Control The Conversation
I’m tired.
I’m tired of the Right throwing temper tantrums — and grenades. When things aren’t going their way (and after eight long and literally torturous years, it’s about time they aren’t!) what do they do? They act like children.
Essentially, the entire GOP playbook consists of, “Oh, yeah, well, he started it!” and “I’m rubber, you’re glue…” and “Mommy, look what so-and-so did!”
I’m not a parent, but after twenty five years of running businesses, I know a thing or two about managing people. When you have an unproductive or disruptive employee you need to “counsel,” the first thing they do is try to change the conversation, or blame someone for their inability to do their job. That’s what the Republicans are trying to do by their outbursts. (“You lie!” “Socialism!” “Death Panels!”) And that’s the time to start controlling the conversation.
For example, let’s take Steve “Gay Marriage Is Socialism” King. As I wrote yesterday, Rep. King’s latest homophobic rant has him equating same sex marriage with socialism. Seriously. So, I wrote a piece and at the end I reminded folks that (sadly,) Mr. King’s state is in pretty bad shape when it comes to the things that he gets paid to make better. Like child homelessness.
(Never mind that 92% of Iowans say that same sex marriage has not affected them in any way. Rep. King continues to mouth off about it. Get a life, Mr. King! Maybe that’s why he decided to not run for governor. Because then he really would have to do something about the problems he was elected to fix.)
So, I threw a few facts about the condition of Iowa’s children into the mix. Facts like,
- “Iowa has 142,000 children living in poverty.â€
- “More than 10,033 of Iowa’s children experience homelessness each year…â€
- “Iowa ranks 11th in the nation in child homelessness.â€
And that, my friends, is the answer to our Republican nightmare. Get them to focus on doing what they were elected to do, not on what their ideology is forcing them to do.
As activists, writers, journalists, bloggers, change agents, or just concerned citizens, the next time you hear some wingnut start mouthing off about how healthcare, a public option, gay marriage, taxes, a bailout, the census, President Obama, etc., is “Socialism,” — or whatever the GOP has cooked up as its latest talking point, it’s our job to turn the tables and say this:
So, Congressman So-And-So, tell me about the level of education/poverty/homelessness/unemployment/healthcare… in your state. Tell me, what have YOU done to fix it? Why isn’t it fixed? Is it better than when you took office? Is it better than when you got re-elected? Why not?
And then,
“Don’t you dare talk to me about issues like same sex marriage, when there are hungry children, homeless families, people who have lost their jobs, people who don’t have health insurance, food, or shelter in your state. When you’ve fixed those things, THEN you can start attacking the citizens of your state who simply want to live with and love each other, and maybe start a family, and contribute to society. Until then, Congressman, you need to do YOUR job, and take care of those issues and the people in YOUR state.”
THAT’S how we control the conversation.
Let’s not accept the argument as they present it. Let’s not succumb to their talking points. Let’s start talking about issues that really make sense. Let’s bring the conversation down to basics, and force the question:
“Congressman, are you doing your job?”
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
