Trump weighs in on Meghan and Harry
Watch James Austin and tell me he’s not doing an extremely accurate impression:
"what digby sez..."
Month: April 2022
He just wants to be a real boy
The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey has read the new Martin and Burns book about Trump’s final days and after and he relates a number of entertaining anecdotes contained within it. I especially enjoyed this one:
The authors use [Lindsey] Graham as a central character in the book. After the election, “Graham was urging his Republican colleagues to give the president space to come to terms with the election results. Trump would have a few weeks to rage and rail, but the votes would all be counted soon enough and the outcome would be incontestable,” the authors write.
Graham describes talking to Trump on the day the election was called — and finding the former president more interested in an upcoming round with a professional golfer.Advertisement
The book places Graham in Senate lunches, urging other Republicans to be cooperative with Trump and even briefing them on his preferred nicknames for them.
It also describes Graham hiding in the Capitol as the rioters descend, calling the White House counsel to threaten Trump’s removal from office. And it shows Graham back at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club golfing with him again.
While interviewing the former president, Martin and Burns write that Graham called him twice — and that Trump answered the second time and put him on speakerphone.
“Tell them about the Trump endorsements,” he instructed the senator, according to the book.
“Graham, scarcely three months after renouncing his allegiance to Trump on the Senate floor, hopped to it. ‘I’ve never seen it quite like this,’ Graham said, elaborating: ‘President Trump’s endorsement is the most consequential endorsement of any politician I’ve seen in my 20-something years.’”Advertisement
“’Most importantly, would you tell them one thing,’ he nudged Graham. ‘Can Trump play golf?’” the authors write.
“If you don’t believe it, go play with him,” the book quotes Graham as responding.
He just pulls his string and he talks!
Graham always says that he wants to be relevant. I don’t think it’s working.
Feel the magic
Not only is he the great auto innovator, celebrity businessman, noted eccentric and de-facto right winger, he bought twitter. Now we’ll just have to see what he does with it. If he ruins it I would miss it but it’s not that big of a deal.
I think Tim Miller had the best take on this:
While concerns about the Russian bots and blarmy bigots returning to the hellfeed where news happens does have merit, let me offer a countervailing perspective about the impact of the Twitter acquisition.
Musk Twitter might also be a disaster for a couple of groups who cosmically deserve it:
1) Mitch McConnell and the establishment Republican ostriches who are doing everything in their power to put their heads in the sand and pretend Donald Trump doesn’t exist (unless they need to cash in on his name and likeness).
2) The Nazi grifters who started the various Deploratwitter knockoffs like TRUTH, Parler, and Gettr and are now set to be totally pwned by Twitter offering these very fine people the same freedom to shitpost in front of bigger audiences.
So if the two-faced Trumpists and the worst MAGA scammers are going to suffer, might we consider squeaking out one cheer for Musk. Or a half a cheer? Or even just a mild affirmative grunt?
The case for their suffering is as follows:
In Georgia on Insurrection Eve, we saw how a big Trump megaphone could divide the Republican base, resulting in political success for the Democrats. The election fraud mass formation psychosis led Trump voters in rural parts of the state to stay home rather than participate in yet another RIGGED contest while a small percentage of Atlanta Kemp/Raffensperger Republicans refused to be a party to the anti-democratic horror show. As a result, Georgia elected the state’s first black and Jewish senators—on the same day!—despite the fact that both had fewer votes than their GOP opponents during the November election.
A repeat of that is the worst-case scenario for the GOP at a time when the political environment is looking rather rosy for them.
Back in January, Bloomberg’s Joshua Green interviewed experts on the possible ways Republicans could screw the pooch in the midterms. Liam Donovan offered this hypothetical: “For the last year Trump has been in a straitjacket where he can’t harm his own party . . . Maybe he gets back on Twitter, there’s no bigger wild card than letting the tiger out of its cage.”
Rawr.
Now I’m skeptical that Trump trash-tweeting the Republican haters and losers who don’t prostrate themselves before the MyPillow altar will be enough to cost Republicans Congress on its own. They’re surfing a wave, baby. But it certainly isn’t going to help.
Trump says he won’t return to twitter and is going to be posting on his own platform Truth Social. Why he isn’t doing that already is a mystery. It was rolled out in February.
I’m pretty sure he’ll be back on twitter. He won’t be able to stop himself. And I agree with Miller that that would be good for the Democrats.
“If they ever get out we have a problem”
Do Republicans really have a problem if they are revealed to have been plotting a military coup after January 6th? I doubt it. Nobody cares. The only thing that matters is Mickey Mouse grooming Huey, Dewey and Louie, gas prices, CRT and wearing masks.
Anyway, we did see some new texts to and from Mark Meadows today which will make interesting historical artifacts:
CNN has obtained 2,319 text messages that former President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sent and received between Election Day 2020 and President Joe Biden’s January 20, 2021 inauguration.The vast trove of texts offers the most revealing picture to date of how Trump’s inner circle, supporters and Republican lawmakers worked behind the scenes to try to overturn the election results and then reacted to the violence that effort unleashed at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.The logs, which Meadows selectively provided to the House committee investigating the January 6 attack, show how the former chief of staff was at the nexus of sprawling conspiracy theories baselessly claiming the election had been stolen. They also demonstrate how he played a key role in the attempts to stop Biden’s certification on January 6.
The never-before-seen texts include messages from Trump’s family — daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and son Donald Trump Jr. — as well as White House and campaign officials, Cabinet members, Republican Party leaders, January 6 rally organizers, Rudy Giuliani, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, Sean Hannity and other Fox hosts. There are also text exchanges with more than 40 current and former Republican members of Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
The texts include everything from plans to fight the election results to surprising and unexpected reactions on January 6 from some of Trump’s staunchest allies. At 2:28 p.m., Greene, the conservative firebrand who had helped to plan the congressional objections that day, texted Meadows with an urgent plea for help as the violence was unfolding at the Capitol.
“Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people This isn’t the way to solve anything,” Greene wrote. Meadows does not appear to reply.
“Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help?” Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former acting White House chief of staff, texted Meadows.”It’s really bad up here on the hill. They have breached the Capitol,” Georgia Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk wrote.”The president needs to stop this ASAP,” texted GOP Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina.”POTUS is engaging,” Meadows sent in response to Loudermilk. “We are doing it,” he texted to Timmons.”Thanks. This doesn’t help our cause,” Loudermilk replied.Shortly after, Donald Trump Jr. weighed in: “This his(sic) one you go to the mattresses on. They will try to fuck his entire legacy on this if it gets worse.””TELL THEM TO GO HOME !!!” texted Trump’s first chief of staff, Reince Priebus.
Heated rhetoric and conspiracy theories
The text messages CNN obtained begin on Election Day, November 3, 2020. Even before the election was called, Meadows was inundated with conspiracy theories about election fraud, strategies to challenge the results and pleas for Trump to keep fighting. The messages — from GOP activists, donors, Republican members of Congress and state party officials — appear to act as an echo chamber affirming Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen. For months leading up to Election Day, Trump had claimed the only way he could lose was if the election was rigged.
Previously disclosed text messages showed that former Trump administration Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., each texted Meadows on November 4 and 5 with ideas for overturning the election.On November 7, hours before the election was called, Perry texted Meadows again: “We have the data driven program that can clearly show where the fraud was committed. This is the silver bullet.”While Perry has previously denied CNN reporting about his text messages to Meadows, CNN has confirmed it’s his cell phone and he signed this text, “Rick Perry,” including his number.
Other texts, however, include hints of doubt expressed by members of Trump’s team and even Meadows himself about the veracity of conspiracy theories being spread by Trump’s “kraken” team — outside attorneys working for Trump that included Giuliani and Sidney Powell.Some key congressional allies who worked with Trump’s campaign initially in its efforts to overturn the election, such as Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, ultimately soured on the approach as the January 6 congressional certification neared, CNN previously reported.The texts also show how Trump allies were quick to deflect responsibility for the January 6 attack. Shortly after pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol, one of his top aides began crafting a counter-narrative.
At 3:45 p.m., Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller suggested to Meadows and Trump aide Dan Scavino that Trump should tweet: “Call me crazy, but ideas for two tweets from POTUS: 1) Bad apples, likely ANTIFA or other crazed leftists, infiltrated today s peaceful protest over the fraudulent vote count. Violence is never acceptable! MAGA supporters embrace our police and the rule of law and should leave the Capitol now! 2) The fake news media who encouraged this summer s violent and radical riots are now trying to blame peaceful and innocent MAGA supporters for violent actions. This isn’t who we are! Our people should head home and let the criminals suffer the consequences!”Trump’s allies in Congress appeared to get the message. At 3:52 p.m., Greene told Meadows: “Mark we don’t think these attackers are our people. We think they are Antifa. Dressed like Trump supporters.”Five minutes later, Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, texted Meadows: “Cap Police told me last night they’d been warned that today there’d be a lot of Antifa dressed in red Trump shirts & hats & would likely get violent.”In the 16 months since January 6, hundreds of indictments have shown nearly all of those who breached the Capitol were in fact pro-Trump supporters.
While Greene was alarmed on January 6, by the next day she was apologizing that the efforts to block Biden’s certification had failed.”Yesterday was a terrible day. We tried everything we could in our objection to the 6 states. I’m sorry nothing worked. I don’t think that President Trump caused the attack on the Capitol. It’s not his fault,” she wrote the morning of January 7. “Absolutely no excuse and I fully denounce all of it, but after shut downs all year and a stolen election, people are saying that they have no other choice.”Meadows replied, “Thanks Marjorie.”
But guess what? Within a few days she was pushing a military coup:
By January 17, Greene was suggesting ways to keep Trump in office, telling Meadows there were several Republicans in Congress who still wanted the then-President to declare martial law, which had been raised in a heated Oval Office meeting a month earlier.
Greene texted: “In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall (sic) law. I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
That’s right. Members of congress were discussing the possibility of a military coup. That’s what “Marshall” law would have meant in that context. These were elected officials who took an oath to defend the constitution.
Does anyone care about the worst example of blatant corruption in history?
There’s a lot going on in the world these days, but I have to say that I’m disappointed that there isn’t more attention being paid to the revelation that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner made a deal with the Saudi Arabian government for what looks very much like a straight-up payoff for services rendered during the Trump administration.
I’m hardpressed to think of another example of alleged corruption more serious or more threatening to the stability of the world. After all, right now the U.S. government is trying very hard to get the Saudis to cooperate with the rest of the world to keep oil prices in check during this crisis in Ukraine but it’s pretty obvious that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salmon (MBS), Kushner’s bosom buddy during Trump’s four years in office, is instead banking on Trump’s return and refusing to help.
The New York Times reported the story of Kushner’s big deal a couple of weeks ago. A major wealth fund backed by the Saudi government invested $2 billion in Kushner’s new “venture-capital” company called Affinity Partners. Now you may recall that Jared Kushner’s experience before going to the White House consisted of some bad real estate deals and running a small newspaper in New York City. The rest of the financial world recognizes this and has not jumped at the chance to partner with Kushner on the project and it’s reasonable to assume that many investors are reluctant to sign on with both the man who had a famous journalist dismembered in the Saudi embassy and the corrupt Trump family. That’s a lot to swallow even for cynical, self-interested greedheads, especially since there is every reason to believe they will lose money in the process. Where’s the upside?
It’s hard to imagine that the Saudi Crown Prince is any more naive about Kushner’s business acumen, which leads to a lot of speculation that this is payment for services rendered and an investment in a future Trump presidency. Nobody was a better friend to MBS than Jared Kushner and there’s evidence that Jared delivered handsomely. He would almost certainly come through again.
First of all, recall that the very first trip Trump took overseas was that very weird, over-the-top adventure to the Middle East in early 2017 where they did the sword dance and all put their hands on a white orb for inexplicable reasons. It was pretty clear that Trump had his eye on that big pile of Saudi money from the very beginning. But it was Kushner who made it into his own special project. From the beginning there was lots of talk about the two young Turks, Kush and MBS, chewing the fat late into the night, exchanging private mash notes on WhatsApp and basically spending a lot of quality bro time together. In 2018, the Intercept reported that MBS touted his close relationship with Kushner, revealing that Jared had shared classified information with him about Saudis who were disloyal to him. He was quoted as saying that Kushner was “in his pocket.”
According to text messages obtained by investigative journalist Vicky Ward, author of the book “Kushner, Inc.: Greed. Ambition. Corruption. the Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump”, Kushner specifically shared intelligence with MBS about the previous Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was close to the CIA and was concerned about the ambitions of MBS. Ward reported that this information was used by MBS to strike against the crown prince. He was arrested and imprisoned. No one has heard from the crown prince in two years. Ward claims this was the reason Kushner was repeatedly denied a security clearance. If true, Kushner was instrumental in the ascension of MBS. Later, Kushner did him another solid by running interference for him over the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, ensuring that President Trump would let it go despite a global outcry.
MBS was good to the administration in return. When Trump asked him to raise oil production in 2018 he did it and when they asked him to decrease it in 2020, he did that as well, in stark contrast to how they are responding to the Biden administration’s entreaties to raise oil production during this Ukraine crisis.
Meanwhile, Kushner has been bragging about his experience cutting deals with Saudi Arabia and Russia to entice other prospective investors to contribute to his “fund.” This report from Josh Marshall reveals that MBS is hosting lavish conf-fabs with power players in the investment world in recent days — and Jared is seated next to the Crown Prince at every event:
My interlocutor had never seen anything like it. Sitting next to the ruler on a single night would be a career maker even for your average billionaire. But there Jared was every night — even for the private few-attendees dinner, apparently. The message seemed crystal clear and bold: Jared is my guy. In fact, he’s my number one, number two and number three guy.
That would just be plain weird if it weren’t for the fact that Trump is running again.
According to The Intercept, which broke the story about Kushner’s touting his connections to the Saudis, even Wall Street players were a little shocked by the blatant corruption:
A source in contact with multiple U.S. investors approached by Affinity said the investors were not attracted by the presentation and described their shock at how cavalierly it seemed to suggest influence peddling, a “value add” often handled with more subtlety in the investment world. “They said they’d never seen such a joke of a deck, openly talking about ‘networking’ and ‘networks’ — i.e., our corrupt insider contacts,” the source said on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions. “They’re bragging about ‘networks,’ they’re using cliches, with no serious investment discussion.”
This is beyond corrupt. Vast sums of money are changing hands and the Saudis are actually manipulating the world oil market in order to sabotage Joe Biden’s administration and help set the table for Trump’s second term. And yet, we have heard far more about Hunter Biden’s laptop and Hillary Clinton’s email server than we will ever hear about Jared Kushner’s sweetheart deal with his Saudi bro.
Just as there are no repercussions for Trump running his business out of the White House and doing pay-to-play every weekend at his resorts and 24/7 bribery and influence peddling at the Trump Hotel in DC. And as Don Jr. and Eric Trump traveled all over the world doing deals while their father was president. They didn’t even wink and nod about what they were really selling. The corruption was massive. And there is nothing but sighs and shrugs among the mainstream media which dutifully reports it and that’s the last you ever hear of it.
By contrast, here is what you get if you are following right-wing media:
Often, the problem of bothsiderism — providing an unearned equal status to opposing views held by different political parties even if one is obviously wrong — is not as obvious as it is in the cartoon above. Case in point is Mark Penn’s op-ed in the Times today. The entire op-ed is replete with hidden bothsiderism. Take, for example, all the times he mentions Trump:
Immigration was used effectively by President Donald Trump as a wedge issue to win working class voters. According to the April Harris poll, under Mr. Biden, 59 percent of voters believe that we have “effectively” open borders and, looking back, many even support some of Mr. Trump’s immigration policies.
The Biden administration is also losing in swing areas on immigration, as evidenced by the nine Senate Democrats and the House’s bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus that have expressed reservations about its plan to lift Title 42, the Trump administration’s Covid-era policy of intercepting and returningmigrants without due process.
Mr. Biden now says he is running for re-election in 2024. But he is facing limited enthusiasm in his own party for a second run and loses even to Mr. Trump in hypothetical matchups, according to the Harris Poll.
Do you see the problem? Actually, there’s a lot wrong but especially this:
Penn has framed our political crisis as a mere contest between two opponents of equal status who just happen to differ on policy. There is not a single acknowledgment of Trump’s criminality, his cruelty, his bigotry, or his blithering ignorance. To Penn, the current situation is merely one of policy differences between worthy opponents — and which policies poll better. Trump, as unqualified to be president of the United States as Cassie Bowden of The Flight Attendant, is accorded the same deference and status as a serious politician like Biden.
If adopted by Democrats,, Penn’s disguised-bothsiderist framing is guaranteed to lose the Senate and the House this fall. Unfortunately, there is every indication that Democrats do indeed believe that they can win by ignoring not only Trump’s criminality but also the sheer madness and degeneracy of the Republican party.
There is only one way for Democrats to have a chance of holding the Congress in 2022, one that will require immense effort. That is for all major candidates to simultaneously expose the criminality and corruption of Trump and the GOP while, as per Elizabeth Warren, quickly implementing (and just as importantly, promoting) actual policies that benefit Americans.
To pretend that this is simply a political contest between two equally worthy opponents is sheer insanity. Likewise, to pretend that Democrats can win without delivering anything except “well, at least we’re not Trump” is equally crazy. Democrats must attend to it all, with equal energy.
And sets himself on fire
Just because this Friday story seems to have been buried. The New York Times finally reported it on Sunday:
WASHINGTON — A Colorado man who set himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court on Friday in an apparent Earth Day protest against climate change has died, police said.
The Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., said that Wynn Bruce, 50, of Boulder, Colo., had died on Saturday from his injuries after being airlifted to a hospital following the incident. Members of his family could not be reached immediately for comment.
Kritee Kanko, a climate scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund and a Zen Buddhist priest in Boulder, said that she is a friend of Mr. Bruce and that the self-immolation was a planned act of protest.
“This act is not suicide,” Dr. Kritee wrote on Twitter early Sunday morning. “This is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis.”
A friend noted with some outrage that he’d seen this story first in the New York Post, of all places. There was no known motivation at the time. Only later did it emerge that this was an act of protest by a Buddhist involving the state of the climate. Now if he’d shot multiple people then himself to protest the climate crisis, that would have been news.
The court had heard arguments in late February on an important environmental case that could restrict or even eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to control pollution. The court’s conservative majority had voiced skepticism of the agency’s authority to regulate carbon emissions, suggesting that a decision by the justices could deal a sharp blow to the Biden administration’s efforts to address climate change.
Mr. Bruce, who identified as Buddhist, set himself on fire in an apparent imitation of Vietnamese monks who burned themselves to death in protest during the Vietnam War. A Facebook account that Dr. Kritee identified as Mr. Bruce’s had commemorated the death of Thich Nhat Hanh, an influential Zen Buddhist master and antiwar activist who died in January.
Just wait until the Gulf Stream collapses.
But aren’t gas prices high, huh?
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Maybe try defiance
We are all breathing a sigh of relief this morning that France did not fall into the hands of an anti-immigrant, far-right nationalist with ties to Vladimir Putin. The U.S. has been there. We are still in recovery. I think.
President Emmanuel Macron’s victory over Marine Le Pen was decisive, if not as overwhelming as his performance against her in 2017. Still, the growing strength of the far right across Europe is unnerving. E.J. Dionne this morning suggests Macron “saved Europe from political catastrophe.”
Charlie Pierce got there first. I cry every time. Every time.
Macron’s party faces another challenge in French legislative elections in June.
Now, let’s look at how the world has reacted to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, clearly the underdog against Putin’s far larger, more heavily equipped Russian army. Much of Europe, the U.S. and NATO have rallied behind stalwart Ukraine. We are inspired by its will to defend its homeland. We are inspired by a comedian who would be president who has risen to the moment like Victor Laszlo as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. Vladimir Putin expected to overrun Ukraine and to erase it from the map in a matter of days. Two months of Russian war crimes and massive Russian losses later, Ukraine has not fallen. If there is a Ukrainian “La Marseillaise,” I’d like to learn it.
So I’d like to propose a radical idea for Democrats facing long odds this fall. Nancy, Chuck, maybe instead of putting the best face on unfavorable electoral weather, play the underdog in 2022. That goes against all conventional wisdom, I know. Conventional wisdom is to put a happy face on negative news and polling. Standard procedure is to buck up the base and keep spirits high; tell Democrats they can win if they will just do the work and turn out the vote. Optimism above all.
But is conventional wisdom, is playing it safe, the right move here? Comfortable, familiar, yes. But is it strategic? Perhaps defiance is a better motivator than happy talk.
Americans fought a revolution against the British Empire and won the war they should have lost. Since its founding, we’ve pulled for other underdogs with heart and long odds. Maybe sell that instead of false confidence everyone sees through.
I keep repeating:
How many Rocky movies did Stallone make? And they’re all the same movie. So why do people keep going? Because so many Americans themselves feel like underdogs. We want to root for the little guy with heart. Facing insurmountable odds. Risking it all. We want to feel the thrill up our spines and in the tops of our heads when Bill Conti’s trumpet fanfare introduces the training sequence. We want to hear that. Wait for it. Cheer for it. Pay for it. Over and over and over.
Hell, my roommate must have seen the original four or more times. He did not start off his mornings singing “La Marseillaise,” but he started eating raw eggs before his morning run to emulate Rocky. He was inspired.
Nancy, Chuck, Jaime, maybe be honest with your base this time. Instead of pep talks, consider being frank. Talk to them like adults. Explain what the world and the United States will look like if Republicans gain control again. Inspire them to fight, not to think good thoughts.
I don’t know how it would work. I don’t know if it would work. But I’m pretty sure “the usual” won’t.
Update: And whatever you do, Democrats, do not listen to Mark Penn.
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And as the saying goes, the cruelty is the point
This just makes your heart hurt:
Minutes before Alabama lawmakers were set to vote on a bill criminalizing medical care for young transgender people who are transitioning, State Representative Neil Rafferty took to the floor of the House and pleaded with his colleagues to reconsider.
“It’s hard enough growing up being different,” he said. “It’s even harder growing up being different and then have the state Legislature, your elected officials, the leaders of this state, put a target on children’s backs.”
He ended his speech with a direct appeal: “I’m begging y’all, all right?”
And then he acknowledged that his efforts were largely futile: “What’s going to happen is going to happen. Just don’t you dare call me a friend after this.”
Mr. Rafferty’s loss was swift and resounding. The House approved the legislation by a vote of 66-28. On that same day in early April, the State Senate voted 26-5 for a bill mandating that K-12 students use only bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with the gender on their original birth certificate, rather than their current gender identity. That legislation also limited classroom discussions on gender and sexual orientation, similar to a Florida measure derided by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.” Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed both measures the following day.
The legislation, now facing legal challenges, is part of a wave of bills about gay and transgender youth being debated and in some cases approved by conservative lawmakers across the country. Alabama’s version goes further than most, making what doctors describe as gender-affirming care to anyone under 19 a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Last year, state lawmakers also passed a measure prohibiting transgender athletes from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
For Mr. Rafferty, a Democrat and the only openly gay member of the Alabama Legislature, the new laws represented not just a political defeat but a deeply personal one, too — a development he had trouble discussing without tears.
“I just still don’t really know how to feel other than just feel angry and worried about all the kids and their families who have been reaching out to me,” he said. “These kids are scared. Their parents are scared.”
When Mr. Rafferty, 37, told his colleagues about the difficulty of growing up gay in Alabama, it was from painful personal experience.
Born and raised in Birmingham, he first came out as gay in 1998. His early teens were filled with taunting and bullying that he described as a “daily gantlet.” He ran away from home. Before his junior year, looking for a fresh start, he transferred to a different school and did not reveal his sexual identity to classmates or teachers.
Mr. Rafferty attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham and joined the Marine Corps. While in the military, he avoided conversations about personal relationships, although he was already in a relationship with the man who would later become his husband. Only after leaving the Marines, just over a decade ago, did he become more open about his sexuality.
He spent nine years as an employee of Birmingham AIDS Outreach, working with young people and organizing H.I.V. testing events across the region. He ran for the Legislature in 2018, becoming only the second openly gay lawmaker elected in the state. The first, Patricia Todd, held the same Birmingham-area House seat before him. At her retirement, Ms. Todd said that she was most proud of the Alabama legislation that she had helped to block — measures she considered harmful to L.G.B.T.Q. constituents.
Mr. Rafferty, too, has spent his term in the Legislature working to prevent new restrictions on gay and transgender young people. He testified against such proposals. He connected constituents with Republican proponents of the measures, hoping to change the lawmakers’ minds by making them more comfortable with gay and transgender people and explaining the burdens they said such legislation would create. He brought medical experts and local organizers who provide support to L.G.B.T.Q. youth to the Capitol.
When the legislation came to the floor of the House, Mr. Rafferty appealed to his colleagues on the basis of their conservatism, arguing that they had no business involving themselves in the decisions of parents, doctors and children. “Where’s the freedom in that?” he asked. “Where’s small government in that?”
[…]
But Mr. Rafferty’s opponents were equally determined.
State Representative Wes Allen, one of the creators of the bathroom bill, noted that his legislation had been three years in the making. He described the new transgender restrictions as common-sense protections.
“We make decisions in this body all the time to protect children from making decisions that could permanently harm them before they are old enough and have a brain developed enough to fully understand their decisions,” Mr. Allen, a Republican, said before the bill was passed.
Governor Ivey invoked God as she swiftly signed the measures. “I believe very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl,” she said in a statement. “We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable stage in life. Instead, let us all focus on helping them to properly develop into the adults God intended them to be.”
Mr. Rafferty wasn’t the only lawmaker trying to stop the legislation — he had allies among his Black Democratic colleagues, especially. But the defeat nonetheless felt lonely.
“What I said on the floor about it being hard to grow up different here was from my heart because I have experienced that,” he said through tears in an interview. Equally difficult, he said, was “to have state legislators, your leaders sitting there trying to erase you, say that you don’t even really exist.
Most of the people who voted for this bill call themselves Christians and speak like Kay Ivey who spouts her religion while cruelly consigning innocent kids to hell.
By the way, this is happening all over the country:
A growing trend. Measures that could tranform the lives of young transgender people are at the center of heated political debate across America. Here is how some states are approaching the subject:
Texas. In October, Texas became the most populous state to bar transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports at public schools. Gov. Greg Abbott also issued an order to conduct child abuse investigations against those providing certain medical treatments to transgender children. A court ruling later stopped the order from being applied.
Arkansas. Last April, Arkansas enacted a law, the first of its kind in the nation, barring physicians from administering hormones or puberty blockers to transgender people younger than 18. It is now on pause because of a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Indiana. Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, vetoed a bill that would have banned transgender girls from competing in school-sanctioned girls’ sports. The governor said the bill, known as H.E.A. 1041, would likely have been challenged in court.
Utah. A day after the decision in Indiana, Gov. Spencer Cox, also a Republican, vetoed a similar bill that would have barred young transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports. Republican legislators subsequently voted to override the veto and enacted the legislation.
Kentucky. Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, vetoed a bill that would prevent transgender female athletes from playing on girls’ sports teams in middle school and high school. The State Legislature, which is dominated by Republicans, is expected to override the veto.
Alabama. Gov. Kay Ivey signed a law banning medical care for transgender youth who are transitioning. She also approved legislation requiring students to use restrooms and locker rooms in line with the sex listed on their original birth certificates and restricting discussions on gender and sexuality in kindergarten through fifth grade.
In Europe at least
I am very, very relieved: LePen did better than she did the last time so half the media is spinning this as a win for her. But don’t be fooled. This is a big victory. We could only dream of such a huge margin in this country and our right wing is just as nuts as LePen these days.
This is a good result and it’s not the only one:
The Freedom Movement, a political newcomer, stands likely to form the next government in a coalition with smaller centre-left groups. The party leader addressed supporters via video message from his home because he has Covid-19.
“Tonight people dance,” Robert Golob told the cheering crowd at the party headquarters. “Tomorrow is a new day and serious work lies ahead.”
Janša posted a message to supporters on Twitter, saying only: “thank you for your vote.”
The veteran politician became prime minister a little over two years ago after the previous liberal premier resigned. An admirer of Donald Trump, Janša had pushed the country toward right-wing populism since taking over at the start of the pandemic.
Reflecting strong interest in Sunday’s election, turnout was higher than usual: nearly 50% of Slovenia’s 1.7 million voters had cast ballots by mid-afternoon, up about 15% from the previous election in 2018.
I suspect that Putin’s horror may have had a sobering effect on some European voters. Shit’s gotten real.