Trump chooses impulse over strategy as crises mount

Mary Trump, a political commentator and the niece of former President Donald Trump , issued a warning on Friday to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as he faces continued attacks from her uncle. Bragg and his office are currently leading a long-term investigation into allegations of Trump's involvement in a 2016 plan to pay $130,000 in "hush money" to adult film star Stormy Daniels , in exchange for her staying quiet about an affair the two allegedly had a decade prior. Recent moves have indicated to legal experts that Bragg is nearing a criminal indictment against Trump for falsifying business records pertaining to the payment, which would be the first such indictment brought against a former president in American history. Trump, for his part, has denied that the affair with Daniels ever happened and has consistently attacked the legitimacy of the Manhattan district attorney's investigation, accusing Bragg of being a politically motivated "rogue" prosecutor. Last … [Read more...] about Mary Trump shares ominous advice for Alvin Bragg as Donald Trump attacks

Former President Donald Trump was criticized by the New York Post after he warned on social media about "death & destruction" if he's indicted in relation to the hush money payment investigation involving adult film star Stormy Daniels . "He hasn't changed in the slightest. There is no shame," the newspaper's editorial team wrote in an op-ed article that was published Friday. "After riling up rioters, cheering for a coup, and agreeing that his vice president needed to be hanged, he's back to making violent threats against fellow Americans," the editorial read in reference to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, when Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden 's 2020 election victory. The New York Post was once Trump's favorite and one of his supporting media outlets, endorsing him for the 2020 presidential election. However, the Trump-leaning, Rupert Murdoch -owned newspaper, changed its stance after … [Read more...] about Donald Trump blasted by his old favorite newspaper after “unhinged” threats

WACO, Texas — In the last 28 months, former President Donald J. Trump has been voted out of the White House, impeached for his role in the Capitol riot and criticized for marching many of his fellow Republicans off an electoral cliff in the 2022 midterms with his drumbeat of election-fraud lies. He dined at home with a white supremacist in November. He called for the termination of the Constitution in December. He declared himself “ more angry ” than ever in January. He vowed to make retribution a hallmark of a second term in the White House in March. He has embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, described President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as a genius and used a gay joke to mock a fellow Republican. He has become the target of four criminal investigations, including one in New York that he warned might result in “ potential death & destruction .” Still, Mr. Trump remains a strong front-runner for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination. … [Read more...] about As Trump Rallies in Waco, His Followers Shore Up His 2024 Bid

Secretive talks in the waning days of a campaign. Furtive phone calls. Ardent public denials. American history is full of October surprises — late revelations, sometimes engineered by an opponent, that shock the trajectory of a presidential election and that candidates dread. In 1880, a forged letter ostensibly written by James A. Garfield claimed he wanted more immigration from China, a position so unpopular it nearly cost him the election. Weeks before the 1940 election, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s press secretary kneed a Black police officer in the groin, just as the president was trying to woo skeptical Black voters. (Roosevelt’s response made history: He appointed the first Black general and created the Tuskegee Airmen.) But the scandal that has ensnared Donald J. Trump, the paying of hush money to a pornographic film star in 2016 , is in a rare class: an attempt not to bring to light an election-altering event, but to suppress one. The payoff to Stormy Daniels that has a … [Read more...] about Donald Trump, and the Sordid Tradition of Suppressing October Surprises

WASHINGTON — When Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, arranged a tour of the D.C. jail to inspect the conditions of defendants charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Democrats faced a choice: Boycott or participate. House Democrats had watched last Congress as the Republican leader Kevin McCarthy pulled his members from a Democratic-led select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, and then found themselves without a voice in the nationally televised hearings. After debating the matter internally, the Democrats were determined not to make that same mistake. So, after a roughly two-hour tour of the jail Friday, when Ms. Greene finished her remarks to news reporters gathered outside, Representative Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas, stepped up to the microphones. “Somebody’s got to be here to tell the truth,” said Ms. Crockett, a first-term member of Congress and a former public defender. “If we weren’t here, there would be no check for whatever … [Read more...] about Lawmakers Tour D.C. Jail Where Jan. 6 Defendants Are Held

Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), slammed House Republicans for visiting a jail where January 6 defendants are being held. A bipartisan group of lawmakers serving on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability visited the Washington, D.C. jail on Friday. The visit reignited criticism from some over the GOP's response to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building , which saw a group of former President Donald Trump 's supporters violently protest in a failed attempt to force Congress to block President Joe Biden 's Electoral College victory. Some Republicans have condemned the treatment of these defendants , arguing they are being unfairly held for political purposes. Critics, however, have accused GOP lawmakers of siding with the rioters who sought to block the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election. "We have to work as hard as possible to defund the two-tiered 'Injustice … [Read more...] about Former GOP chair outraged at Republicans’ visit to Jan. 6 rioters

Love Is Blind is back for a fourth season, with 30 new singletons having signed up for the chance to look for love in the show's famous pods. The new installment of the Netflix dating show, hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey , is set in Seattle, and will follow singles who want to be loved for who they are, not what they look like. First, the cast will date in the pods where they can't see who is on the other side, before some will choose someone to marry without ever meeting the person in the flesh. Love Is Blind will then follow the newly engaged couples as they move in together, plan their wedding and find out if their physical connection matches the strong emotional bond they developed in the pods. When their wedding day arrives , will real-world realities and external factors push them apart, or will they marry the person they fell blindly in love with? Love Is Blind creator, and founder of production company Kinetic Content, Chris Coelen, revealed last year … [Read more...] about ‘Love Is Blind’ Season 4 cast: All the singletons and their Instagrams

Micah Lussier is one of the 30 contestants taking part in the new season of Love Is Blind , the fourth installment of the Netflix dating show. The series famously follow singles who date in the show's iconic pods—where they can't see who is on the other side—before some choose to get engaged to one of their co-stars without ever meeting them in the flesh. In the first batch of new Love Is Blind episodes, Lussier is seen chatting to fellow contestants Kwame Appiah and Paul Peden in the pods, and starts to build a romantic connection with them both. Despite having initial success in the love department, Lussier's friendships don't appear to have gone as well, as the star and her friend, Irina Solomonova, seem to have tense relations with some of the other women on the show. The ladies have caused a stir by laughing at their co-star Amber Wilder after Peden broke things off with her in favor of Lussier. The duo were even caught listening in to Wilder's conversation … [Read more...] about Who is Micah on “Love Is Blind” Season 4? Instagram, job and more details

TikTok is a “powerful propaganda tool” that should be banned, a panelist on “Real Time With Bill Maher” said Friday night, calling the Chinese-owned app “a defense threat.” “Imagine a brain jack inserted into the neural network of two-thirds of our youth under the age of 25, who spend more time on TikTok than every other media source combined,” said Scott Galloway, a professor of marketing at New York University. “And then imagine how easy it would be to put your thumb on the scale of anti-American content and recognize that they would be stupid not to elegantly, insidiously, covertly, raise a generation of American civil, nonprofit, military, government leaders, day by day, minute by minute, who just feel a little shittier about America.” (RELATED: ‘He Won’t Protect America’: Gov. Noem Predicts Biden Won’t Sign Ban On TikTok) “If we had that tool with China, we would do the exact same thing,” Galloway continued. “This is a defense threat, it should absolutely be banned.” … [Read more...] about ‘Powerful Propaganda Tool’: Bill Maher Panelists React To TikTok Ban Proposals

Robert Lewinger is tired of being berated by his gastroenterologist because he’s overdue for a colonoscopy. He’s perfectly willing to have one. And he’s more than ready for cataract surgery on his second eye. The problem: Mr. Lewinger, 72, a retired lawyer who lives in Manhattan, can’t schedule either of these procedures, which involve anesthesia or sedation, unless he supplies the name and phone number of the person taking him home afterward. Otherwise, clinics and outpatient surgical centers refuse to make appointments. Mr. Lewinger is also willing to undergo Mohs surgery, as his dermatologist has recommended, for two small skin cancers on his face. But the surgeons associated with her practice also insist on medical escorts, even though most Mohs surgery is performed under local anesthesia and doesn’t require them. Transportation itself isn’t the difficulty; Mr. Lewinger could summon an Uber or a Lyft, call a car service or hail a cab. What he needs is “someone to escort me … [Read more...] about You May Need That Procedure. But Do You Really Need an Escort?