Category Archives: Donald Trump

At a court hearing on Monday a lawyer from her office said that the attorney general would probably take action against the former president in the near future. Because her investigation is civil, Ms. James can bring a lawsuit, but not criminal charges.

At that hearing, a judge held Mr. Trump in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with a subpoena for records from Ms. James. And on Friday, despite Mr. Trumps lawyers having filed documents that they said brought him into compliance with the subpoena, the judge declined to withdraw the contempt order, which is costing Mr. Trump $10,000 a day.

Mr. Trump has long denied wrongdoing and accused Ms. James and Mr. Bragg, both of whom are Black and Democrats, of being politically motivated racists. If he ultimately is sued or indicted, his lawyers would be likely to point toward the disclaimer that his financial statements were not audited by his accountants and that they were submitted to sophisticated financial institutions that conducted their own due diligence.

Mr. Braggs office is monitoring Ms. Jamess civil investigation for potential new leads, he has said. And Ms. Jamess office is participating in the district attorneys criminal investigation, opened by Mr. Braggs predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., more than three years ago.

In December, Mr. Vance directed the two senior prosecutors leading the criminal inquiry, Mark F. Pomerantz and Carey R. Dunne, to present evidence to a grand jury with the goal of seeking an indictment of Mr. Trump.

But when Mr. Bragg took office this year, he and several of his aides raised concerns about the strength of the case, questioning whether they could prove that Mr. Trump intended to break the law. Other prosecutors in the office had raised similar concerns, people with knowledge of the matter said. In the final months of Mr. Vances tenure, three assistant district attorneys stopped working on the investigation, concerned about how rapidly it was proceeding and what they felt were gaps in the evidence against the former president.

Numerous inquiries. Since former President Donald Trumpleft office, there have been many investigations and inquiries into his businesses and personal affairs. Heres a list of those ongoing:

Mr. Bragg eventually decided to halt the grand jury presentation, prompting the departure of Mr. Dunne and Mr. Pomerantz, who stated in his resignation letter that he believed Mr. Trump was guilty of numerous felonies.

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Likelihood of Trump Indictment in Manhattan Fades as Grand Jury Wraps Up - The New York Times

Dr. Deborah Birx as President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus on April 23, 2020.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Dr. Deborah Birx is out with a tell-all book about her time in the Trump administration.

Birx says her first meeting with Trump in March 2020 about COVID-19 lasted only 30 seconds.

She failed to impress on Trump that the novel coronavirus was far more serious than the flu.

Dr. Deborah Birx's first meeting with President Donald Trump about COVID-19 lasted only 30 seconds before he lost interest and turned the channel to Fox News, Birx writes in her new memoir.

Birx, a leading public-health expert and diplomat known for her work on HIV/AIDS, was persuaded by Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security advisor at the time, to leave her post at the State Department as the US's global AIDS coordinator to serve as the coordinator of the White House's newly formed coronavirus task force.

Birx's first met with Trump on March 2, 2020, nine days before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. By that point, public-health experts across the globe closely following the data on the virus' spread were alarmed.

Birx's goal in that meeting, she writes, was to impress upon Trump the urgency of the situation and to convey that the highly contagious and deadly COVID-19 virus, which could be spread largely by those with no symptoms, was nothing like the seasonal flu.

When Birx finally got Trump's attention in the crowded room, things didn't go as she had hoped.

"Mr. President, this is not like the flu. This is far more serious than the flu. We have to shape our response differently," she told Trump, according to the book.

Trump, she writes, flashed a "glib grimace" of a smile before responding: "Well, the people I'm talking to say this isn't going to be any worse than the flu."

"Mr. President, I don't know who are you speaking with, but I have evidence to fully support the conclusion that this outbreak is going to be nothing like the seasonal flu or even pandemic flu. This virus is very deadly," she said, according to the book.

Story continues

"Well these are good people," he replied, according to Birx. "Smart people. I trust these people. They know what they're saying."

Birx repeated her concerns about the virus, but Trump lost interest.

"His eyes return to his television screens. He reaches for the remote control, and the voice of someone at Fox News enters what passed for a conversation between us," Birx writes. "I don't hear the rest. Someone takes a few steps toward me and gestures toward the door. I've had less than thirty seconds to speak with the president."

Birx says other presidents she's worked for, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, "had the ability to shift gears and direct their focused attention in a way President Trump has not."

"I'm not going to get him to change," she writes. "I have to change my approach. Experience has taught me that you have to meet people where they are."

In the book, "Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, COVID-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It's Too Late," published on Tuesday, Birx describes her tumultuous experience on the White House COVID-19 task force and suggests the Trump administration's handling of the virus contained numerous flaws and missteps.

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Deborah Birx's first meeting with Donald Trump lasted just 30 seconds as he flipped on Fox News, book says - Yahoo! Voices

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April 29 (UPI) -- The head of an independent government watchdog appeared in Congress on Friday to expand on a recent report and answer questions about new evidence that former President Donald Trump's administration interfered in the COVID-19 response two years ago for political purposes.

Gene Dodaro, chief of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, was called to testify before the House select coronavirus subcommittee. In his remarks, he said that the accusations indicate that federal health agencies have work to do in ensuring that political interference doesn't compromise scientific integrity.

The GAO is Congress' main auditing and investigative agency and is often referred to as the "congressional watchdog."

Dodaro's appearance came after a GAO report last week described incidents of political interference under Trump's administration. It said that scientists at top health organizations witnessed political interference just weeks after COVID-19 arrived in March 2020. It explained that some scientists at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said the interference they witnessed led to changing or suppressing scientific findings.

The interference, however, wasn't reported because the witnesses feared retaliation, the assessment said. It further found that all three agencies under Trump trained staff on scientific integrity, and the National Institutes of Health provided information on political interference as part of its training.

The 37-page GAO report said that interference was also seen in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

Dodaro told the subcommittee Friday that the report has spurred concern about the public's trust in the health agencies.

"People did not know how to report if they believed there was something inappropriate," Dodaro said during the virtual hearing. "People didn't understand how they would be protected.

"So we recommended that the four agencies develop policies and procedures in order to report and address any allegations of potential political influence."

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said before the hearing that the panel has received new evidence that support the accusations that Trump officials interfered in decision-making about the coronavirus response.

"We must never again allow politics to interfere with processes of public health," he said at Friday's teleconference.

Clyburn added that the political interference under Trump made the United States sicker and "did immense damage to our public health workforce and to public trust in our scientific institutions."

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the panel's ranking Republican, deflected the accusations toward President Joe Biden's administration, saying that interference by the current administration "is well-documented."

Scalise accused Biden's CDC of leaking guidance on school openings to the American Federation of Teachers -- something he said was on par with the GAO report about Trump.

The watchdog's assessment, however, continues a long string of accusations about the former president's handling of the health emergency when it arrived in the United States. Trump admitted to journalist Bob Woodward later in 2020 that he deliberately downplayed the threat of the virus. Other accusations have said that Trump exploited parts of the government's pandemic response for a political advantage in a presidential election year -- such as pushing for a COVID-19 vaccine before Election Day.

"The previous administration engaged in a persistent pattern of political interference in the nation's pandemic response, prioritizing election-year politics over protecting American lives," Clyburn said in a previous statement.

"The lifesaving work of scientists at our public health agencies must never be corrupted for the perceived political benefit of the president or for any other reason."

A report by the House subcommittee last December found that Trump's administration performed various efforts to influence or downplay the virus -- which included blocking experts from speaking publicly about health dangers, playing down testing guidance and attempting to interfere with public health guidelines.

The GAO report last week supported those findings, and said employees at the agencies witnessed political interference that "may have resulted in the politically motivated alteration of public health guidance or delayed publication of COVID-19 related scientific findings."

"For example in May 2020, a senior official from [the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response] claimed HHS retaliated against him for disclosing ... concerns about inappropriate political interference to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine available to the public as treatments for COVID-19," GAO officials wrote.

"The absence of specific procedures may explain why the four selected agencies did not identify any formally reported internal allegations of potential political interference in scientific decision-making from 2010 through 2021," the report states.

The GAO recommended that the agencies provide information on whistleblower protections and clarify reporting requirements for employees who witness political interference. The recommendations are intended to reduce fear of retaliation and encourage more witnesses to come forward when they should.

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Watchdog says fear at health agencies allowed Trump officials to interfere in COVID-19 matters - UPI News

(John Raoux | AP) Donald Trump Jr. is the top-billed speaker at the right-wing Utah Liberty Festival, scheduled for June 17 and 18 in West Valley City.

| April 27, 2022, 12:00 p.m.

| Updated: 10:31 p.m.

Donald Trump Jr. is the scheduled headliner at an event in Salt Lake City just before the June primary election. The eldest son of former President Donald Trump is the top-billed guest at the Utah Liberty Festival, scheduled for June 17 and 18 in West Valley City.

Other right-wing celebrities slated to attend the event include Rep. Madison Cawthorn and former Trump administration official Kash Patel.

Trump Jr., executive vice president of The Trump Organization, has been one of the most high-profile supporters of his father and was active in both of his fathers presidential campaigns.

He is no stranger to Utah, making several trips west in recent years. He campaigned for 4th District Republican Burgess Owens in 2020 and appeared at a fundraiser for his fathers first presidential campaign in September 2016.

Former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, who has forged a friendship with Trump Jr. in recent years, is thrilled he is coming back to Utah.

I welcomed him and his daughter to join me on the dais in the House in Feb 16. It was the start of a great friendship. The Trump family loves the people of Utah, and we love them! Hughes said in a text message.

A cache of text messages from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows published by CNN shows Trump Jr. proposing ways to overturn his fathers loss to Joe Biden. On Nov. 5, Trump Jr. texted Meadows, We have multiple paths. We control them all.

The messages also reveal that Trump Jr. was frantically texting Meadows as rioters breached the U.S. Capitol on January 6, encouraging the chief of staff to have his father condemn the attack.

Trump Jr. will be in Utah fewer than a dozen days before the June 28 primary. It is unclear whether that could help boost GOP candidates since ballots will have already been mailed to voters.

(Chris Seward | AP) U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., speaks to the crowd before former President Donald Trump takes the stage at a rally Saturday, April 9, 2022, in Selma, N.C.

Scheduled to join Trump Jr. on the stage is North Carolina freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn, one of the youngest members ever elected to the U.S. House.

Cawthorn has been the center of several controversies in recent years. He claimed an auto accident that left him partially paralyzed prevented him from attending the U.S. Naval Academy, but his application was rejected before the crash, the Washington Post reported. Several women have accused Cawthorn of sexual misconduct while he attended Patrick Henry College. More than 150 Patrick Henry alumni signed a letter opposing his candidacy in 2020, alleging his time there was marked by gross misconduct toward women. Cawthorn dropped out of Patrick Henry after one semester.

Cawthorn caused outrage recently, accusing his Republican colleagues in Washington of engaging in cocaine-fueled orgies. Racy photos of him wearing womens lingerie during what appears to be a party surfaced last week, Politico reported. Earlier this week, Cawthorn was caught trying to bring a loaded gun through security at a Charlotte airport, according to ABC News.

Another top guest is Kash Patel, who served as chief of staff to acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller during the Trump administration. He was also a top aide to former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes and helped discredit reports of connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Another guest is Dr. Bryan Ardis. He is the central figure in a faux documentary circulating in conspiracy communities that claims the coronavirus pandemic results from cobra venom being put into the water supply to sicken people and imbue them with Satanic DNA. Ardis, who claims to have uncovered the plan, alleges monoclonal antibodies could end the pandemic and blames the plot on Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Pope.

British anti-vaccine activist Andrew Wakefield, who authored a discredited study linking the MMR vaccine to autism, is also scheduled to appear.

Utah lawmaker Rep. Phil Lyman is also on the list of speakers.

Many of the same people behind last years conspiracy-theory-driven Western Conservative Action Network conference in Salt Lake City are helping to organize the June festival. Representatives for the event were unavailable for comment.

Editors noteThis story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.

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Donald Trump Jr. and Madison Cawthorn are coming to Utah this summer. Here's why. - Salt Lake Tribune

Former President Donald Trump refused to confirm his own administration's findings that China is brutally abusing Uighur Muslims during an interview with the authors of a new book.

"Where," Trump asked New York Times political reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns during their interview with him for their book "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future."

Trump continued, "I would rather not say at this moment, but I will let you know, maybe before your book."

Trump's hesitation to criticize China isn't new, but it underlines how the president who sparked a trade war between the world's two largest economies will still pull his punches on subjects closely watched by the Chinese Communist Party.

Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton wrote in his 2020 memoir that Trump went so far as to praise the building of determent camps for Uighurs. Trump reportedly made those comments during a private 2019 meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Most of the West has roundly criticized China's treatment of Uighurs, including Trump's own administration. There are about 11 million Uighurs in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. Human rights organizations have documented numerous examples of cruel detainment and re-education efforts aimed at stamping out what Chinese leaders view as religious extremism.

The State Department declared on Trump's last full day in office that China was committing genocide and crimes against humanity.

"I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese party-state," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement at the time.

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Trump Refused to Say Whether China Was Abusing Uyghurs - Business Insider

A cache of 2,319 text messages sent and received by former President Donald Trump's White House chief of staff Mark Meadows between Election Day 2020 and President Biden's inauguration shows a group of Republican lawmakers and operatives working to overturn the election and scrambling to respond to the chaotic events of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The messages, obtained by CNN and released on Monday, include texts from Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and son Donald Trump Jr. They also include "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," writes CNN. There are also texts with "more than 40 current and former Republican members of Congress," including Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Mo Brooks (Ala.), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.).

On Jan. 6, as rioters breached the Capitol, Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows, warning that "[t]hey will try to f--k [my father's] entire legacy on this if it gets worse." Others who urged Meadows to have Trump call off the rioters included former White House chiefs of staff Mick Mulvaney and Reince Priebus and Reps. William Timmons (R-S.C.) and Greene, who wrote to Meadows that he should "tell the President to calm people" and that "This isn't the way to solve anything."

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Donald Trump Jr. warned on Jan. 6 that riot fallout could 'f--k' his father's 'entire legacy' - The Week

If someone doesn't know what questions to ask, they'll never get answer. If they don't know whom to ask, thechallenge is even greater. But an even worse error is to decide on an answer before even asking the question and then refusing to hear any answers that don't confirm what they've already decided.

America's political class, especially the pundits and commentators, are guilty of all of these errors (and many more) as they continue to willfully not understand the Age of Trump and how America arrived at this democracy crisis. The Republican-fascist movement is winning because so many people who are supposed to know better continue to view simple questions as puzzling and mysterious, and continue to ignore the obvious answers.

Many such voices among the high priesthood of the church of the savvy and the other professional smart people have concluded that the Republican Party is in the midst of a "civil war" or is in "disarray" in the aftermath of Donald Trump's presidency. That's not true: The Republican Party is "evolving" just as other fascist and authoritarian movements have historically done, largely by purging those who disagree with the Great Leader and his vision.

RELATED:Here's why Trump won't run in 2024 and why the Trump cult ultimately can't win

Many of the same voices also announce that Trump's hold on the Republican-fascist Party and movement is weakening because of diminished attendance at his rallies, or because of rumors and "revelations" about internal resistance surrounding Trump's coup plot of Jan. 6, 2021. Those are significant details and facts, but they do not override the basic reality that Trump continues to be the leader of the Republican Party and the larger neofascist movement. He received millions more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016, and until he decides otherwise he is the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

Republican voters and right-leaning independents continue to view Trump and what he represents as the identity and brand name of today's Republican Party and "conservative" movement. Moreover, the 2024 election is more than two years away and traditional barometers of Trump's popularity cannot be seen as reliably predictive.

Maybe the media's worst misreading is the claim that Trump led the Republican Party astray. In fact, he set it free to follow its worst impulses.

But those questions pale compared to the grandest misreading of all: the claim that Trump and Trumpism led the Republican Party astray from its core values, and by doing so "sabotaged" it. Reality is quite different: Trump and his neofascist right-wing populist movement set modern-day Republican leaders and voters free to embrace their antisocial, anti-human, anti-democratic, reactionary, racist, sexist, plutocratic, theocratic, conspiracist, anti-intellectual and anti-rational values and beliefs. Trumpism was not suddenly born ex nihilo in 2015; it has been at least 30 years in the making.

Ultimately, what America's political class, the punditry and most of the mainstream news media refuse to understand is that Donald Trump is simultaneously a man, a symbol, and a cult-leader who embodies a form of freedom specifically, the freedom to indulge in the worst aspects of human behavior and then to wallow in the chaos and pain and suffering that result. Like other forms of fascism, Trumpism is exhilarating for followers and believers; it gives their lives purpose, meaning and a sense of community, largely by inflicting pain for those designated as its enemies.

In a recent column at Salon, longtime White House reporterBrian Karem summarizes Trump's hold over his followers and their devotion to him:

Trump has played it close to the vest as he has traveled across the country to a variety of rallies, pitching baubles and trinkets to dazzle and amaze those of simple minds and limited funds. Buy a hat. Buy a shirt. Buy an ornament. Buy an autographed picture. Buy anything Trump is selling probably up to and including autographed underwear.

Millions continue to support him by buying his cheap and tawdry knickknacks. It makes me wonder what these homes look like. "Come in. clean your feet on the Trump doormat, hang up your coat on the Trump coat rack. Have a seat and a complimentary beverage out of our Trump lemonade pitcher, poured lovingly into a Trump autographed mug."

Meanwhile, you can take a look at a phone video shot by Donald Trump Jr. inviting you to visit a "top secret" rally with his father and, gosh, even get a chance to meet Dad! What the hell is a top secret rally? Isn't that what the KKK used to do?

The following observation is no doubt a challenging concept for those still wedded to "normal politics" and other obsolescent ways of thinking: "Donald Trump" is of immense symbolic importance, but Donald Trump the human being barely even matters.As I detailed in an earlieressay for Salon, "Donald Trump is no longer a mere person. Indeed, to some extent the human being behind the Trump persona has become irrelevant." In other words, Trump is integral to the American neofascist project but he is also disposable and can be replaced as the situation demands.

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If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. For too many people in America's political class and the news media, especially, the only lens available to interpret politics is through horserace-style coverage, centrism bias, outmoded notions of balance and fairness, questions about who has "coattails" and is piling up "endorsements," and of course the results of public opinion polls and focus groups. To acknowledge that these habits and tools no longer have the explanatory power they once did (not very long ago) would be an enormous psychological leap, approaching epistemic collapse.

Here are three examples of how strongly Donald Trump's power endures, whatever the hope-peddlers, professional centrists and others among the commentariat would like us to believe:

1. The Republican Party announced last week that it will no longer participate in the 2024 presidential debates hosted by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

Debates serve an important function in a democracy and as such have played a key role in many elections. They are especially important for helping low information, independent and relatively apolitical voters decide whom to support. Beyond that, participation in a debate signals a commitment to democratic norms and institutions. Debates also reaffirm a shared belief in the principle that truth exists outside of partisanship and ideology.

Fascists and other authoritarians reject such consensus values. By rejecting the presidential debates, and replacing them with some type of right-wing propaganda theater, the Republican Party is choosing to protect Donald Trump (or his successors) from public scrutiny.Paul Waldman of the Washington Post offered this context:

The Republican Party has just offered us a glimpse of the hell they're going to put us all through in 2024. What might appear to be a petty argument about the conditions under which general election debates will or won't be held is actually much more. But it's also a sign that the Republican strategy will again feature chaotic, Trumpian whining that is meant to delegitimize the entire presidential campaign process from start to finish, culminating in an attempt to take back the White House by theft if the voters don't vote the "right" way.

Let's remember that while Trump performed well in the 2016 primary debates when he was on stage with a collection of empty suits, he did poorly in every one of his debates with Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. By the fall of 2024, he'll be 78 years old; the idea that he'll be more disciplined and focused than he was in the past is far-fetched. Everything Americans dislike about him would be on vivid display in a debate, before the largest audience the candidates will have.

If Republicans announce now, two-and-a-half years in advance, that they're refusing to participate in the debates, it could save them a last-minute act of cowardice. But the more important reason they're doing this is to reinforce the idea that every institution and practice associated with the presidential campaign must be considered corrupt and biased against Trump and therefore illegitimate, whether it's the news media, the debates, maybe even the weather and especially the vote counting.

2. Republicans are enthusiastically doing the bidding of Donald Trump and his fascist project.

We see this through growing support for the Jan. 6 coup attempt and the Capitol attack, the escalating assault on democracy and voting rights, the moral panic around "critical race theory"; anti-LGBTQ bigotry and related conspiracy theories, the campaign to roll back reproductive rights and freedoms, the assault on free speech and other fundamental civil and human rights, the war on reason and critical thinking, the Big Lie, and the support (covert or otherwise) for right-wing authoritarians such as Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbn.

The embrace of racism and the attack on reproductive rights and LGBTQ equality are not "top-down" politics. Republican voters overwhelmingly embrace those views.

This is not a story of "top-down" politics, or elites otherwise imposing their values on a public. Republican voters overwhelmingly support these policies and the values they embody. Donald Trump is a gifted political entrepreneur; he understood that many tens of millions of Americans yearn for fascism or some other form of authoritarian rule.

3. To this point, Republican leaders and candidates are still in thrall to Trump. They must prostrate themselves before him and seek his blessing as a pathway to power.

In a recent article for theNew York Times, Shane Goldmacher details how Trump continues to rule the Republican Party and the larger neofascist movement from his Mar-a-Lago retreat:

For 15 months, a parade of supplicants senators, governors, congressional leaders and Republican strivers of all stripes have made the trek to pledge their loyalty and pitch their candidacies. Some have hired Mr. Trump's advisers, hoping to gain an edge in seeking his endorsement. Some have bought ads that ran only on Fox News in South Florida. Somebear gifts; othersdish dirt. Almost everyone parrots his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

Working from a large wooden desk reminiscent of the one he used in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump has transformed Mar-a-Lago's old bridal suite into a shadow G.O.P. headquarters, amassing more than $120 million a war chest more than double that of the Republican National Committee itself. ...

And while other past presidents have ceded the political stage, Mr. Trump has done the opposite, aggressively pursuing an agenda of vengeance against Republicans who have wronged him, endorsing more than 140 candidates nationwide and turning the 2022 primaries intoa stress test of his continued sway. ...

"Party leaders have never played the role that Trump is playing," said Roger Stone, an on-and-off adviser to Mr. Trump since the 1980s who has been spotted at Mar-a-Lago of late. "Because he can and he's not bound by the conventional rules of politics."

Goldmacher raises the question of whether Trump's "big public profile" will be "a potent turnoff for swing voters" in the fall election, which remains to be seen. But in Republican primaries, "few serious candidates are openly breaking" with him. Former Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn says Trump's conquest of the party "has been so complete ... that even the RINOs are attempting to talk MAGA."

"Few see an expiration date" on Trump's dominance of the Republican Party, Goldmacher concludes, "until and unless he declines to run again in 2024 or is defeated." GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has reportedly told Trump, "We need you."

Is that a portrait of a fascist leader whose power is in decline? With a war chest estimated at $120 million and a right-wing disinformation media machine largely at his command, at this momentDonald Trump is the Republican Party. The fact that some members of the political and media classes read Goldmacher's story as announcing the end of the Trump era only reflects the biased and distorted view of reality that led America to this ugly situation in the first place.

According to traditional Christian theology, the devil's greatest trick was to convince the people of the world that he does not exist. Trump is perhaps only a lesser demon. But do not be fooled by the claim that he is no longer a threat. If America's political elites fall for that trick, it will likely mean the end of the country's democracy.

Read more on our 45th president:

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Is Donald Trump finally getting weaker? Don't believe the hype - Salon

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Mary Trump: Donald Trump is a 'black hole of need' - MSNBC

WADSWORTH, Ohio -- Former President Donald Trumps continued sway over the Republican party in Northeast Ohio looms large over a four-way primary to pick its candidate to run in a reconfigured congressional district that includes western and southern Cuyahoga County, Medina and Wayne counties, and northern Holmes County.

Instead of weathering fire from Trump, the two GOP incumbents who currently represent the 7th congressional districts new turf decided against seeking re-election.

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Rocky River announced his retirement in the wake of voting to impeach Trump after last years Capitol Hill riot by Trump supporters who wanted to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election. Blowback against Gonzalez was swift. A former White House aide to Trump -- Max Miller -- launched a campaign against Gonzalez with Trumps endorsement. The Ohio Republican Party called on Gonzalez to resign and Trump held his first rally during the election cycle in Lorain County to back Miller.

The GOP congressman who represents the next highest proportion of its territory -- Rep. Bob Gibbs Holmes County -- decided to retire after a district map was released that lumped him in with Miller and others who got into the race to challenge Gonzalez. Gibbs released a statement that criticized the circus redistricting has become in Ohio. Trumps camp announced his Miller endorsement would carry over to a primary against Gibbs, even though Gibbs was a loyal Trump supporter throughout Trumps lone term.

The reconfigured district is 53.61% Republican, according to Daves Redistricting App, which means the winner of the GOP primary between Miller, non-profit founder Jonah Schulz, small business owner Charlie Gaddis of Medina, and Berea social worker and podcaster Anthony Leon Alexander has a strong chance of winning in the congressional seat in November.

The sole candidate in the Democratic primary is Bay Village podcast producer Matthew Diemer. The two other Democrats who filed paperwork to run for the seat suspended their campaigns.

In addition to having Trumps endorsement, Miller has a huge cash advantage over his competitors.

As of April 13, Miller had raised almost $2 million for his campaign, and spent slightly over $1.5 million, filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission indicate. The campaign had $456,633 in the bank, and owed $550,000 in loans to the candidate, who is a grandson of Forest City Enterprises founder Sam Miller.

Schulz has raised $73,898 during the election cycle and spent $68,811. His campaign had $6,765 in the bank, and showed a $2,500 loan from his father. Gaddis reports show hes raised $23,606 for his campaign -- including a $19,356 loan he made from personal funds -- and spent $14,686. His campaign account balance was most recently listed as -$8,512.19. Alexander has not filed paperwork at the Federal Election Commission to indicate that hes raised money.

Democrat Diemer has raised $109,067 so far, spent $103,507 and had $5,560 left. He has loaned $38,600 to his campaign.

Trump highlighted his support for Miller and other Ohio candidates hes endorsed at a rally last weekend in Delaware County.

Hes a great guy, going to be a tremendous congressman, Trump said of Miller, who was known as the Music Man at the White House because his tasks included playing Trumps favorite show tunes, such as Memory from Cats, to calm him down when he was upset. Im proud of him. Hes like, my boy.

Miller applauded Trump as the greatest president of our lifetimes, and described himself and the other Trump-endorsed candidates as America first fighters that are always going to work for you.

People have it backwards in DC, Miller continued. We know very well that our main job is that we work for you and you dont work for us.

Miller also paid his respects to the Trump family a few days before the rally at a Lincoln Day Dinner in Wadsworth. Donald Trump, Jr., was the headline speaker at the event to benefit Medina Countys Republican Party. A Make America Great Again hat autographed by the former president sold for several thousand dollars at a fundraising auction at the event, as did several guns.

In an interview after he met behind closed doors with the younger Trump, Miller said primary voters should support him because of his experience working for Trump. He said sitting down with Congress members and governors in that capacity convinced him most are there to manipulate the system and line their own coffers. If elected, he said he would not take a federal pension and would give part of his salary to community charities that help homeless veterans and alleviate the opioid epidemic.

If he becomes a member of Congress, he says he would fight inflation by stopping the Federal Reserve from pumping more money into the financial system, would support U.S. energy independence, and would work to establish a merit-based immigration system. He opposes abortion with no exceptions.

Miller describes Trumps endorsement as the greatest political endorsement that politics has ever seen, and says the former president has 92 percent support among Republicans in the district, but insists hes not relying on it to win support. He said he has put in the hard work to campaign in his district, established relationships in the community and knocked on voters doors.

Millers Trump ties come with baggage. The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol says Miller helped plan the Trump rally on the Ellipse that preceded the riot and subpoenaed his testimony. Miller describes the probe as a complete sham and political persecution, but says he answered the committees questions.

He says members of the committee asked him if the Deep State was real, even though its subpoena said theyd ask him about his role planning the rally.

I told them that it was every career federal bureaucrat who was sitting on the call, and Republican elected official who had been in Congress for more than three terms, you are the deep state, he said. And I also told them that theyre on a wild ice fishing expedition up in the Arctic, and they dont know what fishing hole to go to, because they have nothing.

In addition to addressing the January 6th commissions inquiries, Miller is fending off allegations that he physically abused a former girlfriend, ex-White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who aired her grievances in a book published last year and a Washington Post column she authored when the book was released. Miller filed a defamation suit against Grisham in Cuyahoga County over her abuse allegations, which he says are false. Grisham asked to have the case dismissed on the grounds that none of the alleged abuse happened in Ohio. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Emily Hagan declined to dismiss the case.

Jonah Schulz of Cleveland is running s a Republican in Ohio's 7th congressional district.

The other three candidates in the race are doing their best to round up support from local Republicans without Millers advantages.

As he worked the crowd at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Wadsworth, Schulz discounted the impact of Trumps endorsement in the race. He said many political endorsements are based on who you know, connections or your financial situation, and dont necessarily boost the best candidate. He said that while Miller attended Trumps rally far from the district in Delaware County, Schulz and his campaign team would be knocking on doors in Wooster.

Everybody that I have talked to is saying Im going to do my own research, Im going to do my own homework and make my own decision, Schulz said. Weve seen the results of blindly following endorsements and blindly following money for a long time and that hasnt done us any favors.

The founder of a charity that transforms neglected baseball fields in underprivileged communities into state-of-the-art ballparks, Schulz describes himself as the only candidate who will challenge the status quo on both sides,. He says he would not be swayed by special interests, big donors, or corporations, because his campaign is 100% funded by individual contributions.

He says hes a grassroots candidate who is in touch with voters because hes been meeting with them for months. Since launching his campaign 15 months ago, Schulz says hes knocked on over 60,000 doors, attended over 300 campaign events, distributed over 1,000 yard signs and has large signs up on heavily trafficked areas throughout the district. The campaign is also doing mailers, texting and radio ads -- everything that we can possibly do short of TV ads, says Schulz.

He says GOP voters were most concerned about election integrity and coronavirus-related mandates and lockdowns when he initially began campaigning, and now care most about inflation and rising gasoline prices that are straining family budgets. If elected, he said he would support an all of the above energy approach and promote oil and gas drilling in the United States.

He argues that both political parties contributed to runaway spending, and said he backs a balanced budget amendment to ensure that we are not spending trillions of dollars over what we are bringing in as tax revenue. He said he supports constructing a border wall to keep immigrants from entering the United States illegally, holding businesses accountable if they hire illegal workers who undercut the wages paid to U.S. citizens, and ending the welfare system that attracts illegal immigrants here in the first place.

Charlie Gaddis is a small business owner in Medina County.

Gaddis, who runs a business that provides project management services to large U.S. companies, says hes the best candidate for the district because of his decades of business experience and creative problem solving abilities. He also discounts Trumps endorsement of Miller, telling conservative radio host Bob Frantz that while many of Trumps policies are fantastic, some of the people hes endorsed were bad choices and Trump would like the policies Gaddis supports

He wants to bring down gasoline prices by going forward with the Keystone pipeline, purchasing more oil from Canada, suspending the federal gas tax, and stopping price gouging investigations of oil companies.

Our energy policy needs to be about stability and independence domestically, as we morph to a greener economy. and internationally about denying bad actors excessive profits to wage war and mayhem, said a statement from Gaddis.

He supports abandoning the income tax, and instead instituting consumption-based taxes on consumers who buy products. He argues that taxing products as theyre built and embedding those taxes in the costs that consumers pay for goods puts U.S. products at a cost disadvantage to foreign goods that dont face such taxes, and has contributed to the decline of the U.S. industrial base.

In addition to completing the physical border wall that Trump sought to keep illegal immigrants out of the United States, Gaddis said hed like to impose a virtual wall that would require proof of citizenship to access banks, hospitals, schools, gain employment or receive government benefit.

He describes himself as a big fan of rugged individualism, and supports smaller government with greater opportunities for businesses and individuals.

The more freedom we have, the better we do, says Gaddis.

Anthony Leon Alexander of Berea is a Republican candidate in Ohio's 7th congressional district.

Alexander, who works as a site supervisor for an organization that helps people with developmental disabilities and also does podcasts, says hes running for office because he thinks the current crop of politicians who represents his area dont listen to voters or have empathy to build the community and to decide whats in the best interests for the people that voted for you.

I want to be one of those people who tries to make a difference, says Alexander, who serves on Bereas planning commission and on its tax incentive review council.

If elected, he said hed support increasing the minimum wage to help people cope with out-of-control costs, as well as providing controlled stimulus checks. He said some people who took stimulus checks could have been working and he takes offense when I hear stories about people who would rather sit back and collect the check when they could go to work.

He says immigrants must enter the country legally and go by our rules to stay.

He says hed support expanding insurance to have mental-health coverage, and taking other steps to help those who are hurting.

Being a single parent, Ive seen the opportunities and hardships that affect everyday families, Alexander says. From housing, to education, from living paycheck to paycheck. Ive lived and am still living like most families.

What voters say

In addition to securing Trumps endorsement, Miller is endorsed by Cuyahoga Countys Republican party. Executive committee chair Lisa Stickan said hes gone to several GOP clubs and community events in the county since last year, and built lots of support in the area.

Strongsville GOP board member Rob Winwood says his club endorsed Miller because its members liked his youth and Washington experience. Volunteers from the group are canvassing on Millers behalf, added board member Beverly Jones.

Lisa Woods, who runs the Medina County friends and Neighbors Republican group said her organization has not issued an endorsement, but around half her members like Miller and the others like Schulz.

People are real passionate about one or the other, Woods reports.

Republican voters interviewed before Donald Trump, Jr.s Wadsworth speech were divided between backing Schulz and Miller. Former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, who chairs Medina Countys Republican party and held the congressional seat before Gonzalez, declined to say who he thought was ahead.

The districts just got set, said Renacci, whose gubernatorial campaign signs lined the street outside the event. Max is endorsed by Trump. Jonah is a good guy.

Craig Wanko of Seville said he backs Schulz because of his opposition to illegal mandates that were imposed after the coronavirus pandemic. He said Trumps endorsement of Miller doesnt matter to him, even though he enjoys attending Trump rallies and wore a red MAGA cap to the dinner.

I support Trump, but not all his endorsements, said Wanko.

Elaina Zgrabik of Hinckley also said shell vote for Schulz.

He has been hitting the pavement hard and I think he will do a lot of good for the area, she said.

Gary Fox of Wadsworth said hell vote for Miller because of his service in the Trump administration and his background as a U.S. Marine Corps reservist.

I like Jonah a lot, but I think Max is more qualified, Fox added.

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Former President Donald Trump tries to tip the scale in the reconfigured 7th congressional districts Republi - cleveland.com

People around the world have been weighing in on Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussexs relationship since they began dating. Now, former U.S. President Donald Trump is giving his thoughts on the royal couple.

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Trump claimed Harry is being led around by his nose by Meghan. Harry is whipped, Trump said. Harry is whipped like no other person I think Ive seen.

Im not a fan of Meghan, he continued. Im not a fan and I wasnt right from the beginning. I think poor Harry is being led around by his nose. And I think hes an embarrassment. And I think she spoke badly of the royal family but in particular the Queen.

Trump met Queen Elizabeth while he was serving as president and says they got along very well: She liked me and I liked her.

The former president also said he thinks Harry and Meghan should lose their royal titles because of their behavior toward the royal family.

I would [take their titles away], he said. The only thing I disagree with the Queen on probably one of the only things ever is that I think she would have said, If thats your choice, fine. But you now longer have titles. You know?

I think that [Harry] has been so disrespectful to the country, and [the UK is] a great country, Trump continued. I own a lot of things there.

Trump also gave his thoughts on the state of Harry and Meghans marriage, saying he thinks it wont last because of the stress they both have endured due to their exile from Harrys native United Kingdom.

So, I want to know whats going to happen when Harry decides hes had enough of being bossed around, he mused. Or maybe when she decides that she likes some other guy better. I want to know whats going to happen when it ends, OK?

I do [think the relationship will end], Trump concluded. Ive been a very good predictor, as you know. I predicted almost everything. Itll end and itll end bad. And I wonder if Harrys gonna go back on his hands and knees, back into the beautiful city of London and say, Please. You know, I think Harry has been led down a path.

Trumps feelings about Meghan might be because of a more personal reason. When he traveled to England to meet with the royal family in 2019, she was noticeably absent from the events.

Some pointed to the fact that she was technically still on maternity leave after giving birth to her first child, Archie. Others thought it was probably due to the fact that Meghan had previously made it clear she disagreed with Trumps politics. In 2016, she even went so far as to say she might move to Canada after he was elected president.

While there are many rumors about Harry and Meghans marriage, Trumps comments on the pair seem unfounded; they appear to be enjoying their time away from the life of the royal family.

RELATED: Donald Trump Invited Meghan Markle to One of His Golf Courses Before She Joined the Royal Family

Read more here:

Donald Trump Doesn't Think Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Marriage Will Last: 'It'll End Bad' - Showbiz Cheat Sheet