Republican Hypocrisy
Should This Two Faced Monstrosity Be the Symbol of the
New MAGA Republican Party????
Embedded Files
Next Meeting: 01/12/26, 7 PM, Ozark-Dale Library
Focus On Republican Hypocrisy (Post 2024 Election):
Video: ProPublica report: Trump’s own mortgages echo his definition of mortgage fraud - December 09, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVOP2L9RgPk
Trump’s Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-mortgage-fraud-florida-principal-residences
Comment: "The Trump administration has argued that Fed board member Lisa Cook may have committed mortgage fraud by declaring more than one primary residence on her loans. We found Trump once did the very thing he called 'deceitful and potentially criminal'."
Comment: "For months, the Trump administration has been accusing its political enemies of mortgage fraud for claiming more than one primary residence."
"President Donald Trump branded one foe who did so 'deceitful and potentially criminal.' He called another 'CROOKED' on Truth Social and pushed the attorney general to take action."
"But years earlier, Trump did the very thing he’s accusing his enemies of, records show."
"In 1993, Trump signed a mortgage for a 'Bermuda style' home in Palm Beach, Florida, pledging that it would be his principal residence. Just seven weeks later, he got another mortgage for a seven-bedroom, marble-floored neighboring property, attesting that it too would be his principal residence."
"In reality, Trump, then a New Yorker, does not appear to have ever lived in either home, let alone used them as a principal residence. Instead, the two houses, which are next to his historic Mar-a-Lago estate, were used as investment properties and rented out, according to contemporaneous news accounts and an interview with his longtime real estate agent — exactly the sort of scenario his administration has pointed to as evidence of fraud."
Candidate Trump vowed to make America affordable again. President Trump says it’s a ‘scam’ | CNN Business
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/business/prices-trump-affordable-jobs
Video: 'Consequences for abject war crimes': Hegseth in 2016 takes a very different tone on unlawful orders - December 03, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rvn3EQh1VM
Comment: Contrast Hegseth's 2016 statement with the Trump administrative response to Sen. Mark Kelly's recent statement regarding proper military response to illegal military orders.
U.S. requested resumption of migrant flights to Venezuela after Trump's airspace closure assertion, Maduro's government says
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-requested-resumption-migrants-flights-venezuela/
Comment: "U.S.-operated flights returning deported migrants to Venezuela will continue despite President Trump's assertion that the airspace of the South American country should be considered closed."
"The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday announced that the twice-weekly flights will go on following a request from the Trump administration. That reverses a Venezuelan government Saturday announcement indicating that U.S. immigration authorities had unilaterally suspended the flights."
"An overflight and landing application submitted Monday by U.S.-based Eastern Airlines requests permission for an arrival Wednesday. The agreement authorizes flights on a Boeing 777-200 from Phoenix, Arizona, to land at Maiquetía International Airport, the Venezuelan government said. The application was made public Tuesday by Venezuela's foreign affairs minister."
Trump move to pardon Honduras’s ex-president shows counter-drug effort is ‘based on lies and hypocrisy’
Comment: "He was a Latin American president accused of colluding with some of the region’s most ruthless narco bosses to flood the United States with cocaine."
" '[Let’s] stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos,' the double-dealing politician once allegedly bragged as he lined his pockets with millions of dollars in bribes and turned his country into what many called a narco-state."
"The description might sound like a sketch of Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, who Donald Trump’s administration has accused of being a 'narco-terrorist' kingpin and is trying to topple with a $50m bounty and a huge display of military might off the South American country’s Caribbean coast."
"But it is actually a portrait – painted by US prosecutors, no less – of the former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who Trump last week pledged to pardon, despite the fact that Hernández was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for allegedly creating 'a cocaine superhighway to the United States'."
Comment: "Why would the US president use his 'war on drugs' as a justification for overthrowing Maduro – despite what many see as flimsy evidence that the Venezuelan leader really is a narco boss – while simultaneously offering a Get Out of Jail Free card to a man already found guilty of such crimes in a Manhattan federal court."
"Why had Trump spent recent weeks blowing up alleged narco boats in the Caribbean – with negligible impact on flow of drugs to the US – and at the same time decided to let a big-time trafficker convicted of smuggling far larger quantities of drugs off the hook?"
" 'It just shows that the entire counter-drug effort of Donald Trump is a charade – it’s based on lies, it’s based on hypocrisy,” said Mike Vigil, the former DEA chief for international operations. 'He is giving a pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández and then going after Nicolas Maduro … It’s all hypocritical.' "
In Announcing Pardon of Drug Trafficker While Threatening Venezuela, Trump Displays Contradictions
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/us/politics/trump-honduras-venezuela.html
Trump to pardon ex-Honduras leader serving drug trafficking sentence in US
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/28/trump-pardon-honduras-hernandez-drugs
Comment: "Hernández was convicted in 2024 of accepting millions in bribes to protect cocaine shipments"
Comment: "In March of last year, Hernández was convicted in US courts of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect US-bound cocaine shipments belonging to traffickers he once publicly proclaimed to combat. Speaking during closing arguments at the trial, assistant US attorney Jacob Gutwillig said Hernández had 'paved a cocaine superhighway to the United States'."
Comment: "Trump’s announcement to pardon Hernández comes even as the Republican leader casts himself as being tough on combating drug problems."
" Trump’s administration designated multiple drug cartels as 'foreign terrorist organizations' and used claims of a 'war on drugs' to justify deadly airstrikes on vessels across the Caribbean and Pacific. These strikes have prompted the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations to condemn the operations as extrajudicial executions."
Comment: Trump claims to be fighting drug trafficking and then pardons one of the leaders in the activity. How's that for hypocrisy! Who says crime doesn't pay, especially when you've got friends like Donald Trump?
Video: Trump officials struggle to message affordability to voters - November 25, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_WJm3xEVoc
'Mind-Boggling': Ex-White House Aide Exposes GOP's 'Absolutely Insane' Trump Hypocrisy
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/mind-boggling-ex-white-house-030559729.html
Comment: "Sarah Matthews, an ex-White House aide to Donald Trump, took on the current administration’s 'gaslighting' on Friday after the president boosted a social media post calling for the execution of Democrats in Congress."
Comment: "In addition to Trump sharing a Truth Social user's call to 'HANG THEM' in response to Democratic veterans urging military members to refuse unlawful orders, he declared that 'SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR' was 'punishable by DEATH' in another post."
"Matthews — a White House deputy press secretary in Trump’s first term who resigned after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — said it’s 'absolutely insane' that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other Trump officials are defending the post."
" 'If this was any other president, we would be having conversations about the 25 Amendment if they were calling for the opposing party — members of the opposing party, to be hanged,' Matthews said."
"She countered Leavitt for claiming that the Democrats could incite violence due to their video."
“ 'To me, it looks like the president is the one very clearly inciting violence here,' Matthews said."
"She also pointed to politicians and others talking about a need to 'tone down the rhetoric' in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination."
“ 'But instead the president is the one who keeps continuing to just ratchet it up,' she said."
RELATED Video: Democrats and Republicans react to Trump's "seditious behavior" post after video emerges - November 21, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CXCt_F2gCE
Republicans hyped the Epstein files for years. Now Trump is under pressure to deliver
Comment: "What began as a campaign-trail promise to release the Jeffrey Epstein files has become one of the most fraught tests of President Donald Trump’s second term — opening a rift in his political coalition and raising the stakes for an administration now under intense pressure to produce documents that may fall far short of public expectations."
"The issue came to a head this week. After months of efforts by the Trump administration to quash it, both chambers of Congress passed a measure forcing the release of the Epstein files with near-anonymous [SIC] support. Trump, who changed course days before the vote to bless the effort, signed the legislation Wednesday, starting a 30-day window for the Justice Department to deliver the records."
"Expectations are sky-high, fueled by years of conspiracy theories promoted by many now in Trump’s orbit. Yet with some claims — such as a rumored 'client list' of prominent men linked to Epstein — already deemed nonexistent by federal officials, the anti-establishment coalition Trump built in part by elevating those theories is showing cracks that may widen with the anticipated release."
Comment: Are previous unfounded statements (lies?) and exaggerations going to come back to haunt the MAGA faithful, or is the ugly truth about certain elite perverts going to be covered up? If nothing new and substantial is discovered in the Epstein files, we may never truly know which of these two possibilities is true. That is going to frustrate a lot of MAGA voters.
Justice Department quietly replaced 'identical' Trump signatures on recent pardons
Comment: "The Justice Department posted pardons online bearing identical copies of President Donald Trump’s signature before quietly correcting them this week after what the agency called a 'technical error'."
"The replacements came after online commenters seized on striking similarities in the president's signature across a series of pardons dated Nov. 7, including those granted to former New York Mets player Darryl Strawberry, former Tennessee House speaker Glen Casada and former New York police sergeant Michael McMahon. In fact, the signatures on several pardons initially uploaded to the Justice Department's website were identical, two forensic document experts confirmed to The Associated Press."
"Within hours of the online speculation, the administration replaced copies of the pardons with new ones that did not feature identical signatures. It insisted Trump, who mercilessly mocked his predecessor’s use of an autopen, had originally signed all the Nov. 7 pardons himself and blamed 'technical' and staffing issues for the error, which has no bearing on the validity of the clemency actions."
"The questions about Trump’s signature come amid a new flurry of clemency and weeks after the president claimed to not even know Changpeng Zhao, a crypto billionaire he pardoned last month. He said in an interview with 60 Minutes that the case had been 'a Biden witch hunt'."
Comment: "Trump has been an outspoken critic of Biden's use of the autopen to conduct executive business, going as far as to display a picture of one such device in place of a portrait of his predecessor in a new 'Presidential Walk of Fame' he created along the West Wing colonnade. His Republican allies in Congress last month released a blistering critique of Biden's alleged 'diminished faculties' and mental state during his term that ranked the Democrat’s use of the autopen among 'the greatest scandals in U.S. history'."
Comment: Evidence suggests that an autopen was used to sign some of Trump's pardons. Yet Biden was criticized unmercifully by Trump for using an autopen, and Trump suggested, without evidence, that others, besides Biden had used an autopen to sign pardons while Biden suffered "diminished faculties." Please contrast that unproven claim about Biden with Trump's recent statement that he did "not even know Changpeng Zhao, a crypto billionaire he pardoned last month." How's that for hypocrisy?
Trump Organization requested record number of foreign workers in 2025
https://thehill.com/business/5603478-trump-organization-foreign-workers-2025/
Comment: "The Trump Organization requested 184 foreign workers to work across various company properties, a record number that has increased over the years."
"The company sought to hire workers through H-2A and H-2B visas for temporary positions at Mar-a-Lago, two golf clubs and at Trump Vineyard Estates in Charlottesville, Va., according to data from the Department of Labor."
"Over the course of Trump’s first term and the first nine months of his second term, the Trump Organization’s visa requests increased from 121 in 2021 to 184 in 2025, according to Forbes. Overall, the company has filed to hire 566 foreign laborers, primarily to work as servers, farm workers, kitchen staff, clerks and housekeepers."
Comment: "Trump previously defended bringing in foreign workers on visas on Fox News’s 'The Ingraham Angle' on Tuesday. He argued the U.S. does not have enough people with 'certain talents' to do particular jobs."
Comment: So, Trump is saying he has to bring in foreign workers because U.S. laborers don't have the talents to "work as servers, farm workers, kitchen staff, clerks, and housekeepers." Unbelievable hypocrisy!
BBC: Trump: US to boycott G20 in South Africa over white farmer 'abuses'
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgzek4rl8lo
Comment: "Donald Trump has said the US will not attend the G20 summit in South Africa over widely discredited claims that white people are being persecuted in the country."
"The US president said it was a 'total disgrace' that South Africa is hosting the meeting, where leaders from the world's largest economies will gather in Johannesburg later this month."
"South Africa's foreign ministry described the decision by the White House as 'regrettable', while a spokesman for the foreign ministry, Chrispin Phiri, told BBC News that the success of the summit will not 'rest on one member state'."
"None of South Africa's political parties claim that there is a genocide in South Africa."
"That includes parties that represent Afrikaners and the white community in general."
"Speaking to the Newshour programme, Mr Phiri said that Trump was "orchestrating an imagined crisis… using the painful history of South Africa's colonial past".
Comment: So, Trump is boycotting a major economic conference attended by some of the largest industrial economies in the world because of an imagined persecution of a group of white settlers in South Africa. Since when does Trump care about minority racial populations, given his statements made against and actions taken against non-white racial minorities in the United States?
California Republicans vow to continue fighting Prop 50
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/05/california-republicans-fighting-prop-50-00639097
Comment: So it's OK for Republican controlled state legislatures around the country to redraw congressional districts around the country for political advantage, but it's not OK for California citizens to directly approve the redrawing of their congressional districts in response to Republican efforts elsewhere? In a perfect world, congressional districts would not be subject to political manipulation. However, Trump and the GOP started this redistricting practice, and the vast majority of California citizens felt a need to respond.
Kash Patel Takes $60M FBI Jet to See Girlfriend 2 Years After Slamming His Predecessor for Using Government Plane
Comment: "Two years after criticizing his predecessor Chris Wray for 'private jet travel that he pays for with taxpayer dollars to hop around the country,' FBI Director Kash Patel allegedly used a government plane to see his girlfriend"
"Patel flew on a $60 million FBI jet to see country singer Alexis Wilkins, who he is dating, perform 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at a wrestling event in State College, Pa."
"After reports surfaced that he used a government-owned plane to travel to Pennsylvania to see his girlfriend perform the national anthem, Patel reportedly fired the official in charge of the FBI's fleet of airplanes, Stephen Palmer"
Comment: "Patel's personal travel has been a source of controversy since at least April, when CBS News reported that he used a government-owned jet to make two separate round-trip flights from Washington, D.C. to New York City in the same weekend, among other personal trips."
"In April, the FBI director traveled to a New York charity hockey event, then returned to Washington, D.C. The following night, he returned to watch the New York Islanders play the Washington Capitals in a luxury box alongside Wayne Gretzky, according to CBS News."
"Vermont Sen. Peter Welch questioned Patel about his personal travel in a September hearing. 'By the way, everyday FBI agents who are assigned in Washington don’t get to fly home on a private jet,' Welch told Patel. In response, Patel pointed out that Congress had made it 'mandatory' for him to use private jets."
" 'Well, we didn’t make it mandatory that you go to UFC games with Mel Gibson,' Welch replied, referencing a March MMA fight in Las Vegas that Patel attended alongside the actor."
Dick Cheney created the ground for Trump’s excesses, despite their differences
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/04/dick-cheney-trump
Comment: Not sure if this can be classified as "hypocrisy", but it is ironic. Hate to speak ill of the recently deceased, so on a positive note, let's just say that Dick Cheney (and his daughter Liz) did speak out against Trump during the 2024 election and endorsed Kamala Harris. However, some of Dick Cheney's actions as vice president under George W. Bush were troubling.
Comment: Please read the linked article for an historical analysis.
Mike Johnson Cornered Over Wild Trump Pardon Hypocrisy
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-johnson-cornered-over-wild-trump-pardon-hypocrisy/
Comment: "House Speaker Mike Johnson found himself tangled in his own rhetoric when confronted with President Donald Trump’s admission that he didn’t know the crypto billionaire he’d recently pardoned."
"CNN’s Manu Raju pressed Johnson on Capitol Hill about the apparent contradiction between his past attacks on President Joe Biden’s use of clemency and Trump’s own on-air confession during his 60 Minutes interview Sunday."
" 'Last week, you came here to these mics and you were very critical of Joe Biden’s use of the auto pen. You said he didn’t even know who he was pardoning, but last night on 60 Minutes, President Trump admitted not knowing he pardoned a crypto billionaire who pleaded guilty to money laundering. Does that also concern you?' Raju asked Monday."
"Johnson replied: 'I don’t know anything about that. I didn’t see the interview. You have to ask the president about that. I’m not sure.' "
"The exchange came just days after Johnson had accused Biden of being unaware of who he was pardoning, describing the actions as 'invalid on their face.' His comments followed a report released by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee that accused Biden’s aides of concealing signs of 'mental decline' and alleged he may have authorized pardons without full awareness."
Video: ‘Grifting off the Presidency’ Fmr. Trump official blasts GOP’s excuses for his corruption - November 2, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uxKi56DxQQ
Comment: "Former DHS Chief of Staff during Donald Trump's first administration Miles Taylor, and former Special Counsel Norm Eisen join The Weekend to discuss Trump’s ongoing retribution campaign at the DOJ and how his family is cashing in on the Presidency."
The Hill: Marco Rubio, the grand USAID hypocrite
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5563587-rubio-usaid-funding-criticism/
Comment: "As the Trump administration devises wasteful, nonsensical plans to spend what remains of congressionally appropriated foreign assistance funds during a government shutdown, fired employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development watch from the sidelines."
"Just before nearly all of USAID's remaining staff left their jobs last month, Secretary Marco Rubio jokingly tweeted from his official account that he had handed off one of his four jobs to Russell Vought, director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Referring to USAID, Rubio tweeted, 'Russ is now at the helm to oversee the closeout of an agency that long ago went off the rails. Congrats, Russ.' "
Comment: "What Rubio utterly failed to acknowledge in his brief stint as acting USAID administrator, while railing indiscriminately against its staff and programs, is that every single U.S. taxpayer dollar that USAID spent was dictated by Congress, a body in which he had direct influence over USAID’s budget for 14 years. Especially as a senior member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he chaired and participated in hearings at which senior USAID officials testified, received briefings from USAID staff and, most significantly, shaped the annual laws that funded USAID."
Comment: "'The rigidity of funding directives and intense scrutiny and oversight to which USAID was beholden by law left little room for USAID to veer off the course that Congress set. Given Rubio’s direct role in legislating USAID’s budget and programs, his mockery suggests that either he did not take his previous role seriously, or he has gone off the rails to maintain his standing in this administration, leaving our country less secure and weaker as the shutdown drags on."
Pardoned Capitol rioter charged with threatening to kill Hakeem Jeffries at NYC event this week
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pardoned-capitol-rioter-charged-threatening-hakeem-jeffries-nyc-trump/
Comment: "A pardoned Capitol rioter was arrested last weekend for allegedly threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries."
"Court documents obtained by CBS News said Christopher Moynihan was arrested Sunday after saying in text messages that he planned to 'eliminate' Jeffries when the top House Democrat spoke at an event in New York City on Monday."
Comment: "According to a court filing by prosecutors in the New York state criminal case, Moynihan wrote, 'Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live.' "
"Moynihan also allegedly stated: 'Even if I am hated, he must be eliminated, I will kill him for the future,' the filing said."
"Moynihan faces a felony charge of making a terroristic threat, according to court filings shared by prosecutors."
"In a statement on Tuesday, Jeffries noted that Moynihan had been pardoned by Mr. Trump on his first day in office and that 'many of the criminals released have committed additional crimes throughout the country.' But Jeffries added that 'threats of violence will not stop us from showing up, standing up and speaking up for the American people.' "
Comment: "Moynihan is not the first pardoned Capitol rioter to be arrested on new, separate charges. But he is the first to be charged with making a violent threat against a member of Congress."
"Critics of the president's blanket pardons of Jan. 6 defendants have warned about the risk of recidivism by rioters, many of whom remained defiant and unapologetic about their roles in the attack. The rioters have been defended and lionized publicly as 'hostages' by Mr. Trump.
Comment: I thought the Republicans were the "law & order" political party. Apparently not, if the criminal is a MAGA Trump supporter.
Comment: The Republicans accused the peaceful 'No Kings" protesters of being violent radicals, while trump pardoned convicted violent radicals. What hypocrisy!
Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Who Scrutinized Hunter Biden's Business Dealings, Just Quietly Went into Business with Donald Trump Jr.
https://people.com/fox-news-laura-ingraham-joins-business-venture-with-donald-trump-jr-11833251
Comment: "Fox News host Laura Ingraham is joining a venture with Donald Trump Jr. after years of framing Hunter Biden's business dealings as a conflict of interest for President Joe Biden."
Comment: "Ingraham's involvement with Don Jr. on a MAGA-oriented venture introduces what some have characterized as potential conflicts of interest as she continues to regularly cover President Trump and his family on her show. The Ingraham Angle, which airs on Fox News every weeknight, covers politics, business and legal matters."
"Left-leaning watchdog Media Matters expressed concerns that Ingraham, 62, could financially benefit from a business plan that is only as successful as the MAGA movement — and be financially harmed by questioning the 'sprawling business interests' of Don Jr. on her show. The outlet also opined that someone who is brought into a business venture because of their loyalty to MAGA could feel more pressure to remain loyal."
Comment: "Fox News, meanwhile, gave the president's daughter-in-law Lara Trump her own weekend program in February, marking the first known time that a sitting president's family member has been platformed with a TV show."
Comment: What's the big deal about a little "conflict of interest" at Faux News? Conflict of interest only applies to Democrats. [sarcasm added]
Comment: Does this sound hypocritical to you?
ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos: Johnson defends calling anti-Trump protests 'hate America' rallies
Comment: How many lies and misrepresentations can Mike Johnson tell? It's a shame we can't put Johnson on a polygraph as he spews this BS.
GOP split over how to respond to racist texts
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/18/gop-split-over-how-to-respond-to-racist-texts-00614304
Comment: "When POLITICO approached Rep. Elise Stefanik this month with hate-filled messages from the same Young Republicans she backed and bankrolled for years, her condemnation was swift and full-throated."
"Hours after the story published — and just minutes after Vice President JD Vance derided criticisms of the chat as 'pearl clutching' — Stefanik pivoted to attacking Democrats. She derided POLITICO’s story as a 'hit piece' and those across the aisle raising alarm about it as 'hyperventilating.' "
The Bulwark: The Obamacare Repeal Movement Is Dead. Long Live Obamacare Repeal.
Comment: "To hear Republicans tell it, the current health care system is an abject mess that they—not Democrats—are keen on fixing."
" 'Let me look right into the camera and tell you clearly: Republicans are the ones concerned about health care,' House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Monday. 'Republicans are the party working around the clock to fix health care.' ”
"Johnson’s remarks provided a rhetorical strategy for other Republicans to use as they push back on Democrats’ demands to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies, the concession they are insisting upon in exchange for helping reopen the government. They want to create the impression that Republicans intend to push broader health care legislation once the government actually reopens."
"But there’s a problem. If you ask those same Republicans the logical follow-up question—will they move to repeal and replace Obamacare to fix health care?—they get a little shy. In conversations I had with several of them this week, Johnson’s GOP colleagues danced around whether they intend to pursue a comprehensive health policy overhaul. Obamacare is definitely bad, they still insisted, but their remarks often cease there, with no word on how they think it should be fixed, or if it should even be repealed."
Comment: "But when asked whether Republicans would take up the cause of repeal-and-replace again, Moreno said any GOP plan would likely not come until the next Congress, and then, only so long as Republicans defend their majorities. His reasoning is that Democrats would be more likely to negotiate on a conservative health care bill if they continued to lose elections."
Comment: "For years, the campaign to repeal and replace Obamacare was a Republican rally mainstay, held up as the party’s central policy offer to voters in election after election. But they never actually acted on the pledge, even when they were in a position to do so. The GOP got so used to repeatedly assuring reporters and the public that their new health care initiative was just around the corner that the claim turned into a running joke among health care reporters on the Hill."
Comment: With regard to healthcare, the GOP response seems to be the proverbial claim that "the check's in the mail."
The Daily Beast: MAGA’s New Charlie Kirk Caught Asking for Thousands in Sting
CNN: These candidates all interned for Mitch McConnell. Now they’re attacking each other for associating with him
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/25/politics/mitch-mcconnell-kentucky-senate-primary
Comment: Just shows how the former Republican party has gone full MAGA (even worse). Shows how GOP candidates will shift their positions to adjust to new political realities, regardless of prior relationships and allegiances.
AP News: Black church leaders reject Charlie Kirk martyrdom and point to his race rhetoric
Comment: "How Charlie Kirk is being memorialized — with many conservatives and white Christians, particularly evangelicals, emphasizing his faith and labeling him a martyr — has sparked debate among Black clergy, who are trying to square a heroic view of the 31-year-old with insulting statements about people of color that were key to his political activism."
" 'How you die does not redeem how you lived,' the Rev. Howard-John Wesley, of Alexandria, Virginia, said in a sermon in the aftermath of Kirk’s killing that has amassed tens of thousands of views online."
"From the pulpits of Black churches, pastors used their sermons to denounce what they called hateful rhetoric from Kirk that runs counter to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. In a packed football stadium in Arizona, tens of thousands of people celebrated Kirk in a religious-themed memorial as a martyr and inspirational and principled conservative hero."
"Many Black pastors in the largest African American Christian denominations linked the veneration of Kirk — who used his platform to discuss matters of race in America, including statements that denigrated Black people, immigrants, women, Muslims and LGBTQ+ people — to the history of weaponizing faith to justify colonialism, enslavement and bigotry."
Comment: " 'We can call it Christian-esque, but it’s white nationalism wrapped in talk of Jesus,' Lewis said in an interview this week. 'And it’s not Christian. It’s just not.' ”
"Now, Lewis and others said, Black pastors must speak boldly, looking to their tradition of speaking out against those who promote racism."
Comment: It's not only Black pastors that should speak out. White pastors should also speak 'out against those who promote racism'.
Republicans who came to Congress to fight the deficit face attacks for raising it under Trump
Comment: "Some Republicans who spent years railing about the national debt, including those in tough reelection races, are facing blowback over their votes for Trump's "big, beautiful bill."
Obama calls Jimmy Kimmel suspension "government coercion"
https://www.axios.com/2025/09/18/obama-jimmy-kimmel-trump-suspension
Comment: "Former President Obama condemned ABC for pulling Jimmy Kimmel off the air Thursday, calling it 'government coercion' by a Trump administration official."
Comment: "Obama, who infrequently wades into political fights, joined other high-profile personalities in accusing the administration of hypocrisy [emphasis added] for threatening broadcasters after the MAGA movement spent years railing against 'cancel culture' and 'censorship'."
The crackdown on Charlie Kirk critics has ignited a free speech debate. Legal experts say it sets a dangerous precedent. - CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-charlie-kirk-free-speech-first-amendment/
Comment: "In the week since conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a Utah university event, comments from some of his critics have ignited a battle over free speech in an increasingly polarized nation."
"Kirk, who routinely debated progressive students at his Turning Point USA events and espoused controversial opinions on his podcast, was a stalwart proponent of the First Amendment."
" 'Hate speech does not exist legally in America,' he wrote on X last year. 'There's ugly speech. There's gross speech. There's evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.' "
"But over the last several days, the administration he supported and the president he helped reelect have vowed to crack down on some speech about his death."
The Guardian: US treasury secretary reportedly made similar mortgage pledge to Lisa Cook
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/sep/17/scott-bessent-mortgage-principal-residence
Comment: The Trump administration chooses to prosecute Lisa Cook for fraud, but no action is taken against US treasury secretary Scott Bessent. It's all part of Trump's attempt to fire Cook from the Federal Reserve "for cause".
Comment: "A US appeals court on Monday declined to allow Trump to fire her. The White House has said it will appeal the decision to the US supreme court. Trump’s justice department also has launched a criminal mortgage fraud inquiry into Cook, issuing grand jury subpoenas in Georgia and Michigan, Reuters previously reported."
The Daily Beast: Donald Trump Pledges National Healing While Attacking Left-Wing ‘Lunatics’
Trump's partisan double standard for assassinations is chilling
Comment: "In his sharply differing reactions to two high-profile assassinations of political figures this year, the president of the United States has effectively encouraged the public to apply a partisan lens to the value of human life."
"The two killings in question — a lone wolf assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman in June and the shooting of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at a Utah Valley University speaking event this past week — elicited very different kinds of treatment from the White House. President Donald Trump gave scant attention to Hortman’s killing, while he framed the killing of Kirk as a cataclysmic national tragedy and a political rallying cry for the right."
"Republican lives matter more than Democratic lives, Trump is effectively telling his base. And in a shocking comment on 'Fox & Friends' on Friday, Trump appeared to use Kirk’s assassination to explicitly designate political violence a partisan issue too, by defending violent right-wing extremists as sharing his political goals of bringing down 'crime' and left-wing extremists as 'the problem'.”
Trump says ‘we have to beat the hell’ out of ‘radical left lunatics’ after Kirk killing
Comment: "President Donald Trump on Thursday told reporters that 'we just have to beat the hell' out of 'radical left lunatics,' following the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk."
Comment: "The president added in a separate answer that he would urge his supporters to follow a nonviolent path in response to the shooting. 'He [Kirk] was an advocate of nonviolence,' Trump said. 'That’s the way I’d like to see people respond.' ”
Comment: A nonviolent beating?
The Guardian: Texas attorney general wants students to pray in school – unless they’re Muslim
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/07/texas-ken-paxton-christians-muslims
Comment: "Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general running for US Senate, has long believed in school prayer. Now, he’s prescribing precisely what type of prayer he wants the state’s 6 million public school students to recite."
" 'In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up,' Paxton said in a statement on Tuesday, encouraging students to say 'the Lord’s Prayer, as taught by Jesus Christ'."
"The press release included the full text of the Lord’s Prayer as it is written in the King James version of the Bible, the latest example of Paxton and other Texas officials seeming to endorse Christianity over other faiths."
Comment: "Paxton’s statement was released as Senate Bill 11 went into effect across Texas; it’s a piece of Republican legislation allowing schools to set aside time for 'prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts' during the school day. Critics have condemned the bill as an attempt to imbue a secular public education in the state with the practice of Christianity, in violation of the US constitution’s separation of church and state."
" 'They’re blowing right through separation of church and state,' said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism."
" 'They have no respect for other faiths. And in fact, that includes a lot of Christians who don’t agree with this far-right version of Christianity. They’re trying to indoctrinate children into this agenda and it’s outrageous, and it’s breaking one of the most important constitutional principles we have in this country with the first amendment and the separation of church and state.' ”
"Beirich added that Paxton, along with figures in Washington DC, such as the House speaker, Mike Johnson, were 'people who believe that this country is a Christian nation, that Christianity should have primacy'."
Comment: "It is instructive, however, to revisit how Paxton once reacted to a report of Muslim students praying in a Dallas-area school. In 2017, the attorney general’s office published an open letter to the superintendent of schools in Frisco, Texas, expressing 'concerns' over Muslim students at Liberty high school using a spare classroom to pray during school hours."
CNBC: Bill Pulte accused Fed Governor Lisa Cook of fraud. His relatives filed housing claims similar to hers: Reuters
Comment: "Close relatives of the federal official who has accused a Federal Reserve governor of improperly claiming primary residence on two properties have declared the same status on two homes in two different states, public records show."
"Mark and Julie Pulte, the father and stepmother of Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s appointee as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, since 2020 have claimed so-called “homestead exemptions” for residences in wealthy neighborhoods in both Michigan and Florida, according to the records. The exemption is meant to give a discount to homeowners on taxes for properties they use as their primary residence."
"Local tax officials in both states told Reuters that claiming more than one home as a primary residence isn’t generally allowed in their jurisdictions and could be punishable by fines or back taxes. After Reuters contacted tax officials in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, to inquire about the dual claims, Darrin Kraatz, director of assessing, on Thursday said the township 'as of today' would revoke the exemption on the Pultes’ residence there."
Comment: "The claim of more than one property as a primary residence has been the basis for Bill Pulte’s accusations against Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor Trump fired as a result and who has since filed suit against the president to fight the dismissal. Pulte referred the matter to the attorney general, prompting a probe of Cook by the Justice Department."
"In addition to that formal action against Cook, Pulte in recent days has made multiple public statements against her, accusing her of defrauding mortgage lenders and the public. 'Financial fraud is a big deal,' Pulte wrote last weekend on X, the social media site, to his three million followers. 'Don’t do it!' ”
Comment: Note that, even after the Pulte actions were exposed, the Pultes were not charged with financial fraud. Imagine that most folks in this situation would be penalized at most with back taxes and/or a fine, unless, of course, they were targeted by the Trump Administration for an unrelated reason.
Noem: More cities could see federal law enforcement on streets, even in red states
https://www.axios.com/2025/08/31/trump-noem-cities-federal-law-enforcement
Comment: "Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that nothing is 'off the table' for cities with high crime rates and that others could see federal law enforcement on their streets — including in Republican-led states."
"Why it matters: President Trump's activation of federal law enforcement and the National Guard in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. has been met with backlash and controversy, but his administration has continued to double down on the move, with Chicago the latest city on notice."
Comment: "She also claimed that Trump's deployment of the National Guard in LA earlier this year prevented the city from burning down, and said her agency has arrested 5,000 individuals in the city and removed them from the U.S."
Comment: " 'I would encourage every single big city — San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, whatever they are — if they want to help make their city safer, more prosperous .... they should call us,' she said."
"O'Keefe pointed to criticisms that some cities with high rates of violent crime — such as Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Dallas, and Jackson, Mississippi — are in Republican-led states and asked Noem if DHS would also send federal agents and officers there."
" 'Absolutely,' Noem said. 'Every single city is evaluated for what we need to do there to make it safer.' She did not provide any details on when or if officers and agents could be sent to red states."
Comment: Do you remember when Republicans advocated for "states rights" and opposed federal intervention in state and local authority/responsibility? Did you notice that Noem specifically suggested federal law enforcement intervention in cities led by Democrats (blue cities), but mentioned sending agents to Republican-led states only as an afterthought when the reporter pressed her. With regard to Noem's claim that the National Guard saved from LA from burning down, do you think Noem was exaggerating and fear mongering in an attempt to justify the Trump administration's unpopular actions?
The Guardian: Top FDA official demands removal of YouTube videos in which he criticized Covid vaccine
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/31/fda-official-youtube-videos
Comment: "A top official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) demanded the removal of YouTube videos of himself that were published by a physician and writer who has been critical of medical misinformation and public health officials in the Trump administration, according to a YouTube notice that was seen by the Guardian."
Comment: "The now-defunct channel contained about 350 videos of doctors and commentators, including Prasad, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of health and human services, and Jay Bhattacharya, the head of the National Institutes of Health, which had been collected by Howard from their social media accounts, interviews and podcasts."
"Creating the channel, Howard told Guardian in an interview, had been an attempt to 'preserve' what these individuals had said during the early years of the pandemic, including comments that Howard said exaggerated the dangers of the Covid vaccine to children and – in some cases – minimized the risk of Covid infection, among other issues."
Comment: "Prasad, a former hematologist-oncologist at the University of California San Francisco, is now head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), which makes him the chief vaccine regulator in the US. He was a vocal critic of Peter Marks, who previously led CBR and was widely respected for his role in Operation Warp Speed, the initiative that developed, manufactured and helped distribute the Covid-19 vaccines. Marks was forced to resign by Kennedy."
"Prasad has also been critical of the use of Covid boosters in young people and vaccine mandates, and has defended cuts to health agencies and university research."
"' It’s really important to remember [Prasad’s] past words in order to gauge his current and future credibility, and that was the mission of my YouTube channel, to record what these doctors [Prasad and others] said,' Howard said."
Comment: Do you think that, given his important role in new decisions about Covid vaccines, Prasad is trying to bury erroneous and possibly incompetent statements/positions he took earlier?
Video: Speaker Johnson Says, "It's Not My Call" When Asked About Cleaning Up His District - August 29, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lla9AMwljm0
Axios: Vance says redistricting push is a way to make representation "a little bit more fair"
https://www.axios.com/2025/08/24/vance-redistricting-california-texas-interview
Comment: Wonder if Vance could pass a polygraph test if asked whether he actually believes that little fib?
Trump allies expand political enemies probe despite pledges: "no politicization"
https://www.axios.com/2025/08/23/fbi-probes-trumps-political-enemies
Comment: "Months after FBI Director Kash Patel told lawmakers there would be 'no politicization' and 'no retributive actions' at the bureau, the FBI and other government agencies have launched investigations into multiple people the president has previously named as enemies."
Video: 'This is SOCIALISM': Joe calls out irony in Trump admin's push for Intel stake - August 21, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTmWL3A0We8
PBS: Is empathy a sin? Some conservative Christians argue it can be
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/is-empathy-a-sin-some-conservative-christians-argue-it-can-be
Comment: "Empathy is usually regarded as a virtue, a key to human decency and kindness. And yet, with increasing momentum, voices on the Christian right are preaching that it has become a vice."
"For them, empathy is a cudgel for the left: It can manipulate caring people into accepting all manner of sins according to a conservative Christian perspective, including abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights, illegal immigration and certain views on social and racial justice."
Comment: While many Democrats don't usually believe in mixing religion and politics, we understand that everyone is a sinner and that most Christians believe in understanding and forgiveness. According to the Bible, Mary Magdalene had a sinful past and Jesus had to cast seven demons out of her. The tale of the Prodigal son stresses love and forgiveness, and also warns against the sin of envy. It seems that the concept of empathy as a sin contradicts the overall message of the Bible's New Testament.
Politico: Seven months in, Trump’s revolving door reaching full swing
Comment: "Donald Trump was emphatic on the campaign trail in 2016: If he made it into office, he would 'drain the swamp' with an expansive ethics package cracking down on lobbying. Most of those proposals quickly went by the wayside. On the campaign trail again almost a year ago, Trump decried Washington's revolving door as a 'big problem.' "
"Now, barely a half-year into his second administration, a handful of senior White House aides are already heading for the exits — and right through the revolving door between the federal government and K Street, where they’re lining up cushy lobbying gigs."
Comment: "The departures — and the White House’s response to them — show how Trump has abandoned any pretense of cleaning up the age-old ways of Washington, and they illustrate the ways in which his administration continues to push the bounds of ethics norms and guardrails designed to prevent government officials from profiting off their time in public service."
"They also reflect the desperation from those outside the administration for help navigating a presidency where policies with massive financial implications for businesses, nonprofits, universities and more can change on a dime."
ProPublica: RFK Jr. Vowed to Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying to Do Just That.
https://www.propublica.org/article/rfk-jr-autism-environment-research-funding
Comment: "For 20 years, Kennedy has espoused the debunked theory that autism is caused by vaccines, dismissing evidence to the contrary by arguing that vaccine manufacturers, researchers and regulators all have an interest in obscuring their harms."
"He remains skeptical of the scientists who have been funded by his own agency to study the neurodevelopmental condition. 'We need to stop trusting the experts,' he told right-wing host Tucker Carlson in a June interview, going on to suggest that previous studies that found no relationship between vaccines and autism were marred by 'trickery' and researchers’ self-interest."
Comment: So don't trust the medical "experts," but trust a former personal injury lawyer like Kennedy instead?
Comment: "Some autism researchers fear that the effort will manipulate data to blame the condition on vaccines. 'Kennedy has never expressed an open mind, an open attitude towards what are the fundamental causes of autism,' said Helen Tager-Flusberg, a Boston University psychologist who founded a coalition of scientists concerned about his approach to autism. In a June statement, the group said the initiative lacks transparency and that Kennedy 'casually ignores decades of high quality research that preceded his oversight.'”
"As Kennedy promotes his new initiative, ProPublica has found that he has also taken aim at the traditional scientific approach to autism, shutting down McCanlies’ lab and stripping funding from more than 50 autism-related studies. Meanwhile, he has stood by as the Trump administration encourages the departure of hundreds of federal employees with experience studying the harm caused by environmental threats and rolls back protections from pollution and chemicals, including some linked to autism."
House Republican calls for ‘action’ from Johnson to end redistricting
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5460577-kiley-calls-for-action/
Comment: "Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) called for 'action' from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) amid a redistricting battle in the Golden State."
"Johnson on Monday had gone after California Democrats’ proposed House map and said he was taking measures to halt the new congressional lines."
Comment: So Republicans think that redistricting Texas to help Republican House candidates is OK, but redistricting California, in response, to help Democratic House candidates is wrong? Hypocritical?
Video: Derek Dooley says he was 'immersed' in work when he failed to vote - August 14, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDm-SZ_uvKA
Comment: Do you think Dooley is ready to serve in the U.S. Senate (from Ga.), when he was not even sufficiently interested in government to vote for a period of 20 years?
The Daily Beast: ICE Barbie Boasts About Her Work Ethic While Not Working
Comment: "Since being named U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem has repeatedly vowed to work 'every day' to boot illegal migrants out of the country."
"And she boasted about her latest clear-out on Tuesday, although perhaps not the sort her MAGA voter base might have expected... "
"Instead, Noem told her social media followers that, rather than securing the borders from foreign criminals, she had spent the day emptying an old lockup."
Comment: This may seem like a cheap shot, but it illustrates the hyperbolic claims from Noem and her publicity driven public persona.
The Daily Beast: Kash Patel Accidentally Tells the Truth to Trump About D.C. ‘Crime Wave’
https://www.thedailybeast.com/patel-accidentally-tells-truth-to-trump-about-crime-in-dc/
Comment: "FBI director Kash Patel admits that the murder rate in America is on track to be the lowest in U.S. history, undercutting President Donald Trump’s depiction of major cities as crime-riddled hellscapes."
"The president on Monday unveiled plans to deploy the National Guard and take over the Metropolitan Police in order to 'rescue' Washington D.C. from what he said was an existence of 'crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor'."
"The move came despite the fact that violent offenses across all major categories are falling in the nation’s capital, raising questions about the president’s true motives for the crackdown, which he said could serve as a model for other cities."
"In the middle of his hour-plus press conference, Trump’s own FBI director also partly contradicted Trump’s claim by boasting to reporters that 'murder rates are plummeting.' "
Video: ‘All political persecution all the time’: Rep. Raskin on Trump’s DOJ targeting political enemies - August 9, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B1iYCXQJxc
Politico: Trump teased a solution for farmers. It’s likely not coming soon.
Comment: "President Donald Trump keeps saying he’ll solve the politically fraught problem of reconciling the need for undocumented farm labor with his mass deportation plan."
"But the White House does not appear close to a policy decision — and farmers are getting frustrated with the delays."
" 'My understanding is they still really haven’t put pen to paper,' said a person close to the White House, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations."
"Even as angst grows among the nation’s farmers, no new policy is imminent, according to White House aides, farm lobbyists and people familiar with the discussions. Border czar Tom Homan also told reporters this week that no 'formal policy' had been agreed to."
ABC News: Texas AG says he filed suit to remove 13 absent state Democrats from office as redistricting fight continues
Comment: How ironic that Ken Paxton is threatening legal action against Democratic legislators fleeing the state. In 2022, Ken Paxton fled his home to avoid a subpoena.
CNN: No, both sides don’t gerrymander the same
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/31/politics/gerrymandering-texas-republicans-analysis
CBS News: Florida Rep. Cory Mills accused of revenge porn threat after breakup with beauty queen
Comment: "U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, a Central Florida Republican, has been accused by a beauty pageant titleholder of threatening to release intimate videos and private images of her after she ended their romantic relationship, according to a report filed with law enforcement in July."
Comment: "The 25-year-old woman told sheriff's office investigators that she started a romantic relationship with Mills in 2021, and it ended in February. During their time together, she lived with him at a home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, while the congressman traveled back and forth from Washington. At the time they met, Mills was still married but had separated from his wife, and he told her that the divorce was finalized in 2024, she said."
"The woman said she moved out of the New Smyrna Beach home earlier this year and moved to Columbia County following news reports about allegations against Mills from another woman described as his girlfriend in Washington. After she left, the congressman contacted her numerous times, threatening to release nude images of her and videos of her and Mills engaging in sex acts, she said in the sheriff's office report."
Comment: Another "family values" Republican Congressman?
Reuters: US expects $50 billion a month in tariff revenues, US Commerce chief Lutnick says
Comment: Republicans ignore the massive tax increases imposed by the new tariffs (a tax). Instead, Lutnick touts the $50 billion a month of tariff revenue, never mentioning that it is the result of a new tax paid by the American people.
The Daily Beast: MAGA Champion Who Said Trump Would Fight Child Predators Is Arrested on Charges of Being a Child Predator
Comment: "A fervent Trump supporter who said that he was casting his 2024 vote to fight child trafficking is now being charged with 10 counts of possessing child pornography."
"Scott Soucek of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was arrested on July 24 and accused of accessing hundreds of child pornography images through a file-sharing system."
"Soucek isn’t just a Trump booster himself: he’s also the husband of a leading Republican Party operative in the state."
Politico: DeSantis says a census redo could be in works amid state redistricting wars
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/30/desantis-census-redo-florida-00485304
CNN: Texas Republicans release new House maps as they attempt to take 5 Democratic seats
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/30/politics/texas-redistricting-republicans
Comment: Do you think this exercise is about fair representation or about winning at all costs?
Guess Which Texas Republican Was Just Accused of Paying for Abortions?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/guess-texas-republican-just-accused-212313047.html
Comment: "Republican Texas state Representative Giovanni Capriglione co-authored the law that bans nearly all abortion in the state. And on Friday, the District 98 representative was publicly accused of having 'funded several abortions for his own personal gain.' ”
"The accusations against the legislator, who earlier this week ended his bid for an eighth term in office, come from Alex Grace, a former exotic dancer. On Friday, the right-wing publication Current Revolt published a video interview with Grace, in which she reportedly claims she had a yearslong affair with Capriglione, with their relationship beginning in 2004 when she was 18 years old."
Trump calls those who want Epstein files released 'troublemakers'
https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-calls-epstein-files-released-troublemakers/story?id=123890604
Comment: "The president said 'nothing will be good enough' for critics."
Comment: While one might agree that 'nothing will be good enough;" do you remember the countless investigations into Clinton, Biden, Comey, etc. pursued by Jim Jordon and congressional Republicans that identified little, or no, evidence of wrong doing? Now MAGA has turned its attention to Trump, and he doesn't like it.
NBC News: Republicans keep voting for bills they say they don't like
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-keep-voting-bills-say-dont-like-rcna219353
Comment: "The move represents a trend in Congress during President Donald Trump's second term. Republican lawmakers across the ideological spectrum keep casting votes in favor of bills even while warning that they’re deeply flawed and may require fixing down the road. In some cases, lawmakers explicitly threaten to vote 'no' on bills before eventually folding and voting 'yes.' "
"It isn’t unusual for lawmakers to back legislation they call imperfect. But this year, that contrast has become more stark. It comes as Trump has solidified his grasp over the GOP base, resulting in lawmakers growing increasingly leery of crossing him and risking their political futures."
NPR: Texas is relying on FEMA. State leaders said it should be cut
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/09/nx-s1-5459871/texas-trump-fema-flooding
Comment: Republican politicians want to cut FEMA, right up until the time they need it.
The Daily Beast: Vacationing Cruz’s Claim He Returned to Texas as ‘Fast as Humanly Possible’ Crumbles
https://www.yahoo.com/news/vacationing-ted-cruz-fast-humanly-022059194.html
Comment: "Ted Cruz could have booked numerous flights from Greece to Texas before the one he boarded—despite his office claiming he came home from his European vacation 'as fast as humanly possible.' ”
"The Daily Beast’s newsletter The Swamp revealed Monday how Cruz was caught touring the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, 24 hours after the Guadalupe River burst its banks, sweeping away dozens of lives in an unspeakable horror whose full effects are still unfolding."
How Trump’s Very MAGA Tax Cuts Break with GOP Tradition - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/07/05/trump-tax-cuts-megabill-republicans-00439787
Comment: "For decades, Republicans have extolled the virtues of removing loopholes and carveouts from the tax code, arguing it would make the system fairer and more efficient, while allowing for lower overall tax rates."
Comment: "Fast forward to the present day, and one thing is for sure: President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is not an exercise in tax simplification."
"Instead, it began with a push to extend the party’s 2017 tax cuts — which despite some streamlining also introduced some complexity — and piled more on top, in line with a slew of presidential campaign promises. Add in a heavy dose of congressional politics, and the result was a sprawling and quirky piece of legislation that is distinctively Trumpy: lower taxes and a bigger pile of tax breaks."
When would Trump's tax and spending bill go into effect?
Comment: As Republican's tout their "Big, Beautiful, Bill", their hypocrisy is illustrated by the timing of it's implementation related to future elections and political office terms. (Please see below.) Of course, the biggest hypocrisy is the massive additional federal debt imposed by the Billionaire tax cuts, from a party that claims to be fiscally responsible.
Comment: "Different provisions of the GOP tax and spending bill will kick in over the next year or so. Many are set to expire just before Trump leaves office."
Comment: "Nationwide Medicaid work requirements take effect Jan. 1, 2027, shortly after the mid-term elections decide which party controls Congress." [emphasis added]
Comment: "The bill permanently extends the tax cuts introduced in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which were set to expire this year." [emphasis added]
Comment: "Workers will be able to deduct up to $25,000 in tips and up to $25,000 in overtime, but the tax law change is temporary and ends Dec. 31, 2028, right before he leaves office." [emphasis added]
Comment: "Only some Social Security beneficiaries will be able to deduct Social Security payments from their taxes, which was also a promise Trump made on the campaign trail. This deduction is also temporary. It would last from 2025 to 2029." [emphasis added]
Comment: If you notice, many negative aspects of this bill are postponed until after the 2026 congressional elections, while most positive aspects of this bill (for the middle and working classes) are temporary and end shortly after Trump's term ends. However, the major tax cuts (primarily for the wealthy) go into effect quickly and are not temporary.
Thanks, Supreme Court! It's now my right to prevent my kid from learning about Trump. | Opinion
https://www.yahoo.com/news/thanks-supreme-court-now-prevent-090543151.html
Comment: Article illustrates the hypocrisy of a recent Supreme Court ruling.
The Verge: The Trump Phone no longer promises it’s made in America
https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/693080/trump-mobile-t1-phone-made-usa
Comment: "When the Trump Organization launched the Trump Mobile wireless carrier, it also launched a flagship phone called the T1 Phone 8002 (gold version). One of the phone’s main selling points was that it was to be made in America. We figured that was unlikely to be true. And we were right: sometime in the last several days, the Trump Mobile site appears to have been scrubbed of all language indicating the phone is to be made in the USA. (Like, for instance, the huge banner on the homepage that says the T1 is 'MADE IN THE USA.' Just to name one example.)"
Opinion | The Alabama Republican Party is heading down a familiar path
Comment: "As ALGOP officials ignore laws and rules, they’re pushing the party down a very familiar pathway. One we’ve seen before"
NPR: Trump administration actions contradict MAHA rhetoric on toxic chemicals
Comment: "Her research, the letter explained, no longer aligned with the agency's priorities. And now here was the standard-bearer of the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, agenda elevating her work."
CNN: Trump’s sons say their new phone will be built in the US. Experts say it looks a lot like a phone from China
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/17/tech/trump-mobile-t1-phone-built-in-us-experts-china
Bondi says LA protests 'very different' than Jan. 6 rioters who were pardoned - ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bondi-argues-trump-jan-6-pardons-create-double/story?id=122737210
Comment: "Attorney General Pam Bondi rejected that President Donald Trump's pardons for hundreds of rioters who assaulted police during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol creates a double standard with the administration's aggressive response to violence at immigration protests in Los Angeles."
Trump makes bid to judges on immunity decision wiping out criminal conviction
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5344517-trump-appeals-court-hush-money/
Comment: Is this what Republicans call "law and order?"
CNN: Top RFK Jr. aide attacks US health system while running company that promotes wellness alternatives
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/10/health/calley-means-financial-stake
Government Executive: Vought calls for more OMB staff after spearheading governmentwide cuts
Comment: "Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, also defended his proposal to grow his own staff by 4% even as nearly every federal agency faces the prospects of drastic workforce cuts. Vought, testifying before a panel of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, said he requires the additional staff due to the added strains being placed on his agency."
ABC News: Trump's surgeon general pick criticizes others' conflicts but profits from wellness product sales
Comment: "Yet as Dr. Casey Means has criticized scientists, medical schools and regulators for taking money from the food and pharmaceutical industries, she has promoted dozens of health and wellness products — including specialty basil seed supplements, a blood testing service and a prepared meal delivery service — in ways that put money in her own pocket."
Tuberville raises alarms on GOP food-aid plan as he seeks governorship - Live Updates - POLITICO
Comment: Who will be responsible for SNAP costs? Does gubernatorial candidate Tommy Tuberville think/speak differently from Senator Tommy Tuberville?
Trump has long warned of a government 'deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it
https://share.newsbreak.com/dc8rzy9j
Comment: Could it be that it is so "deep" that it's not visible to anyone but the MAGA conspiracy theorists?
The Independent: Matt Gaetz insists his use of ‘86’ is ‘distinct’ from Comey’s ‘threat’ as MAGA accused of hypocrisy over term
Comment: Since when did MAGA redefine the slang term "86" from meaning "get rid of" to meaning "kill?"
RFK Jr. Insists He Hasn't Fired 'Any Working Scientists' ― After Firing Hundreds Of Them
https://www.yahoo.com/news/rfk-jr-insists-hasnt-fired-205028757.html
Comment: Is this hypocrisy, insanity, or just a blatant lie?
NPR: Multiple Trump White House officials have ties to antisemitic extremists
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/14/nx-s1-5387299/trump-white-house-antisemitism
Comment: "The Trump administration has used the fight against antisemitism as justification for the deportation of pro-Palestinian student protesters and funding cuts to universities."
Dozens of Mexican cartel family members enter the US in ‘Trump administration deal’
https://www.yahoo.com/news/dozens-mexican-cartel-family-members-133401170.html
NBC News: Trump's 'weaponization' chief accuses D.C. disciplinary counsel investigating him of weaponization
DOJ 'weaponization' group will shame individuals it can't charge with crimes, new head says
Comment: Isn't the DOJ responsible for prosecuting crimes, not actions it subjectively labels "shameful?" Why didn't Ed Martin find the actions of the January 6th rioters shameful? I thought the GOP blamed Democrats for "weaponizing" government.
As white South Africans arrive, Trump admin. ends temporary protected status for Afghans
AL.com: Tuberville mocks Chuck Schumer’s hold on Trump DOJ nominees: ‘Amateur’
Comment: " 'Amateur,' tweeted Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who for months held up then-President Joe Biden's military nominees over the Pentagon’s abortion policy."
Trump backs tax hike on rich, but says GOP 'should probably not do it'
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/05/09/trump-tax-hike-rich-republicans.html
Comment: Talking out of both sides of one's mouth?
The Guardian: US grants asylum to 54 white Afrikaner South Africans, reports say
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/09/us-grants-asylum-to-54-white-afrikaner-south-africans
Comment: Compare treatment of these immigrants to treatment from immigrants from Latin American countries.
Comment: MAWA? Make America White Again?
GOP keeps pretending Trump has a mandate. Americans are clearly saying otherwise. | Opinion
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-keeps-pretending-trump-mandate-080122897.html
Fact check: Trump falsely claims he warned Americans during his campaign of a tariff ‘transition period’
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-trump-falsely-claims-152056743.html
For News Articles links from before May 1st, 2025, please go to:
https://sites.google.com/view/dem2oldnews/home/old2-republican-hypocrisy
Here you will find a continuation of the news links & comments from the period prior to May 1, 2025 (Including article links prior to the November 2024 election, found by clicking a second google sites website link at the end of the site referenced immediately above). The article history can be viewed as follows:
www.dalecodemocrats.com (latest)
sites.google.com/view/dem2oldnews/home/ (Nov 2024 election - April 30, 2025)
sites.google.com/view/demoldnews/home/ (Prior to 2024 election)
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