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‘The bell of stupidity’: Conservative’s Christmas video lampoons Trump’s latest speech
President Donald Trump was supposed to prioritize the economy at a MAGA rally last week — but instead rambled about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and other familiar foes.
In a Christmas-themed video, The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson (a Never Trump conservative former GOP strategist) and journalist Molly Jong-Fast brutally mocked the speech for failing to get the desired economic message across.
Jong-Fast told Wilson, "Let's talk about how positively b----- the whole thing is. It was meant to be a rally on affordability. Here's what was not discussed: affordability. Here's what was discussed: Marjorie Taylor Greene. He calls her Marjorie Traitor Brown."
Wilson, sounding amused, interjected, "And I'm also intrigued by how she's somehow a leftist."
Jong-Fast told the Never Trumper, "It has really been a week for Trump."
Wilson laid out a variety of ways in which Trump and the MAGA movement are having a bad Christmas, from the Epstein files to the economy.
"There is no unringing this bell of stupidity," Wilson told Jong-Fast. "They have f----- it up. They have made a giant mistake."
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Trump Supreme Court battle could be dismantled by Congress members’ own history
New evidence is emerging that could deal a major blow to President Donald Trump's case for stripping birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants.
The president has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to restore “the original meaning” of the 14th Amendment, which his lawyers argued in a brief meant that “children of temporary visitors and illegal aliens are not U.S. citizens by birth," but new research raises questions about what lawmakers intended the amendment to do, reported the New York Times.
"One important tool has been overlooked in determining the meaning of this amendment: the actions that were taken — and not taken — to challenge the qualifications of members of Congress, who must be citizens, around the time the amendment was ratified," wrote Times correspondent Adam Liptak.
A new study will be published next month in The Georgetown Law Journal Online examining the backgrounds of the 584 members who served in Congress from 1865 to 1871. That research found more than a dozen of them might not have been citizens under Trump’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment, but no one challenged their qualifications.
"That is, said Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia and an author of the study, the constitutional equivalent of the dog that did not bark, which provided a crucial clue in a Sherlock Holmes story," Liptak wrote.
The 14th Amendment states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside," while the Constitution requires members of the House of Representatives to have been citizens for at least seven years, and senators for at least nine.
“If there had been an original understanding that tracked the Trump administration’s executive order,” Frost told Liptak, “at least some of these people would have been challenged.”
Only one of the nine challenges filed against a senator's qualifications in the period around the 14th Amendment's ratification involved the citizenship issue related to Trump's interpretation of birthright citizenship, and that case doesn't support his position.
"Several Democratic senators claimed in 1870 that their new colleague from Mississippi, Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first Black man to serve in Congress, had not been a citizen for the required nine years," Liptak wrote. "They reasoned that the 14th Amendment had overturned Dred Scott, the 1857 Supreme Court decision that denied citizenship to the descendants of enslaved African Americans, just two years earlier and that therefore he would not be eligible for another seven."
"That argument failed," the correspondent added. "No one thought to challenge any other members on the ground that they were born to parents who were not citizens and who had not, under the law in place at the time, filed a declaration of intent to be naturalized."
"The consensus on the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause has long been that everyone born in the United States automatically becomes a citizen with exceptions for those not subject to its jurisdiction, like diplomats and enemy troops," Liptak added.
Frost's research found there were many members of Congress around the time of the ratification of the 14th Amendment who wouldn't have met Trump's definition of a citizen, and she said that fact undercuts the president's arguments.
“If the executive order reflected the original public meaning, which is what the originalists say is relevant,” Frost said, “then somebody — a member of Congress, the opposing party, the losing candidate, a member of the public who had just listened to the ratification debates on the 14th Amendment, somebody — would have raised this.”
‘Major drama’ as MAGA candidate cancels events amid potentially explosive story: reporter
Trump-backed North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson has reportedly canceled his campaign events for Thursday amid what could be an explosive story.
Independent journalist Bryan Anderson, a former North Carolina Statehouse reporter for the Associated Press, brings word that there is "major drama" brewing in the North Carolina gubernatorial race as his sources indicate that a CNN report about the candidate "is coming" in the near future.
"I have a strong sense of what the news will be, but until sources speak on record and/or on background, I can't share what it is," Anderson added.
ALSO READ: 'Come on!' CNN host leaves Trump ally speechless after fact-checking his lies in real time
Separately, the Carolina Journal reports that North Carolina Republicans are already putting pressure on Robinson to drop out before the story is even released.
"Sources with direct knowledge have spoken with Carolina Journal on the condition of anonymity and said that Robinson is under pressure from staff and members of the Trump campaign to withdraw from the governor’s race due to the nature of the story, which they say involves activity on adult websites in 2000s," the publication writes. "According to sources, Robinson has resisted withdrawing and privately denies the story."
Robinson has drawn controversy for his multiple inflammatory social media posts, including one where he accused Martin Luther King, Jr. of being a "communist" and another in which he accused pop star Beyoncé of being a "devil worshipper" who is sending her fans "on a fast track to hell."
‘Corruption case is real!’ Trump calls on Harris and campaign to ‘go before a grand jury’
Former President Donald Trump accused Vice President Kamala Harris of corruptly accepting campaign help from Iran in an all-caps message that included no evidence to back a questionable claim that the FBI rejects.
The Republican presidential nominee took to his social media site Truth Social Thursday morning to rant against the Democratic presidential nominee he claimed should face prosecution.
"WHEN DOES KAMALA AND HER CAMPAIGN GO BEFORE A GRAND JURY ON IRAN, IRAN, IRAN?" Trump wrote. "MY CAMPAIGN WHEN THROUGH HELL ON THE RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX. THE BIG DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE IRAN/KAMALA CAMPAIGN CORRUPTION CASE IS REAL!"
Trump referred to news that an Iranian group hacked his campaign in June and attempted to access Democrats' in an attempt to influence the U.S. election, as was confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in August.
On Wednesday, NBC News reported new evidence that Iranians sent stolen Trump campaign materials to people associated with President Joe Biden's campaign, but there was not evidence Biden's campaign responded.
A Harris spokesperson told NBC the campaign was unaware of receiving material but some people had received what looked like a phishing attempt on their person emails.
ALSO READ: Notorious conspiracy theorist rolled out by RNC to train election overseers in Michigan
Three federal law enforcement sources confirmed to NBC the recipients never responded and may not have even opened them.
This reporting did not stop Trump Wednesday night from accusing Harris of spying illegally on his campaign.
The Republican nominee responded to the news in a decidedly Trumpian way.
“TO BE KNOWN AS THE IRAN, IRAN, IRAN CASE!" Trump wrote. "WILL KAMALA RESIGN IN DISGRACE FROM POLITICS? WILL THE COMMUNIST LEFT PICK A NEW CANDIDATE TO REPLACE HER?”
ALSO READ: 'Not what happened': Journalist fact-checks Trump's claim Harris 'illegally' spied on him
This take earned Trump an eye-roll from MSNBC analyst Steven Benen Thursday morning who noted — as the former president did not — that Iran targeted both campaigns.
"While Russia continues to target American elections in the hopes of putting Trump back in power, Tehran was an equal-opportunity hacker," Benen wrote.
"Trump sees this as an example of the Harris campaign 'illegally spying on' him, which is so utterly bonkers that it’s hard not to wonder whether the Republican understands what 'spying' means in English."
Benen also rejected the comparison to one of the several scandals that rocked Trump's 2016 presidential election.
"Team Trump welcomed, received, benefited from, and lied about Russian assistance," Benen wrote. "Team Harris didn’t welcome, receive, benefit from, or lie about Iranian offers of assistance, so the idea that the two are similar is absurd."
Marjorie Taylor Greene rages at Mike Johnson and calls to fund government with Dems
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) unexpectedly called on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to work with Democrats to avert a government shutdown.
In a statement on Tuesday, Johnson said Republicans should support his plan to include the SAVE Act, legislation making it more difficult to vote, in a bill to fund the government. Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden have vowed to reject the measure requiring a birth certificate or passport to cast a ballot.
"I urge all of my colleagues to do what the overwhelming majority of the people of this county rightfully demand and deserve - prevent non-American citizens from voting in American elections," Johnson wrote.
Moments later, Greene raged at Johnson on X (formerly Twitter).
"This is classic bait and switch that will enrage the base, only one month before the election, when they find out they have been tricked and let down again," Greene claimed. "This would force a Gov shutdown on Oct 1 because Biden and Schumer both said they will shutdown the government as they are that adamant against the SAVE Act."
"Johnson is leading a fake fight that he has no intention of actually fighting," the Georgia Republican continued. "Even with a shutdown and full fight into Oct, it would be too late for the SAVE Act to make a difference for this election because absentee ballots would already be being mailed and early voting already starting."
ALSO READ: Beyond the White House: These 10 down-ballot races could change everything
Greene said she refused "to lie to anyone that this plan will work and it's already DOA this week."
"Speaker Johnson needs to go to the Democrats, who he has worked with the entire time, to get the votes he needs to do what he is already planning to do," she concluded.
‘Disruptive and difficult’: Palm Beach asks for help paying for Trump security
One of the nation's richest enclaves is seeking government assistance to help protect its most famous resident as his security costs have shot up to $93,000 a day.
Palm Beach County has asked the federal government to help cover security for Donald Trump, who lives at the private Mar-a-Lago resort and was apparently targeted for a second assassination attempt Sunday at a golf course nearby, reported Bloomberg.
“We’ve had to heighten security ever since the campaign started with the former president, who is our resident here,” said Palm Beach County mayor Maria Sachs. “Yes, it’s disruptive and difficult, but it’s the price we pay to live in paradise.”
The county has an $8 billion annual budget, but Sachs and county sheriff Ric Bradshaw sent a letter last week to congressional representatives asking for additional money to protect the Republican nominee, saying that cost $2.8 million of estimated overtime for a 30-day period for officers involved with his security.
ALSO READ: Notorious conspiracy theorist rolled out by RNC to train election overseers in Michigan
The letter also listed an estimated $42,720 cost to the local fire rescue department during motorcades and other times, as well as $3,600 a day spent by the city of Palm Beach.
The U.S. Secret Service and other federal agencies often mobilize personnel from local law enforcement and other sources when Trump and others under their protection are on the move, and those measures could be seen Monday in Palm Beach, where officers blocked off key streets around Mar-a-Lago.
The blockades often frustrate many residents, who have expressed concerns that a second Trump presidency could lead to additional restrictions when he is visiting, and the mayor even floated the possibility of closing Mar-a-Lago at a recent town council meeting.
“We are ready for whatever eventuality occurs,” Sachs said. “The candidates and future president will be safe in Palm Beach County.”
‘Very chilling’: Alarming detail emerges about violent threats in Springfield
New disturbing details have emerged about threats targeting a Springfield university after former President Donald Trump spread baseless claims about local immigrant eating pets, CNN reported Tuesday.
Wittenberg University president Dr. Michael Frandsen appeared on the cable news network Tuesday morning to discuss the violent threats that forced him to transition students to remote learning — and to share a fact that shocked anchor Wolf Blitzer.
"It's chilling to hear that students are being named in some of these threats," Blitzer said. "That's very chilling."
Wittenberg University has received multiple threats from what appears to be a single source now being investigated by Springfield police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Frandsen told Blitzer.
The threats, not deemed credible, warn of physical violence, bombings and shootings, he said.
ALSO READ: 'I want Vance to apologize': We went to Springfield and found community hurt — and divided
Frandsen said students are stunned by what is occurring in the Ohio town, which has seen 33 bomb threats, trooper patrols at 17 local schools, two elementary school evacuations and virtual learning implemented at two colleges, CNN reported.
"There's shock and disbelief given what are experience here in Springfield is every day," Fransden said. "We've seen tremendous growth in our population, primarily a Haitian immigrants coming here legally to work, and the interactions with those folks around town are positive."
The uptick in violent threats occurred after Trump and running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) spread baseless claims that Haitians had been stealing and eating residents' dogs and cats.
Trump did so at his first presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris last Tuesday.
Vance on Sunday told CNN's Dana Bash that he felt justified in creating stories if it focused media attention on problems caused by the Biden Administration's immigration policies.
But Frandsen condemned Trump's and Vance's remarks as falsehoods and said what his town needs is "help, not hate."
Lauren Boebert hopeful that Elon Musk can hold Secret Service accountable
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) wants answers after former President Donald Trump was the target of a second assassination plot at Mar-a-Lago — and she wants to enlist the help of tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Boebert weighed in on the matter during a Monday evening interview with the right-wing cable network Newsmax.
"Do you have confidence that the Secret Service can keep President Trump safe?" asked the host.
"I am a member of the Oversight and Accountability Committee and I do not have any such confidence," said Boebert. "We had Director Cheadle in the day before she resigned. She refused to answer any of our questions. She lied before us, you know, or just simply acted like she didn't have the answers and only the FBI did when she absolutely saw the details that we were requesting from her and we have not seen any accountability since now."
ALSO READ: Corporate media keeps hiding the truth about madman Donald Trump
"President Trump says that he's going to create a commission when he's president, a commission to oversee the federal government, hold them accountable whether it's for their spending or their actions and have, possibly, Elon Musk as the director of this commission," said Boebert. "You know, we used to call this Congress, but unfortunately, the agencies that Congress has allocated taxpayer money to and has authorized to exist refuses to answer to us."
This all comes a day after Musk, who has endorsed Trump, made a post to his X social media platform noting that no one had made assassination threats against President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, before deleting it amid a firestorm of backlash.
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‘The bell of stupidity’: Conservative’s Christmas video lampoons Trump’s latest speech
President Donald Trump was supposed to prioritize the economy at a MAGA rally last week — but instead rambled about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and other familiar foes.
In a Christmas-themed video, The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson (a Never Trump conservative former GOP strategist) and journalist Molly Jong-Fast brutally mocked the speech for failing to get the desired economic message across.
Jong-Fast told Wilson, "Let's talk about how positively b----- the whole thing is. It was meant to be a rally on affordability. Here's what was not discussed: affordability. Here's what was discussed: Marjorie Taylor Greene. He calls her Marjorie Traitor Brown."
Wilson, sounding amused, interjected, "And I'm also intrigued by how she's somehow a leftist."
Jong-Fast told the Never Trumper, "It has really been a week for Trump."
Wilson laid out a variety of ways in which Trump and the MAGA movement are having a bad Christmas, from the Epstein files to the economy.
"There is no unringing this bell of stupidity," Wilson told Jong-Fast. "They have f----- it up. They have made a giant mistake."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Trump Supreme Court battle could be dismantled by Congress members’ own history
New evidence is emerging that could deal a major blow to President Donald Trump's case for stripping birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants.
The president has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to restore “the original meaning” of the 14th Amendment, which his lawyers argued in a brief meant that “children of temporary visitors and illegal aliens are not U.S. citizens by birth," but new research raises questions about what lawmakers intended the amendment to do, reported the New York Times.
"One important tool has been overlooked in determining the meaning of this amendment: the actions that were taken — and not taken — to challenge the qualifications of members of Congress, who must be citizens, around the time the amendment was ratified," wrote Times correspondent Adam Liptak.
A new study will be published next month in The Georgetown Law Journal Online examining the backgrounds of the 584 members who served in Congress from 1865 to 1871. That research found more than a dozen of them might not have been citizens under Trump’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment, but no one challenged their qualifications.
"That is, said Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia and an author of the study, the constitutional equivalent of the dog that did not bark, which provided a crucial clue in a Sherlock Holmes story," Liptak wrote.
The 14th Amendment states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside," while the Constitution requires members of the House of Representatives to have been citizens for at least seven years, and senators for at least nine.
“If there had been an original understanding that tracked the Trump administration’s executive order,” Frost told Liptak, “at least some of these people would have been challenged.”
Only one of the nine challenges filed against a senator's qualifications in the period around the 14th Amendment's ratification involved the citizenship issue related to Trump's interpretation of birthright citizenship, and that case doesn't support his position.
"Several Democratic senators claimed in 1870 that their new colleague from Mississippi, Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first Black man to serve in Congress, had not been a citizen for the required nine years," Liptak wrote. "They reasoned that the 14th Amendment had overturned Dred Scott, the 1857 Supreme Court decision that denied citizenship to the descendants of enslaved African Americans, just two years earlier and that therefore he would not be eligible for another seven."
"That argument failed," the correspondent added. "No one thought to challenge any other members on the ground that they were born to parents who were not citizens and who had not, under the law in place at the time, filed a declaration of intent to be naturalized."
"The consensus on the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause has long been that everyone born in the United States automatically becomes a citizen with exceptions for those not subject to its jurisdiction, like diplomats and enemy troops," Liptak added.
Frost's research found there were many members of Congress around the time of the ratification of the 14th Amendment who wouldn't have met Trump's definition of a citizen, and she said that fact undercuts the president's arguments.
“If the executive order reflected the original public meaning, which is what the originalists say is relevant,” Frost said, “then somebody — a member of Congress, the opposing party, the losing candidate, a member of the public who had just listened to the ratification debates on the 14th Amendment, somebody — would have raised this.”
