Nothing but the truth. Even if against me.
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
The Battle is Not Between Weak Pseudo-Centrist Democrats and Real Democrats
When you have a Radical Extremist Right-Wing Fascist in power who is in the process of dismantling everything America stands for, the moment is not for weak elitist traditionalist "business-as-usual" Democrats to claim to be centrists. Enough of Fetterman-like Republican chameleons camouflaged as Democrats under a hooded sweatshirt.
When the Right-wing have seized power by cheating and lying to the American people in order to implement their neo-KKK racist, extremist white supremacist, Christian nationalist, agenda (Project 2025), it behooves the shy and timid Democrats to stop playing defense against Donald Trump's rape of America and adopt a more aggressive stance to assert their rightful place in American politics.
Have those who claim to be centrist Democrats allied themselves with those centrist Republicans who have, for the past ten years, enabled, protected and kept the gates open for the Trump barbarians to raid the henhouse and turn it into an uncivilized banana republic?
As long as the establishment GOP keeps protecting Trump and toeing the line behind his destruction of America, there is no need for Democrats to move to the center. THERE ARE NO CENTRIST REPUBLICANS ANYMORE. WHY SHOULD THERE BE CENTRIST DEMOCRATS?
Contrary to Trump's Fascist propaganda, the Democratic Socialists are not the terrifying communists he wants to use as a scarecrow to force, once again, the average American into submission to his radicalized and un-American America. The Democratic Socialists are the exact counterweight needed to stop the Right-wing barbarians from continuing their rape of the country.
The "centrist" Democrats want to jump into the swamp, not drain it. They want to go back to the good old days of chumming with centrist Republicans.
But THERE ARE NO CENTRIST REPUBLICANS TO CHUM WITH ANY LONGER. For ten years, these centrist Republicans have disrobed and exposed themselves for the barbarian lackeys of Donald Trump. How can any Democrat trust them?
The stunning victories by Socialist and Progressive candidates in congressional districts in New York City and Colorado have revealed the thirst by the American people for an assertive Democrat Party with the muscle to stand up and confront the right-wing extremism that inhabits the White House. Centrist Democrats have proven themselves poor opponents of Donald Trump.
In the Midwest, first-time Democrat Socialist candidate Melat Kiros beat to a pulp 15-term establishment "centrist" Democrat Diana DeGette in last week's primary in Denver's 1st Congressional District.
A trio of genuine (not fake) Democratic congressional candidates' victories, all backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, have emboldened progressives as they try to turn their upsets into a national campaign against Donald Trump's radical Far-Right GOP slaves and vassals.
Former Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri predicted that St. Louis will repeat the Colorado upset. Bush is running to win back her seat in the St. Louis 1st Congressional District. The genuine Democrats have also set their eyes on Michigan, which holds its primary on the same day as Missouri on Aug. 4. Then on Aug. 11, Wisconsin, which used to be the capital of socialist America in the early 20th century, will hold its primary elections. That's where DSA-backed state Rep. Francesca Hong is on the rise among a crowded field of candidates in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
This wave of progressive wins after a disastrous, incompetent and treasonous right-wing Trump decade is a bellwether of where the country stands. We need rational policies that lift the Trump-degraded middle class back to the center and sets the wealthy billionaires back from their grand theft of America.
It's undeniable that progressives are gaining momentum and attention, and that is because the American people have finally seen the hypocrisy of Trump's Far Right extremism and are listening to solutions like "Medicare-for-all," the Green New Deal, higher taxes on the rich and abolishing ICE-GESTAPO.
Here is a list of the up-and-coming Democrats who have the mojo to trash the scheming, cheating, neo-KKK dick-taitor and his followers. I don't care what you call them, Socialists, Progressives, Working Families Party, or whatever, as long as they are willing to fight Trump and his Republican Mafia tooth and nail. They are the REAL GENUINE DEMOCRATS who no longer want to go back to the extinct compromise-based approach to politics that the Republican Trump-asskissers have dismantled for no return as they cowered in fear of the Great Moron in the White Outhouse. I care for their message of bringing justice and real democracy for the many and not for the few to the vast majority of Americans, of lifting the middle class out of the mendacious situation in which Trump has thrown them as he, his family and his friends make billions and billions over their backs and over every ounce of decency that this country has always had.
Charles Booker - Kentucky Senate
Working Families Party (WFP)-backed Charles Booker is making his third bid for the Senate in red-leaning Kentucky. Booker defeated Amy McGrath in last May's primary and is the underdog in the general election against GOP Rep. Andy Barr. The winner will succeed Trump's butler in the Senate Mitch McConnell who is, thank God, dying after four decades or radical right-winging there. I have no qualms expressing no empathy for a dying old man because that is exactly what Trump does.
Bob Brooks - Pennsylvania 7th Congressional District
Brooks won the May Democratic primary in a swing district in northeast Pennsylvania, and is challenging incumbent GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in a midterm race.
Connie Chan - California 11th Congressional District
Chan, an immigrant born in Hong Kong (which will be obviously used by the neanderthal MAGA Republicans to undermine her), serves on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She is running to succeed retiring former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Fellow Democrat Scott Wiener, a state senator, will face off with Chan in the general election in November.
Darializa Avila Chevalier - New York 13th Congressional District
Chevalier, a DSA member who was also backed by the Justice Democrats, stunned political circles from coast to coast in the June New York primary by ousting incumbent Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Chevalier is a down-to-earth common-sense community organizer who has not feared, like so many Zionist-terror-stricken Americans, criticizing the infallible genocidal Golden Calf, Israel, is considered the overwhelming favorite in the general election favorite in northern Manhattan and the Bronx.
Alissa Ellman - New York 24th Congressional District
Ellman, a U.S. Army veteran, won the June Democratic primary in the upstate New York congressional district. Ellman, who worked at the Veterans Administration before being fired by Elon Musk's DOGE cuts, faces Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney whose victory is no longer assured in the traditionally red district of Upstate New York.
Chris Galant - New York 1st Congressional District
Galant won the Democratic nomination in New York's June primary and will face off with the MAGA-establishment GOP Rep. Nick LaLota in eastern end and north shore of Long Island.
Aaron Gies - New York 23rd Congressional District
A college professor, Geis is another candidate supported by the WFP that won his Democratic primary election in New York in a landslide. He will confront a corrupt traditionalist pro-Trump incumbent MAGA Republican Nick Langworthy in western New York.
Angela Gonzales-Torres - California 34th Congressional District
Gonzales-Torres, a former neighborhood council president who also worked in the Los Angeles mayor's office, advanced to the general election in last month's California primary. Gonzales-Torres will likely defeat incumbent centrist Democrat Jimmy Gomez in the solidly blue congressional district anchored in Los Angeles.
Deb Haaland - New Mexico governor
Haaland, a former congresswoman who made history as the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary during her tenure running the Interior Department in then-President Joe Biden's administration, is the Democratic nominee for New Mexico governor. Haaland is considered the favorite as she faces off in the general election against Republican Gregg Hull in the southwestern district of the state.
Pat Halpin - New York 2nd Congressional District
Halpin, is the Democratic congressional nominee for a seat that covers the central portions of Long Island's South Shore. Halpin will certainly defeat the incumbent MAGA rep. Andrew Garbarino in the general election.
Adam Hamawy - New Jersey 12th Congressional District
Hamawy is a former U.S. Army combat surgeon who grabbed attention in 2024 as part of a volunteer team of American doctors who went to Gaza to alleviate the suffering of the innocent Palestinians from the Zionist genocide there. Hamawy won the party's congressional primary in the race to succeed retiring Progressive Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Frederick Douglass Haynes III - Texas 30th Congressional District
Haynes, the senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, won the March Democratic primary in a landslide in the race to succeed Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate instead of seeking re-election. Haynes is the overwhelming favorite against MAGA Republican Everett Jackson in a district in the southern portions of Dallas.
Melat Kiros - Colorado 1st Congressional District
The DSA-endorsed Kiros defeated establishment Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, who has served in Congress for 30 years representing the Denver seat. The 29-year-old first-time candidate and attorney, who is also backed by the JD and WFP, will certainly win now in the Democrat-dominated district.
Brad Lander - New York 10th Congressional District
Supported by Mamdani and WFP, Lander ousted incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman in New York's June primary. The former New York City comptroller ran against Mamdani in last year's mayoral primary before becoming one of his top allies in the general election. Lander is the clear favorite in the general election in the deep blue district which covers lower Manhattan and the northwestern neighborhoods of Brooklyn.
Brian Poindexter - Ohio 7th Congressional District
Poindexter, an iron worker and a councilman in a small city in suburban Cleveland, is backed by the WFP. He'll take on GOP Rep. Max Miller in the right-leaning district in the general election.
Chris Rabb - Pennsylvania 3rd Congressional District
Rabb won the June Pennsylvania primary in the Philadelphia anchored district in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Dwight Evans. Rabb is the overwhelming favorite in that race.
Claire Valdez - New York 7th Congressional District
Valdez, a state lawmaker endorsed by the DSA, won New York's June congressional primary to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez in a district that includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Valez defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso for the Democratic nomination and is the clear favorite to win in November in the Democrat-dominated district.
Mai Vang - California 7th Congressional District
Vang, a Sacramento city councilor, slightly edged Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui in the state's June nonpartisan primary. Vang and Matsui will face off again in November's general election for the solidly blue seat, which includes downtown Sacramento and suburban areas.
Randy Villegas - California 22nd Congressional District
Villegas, a school board trustee in the San Joaquin Valley city of Visalia, came in second to MAGA Republican Rep. David Valadao in California's June primary. Villegas, a Democrat, beat fellow Democrat Jasmeet Bains to advance to the general election against Valadao in the crucial swing district race.
Aisha Wahab - California 14th Congressional District
Wahab came in first in California's primary and will face off with fellow Democrat Melissa Hernandez in the general election in the district south and southwest of Oakland. The winner in November will fill the seat left vacant when then-Rep. Eric Swalwell, who was running for governor, ended his campaign and resigned from Congress in April amid scandal involving sexual misconduct allegations.
Rep. Alma Adams - North Carolina 12th Congressional District
Adams has represented a blue district anchored in Charlotte and surrounding Mecklenburg County for nearly a dozen years. Adams cruised to renomination in the early March primary and is considered the clear frontrunner against MAGA challenger Jack Codiga, a finance professional.
Rep. Greg Cesar - Texas 37th Congressional District
Cesar, a former Austin city councilman and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, currently represents the state's 35th district, but is running for re-election in the recently redrawn 37th District. The Texas MAGA barbarians gerrymandered the districts in a blatant attempt at preventing any Democrat from winning.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal - Washington 7th Congressional District
Jayapal, the first Indian American woman elected to Congress, for a decade has represented a Seattle-based district. Jayapal served as chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for four years earlier this decade, is very likely to be re-elected in the Pacific Northwest district.
Rep. Tim Kennedy - New York 26th Congressional District
Kennedy represents a western New York district that stretches from Buffalo to Niagara Falls. Kennedy is the favorite for re-election this autumn in his district.
Rep. Ro Khanna - California 17th Congressional District
Khanna, one of the most prominent progressive lawmakers in the House who never shied away from standing up to Trump, was first elected to Congress a decade ago by ousting Democratic incumbent Rep. Mike Honda. Khanna is also a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender and will surely win in the district located in the South Bay and East Bay portions of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Rep. Summer Lee - Pennsylvania 12th Congressional District
Lee, the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress, is a former DSA member and part of the Squad. Lee is expected to cruise to re-election this fall in a district that includes much of Pittsburgh and its eastern suburbs.
Rep. John Mannion - New York 22nd Congressional District
A former high school biology teacher, Mannion served as a state lawmaker before winning election to Congress in 2024. Mannion is favored to win re-election in the upstate New York district that includes Syracuse and Utica.
Rep. LaMonica McIver - New Jersey 10th Congressional District
McIver, a former Newark municipal council member, represents an urban and suburban district in northern New Jersey. She drew national attention last year when she was among a group of Democrats attempting to make a congressional oversight visit to an ICE facility in Newark. She was later indicted under orders from Trump himself for "forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers" during the visit.
Rep. Analilia Mejia - New Jersey 11th Congressional District
Mejia, the co-director of the nonprofit progressive advocacy group, won a special election in April in the race to succeed now Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who stepped down from Congress after winning last November's gubernatorial election. Mejia represents a northern New Jersey seat west of New York City, and is favored to secure a full term in the district.
Rep. Joe Morelle - New York 25th Congressional District
A former New York state Assembly majority leader, Morelle was elected to Congress in 2018. Morelle is on a glide path to re-election in the Democratic-dominated upstate New York district anchored in Rochester.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - New York 14th Congressional District
Eight years after ousting then-House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley in a shocking primary upset, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's political options look brighter than ever. The four-term progressive firebrand from New York City has irked Donald Trump who made sexist remarks about her. She is eyeing a potential 2028 bid for the White House or a possible challenge to longtime Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer whose star has dimmed in his constant attempts to compromise with uncompromising extremist Donald Dumb. Ocasio-Cortez, best known by her acronym AOC, is the most visible member of the Squad. She's expected to cruise to re-election this autumn in a dark blue district that covers parts of the Bronx and Queens.
Rep. Ilhan Omar - Minnesota 5th Congressional District
Omar, the fist Somali American elected to Congress and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota, is also a member of the Squad. Omar is one of the first two Muslim women elected to U.S. Congress. Like AOC, Omar has been a frequent target of Donald Trump's sexist, racist and islamophobic rage. He even accused her of incest to undermine her. Her district includes the entire city of Minneapolis and some of its inner suburbs.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley - Massachusetts 7th Congressional District
Pressley, a former Boston city councilor, won election to Congress in 2018 by ousting longtime Democratic establishment weakling Rep. Michael Capuano in the Democratic primary. The first Black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts, Pressley is another well-known member of the Squad. She is an overwhelming favorite for re-election in a Democrat-dominated district that includes much of Boston and some of the city's suburbs.
Rep. Delia Ramirez - Illinois 3rd Congressional District
The daughter of undocumented immigrants, Ramirez served as a state lawmaker before winning election to Congress in 2022. Ramirez is all but certain to win re-election this fall in her district that includes neighborhoods in northwestern Chicago and the city's western suburbs.
Rep. Josh Riley - New York 19th Congressional District
Riley is seeking a second term in a competitive and large district located in New York's Catskills, Hudson Valley, greater Capital District, Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions. He will face off this autumn against Republican state Sen. Peter Oberacker.
Rep. Pat Ryan - New York 18th Congressional District
Ryan, a West Point graduate who served two tours of duty in the Iraq war and was awarded two Bronze Stars, co-founded a software company following his military career and later served as Ulster County executive. Ryan is likely to win re-election this autumn in a district that includes some of New York City's northern suburbs and exurbs, as well as the Hudson Valley cities of Newburg, Kingston, and Poughkeepsie.
Rep. Lateefah Simon - California 12th Congressional District
Simon, who served on Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) board of directors and as a California University System trustee, was elected to Congress in 2024, succeeding longtime Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee. Simon is the first member of Congress known to be born legally blind in both eyes, and the first Muslim member from California. Her re-election is certain in the district that includes Oakland and surrounding Alameda County.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib - Michigan 12th Congressional District
First elected to the House in 2018, Tlaib, along with Ilhan Omar, is one of the first two Muslim women in Congress. A former state lawmaker, Tlaib and fellow Squad member Ocasio-Cortez are the first female DSA members to serve in Congress. Tlaib is expected to easily secure re-election. During her tenure, the Palestinian-born congresswoman has been a vocal critic of both the Trump and Biden administrations, is sharply critical of Israel, and calls for abolishing ICE.
Rep. Paul Tonko - New York 20th Congressional District
A longtime former state lawmaker, Tonko was first elected to Congress in 2008. Known as a staunch progressive, Tonko is heavily favored to win re-election in a left-leaning seat that includes New York's Capital District as well as Saratoga.
Dumb MAGA Morons Prefer Hifalutin Conspiracies to Reason and Science....
Today, America's MAGA idiots are serving a paella of conspiracy theories. Enjoy.
Remember how the now-repentant MAGA imbecile from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG), said that Jews are already somewhere up in the cosmos pointing lasers at earth to start wildfires. With a primitive brain like this, how can one believe that these MAGA racist antisemites "love" Israel? In fact, they love Israel not because of its Jews, but in spite of its Jews and for the sole reason that Israel for them is an American military base and the Israeli army is an American militia. Which is why I predict that once they no longer have any use for Israel (when oil and gas dry up in the Arabian desert), they will dump it and move on to new ventures.
Here is a Wikipedia rundown of MTG's mind-shattering conspiracy theories (which I think she discovers after a moonshining partouze behind her white trash trailer somewhere in the boonies of the backward state of Georgia:
Greene has promoted Islamophobic, antisemitic, and white supremacist views including the white genocide conspiracy theory, as well as QAnon, and Pizzagate. She has amplified conspiracy theories that allege government involvement in mass shootings in the United States, implicate the Clinton family in murder, and suggest the attacks of 9/11 were a hoax. Before running for Congress, Greene supported calls to execute prominent Democratic Party politicians, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. As a congresswoman, she equated the Democratic Party with Nazis, and compared COVID-19 safety measures to the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Greene promoted Russian propaganda and praised its president Vladimir Putin. Greene identifies as a Christian nationalist.
And now a new "florilège" of conspiracies has emerged after the death of Lady Lindsey and the semi-mysterious disappearance of the very old and senile Senator Mitch McConnell. These southern neo-KKK bastards have such a wild imagination because they lack reason. They do not believe in reason, science and technology and generally use the Torah as the source of all knowledge (like Muslims do with the Koran). Hence, they have to fill the deep crevasses in their shriveled brains (because of brainwashing, inbreeding and methanol fermentation) with stuff they make up.
The interesting thing about these really idiotic people is that they claim to believe in some Big Zombie in the Sky called God. Yet, they never involve "God" as an actor or a conspirator, although he would add a great deal to their theories. After all, He is omnipotent, omniscient and is capable of really weird things like raising the dead or appointing Donald Dumb as president.
The reason they push God out of their conspiracy imaginings is because attributing someone's death to God would be a killer of all their imagined conspiracies. You would assume that when someone dies, a typical Christian (or other numskull religious imbecile) would attribute the death to "God's calling that someone back". But it's never the case with these barbarians.
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GOP conspiracy theories run wild after Lindsey Graham’s death
Analysis by Aaron Blake, CNN
Tue, July 14, 2026
US Sen. Lindsey Graham is seen in an elevator ahead of a vote on Capitol Hill on January 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. - Tom Brenner/Getty Images
Prominent figures in the conservative and MAGA movements have led the charge in spreading baseless conspiracy theories about the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell and now the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham.
It's part of a pattern in which conspiracy theories about the deaths and ailments of prominent Republicans are increasingly coming from inside the party's own house — with little in the way of efforts to combat it from GOP and MAGA leaders.
At Charlie Kirk's memorial service last year, for example, Tucker Carlson seemed to play footsy with the burgeoning but baseless conspiracy theories that Israel was behind Kirk's killing. He compared the conservative activist's death to "guys sitting around eating hummus" in Jerusalem plotting to kill Jesus Christ.
But save for a few conservative critics, prominent Republicans largely ignored it.
And when Carlson was even more direct last month — saying Kirk "was most likely murdered for his evolving views on Israel," a claim that remains unfounded — Republicans still largely ignored it, despite it coming from a conservative thought leader who is close to Vice President JD Vance.
Republicans have similarly ignored the much more in-your-face campaign to promote this conspiracy theory from the highly popular podcaster Candace Owens.
And some key right-leaning figures have even suggested the assassination attempts against President Donald Trump might not be what they seem.
All of it suggests a GOP base that has become more conspiratorial in the Trump era is turning its theories inward.
The McConnell theories
The McConnell theories began with yet another close ally of the White House, far-right activist Laura Loomer. After the Kentucky Republican had been missing for three weeks with few details from his office, Loomer claimed a source had told her the senator was "brain dead" and "not coming back."
Others in the MAGA movement picked up the ball and ran with it. After one of them alleged that other senators were "ALL in on it together," GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah responded that they "know nothing about his condition."
It got to the point where the cable network NewsNation even asked a House Republican whether McConnell was still alive. Indiana Rep. Marlin Stutzman's response? "I don't know if he's alive or has passed away."
At least some of the blame for feeding these conspiracy theories surely lies with McConnell's office, which resisted disclosing his condition. It ultimately said Sunday, after Graham's death, that McConnell had fallen, had been briefly unconscious and then developed pneumonia. It also released a photo of McConnell in the hospital with his wife and a current newspaper.
Loomer responded by baselessly suggesting the photo had been manipulated.
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson also said in a TV interview Monday afternoon that the McConnell photo might be "an older photo." (He later told reporters that was a "rumor" and to "assume it's false.")
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday called the theories "crazy speculation online." But he also suggested McConnell could help tamp them down.
"But you know, I think that anything he can do to just keep these, you know, crazy conspiracy theories off of the, off the grid, so to speak, I think would be helpful," Thune added.
GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas later echoed calls for transparency, telling reporters, "I wish Sen. McConnell and his team had done that earlier. I think it would have resolved a lot of questions."
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GOP conspiracy theories run wild after Lindsey Graham’s death
Analysis by Aaron Blake, CNN
Tue, July 14, 2026
US Sen. Lindsey Graham is seen in an elevator ahead of a vote on Capitol Hill on January 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. - Tom Brenner/Getty Images
Prominent figures in the conservative and MAGA movements have led the charge in spreading baseless conspiracy theories about the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell and now the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham.
It's part of a pattern in which conspiracy theories about the deaths and ailments of prominent Republicans are increasingly coming from inside the party's own house — with little in the way of efforts to combat it from GOP and MAGA leaders.
At Charlie Kirk's memorial service last year, for example, Tucker Carlson seemed to play footsy with the burgeoning but baseless conspiracy theories that Israel was behind Kirk's killing. He compared the conservative activist's death to "guys sitting around eating hummus" in Jerusalem plotting to kill Jesus Christ.
But save for a few conservative critics, prominent Republicans largely ignored it.
And when Carlson was even more direct last month — saying Kirk "was most likely murdered for his evolving views on Israel," a claim that remains unfounded — Republicans still largely ignored it, despite it coming from a conservative thought leader who is close to Vice President JD Vance.
Republicans have similarly ignored the much more in-your-face campaign to promote this conspiracy theory from the highly popular podcaster Candace Owens.
And some key right-leaning figures have even suggested the assassination attempts against President Donald Trump might not be what they seem.
All of it suggests a GOP base that has become more conspiratorial in the Trump era is turning its theories inward.
The McConnell theories
The McConnell theories began with yet another close ally of the White House, far-right activist Laura Loomer. After the Kentucky Republican had been missing for three weeks with few details from his office, Loomer claimed a source had told her the senator was "brain dead" and "not coming back."
Others in the MAGA movement picked up the ball and ran with it. After one of them alleged that other senators were "ALL in on it together," GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah responded that they "know nothing about his condition."
It got to the point where the cable network NewsNation even asked a House Republican whether McConnell was still alive. Indiana Rep. Marlin Stutzman's response? "I don't know if he's alive or has passed away."
At least some of the blame for feeding these conspiracy theories surely lies with McConnell's office, which resisted disclosing his condition. It ultimately said Sunday, after Graham's death, that McConnell had fallen, had been briefly unconscious and then developed pneumonia. It also released a photo of McConnell in the hospital with his wife and a current newspaper.
Loomer responded by baselessly suggesting the photo had been manipulated.
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson also said in a TV interview Monday afternoon that the McConnell photo might be "an older photo." (He later told reporters that was a "rumor" and to "assume it's false.")
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday called the theories "crazy speculation online." But he also suggested McConnell could help tamp them down.
"But you know, I think that anything he can do to just keep these, you know, crazy conspiracy theories off of the, off the grid, so to speak, I think would be helpful," Thune added.
GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas later echoed calls for transparency, telling reporters, "I wish Sen. McConnell and his team had done that earlier. I think it would have resolved a lot of questions."
A wide array of theories about Graham's death
That was only an appetizer for what lay ahead. Graham's death late Saturday night quickly spawned theories on the right that some nefarious foreign government was behind it.
Loomer cited how the South Carolina Republican had just been in Ukraine pushing for sanctions against Russia. Conservative commentator Marc Thiessen cited Russian President Vladimir Putin's alleged assassinations of foes and said it was "not a conspiracy theory to suggest something else might be at play."
Others like Kylie Jane Kremer, who organized rallies to try to help Trump overturn the 2020 election, questioned whether it was Iran, noting that regime has decried the hawkish Graham, too. (Kremer earlier this month accused Trump's foes of manipulating the weather to make the celebration of America's 250th anniversary unbearably hot.)
MAGA activist Matt Van Swol said Graham "dying out of the blue like this doesn't make any sense at all."
Still others pointed the finger, as is often the case, at Israel.
And FBI Director Kash Patel probably didn't help matters by concluding his social media post about Graham's death by saying, "The FBI is assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available." Many wondered why the FBI would be needed if Graham died from natural causes. The preliminary cause of death from the medical examiner — an aortic dissection — was trending on the internet.
Cornyn stopped short of advocating the idea that Graham didn't die of natural causes, but he called for the release of a toxicology report to "rule out any foul play."
"Given where he was and the sorts of things he was advocating for, I think we just ought to resolve all those questions by seeing what the toxicology reports show," he said Monday.
Also strikingly, one of those spreading baseless theories that something might not be as it appears was a leader of Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA, which has been a rare force fighting the conspiracy theories about Kirk's own death.
"I'm not sure how a guy goes from visiting a drone production facility in Ukraine to suddenly dying," Turning Point COO Tyler Bowyer posted on X. "Seems like important context."
Trump dismissed conspiracy theories around Graham's death in a Newsmax interview Monday night: "I'd love to say yes, but I think he had some problems," adding that Graham's father "passed away at about the same age."
He went even further Tuesday, saying the FBI is "wasting their time" while downplaying the conspiracy theories.
"I know there's all sorts of conspiracy theories going along, and I don't think the FBI — I think the FBI is wasting their time if they're doing that," Trump told reporters when asked why the agency was looking into the death or if he had gotten any updates.
The Trump and Kirk examples
The conspiracy theories on the right extend to the July 2024 assassination attempt against Trump. A number of figures who have broken with the president have increasingly suggested there was something suspicious about the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania. They include Carlson, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, former Trump counterterrorism official Joe Kent and podcaster Tim Dillon.
The Justice Department and FBI have said the would-be assassin was Thomas Crooks, who left little in the way of a paper trail but appeared to be suffering from mental health problems.
And despite the fact that Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, is now on trial and evidence is coming out, conspiracy theories about his death are proving remarkably resilient.
It remains unclear how much these theories have penetrated on the right and are actually believed. After a more recent assassination attempt against Trump — at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this spring — a Fox News poll in May found just 11% of his voters said it was at least "probably staged."
But 30% of registered voters overall said that. And having 1 in 10 people who voted for Trump believe such a thing is pretty stunning, in and of itself — especially given theories about that one weren't as prevalent on the right.
There isn't good public opinion data for the conspiracy theories about the deaths of prominent Republicans, McConnell's absence or other assassination attempts against Trump.
Another complicating factor is that it may be politically challenging for some Republicans to go after these theories too strongly. That's because some of them are being promoted by people with real influence and ties to Trump. Loomer has proven a weirdly influential figure with Trump over the years, and Carlson — the former highest-rated host on Fox News — was reported to be instrumental in getting Vance installed as vice president. Also, plenty on the right like Megyn Kelly have appeared reluctant to tangle with Owens.
But the Kirk conspiracy theories were a great example of how this can go wrong for the party. Trump really wanted to use Kirk's assassination as the basis to go after left-leaning groups he claimed (without evidence) were responsible for such violence. Yet prominent MAGA figures were undermining that political strategy by suggesting it wasn't the left but instead their chosen villain that was responsible.
To the extent deaths like these are going to be instantly greeted with conspiracy theories, that creates a real collective-action problem for Republicans.
But thanks to the GOP's many years of humoring Trump's own amplification of conspiracy theories, it's a problem long in the making.
This story has been updated Tuesday with additional developments.
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That was only an appetizer for what lay ahead. Graham's death late Saturday night quickly spawned theories on the right that some nefarious foreign government was behind it.
Loomer cited how the South Carolina Republican had just been in Ukraine pushing for sanctions against Russia. Conservative commentator Marc Thiessen cited Russian President Vladimir Putin's alleged assassinations of foes and said it was "not a conspiracy theory to suggest something else might be at play."
Others like Kylie Jane Kremer, who organized rallies to try to help Trump overturn the 2020 election, questioned whether it was Iran, noting that regime has decried the hawkish Graham, too. (Kremer earlier this month accused Trump's foes of manipulating the weather to make the celebration of America's 250th anniversary unbearably hot.)
MAGA activist Matt Van Swol said Graham "dying out of the blue like this doesn't make any sense at all."
Still others pointed the finger, as is often the case, at Israel.
And FBI Director Kash Patel probably didn't help matters by concluding his social media post about Graham's death by saying, "The FBI is assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available." Many wondered why the FBI would be needed if Graham died from natural causes. The preliminary cause of death from the medical examiner — an aortic dissection — was trending on the internet.
Cornyn stopped short of advocating the idea that Graham didn't die of natural causes, but he called for the release of a toxicology report to "rule out any foul play."
"Given where he was and the sorts of things he was advocating for, I think we just ought to resolve all those questions by seeing what the toxicology reports show," he said Monday.
Also strikingly, one of those spreading baseless theories that something might not be as it appears was a leader of Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA, which has been a rare force fighting the conspiracy theories about Kirk's own death.
"I'm not sure how a guy goes from visiting a drone production facility in Ukraine to suddenly dying," Turning Point COO Tyler Bowyer posted on X. "Seems like important context."
Trump dismissed conspiracy theories around Graham's death in a Newsmax interview Monday night: "I'd love to say yes, but I think he had some problems," adding that Graham's father "passed away at about the same age."
He went even further Tuesday, saying the FBI is "wasting their time" while downplaying the conspiracy theories.
"I know there's all sorts of conspiracy theories going along, and I don't think the FBI — I think the FBI is wasting their time if they're doing that," Trump told reporters when asked why the agency was looking into the death or if he had gotten any updates.
The Trump and Kirk examples
The conspiracy theories on the right extend to the July 2024 assassination attempt against Trump. A number of figures who have broken with the president have increasingly suggested there was something suspicious about the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania. They include Carlson, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, former Trump counterterrorism official Joe Kent and podcaster Tim Dillon.
The Justice Department and FBI have said the would-be assassin was Thomas Crooks, who left little in the way of a paper trail but appeared to be suffering from mental health problems.
And despite the fact that Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, is now on trial and evidence is coming out, conspiracy theories about his death are proving remarkably resilient.
It remains unclear how much these theories have penetrated on the right and are actually believed. After a more recent assassination attempt against Trump — at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this spring — a Fox News poll in May found just 11% of his voters said it was at least "probably staged."
But 30% of registered voters overall said that. And having 1 in 10 people who voted for Trump believe such a thing is pretty stunning, in and of itself — especially given theories about that one weren't as prevalent on the right.
There isn't good public opinion data for the conspiracy theories about the deaths of prominent Republicans, McConnell's absence or other assassination attempts against Trump.
Another complicating factor is that it may be politically challenging for some Republicans to go after these theories too strongly. That's because some of them are being promoted by people with real influence and ties to Trump. Loomer has proven a weirdly influential figure with Trump over the years, and Carlson — the former highest-rated host on Fox News — was reported to be instrumental in getting Vance installed as vice president. Also, plenty on the right like Megyn Kelly have appeared reluctant to tangle with Owens.
But the Kirk conspiracy theories were a great example of how this can go wrong for the party. Trump really wanted to use Kirk's assassination as the basis to go after left-leaning groups he claimed (without evidence) were responsible for such violence. Yet prominent MAGA figures were undermining that political strategy by suggesting it wasn't the left but instead their chosen villain that was responsible.
To the extent deaths like these are going to be instantly greeted with conspiracy theories, that creates a real collective-action problem for Republicans.
But thanks to the GOP's many years of humoring Trump's own amplification of conspiracy theories, it's a problem long in the making.
This story has been updated Tuesday with additional developments.
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OMG!!! The Communist American People are After AI-Generated Wealth
According to the opinion below, the American people are a bunch of communists who want to take away the wealth generated by artificial intelligence and distribute it among themselves.
Instead of rewarding those greedy capitalistic entrepreneurs who make trillions of dollars off the back of taxpayers in the form of generous US government grants; whose industry is a parasite that feeds off the work of millions of people (authors, artists, etc.); who strain the environment; who use massive quantities of energy and drive up our energy bills; and worst of all, who are eliminating our jobs by millions with massive layoffs .... the majority of the American people want the profits made by AI entities re-distributed.
But wait a minute. Wealth re-distribution is a hallmark of Communist systems. In capitalist systems, wealthy people can hoard as much money as they want and are under no obligation, moral or legal, to help less fortunate members of their societies. But in Communist systems, social solidarity takes precedence over individual greed. The many take priority over the few.
But are Americans becoming filthy communists? Or have they learned from experience not to approve of a handful of immorally wealthy individuals to run amok with the economy and deprive millions of people of their basic needs?
If true, then Donald Dumb is right. We can't allow 70% of the American people to become Communist agents working on dismantling the hypothetical American Dream bullshit. We need to find who these 70% of Americans are and send ICE-GESTAPO to stop that creeping takeover of the famed American Way of Life, which can be summed up by becoming dumb and ugly, eating bad processed food, turning obesity into a hallmark of genuine Americanism, and becoming enslaved by a few giant corporations into "consumers" while deprived of their status of "citizens".
Seriously, do you then wonder why Democratic Socialists are winning in every district they run?
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A Majority of Americans Support Seizing Wealth From AI Industry
Frank Landymore
Tue, July 14, 2026
Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Shutterstock
Key takeawaysPowered by Yahoo Scout. Yahoo is using AI to generate key points from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
A Majority of Americans Support Seizing Wealth From AI Industry
Frank Landymore
Tue, July 14, 2026
Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Shutterstock
Key takeawaysPowered by Yahoo Scout. Yahoo is using AI to generate key points from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
A new national survey suggests that 69 percent of US employees support forcing AI companies to transfer 50 percent of their stock into a public wealth fund, an idea championed by senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT).See more
To say Americans are divided on AI would be an understatement.
Polls have shown that more people than ever have a negative view of the tech, and you can take your pick on the reasons why. AI could displace jobs, destroy the environment, and drive up energy bills. It's trained on stolen writing and artwork, and chatbots are driving people into mental health spirals.
But what does the public think should be done about this? A new national survey from Versasight suggests that the majority of Americans are down for taking a drastic course of action.
According to the survey of 1,700 adults, an impressive 69 percent of US employees support forcing AI companies to transfer 50 percent of their stock into a public wealth fund, an idea that has been championed by senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT).
"In the eyes of the public, AI Sovereign funds are seen as a tool to distribute the gains from the AI industry back to broader society," Verasight CEO Benjamin Leff told CNBC News.
Once at the fringe of political discourse, Sanders took the idea mainstream when he proposed the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act in June. In an essay published in the New York Times, the independent senator argued that the creation of this fund would "give the public a direct role in determining the future of this technology."
"It would guarantee that the economic benefits generated by AI are used to improve the lives of all of us — not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer," he added in a statement last month.
The act would target the largest AI companies in the US such as Anthropic and OpenAI, mandating that they submit to a one time 50 percent tax on their stock. At their current valuations, Sanders estimated that this would create a fund worth around $7 trillion. The money in this fund could offset some of the widespread disruption AI could wreak on society, the thinking goes.
Not all AI industry critics are on board. Some have argued that giving the government such a large stake in AI companies would encourage it to clear away regulations, and give AI companies even greater influence over the government than they already have.
You could say it's a flawed and far-fetched idea, but Americans are on board, perhaps underscoring the desperation for someone to do something about the industry. Even when the policy was explicitly tied to Sanders, the survey found that 64 percent of respondents still supported the idea.
"There is an undeniable desire among Americans of both parties for federal oversight, absolute transparency, and accountability to ensure AI safety and to enable all Americans to participate in the economic benefits of AI," Leff said in a statement.
To say Americans are divided on AI would be an understatement.
Polls have shown that more people than ever have a negative view of the tech, and you can take your pick on the reasons why. AI could displace jobs, destroy the environment, and drive up energy bills. It's trained on stolen writing and artwork, and chatbots are driving people into mental health spirals.
But what does the public think should be done about this? A new national survey from Versasight suggests that the majority of Americans are down for taking a drastic course of action.
According to the survey of 1,700 adults, an impressive 69 percent of US employees support forcing AI companies to transfer 50 percent of their stock into a public wealth fund, an idea that has been championed by senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT).
"In the eyes of the public, AI Sovereign funds are seen as a tool to distribute the gains from the AI industry back to broader society," Verasight CEO Benjamin Leff told CNBC News.
Once at the fringe of political discourse, Sanders took the idea mainstream when he proposed the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act in June. In an essay published in the New York Times, the independent senator argued that the creation of this fund would "give the public a direct role in determining the future of this technology."
"It would guarantee that the economic benefits generated by AI are used to improve the lives of all of us — not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer," he added in a statement last month.
The act would target the largest AI companies in the US such as Anthropic and OpenAI, mandating that they submit to a one time 50 percent tax on their stock. At their current valuations, Sanders estimated that this would create a fund worth around $7 trillion. The money in this fund could offset some of the widespread disruption AI could wreak on society, the thinking goes.
Not all AI industry critics are on board. Some have argued that giving the government such a large stake in AI companies would encourage it to clear away regulations, and give AI companies even greater influence over the government than they already have.
You could say it's a flawed and far-fetched idea, but Americans are on board, perhaps underscoring the desperation for someone to do something about the industry. Even when the policy was explicitly tied to Sanders, the survey found that 64 percent of respondents still supported the idea.
"There is an undeniable desire among Americans of both parties for federal oversight, absolute transparency, and accountability to ensure AI safety and to enable all Americans to participate in the economic benefits of AI," Leff said in a statement.
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
America, You Are Smarter than this. Don't Fall for "The Communists are Coming" Scare
King Trump's Fool Michael Savage propagates stale 19th century ideasTrump's white supremacist criminals will say anything to terrorize the American people into submission and acceptance of their criminality, savage greed and racism as some sort of "American way" slogan. It's just a slogan that has trained you like Pavlovian dogs to drool once you hear the whistle.
Don't fall for their lies. Think for yourselves. Try to define what is the "American Way" and see where it will take you. America is falling behind because of their crimes and corruption. Trump and his gangsters are making America poor again by enriching themselves over your dumbness.
They desperately want to hang on to power so as to keep ripping the American people off with their corruption and to keep dividing us. They are NOT the patriots they claim to be. They are extremist white nationalists who hate everyone else who is not a white evangelical supremacist moron like them.
Spewing hate is not patriotism.
Conservative pundit Michael Savage has claimed that democratic socialist candidates would turn the U.S. into a socialist country through, for example, the launch of "free" programs. Stop and think, what is wrong with a "free" program? When Trump himself and George W Bush issued "stimulus" checks after they wrecked the economy with the financial corruption of their billionaire buddies on Wall Street, wasn't that a "free program" to silence and tame people into accepting their corruption as the "American Way"?
Savage claims the country is turning into Cambodia under the dictator Pol Pot. He's right. This is exactly what his boss, the dick-taitor Donald Trump, has done to the country by turning it into a huge Killing Field and a large "Internment Camp" for those who don't look like "us".
Communism is dead all over the world. A couple of countries continue to be run by Communist parties but they run capitalist economies: China and Vietnam, and they are our best trading partners.
Why would you want to be stupid and believe that decent patriotic Americans want to impose communism on the country, when America defeated Communism with the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union? There is no Marxism and no Communism left in the world. They're gone.
Trump and this criminally-minded idiot Michael Savage are resurrecting ghosts from the 1930s to scare you - they really think you're dumb and that you'll believe their lies and vote for them. But take a look around you: who is wrecking the economy of the country and running it to the ground with tax breaks for the rich, foreign wars and corruption never seen before in the history of the country. Who is causing massive inflation and making your lives so miserable?
We are smarter and better than this. Trump and his minions lied to us in two elections. Are we gonna continue believing their lies?
================================================
Ryan Mancini
Mon, July 13, 2026
President Trump on Sunday shared a video calling for "hardcore communist bastards" to be deported, notably naming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D).
Conservative pundit Michael Savage's 49-minute-long video, which he posted on July 4, claims that democratic socialist candidates running as Democrats have been turning the U.S. into a socialist country through, for example, the launch of "free" programs. Savage claimed the country was turning into Cambodia under the dictator Pol Pot.
"That is exactly what Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists will do to you," Savage said. "Forget the smirks, forget the smiles, forget the bulls— that it's like Denmark and Norway. These are hardcore communist bastards who must be stopped, criminalized and deported. I'm clear as a bell on this. We will fall if they are not deported."
Trump's sharing of the message is notable given his relationship with Mamdani. While Trump has been hammering Democrats for moving toward "communism" with the advancement of several democratic socialist candidates, he has at times complimented Mamdani. Trump famously had a friendly meeting with Mamdani at the White House after the democratic socialist won his city's mayoral race last year.
Savage said Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) "and the other scum who should be criminalized and deported –– I'll send them to Uganda … before they spread the cancer." The pundit railed against democratic socialist candidates who recently won Democratic primary elections across the country.
"Right now, we have open Marxists in high places in America. Every one of them must be criminalized and deported. I'm not mincing words, I don't care what the courts say," Savage later said before he blasted the Supreme Court's recent ruling upholding birthright citizenship, which he said was "death to America."
Savage made several more pleas to deport democratic socialist candidates, conflating their political beliefs with communist ideology.
Trump has accused democratic socialist candidates and their movement of being more dangerous to the U.S. than both world wars and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"They use the word social democrat because it sounds so nice, but it's really communism you're talking about," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office late last month.
Democrats have seized on the issue of affordability as inflation continues to rise under the Trump administration. Trump, however, has accused the far left of making promises it cannot keep, saying that it is "too easy to get elected, giving everything away."
The victories by democratic socialist candidates have also led to discussions within the Democratic Party, with some welcoming the wins and others fearing the party could lose races in the fall if it is seen as too extreme.
A recent poll from The Economist/YouGov found that 1 in 3 Americans said they are willing to back a democratic socialist in an election, while 45 percent said they would not. Pollsters also found that 32 percent of respondents see socialism in a "very favorable" or "somewhat favorable" light, though slightly more at 39 percent said they see socialism in a "somewhat unfavorable" or "very unfavorable" light.
Nepotism in Backward Southern States. South Carolina Appoints Lady Lindsey's Sister as Senator
... and her name is DARLINE NORDONE. Try pronouncing it with the disgusting southern drawl.
South Carolina's other Senator, the Black African-American "Uncle Tom" of MAGA, Tim Scott, applauded the appointment. Tim Scott's ass-kissing to his white masters narrowly avoided him losing his seat. Fearing a massive routing in the elections by the African American vote, the South Carolina lawmakers rejected a congressional redistricting plan last May 2026 that aimed to redraw districts into a 7-0 Republican map that would have dismantled the state's sole Democratic district and completely eliminate Black African-American representation in Congress.
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Darline Graham Nordone, Lindsey Graham's sister, appointed to fill Senate seat
Major Garrett
Updated Tue, July 14, 2026
Washington — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday appointed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's sister Darline Graham Nordone to finish his Senate term, which ends in January.
"Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed. It's my honor to ask his little sister Darline Graham to finish his work for him now," McMaster said at an emotional news conference to announce to his appointment for the vacant seat left by Graham's death.
Graham Nordone will be able to serve until at least Jan. 3, when a new Congress convenes.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Graham Nordone will be sworn in Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 ET.
"Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him," Graham Nordone said, calling it a "privilege to get to finish some of his important work."
Darline Graham Nordone, with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, right, and Sen. Tim Scott, left, speaks on July 13, 2026, in South Carolina after being appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham. / Credit: AP Photo/Sean Rayford
President Trump, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and others had voiced their support for Graham Nordone.
McMaster said he broached the subject of Graham Nordone filling her brother's seat shortly after his death, and that she quickly accepted.
Graham was also running for reelection this fall, and a special Republican primary election will be held on Aug. 11 to determine who will replace him on the ballot. The candidate who wins in November will secure a full six-year term.
Graham died Saturday at the age of 71, and a medical examiner's preliminary findings suggested the cause was aortic dissection, which involves a tear in the main artery from the heart.
On Monday morning, Mr. Trump threw his endorsement behind Graham's younger sister to serve the rest of his term.
"I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham's wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!"
Scott told "CBS Mornings" that Graham Nordone "would be a wonderful placeholder." Scott has spoken to Graham Nordone multiple times over the past 24 hours, a source familiar with the talks told CBS News. Scott was on hand for the announcement later Monday.
Updated Tue, July 14, 2026
Washington — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday appointed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's sister Darline Graham Nordone to finish his Senate term, which ends in January.
"Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed. It's my honor to ask his little sister Darline Graham to finish his work for him now," McMaster said at an emotional news conference to announce to his appointment for the vacant seat left by Graham's death.
Graham Nordone will be able to serve until at least Jan. 3, when a new Congress convenes.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Graham Nordone will be sworn in Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 ET.
"Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him," Graham Nordone said, calling it a "privilege to get to finish some of his important work."
Darline Graham Nordone, with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, right, and Sen. Tim Scott, left, speaks on July 13, 2026, in South Carolina after being appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham. / Credit: AP Photo/Sean Rayford
President Trump, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and others had voiced their support for Graham Nordone.
McMaster said he broached the subject of Graham Nordone filling her brother's seat shortly after his death, and that she quickly accepted.
Graham was also running for reelection this fall, and a special Republican primary election will be held on Aug. 11 to determine who will replace him on the ballot. The candidate who wins in November will secure a full six-year term.
Graham died Saturday at the age of 71, and a medical examiner's preliminary findings suggested the cause was aortic dissection, which involves a tear in the main artery from the heart.
On Monday morning, Mr. Trump threw his endorsement behind Graham's younger sister to serve the rest of his term.
"I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham's wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!"
Scott told "CBS Mornings" that Graham Nordone "would be a wonderful placeholder." Scott has spoken to Graham Nordone multiple times over the past 24 hours, a source familiar with the talks told CBS News. Scott was on hand for the announcement later Monday.
ICE-GESTAPO Executes Man in Maine after Houston Execution This Week
They had a Hispanic man as their target. Trump's white supremacist thugs of ICE-GESTAPO - who are morons like their boss - now kill on "resemblance" with the man they're after (i.e. brown skin, Hispanic-looking, accented English, etc...) and killed him point blank by shooting him in the face. Which means they kill now on race-profiling "categories" of people, rather than individuals.
They were not wearing body cameras and didn't have dashboard cameras in their vehicles. You know what this means. No evidence of the murder. No George Floyd-like scandal. A "disposable" human being was eliminated by the combined racism and stupidity of white American thugs dressed as police.
The ICE-GESTAPO chief Markwayne Mullin, as usual in government-killings like this, first lied twice:
Lie 31: He first said the man was the target, then 3 hours later said he wasn't.
Lie #2: He said the man "weaponized" his vehicle (i.e. used his car to ram into the ICE thugs), but the facts are that the man didn't. His car had come to a stop and he was shot from the passenger window straight into the head.
No cameras, no video evidence, no problem for the government's assassin!
America is so great now. The American people have been sedated and are numb to the fact that their country is now a Banana Republic rife with state-sponsored violence.
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Man fatally shot by ICE in Maine was not intended target of warrant, lawmakers say
Alex Sundby
Updated Tue, July 14, 2026
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Maine fatally shot a man in his car on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said, marking the second time in a week that ICE officers have used deadly force in the U.S.
DHS alleged the man, who was in the country illegally, had "attempted to flee the scene" when ICE tried to stop him at around 7 a.m. ET in Biddeford, Maine, and "fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon." He later died from his injuries. DHS said ICE agents encountered the man while "conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal."
DHS did not name the man, but a source with knowledge of the investigation told CBS News his name is Joan Sebastian Guerrero. An immigrant rights group said the man killed in the shooting was a 26-year-old from Colombia.
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine said on CNN that "the person that was killed was not the person that they were seeking," citing a conversation he had with Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin. The senator said Mullin initially told him the man was the intended target of a warrant, but about three hours later, Mullin called him back with updated information that the man actually wasn't the target.
In a news conference earlier Monday, King said the deceased man had been given an order to leave the country.
Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine said in an interview with CBS News that she had "heard on good authority, though it's not been confirmed by [DHS], that they perhaps shot the wrong person, that it was not the person they were going after." She called the shooting "very disturbing" and said she is pressing DHS for more information.
The Colombian Embassy issued a statement saying it "regrets the death of a Colombian national in Biddeford, Maine and is providing the necessary consular assistance to his family." The embassy said it has "requested information and clarification from the Department of Homeland Security regarding the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death and will continue to follow the case closely as the investigation progresses."
During Monday's news conference, King said Mullin told him the man had "weaponized" his vehicle. In its statement later Monday, DHS did not use that wording, instead saying the officer shot at the man out of concern for "public safety."
King told CNN "we haven't seen evidence" yet suggesting that the officer feared for their safety or the safety of others, and called for an "unvarnished, transparent investigation."
The agents involved in the shooting weren't wearing body cameras, King told reporters.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said on social media she was told that the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general will take the lead on investigating the shooting, with help from the FBI.
The state attorney general's office, which is also investigating the shooting, said in a statement that the man "attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of" an officer with ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations directorate, according to initial statements collected by investigators. The officer who opened fire will be placed on leave, according to the attorney general's office.
Man fatally shot by ICE in Maine was not intended target of warrant, lawmakers say
Alex Sundby
Updated Tue, July 14, 2026
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Maine fatally shot a man in his car on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said, marking the second time in a week that ICE officers have used deadly force in the U.S.
DHS alleged the man, who was in the country illegally, had "attempted to flee the scene" when ICE tried to stop him at around 7 a.m. ET in Biddeford, Maine, and "fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon." He later died from his injuries. DHS said ICE agents encountered the man while "conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal."
DHS did not name the man, but a source with knowledge of the investigation told CBS News his name is Joan Sebastian Guerrero. An immigrant rights group said the man killed in the shooting was a 26-year-old from Colombia.
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine said on CNN that "the person that was killed was not the person that they were seeking," citing a conversation he had with Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin. The senator said Mullin initially told him the man was the intended target of a warrant, but about three hours later, Mullin called him back with updated information that the man actually wasn't the target.
In a news conference earlier Monday, King said the deceased man had been given an order to leave the country.
Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine said in an interview with CBS News that she had "heard on good authority, though it's not been confirmed by [DHS], that they perhaps shot the wrong person, that it was not the person they were going after." She called the shooting "very disturbing" and said she is pressing DHS for more information.
The Colombian Embassy issued a statement saying it "regrets the death of a Colombian national in Biddeford, Maine and is providing the necessary consular assistance to his family." The embassy said it has "requested information and clarification from the Department of Homeland Security regarding the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death and will continue to follow the case closely as the investigation progresses."
During Monday's news conference, King said Mullin told him the man had "weaponized" his vehicle. In its statement later Monday, DHS did not use that wording, instead saying the officer shot at the man out of concern for "public safety."
King told CNN "we haven't seen evidence" yet suggesting that the officer feared for their safety or the safety of others, and called for an "unvarnished, transparent investigation."
The agents involved in the shooting weren't wearing body cameras, King told reporters.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said on social media she was told that the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general will take the lead on investigating the shooting, with help from the FBI.
The state attorney general's office, which is also investigating the shooting, said in a statement that the man "attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of" an officer with ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations directorate, according to initial statements collected by investigators. The officer who opened fire will be placed on leave, according to the attorney general's office.
Videos show car circling, man pulled from vehicle
The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition said the man killed in the shooting was authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number.
A neighbor, Nelson Elias, told reporters that the man was married and had a young daughter who's about 2 or 3 years old.
A video of the incident, taken from a nearby security camera and obtained exclusively by CBS News, appeared to show the vehicle slowly driving in a circle a few times before coming to a stop. At least two people then approached the car and appeared to pull a person from the driver's seat out onto the ground.
Cory Poulin, who owns a pawn shop and laundromat across the street, said he believes the vehicle was rolling because the driver had already been shot. He said he considers it a community tragedy.
"If someone's a different race and wants to do laundry, I don't want them to be worried that they're going to — that they have to worry about ICE coming in and doing what they do," Poulin said.
A photo from the Portland Press Herald shows a car behind police tape with four bullet holes in the windshield on the driver's side.
A Kia sedan with four bullet holes in the windshield is seen at the scene of a shooting in Biddeford, Maine, July 13, 2026. / Credit: Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
The Press Herald also posted a video of the incident from another angle. The video, which was recorded from a nearby vehicle, shows two people approaching the car while it's moving, and one person appears to grab onto the driver's side door handle before the video ends.
"The question is, what did he do with his vehicle?" King told reporters. "Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force? That's what this investigation is all about, and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible."
Em Akerley, who lives near where the shooting happened, told WMTW-TV she initially thought she heard a car backfiring and went to her window when the sound continued.
"I see a small white car being corralled by two men trying to stop it from losing control around the intersection and, all of a sudden, all these plainclothes, vested men sort of running down the street, abandoning their cars kind of everywhere with regular people behind them," she said.
She said she didn't see the man who was shot.
"I don't know what he did, but he didn't deserve to be executed in the street," Akerley said. "I didn't hear anything until the gunshots."
The scene where a man was killed in a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. / Credit: Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via AP
Project Relief Maine, an immigrant advocacy group, said in a statement on social media that the person who was killed was one of their community members.
"We are in contact with the family and are committed to supporting them during this unimaginable time," the group said. "This was a young person whose life was cut short, and our community must come together to stand with their loved ones and ensure they are not alone. They must get justice."
Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said she was briefed on the shooting. "I know that situations like these are alarming and frightening," she said in a statement.
The Maine State Police was at the scene after the shooting working with the state attorney general's office, the state Office of Chief Medical Examiner and federal officials, Mills said. Democratic State House Speaker Ryan Fecteau had said on Facebook that the state Department of Public Safety was also at the scene gathering details.
The Biddeford Police Department said in a statement that it responded to an incident involving ICE personnel at the intersection of Pool and Hill streets and was providing security at the scene. The department directed inquiries about the incident to ICE.
A community vigil was set for Monday evening.
The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition said the man killed in the shooting was authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number.
A neighbor, Nelson Elias, told reporters that the man was married and had a young daughter who's about 2 or 3 years old.
A video of the incident, taken from a nearby security camera and obtained exclusively by CBS News, appeared to show the vehicle slowly driving in a circle a few times before coming to a stop. At least two people then approached the car and appeared to pull a person from the driver's seat out onto the ground.
Cory Poulin, who owns a pawn shop and laundromat across the street, said he believes the vehicle was rolling because the driver had already been shot. He said he considers it a community tragedy.
"If someone's a different race and wants to do laundry, I don't want them to be worried that they're going to — that they have to worry about ICE coming in and doing what they do," Poulin said.
A photo from the Portland Press Herald shows a car behind police tape with four bullet holes in the windshield on the driver's side.
A Kia sedan with four bullet holes in the windshield is seen at the scene of a shooting in Biddeford, Maine, July 13, 2026. / Credit: Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
The Press Herald also posted a video of the incident from another angle. The video, which was recorded from a nearby vehicle, shows two people approaching the car while it's moving, and one person appears to grab onto the driver's side door handle before the video ends.
"The question is, what did he do with his vehicle?" King told reporters. "Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force? That's what this investigation is all about, and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible."
Em Akerley, who lives near where the shooting happened, told WMTW-TV she initially thought she heard a car backfiring and went to her window when the sound continued.
"I see a small white car being corralled by two men trying to stop it from losing control around the intersection and, all of a sudden, all these plainclothes, vested men sort of running down the street, abandoning their cars kind of everywhere with regular people behind them," she said.
She said she didn't see the man who was shot.
"I don't know what he did, but he didn't deserve to be executed in the street," Akerley said. "I didn't hear anything until the gunshots."
The scene where a man was killed in a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. / Credit: Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via AP
Project Relief Maine, an immigrant advocacy group, said in a statement on social media that the person who was killed was one of their community members.
"We are in contact with the family and are committed to supporting them during this unimaginable time," the group said. "This was a young person whose life was cut short, and our community must come together to stand with their loved ones and ensure they are not alone. They must get justice."
Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said she was briefed on the shooting. "I know that situations like these are alarming and frightening," she said in a statement.
The Maine State Police was at the scene after the shooting working with the state attorney general's office, the state Office of Chief Medical Examiner and federal officials, Mills said. Democratic State House Speaker Ryan Fecteau had said on Facebook that the state Department of Public Safety was also at the scene gathering details.
The Biddeford Police Department said in a statement that it responded to an incident involving ICE personnel at the intersection of Pool and Hill streets and was providing security at the scene. The department directed inquiries about the incident to ICE.
A community vigil was set for Monday evening.
Maine shooting comes after deadly incident in Houston
The shooting comes after an ICE officer shot and killed a Mexican man in his work van last week in Houston.
In that incident, security camera footage obtained by CBS affiliate KHOU-TV shows ICE officers in unmarked vehicles followed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo after he picked up co-workers for a construction job.
The Department of Homeland Security said officers thought one of the men resembled someone they were looking for and that Araujo attempted to run over an officer who fired in self-defense. An attorney for two of the men in the van said the ICE officer fired into the vehicle through a window on the passenger side.
"Lorenzo had already parked the van. The ICE agent reaches in, fires a shot directly in front of Victor's face, strikes Lorenzo on the side," attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra said in an Instagram video.
The ICE officers involved in that shooting weren't wearing body cameras and didn't have dashboard cameras in their vehicles. The FBI is investigating the shooting.
The shooting comes after an ICE officer shot and killed a Mexican man in his work van last week in Houston.
In that incident, security camera footage obtained by CBS affiliate KHOU-TV shows ICE officers in unmarked vehicles followed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo after he picked up co-workers for a construction job.
The Department of Homeland Security said officers thought one of the men resembled someone they were looking for and that Araujo attempted to run over an officer who fired in self-defense. An attorney for two of the men in the van said the ICE officer fired into the vehicle through a window on the passenger side.
"Lorenzo had already parked the van. The ICE agent reaches in, fires a shot directly in front of Victor's face, strikes Lorenzo on the side," attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra said in an Instagram video.
The ICE officers involved in that shooting weren't wearing body cameras and didn't have dashboard cameras in their vehicles. The FBI is investigating the shooting.
URGENT: Trump HIMSELF is America’s Biggest National Security Threat
Opinion - Trump is America’s biggest national security threat
William S. Becker, opinion contributor
Mon, July 13, 2026
Of all the responsibilities assigned to an American president, none is more important than keeping the country safe from its enemies. Yet, the U.S. has rarely, if ever, been as vulnerable as it is today under President Trump. He has become our greatest national security threat.
Let's assess what he has done.
He launched a war of choice against Iran, a strategic and economic ally of Russia and China. The war quickly depleted America's supply of critical weapons. Experts say it will take at least three years to rebuild the arsenal. The Center for Strategic and International Studies says this has "created a window of vulnerability for a potential Western Pacific conflict."
Trump has railed against NATO allies France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany for not supporting his attacks on Iran, even though NATO is a defense alliance, not a war alliance. Iran has retaliated by attacking U.S. military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan. Trump's relationship with Saudi Arabia has been strained by the kingdom's refusal to let U.S. forces use its bases and airspace during the war.
Trump has frequently lashed out at and alienated NATO, which, at 77, is one of history's oldest security alliances. Lately, he has publicly insulted Italy's leader, told his staff during a news conference to cut off trade with Spain, and outraged Belgium by interfering with its World Cup match against the United States.
He has threatened to take Greenland from Denmark, by force if necessary. That would obligate the alliance's other 31 members to defend Denmark against his aggression.
Trump has launched military operations against nearly a dozen countries during his two terms, including strikes against Syria, Somalia, Nigeria and Venezuela. He apparently is not inclined to stop; he has hinted that he'd like to control or annex Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, the Panama Canal, and even Canada.
Russia and China are watching closely. They undoubtedly notice that Trump has degraded the government's ability to anticipate and defend against attacks. Hundreds of America's top military, intelligence and security officials have either been fired or pushed out for political reasons, or because they considered the administration's orders unconscionable.
Since Trump's second term began, about 300 FBI agents who worked on national security have left the bureau. The loss has been characterized as a "purge" that has greatly depleted the FBI's capabilities.
Now, the administration has diverted 260 FBI analysts to focus on a "priority investigation" of the 2020 election. Their task is to find proof of Trump's six-year fantasy that he won against Joe Biden.
The Department of Homeland Security is preoccupied with White House adviser Stephen Miller's goal of deporting 1 million immigrants this year, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as "racist and draconian" rather than related to homeland security. Meanwhile, there has been a sharp drop in morale at the Pentagon, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired 15 senior officers while the U.S. is at war.
Trump, who prefers to follow his gut rather than facts, has hollowed out the government's vital intelligence agencies and replaced career experts with political loyalists. He recently named Bill Pulti, a housing developer, as acting director of National Intelligence.
Pulti immediately fired more than 50 intelligence experts and promised more, leading to speculation that he would declassify allegations that China has interfered with elections so that Trump could declare a national security emergency and manipulate the rules of the midterm election.
Last November, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, warned that the Trump administration had created a "deepening threat to our security" by purging a third of the nation's cybersecurity experts in other agencies besides the FBI, reassigning up to 45 percent of FBI agents to help round up immigrants, and forcing thousands of security experts out of government for political reasons.
In March, after U.S. airstrikes killed Iran's supreme leader, ABC News reported that the Trump administration intercepted an encrypted message that appeared to be "an operational trigger" from Iran to its "sleeper assets." Iran, Russia, China and North Korea are suspected of having secret operatives on U.S. soil.
Dr. Matthew Levitt, a counterterrorism expert at the Washington Institute, calls this a heightened security environment. "If there were ever a time where Iran (was) going to pull out the stops and try to do something, now would be it," he warns.
China and Russia undoubtedly see that Trump is preoccupied with building monuments to himself and showing signs of cognitive decline. Insofar as he seems concerned about enemies, they are his imagined "enemies within," his political opponents and people on the left.
Under the circumstances, the most important thing Congress can do to strengthen national security is to remove Trump from office as soon as possible.
William S. Becker is co-editor of and a contributor to "Democracy Unchained: How to Rebuild Government for the People"" and a contributor to "Democracy in a Hotter Time." He previously served as a senior official in the Wisconsin Department of Justice. He is currently executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.
Trump Said he Will “Drain the Swamp”. Instead he Became the Swamp's Biggest Monster
$6 million a day: Trump’s disclosures show he is the swamp’s biggest monster
Svante Myrick, opinion contributor
Mon, July 13, 2026
President Trump told his followers he would "drain the swamp." Instead, he became the biggest swamp monster ever. He has obliterated the line between public service and personal enrichment.
Trump's recent financial disclosures revealed that he made $2.2 billion in the year since he returned to office. That is a breathtaking figure. It is more than 20 times the annual budget of the city of Ithaca, N.Y., where I served as mayor for 10 years.
In other words, Trump raked in, on average, more than $6 million a day, seven days a week. The presidency is more than a full-time job, but Trump's side hustles were pulling down 15 times the president's yearly salary of $400,000 — every single day!
Even the conservative Free Press recognized this, writing, "There is no modern parallel for the scale and shamelessness with which the president is enriching himself in office."
"Earned" would be too generous a term for the way Trump promoted scams like his meme coin, structured so that he would make money no matter what happened to other investors. As Forbes has reported, Trump "asked his political supporters to become his business partners. Those who trusted him got hurt the worst."
Forbes senior editor Dan Alexander looked at similar ventures by other members of the Trump family and told CNN's Erin Burnett that "it's a consistent pattern." If you add them up, he said, the Trump family has cashed out about $1.9 billion and had its net worth lifted by about $3.1 billion. "Meanwhile, their supporters collectively are down, we estimate $7 billion," he said.
Crooked crypto deals are just part of the Trump grift. We now know that Trump made 327 stock purchases on April 8, 2025. The next day, he posted "GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!" before causing the market to jump by rolling back some of the tariffs he had just imposed.
Then there are billions of dollars in federal financing for mining deals that are profiting Trump's sons and the sons of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
And consider how Trump insiders diverted tens of millions of dollars from the bipartisan organization Congress had created to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and funneled it into Freedom 250, a newly created company run by Trump insiders.
The sparsely attended "Great American State Fair" was a bust by just about any traditional measure — one commentator called it "a crime against fun" — but as journalist Liz Dye noted, it was a "rousing success" as a grift.
"Trump was able to snatch congressionally allocated funds, commingle them with cash from corporations seeking favor from his administration, enrich his buddies, and throw himself two spectacular birthday parties," she wrote.
Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee recently documented how the anniversary was hijacked and turned into a "hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment." They have called for an investigation of possible criminal fraud over the diversion of funds that donors intended for the bipartisan America 250 into the Trump-controlled Freedom 250.
Unfortunately, there's been no effort by the Justice Department to rein in Trump's corruption. In fact, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former criminal defense lawyer, has advanced the corruption. He cut a deal to give Trump, his family members and their massive network of business operations immunity from IRS investigations or prosecutions. And he backed the creation of a massive slush fund Trump could use to funnel still more tax dollars to his supporters.
I am not a historian, but it is hard to imagine that there has ever been a more corrupt deal made by a U.S. attorney general. That is why the coming confirmation hearings for Blanche are so important. Senators must not reward Blanche's brazen corruption of the Justice Department by confirming him as attorney general.
More than 1,200 former Department of Justice attorneys and officials have urged senators to reject Blanche's nomination.
A letter sent last week references "the corruption and abuses that have defined the Justice Department under Todd Blanche's leadership," including "the vindictive prosecutions and investigations of the president's foes; the deals designed to reward lawbreakers with taxpayer dollars; the erasure of accountability for January 6; the mishandling of the Epstein files; and the denigration of judges and repeated violations of their orders."
The letter also slams Blanche's "degradation" of the department's career workforce through the firing of people for "declining to initiate vindictive prosecutions" or "refusing to lie in court."
Trump has claimed that nobody cares about his corruption and conflicts of interest. That is not true, and saying so encourages more destructive cynicism about politics.
The upcoming confirmation hearings for Blanche will be an opportunity for Republican senators to put country over party. And the upcoming elections will be an opportunity for voters to elect representatives who are more willing to do their duty.
Svante Myrick is president of People For the American Way.
Svante Myrick, opinion contributor
Mon, July 13, 2026
President Trump told his followers he would "drain the swamp." Instead, he became the biggest swamp monster ever. He has obliterated the line between public service and personal enrichment.
Trump's recent financial disclosures revealed that he made $2.2 billion in the year since he returned to office. That is a breathtaking figure. It is more than 20 times the annual budget of the city of Ithaca, N.Y., where I served as mayor for 10 years.
In other words, Trump raked in, on average, more than $6 million a day, seven days a week. The presidency is more than a full-time job, but Trump's side hustles were pulling down 15 times the president's yearly salary of $400,000 — every single day!
Even the conservative Free Press recognized this, writing, "There is no modern parallel for the scale and shamelessness with which the president is enriching himself in office."
"Earned" would be too generous a term for the way Trump promoted scams like his meme coin, structured so that he would make money no matter what happened to other investors. As Forbes has reported, Trump "asked his political supporters to become his business partners. Those who trusted him got hurt the worst."
Forbes senior editor Dan Alexander looked at similar ventures by other members of the Trump family and told CNN's Erin Burnett that "it's a consistent pattern." If you add them up, he said, the Trump family has cashed out about $1.9 billion and had its net worth lifted by about $3.1 billion. "Meanwhile, their supporters collectively are down, we estimate $7 billion," he said.
Crooked crypto deals are just part of the Trump grift. We now know that Trump made 327 stock purchases on April 8, 2025. The next day, he posted "GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!" before causing the market to jump by rolling back some of the tariffs he had just imposed.
Then there are billions of dollars in federal financing for mining deals that are profiting Trump's sons and the sons of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
And consider how Trump insiders diverted tens of millions of dollars from the bipartisan organization Congress had created to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and funneled it into Freedom 250, a newly created company run by Trump insiders.
The sparsely attended "Great American State Fair" was a bust by just about any traditional measure — one commentator called it "a crime against fun" — but as journalist Liz Dye noted, it was a "rousing success" as a grift.
"Trump was able to snatch congressionally allocated funds, commingle them with cash from corporations seeking favor from his administration, enrich his buddies, and throw himself two spectacular birthday parties," she wrote.
Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee recently documented how the anniversary was hijacked and turned into a "hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment." They have called for an investigation of possible criminal fraud over the diversion of funds that donors intended for the bipartisan America 250 into the Trump-controlled Freedom 250.
Unfortunately, there's been no effort by the Justice Department to rein in Trump's corruption. In fact, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former criminal defense lawyer, has advanced the corruption. He cut a deal to give Trump, his family members and their massive network of business operations immunity from IRS investigations or prosecutions. And he backed the creation of a massive slush fund Trump could use to funnel still more tax dollars to his supporters.
I am not a historian, but it is hard to imagine that there has ever been a more corrupt deal made by a U.S. attorney general. That is why the coming confirmation hearings for Blanche are so important. Senators must not reward Blanche's brazen corruption of the Justice Department by confirming him as attorney general.
More than 1,200 former Department of Justice attorneys and officials have urged senators to reject Blanche's nomination.
A letter sent last week references "the corruption and abuses that have defined the Justice Department under Todd Blanche's leadership," including "the vindictive prosecutions and investigations of the president's foes; the deals designed to reward lawbreakers with taxpayer dollars; the erasure of accountability for January 6; the mishandling of the Epstein files; and the denigration of judges and repeated violations of their orders."
The letter also slams Blanche's "degradation" of the department's career workforce through the firing of people for "declining to initiate vindictive prosecutions" or "refusing to lie in court."
Trump has claimed that nobody cares about his corruption and conflicts of interest. That is not true, and saying so encourages more destructive cynicism about politics.
The upcoming confirmation hearings for Blanche will be an opportunity for Republican senators to put country over party. And the upcoming elections will be an opportunity for voters to elect representatives who are more willing to do their duty.
Svante Myrick is president of People For the American Way.
Trump Pushes Plan to Wreck the Midterms. Claims Voting Fraud BEFORE the Elections
Even before the elections, the criminal mobster is preparing the ground to wreck the elections with malevolent claims of fraud. He wants to cancel voting by mail, while he himself just voted by mail. A big elitist billionaire asshole like him will not stand in line like regular folks to vote. It's beneath him.
His focus on the elections has two objectives:
- To distract the American people from his disastrous losing war against Iran. He launched the war, prodded like a cow by his Zionist fellow criminal Netanyahu, to distract the American people from the Epstein Files. Did you notice? No one talks about them! Now that he's up to his eyeballs in a war he has no idea how to end, he is focusing on the elections with eye-rolling claims.
- To prepare the ground for his insidious plans to wreck the elections because he knows he is losing them. Part of his plan is to suddenly violate his own Conservative Republican Party's foundational dogma of KEEPING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OUT OF STATE AFFAIRS. He now wants the federal government to run the elections because he, as the blatant criminal asshole that he is, wants to control them so he can cheat in them.
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Trump to assert voting machine vulnerabilities in Thursday speech
By Jana Winter, Jonathan Landay and Erin Banco
Tue, July 14, 2026
July 13 WASHINGTON,(Reuters) - President Donald Trump will give a national address on Thursday night about newly declassified intelligence on investigations into U.S. elections and what the White House says are voting machine vulnerabilities, an administration official told Reuters on Monday.
The Republican president could use his televised speech to again press his false claim that he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden due to massive fraud.
Numerous courts, ballot audits and his first-term Justice Department found no evidence of such fraud, including vote-machine rigging. The federal cybersecurity watchdog joined other federal, state and local officials in declaring the vote "the most secure in American history."
Propelled by Trump's repeated claims that U.S. elections are "rigged," the administration has for over a year sought to increase federal oversight of election administration and reshape the way Americans vote — an effort that legal experts say would take power away from states in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
With Republican control of Congress at stake in the November midterm elections, Democrats and some election security experts have expressed concerns that the Trump administration plans to interfere in those contests.
By casting the 2020 election as illegitimate, Trump is laying the groundwork to challenge Republican losses and undermine Democrats if they win back power in Congress in November, multiple election experts have said.
The administration official, who discussed the plans on condition of anonymity, said that Trump will discuss in his speech national elections and what White House officials view as voting machine flaws that could permit foreign cyber intrusion.
The administration official said Trump would discuss newly declassified intelligence related to 2020.
MS Now first reported Trump's speech.
PULTE AUTHORIZED TO DECLASSIFY INTELLIGENCE
Election officials say they are confident that machines are adequately secure and no evidence has been found of foreign intrusions that changed results of past elections.
A forensic analysis submitted last year by Mojave Research, a contractor hired by former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, found flaws in voting machines seized in Puerto Rico but no evidence of hacking.
Gabbard, whose resignation was effective last month, also produced her own report that outlined significant vulnerabilities in voting machines and further safeguards, such as updating their software, that could be implemented, three sources familiar with the matter said.
The White House, however, has delayed releasing the report, and Trump has persisted in trying to prove that his 2020 defeat was due to fraud.
He appointed Bill Pulte, director of the federal mortgage regulator, last month as Gabbard's interim replacement and said he had authorized Pulte to declassify documents related to the 2020 vote.
WHITE HOUSE TASK FORCE
The White House also recently formed a task force to investigate elements of the 2020 election, three sources familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
One source said journalist John Solomon, a former Fox News contributor, is working on the effort.
Solomon, the source said, has requested access to files related to an analysis that dissented from a U.S. intelligence assessment in 2021 that found no indications that a foreign actor had tried or succeeded in altering "any technical aspect" of the 2020 vote.
The unclassified version of the assessment judged that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized parts of his government to conduct influence operations aimed at boosting the vote for Trump and undermining public confidence in the U.S. electoral process.
China considered conducting influence operations designed to change the election outcome but decided against doing so, while Iran pursued a "multi-pronged" covert influence campaign to undercut Trump's candidacy, the assessment said.
The report was drafted by the National Intelligence Council, the top body of U.S. intelligence analysts, along with the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the State Department's intelligence bureau and the National Security Agency.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Jonathan Landay; editing by Michelle Nichols, Caitlin Webber, Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman)
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