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Poll: Americans Angered By Mistreatment Of LGBT People, Not Same-Sex Marriage

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‘American Rage’ Survey Shows Consensus in Support of Gay Rights

Americans are angry about society’s mistreatment of LGBT people, and not about same-sex marriage, according to a widely publicized new poll from Esquire Magazine and NBC News that attempts to gauge anger in the US. 

According to the survey, titled “American Rage,” only 22 percent of respondents said they’d be very angry or somewhat angry about a hypothetical headline reading, “More Than 100,000 Couples Have Wed Since Supreme Court Ruling.” 

Meanwhile, 41 percent said they believe LGBT people have a right to be angry about how they’re treated, 45 percent said they’re angry themselves about how LGBT people are treated, and only 24 percent said they supported Kentucky clerk Kim Davis and her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. 

Those results led The Washington Post to call LGBT equality “the social-justice issue that garnered the most agreement” in the wide-ranging survey, beating out African-American, immigrants’ and women’s rights. 

Not surprisingly, support appeared more tepid for transgender rights, with 41 percent saying they’d be very angry or somewhat angry about a headline reading “Caitlyn Jenner’s Wedding of the Century!” — although that result could also reflect a general aversion to tabloid-style celebrity gossip journalism. 

2.jpgIn any case, the consensus in support for LGBT rights was one of the few bright spots in the survey, which showed that half of Americans are angrier than they were a year ago — and in many cases apparently for the wrong reasons. 

The poll found that whites and Republicans are the angriest groups in America. Seventy-three percent of whites get angry at least once a day, compared to 56 percent of blacks and 66 percent of Hispanics. And 77 percent of Republicans get angry at least once a day, compared to 67 percent of Democrats, according to the survey. 

But much of this rage among whites and Republicans appears to be unjustified and based on the false perception that they’re somehow being persecuted. 

1.jpg“From their views on the state of the American dream (dead) and America’s role in the world (not what it used to be) to how their life is working out for them (not quite what they’d had in mind), a plurality of whites tends to view life through a veil of disappointment,” Esquire writes. “When we cross-tabulate these feelings with reports of daily anger (which are higher among whites than nonwhites), we see the anger of perceived disenfranchisement — a sense that the majority has become a persecuted minority, the bitterness of a promise that didn’t pan out — rather than actual hardship.”

Although blacks undboutedly face more economic hardship and discrimination than whites, the survey found them to be far more upbeat about their financial situations and the general condition of the country. 

“Their optimism in the face of adversity suggests that hope, whatever its other virtues, remains a potent antidote to anger,” Esquire writes. 

Other disturbing findings from the survey include:  

• Sixty-three percent of respondents say they believe the “American Dream” — the idea that if you work hard enough, you’ll succeed — is either no longer true or never was a true. 

• Fifty-three percent of respondents say they’re worse off financially than they thought they’d be when they were younger, and whites are more likely than blacks to chalk up their current financial circumstances to things being “harder today” than “wrong choices.” 

• Three out of five whites think police killings are isolated incidents, while three out of four blacks believe they’re part of a pattern. 

• Whites are far more likely than blacks to say race relations have become worse since President Barack Obama was elected. “One possible explanation: Whites are down on race relations because of they way they believe they are treated, not because of the way blacks are treated,” Esquire writes.  

• Out of 11 hypothetical slogans for protest signs, the most popular among Republicans were “Taxed Enough Already,” “Make English America’s Official Language” and “Abortion Is Murder.” (The most popular among Democrats were “We Don’t Build Walls. We Tear Them Down,” “Taxed Enough Already” and “Don’t Tell Me How to Dress. Tell Them Not to Rape.”

The poll, which surveyed 3,257 adults in November, measured anger according to the frequency with which respondents reported hearing or reading something that made them angry. 

In response to the survey, MSNBC decided to ask Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders supporters what makes them angry. Watch the report below. 

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King Charles Discreetly Rebukes Trump in Historic Address to Congress: Report

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Britain’s King Charles III delivered a “carefully targeted rebuff” of President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies during his historic address before Congress, Politico reports, as he lauded NATO and called for “unyielding resolve” to defend Ukraine against Russia.

“British monarchs deliver their political messages in code,” Politico noted, adding that “contrary to the president’s repeated claims over recent weeks, NATO was in fact there to help in America’s hour of need.”

Charles told members of Congress that in “the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time, and the United Nations Security Council was united in the face of terror, we answered the call together, as our people have done so, for more than a century.”

“Shoulder to shoulder,” he declared, “through two world wars, the Cold War, Afghanistan, and moments that have defined our shared security. Today, Mr. Speaker, that same unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine and her most courageous people.”

His Ukraine entreaty received bipartisan applause and a standing ovation.

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Charles praised the United States’ armed forces’ “commitment and expertise,” and that of its allies, that “lie at the heart of NATO.”

Calling it “a direct plea to Trump and Hill Republicans to maintain American support against the Russian invasion,” Politico stated that Charles “is striking a very different tone from Trump’s incessant criticisms of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”

READ MORE: FCC Poised to Review Disney Licenses Amid Trump Pressure Over Kimmel Joke: Report

 

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Trump White House Blames Democrats’ ‘Unhinged Rhetoric’ for Inciting WHCD Attack

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The White House is alleging that “unhinged” and “sick rhetoric” from Democrats is to blame for inciting the alleged assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and members of his administration by “another Radical Left lunatic.”

On Saturday, at the hotel hosting the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner, a heavily armed man broke through a security checkpoint on the floor above the event and was taken down by Secret Service agents. In his manifesto, the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, allegedly named “Administration officials ” as his primary “targets.”

On Tuesday, in a press release titled “Democrats’ Unhinged Rhetoric Incites Third Assassination Attempt on President Trump,” the Trump White House charged that the “attack was not random; it was the predictable result of years of reckless, inflammatory, and escalating rhetoric from Democrats” who “have created a toxic environment that incites their supporters to violence again and again.”

The White House listed over a dozen prominent Democrats and their remarks.

For example, it cited House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who said that Democrats “are in an era of maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time” against Republicans. Jeffries’ remarks were initially taken from a direct quote attributed to a “person close to the White House,” as The New York Times reported last year.

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In August, The Times reported: “One person close to the president, who insisted on anonymity to describe the White House’s political strategy candidly, summed it up succinctly: ‘Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.'”

The White House did not mention the connection.

In its press release, the White House also quoted Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who “called on his supporters to ‘be forcefully rising up against’ President Trump.” Senator Schumer did not say, against President Trump. He said, “against this,” referring to the Trump Justice Department’s prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The White House also cited Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for saying that “heads do need to roll” inside the Trump Administration, and California Governor Gavin Newsom for urging supporters to “punch these sons of b —— in the mouth.”

In total, the White House cited eighteen Democrats and their statements.

READ MORE: ‘This Will Backfire’: DeSantis’s New Redistricting Map Is Already in Trouble

 

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FCC Poised to Review Disney Licenses Amid Trump Pressure Over Kimmel Joke: Report

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The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to review Disney’s broadcast licenses, according to an exclusive report by Semafor.

According to Semafor, a person familiar with the FCC’s thinking said the review is not directly tied to a monologue delivered last week by ABC’s late night host Jimmy Kimmel, which targeted President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

But NBC News, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported later on Tuesday that the FCC is expected to order Disney’s eight broadcast stations to file their broadcast license reviews early.

A source told NBC News the move was “unprecedented” and directly tied to Kimmel’s comments.

On Monday, First Lady Melania Trump blasted ABC, demanding the broadcast network hold Kimmel to account.

READ MORE: Trump ‘Frustrated’ by Ballroom Legal Battles — So GOP Wants You to Pay for It: Report

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” the First Lady said on social media. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”

“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” she continued, calling the late night host a “coward” who “hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.”

Later on Monday, President Trump went even further than the First Lady, demanding Kimmel “be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

Days earlier, on Thursday night, in a mock version of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Kimmel delivered several jokes, including saying: “Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

Kimmel delivered his monologue two days before an alleged assassination attempt targeting Trump and top administration officials at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.

READ MORE: Coming Price Spike Made Worse by Trump Could Deal ‘Fatal Blow’ to GOP: Report

 

Image via Reuters 

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