Tag: campaign 2024
West Virginia Worships Trump -- And He's Screwing Its Voters Hard

West Virginia Worships Trump -- And He's Screwing Its Voters Hard

West Virginia is one of the Trumpiest states in the country, with President Donald Trump winning the state by a whopping 42 percentage points in the 2024 election. So you’d think—having delivered for Trump so big—that they’d be winning all sorts of victories.

And yet …

According to the Des Moines Register, Trump’s plan to revive shipbuilding in the United States by charging massive fees for China-linked ship visits to U.S. ports is causing coal inventory to swell, stoking uncertainty in the already embattled agriculture industry as exporters struggle to find ships to send goods abroad.

As a result, West Virginia coal mines are preparing to lay off miners as unsold coal piles up.

But, but, but … Trump loves coal miners!

“After years of being held captive by Environmental Extremists, Lunatics, Radicals, and Thugs, allowing other Countries, in particular China, to gain tremendous Economic advantage over us by opening up hundreds of all Coal Fire Power Plants, I am authorizing my Administration to immediately begin producing Energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL,” he posted on Truth Social just earlier this week.

Despite what Trump says, coal is a dead industry, and he’s doing his part to drive the final nail in its coffin.

“Enacting and implementing those fees could halt exports of U.S. coal within 60 days, putting $130 billion worth of shipments at risk,” Ernie Thrasher, CEO and founder of Xcoal Energy & Resources, wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “The fee structure could add up to 35% to the delivered cost of U.S. coal, making it uncompetitive on the global market. The loss of direct and indirect jobs would be catastrophic.”

Lutnick never responded.

There are fewer than 12,000 coal miners left in West Virginia, so … that sucks for them! But all of those newly unemployed miners can console themselves knowing that trans athletes are being punished.

So what about the state’s other industries—and its children?

As NBC reports:

Jennifer Gilkerson never imagined that her West Virginia farm’s freeze-dried fruits would get caught up in political fights in Washington, D.C. But last Friday, she learned that funding for a U.S. Agriculture Department program that helps schools and food banks buy products from local farmers like her had been cut. Without those federal dollars, Gilkerson no longer expects local schools to be able to buy her freeze-dried fruits, which she has already spent thousands of dollars preparing to produce.

“We’re just in such a state of shock. We just don’t really even know how to respond to all this. We thought that this was sacred and really untouchable,” Gilkerson said. “Everyone thinks all farmers voted for this, but we did not vote for this.”

The school and food bank program isn’t being cut because of “political fights” in Washington D.C. It’s literally central to the GOP agenda. A fight implies that the program got cut because of partisan warfare. This is a policy decision.

And yes, Jennifer, your state voted exactly for this—y’all just thought other people would suffer the brunt of it. But Project 2025 was very clear in its goal to slash all government spending—including the federal dollars that subsidize West Virginia.

“The overall goal should be to eliminate subsidy dependence,” Project 2025 says.

So yes, Jennifer. I don’t know who you voted for, but your fellow West Virginians overwhelmingly voted for this.

Common sense should dictate that if your state is the third most dependent on federal dollars you should maybe vote for the party that supports federal funding. I know, I know, trans this and trans that. But is destroying your entire economy worth the sacrifice for that bigotry?

“This is the economy of rural America. West Virginia is a wholly rural state, and so developing this agriculture economy in the state is extremely important. These farmers pay their property taxes, they’re business owners, a lot of times they’re commissioners or school board members. These are the drivers that keep rural communities alive. So it feels like a divestment in rural communities across the board,” Spencer Moss, executive director of the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, told NBC.

It’s called the “Department of Government Efficiency,” and it turns out that subsidizing small, rural states is not efficient. Those farmers aren’t paying enough in property taxes to cover expenses, which is why urban and blue-state folks are subsidizing it. But we liberal voters were fine with paying those subsidies because we’re all American, and we’re all in this together!

But if West Virginians thought the federal safety net would have their backs, boy they’re in for some disappointment.

According toPolitico, the Agriculture Department has halted millions of dollars worth of deliveries to food bank leaders in six states, including West Virginia.

Chad Morrison, president of West Virginia’s Mountaineer Food Bank, said it’s “really challenging” to meet West Virginia’s needs.

“We can try to figure out how to make up the gaps, which is a hard lift, or ultimately there’s less food on the table,” he said.

States like West Virginia will be particularly hit by cuts to school lunches, food stamps, and other programs that deliver food to the hungry.

As for health care, West Virginia has 1.77 million residents, and more than 516,000 of them are on Medicaid, which also keeps the state’s rural hospitals afloat.

But hey, almost three-quarters of the state decided that wasn’t important enough to protect with their vote. And Trump certainly doesn’t care about leaving his supporters without health care.

Still, you’d think that the state’s overwhelming support for Trump would somehow translate into some tangible victories, but the news is grim. Trump is more interested in hawking expensive cars for his billionaire buddy Elon Musk, hyping crypto for his bros, fantasizing about ethnically cleaning Gaza, obsessing over Greenland, and golfing. Lots and lots of golfing.

As for his voters, they really shouldn’t be surprised. After all, he didsay, “I don’t care about you, I just want your vote. I don’t care.”

And he proves that every single day.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Fear Of Iran Plot Led Trump To Use Campaign Staff As 'Bait'

Fear Of Iran Plot Led Trump To Use Campaign Staff As 'Bait'

A new book details Donald Trump’s paranoia during his 2024 presidential campaign over a potential assassination threat from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Reports that Iranian operatives had access to surface-to-air missiles led Trump and his advisers to use his staff as a decoy in a plane switcheroo, according to Politico’s Alex Isenstadt.

The threat stemmed from Trump’s first-term decision to assassinate Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in January 2020. The revelations are in Isenstadt’s upcoming book, Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power. The reporter was given access to the Trump campaign’s inner circle, and Isenstadt reveals that Trump was so afraid that he secretly switched planes to travel to an event—leaving some of his staff feeling like bait.

Trump’s fear was stoked by foiled assassination attempts at a Pennsylvania rally and at his Florida golf course. While neither of the incidents were linked to Iran, Trump’s security detail had him fly on billionaire buddy Steven Witkoff’s plane after the Florida attempt while the rest of his staff took his privately owned plane, dubbed Trump Force One. According to Isenstadt, staffers didn’t find out about the new security arrangement until they were on board Trump Force One:

Campaign leaders tried to assure Trump aides they weren't being used as bait. But if Iranian operatives had access to surface-to-air missiles, several aides wondered, why were they put on board?

Trump has a history of indifference when it comes to the security of friends and foes alike. He has revoked security details for a host of officials from his first administration who have found their way onto his “enemies list.” This includes people like former national security adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and special envoy Brian Hook—all of whom face the same threat of assassination from Iran for their roles in Soleimani’s assassination.

Trump’s continuing paranoia and vengefulness were apparent as recently as last Tuesday, when he told reporters that Iran “would be obliterated” if he were to be assassinated.

“I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left,” Trump said.

Trump’s threat to destabilize the region even further has been reiterated by his very unqualified Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. During an interview on Fox & Friends, Hegseth said invading or attacking countries or regions that are home to “foreign terrorist organizations” is "on the table.”

Trump’s enemies list goes beyond former Cabinet members directly threatened with assassination by foreign adversaries. It also includes former Trump administration officials facing domestic threats due to Trump and the right wing’s increasingly dangerous lies.

The petty plutocrat has also revoked security details for former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, retired Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Mark Milley, and former top U.S. health official Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Ukraine war

Trump Special Envoy: No, We Won't Be Ending Ukraine War On 'Day One'

Donald Trump's incoming special envoy for Ukraine and Russia is tempering expectations about ending Russia's war on Ukraine, saying that the administration will try to end the war in the first 100 days of Trump's term, rather than in the first 24 hours Trump had repeatedly promised.

"Let's set it at 100 days and move all the way back and figure a way we can do this in the near term to make sure that the solution is solid, it's sustainable, and that this war ends so that we stop the carnage," Keith Kellogg, whom Trump appointed in November to advise him on the war in Ukraine, said in an interview on Fox News. "I think that's going to be very, very important to do. It's going to be important for our national security. It's a part of our vital national interests, and it's also good for Europe as well and the globe as well."

Kellogg’s comments are a major change from the Day One promise Trump made multiple times during the 2024 election campaign.

“They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done—I’ll have that done in 24 hours," Trump said during a CNN town hall in May 2023.

In September’s presidential debate—the one and only debate he had with Vice President Kamala Harris—Trump went even further, saying the war would be over even before he took the oath of office.

“That is a war that’s dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president," Trump said.

Kellogg isn’t the only Trump administration official to say Trump can’t end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office.

Rep. Mike Waltz, the Florida Republican who is Trump’s incoming national security adviser, told ABC News on Sunday that Trump will end the war “in the coming months”—which is not Day One.

"I just don't think it's realistic to say we're going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, even Crimea,” Waltz said.

Ultimately, ending the war in Ukraine in one day is only the latest campaign promise Trump is backtracking on.

In December, Trump tried to temper expectations on lowering grocery prices—possibly the main reason why he won a second term in the first place. "It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard," Trump said in an interview with Time magazine.

Of course, Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on all of the country’s imports is expected to raise grocery prices.

And Vice President-elect JD Vance backtracked on Trump’s promise to pardon all of the people who pleaded guilty or were convicted for storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

"If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned, and there's a little bit of a gray area there,” Vance said in a Sunday appearance on Fox News.

To be sure, not pardoning violent insurrectionists is a good thing.

But it’s nevertheless another campaign promise Trump and his administration are reneging on before they take office.

In a December interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump said he would be pardoning the insurrectionists on Day One.

"Look. I know the system. The system's a very corrupt system. They say to a guy, 'You're going to go to jail for two years or for 30 years.' And these guys are looking, their whole lives have been destroyed," Trump said.

When asked if that means he will pardon them, Trump said, "Yeah, I'm going to look at everything. We're going to look at individual cases."

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Book: Fox Insider Texted Questions To Trump Before Town Hall

Book: Fox Insider Texted Questions To Trump Before Town Hall

A Fox News insider gave Donald Trump's campaign the questions in advance of Trump’s January 2024 town hall on the network, according to a forthcoming book. Later that year, Trump baselessly claimed someone at ABC had “very likely” provided Vice President Kamala Harris with the questions for their debate — and called for government retribution against the network if that were confirmed.

CNN reported on the Fox revelations Wednesday after obtaining advance excerpts of Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt’s book Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power. Isenstadt writes that shortly before the start of Trump’s Iowa town hall, moderated by Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, a Trump staffer started receiving text messages from a Fox insider with the questions. From CNN’s article:

“About thirty minutes before the town hall was due to start, a senior aide started getting text messages from a person on the inside at Fox. Holy s–t, the team thought. They were images of all the questions Trump would be asked and the planned follow-ups, down to the exact wording. Jackpot. This was like a student getting a peek at the test before the exam started,” Isenstadt writes.

“Trump was pissed” about the questions, which he thought were too aggressive, but the campaign “workshopped answers” with him, Isenstadt reported.

While it's unclear who might have had access to the town hall questions, there is no shortage of Fox employees who value Trump’s political success over questions of journalistic integrity. The network effectively fused with Trump’s first-term White House, as several network hosts served as his advisers and a revolving door opened up between Fox and his administration. The network’s fawning coverage of his 2024 campaign helped him win the GOP primary and the general election, and he has since named 17 current or former Fox staffers to top posts in his second administration.

(A Fox spokesperson told CNN that “we take these matters very seriously and plan to investigate should there prove to be a breach within the network,” a comical sentiment based on the network’s past handling of Trump-related ethics violations.)

For his part, Trump subsequently claimed that a campaign receiving the questions from a news outlet source before a high-profile event should trigger serious consequences for the host outlet.

Following his disastrous September 2024 debate performance, Trump alleged on his Truth Social platform that “People are saying that Comrade Kamala Harris had the questions from Fake News ABC. I would say it is very likely.” He went on to claim that if that were the case, “ABC’s license should be TERMINATED.”

The former president’s claims were total garbage and a reflection of his poor information diet. Trump subsequently made clear he was running with the claims of a random X poster — whose profile stated “Black Insurrectionist--I FOLLOW BACK TRUE PATRIOTS” — who claimed to be in possession of an affidavit from an “ABC whistleblower” which alleged that “the Harris campaign was given sample questions."

ABC categorically denied Black Insurrectionist’s claims, and the document he eventually released was rife with inconsistencies (which did not stop several prominent MAGA influencers and Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo from running with it). The Associated Press subsequently revealed that “Black Insurrectionist” was a white man who has “repeatedly been accused of defrauding business partners and lenders."

Trump’s threats of government retaliation, however, are deadly serious.

The Federal Communications Commission does not license broadcast networks — but it does license individual broadcast stations, including the eight owned and operated directly by ABC and the hundreds of additional affiliates. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Biden appointee, responded to Trump’s call by suggesting it runs afoul of the First Amendment.

But when Brendan Carr, a Republican FCC member and the author of Project 2025’s chapter on the commission, was asked about the controversy during a House hearing, he “would not answer if he believed the FCC had grounds to revoke the ABC license after the debate.” Trump has since named Carr to replace Rosenworcel as FCC chair — and Carr subsequently suggested in a letter to Bob Iger, CEO of ABC’s parent company, Disney, that his FCC would closely scrutinize ABC’s affiliate agreements.

Trump is an authoritarian who looks for any opportunity to punish news outlets he doesn’t like. But if Isenstadt’s story is accurate, he has no problem taking all the help he can get from favored ones.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

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