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Directors of 'The Apprentice' Delighted As Trump Erupts In Fury

Directors of 'The Apprentice' Delighted As Trump Erupts In Fury

Former President Donald Trump railed against the new movie The Apprentice in a caps-locked tirade in a post on Truth Social, calling it “a politically disgusting hatchet job” that’s trying to hurt “the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country.”

He added, “My former wife, Ivana, was a kind and wonderful person, and I had a great relationship with her until the day she died. The writer of this pile of garbage, Gabe Sherman, a lowlife and talentless hack, who has long been widely discredited, knew that, but chose to ignore it. So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement, which is far bigger than any of us.”

Let’s just say it doesn’t seem like Trump is a fan.

The film’s director, Ali Abbasi, weighed in, extending a conversational olive branch to the Republican nominee. In a post on X, Abbasi said, “Thanks for getting back to us @realDonaldTrump. I am available to talk further if you want. Today is a tight day w a lot of press for #TheApprentice but i might be able to give you a call tomorrow.”

Then the film’s official account responded on X on Monday, “We couldn’t think of a better endorsement @RealDonaldTrump. #TheApprentice is Now Playing in Theaters nationwide!” Then, they posted a link to the film.

The official trailer, released in September, shows a mid-20s Trump as a protégé of big-time lawyer Roy Cohn in New York City in the early ’70s. The film chronicles his rise from slumlord to real estate mogul and his relationship with ex-wife, the late Ivana Trump.

Throughout the trailer, Trump takes pointers, learning “the rules” from his right-wing mentor—and Joseph McCarthy lapdog—as Cohn instructs Trump to “Attack, attack, attack.” Other popular Cohn mantras were to “Admit nothing, deny everything,” and to “Claim victory and never admit defeat.” It’s an ominous map to what we now know has become part of Trump’s political playbook.

The film stars Avengers actor Sebastian Stan as Trump, and Succession actor Jeremy Strong as Cohn.

Due to Trump’s litigious history, including a direct threat of a cease and desist letter, Hollywood studios veered away from making the movie. According to Salon, the producers could not get a distribution deal despite playing to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Briarcliff Entertainment and Open Road Films CEO Tom Ortenberg, who worked on the award-winning journalistic film Spotlight, stepped in and made sure the film would see the light of day.

Now, Trump has raised another potential legal battle for The Apprentice: “Do they even have the right to use that name without approval?” he wrote. Is Trump suggesting he may pursue the film for copyright infringement?

The movie was released on October 11. They say you are the company you keep, and this film shows quite the relationship between Trump and Cohn, who has often been described as “evil.” With only three weeks left until Election Day, here’s hoping the movie makes it even more clear who America should vote to put back into the White House.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

As Helene Toll Rises, GOP Governor Rebuts Trump's Hurricane Of Lies

As Helene Toll Rises, GOP Governor Rebuts Trump's Hurricane Of Lies

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida last Thursday, battering states like North Carolina and Georgia, leaving many areas without power or water, and claiming the lives of more than 120 people. And in the face of this disaster, Donald Trump has chosen to play politics.

Posting on his Truth Social platform Monday, he levied evidence-free attacks against both President Joe Biden’s administration and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina. “[I] don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. MAGA!” he wrote.

Reports by whom? Trump himself?

As the Associated Press reports, “Asheville, which was devastated by the storm, is solidly Democratic, as is much of Buncombe County, which surrounds it.”

But Trump didn’t stop there.

After Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement on X that she had spoken with Cooper and FEMA regarding search-and-rescue efforts, Trump posted a screenshot of the statement and replied in a manner reminiscent of a scorned teenager.

“Another FAKE and STAGED photo from someone who has no clue what she is doing,” Trump wrote, referring to an image of Harris working that accompanied her statement. “Biden and Harris … sacrificed Americans to an Open Border, and now, they have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”

After Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement on X that she had spoken with Cooper and FEMA regarding search-and-rescue efforts, Trump posted a screenshot of the statement and replied in a manner reminiscent of a scorned teenager.

“Another FAKE and STAGED photo from someone who has no clue what she is doing,” Trump wrote, referring to an image of Harris working that accompanied her statement. “Biden and Harris … sacrificed Americans to an Open Border, and now, they have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”

He even trotted his false claims out in person, telling reporters in Valdosta, Georgia, that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was “having a hard time getting the president on the phone. I guess they’re not—they’re not being responsive.”

However, that differs significantly from Kemp’s version of events. During a press conference on Monday, Kemp said that he’d spoken to Biden on Sunday. And according to the Georgia governor, Biden asked him, “Hey, what do you need?”

“I told him we got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process,” Kemp told reporters. “He offered that if there‘s other things we need, just to call him directly, which I appreciate that.”

The Biden-Harris administration is putting their heads down, working with government agencies and state governors to save lives and clean up the devastation, as Trump goes on typical social media outbursts, drawing divisive lines in the sand. And it’s the American people who suffer.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Clay Higgins

Ultra-MAGA Rep. Higgins Deletes Racist Social Post Slurring Haitians

A Louisiana congressman’s post on X claiming that Haitian people participate in “eating pets,” practice “vudu,” and come from the “nastiest country in the western hemisphere” sparked widespread outrage on Wednesday.

“All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th,” Rep. Clay Higgins’ post concluded. (Note: These immigrants from Haiti are in the United States legally.)

Two hours later, the racist post was deleted from the Republican House member’s official account, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus were calling for Higgins to be censured.

Higgins’ diatribe was sparked by a Haitian community group in Springfield, Ohio, filing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, after they repeatedly—and falsely—claimed Haitian immigrants were kidnapping and eating cats and dogs.

While the claims were quickly debunked by city officials, that hasn't stopped Trump and Vance from continuing to spread the lie—and it hasn’t kept MAGA supporters from believing it. Springfield residents have faced tangible consequences as a result of the racist political rhetoric, with bomb threats forcing local children to evacuate from their schools.

Higgins, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, decided to pile on with his latest despicable tirade. The former cop and car dealership manager has a history of antidemocratic, racist, and violent behavior.

In 2016, Higgins resigned as captain of the St. Landy Parish Sheriff’s office after a viral video showed him threatening a group of Black gang members and calling them “thugs,” “heathens,” and “animals,” according to The Washington Post.

In 2020, during protests in response to the police murder of George Floyd, Higgins made alarming threats against black protesters in Louisiana.

"I'd drop any 10 of you where you stand," Higgins wrote in a post that was also quickly deleted. "Nothing personal. We just eliminate the threat. We don't care what color you are. We don't care if you're left or right. If you show up like this, if we recognize threat...you won't walk away."

The Acadiana Advocate reported that Facebook removed the post because it violated the site’s “violence and incitement” policy.

During a 2021 interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Higgins asserted that fraud was committed during the 2020 election. When prompted by Sciutto to “cite one example” of his evidence, Higgins couldn’t muster any answers other than repeating, “We have preponderance of evidence.”

In 2023, on the day Trump was indicted for his handling of classified documents, Higgins posted some vaguely threatening instructions on the site then known as Twitter.

“This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors,” he wrote. “Hold. rPOTUS has this. Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Higgins’ post was “vile, racist, and beneath the House of Representatives” in a post on X.

“The extreme MAGA Republicans in the House are unfit to govern,” Jeffries said.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Trump

New FBI Statistics Destroy Trump's Constant Hyping Of Violent Crime

If you follow GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s social media account or watch Fox News, you might believe that stepping out of your house means you’re plummeting into a dangerous, post-apocalyptic world.

You’re probably paranoid that strolling down any major city street could result in being mugged, beaten, or murdered by the usual scapegoats—immigrants. Because according to the right-wing’s favorite talking points, immigration and homicide are wreaking havoc on major American cities.

But here are the facts: Violent crime fell 3% in 2023, while murder and manslaughter dipped by 11.6%, according to new data from the FBI. And as for those big cities that, according to Trump and his surrogates, are in anarchic free fall? Crime rates there are down for the second consecutive year.

Urban areas have long been a target for Republican ire and right-wing media criticism. But the FBI statistics show that cities with more than 1 million residents saw the most significant dips in violent crime, with a 7% decrease from 2022 to 2023.

While the homicide rate surged by 30% during the COVID-19 pandemic, that number has since fallen and violent crime rates overall are now back down to pre-pandemic levels from 2019—when Trump was in office.

The former president has made railing against “out of control” crime in deeply blue cities a 2024 campaign talking point, consistently blaming Democrats and their “soft on crime” policies as well as police reform efforts. That did not stop 100 law enforcement leaders representing the nonpartisan group Police Leaders for Community Safety from endorsing Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, for president on Monday.

These new statistics won’t stop Trump’s torrent of lies. In fact, as Daily Kos’ Oliver Willis reports, the more lies Trump tells, the further his supporters become entrenched in them. A new study from Harvard Kennedy School’s Misinformation Review revealed that if one of Trump’s claims is labeled as ‘disputed,” his voters are more inclined to believe it.

“With crime at record levels, with terrorists and criminals pouring in and with inflation eating your hearts out, vote for Donald Trump,” he said to thousands at a New York rally Wednesday. “What the hell do you have to lose?”

Trump reiterated this lie at the September 10 debate against Harris.

“We have a new crime. It’s migrant crime and it’s happening at levels that nobody thought possible,” he said. When ABC host David Muir fact-checked Trump’s statement and clarified that violent crime is actually down, Trump pivoted to another false talking point, claiming the FBI’s data was faulty because it didn’t include the worst cities.

The latest FBI data includes Democratic-majority cities like Seattle, Portland, Baltimore, and Los Angeles, to name a few.

Congressional GOP leaders are happy to echo Trump’s deceitful rhetoric.

“Make no mistake—this uptick in violence is the direct result of the radical Democrats’ soft-on-crime politics and the defund the police movement,” GOP Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota said at a GOP press conference during National Police Week in May.

The latest FBI data may not change the minds of MAGA supporters, but that doesn't mean that falsehoods shouldn’t be called out and refuted. Facts matter—especially because some of us still want to live in a world of truth, not paranoia and xenophobia.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.