WATCH A CNN Host Fact Check A Trump Shill Into Oblivion When He Lies About Muslim Ban
WATCH A CNN Host Fact Check A Trump Shill Into Oblivion When He Lies About Muslim Ban
If there’s one thing we know definitively about Donald Trump, his allies, and his supporters, it’s that they lie. They lie constantly and even when they don’t need to.
Such was the case when Trump backer and former Georgia Congressman Jack Kingston appeared on CNN Saturday. The topic was Trump’s executive order barring refugees from seven nations in the Middle East, and host Poppy Harlow asked…
There is a growing resistance on the right that threatens to add additional stress to a political system already nearing the breaking point.
Will Sommer, Erin Banco, and Sam Stein at The Daily Beast:
A protest movement is taking hold targeting states that have extended social-distancing rules, closed schools, and restricted access to large religious gatherings. And it’s being fed by loyalists and political allies of President Donald Trump.
At issue are seemingly contradictory directives from Trump—who said on Tuesday that his team was in the process of drafting new guidelines that would allow some states to bring critical industries back to work, possibly this month—and public health officials and many governors, who have urged people to stay home as the number of coronavirus-related deaths continue to rise.
The tension has prompted Republican lawmakers and supporters of the president to publicly call for Americans to defy their local orders, claiming they infringe on constitutional rights. On Monday, Richard Grenell, acting director of the Office of National Intelligence and the U.S. ambassador to Germany, posted a photo of the Bill of Rights on Instagram with a title “Signed Permission Slip to Leave Your House.” Below the post, in the caption, Grenell wrote, “Love this!” A reporter tweeted the post after its publishing saying, “Seems the top US intelligence chief ADNI @RichardGrenell isn’t a fan of the stay at home orders.” Grenell responded, “‘Seems’ Grenell is a fan of the Constitution to me.”
Grenell’s post foreshadows a major political battle line on the horizon. Republican operatives say the burgeoning movement against coronavirus restrictions could end up stressing an already heavily stressed body politic even further, with conservative activists challenging their governors in increasingly dramatic fashion. Former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), who is a close White House ally, said he felt the country was nearing a tipping point.
“I think it could be a combination of politics, misinformation, economic hardship, emotion/anxiety, and well intentioned civil disobedience,” Kingston wrote. “The liquor stores and dispensaries are open but I can’t buy gun!”
The calls for defiance have grown so much so this week that officials inside the Trump administration coronavirus task force have begun discussing how to reconcile the growing discomfort of the president and his allies while also ensuring more Americans do not further contract the virus. One official told The Daily Beast that there is concern among task force officials that once they loosen the social-distancing guidelines for some portions of the country, Americans living in hot-spot areas will follow suit even if they’ve been asked to remain at home.
Already, protests against social-distancing guidelines, stay-at-home orders, and other public safety measures have been bubbling up in states across the country. In Idaho, anti-government activists encouraged gatherings around Easter. Conservative activists in Oklahoma are planning a “get back to work” rally at their state capitol on Wednesday. Roughly 75 protesters met outside the Ohio statehouse on Monday to protest restrictions, with several carrying the “Don’t Tread on Me” flags that became ubiquitous at Tea Party rallies.
On Tuesday, meanwhile, about 100 people rallied against the restrictions in Raleigh, North Carolina, with one protester arrested.
The North Carolina opposition has organized around “ReopenNC,” a Facebook group with more than 25,000 members. Ashley Smith, a co-founder of the group, started ReopenNC with two friends after hearing a rumor that Gov. Roy Cooper (D) planned to extend the state’s stay-at-home order through June. It appears that rumor was wrong—the order is still set to expire on April 19. But beyond that hiccup, epidemiologists and other public health experts have cautioned that the national economy can’t begin to recover without a massive increase in testing and infection tracing capabilities. Nevertheless, Smith simply wants businesses to open again.
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In Michigan, backlash to government-authored safety guidelines and measures may be the most pronounced. On Wednesday, critics of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) coronavirus restrictions rallied on the steps state capital—while others socially distanced within their cars. In a protest dubbed “Operation Gridlock,” they aim to lock down whatever traffic remains in the capital city of Lansing with their vehicles.
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The public demonstrations of frustration and resistance have begun to draw parallels to the Tea Party protests that popped up during the early months of Barack Obama’s presidency. The circumstances are far different—a reactionary movement to bank bailouts and the first African-American president versus resentment towards strict public health guidelines. But the theme of individualism versus statism is a through line that GOP operatives believe could be similarly galvanizing on the right.
Far-right anti-American extremists held a Tea Party-style protest today in defiance of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D)'s extension of her state's stay-at-home order designed to halt the spread of COVID-19. Expect this to be coming to your state in the near future if it hasn't already happened in a bid to either loosen or rescind the stay at home orders of their respective states.
MSNBC host Joy Reid showed no patience with former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) on Sunday morning as the advocate for the re-election of Donald Trump repeatedly was called out for lying about the facts of the Ukraine corruption case against Donald Trump as well as the House impeachment trial.
Tom Boggioni at The Raw Story:
MSNBC host Joy Reid showed no patience with former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) on Sunday morning as the advocate for the re-election of Donald Trump repeatedly was called out for lying about the facts of the Ukraine corruption case against Donald Trump as well as the House impeachment trial.
Sitting on a panel with the Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan, Kingston was given the first crack at addressing the defense case put forth by Trump’s lawyers on the Senate floor on Saturday, only to be pulled up short by the MSNBC host after stating a falsehood, for which he received an admonishment.
With Kingston claiming Democratic members of the Senate who are currently running for their party’s presidential nomination did not attend the Saturday hearing, Reid quickly cut him off.
“Hold on a second, Jack,” she lectured him. “They were sitting and listening to the entire hearing. The hearing was ended because Republicans only did two hours then they wrapped the hearing for the day and that’s why those senators are not sitting and listening to it because there’s nothing happening right now.”
As Kingston tried to interrupt her, she cut him off once again, stating, “Hold on, the Senate is closed for business right now. The reason they are not sitting in the Senate right now is because the Senate is closed for business and that’s why they’re back campaigning on the campaign trail, so don’t mislead the audience saying things like that.”
As the interview continued, Reid was forced to repeatedly cut off the former GOP lawmaker, at one time warning him, “Okay. so here’s the difference between the way we do business over here on MSNBC and the way that they might do business in other places you appear: you just can’t say things that aren’t true.”
Note to GOP guests who go on AM Joy (or any show) when Joy Reid hosts: you lie, you get your ass reamed on national television, and Jack Kingston’s the latest to test her.
Donald Trump surrogate former congressman Jack Kingston derides the impeachment inquiry into the president telling Joy Reid, ‘There’s still no blue dress. There’s no midnight break-in.’
I love the real time fact check. I miss when most TV journalists did this.
