‘The enemy from within’: Trump calls Democrats more dangerous than U.S. foreign adversaries
Alexandra Marquez– October 13, 2024
Former President Donald Trump called Democrats and others who have opposed him “the enemy from within” in an interview Sunday.
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Former President Donald Trump called Democrats and others who have opposed or investigated him “the enemy from within” in an interview that aired Sunday, describing them as more dangerous than major foreign adversaries of the United States, including Russia and China.
Trump specifically singled out those whom he called “lunatics that we have inside, like Adam Schiff,” referring to the California representative and Democratic nominee for Senate, who was the lead prosecutor in the then-president’s first Senate impeachment trial.
During a pretaped interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trump was asked by host Maria Bartiromo about how he would handle bureaucrats who might seek to undermine him in a potential second term.
“I always say, we have two enemies,” Trump said, adding: “We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within, and the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries.”
Trump added that a “smart president” could handle outside adversaries “pretty easily,” but “the thing that’s tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside, like Adam Schiff.”
“I call him the enemy from within,” he added.
As the 2024 presidential race enters the final weeks, the Republican nominee has increasingly labeled those opposed to him, including Vice President Kamala Harris, as criminals, and speech critical of him or his policies as illegal — a rhetorical focus of his in past races as well.
Trump’s comments on Sunday echoed remarks he made at a rally in Coachella, California, on Saturday evening, where he called Schiff “shifty Schiff” and “the enemy from within.”
“He conceived of the Russia hoax. … He’s a sick person,” Trump said.
In response to a request for comment from NBC News on Sunday, Schiff’s campaign pointed to a seriesof tweets the Democratic congressman posted Saturday night in response to Trump’s rally remarks.
“Yet another nonsensical rant about me filled with tired insults, lies about voting booths, and more, this time in my home state of California. Seriously, Donald. Why are you so obsessed with me?” Schiff wrote.
The former president has long had an adversarial relationship with Schiff going back to the congressman’s work as one of the impeachment managers in Trump’s first impeachment in 2019. In posts on Truth Social, Trump has often referred to the congressman as “shifty” and alleged that he improperly investigated Trump’s ties to Russia during the impeachment inquiry.
House Republicans have joined Trump in his ire against Schiff, who is leading in the California Senate race against former baseball player Steve Garvey, a Republican.
In 2023, House Republicans censured Schiff on the House floor, alleging that he misrepresented special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. Mueller’s report found no explicitly coordinated effort between Trump’s campaign and Russia to influence the election.
“You look at the danger he put our country in, potentially with Russia, with the phony, made-up deal that he made up with Hillary and some bad people … that started off as an excuse for why she lost an election that a lot of people thought she should have won,” Trump added on Sunday.
When asked about the upcoming election, Trump tried to tamp down fears — as expressed by President Joe Biden earlier this month — that chaos could again ensue like it did in 2020.
“No I don’t think so, not from the side that votes for Trump,” the former president said, adding that any issues around the election wouldn’t be because of outside agitators or foreign nations.
“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within … We have some very bad people we have some sick people, radical left lunatics,” he said.
Any unrest, Trump said, “should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”
The National Guard were famously delayed for hours in responding to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, in part because Trump did not request that they be deployed on the day of the riot.
You really think Donald Trump was a good president? Look at his record | Opinion
Andres Oppenheimer – October 11, 2024
Here’s the biggest myth that Republican candidate Donald Trump is trying to sell to Americans and to the world: that he was a good president.
Trump’s continuously repeated falsehoods about his record as president have convinced many people who find him to be a horrible person, but nevertheless support him because of what Trump says about his term in office.
“Yes, I know, he’s 78, he’s not as sharp as he used to be, he lies all the time, he has cheated on his wives, he makes racist comments, he is a convicted felon, and he tried to carry out a coup after he lost the last elections. But he was a good president,” a Republican friend told me recently.
Let me share with you some facts to help fight political amnesia. In fact, Trump was one of the worst presidents in recent history. Here are the facts:
A larger deficit
On the economy, Trump left the biggest deficit in U.S. history.
Under Trump, the national debt grew much faster than during his successor Joe Biden. Like most populists, Trump cut taxes and spent as if there were no tomorrow, leaving a national debt that will have to be paid by our children and grandchildren for decades.
The national debt rose by almost $7.8 trillion to $28 trillion during Trump’s four years in office, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The debt has kept growing since, but at a significantly slower pace.
As for the country’s economic growth, the U.S. economy under Trump grew by an overall 6.8%. By comparison, it grew by 8.4% in the Biden years.
On the jobs’ front, Trump left office with 3 million fewer jobs than there were when he entered the White House. Granted, that was largely because of the pandemic, but Biden has added nearly 16 million jobs since then.
Granted, inflation was lower under Trump than under Biden. The pandemic disrupted supply chains from China and made consumer prices soar in America in 2021 and 2022. But inflation has since fallen to 2.4%, close to its pre-pandemic levels.
A weakened democracy
On democracy, Trump undermined democratic institutions and the rule of law like no other American president in recent memory. He is the first U.S. president I can remember who tried to stage a coup d’etat to stay in power.
Trump falsely claims to this day that he won the 2020 election, even after more than 60 courts and the conservative-majority Supreme Court found his objections to be unsubstantiated.
Then, he tacitly tried to incite rebellion on Jan. 6, 2021, when he waited for hours before trying to stop a pro-Trump mob from invading the U.S. Capitol in hopes of overturning the election result. He continues to praise the violent rioters who injured more than 100 police officers, calling them “patriots” and government “hostages.”
Emboldening dictators
On foreign policy, Trump weakened America’s standing in the world by picking fights with the closest U.S. allies while at the same time embracing dictators such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord and threatened to abandon the U.S.-European NATO military alliance. Trump’s threats to leave NATO significantly damaged the group’s unity and probably encouraged Putin to plan his 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Trump deserves credit for the Abraham Accords to help establish diplomatic ties between Israel and some Arab countries. But if you look at the world in terms of superpower-led blocs, Trump left power in 2020 with a weaker Western alliance and a stronger China and Russia.
Reproductive rights
On abortion, Trump appointed three conservative Supreme Court judges who played a crucial role in overturning Roe v. Wade, a ruling that had made abortions legal in the country for nearly 50 years. As a result, some states banned abortions, and some women reportedly died because they could not get proper medical care to end their pregnancies.
More hatred
On crime, hate crimes increased by 28% during Trump’s term and hate-motivated murders, mainly committed by white supremacists, reached their highest number in 28 years, according to FBI statistics.
Trump has exacerbated racial hatred in the country since he started his 2016 campaign falsely declaring that most Mexican undocumented immigrants are “rapists” and are “bringing crime” to America. In 2017, he said that there were “very fine people” among white supremacists and the anti-racism demonstrators who were protesting against them in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump’s racist statements have worsened since. He recently falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants are eating the pets of Americans in Springfield, Ohio. In an Oct. 7 radio interview, Trump said that unauthorized migrants who committed violent crimes have “bad genes,” a language reminiscent of Adolf Hitler’s efforts to dehumanize Jews.
Also, in 2020, the last year of the Trump presidency, there was the biggest one-year increase in the number of murders since the 1960s, according the Politifact fact checking website. In addition to the pandemic and the George Floyd riots, Democrats attribute the 30% rise in murders to the relaxation of gun control laws under Trump.
False border promises
On immigration, Trump never completed the border fence nor got Mexico to pay for it, as he had promised in his 2016 campaign. Trump now claims to have built much of the current 654 miles of border wall, but most of it was already in place and repaired or upgraded during his years in office, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
On the COVID-19 Pandemic, Trump scorned face masks and at one point asked Americans to inject themselves with disinfectant to fight the virus. Scientists say many of the 400,000 Covid deaths during his presidency could have been averted if he had exhorted people to get vaccinated.
The list of Trump administration failures goes on and on. So if you are planning to vote for Trump because of something specific he has promised, and you are willing to believe a compulsive liar, go ahead. But please don’t tell me he was a good president: he was a disaster on virtually all fronts.
Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show on Sundays at 9 pm E.T. on CNN en Español. Blog: andresoppenheimer.com
Obama Roasts Trump for Everything From Selling Bibles to Needing a Diaper at Pittsburgh Rally | Video
Sharon Knolle – October 10, 2024
Barack Obama laid into fellow former President Donald Trump so thoroughly on Thursday that more than one X user quipped, “I’d like to report a murder.“
Obama, speaking at a rally in Pittsburgh, ticked off a long list of reasons why voters should reject Trump and vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris next month.
He disparaged “the constant attempts to sell you stuff” including gold sneakers, a $100,000 watch and the Trump Bible. “Who does that?” asked Obama with an incredulous shrug.
“You know, he wants you to buy the word of God, Donald Trump edition. Got his name right there next to Matthew and Luke,” he said of Trump’s “God Bless the USA Bibles,” which, it was reported this week, were printed in China. They are priced at $59.99 each.
Obama: Constant attempts to sell you stuff. Who does that? Selling you gold sneakers and $100,000 watch and most recently, a trump bible. You know, he wants you to buy the word of god, Donald Trump edition. Got his name right there next to Matthew and Luke. pic.twitter.com/JUzkTQikU3
The 44th president continued to blast the 45th, recalling his shock at finding out how much diapers cost after his oldest daughter Malia was born. “Do you think Donald Trump ever changed a diaper?,” he asked about the father of five.
One attendee shouted, “His own!”
Obama admitted with a laugh, “I almost said that, but I decided I should not say it.”
Trump was dubbed “Diaper Don” by the media in 2020 over reports that he wore adult diapers while filming the reality competition “The Apprentice.”
Trump supporters not only shrugged at the suggestion when it resurfaced during Trump’s tax fraud trial earlier this year, but proudly began wearing the absorbent underwear themselves at campaign events and carrying signs that read “real men wear diapers.”
Obama also blasted Trump for taking credit for the state of the economy when he took office in 2017. “I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good. Yeah, it was pretty good, because it was my economy. It wasn’t something he did. I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me,” he said.
Watch a clip from the rally in the video above, and click through to @Acyn’s X account for more.
Fact check: Trump, on a lying spree, made at least 40 separate false claims in two Pennsylvania speeches
Daniel Dale, CNN – October 10, 2024
Former President Donald Trump is on a lying spree.
As Election Day draws nearer, the Republican presidential nominee has made false claim after false claim on a dizzying variety of subjects. He has both come up with new falsehoods on pressing issues, most notably the federal response to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, and repeated old favorites about subjects he has been railing about since his 2016 presidential campaign.
We went through the speeches Trump made at his two Wednesday campaign rallies in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, one in Scranton and one in Reading. In those two addresses alone, he uttered at least 40 separate false claims.
Here is a fact check.
FEMA and migrants: Trump falsely claimed of the Federal Emergency Management Agency: “They have no money. You know where they gave the money? To illegal immigrants coming in.” He also said, “They spent all their funds; they have no funds to take care…”
This is false in two ways. FEMA does have money for the immediate responses to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, though a string of recent disasters has depleted its disaster relief fund; the fund had about $11 billion remaining as of Wednesday. And FEMA did not give all of its disaster relief money to undocumented people; rather, as mandated by Congress, FEMA also administers an entirely separate pool of money for sheltering migrants.
FEMA and employees: Trump added another false claim about FEMA, saying: “They have no workers, they have no nothing.” FEMA has more than 20,000 employees.
Harris and the response: Trump falsely claimed that as desperate people tried to survive Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, Vice President Kamala Harris “didn’t send anything or anyone at all” to help them. There were extensive federal and state rescue and relief efforts in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene. It’s true that some residents died and others were stranded for days, but the state was not ignored by Harris or the Biden administration; North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has repeatedly thanked President Joe Biden for his assistance.
Schools and transgender children: Trump told a slightly vaguer version of his usual false story about schools supposedly obtaining or performing gender-affirming surgeries for transgender children behind their parents’ backs, saying, “Your child go goes to school, and they take your child. It was a ‘he.’ And comes back a ‘she.’ And they do this…And often without parental consent.”
There is no evidence that US schools have sent children into gender-affirming surgeries without their parents knowing or performed gender-affirming surgeries on site; Trump’s own presidential campaign could not provide a single example of any of this ever happening. Even in states where gender-affirming surgery is legal for people under age 18, parental consent is required before a minor can undergo such a procedure.
Trump’s opponents and the election: In Reading, Trump falsely claimed of his election opponents: “They are cheatin’ dogs, I will tell you that.” In Scranton, he falsely claimed, “Their first meeting is: ‘How do we cheat?’” This is all nonsense. There is no basis for the claim that Trump’s opponents are election cheaters.
Harris’ previous presidential campaign: Trump repeated his false claim that, when Harris ran for president in 2020, “she was the first one to drop out, of like 22 people” in the Democratic primary. In fact, 13 other Democratic candidates dropped out of that primary before Harris exited in December 2019 – including the sitting or former governors of Washington, Montana and Colorado; the sitting mayor of New York City; andsitting or former members of the House of Representatives and Senate.
Harris and the press: Trump falsely claimed of Harris: “She doesn’t do any interviews.” Trump is entitled to argue that Harris has not done a sufficient number of interviews as the Democratic presidential nominee, but the assertion she doesn’t do “any” is wrong; Harris has done multiple interviews in recent weeks. Notably, Harris did an interview with the CBS News show “60 Minutes,” which aired Monday, while Trump backed out of his own interview with the show.
Harris-Walz and the Supreme Court: After correctly noting that Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, recently expressed support for getting rid of the Electoral College, Trump falsely claimed, “They want to add… they’re thinking about – first time I heard this number – 25: they want to have 25 Supreme Court justices.” There is no basis for the claim that Harris or Walz is pushing for a 25-justice Supreme Court.
Walz and menstrual products in schools: Trump disparaged Walz as “Tampon Tim,” then said, “You know why they call him that? ’Cause they sell tampons, with special legislation, in boys’ locker rooms.” Trump’s claim is false. The law Walz signed in 2023 requires schools to provide free menstrual products in bathrooms, not the sale of menstrual products in locker rooms – and all 18 public school districts that responded to CNN’s questions about the law say they do not provide the products in boys’ bathrooms. You can read more here.
Wind power: Trump repeated a familiar nonsensical story about how the use of wind power means people “can’t watch” television if “there’s no wind tonight.” Using wind power as part of a mix of power sources does not cause power outages when the wind isn’t blowing, as the federal Department of Energy explained on its website even during the Trump administration.
The Biden administration and electric vehicles: Trump falsely claimed that under a Biden administration electric vehicle mandate, “everybody’s got to have an electric car almost immediately.” There is no Biden administration requirement that consumers must buy an electric car or give up their existing gas-powered cars, “almost immediately” or otherwise. The Biden administration has made a push to get automakers to reduce emissions and adopt electric vehicles, but there is not a mandate for consumers; the tailpipe rules for automakers that were unveiled by the administration earlier this year aim to have electric vehicles make up 35% to 56% new vehicles sold in 2032.
The Paris climate accord and emissions: Trump repeated his false claim that under the Paris climate accord, the US “had to pay a trillion dollars” while some other countries didn’t have to pay.
Trump’s “trillion” figure is a wild exaggeration. Under the Obama administration, the US paid $1 billion of a $3 billion commitment it originally made in 2014. After Trump pulled the country out of the Paris accord, the US paid nothing to the global finance goal. And while Biden pledged $11.4 billion annually from the US, this level of funding hasn’t materialized. That’s because Congress, responsible for appropriating the nation’s budget, has allocated only a fraction of that – roughly $1 billion in 2022.
Harris’ comments on fracking: Trump said, “Listen to Kamala in her own words very recently,” then played two video clips in which Harris said she was in favor of banning fracking. But those clips are from 2019, beyond any reasonable definition of “very recently.” Harris has said during the 2024 campaign that she no longer favors banning fracking.
Venezuela, prisons and migration: Trump falsely claimed, “In Venezuela, many countries, they’re emptying their prisons into our country.” This is false. Trump has never corroborated this claim about Venezuela, let alone “many countries,” and experts have told CNN, PolitiFact and FactCheck.org that they know of no evidence for it.
“We have no evidence that the Venezuelan government is emptying its prisons or mental health institutions to send them outside the country, in other words, to the U.S. or any other country,” Roberto Briceño-León, founder and director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, an independent organization that tracks violence in the country, said in an email to CNN in June, after Trump made similar claims.
Venezuela, criminals and migration: Adding another colorful story about Venezuela, Trump falsely claimed that “they take the criminal gangs from Caracas off the streets and they bus them into the United States and drop them.” This is false. There is no evidence of Venezuelan authorities somehow busing gang members into the US.
The world prison population: Trump repeated his false claim that “the prison population all over the world is down, because they put them in our country.” The recorded global prison population increased from October 2021 to April 2024, from at least about 10.77 million people to at least about 10.99 million people, according to the World Prison Population List compiled by experts in the United Kingdom.
“I do a daily news search to see what’s going on in prisons around the world and have seen absolutely no evidence that any country is emptying its prisons and sending them all to the US,” Helen Fair, co-author of the prison population list and research fellow at the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London, said in June, when Trump made a similar claim.
The number of migrants: Trump, speaking about migration, falsely claimed that “21 million people – plus – came into our nation” under the Biden-Harris administration. Through August, the country had recorded about 10.3 million nationwide “encounters” with migrants during the Biden-Harris administration, including millions who were rapidly expelled from the country; even adding in so-called “gotaways” who evaded detection, estimated by House Republicans as being roughly 2 million, there’s no way the total is “21 million.”
Harris, migrants and criminals: Trump, criticizing Harris on immigration, again wrongly described a set of statistics that was released in September. He falsely claimed in Scranton, “You saw that last week: 13,099 murderers allowed to come in, through them.” He falsely claimed in Reading that “as we speak she has – and this was just announced last week – 13,099, so over 13,000 illegal alien convicted murderers, roaming free in our country.”
This 13,099 figure includes people who are incarcerated in federal, state and local prisons and jails – and it includes people who entered the country over decades, including during Trump’s administration, not just under Biden and Harris. You can read more here.
Harris’ record as attorney general: Trump falsely claimed that when Harris was attorney general of California, “she said under no circumstances” will people be prosecuted for the crimes of child sex trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon or the rape of an unconscious person. Harris did not say anything like that; Trump was grossly mischaracterizing a debate over the language Harris’ office used to summarize California ballot initiatives.
Trump’s border wall: Trump repeated his false claim that “I built over 500 miles of wall” on the southern border. Official government data shows 458 miles were built under Trump – including both wall built where no barriers had existed before and wall built to replace previous barriers.
Trump’s crowds: Trump falsely claimed of his rallies: “We never have an empty seat.” There have been empty seats at numerous Trump rallies over the years – including hundreds at this very rally in Reading. And at many Trump rallies, some once-filled seats empty out during his speeches when supporters leave.
Trump’s crowd in Butler: Trump falsely claimed there were “over 100,000 people” at the rally he held Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, at the same site where a gunman had attempted to assassinate him in July. CNN affiliate KDKA in Pittsburgh reported that the Secret Service put the crowd at 24,000 people, while the Trump-supporting sheriff of Blair County, Pennsylvania, James Ott, said in his speech at the rally itself (more than three hours before Trump took the stage) that he was looking out at “21,000-plus people.”
Trump’s response to the assassination attempt: Trump, speaking of his response to the attempted assassination in July, falsely claimed, “I said as I was getting up – before I even got up – I said, ‘How many people were killed?’ Because, you know, it was wall to wall people, and I said, ‘How many people were killed?’ They said, ‘We think three, sir,’ and I said, ‘That’s not good.’”
Trump’s rally microphone picked up what was said by Trump and Secret Service agents while he was on the ground and just after, and he did not ask, before or after he got up, how many people were killed. It’s possible he did so after he was whisked off stage (and, of course, possible he was genuinely misremembering what happened in such a traumatic moment).
Trump and firefighters: Trump falsely claimed, “We got the firefighters endorse us, you probably heard.” But the actual recent national news was that the International Association of Firefighters had decided not to endorse any candidate in the race; while Trump is free to argue that this was a victory for him, given that the union endorsed Biden in 2020, it was not an actual endorsement. And while there were some people in the Scranton crowd holding “Scranton Firefighters for Trump” signs, the Scranton chapter of the union also has not issued an endorsement. The president of the chapter told the Scranton Times-Tribune that none of the people he saw holding the signs were active or retired local firefighters.
Trump and classified documents: Speaking of the criminal case against him over his post-presidency retention of classified documents, Trump repeated his false claim that “I had the Presidential Records Act; I was totally allowed to do it.” The Presidential Records Act says that, the moment a president leaves office, the National Archives and Records Administration gets custody and control of all presidential records from their administration. (Trump’s case was dismissed by a federal judge in July on other grounds, that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional; Smith has appealed.)
The New York Times and the Russia investigation: Trump, calling claims about his 2016 campaign’s connections to Russia a “scam,” repeated his false claim that The New York Times “admitted they were wrong” about the coverage that won its journalists a Pulitzer Prize along with journalists from The Washington Post.
“The claim is completely false,” Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said in an email to CNN in 2023, when Trump made a similar claim; Stadtlander noted that “the award was upheld by the Pulitzer Prize Board after an independent review” and said the Times’ reporting “was also substantiated by the Mueller investigation and Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into the matter.”
The New York Times and the 2016 election: Trump repeated a false claim he made during his presidency, saying of The New York Times’ coverage of the 2016 election: “Remember in 2016 they had to do an editorial apologizing to their readers because they said, ‘He’s going to lose’…and then I won?”
As the Times noted in 2017 in response to such Trump claims, it did not apologize for its 2016 election coverage. It did publish a post-election letter, from then-executive editor Dean Baquet and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., that said the election had raised several questions, including this: “Did Donald Trump’s sheer unconventionality lead us and other news outlets to underestimate his support among American voters?” But the letter did not include an apology, to Trump or anyone else.
Trump and the defeat of ISIS: Trump repeated his false claim that “we defeated ISIS in four weeks; it was supposed to take four or five years.” The ISIS “caliphate” was declared fully liberated more than two years into Trump’s presidency.
Military equipment surrendered to the Taliban: Trump repeated his false claim that “we gave $85 billion worth” of US military equipment to the Taliban. Trump’s figure is a massive exaggeration; the Pentagon has estimated that the equipment abandoned to the Taliban by Afghan forces upon their 2021 collapse was worth about $7.1 billion – a chunk of the roughly $18.6 billion worth of equipment provided to Afghan forces between 2005 and 2021.
Biden and foreign income: Trump repeated his false claim that “Biden got a lot of money from China.” After years of investigation by House Republicans, there is still no evidence Biden has received any Chinese money.
Chris Wallace and a question about the Biden family: Trump told his familiar false story about how he had asked Biden at a 2020 presidential debate why the wife of a mayor of Moscow had paid Biden $3.5 million – in fact, the money was sent to a firm connected to the president’s son Hunter Biden, not to the president – but moderator Chris Wallace, then of Fox News and now of CNN, had interjected to say, “Well, please don’t ask him that question.” Wallace never did that. As the transcript shows, Wallace interjected during this debate exchange to try to get Trump to allow Biden to answer Trump’s question about the payment, not to stop Trump from asking.
Inflation: Trump repeated his false claim that inflation under Biden and Harris is “the worst inflation in the history of our country.” Trump could fairly say that the US inflation rate hit a 40-year high in June 2022, when it was 9.1%, but that was not close to the all-time record of 23.7%, set in 1920, and the rate has since plummeted; the most recent available inflation rate at the time Trump spoke here was 2.5% in August.
Mortgage rates: Trump falsely claimed that young people can’t buy a house because interest rates are higher than 10%: “It’s not 10%, it’s 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 percent.” This is false. The average rate on a standard 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.12% in the week ending October 3, according to mortgage financing provider Freddie Mac, and 6.32% in the week ending October 10.
Trump’s tax cut: Trump repeated his false claim that “I gave you, as you know, the largest tax cut in the history of our country.” Expert analyses have found that his 2017 tax cut law was not the largest in US history, either in percentage of gross domestic product or in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Tariffs on China: Trump repeated two of his regular false claims about tariffs on imported Chinese products. He falsely claimed that China “paid hundreds of billions of dollars” in these tariffs during his presidency, then falsely claimed that before his presidency, “nobody ever brought in 10 cents, not one other – not 10 cents, you check those records.”
The 1890s and tariffs: Touting the supposed benefits of tariffs, Trump falsely claimed that in the 1890s, when the US had very high tariffs, “Our country was the richest it ever was.” The US is far richer today than in the 1890s; per capita gross domestic product is now many times higher than it was then.
The trade deficit with China: Trump repeated his frequent false claim that the US trade deficit with China has averaged “$500 billion” per year. The US has never had a $500 billion trade deficit with China even if you only count trade in goods and ignore the services trade in which the US traditionally runs a surplus with China; the all-time record, about $418 billion, was set under Trump in 2018.
Harris and taxes: Trump played a deceptively edited video showing “The View” co-host Meghan McCain saying to Harris in 2019, “Everything from a 70 to 80% tax rate,” and Harris responding, “I think that’s fantastic.”
This video cuts out key words from the exchange; Harris was not specifically endorsing high tax rates when she made the “fantastic” comment.
Here’s the transcript of the 2019 exchange:
McCain: “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the new darling of the party. She officially has more Twitter followers than Nancy Pelosi. She was on ‘60 Minutes’ this weekend proudly calling herself a radical. And she’s promoting policies like saying that every single carbon emission in the country, every car, should be eliminated within the next 11 years, everything from a 70 to 80 percent tax rate. Do you agree that she could possibly – and this ideology, of the socialist left – could splinter your party?”
Harris: “No. You know, I think that she is challenging the status quo. I think that’s fantastic. I think that – you know, I used to teach, before, especially before – in the last few years – and the thing that I always loved about teaching was when you teach, it requires you to defend the premise. And it requires you to re-examine the premise. And question, is it still relevant? Is it – does it have impact? Does it have meaning? And I think that she is introducing bold ideas that should be discussed. And I think it’s good for the party, I frankly think it’s good for the country. Let’s look at the bold ideas. And I’m eager that we have those discussions. And when we are able to defend status quo, then do it, and if there are – you know, if there’s not merit to that, then let’s explore new ideas.”
Biden’s documents case: Trump falsely claimed in Reading that, in an investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, “Biden was essentially convicted” and in Scranton that “they ruled on him, they said he’s guilty.” Biden was not convicted, “essentially” or not, and was not found guilty; in fact, Biden was not even charged with a crime. The special counsel in the case, Robert Hur, wrote in his public report that “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” adding that “several defenses are likely to create reasonable doubt as to such charges.”
A supposed Biden gaffe: Mocking Biden’s gaffes, Trump falsely claimed, “But the worst was when he was in New Hampshire and he said, ‘It’s great to be in Florida.’ That’s palm trees.” This never happened. Biden has certainly made various geographic gaffes, as hasTrump, but he never said he was in Florida when he was actually in New Hampshire.
Longevity Experts Say This Seemingly “Healthy” Habit Can Actually Take Years Off Your Life
Emily Laurence – October 10, 2024
Aleksandr Zubkov via Getty Images
Getting 10,000 steps a day. Improving your VO2 max. Putting berries on your breakfast. What are the habits you embrace in an effort to live a long, healthy life? Certainly it’s the routines we do regularly that impact our health the most.
But there’s one well-intentioned habit in particular that longevity experts say can actually take years off your life instead of adding more to it: eating too much animal-based protein. Thought a high-protein diet was a good thing? As doctors explain here, getting too much can backfire.
Why Overemphasizing Protein Isn’t Actually Healthy
Ronnie Kaufman / Getty Images
Before we get into why too much protein isn’t good for longevity, it’s important to note that the nutrient is absolutely important. Dr. Suzanne J. Ferree, who is double-board-certified in family medicine and anti-aging and regenerative medicine, told HuffPost that it’s especially important to get enough as we age.
“The common theory is that we need to cut protein-rich foods as we age, but the research actually only supports this in younger people, not in those of us over 50,” Ferree said. Scientific research backs this up, showing that older adults need more protein than younger adults because our bodies naturally lose muscle as we age.
So yes, protein is absolutely important. How much protein a person needs each day varies based on one’s individual health and needs, but the Food and Drug Administration recommends aiming for 50 grams of protein a day as part of a 2,000-calorie diet. The problem is that many people are eating more protein than they need. On top of that, Americans are overconsuming a specific type of protein that isn’t all that healthy.
In general, there are two types of proteins: animal-based proteins and plant-based proteins. Research has shown that plant-based proteins are healthier than animal-based proteins. Unfortunately, Americans are consuming more of the latter than the former.
“A common mistake is the overemphasis on consuming a high-protein diet, particularly one rich in animal-based proteins, with the belief that it is essential for longevity and muscle preservation. Many people assume that the more protein they consume, the healthier they will be, leading to an overconsumption of animal products like meat, dairy and eggs,” said Dr. Monisha Bhanote, a quintuple-board-certified physician and longevity expert.
Most Americans are eating about 100 grams of protein a day, double the recommended amount. According to a Dietary Guidelines for Americans report, 75% of Americans meet or exceed the recommendation for meat, poultry and eggs. Bhanote says this is exactly what can take years off one’s life.
Anna Blazhuk / Getty Images
“Excessive consumption of animal-based proteins can actually accelerate aging and undermine cellular health, contrary to popular belief,” she said. She explained that the biggest reasons for this come down to two harmful compounds: advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO).
“AGEs are harmful compounds that form when proteins or fats combine with sugar in the bloodstream,” Bhanote said. She explained that animal-based foods — especially if they are grilled, fried or roasted — are high in AGEs. Research shows that these compounds can accumulate in your tissues and, over time, can lead to oxidative stress and inflammation, which are key drivers of cellular aging. “AGEs damage proteins, DNA and other vital cellular structures, accelerating the aging process and contributing to chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s,” Bhanote said.
What about TMAO? Bhanote explained that elevated levels of TMAO have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, heart attack and stroke — all of which obviously are not good for longevity. “TMAO promotes the accumulation of cholesterol in the arteries and impairs the body’s ability to remove it, leading to inflammation and further damage to the cardiovascular system. This not only compromises heart health but also affects overall cellular function and longevity,” Bhanote said.
Related to the mistake many people make of overemphasizing protein in their diet, Raghav Sehgal, a Ph.D. student and Gruber fellow at Yale University whose research focuses on human aging, told HuffPost that one common mistake people make when it comes to longevity is focusing on “miracle diets” promising fast results. The biggie that’s relevant here: the ketogenic diet, which prioritizes fat and protein while minimizing carbohydrates. For many people doing keto, meat and eggs are hero foods; however, as previously explained, eating too many animal products can take years off your life.
How To Use Protein To Work For You, Not Against You
Mike Kemp / Getty Images/Tetra images RF
So, how should we approach protein with an eye toward longevity? Bhanote and Sehgal are of the same mind about this: Eat more protein-rich plants and fish.
While fish certainly isn’t a plant, it is thought of differently than animal-based proteins because it has a completely different nutritional makeup than meat, and scientific research has repeatedly shown benefits to human health when consumed regularly. Eating fish regularly has been associated with reducing the risk of premature death by 12%.
Sehgal explained that plant-based proteins (such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, soy, nuts and seeds) are loaded with antioxidants, fiber and nutrients that keep our hearts healthy, reduce inflammation and lower the risk of chronic diseases. “These foods are naturally low in AGEs and do not contribute to TMAO production, making them much gentler on your cells and overall health,” Bhanote added.
Scientific studies show that having a diet that prioritizes plant-based proteins lowers the risk of mortality associated with cardiovascular disease and other causes. In other words, replacing animal proteins with plant proteins can add years to your life.
Again, no one is disputing that protein is important. It’s crucial to get enough and, as Ferree pointed out, it’s especially important to get enough as we age. But other nutrients are important too, which is why Sehgal said the best diet for longevity is a balanced one that includes a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods.
The benefit of eating a balanced diet full of plants certainly isn’t revolutionary news, but it is backed up by many scientific studies. When it comes to longevity — and health in general — science-backed wins out over trendy and new. This article originally appeared onHuffPost.
Donald Trump Goes Off the Rails With Claim That Some Races Have Murder Gene
Emell Derra Adolphus – October 7, 2024
Win McNamee
Donald Trump revealed an unhinged eugenics theory Monday, claiming during a morning rant that some migrants have “bad genes” that make them predisposed to committing murder.
Trump spent a good chunk of an interview on the The Hugh Hewitt radio show slamming the policies of his political opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and baselessly accused her of wanting to install a communist government.
“She wants to [do] government housing. She wants to go into government feeding. She wants to feed people. She wants to feed people governmentally,” he said as host Hugh Hewitt listened without saying a word. “She wants to go into a community party-type system. When you look at the things that she proposes, they’re so far off. She has no clue.”
Trump then attacked Harris’ handling of illegal immigration—despite her pushing back against his claims of a “crisis”—and alleged that she was letting people into the country with “bad genes.”
“How about allowing people to come to an open border, 13,000 of which were murders, many of them murdered far more than one person, and they are not happily living in the United States,” he said. “And now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes.”
He added, “We got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”
Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump has shown a fascination with genes—using the topic often during discussions of immigration to suggest some people are more superior than others.
During a 2020 campaign speech in Minnesota, Trump told a majority white crowd of his supporters that they have “good genes” and seemed to suggest that immigration and racism challenges in America comes down to genetic differences, reported the New York Times.
“A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe?” said Trump. “The racehorse theory, you think we’re so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.”
Donald Trump says there are ‘a lot of bad genes’ among migrants in the US
Gram Slattery and Kristina Cooke – October 7, 2024
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump holds a rally in Juneau
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By Gram Slattery and Kristina Cooke
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday there are “a lot of bad genes” in the United States, while discussing murders allegedly committed by immigrants living illegally in the United States.
“How about allowing people to come to an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers,” Trump said in an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, while discussing the immigration policies of his Democratic opponent in the Nov. 5 election, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Many of them murdered far more than one person, and they’re now happily living in the United States. You know, now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”
The former president has frequently attacked migrants on the campaign trail, particularly those who have been implicated in crimes. At times, he has used dehumanizing language, and he has increasingly turned to extremely graphic depictions of the crimes even though a range of studies show immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans.
Trump appeared to be referring to a letter from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Republican Representative Tony Gonzales, released last month, which showed that 13,099 people have been convicted of homicide who are on ICE’s “non-detained docket.” That docket includes various types of immigrants who entered the country legally and illegally.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security called those statistics misleading.
“The data in this letter is being misinterpreted,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this Administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”
In a statement, the Trump campaign defended his comments, saying he was speaking only about murderers, not immigrants.
“President Trump was clearly referring to murderers, not migrants,” said Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “It’s pretty disgusting the media is always so quick to defend murderers, rapists, and illegal criminals if it means writing a bad headline about President Trump.”
The White House condemned Trump’s remarks.
“That type of language is hateful, it’s disgusting, it’s inappropriate and it has no place in our country,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington, additional reporting by Kristina Cooke and Jarrett Renshaw, editing by Ross Colvin and Rod Nickel)
Trump attacks Harris’ economic plans, says she ‘wants to feed people governmentally’
Bryan Metzger – October 7, 2024
Trump gave a rambling response when discussing Kamala Harris’ economic proposals.
He said that she “wants to feed people governmentally.”
Trump also said that some immigrants have “bad genes” and are predisposed to murder.
In a Monday morning interview, former President Donald Trump made a series of outlandish and false claims about Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic proposals.
“She wants to go into government housing,” Trump said on The Hugh Hewitt Show. “She wants to go into government feeding. She wants to feed people. She wants to feed people governmentally. She wants to go into a communist party type of a system.”
It’s unclear what Trump meant by “government feeding,” and a Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The comment came after Hewitt, a conservative radio host, noted that Harris has proposed giving $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-time homebuyers, a policy that some economists have warned would spike demand and raise prices.
“That’s going to drive the prices up, yeah,” Trump said. “Your price is going to be $100,000 dollars more now.”
More broadly, Harris has proposed working with the private sector via tax incentives to build three million more homes, despite the former president’s suggestion that she “wants to go into government housing.”
‘We’ve got a lot of bad genes in our country’
Moments later, Trump pivoted toward immigration, arguing that some immigrants have “bad genes” and are predisposed to murder.
“You know, now a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes,” Trump said. “And we’ve got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”
It’s the latest example of Trump using inflammatory rhetoric to describe some immigrants. Last year, he said that some immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of the country, which was seen by many as a reference to racial purity.
Trump also claimed on Monday that Harris has allowed “people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers.” He was apparently referring to recently released data from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) indicating that more than 13,000 noncitizens in the US who have been convicted of homicide, either in the US or other countries.
The Department of Homeland Security has said that data is being misinterpreted, and that “the data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more.”
Donald Trump — pictured at the US-Mexico border on August 22, 2024 south of Sierra Vista, Arizona — has a history of divisive racial rhetoric (Rebecca Noble)Rebecca Noble/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty Images via AFPMore
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Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump said Monday that illegal immigrants were bringing “bad genes” into the United States, doubling down on previous inflammatory rhetoric about migrants poisoning the blood of the country.
Trump was criticizing his Democratic presidential rival Vice President Kamala Harris in a radio interview when he brought up government figures showing there were thousands of immigrants in the United States who were not in federal immigration detention, despite homicide convictions.
“You know now, a murderer — I believe this — it’s in their genes. We’ve got a lot of bad genes in our country right now,” former president Trump told conservative host Hugh Hewitt.
The White House swiftly condemned Trump’s comments as “vile.”
“That type of language is hateful, it’s disgusting, it’s inappropriate, and has no place in our country,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
“This comes from the same vile statements that we’ve heard about (how) migrants poison the blood, that’s disgusting.”
Jean-Pierre added: “We’re going to continue to forcefully reject this kind of vile, disturbing, hateful, hateful speech.”
Trump was misconstruing data released in September by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
The figures cover a period spanning decades, including when Trump was president, and also don’t include people incarcerated in places other than ICE facilities — in state, local or other federal facilities, for example.
– Election issue –
Illegal immigration into the United States, especially over the southern border with Mexico, is a major issue in the November 5 US presidential election.
Polls show it remains a major vulnerability for Harris, with border crossings having risen to record highs at the end of 2023 under President Joe Biden, whom she replaced as the Democratic standard-bearer in July.
But US media reported Monday that migrant apprehensions at the US-Mexico border fell 75 percent year-on-year in September — to the lowest level since the Trump administration — citing Department of Homeland Security statistics.
Trump, who is neck-and-neck with Harris in nationwide and swing-state polling ahead, has spent much of his campaign demonizing both undocumented immigrants and those in the United States legally.
During a rally last month, the 78-year-old former reality TV star said Harris should be prosecuted over Biden’s border policies and called illegal immigrants “animals,” out to “rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill.”
“They will walk into your kitchen, they’ll cut your throat,” he said.
And he repeatedly threatened legal Haitian residents in Ohio with deportation, falsely accusing them of eating locals’ pets.
Trump — the oldest major-party White House candidate in history and the first convicted felon to run — accused immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country” in December in a phrase that earned him comparisons to Adolf Hitler.
Donald Trump wants to reinstate a spoils system in federal government by hiring political loyalists regardless of competence
Sidney Shapiro, Wake Forest University and Joseph P. Tomain, University of Cincinnati – October 5, 2024
Then-President Donald Trump standing underneath a portrait of Andrew Jackson in November 2017. Oliver Contreras – Pool / Getty Images
If elected to serve a second term, Donald Trump says he supports a plan that would give him the authority to fire as many as 50,000 civil servants and replace them with members of his political party loyal to him. Under this plan, if he eventually deemed those new employees disloyal, he claims he could fire them too.
The United States has tried such a plan before.
As we write in our book “How Government Built America,” newly elected President Andrew Jackson, after he took office in 1828, fired about half the country’s civil servants and replaced them with loyal members of his political party.
The result was not only an utterly incompetent administration, but widespread corruption.
Swearing allegiance
Jackson’s actions that rewarded political loyalists and punished enemies were a dramatic departure from what the founders had envisioned by establishing an independent civil service whose members were literally pledged to uphold the country’s laws.
In passage of its very first law, on June 1, 1789, Congress required newly appointed federal officials to take the oath of office to uphold the laws of the country and faithfully carry out their duties.
Congress also passed conflict-of-interest legislation at that time to prevent employees from making decisions based on personal financial considerations.
When President George Washington – and the next five U.S. presidents – hired a new employee, reputations mattered. Each of the presidents looked at how an appointee’s neighbors regarded him and whether he had been elected to local office, an indication that the man – and they were all men – was competent and an honest employee.
That’s not what Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, and his system aimed to do; he wanted loyalists in government jobs.
The spoils system
While the first presidents were concerned with the competence and honesty of civil service employees, Jackson quickly set aside those concerns.
Instead of hiring those who wanted to work for the public interest and the good of the nation, Jackson employed members of his political party who pledged to march in lockstep with him and his policies. This became known as the “spoils system.”
Like Trump, Jackson also had a version of the “deep state” that he opposed. He claimed that the appointment process was aristocratic and blocked the appointment of the ordinary people he represented. He also insisted that experience and competence were unnecessary.
A cartoon of President Andrew Jackson atop a pig depicts his spoils system, which rewarded party members with government jobs. Bettmann / GettyImages
Jackson was quite wrong about some of his political appointments.
One of his worst was Samuel Swartwout, a longtime Army friend and political sycophant. Jackson named him to two consecutive terms as collector of customs at New York, where he served from 1829 through 1837.
Considered a plum assignment, the job at the time was the highest paid in federal government and involved collecting taxes and fees on imported goods that arrived in the nation’s busiest port.
But a congressional investigation showed that Swartwout had stolen a little more than US$1.2 million during his tenure, or about $40 million in today’s dollars.
Swartwout had fled to London, but he returned to the U.S. after he was assured that he would not face criminal charges.
Jackson also learned that his power to influence federal agencies with high-level appointments was limited. Such was the case with the U.S. Postal Service.
As a slaveholder, Jackson was disturbed by the mailing of antislavery flyers in 1835 by the American Anti-Slavery Society. Fearing the flyers would lead to a Black insurrection, Jackson instructed his postmaster general, Amos Kendall, an enslaver himself, to fix their problem by limiting the mailings and asking Congress to prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from mailing all abolitionist material.
Congress refused, citing freedom of speech and expansion of presidential authority as the main reasons.
Long after Jackson had left the White House, Congress, between 1864 and 1883, debated making “merit” a key condition of hiring new employees, but nothing happened until after a disgruntled office seeker assassinated President James Garfield.
Congress then passed the Pendleton Act in 1883, which established the merit appointment system still used today. It also put a virtual end to a system that allowed whichever party that won the White House to reward its supporters with tens of thousands of jobs.
But the law exempts about 4,000 federal employees whose appointment requires the Senate’s advice and consent and who have been determined by the president to hold a “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making or policy-advocating character.”
The idea is to give a new president the capacity to influence his policymaking by hiring top-level federal officials.
People seeking government jobs crashed the White House on the day of Andrew Jackson’s inauguration. Library of Congress
The plan that Trump supported would extend the president’s authority under the previous exemption to hire and fire tens of thousands of civil servants without regard to merit.
In short, he intends to reestablish the spoils system.
This is no idle threat.
Near the end of his administration, then-President Trump signed an executive order establishing a new job classification within the government’s career civil service called Schedule F for “employees in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making or policy-advocating positions.”
Under that designation, employees would lose virtually all of their civil service protections and could be fired without cause. It’s unclear how much effect Trump’s order had on the federal government because it was enacted two weeks before the 2020 election and was in effect for only a few months.
In our view, if political loyalty replaces merit as the basis of key federal appointments, Americans can expect government to be less competent – as Andrew Jackson learned during his administration.
While this might not matter to those who regard government as unimportant to the country – or worse, the enemy of the country – our book “How Government Built America” tells a much different story about the thousands of federal employees who provide everything from health services to protection from natural disasters.
Not every civil servant is a great employee, nor is every employee of private industry.
But there is ample proof that government works because of the many people behind the scenes in Washington and across the country who serve the American people – and uphold their oaths of office.
Sidney Shapiro is affiliated with the Center for Progressive Reform. .
Joseph P. Tomain does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
