We Resist: Day 881

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, June 19, 2019
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One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

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Late yesterday and earlier today by me: You Are Not Alone and Trump Is Terrifying. So Are His Followers and Primarily Speaking.

Here are some more things in the news today...

[Content Note: Racism; death penalty] Journalist April Ryan, who is a national treasure, asked Donald Trump about that time he took out a full-page ad calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five, wondering whether he wants to apologize now that they've been exonerated and there are multiple projects about how fucked up that entire case was. His answer was everything you'd expect.

Donald Trump, taking questions from reporters: April.

April Ryan: Mr. President, will you apologize to the Central Park Five? They've been exonerated; there have been videos and movies shown about the case; and you came out with a full-page ad saying that they should die, that they [inaudible] the death penalty—

Trump: Why do you bring that question up now? It's an interesting time to bring it up.

Ryan: Because there are movies out now—

Trump: You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt. If you look at Linda Fairstein and if you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city should never have settled that case. So, we'll leave it at that.
What a reprehensible specimen he is.

[CN: White supremacy] Speaking of reprehensible specimens... Luke Barnes at ThinkProgress: Mitch McConnell Says America Made Up for Slavery by Electing Barack Obama.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) scoffed at the idea of reparations during his weekly press conference Tuesday, saying that slavery was part of America's distant past, and pointing as evidence to the election of former President Barack Obama — someone McConnell did his absolute utmost to thwart.

"I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea," McConnell said. "We've tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We elected an African American president."

"I think we're always a work in progress in this country, but no one currently alive was responsible for [slavery] and I don't think we should be trying to figure out how to compensate for it," McConnell added. "No, I don't think reparations are a good idea."
Happy fucking Juneteenth, everyone!

[CN: Homophobia; anti-choicery] Jennifer Bendery at the Huffington Post: Senate Advances Trump Court Pick Opposed by Pretty Much Every LGBTQ Rights Group Ever. "The Senate voted Tuesday to move forward with confirming Matthew Kacsmaryk to be a lifetime federal judge, despite strong protests from Democrats ― and one Republican ― over his record of opposition to LGBTQ rights and abortion rights. The Senate voted 52-44 on a procedural step to advance Kacsmaryk's nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Every Democrat present voted no. Every Republican but one, Susan Collins (Maine), voted yes." Another fine piece of Mitch McConnell's handiwork.


Donald Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale, says that "the country is 'too complex now' for polls to be reliable." As my pal Leah McElrath notes on Twitter, this is all part of the Trump campaign's game plan to create false narratives that explain a reelection victory no matter how unlikely it may seem: "Parscale is not making excuses. He is laying foundation to provide cover for some kind of dirty tricks by Trump campaign that could result in inexplicable election results. Again. We have to have a candidate who can inspire turnout to OVERWHELM whatever tricks they're planning."

See also.

Relatedly, I noted on Twitter this morning: "A friend messaged me: 'OMG Morning Joe is wall-to-wall clips of Trump's heinous kickoff rally from last night. Free advertising.' Joe has set the example of how to appear as though you're against Trump while actually protecting and empowering him. Keep your eyes peeled for this." We're going to see a lot of it, as part of the 2020 campaign and in general as he pushes his authoritarian takeover.

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Missy Ryan, Greg Jaffe, and John Hudson at the Washington Post: Pompeo Warns Iran About Trigger for U.S. Military Action as Some in Administration Question Aggressive Policy. "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has privately delivered warnings intended for Iranian leaders that any attack by Tehran or its proxies resulting in the death of even one American service member will generate a military counterattack, U.S. officials said. The potential for a significant military response to even an isolated event has fueled a broader internal debate among top Trump officials about whether the administration's policy exceeds [Donald] Trump's specific goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, the officials said." No fucking doy it does.

Maxwell Tani, Betsy Woodruff, and Asawin Suebsaeng at the Daily Beast: Tucker Carlson Is Privately Advising Trump on Iran. "In the upper echelons of the Trump administration, hawkish voices on Iran predominate — most notably Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton. But as tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated over the last few weeks, there's been another, far different voice in the president's ear: that of Fox News host Tucker Carlson. A source familiar with the conversations told The Daily Beast that, in recent weeks, the Fox News host has privately advised Trump against taking military action against Iran. And a senior administration official said that during the president's recent conversations with the Fox primetime host, Carlson has bashed the more 'hawkish members' of his administration." Terrific. But what does Sean Hannity advise?

[CN: War; violence; displacement] Jamey Keaton at the AP: UN: Nearly 71 Million Now Displaced by War, Violence at Home. "A record 71 million people have been displaced worldwide by war, persecution and other violence, the U.N. refugee agency said Wednesday, an increase of more than 2 million from a year earlier — and an overall total that would amount to the world's 20th most populous country." My god. And meanwhile, the U.S. president is running a campaign of stochastic terrorism against refugees and breaking international law to deny them the opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S.

[CN: Murder] In other news from the United Nations... Nick Hopkins and Stephanie Kirchgaessner at the Guardian: UN: 'Credible Evidence' Saudi Crown Prince Liable for Khashoggi Killing.
The crown prince of Saudi Arabia should be investigated over the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi because there is "credible evidence" that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing, according to a damning and forensic UN report.

In an excoriating 100-page analysis published on Wednesday of what happened to Khashoggi last October, Agnes Callamard, the UN's special rapporteur, says the death of the journalist was "an international crime."

"It is the conclusion of the special rapporteur that Mr Khashoggi has been the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law," she says.
There is much more at the link.


Emily Holden at the Guardian: Trump Ditches Sole Climate Rule That Aimed to Reduce Coal Plant Pollution. "Donald Trump's administration is finalizing plans to roll back the US government's only direct efforts to curb coal-fired power plant pollution that is heating the planet. Trump's Environmental Protection Agency will replace an Obama-era climate change rule with a regulation that experts warn could help some of America's oldest and dirtiest coal plants to keep running." Swell.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
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