Category Archives: Donald Trump

It was a mic drop designed to thrill conservatives and infuriate liberals and the media.

Kayleigh McEnany, the latest White House press secretary aiming to become the acceptable face of Trumpism, had been asked if she wanted to take back a bold prediction in February that we will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here.

I guess I would turn the question back on the media, and ask similar questions, McEnany said on Wednesday. Consulting her briefing book, she reeled off a list of outlets and articles she said had downplayed the threat.

Ill leave you with those questions, she said, and maybe youll have some answers in a few days.

And with a triumphant smile she stepped away from the lectern, ignoring shouted questions. Reporters wore surprised and stony faces, then relaxed into wry smiles. It was a classic piece of whataboutism as practised by pundits on cable news.

The TV president now has a TV emissary, a spokesperson who sometimes takes her eyes off the reporters in the room and looks directly into the camera. McEnany is from what the president likes to call central casting: a polished performer, devout Christian and devout Trumpian. And she is only 32.

Kayleigh McEnany: beautiful, Christian, conservative designed by nature to enrage MSNBC viewers, tweeted Ann Coulter, a rightwing author and commentator, referring to the liberal-leaning network whose hosts often eviscerate the president.

Read or listen to her words prior to her decision to jump on the Trump train. She is a completely different person

But to critics, McEnany is a Trump apologist trying to explain the inexplicable and excuse the inexcusable. They characterise her as an opportunist motivated by fame and power rather than any ideological faith. They say she has abandoned her religious principles to normalise a president widely condemned as a misogynist and racist.

The eldest child of a roofing contractor, McEnany is from Plant City, Florida, which she describes as the worlds strawberry capital. She attended the Academy of the Holy Names Catholic high school in Tampa and found time to volunteer for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004. She moved to Washington to study at Georgetown, took an exchange year at Oxford to study politics and served an internship in the Bush White House.

After graduating in 2010, she worked for three years as a production assistant at Fox News for Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and father of Sarah Sanders, Trumps second press secretary. In 2012, she wrote a tweet about Barack Obama, the countrys first black president, that has come back to haunt her: How I Met Your Brother Never mind, forgot hes still in that hut in Kenya. #ObamaTVShows.

McEnany wanted a job in front of the camera but couldnt get a break. Eventually she decided to become a student again, first at the University of Miami School of Law, then transferring to Harvard. Huckabee told the New York Times last month: I think one of the reasons that Kayleigh went on to law school was because she didnt see she was going to have an on-air opportunity at Fox any time soon.

But in 2015, McEnany received some intriguing career advice over cocktails from Michael Marcantonio, a fellow summer associate at a law firm and a Democrat. In an interview with the New York Times, he recalled telling her Donald Trump is going to be your nominee, adding that if a smart, young, blond Harvard graduate wanted to get on television and have a career as a political pundit, you would be wise to be an early backer.

McEnany did so. Networks were struggling to find eloquent champions of the Trump cause but she fitted the bill. She became a paid contributor on CNN, feeding the outrage machine and the concept of cable news as combat sport.

A political commentator acquainted with McEnany, who did not wish to be named, said: They brought her on board when it became pretty clear that there were few people who were willing to defend Donald Trump that were somewhat sane. Most people who were credible and experienced were not willing to put their names or reputations on the line to defend Donald Trumps crazy during 2016.

In June 2015, McEnany had described Trumps comments about Mexican migrants as racist and dismissed him as a showman. She quickly changed her tune. The source said: She is unrecognisable. If you were to read or listen to her words prior to her decision to sell her soul and jump on the Trump train, she is a completely different person.

To Trump supporters, McEnanys ability to rile liberals made her something of a heroine. Even at the nadir of the Trump candidacy, when an Access Hollywood tape revealed him boasting about grabbing womens genitalia, she had his back, saying: Those comments are despicable [but] he apologised for them.

Sean Hannity, a Fox News host, wrote in a forward to McEnanys book, The New American Revolution: The Making of a Populist Movement: Outnumbered 8-to-1, or if she was lucky, 7-to-2, Kayleigh never backed down in fighting for the conservative movement supporting Donald Trump.

Jason Miller, who also appeared as a pro-Trump pundit on CNN and is now co-host of the podcast War Room: Pandemic, said: Keep in mind that she went through a couple of years of being a CNN political commentator where she was rumbling with Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo and Van Jones and Ana Navarro and every other hater thats out there.

So if Kayleigh can go toe to toe with the toughest anchors and commentators on TV, shell do just fine with the White House press corps.

Once Trump had stunned the world by winning the White House in 2016, McEnany joined the Republican National Committee as spokeswoman, then moved to the Trump campaign in a similar role. She would sometimes work 18 or 20 hours a day, according to Tim Murtaugh, director of communications for the Trump campaign.

Kayleigh was fantastic, he said. Shes smart, shes energetic, shes engaged and shes the most prepared person that I know. She has a keen grasp of policy and is able to turn what are sometimes complicated policy matters into language that is easily digested by the listener.

Murtaugh accused opponents of discriminating against McEnany because of her looks and gender.

The first thing the liberals want to do when they see an attractive young woman in a position like this is they want to question her intelligence. And I would just say to people, you underestimate Kayleigh McEnany at your own peril. I dont think that theyre turning out too many dummies from Oxford and Harvard Law School.

Murtaugh also recalled how McEnany organised a Bible study group with other staff that met weekly in a conference room at campaign HQ in Arlington, Virginia. Since the pandemic lockdown, the group has continued to meet virtually.

Like many evangelicals, McEnany apparently sees no contradiction between Trumps behaviour and Christian values. Two years ago, when she had a preventative double mastectomy because of a BRCA2 genetic mutation that had put her at high risk of breast cancer, she wrote: My faith in Jesus Christ was my strength that day.

I will never lie to you. You have my word on that

She is an ardent admirer of Ravi Zacharias, a preacher whose organisation included a study centre in Oxford. She wrote in 2013: Oxford needed a Christian to respond to Richard Dawkins. Found that in Ravi, who has dismantled atheism. This week her sister, Ryann, who also works for the Trump campaign, tweeted: Watching my sister take the stage for her first White House press briefing last Friday was a surreal moment! Gods spirit was ever-present in that room and undeniably flowing through you.

In 2017 McEnany married Sean Gilmartin, a pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays. She posed with Blake, the couples five-month-old daughter, at the White House lectern after her debut briefing, the first by a press secretary in more than 13 months, where she declared: I will never lie to you. You have my word on that.

She now has three briefings under her belt. She has echoed Trumps false and misleading statements but avoided major controversy and, importantly, avoided stealing too much of his limelight.

Kurt Bardella, a political analyst and Trump critic who bested McEnany in a debate on gun control on MSNBC, said: Kayleigh is very on point, succinct, direct and speaks with a lot of confidence and comfort from the podium.

Like Conway, Bardella believes, McEnany saw a chance for career advancement and seized it.

Outside of the president, the White House press secretary traditionally is the most visible person in the administration. This is something that she will be able to live off of for the rest of her life.

I dont think that its diehard ideological alignment more than just an opportunity. Donald Trump is a person with no ideology or core conviction. This is someone whose core ideology is nothing more than whatever is transactional and advantageous to him at that moment in time.

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Kayleigh McEnany the 'acceptable' face of Trumpism who infuriates liberals - The Guardian

Even in an episode producedin isolation, Saturday Night Lives season finale opener delivered. The cast joined a virtual commencement ceremonyin which Donald Trump, played by Alec Baldwin, is the only speaker that was available to the class of high school seniors.

I asked you to vote today on who should be the keynote speaker, Kate McKinnons Principal OGrady tells the class, via Zoom. Unfortunately, Barack and Michelle Obama said no, as did your next five choices, which included Guns N Roses frontman Axl Rose, the murder hornets, Liberty Mutuals LiMu Emu, that dude from 90-Day Fiance who looked like a hedgehog, and the Elon Musk/Grimes baby. So I moved on to your eighth choice, receiving one vote, President Donald Trump.

Baldwins Trump congratulates the class of COVID-19, and jumps into a lecture in whichhe claims hes been treated even worse than they treated Lincoln, praises his online college for ranking number one craziest scam by US News, and sips from a Clorox bleach container, which he refers to as invincibility juice.

He leavesthe students with an inspirational quote: Reach for the stars because if youre a star, theyll let you do it.

Watch the full sketch below.

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Donald Trump Is Going to Hate SNL's Season Finale Mother Jones - Mother Jones

On Tuesday afternoon, Gretchen Whitmer, the Governor of Michigan, came on the line with a breaking-news bulletin. Just before our interview, Whitmer had heard that President Trump was talking about dismantling the coronavirus task force he had assembled to oversee the national response to the pandemic. Whitmer seemed stunned by this informationU.S. infections from COVID-19 were well over a million, the daily national death toll was often more than two thousand, and, in Whitmers hard-hit state, the crisis had already claimed more than four thousand of her constituents lives. Its just shocking, she said, as we both tried to absorb the news. Something new happens every day.

By the next morning, Trump had, once again, changed his mind. He told reporters that he had no idea how popular the coronavirus task force was, and that it would remain in operation while shifting its emphasis toward reopening the economy and away from a public-health catastrophe that has already caused more U.S. deaths than the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq combined. These are crazy times in American politics. Whats a governor, or anyone trying to make sense of Trumps on-again, off-again war on the virus, supposed to say?

Whitmer, a first-term Democrat in a swing state that helped Trump win the Presidency in 2016, has become such a lightning rod for Trump and his supporters that the President has given Whitmer her own derogatory Twitter nickname. After long-gun-toting protesters opposing her stay-at-home order entered the Michigan capitol last weeksome of them wearing Trump campaign regalia, and some carrying Confederate flags, nooses, and swastikasthe President praised them as very good people. As Democrats nationally celebrate Whitmers unyielding response, and as Joe Biden considers her as his running mate, both the Republican-controlled state legislature and a Republican member of Congress have now sued her for using her emergency powers to keep the state closed during the crisis. Meanwhile, in heavily Democratic, heavily African-American Detroit, health-care workers are struggling to contain one of the worst outbreaks in the country.

Public polls show that the vast majority of Michiganders support social-distancing measures to combat the pandemic (as is true nationwide), and also Whitmers handling of the situation. In a state that Trump needs to win this fall, his approval ratings have dropped, while Whitmers have risen. Whitmer told me that Trumps hyper-partisan approach did not make sense in terms of either public health or crass politics. The enemy is a virus, and it doesnt care what party youre in, it doesnt care what state youre in, she said. Trump, however, has not only persisted in his critiques of that woman from Michigan but nationalized his combative approach, with one policy for Democrat states, as he recently called them, that are the worst-affected by the virus, and another for Republican ones.

A fleeting image, captured on C-SPAN inside the U.S. Capitol this week, highlighted the divisive absurdity of the moment: Mitt Romney, wearing a mask, walked out of the Senate Republican Conference weekly lunch meeting toting a large placard with a graph on it. Blue states arent the only ones who are screwed, read the headline on the placard. Romney, though, is a minority of one. The lone Republican in either the House or Senate to support convicting Trump in his recent impeachment trial, Romney, who was the Republican Presidential nominee in 2012, is now an outlier in a Party with a devotion to Trump so strong that it has not faltered even in the face of the Presidents reality-defying response to the pandemic.

Romneys pitch, in fact, appeared to be so unpersuasive that, by Wednesday evening, Politico reported that Senate Republicans are settling on their pandemic message as they fight to save their majority: President Donald Trump did a tremendous job. This, not at all coincidentally, is the theme of a new ad being run nationwide by the Trump campaign, in which the President is portrayed as a heroic leader who defied Democrats and media pundits, shut off the country from the Chinese virus, and will lead Americas cratering economy to recovery. In case the message is too subtle, the ad spells it out in big all-capital letters on the screen: THE GREATEST COMEBACK STORY.

When I went to college, we used to joke during exam period that you were really in trouble when you started to lie to yourself and believe it. The President and at least some of his most fervent supporters appear now to be in the lying-to-yourself-and-believing-it stage of the pandemic. Truth has become so inconvenient that its better left aside for some alternate, less inconvenient reality. This is, of course, not the first time in the Trump Presidency, or even the first time during this pandemic, that there has been such a gap, but it appears to be a moment when there is a widening and very likely unsustainable gulf between Trumpian truth and what is actually happening.

Thats because the numbers are the numbers and, for Trump and for America, they look terrible. On Wednesday, there were some twenty-six hundred deaths in the United States from COVID-19, and, on Thursday, there were even more: around twenty-seven hundred. Leaked predictions from government scientists show an increase, by June 1st, to three thousand deaths, on average, every twenty-four hours. As Whitmer noted to me, that amounts to essentially a 9/11s worth of victims per day. Even after some seventy-five thousand deaths and a couple months of social-distancing public-health measures, the charts demonstrate clearly that the national curve has not flattened, with sharp declines registered only in New York and New Jerseywhich have already gone through the countrys worst ordealand a handful of other states. More than half the states have at least partially lifted strict stay-at-home orders, although none of the states that announced reopeningsnot onemet the criteria established by the Trump Administration for doing so. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week, a detailed, seventeen-page guide for how to return safely to workplaces and schools was quashed by the White House, and its authors were told it would never see the light of day, the Associated Press reported on Thursday. Testing capability is nowhere near the millions of additional tests needed to resume regular daily life, according to experts, nor is there widespread capacity to conduct contact tracing, another prerequisite.

Yet many states are reopening anyway, and Trump is not, at least for now, even bothering to hide the fact that more Americans may die as a result of these decisions. On Tuesday, he flew to a mask factory in Arizona for a photo op, where he appeared not wearing a mask, as the Guns N Roses version of the song Live and Let Die blasted over the factorys loudspeakers. In an interview taped at the factory, Trump said, Im viewing our great citizens of this country to a certain extent, and to a large extent, as warriors. Theyre warriors. We cant keep our country closed. We have to open our country. Will some people be badly affected? Yes. On Wednesday, he elaborated as to what he meant by badly affected. Asked if more Americans might die as a result of reopening too soon, he said, Hopefully that wont be the case. But, he added, It could very well be the case. He also argued against more testing. In a way, by doing all this testing, we make ourselves look bad, he said. On Thursday, it was reported that, even as Trump was saying this, one of his personal valets, who delivers his meals, had tested positive for the virus. In response, Trump said he would now be tested every day. Reality, it turns out, is not just a matter of political optics.

Originally posted here:

Has Trump Reached the Lying-to-Himself-and-Believing-It Stage of the Coronavirus Pandemic? - The New Yorker

Early pictures of Mary Anne MacLeod tell a story of hope and confidence: Shes smiling, shes poised, fresh-faced and looking ready for adventure. Shes probably pretty smartat least her friends thought soand ambitious enough to want to leave her home on the remote Isle of Lewis in the Scottish Hebrides.

Mary, the youngest of 10 children of Mary Smith and Malcolm MacLeod, grew up there, in the small village of Tong, where the Gaelic-speaking family farmed and lived on their croft, a small plot of land on a tidal flat. Today, its still a more-than-two-hour ferry to reach the Scottish mainland from Stornoway, the isles largest town (current population: around 6,000).

Even attending church was a trek for the MacLeod family. In rain boots, theyd trudge through mud, wind, and water every Sunday to worship at the Stornoway High Church, writes journalist Nina Burleigh in her book Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trumps Women. The congregation was part of the Free Church of Scotland, an evangelical movement that had splintered from the Church of Scotland almost a century earlier in protest of the corruption of landed gentry. The island is still conservative and faithful: The local tourism board advises making sure your hotel will actually be open on Sunday, as most businesses on the island are shut down on the Sabbath. The first Sunday Isle of Lewis ferry launchedto accompanying protestsjust over a decade ago.

Mary had her reasons for setting sail for America at age 17, both pragmatic and social. Stay, and her main job prospects would be weaving the local Harris Tweed or working as a fishing girl curing herring. There were few marriageable men on the isle, after World War I exacted a great death toll on the local men who went to servearound 17% of Lewisman would die in battle and another 200 men returning from war died yards away from the Stornoway coastline in 1919 when their ship hit rocks and sunk. The Calvinist sentiment of the religious isle had already stigmatized Marys older sister Catherine for having a child out of wedlock, likely encouraging Catherine to leave for New York City a decade before.

Mary joined Catherine there, finding work as a maid for Andrew Carnegies widow in Manhattan in the Carnegie Mansion on the Upper East Side, writes Burleigh in Golden Handcuffs. In relatively short order she met Fred Trump, an up-and-coming builder, at a dance; they married in January 1936, at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.

In 1946, Mary gave birth to their fourth child, Donald J. Trump.

Theres supposedly no relationship in life so central, so formative, as the childs relationship with their mother. That has seemed to hold true for our presidents. God bless my mother; all that I am or ever hope to be I owe to her, said Lincoln of his mother, Nancy, who died when he was seven years old. American presidents tend to give their mothers high marks: Theres FDRs original helicopter mom, Sara Delano; Clintons strong survivor of a single mother, Virginia Kelley; and the beloved matriarch Barbara Bush, among other 20th- and 21st-century presidential mothers.

No modern president has lacked the ability to demonstrate public compassion; several presidentsmost recently Barack Obama during a speech after the massacre of children at Sandy Hook Elementary Schoolheld no compunction crying in public during times of great national tragedy.

Until Trump, that is.

That brings us to the flip side of the warm familial cocoon, as described by Philip Larkin: They fuck you up, your mum and dad.

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Donald Trump Loves His Father Fred, But He Rarely Mentions His Mother - Vanity Fair

The task forces mission will no longer be in response to coronavirus, but on opening up America again, said a senior White House official, adding that Pence has truly loved steering the governments response to the deadly pandemic because its allowed him to bring comfort, answers and transparency to the American people.

As Pence continues to coordinate with health officials working to develop vaccines and therapeutics, he will maintain a travel schedule that includes frequent visits to front-line facilities and meetings with people hit by coronavirus or its fallout. On Friday, the vice president will discuss the return of religious gatherings with faith leaders in Des Moines, Iowa, and participate in a roundtable on food shortages.

No longer relegated to a White House side stage, Pences highly visible role leading the pandemic response gave him a rare political opportunity: a chance to impress Americans who have sought straightforward updates and genuine reassurance from their leaders something Trump himself has at times struggled to provide.

Still, a person close to the vice president said he is anxious to outsource the lions share of supervision once the response is divided between FEMA, a handful of executive agencies and the remaining Pence-led team. The vice president has presided over daily task force meetings since late February, when Trump placed him in the command post, and has sometimes fielded phone calls from multiple governors each day.

Hes been living and breathing this crisis 24/7 for three months and believes now is an appropriate time to let others take over, said an administration official. The official added that Pences team is considering ways for him to refocus on the 2020 election without appearing insensitive to the reality that tens of millions of Americans remain out of work and thousands remain in mourning.

The senior White House official added that Pence is looking forward to getting back to his normal routine just like every American, which does not mean he wants this process to be over.

He still thinks its really important work and hes honored to be doing it, the official said.

One Republican close to the White House said the longer Pence remains the public face of the administrations coronavirus response, the more susceptible to criticism he becomes especially as efforts to rescue the economy, by sending workers and consumers back into their communities, run the risk of creating deeper health problems closer to the 2020 election.

This person said Pence may have signed his own death warrant when he first took over the coronavirus task force because no amount of loyalty will shield him from becoming Trumps fall guy if the virus returns this fall and costs the president a second term.

People have a sense that Mike Pence is in the command chair on this and I do think, to a certain extent, he will be judged by the outcome, said longtime conservative columnist Stephen Hayes, author of a 2007 biography on former Vice President Dick Cheney.

One triumph the vice presidents allies want him to lean into as he continues to discuss the administrations coronavirus efforts during interviews, official visits and eventual campaign events is the public-private collaboration to produce personal protective equipment and ensure a steady supply of ventilators for the U.S. and other countries. While touring a ventilator production plant in his home state of Indiana last week, Pence repeatedly touted the U.S. ventilator surplus.

Others believe Pences close coordination with governors will be his saving grace if he runs in 2024 and faces an onslaught of criticism over other elements of the administrations handling of the Covid-19 outbreak, including testing shortages and interagency squabbles along with a hurried reopening that could have devastating health consequences in pockets of the country that have yet to reach their peak number of cases.

Instead of indulging Trumps request in March to stop calling Democratic governors in Washington and Michigan, Pence continued to check in weekly with both governors and monitor the fulfillment of supplies they requested. In private phone calls with other governors, he has been careful to sidestep their personal frustrations with the president and always brings the conversation back to their needs and concerns, according to one state official whose boss has been on more than a dozen calls with Pence in the past few weeks.

A person involved with Trumps reelection effort said Pences deliberate outreach to states has already benefited him politically, noting that his approval rating has risen in some recent polls. This person attributed the slight uptick to public praise from popular governors such as Larry Hogan of Maryland and Andrew Cuomo of New York. (Pences national approval rating was up 3 percentage points since mid-April in an Economist/YouGov poll released this week. But several other polls have recorded no recent changes in voter attitudes toward the vice president.)

Of course, if Pence chooses to run in 2024, his coordination with governors is likely to attract less focus than both the administrations early failures in responding to the coronavirus outbreak and the laundry list of eye-popping statements Trump has made about the severity of the virus and treatment options for those who contract it.

The trouble for Pence is that other Republicans running for president are going to have every incentive to say things should have been done differently, said Goldstein, the expert on vice presidential history. So he can talk about working effectively with governors, and I think theres been plenty of indications that he has, but there are still going to be voices who say, Why did you do this? Why did you do that?

One former White House official said Trumps dubious medical claims are likely to become an albatross around Pences neck if he touts his leadership of the coronavirus task force in a future presidential primary. The president infamously suggested that household disinfectants might kill the virus a claim he made after Bill Bryan, who leads the Office of Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security, delivered a presentation at the White House explaining how sunlight and humidity can kill the novel coronavirus. In addition to sparking a firestorm of criticism, the episode frustrated some Trump aides who were against Bryans presentation from the start.

But it also concerned Pence allies, who have long wondered how the vice president will survive thorny questions about Trumps most controversial statements comments that have sparked dayslong news cycles, created diplomatic crises and alienated key voters if he runs as the presidents natural successor four years from now.

Regular news conferences by Trump and Pence over the course of the Covid-19 crisis have only magnified the vice presidents reluctance to contradict or correct the president, while inextricably linking him to his exceptionally polarizing boss.

Catastrophic earthquakes. Solar flares that bring down the entire power grid. The global rise of white supremacy. What could come after coronavirus?

On multiple occasions when Trump commandeered the White House briefing room to promote untested coronavirus treatments or lob insults at journalists, Pences trademark stoicism was on full display. Standing with his hands clasped just off to the side, there would be Pence staring warmly at Trump with a soft smile.

When the president goes out and says something off-script or sends mixed messages about states opening back up, none of that is something Mike Pence can control, but the results will ultimately shape the way Mike Pence is being seen coming out of this, Hayes said.

The next several months could have profoundly positive implications for Pence if the coronavirus abates and the economy shows signs of improvement by the time voters cast their ballots this November. A second term for Trump, whose reelection chances are now tethered to his administrations Covid-19 response, would give Pence another four years to build his own case for higher office in a period of economic recovery much like George H.W. Bush did during the brief recovery period following the Black Monday market crash in 1987.

On Wednesday, Trump said the Pence-led coronavirus task force would readjust its purpose to be very focused on vaccines and therapeutics, an area in which the White House is hoping for a major breakthrough before the 2020 presidential contest heats up later this summer.

Pence, who has described ongoing attempts to develop a Covid-19 vaccine as a Manhattan Project-style effort, praised Trumps intervention to speed up the development process during a closed briefing on Tuesday with reporters and fellow task force participants. Sipping on a Diet Coke as he guided discussions about outbreak zones, hospitalization rates and state-based approaches to reopening businesses, Pences deep grasp of the once-in-a-generation pandemic was on full display.

Despite the off-camera setting, the vice presidents approach was unchanged from a week before, when he joined Trump for a Rose Garden news conference and jumped in to provide particulars on testing expansions when the president himself was short on details.

One of Pences strengths is he is an effective communicator who stays on message, Goldstein said. I think thats helpful to him now, but its hard for me to see those moments being remembered in the long term.

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The 2024 election test arrives early for Mike Pence - POLITICO

Brad Parscale, campaign manager for President Donald Trumps reelection, hinted at the coming mobilization of their effort by referring to the campaign as the Death Star, and quickly got some ridicule given the way that the original Star Wars ends.

For nearly three years we have been building a juggernaut campaign (Death Star). It is firing on all cylinders. Data, Digital, TV, Political, Surrogates, Coalitions, etc., he wrote on Thursday. In a few days we start pressing FIRE for the first time.

That got the attention of Joe Bidens presidential campaign, which tweeted back, 11/3/2020, along with the GIF of the exploding Death Star.

Parscale responded, I didnt give our campaign the name, Death Star, the media did. However, I am happy to use the analogy. The fact is, we havent used it yet. Laugh all you want, we will take the win!

Hes right in that the reference did draw a lot of attention.

Its also only the latest Star Wars reference in the 2020 presidential campaign. Earlier this week, the campaign unveiled a doctored video showing Trump, as Yoda, battling the empire, which included superimposed images of Biden, CNN and MSNBC. The occasion was May the 4th, now apparently an unofficial observance of all things Star Wars.

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Trump Campaign Warns Of Its Death Star Mobilization And Gets A Star Wars Schooling - Deadline

President Donald Trumpsaid the inicident in which Ahmaud Arbery was killed could have had "something that we didn't see on tape," in reference to the video that showed the chase and physical confront ation that ended in the shooting.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday (May 7), he offered condolences to Arbery's family. "My heart goes out to the parents and to the loved ones of the young gentleman. It's a very sad thing."

Trump said he was expecting a full report on what happened but seemed to imply the tape doesn't tell the whole story. "If you saw, things went off tape and then back on tape. But it was a troubling, I mean to anyone that watched it, certainly it was a disturbing or troubling video. No question about that, he said.

As far as what comes next in the case, Trump said he trusts those handling the case. "They have very good law enforcement in the state of Georgia," he said, "and I am sure they are going to come up with exactly what happened."

Trump said he had not seen video of the incident, which was released on Tuesday (May 5).

Former vice president and current Democratic candidate for president Joe Biden tweeted about Arbery's murder on Tuesday, shortly after video of the killing was released. "The video is clear: Ahmaud Arbery was killed in cold blood. My heart goes out to his family, who deserve justice and deserve it now. It is time for a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his murder," he wrote.

Arbery was killed on February 23, while he was jogging, unarmed, in broad daylight. Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael were arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations on Thursday (May 7) on charges of murder and aggravated assault, following mounting public pressure and calls for justice.

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Trump Says There Could Be 'Things We Didn't See' In Ahmaud Arbery Video - BET

Late-night hosts discussed Donald Trumps inability to follow safety precautions and his willingness to let Americans die to protect the economy.

On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah spoke about the coronavirus pandemic being hard on everyone but its been especially hard on Donald Trump as hes used to playing golf and travelling around like an ignorant Dora the Explorer.

On a trip to Arizona, the president left Air Force One and proceeded to try to shake the hand of a greeting official but instead opted for an awkward back slap. What is the point in avoiding a handshake if you then wipe your hands all over the other guys suit? Noah asked. At that point youre just using him as a corona napkin.

Trump also refused to wear a mask while visiting a mask factory. The mask would literally the least distracting thing on his head, he said.

During an ABC News interview, Trump claimed that he wasnt preparing for the pandemic because of the hoaxes created by his detractors. He spent three years not preparing for a pandemic because he was distracted by all the scandals he created, he said.

Trump has also blamed Barack Obama for he inherited. It feels like anytime Trump needs an excuse, his go-to is Obama, he said. Hes probably been doing this since he was a kid.

On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert also commented on Trump refusing to wear a mask at the factory and instead choosing goggles. Wearing goggles in a mask factory is like walking into the bedroom with a condom on your nose, he said.

There was also word this week that the coronavirus taskforce might be shut down. Of course this is Donald Trump so that means that things end when he finds a hotter, younger taskforce, he joked.

In the aforementioned ABC News interview, Trump also said that reopening would put some peoples lives in jeopardy. Thats just a risk that Trump is willing for you to take, he said.

Colbert also joked that Keep America Great should be changed to Kill Americans? Groovy before playing footage of Live and Let Die being used as Trumps backing track at the factory. Are they punking us now? he asked.

When asked what message he would give to grieving relatives, Trump said that they should be pleased that there will be a raging economy next year. Colbert said his response was colder than the caves of Pluto.

On Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host showed footage of Trump pretending he was wearing a mask backstage at the factory while sitting in the Oval Office for National Nurses Day surrounded by nurses. Clearly he did not wear a mask and, by the way, hes sitting there with a bunch of nurses not wearing a mask saying this. Is this really a surprise? he said. If theres one thing we know from Stormy Daniels its that wearing protection isnt his No 1 concern.

He also spoke about his ABC News interview: I love when he claims he doesnt want credit while he complains that hes not getting credit.

When asked about the mass loss of life, Trump said that no one has been losing more sleep than him over it. Even in grief, he is No 1, he said.

Kimmel added: The reason you dont sleep at night is because youre watching Fox News and rage-tweeting at Kellyanne Conways husband.

On Full Frontal, Samantha Bee said that another reason to be scared of going back to work is that all of our offices definitely belong to the roaches now.

She dedicated a segment to the various ways in which the government has responded that should teach us about how people should be treated in the future.

Bee spoke about the employment benefits for freelancers and those within the gig economy are now getting, calling it the bare minimum.

It shouldnt take a pandemic for us to start taking care of people, she said.

Various insurers have lowered the exorbitant prices of vital medicine such as insulin, which is usually about $100 yet made for less than $5. Its like how a McDonalds value meal used to cost $400 until the fry guys got caught spending that money on blood diamonds, she joked.

There have also been TelAbortions created, which help women in need call up and get everything they need for a 10-week or under abortion at home, including a Sex and the City boxset that also functions as a heating pad.

Airlines and other big brands have also been giving food away to those in need. It shouldnt just be up to companies seeking good PR to do it., she said. America has enough food to feed everyone.

She added: We can afford to protect each other through social safety nets We have to keep fighting for reimagining a more equitable world.

Read more:

Trevor Noah on the pandemic: 'It's been especially hard on Donald Trump' - The Guardian

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters.

At a Fox News Town Hall in front of the Lincoln Memorial on May 3, President Donald Trump revised the US coronavirus death toll, citing a number significantly higher than what hed been predicting just a few weeks ago. I used to say 65,000, and now Im saying 80 or 90, and it goes up and it goes up rapidly, said the president.

Confused about what to make of this? Us too. And with new data and studies about the coronavirus coming out every day, understanding how science and statistics work has never felt more essentialand, lets admit it, overwhelming.

Thats why we brought two people onto the Mother Jones Podcast this week who can help sort through it all, providing tips and tricks for identifying reliable data. Sinduja Rangarajan, a senior data journalist at Mother Jones, has been analyzingdata to show how COVID-19 is infecting Black communities at alarming rates, to highlightwhich communities are the least prepared for the coronavirus, and to forecast when states will run out of hospital beds. Its not always clear what kind of data sources are trustworthy or not, Rangarajan tells host Jamilah King on the Mother Jones Podcast. When Im reporting on on these topics, I tend to be skeptical of everything, no matter where that datas coming from, whether its from a city or a state or from universities or nonprofits or think tanks or private companies.

King also talks to Jackie Flynn Mogensen, an assistant editor at Mother Jones, who has been reporting on the medical science of the pandemic, answering key questions on immunity and antibodies and helping us make sense of all those terrifying death projections. Her recent reporting takes a step back and revealsjust how complicated all this science actually isand how, in the frantic rush to get more and more information about the new virus, it can sometimes be untrustworthy or riddled with conflicts of interest. Science isnt about being right. Its the process of becoming less wrong, Mogensen explains on the podcast. What the experts have told me is that making a mistake now, like in the case of ibuprofen, can cost lives.

Read more:

Donald Trump Can't Stop Spewing Bad Science. We're Here to Help. - Mother Jones

Washington, May 8

The sacred Vedic Shanti Path or peace prayer was recited by a Hindu priest in the Rose Garden of the White House on the occasion of National Day of Prayer Service to pray for the health, safety and well-being of everyone affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

At the invitation of US President Donald Trump, Pujari Harish Brahmbhatt from the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in New Jersey joined religious leaders from other faiths offering prayers on the occasion of National Day of Prayer Service.

In these troubled times of COVID-19, social distancing and lockdown, it is not unusual for people to feel anxious or not at peace. The shanti prayer or peace prayer is a prayer that does not seek worldly riches, success, fame, nor is it a prayer for any desire for heaven,"

Brahmbhatt said in his brief remarks from the Rose Garden podium.

"It is a beautiful Hindu prayer for peace, shanti. It is a Vedic prayer derived from Yajurveda," he said before reciting the prayer in Sanskrit. Thereafter, he translated it in English.

"The prayer translates into onto the heavens be peace. Onto the sky and earth be peace. Peace be onto the water. Onto the herbs and trees be peace. Onto all the crops be peace. Onto Brahma and onto all be peace. And may we realise that peace. Om peace, peace, peace," Brahmbhatt said.

Trump thanked Brahmbhatt for his prayer recitation.

In his remarks, the president said on the National Day of Prayer Service, America is engaged in a fierce battle against a very terrible disease.

"Throughout our history in times of challenge, our people have always called upon the gift of faith, the blessing our belief, the power of prayer, and the eternal glory of god. I ask all Americans to join their voices and their hearts in a spiritual union as we ask our lord in heaven for strength and solace, for courage and comfort, for hope and healing, for recovery and renewal," he said.

First Lady Melania Trump extended her deepest sympathy to the families of those who have lost their loved ones to COVID-19.

"Let us pray for the ill come out the ones who are suffering, and those serving on the frontlines," she said.

"When evil darkens our world, give us light. When despair numbs our souls, give us hope. When we stumble and fall, lift us up. When doubts assail us, give us faith. When nothing seems sure, give us trust. When ideals fade, give us vision. When we lose our way, be our guide that we may find serenity in your presence and purpose in doing your will," Melania Trump said.

Describing America as a nation of prayer, Vice President Mike Pence said the American people have long believed in the power of prayer.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln urged Americans to pray so that in his words, the united cry of the nation would be heard on high and answered with a blessing and since 1952, every president has issued a proclamation in the honour of the National Day of Prayer, he said.

"And today, President Donald Trump continues that tradition here in the Rose Garden. And as we gather here, I know we all feel that it is especially fitting that we do so this year during this time. In these times of hard ache for tens of thousands of American families and hardship for tens of millions, now more than ever it is important that we take time to pause and pray for America," Pence said.

This is probably the first time that a priest from the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey attended and recited prayers at the White House. The BAPS temple in Robbinsville is one of the largest Swaminarayan temples outside India. PTI

Original post:

Covid-19: Trump invites Hindu priest to chant Shanti Path for safety of all at White House - The Tribune India