Donald Trump's former Chief of Staff John Kelly today confirmed that Trump was lying when he said he demanded the resignation of former defense secretary Jim Mattis. Read the rest
Former Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen said today in an interview with ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz, "We are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent." Read the rest
After cowering in the White House bunker didn't work out for Trump, nor the ridiculous photo-op that followed it, the building itself is being surrounded by shabby fortifications: a fence to prevent protestors getting too close to the executive mansion.
More fencing going up around the White House complex early this morning pic.twitter.com/VLBRnx1lgz
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) June 4, 2020
"More fencing going up around the White House complex early this morning," writes CNN's Betsy Klein. "In addition to the new fencing, which now extends past the EEOB down 17th Street, @abdallahCNN reports that additional concrete barriers have been installed behind existing fencing at 17th and Pennsylvania Ave. NW."
From Stonekettle: "We've reached the 'Walling yourself off so enraged citizens don't drag you out of the palace' stage of Making America Great Again."
The funny thing about Trump is that you know that he has asked for a moat. Less funny is that he doesn't trust the Secret Service to keep him safe. Read the rest
Jim Mattis was Trump's first defence secretary, serving from 2017-2019. He quit and promised he would not be quiet forever, but also said it would be improper to criticize a sitting president. When protests over George Floyd's death at the hands of the police sprang up, many wondered if he would finally speak. He finally spoke.
Read the restThe protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. ...
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us.We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children. ...
Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that ‘The Nazi slogan for destroying us … was “Divide and Conquer.” Our American answer is “In Union there is Strength.”’ We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.”
The White House released this photo of the Trumps in a church. The idea is to show Donald and Melania as serious Christians after the bungled Bible photo-op, but they just look like characters from a reboot of The Omen.
Ms. Jones, 65, and her opponent, Heather Robinett, 49, had both vowed to continue changes enacted after the 2014 shooting of Mr. Brown, including a federal consent decree, a legally binding agreement requiring reforms to a police department.
“I’ve got work to do — because when you’re an African-American woman, they require more of you than they require of my counterpart,” Ms. Jones said after her victory, in a video (below) posted online Tuesday night by the journalist Jason Rosenbaum of St. Louis Public Radio. “I know the people in Ferguson are ready to stabilize their community, and we’re going to work together to get it done.”
Steve King, the Republican congressman who openly embraced white supremacy, will not be the party's candidate in November's general election. Sen. Randy Feenstra defeated him in Tuesday's five-way primary race.
Republicans in northwest Iowa ousted Rep. Steve King in Tuesday’s primary, deciding they’ve had enough of the conservative lightning rod known for making incendiary comments about immigrants and white supremacy throughout his nearly two decades in Congress.
The nine-term congressman, shunned by his party leadership in Washington and many of his longtime supporters at home, lost to well-funded state Sen. Randy Feenstra in a five-way GOP primary. The challengers argued that King’s loss of clout, even more than his continuous string of provocative and racially-charged statements, was reason enough for turning on him.
Some on the left thought it would be better strategery for King to have won as he was so widely hated, but the district was unlikely to turn blue this November even with a white supremacist on the GOP ticket: the party still led 51%-40% on a generic ballot poll in March. So this can be seen simply as a slightly reassuring preference among Republicans for less blatant racists. Read the rest
In this video, you can see Donald Trump appearing to ask First Lady Melania to 'smile' during today's fascist photo op.
Nah, man, you have to pay extra for that. Read the rest
• June 1, Monday night: Tear gas fired on peaceful protesters in Washington D.C.
• Trump: “If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them”
Earlier today, impeached president Donald Trump told “weak” U.S. governors to use more force against protesters. Tonight, Trump has threatened to direct military to attack protesters in the streets of the nation's capital and elsewhere, with lethal force, as the agents carrying out those attacks deem appropriate. Read the rest
• One Trump fundraising event in Dallas next month has a price tag of $580,600 per couple.
Impeached president Donald Trump is scheduled to headline in-person fundraisers as early as June, which would be his first since the coronavirus outbreak stopped campaign events in March. Read the rest
Buzzfeed News reporters obtained the explanation offered by United States Department of Homeland Security's CBP to congressional staffers who asked why it decided to fly a Predator Drone over Minneapolis during the protests over the killing of George Floyd. Read the rest
Donald Trump on Friday afternoon claimed to be completely ignorant of the racist history of the phrase 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts,' which he tweeted, and the White House retweeted, and which was also posted on the Presidential Facebook account. Read the rest
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has had it with Donald Trump's bullshit threats of violence against Americans. Read the rest
The Lincoln Project has dedicated a video to Kentucky's US Senator Mitch McConnell. They highlight his history of self-enrichment and failure to help Kentucky out much.
