergic To The Word ‘How.’

Donald Trump Sunday repeatedly refused to answer questions on same-sex marriage. The GOP frontrunner who lost in Iowa last week for years has said he is “for traditional marriage,” but surprised many last week when he told a local reporter who happens to be a lesbian that he will “unite” the country and the LGBT community can look forward to enhanced equality if he is president.

WATCH: In Total Flip-Flop, Trump Tells Reporter He Will Advance LGBT Rights. Reporter Is A Lesbian.

Trump told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Sunday’s “The Week” that he will appoint “great” “conservative” justices to the Supreme Court.

“We’re going to see how they stand depending on — on what their views are,” he said, again refusing to explain how a judicial ruling overturning Obergefell – the same-sex marriage case – will “unite” America, when over 60 percent of Americans support marriage equality.

To see Trump’s sheer and total inability to not just explain how he will actually accomplish his goal, much less even define it, is stunning.

Above, the video – forward to the 5:45 mark. Below, the transcript via ABC News, because following just the audio is impossible.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But just last Sunday, you said you would strongly consider appointing justices who would overturn it.

TRUMP: I’m talking about bringing people together and we — I would appoint justices. It would take a long time, frankly, because I don’t know how long it would take to appoint a…

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you want them to overturn…

TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE)…

STEPHANOPOULOS: — that Supreme Court decision?

TRUMP: If they — if they — I would appoint them and we will see how they will vote but I would…

STEPHANOPOULOS: But how does that move us to equality?

TRUMP: We’ll find out. I mean we’re going to find out. There’s a lot of people that want to see that. But I would, I’d — more important than anything else to me, this country is so divided right now, as per her question. This country is so totally divided, it’s probably almost never been as divided as it is right now and we have to bring it together.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But a majority of Americans now support the idea of gay marriage.

Wouldn’t it be divisive to try to overturn it?

TRUMP: It has — it has really been determined and we will see what happens. We’re going to look at judges. They’ve got to be great judges. They’ve got to be conservative judges. We’re going to see how they stand depending on — on what their views are.

But that would be my preference.

STEPHANOPOULOS: See, that’s what I mean.

Where do you want them to stand?

TRUMP: I would prefer that they stand against it, but we’ll see what happens. It depends on the judge.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And how does that move us toward equality for gays and lesbians?

TRUMP: Well, I think what will happen is — and, look, George, it’s very simple. We’re going to bring our country together. We’re going to unify our country. We’re going to do whatever we have to do. I’m going to put the absolute bed — best judges in position. If their views — we’re going to see what their views are. I will make the determination at that time.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But what do you say to gays and lesbians who think that overturning that decision is not unifying our country, it’s dividing our country?

TRUMP: Well, I think I understand what they’re saying and we’re going to see what happens. It’s a long way off, George. It’s a long way off.

The Daily Mail called it “a perplexing answer” and a “word salad.”

Really makes one wonder…

 

EARLIER:

The Cult of Whiteness: On #OscarsSoWhite, Donald Trump, and The End of America

Elton John To Donald Trump: I Don’t Endorse You, So Stop Using My Music

Is Donald Trump Poised For Defeat In Iowa – Despite The Polls?

 

Image: Screenshot via ABC News

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News

Trump’s New App Has a Blank Privacy Policy and Uses Software From a Russia-Founded Company

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President Donald Trump has been promoting the White House’s new mobile app — pushing it to become the third-most downloaded item on Apple’s popular App Store. But the app reportedly has numerous cybersecurity vulnerabilities, does not properly disclose the data it shares, and uses software in part from a Russia-founded company.

“Cybersecurity researchers warn that the White House’s new app regularly shares users’ IP addresses, time zones and other data to third-party services,” NOTUS reports. “But most of its users wouldn’t know that, because the app doesn’t disclose its data sharing the way most others do.”

Several cybersecurity experts were shocked by the app’s “slipshod” approach to cybersecurity, especially as it is essentially a product of the White House, and especially since the U.S. is at war.

“The U.S. government’s infrastructure is being attacked from all sides right now, and having an amateur WordPress developer running the White House’s public presence puts everybody who visits it at risk,” Philip Fields, a cybersecurity researcher and former FBI intelligence analyst, told NOTUS. He explains that if this were just a small business’ “random app,” it would not be a story.

“But it’s not,” Fields added. “This is the White House.”

READ MORE: Fox News Makes Stunning Break From Trump

The app reportedly has left users and some White House staffers vulnerable.

One researcher showed NOTUS screenshots revealing that a Russia-founded software kit company that “provides premade widgets for the app makes public the personal information of some White House staffers through the app.” NOTUS chose to not disclose the staffers’ personal information.

Cybersecurity experts also told NOTUS that the data collected by the White House is not being properly disclosed.

“The White House, as of its latest version released on Friday, left that privacy manifest completely blank, suggesting it collects no data from users,” NOTUS reported.

“It seems to be sharing quite a lot of data about the users to these third parties,” a researcher told NOTUS. “The problem is that the privacy manifest says they do not share that information, but in fact they do. … That is a problem for end-user privacy because effectively, they’re misleading users about how their data is shared.”

A White House press release promoted the launch of its “powerful new official mobile app — delivering President Donald J. Trump and his Administration directly to the American people like never before.”

In his promotional video, President Trump says, “Every American should expect their government to have transparency, and the Trump administration is the most transparent in history. That is for sure.”

READ MORE: ‘Come Personally to His Aid’: Group Warns Trump Could Install Two Loyalists on SCOTUS

 

 

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ANALYSIS

Fox News Makes Stunning Break From Trump

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Fox News has published a striking assessment of President Donald Trump’s political standing ahead of the midterms.

In a Friday article about the president’s firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the conservative outlet reported that other Cabinet officials could also be on the “chopping block” — and offered a blunt assessment: Trump is “saddled with underwater approval ratings and an unpopular war ahead of this year’s crucial midterm elections, when Republicans are working to hold onto their slim House and Senate majorities.”

Last month, Fox News acknowledged that the Republican Party is “underwater” with voters, while reporting that Democrats had sunk to a “new low.” Fox News rarely applies the term “underwater” to Republicans, a search of the outlet’s website revealed.

On Wednesday, Fox News reported that “polls indicate” the war in Iran is “unpopular with many Americans, and a surge in gas prices as a direct result of the fighting have triggered a further slide in Trump’s standing in public opinion surveys.”

READ MORE: ‘Darker Clouds’: Experts Warn the Unemployment Drop Is a Warning Sign

That report noted at the top that “Trump stands at 41% approval and 59% disapproval in the most recent Fox News national poll.”

“The political implications are clear,” the report added. “The strikes on Iran and the erosion of the president’s approval ratings are warning signs for the GOP as Republicans ramp up to defend their slim House and Senate majorities in this autumn’s midterm elections.”

It also added that “Trump’s base remains extremely supportive of the president and the war,” and that “much of the slippage” is coming from “non-MAGA Republicans.”

Friday’s blunt Fox News language comes one day after Mediaite’s Colby Hall wrote an opinion piece about the Fox News channel, titled: “Fox News Viewers Have No Clue Trump’s Approval Rating Has Cratered.”

“President Donald Trump is currently enduring the most significant and sustained approval rating decline of his presidency, and the most-watched news network in America is virtually ignoring it,” Hall wrote.

READ MORE: ‘Come Personally to His Aid’: Group Warns Trump Could Install Two Loyalists on SCOTUS

Image via Reuters

 

 

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‘Come Personally to His Aid’: Group Warns Trump Could Install Two Loyalists on SCOTUS

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President Donald Trump already placed three conservative justices on the Supreme Court during his first term. A liberal group is warning he could replace two of the other three conservatives with his own loyalists — and they’re not waiting for it to happen.

While none of the nine justices have announced plans to retire, two conservatives — Justice Clarence Thomas (77) and Justice Samuel Alito (76) — could conceivably retire before Trump leaves office.

Demand Justice says they aren’t waiting, they’re preparing.

“The preparations come at a moment when Democrats are feeling optimistic about their ability to break Republican control of Congress, and when there is growing fear in some corners of the party that Mr. Trump will seek to install loyalist justices who could sit on the court for decades,” The New York Times reports.

Josh Orton, the president of Demand Justice, told the Times: “If you think that Trump is willing to leave two of the three justices he thinks are most loyal on the court in their 80s past when he leaves office, you are not paying attention.”

READ MORE: ‘Darker Clouds’: Experts Warn the Unemployment Drop Is a Warning Sign

He says there is “no way” Trump, Thomas, and Alito “would ever commit the fundamental miscalculation about power that we saw from Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Barack Obama and we as a movement.”

Justice Ginsburg, who was 87, passed away during Trump’s first term, after a battle with cancer. Some on the left expressed frustration that she did not retire when Obama was president. Trump replaced her with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, moving the court to a strong 6-3 conservative majority.

“If Trump is handed another Supreme Court vacancy, we must be cleareyed and ready to make it an uphill battle,” Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible that is partnering in the Demand Justice effort, told the Times. “This will be a defining political battle, and we intend to make sure the stakes are clear to everyone.”

Orton says Trump will want to install a loyalist to replace any retiring justice.

“He’s going to want someone he knows, someone who has given him advice that he trusts. Someone that knows him personally and he feels understands him and that he can call for years to come personally to his aid.”

READ MORE: How the DOJ’s Latest Move Could Put Trump’s Records Out of Reach

 

Image via Reuters 

 

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