Category Archives: Donald Trump

He said it in an interview with Jonathan Swan, of Axios, who asked how Trump could argue that the Covid-19 pandemic was "under control" since "1,000 Americans are dying a day." Trump responded, "They are dying, that's true. And you have it is what it is. But that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. It's under control as much as you can control it. This is a horrible plague that beset us."

But not Trump. In a long career -- in real estate, reality TV and the White House -- Trump has reached often for exaggeration and falsehoods to convince people it is what it isn't.

At another point in the Axios interview, more in character, he praised his administration for doing a "great job" on Covid.

The mystery of Dr. Birx

At key moments, Dr. Deborah Birx has been the face of the White House's effort to fight the coronavirus. Widely respected for her years of work on HIV/AIDS, Birx has lately been the target of criticism from some medical experts and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She even drew fire from President Trump, after she acknowledged the "extraordinarily widespread" nature of the pandemic in the US. A fellow expert on infectious disease, Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, wrote, "All of her work shows Birx to be a sophisticated physician-scientist with genuine interest in the health of vulnerable and underserved populations."

But he argued that as response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Birx has made "a real hash out of the entire effort, with a series of poor decisions -- changing hospital data reporting protocols for coronavirus patients to cut out the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and report directly to Health and Human Services, painting a rosy picture of the problem and of the President's engagement and still developing no national plan for testing, tracking, opening schools and businesses."

What's killing us

One of the biggest Covid-related questions facing Americans right now is whether to send children back to school. Biologist Erin Bromage said his are going back but acknowledged that the decision is made easier by the fact they attend private school in an area where community transmission of the disease is low.

Veep search

There's one thing Joe Biden doesn't lack in his search for a running mate: advice.

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Devastation in Beirut

As white smoke billowed out of a warehouse Tuesday at the port of Beirut, an enormous explosion, captured on video as a gigantic red flash, decimated the area, killing at least 158 people, wounding more than 5,000 and forcing half of the city's population out of their homes. The blast was attributed to a huge cache of ammonium nitrate stored at the port.

"Perhaps the shared anger over this event can bring the Lebanese together to push back against the incompetent and the greedy, the functionaries, politicians, and outside players, who have hijacked their country and created conditions for the Lebanese people's never-ending tragedy; admittedly a monumental task."

Where is Congress?

Democrats and Republicans remained far apart last week on the outline of a new pandemic relief bill. The jobless rate in July, although modestly lower than in June, was 10.2% -- a number slightly higher than the peak of the Great Recession. But there was no agreement in Congress on extending any portion of the $600 a week in extra aid for the unemployed. On Saturday, Trump signed executive actions that could provide additional aid and defer payroll taxes for some workers, but they face serious hurdles.

Among the hardest hit industries is restaurants, John Avlon noted: "Independent restaurant owners face an economic apocalypse." The industry employs "11 million Americans, with an economic impact that is felt up and down the supply chain, from farmers to fishermen," he wrote. Often barely eking out a profit pre-pandemic, restaurants faced closure at the beginning of the crisis, and now, in many cases, are trying to survive on takeout or outdoor dining. Restaurants are backing legislation to create a $120 billion federal grant program.

100 years later ...

August marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the vote and will be celebrated on Women's Equality Day, August 26.

Today it's viewed widely as the long-delayed but almost inevitable political empowerment of more than half the population. So, it's surprising to read, as Nicole Hemmer recounted, that more than a few of the activists opposing suffrage were women.

"The women who opposed women's right to vote have often been left out of the story of suffrage," Hemmer wrote. "Talk of women's interests, like the interest of other marginalized groups, often trades in flat stereotypes, treating all members of the group as though they think, and vote, the same. But as the anti-suffragist women show, women have been shrewd political actors, understanding -- and protecting -- their sources of power in unexpected ways."

Hemmer sees echoes of the anti-suffrage women in the activists, led by Phyllis Schlafly, who fought off the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, a story told in the recent FX series, "Mrs. America."

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AND...

Michelle Obama and Melinda Gates

In a piece for CNN Opinion, Michelle Obama and Melinda Gates expressed concern about students like Fortunate Ayomirwoth, who lives in a suburb of Kampala, Uganda. Her school has been closed since the pandemic erupted, they wrote. While Fortunate does chores and cares for four younger siblings, she hopes "there will be enough food to eat. Since her mother lost her job, money has been tight -- and for Fortunate, her window of opportunity feels like it, too, is getting tighter."

"We know from past crises, like the 2014 Ebola outbreak, that adolescent girls in low and middle-income countries are particularly at risk of being overlooked and left behind," noted Obama and Gates. "During a crisis like this one, adolescent girls face a heightened threat of physical and sexual violence, early and forced marriage, and unintended pregnancy on top of sustained economic hardship."

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Donald Trump's five revealing words - CNN

Rihanna is counting down the days until the 2020 election.

The pop star a vocal critic of President Donald Trump on Friday tweeted images of what appeared to be someone painting the words FUCK TRUMP on the roof of an out-of-commission vehicle.

She captioned the post: Art. #81 days.

Its unclear if Rihanna is the person featured in the pictures, and representatives for the singer did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for further information.

The exact location of the photos is also unknown, but social media users suggested the photos were taken along Route 66 at theCadillac Ranchnear Amarillo, Texas.

Rihanna confirmed the post was about the election with this response:

The singers fans lapped up the photos.

Stylist Matthew Mazur dubbed her BadGalBanksy in reference to the musicians BadGalRiri Instagram handle and the anonymous British street artist, Banksy.

Rihanna has previously slammed Trump over his immigration policies, for failing to call mass shootings terrorism, and his disastrous handling of the federal response to Hurricane Maria that hit Puerto Rico in 2017.

In 2018, she sent Trump a cease-and-desist notice to stop him from playing her songs at campaign rallies.

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Rihanna Spells Out Exactly What She Thinks Of Donald Trump With Graffiti Photos - HuffPost

So how did a centuries-old American institution end up at the center of the most heated political fight in Washington? Its a little complicated, but we break down the mail-in ballot battle.

The Biden campaign called the comments explicit proof of what Democrats have been claiming all along: that Johnson's probe of corruption allegations against the intelligence community and Biden's diplomatic efforts in Ukraine were thinly veiled efforts to weaponize the powerful Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee to damage the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

"This damning acknowledgment totally exposes that Ron Johnson's disgraceful conduct is the definition of malfeasance," said Biden spokesman Andrew Bates. "It is beyond time for him to end this embarrassing and deeply unethical charade once and for all as a number of his Senate Republican colleagues have long wanted."

As Election Day approaches, Johnson has found himself besieged by the left and the right, distrusted by some intelligence officials and facing allegations that his committee has partly relied on information obtained from a Ukrainian lawmaker whom the U.S. intelligence community has now deemed a tool of a Russian election interference effort. (Johnson says he hasn't received anything from the lawmaker, Andrii Derkach). Johnson, who claims he's being targeted for destruction by Democrats and the press, also hinted in one Tuesday radio interview that he had some friction with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who he said had "sidelined" him at one point during his investigation.

Asked about Johnson's comment, McConnell aides said it would be up to Johnson to elaborate. A source close to Johnson said McConnell's decision to tap the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election combined with the lengthy investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller "made obtaining documents and information very difficult." The source noted that McConnell had voiced general support for aiming subpoenas at former Obama administration officials.

In short, Johnson increasingly finds himself on an island while presiding over a politically loaded investigation less than 100 days before the election. The contours of his investigation are a bit blurry, overlapping with a similar probe into alleged intelligence community abuses by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, even as Johnson vows to ramp it up and issue a full report on his findings in September.

Johnsons probe examines allegations of corruption within the U.S. intelligence community during the transition of power from the Obama administration to President Donald Trump, as well as claims of abuses by intelligence community officials stemming from the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, known as Crossfire Hurricane.

Johnson has emphasized that his investigation's overlap with Graham is another reason he hasn't pursued certain lines of inquiry. Graham is pursuing allegations of abuses by the FBI in its investigation into the Trump campaign's 2016 contacts with Russia. That overlap became particularly evident this week: Johnson subpoenaed the FBI on Monday, demanding all records related to Crossfire Hurricane and accusing Director Chris Wray of stonewalling his investigation.

Yet on Thursday, Graham issued a statement insisting that Wray "is committed to being helpful in an appropriate manner by balancing the needs of privacy for Bureau employees with public transparency for the benefit of the American people." Graham made no mention of Johnson's subpoena and noted that Wray had vowed to share information with his committee.

Trump has repeatedly encouraged investigations into former President Barack Obama, claiming without evidence that Obama committed grave crimes against Trumps incoming administration. Trump dubbed the alleged scandal Obamagate but has offered no details to support allegations that Obama committed any wrongdoing.

Johnson is also pursuing widely discredited allegations that Biden engineered the removal of a Ukrainian prosecutor to shield his son Hunter from a corruption probe. At the time, Hunter was serving on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, a conflict that several Obama-era officials said presented the appearance of a conflict of interest even if they saw no evidence of wrongdoing.

A series of State Department officials told Congress during impeachment proceedings against Trump that Ukraine's top prosecutor at the time, Viktor Shokin, was an impediment to anti-corruption efforts and Biden's push to remove him was part of the U.S. government and international community's efforts to root out bad actors in Ukraine. Shokin's ouster made it more likely not less that Burisma would face a serious investigation, witnesses said.

The latest indications of pent-up anger on the right that Johnsons probe hasnt gone far enough came during a contentious radio interview Wednesday with the usually friendly conservative host Hugh Hewitt, who told Johnson he had "failed" in his investigation by declining to subpoena key Obama-era figures like FBI Director James Comey and CIA Director John Brennan. During an occasionally heated 10-minute exchange, Johnson attributed his pace to resistance from multiple Republicans on his committee, who he said could block him from issuing subpoenas.

But Johnson's office later acknowledged this wasn't the case the committee's Republicans already voted to empower Johnson to subpoena Brennan, Comey and others during a June business meeting. Rather, aides said Johnson had opted against issuing subpoenas because he wanted to exhaust efforts to obtain documents and seek voluntary cooperation from witnesses.

Aides to the Wisconsin Republican declined to discuss the status of those negotiations, but a source familiar with the probe indicated that Brennan has not been contacted by the committee about the prospect of voluntary testimony. The source close to Johnson, however, indicated that the panel is in talks with a "dozen or so" witnesses related to the Ukraine inquiry and that interviews are being scheduled.

"The committee is going through the process of building documents and a schedule for additional interviews in an organized manner," the source said.

Johnson has faced pushback from within his own party. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah has criticized the probe as appearing overtly political, though he later relented and approved Johnson's subpoena authority, saying he was given an assurance that witness interviews would be done behind closed doors to avoid a political spectacle.

Johnson took aim at his critics earlier this week with an 11-page letter, accusing unnamed Democrats and media outlets of trying to topple his probe with allegations of Russian disinformation, while being guilty of disseminating it themselves.

"The very transparent goal of their own disinformation campaign and feigned concern is to attack our character in order to marginalize the eventual findings of our investigation," Johnson wrote. "They are running the same play, out the same playbook they have been using for the last three and a half years."

Asked about the attacks on his probe during a Tuesday radio interview with a conservative host in Wisconsin, Johnson put a finer point on it: "There's a coordinated effort now to destroy me."

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Besieged on all sides, Ron Johnson says his probe 'would certainly' help Trump win reelection - POLITICO

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump is expected to visit his ill younger brother in the hospital when he travels to New York City on Friday, the White House said.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Matthews told USA Today that the president's sibling, Robert Trump, had been admitted.

"I have a wonderful brother. We have a great relationship for a long time, from day one," the president told reporters at a news briefing Friday afternoon. "He's in the hospital right now.

"Hopefully he'll be alright, but ... he's having a hard time."

ABC News, citing unnamed sources, reported that Robert Trump is "very ill," but neither the network nor the president specified his condition or diagnosis.

The White House added the president's trip to New York City as an update to his Friday schedule. He'll also deliver remarks to the City of New York Police Department Development Association at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president would later provide more information about his brother's illness. She described the two men as having "a very good relationship."

ABC News' report said Robert Trump, who's two years younger than the president, also was hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai hospital for a week in June. Earlier this year, he filed a lawsuit on behalf of his family to block the release of a tell-all book by his niece, Mary Trump.

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Trump to visit 'very ill' younger brother in NYC hospital - UPI News

Donald Trumps attack on Bill Maher, apparently triggered by the HBO hosts mock eulogy of the president on his show last week, is only his latest swipe at the comedian.

Watched @billmaher last week for the first time in a long time. Hes totally SHOT, looks terrible, exhausted, gaunt, and weak. If there was ever a good reason for no shutdown, check out this jerk. He never had much going for him, but whatever he did have is missing in action!

Maher reacted to Trumps tweet, writing on Twitter, Really? This is what the president of the United States does with his time?

Last year, Trump wrote that he accidentally watched Real Time, and six years ago, in 2014, he wrote that Maher looks pathetic, bloated & gone!

Back then, Trump had sued Maher after the host joked that he would donate $5 million to the charity of Trumps choice if he could prove that he was not a half-orangutan. The lawsuit was not defamation, but over Mahers failure to pay the amount after Trumps then-lawyer Michael Cohen produced his birth certificate showing that his father was Fred Trump.

Maher had been doing a riff on Trumps offer of $5 million to charity if then-President Barack Obama released his college records.

Maher told Variety in 2016, So he actually goes into court and says, Bill Maher owes me $5 million because heres my birth certificate and look, it doesnt say orangutan on it. I mean, I cant even begin to describe how insane that is. Trump later dropped the lawsuit.

On his show on Friday, Maher said that the only bipartisan agreement we seem to have these days is that neither party wants Donald Trump at their funerals.

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Donald Trump Attacks Bill Mahers Looks After HBO Host Delivers A Mock Eulogy Of The President - Deadline

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On Saturday, President Donald Trump held a press conference at his New Jersey golf course to sign a series of executive actions relating to the coronavirus pandemic. They would in his characterization, extend a moratorium on evictions, freeze payroll taxes, and provide a $400-a-week unemployment benefit for people who have been laid off during the pandemic. Democrats were opposed to the $400-a-week payment, Trump said, which is technically true, inasmuch as Democrats actually wanted it to be $600. Saturdays action came after the Trump administration, Senate, and the House, deadlocked over the terms of a coronavirus relief package. Trump called the executive order and memos bills, but it is very significant that they are notits possible hell face legal challenges for overstepping his own authority. After all, can a president really justcancel taxes?

What was notable, also, was what Trump didnt decide to do with powers he may or may not have. There was no additional funding for school reopening, and no second round of stimulus checks to Americansbut he did talk up the possibility of cutting capital gains taxes, in case you wanted to feed your family with those. To pay for the unemployment extensionwhich is really a massive, 33 percent cut to what people are getting currentlyhe diverted money from disaster-relief assistance. Deferring payroll taxes (and Trump said he would eventually terminate them) means, in real terms, cutting off a funding source of Social Security and Medicare. Inasmuch as it was a statement of values, it was revealing one.

But Trump made little effort to hide the true purpose of both the hastily scheduled event and the papers he was there to sign: It was a campaign rally. Repeatedly during his remarks, he launched into attacks against former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and presented the orders he was signing in deliberately electoral terms.

Take the payroll tax freeze. If Im victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these taxes and make them all permanent, he said. Now, Joe Biden and the Democrats dont want that. If Biden wins, he warned, Theyll have the option of taking this all awaybut if I win, I may extend and terminate it. Your call!

Biden probably wont be doing that, he continued. Youll have to ask him. I dont think he knows what hes doing.

Later he talked up the stock market, but warned that whatever gains had been made under his tenure would go away if he lost. I hope you have confidence in your president, and confidence that hell be re-elected, he said. Otherwise, Trump declared, the stock market might crash.

Sleepy Joe Biden wants to rip the wall down, Trump said, referring to the construction of the border fence, something that has nothing to do with coronavirus relief, but a core part of every Trump campaign stump speech. At another point, he said that Biden is totally supported by the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, and as a matter of the fact, hes gone further left than Bernie. This would be welcome news for Sanders supporters if true. (It is not.)

The pandemic shut down Trumps stadium rallies (and the sputtering attempt in Tulsa discouraged his campaign from even trying), but in its content and stagecraft, it was obvious this event was some kind of heir. For the second consecutive day, Trump even invited supportive members of his golf club to attendand cheeras he spoke to the cameras. Dubbed as a press conference, he cut off questioning after just a few minutes, and it ended with the audience cheering as he sparred with the media. It sounded like one of his rallies.

Its worth stepping back every now and then and acknowledging how not normal this is. Presidents arent supposed to just campaign like this on the job. Turning official White House business into a re-election rallyparticularly a special rally, at your own golf course, for people who pay you for accessis using taxpayer money for personal use. Thats corruption. Just last week, the Washington Post reported that the president was considering giving his Republican National Convention speech directly from the White House lawn. For years, good-government types have lamented the decline of publicly funded campaigns. Well, youre funding this one. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

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Donald Trump Is Running for Reelectionand You're Paying For It - Mother Jones

Photographer: Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg

Photographer: Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg

As the presidential election nears, American voters are sure to be asked if theyre better off financially than they were four years ago.

Donald Trump isnt. The presidents net worth has declined $300 million in the past year to $2.7 billion, erasing 10% of his fortune since he took office, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The drop marked the sharpest decline since Bloomberg began tracking his fortune in 2015. It started with a decrease in income across the Trump Organizations portfolio of office buildings and was compounded by the coronavirus pandemics impact on property markets.

Annual change in Trump's wealth estimate, 2015-2020

Source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index

Trumps critics would say some of that is his own fault. They have accused him of failing to take the pandemic seriously as it spread, pushing a dubious drug therapy instead of mask-wearing, and leaving states to bid against each other for scarce medical supplies. The president has falsely claimed the country would have fewer cases if there were less testing.

Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Some corners of the economy are holding up, thanks to massive stimulus efforts by the government and the Federal Reserve, and a rapid acceleration of e-commerce. Still, the toll on real estate, travel and leisure continues.

Declines in the value of the presidents office building at 40 Wall Street, his iconic Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue and properties owned jointly with Vornado Realty Trust accounted for some of the biggest hits to his net worth. His golf courses also lost value amid a broader slide in prices, as fewer young people take up the sport.

Net operating income at Trump-owned commercial properties with public financials

Source: Commercial mortgage-backed security filings

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The nations high infection rate and death toll have rocked businesses belonging to the commander in chief at a crucial time. Late last year, Eric Trump, whos been running the business while his father is in the White House, began floating a potential sale of their hotel in Washington. In June, Vornado said it was exploring options to recapitalize two office towers it co-owns with the Trump Organization. The pandemic and uncertain outlook for the economy and property market make finding new investors a challenge.

The White House referred a request for comment to the Trump Organization, which offered no statement. A representative for Vornado didnt respond to messages seeking comment.

Trump entered office with a net worth of $3 billion -- he claimed $10 billion -- after a campaign that leveraged his image as a successful businessman promising to usher in broad-based prosperity. After he took over from President Barack Obama, the stock market continued marching higher, which Trump frequently pointed out on Twitter.

Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Critics saw something else: divergent outcomes for those with money to invest and those without. The virus has created other splits, with tech companies and investment banks posting gains, while retail, travel, leisure and property companies founder.

For the Trump Organization, the figures could still get worse. The pandemics full impact on his empire has yet to play out. Full-year 2019 financials provided to his lenders showed revenue down and expenses up at his office properties well before the virus pain set in. A government-mandated financial disclosure made public last month offers last years figures for Trumps hotel, resort and golf businesses.

Subtract from Trumps total assets at least $540 million in debt, and his estimated net worth is nearly $2.7 billion, compared with $3 billion a year ago.

Source: Bloomberg Billionaires calculation

Trumps Manhattan properties are his workhorses, throwing off steady cash flow that the company has used to push further into the less reliable golf business. Around the corner from Trump Tower is a cavernous storefront that formerly housed Niketown, a unique perch along one of the worlds most valuable shopping corridors. But Nike moved out in 2018. Nikes new landlords agreed to make payments on the lease, which is up for renewal in 2022. But the lack of an occupant raises questions about the spaces future, especially with the pandemic crushing many retailers. Average rents for New York retail already have fallen to their lowest level since 2011.

Trump does have disadvantages, including that hes ineligible for some of the U.S. relief programs hes signed into law. But his property holdings have some notable strengths -- and advantages over peers.

Golf carts sit at the Trump Links golf course in New York.

Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street have relatively little leverage, and could potentially take on more if needed. The presidents hotels, resorts and golf courses benefit from enthusiastic Republican visitors. Those operations also get a cash injection from the government every time Trump visits with a retinue of staff and security guards. According to a Washington Post tally this month, the president has spent all or part of 383 days at his golf clubs and other properties since taking office.

And there are bright spots. The presidents branding and licensing businesses continued to generate tens of millions dollars last year, even as some properties that previously licensed the Trump name cut ties. Early offers for his hotel in Washington showed investor appetite for the asset, which has thrown off $40 million of revenue annually, though bids were nowhere near the $500 million that the Trump family originally sought for it. Trump pays the federal government $3 million annually to use to the property.

To calculate the presidents net worth, Bloomberg draws from dozens of sources, including lender, property and company records, prevailing valuation metrics, comparable property data, his government financial disclosures, analyst reports and interviews.

They show far-flung sources of income: Trump drew as much as $5 million in royalties for a development in the Philippines, as much as $1 million more for a development project in Kolkata and as much as $1 million from sales of his 1987 book The Art of the Deal.

The Trump helicopter in 2016.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

One possible transaction that shouldnt be hindered by the pandemic: the sale of one of the companys helicopters. The Trump Organization listed the 1989 Sikorsky with mahogany paneling, pale leather and gold fixtures without an asking price. It was featured on Trumps TV show, The Apprentice.

We currently have three helicopters and with my father in Washington (and not even allowed to use them), we simply dont need them all, Eric Trump wrote in an email this month.

(Adds Eric Trumps comment in last paragraph.)

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

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Trumps Net Worth Has Declined $300 Million in the Past Year - Bloomberg

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President Donald Trump was back at it with the racism and sexism Thursday morning, lobbing insults at prominent women of color during an appearance on Maria Bartiromos Fox News show.

After referring to Sen. Kamala Harris as a mad woman, Trump turned his attention to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), making unfounded claims about her academic performance. AOC was a poor student, he said. This is not even a smart person, other than shes got a good line of stuff. I mean, she goes out there and she yaps.

Ocasio-Cortezs high school research on longevity, including how antioxidants can prolong the lifespan of roundworms, earned her an asteroid named in her honor. Meanwhile, Donald Trumps niece, Mary Trump, says the very stable genius paid someone else to take the SATs for him.

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Donald Trump, Who Bragged About Passing a Cognitive Test, Is Attacking AOC's Intelligence - Mother Jones

Please, Baby, Please, the Black-ish episode which criticized Donald Trump, has finally been released on Hulu. So, what was all the fuss about?

What happens in the Black-ish episode focused on Donald Trump, and why is it so controversial? Created by Kenya Barris, the ABC sitcom centered on an upper middle-class Black family has regularly tackled political and social issues. Please, Baby, Please, which is the title of the episode ABC decided to pull, would have been no different.

Days before Please, Baby, Please was scheduled to hit the airwaves, on February 27, 2018, the episode was shelved. At the time, ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey only said that the network and Black-ishs writing team couldn't come to an agreement about the episode. This incident would have lasting implications, as it led to Barris exiting ABC and ultimately moving to Netflix. Well over two years after it was scheduled to release, Barris announced that an agreement had been reached to release the episode on Hulu. So, what was all the fuss about?

Related:Fear City: Donald Trump's New York Mafia Connections Explained

Please, Baby, Please, which is co-written by Barris and Peter Saji, takes its name from the childrens book by Spike Lee and his wife Tonya Lewis Lee. The story begins with Dre (Anthony Anderson) trying to get baby Devante to sleep during a stormy night. Dre tries to read a few bedtime tales to the baby, including the book by the Lees. When that fails, however, a distressed Dre tries to explain the election of Donald Trump to Devante. He refers to Trump as The Shady King, which comes complete with a cartoonish illustration, and he blames Trump for dividing people and stoking discontent between different groups. Dre also sees Trumps presidency as a backlash against the election of Barack Obama as the first Black president.

The political thread runs through the episode. Dre briefly chats with Pops (Laurence Fishburne) about the difference between White pride and Black pride. As explained by Pops, while footage of white supremacists fills the screen, Black pride emerged as an uplifting response to relentless and brutal oppression. White pride, he says, is like boasting about being rich and beautiful. Later, Dre runs into his son Andre Jr. (Marcus Scribner). Andre confesses to his father that hes not sure if he agrees with the kneeling protests of Colin Kaepernick and other athletes, because it might offend the troops, but hes adamant that its their right to protest. Near the end of the episode, Dre has a chat with two of his younger kids about the dangers of climate change. Some jokes about Americas voting system are also thrown in.

Its hard to imagine just what about Please, Baby, Please gave ABC, and its parent company of Disney, such pause. Trump is indeed criticized, for enabling and exploiting bigotry and for wanting to create a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Hes also dinged for standing in the way of climate change policies and for being a narcissist. Obamas administration is called out as well, for its reliance on drones as a military tactic. Tellingly, the episode generally seems to have some degree of sympathy with Trump votes who were alarmed by the pace of social change in the Obama years with regards to LGBTQ+ rights. Overall, as the scene delving into Kaepernicks protests make clear, the episode goes to pains to highlight opposing views.

The episode even ends on a positive note, with Dre believing that what unites people is stronger than the issues that divide them. In an era where Roseanne, which also aired on ABC, was explicitly marketed as a show with a political viewpoint, the decision to shelve Please, Baby, Baby in the first place is perplexing. Charitably, perhaps the network got cold feet because Black-ish had already waded into the intersection of race and politics with previous episodes like Hope and Juneteenth. In the end though, the worst thing said about Trump in the Black-ish episode is that some of his policies and traits are bad. Compared to what is said about him in other scripted shows, The Good Fight, for example, its fairly mild stuff.

More:Why Love, Victor's Disney+/Hulu Controversy Wasn't Justified

Agents of SHIELD: Why Fitz Was Missing From Season 7

Abdullah Al-Ghamdi joined Screen Rant in August 2019, focusing on movie and television news. In January of the same year, he wrote a 3500+ word piece on why Primo Coln is underrated. He considers it his finest work. When hes not arguing for the merits of his favorite wrestler, he can be found posting reviews of varying lengths on Letterboxd. Hes also on Twitter, @dulealghamdi, though he doesnt really tweet much.

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What Happens In Black-Ishs Donald Trump Episode? Why Its So Controversial - Screen Rant

In an upcoming book, Michael Cohen, President Donald Trumps former attorney, alleges that Trump worked with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.

Among many other accusations, Cohen alleges that Trump worked to get close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his coterie of corrupt billionaire oligarchs, according to an excerpt released Thursday from the book, entitled Disloyal, A Memoir."

Cohen claims that Trump lied when he told the American public he had no dealings in Russia, because Cohen personally oversaw Trumps efforts to secure a major real estate deal in Moscow during the campaign.

Trump had colluded with the Russians, but not in the sophisticated ways imagined by his detractors. I also knew that the Mueller investigation was not a witch-hunt, Cohen wrote, although he did not provide specifics about the alleged collusion in the excerpt. Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything and I mean anything to win has always been his business model and way of life.

Trump has repeatedly and consistently denied any collusion with Russia in the 2016 election.

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Cohen began serving a three-year prison sentence last year for financial crimes and lying to Congress. He was released in July to serve the rest of his sentence at home following concerns that unsafe prison conditions could put him at risk for coronavirus. The 53-year-old has a history of high blood pressure and respiratory problems.

He has been described in the past as Trump's "fixer," but turned on his former boss, calling him a "con man" and "a cheat" during dramatic testimony before Congress last year.

In the excerpt released Thursday, Cohen claimed he knew Trump better than even his wife or children because he was tasked to cover up the president's infidelities and various misdeeds. Cohen wrote that he is convinced Trump "will never leave office peacefully."

"The types of scandals that have surfaced in recent months will only continue to emerge with greater and greater levels of treachery and deceit," the excerpt said. "If Trump wins another four years, these scandals will prove to only be the tip of the iceberg. Im certain that Trump knows he will face prison time if he leaves office, the inevitable cold Karma to the notorious chants of 'Lock Her Up!'"

Trump has publicly called Cohen a fraud and liar following his decisions to work with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and testify before Congress, tweeting that he was a failed lawyer and fraudster. The White House called the book "fan fiction" in a statement following the excerpt's release.

"He readily admits to lying routinely but expects people to believe him now so that he can make money from book sales," the statement said. "Its unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump."

Cohen does not attempt to paint himself as Trumps victim in the released excerpt, but rather a self-described bad guy who helped the now-president rip-off business partners and cover up extramarital affairs. He described the presidents way of conducting himself like a mob boss.

From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trumps clandestine lovers, I wasnt just a witness to the presidents riseI was an active and eager participant, he wrote.

He also described fearing for his life following his decision to testify against Trump and that he felt the president wanted him dead. At one point, Cohen said he even contemplated suicide as death threats had come by the hundreds.

On my cell phone, by email, snail mail, in tweets, on Facebook, enraged Trump supporters vowed to kill me, and I took those threats very seriously, Cohen wrote. The President called me a rat and tweeted angry accusations at me, as well as my family. All rats deserve to die, I was told.

Doha Madani is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.

Tom Winter is a New York-based correspondent covering crime, courts, terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Kristen Welker, Carol E. Lee and Freddie Tunnard contributed.

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Michael Cohen book claims Trump colluded with Russia and will 'never leave office peacefully' - NBC News