After losing the election over a month ago, President Donald Trump continues his efforts to overturn the results, while Congressional Republicans are doing very little to oppose his attacks on democratic institutions. Instead, many are throwing their support behind the president’s circus of “proof,” either for their own self-interest or as some form of aggressive partisanship, the results of which will surely come down to the erosion of voting rights nationwide. 

Even if Trump doesn’t succeed at his attempted coup, the Congressional Republicans publicly helping him will remain in office after Trump’s tenure comes to an end. And there are a lot of them. On Thursday, 106 House Republicans led by Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson signed on to a brief with the Supreme Court in support of a lawsuit filed in Texas against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

The lawsuit filed by Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton claims, without evidence, that officials in these states illegally changed their voting laws in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in President-elect Joe Biden’s win, and that the votes should be tossed out. Paxton, who is under investigation by the FBI for alleged bribery and abuse of office, asks that the Supreme Court delay the Electoral College’s December 14 vote and block the four states from casting their ballots in favor of Biden. 

The fact that more than half of House Republicans would throw their weight behind such an egregious lawsuit is perhaps unsurprising, if not alarming. “With one of our political parties trying to overturn the results of a free and fair election,” we are closer to democratic erosion “now than we were before the election, or a year ago,” Susan Stokes, the director of the Chicago Center on Democracy at the University of Chicago told The Atlantic. Republicans “have been going down that road all through Trump’s term, but this is the parting gift, which is more extreme than what has happened before.” 

Unfortunately, the 106 House Republicans backing Trump’s latest flimsy effort to overturn the election aren’t the only ones supporting his attacks. Earlier this week, 18 state attorneys general filed their own brief in support of Paxton’s lawsuit, a majority of the 25 Republican attorneys general nationwide. In Georgia, a battleground state lost by the president, Republican Attorney General Chris Carr called the lawsuit “constitutionally, legally and factually wrong,” only to receive a call from Trump warning Carr not to rally other Republicans against the suit. 

Meanwhile, Trump has received the support of such GOP Senators as Texas Republican Ted Cruz, who agreed to argue the case, and Georgia’s two Republican Senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who have also endorsed the lawsuit. It also received praise from Missouri’s Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who has been floated as a possible 2024 presidential contender. 

Trump won’t likely succeed in his efforts to remain in control of the White House, and the Republicans backing these attempts might even believe the same. For now, the Electoral College is scheduled to deliver Trump a loss next week, as he takes his legal battles all the way to the Supreme Court. But whether or not Trump is successful, the Republicans joining his chorus of lies — that the election results are invalid only because your party lost — present a slippery slope, and risk setting a dangerous precedent for the future of voting rights.

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Trump Is A Cult Leader. Can His Followers Be Saved

The Oath Keepers Are An Armed Pro-Trump Militia

Election Fraud Witness Claims He's Being Haunted

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is in the spotlight following a New Yorker report about internal concerns over her apparent cognitive decline. The story relies primarily on the testimony of sources on background, who spoke “with respect for her accomplished career” but believe “her short-term memory has grown so poor that she often forgets she has been briefed on a topic.”

Earlier this year, the California senator received backlash from progressives over her handling of far right Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Senate confirmation hearing, and now faces scrutiny for an entirely different reason. As a result, Feinstein, who is the oldest sitting U.S. Senator at 87 years old, was reportedly asked twice by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from her leadership position on the Judiciary Committee following Barrett’s confirmation, but she forgot their first exchange, sources said.

Those familiar with her situation also told the New Yorker‘s Jane Mayer that Feinstein will forget “what she has said and [get] upset when she can’t keep up,” and while she seems herself at times, her staff added she is at “other times unreachable.” As one former Senate aide told Mayer, “The staff is in such a bad position. They have to defend her and make her seem normal.”

These comments paired with her recent stumble while questioning Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey during a Senate hearing last month — Feinstein posed the same question twice in a row — have many discussing whether it’s time for the Senator to step down altogether. But Congress’s aging problem isn’t really about Feinstein at all — it’s not even really about her age, either. Rather, there is a long history of political leaders in U.S. government who outlasted their time. 

Former South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond, who served to age 100, was described as confused and unable to adequately perform his duties by the end of his term. Meanwhile, former Arizona Sen. John McCain, who served until age 81, struggled during his questioning of former FBI director James Comey during the 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. McCain went on to receive praise as an anti-Trump hero. Until her recent death in September, the entire fate of American democracy rested on 87-year-old former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who remained on the court through her battle with metastatic pancreatic cancer.  

From the halls of Congress, to the White House, to the Supreme Court, some of the highest positions in U.S. government are held by people in their 70s and older. The core problem isn’t necessarily about age, either. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who both ran for president in the 2020 election, have arguably remained impassioned advocates for working class Americans, even at ages 71 and 79 respectively. Still, it is essential to recognize when our representatives can no longer effectively do their jobs, especially when those jobs include leading accountability hearings in the Congress and negotiating legislation that millions of people depend on. 

But such a reckoning would also require a larger cultural conversation about Americans working while sick, and the fact that public health isn’t typically treated as a priority by political officials. Look no further than the federal government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as millions of people are forced to choose between going to work to make ends meet, and staying home as the deadly virus surges across the country. Such a change in work culture would also require an overhaul of the systems and policies that prevent people from leaving work due to illness. An October report from Robert Half found that 90% of American workers go to work while sick, either due to pressure from a boss or because they can’t afford not to. 

“Our culture is reflected and reinforced by public policy,” Caitlyn Collins, an assistant professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis told the Washington Post in 2016. “We are the only industrialized country with no federally mandated paid sick days. When the federal government tells you that you have no right to sick days, they’re telling you that you have no right to self-care or to care for loved ones.”

And while most Americans don’t have a choice of whether or not to continue working — even through illness, age, or other conditions — there is an urgent need for change to the seniority system in Congress. Senior officials who hold some of the most important positions in government need to step down when they are dealing with, as Mayer describes, “disruptive health problems that clearly [undermine] the Senate’s ability to function.” 

So rather than merely call out Feinstein, who very well may have outlasted the appropriate amount of time in the Senate, let’s point to all the other leaders — current and past — who have done the same. Whether it be due to age, mental decline, or just an inability to represent the needs of their constituency, the crisis in American leadership is not relegated to Dianne Feinstein — it’s much deeper, widespread, and deserving of real attention and action.

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In The Face Of Mass Death, Mitch McConnell Laughs

Twitter Is Coming For Ted Cruz & His Turkey

Why Ivanka Might Be Going From D.C. To Jail

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department officially opened an investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax affairs and business dealings, Biden announced Wednesday. Investigators are looking into whether Biden properly reported income from his business dealings in foreign countries, with specific focus on China. The U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware is leading the investigation, which was first opened in late 2018, and is working with the IRS Criminal Investigation agency and the FBI, CNN reports. 

“I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” Hunter Biden said in a statement. “I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers.”

When they first launched their inquiry, the U.S. attorney’s office was investigating alleged criminal violations of tax and money laundering laws, but the FBI failed to gather enough evidence with regards to the latter inquiry, The New York Times reported. Now, the Justice Department is moving forward, just in time for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

The investigation is primarily focused on Hunter Biden and some of his associates. Prosecutors in Delaware on Tuesday issued two subpoenas, with at least one seeking more information regarding Biden’s taxes, according to the Times. Further, the inquiry will look into Biden’s foreign ties. Biden served as a board member for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, the founder of which was accused of corruption last year, and provided legal advice to Romainian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu, who was also accused of corruption. 

However, the criminal investigation will focus primarily on China, two people briefed on the matter told CNN. In 2018, Biden met with Ye Jianming, the founder and former chairman of CEFC China Energy, to invest in U.S. energy and infrastructure, the New York Times reported at the time. While the deal apparently fell through, Biden was scrutinized over a 2.8-carat diamond he received from Ye, though he said he felt uncomfortable accepting the gift and insisted he gave it away to other associates. Chinese authorities later detained Ye on allegations of corruption, while his associate Patrick Ho who also met with Biden in 2018 was convicted of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act the same year. 

As part of the investigation, FBI agents and federal prosecutors in Delaware served a subpoena in 2019 to obtain a laptop and an external hard drive that reportedly belonged to Biden. According to the Times, the FBI examined the computer but nothing on the device served to further the money-laundering investigation. Even so, Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani claimed the contents of the laptop show evidence of corruption. 

Though it remains unclear whether there is sufficient evidence for the probe to lead anywhere, the investigation threatens to further cast a shadow of doubt over President-elect Joe Biden’s administration even before he takes office. The announcement of this investigation comes as Team Trump continues its fight in court to reverse Joe Biden’s election victory, while the president further weaponizes his Department of Justice in yet another investigation into his political enemies. 

The Biden-Harris transition team released a statement of its own regarding the matter: “President-elect Biden is deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger,” the transition team said.

If nothing more, the timing of the investigation means that Joe Biden’s presidency will start with an open investigation into his son, and the incoming president will have to prove he can keep his own DOJ separate from personal matters.

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There's No Controversy In Joe & Hunter Biden's Hug

Hunter Biden Wants To Become An Artist

Biden's Honesty About His Son's Addiction Matters

If you woke up on Friday morning to an embarrassing display of MAGA hats all over your Twitter feed, you’re not alone. After four years of a far right cult of personality around President Donald Trump and his red “Make America Great Again” hats, it would appear that some Democrats are prepared to answer back. Enter: Blue MAGA.

Unfortunately, most of us never signed up for a lifetime of hats with terrible slogans, shifting from red to blue every four years. But in the spirit of the blue wave that some people believe is here to save them from Trumpism, those blue hats carry a different, and somehow equally-cringey message: Made America Great Already. 

The hats started making the rounds on Twitter on Thursday evening, after the account “Biden Harris Hats” shared several photos of people wearing the blue “MAGA” hats, which are also being sold on Amazon. “You ‘Made America Great Already’ simply by firing and evicting Trump from our White House,” the tweet read. “Get your BIDEN ‘BLUE’ MAGA HAT now.” 

Some of the tweets on the account tagged President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, while others tagged the conservative super PAC, The Lincoln Project and used the hashtag “#45TransitionToPrison.” (There is currently no sign that a Biden administration won’t at least consider pardoning Trump.) But the hats are not officially affiliated with the Biden team and have apparently been sold on Amazon since at least 2019 to show support for veterans, according to Newsweek. Still, following Biden and Kamala Harris’s win, the brand seems to be using the incoming administration to sell more of their merch.

Luckily, just as quickly as these hats started making the rounds on social media, leftists responded with criticism about “how cultish neoliberal Democrats have become,” while liberals were also swift to reject them. “We don’t need another cult. America just survived one,” actress Yvette Nicole Brown wrote on Twitter. Most people pointed out how embarrassing the hats are, and as one person stated: “NO ONE wants anything to do with this stupid grift.” 

Blue MAGA ???

Guys, please no… I know you mean well, but we

J U S T
👏🏽
G O T
👏🏽
R I D
👏🏽
of this shit. Please. pic.twitter.com/TzN3pwQR2j

— 𝕿𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖒𝖆𝖘 – 𝕾𝖊𝖙 𝕴𝖙 𝕺𝖋𝖋 (@EwAMirror) December 4, 2020

Blue MAGA???

I better not see anyone wear that shit😒 pic.twitter.com/DXo39wGjjD

— 🇳🇬 (@maybeshecandoit) December 4, 2020

A bunch of us warned you how cultish neoliberal Democrats have become and now Blue MAGA is officially here. 🤦‍♂️ https://t.co/3DdL8nxBqp

— Ryan Knight 🌹 (@ProudSocialist) December 4, 2020

Stop trying to make BLUE MAGA happen! It’s not going to Happen! @BidenHarrisHats #BlueMAGA pic.twitter.com/tDg3ML3M6E

— ThaCynic (@ThaCynical) December 4, 2020

As of Friday morning, the Biden-Harris administration had not commented on the new blue MAGA hats, and fortunately for all of us, they are also not selling the hats in their own merch store. In this year 2020, which has felt like a dark and twisted Groundhog Day, perhaps the last thing we need is a new movement of people wearing blue MAGA hats to leave us all feeling eternally stuck in the simulation.

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Election Fraud Witness Claims He's Being Haunted

Why Ivanka Might Be Going From D.C. To Jail

Stop Trying To Make The "Trump Vaccine" Happen

In case conspiracy Karen’s testimony in front of a Michigan House Oversight Committee wasn’t wild enough, Team Trump has a new ally in its corner ready to sniff out all the non-existent voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Jesse Morgan, who claims to work as a contract truck driver for the United States Postal Service, says he allegedly drove a truck full of thousands of mail-in ballots from New York to Pennsylvania that helped President-elect Joe Biden win the election. 

Morgan claims he inadvertently drove the more than 300,000 “phony” ballots across state lines, helping Biden win the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. “I know I saw ballots with return addresses filled out,” Morgan said at the event hosted by the right-wing Thomas More Center. The event sought to continue propping up conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud in the election. Morgan added that he saw “thousands of [ballots], thousands.” 

Proponents of Trump’s ongoing — and flimsy — efforts to discredit the presidential election results immediately clung to Morgan’s testimony, including the president himself who tweeted the clip out to his followers on Tuesday. Morgan decided to speak up more than a month after the incident because, he said, “I was driving completed ballots from New York to Pennsylvania. I didn’t know.” 

It seems that the president is hanging on by a thread, based on the messy witnesses he’s come to rely on this week. While Morgan claims to have seen 300,000 supposedly fraudulent ballots, he also says he sees — wait for it — dead people. 

That’s right, Trump’s latest weapon in his voter suppression toolbox is a ghost-hunter who made a documentary from phone footage about how his family has been haunted by a “shadow person” who apparently hangs out in his basement, The Daily Beast reports. Morgan’s film, The Shadows Amongst Us, which you can find on Amazon, uses his now-private YouTube videos to prove that ghosts are indeed haunting his entire family, despite the fact that they live in different parts of the country. 

“It lives off your emotion, it lives off of stress, it lives off of dysfunction,” Morgan says of the shadow person. “So don’t be scared, don’t be afraid. As crazy and stupid as it may sound, walk around your house and say ‘In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave.’ It’s helped me out 1,000 times, to tell you the truth.”

It is unclear how President Trump and his sinking ship Captain Rudy Giuliani plan to use Morgan as a reliable witness in this losing battle. Over the last month, the president has been hit with defeat after defeat in his never-ending search for fraudulent voter activity. Even his Attorney General William Barr is finally breaking with Trump’s claims, and declared on Tuesday that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. 

As Trump is left with fewer allies and some unhinged loyalists in his corner, we might learn something from Morgan’s ghost-hunting escapades. Similar to the shadow person that lives off stress and dysfunction, so, too, does fascism. Perhaps the best way to get rid of the orange ghost haunting the Oval Office is to command him to leave.

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Michigan's Star Witness Is Conspiracy Karen

Stop Trying To Make The "Trump Vaccine" Happen

Trump Is Under Investigation For Pardon Bribery

In the month since President Donald Trump’s election loss, his campaign has launched a series of unhinged attacks on the democratic process — and it’s been quite a circus. There has been no shortage of blunders, from the Trump administration’s press conference at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping — which sits between a sex shop and a crematorium — to claims last month that a small, wealthy Michigan suburb was allegedly a hot spot for organized antifascism. 

But it’s no wonder Trump’s uphill battle to prove election fraud is falling apart, because his trusty personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is the person leading the fight. Throughout this process, we’ve seen Giuliani’s hair dye melt down his face at a press conference while he quoted the classic film, My Cousin Vinny. Since then, he once forgot the name of a judge in a Pennsylvania court, and was called out for his complete lack of knowledge of the state’s election code. 

It would seem having Giuliani as your leading man while trying to steal an election is not exactly a winning strategy. That was the case on Wednesday during yet another unhinged hearing in front of a Michigan House Oversight Committee as the White House continues to pressure legislatures in states won by President-elect Joe Biden to disregard the certified election results. In Michigan, the results show Trump losing to Biden by more than 154,000 votes. 

During the hearing, one of Giuliani’s very questionable witnesses — whom he later stated he met earlier that day — asserted the repeated and debunked claims that the election was rife with voter fraud. Melissa Carone, allegedly a contractor for Dominion Voting Systems, confidently and combatively slurred her way through her testimony. Carone claimed poll workers ran the same ballots through the machines “thousands of times,” an allegation refuted by election officials, and was questioned on that point by State Rep. Steven Johnson. 

“I know what I saw, and I signed something saying that if I’m wrong, I can go to prison. Did you?” she said. 

Johnson further pressed Carone on her claim that 30,000 votes were counted multiple times. “We’re not seeing the poll book off by 30,000 votes,” he said. Carone then accused the representative of taking the poll book and doing “something crazy to it.” 

a drunk woman is trump team’s star witness in michigan pic.twitter.com/qGxEI3hp2G

— marisa kabas (@MarisaKabas) December 3, 2020

In yet another blessed moment for the internet, footage of Carone has now been widely circulated, with some, like Refinery29 Editor Morgan Baila referring to her as “Lizzie McGuire’s mom,” while others called her a “Drunk Karen Walker.” At one point during her, um, spirited testimony, Giuliani attempted to shush a riled up Carone as she continued to interrupt Rep. Johnson.

The whole testimony truly felt like it could have been a skit right out of Saturday Night Live, which doesn’t exactly bode well for Team Trump, as many of their lawsuits have either been dismissed in court for lack of evidence or dropped. This latest hearing didn’t seem to accomplish much more, as Giuliani ended up trying to save face before later struggling to get through his own testimony without also making a mess of himself.

But as evidenced below, that might not have gone well either:

I present this clip of Rudy Giuliani testifying without editing or commentary. (Watch for the 👀) pic.twitter.com/h4ndjLO56p

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 3, 2020

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What In The World Is Happening To Rudy Giuliani?

Melania Trump Reveals 2020 White House Decorations

Stop Trying To Make The "Trump Vaccine" Happen

After more than a month on hiatus while President Donald Trump continues to push his conspiracy theory that the presidential election was rigged, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany returned for a press briefing on Friday — and it did not go well. McEnany, who vowed to always be truthful when she was appointed press secretary in early May, is now tasked with upholding the Trump campaign’s election lies, while silencing the reporters who would dare question why the president won’t concede.  

In fact, this is exactly what happened Friday when reporters asked when the White House will admit that Trump lost the election. CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins explained on Twitter that she asked McEnany why she wouldn’t call on all reporters, given that they hadn’t had access to the press secretary since October 1 and very few reporters were present due to social distancing guidelines. But McEnany had just one response for Collins: “I don’t call on activists.” 

“I’m not an activist and you haven’t taken questions since October 1st and you just took about five, Kayleigh,” Collins shot back. “That’s not doing your job.” Collins later recounted the back and forth on Twitter, writing, “It’s understandable why someone who hasn’t done their job — taking questions from reporters — in weeks would confuse someone else doing theirs with activism.” 

Appearing in her professional capacity, @PressSec takes only a handful of questions in her first briefing since Oct. 1. Asked why can’t call on all reporters — given it’s been so long and there are not many of us due to social distancing — she called me “an activist.”

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 20, 2020

Kayleigh to CNN's Kaitlan Collins: "I don't call on activists." pic.twitter.com/OKrDhksQW6

— Scott Whitlock (@ScottJW) November 20, 2020

But that wasn’t the only tense back and forth during the briefing. Several reporters showed up ready to hold the Trump administration accountable for refusing to concede to President-elect Joe Biden — and with good reason. As Playboy’s senior White House reporter Brian Karem pointed out on Twitter, McEnany “refused to call Biden ‘President-Elect,’” instead referring to him as the former vice president.

And while he and other reporters continued to press McEnany on when the country might see the president concede and allow for a proper transition of power, the press secretary claimed that Trump had received more votes in this election than any other president in U.S. history — except, again, Joe Biden. McEnany also peddled another Trump lie that mail-in voting is “particularly prone to fraud” despite the fact that federal election infrastructure officials have said the 2020 election was actually the “most secure in American history.” 

After taking just a few questions and throwing her tantrum about the reporters who demanded answers with regards to Trump’s loss, McEnany stormed off. Unfortunately for the press secretary, she has so few opportunities left to throw her jabs before she’s no longer allowed in the White House — just 61 to be exact. But who’s counting?

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What In The World Is Happening To Rudy Giuliani?

Who Really Voted For Trump This Election

Oh No, Is Lara Trump Running For Office?

Just when you think Fox News is done making outrageous and false political claims — or just deeply inappropriate ones — they once again say the worst thing possible. In the latest Trump loyalty test, Fox News pundit Geraldo Rivera joined the team at Fox & Friends on Friday morning to make a case for naming the COVID-19 vaccine — wait for it — after outgoing president Trump. (You know, as a nice gesture.) Because, according to Geraldo Rivera and Geraldo Rivera only, if anyone is deserving of a nice gesture right now, it’s Donald Trump.  

With everyone telling Trump that it’s time to concede to President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Rivera asks, “Why not name the vaccine ‘The Trump’? You know, make it like, ‘Have you gotten your Trump yet?’” He added, “It would be a nice gesture to him.” Hosts Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earheardt appeared to laugh it off, while Brian Kilmeade could not hide his lack of enthusiasm for the suggestion if he tried. 

“I wished we could honor him in that way,” said Rivera before crediting Trump with the “amazing miraculous breakthroughs” in developing a vaccine. 

To soften the blow of defeat Fox’s Geraldo proposes naming the vaccine after Trump. “It would be a nice gesture to him and years from now it would become kind of a generic name. Have you got your trump yet, I got my trump, I’m fine. I wished we could honor him in that way.” pic.twitter.com/fM8qwFhxF6

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 20, 2020

It should be noted that after Pfizer announced last week it had developed an effective COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with Germany’s BioNTech, Trump wrongly took credit for the development, claiming it was part of his administration’s Operation Warp Speed. Pfizer, however, never accepted any government funding for its work on the vaccine. 

Nevertheless, Rivera seems to give Trump the credit — and people had some thoughts about his wild suggestion. As one person wrote on Twitter, “I thought electing Biden was the Trump Vaccine.” Another chimed in, “You might as well name it ‘poison’ because millions of Americans won’t trust or take any vaccine with Trump’s name on it.” The Twitter account LOLGOP made a counter offer to Rivera, stating that a better way to honor the president would be to “Bury the dead at Mar-a-Lago.”

But it’s unsurprising that the TV personality would say this. Rivera has been a long time friend and supporter of the president, once describing him as a civil rights leader, and said the president has been treated “unfairly.” Still, his support has its limits: When Trump launched racist attacks on Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) last year, telling them to “go back” to their countries, Rivera drew the line. More recently, Rivera called out Fox News host Jesse Watters’ claims this week that the Trump campaign may be able to overturn Biden’s victory. “We’re giving false hope to people,” he said. 

When it comes to a COVID-19 vaccine, anything with Trump’s name on it would certainly be cursed, and we don’t need that kind of energy moving forward. Further, if a Trump-branded vaccine would earn the president any money at all, a boycott would certainly be in order. But most importantly, it seems like giving Trump any credit for a COVID-19 vaccine would be a disservice to the more than 252,000 people who died on his watch. They deserve much better.

Plus: does anyone really want something called “Trump” injected into their bodies?

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Who Really Voted For Trump This Election

What In The World Is Happening To Rudy Giuliani?

Tom Cotton Gave A 15-Min Rant On Honoring Pilgrims

On the heels of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, former president Barack Obama is making his way back into the spotlight with his new memoir, A Promised Land. In his autobiography, Obama writes of the onerous negotiations over the Affordable Care Act, and how Donald Trump’s presidency was triggered by racial anxieties that came to a head during his own two terms. He also revealed that he made the final call when he ordered the raid on Osama Bin Laden — even after Biden advised against it.  

But beyond the former president’s more serious musings on the internal workings of his administration and the racist panic that Trump tapped into during his first presidential run in 2016, Obama also caught our attention when he revealed a side of himself that no one was ready for. Like, really, absolutely no one asked for details about the former president’s pick-up game when it came to dating women prior to Michelle — but we kind of love to see it. 

Obama wrote of his “strategy for picking up girls” during his first two years of college through a performative interest in the writings of political philosophers like Karl Marx and Frantz Fanon. He says reading the works of Marx and Herbert Marcuse gave him “something to say to the long-legged socialist who lived in my dorm.” Meanwhile, Michel Foucault and Virginia Woolf helped him in his attempts to pick up the “ethereal bisexual who wore mostly black.” OK! But now we really need to know: Who is this ethereal bisexual Obama crushed on? 

Many people online had their own thoughts about her. She is “the coolest person who ever lived on this planet,” according to one Twitter user. Others poked fun of his descriptor of this mysterious person: “It’s funny that Obama tried to read Marcuse and Marx to impress women but it’s even funnier that he actually wrote the words ‘ethereal bisexual’,” someone wrote. One person joked that “long-legged socialist, smooth-skinned sociologist, and ethereal bisexual” simply refer to the three branches of government (this has since snowballed into the meme of our dreams).

But Naomi McPherson may have put it best: “who among us has not pursued an ‘ethereal bisexual’.” Is this not, perhaps, one of the most relatable things about the former president? Maybe that’s the point. In an interview with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, Obama says his ideal reader is “some 25-year-old kid who is starting to be curious about the world and wants to do something that has some meaning.” Goldberg also went on to describe the memoir as “unusually modern,” which makes sense for someone trying to reach young people, some of whom might even identify as socialists in the year 2020.

We may never know the identity of the ethereal bisexual who Barack Obama seduced with Marxist ideology. But this mystery is right up there with Fake Melania and the whole Pentagon UFO thing.

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"Grosse Pointe Antifa" Is 2020's Best Conspiracy

Michelle Obama Describes Trump's 2016 Win For Her

Trump's Taking Final Power Grabs. Should We Worry?

The year is 2020 and we’re living in a dystopian hell where our reality TV star president is trying to end democracy via Twitter. But with all the strange and horrible things that have happened this year, there’s also been a never ending supply of jokes: There was the TikTok campaign to save 14-year-old Barron Trump — an alleged lover of K-Pop and anime — from the White House; the confirmation that aliens might actually exist somewhere; and the recent introduction to Elon Musk’s alter ego, Space Karen.

But on Thursday morning, the online people were in for an extra special treat when we all learned about a surprising organized antifascist hot spot in a small, wealthy Michigan suburb just north of Detroit: Grosse Pointe Antifa. Some of you might be wondering how, exactly, the GOP’s favorite boogeyman was apparently mobilizing in one of Michigan’s wealthiest towns? Well it was, of course, as a result of a Wayne County vote to certify the election results earlier this week. This has led to some, um, interesting theories from conservatives about alleged election fraud.

All eyes were on Michigan this week when the county’s Board of Canvassers on Tuesday were deadlocked in a 2-2 party line vote on whether or not to certify election results in favor of President-elect Joe Biden. The vote came as President Donald Trump and his supporters continue to scour the country for evidence of voter fraud — which has yet to be substantiated by any real proof. Then, just hours after the initial vote — and following some public pressure from Democrats and racial justice advocates — the Board’s two Republican members reversed their position to solidify the results in favor of Biden. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it. On Wednesday night, the same two GOP canvassers sought to rescind their certification, and as a result of their efforts, Republican canvasser Monica Palmer told an investigative reporter she had allegedly received threats via text from “both sides, the right & the left, specifically Antifa from Grosse Pointe.” Ah yes, the antifascists of Grosse Pointe, where they throw caviar at fascists instead of soup cans and milkshakes.  

It wasn’t long before Grosse Pointe Antifa became an internet sensation, because how could it not?

SHOCKING images revealed from last week’s Grosse Pointe Antifa meeting. pic.twitter.com/b6zIH39TwJ

— Mike Zazaian 👹 (@mkzzn) November 19, 2020

Grosse Pointe Antifa on the line for you, ma’am. pic.twitter.com/mGc0TCN8YY

— Jeffrey We Voted Out That Gameshow Clown Wright (@jfreewright) November 19, 2020

Grosse Pointe Antifa gather at local HQ for strategic anarchy & cheese and wine evening. pic.twitter.com/8OlBh3NJOz

— Gretchen R. Hammond (@GretchRHammond) November 19, 2020

Jokes aside, Palmer’s claims are actually quite dangerous. According to local activist Shannon Byrne, who spoke to Refinery29 via email, Palmer’s comments about the radical left group’s presence in Grosse Pointe are really just a distraction. “This is just an attempt to shift the narrative,” said Byrne. “Joe Biden won Grosse Pointe with 54 percent of the vote, a decisive choice was made by the community.” 

Byrne continued: “This is about a coordinated attack on the norms of our democracy and trying to ignore the will of the people. Ms. Palmer suggesting she’d certify other Wayne County communities and not Detroit, is quite clearly a racist attempt to silence the voters of the largest majority Black city in the state.” Palmer claimed there were “unexplained discrepancies” in Detroit’s election results, according to the Detroit Free Press.

While Palmer may keep pointing fingers at the Very Obviously Real “Grosse Pointe Antifa” organization, let’s just make one thing perfectly clear: there is no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election (much like there is no evidence of antifa threatening a woman named Monica Palmer).

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President Donald Trump may have lost a second White House term last week, but his far right and white nationalist supporters aren’t going to leave quietly — and they’re taking their cues directly from the president. A coalition of far right extremists, including fascists, white nationalists, and militia groups, are expected to attend a pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports. The event could be the largest gathering of far right and white nationalist groups since the so-called Unite the Right rally in 2017. 

The “March for Trump” or “Million MAGA March” is being billed as a “Stop the Steal” event — a title coined by Trump ally Roger Stone to defend Trump’s primary nomination during the president’s 2016 campaign.

So who is behind the so-called Million MAGA March?

Well, a coalition of far right and pro-Trump groups have organized a series of “Stop the Steal” rallies and a caravan from Baton Rouge, LA to Tallahassee, FL to Washington, D.C. in an effort to rally around the president, who falsely declared victory in the presidential election and continues to claim — without evidence — that the election was rigged.

While Trump has never disavowed the uptick of white nationalist organizing since he took office — even refusing to denounce hate groups like the Proud Boys when specifically asked — it is still troubling to see his administration openly encouraging the event. 

Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller wrote on Twitter that he loves “the outpouring of support for” the president. Meanwhile, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News on Thursday that she expected turnout for the event to be “quite large,” and added, “People want to show up and have their voice heard.” 

Even the president is full-on embracing support from the far right hate groups that organized the rally. “Heartwarming to see all of the tremendous support out there, especially the organic Rallies that are springing up all over the Country, including a big one on Saturday in D.C.,” Trump wrote on Twitter Friday. “I may even try to stop by and say hello.” 

Heartwarming to see all of the tremendous support out there, especially the organic Rallies that are springing up all over the Country, including a big one on Saturday in D.C. I may even try to stop by and say hello. This Election was Rigged, from Dominion all the way up & down!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2020

Prominent white nationalist leaders like Nick Fuentes, who attended the deadly far right rally in Charlottesville, have amplified the event and organized the caravan to D.C. along with Infowars’ Alex Jones. The far right street gang the Proud Boys and the anti-government Boogaloo Bois, along with far-right militias the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters, are all expected to make an appearance in D.C. on Saturday, the antifascist news site It’s Going Down reports. 

But, as these things go, antifascist and anti-racist organizers in the city won’t let the far right mobilize without a fight. The loosely organized group “All Out DC” is planning a counter-demonstration of its own, and encouraged people over Twitter to come out and defend the city “from white nationalism and secure a trump-free future.” Don’t give fascism an inch, as the saying goes.

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A nationwide surge of COVID cases is here, with 163,402 new cases reported just this Friday. In one way or another over the past year, the novel coronavirus has touched us all of us, making clear that no one is immune — not even the most powerful global leaders. It wasn’t so long ago that President Donald Trump himself contracted the deadly virus, and the White House became a COVID hot spot. 

Now, just over a month after the president’s positive diagnosis, the virus is again affecting Trump’s inner circle. At least 40 people close to the president have contracted the virus since September, including a cluster of new cases reported in just the last week. But not only are the president’s advisers and staffers testing positive, more than 130 of his Secret Service officers — who are assigned to protect Trump at the White House and during his travels — have either tested positive for COVID or been exposed to an infected person in recent weeks. 

A report from The Washington Post stated that approximately 10 percent of Trump’s secret service core security team had been ordered to isolate or quarantine as a result of exposure during several campaign rallies held leading up to the election. In the final days of his campaign, Trump made stops in Fayetteville, NC; Scranton, PA; Traverse City and Grand Rapids, MI; and Kenosha, WI; where he was joined by five groups of 20 to several dozen secret service officers at each stop. 

It should come as no surprise that the president would endanger the lives of people whose job it is to protect him. The Trump administration has failed to protect Americans from the virus, first by downplaying it early on and then spreading misinformation about how people can protect themselves. The deaths of more than 240,000 Americans are on his hands. Further, during his own COVID scare, Trump left the Walter Reed Medical Center to take a joyride and wave at his supporters, forcing two secret service agents to join him in an enclosed vehicle while he was sick with a highly contagious and deadly illness. 

Along with the COVID spread within the ranks of the president’s top security, at least eight Republican National Committee staffers have also tested positive for the virus. While White House spokesman Judd Deere said the administration takes “every case seriously,” it seems the president hasn’t learned anything over the last eight months. Perhaps Trump’s handling of the virus within his own circles exposes the darker reality that when it comes to the health of Americans, the president simply doesn’t care.

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