Tag: social media
Trump Releases His Latest Enemies List On Truth Social

Trump Releases His Latest Enemies List On Truth Social

Donald Trump has released a list of people he wants blacklisted from positions in his upcoming administration. The release of the list comes just a few weeks after Trump said he would not seek retribution against his detractors.

In November, after his election win, Trump told Fox News, “I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly, or even badly beyond comprehension.”

But on Wednesday night, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, “In order to save time, money, and effort, it would be helpful if you would not send, or recommend to us, people who worked with, or are endorsed by, Americans for No Prosperity (headed by Charles Koch), ‘Dumb as a Rock’ John Bolton, ‘Birdbrain’ Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, disloyal Warmongers Dick Cheney, and his Psycho daughter, Liz, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, General(?) Mark Milley, James Mattis, Mark Yesper, or any of the other people suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, more commonly known as TDS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

While some of the people and groups on Trump’s list are merely fellow travelers within the conservative movement who have disagreed with him (the right-wing Americans for Prosperity group) or who ran against him (failed presidential candidate Nikki Haley), many of them are figures who warned that Trump would engage in fascistic behavior during a second term.

Before retiring, Army Gen. Mark Milley served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump and was intimately involved in high-level national security issues during his administration. Milley later told journalist Bob Woodward that Trump was “fascist to the core,” and said, “He is the most dangerous person to this country.”

Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming served on the bipartisan committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol led by Trump supporters hoping to overturn the election he lost to President Joe Biden. Cheney often spoke out against Trump and said in October, “Donald Trump believes he will be immune for anything he does once he’s in office.” She endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign and said she agreed with Milley’s assessment that Trump is a fascist.

John Bolton served as Trump’s national security adviser. In the foreword to his book about his time in the administration, Bolton described Trump as “unfit” for the presidency. Bolton specifically criticized Trump for prioritizing his personal vendettas over the country’s interests.

Trump’s enemies list—something which is far outside of the bounds of normal political discourse—is another bit of evidence proving that the warnings of his fascistic tendencies were accurate.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

'Fascinating' GOP Split Over Impending Tik-Tok Ban

'Fascinating' GOP Split Over Impending Tik-Tok Ban

Republican senators are at odds over the looming ban of the social media website, TikTok, expected to take place Sunday, January 19 if the US Supreme Court doesn't stop or delay it.

Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio wrote via X on Thursday, "Fascinating political dynamics on TikTok. [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer (D-NY) just now backed a delay in implementation of the TikTok forced divestiture law that Congress passed last year, effectively siding with Trump. [Senator] Tom Cotton (R-AR) , Intel chair and No. 3 in leadership, blocked an effort to extend the deadline yesterday."

Desiderio also noted that after Senator [Ed] Markey (D-MA) attempted to extend the deadline, Cotton said: "Let me be crystal clear: there will be no extensions, no concessions, and no compromises for TikTok. ByteDance and the Chinese Communists had plenty of time to make a deal."

The Punchbowl News reporter added that he "asked [Senator Marco] Rubio (R-FL) last week about [President-elect Donald] Trump’s posture on TikTok," and found that the GOP lawmaker changed his position on the matter.

"Rubio is about to be secretary of State and was Congress’ loudest critic of TikTok & the national security risks associated with it," Deseterio wrote via X.

"If I’m confirmed as secretary of State, I’ll work for the president," Rubio said.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Trump Will Inherit Booming Economy, Declining Crime From Biden

Trump Will Inherit Booming Economy, Declining Crime From Biden

Two weeks ahead of the official start of his second presidency, Donald Trump is slamming the United States as a "disaster" on social media.

In a New York Times report published Sunday morning, White House correspondent Peter Baker lays out how current statistics defy the president-elect's claim.

"New data reported in the past few days indicate that murders are way down, illegal immigration at the southern border has fallen even below where it was when Mr. Trump left office and roaring stock markets finished their best two years in a quarter-century," Baker writes.

"Jobs are up, wages are rising and the economy is growing as fast as it did during Mr. Trump’s presidency," the Times correspondent continues. "Unemployment is as low as it was just before the Covid-19 pandemic and near its historic best. Domestic energy production is higher than it has ever been," Baker adds.

Furthermore, Baker reports "the America that Mr. Trump will inherit from President [Joe] Biden" beginning January 20 "is actually in better shape than that bequeathed to any newly elected president since George W. Bush came into office in 2001."

During his 2024 presidential campaign — and just weeks before his second term — Trump claimed "immigration, crime and inflation are out of control," Baker notes. However, he adds, the president-elect is moving back into the White House with an enviable hand to play, one that other presidents would have dearly loved on their opening day."

"President Ronald Reagan inherited double-digit inflation and an unemployment rate twice as high as today," the Times correspondent emphasizes. "President Barack Obama inherited two foreign wars and an epic financial crisis. Mr. Biden inherited a devastating pandemic and the resulting economic turmoil."

Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told the Times that the MAGA leader "is inheriting an economy that is about as good as it ever gets."

Zandi emphasized, "The U.S. economy is the envy of the rest of the world, as it is the only significant economy that is growing more quickly post-pandemic than prepandemic."

Similarly, University of Virginia’s Miller Center's director William J. Antholis told Baker that regardless of Trump's claims, the incoming president is "stepping into an improving situation."

Bates adds, "After inheriting an economy in free-fall and skyrocketing violent crime, President Biden is proud to hand his successor the best-performing economy on earth, the lowest violent crime rates in over 50 years, and the lowest border crossings in over four years.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Top Trump Staffer Warns Nominees To Refrain From Social Media Posting

Top Trump Staffer Warns Nominees To Refrain From Social Media Posting

Susie Wiles, Donald Trump’s pick for chief of staff, issued a memo last Sunday to Trump’s Cabinet nominees ordering them to stop making social media posts without approval ahead of the upcoming Senate confirmation hearings.

“All intended nominees should refrain from any public social media posts without prior approval of the incoming White House counsel,”the memo said, according to the New York Post.

Wiles also noted, “I am reiterating that no member of the incoming administration or Transition speaks for the United States or the President-elect himself.”

The missive comes after the spectacular flame out of former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general and the ongoing controversies of several other nominees, including Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mehmet Oz, and Tulsi Gabbard.

Gaetz’s nomination was withdrawn after the resurfacing of sordid allegations of illicit drug use and sexual behavior, including sending money to multiple women via PayPal and Venmo. Gaetz’s activity on social media was a key part of the controversy, as the House Ethics Committee's report notes.

“From 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use,” the report states.

Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, has been accused of financial mismanagement, sexual assault, and public drunkenness. In response to reporting on these allegations, Hegseth has taken to social media to complain about “anti-Christian bigotry” in the media, the “lying press”, and the “Left Wing hack groupProPublica.

Anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has also made strange social media posts. He recently posted a meme on X characterizing the medical industry as “financially dependent on you being sick,” as well as a video of himself with CGI-generated electric eyes and a link to his merchandise site.

An anonymous source with the Trump transition team claimed that the order to stop social media posts is not related to the recent online infighting between Trump megadonor Elon Musk and anti-immigration MAGA supporters. But the timing of the edict, coming directly from Trump’s right-hand woman, is extremely convenient.

Musk recently went on a posting frenzy, calling MAGA fans “upside-down and backwards” in their understanding of immigration issues, while telling one person to “take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face.”

The controversy generated international headlines, and Trump was dragged into commenting on the discussion—a less-than-ideal situation as he prepares for his inauguration.

Trump of all people telling others to be more mindful about social media posts is an ironic development. Trump made a name for himself as a political figure largely due to constantly posting inflammatory messages online. Most notoriously, he called on his supporters to protest the results of the 2020 election after losing to President Joe Biden.

“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” he wrote.

In the aftermath of his post, more than a thousand were arrested (including Trump), several related deaths occurred, and Trump was impeached for a second time.

But, hey, Trump’s Cabinet nominees won’t be posting on social media for a little while.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

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