Raw Story

Far-right firebrand Tomi Lahren caused laughter by questioning businessman Mark Cuban's knowledge of international trade and taxes.

Cuban took to X, commenting on Trump's recent rally in Michigan, where he claimed, "We're going to bring back the car industry."

According to The Detroit News, Trump said, "We're not going to let it disappear. We're going to bring back jobs, we're going to bring back factories, and make Michigan very successful again. And we can do that very easily through the taxation of foreign nations."

Read Also: Trump is willing to trade our children’s future for a billion dollars

Cuban asked how Trump intends to tax another nation.

Lahren replied, "Do you not know what a tariff is?"

It's similar to another question from a MAGA follower, in which Cuban explained how a tariff doesn't tax foreign businesses but passes the cost on to consumers. Some have even predicted such a move would destroy the economy.

"A tariff is a tax imposed on foreign-made goods, paid by the IMPORTING BUSINESS (Walmart would be an example) to its home country's government," wrote Cuban. "(USA) As an example, Walmart imports billions and billions of goods. If there is a 10 percent tariff, Walmart pays the US government 10 percent on those billions, and guess who they pass that cost on to?"

Trump continues to promote the idea that high tariffs would help American jobs and pay down the deficit. According to experts, it would increase the prices of purchases, and there wouldn't be any penalty to the country of origin.

The Libertarian Pary of Tennessee replied, telling Lahren, "That will make the price of cars skyrocket."

Producer and filmmaker Esé Morrison asked, "Who pays a tariff Tomi? I'll wait."

Chuck Thomas from the Truth Barker podcast posted a laughing emoji saying, "Tomi, you don't."

Conservative author Tom Nichols also chimed in:

"Kind of a nice Death of Expertise moment: Youtuber asks globally known entrepreneur if he understands what a tariff is I'm gonna guess that yes, he does."

Donald Trump amplified another Truth Social user taking potshots at the former president after he was indicted again in the federal election interference case.

Special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment Tuesday that trims some of the allegations to get around the U.S. Supreme Court's immunity ruling but keeps all four charges initially brought against the ex-president, and Trump reposted a supportive message posted on X by new ally Nicole Shanahan.

“I'll admit I used to kind of roll my eyes when people claimed that President Trump was being 'persecuted,'" said Shanahan, who had been Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate. "I was looking at it through the distorted filter of the media. Well, I just completed my first cross-examination in our second New York Ballot Access case, where the DNC-aligned PAC attorneys questioned me like a criminal. OK, I get it now. Our justice system is clearly being co-opted and abused by nefarious people with malevolent political agendas.”

ALSO READ: Trump’s RFK Jr. endorsement actually helps Harris

The former president posted Shanahan's remarks Tuesday evening, shortly after the indictment was filed, and then for some reason before 9 a.m. Wednesday he reposted a mocking reply on his Truth Social feed by a low-follower user who calls themselves "Dingus."

Truth Social post by 'Dingus'

"Youre a convited felon. You shouldnt be any where near a campaign trail," said that person, whose user name is @davedog876. "Youre going to prison."

"Dingus," whose bio reads simply "Human" and uses a Spongebob Squarepants meme as an avatar, has only two followers and follows just 18 other accounts, and Trump's repost remained live on his feed for at least an hour after he shared it for unclear reasons.

During an appearance on "Morning Joe" MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos applauded the effort special counsel Jack Smith put into going before a grand jury and getting a superseding indictment against Donald Trump related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Speaking with fill-in hosts Jonathan Lemire and Katty Kay, Cevallos explained that Smith trimmed down his charges against the former president which will make it harder for the conservative Supreme Court to intercede on his behalf.

Asked to "walk us through what happens next," Cevallos explained, "Normally a superseding indictment is something that strikes fear into the heart of a criminal attorney like me. It usually means that government has found more defendants or they've found more bad evidence and are charging more crimes. It's rare that you have a superseding indictment that reduces information."

ALSO READ: Trump is losing his audience

"Ultimately the only thing I care about is the counts, and all four counts remain," he pointed out. "That means if the defendant is convicted the sentencing guidelines will be exactly the same. All Jack Smith's team has done is taken a look at the indictment and said 'What should we remove that insulates us?' And, yes, they removed references to Trump's attempts to subvert the DOJ and maybe install a new acting attorney general, but they keep in language about vice president Pence, which signals to me that Jack Smith's team is feeling very confident."

"They've kept all four counts and they're keeping in conduct and the Mike Pence conduct is significant because the Supreme Court suggested that this at least was entitled to the presumption of immunity," he added. "So Jack Smith is signaling that even conduct that may be entitled to a presumption of immunity, it is full steam ahead. They are not afraid of the district court and any possible hearing; they are going forward with these counts."

"So as much as, yes, this indictment has been, I guess, reduced in length, everything that matters is still in it," he continued. "This is a strategic, I think a very brilliant move to keep this indictment alive, to head off any problems at the pass before Judge Tanya Chutkan has to hold a hearing making, I think, her job even easier."

Watch below or at the link.

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CNN's Alayna Treene fact-checked Donald Trump's suggestion that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were to blame for his apparent assassination attempt.

The former president sat down for an interview that aired Tuesday night with "Dr. Phil" McGraw, saying that the president and vice president, who has since become the Democratic nominee, were partially responsible for failures that allowed a 20-year-old registered Republican to climb atop a roof at a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally and fire off shots that may have struck his ear, killed a supporter and seriously wounded two others.

“When this happened, people would ask, whose fault is it?” Trump told the talk show host. “I think to a certain extent it’s Biden’s fault and Harris’s fault, and I’m the opponent. Look, they were weaponizing government against me, they brought in the whole [Department of Justice] to try and get me, they weren’t too interested in my health and safety. They were making it very difficult to have proper staffing in terms of Secret Service."

ALSO READ: Rudy Giuliani finds a new low: platforming a Nazi

Multiple officials from the Secret Service have been put on lead for their actions leading up to and responding to the shooting, and director Kimberly Cheatle stepped down, and lawmakers are investigating why warnings from multiple witnesses were not passed on to the GOP nominee's security detail.

"So first of all, I just want to be clear that there's no evidence whatsoever that president Joe Biden or vice president Kamala Harris have tried to purposefully make it more difficult as it relates to Secret Service staffing for Donald Trump," said Treene, the network's congressional and presidential politics reporter who previously covered the Trump White House. "But the point about the rhetoric is something we actually have heard Donald Trump and many republicans argue, that it was the rhetoric and the language that Democrats used against him that contributed to this person attempting to shoot Donald Trump, and so a lot to unpack there."

The gunman's father, who owned the rifle used in the shooting, was previously identified by the Trump campaign in a database of swing state voters as a strong Republican and likely gun owner, and neighbors say the family displayed "Make America Great Again" signs outside their Pittsburgh-area home.

"I think you're going to probably continue to hear some of this," Treene said, "and, as we know, as we move closer to November, a lot of these attacks are getting more personal, more nasty and that's kind of where Donald Trump laid this yesterday."

Watch below or click here.

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Rudy Giuliani has fallen low in the four years since conducting a press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia, which kickstarted the former New York City mayor’s inglorious era of election denialism, indictments, lawsuits, disbarment, debt and bankruptcy.

It’s hard to imagine how the man once widely admired for leading his city in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack could fall any lower. It would take something like hosting a Nazi on his YouTube channel.

Which is exactly what Giuliani did on Aug. 23 following the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party's presidential nomination.

Speaking on his show “America’s Mayor Live,” Giuliani introduced the 10-minute segment with Rachel Siegel, a woman who drew attention during the previous week for her racist actions, Hitler salutes and antisemitic protests outside the Democratic National Convention.

Rachel Siegel gives a Hitler salute in response to a pro-Palestine protester calling her a white supremacist during a rally on Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago. (Jordan Green / Raw Story)

Giuliani said on his show that Siegel was 21 years old, suggesting that her youth gave her a unique perspective.

“Therefore, what we thought was we would ask Rachel her view of what’s going on in Chicago and in the United States, particularly with the influence now of this convention,” Giuliani said.

Siegel described herself in the interview as a “lifelong hardcore conservative.”

But four days earlier, in an interview with video journalist Ford Fischer at Chicago’s Union Park — where pro-Palestine protesters gathered to protest the DNC — Siegel had used another word to describe herself: “Fascist.”

Among a dozen or so far-right extremists who sought to infiltrate or otherwise exploit the pro-Palestine protests to promote their own agenda during the week of the convention, Siegel stood out.

On Aug. 19, the first day of the convention, Raw Story observed Siegel holding up a hand-written cardboard sign at Union Square that was replete with slogans attacking Jews, Black people and LGBTQ+ people.

Siegel’s sign read: “F--- n-----s. Go the f--- back to the s---hole you’re from. Jews f--- off. F-----s eat s---. Get AIDS and die!’”

Siegel’s sign also included a hand-drawn swastika.

RELATED ARTICLE: Nazi infiltrators lurk at Democratic National Convention protests

The following day, Raw Story observed Siegel and another woman holding a banner outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago that promoted the white supremacist conspiracy theory known as the Great Replacement. The banner included the Telegram channel for a white supremacist group.

At least twice that night, Siegel was observed giving straight-arm Hitler salutes, one of which Raw Story witnessed in person.

Siegel’s racist and antisemitic actions were the subject of an article published by Raw Story on Aug. 22.

Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s publicist and spokesman, did not respond on the record to an inquiry from Raw Story about Giuliani’s decision to bring Siegel on the show.

But a video published on X by the @satireAP account shows Goodman walking over to Siegel after dozens of pro-Palestine protesters had been arrested near the Israeli consulate on Aug. 20. The owner of the @satireAP account can be heard in the video mocking Giuliani as “RICO Rudy” while calling Goodman “Nurse Boy.”

“Go hang out with the Nazis, Nurse Boy,” the @satireAP account owner says. “She’s a Nazi. Go get her. Go get her. Follow her. That’s just your type right there.”

The video then shows Goodman and Siegel huddling.

Siegel pulls out her phone as Goodman speaks, and she appears to punch in his number.

ALSO READ: Inside the neo-Nazi hate network grooming children for a race war

“Did you not see her videos today, Nurse Boy?” the @satireAP account owner says. “Oh, you’re going to be in so much trouble. This is bad. This is a bad look. I’m gonna have the shot. Exchanging contact info with the Nazi…. Bro, you just gave your phone number.”

“That’s a bad look,” the @satireAP account owner continues, speaking directly to Goodman. “Did you see her videos from today?”

“Who is that?” Goodman asks.

“You should have found out before you exchanged info with her,” the @satireAP account owner says. “That’s so bad. She is viral like crazy today here. She’s a literal Nazi, bro. She has the worst racist Nazi sign.”

Goodman ignores the @satireAP account owner, a livestreamer known for trolling Trump associates involved in the effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Goodman turns his camera toward the protesters, and says, “I got friends! All right, guys. Guys! What is going on? Look at these guys.”

That was three days before Siegel appeared on Giuliani’s show.

‘You are not colonized; you are conquered’

Siegel altered her message from the time she was protesting in Chicago’s streets to her appearance on Giuliani’s show.

Instead of holding a sign that read “F— off Jews” as she did earlier last week, she told Giuliani that she believes the treatment of the Jews by Hamas is “abhorrent.”

ALSO READ: Donald Trump exploits AP photo error for new $99 'Save America' book

“If anyone who is an American citizen thinks it is acceptable for a terrorist cell to invade a sovereign recognized nation with its own military, its own set of laws that has existed for decades, and say, ‘Well, we were here first.’ Are you 6 years old?” Siegel told Giuliani. “‘We were here first.’ You were not colonized; you were conquered. When a stronger society or civilization comes into an area, you are not colonized; you are conquered.”

Siegel’s rhetoric echoes Patriot Front, one of the most active white supremacist groups in the United States, which uses the slogan “Not Stolen. Conquered” to describe the relationship between people of European descent and the land of North America.

Siegel also used her appearance on Giuliani’s show to convey a watered-down version of the message on the banner she displayed during the protest outside the Israeli consulate on Aug. 20, the night she exchanged contact information with Goodman.

The banner stated, “Stop the white replacement. Deport them all.”

Siegel emphasized to Giuliani that she is an American citizen and her family members were born in the United States.

“I’m very proud to live here. I would never want to live anywhere else,” Siegel said. “And I feel very much to my core that people who are not grateful to live in this country should leave. If you are not happy, you go to Palestine.”

ALSO READ: Inside the Democratic National Convention corporate moneyfest

Giuliani appeared to be charmed by Siegel, laughing at least twice in response to her remarks.

At one point, following a rant in which Siegel called her progressive contemporaries “hyper-opinionated” and “mentally ill,” Giuliani paused a moment, as if to take it all in, and then blurted out: “I think you’re absolutely right!”

Following Siegel’s guest appearance, one of her followers on X gave her credit for adapting her message to Giuliani’s more mainstream MAGA audience.

“I didn’t hear anything objectionable,” the X user commented. “Not really shilling for Israel. She did a good job considering the audience.”

“I would never!” Siegel replied, adding a smiley face.

Giuliani described himself on the YouTube show as “a very, very strong emotional supporter of Israel.”

Common ground on racist stereotypes about immigrants

It’s been a year for Giuliani.

A very bad year.

Last August, Giuliani was criminally charged in Georgia — alongside former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump and 16 others — with racketeering and other alleged offenses to overturn the election.

Three months later, a federal jury found Giuliani liable for $148 million in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Black election workers in Georgia.

And last month, he was disbarred in his home state of New York for repeatedly lying about the 2020 election.

The conduct at the heart of the defamation case against Giuliani involves characterizations that play on stereotypes of Black criminality that are deeply rooted in American society.

ALSO READ: ‘Absolutely essential’: Son of Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes is all in for Kamala Harris

During a Dec. 10, 2020, hearing at the Georgia state legislature, Giuliani called attention to “two people” — a mother and daughter who were Black election workers — who he falsely accused of passing USB thumb drives containing manipulated election data “as if they’re vials of heroin and cocaine. I mean, it’s obvious to anyone who is a criminal investigator or prosecutor, they’re engaged in surreptitious illegal activity.”

Following Giuliani’s remarks, the women faced a deluge of racist threats. State investigators found that they engaged in no wrongdoing. And the incident Giuliani described as “surreptitious illegal activity” was nothing more than the two women exchanging a mint.

Prior to Siegel’s appearance on his show, Giuliani played a video clip showing protesters burning an American flag outside the Israeli consulate. He used the clip as a jumping-off point to convey a negative and false — in short, racist — characterization of Palestinian people.

“Don’t go soft on me on Palestinians or we’re going to have a terrible problem here,” Giuliani said. “Palestinians are taught to kill you at 2 years old. They’re taught to kill Jews. They’re taught to kill Americans.”

Noting that Israel’s neighbors have closed their borders to Palestinians seeking to escape Gaza and the West Bank, Giuliani continued: “But we’re supposed to take them. Is there a reason for this? We don’t have enough murder?”

Siegel expressed a similar view — also echoing Trump’s rhetoric — by falsely equating immigrants and refugees with criminality and violence.

“We are living in a death spiral in this nation,” she said. “We have an immigration problem that is murdering children, raping children, and there is no hold on it. There is no gauge on it. We have no idea how many of these individuals are even in our nation.”

During Siegel’s segment, Goodman, Giuliani’s publicist, can be heard speaking off camera as Giuliani asks him to adjust the shot.

ALSO READ: ‘Stop the Steal’ organizer hired by Trump campaign for Election 2024 endgame

Later, Goodman joined the show as Giuliani lamented that his mayoral legacy has been erased. Giuliani also complained about the cost of housing migrants in New York City.

“It makes me feel exceedingly sad to the point of every once in a while wanting to cry,” Giuliani said.

Giuliani recalled that he recently told a supporter that “the only thing they haven’t ruined is the hope,” adding that someday in the future a leader might come along and pick up where he left off.

“There are men in this country’s history that cannot be replaced, and you are one of them,” Goodman replied.

One person who has not forgotten Giuliani: Trump.

In May, Trump recorded a video greeting that was played at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan where Giuliani was celebrating his 80th birthday.

“You’re a very special guy, Rudy,” Trump reportedly said to the man who for years served as his personal attorney. “Just keep fighting. There’s nobody like you.”

Last September, Trump hosted a fundraiser at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club to help Giuliani cover his legal bills.

Giuliani also still enjoys elevated standing at five colleges that — unlike several others — have declined to rescind honorary degrees they bestowed on Giuliani prior to his current legal troubles.

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Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) is one of former President Donald Trump's committed surrogates, and she has leveled a number of attacks at Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“Walz is no leader. He’s a radical. I served with him in Congress. He pretended to be moderate, then showed his true extremist colors as soon as he became governor,” she said in one recent social media post.

And in a recent interview, she called him "a radical leftist governor who truly believes that socialism is the future for America."

But she was saying something very different at the time they actually worked together in Congress, representing neighboring states, reported CNN. In fact, the two of them routinely worked together on local issues and praised one another.

ALSO READ: Trump revives widely mocked digital trading cards as Harris gains in polls

According to Daniel Strauss and Allison Gordon, Walz and Noem even posed for a video in which they discussed a prairie lands protection bill they were working on together, where Walz said, “It’s a smart bill and I’m grateful to the Congresswoman both as we share similar geography out there, and while our producers are great stewards of the land, we share that land with our sportsmen and making sure that we have those resources available,” and Noem said, “I love working with Tim just because he’s got such a commonsense approach, which I like too.”

Noem, notably, was under consideration at one point to be Trump's running mate. He ultimately went with Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who has stirred up controversy by going after Walz's military service.

Additionally, Noem has come under fire of her own after she boasted in her book about shooting a puppy that she was unable to properly train for hunting, a story that drew outrage from dog owners around the country, including those in rural areas who disputed her claim that this was a normal way to handle a dog unfit for work.

Walz, who ironically has been facing a conspiracy theory about his own dog, was one of many who criticized Noem at the time, writing on his X account, “Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit. I’ll start.”