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‘This Is About Basic Decency’: Obama Slams Trump for Killing DACA – ‘Contrary to Our Spirit’

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“Kicking them out won’t lower the unemployment rate, or lighten anyone’s taxes, or raise anybody’s wages.”

In a rare statement former president Barack Obama, as promised, is slamming President Donald Trump’s decision Tuesday to end the DACA immigration program protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation.

“Ultimately,’ President Obama said on Facebook and via email, “this is about basic decency.  This is about whether we are a people who kick hopeful young strivers out of America, or whether we treat them the way we’d want our own kids to be treated.  It’s about who we are as a people – and who we want to be.”

Calling it “a political decision, and a moral question,” Obama also took Trump to task, saying “the action taken today isn’t required legally.”

He noted that “we shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us.  They are that pitcher on our kid’s softball team, that first responder who helps out his community after a disaster, that cadet in ROTC who wants nothing more than to wear the uniform of the country that gave him a chance.  Kicking them out won’t lower the unemployment rate, or lighten anyone’s taxes, or raise anybody’s wages.”

The former president who remains wildly popular also said that “Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.  They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants.  They may not know a country besides ours.  They may not even know a language besides English.  They often have no idea they’re undocumented until they apply for a job, or college, or a driver’s license.”

It is precisely because this action is contrary to our spirit, and to common sense, that business leaders, faith leaders, economists, and Americans of all political stripes called on the administration not to do what it did today.  And now that the White House has shifted its responsibility for these young people to Congress, it’s up to Members of Congress to protect these young people and our future.  I’m heartened by those who’ve suggested that they should.  And I join my voice with the majority of Americans who hope they step up and do it with a sense of moral urgency that matches the urgency these young people feel.

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Rogan on Epstein Files: ‘Looks Terrible’ for Trump

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Prominent podcaster Joe Rogan warned that the handling of the Epstein files “looks terrible” for President Donald Trump and his administration.

“During Tuesday and Thursday’s episodes, Rogan criticized redactions the Department of Justice made from the files,” The Hill reported.

“Who knows what f — — happens with all this Epstein files s — —,” he said, according to video of his streaming show. “It just keeps getting crazier and crazier and crazier and deeper and deeper.”

“Why would your name be redacted if you’re not a victim?” Rogan also asked. “Like, this is what’s crazy about all this. Like, how come you redact some people and you don’t redact other people?”

READ MORE: Far Right Extremist Leader Puts Trump on Notice Over Epstein Files

“Like, what is this?” the podcaster continued. “This is not good. None of this is good for this administration. It looks f — — terrible. It looks terrible. It looks terrible for Trump when he was saying that none of this was real. This is all a hoax. This is not a hoax. Like, did you not know?”

“Maybe he didn’t know if you want to be charitable? But this is definitely not a hoax. And if you’ve got redacted people’s names, and these people aren’t victims, you’re not protecting the victim. So what are you doing?”

“And how come all this s — — is not released?” Rogan asked.

 

READ MORE: ‘No Going Back’: Report Warns Post-MAGA America Will Never Be the Same

 

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Far Right Extremist Leader Puts Trump on Notice Over Epstein Files

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Far-right extremist livestreamer Nick Fuentes — who leads a “Groyper” following of mostly young men and brands himself “America First” — is putting President Donald Trump on notice ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“I won’t even consider voting in the midterms unless the Epstein Files are fully unredacted, mass deportations resume, and we don’t go to war with Iran,” wrote Fuentes, who has 1.2 million followers on the X social media platform.

Some of Trump’s MAGA allies were furious this week as Attorney General Pam Bondi deflected numerous questions in a congressional hearing on that very topic.

Even before Bondi’s widely-criticized performance, Fuentes had called for her impeachment.

READ MORE: Trump’s Pardon ‘Blizzard’ Grows With Clemency for Five Former NFL Players

“Pam Bondi needs to be impeached,” he said on his February 9 Rumble show, “America First,” as The Daily Beast reported. “You lied about the existence of the files. You lied about unindicted collaborators and accomplices.”

Fuentes has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “white nationalist,” an “admirer of fascists,” and someone who “frequently relies on antisemitic tropes.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League, “Fuentes has used his platforms to make numerous antisemitic, racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments,” and spreads “white supremacist propaganda.”

President Trump “has not condemned Fuentes,” and Vice President JD Vance “has only criticized him for attacking his wife,” The Week reported last month. “But Vance also appears keen to avoid alienating young Fuentes supporters, who could help him secure the GOP presidential nomination in 2028.”

READ MORE: ‘No Going Back’: Report Warns Post-MAGA America Will Never Be the Same

 

Image via Reuters 

 

 

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Trump’s Pardon ‘Blizzard’ Grows With Clemency for Five Former NFL Players

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President Donald Trump issued another batch of pardons on Thursday, granting clemency to five former NFL players — the latest in what the Cato Institute has labeled a “blizzard” of pardons.

Trump’s pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson praised the move, which covers cases including those involving drug-related offenses and perjury convictions, according to The Guardian,

“Today, the President granted pardons to five former NFL players—Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, and the late great Dr. Billy Cannon,” wrote Johnson. “As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation.”

Johnson went on to applaud the president “for his continued commitment to second chances.”

“Mercy changes lives,” she added.

READ MORE: ‘No Going Back’: Report Warns Post-MAGA America Will Never Be the Same

The Cato Institute on Wednesday had said the scope and magnitude of Trump’s “blizzard” of pardons are “unprecedented.”

Before this latest round of pardons, Trump had issued 166 pardons — plus the mass pardons of about 1,500 people convicted on charges in connection with January 6 — since taking office just over one year ago. By comparison, President Joe Biden in four years issued 80 pardons.

“In other words,” Cato’s Dan Greenberg wrote, “even putting aside the rioters’ collective pardon, Trump is now issuing pardons at eight times the rate Biden did.”

READ MORE: ‘Political Stunt’: Trump Admin Rages After NYC Re-Raises Pride Flag at Stonewall

Greenberg put Trump’s pardons into several categories.

He noted that Biden’s pardons eliminated about $680,000 in penalties owed to victims or the federal government, whereas Trump’s pardons have wiped away about $1.5 billion.

Greenberg also said that “Trump has normalized the pardoning of disgraced politicians, such as former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez (who orchestrated a spree of state-sponsored drug trafficking leading to a 45-year prison term),” and others, such as Nevada legislator Michele Fiore, Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins, Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada, and Arkansas legislator Jeremy Hutchinson.

Other concerns Greenberg noted are that aspects of some of Trump’s pardons “set off alarm bells for self-corruption—either of the president or of his associates.”

Finally, “Trump has increasingly focused on providing pardons to his campaign supporters who stretched or broke the law, such as John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, and Jenna Ellis.”

READ MORE: ‘Politically Toxic’: Voters Say Biden Was Better Than Trump

 

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