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Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the head of right-wing pressure group Turning Point USA, endorsed Vice President JD Vance for president on Thursday night. Turning Pointâs history of racist activism falls directly in line with Vanceâs bigoted rhetoric in recent years. Speaking to activists in Phoenix about the 2028 election, Kirk said, âWe are going to get my husbandâs friend JD Vance elected.â The surprise endorsement comes just a few weeks after Kirk and Vance shared a lingering hug at a Turning Point event that started rumors about the pair. Vice President JD Vance takes the stage during a Turning Point USA event. Charlie Kirk was a bigot who openly promoted racist rhetoric and ideas. During his time leading Turning Point, which he founded, Kirk went after civil rights icons like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr who he called âawful.â Kirk called the 1964 Civil Rights Act an âanti-white weaponâ and said Black History Month âdeepensâ racial wounds. The history of Turning Point is littered with racist incidents: a field director for the group sent texts saying âI HATE BLACK PEOPLE;â a chapter held an âaffirmative action bake sale;â conference attendees discussed what Adolph Hitler got âright;â another chapter sent around âracist memes and rape jokes;â and so on. The Kirk-Turning Point support of hate meshes well with Vance, who serves in one of the most racist administrations in U.S. history. During the 2024 campaign, Vance repeated and amplified President Donald Trumpâs racist rhetoric accusing Haitian immigrants of eating domestic pets. Vance did this despite being aware that there was no truth to Trumpâs accusation. When a DOGE stafferâs racist writings were exposed and he was pushed out, Vance said in February he should be re-hired. âJD Vance on Halloweenâ by Pedro Molina More recently, in October, Kirk defended a Young Republican group after their chats pushing racist and antisemitic ideas were exposed. The chats made jokes about gas chambers, called Black people monkeys, and posted pro-Nazi commentary. âI refuse to join the pearl clutching,â Vance wrote in response to the disclosure. That same month, Vance falsely claimed that hospital benefits were being given to undocumented immigrants and complained that they were âvery often a person who can't even speak English.â Vanceâs bigoted rhetoric makes it clear why Trump put him in charge of purging Smithsonian museums of exhibits that tell the truth about American racism. To be sure, it is far too early to predict the outcome of the 2028 presidential race but a recent poll pitting Vance against Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may give Erika Kirk second thoughts. The poll from The Argument/Verasight showed Vance losing to Ocasio-Cortez by a margin of 51% to 49%.
Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the head of right-wing pressure group Turning Point USA, endorsed Vice President JD Vance for president on Thursday night. Turning Pointâs history of racist activism falls directly in line with Vanceâs bigoted rhetoric in recent years. Speaking to activists in Phoenix about the 2028 election, Kirk said, âWe are going to get my husbandâs friend JD Vance elected.â The surprise endorsement comes just a few weeks after Kirk and Vance shared a lingering hug at a Turning Point event that started rumors about the pair. Vice President JD Vance takes the stage during a Turning Point USA event. Charlie Kirk was a bigot who openly promoted racist rhetoric and ideas. During his time leading Turning Point, which he founded, Kirk went after civil rights icons like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr who he called âawful.â Kirk called the 1964 Civil Rights Act an âanti-white weaponâ and said Black History Month âdeepensâ racial wounds. The history of Turning Point is littered with racist incidents: a field director for the group sent texts saying âI HATE BLACK PEOPLE;â a chapter held an âaffirmative action bake sale;â conference attendees discussed what Adolph Hitler got âright;â another chapter sent around âracist memes and rape jokes;â and so on. The Kirk-Turning Point support of hate meshes well with Vance, who serves in one of the most racist administrations in U.S. history. During the 2024 campaign, Vance repeated and amplified President Donald Trumpâs racist rhetoric accusing Haitian immigrants of eating domestic pets. Vance did this despite being aware that there was no truth to Trumpâs accusation. When a DOGE stafferâs racist writings were exposed and he was pushed out, Vance said in February he should be re-hired. âJD Vance on Halloweenâ by Pedro Molina More recently, in October, Kirk defended a Young Republican group after their chats pushing racist and antisemitic ideas were exposed. The chats made jokes about gas chambers, called Black people monkeys, and posted pro-Nazi commentary. âI refuse to join the pearl clutching,â Vance wrote in response to the disclosure. That same month, Vance falsely claimed that hospital benefits were being given to undocumented immigrants and complained that they were âvery often a person who can't even speak English.â Vanceâs bigoted rhetoric makes it clear why Trump put him in charge of purging Smithsonian museums of exhibits that tell the truth about American racism. To be sure, it is far too early to predict the outcome of the 2028 presidential race but a recent poll pitting Vance against Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may give Erika Kirk second thoughts. The poll from The Argument/Verasight showed Vance losing to Ocasio-Cortez by a margin of 51% to 49%.
Daily Kos
Wife of murdered bigot endorses Vance for 2028
Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the head of right-wing pressure group Turning Point USA, endorsed Vice President JD Van...
President Donald Trump's name is being affixed to the outside of the Kennedy Center just one day after its boardâwhich he stacked with his alliesâvoted to add Dear Leaderâs name to the cultural center. And theyâre doing it in violation of federal law. Tarps are installed in front of the sign on the Kennedy Center on Dec. 19. Democratic Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey said in a post on X that if work was indeed taking place to âphysically change the sign on the Kennedy Center,â then it âneeds to stop as itâs illegal to change without Congress.â Photos taken of the building on Friday clearly show Trumpâs name being added. Thatâs proof positive that the boardâs so-called vote was basically fixed and that Trumpâs lackeys planned to put his name on the building, no matter what. The vote was merely a way for them to make their illegal move appear legitimate. Trump himself played dumb on Thursday, saying he had no idea the name change was happening but that it is a huge honorâeven though he had mused about the name change earlier this month. YouTube Video Of course, this is far from the first time the Trump administration has ignored the law to do whatever it wants. Trump infamously had the White Houseâs East Wing bulldozed to make way for his hideously ostentatious $400 million ballroomâwhich will dwarf the size of the White House itself. Trump also unilaterally tried to rename the Gulf of Mexico and the Department of Defense. However, the name change for the Department of Defense is not official, since it would take an act of Congress to do that. And he canât force other countries to adopt his âGulf of Americaâ rebrand. Meanwhile, Trumpâs name was also affixed to the U.S. Institute of Peace, an independent organization that Trump effectivelyâand illegallyâshuttered. And his administration is illegally trying to mint $1 coins bearing Trump's face, even though federal law states that a living individual cannot appear on American currency. At the end of the day, though, Trump is an egomaniac whoârather than focus on making the economy work better for everyday peopleâis more concerned with plastering his face and name all over the country like a dictator. âWhat's next, the Trump-Washington monument? The Trump-Lincoln Memorial? Every building in D.C.? Are there any self-respecting Republicans willing to stand up to their Dear Leader? Completely insane,â Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland wrote in a post on X.
The United States has slammed its doors shut to refugees, save for Afrikaners, the white South Africans descended from Dutch colonizers who imposed apartheid on the Black majority for decades. No real mystery why President Donald Trump supports letting these folksâand only these folksâcome ashore. But how can the administration best make these racists feel welcome? Well, by showing that they are super racist as well, natch! And what better way than including a Trump biography for children ages 8-12 in every welcome packet? Thatâs what the administration is proposing, according to Reuters. Even better? How about an Andrew Jackson biography too? Trump loves Jackson, who was a bone-deep racist, enslaved hundreds of Black people, and oversaw the mass displacement and murder of Native Americans. Oh, and also the â1776 Report,â the first Trump administrationâs slapdash racist rejoinder to the 1619 Project. Include that one too. Not to let racists have all the fun, the proposal also suggests including a Family Research Council report on religious freedom, highlighting the organizationâs eternal quest to make sure homophobic business owners get to discriminate against same-sex couples. Such a noble pursuit that it almost brings a tear to your eye, right? Refugees have received U.S. history materials in the past, but according to veteran refugee workers who spoke with Reuters, those materials havenât promoted specific presidents or views. But Fred Cooper, a Trump pick serving as a deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, apparently wants to change all that with these hot picks. President Donald Trump, shown in May. Just step back for a moment and think about how racist you have to be in order to think that the two most notable American presidents for new immigrants are Trump and Jackson. Since this is the Trump administration, where everything is as tacky as it is awful, the biography that Cooper wants to include looks low-rent as hell. Sporting the ChatGPT-ass title of âDonald Trump Biography for Kids: An Inspirational Story of One of Americaâs Most Famous Presidentsâ and an author listed only as âEverNest Press,â it feels a lot like an attempt to juice some sales for a pal who wrote a terrible book. Do you think FBI Director Kash Patel will be mad that his three Trump-promoting childrenâs books might not become the ones getting handed off to Afrikaners? So unfair! Meanwhile, the United States continues to try to get these most racist of racists to come to America. By and large, Afrikaners donât want to move to America to be racist here. They want to stay in South Africa and be racist there in whites-only enclaves. The Trump administration is so devoted to getting more racists to live in the U.S. that itâs protesting after South Africa announced plans to deport seven Kenyan nationals whom it claimed had illegally entered the country and begun processing refugee applications for the United States government. âInterfering in our refugee operations is unacceptable,â a State Department official told Reuters. Nevertheless, the South African government is pissed, saying in a statement, âThe presence of foreign officials apparently coordinating with undocumented workers naturally raises serious questions about intent and diplomatic protocol.â Yes, it appears the U.S. may be interfering in the immigration authority of another country so we can fast-track the one group of immigrants Trump likes, only to then possibly shower them with tacky right-wing propaganda once theyâre stateside. What better way to help foreign racists assimilate than by providing them with some homegrown racism? Itâs just good manners, really.
What do President Donald Trump and a nuclear fusion company have in common? Unfortunately, more than many Americans like to see. The download screen for Donald Trumpâs Truth Social app is seen on a laptop computer on March 20, 2024, in New York. On Thursday, Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind the presidentâs Truth Social echo chamber website, announced that it signed a $6 billion stock-funded merger with TAE Technologies. âAs our country positions itself to achieve global technology dominance in AI, quantum computing, and other groundbreaking innovations, weâre merging with @TAE to build the engine we believe will power Americaâs technology revolution,â the California-based company said in a press release. Trump Mediaâs new business partner TAE intends to build the countryâs first nuclear fusion reactor used to create commercial energy in a presently energy-starved economy. Of course, the whole reason weâre energy-starved is because of the artificial intelligence race that the U.S. has dived into headfirst. AI data centers require a tremendous amount of energy, and it sure does seem like the president, taking a page from his cash grabs at cryptocurrencies, is setting himself up to profitâagain. But itâs not just this odd merger thatâs positioning Trump and his family for a big potential payout down the road. The president has a lot of sway when it comes to how quickly TAE Technologies can grow. Should the company choose to pursue them, grants or other government support could certainly come more easily with the presidentâs name attached. Related | The dark reality of making US the âAI capital of the worldâ TMTG intends to supply $300 million up front to TAE Technologies, which is ultimately a small number compared to the fusion power companyâs other big-time investors, including Google. TAEâs CEO Michl Binderbauer told CNN that this futuristic, unestablished technology would be a âmulti-billion dollar undertaking.â âThe velocity you can get the capital is differentiating. If I raise $2 billion over five years I canât build the plant sufficiently fast,â he said. Nuclear fusion is a clean energy idea that has yet to reach commercial use. Itâs unclear if this will be a successful venture, but having the president and his Cabinet of loyalists greasing the wheels could certainly help. The president and his sons Don Jr. and Eric have used his time in office to sink their claws into lucrative side hustles. Truth Social, the social media app used by Trump as a bully pulpit, has branched out into the financial sector with Truth.Fi, cell phones with Trump Mobile, and streaming with Truth+. But the Trump family also launched its own crypto trading platform, World Liberty Financial, shortly before the start of Donaldâs second term. He notably made some crypto-friendly policy decisions soon after taking office. Itâs unclear if this merger will pay off sooner rather than later for the Trump family, though. TAE is scheduled to break ground on a power plant in 2026 at an undetermined location but, according to Binderbaur, it will take âfive-ishâ years to start producing power. Related | Inside the Trump administration's deranged push to power AI with dirty energy
A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Trump: Actually, the Epstein scandal is great for me The man never polls better than he does in his own head. âRelease the damn filesâ: Outgoing GOP senator slams Trump over Epstein At this point, weâll take any criticism of Trump from the right. Secret memo reportedly reveals Trump doesn't actually care about the border Who needs borders when you can just deport anyone you donât like? Trump deals another blow to American automakers Make America walk everywhere. Big Lie-boosting election clerk is begging for Trump to save her Tina Peters simply will not go away. Cartoon: Ozzy RIP to the Prince of Darkness. Conservative rich dudes think they'll Make Movies Great Again Ah, yes, a Palantir-Ayn Rand mashup. Just what literally no one wanted. Click here to see more cartoons.
In another concession to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, the Trump administration shut down a crucial program that catalogued war crime. This included a database that tracked the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to Russiaâanother obvious sign that President Donald Trump has little to no care for the wellbeing of children. Managed through an initiative at Yale Universityâs Humanitarian Research Lab, the database played an important role in the International Criminal Courtâs 2023 charges against Putin related to the illegal deportation of children. Researchers were informed last month that the State Department had âquietlyâ terminated the contract to comply with Elon Muskâs so-called Department of Government Efficiency, though sources say that the database may have been deleted in the confusion wrought by DOGEâs cuts. âWe have reason to believe that the data from the repository has been permanently deleted,â Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The news comes after a report from The New York Times about the Trump administration halting food testing programs and shutting down a group that studied bacteria in infant formula. âItâs as if someone, without enough information, has said, Whatâs a good way to save money on our automobiles? Letâs just take out the seatbelts and airbags, because do we really need them?â Darin Detwiler, a food safety consultant and associate professor at Northeastern University, told the Times. Cartoon by Clay Bennett Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has exposed his lack of integrity when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable populations, particularly through his awful mishandling of the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas. Couple that with Kennedyâs plan to destroy children's teeth by eliminating fluoride from drinking water, and the threat to U.S. childrenâs health is glaring. Before that, the Department of Agriculture pulled $1 billion in funding for programs that helped feed school-aged and low-income children. The programs, which were created during the Biden administration, provided funding to local farmers and food vendors to help combat food insecurity. And, of course, Trump has made it clear that he plans to dismantle the Department of Education, which Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been working toward by firing half of the departmentâs staff. But the harm to children goes far beyond Trump, with the GOPâs legion of creeps frequently being connected to accusations of child abuse. For example, Trumpâs short-lived attorney general nominee, former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, allegedly paid multiple womenâincluding a childâfor sex, according to a damning ethics report. And Gaetzâs former associate and alleged party bro Joel Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison for various crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor. Similarly, just last month the Trump administration was trying to assist alleged rapist and human trafficker Andrew Tate and his brother in their extradition case. More recently, Minnesotaâs MAGA state Sen. Justin Eichorn was arrested in a police sting for allegedly soliciting a minor for sex. His arrest came just days after one of Trumpâs former âspiritual advisers,â Robert Morris, was indicted and charged with five counts of âlewd or indecent acts to a child,â stemming from when he was traveling evangelist in 1982. But this is just the tip of the iceberg of the hypocrisy displayed by Trump and Republicans who claim to crusade for childrenâs welfare yet enact policies and maintain alliances that actively cause them harm. Campaign Action
Billionaire Elon Musk is using his sway within Donald Trumpâs administration to try to destroy the United States Agency for International Development. USAID handles U.S. aid to foreign projects around public health, education, disaster relief, and promoting democracy abroad. On Monday, congressional Democrats condemned Muskâs actions, calling them illegal during a press conference outside of the closed USAID headquarters. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut singled out Muskâs business interests in China, which many people believe encouraged Musk to torpedo the House GOPâs spending bill in December. âChina is cheering at this action today,â Murphy said. Murphy: "Let's not pull any punches about why this is happening. Elon Musk makes billions off of his business with China. And China is cheering at this action today. There is no question that the billionaire class trying to take over our govt right now is doing it based on self-interest."â Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-02-03T18:26:04.635Z âElon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payment systems of the United States Department of Treasury,â Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said. âBut you donât control the money of the American people. The United States Congress does that under Article 1 of the Constitution.â Raskin called the billionaireâs actions an âoutrageous, scandalous, illegal maneuver.â The congressman questioned the target of Muskâs attempted budget cuts, noting the Pentagon, whose budget is more than 20 times the size of the USAID, does not seem to be on Muskâs list. âThe Pentagon budget is where the defense contractor, Elon Musk, who became the richest man in the world off of our money, he collects his payments from,â Raskin said. âAnd now he's trying to shut down USAID. We're not going to allow this to happen. It will not stand.â YouTube Video Musk responded on his hate-filled social media site, X, with a bit of doublespeak that George Orwell would have probably found egregious. 
Trump seems content with the perception that he is running the show, but it is clear that he is out of his depth when it comes to billionaire predators like Musk pulling the strings behindâand now in frontâof the scenes. Click here for Daily Kosâ Bluesky Starter Pack. Join us on Bluesky and @#$% Elon Musk!