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‘Lying scumbags!’ Bannon explodes at PBS reporter when pressed on Trump threats
Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon exploded at PBS reporter Mike Wiser during a Frontline interview, first recorded in April and published this week, when confronted over Trump's constant threats and insults against federal judges and asked whether this was "the type of thing a president should say."
The interview was released just as Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan spoke out on the issue during a gathering of judges in California.
In addition to criticizing her right-wing colleagues for a flood of unsigned, unexplained emergency orders canceling lower-court judges' blocks on Trump's effort to dismantle the administrative state, Kagan said of Trump's attacks, "Judges are fair game for all kinds of criticism, strong criticism, pointed criticism, but vilifying judges in that way is a step beyond and ought to be understood as such."
Bannon, enraged over criticism, lobbed an obscene tirade at Wiser.
“By the way, was there any complaint from PBS, or was there any complaint by the Democrats, on the rhetoric used against the judges when the Roe v. Wade decision came out, and they had to have police protection at their houses? I don’t remember anything about the rhetoric being too high," said Bannon. “You guys are so f------ phony on the face of it. This is why we’re defeating the left. The American people, as they see this, they go, ‘These guys are a bunch of f------ lying scumbags,’ which you are a bunch of f------ lying scumbags. You terrorize — you tried to terrorize Supreme Court justices over a decision that didn’t go your way.”
"They’re all gutless cowards," Bannon continued. "They’ve all hid behind the system for decades and decades and decades. So the university administrations? They’re not that tough. The big law firms? They’re not that tough. The media? Look who’s cratered. How many times — look at the settlement with Trump. They’re not tough."
By contrast, he said, with Trump supporters, “You can put us in f------ prison, you can take Trump up there and put him on trial every day, the people around Trump are battle-hardened, okay? You’re not gonna scare us and we’re not gonna stop, and what we know is you guys are a bunch of p------. You will crater. PBS is gonna crater. You know why? You’re not tough.”
The GOP has waged a crusade against public media in recent months, passing a Trump-proposed bill to claw back billions of dollars from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. NPR and PBS are primarily funded by viewer donations and sponsorships, but grants from the CPB are vital to maintaining the budgets of newsrooms in lower-income and more remote areas.
Watch the full interview here:
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‘Disgusting!’ Abortion ban author slammed by conservatives for secretly paying for them
Texas conservatives are piling on a Republican state lawmaker who, despite carrying a bill that implemented a near-total abortion ban in the state, is now alleged to have “funded several abortions for his own personal gain.”
“These elected officials who proclaim faith & family values, but then break their most sacred covenants with God & their families are disgusting,” said former Texas state senator Konni Burton Friday in a social media post on X. “Their families deserve better and so does the (Republican) party.”
That Texas State House member is Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, who on Friday was accused of having a long-time affair and having funded multiple abortions by Alex Grace, the woman making the allegation, as reported in the far-right publication Current Revolt.
Capriglione announced this week that he wouldn’t seek re-election ahead of the allegations being made public, but has since released a statement admitting to the affair, but denying that he had ever funded an abortion.
“Years ago, I selfishly had an affair,” Capriglione said. “I’m not proud of this. Thank God my wife and family forgave me, and we moved past it and have the strong marriage we do today.”
On the allegation that he had funded multiple abortions, however, he said the charge was “categorically false,” and threatened legal action against media outlets for "making false and defamatory claims."
Yet despite his denial of having personally funded abortions, conservatives continued the pile on Capriglione, including Bo French, chair of the Tarrant County GOP.
“The allegations made against Giovanni Capriglione are deeply disturbing and chronicle a pattern of behavior incompatible with the values of the Republican Party,” French wrote in a social media post on X. “If Capriglione has an ounce of sense or shame he will resign from the Texas House before he is thrown out.”
In 2021, Capriglione was the lead sponsor on Texas House Bill 1280, dubbed the Human Life Protection Act, which made it a felony punishable with up to life in prison for a medical provider to provide an abortion. The bill was signed into law that same year, but didn’t go into full effect until 2022 with the overturning of Roe v. Wade.‘Strange moment’: Fox News host’s promised Trump-Epstein report ‘never came’
Media reporter Brian Stelter recounted "a strange moment on Fox" when the Murdoch-owned entity failed to deliver on its promised coverage of the major Wall Street Journal scoop regarding President Donald Trump.
On Thursday night, the WSJ dropped a bombshell about Trump's participation in a "bawdy" 50th birthday greeting for sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The letter is "framed by the outline of a naked woman," with Trump's signature made to mimic "pubic hair," WSJ reported.
Stelter gave credit to WSJ on social media, writing, "At a time when other media outlets are hesitating and capitulating, Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal just stood up to President Trump and scooped one of the biggest political stories of the summer."
He added, "And yet... Murdoch's Fox News has not mentioned the story once."
In his "Reliable Sources" newsletter, Stelter quoted CNN media reporter Andrew Kirell, who wrote, "Halfway through her 7 p.m. hour last night, Fox's Laura Ingraham seemed poised to cover the bombshell reporting from from a fellow Murdoch-owned outlet. 'We have new news coming on about this as well from The Wall Street Journal. A new report tonight, next,' she said."
Kirell continued, "But that 'new report' never came. Ingraham did not mention the Journal story at all during the rest of her hour; Neither did the rest of the Fox primetime lineup."
Kirell noted that right-wing outlet "Newsmax ignored the WSJ story, too."
On Friday morning, Trump threatened to put Murdoch on the stand, writing on Truth Social, "I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!"
Trump’s MAGA misstep has taken him into ‘dangerous political territory’: analyst
During an appearance on MSNBC, longtime political observer John Heilemann suggested that, as bad as the firestorm over the Jeffrey Epstein files has been, the president has a bigger battle ahead of him.
Speaking with the hosts of "Morning Joe," the journalist claimed Trump's attack on some of his biggest supporters as "stupid" is not something that will be easy for him to come back from.
"This call for the grand jury release is not going to get him anywhere," he began. "And I think, combined with the key thing that changed this week, which is Trump not just moving from saying pay no attention to this, to calling it a hoax and calling his own supporters stupid. I think that is the thing that has really tipped us into dangerous political territory for Trump."
He elaborated, "Because we've never seen that before; where Trump has often treated his base with contempt but he's never openly criticized them, essentially for believing him."
"I think that's a very toxic and very dangerous place for the president," he added.
You can watch below or at the link.
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‘Lose the Big Macs’: Conservative Rick Wilson issues Trump a health warning
Rick Wilson, conservative pundit and "Never Trumper," offered a warning for President Donald Trump to take steps to turn his health around before it's too late.
On his podcast, "The Elephant in the Room," Wilson addressed Trump directly.
"Mortality comes for us all," Wilson warned. "It's going to come for me, it's going to come for everybody. It's going to come for you, too. They haven't swiftly developed enough miracles in medical science to not make you a guy who ate McDonald's every day for the last 30 years."
"The secret, Donald, is some people age with grace. And some people take care of themselves as they age. You have not."
On Thursday, the White House took the extraordinary step of addressing recent photos of Trump with a large bruise on his hand and swollen ankles. The diagnosis, according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, is chronic venous insufficiency, which causes blood to pool in the veins.
Leavitt described the condition as "benign" and claimed, "The president remains in excellent health."
Wilson quipped that if Trump wants to let his health go, "a lot of Americans will not object."
He added, "I'd rather you leave office humiliated — head to prison after this is all over in some capacity — than having you die in office, honestly. But you might die in office if you don't start taking care of yourself."
"Donald, you're an old man now. You're almost 80. You're not that guy anymore. You're not that guy with Jeffrey Epstein 30 years ago chasing t--l in New York and Palm Beach. Lose the Big Macs, bro. I would lose them sooner than later. Filet-o-Fish is not your friend now."
‘Grave threat’: Liberal justice unleashes fury over ‘indefensible’ ruling
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor unleashed fury on her conservative colleagues for their decision overruling a lower court and giving the Trump administration the go-ahead to significantly slash the workforce of the Department of Education.
"That decision is indefensible," she wrote on Monday.
"When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it," she continued.
"Two lower courts rose to the occasion, preliminarily enjoining the mass firings while the litigation remains ongoing. Rather than maintain the status quo, however, this Court now intervenes, lifting the injunction and permitting the Government to proceed with dismantling the Department. That decision is indefensible. It hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out. The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave. Unable to join in this misuse of our emergency docket, I respectfully dissent."
It was another decision along ideological lines with a 6-3 ruling.
According to Sotomayor, the Department of Education was established by Congress, and thus, only the legislative branch "has the power to abolish the Department.
