https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/04/media/donald-trump-disbelief-reliable-sources/index.html
Don’t believe what you read, hear or see.
That’s what the Trump White House and the pro-Trump media are relying upon: Disbelief. Story after story calls to mind the old Marx Brothers line “Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”
The possibility of falling out of President Trump’s good graces is an occupational hazard for good people who serve in his Administration, but this looks like a new low: Mr. Trump reportedly has ordered an end to security protection for three former advisers who are living under threat of assassination by Iran. Pray it won’t happen, but what if one of them now gets attacked?
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-hannity-interview-fact-checked-2019915
Despite the easy ride, Trump still peppered the conversation with a mixture of falsehoods that Newsweek's Fact Check team has assessed.
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-trump-war-2018906
Elected officials are often accused of not keeping campaign promises, but Trump's rhetoric has set new standards of optimism. He said in May 2023 he could end the war in "24 hours"—and told a rally in June 2024 he could end the conflict even before he entered the White House.
But there has been a realignment of this goal as media outlets noted how the war continued to rage two days after he returned to the Oval Office.
Trump did not mention Ukraine in his inauguration speech on Tuesday but has since told reporters that Vladimir Putin would be destroying Russia by not agreeing to a deal, later saying had he been U.S. president at the time there would have been no invasion.
https://apnews.com/article/musk-gesture-salute-antisemitism-0070dae53c7a73397b104ae645877535
Since Musk bought Twitter, now called X, the self-described “free speech absolutist” has faced criticism from hate-speech watchdogs for allowing extremist, dangerous and antisemitic comments to flourish on the social media platform. His response has been to attack his critics, suing one group unsuccessfully after advertisers fled X and threatening to sue another, the Anti-Defamation League, which urged calm at what it called a “delicate moment” in its statement Monday.
Kurt Braddock, a professor of communication at American University who studies extremism, radicalization and terrorism, said the gesture was a fascist salute and “people shouldn’t doubt what they saw.”
“I know what I saw, I know what the response to it was among elements of the extreme right including neo-Nazis, Braddock said. “And none of it is a laughing matter.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-defends-elon-musk-after-hes-accused-of-giving-nazi-salute/
To some of his supporters and fans, the salute appeared to be a gesture of his gratitude that was distorted as clips were shared on social media. To many others, mostly among his critics but also including some on the far right, it bore an uncanny resemblance to the straight-armed, palm-down salute of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.
“I never imagined we would see the day when what appears to be a Heil Hitler salute would be made behind the Presidential seal,” Nadler tweeted. “This abhorrent gesture has no place in our society and belongs in the darkest chapters of human history. I urge all of my colleagues to unite in condemning this hateful gesture for what it is: antisemitism.”
https://www.jpost.com/omg/article-838803
According to his executive order, "female” means a person belonging at conception to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell, whereas "male” means a person belonging at conception to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.
Biologically, however, all fetuses at conception are female until about six or seven weeks of gestation.
The sexual organs (gonads) of a fetus remain undifferentiated up until this point, meaning that all fetal genitalia are female until 6-7 weeks post conception.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/01/22/justice-civil-rights-freeze-shutdown/
“It’s beyond unusual — it’s unprecedented. We’ve never seen this before at this scale with any transfer of power, regardless of the ideology of any incoming president or administration,” said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “This should make Americans both angry and deeply worried. This is more than just a changing course of philosophy — this is exactly what most people [in the civil rights community] feared: a Justice Department that was created to protect civil rights literally abdicating its duty and responsibility to protect Americans from all forms of discrimination.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/22/trump-mandate-polls-unpopular/
It is invariably the case that a winning political candidate casts his success as a stamp of approval for his campaign promises. Particularly in a political system dominated by two parties, this is misguided; voters are identifying the more palatable slate of proposals (when they’re not simply voting along party lines in the first place). It’s dishonest to suggest that every voter agreed with every proposal. But it’s politically useful, as it suggests that disagreement with those proposals is a rejection of the will of the people.
There’s one last useful question from the Journal poll that bears mentioning. It asked respondents which came closer to their view: that voters gave Trump a mandate to govern as he sees fit or that Congress has a duty to check Trump’s power.
By more than a 2 to 1 margin, respondents chose the latter option.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/01/22/tarrio-rhodes-retribution-jan6-revisionism/
Two newly freed leaders of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups called for investigations into the prosecution of people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, assailing judges, jurors and prosecutors as they sought “retribution” after being granted clemency from President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, several federal judges granted the Justice Department’s pardon-based requests to dismiss cases while saying in their rulings that the true story of Jan. 6 could not be whitewashed.
“Dismissal of charges, pardons after convictions, and commutations of sentences will not change the truth of what happened on January 6, 2021,” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in dismissing one riot defendant’s case.
Donald Trump doesn’t always separate his personal interests from his public obligations, and a howling example is his sudden new status as a crypto billionaire. The President is inviting trouble with what looks like remarkably poor judgment.
Crypto markets have boomed since Mr. Trump’s election in part on expectations of friendlier regulation. And so be it. Animal spirits have been rising all around. But Mr. Trump and his family have tried to cash in on the mania by minting Trump-branded coins.
