(Headline USA) Stellantis, which makes Jeep and Chrysler vehicles, announced a number of significant leadership changes, including the timing of CEO Carlos Tavares’s retirement and the departure of its chief financial officer as it struggles to revive sales in North America.
The Netherlands-based company has faced criticism for turning all-American brands like Jeep and Dodge into woke mockeries of themselves in recent years by virtue-signaling in support of leftist identity politics.
Chief Financial Officer Natalie Knight will be replaced by Doug Ostermann, the company’s chief operating officer in China. In addition to naming Ostermann’s replacement in China, Stellantis also appointed a new chief operating officers in North America and in Europe.
Stellantis is the world’s fourth largest automaker and in September it announced that it was looking for a successor for Tavares, 66, as part of a planned leadership change. Tavares’s five-year contract was a little over a year from its expiration date in 2026, but the company said at the time that it was possible he might remain in the job beyond that.
The company said late Thursday that Tavares will step down in early 2026.
Tavares has been under fire from U.S. dealers and the United Auto Workers union after a dismal financial performance this year, caught off guard by too many high-priced vehicles on dealer lots. Tavares has been trying to cut costs by delaying factory openings, laying off union workers and offering buyouts to salaried employees.
Stellantis slashed its earnings forecast last month, saying it needed to make larger investments to turn around its U.S. operations amid a wider industry slump and increased competition from China.
Stellantis said at the time that it was accelerating efforts to improve operations in North America, bringing dealer inventory levels to no more than 300,000 vehicles by the end of the year, instead of the first quarter of 2025 as previously planned.
Stellantis was created in 2021 through the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. It said in a statement that the formal process to find Tavares’s successor has already begun.
The process is being led by a special committee of the board and will finish its work by the fourth quarter of 2025.
Shares of Stellantis fell nearly 5% at the opening bell Friday.
The Washington Free Beaconreported that Clinton released a new book, Something Lost, Something Gained: Lessons on Life, Love, and Liberty,last month. However, not enough people wanted to buy another book in which Clinton would complain about how she allegedly won the 2016 election, so she sold only 27,000 copies in its first week.
In 2017, right after she lost the 2016 election to the current Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, Clinton published another book, What Happened, which sold 167,000 copies in its first week. Considering that Clinton is a major figure in American politics idolized by the Democrats in 2016, even that number didn’t look optimistic.
However, it didn’t stop the first book’s publisher from bragging about the numbers, claiming it was “the biggest first-week sales recorded by any author for a hardcover nonfiction title published since 2012.”
“The remarkable response to [What Happened] indicates that, notwithstanding all that has been written and discussed over the last year, there is clearly an overwhelming desire among readers to learn about and experience, from Hillary Clinton’s singular perspective, the [historical] events of the 2016 election. In its candor and immediacy, [What Happened] is satisfying that demand,” Carolyn Reidy, President & CEO of Simon & Schuster, said.
Bill Mitchell, CEO of YourVoice Studios, responded to the recent news about Clinton’s book, adding that the recent sales numbers indicate that the first-week sales were down more than 80% compared to her previous book.
“If Kamala’s agenda is so popular, why do their movies and books fail so badly,” he wrote.
FAIL NOTICE: Hillary Clinton's latest book, "Something Lost, Something Gained," DRASTICALLY underperforms, with first-week sales down more than 80 percent compared to her previous memoir. If Kamala's agenda is so popular, why do their movies and books fail so badly. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/zuJAWt9oz6
He also mocked Clinton and the Democrats in another social media post.
“Who else thinks it is absolutely hilarious that Hillary Clinton’s new book is a complete disaster? This has always been my question. If the far left agenda is so popular, why do all of its news shows, books and movies go broke for lack of interest,” he wrote.
Who else thinks it is absolutely hilarious that Hillary Clinton's new book is a complete disaster? This has always been my question. If the far left agenda is so popular, why do all of its news shows, books and movies go broke for lack of interest? https://t.co/0WIssk8wtT
(Headline USA) JPMorgan’s net income fell 2% in the third quarter as the bank had to set aside more money to cover bad loans, but the results topped Wall Street estimates and shares rose in morning trading.
The situation may seem like déjà vu for investors who suffered through the 2008 crash—or those who saw the movie The Big Short, which depicted the economic conditions that led to it.
The so-called Great Recession was conveniently timed to allow newly elected President Barack Obama and a filibuster-proof Senate to speed through what was then considered one of the largest spending packages ever—ultimately becoming a casebook study in government waste and fueling the tea-party outrage that punished Obama in the following midterm elections.
It began with the risky lending habits of banks and mortgage brokers such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, spilling over to Wall Street firms such as Lehman Brothers, arbitrarily designated by the government as “too big to fail.”
The companies were pressured into risky lending, in large part by the federal government, which insisted on making housing access a reality for lower-income families. The well-intentioned measure ultimately proved to be poorly conceived.
However, under the Biden administration, the Justice Department and other parts of the federal bureaucracy are once again coercing—or extorting—banks into risky lending as they seek to accommodate millions of illegal immigrants and an inflationary economy where many have seen their expenses outstrip their income.
JPMorgan Chase—now considered to be the world’s largest bank—is leading the way, fueling alarm for investors with memories longer than that of a goldfish. Nonetheless, the Jamie Dimon-led financial firm sought to allay those worries for obvious reasons.
Net income fell to $12.9 billion from $13.2 billion in the year-ago quarter, the New York bank said Friday. However, earnings per share rose to $4.37 from $4.33 because there were fewer outstanding shares in the latest quarter.
The result beat Wall Street analysts’ forecasts, which called for a profit of $3.99 a share, according to FactSet. Total revenues rose to $43.3 billion from $40.7 billion a year ago.
JPMorgan set aside $3.1 billion to cover credit losses, up from $1.4 billion in the same period a year ago. Consumers’ credit card debt has been on the rise.
But JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum insisted on a call with analysts that the consumer is “on solid footing.”
Net interest income, the difference between the interest the bank takes in on its loan portfolio and the interest in pays out on customer deposits, rose 3% to $23.5 billion. That came in above estimates of $22.9 billion, according to FactSet.
JPMorgan raised its forecast for net interest income for the full year, but cautioned the measure should start to decline as the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates.
JPMorgan shares rose 4.6% in morning trading.
The country’s biggest banks have benefitted from higher interest rates for the last two years. The Fed’s mid-September interest rate cut may have happened too late in the quarter to significantly influence results, but investors are watching closely to see how that rate cut— and expected future ones—will affect banks’ results going forward.
At their last meeting Sept. 18, Fed officials reduced their rate to 4.8%, from a two-decade high of 5.3%, and penciled in two more quarter-point rate cuts in November and December.
Dimon said the bank continues to monitor geopolitical tensions that he called “treacherous and getting worse.”
While Dimon did not cite specific any specific conflicts, he has previously voiced concerns about the war in Ukraine and the growing tensions in the Middle East.
“There is significant human suffering, and the outcome of these situations could have far-reaching effects on both short-term economic outcomes and more importantly on the course of history,” Dimon said in a statement.
Dimon often weighs in on global and economic issues that go beyond the scope of banking. He’s often seen as the banker that Washington and global leaders can turn to for advice, solicited or unsolicited. His comments tend to reverberate through Washington and Corporate America.
In fact, Dimon’s name has in the past been floated as a possible Treasury Secretary or other Cabinet position. When asked on the call if he would serve if asked by the next administration, he responded, “I think the chance of that is almost nil and I probably am not going to do it but, you know, I always reserve the right.”
Another of the nation’s biggest banks, Wells Fargo, reported third-quarter profit of $1.42 per share, beating the $1.28 per share that analysts were calling for.
The San Francisco bank, which at one time was the country’s biggest home mortgage lender, has evolved in recent years, generating more income through fees. As such, while its net interest income fell 11% from the same period a year ago, that was offset by higher fee income.
Wells shares rose 5.8% in morning trading.
Wells’s posted revenue of $20.4 billion in the period, down from $20.9 billion a year ago.
The Biden administration earlier this year lifted a consent order on the bank that had been in place since 2016 following a series of scandals, including the opening of fake customer accounts.
Last month, Wells agreed to work with U.S. bank regulators to shore up its financial crimes risk management controls related to suspicious activity and money laundering.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it had identified “deficiencies relating to the bank’s financial crimes risk management practices and anti-money laundering internal controls in several areas.”
On Thursday, the Justice Department announced that TD Bank would pay approximately $3 billion in a historic settlement with U.S. authorities for the financial institution’s lax practices that allowed significant money laundering over multiple years.
TD Bank pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, the largest bank in U.S. history to do so.
Bank of America reports its latest financial results on Tuesday.
Its shares followed other banks’ higher Friday, gaining around 5% in morning trading.
Late Thursday, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed in a regulatory filing that it had sold another 9.5 million of Bank of America shares, bringing its total stake below 10%. The sale netted Buffett’s investment firm around $380 million.
Berkshire Hathaway has steadily sold off around 125 million Bank of America shares since July.
Still, there are concerns from public policy groups about if the state’s measures are enough and if voters will still prioritize voting amid the storm recovery efforts.
“I have great sympathy for the people who are dealing with this,” Heritage Foundation voting expert Hans von Spakovsky told The Center Square. “I know it’s very important for them to get power back, to get homes repaired, to get food, to get water. I hope people also realize that in the midst of all that, if they can go vote, they really need to do that, because that’s also a really important right.”
North Carolina is squarely among the most toss-up of states for the presidential election. More than 7.7 million are registered, and 75% was the turnout in 2020 when Republican Donald Trump carried the state over Democrat Joe Biden by less than 75,000 votes of more than 5.5 million cast. The congressional representation in the districts hardest hit are Republican.
Von Spakovsky said it is important for polling locations to be quickly repaired, especially with any potential delays in the United States Postal Service.
“In the 2020 election, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission reported that about 43% of Americans cast their ballots through the mail,” he said. “That also means that it’s really important for election officials to get early voting sites open.”
At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the Board of Elections, reported that, before the hurricane, the 25 counties most affected by the storm had planned to open 80 early voting sites. When early voting begins on Oct. 17, which is next Thursday, 75 will open.
Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to “defeating the authoritarian threat” put out a memo detailing the measures the Election Board could take to ensure voting continues.
It expressed concerns about “depressed turnout,” which has been seen in elections after other natural disasters, even when emergency election measures are taken.
“The expansion of early and mail-in voting did not offset this depreciation,” the memo stated. “Any emergency measures should be aimed at ensuring that all eligible voters can vote while minimizing the risk of delays in the post-election process.”
The state’s General Assembly and the Election Board have taken many measures, in conjunction with FEMA and other emergency services, to help voting go smoothly.
“The State Board of Elections, the county boards of elections and our many partners are doing everything possible to ensure you can vote in this important election,” Bell said at the press conference.
This includes multiple options for returning absentee ballots, replacement polling sites, and more. The board is also updating NCSBE.gov with the most up-to-date Election Day and early voting information.
Von Spakovsky said measures like these will be important to ensure voting continues. He added that it will be important for the board to ensure election integrity.
“They’ve got to be sure that they have very careful procedures in place to ensure that people don’t vote twice,” he said. “Somebody may have sent in an absentee ballot and think it didn’t get delivered, so they go and they vote in person.”
The board has said that safety and security of election results continues to be a priority, which says the “chain of custody process” will be preserved.
Hinton doesn’t work at Google anymore. Nor did the longtime professor at the University of Toronto do his pioneering research at the tech giant.
But his impromptu party reflected AI’s moment as a commercial blockbuster that has also reached the pinnacles of scientific recognition.
That was Tuesday. Then, early Wednesday, two employees of Google’s AI division won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for using AI to predict and design novel proteins.
“This is really a testament to the power of computer science and artificial intelligence,” said Jeanette Wing, a professor of computer science at Columbia University.
Asked about the historic back-to-back science awards for AI work in an email Wednesday, Hinton said only: “Neural networks are the future.”
It didn’t always seem that way for researchers who decades ago experimented with interconnected computer nodes inspired by neurons in the human brain. Hinton shares this year’s physics Nobel with another scientist, John Hopfield, for helping develop those building blocks of machine learning.
Neural network advances came from “basic, curiosity-driven research,” Hinton said at a press conference after his win. “Not out of throwing money at applied problems, but actually letting scientists follow their curiosity to try and understand things.”
Such work started well before Google existed. But a bountiful tech industry has now made it easier for AI scientists to pursue their ideas even as it has challenged them with new ethical questions about the societal impacts of their work.
One reason why the current wave of AI research is so closely tied to the tech industry is that only a handful of corporations have the resources to build the most powerful AI systems.
“These discoveries and this capability could not happen without humongous computational power and humongous amounts of digital data,” Wing said. “There are very few companies—tech companies—that have that kind of computational power. Google is one. Microsoft is another.”
The chemistry Nobel Prize awarded Wednesday went to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper of Google’s London-based DeepMind laboratory along with researcher David Baker at the University of Washington for work that could help discover new medicines.
Hassabis, the CEO and co-founder of DeepMind, which Google acquired in 2014, told the AP in an interview Wednesday his dream was to model his research laboratory on the “incredible storied history” of Bell Labs.
Started in 1925, the New Jersey-based industrial lab was the workplace of multiple Nobel-winning scientists over several decades who helped develop modern computing and telecommunications.
“I wanted to recreate a modern day industrial research lab that really did cutting-edge research,” Hassabis said. “But of course, that needs a lot of patience and a lot of support. We’ve had that from Google and it’s been amazing.”
Hinton joined Google late in his career and quit last year so he could talk more freely about his concerns about AI’s dangers, particularly what happens if humans lose control of machines that become smarter than us. But he stops short of criticizing his former employer.
Hinton, 76, said he was staying in a cheap hotel in Palo Alto, California when the Nobel committee woke him up with a phone call early Tuesday morning, leading him to cancel a medical appointment scheduled for later that day.
By the time the sleep-deprived scientist reached the Google campus in nearby Mountain View, he “seemed pretty lively and not very tired at all” as colleagues popped bottles of champagne, said computer scientist Richard Zemel, a former doctoral student of Hinton’s who joined him at the Google party Tuesday.
“Obviously there are these big companies now that are trying to cash in on all the commercial success and that is exciting,” said Zemel, now a Columbia professor.
But Zemel said what’s more important to Hinton and his closest colleagues has been what the Nobel recognition means to the fundamental research they spent decades trying to advance.
Guests included Google executives and another former Hinton student, Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder and former chief scientist and board member at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Sutskever helped lead a group of board members who briefly ousted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last year in turmoil that has symbolized the industry’s conflicts.
An hour before the party, Hinton used his Nobel bully pulpit to throw shade at OpenAI during opening remarks at a virtual press conference organized by the University of Toronto in which he thanked former mentors and students.
“I’m particularly proud of the fact that one of my students fired Sam Altman,” Hinton said.
Asked to elaborate, Hinton said OpenAI started with a primary objective to develop better-than-human artificial general intelligence “and ensure that it was safe.”
“And over time, it turned out that Sam Altman was much less concerned with safety than with profits. And I think that’s unfortunate,” Hinton said.
In response, OpenAI said in a statement that it is “proud of delivering the most capable and safest AI systems” and that they “safely serve hundreds of millions of people each week.”
Conflicts are likely to persist in a field where building even a relatively modest AI system requires resources “well beyond those of your typical research university,” said Michael Kearns, a professor of computer science at the University of Pennsylvania.
But Kearns, who sits on the committee that picks the winners of computer science’s top prize—the Turing Award—said this week marks a “great victory for interdisciplinary research” that was decades in the making.
Hinton is only the second person to win both a Nobel and Turing. The first, Turing-winning political scientist Herbert Simon, started working on what he called “computer simulation of human cognition” in the 1950s and won the Nobel economics prize in 1978 for his study of organizational decision-making.
Wing, who met Simon in her early career, said scientists are still just at the tip of finding ways to apply computing’s most powerful capabilities to other fields.
“We’re just at the beginning in terms of scientific discovery using AI,” she said.
(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The Left can’t stop its witchhunt on a former New York City mayor and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, now going as far as trying to take away his Yankees World Series rings from him.
The National Pulse reported that Andrew Giuliani, Rudy’s son, filed court documents to assert his ownership of the four rings his father received from the baseball team following their championships in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000.
“I told you when I got these [rings] that they would be yours someday, and I want to give them to you now,” Andrew allegedly remembered his father telling him in a court declaration, according to the New York Post. “As a child and a young adult, I had spent many nights with my father watching Yankees games and bonding over our love for the team, and I was excited about receiving the rings.”
He also argued that his father gifted him the rings in 2018.
“My understanding then and today is that these four World Series rings were a gift from my father and that they have belonged to me since May 26, 2018,” Andrew stated.
According to the Pulse, Andrew implemented this strategy to prevent Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss from removing his father’s rings.
The Pulse added that the rings were involved in a $148 million defamation judgment against Rudy by Freeman and Moss. The judgment was spawned after Giuliani questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, which the election workers claimed caused them to face significant threats.
Conservative accounts on Twitter responded to the recent news as well.
“Very sad,” @_johnnymaga wrote.
The two former GA election workers who sued Rudy Giuliani for defamation — Ruby Freeman & Wandrea Moss — are now trying to seize his assets to collect their damages
Included in their list are his 3 Yankees World Series rings that he got while serving as America’s Mayor
(Elyse Apel, The Center Square) The Georgia State Election Board has faced backlash and lawsuits over the last few months, especially after passing a number of election rules just weeks before Election Day.
The Republican-majority board had a win this week though when a Fulton County judge dismissed a lawsuit on Wednesday put forward by Democrats.
The party sued to force Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to launch an ethics investigation into the board, which could lead to the impeachment of board members, after he refused to consider the complaints. Fulton County Chief Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville ruled the governor can not be compelled to open ethics complaints.
Georgia is one of seven consensus swing states and will play a critical role in the 2024 presidential election. President Joe Biden won the state by 0.2% – about 11,000 votes – in 2020, one of two times since 1980 the Democratic candidate has carried the state.
The board says the election measures it has passed will help ensure election integrity, while Democrats say it will hinder voting.
In Georgia, early voting begins on Oct. 15.
One of the rules the board passed was to require an additional hand count of all ballots cast on Election Day, while another will allow local election board members to take “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results.
Democrats have expressed concerns about the board’s measures.
“Last minute regulations from the Georgia State Election Board threaten the integrity of electoral processes and violate the constitutional separation of powers,” posted Right Count, an election integrity group. “Right Count is now taking action with current and former Georgia legislators to stop them.”
Republicans have supported the board’s decisions, and former President Donald Trump even praised the work of the three Republican board members at a rally in Atlanta in August.
In another controversial move, the board is continuing an investigation into the 2020 election in Fulton County, where Atlanta is located.
On Tuesday, the board voted to subpoena the election records from the county after the county and state election boards failed to reach an agreement.
Board member Dr. Janice Johnston said Fulton County had not complied with an order from the board to hire a monitoring team or answered other questions.
“The State Election Board reached out to Fulton County multiple times, attempting to establish an acceptable monitoring team,” Johnston said. “Fulton County has failed to comply with that decision.”
Democratic state Rep. Saira Draper spoke at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Not only is the nation watching us, the world is watching us,” Draper said. “We are amplifying lies and lies and misunderstandings, fundamental misunderstandings, of how election laws work.”
The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections has sued the board, saying the board has “no statutory authority to force the Fulton County BRE to accept, and Fulton County to pay for, election monitors hand-picked by the State Election Board.”
The same lawsuit called out the board’s “blitz of last-minute attempts to drastically impact the imminent general election.”
On Wednesday, Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration filed an additional lawsuit against the board’s passing of the hand-counting provision.
Unless a judge rules on the decision prior to Election Day, that rule will stand and counties are preparing to follow it.
(Brett Rowland, The Center Square) Voters say most of the blame for the two attempts to assassinate President Donald Trump during his campaign lies with the alleged shooters themselves, but they assign blame to other factors as well.
Likely voters say the alleged shooters (46%) are responsible for the attempted assassinations. Voters also blame general divisions in America (40%), overheated rhetoric from Democrats (33%) and lax U.S. Secret Service protection (29%), according to the results of The Center Square’s Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights.
Thomas Matthew Crooks struck Trump in the ear, killed one person and injured two others when he opened fire at the former president’s July 13 rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. On Sept. 15, police arrested Ryan Wesley Routh for building a sniper’s nest near the sixth hole of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach.
U.S. Secret Service officers shot and killed Crooks, who was 20. Routh, 58, faces charges of attempted assassination of a major presidential party candidate, among others, in Florida.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after the first attempt on Trump’s life. Multiple reports have blamed the U.S. Secret Service for a cascade of failures on July 13, including drone problems that could have spotted Crooks hours before the shooting in Pennsylvania.
prosecutors accused of stalking former President Donald Trump for a month before he built a sniper’s nest near the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach pleaded not guilty Monday to attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.
Routh has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors accused Routh of stalking Trump for a month before the incident.
An FBI agent detailed in court documents the inside of the alleged gunman’s sniper nest where prosecutors said he waited for hours with a scope-fitted rifle. A photo of the nest showed two bags hanging from a fence off the sixth hole. An FBI agent said the bags contained plates that could stop small arms fire. In between the two bags was an SKS rifle with a scope. Agents matched a fingerprint on the rifle to Routh.
Prosecutors said Routh had been planning to kill the former president for months. Agents found in Routh’s Nissan Xterra a handwritten list of dates in August, September, and October 2024 and venues where Trump had appeared or was expected to be present.
Routh also left a note. Routh, a resident of Hawaii and North Carolina and participant in the latter’s March 5 primary, left the note with a person federal prosecutors described as a civilian witness several months before the Sept. 15 incident. According to court records filed Monday, the person reached out to law enforcement on Wednesday. The letter offered money to anyone who would finish the job.
The letter reads in part, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”
Noble Predictive Insights conducted the poll from Oct 2-4, 2024. The sample included 2,560 respondents comprised of 1,135 Republicans, 1,162 Democrats, and 263 True Independents (Independents who, when asked if they leaned toward one of the major parties, chose neither). Of the full sample of registered voters, 2,290 were qualified as “likely voters.”
The poll weighted each party – Republicans, Democrats, and True Independents – independently. Additional weighting variables include age, region, gender, education, and race/ethnicity.
The margin of error was +/- 1.9% for registered voters and +/-2.1% for likely voters.
During a recent episode of his podcast, Griffin referred to Harris as a “puppet” and a “lying, stinking b**ch.”
Griffin, a veteran stand-up comedian, urged his listeners to reconsider their support for Harris. “I don’t know what the f**k you’re thinking voting for Kamala! She’s a puppet,” he said.
The Undercover Brother star defended Trump, citing his resilience in the face of legal challenges and controversies as his “credentials” (surviving a shooting and being indicted by the federal government), suggesting these qualities enhanced Trump’s appeal— particularly among black, male voters.
“Yeah the crook—he’s got a lot of n***a in him,” Griffin joked.
“He got three baby mamas,” Griffin continued. “Forty-three felony cases and counting; selling high-top tennis shoes, just like Michael Jordan; got shot, just like Tupac—the motherf**ker gonna drop an album next.”
Several rappers have endorsed Trump and many online content creators have written songs in support of the MAGA movement, although Trump has not, as yet, been featured on any of the tracks as collaborator.
According to Breitbart, Griffin joins at least 11 prominent rappers expressing similar sentiments, including Kodak Black, Chief Keef, and Azealia Banks.
Waka Flocka Flame tweeted in July, “Trump is still my president … this is my choice.”
Trump still my president I don’t have to stand with a red hat or dance or stage for money in my pockets… didn’t push me this direction… this is my choice like I choose not to eat pork but do that make me hate pork lovers or disrespect their character…nor will I act like…
While some have suggested that Hollywood celebrities have kept quiet about their support of Trump—or any Republican candidate—for fear of getting blacklisted, Griffin is one of a handful to have come out openly, along with his Asian–American co-star in the Deuce Bigalow franchise, Rob Schneider.
(Deroy Murdock, Headline USA) If you are reading these words, you are paying unusually close attention to Election 2024.
Most Americans are too busy to follow campaigns in depth. Politicos often speak in shorthand and wrongly assume that everyone understands us.
Phrases like “very fine people” and “bloodbath”—echo across party offices and newsrooms. But they escape normal people.
To accommodate the regular 99% of America, Donald J. Trump and his allies should speak in greater detail when they debunk the Left’s enduring anti-Trump lies.
Rather than simply dismiss the Democrats’ unending untruths, precisely explain Trump’s statements and actions. This would help voters understand why the Left is wrong, and Trump is right.
Trump said “very fine people” both supported and opposed a local statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Democrats cover-up what Trump added: “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally.”
Suckers and losers: Trump haters keep claiming that he refused to visit a World War I cemetery in France because it brims with “suckers” and “losers.”
Jeffrey Goldberg cited four anonymous sources in his reckless, if not libelous, article in Sept. 3, 2020’s The Atlantic. I dismantled Goldberg’s vile charges via multiple published rebuttals. I eventually quoted 16 named advisors who accompanied Trump to Paris. They concurred that Trump never said “suckers” or “losers.”
The cemetery visit was scotched due to helicopter-hostile weather and motorcade-unfriendly logistics. Two unnamed military aides backed my 16 on-the-record sources. An independent weather report called climate the culprit.
Goldberg mocked his wafer-thin “evidence.” He told MSNBC: “I share that view that it’s not good enough.”
Murdock 19, Goldberg 4.
● Find me 11,780 votes: Democrat fantasies notwithstanding, Trump did not order Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find me 11,780 votes,” to beat Biden. The January 2021 phone call provided much of the basis for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to indict Trump and 18 others with a racketeering conspiracy.
However, as the Trump-hating Washington Post’s transcript shows, Trump said: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.” Personally, I just want to find $100,00 cash. That is light years away from me instructing anyone to rob a Wells Fargo branch and “find me $100,000 cash.”
● Jan. 6:Trump haters claim that he ordered supporters to attack Congress’s certification of 2020’s election. Wrong! During a First Amendment-protected outdoor speech, Trump urged his fans to protest “peacefully and patriotically.”
If Trump craved a bloodbath, why did he authorize 10,000 National Guard troops to keep the party polite? If Democrat D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had not spurned Trump’s offer, domestic tranquility would have prevailed.
● Dictator on Day 1: Kamala Harris told a Univision audience on Thursday: “Donald Trump has said he will be a dictator on Day 1.”
Fox News’s Sean Hannity asked Trump last Dec. 5: “You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?” Trump jokingly replied, “No, no, no, other than Day 1. We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”
This would reverse Biden’s Day 1 “dictatorship” in which his lawful executive orders opened the border and stopped the Keystone XL Pipeline and other fossil-fuel ventures. Should Trump have spoken more carefully? Yes. Will Trump open concentration camps? No.
● Bloodbath: In her debate with Trump, Kamala Harris parroted a phony Democrat talking point. “Donald Trump the candidate has said in this election there will be a bloodbath, if the outcome of this election is not to his liking.”
Nope! On March 16, Trump predicted that a Democrat victory would trigger “a bloodbath”…in the auto industry, not the streets.
Between now and Nov. 5, Trump and his supporters must use such hard facts, thoroughly and completely, to win distracted voters who too often fall for the Democrat-Left’s relentlessly repeated lies.
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor.
