Immigration

Fact check: 32 false claims Trump made to Joe Rogan

CNN

Fact check: 32 false claims Trump made to Joe Rogan

Daniel Dale, CNN – October 27, 2024

Donald Trump sat down Friday with prominent podcast host Joe Rogan for a conversational interview that ran for nearly three hours — and the former president delivered his standard bombardment of false claims, at least 32 in all.

Many of those false claims are lies that were debunked months or even years ago. The claims spanned a variety of topics, including immigration policy, environmental and energy policy, the legitimacy of the 2020 election, Trump’s record in office, Vice President Kamala Harris, crowd sizes, and how schools deal with transgender children.

Here is a fact check of 32 false claims Trump made to Rogan. This is not intended as a complete list of the inaccurate statements Trump uttered in the interview; with just over a week to go until Election Day, we were unable to look into every dubious assertion he made.

Migrants and murderers: Trump repeated his frequent false claim that “we had 13,099 murderers dropped in our country over the last three years.” In reality, as the Department of Homeland Security and independent experts have noted, that official figure is about immigrants with homicide convictions in the US today who entered the country over decades, including during Trump’s own administration, not over the past three years or under the Biden administration. You can read more here.

Trump’s border wall: The former president falsely claimed, “You know, I built 570 miles of wall.” That’s a significant exaggeration; 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.

Harris’ border role: Trump repeated a regular false claim about Harris: “She was in charge of the border.” She was not and is not; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is the Biden administration official in charge of border security. In reality, President Joe Biden gave Harris a more limited immigration-related assignment in 2021, asking her to lead diplomacy with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in an attempt to address the conditions that prompted their citizens to try to migrate to the United States.

The number of migrants: Trump claimed that at least “21 million” people have illegally crossed the border during the Biden administration. Through September, the country had recorded under 11 million nationwide “encounters” with migrants during the Biden 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.”

Elections, campaigns and crowds

The outcome of the 2020 election: Trump repeated his lie that he won the 2020 election, falsely claiming, “I won that second election so easy.” He lost, fair and square, to Biden, who beat Trump 306-232 in the Electoral College and earned over 7 million more votes than Trump.

The legitimacy of the 2020 election: Trump made various specific false assertions about the 2020 election, claiming it was “crooked”; that his opponents cheated using the guise of the Covid-19 pandemic; and, vaguely, that it was marred by “old-fashioned ballot-screwing.” All of this is baseless.

Polling in 2016: Trump told a story about how, he said, a Washington Post/ABC News poll of Wisconsin during his 2016 race against Hillary Clinton showed him “down 17 points the day before the election,” but he knew it was wrong because of the size of his crowds, and he ended up winning the state: “I was down 17 points in Wisconsin and I won; it’s crooked stuff.” This story is false; the poll showing him down 17 the week of the election came during his 2020 race against Biden, and he lost Wisconsin that year — though by less than one percentage point.

The 2020 election and Wisconsin: Trump falsely claimed, “If you take a look at Wisconsin, they virtually admitted that the election was rigged, robbed and stolen.” This did not happen, “virtually” or otherwise; while some Wisconsin Republicans certainly support Trump’s claim that the election was rigged and stolen, the state’s elections authorities have not made such assertions — and as PolitiFact previously reported, even Republican-led election reviews did not find that Trump won the state.

An election ruling in Virginia: Trump falsely claimed that, just before he walked in for the Friday interview, there was a ruling in a legal “case where they found thousands of illegal ballots.” This case did not involve “illegal ballots”; rather, a judge ruled that Virginia had purged voter registrations from its rolls too close to Election Day. You can read more here.

Grocery stores and identification: Calling for strict voter identification laws, Trump spoke of how identification is required in other circumstances, saying, “When you go to a grocery store, you give ID.” This was a little vaguer than his previous declarations that “you need” ID to buy groceries, but it’s nonsense nonetheless; few grocery shoppers are required to provide identification unless they are paying by check or buying alcohol, tobacco or certain medications.

A Carter commission and mail-in ballots: Trump repeated his false claim that a commission led by former President Jimmy Carter published a report whose “primary finding was you cannot have mail-in ballots.” Trump added, “The one thing with Jimmy Carter: He had a very strong commission. It was, no mail-in ballots.”

Though the commission Carter co-chaired was generally skeptical of mail-in ballots, calling absentee voting “the largest source of potential voter fraud,” it did not say, “You cannot have mail-in ballots,” as Trump claimed. In fact, its report highlighted an example of successful mail-only elections — noting that Oregon, a state that has been conducting elections by mail-in voting since the late 1990s, “appears to have avoided significant fraud in its vote-by-mail elections by introducing safeguards to protect ballot integrity, including signature verification.”

The report also offered some recommendations for making the use of mail-in ballots more secure and called for “further research on the pros and cons” of voting by mail (as well as early voting).

Trump’s Las Vegas crowd size: In his latest exaggeration about crowd sizes, Trump claimed there were “29,000 people” at his event the night prior. His rally Thursday night, in Las Vegas, was at an arena with a capacity under 19,000.

Trump’s McDonald’s crowd size: Trump falsely claimed that there were “28,000 people sitting around” the McDonald’s in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he held a publicity event last weekend in which he briefly performed some of the duties of an employee (the restaurant was closed to the public). This is fiction; while videos show there was a substantial pro-Trump crowd gathered in the vicinity of the restaurant, it is obvious that it didn’t approach 28,000. A local journalist on the scene, Tom Sofield, the publisher of Bucks County news outlets, wrote on social media Tuesday: “There were several thousand excited supporters nearby, but the figure wasn’t 25,000, as stated by the former president later.”

Harris’ schedule: Trump, criticizing Harris’ work ethic, falsely claimed she “took off yesterday” and “took off the day before,” and also that “she’s going to take off tomorrow or the next day.” Trump is entitled to argue that Harris isn’t campaigning hard, but she was not “off” or scheduled to be off any of these days. On Wednesday, she participated in a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania; on Thursday, she held a rally in Georgia; on Friday, she held a rally in Texas; on Saturday, she held a rally in Michigan; on Sunday, she is scheduled to make a series of campaign stops in Philadelphia.

Foreign policy

Trump and ISIS: Repeating one of his regular false claims, Trump said, “We defeated ISIS in record time. It was supposed to take years, and we did it in a matter of weeks.” The ISIS “caliphate” was declared fully liberated more than two years into Trump’s presidency.

Obama and Kim Jong Un: Trump, touting his relationship with Kim Jong Un, revived his old false claim that the North Korean leader refused to meet with Barack Obama when the then-president sought a meeting: “They wouldn’t meet Obama. He (Obama) tried to meet. They wouldn’t even talk to him about it.”

There is no evidence that Obama ever sought a meeting with Kim. Independent experts on North Korea and former Obama officials told CNN in 2019 that the claim is fictional.

Who pays tariffs: Trump repeated his frequent false claim that, through tariffs, “I took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China.” US importers make the tariff payments, not China, and study after study has found that Americans bore the overwhelming majority of the cost of Trump’s tariffs on China.

Previous presidents and tariffs on China: Trump repeated his frequent false claim that no previous president had imposed tariffs on Chinese imports, saying, “Nobody took in 10 cents, not one other president.” The US was actually generating billions per year in revenue from tariffs on Chinese imports before Trump took office; in fact, the US has had tariffs on Chinese imports since 1789. Trump’s predecessor, Obama, imposed additional tariffs on Chinese goods.

China and Taiwan: Trump repeated an exaggeration about China: “The day I left, they flew 28 bombers over the middle of Taiwan — 28 bombers.”

Trump was wrong about key details of this incident. On the third and fourth days of the Biden presidency, not the day Trump left office, China sent military planes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone over the Taiwan Strait — not “over the middle of Taiwan,” a major difference. Also, the incident involved 28 Chinese planes but not “28 bombers.” The New York Times reported at the time that the Taiwanese military said eight Chinese bombers were involved; the other planes were fighters, anti-submarine aircraft and a reconnaissance plane.

And it’s worth noting that China also sent planes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone during Trump’s presidency. In early 2021, Taiwan News reported that, according to a recent report funded by Taiwan’s government, “In 2020, the Chinese military violated Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) more times than in any year since 1996.”

Environment and energy

Global warming and sea level rise: Trump repeated a regular false claim minimizing the threat of climate change: “I watch these poor fools talking about, ‘Our oceans will rise one-eighth of an inch over the next 500 years.’” The global average sea level is rising more per year than Trump claimed that unnamed concerned people say it will rise over 500 years; NASA reported in March that the global average sea-level rise in 2023 was 0.17 inches per year, more than double the rate in 1993.

Electric vehicle charging stations: Trump falsely claimed that the Biden administration spent $9 billion on just eight electric vehicle charging stations: “They built the charger stations, right, in the Midwest. They built eight of them. They cost $9 billion.”

As FactCheck.org and others have noted, Trump was distorting news articles about the slow pace at which $7.5 billion in federal funds allocated for electric charging have been spent. The articles reported that, as of March, only eight charging stations had been built under the program (not all in the Midwest). The articles did not say that these stations had themselves cost the entire $7.5 billion, let alone $9 billion.

The number of charging stations built with this federal funding has increased since March. The Federal Highway Administration told USA Today that, as of October 11, 20 stations had been built with the money, with plans underway for more than 800 additional stations.

California and electricity: Trump, reviving his false claim about the stability of the electric system in California, said, “They want to go to all electric cars, but they have brownouts every weekend.” California does not have “brownouts every weekend.” A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNN in late August that the state had not had any outages because of electricity demand since 2020, and a spokesperson for the entity that manages the power grid for about 80% of the state said the same.

A LNG plant in Louisiana: Trump revived a false claim he repeatedly made during his presidency, claiming that he “instantly” secured a key environmental permit to allow for the construction of a massive liquefied natural gas facility in Louisiana after the initiative had been on hold “for 14 years.” In fact, this facility was granted its key permits under the Obama administration, and its construction also began under Obama.

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve: Trump repeated his false claim that before the Biden administration suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 2021, “They were getting ready to start drilling. … It was all set to go.”

“To quote our friends at PolitiFact, what Trump said in this case qualifies as ‘pants on fire,’” Pavel Molchanov, an energy analyst at Raymond James & Associates, said last year after Trump made the same claim. Molchanov said, “No one was ready to start drilling there, in 2017 or at any other point in time.”

There is no drilling infrastructure in place in the refuge; major oil companies have shown little interest in the site; and the seven leases the Biden administration eventually canceled were all held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state entity that is not an oil company.

Trump’s record and history

Trump’s response to “lock her up” chants: Trump repeated his false claim that he “never said” the words “lock her up” when his supporters chanted that refrain about his 2016 Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. He added, “I’d always go, ‘Take it easy. Just relax.’” In fact, Trump repeatedly said the words “lock her up” in both 2016 and 2020, and he also repeatedly called for Clinton’s imprisonment using other language.

Trump and Oprah: Trump repeated a false claim he has been making for at least 11 years, saying he appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s popular television program during “one of her last shows” in “that final week.” In fact, Trump appeared about three and a half months before Winfrey’s show concluded, not during its star-studded final week.

Trump’s tax cuts: Repeating another regular false claim, the former president claimed that he signed the “biggest tax cuts in history.” Independent analyses have found that his tax-cut law was not the biggest in history, either in percentage of gross domestic product or in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Supreme Court appointments: Trump touted the fact that he appointed three Supreme Court justices, then said, “Most people get none,” adding that “even if a president is in there for eight years, oftentimes they never have a chance.” This is false; no president who served for eight years did not get a chance to appoint a single Supreme Court justice. Only four presidents didn’t get a chance to appoint one justice to the Supreme Court, as PolitiFact previously reported, and three of them served for less than a full four-year term, while the other, Carter, served for four years.

Trump’s uncle and MIT: Trump repeated a false claim that his uncle John Trump, whom he has repeatedly invoked as evidence of the smarts of his family, was the “longest-serving” professor in the history of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. John Trump was one of the longest-serving professors at MIT, but not the very longest; the school told Newsweek early this year that at least 10 other people were on the faculty for longer.

Miscellaneous

Schools and transgender children: Trump repeated his false claim that schools are sending children for gender-affirming surgeries without parental consent: “Who would want to have — there’s so many — the transgender operations: Where they’re allowed to take your child when he goes to school and turn him into a male — to a female — without parental consent.”

There is no evidence that schools in any part of the United States have sent children for gender-affirming surgeries without their parents’ approval, or performed unapproved such surgeries on-site; none of that is “allowed” anywhere in the country. Even in the 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 own campaign has not been able to find a single example of this ever having happened anywhere in the United States. You can read more here.

Alyssa Farah Griffin: Trump told a thoroughly false story about a former official in his administration, Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is now a co-host of the ABC talk show “The View” and a political commentator on CNN. Trump claimed Griffin worked in the administration as “like an assistant press secretary”; that, upon leaving the administration, she “writes me this gorgeous letter,” “the most beautiful letter,” declaring “he was the greatest president”; but then, upon joining “The View,” that she suddenly started “hitting the hell out of me” with criticism.

This is untrue in several ways.

Griffin had the top-tier role of White House communications director and assistant to the president upon her resignation in late 2020, not “assistant press secretary” (she had previously been Pentagon press secretary and Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary).

Griffin did issue a statement upon her resignation saying, “It’s been the honor of a lifetime to serve in the Trump administration over the last three and a half years,” but did not say that Trump was “the greatest president.” She said Saturday that she has never written Trump a private letter.

And she began sharply criticizing Trump shortly after the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, not when she started guest-hosting “The View” in October 2021 or when she was named a permanent co-host in August 2022.

Abraham Lincoln’s sons: Trump told a story about how President Abraham Lincoln was a “very depressed” person in part because he lost his son “whose name was Tad.” Trump repeated later in the story that Lincoln lost his son “Tad.” In fact, Tad Lincoln outlived Abraham Lincoln by six years; the son Abraham Lincoln lost in 1862 was Willie. (This appeared to be an inadvertent mistake by Trump, but his claim was still inaccurate, and Trump has repeatedly bashed Biden over such mix-ups.)

Donald Trump is running in the Joe Rogan election

Insider

Donald Trump is running in the Joe Rogan election

Peter Kafka – October 28, 2024

How big is Joe Rogan? So big that he can launch Tony Hinchcliffe, the comedian who appeared at Trump’s rally.
Not coincidentally, Rogan is so big that Trump spent three hours — three hours! — on Rogan’s podcast last week.
The fact that you may not ever listen to Rogan or Hinchcliffe isn’t a problem for Trump. It’s a selling point.

Last Friday, Joe Rogan hosted Donald Trump on his podcast, which was a coup for both men: The three-hour interview/conversation has since racked up more than 34 million views on YouTube.

That wasn’t the only prominent Rogan-Trump tie-up this weekend. On Sunday, Trump’s New York City rally at Madison Square Garden featured a set from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe — a prominent member of the Roganverse.

If the words in the paragraph above don’t make much sense to you, you’re not alone: The internet is full of items Monday trying to explain who Hinchcliffe is, and how a guy best known for scabrous “roast” comedy ended up onstage stumping for Trump, and whether Hinchcliffe’s joke insulting everyone who lives in or comes from Puerto Rico was a good idea.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally — Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe is part of Joe Rogan’s universe. He performed at Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York.ANGELA WEISS / AFP

But back to Rogan and Hinchcliffe. How, exactly, are they connected?

You can read all about it in this excellent Bloomberg story from this summer, which explains how Rogan moved from Los Angeles to Austin in 2020 and created an influential comedy hub there.

Hinchcliffe was one of several comedians who followed Rogan there and has since seen his career take off — “Exhibit A of the Rogan flywheel,” as Bloomberg’s Felix Gillette and Ashley Carman put it. Hinchcliffe hosts his weekly “Kill Tony” show at the comedy club Rogan opened in Austin, and his show features a variety of comics Rogan and his fans love, as well as a cast of aspiring comics who are in Austin specifically because Rogan is there.

All of this has helped Hinchcliffe become so big that this wasn’t the first time this year he’s told jokes at Madison Square Garden — he headlined two nights at the famous arena in August.

But back to you, the person who had never heard of Hinchcliffe until Sunday. Maybe you’re one of many people Googling him on Monday.

The main thing you need to know about Hinchcliffe is simply this: He’s both very popular and under-the-radar. Which is something you can still say about Rogan himself: He has so much reach he can launch new stars like Hinchcliffe. But if you’re not tuned to his frequency you might never hear or see him yourself.

All of which is a feature, not a bug, for Donald Trump. His campaign has made a big point of engaging with the Hinchcliffes and Rogans of the world — and the Adin Rosses and Theo Vons — and hoping that their audiences — lots of young men who are hard to find via conventional media — will turn up for him in the election. We’re a few days away from finding out if that worked.

Bad Bunny shows support for Harris after comedian makes offensive comment about Puerto Rico at Trump rally

CNN

Bad Bunny shows support for Harris after comedian makes offensive comment about Puerto Rico at Trump rally

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN – October 27, 2024

Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny attends the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024.

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny signaled support for Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday, sharing a clip on social media of the vice president’s plans for the island moments after a speaker made an offensive joke at Donald Trump’s New York rally, sparking outrage.

The move comes as both the Harris and Trump campaigns have been vying for the Puerto Rican vote, especially in battleground Pennsylvania, where about 500,000 Puerto Ricans live. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known as Bad Bunny, shared the campaign clip to his more than 45 million followers on Instagram.

“I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader,” Harris says in the video, which Bad Bunny reshared multiple times with a focus on Trump. “He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”

Thousands of people in Puerto Rico died as a result of Hurricane Maria in 2017 — shortly after Hurricane Irma caused mass power outages throughout the island. While surveying damage in Puerto Rica after Hurricane Maria, then-President Trump drew backlash after tossing supplies, including paper towels, to residents of the island.

Bad Bunny’s post Sunday was the first indication of support from the artist as the Harris campaign tries to shore up celebrity endorsements. And it came as outrage built over remarks made by Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian and podcast host, assailing Puerto Rico at Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden.

“There’s a lot going on, like, I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yeah. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said. Puerto Rico is a US territory.

Harris campaign officials had been in conversation with Bad Bunny’s team, according to a source familiar, hoping to have him lend his support to the vice president’s plan for Puerto Rico.

“This has been a thoughtful and deliberate approach focused on the issues,” the source said.

A representative for Bad Bunny told CNN that his repost of Harris’ video on Instagram was “not an endorsement,” but that he is “supporting” Harris. “Benito’s political focus has always been on Puerto Rico,” his representative told CNN. His representative did not indicate whether a formal endorsement would be coming from the musician ahead of the election.

An endorsement from Bad Bunny has been at the top of the Harris campaign’s wish list of celebrity endorsements for months, according to a source familiar with the campaign’s Hollywood outreach. The campaign understands the large reach Bad Bunny has within the Latino community and believes his support could help sway young male Latino voters – a demographic that has gravitated toward Trump.

The campaign also celebrated Bad Bunny, along with Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin, sharing the vice president’s message on social media.

“Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi also joined the chorus of Puerto Rican stars sharing their support for Harris, posting a video clip of Hinchcliffe’s joke at the Trump rally with the caption, “Are you serious?” to his 16 million Instagram followers.

“It’s ok to have different views, and I respect those who think different than me…but going down this racist path ain’t it,” Fonsi posted on his Instagram story, along with emojis that signaled he is voting for Harris.

Earlier Sunday, Harris visited Freddy & Tony’s Restaurant, a Puerto Rican restaurant in north Philadelphia, where she spoke to Puerto Rico’s challenges and discussed her policies focused on the island.

“I’m going to create an opportunity economy task force for Puerto Rico,” she said, adding that she wants to focus on two things: building economic opportunity for the island and improving the electrical grid.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister and Max Rego contributed to this report.

3 Signs Of Fascism Seen In Donald Trump’s Actions

Buzz Feed

13 Signs Of Fascism Seen In Donald Trump’s Actions

Megan Liscomb – October 27, 2024

In a recent interview with the New York Times, John Kelly, a former four-star Marine general and former chief of staff to former president Donald Trump, described his former boss as someone who “falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”

He also described conversations with Trump in which he claims the former president said, “Hitler did some good things, too.” The Atlantic also reported this week that, during his presidency, Trump allegedly said, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.”

More former Trump officials issued a letter to Politico Friday backing Kelly’s warning about Trump’s authoritarian leanings.

In case you need a refresher, fascism is a form of authoritarian government. It often comes from the far-right, and fascist regimes typically feature a dictator who uses the military to squash political dissent. You’re probably familiar with the bloody regimes of historical fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, but before fascism reaches those extremes, there are also some early warning signs that you should be aware of.

The warning signs of fascism listed below come from the work of writer Laurence W. Britt. He created this list in 2003 after studying fascist movements throughout history, and it has gone viral a few times in recent years after a poster version of his list was spotted for sale in the gift shop at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

So, to illustrate exactly what Kelly and other former Trump officials are talking about, here are 13 warning signs of fascism, as seen on Donald Trump:

1.Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.

Donald Trump holds an American flag on stage, making a facial expression as if kissing the flag — Donald Trump has called himself a “proud nationalist,” often repeating the motto “America first.” Nationalism can pass for simple patriotic pride in one’s country. However, in Trump’s case, his ties to white nationalists like Steve Bannon and his alarming rhetoric about immigration, diversity, and repeated calls to “take our country back” all suggest a more sinister, fascistic form of national pride that elevates an imagined ideal of the nation over the rights of the actual people who live in it.Anna Moneymaker / Getty ImagesMore

2.Disdain for the importance of human rights.

A person sits at a conference table labeled "United States," wearing a suit and tie, with flags and bottles in the background — During the Trump presidency, the Columbia Human Rights Law Review created and regularly updated a Trump Administration Human Rights Tracker to monitor his impact on human rights domestically and abroad. From his administration releasing federal rules that allow employers to deny insurance coverage for birth control to separating children from their parents at the border (among many more problematic actions), Trump’s policies showed a repeated lack of regard for human rights to autonomy, health, and freedom from discrimination and persecution.Pool / Getty ImagesMore

3.Identification of enemies as a unifying cause.

A crowd holds signs like "Make America Strong Again" and "Mass Deportation Now!" at a political rally. People wear various hats and show strong expressions — Trump often relies on inflammatory rhetoric about his “enemies” to rile up his base, and his favorite boogeyman by far is immigration. He infamously said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” During the most recent Presidential Debate, he falsely insisted that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating dogs and cats. He has repeatedly blamed immigrants for inflation and other economic issues (never mind the fact that inflation spiked worldwide due to the pandemic). There are so many examples of him scapegoating immigrants that I could go on listing them all day, but we still have 11 more signs of fascism to go, so I’ll leave it here.Olivier Touron / AFP via Getty ImagesMore

4.The supremacy of the military.

Donald Trump gesturing with his fist at a rally — Despite portraying himself as an anti-war candidate, Trump has a long-standing preoccupation with using the military in service of his agenda. During his presidency, he indulged in a dictator-style military parade and was criticized for overreliance on military might in his foreign policy endeavors. He has campaigned on using the military to round up and deport immigrants. And, in recent days, Trump has spoken about using the military to go after his political opponents and regular citizens who disagree with him.Mark Wilson / Getty ImagesMore

5.Rampant sexism.

The way that Trump talks about and treats women is, unfortunately, old news. From the infamous “grab them by the pussy” tape to the 27 allegations of sexual misconduct against him, Trump’s words and actions show that he sees women as a means to his own sexual pleasure and little else. His choice of J.D. Vance, who seemingly can’t stop saying weird things about women, as his running mate shows that sexism continues to be part of the Trump agenda.NBC News / Via youtube.comMore

6.Controlled mass media.

Two men in suits have a discussion on a news set with an American flag backdrop — Trump doesn’t control the media (yet), but he would definitely like to. If re-elected, Trump has threatened to imprison journalists who report facts he doesn’t like. He has also called for CBS’s broadcast license to be revoked following their interview with his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.Nurphoto / NurPhoto via Getty ImagesMore

7.Religion and government intertwined.

A person in a suit holds a book in front of St. John’s Church. A sign behind lists clergy names and announces online services — Trump is not himself a particularly religious man, but he continually appeals to the religious right, as in his campaign’s “Believers for Trump” program and his side hustle as a bible salesperson. And his administration took several steps that right-wing evangelicals long wished for, like appointing the conservative Supreme Court justices who would go on to overturn Roe V. Wade. Additionally, Trump’s ties to the Christian nationalist agenda in Project 2025 indicate that a second Trump term would do even more to intermingle religion and government.Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty ImagesMore

8.Corporate power protected.

Elon Musk shaking hands with Trump on stage at a rally — In office, Trump enabled corporations to amass more money and power at the expense of working people. He cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, which led to a boom in corporate stock buybacks instead of “trickling down.” His administration also rolled back over 100 environmental regulations and deregulated food safety.Jim Watson / AFP via Getty ImagesMore

9.Labor power suppressed.

A group of people outdoors, with one individual gesturing energetically amidst a crowd appearing engaged in conversation or protest — Trump claims to be pro-worker, but his track record and statements about labor don’t appear to show a leader with workers’ interests in mind. His administration implemented rules that made it harder for workers to unionize their workplaces. He has also praised Elon Musk for allegedly firing striking workers and bragged about not paying employees overtime.Michael M. Santiago / Getty ImagesMore

10.Disdain for intellectuals and the arts.

Two men at a press briefing: one in a suit with a red tie, and another holding glasses, standing before the U.S. flag and a podium — Trump’s increasingly tenuous relationship with the truth goes hand in hand with his disdain for intellectuals. He’s cast doubt on experts in everything from climate change to COVID-19, with serious consequences. He couldn’t stop the spread of COVID by slowing down testing no more than he could change the course of a hurricane with a Sharpie. Rejecting evidence-based study, Trump prefers to remain in an echo chamber where he is always right, regardless of what’s actually happening before all of our eyes.Drew Angerer / Getty ImagesMore

11.Obsession with crime and punishment.

A person speaking passionately at a podium, gesturing with both hands, during a public event — Rates of violent crime and property crime have fallen significantly since the 1990s, but you’d never know it to hear Trump talk. His rallies have long featured exaggerated rhetoric around crime and talk of “American carnage.” For a recent example, at a campaign event in Detroit, he claimed, “You can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped.” When confronted with actual falling crime statistics from the FBI, he said, “They didn’t include the cities with the worst crimes. It was a fraud.” He also recently suggested that “one tough, violent day” of policing could end crime. You know, like the dystopian plot of *The Purge*.Anadolu / Getty ImagesMore

12.Rampant cronyism and corruption.

I'm sorry, but I can't help with identifying or describing individuals in images — Trump himself has been found guilty of 34 felony charges in a trial that took place earlier this year over falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to adult actress Stormy Daniels as part of a scheme to influence the 2016 election. Additionally, he still faces three more felony indictments. Quite a few of his allies have also had criminal charges brought against them, including Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, and Michael Cohen.Handout / Getty ImagesMore

13.Fraudulent elections.

A man wearing a horned fur hat with face paint stands among flag-waving crowds at a protest — Donald Trump is the only president in American history to attempt to overthrow the results of a free and fair election. In 2020, Trump declared victory before the vote count was complete, and then, when it became clear that he had lost, he refused to accept the election results. He pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election and spread lies about the election results that arguably incited the January 6 riot. Now, he’s laying the groundwork to challenge the outcome again in 2024. He’s reportedly already talking with lawyers about contesting the result of an election that hasn’t even happened yet.Brent Stirton / Getty ImagesMore

So, in conclusion, please vote! And if anyone knows a foolproof way to take a little nap until the election is finally over, please let me know in the comments.

The economy is a priority for Americans as they head to the polls. Here’s what’s really going on behind the numbers.

Business Insider

The economy is a priority for Americans as they head to the polls. Here’s what’s really going on behind the numbers.

Madison Hoff – October 24, 2024

Polling suggests the economy is important to voters in this year’s presidential election.
The economy is doing well across a wide variety of metrics.
But there are some weak points — like a growing federal debt load.

Election Day is less than two weeks away, and the economy is top of mind for many Americans.

Twenty-eight percent of likely voters in a poll from The New York Times and Siena College conducted from September 29 to October 6 said the economy was the “most important” issue for their vote, which was the highest share among all issues. A Pew Research Center survey from August 26 to September 2 found that among registered voters, 68% of Kamala Harris supporters and 93% of Donald Trump supporters said the economy was “very important” to their vote.

Additionally, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October found registered voters were nearly split on who they thought would do a better job handling different areas of the economy, such as jobs and unemployment.

The good news is that the economy is broadly doing pretty well these days.

“We’ve seen new highs for the stock market’s major averages, falling inflation, the Federal Reserve shifting into easing mode and a job market close to the level associated with full employment,” Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at the financial-services company Bankrate, said in recent commentary.

While data suggests the US economy is robust, Americans may not agree. The index of current economic conditions from the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers has stayed stubbornly low throughout the pandemic recovery.

Kurt Reiman, a cohead of ElectionWatch at UBS Global Wealth Management, told Business Insider that he didn’t think people felt “euphoric” about the economy. “Voters are reminded daily of the high price of goods and services — whether they’re renewing their car or home insurance or they’re going to the grocery store,” Reiman said.

They’re not necessarily off base. There are a few less-rosy data points out there, like rising long-term unemployment and a historically high level of federal debt.

As people get ready to head to polling locations or vote by mail, here’s how the US economy has been looking.

The unemployment rate has been under 5% since September 2021

After it rose to about 15% during the pandemic in April 2020, the unemployment rate has fallen to historically low rates. Even though the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3% in July — the highest rate since October 2021 — it has since dropped.

While unemployment remains low, the average time unemployed workers were out of a job increased to 22.6 weeks in September. So those out of work are spending more time looking for their next job.

Job gains have cooled but remain strong

The economy keeps adding jobs, but the labor market has slowed from its red-hot pandemic recovery.

The cooler-but-strong job growth is one indication that the US has continued to avoid a recession — the last one being in 2020.

There aren’t as many job openings per unemployed person as a few years ago

One key measure of the labor market has been turning against job seekers. The number of job openings per unemployed person rose to a record-high ratio in 2022 during the “Great Resignation” but declined to 1.1 openings per unemployed person in August and looks more like prepandemic levels.

It’s not impossible to find a job, though. Hamrick said there’s “still a reasonable chance that someone who’s going to be a job seeker will have a measure of success” depending on their sector and location.

The inflation rate has slowed dramatically

Based on year-over-year increases in the consumer price index, inflation has been mostly slowing down after spiking in 2021 and 2022.

While inflation has slowed, Hamrick said, consumers feel constrained by still high prices. However, Hamrick said, “Americans will continue to claw back some” lost buying power as long as inflation continues to settle down while the job market holds up.

Wages have been catching up, and real wages, which are adjusted for inflation, grew 1.5% in September from a year ago.

The Federal Reserve has targeted a soft landing where inflation comes down without mass layoffs. So far, that seems to be happening. Additionally, the Fed cut interest rates in September — the first cut in four years. There’s a high chance it will decide to do a smaller cut in November, depending on how the data looks and other factors.

Real disposable personal income per capita has been looking healthy

Real disposable personal income per capita — a widely used measure of the money people have to spend or save — spiked in the early pandemic because of stimulus checks in 2020 and 2021 and the expanded child tax credit for the 2021 tax year.

While real disposable personal income per capita cooled off as inflation accelerated in 2022, it has been gradually rising — and is above where it was before the pandemic and close to the prepandemic growth trend.

The S&P 500 in 2024 has hit several all-time highs

This year, the S&P 500 has been historically high multiple times. MarketWatch reported Saturday that it had hit 47 record highs this year. This index of large publicly traded US companies reflects corporate America doing quite well, and the rising figures may be good for people’s retirement-savings portfolios.

Reiman chalked it up to strong consumer spending, slowing inflation, and lower interest rates leading to higher corporate profits and valuations.

Confidence among home builders is still low compared with recent years

While the labor market is showing a lot of strength, the housing market is one area of the economy where there are some concerns. More single-family builders are feeling better about housing than a few months ago but are falling short of the confidence seen a couple of years ago. That’s based on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which tracks the health of the single-family-housing market.

The index, based on what single-family builders surveyed reported, was a not-too-confident reading of 43 out of 100 in October.

Federal public debt as a share of GDP is elevated

Reiman said the Biden administration would be “handing off an economy with higher levels of debt than when taking office.” Federal debt is high compared with GDP, even beyond the spike of the debt as a share of GDP during the pandemic.

While federal debt as a share of GDP was slightly above 100% before the pandemic, recent figures are much higher than in the past. Federal debt was 120% of GDP in the second quarter of this year. In the long run, a high debt-to-GDP ratio may lead to expensive interest costs and tax hikes or spending cuts.

U.S. confirms North Korean troops are in Russia. What it means for the war in Ukraine.

Yahoo! News

U.S. confirms North Korean troops are in Russia. What it means for the war in Ukraine.

Dylan Stableford – October 23, 2024

U.S. officals said Wednesday that North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to Russia, confirming claims by Ukrainian and South Korean officials that Pyongyang is aiding Moscow with manpower amid Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.

“We are seeing evidence that there are North Korean troops that have gone to Russia,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters traveling with him in Rome. “What, exactly, they’re doing is left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out.”

At the White House, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that U.S. intelligence officials have determined that North Korea moved at least 3,000 soldiers by ship into eastern Russia earlier this month. The soldiers then traveled to multiple training sites in eastern Russia where they are currently undergoing training.

“We do not yet know whether these soldiers will enter into combat alongside the Russian military,” Kirby said. “But this is certainly a highly concerning probability.”

How did we get here?

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un appear to toast with wine glasses. — In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toast during a reception in Pyongyang on June 19. (Vladimir Smirnov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)More

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in June. The two sides emerged from the summit with a strategic agreement expanding their economic and military cooperation.

Late last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused North Korea of sending a military delegation to Russia and preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to help Moscow’s war effort.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces to Russia for training and eventual deployment in the war.

North Korean and Russian officials denied the reports of North Korean troops in Russia. U.S. officials were unable to confirm them until Wednesday.

What it means for the war

Dozens of North Korean soldiers in neat rows. — North Korean soldiers march during a parade in Pyongyang on Sept. 9, 2018. (Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

North Korea has one of the largest militaries in the world with over 1 million active personnel.

Russia has already used dozens of North Korea-made ballistic missiles against Ukraine, according to Reuters, and has received arms and munitions from Pyongyang.

But the use of North Korean troops on the ground in Russia’s fight against Ukraine would be an escalation in its war, now in its third year.

“That is a very, very serious issue,” Austin added. “And it will have impacts not only in Europe, it will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well.”

It’s also an indication that the bloody conflict has taken a toll on Russia’s military. U.S. military officials estimate that more than 600,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the war began, in 2022.

“You’ve heard me talk about the significant casualties that [Putin] has experienced over the last two and a half years,” Austin said. “This is an indication that he may be even in more trouble than most people realize.”

“Let’s be clear,” Kirby said. “If North Korean soldiers do enter into combat, this development would demonstrate Russia’s growing desperation in its war against Ukraine.”

He added: “If Russia is forced to turn to North Korea for manpower, this is a sign of weakness, not strength, on the part of the Kremlin.”

What’s next?

Austin said Wednesday that the U.S. would continue to monitor the troop buildup to assess why they are there — and whether North Korea can be considered a “co-belligerent” in the war.

The U.S. recently announced that it would provide more than $800 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine.

And Kirby said the U.S. is “on track” to provide Ukraine with hundreds of air-defense systems, artillery, armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles — “all of which will help keep Ukraine effective on the battlefield.”

At least 3,000 North Korean soldiers now inside Russia, US says

CNN

At least 3,000 North Korean soldiers now inside Russia, US says

Natasha Bertrand, Shania Shelton, Haley Britzky and Nikki Carvajal, October 23, 2024

At least 3,000 North Korean soldiers arrived in eastern Russia this month, the White House said Wednesday, and while it remains unclear what exactly they will do, it is a “highly concerning probability” that they will join the fight against Ukraine.

“We assess that between early- to mid-October, North Korea moved at least 3,000 soldiers into eastern Russia,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “We assess that these soldiers traveled by ship from the Wonsan area in North Korea to Vladivostok, Russia. … We do not yet know whether these soldiers will enter into combat alongside the Russian military, but this is certainly a highly concerning probability. After completing training, these soldiers could travel to western Russia and then engage in combat against the Ukrainian military.”

Earlier Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was the first senior US official to confirm on the record that North Korea had deployed troops to Russia as North Korea and Russia have forged increasingly friendly ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We are seeing evidence that that there are North Korean troops that have gone to Russia,” Austin told reporters traveling with him in Rome on Wednesday. “What, exactly, they’re doing is left to be seen.”

The US does not believe the North Korean troops have reached Ukraine, but the movements have generated deep concern as a potentially serious escalation in the conflict. Austin said the US is still trying to determine what role the North Koreans will play and whether they intend to travel to Ukraine.

“If they’re a co-belligerent, their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf, that is a very, very serious issue, and it will have impacts not only on in Europe — It will also impact things in the Indo Pacific as well,” Austin said.

Kirby said Wednesday that the US has briefed the Ukrainian government and are keeping in close consultation with allies and partners.

A senior administration official said earlier Wednesday that the training of North Korean soldiers and possible preparation to send them to find to Ukraine is a sign of serious desperation on Russia’s part.

In Rome, Austin said Putin “may be even in more trouble than most people realize.” Kirby added that turning to North Korea for manpower “would be a sign of weakness, not strength, on the part of the Kremlin.” Kirby also said the move is a violation of UN Security Council Resolutions.

Asked what North Korea will get in return for helping Russia with manpower, Austin said the US is still trying to determine that as well.

In recent months, Moscow and Pyongyang have deepened their anti-United States military partnership and the growing alliance has concerned officials in Kyiv and Washington.

“I can tell you one thing, though,” Kirby said Wednesday. “If they do deploy to fight against Ukraine, they’re fair game. They’re fair targets.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly warned that North Korean troops are joining the war on Russia’s behalf, telling a NATO summit last week that “10,000” soldiers and technical personnel were being prepared.

A source in Ukrainian intelligence previously told CNN that a small number of North Koreans have been working with the Russian military, mostly to help with engineering and to exchange information on the use of North Korean ammunition.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said Friday that North Korea has shipped 1,500 soldiers, including special forces fighters, to Russia for training.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak and MJ Lee contributed to this report.

There Is No Precedent for Something Like This in American History

The New York Times – Opinion

There Is No Precedent for Something Like This in American History

By Jamelle Bouie, Opinion Columnist – October 18, 2024

An image of Donald Trump on a television in a darkened room. — Credit…Ioulex for The New York Times

Toward the end of his tenure, Gen. Mark Milley, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2023, told Bob Woodward of The Washington Post that Donald Trump was a fundamental threat to the safety and integrity of the United States.

“No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump,” the general told Woodward. “Now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country.”

Let’s stop for a second.

It is simply extraordinary that the nation’s top general would tell anyone, much less one of the most famous reporters in the world, that the former president of the United States was a “fascist” — a “fascist to the core,” even — and a threat to the constitutional order. There is no precedent for such a thing in American history — no example of another time when a high-ranking leader of the nation’s armed forces felt compelled to warn the public of the danger posed by its once and perhaps future chief executive.

More important than the novelty of Milley’s statement is the reality that he’s right.

News of the general’s 2023 assessment broke last Friday. That afternoon, and as if to prove the point, Trump dived even deeper into the rhetorical abyss, telling his followers that he would deploy an 18th-century law to “liberate” the country from immigrants once and for all. “I make you this vow: November 5th, 2024 will be LIBERATION DAY in America,” Trump wrote on X.

“I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered — and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell OUT OF OUR COUNTRY.” And “to expedite removals of this savage gang,” he continued, “I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American Soil.”

To be clear, the Alien Enemies Act — one of the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts signed by President John Adams — does not distinguish between “legal” and “illegal” immigrants and foreign nationals, a distinction that did not exist at the time of passage. This means that any immigrant deemed an “enemy alien” by the Trump administration could be subject to arrest and removal by the federal government.

To make this a reality, Trump said, “we will send elite squads of ICE, border patrol, and federal law enforcement officers to hunt down, arrest, and deport every last illegal alien gang member, until there is not a single one left.” And as he explained later in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, this crusade wouldn’t stop with immigrants. “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.”

There is both a temptation and a tendency to dismiss all of this as just tough talk, the empty promises of one of the most dishonest men to ever sit in the Oval Office. Even his supporters, as my newsroom colleague Shawn McCreesh discovered, are inclined to treat his words and statements as something other than actual speech — utterances that convey feeling, not meaning. (Why anyone would want this kind of person in the White House is a separate question.)

This, as I’ve argued again and again, is a mistake. Presidential rhetoric corresponds to presidential action; it precedes and defines it. What a candidate says on the campaign trail connects to what he (or she) will do in office. And if Trump has had a single consistent message, it is that he’ll use the violent arm of the state to cleanse the nation of “scum” and “vermin,” whether immigrants and refugees or dissenters and political opponents like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi.

There is no reason to act as if the former president is issuing idle threats, especially given his efforts as president to wield violence against protesters, migrants and other perceived enemies of the state. “When he was president,” Asawin Suebsaeng and Tim Dickinson report in Rolling Stone, “several ideas that Trump repeatedly bellowed about in the Oval Office included conducting mass executions, and having U.S. police units kill scores of suspected drug dealers and criminals in urban areas in gunfights, with the cops then piling those corpses up on the street to send a grim message to gangs.”

The only reason these fantasies never became reality is that his aides and top officials either ignored or refused to carry out his orders. Next time, he’ll be surrounded by loyalists and sycophants. Next time, we won’t be so lucky.

What explains those Americans who hear Trump and, counter-intuitively, refuse to believe that he says what he means — that he’s just “telling it how it is”?

When exposed to the most intense and acute forms of stress, the brain doesn’t short-circuit as much as it resets to factory settings. You revert to your past experiences and usual patterns of behavior in order to make sense of and respond to the crisis at hand. Your brain takes the extraordinary and — to your detriment — makes it ordinary. This dynamic is the reason soldiers and pilots and first responders and anyone tasked to work in an emergency are trained to act without thinking: reprogrammed so that the mind defaults to a well-defined set of actions when subjected to extreme, mind-altering stress.

You can think of Donald Trump as that extraordinary stress. He is an authoritarian. His running mate, whose intellectual influences include people openly opposed to democracy, is arguably even worse. Trump’s campaign rests on an explicit promise to govern as an autocrat. He has announced, repeatedly, his intent to abuse the authority granted him as president to essentially terrorize millions of Americans, immigrants and native-born citizens alike.

If many Americans, from ordinary voters to political elites and the press, seem paralyzed with inaction, unable to accept what is plainly in front of us, it might just be because the stress of the situation has taken its toll on all of us. Faced with the truly unimaginable, many Americans have defaulted to the notion that this is an ordinary election with ordinary stakes.

If only that were the truth.

‘So evil’ and ‘dangerous’: Trump doubles down on calling Democrats ‘enemies from within’

NBC News

‘So evil’ and ‘dangerous’: Trump doubles down on calling Democrats ‘enemies from within’

Nnamdi Egwuonwu and Raquel Coronell Uribe – October 15, 2024

CUMMING, Ga. — Former President Donald Trump doubled down Tuesday on his remarks over the weekend referring to Democrats as the “enemy from within.”

During a taped town hall of all-women voters in Cumming, Georgia, with Fox News’ Harris Faulkner, the host asked Trump about his “enemy from within” comment, which he made during the network’s “Sunday Morning Futures” this past weekend.

During that interview, Trump told host Maria Bartiromo that California Rep. Adam Schiff and other Democrats were “lunatics” and a bigger threat to the U.S. than foreign adversaries like Russia or China.

“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.”

He also suggested that the military could be called in to handle any unrest on Election Day from “radical left lunatics.”

Trump doubled down on those comments during his Tuesday night town hall, also calling Democrats “evil” and “dangerous.”

“They’re Marxists and communists and fascists, and they’re sick,” Trump added. “We have China, we have Russia, we have all these countries. If you have a smart president, they can all be handled. The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosis, these people, they’re so sick and they’re so evil,” Trump said.

The town hall airs at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris has used Trump’s comments against him this week, calling a second Trump term “dangerous” at a Pennsylvania rally and releasing an ad titled “Enemy Within.”

Harris called Trump “increasingly unstable and unhinged,” saying he plans to use the military against American citizens and is “out for unchecked power.”

“A second Trump term is a huge risk for America,” she told supporters in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Faulkner gave Trump a chance to clarify his comments Tuesday at the town hall taping, asking him how he responded to Harris’ claims that he was “unhinged” and “out for unchecked power.”

Trump defended his comments, calling them “a nice presentation.”

“I wasn’t unhinged,” Trump said.

He also doubled down on his claims about Schiff, who led the prosecution in his first Senate impeachment trial.

“I use a guy like Adam Schiff because they made up the Russia, Russia hoax,” Trump said. “It took two years to solve the problem. Absolutely nothing was done wrong, etc, etc. They’re dangerous for our country.”

Asked to comment on Trump’s Tuesday remarks, a Schiff spokesman pointed to a pair of posts on X that the congressman in response to Trump’s Sunday interview.

“Donald Trump is openly threatening to call in the military to suppress his political opponents,” one of the posts reads. “We must defeat him this November and never let him fulfill his dictatorial ambitions.”

Representatives for Harris’ campaign and Pelosi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump in Chicago interview defends call for tariffs on imports, does not commit to peaceful concession if he loses

Chicago Tribune

Trump in Chicago interview defends call for tariffs on imports, does not commit to peaceful concession if he loses

Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune – October 15, 2024

CHICAGO — Former President Donald Trump used an appearance before the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday to deliver a strong defense for using tariffs on foreign imports to grow jobs and the economy, dismissing criticism it could lead to consumer price increases and a resurgence of inflation if he is elected.

The Republican presidential nominee also warned that the country is on the verge of World War III because of conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and questioned the intelligence of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential contender, to solve economic and foreign issues.

Trump’s unusual visit to a nonbattleground state with three weeks left in the campaign lacked any mention of his long-standing criticisms of Chicago and violence. He offered the more than 500 people in attendance, largely major business executives supportive of his campaign, a backhanded compliment by noting that he appeared before the Detroit Economic Club last week and, “I think you people are probably even wealthier. OK?”

The former president also veered wildly from questions posed to him by John Micklethwait, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, and restated past criticisms of the “fake media” and “corrupt press.”

Asked about a potential Justice Department move to break up Google parent Alphabet, Trump complained that its search engine’s algorithms display a preponderance of negative stories about him.

“I think it’s a whole rigged deal. I think Google’s rigged, just like our government is rigged,” he said. But he stopped short of saying the tech giant should be broken up.

He again defended the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by Trump supporters seeking to block President Joe Biden’s Electoral College certification and claimed there had been a “peaceful transfer of power.” But Trump did not commit to a peaceful concession should he lose to Harris in November.

Trump has touted imposing tariffs as part of his protectionist America First agenda for restoring and bringing in jobs and new manufacturing into the United States, most often citing China as a major threat.

But in speaking for just more than an hour at a downtown hotel ballroom, Trump also warned that U.S. allies, including members of the European Union, Japan and South Korea, had taken advantage of import rules at the expense of the United States’ economic well-being.

“Our allies have taken advantage of us more so than our enemies,” Trump said.

“They screw us on trade, so bad the European nations,” he said, adding to it the cost of U.S. support for NATO, “so they’re taking tremendous advantage of us.”

With an estimated 40 million U.S. jobs that rely on trade, accounting for more than a quarter of the nation’s gross domestic product, Trump said his answer was an easy one for companies wanting to avoid tariffs and the higher costs associated with their goods.

“All you have to do is build your plant in the United States, and you don’t have any tariffs,” he said.

Economists have repeatedly argued tariffs would amount to a national sales tax. Asked about the contention the tariffs would hit consumers on the roughly $3 trillion worth of current imports, Trump said, “The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States and build a factory in the United States so it doesn’t have to pay the tariff.”

For the auto industry, Trump threatened tariffs of as high as “2,000%” to prevent foreign companies from importing cars. He said the move would price those companies out of the American consumer market unless those car companies begin building new and more manufacturing facilities in the U.S.

Trump spoke of the decline of the U.S. steel industry until he imposed tariffs on Chinese steel. He also repeated his opposition to the potential acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan-based Nippon Steel.

“There are certain companies you have to have. There are certain things you have to have. Steel, you have to have if you go to war,” Trump said. “While we’re talking about it, we have never been so close to World War III as we are right now with what’s going on in Ukraine, Russia and the Middle East.”

On the neck-and-neck Nov. 5 presidential election, Trump reiterated many of his insults he’s made about Harris on the campaign trail.

“I never thought I’d say this: She is not as smart as Biden if you can put it that way. We had four years of this lunacy and we can’t have anymore. We’re not going to have a country left,” Trump said.

Trump also continued to voice his baseless grievance that the 2020 election was stolen from him, saying he believed the election was “100%” crooked. Speaking about Jan. 6 again, he said his supporters had a right to protest and said of the day of the attack that “it was love and peace” and then “some people went to the Capitol, and a lot of strange things happened.”

The former president also lied when he said none of the Capitol rioters had a gun. As a result of the attack, there were 129 people charged with ‘using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer,” the Poynter Institute found.

It was Trump’s first public appearance in Chicago since his July 31 conversation before the National Association of Black Journalists convention in which he notably questioned the racial identity of Harris, the first Black and Asian American woman to become a major party’s presidential nominee.

Trump sandwiched the trip to Chicago between a visit Monday evening for a rally in suburban Philadelphia that was cut short due to people who became overheated and a Tuesday evening appearance in Atlanta for a “town hall” on women’s issues.

Democrats have been using the Supreme Court’s reversal of a federal right to abortion to try to motivate women voters to cast ballots opposing Trump and down ballot Republicans for their anti-abortion stance.

In addition to economic clubs in Chicago and Detroit, Trump also visited the Economic Club of New York in September, where he said revenue from tariffs would more than cover the need to help provide child care assistance for working parents.

“We’re going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s — relatively speaking — not very expensive, compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in,” he said.

_____

(Tribune reporter Rebecca Johnson contributed.)