AUGUST 10, 2019

Week 143

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things
subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember. https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-143/

Brussels, Belgium 4aug19

This week has the most incidents of violence, attempted violence, and acts of hate inspired by Trump and his rhetoric since I started keeping track. The week started with two deadly mass shootings — one directly linked to the language used by Trump and Fox News — and rather invoking the role of consoler, Trump instead further stoked division and hate. What many may have missed in Week 143 is the amount of close calls by other white men — seemingly activated by Trump’s rhetoric and gaslighting on white supremacy and hate — that could have led to even more bloodshed. Or the remnants of racism and xenophobia that Trump has brought into the mainstream with his actions and words.

The Republican Party saw further defections of House members retiring in 2020, but still lawmakers refused, with few exceptions, to condemn Trump’s mishandling of the mass shootings, his continuing divisiveness and hate, or his blocking of the FBI and other agencies’ attempts to confront domestic terrorism carried out by white supremacists. This week once again there was a bevy of resignations from key roles, as power continues to consolidate into the hands of Trump and his band of sycophants. A mass raid in Mississippi, the largest in U.S. history, produced images of children crying as their parents were taken by ICE agents from places of work. Again, not a peep from the Republican Party.

This week House Democrats quietly escalated what appears to be the start of a stealth impeachment inquiry, suing to have former White House counsel Don McGahn appear for public testimony. While Congress is away for six weeks — a noticeable hiatus given Trump’s now unfettered control of the narrative and acting seemingly unchallenged — court cases filed by House panels continued to move forward.

The week closed with the shocking revelation that Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell, allegedly by suicide, the day after court documents were unsealed, revealing other powerful men involved in his ring of sex trafficking and rape of girls. Conspiracy theories, some fanned by Russian-backed bots, exploded shortly after, seeking to distract from the strange occurrence of Epstein’s death.

Artist: Captain Eyeliner. New York City, June 2019

On Saturday, Patrick Crusius, a 21 year-old white man from Allen, Texas, drove 10 hours to a Walmart five miles from the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, and shot and killed at least 20 and injured dozens more.
Minutes before the shooting, Crusius posted a 2,300 word manifesto titled “The Inconvenient Truth” on 8chan, which spoke of a “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” and warned white people were being replaced by foreigners.
The attack followed the pattern of the attacks in New Zealand in March and Poway, Calif. in April where aggrieved white men turned to mass murder against immigrants, Jews, and others perceived to be a threat to the white race.
Much of the language in the manifesto mirrored Trump’s words before and while in office, including “invasion” and “invaders.” At a May rally in Florida, Trump had mused about shooting “these people” to stop them.
The manifesto used words in Trump’s tweets like Democrats “intend to use open borders” to make Texas “a Democrat stronghold,” and language used by Fox News host Tucker Carlson and White House adviser Stephen Miller.
On Sunday, watchdog group Media Matters reported Trump has run roughly 2,200 Facebook ads using the word “invasion” since May 2018, almost all of which reference immigration.
On Saturday, George P. Bush, the Texas General Land Office Commissioner, issued a statement denouncing “white terrorism,” calling it “a real and present threat that we must all denounce and defeat.”
On Saturday, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported white nationalist leaders and bloggers expressed solidarity with the El Paso shooter on online platforms, praising the El Paso massacre and mocking the dead.
Hours after the shooting, Trump crashed another wedding at his Bedminster golf resort. Photos on social media showed Trump smiling and waving at wedding guests who shouted, “USA! USA!”
On Sunday, just after midnight, Trump tweeted the shooting in El Paso was “an act of cowardice,” and “I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today’s hateful act.”
On Sunday, an op-ed in the Sydney Morning Herald titled “US in the midst of a white nationalist terrorism crisis” was published, citing the “flames Trump fans with his dehumanising discourse.”
On Sunday, the NYT Editorial Board wrote “We have a white nationalist terrorist problem,” adding while here for a while, “white nationalism has attained a new mainstream legitimacy during Mr. Trump’s time in office.”
On Sunday, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas said it was treating the shooting as a domestic terrorism case, and is weighing hate crime charges. The mass shooting was the deadliest since November 2017.
On Sunday, Mexico threatened to take legal action against the U.S. for failing to protect its citizens. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard called the massacre a “terrorist act against innocent Mexicans.”
On Monday, ABC News reported law enforcement said Crusius cased the Walmart before his rampage, looking for Mexicans to target. Of the 22 killed, 8 were Mexican citizens, and 9 Mexicans were wounded.
On Sunday, shortly after 1 a.m., Connor Betts, a 24 year-old white man opened fired with a high-capacity riflein the nightlife district in downtown Dayton, Ohio, killing nine, including his sister, and injuring 27.
On Monday, CBS News reported Betts kept a “hit list” of those he wanted to kill, and a “rape list” of girls he wanted to sexually assault in high school. He was suspended after his hit list was found on a bathroom wall.
On Monday, BuzzFeed reported Betts was the lead singer in Menstrual Munchie, a “pornogrind” band, a genre defined by its themes of gore and violence, specifically sexual violence towards women.
On Sunday, in the wake of the massacres in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News video games are partly to blame for mass shootings.
On Sunday, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told “This Week” on the shooting, “I don’t think it’s fair to try and lay this at the feet of the president,” adding, “they are sick, sick people.”
On Sunday, Candice Keller, an Ohio GOP state representative, was criticized for blaming the Dayton shooting on “the breakdown of the traditional family, gay marriage, violent video games” and other things.
On Sunday, CNN reported FBI director Christopher Wray ordered offices around the country to undertake a new threat assessment to thwart future mass attacks, amid concern that violent extremists could be inspired to act.
WAPO reported a former FBI supervisor cited concern that FBI agents may be hamstrung by reluctance to start investigations that target what Trump perceives as his base, calling it a no-win situation.
On Wednesday, CNN reported the Trump regime rebuffed efforts by the Department of Homeland Security for over a year to make combating domestic terrorism, such as white supremacists, a greater priority.
An official said the Trump regime wanted to focus on only on the jihadist threat. Officials also noted fighting the white supremacy aspect of domestic terrorism was not in the regime’s fiscal 2020 budget.
On Thursday, Yahoo News reported the Trump regime blocked Congress from access to a DOJ report which allegedly reveals white supremacists were responsible for all race-based domestic terrorism incidents in 2018.
On Monday, Rep. Kenny Marchant said he will not seek re-election in 2020, becoming the 11th House Republican to retire, and the fourth House Republican from Texas in recent weeks.
On Monday, Venezuela and Uruguay issued travel warnings to their citizens about traveling to the U.S., citing violence and hate crimes, and the “indiscriminate possession of firearms by the population.”
On Wednesday, Amnesty International issued a global travel advisory to those traveling to the U.S. to “exercise caution and have an emergency contingency plan” and avoid spots where large groups congregate.
The advisory also said “depending on the traveler’s gender identity, race, country of origin, ethnic background, or sexual orientation, they may be at higher risk of being targeted with gun violence.”
On Monday, former congressman Beto O’Rourke of El Paso (a 2020 Democratic candidate) said of Trump, “connect the dots about what he’s been doing…He’s not tolerating racism; he’s promoting racism.”
O’Rourke also expressed exasperation with the media when asked if Trump could do better, saying “What do you think?…I don’t know, like, members of the press: What the f — -?”
On Monday, Rep. Veronica Escobar said Trump is “not welcome” in her district, saying he came into “one of the safest communities in the nation” and months later, so did a gunman.
On Monday, Nebraska State Sen. John McCollister accused Trump of stoking racism and his party of “enabling white supremacy,” saying, “When the history books are written, I refuse to be someone who said nothing.”
On Monday, Trump blamed the media for the shootings, tweeting, “Fake News has contributed greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years,” saying coverage must improve or it will “only get worse!”
Trump also tweeted “Republicans and Democrats must come together” suggesting pairing “strong background checks” legislation “with desperately needed immigration reform.” It was unclear what he meant.
Hours later, reading from a teleprompter, Trump spoke of “the inherent worth and dignity of every human life,” saying, “In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.”
Trump cited a link between the mass shootings and violent video games, mental illness, and internet bigotry, but did not address guns. He called for the death penalty for “those who commit hate crimes and mass murders.”
Trump did not mention the idea in his morning tweet of linking immigration legislation to background checks. NYT reported aides argued the linkage was a bad idea and urged Trump to drop it.
At one point, Trump went off script, blessing the memory of “those who perished in Toledo,” not Dayton or El Paso. The official White House transcript of his speech crossed out “in Toledo” from the text.
WAPO noted Trump’s words read from the teleprompter were a sharp departure from his time in office in which he engaged in “name-calling, demonizing minorities and inflaming racial animus,” mostly on Twitter.
Hours later, former president Barack Obama called on the country to reject words “coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders” that feed fear and hatred, saying, “It has no place in our politics and our public life.”
Obama also noted such language has been root of most human tragedy, from slavery to the Holocaust to the Rwandan genocide. Obama did not mention Trump by name, but noted his campaign’s inflammatory rhetoric.
On Monday evening, amid a widespread backlash, the NYT changed its front page headline on Trump’s speech from “TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM” to “ASSAILING HATE BUT NOT GUNS” for the second edition.
On Tuesday, Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the Times told the Columbia Journalism Review it was a “bad headline,” adding that “It didn’t have enough skepticism of what the president said.”
On Monday, top Democrats called on Senate Leader Mitch McConnell to cancel August recess and return to vote in gun control measures passed in the House. McConnell fell and fractured his shoulder on Sunday.
On Monday, Democrat Amy McGrath, who is challenging Leader McConnell in 2020, criticized a photo tweeted by his campaign of gravestones, including one that read “R.I.P. Amy McGrath.”
On Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez confronted Leader McConnell after a photo of seven young white men in ‘Team Mitch’ t-shirts groping and choking her cutout appeared on social media.
On Wednesday, Twitter froze McConnell’s campaign account for posting a video of protestors screaming obscenities outside his home. Twitter will not unlock the account until the video is removed.
On Wednesday, Politico reported the White House is circulating drafts of an executive order that would address allegations of anti-conservative bias by social media companies — a frequent complaint by Trump.
On Friday, Twitter reversed, unlocking the McConnell campaign account, looking to defuse a growing controversy with the Republican establishment.
On Monday, Cesar Sayoc, a super-fan of Trump who mailed explosives to prominent Democrats and media figures who are Trump critics, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
On Tuesday, the FBI said it had launched a domestic terrorism probe into the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Week 142, after discovering the shooter had a list of other potential targets.
On Tuesday, the FBI said it is investigating the “violent ideologies” of the Dayton shooter. The Dayton police chief said Betts had an “obsession” with violence and “had expressed a desire to commit a mass shooting.”
On Wednesday, Thomas Bartram, a 21 year-old white Trump supporter, was detained by police for making threatening comments and brandishing a knife outside the immigrant center in El Paso. He was later released.
On Friday, Dmitriy Andreychenko, 20, sparked panic at a Walmart in Missouri when he walked in wearingbody armor and fatigues. He was detained at gunpoint by an off-duty firefighter
On Friday, police arrested Conor Climo, a 23 year-old white Vegas man who worked as a security guard and was plotting to firebomb a Las Vegas synagogue or a bar catering to LGTBQ customers.
On Friday, Timothy Ireland, Jr., 41, was indicted in at a federal court in Toledo on making interstate threatsagainst Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the four congresswomen targeted by Trump.
On Monday, NBC News reported Brian Kozlowski, a white man in Michigan, was sentenced to just 60 weekend days in prison for trying to poison his wife after she filed for divorce.
On Monday, a 16 year-old white teen was banned from a private school in Columbia, South Carolina as he faces criminal charges after posting a racial-slur-laden video of him shooting a box representing black people.
On Tuesday, the Galveston, Texas police apologized after a photo surfaced of horse-mounted white officers leading a handcuffed black man, who had been arrested on a misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge, by a rope.
On Wednesday, WOIO reported an explosion at a Cleveland, Ohio home is being investigated as a possible hate crime, after police found spray-painted racial slurs and swastikas. The FBI is aware of the incident.
On Thursday, Michigan Live reported when Rob Mathis, a Black man, and his wife looked to buy a home in Holton, Michigan owned by a police officer, they found Confederate flags and a KKK application.
The officer, Charles Anderson of the Muskegon Police Department, who is white, was placed on indefinite leave pending an investigation.
On Thursday, the lawyer for Curt James Brockway, a 39 year-old white man who slammed a 13 year-old boy’s head to the ground for not removing his hat during the national anthem, said Trump’s rhetoric was partly to blame.
A letter from National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Emmer named three “left-wing radicals” that “bought control of Congress for the Democrats.” George Soros and Michael Bloomberg are Jewish, as is Tom Steyer’s father.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 760 points, the worst day of 2019, as the trade war with China intensified, with China retaliating against Trump’s tariff announcement in Week 142.
After the stock market close, the Treasury Department declared China as a currency manipulator, a historic move that no White House had exercised since the Clinton administration in 1994.
Later Monday, China suspended its purchase of U.S. agriculture products. The loss of China, the fourth largest market for U.S. farm products, was a devastating blow to the already struggling U.S. agriculture market.
On Monday, in a WSJ op-ed, former Federal Reserve Chairs Paul Volcker, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and Janet Yellen said, “America needs an independent Fed” which is “free from short-term political pressures.”
On Wednesday, in a series of tweets, Trump attacked the Federal Reserve, saying, “Our problem is not China…Our problem is a Federal Reserve that is too proud to admit their mistake,” adding, “I was right.”
Trump also tweeted the Fed “must Cut Rates bigger and faster, and stop their ridiculous quantitative tightening NOW,” adding, “Incompetence is a terrible thing to watch.”
On Thursday, in a series of tweets, Trump again attacked the Fed, saying “The Fed’s high interest rate level, in comparison to other countries, is…making it more difficult for our great manufacturers.”
Trump also tweeted, “with substantial Fed Cuts” it will be “possible for our companies to win,” adding the Fed “called it wrong at every step of the way…imagine what would happen if they actually called it right?”
On Sunday, France and Germany criticized Russian police’s crackdown on protestors, calling it an “excessive use of force,” and that it “violated Russia’s international obligations.” The U.S. made no statement.
On Monday, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that North Korea fired two projectiles for the third time in the past two weeks. The North denounced the U.S. and Seoul over the start of their joint exercises.
On Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler told MSNBC that his panel could decide whether to move forward with articles of impeachment in the “late fall perhaps — in the latter part of the year.”
Nadler said his panel will probably get the court decisions on Mueller grand jury evidence by the end of October, and “we will have hearings in September and October” for witnesses and “do it through the fall.”
Nadler added, “The Mueller report was the summary of the evidence, we don’t have the evidence,” and said on holding hearings, “We will get the support of the American people or we won’t. I suspect we will.”
On Monday, District Judge Reggie Walton appeared on several occasions to side with BuzzFeed and nonprofit EPIC in their lawsuit seeking to uncover all the redactions from the Mueller report.
The judge said Trump’s public statements “seem to be inconsistent with what the report itself said,” and that AG William Barr’s four-page letter “did not fully capture the context, nature and substance” of the report.
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee filed a lawsuit to enforce the panel’s subpoena of former White House counsel Don McGahn, and to compel him to testify about his tenure at Trump’s White House.
The suit asked the judge to strike down the Trump regime’s claim that top aides are “absolutely immune” from its subpoenas, signaling more was at stake than a single witness. The suit mentions impeachment 16 times.
The suit states the committee is “now determining whether to recommend articles of impeachment against the president based on the obstructive conduct described by the special counsel.”
On Thursday, WSJ reported major banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo have handed over documents to congress relating to Trump.
Thousands of pages relating to Trump and his family and businesses’ ties to Russians have been given to the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees, with more expected in coming weeks.
Some of the banks have also turned over documents related to the Trump Organization to New York Attorney General Letitia James, in response to a civil subpoena issued earlier this year.
On Thursday, NPR reported that 120 members of the House are now for impeachment. Twenty-five of the lawmakers announced support for impeachment after Robert Mueller’s testimony in Week 141.
On Thursday, Chair Nadler told CNN “this is formal impeachment proceedings,” adding “we will [at the] conclusion of this — hopefully by the end of the year — vote to vote articles of impeachment…or we won’t.”
WAPO reported Democrats have begun an impeachment inquiry without people noticing or without fanfare. During the House’s six week break, the action will be in the courts, and then testimony when they return.
On Monday, Lewis Ziska, one of the country’s leading climate change scientists, resigned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the Trump regime tried to bury his groundbreaking study.
Ziska’s study revealed rice is losing nutrients because of rising levels of carbon dioxide, a concern for 600 million who depend on rice for most of their calories. Ziska said “it feels like something out of a bad sci-fi movie.”
On Monday, the USDA inspector general said the White House violated the law with plans to relocate hundreds of workers in the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City.
The IG findings cannot stop the relocation, but could be used in congressional or court battles over the USDA’s plan. Many economists and researchers have already said they will quit rather than relocate.
Chief of staff Mulvaney said last week in a speech at a South Carolina Republican Party gala that the relocation was “a wonderful way to sort of streamline government,” bragging, “more than half the people quit.”
On Tuesday, Chair Nadler and Rep. Hank Johnson, a subcommittee chair, in a letter asked the National Archives and Records Administration for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s White House records.
The letter seeks records from Kavanaugh’s time as staff secretary and in the White House counsel’s office under George W. Bush, including all emails sent or received as well as the “textual records” in his office files.
On Thursday, the Phoenix New Times reported Rachel Mitchell, the prosecutor who questioned Christine Blasey Ford for Senate GOP at Kavanaugh’s hearing, was given a top prosecutor job in Maricopa County.
On Tuesday, the ACLU sued the Trump regime to block a rule that went into effect on July 23, and would expand the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to fast-track deportations.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Arkansas temporarily blocked the state’s 18-week abortion ban from going into effect, saying it would cause “irreparable” harm to women seeking abortion.
The judge also blocked new laws banning women from terminating a pregnancy based on a diagnosis the fetus has Down syndrome, and a law requiring providers to be certified in obstetrics and gynecology.
On Monday, Roger Stone asked an appeals court to overturn his pre-trial gag order, which he described as a “total speech ban,” claiming the order violates both his and his family’s First Amendment rights.
On Tuesday, the DOJ sided with Trump in a battle over a congressional subpoena for his financial records, saying, “The House’s lack of responsibility is sufficient reason…to declare this subpoena invalid.”
The DOJ said “at an absolute minimum,” the court should require the House Oversight Committee to provide clarity on the legislative purpose of seeking eight years of records from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA.
On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the State and Defense departments to release thousands of pages of records related to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, in response to a lawsuit by Open Society Justice Initiative.
On Tuesday, “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade defended using the term “invasion” as used by the El Paso shooter, saying, “If you use the term ‘this is an invasion,’ that’s not anti-Hispanic. It’s a fact.”
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted a whataboutism quote by Kilmeade, saying, “Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign.”
On Tuesday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said there is no white supremacy problem in America, saying, “the whole thing is a lie,” adding, “This is a hoax, just like the Russia hoax. It’s a conspiracy theory.”
On Thursday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway defended Carlson calling white supremacy a “hoax” and getting widespread criticism, saying his comment was getting “outsized coverage…versus all forms of hate.”
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted his displeasure with the NYT changing a headline “after the Radical Left Democrats went absolutely CRAZY!” adding, “Fake News — That’s what we’re up against.”
Trump also tweeted, “After 3 years I almost got a good headline from the Times!” and quoted Tucker Carlson, saying, “This is an astounding development in journalism. I’ve never seen it happen before.”
Trump also tweeted the Dayton shooter “had a history of supporting political figures like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and ANTIFA” per One America News, adding he hopes “other news outlets will report this.”
On Wednesday, before heading to Dayton and El Paso, when asked if his words embolden white supremacists, Trump said the Dayton shooter supported “Bernie Sanders…antifa…Elizabeth Warren.”
Kellyanne Conway started pushing the false equivalency on Tuesday, telling Fox News that she is “hopping mad” that she sees little coverage of the Dayton shooter being “supportive of Warren, Sanders.”
Trump also told reporters, when asked if he regretted his language being used in the El Paso manifesto, “I think illegal immigration is a terrible thing for this country. I think you have to come in legally.”
Trump also said his opponents are “looking for political gain” by tying his comments to the shooting, adding, “I don’t think my rhetoric does at all. I think my rhetoric brings people together.”
As Trump left for Dayton and El Paso, CBS News wrote Trump “will be assuming the role of consoler-in-chief.” The network later scrubbed reference to consoler-in-chief from the title and body of the article.
Although Trump vowed to tone down his rhetoric and help the country heal, as would be a traditional role for the country’s leader, he instead attacked opponents and was unable again to show empathy.
In Dayton, Trump visited a hospital only, and spoke briefly with Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Sen. Sherrod Brown, who later complimented him for coming, but criticized his rhetoric and lack of action on gun control.
Once aboard Air Force One, Trump tweeted he had “ a warm & wonderful visit,” adding, “Then I saw failed Presidential Candidate (0%) Sherrod Brown & Mayor Whaley totally misrepresenting what took place.”
Trump also tweeted, “Their news conference after I left for El Paso was a fraud,” adding, “It bore no resemblance to what took place.” Director of Social Media Dan Savino tweeted, “They are disgraceful politicians.”
Mayor Whaley later responded on CNN, calling Trump “a bully and a coward,” and adding, “It’s fine that he wants to bully me and Senator Brown. We’re okay. We can take it.”
Trump also tweeted a criticism about 2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s speech, calling him “Sleepy Joe Biden” and “Sooo Boring!” adding “The LameStream Media will die in the ratings and clicks with this guy.”
Trump also attacked Fox News host Shepard Smith, tweeting, “Watching Fake News CNN is better than watching Shepard Smith, the lowest rated show,” adding he turns on One America News, “whenever possible.”
In El Paso, Trump faced thousands of protestors. After visiting a hospital, Trump told reporters, “We had an amazing day… The love, the respect for the office of the presidency — I wish you could have been in there to see it.”
Trump said of Whaley and Brown, “They shouldn’t be politicking today,” calling them “very dishonest people,” and adding that is why Brown got “about zero percent and he failed as a presidential candidate.”
After leaving El Paso, Trump attacked Joaquin Castro, brother of 2020 candidate Julian, who tweeted the names of major Trump donors in Texas. Trump initially deleted a tweet that misspelled Joaquin as Juaquin.
Trump called Joaquin “the lesser brother of a failed presidential candidate (1%) who makes a fool of himselfevery time he opens his mouth,” saying he is “not the man that his brother is,” and his brother is “not much.”
Trump also tweeted, “The Fake News worked overtime trying to disparage me and the two trips, but it just didn’t work,” adding, “The love, respect & enthusiasm were there for all to see,” and “Sad!”
Trump tweeted, “The Dems new weapon is actually their old weapon…they never cease to use when they are down…RACISM!” adding he will put out “a list of all people who have been so (ridiculously) accused!”
Later, back at the White House, Trump tweeted, “Just watched a world class loser, Tim O’Brien, who I haven’t seen or spoken to in many years” on “Lyin’ Brian Williams Trump Slam Show.”
Trump also tweeted, “so amazed that MSNBC & CNN can keep putting on, over and over again, people that have no idea what I am all about,” adding “how did that work out for the Haters and Losers. Not well!”
Later Wednesday, WAPO reported that none of the eight victims of the El Paso mass shooting being treated at University Medical Center agreed to meet with Trump during his hospital visit.
In a video released of Trump’s hospital visit, he is heard bragging to staff members about his El Paso rally three months ago, saying, “That place was packed. … That was some crowd. And we had twice the number outside.”
On Friday, NYT reported Trump was furious that the media coverage of his trip was more focused on his attacks on political opponents than the cheery reception he received when he arrived at the Dayton hospital.
There was also widespread coverage of Trump in El Paso giving a thumbs up while the first lady, Melania Trump, cradled a 2-month-old baby who lost both parents in the shooting — the mother died shielding him from bullets.
Trump started to see the negative headlines while flying back from El Paso on Air Force One. Reportedly, Trump screamed at his aides to produce videos proving that in El Paso people were happy to see him.
On Wednesday, a Pew Research poll found 51% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say it would be too risky to give presidents more power, down from 70% in March 2018.
On Wednesday, as Trump was visiting Dayton and El Paso, Trump’s Immigration and Customs and Enforcement conducted the largest immigration sweep in a single state in U.S. history.
ICE targeted seven different workplaces in six different cities in Mississippi. With the help of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi, ICE rounded up 680 undocumented immigrants.
ICE acting director Matthew Albence said the raid involved the mobilization of nearly 650 federal agents from around the country, and was planned long before the shootings, “and we intended to carry it out.”
On Wednesday, the Clarion Ledger reported the Scott County superintendent said he knew of at least six students in the district that had a parent caught up in the ICE roundup, and expected the number of rise.
The raids occurred in small towns near Jackson, including Bay Springs, Carthage, Canton, Morton, Pelahatchie, and Sebastapol, where most of the workforce is made up of Latino immigrants.
Children at the scene of the raid were seen waving goodbye to their parents as adults were taken into custody. As of 3:30 p.m., adults rounded up were still being screened and processed.
A video of a teary-eyed 12 year-old girl named Angie showed friends of her mother taking her to a food-processing plant to say goodbye. ICE told one friend she could take her back to school or wait until he mom gets out.
A video showed 11 year-old Magdalena Gomez Gregorio begging ICE to release her father: “Governments please put your heart. Let my parent be free. I need my dad by me. My dad didn’t do anything. He is not a criminal.”
WJTV reported many of the children relied on neighbors and strangers to pick them up outside their homes after school. Some of the children of detained parents slept at a community gym.
On Thursday, KTLA reported Mississippi residents rallied around terrified children left with no parents. Later that morning, about 300 of the 680 were released after being taken to a military hangar.
On Thursday, WAPO reported those temporarily released to take care of children will be free until their court date, but under the Trump regime if undocumented will likely be deported, regardless of criminal history.
On Friday, WAPO reported of the seven plants owned by five companies, including Koch Foods, federal authorities have not yet announced criminal or civil charges against any company, despite a year-long investigation.
The Post has not found any evidence of ICE audits or raids at Trump properties, either before or during his time in office. The DOJ has not charged the Trump properties with violating immigration laws.
On Friday, WAPO reported for two decades the Trump Org has relied on a roving crew of Latin American employees to work as construction crews for its winery and its golf courses from New York to Florida.
Edmundo Morocho, an undocumented worker, said he was told by a Trump supervisor to buy fake identity documents on a New York street corner. Morocho hid at a Trump golf course from visiting labor union officials.
Although Eric Trump told the Post in January that Trump Org was “making a broad effort to identify any employee who has given false and fraudulent documents,” workers say nothing has changed.
On Tuesday, Jon Huntsman sent a letter to Trump announcing he will resign as U.S. ambassador to Russiaafter serving two years, and return to his home state of Utah in October.
On Thursday, Kimberly Breier, the assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, resigned over the level of control exerted by the Trump regime over immigration, trade relations, and other matters.
On Thursday, Sue Gordon, the country’s number 2 intelligence official as deputy director of national intelligence, resigned. Gordon will step down on August 15, the same day as her boss, DNI Dan Coats.
Gordon was in line to replace Coats, at least in an acting capacity, until Trump nominated his successor. Gordon’s resignation letter said, “I offer this letter as an act of respect & patriotism, not preference.”
On Thursday, Foreign Service Officer Chuck Park resigned in an op-ed saying he can “no longer justify” to his son born in El Paso, “or to myself, my complicity in the actions of this administration.”
On Friday, House Foreign Affairs Chair Eliot Engel said he was “fed up” with the State Department, citing suspicions Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is blocking release of an IG report on whether Trump appointees mistreated career staffers.
On Friday, CNN reported the EPA will drop Obama-era protections of wild salmon in Bristol Bay, Alaska, allowing a controversial mining project, which the EPA said in 2014 could result in a “complete loss of fish habitat.”
On Friday, Trump tweeted, “Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate!” adding, “They like to call themselves ‘Elite,’ but they are not Elite,” and, “They are the true Racists.”
Trump was referencing a morning segment on “Fox & Friends” about an upcoming move called “The Hunt.” On Saturday, Universal Pictures canceled the movie’s release after the right-wing uproar.
On Wednesday, Stephen Ross, the owner of Equinox and SoulCycle, faced outrage and boycotts over hosting a fundraiser for Trump. Ross said he has known Trump for 40 years and strongly disagrees on some issues.
At Ross’s Hamptons fundraiser, attendees will give up to $100,000 for a picture with Trump and $250,000 to listen in on a roundtable discussion. Ross moved ahead with the fundraiser despite calls to cancel it.
On Friday, Trump threatened undefined retaliation against countries and organizations that have issued travel warnings over gun violence in the U.S., telling reporters, “If they did that, we’d just reciprocate.”
Trump also told reporters before leaving for vacation, the shootings were a mental illness problem, saying, “The gun doesn’t pull the trigger — the mind, a sick mind, pulls the trigger.”
Asked what he would say to children going back to school, Trump said, “study hard and someday you’ll grow up and maybe be President of the U.S. or do something else that’s fantastic. They have nothing to fear.”
Leader McConnell has blocked all gun control legislation, but Trump told reporters McConnell is willing to work with Democrats when they return in September, “I talked to Mitch McConnell yesterday. He’s totally on board.”
On Friday, AP reported Trump left for a 10-day vacation at his Bedminster golf course. Aides say Trump will focus on golf, cable news, and Twitter, while raising concern of potential outbursts when he is away from D.C.
Trump leaves with several domestic and foreign crises, including his uneven handling of his role after this week’s shootings, his trade war with China, rising tensions with Iran and North Korea, and other trouble areas.
Aides say his re-election strategy will be to focus on white grievances and immigration, designed to activate his base, an approach not seen by a sitting American president in the modern era.
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Trump is “going on vacation feeling smug,” citing the economy, winning the trade war with China, and viewing Democrats not being a threat.
On Friday, Axios reported the Trump re-election campaign sees the Democrat’s charge of white supremacy as a political benefit for the 2020 race — making “white supremacist” the new “deplorables.”
As several Democrats running for president in 2020 call Trump a white supremacist, the campaign believes the label will help him with his most hardcore base while bringing more moderate Republicans.
On Friday, Pope Francis warned against the rise of white nationalism, saying, “I am concerned because we hear speeches that resemble those of Hitler in 1934. Us first. We …We …These are frightening thoughts.”
On Saturday, Trump sided with North Korea over the U.S. military, tweeting a letter from Kim Jong Un “complaining about the ridiculous and expensive exercises,” referring to joint U.S. military exercises with South Korea.
Trump also asserted Kim’s letter was “a small apology for testing the short range missiles,” saying testing would stop when the military exercises end, adding Kim “would like to meet and start negotiations” when exercises end.
Trump also lashed out on El Paso, tweeting “Maggie Haberman of the Failing @nytimes reported that I was annoyed by the lack of cameras inside the hospitals,” adding, “I didn’t want the Fake News inside.”
Trump also tweeted, “Never has the press been more inaccurate, unfair or corrupt!” adding, “We are not fighting the Democrats, they are easy, we are fighting the seriously dishonest and unhinged Lamestream Media.”
Trump also tweeted that the press has “gone totally CRAZY, adding, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump also retweeted far-right British commentator Katie Hopkins, a voice against migrants and Muslims, on Thursday for the fourth time in four weeks. He also invoked her tweet hours before the El Paso shooting.
On Friday, thousands of pages of court documents were unsealed in the defamation lawsuit brought after Jeffrey Epstein by accuser Virginia Giuffre, revealing names of several men involved.
Among the prominent men named in the documents were Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, Britain’s Prince Andrew, and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
On Saturday, Epstein, 66, was found unresponsive in his jail call at 6:30 a.m. EST at a facility in New York. The death initially was reported as an apparent suicide. The FBI is investigating.
ABC News reported law enforcement officials said Epstein was found hanging in his cell, although it was not clear by what means. He was transported in cardiac arrest to the hospital and died at 6:39 a.m.
ABC News reported Epstein was placed on suicide watch on following an attempted suicide on July 23, but was no longer on suicide watch at the time of his death.
Sen. Ben Sasse, a member of the Senate Judiciary oversight subcommittee said, “It is inexcusable that this rapist was not under constant suicide watch. These victims deserved to face their serial abuser in court.”
Attorney General William Barr said in a statement he was “appalled” to learn of Epstein’s “apparent suicide while in federal custody,” saying his “death raises serious questions that must be answered.”
Conspiracy theories erupted almost immediately after the reporting of Epstein’s death, some blaming the Clintons, and with the help of Russian-back bots, are trending on Twitter.

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People react and embrace each other during an interfaith vigil for victims of a mass shooting which left 22 people dead, on August 4, 2019 in El Paso, Texas. A 21-year-old male suspect was taken into custody in the city which sits along the U.S.-Mexico border. At least 26 people were wounded.