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OPINION

‘Unrepentant Fascist’: Trump Says He’s ‘Cognitively Very Strong’ in ‘Dark, Twisted’ Rally

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With just six weeks until Election Day and early voting already underway, Donald Trump delivered what could be his final speech in Pennsylvania on Monday, throwing out to his most-ardent supporters a mix of promises, falsehoods, and threats in a bid to rally Keystone State voters to the polls.

Vice President Kamala Harris is narrowly beating Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, by just over one percentage point according to FiveThirtyEight‘s current polling average. The Commonwealth is a “must-win” state for both Harris and Trump.

“There are really only three states that will decide the presidential election: Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia,” Politico declared last week. “If Vice President Kamala Harris can’t carry Pennsylvania, her only hope is on a Southern strategy. Harris must win either Georgia or North Carolina. She has no other path to the White House. The election could well be determined when polls close in the eastern time zone.”

Calling his remarks Monday an “often unfocused pitch,” The Washington Post reports Trump “swerved repeatedly in remarks he used to try to shore up his political weaknesses, lash out his detractors and delve into digressions.”

The ex-president, a convicted felon who still faces numerous charges, continued to focus his anger on immigrants, extending his attack on legal immigrants from Haiti into its third week, although this time did not promote his “pet-eating” lies.

Claiming that immigrants are inundating small towns and communities, and have “destroyed” them, Trump lamented: “They will never be the same.”

READ MORE: Trump Expands Religious Attacks to Catholic Democrats

“The fact is, and I’ll say it now,” he declared angrily, “you have to get them the hell out.”

The crowd cheered, and chanted, “send them back.”

“This is some dark, twisted bullshit,” wrote podcaster and former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, denouncing Trump’s attack. “Again: the immigrants in Springfield are there legally. They’ve made the city more prosperous. Most residents don’t want them to leave. They don’t want to send these families back to their possible death.”

“What most residents want is more affordable housing. Schools and hospitals and city services that aren’t stretched thin. Safe roads and neighborhoods. That’s what the city’s Republican leadership wants, too,” he added. “Trump doesn’t even pretend to have a plan to do anything about any of this. He doesn’t want to help Springfield, he wants to use Springfield to help himself. And he doesn’t give a shit who gets hurt.”

Adding to the list of Americans he wants to imprison, Trump – ignoring the First Amendment – said people who criticize the U.S. Supreme Court Justices who voted to strip away the constitutional right to abortion “should be put in jail.” The Harris campaign quickly posted Trump’s remarks:

“You know,” responded journalist and author David Simon, “I’m going to lean forward a bit on my skis and just suggest, hear me out on this, that this Trump fellow is an obvious, unrepentant fascist without the slightest understanding of what the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution demands and requires of every citizen, let alone the president.”

But it was Trump’s remarks about women that appeared to draw the greatest condemnation.

“I always thought women liked me. I never thought I had a problem,” said Trump, who has been accused by dozens of women of varying degrees of sexual misconduct, and was found liable by a jury for what a judge later described as rape.

“But the fake news keeps saying women don’t like me. I don’t believe it. I think, I think you know why they like they like to have strong borders, they like to have safety. Nothing personal. I think they like me, but I make this statement – thank you, I love you too. I love you too. Thank you.”

“But I think they like me because I represent something that’s very important. I make this statement to the great women of our country. Sadly, women are poorer than they were four years ago, much poorer. Are less healthy than they were four years ago, are less safe on the streets than they were four years ago, are paying much higher prices for groceries and everything else than they were four years ago. Are more stressed and depressed and unhappy than they were four years ago, and are less optimistic and confident in the future than they were four years ago. I believe that. I will fix all of that and fast and at long last, this nation and national nightmare will end. We’ve got to end this national nightmare. Because I am your protector. I want to be your protector. As President, I have to be your protector. I hope you don’t make too much of it. I hope the fake news doesn’t go, ‘Oh, he wants to be their protector.’ Well, I am. As President, I have to be your protector.”

READ MORE: ‘Unethical’ and ‘Corrupt’: Melania Trump Slammed Over Six-Figure Fee for Political Event

Trump did not stop there.

“I will make you safe at the border, on the sidewalks of your now-violent cities, in the suburbs where you are under migrant criminal siege, and with our military protecting you from foreign enemies, of which we have many today because of the incompetent leadership that we have. You will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared. You will no longer be in danger. You’re not going to be in danger any longer. You will no longer have anxiety from all of the problems our country has today. You will be protected, and I will be your protector.”

“Women. Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion. That’s all they talk about: abortion because we’ve done something that nobody else could have done. It is now where it always had to be with the states, and the vote of the people.”

From her personal account, Neera Tanden, Director of the Biden White House’s Domestic Policy Council responded: “When the perpetrator tells you he’s your protector. The gaslighting is next level.”

“No woman wants protection from the likes of you, you raping lying felon,” decried award-winning actress and author Bette Midler. “Sure we’re stressed; we’re bummed bc you’re still here! Repeating that same old boring shit from last time! Go away, you fucking INCOMPETENT. Why are you still here?! You’re the #KingKong of assholes!!”

Salon’s Heather Digby Parton responded, “The rapist pussy grabber is the protector. Right.”

Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch remarked, “The ‘you will no longer be thinking about abortion’ line is 1000% creepy on the Gilead scale.”

“There have never been bigger lies told in all our history than what Trump is saying here,” observed top Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. “It’s shocking, desperate, outrageous and insulting. The dude is an incredible orange pig and deserves to get his ass kicked, bigly.”

“Sexism aside,” remarked The Atlantic’s James Surowiecki, “no candidate for president should talk to any American citizens like this. The president is our representative. He’s not our king. He’s not our savior. This is how a cult leader talks to his followers, not the way a president talks to free and equal citizens.”

Trump also praised himself for correctly calling Pennsylvania a “Commonwealth,” saying, “I almost said ‘the State of Pennsylvania,’ but I said, I meant, ‘the Commonwealth.’ I never said, ‘the State’ – I was able to catch it because I’m cognitively very strong.”

With the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Impulsive and Ill-Informed’: Trump ‘Unfit’ Warn 741 NatSec Leaders Endorsing Harris

 

 

 

 

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OPINION

‘Maoist’ ‘Soviet’ ‘Communist’: As Trumpism 2.0 Takes Shape, Experts Endeavor to Define It

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2 weeks ago

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May 5, 2025

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In the 105 days since Donald Trump began his second term as President, political observers and experts have been working to define and explain what Trumpism 2.0 is—and what it is not.

For some, the “not” is obvious. Critics suggest the United States is no longer a fully functioning democracy, but a nation sliding toward authoritarianism. Under Trump, they say, this is not a country growing stronger—or moving toward a brighter future.

That may explain the increasingly stark language used by his critics. One likened his recent televised Cabinet meeting to “something that frankly I would’ve expected out of North Korea.” Another said, “I didn’t sign up to live in the f—— Soviet Union,” in response to Trump’s claim that “a beautiful baby girl that’s 11 years old” doesn’t need 30 dolls or 250 pencils. “They can have three dolls or four dolls… they can have five” pencils. Others argue that Trumpism is now “primarily about the acquisition of power—power for its own sake.”

Political observers, experts, scholars, and critics are increasingly focused on signs of Trumpism’s extremism, authoritarianism, fascistic demagoguery, and even its apparent support for movements some say verge on fascism itself.

The current Trump administration “is supportive of a German political party that is the direct successor to National Socialism”—Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party—national security attorney Mark Zaid warned on Sunday. He appeared to be referring to Alternative for Germany (AfD), which German authorities have officially designated a “right-wing extremist endeavor.” Germany’s state media outlet, DW, recently published a video titled: “How much of a neo-Nazi party is the German AfD?”

READ MORE: ‘What Drunk on Power Looks Like’: Trump Goes on Attack in Wild Rants

The Atlantic’s James Surowiecki, author of “The Wisdom of Crowds,” on Monday pointed to a Wall Street Journal op-ed by Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Surowiecki remarked: “Trump says he will set the prices for all imported goods. He tells us we’ll have 5 pencils and like it. Now we have the Treasury Secretary talking about preventing the ‘spiritual degradation of the working class.’ Trumpism is becoming perversely, farcically Maoist.”

Noah Smith, the former Bloomberg opinion columnist, made that “Soviet Union” remark, above, in response to Trump’s comments to NBC News “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in an interview that aired on Sunday—the same comments that Surowiecki cited.

Those remarks—Trump defending his tariff war and the expected results, namely, higher prices and fewer available goods—appear to have hit a nerve.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, now a Professor of Political Science at Stanford, added: “This is just incredible — a billionaire telling working people they need to reduce their consumption. This is the opposite of the free market. Sounds a lot like communism to me. Soviet leaders also dictated to consumers their limited choices.”

He also noted: “Soviet communist leaders also dictated the consumption patterns of their citizens.”

“Enjoy MAGA Maoism,” remarked political writer and former congressional speechwriter Rotimi Adeoye, also commenting on Trump’s “dolls and pencils” utterance. And Adeoye pointed to his recent Washington Post piece:

“What we’re seeing is a kind of MAGA Maoism, remixed for the algorithm age. Like the Chinese Cultural Revolution, it glorifies physical labor as moral purification, only now the purification is from the supposed “wokeness” of desk work, filtered through TikTok, X and Twitch. It’s not about creating jobs. It’s about creating vibes: strong men doing hard things, reshared until they become ideology.”

Professor of Political Science Robert E. Kelly noted that “MAGA loves to call its opponents ‘communists,’ but this is literally a neo-Marxist critique of consumerism.”

“The Department of Central Planning and Child Rearing has figured out the optimal number of dolls and pencils each child should have to make beautiful Republic,” snarked Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Justin Wolfers.

And The Atlantic’s David Frum, quipped: “One serving per person, no second helpings, until we have won the great patriotic war against Chinese pencil exporters.”

Frum added: “Second-term Trump messages: ‘America’s over-indulged 11 year old girls own too many pencils.’ And also: ‘I’m not sure whether president needs to obey the Constitution.'”

READ MORE: ‘Absolutely No Clue’: Trump Roasted Over Unique Declaration of Independence Interpretation

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere on Sunday noted: “In the space of 48 hours, the President of the United States has tweeted an image of himself as the new pope, said he doesn’t know if he has to abide by the Constitution, cited multiple completely false statistics, and announced that he wants to reopen a prison closed in 1963.”

Trump’s comment about his duty to uphold the Constitution—”I don’t know“—drew tremendous anger.

“The thing is that he’s being honest here,” Surowiecki observed. “He doesn’t know, because he’s totally incurious, doesn’t care about policy other than tariffs, and doesn’t have any interest in or knowledge of American constitutional law.”

Then there is the latest theater of Trump’s tariff war: the film industry.

The President of the United States has decided that any film “produced” outside of the U.S. will also be subjected to his tariffs.

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” Trump claimed. “Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

Professor Wolfers sounded the alarm.

“Given that this White House leaks about everything,” Wolfers, who is frequently seen on cable news, wrote, “and there was no chatter about movie tariffs, it seems likely that policy reshaping the lives of millions of Americans was made by an old man sitting alone in a room with a remote in his left hand, aided by no expert advice.”

“The party of small government would like you to watch fewer foreign films,” he also snarked.

And calling it “a very dangerous escalation,” Wolfers noted: “Tariffs have not traditionally been applied to services, and the United States is a massive net exporter of services. We would be extremely vulnerable to any service-based retaliation.”

Self-described “Tech policy wonk” Michael Nelson, formerly of Georgetown University, labeled Trump’s film tariffs “Deranged. #EconomicSuicide.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA), who made the “North Korea” comparison above, has repeatedly warned about what he sees as corruption in the Trump administration.

“It seems like ages ago that Donald Trump turned the South Lawn into a car showroom to boost the profits of Elon Musk’s sputtering Tesla business. But it was just over a month ago. That’s the kind of daily, open corruption that’s just another day in this administration,” Senator Warner wrote on Friday.

Earlier last week, he summed up his thoughts on the Trump administration: “Corruption in plain sight and tanking the economy. This is what the Trump administration has been all about.”

Some, like The New York Times’ conservative opinion writer David Brooks, say simply that Trumpism is all about power.

Trumpism, Brooks wrote, “is primarily about the acquisition of power — power for its own sake. It is a multifront assault to make the earth a playground for ruthless men, so of course any institutions that might restrain power must be weakened or destroyed. Trumpism is about ego, appetite and acquisitiveness and is driven by a primal aversion to the higher elements of the human spirit — learning, compassion, scientific wonder, the pursuit of justice.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: He Wanted Hulk Hogan to Run for Senate — Now Scott Jennings Thinks He May Meet That Bar

 

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OPINION

He Wanted Hulk Hogan to Run for Senate — Now Scott Jennings Thinks He May Meet That Bar

Published

2 weeks ago

on

May 2, 2025

By

CNN opinion contributor Scott Jennings, who this week appeared onstage at a Trump rally, says he would be all in if President Donald Trump asked him to run for U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky seat. Jennings, a vocal Trump supporter, previously floated professional wrestler Hulk Hogan as a replacement for outgoing Senator Marco Rubio.

“If Marco Rubio does in fact become Secretary of State,” Jennings said on CNN last November, “we’re gonna need a new senator from the state of Florida. And we need someone with Rubio’s national security credentials. Now, there’s one Floridian who can do it. He stood up to the Russians and the Iranians in the 1980s when he defeated the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkov, two of America’s most lethal foes. He is a real American. He fights for the rights of every man. He knows that courage is the thing that keeps us free. Ladies and gentlemen, I announce—Ron DeSantis, get on it—Hulk Hogan for U.S. Senate.”

Jennings has been called a “supervillain” and “cable TV’s ubiquitous MAGA Man of the Moment,” by The Daily Beast. His job on the cable TV network appears to be to start fights—and finish them—in defense of President Trump.

READ MORE: ‘What Drunk on Power Looks Like’: Trump Goes on Attack in Wild Rants

That favor may now be returned.

“If the president wants me, I’ll run,” Jennings reportedly has said, according to The Daily Beast. “If he wants somebody else, I’ll support that candidate.”

Jennings may be Trump’s latest choice to fill a congressional seat — or perhaps a job in the White House, as he and the President teased out on Friday:

Kentucky Republican political insiders say Jennings is a definite possibility to run for McConnell’s seat. The former Republican Leader is retiring and not running for re-election. Some note that Jennings’ website certainly looks like a political candidate’s. “Conservative Ideas. Middle America values. Fearless strategy,” it reads.

Critics are not amused.

“CNN is still standing by Scott Jennings,” wrote The Washington Post’s media reporter Jeremy Barr. “On the one hand, it’s great to have on-air contributors who are ‘close to the action.’ On the other hand, networks generally want them to maintain even an iota of distance to give their commentary more credibility.”

“Scott’s relationship with Trump has always been interesting,” Barr added. “He was once harshly critical of him and as recently as 2022 he said on CNN ‘We need a new nominee.’ But he tends to come back to Trump’s camp when he’s in power or about to be.”

READ MORE: Democrats Call for Hegseth’s Ouster After Trump Demotes National Security Advisor

Barr pointed to a piece he wrote last October: “How Scott Jennings became CNN’s go-to GOP pundit — and pugilist.”

“So his being a belligerent a-h— on CNN was all about angling for a job in the Trump administration,” wrote advocacy journalist Lauren Windsor. “Do better, @CNN.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Absolutely No Clue’: Trump Roasted Over Unique Declaration of Independence Interpretation

 

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OPINION

As US Economy Shrinks Trump Appears Unaware of Crisis: ‘This Is Biden’s Stock Market’

Published

2 weeks ago

on

April 30, 2025

By

To mark his first 100 days in office — “100 Days of Greatness,” he called it — President Donald Trump threw himself a celebration rally in the swing state of Michigan on Tuesday, declaring he has returned America to a “golden age.”

“The arena was surrounded by banners that read, ‘Investing in America,’ ‘Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!,’ ‘The Golden Age,’ ‘Buy American, Hire American’ and ‘The American Dream is Back,'” The Guardian reported. “Trump’s supporters held signs with slogans such as: ‘Make America Great Again’ and ‘Golden Age of America.'”

On Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that the American economy shrank in the first three months of 2025, the first time it has done so in nearly three years.

READ MORE: ‘Prices Go Up’: Economist Mocks Treasury Secretary’s ‘Empty Shelves’ Position

“Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025 (January, February, and March), according to the advance estimate released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2024, real GDP increased 2.4 percent.”

Economic experts had predicted 3% GDP growth for the first quarter, (some more, some less, but in that neighborhood) before Trump’s tariffs.

Economists and financial experts are pointing to President Donald Trump’s policies, including his tariff war, as the reason for the contraction.

“Real GDP down. Consumption down. Prices up. It’s very easy to criticize what is happening right in front of your eyes when you’re not in a woke cult,” observed Spencer Hakimian, founder and chief investment officer of the hedge fund Tolou Capital Management.

Hakimian pinned the blame for the economy contracting directly on Trump’s policies.

And pointing to the BEA’s numbers, Hakimian added, “Welcome to the recession.”

While the official “we are in a recession” declaration has not yet been made, some are doing so already, given the multiple forecasts predicting a recession, and some saying a recession is the current best possible outcome America (and possibly the global economy) will see this year.

Conservative commentator David Frum of The Atlantic responded to the economic news.

“Trump pushed the US economy into decline by his ignorance and malice, enabled and abetted by advisers who were variously obnoxious, stupid, cowardly, and/or crazy,” said Frum, a former George W. Bush speechwriter.

Despite the declarations of experts, President Trump quickly denied responsibility for any economic pain, and, appeared to not understand the issue.

Forty-three  minutes after the economic news — a contraction of gross domestic product — had been announced, Trump declared the “stock market” problem was not his but his predecessor’s.

“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s,” the President claimed on Truth Social. “I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”

The issue is not the stock market—although the markets tanked upon news of an economic contraction—but the actual economy.

READ MORE: ‘Great Jobs of the Future’ Are Generations of Family Factory Work Says Commerce Secretary

“CEOs of major retail giants warned last week that prices would rise and shelves would soon fall empty if the president didn’t reverse course,” The Daily Beast reported Thursday. “The S&P 500 is down 8 percent since Trump’s inauguration—its worst run during a president’s first 100 days in office in more than 50 years. Some financial analysts worry the U.S. is heading toward recession.”

The President appears to be in denial.

During his first 100 days interview with ABC News, which aired Tuesday evening, senior national correspondent Terry Moran told Trump tourism is down.

Trump refused to believe him, despite the facts that prove this have been freely available for weeks.

Economist Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics and public policy, posted charts showing tourism “cratering,” along with video of Trump insisting tourism is up.

Despite all the economic data and expert predictions, despite what we now see as an economic contraction, and some say a looming recession, President Trump is steadfast in his position.

ABC’s Moran told the President, “with the economy, the number one issue for so many people, for just about everybody. It — it’s one of the main reasons that you’re back in this office. And now we have this trade war with China that — that Moody’s and other analysts say is gonna cost American families thousands of more dollars per year. And there is a lot of concern out there. People are worried, even some people who voted for you, sayin’, ‘I didn’t sign up for this.’ So how do you answer those concerns?”

“Well,” Trump replied, “they did sign up for it, actually.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Lying Again’: Hegseth Ripped for Ending ‘Woke Biden Initiative’ Trump Signed Into Law

 

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