Trump Campaign Promotes Conspiracy Theories On Junior’s Podcast

Donald Trump is famous — and infamous — for his use of Twitter and Facebook. But particularly since the pandemic forced him to largely swear off his favorite mass, in-person rallies, his campaign has been amping up the use of another form of alternative media: YouTube and podcasts.

The president’s most recent sit-down interview? As it happens, it occurred last week on “Triggered,” a YouTube program hosted by his namesake son. In a conversation in the White House’s map room, Trump Jr. quizzed his dad about everything from who his favorite child is to whether aliens exist — to a Fox News report that Osama bin Laden wanted to assassinate President Barack Obama so that Joe Biden would ascend to the presidency.

This was no ordinary campaign video, nor was it a random question, this week’s episode of “Trump, Inc.” makes clear. “Triggered” followed the exchange about bin Laden with a campaign ad that repeated the same point, showing how closely the program’s conversations are tied in with campaign talking points. “Trump, Inc.” explores the Trump campaign’s universe of podcasts and YouTube shows, which has expanded since the coronavirus began locking down huge swaths of the country. (The campaign did not respond to requests for comment.) Continue reading.

Trump ordered to expand document search in suit alleging he endorsed pyramid scam

Washington Post logoNEW YORK — President Trump and three of his adult children have been ordered by a federal judge to search through 15 years of business records for materials that could inform a lawsuit alleging they profited by promoting a marketing scam targeting vulnerable investors.

Trump is being sued by four people who say they were duped into joining the multilevel marketing company ACN years ago because of his endorsement. The suit characterizes ACN as a pyramid scheme and accuses Trump of having made misleading claims as a paid pitchman prior to his presidency. All four say they suffered financially as a result.

The order on Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Lorna Schofield allows the plaintiffs to look further into the Trump Organization’s history — to 2005 — for others who may have been involved in the president’s deal with ACN. Continue reading.

GOP Group Targets Trump’s Children With ‘Grifters’ Attack Ads On Fox News

“It’s time someone held them accountable,” said The Lincoln Project after launching its new anti-Trump campaign.

The Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republicans whose principal objective is to defeat the president in the 2020 election, is targeting his adult children with its new campaign.

A voiceover pretending to be Ivanka Trump explains why “daddy being president is the best thing ever” in the first episode of the group’s “Grifters” series, released Friday.

Fake Ivanka explains how the Trump family has financially benefited from being in office while news stories appear in the theme. Continue reading.

Pence defends Trump Jr’s claim that Dems want ‘millions’ to die from coronavirus: ‘Understandable

AlterNet logoVice President Mike Pence said over the weekend that it is “understandable” that President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., would say that Democrats want millions of Americans to die of the coronavirus.

In an interview that aired on Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Pence about the remarks made by the son of the president several days earlier.

“For them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they can end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness,” Pence told Fox News on Friday. Continue reading.

Don Jr. Plays Politics With The Pandemic

On Dad’s favorite morning show, Junior was asked whether he was “surprised the way they’ve been handling the coronavirus situation, meaning Democrats.”

Put aside all the problems with the question itself — put aside fair and balanced, much less smart and stupid — because the answer is so much more.

Said the First Son, Donald Trump Jr., the Prince of Trump: “Anything they can use to try to hurt Trump, they will. … But for them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they can end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness. … You know, I don’t know if this is coronavirus or Trump derangement syndrome, but these people are infected badly.” Continue reading.

Reporter confronts Trump Jr. in New Hampshire over his alleged meeting with Russian emissary

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump and his allies become very defensive whenever they are described as being helpful to the Russian government in any way. And the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., immediately became defensive when Mother Jones’ Washington bureau chief, David Corn, asked him about an alleged meeting with a “Russian emissary” (who supposedly had dirt on Hillary Clinton) during the 2016 presidential race.

Trump Jr. was eating at a diner in New Hampshire when Corn approached him. When Corn brought up the Russian emissary, the president’s son responded, “We’ve spoken about this 1000 times. I’ve testified about it. I’m like Hunter Biden.”

Trump Jr. went on to say, “I’m allowed to have a conversation with people, aren’t I? Isn’t that protected?….. I answered your question.” Continue reading.

Don Jr. Displays Rifle With ‘Lock Her Up’ And White Nationalist Images

Donald Trump Jr. posted a photo of himself to Instagram on Sunday that showed him holding a machine gun with a magazine emblazoned with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s face.

“Nice day at the range,” Trump Jr. wrote in the caption, thanking two companies for, “adding a little extra awesome to my AR and that mag…”

The “mag” — short for magazine, which holds ammunition — featured a drawing of Clinton peering out from behind prison bars. Continue reading.

Donald Trump Jr. Went to Mongolia, Got Special Treatment From the Government and Killed an Endangered Sheep

During a summer 2019 hunting trip, Donald Trump Jr. killed a rare argali sheep. The Mongolian government issued him a hunting permit retroactively and he met with the country’s president.

On a hunting trip this August, Donald Trump Jr. shot and killed one.

His adventure was supported by government resources from both the U.S. and Mongolia, which each sent security services to accompany the president’s eldest son and grandson on the multiday trip. It also thrust Trump Jr. directly into the controversial world of Mongolian trophy hunting — a polarizing practice in a country that views the big-horned rams as a national treasure. The right to kill an argali is controlled by an opaque permitting system that experts say is mostly based on money, connections and politics.

Trump Jr. received special treatment during his summer trip, according to records obtained by ProPublica as well as interviews with people involved in the hunt. Listen to the episode.

Continue reading

A fantasy world of hate, anger, revenge and lies: Trump biographer details the unintended familial insights divulged in Don Jr’s new book

AlterNet logoDonald Trump Junior’s Triggered is quite a book, rich with insights, all of them unintended.

The subtitle of Triggered is “How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us.”

What the text shows is that it is Junior who spews hate, mixed with an unhealthy dose of made-up facts to justify his anger. That’s just the kind of hypocrisy the Trumps spin inside their fantasy bubble, where anyone who questions what they do is unworthy of being heard.

Continue reading here.

Trump brags Don Jr’s new book ‘is number one on NY Times Bestseller List’ — but his campaign bought the book in bulk

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump has called The New York Times “fake news,” “biased,” “inaccurate,” and “a Fraud” with “Zero Credibility.”

But Wednesday night he was only too happy to cite the “failing” paper of record to brag that Donald Trump, Jr.’s new book, “Triggered,”  is at the top of the Times’ charts.

And while that may be true, there’s one large caveat that totally destroys the Trump family’s pride.

As this graphic shows, there’s a “dagger” next to Trump Jr.’s book: †.

View the complete November 14 article by David Badash from the New Civil Rights Movement on the AlterNet website here.